The Social Business

The power of networks

Busy day today. On the train home from London now.  It started with us not knowing if our house sale was going ahead as planned.   We also didn't know if we had somewhere to live next week.  It ended with an exchange of contracts on our house and our offer accepted on a house.  We've also had a few offers of places to live for the 8 weeks we'll be between houses.

I chatted with a friend about it all this morning.  It's been really stressful - many of you will have been through similar house-moving difficulties.  But we talked about the faith we both have in our own ability to work things out, and that with help of our friends, family and contacts, we trust things will be OK.  That, amidst all the stress, kept me going.

What I don't have such faith in is the world I inhabit.  What do I mean by that sweeping statement?  It's not that I'm a post-Thatcherite individualist.  It's more that I don't have confidence that the State will always see me right.  Or that the businesses that I buy from have really got my interests at heart.  Or that the people who manage the economy will manage it in a way that will ensure future prosperity. Or that our politicians will make the right long-term choices to tackle global poverty.  Or that my fellow UK citizens will see beyond the short-term and begin to live more sustainable lives.   I understand these are big generalisations, but that's how it feels.

I suppose the point that I'm making is that it is through networks that we will create change.  Whether that's small things in our own lives (finding somewhere to live) or big things as a society (stopping runaway climate change), we will make progress with other people.  It's obvious really, but sometimes forgotten.

I was at the second Social Impact Camp this evening.  That's another network where I thing good things can happen.  We are a group of people who want to get better at planning for, achieving, measuring and proving the social good that comes from the work that we do.  Each of us on our own could try to work this out, but would probably struggle, because it can be hard work.  But as a group I think we'll make good progress.

OWL Energy Use Monitor - Review

I blogged a few months ago about buying an energy use monitor with the money I won for my post about plastic bags.  

That was a few months ago, and as planned, I'm passing the monitor on to some friends.  So here are my thoughts.  If you've tried to keep an eye on your energy usage, please let me know how you've got on - and share any tips below.

Free bulbs - not such a bright idea after all

I took in a parcel for a neighbour over Christmas.  It was a free pack of energy-efficient bulbs, courtesy of npower.

That was good of them, I thought, an energy supplier doing their bit to help us save a bit of energy.  Helping people to not spend their money with you doesn't come naturally to most businesses.  

In 1997 I worked as an interpreter on an Overseas Development Agency project to build hydro-electric power stations north of Lima.  One day we went to an event where the local energy company was handing out T-Shirts with the slogan "Apagando un foco, ahorras un poco"  - roughly translated as "You'll save some money if you turn off your lights".

The UK engineer for whom I was interpreting thought this was a daft strategy - particularly for a recently-privatised energy company.  As you might expect, I disagreed.  It led to some interesting three-way discussions.  Whether they ultimately took more notice of me or him probably had more to do with economics than ecology.  Yet it's a good illustration of the tension that exists in any business which is involved in the consumption of natural resources on our behalf.  

So I was interested to read a piece in the Times today suggesting that npower's handout of 12 million energy-saving bulbs may not be such a great idea after all.  They were sent out to help the company to meet their legal obligation to cut carbon emissions - just before a new law comes into force which bans companies from mailing out unsolicited bulbs.

The problem is that research suggests that the average household has half-a-dozen unused bulbs in the cupboard under the sink.  So four more bulbs are unlikely to have the intended impact.  But they have helped npower meet their obligations, and thus avoid a fine of up to £40 million.

And, of course, free doesn't really mean free.  Companies are allowed to pass on the cost of these schemes to customers, through higher tariffs.  So we end up paying for bulbs we don't want, and which don't have the environmental impact that we so dearly need.  Cheers npower.

This story demonstrates how first steps very quickly need to become next steps when it comes to preventing runaway climate change.  Low energy bulbs are a good quick-win, and as my energy use monitor demonstrates, they do make a noticeable difference to your energy consumption.  But consumers, energy companies and governments now need to raise their game.  Sending out light bulbs is the easy, cheap bit, and it ticks the energy-saving boxes for the energy companies.  Yet it clearly isn't having the impact that the government intended when it set up the scheme.  

An npower representative, quoted in the Times, said:

"There is nothing under [the carbon emissions target reduction scheme] that means that we have to get evidence that the bulbs are being used.  It's up to the customer."

Which you may read as we've done our bit, not our problem Guv (or more accurately, Gov).  

If we're going to stop runaway climate change, businesses need to take more responsibility for the social and environmental impacts of their actions. Hopefully this will encourage/embarrass companies like npower, and Governments, to do more.  

Where there are young people, there is hope

It's hard to feel hopeful today.  World leaders managed to not reach a really "meaningful" agreement yesterday, and as Polly Toynbee points out here (in case you were looking to pass the buck to the politicians), it's not as if we're all full square behind those who are trying to get commitments to saving the world from environmental catastrophe.

Yet there is hope, there has to be, although I can't see it today. Personally I think it'll take a real, in your face crisis to get us all to act, and by then it'll probably be too late.  A mass migration, a bloody war caused by climate-related hunger.  Sadly we really aren't very good at thinking long-term - and 2050 is just too far away for most people.  

I'm better at thinking long-term, but not that much better.  I was in B and Q in November and the bags of grit were staring at me, shouting in their loudest voice "Buy me!  We know it's sunny today but next month it'll be snowing, and you'll end up sprinkling Maldon Sea Salt on your path."  But it was sunny that day, and I couldn't envisage my icy path, even though it was bound to come.  

But there is hope, and personally I think it lies with young people.  The ones who'll really suffer from the effects of climate change.  Please watch this video - from the Rio Conference in 1992 - but as relevant today as it was back then.  They won't get us out of this mess on their own.  But they're probably the ones who'll lead the movement.  

Some final thoughts from Bangladesh

Here are some final thoughts from Liam, before he begins his journey home from Bangladesh.

All alone in the hotel restaurant. Feels very weird after being so close to 22 people for the last week. All our Inside Grameen Delegates are speeding away from me at 30,000 feet to the four corners. 

Left behind to work on the film about social business.  I’ve spent the day crouched in front of monitors, in sound studios, listening to music which might work on the film, making lists of the people we must thank. Would love to go home but this has to be done. So much excellent footage. Interview with Yunus (who yesterday was speaking to the Indian parliament about his social business vision). So many shots of the gorgeous lush countryside and the horrible mess that is Dhaka. Interviews with the Grameen ladies in the villages, bank staff, yoghurt makers, French MBA’s working in Bogra, eye doctors,  rickshaw drivers, beggars, wide eyed kids, quite stunningly beautiful women. How we are going to get it down to ten minutes or so is a problem I have left with the talent at Drik. They are up all night to get me a good rough cut tomorrow. Looking forward to seeing that.

Wrap up session with the delegates was fab. I wont bore you with the litany of praise we got for taking the risk of putting this event on. I was very touched by people’s passion and honesty and the commitments they made about what they will now do as result of all we’ve seen. Again I am struck by the power of bringing together people from different sectors to share an experience and learn through it together.

In no particular order here are my round up thoughts:

1. Social Enterprise in the UK needs a great big kick up the arse. The obsession with what the government or the Eton Rifles think or want is farcical. Here in a place where there is no effective state, people like the Grameen folk must learn not to become dependent  on anyone for anything.  I just don’t trust free money Yunus told me.  I will probably punch the first whinging social enterprise type I run into back home who starts complaining about cuts. Just build a fucking business that can make money and help people. If you can’t do that go and work for the council or a bloody RDA. 
2. Big scale change must involve private sector business and multi nationals. The haphazard incremental growth of local social enterprises is nice but marginal. The world needs social innovation that can get to a big scale quickly. It does not need more cafes for disabled people or pretend work schemes for unemployed people which fall apart when the grant money dries up. The winners of the recent social enterprise awards are great little organisations but if I’m honest did I see any real social innovation – ideas that could change things big time? No I didn’t.  The social enterprise sector must open itself to the world of business or it will be increasingly marginal and stagnate forever going round and round the petty debates about definitions, who is and who isn’t, and kissing the bum of whoever sits at the top of the Cabinet Office.
3. Social innovation is messy, chaotic and not linear. Get in there. Learn by doing it. Yunus has semi divine status. But he is just a man (albeit a pretty extraordinary one) and has made numerous mistakes in his time. But get the right partners, each do what you do well, stay focussed on the core purpose at all times and amazing things can be achieved even in places as messed up and chaotic as Bangladesh.

This is my third visit to Bangladesh this year. I’ve fallen in love with it. I have met so many lovely people and there is here – in the rural areas at least – a sense of social solidarity which we have lost. And a society that gave birth to Grameen and BRAC must have a lot right with it.

But the place scares me too. It is an entire society living on the edge of a precipice. Rural poor people  can be wiped out by a cyclone or bad harvest (and they are all in the fields now hand picking a good crop). Slum dwellers live hand to mouth every day. And horrible Dhaka slides over the cliff under the sheer weight of numbers and a political elite who don’t give a monkey’s .

The roads are a handy metaphor for this place. Huge numbers of people trying to get somewhere in a chaotic reckless mass. Death or serious injury close to you all the time and no-one to help you if you crash. 

But let me end on an up note. A regional manager at a Grameen branch gave a farewell speech to me in very halting English. It was one of the most moving things I’ve heard for some time. He spoke about the need for global solidarity and the joining of hands of all those who want to be on the side of the poor. He spoke about the stupidity of racism and that so much more binds the people of the world than divides them.

So, in the spirit of global solidarity, much love to anyone who is reading this and good bye from the land of the Bangla speakers.

Liamxxx

Book review - The New Economics - A Bigger Picture

Here's a book review that I did for this month's New Start magazine:

There’s nothing particularly new about new economics.  Lots of the ideas which are explored in The New Economics:  A Bigger Picture – such as how traditional economics ignores environmental impact, or how our economic system encourages consumption for its own sake, have been discussed on the economic fringes for years.

 

Yet what is new is that the person sat next to you on the bus is likely to have opinions about economics.  Pre credit crunch, starting a conversation with your thoughts on the damaging impact of currency speculation was a sure fire way to get the whole of the top deck to yourself.  Now people understand that economics isn’t something that just happens elsewhere.  It affects our lives.  It is about our lives.

 

The value of this book is that it explores key economic theories through storytelling.  We are told why modern Britons work harder than mediaeval peasants.  Why we export the same number of chocolate waffles as we import. And why fewer people vote when they live near a Wal-Mart. 

 

The stories highlight the basic problems – such as the lack of social capital in a town dominated by a big retailer – compared to one with a host of locally-owned shops.  But it doesn’t just point to slightly depressing realities. Instead each chapter then explores some New Economics-inspired solutions – such as radical action to challenge local retailing semi-monopolies, or to encourage more local enterprise. 

 

The problems may not be new, and some of the solutions have been around for years.  But there is a new coherence and energy behind much of this thinking – which is well explored in this book. 

 

Every farmer needs good neighbours

It was great to see Gip from Salvo's winning on the F Word last night in their neighbourhood restaurants competition.  

I went to Salvo's a few weeks ago for their zero food miles menu.  They had a special menu for three days in their salumeria, with all the produce grown and reared in Leeds.  We really enjoyed it - and at £19.50 for a six course menu it was great value too.

I'd gone along because I know the people who run Swillington Organic Farm - and they'd provided much of the produce for the menu.  I went back again last Friday to interview Gip about how it went.  I took my flip camcorder but unfortunately I didn't get him in shot - he moved when we started talking and, still being a bit new to this stuff, I didn't realise - so you can only see half his head.  So I'll just have to tell you what he said instead.

Basically he was really pleased with how it went - and customers loved it - they were sold out each night.  He's keen to do more - with the next step being to buy a pig on a Community Supported Agriculture basis - where you pay up front to share a bit of the risk with the farmer.  You can imagine that there'll be plenty of scope for publicising this arrangement with Salvo's customers, which is great for the farm.

I'm really keen on this kind of thing - where local businesses get together and work with each other.  I wrote a while back about how I was feeling a bit unenthusiastic about a lot of the funded local food projects that I'd heard about at a conference.  They were great - but so many of them relied on funding - which won't be around for ever.  If you can get businesses trading locally with each other because it makes sense - and because it fits with who they are - in this case a neighbourhood restaurant - then that's got a much better chance of being sustainable and making a big difference long term.  

Future-proof housing

You may remember that our house is currently up for sale.  We had our first offer today, a good way below the asking price, but it's a start.  Whilst the market is still unrecognisable from when we bought this house, it certainly seems to be picking up a bit.  Three viewings a week so far isn't bad at all.

The bigger problem will be finding somewhere else to live. It doesn't feel like a smart move to take on a load of debt at a time when the economy still feels very wobbly.  Add to that the fact that I'm a freelancer, and you start to think that you should have just stayed were you were - in a nice house with a big dent taken out of the mortgage.  But like many people, our first house was never meant to be our last, and we feel like we want to move. 

But where to?  And to what kind of house?  I hope I'm not boring you with my damascene conversion to the deep green cause, post Age of Stupid.  But we have no choice now than to consider  our biggest financial decision to date in the context of a planet that is heating up, and an economic system that needs to cool down.  

As I mentioned in yesterday's post I've been wandering round the house with the energy use monitor, seeing where there's scope to save some electricity.  There's some room for manoeuvre - the tumble drier and the dishwasher are the two obvious ones - but to be honest other than that we've probably done most of the simple-ish things, that will probably get us to our initial 10% cut target - or perhaps beyond.

To get beyond that, it feels like we'd need a lifestyle that is very much different to the one we have now.  What are the implications of that in terms of housing?  At the moment we're looking at 3 bedroom semi or terraced houses.  A couple of years ago we pictured ourselves moving up the ladder to a bigger house.  But now we ask ourselves, why?  For the odd occasion that family come up, or to make Francis's future sleepovers a bit more comfortable?  Or because that's just what you do as you get older and move up the ladder?  

We'll see what happens.  The house we're going to see tonight is marketed at the "downsizing couple" - but it's in a much nicer area than where we are in now - nicer parks, shops, pubs etc.  It's really not that small - but it's smaller than most houses in that particular leafy area, where most houses are pretty big and more expensive.  Perhaps it won't just be couples with an empty nest who'll need to think of downsizing in the future.  

But of course, for us, this won't be downsizing, it'll be staying the same - traditional 3 bedroom brick built house.  Which, if we need an 80% cut in emissions, isn't likely to do the planet many favours.  

I accept that our "problem" is caused by relative affluence - and is a problem that many people will never have the opportunity to face. I also want to be realistic and not too hairshirty about this - we all want somewhere nice to live and it's clearly not realistic to knock down most of the current housing stock and start again with smaller straw-bale constructions.   Yet when I read about co-housing in the paper this weekend - then read about this new scheme which is being launched in Leeds, it felt pretty clear that the way many of us will need to live in the future will be a lot different to what most of us aspire to now.  

Turning things on and off again

I've invested part of my £100 bloggers circle prize in a few things that can help me to reduce my energy use at home (and at work - given that I work from home).

I bought an OWL Wireless Electricity Monitor, for about £30.  It arrived today (on a Sunday - it seems there's no time to lose when the planet needs saving) and I've been playing about with it this afternoon.

On one level, it doesn't tell you much that you wouldn't have guessed already.  You won't need telling that the old fashioned bulb that seems to have gone on for years in your attic costs a load more than a nice new low- energy light.  Or that the tumble drier costs a small fortune to dry your smalls in time for work tomorrow.

But there is something quite powerful about seeing the impact of turning something on or off.  An impact measured in pounds and pence, or CO2 emissions if you prefer.

Things I've discovered on my walk round the house (and I accept none of this is big news):

• Old fashioned bulbs use a surprising amount of electricity - changing them is a no-brainer
• The oven's electricity consumption varies - loads of electricity to get it to the required temperature - and surges to keep it hot - which makes me think about not using it for that 8 minute warm-up of a part-baked baguette (and sorting out that faulty seal).
• The flat screen TV is as bad as expected (my excuse is that it's a hand-me-down telly)
• The heater I use for heating the office when I don't want to heat the whole house uses more energy than the oven or tumble drier.

Other first reflections: 

• Why are electricity bills so unbelievably complicated to decipher?
• Why aren't electricity companies compelled to do more to encourage us to look at this kind of thing?
• I still don't know about gas consumption - eg is it better to put the central heating on, instead of the electric heater?

And finally, it just makes it so abundantly clear that whilst we may feel paralysed in the face of climate change, there are things that we could all do to make a bit of a difference.  Could you monitor your electricity usage at home?  At work?  Might it be worth buying one of these things - and sharing it with friends?

State of Interdependence

Lots going around my head this morning but not much time to write.  Given that there's lots going round my head this may not be the most coherent post, but here goes.

I'd like to point you to a couple of interesting blog posts from the RSA.  In the first, from Matthew Taylor, he describes himself as "an enthusiastic collectivist but a reluctant statist."  It's a neat phrase, which I think also gives a good idea of my position too.  

One of the myths of affluence (or at least one that I've swallowed) is that greater wealth can lead to greater independence.  You basically don't have to worry too much about things as long as you've got a good bit of cash to buy your way through life. You can buy your independence - and, it's assumed - your happiness and wellbeing.  

In thinking more about climate change over the last few months, it's struck me that if we are going to build an economy and society which have any chance of survival, we need to better recognise our interdependence. That's true on a global scale - but also on a local scale.  We won't be able to change things on our own. Hence my interest in the collective - but my scepticism about the role of the state.  

Following on from this I found this post from the RSA Connected Communities blog interesting.  The post looks at community responses to climate change, and includes this quote from an RSA Fellow:

The future is certainly looking ominous. But I have experiences that when you join together with others to do something about it, something extraordinary starts to happen. You might start with something that seems small or insignificant in the face of the huge scale changes that are needed, with “ordinary” people, not experts, and no idea how to begin. But in the process, such groups can come up with really robust ideas and initatiatives that start things moving and create a momentum that gradually infects the wider community.” 

It made me think again about the Borrowed Planet group I'm part of, and also about Progress School, where I'm going this afternoon.  Should my aim in life be to become independent?  Or happily interdependent with others?  And does the State have a role in helping me and others to be happily interdependent?