Monthly Archives: December 2009
I went to my bank on Christmas Eve to make a deposit and attempted to make some typical holiday small talk with Max, my favorite teller. “Are you ready for the holiday?” I asked (careful not to say “Christmas” lest I offend). She shrugged and said that it would be quiet, then she told me how a friend who has stage-four breast cancer, and who seemed near death in the spring, was up and about and feeling much better. “I’m just going to celebrate the fact that she’s alive right now,” she said, “and I don’t feel at all bad about not getting out there and shopping.”
Amen to that. There seems to have been an intense focus on how much “consumers” (a consumer somehow being a different species of human being; more on that later) are spending this holiday season. As though what comes out of our thinner-these-days wallets… More
Following the news from the Copenhagen climate summit has nearly become a full time job. Observing the chaotic deliberations, I am reminded of Adam Kahane’s comments on solving complex sustainability problems via a stakeholder inclusive approach, delivered during this fall’s BSR conference.
What sticks in my head the most is how relevant each of the three “complexity parameters” are to the climate debates :
1) Systemic complexity, whereby cause and effect are far apart in space and time (the generational issue in climate change)
2) Social complexity, whereby each actor has a fundamentally different worldview and perspective (developed vs developing nations, anyone?)
3) Generative complexity, whereby we are dealing with situations that have never occurred before (when was the last time we had to put together a truly global, multilateral, mutually acceptable, binding agreement on anything?)
Adam’s approach… More
I typically count myself among the last-minute shoppers—rushing frantically from store to store; arranging next-day shipping to expedite my online orders; and, finally, wrapping gifts in newspaper late into the night on Christmas Eve.
But, not this year.
No, I’m stopping the madness and buying all of my gifts from the Zingerman’s website. FYI, Zingerman’s is a family of small food-related companies based in Ann Arbor, Michigan.
Sorry, Mom, if I ruined the surprise, but if it’s any consolation, here are a few things you can feel good about:
Michigan needs us: The unemployment rate—15.1 percent as of October 2009—is higher in Michigan than in any other state. The auto industry is still struggling, despite a massive bailout and recent some signs of life. And Detroit’s Pistons (currently four games behind .500) and Red Wings (also running with the middle of the pack) aren’t lifting many spirits either…. More
