Live Well Below Your Means

Thrift pays. Buying less and living under one's means not only saves money but helps fight pollution (less to throw away) and makes us think consciously about consuming responsibly.

Here are some tips from author Jeff Yeager on living below one's means:
- live green: buy and consume less
- use old-fashioned cleaning products: baking soda and vinegar can be used to wash most anything in your house
- drive less: carpool when possible, use public transport, walk or bicycle
- eat lower on the food chain: eat more fruits, vegetables, grains, legumes, poultry (eat less red meat and fewer dairy products)
- reduce the size of your lawn: mulch it over or replace it with ground cover (pachysandra or creeping thyme, for example)
- use things up and wear things out: then replace them
- spend less on clothes/make them last longer: launder less often, use cold water only, line dry clothing, keep shoes dry (dry them completely before wearing them again), turn clothing inside out before laundering, use baking soda instead of bleach
- save energy: insulate the attic, turn down your hot water heater, caulk gaps around the windows and doors

Jeff Yeager is the author of The Ultimate Cheapskate's Road Map to True Riches and The Cheapskate Next Door. His website is http://www.ultimatecheapskate.com/

TEMA Foundation: Attentive to Turkey's Biodiversity

Founded in 1992 by Nihat Gokyigit, "TEMA has pioneered a multistakeholder approach to tackling the problem of soil erosion in Turkey." According to the Foundation's website, TEMA's "mission is to raise public awareness of environmental problems, specifically soil erosion, deforestation, biodiversity loss and climate change."

"Nihat Gokyigit was a successful business entrepreneur, presiding over one of Turkey's largest conglomerates (Tekfen Holdings) when he decided to start TEMA with renowned environmentalist Hayrettin Karaca. Having grown up in Artvin, a secluded and pristine part of Turkey, he wanted to identify livelihoods through which Turkey's people could preserve their nation's rich biodiversity rather than destroy it. His private foundation operates Turkey's most prominent botanical garden, which complements TEMA's work through botanic education and research."

Excerpt from Outstanding Social Entrepreneurs 2010, the Schwab Foundation for Social Entrepreneurship

When a Child Is Born

A ray of hope flickers in the sky,
A tiny star lights up way up high,
All across the land dawns a brand new morn -
This comes to pass when a child is born.

A silent wish sails the seven seas,
The winds of change whisper in the trees,
And the walls of doubt crumble, tossed and torn -
This comes to pass when a child is born.

A rosy hue settles all around,
You get the feeling you're on solid ground,
For a spell or two no one seems forlorn -
This comes to pass when a child is born.

All of this happens because the world is waiting,
Waiting for one child. Black, white, yellow? No one knows.
But a child that will grow up and turn tears to laughter,
Hate to love, war to peace and everyone to everyone's neighbor,
And misery and suffering will be words to be forgotten forever.

It's all a dream, an illusion now.
It must come true sometime soon, somehow.
All across the land dawns a brand new morn -
This comes to pass when a child is born.
When a Child is Born (Soleado, 1972 melody by Ciro Dammicco/Zacar)

The Way Home

Founded in 1996 by Sergey Kostin, The Way Home "provides medical and psychological rehabilitation and social reintegration programs to homeless people, street children and drug users living on the streets in Ukraine."

"Sergey Kostin is a geologist by training. Shortly after the collapse of the Soviet Union, he became involved in the restoration of Odessa's major architectural treasures. To get help with his project, he set up a series of small workshops to teach carpentry, sewing and icon painting. In attempting to rescue the old buildings of Odessa, he rescued instead the exponentially growing numbers of homeless people, prostitutes, street children and drug addicts who roamed its streets. Kostin began The Way Home by offering a series of workshops similar to the ones he had run during his restoration work, seeking to build the skill base of those who had fallen on hard times. However, he soon discovered that the socially disenfranchised needed more than workshops. Thus, The Way Home rapidly expanded its programs and geographic scope to address this growing need across the Ukraine."

Excerpt from Outstanding Social Entrepreneurs 2010, the Schwab Foundation for Social Entrepreneurship

Alleviating Poverty by Investing in Women and Girls

Founded in 1976, the International Center for Research on Women (ICRW) describes itself as "thought leaders driven by a passion to alleviate poverty and rectify injustice in the world." The Center "reduces global poverty by investing in the lives of women and girls." In particular, ICRW works with girls and boys in their communities to delay marriages in areas where child marriage is an established tradition. In addition it educates policymakers on the adverse consequences of the practice for girls.

The ICRW also focuses on gender equality in agriculture. Time and again, the work of women farmers goes unrecognized. Not only are they often not paid for their farming, but many are not allowed to own land. Yet research demonstrates that women are instrumental in alleviating poverty and hunger when given access to land, equipment and credit as in most cases they are the ones who ensure food gets to their family.

The Center aims to improve the status of women, help protect their rights, ensure their access to reproductive information and healthcare, and increase their opportunities to be educated, hold jobs and own property. It is doing a great deal in these areas in more than 30 countries, as well as in fighting violence against women. Help the International Center for Research on Women in a variety of ways: for example, make a donation, sign up for their newsletter, or join their community.

Growing with the Chinese Mainland Sustainably

Many of the communities that the company CLP serves are in urgent need of power to support their economic and social development. Bringing affordable energy on a long-term and sustainable basis means that CLP must work with coal as it is the dominant fuel of choice in the Asia-Pacific region, but the company intends to do so responsibly. CLP also works with cleaner sources of energy such as gas, renewables and nuclear when it is practical to do so.

Founded in Hong Kong over a century ago, CLP is a leading power company in the Asia-Pacific region. CLP is committed to providing energy solutions in a financially, socially and environmentally responsible manner.

CLP’s investments on the mainland epitomize its approach to powering Asia responsibly. Supporting the Chinese government’s goal of reducing the carbon intensity of its economy, CLP has been actively pursuing clean energy opportunities on the mainland. From a small hydro project in Guangdong province started in 1997, the company’s portfolio today includes wind, nuclear, hydro and biomass. Where CLP works with coal, it uses more efficient and cleaner technology. The company’s goal is to maintain a balanced portfolio that allows it to produce power in an affordable manner, while meeting the promise of decarbonizing its generation portfolio by 75% by 2050.

In addition to commercial investments, community investments also play a role in supporting sustainable growth on the mainland. Recognizing the importance of preparing the next generation of leaders for complex challenges, CLP has been supporting a number of education initiatives in China.

In November 2009, the company established the CLP-Tsinghua University Clean Energy Education Fund to support students with financial difficulties at the Department of Electrical Engineering at Tsinghua University and to support research programs on clean energy. Through these efforts, the Fund aims to contribute to the mainland’s electricity sector by developing a pool of experts in clean energy.

At the basic-education level, CLP also runs a Young Power Program to promote environmental awareness and social responsibility through activity-based thematic learning, and has been contributing to the establishment of 11 Hope Schools with the goal of raising the literacy level and improving the learning conditions for rural children in Guizhou and Sichuan.

CLP recognizes that sustainable growth requires collective action and will continue to raise awareness about the importance of sustainability and to exchange information so that a low-carbon future becomes a reality in China.

Article originally published in the November 2010 edition of Sustain, the magazine of the World Business Council for Sustainable Development.

Anti-Corruption Awareness Day

9 December was International Anti-Corruption Day. More awareness is needed of the widespread problem of corruption, and what is being done to fight it. One effort is the United Nations Convention Against Corruption, which entered into force on 14 December 2005. So far 140 countries have signed the Convention. In January 2004, the World Economic Forum also launched an initiative to combat corruption, the Partnering Against Corruption Initiative (PACI). See also the UN's Global Compact and Transparency International's Global Coalition against Corruption.
Add your voice to the global battle by supporting the "Say No to Corruption" campaign on Facebook. It's everybody's business.

Saving the Tiger

Shekar Dattatri is a film-maker from India, who has produced documentaries on his country's wildlife to bring certain issues to the attention of the public, including a recent film on tiger conservation. "The Truth about Tigers" is about the tiger's alarming rate of decline, but it offers solutions to the problem. At the same time, it is a non-profit, non-commercial film available for free screenings. Want to know how you can contribute to saving the tiger? Watch the film here. And to get involved in this particular cause, go to www.truthabouttigers.org/home

Powering the Use of Alternative Fuels in China

As the world turns its attention towards the climate conference in Cancun, Mexico, it is important to remember that sustainable energy solutions already exist. Here is one example from China.

Sustainable development and social responsibility are at the core of the Chinese government’s current 5-year plan, and Holcim expects that they will be even more prominently represented in next year’s 5-year plan. Holcim, together with its Chinese partner Huaxin, also places great importance on these issues.

Huaxin’s environmental protection business unit contributes to the circular economy by converting certain industrial and municipal wastes into fuels and raw materials for cement production. In this way, Huaxin is able to substitute part of its coal consumption and can therefore preserve precious natural resources. Holcim is involved with the Chinese government in the Asia-Pacific Partnership on Clean Development and Climate task force, and engages with international organizations to help China develop environmentally-sound and safe practices.

Efforts to this end include following strict guidelines and policies on the use of waste materials in the clinker manufacturing process. Huaxin and Holcim are playing a key role in assisting governments to develop national and international guidelines and standards for co-processing. In China, Holcim has provided a great deal of input into the ‘Guidelines for Co-processing of Hazardous Wastes in Cement Kilns.’ This Sino-Norwegian project is under the responsibility of the Chinese Research Academy for Environmental Sciences and aims to regulate large-scale, environmentally sound management of hazardous waste disposal in cement kilns in order to strengthen the Chinese implementation of the Stockholm Convention and Basel Convention. Holcim’s and Huaxin’s work doesn’t stop there.

China is the world’s largest producer of pesticides, and the disposal of obsolete pesticides and their packaging constitutes a potential risk for people and the environment. Under the umbrella of the Sino-German project on ‘Management of obsolete pesticides,’ GTZ, Holcim and Huaxin formed a public-private partnership. Huaxin provides a waste management service through co-processing of obsolete pesticides in modern cement kilns.

High temperatures and long residence times ensure the complete and safe destruction of toxic chemicals. Thanks to its vast experience in the treatment of (sometimes hazardous) waste, Holcim is able to ensure that the disposal of this waste is carried out in an environmentally sound manner, and that relevant occupational health and safety issues are properly considered and managed. In total, Huaxin has disposed of around 1,500 metric tons of obsolete pesticides without compromising either the safety of workers and local communities or the quality of the clinker produced.

Article originally published in the November 2010 edition of Sustain, the magazine of the World Business Council for Sustainable Development.