Whatever 2.0

If you need help explaining your Whatever 2.0 strategy try the "Web Economy Bullshit Generator"

T4America

Today the Star Tribune published an article that mentioned Transportation for America, T4America.org, a group that advocates for "a major multidisciplinary effort to reform transportation policy." They basically want to increased public transit and decreased energy usage. What I found cool, is they invite you to join the conversation. Keep track of them via RSS; read what you want, comment if feel like it, its a conversation!

User Generated Tahoe Ad

So a few years back GM thought it would be a good idea to let people create their own Tahoe SUV ads. They provided some canned footage and a program to create messages, (read this Wired story for more details). Here is one of my favorite ads.

If mom cared

So lets imagine Mom drives little Johnny 10 miles to McDonald's in her flex fuel Chevy Tahoe. As they finish their meal mom tells her child “finish your food, there are starving children in Africa”. So little Johnny pops another chicken nugget in his mouth, consuming 40 calories of food energy, which came from 120 calories of corn.

However, if mom cared about starving children in Africa she would tell her political officials to get the corn out of her fuel. Mom’s FlexFuel Chevy Tahoe consumed a whole gallon of E85 for the 10-mile trip to the restaurant.

One gallon of E85 contains more than a 53,000 calories of corn. In other words, it takes 443 times more corn to make one gallon of ethanol (E85) than one chicken nugget. Even if mom fills up with normal gas (which typically has a 10 percent ethanol blend) she is still consuming 6200 calories of corn or 52 times more corn than one chicken nugget.

53,000 corn calories for one gallon of E85, seriously?

A gallon of Ethanol requires 26.1 pounds of corn.
There are 2400 calories in a pound of corn

(26 .1 * (.85))* 2400 = 53,244 calories of corn

And the math for the chicken nugget
There is about a 3 to 1 calorie conversion from corm to chicken meat.

40 * 3 = 120 calories of corn

Process not Personality

Corporate America has Darwinist character, the most adaptable thrive. Winning ideologies increase shareholder value. To pull this off companies need to have processes that are scalable. A designed centric business will function with discipline and confidence. Yet, even the best business designs need to adapt to consumers even changing perception of what your brand stands for. To keep up innovation and flexibility are key. Experienced personalities often excel in achieving short-term results. But a company needs to know why it’s successful so it can share that information and reinforce the behavior. This systemization goes against the creative personality, vital for innovative new ideas. Therefore, the key contradiction to overcome is how to balance process control with creative personalities.

Rome & MPR

So on an early morning in late March my brother gets a call from my cousin inviting him to join my extended family for a last minute trip to Rome. One of the reasons I thought he should go was they were staying with the Brudvig’s. The Brudvig’s have been family friends for as a long as I can remember and Lee has an interesting and successful career with the State Department. Right now Lee stationed at the U.S. Mission to the U.N. Agencies in Rome and is working with the UN’s World Food Program and Food and Agriculture Organization.

Coincidentally, this morning MPR did a story on the fight against hunger and interviewed Tony Hall. Tony Hall was the previous ambassador of the embassy where Lee works, which is right in the neck of woods where my brother and extended family are traveling.

It’s a small world after all.

The Natural Step

As a long time advocate I’ve realize sustainability is still a very nebulous concept. Despite all of media hoopla on greenwashing and glossy corporate social responsibility reports, I think very few people really grasp what being sustainable really is. To my relief I attend a class put on by Responsible Minnesota Business on The Natural Step Framework (NSF).

You may ask, why is the NSF such a relief? Because it gives a simple yet comprehensive approach for how individuals and organization can be more sustainable. Its four principals embody basic science and systems thinking to come up with an approach that both grade school kids and corporate executives can understand.

Basically the NSF is: 1 what we take, 2 make and 3 break to meet basic human needs 4. This nifty diagram that shows what I mean (and its linked to where i found it if you'd like to read more.)

Like good design simple, yet sufficient.