This post is by Alastair Harper, a senior policy adviser at Green Alliance. It reviews a report on values and sustainable development by ResPublica and was first published in the Charity Times.
Do we want our politicians to care about our children or make us rich? Are our political parties from Venus or Mars? In ResPublica’s Different politics, same planet it seems that is the choice we face.
Funders spend almost as much on water vole conservation as holding the global oil industry to account
This is a guest post by Jon Cracknell, a member of the Environmental Funders Network (EFN) steering group and manager of the Goldsmith family’s philanthropy, and Nick Perks, co-ordinator of EFN.
The fifth edition of Where the green grants went, published in January 2012 by the Environmental Funders Network (EFN), shows that environmental issues continue to receive just three per cent of overall UK philanthropy. The research also shows that, over the three financial years from 2007 to 2010, funding from the 147 trusts covered by the report has plateaued at around £75 million per year.
This post looks at social factors that affect our behaviour. It’s part of a series on behaviour change and sustainability, which includes an introduction to behavioural theory and a summary of some of the psychological traits that influence us.
Social creatures
As well as being influenced by our own psychological make-up, our behaviour is deeply influenced by social context. This is true both on a small scale, in terms of being affected by what others think and do, and on a large scale in terms of the norms and practices that dominate a society. Continue reading
Why did BP quit the solar industry and what will that decision mean? We asked two leading commentators for their analysis.
This second post is by Ben Caldecott, head of policy, advisory at Climate Change Capital and a Green Alliance trustee.
BP exiting the solar business after 40 years might sound like a dramatic step. Unfortunately, the recent move wasn’t all that surprising for two reasons.
First, BP’s once fabled ‘beyond petroleum’ strategy has been dead and buried for some time already. The only ‘alternative’ energy strategy that incumbent oil companies like BP seem to be pursuing is more of the same, plus as much unconventional oil and gas as possible. Continue reading
Why did BP quit the solar industry and what will that decision mean? We asked two leading commentators for their analysis.
This first post is by Charlie Kronick, senior climate advisor at Greenpeace UK
Many have noted BP’s decision to move out of solar energy after dabbling for 40 years. When everyone from Google to Warren Buffet to Trans Canada (the company trying to build the KeystoneXL pipeline) is moving into solar energy, BP has decided to wind down that portion of its business.
Why? The global reputation of the company is battered, in the wake of selling off a dangerous and unprofitable refinery business in the US (including Texas City refinery, where an explosion killed 15 and injured 170 in 2005); the catastrophic Deepwater Horizon accident; and the finally abortive attempt to tie up with Rosneft in the Russian Arctic in 2010. Why would BP finally jettison one of its nominally more attractive assets? Continue reading
This is a guest post by Julie Hill, author of The Secret Life of Stuff, and a Green Alliance associate.
The news that the companies signed up to WRAP’s Courtauld Commitment are seriously off track for meeting their target for reducing food waste in their supply chains (only 0.4 per cent reduction against a target of five per cent by end of 2012) will doubtless be seized upon by opponents of ‘voluntary agreements’. Continue reading
This is a guest post by Julie Hill, author of The Secret Life of Stuff, and a Green Alliance associate.
Later this spring, the government will publish its Resource Security Action Plan. The Plan is a response to business concerns about resource availability, since Chinese restrictions on rare earth exports, and the price spikes induced by high global demand and commodity speculation, have set off panic in all directions. Continue reading
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