Global Threat Blog

Washing your hands - a Consumer Habit?

A very interesting article appeared in the NY Times.  A self prescribed militant liberal by the name of Dr. Val Curtis, went to three of the largest multimnational firms to teach her how to manipulate consumer habits worldwide and get people to wash their hands with soap.  This effort was done to save millions of children from death and disease.  The article goes on to give examples of past product successes that have been implemented based on consumer habits.

Christina Aguilera Wears Urth & Urth Pendant in the Top 10

Photo from the Insider.

Christina Aguilera performed at the Stephen Webster launch event in Vegas.  She was sporting a design by Stephen Webster for Urth, "Fly By Night".  The gold from Urth is ethical - and adheres to Urth Solution's core values.  See www.urthsolution.com for more details on these values and my other blog entries on Urth Solution.  For more info on Gold see www.nodirtygold.org and for information on Artisanal Small Scale Miners see www.artisanalmining.org.

"I'm supporting URTH because mining communites are benefiting. Anything in luxury is a worry.  My celebrity clients are the first to quiz me with ethical concerns. They want to know: 'where are my diamonds from?' and gold is next, that's for sure." -- off http://www.urthjewellery.com

Also in the UK paper, The Independent, Pippa Small for Urth, Etched Tree pendant has made their Top 10 list!  The tree is very symbolic and I think classic to represent the earth/mother nature.  It's great to see this new glamour trend of ethical, green, eco-friendly product making it's way into main stream.      

Pandemic Resources

Good link on community planning Here.

Fatal Contact: Bird Flu In America

Scary Movie that aired on ABC on Bird Flu in America. Part 1

Is Wal-Mart a wolf in sheep's clothing?

I recently got schooled on Wal-Mart, the "Evil" empire.  I had sent an article out to my constituents about what Wal-Mart was doing in terms of greening America.   I thought sure Wal-Mart has a long way to go but here is a large corporation with a huge market, and they are pushing green products to consumers and they developed a program to make their stores go green.  I thought great!  Finally!  Is greening or promoting the Green Solution a bad thing no matter how it is packaged?  Well most of us know that Wal-Mart is  a huge violator of Human Rights/Labor conditions outside the U.S.  Sure, they have some things to work on right?

Recently Wal-Mart has launched their "Love Earth" line in both Wal-Mart stores and Sam's Club.  This line of Jewelery shows the supply chain of the metal from mine to consumer.  It even comes in nice eco-friendly packaging.  But consider who Wal-Mart is partnering with.  "Rio Tinto is currently fighting a suit under the federal Alien Tort Claims Act that blames the company for the deaths of thousands of Bougainville islanders in Papua New Guinea. Rio Tinto’s copper mine, the suit alleges, resulted in environmental destruction and crimes against humanity stemming from a military blockade motivated by civilian resistance to the mine.

According to Scorecard, a US pollution information site, in 2002 Newmont was operating some of America’s dirtiest mines. According to The New York Times, villagers in Buyat Bay on Indonesia’s Sulawesi island filed a $543 million lawsuit against Newmont contending that arsenic waste from their mining killed an infant and destroyed local fisheries."

It makes you wonder why Wal-Mart even bothers.  Has Ethical Supply Chains, Capacity Building, abd Sustainment become the new buzz words to replace Green, Global, Recycle?  I guess I did get schooled.  I believe the majority of consumers will fall into the same trap that Wal-Mart seems to have rebranded itself as an eco-friendly company.

Sources:
http://features.csmonitor.com/environment/2008/07/17/wal-mart-greening-its-jewelry/
http://www.beyondthemine.com/2007/?l=2&pid=4&parent=16&id=93
http://www.loveearthinfo.com/

Upcoming Summits

The 2nd Annual European Anti-Corruption Summit
6th-8th October 2008, The Hague

Central and Eastern Europe Corporate Responsibility Summit
13th-14th October 2008, Prague

Stakeholder Engagement
13th-14th October 2008, Barcelona

The Ethical Supply Chain Summit 2008
16th-17th October 2008, Berlin

The 2nd Annual Corporate Responsibility Reporting & Communications Summit
25th-26th November 2008, London

Three cheers for Yubiri Ortega!

(AP Photo/Howard Yanes)  In a somewhat startling move, Venezuela puts it's nation first when the Minister of of the Environment and Natural Resources puts a kibosh on mining in the Imataca Forest Reserves (Gold, Diamonds, Iron, and other minerals).  If you had read my earlier post on Venezuela taking itself out of the Kimberly Process for Diamonds based on gross conduct, you would understand why this is such a shock.  The Reserve is home to two of the Country's largest gold concessions.  The question is, will Venezuela move to make these concessions national?  No word yet.  While underground mining will most likely be allowed, open pit mining, which is extremely harmful and irreversible to the the environment, will not be allowed. 

Basically the Minister said this was a move to prevent large mining companies and illegal miners from destroying the environment and leaving only garbage behind.  Already one company has filed suit.  Nice.

Sources:
Examiner Article
Mineweb Article