Social media showed a young motor scooter rider risking his life to stop the traffic behind him in order to let an elderly woman with a cane cross a busy street.
Coty-owned cosmetic company, Rimmel, found a partner to help the one in four women aged 16 to 25 in ten countries who experienced cyberbullying and the nearly half of those who began harming themselves. While not a perfect solution, Rimmel began directing customers to the Cybersmile Foundation's website, which, according to trendwatching.com, guides users to local resources and organizations that offer help to those attacked by cyberbullies.
National Geographic's website claims helping others satisfies a basic human desire to feel good about oneself. At nationalgeographic.com/family/help-your-kid-make-world-better/, there are ideas for what children can do when they see others being bullied.
Japan, a country with one of the highest densities of robots in the world, 303 to 10,000 industrial employees according to The Economist magazine (Nov. 10, 2018), found robots do not satisfy customers in department stores, beauty salons, hotels, and restaurants.
Studies show robots could replace half of Japan's workers in 20 years. But will the driverless vehicles Japan plans to employ during the 2020 Tokyo Summer Olympics stop to help a lost tourist or a man with a walker who has fallen in the street? Social media reported bus drivers, without any prompting or promise of reward, performed both services in the last couple of weeks.
Are kids cool if they seek out and sit with lonely kids in school lunchrooms? (See the earlier post, "Overcome Lunch Table Loneliness.") They are to everyone in the world who ever has needed a little help and received it from a friend or stranger.
Showing posts with label UK. Show all posts
Showing posts with label UK. Show all posts
Saturday, November 17, 2018
Saturday, November 10, 2018
How Can Bananas Be 29 Cents a Pound?
You may have noticed Chiquita prints labels on bananas from Honduras over pink ribbons supporting breast cancer research. Possibly the company has seen research by Kantar Consulting in the UK. Kantar's Purpose 2020 study found "almost two-thirds of millennials and centennials...express a preference for brands that have a point of view and stand for something." Consultants went on to conclude consumers expect brands to use their social power for positive change.
Nowadays, the world has a wide variety of models that affect positive change. Religious missionaries and JFK's Peace Corps show how to bring education and skill training to impoverished areas. Experienced nongovernmental organizations rush water, food, and medical quick-fix support when earthquakes and other natural disasters strike, while international banks grant low-cost loans to finance the projects and equipment for long-term solutions. Foundations, universities, and major stockholders pressured South Africa to end apartheid by withdrawing investments from South African companies. Supermarket shoppers lent their economic power to Cesar Chavez's campaign to better conditions for lettuce pickers.
The mothers, children, and other relatives walking, riding, and floating north to escape violence and poverty in Central America crave positive social change. According to ethicalconsumer.org, United Fruit, now Chiquita, and Standard Fruit, now Dole, came to Central America in the 1890s, because fertile land and government corruption provided excellent conditions for their banana businesses. In time, grocery chains habitually began to use bananas as loss leaders, offering them at low prices to attract shoppers who would buy other items, such as greeting cards that can be $3 or more, at profitable prices. These shoppers now are in a position to pressure supermarkets to buy from suppliers who treat workers fairly. Customers, who work for a living themselves, understand employees are entitled to fair compensation for their work. Those who climb trees to harvest bananas in Guatemala cannot be expected to subsidize grocers by accepting low wages, poor education and housing, and medical problems from unsafe working conditions.
Today's greater access to worldwide information prompts both consumer concern for the exploitation of labor in foreign countries and exposure to the consequences of government corruption. The Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission in Kenya recognizes foreign companies involved in corrupt practices "ruin our country." At the same time, what company wants to risk prosecution for bribing government officials for a construction contract in Brazil or to pay off officials in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, if the same commodities are available in Australia?
Migrant refugees don't want to walk miles to seek asylum from violence and poverty. Consumers and businesses have the power to change the conditions that can help them stay home.
Nowadays, the world has a wide variety of models that affect positive change. Religious missionaries and JFK's Peace Corps show how to bring education and skill training to impoverished areas. Experienced nongovernmental organizations rush water, food, and medical quick-fix support when earthquakes and other natural disasters strike, while international banks grant low-cost loans to finance the projects and equipment for long-term solutions. Foundations, universities, and major stockholders pressured South Africa to end apartheid by withdrawing investments from South African companies. Supermarket shoppers lent their economic power to Cesar Chavez's campaign to better conditions for lettuce pickers.
The mothers, children, and other relatives walking, riding, and floating north to escape violence and poverty in Central America crave positive social change. According to ethicalconsumer.org, United Fruit, now Chiquita, and Standard Fruit, now Dole, came to Central America in the 1890s, because fertile land and government corruption provided excellent conditions for their banana businesses. In time, grocery chains habitually began to use bananas as loss leaders, offering them at low prices to attract shoppers who would buy other items, such as greeting cards that can be $3 or more, at profitable prices. These shoppers now are in a position to pressure supermarkets to buy from suppliers who treat workers fairly. Customers, who work for a living themselves, understand employees are entitled to fair compensation for their work. Those who climb trees to harvest bananas in Guatemala cannot be expected to subsidize grocers by accepting low wages, poor education and housing, and medical problems from unsafe working conditions.
Today's greater access to worldwide information prompts both consumer concern for the exploitation of labor in foreign countries and exposure to the consequences of government corruption. The Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission in Kenya recognizes foreign companies involved in corrupt practices "ruin our country." At the same time, what company wants to risk prosecution for bribing government officials for a construction contract in Brazil or to pay off officials in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, if the same commodities are available in Australia?
Migrant refugees don't want to walk miles to seek asylum from violence and poverty. Consumers and businesses have the power to change the conditions that can help them stay home.
Thursday, October 11, 2018
Overcome Lunch Table Loneliness
The Mean Girls movie provides just one example of the rigid social structure that decides which students enjoy companionship at lunch time and which don't. Since loneliness sometimes causes students to take out their resentment with violent measures or to turn inward with mental health problems, suggestions for improving social interactions at school lunch times merit attention.
I recall a TV segment that featured a student who took it upon himself to seek out those he saw eating by themselves during high school lunch periods. He sat with them, got to know them, and invited them to interact with him at any time in the halls and classrooms, not just at lunch. Soon, he had inspired other students to join him in being on the lookout for lunch time loners.
One of the best aspects of globalization is the opportunity it provides to spot innovations in one country that could be adopted in others. According to trendwatching.com, the Costa Coffee cafe chain in the UK places signs on tables to indicate reserved seating for customers who want to chat. Could schools do the same, and, maybe, often change signs to suggest conversation topics of the day that also could inspire discussions at other tables? Making table signs (with cartoons on them?) might be a great service project for a school club.
When I was in graduate school, a professor urged MBA students to avoid sitting by themselves or with the same people at lunch every day after they entered the business world. He especially urged marketing students to use lunches to get to know employees in finance, accounting, and other departments who will need to support new products that have no track record.
Also, it's always a good idea to get out of the building at lunch time, take a walk, and see what's happening in the neighborhood. Getting out is a reminder that there is more to life than school or a career.
I recall a TV segment that featured a student who took it upon himself to seek out those he saw eating by themselves during high school lunch periods. He sat with them, got to know them, and invited them to interact with him at any time in the halls and classrooms, not just at lunch. Soon, he had inspired other students to join him in being on the lookout for lunch time loners.
One of the best aspects of globalization is the opportunity it provides to spot innovations in one country that could be adopted in others. According to trendwatching.com, the Costa Coffee cafe chain in the UK places signs on tables to indicate reserved seating for customers who want to chat. Could schools do the same, and, maybe, often change signs to suggest conversation topics of the day that also could inspire discussions at other tables? Making table signs (with cartoons on them?) might be a great service project for a school club.
When I was in graduate school, a professor urged MBA students to avoid sitting by themselves or with the same people at lunch every day after they entered the business world. He especially urged marketing students to use lunches to get to know employees in finance, accounting, and other departments who will need to support new products that have no track record.
Also, it's always a good idea to get out of the building at lunch time, take a walk, and see what's happening in the neighborhood. Getting out is a reminder that there is more to life than school or a career.
Sunday, September 30, 2018
Looking for a Position as a Top Analyst or a Young Voter?
In response to a question about how to reach college and other young voters, one strategist suggested getting involved with their interest in music. Getting involved with their interests in gaming and robot competitions could work also.
International scouts for top analysts already visit video games' competitions. Wonder how many were hired playing eSports at the Asian Games in Indonesia. Robot battles also might serve as prime recruiting venues.
Gamers report having a controller in their hands improves their emotional well-being. Gaming stadiums, like South Korea's League of Legends (LOL) park, Russia's Spodek, and those in Canada and Chongqing, China, are taking advantage of the gaming phenomena that is becoming a $150 billion dollar industry. Knowing gamers dislike crumbs in their controllers, trendwatching.com reports Doritos now offers the snack in Towel Bags that provide a way to wipe off residue from the tasty treat.
With or without Towel Bags, spectators can watch the action on gaming stations while eating the usual fare sold at sports arenas. The LOL park, developed by Riot Games, will have a cafe open 24 hours a day and a hall of fame selling jerseys and 3D printed miniatures of LOL pros. Mastercard has a three year deal to sponsor League of Legends World Champiionships. And Coutts, bankers to the Queen of England, is courting esports' millionaires. Tyler Blevins, known as "Ninja", published a graphic novel for his millions of gamer fans.
International scouts for top analysts already visit video games' competitions. Wonder how many were hired playing eSports at the Asian Games in Indonesia. Robot battles also might serve as prime recruiting venues.
Gamers report having a controller in their hands improves their emotional well-being. Gaming stadiums, like South Korea's League of Legends (LOL) park, Russia's Spodek, and those in Canada and Chongqing, China, are taking advantage of the gaming phenomena that is becoming a $150 billion dollar industry. Knowing gamers dislike crumbs in their controllers, trendwatching.com reports Doritos now offers the snack in Towel Bags that provide a way to wipe off residue from the tasty treat.
With or without Towel Bags, spectators can watch the action on gaming stations while eating the usual fare sold at sports arenas. The LOL park, developed by Riot Games, will have a cafe open 24 hours a day and a hall of fame selling jerseys and 3D printed miniatures of LOL pros. Mastercard has a three year deal to sponsor League of Legends World Champiionships. And Coutts, bankers to the Queen of England, is courting esports' millionaires. Tyler Blevins, known as "Ninja", published a graphic novel for his millions of gamer fans.
Saturday, September 29, 2018
Big Projects Combat Climate Change
"Oddly, few modern educational systems spend much time teaching systematically about the future," David Christian writes in his book, Origin Story: A Big History of Everything. A teach-in, modeled on the protests against the Vietnam War in the 1960s, did inspire the first Earth Day on April 22, 1970. What those students learned in the past half century is: environmental converts relapse. Efforts to promote fossil fuel alternatives, recycling, foregoing plastic, and organic farming have produced only marginal results.
While enlightened solutions to environmental mischief need to continue, ideas for major projects required to combat the effects of unchanged behavior on global warming also need to begin. Germany's Max Planck Institute for Chemistry expects temperatures of 115 degrees Fahrenheit to be five times more likely by 2050 than they were when extreme temperatures spiked in 2000. In 2016 and 2017, Kuwait and Iran began competing to break the highest reliably recorded temperature.
While enlightened solutions to environmental mischief need to continue, ideas for major projects required to combat the effects of unchanged behavior on global warming also need to begin. Germany's Max Planck Institute for Chemistry expects temperatures of 115 degrees Fahrenheit to be five times more likely by 2050 than they were when extreme temperatures spiked in 2000. In 2016 and 2017, Kuwait and Iran began competing to break the highest reliably recorded temperature.
Do work and education have to take place in the heat of the day? For religious reasons, business already is conducted at night in Muslim countries during Ramadan. Research shows teens need more sleep than they get when their bodies want to stay up until 11 pm or later and schools expect them to arrive at 7:30 am or 8. In Las Vegas, I understand some students already attend classes at night. While living in Jamaica, Noel Coward wrote a song based on his observations.
At twelve noon the natives swoon
and no further work is done.
But Mad Dogs and Englishmen go out in the midday sun.
Working and learning during hotter climate changing days will require more and more air conditioning to keep people from dying from the heat and rats and insects from devouring and contaminating harvested food. To reduce the greenhouse gases and ozone pollution that air conditioning generates requires the difficult tasks of developing less toxic refrigerants and reducing the need for electricity. It would be much easier and faster to move the time for work and study to a cooler time of the day.
Trees are recognized as climate change saviors. They produce shade, reduce pollution, and sop up greenhouse gases. China is planting a tree wall to protect Beijing from sand/dust storms from the Gobi Desert. To produce these benefits, trees (as well as crops) need a system for channeling excess monsoon water their way.
Try asking kids who are building with blocks or computers to design a system to carry too much water from hurricanes and monsoons to drought areas. Why not locate pieces of aluminum pipe in various parts of the world that governments can fit together like LEGOs to make temporary pipes that channel overflowing lakes and rivers to forests and crop land suffering from drought? In Origin Story, Christian writes about moments in history when "Goldilocks conditions" are just right, like Baby Bear's porridge, for transitions in evolutionary change. Often these moments are "aha" insights when someone combines things that already exist in a new way.
In an earlier post, "Gone Fishin'," I reported on the long floating plastic boom designed to collect plastic and other debris in the Great Pacific Garbage Patch, also known as "the blob" between California and Hawaii that forms the warm water that seems to nourish the warm, dry winters dehydrating forests along the northwest coast of North America. Could this plastic garbage be melted for use in 3D printers? Maybe it could provide insulation and furniture for the 3D houses printed for the world's 68.5 million refugees now living in makeshift camps. (See more about "building" 3D houses at the earlier post, "Necessity: Introduce Students to New Technologies.")
Invite kids who are not bound by what is and what always has been to think about ways to solve the new challenges climate change does and will continue to present. How can solar and wind energy be stored and distributed? What can be done to reduce the amount of stuff ending up in methane-generating dumps? Students who love science fiction also might look into the solar geoengineering ideas that involve improving the ability of clouds to block or reflect sun rays. Insect control without dangerous chemicals, endangered animals, shipping and public transportation, drought-resistant crops and farming methods, all need big new plans for the best future.
Thursday, September 20, 2018
China Feels Winds of Change
Not only has the US President tired of China's theft of intellectual property and lopsided trade balance, but Malaysia's new 93-year-old prime minister, Dr. Mahathir Mohamad, is fed up with loans for Beijing's worldwide Belt and Road Initiative. Labeling China's project "new colonialism," Dr. Mohamad traveled to Beijing to cancel the previous Malaysian government's agreement to finance a rail line and two pipelines for an inflated $20 billion (China may, however, have a way to regain these contracts, if Beijing turns over Jho Low, who was the mastermind of a financial scam in Malaysia). Sierra Leone's new president, Julius Maada Bio, also told China it canceled the previous administration's contract to build a new airport, since the existing one is underutilized.
Despite heavy Chinese spending in support of Abdulla Yameen in the Maldives, the atolls that occupy a key position to monitor trade in the Indian Ocean, Ibrahim Mohamed Solih won a surprise victory in that country's September, 2018 presidential election.
Chinese citizens also were none too happy in September, 2018, when they learned President Xi Jinping, at a meeting of the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation, committed another $60 billion to 53 African countries after committing $60 billion in 2015. Censors quickly removed social media criticism that claimed loans would not be repaid and aid was needed for domestic projects.
China's unabashed interest in Africa's mineral commodities and growing market is arousing dormant European competition. Following his trip to China to inquire about funding for infrastructure projects, President Buhari of Nigeria received visits by French President, Emmanuel Macron, Germany's Chancellor, Angela Merkel, and British prime minister, Theresa May. It was Mrs. May's first trip to former British colonies in five years.
At home, Tiananmen Square did not end demonstrations in China in 1989. Labeled "picking quarrels and causing trouble," "public-order disturbances," strikes by workers in factories and service industries, or just plain incidents, the Communist Party still tries to tamp out what it considers threats to peace and security by arresting demonstrators and those who post social media information about the protests. Despite these government crack downs, protests continue. In 2016, for example, parents of dead children, whose only children were born during the era of China's one-child policy, took to the streets in Beijing. This year, parents protested a local government's decision to transfer children from nearby schools to distant ones. Whether land is seized by local officials, soldiers demand higher pensions, or a minority wants to practice religion, state controls continue to spark tensions.
China fears large movements, such as members with loyalties to international trade union organizations or religions (Muslim, Buddhist, Shinto, or Christian). The government is wary of any large gathering. Security keeps visitors out of Hongya, the Dalai Lama's birthplace in March, when in 1959, a demonstration against Chinese rule in Tibet led to the Dalai Lama's exile and the dissolution of his government there. During the 19th National Congress of the Chinese Communist Party in Beijing, police canceled the Norlha Basketball Invitational tournament in China's Tibetan region. The Public Security Bureau feared the large crowd of spectators the tournament would attract in the Dalai Lama's former domain. (Also see the later posts, "Challenging Chinese New Year" and "Playgrounds Welcome March Basketball.")
Despite heavy Chinese spending in support of Abdulla Yameen in the Maldives, the atolls that occupy a key position to monitor trade in the Indian Ocean, Ibrahim Mohamed Solih won a surprise victory in that country's September, 2018 presidential election.
Chinese citizens also were none too happy in September, 2018, when they learned President Xi Jinping, at a meeting of the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation, committed another $60 billion to 53 African countries after committing $60 billion in 2015. Censors quickly removed social media criticism that claimed loans would not be repaid and aid was needed for domestic projects.
China's unabashed interest in Africa's mineral commodities and growing market is arousing dormant European competition. Following his trip to China to inquire about funding for infrastructure projects, President Buhari of Nigeria received visits by French President, Emmanuel Macron, Germany's Chancellor, Angela Merkel, and British prime minister, Theresa May. It was Mrs. May's first trip to former British colonies in five years.
At home, Tiananmen Square did not end demonstrations in China in 1989. Labeled "picking quarrels and causing trouble," "public-order disturbances," strikes by workers in factories and service industries, or just plain incidents, the Communist Party still tries to tamp out what it considers threats to peace and security by arresting demonstrators and those who post social media information about the protests. Despite these government crack downs, protests continue. In 2016, for example, parents of dead children, whose only children were born during the era of China's one-child policy, took to the streets in Beijing. This year, parents protested a local government's decision to transfer children from nearby schools to distant ones. Whether land is seized by local officials, soldiers demand higher pensions, or a minority wants to practice religion, state controls continue to spark tensions.
China fears large movements, such as members with loyalties to international trade union organizations or religions (Muslim, Buddhist, Shinto, or Christian). The government is wary of any large gathering. Security keeps visitors out of Hongya, the Dalai Lama's birthplace in March, when in 1959, a demonstration against Chinese rule in Tibet led to the Dalai Lama's exile and the dissolution of his government there. During the 19th National Congress of the Chinese Communist Party in Beijing, police canceled the Norlha Basketball Invitational tournament in China's Tibetan region. The Public Security Bureau feared the large crowd of spectators the tournament would attract in the Dalai Lama's former domain. (Also see the later posts, "Challenging Chinese New Year" and "Playgrounds Welcome March Basketball.")
Wednesday, September 19, 2018
Globalization's Impact on Fashion
Hard to believe in times past fashion confined itself to separate French, Italian, and US markets rather than to today's cross-cultural global industry. Even when Vogue magazine has separate international editions in Arabic and for Latin America, Poland, and the Czech Republic, Vogue's original edition features a global array of designers and models, such as Somali-American Halima Aden, the Tanzanian-Norwegian twins Martine and Gunnhild Chioko, and Grace Bol from South Sudan.
Although global e-commerce, references to no borders or boundaries, diversity, and presentations in exotic locations seem to be the mode, a former culture minister in Italy observed, "a globalized world puts greater value on the distinctions and sense of identity...." Brands with strong national identities, like Chanel and Burberry, do not shy away from projecting their heritage and point-of-view in the global marketplace. At Chanel, Hamburg's Karl Lagerfeld insured the future of the Lesage embroidery house. Japanese designer, Jun Takahashi, admits his inspiration from the British punk rock youth culture.
Fashion will always search for what is new and different. Flappers cast off their constrictive undergarments to Charleston in short shifts that could move. Dior fashioned voluminous skirts to signal the end of fabric rationing in World War II. The man who put on a Lumumba University
T-shirt to work out in CIA's gym wanted the attention he received.
Today, creating an individual identity is easy. Simply incorporate a touch of another country's culture. I treasure an African "gold" necklace of straw and wax a friend brought me from Mali. On my coffee table, guests can pick up and examine the carved wooden sling shot I found at a bazaar sponsored by West African missionaries. Add stuffed dates and rice wrapped in grape leaves to your dinner menu. And when you browse through mail order magazines from a museum (store.metmuseum.org) or a nonprofit (unicefmarket.org/catalog), look for foreign items for yourself and for holiday gifts that might introduce children and older friends to a new culture and distinctive identity.
Although global e-commerce, references to no borders or boundaries, diversity, and presentations in exotic locations seem to be the mode, a former culture minister in Italy observed, "a globalized world puts greater value on the distinctions and sense of identity...." Brands with strong national identities, like Chanel and Burberry, do not shy away from projecting their heritage and point-of-view in the global marketplace. At Chanel, Hamburg's Karl Lagerfeld insured the future of the Lesage embroidery house. Japanese designer, Jun Takahashi, admits his inspiration from the British punk rock youth culture.
Fashion will always search for what is new and different. Flappers cast off their constrictive undergarments to Charleston in short shifts that could move. Dior fashioned voluminous skirts to signal the end of fabric rationing in World War II. The man who put on a Lumumba University
T-shirt to work out in CIA's gym wanted the attention he received.
Today, creating an individual identity is easy. Simply incorporate a touch of another country's culture. I treasure an African "gold" necklace of straw and wax a friend brought me from Mali. On my coffee table, guests can pick up and examine the carved wooden sling shot I found at a bazaar sponsored by West African missionaries. Add stuffed dates and rice wrapped in grape leaves to your dinner menu. And when you browse through mail order magazines from a museum (store.metmuseum.org) or a nonprofit (unicefmarket.org/catalog), look for foreign items for yourself and for holiday gifts that might introduce children and older friends to a new culture and distinctive identity.
Sunday, September 16, 2018
Refugees at Work
Not all 68.5 million migrants identified by the UN High Commission for Refugees (UNHCR) live in camps. In the US, for example, asylum seekers can receive work permits, if their cases are not resolved in 180 days. In July, 2018, one asylum seeker from Sudan was given a court date in 2021.
What do refugees do while they are in limbo? Some drive cabs or work in nursing homes. But refugees who fled a civil war in Ethiopia mobilized family members to bring their home town food-associated hospitality to a restaurant they opened in Washington, DC. Creative employers, such as the Palestinian and Yemen business partners, Nas Jab and Jabber Nasser al Bihani, look for asylum seekers who have skills they can employ. That way, they found chefs for their Komeeda restaurants in New York, NY; Austin, Texas; and Washington, DC.
The UNHCR adopted an idea from a French catering company, Les Cuistots Migrateurs, that organized a festival to attract immigrant chefs for restaurants in Paris, Lyon, Madrid, and Rome. UNHCR-sponsored festivals have led to numerous international dining experiences.
What do refugees do while they are in limbo? Some drive cabs or work in nursing homes. But refugees who fled a civil war in Ethiopia mobilized family members to bring their home town food-associated hospitality to a restaurant they opened in Washington, DC. Creative employers, such as the Palestinian and Yemen business partners, Nas Jab and Jabber Nasser al Bihani, look for asylum seekers who have skills they can employ. That way, they found chefs for their Komeeda restaurants in New York, NY; Austin, Texas; and Washington, DC.
The UNHCR adopted an idea from a French catering company, Les Cuistots Migrateurs, that organized a festival to attract immigrant chefs for restaurants in Paris, Lyon, Madrid, and Rome. UNHCR-sponsored festivals have led to numerous international dining experiences.
- Women cook native dishes at Mazi Mas in London.
- Home cooking from Syria is on the menu at the New Arrival Super Club in Los Angeles.
- Detroit is opening Baobab Fare, a Burundian restaurant and market.
- The Sushioki chain in Durhan, North Carolina, advertises the cooking of refugee chefs.
Friday, July 20, 2018
Weekend Retail Therapy
Shopping for new clothes on a weekend is a favorite pastime, even when it's not raining. Around the world, I see marketers adding new twists to what some call the "retail therapy" experience.
In a mall in Kazakhstan, shoppers find an indoor river, and they can ride an indoor monorail, just like the one at Disneyland. At the Mall of America in Minneapolis, there are carnival rides and an assortment of LEGOs kids and adults can use to build whatever they want.
Slip on a ZOZOSUIT from the Japanese retailer, ZOZO, and the stretchy black bodysuit, with the help of a mobile app, takes perfect measurements for a new outfit. In your own home, the 150 white dot sensors covering the suit enable a 3-D scan to make, for example, custom-fit jeans for online purchase at prices starting at $58. But It's only a matter of time before in store customers also might expect to use this innovation to insure a perfect fit that doesn't require additional tailoring.
UK retailer, ASOS, already entices customers with photographs and augmented reality (AR) showing how the same outfit looks on different body types.
Mall customers in Chinese In Time retail restrooms can use augmented reality mirrors to test makeup products before using a mobile code to purchase Lancome, Benefit, or Shu Uemura cosmetics from the vending machine next to them.
Brands have begun to bundle products with services. Adidas sneakers serve as metro passes in Berlin. Nike's NBA Jerseys connect wearers to digital content about their favorite teams and players. A Tuxe bodysuit comes with an offer for free online business and life coaching sessions.
At REI Co-op, customers know the clothing, footwear, and camping gear they purchase meet sustainable business practices.
Combat Flip Flops (combatfllipflops.com) converts objects used in warfare into flip flops and accessories. Melted unexploded ordinance (UXO) become jewelry.
Graphic T-shirts say a lot these days. Keep looking until you find the message that suits you to a "T."
In a mall in Kazakhstan, shoppers find an indoor river, and they can ride an indoor monorail, just like the one at Disneyland. At the Mall of America in Minneapolis, there are carnival rides and an assortment of LEGOs kids and adults can use to build whatever they want.
Slip on a ZOZOSUIT from the Japanese retailer, ZOZO, and the stretchy black bodysuit, with the help of a mobile app, takes perfect measurements for a new outfit. In your own home, the 150 white dot sensors covering the suit enable a 3-D scan to make, for example, custom-fit jeans for online purchase at prices starting at $58. But It's only a matter of time before in store customers also might expect to use this innovation to insure a perfect fit that doesn't require additional tailoring.
UK retailer, ASOS, already entices customers with photographs and augmented reality (AR) showing how the same outfit looks on different body types.
Mall customers in Chinese In Time retail restrooms can use augmented reality mirrors to test makeup products before using a mobile code to purchase Lancome, Benefit, or Shu Uemura cosmetics from the vending machine next to them.
Brands have begun to bundle products with services. Adidas sneakers serve as metro passes in Berlin. Nike's NBA Jerseys connect wearers to digital content about their favorite teams and players. A Tuxe bodysuit comes with an offer for free online business and life coaching sessions.
At REI Co-op, customers know the clothing, footwear, and camping gear they purchase meet sustainable business practices.
Combat Flip Flops (combatfllipflops.com) converts objects used in warfare into flip flops and accessories. Melted unexploded ordinance (UXO) become jewelry.
Graphic T-shirts say a lot these days. Keep looking until you find the message that suits you to a "T."
Saturday, July 14, 2018
Freedom: Love It, Don't Leave It
A big balloon provided an unwelcoming greeting to President Trump in the UK, and comics mocked the politically-ambitions wife of a former Zimbabwe President. Such actions are reminders of the civil liberties others all over the world do not enjoy.
North Korea and China deprive religious and free-thinking citizens in re-education camps. Beijing released Liu Xia, the widow of deceased Nobel peace poetry laureate, Liu Xiaobo, from house arrest on July 10, 2018. She was allowed to leave for exile in Germany, possibly to court good relations with a U.S. ally President Trump recently offended at a NATO summit. But back in Beijing, Chinese authorities stand ready to arrest Liu's younger brother, Liu Hui, if Liu Xia makes any statements China considers objectionable.
Beijing was concerned when Edward Leung, a Hong Kong proponent of independence from China, received 15% of the vote for a seat in the former British island's Legislative Council. Shortly after Leung received this minor vote of confidence, he was involved in what turned into a riot in 2016. Two years later, on June 11, 2018, he received a six-year sentence for his involvement in the uprising.
Charged with subversion, China sentenced Qin Yongmin, to a 13-year prison term on July 11, 2018. He also had been jailed earlier for his pro-democracy demands. Along with political prisoners, China continues to detain lawyers and other activists who dare to use Chinese laws to prevent abuses of power by government officials.
In Russia, Oleg Navalny still languishes in a penal colony for his association with the anti-corruption rallies of his brother, Alexei, who himself was re-arrested in September, 2018 two minutes after serving a 30-day jail sentence. Ukrainian film director, Oleg Sentsov, is starving on a hunger strike while serving a 20-year sentence in Siberia. His crime, objecting to Vladimir Putin's 2014 annexation of Crimea, an action for which Russia is being sanctioned.
North Korea and China deprive religious and free-thinking citizens in re-education camps. Beijing released Liu Xia, the widow of deceased Nobel peace poetry laureate, Liu Xiaobo, from house arrest on July 10, 2018. She was allowed to leave for exile in Germany, possibly to court good relations with a U.S. ally President Trump recently offended at a NATO summit. But back in Beijing, Chinese authorities stand ready to arrest Liu's younger brother, Liu Hui, if Liu Xia makes any statements China considers objectionable.
Beijing was concerned when Edward Leung, a Hong Kong proponent of independence from China, received 15% of the vote for a seat in the former British island's Legislative Council. Shortly after Leung received this minor vote of confidence, he was involved in what turned into a riot in 2016. Two years later, on June 11, 2018, he received a six-year sentence for his involvement in the uprising.
Charged with subversion, China sentenced Qin Yongmin, to a 13-year prison term on July 11, 2018. He also had been jailed earlier for his pro-democracy demands. Along with political prisoners, China continues to detain lawyers and other activists who dare to use Chinese laws to prevent abuses of power by government officials.
In Russia, Oleg Navalny still languishes in a penal colony for his association with the anti-corruption rallies of his brother, Alexei, who himself was re-arrested in September, 2018 two minutes after serving a 30-day jail sentence. Ukrainian film director, Oleg Sentsov, is starving on a hunger strike while serving a 20-year sentence in Siberia. His crime, objecting to Vladimir Putin's 2014 annexation of Crimea, an action for which Russia is being sanctioned.
Sunday, November 19, 2017
The Palm Oil Dilemma for Consumers
Before consumers buy products they are going to eat or drink, they are beginning to turn them around to check for the added sugars, genetically engineered ingredients, and high fructose corm syrup they want to avoid. The palm oil they find listed in snack foods, as well as in ice cream and other products, also is an ingredient in detergents and beauty products. Africans cook with palm oil, and a woman from Nigeria told me it could control high blood pressure. This widespread use results in a constant pressure to expand palm oil plantations and the following unintended consequences.
Relying on Indonesia's environmental laws, eco-warriors now identify illegal palm oil plantations on protected National Park land listed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Spotters tell owners of illegal plantations to return the land to authorities or face prosecution. They then cut down each oil palm. In about five years, replanted seedlings begin to help forests recover unless sun burns out young plants or elephants trample them. Altogether, it can take 20 to 200 years for forests to reach their original growth.
Other palm oil players also are determined to combat the effect of deforestation on climate change and to protect endangered animals, birds, and plants. Besides groups, such as the Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil (RSPO) that uses an oil palm symbol to identify "Certified Sustainable Palm Oil," the Environmental Investigation Agency (EIA), Greenpeace, the Rainforest Action Network, and Friends of the Earth, banks that finance palm oil plantation owners and investors in palm oil companies have begun to show greater concern about backing firms engaged in deforestation. When the Noble Group, owner of palm oil's Noble Plantations, prepared to issue a bond to finance clearing pristine rain forest in Papua, Indonesia, the HSBC bank involved in the bond issue asked RSPO to investigate charges that development on Noble's concession was about to violate RSPO standards. As a result, Noble's spokesperson announced work on Papua's plantations was on hold while sustainable analysis was pending. Other banks also have begun to require independent verification that palm oil borrowers comply with no deforestation, no peat, and no exploitation policies.
In the United States, the Ceres sustainability organization issued an "Engage the Chain" report to alert investors to the environmental and social threats posed by companies that rely on palm oil and other commodity suppliers.
Negatives associated with palm oil create a search for alternatives. But when the Ecover cleaning company produced a new laundry liquid using oil from genetically modified algae, customers refused to buy it. In the UAE, experiments show a species of alga that grows in fresh and salt water naturally produces the fatty palmitic acid found in palm oil. The University of Bath is experimenting with a yeast that has properties similar to palm oil that can grow in municipal, supermarket, or agricultural waste rather than on land. To date, however, substitutes, including rapeseed and coconut oil, cannot compete with less expensive palm oil that sells from $500 to $1,200 a ton, unless customers begin to recognize the non-price benefits of avoiding palm oil.
When consumers turn around a product and spot palm oil as an ingredient, what might they do?
- Deforestation of rain forests means fewer carbon emissions can be absorbed to limit climate change.
- Deforestation destroys the tropical forest habitats of endangered species, such as orangutans, rhinos, tigers, and elephants in Sumatra, Indonesia. Plus, roads built into forests enable illegal logging and exporters to reach the rare birds that become part of the underground trade in exotic creatures.
- Deforestation in parts of Indonesia helped cause floods, according to the World Bank.
- Fires used to clear Indonesian oil palm plantations in 2015 caused the smoke that resulted in respiratory problems in Indonesia, Malaysia, and Singapore.
- Although corporations make commitments not to use palm oil from suppliers accused of illegal deforestation and from uncertified mills, they often only honor these commitments when an NGO or other groups uncovers a violation or local law enforcement acts.
- Labor is exploited; living and working conditions on plantations are bad. Migrant laborers from Bangladesh, for example, who work on the palm oil plantations in Malaysia often owe third party company recruiters debts they cannot pay. They find they are like prisoners working seven days a week after being forced to surrender their passports.
- Needed food production decreases when farmers switch to growing oil palm. Their debts rise as they purchase seed and fertilizer from the palm oil companies they supply.
- Expansion of palm oil plantations which encroach on village farm land and grazing pastures leads to conflict.
Relying on Indonesia's environmental laws, eco-warriors now identify illegal palm oil plantations on protected National Park land listed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Spotters tell owners of illegal plantations to return the land to authorities or face prosecution. They then cut down each oil palm. In about five years, replanted seedlings begin to help forests recover unless sun burns out young plants or elephants trample them. Altogether, it can take 20 to 200 years for forests to reach their original growth.
Other palm oil players also are determined to combat the effect of deforestation on climate change and to protect endangered animals, birds, and plants. Besides groups, such as the Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil (RSPO) that uses an oil palm symbol to identify "Certified Sustainable Palm Oil," the Environmental Investigation Agency (EIA), Greenpeace, the Rainforest Action Network, and Friends of the Earth, banks that finance palm oil plantation owners and investors in palm oil companies have begun to show greater concern about backing firms engaged in deforestation. When the Noble Group, owner of palm oil's Noble Plantations, prepared to issue a bond to finance clearing pristine rain forest in Papua, Indonesia, the HSBC bank involved in the bond issue asked RSPO to investigate charges that development on Noble's concession was about to violate RSPO standards. As a result, Noble's spokesperson announced work on Papua's plantations was on hold while sustainable analysis was pending. Other banks also have begun to require independent verification that palm oil borrowers comply with no deforestation, no peat, and no exploitation policies.
In the United States, the Ceres sustainability organization issued an "Engage the Chain" report to alert investors to the environmental and social threats posed by companies that rely on palm oil and other commodity suppliers.
Negatives associated with palm oil create a search for alternatives. But when the Ecover cleaning company produced a new laundry liquid using oil from genetically modified algae, customers refused to buy it. In the UAE, experiments show a species of alga that grows in fresh and salt water naturally produces the fatty palmitic acid found in palm oil. The University of Bath is experimenting with a yeast that has properties similar to palm oil that can grow in municipal, supermarket, or agricultural waste rather than on land. To date, however, substitutes, including rapeseed and coconut oil, cannot compete with less expensive palm oil that sells from $500 to $1,200 a ton, unless customers begin to recognize the non-price benefits of avoiding palm oil.
When consumers turn around a product and spot palm oil as an ingredient, what might they do?
(Also see the earlier post, "Long Supply Lines Foster Abuses").
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