Good Stuff

One reason I love Copenhagen

Its no secret that I'm completely nuts about bikes. I love riding them and when I'm not riding them I like taking them to bits and putting them back together again. One of the fantastic things about living here in Copenhagen is that it is arguably the best city in the world for cycling around. I stumbled across this blog which is packed full of interesting bike related stories.

This post about IKEA introducing the free use of bikes and matching trailers caught my eye. Again, a great example of IKEA showing they know how to market themselves in more interesting ways than the traditional poster campaign.

Lights out Denmark

I've been following the Danish campaign 'Sluk Lyset' (turn out the lights) with interest. The campaign has been running here in the weeks up to the event itself although I'm not sure how visible it has been to 'ordinary people'. (I don't count myself as ordinary as I have an unhealthy interest in advertising communication, so I'm probably looking harder that most)

Having been in and looked around the official site I see that 3,730 people registered there, but their Facebook group was far more impressive with 13,863 members! This says something about the efficiency of the Facebook format.

The campaign was headed by a burning panda which popped up in various places around town. They made some quite nice little projections and filmed them. They also stenciled some funky burning panda graphics around town for good measure.

I took a little drive through central Copenhagen on Saturday to check see how dark it was and whether Danes were entering into the spirit of it. (I know it's not really in the spirit of the event but I was on my way to pick up my son from a friends)

It wasn't that dark, I have to say. It seemed to me that largely, the event itself wasn't a huge success. People just didn't switch off.

So what are we left with? If people can't be bothered to join in for an hour, were does that leave us? Did this event do enough to raise awareness? Will it prompt the kind of changes we need to make to avoid catastrophic climate change? Well, it's a start. And it's good that someone is doing something but personally, I'm doubtful. Don't get me wrong, I really really really think it's great that something happened. I just want people to wake up and get a bit more angry about it.

Big changes. Now. That's what needs to happen. Maybe a bit of Alarmism would be a good thing?

Alarmism

A group called The Alarmists want you to help draw attention to recent scientific evidence that climate change is much worse than we first thought.

Microloans for the Marginalized!

[English summary:  The Danish Government has funded a project, where microloans are given to marginalized Danish citizens with entrepreneurial dreams. Great way to take them seriously and to develop social services. We hope for a next step: an actual social lending site for Danish/European marginalized entrepreneurs - peer-to-peer, not just government-to-clients!]

De er vant til at blive skubbet rundt i systemet, at skulle svare på intime spørgsmål fra alverdens sagsbehandlere, at blive talt om og til i stedet for med, at være samfundets fejl. De hedder socialt udsatte, matchgruppe 5, hjemløse, marginaliserede, førtidspensionister. 

Nu bliver de anerkendt som individer med drømme, der kan virkeliggøres. I hvert tilfælde i et nyt projekt hos Socialt Udviklingscenter SUS, hvor 15 "socialt udsatte" får adgang til mikrolån til deres egen iværksætterdrøm. Det er et pilotprojekt støttet af Socialministeriet.

Fedt.

Det får mig til at tænke to ting (og en helt masse flere, men det bliver nok lidt rodet ;)):

1. Jeg håber virkelig, at SUS vil være gode til at kommunikere projekterfaringerne til en bred vifte af stakeholders. SUS har tidligere lavet nogle ret geniale projekter indenfor brugerdreven social  innovation, som de bare ikke har fortalt så mange om. Innovation uden spredning er så ærgerligt.

2. Det ville være umådelig interessant at se samme mikrolånsidé ført ud i en social lending community, hvor private mennesker kunne låne til danske (evt. skandinaviske eller europæiske) socialt udsatte, sådan som danske MyC4 og amerikanske Kiva gør det muligt at låne til fattige i den 3. verden. Eller som engelske Zopa eller amerikanske Prosper gør det i et mere peer-to-peer forbrugerorienteret univers.

Så hermed en newbizz idé: En social lending community for socialt udsatte og andre med iværksætterdrømme, som ikke kan gå i banken eller til investorer for at få deres drømme finansieret. Snup den før din kollega! ;)

Deeper luxury

I found this report very interesting reading. Deeper Luxury takes an in-depth look at the luxury brands market and some of the challenges and opportunities the issue of sustainability raises in this sector.

"We observe shifts in the luxury paradigm, emerging from major changes in social dynamics. In the future the highest quality product or service will be the one that generates the most benefit to all involved in it's production and trade. Consumers' knowledge of that benefit will be essential to their elite experience, and the prestige ascribed to them by their peers. In future, luxury brands could represent the greatest positive contribution any product or service could make to people and planet: they would identify the luxury consumer as a person who has both the means and the motivation to ensure that others do not suffer. The deeper and more authentic approach to luxury would require truly excellent social and environmental performance; consumers expect excellence in this, because they expect it in all aspects of a luxury brand."

I love the fact that they've chosen focus on topics such as celebrity endorsement, dedicating specific guidelines to this area. There are so many examples of celebrities making ill-advised decisions that are totally out of touch with shifting consumer opinion. I cringe every time I flick through the glossy magazines and see the face of some sports personality hawking sunglasses or perfume. It's just seems so shallow. I also love the fact that they've chosen not to overlook the importance of emerging luxury markets too. Factoring these issues in makes it a much richer document.

Download DeeperluxuryReport.pdf

New offices

We've moved to a new office, just around the corner. We are sharing it with our preferred web partners Apt and Naked. We managed to lug all the boxes round here in about three hours flat and now were fully installed!

If you're in the central Copenhagen area, do come by and have a cup of tea (especially if you're a green entrepreneur with a large sack of money and a happy-go-lucky disposition)

The address:

The Aid Agency
Kompagnistræde 10, 3. Sal
1208 Copenhagen K
Denmark

pets are obsolete

At the risk of sounding like a bit of an extremist, I have decided to write a short post about my views on pets. Now, I know there are many of you out there who might think I'm a little cold hearted or a bit of a kill joy for suggesting this but I feel I have a rational argument against pet ownership.

Pets are an unnecessary luxury.

Just to make it clear, I am referring only to household pets here of course. There is no doubt that keeping animals to provide us with food or as work animals is a perfectly sound thing to do. (this type of animal can also provide companionship too) but for the purpose of this article I am talking about animals we keep for pleasure.

Here are some figures relating to pet ownership in the US in 2007. (I'd imagine they are fairly typical of most developed countries)

72,114,000 dogs
81,721,000 cats
11,199,000 birds
7,295,000 horses

That's a lot of luxury.

Imagine the carbon saving we'd make if we could just get over our obsession with keeping animals at home for our 'pleasure'. When you start to try and define just how much energy we use it starts to become significant.

Related car journeys (walking the dogs, horse riding events, trips to the vet)
Food production and related industries
Food transportation
Accessory production (they get Christmas and even birthday presents these days)
Accessory transportation
Vets services (heating, lighting, development and production of medical products)
Pet care during holidays (heating, light)
Dare I add extra heating/lighting to this list. (I'm sure there are people who leave the radiators on for the cat)

Does anyone else think amount of love (and energy) lavished on let's face it, dumb animals is totally disproportionate? Isn't it time we stopped pampering our own egos and started to think rationally about animals again? Am I just too grumpy for words or what?

Green Markerting Remix

John Grant posts his recent thoughts on Green Marketing here.

It's based on a talk he gave last week in which he outlines his thoughts since completing his book The Green Marketing Manifesto.

As always it's excellent reading and deeply motivating.

Green Valentines Day

I get the impression that most Danes, quite rightly to some extent, see Valentines Day as a bit of a marketing ploy - a recent cultural import from the States or UK. However, like a lot of other recent cultural imports, it seems to be gathering momentum.

So with the wastefulness of Christmas still fresh in my mind (there's a pile of rotting Christmas trees in our yard which serves as a daily reminder) I am compiling a list of suggestions for green alternatives to the ubiquitous bunch of red roses and chocolates.

1. Compose your own love song.

You don't have to be a musical genius to sound good these days. If you're a Mac user, Garageband is packed full of enough interesting loops and effects to have even the most inexperienced composer sound good. There's also all kinds of interesting web-based options. Try for example soundjunction. Start writing those lyrics.

2. Be his/her slave for a day.

The promise of unconditional 'service' for 24 hours could turn out to be a lot of fun for both of you. Just remember to stipulate that any activity undertaken must not be environmentally damaging in any way.

3. Say it with pictures.

What about a three minute film that tells the story of your love? Be creative. Have fun doing it. It will be something they remember forever. (at the very least you'll be able to laugh about it)

4. Say it with words.

Why not write a poem? If you're lacking inspiration you could always use this.

Here's the last few lines of one I generated earlier. I think you'll agree, it's almost Shakespearian:

"My heated front bottom leaps to my bikini. I wait in the moonlight for your secret choir so that we may vibrate as one, front bottom to front bottom, in search of the magnificient red and mystical tiger of love."

5. Restore something they love.

There must be something he or she has a special fondness for, that's just sitting in a dark corner collecting dust. It might be an old lamp or a picture frame. Whatever it is, if you spend a few hours polishing/varnishing/painting it so it's all shiny and new again, they'll love you forever. (maybe get some exepert advice first or you might end up in the dog house)

There you go. Five green Valentine tips so you can declare your burning love without contributing to global warming. Please feel free to add to this list if you have any other bright ideas.

Hello I am the weather - new catchy climate communication

The new Danish Ministry of Climate and Energy has taken to innovative communication measures to make climate concerns a more emotional and personal concern of the Danish citizens. The ministry hired 10 prominent Danish poets to each write a poem about the weather and climate. Besides the theme, the poets had complete artistic freedom.

How bold and fun of a governmental body to team up with artists to get a message through. Granted, poems are not the highway to a broad Danish audience, but the concept has made a lot of noise - and I will definately rush out to get a copy. If nothing else, I think the title rocks: Hallo jeg er vejret / Hello I am the weather. Sweet.