The Only Way Out is THROUGH

Everything I am reading and experiencing is giving me the message that "The Only way out is THROUGH". Change from within. Reform, not abandonment. Last night we heard the story of the Spiral Garden project. By creating a project at the center of challenged neighborhood, the positive impacts are spiraling throughout the community. By creating solutions juxtaposed with the direct problems, progress is intertwined with the existing conditions and likely to be more enduring.

Reflection Paper: Living with Intention, Monster Trucks and Cheeseburgers

As change agents, there is a paradoxical snag in the charge to “live with intention”. Meanwhile our decisions and habits may be directly and indirectly violating the rights of others. To “live with intention” is a powerful statement and yet I am entitled as an educated, white, female with the privilege of having such an aspiration. What that means for me is pursuing work which positively impacts my community, and going beyond meeting my own basic needs. As I delve more deeply in this notion, it is the confines in the power structure of our society, business community and culture that are preventing people from having the choice to “live with intention”. This circumstance is something I will attempt to explore from a business standpoint, to deeper my grasp of this topic.

The context of social justice within business intrigues me as we build our understanding throughout this course. In the first week, we learned about the U.S. based business, Unilever who is using their positive global influence to create community economic development projects throughout Southern Asia. Unilever is effectively raising the standard of living for the rural poor by providing a profitable commercial business opportunity to communities that have very little sources of income. Unilever is not only decreasing a negative impact on already disadvantaged rural communities, but they are making a positive impact and providing opportunities for the poor. Conversely the U.S automotive industry is consistently challenging their responsibility to care for the environment and human health that is adversely affected by carbon emissions of monster trucks. The automotive industry is caught arguing minimal changes to minimize the impacts on humans and the environment rather than finding solutions to positively impact them. I am deeply challenged by this framework for social justice. Coming back to the notion of “living with intention”, how is the automotive industry creating positive change in its current form? There are obviously immense opportunities for this industry.

How we can allow businesses to continue to threaten our global livelihood through the perpetuation of a broken value system? Have we failed as humans in creating a society that does not take care of it’s global citizens? I like to think of the analogy of parents caring for their children and role modeling good behavior, in the way that they are “living with intention”. Business is role modeling for our society constantly and although we have virtuous organizations that are leading the charge of doing business through the lens of social justice, it is clear that we have a long way to go.

Corporate Social Responsibility has emerged as an effort to right businesses towards social good. As sited in the Vogl article, in 2001, McDonald’s was placed 14^th among the world’s most respected companies for environmental performance. I am appalled considering the companies implications on social justice. To have a large presence in low-income communities by providing affordable and extremely unhealthy food has been a huge contributing factor towards global obesity. How can we value and respect McDonald’s for the degradation of human health with cheeseburgers? Low-income families, who wish to live with intention, cannot afford to do so. Businesses that take advantage of social inequity and that further divide those less able to make choices, should not be rewarded for their performance.

In hearing Kevin Hagen, from REI, speak about the CSR at REI, the advent of transparency has been very valuable to REI and it’s connection with it’s co-op members as well as local communities. However the unfortunate development of CSR is that it is allowing companies to further enforce how they want to be seen and not how they actually are. It is ultimately part of marketing the business and reputation management. Frameworks like the GRI, have furthered the standard for reporting, although it is a language that is far from being well understood by the consumer. If CSR can go beyond changing the face of business to changing the way they do business, there is a beacon of hope.

To be able to “live with intention” should be an attainable human right, and yet corporations of the world are making social inequity an ever wider gap to bridge. My privilege for choice has never been so apparent. Ultimately where do I fall in this puzzle? My goal is to “live with intention” and I believe to truly understand where I can optimize my impact is by helping to break apart the paradigms that exist within business. Of course creating social equity takes a multitude of pathways. However, as we are learning more about the ways that businesses and corporations operate, they are an ultimate source of oppression and act to further marginalization within our culture. They are not the evil, but they are flawed and within that there is great promise and opportunity. The monster truck SUV’s and low-grade cheeseburgers of the world are a reminder that we can do better for our communities beyond the status quo. By knowing, we can reach understanding and become responsible. Intension can be an attainable goal.

The age of simplicity: Compassion and Happiness

Stewing on yesterday's NYT article about Happiness
(http://www.nytimes.com/2010/01/17/opinion/17kristof.html?em), and contemplating Jon Ramer's Compassionate Action Network brings me to a conclusion that we need to strip down to simplicity to strive for equity. People in this world are much happier than we would imagine from the surface level, although what the article fails to recognize is that happiness can easily be denied with inherent inequity that is built into society and culture. We are all capable of compassion to drive equity. Giving is an act of receiving. It is a selfish act, and also a win-win. But how do we leverage compassion in areas of the world that have such deeply embedded cultural inequity? My time abroad in Africa and Central and South America would dictate that apathy surpasses compassion. How do we transform empathy from apathy? Something to chew on for the next few days..

MLK Day, pick up the pace

Much to ponder on this day. I am continually struck by how much my 95 year old Grandmother has witnessed in her lifetime. Looking through her old photos of marching for Women's rights in the 1920's and hearing about segregation in her school. This change and progress is somewhat rapid in the scale of human kind, but it today's context, social justice needs to pick up the pace. WE need to pick up the pace and it is our human right and responsibility.