Environment News
Ethical consumerism and the economy – a bending trend
“A trend is a trend is a trend, until it bends”
Ged Davis from Shell famously said. His comment encapsulates one of the difficulties of strategic analysis, which is the way in which individual drivers relate to each other. A trend can seem to be progressing in a fairly predictable fashion, until a shock or a counter-trend knocks it off course. This is usually what is behind those predictions that were so famously wrong.
I was reminded of this today as I updated our driver on ethical...
The ‘green squeeze’
Recently the Foresight team have been discussing what the impact of an economic downturn will be on ethical consumerism. The Government agenda has focused on green issues for some time now (for example the last budget set a target for all public buildings to be carbon neutral by 2019), and this year’s G-8 summit has seen countries pledge to take this even further. More and more individuals and organisations have been embracing the movement; however, in the current economic environment, we...
‘One small step for man….’
I recently read an interesting article about individual responses to environmental change. The main thrust of the piece centred on the fact that steps taken by one person can lead others to do the same. The author termed it ‘viral social change’ and it seems to me that this is probably the biggest influencer of people’s behaviour in all manner of things. It’s the modern version of ‘lead by example’ but this current change relies more on peer leadership than anything else. This is quite...
The future of citizenship in 2026: Global or tribal politics?
At the seminar we’re holding next week on the future of citizenship, we are going to be looking at four potential scenarios for how notions of citizenship in the UK might change in 2026. These scenarios are from a report commissioned for the DCA by the Henley Centre (futures consultants) called the ‘The future of citizenship’. We will be discussing what opportunities and challenges these worlds might bring for the VCS and asking participants to think about what their responses might be. I...
Climate change - tipping or turning point?
Is the debate about the impact of climate change really over? The last few years have seen a growing consensus about the potential consequences of our damage to the planet amongst the public, media and government. Barely a day goes by without a media headline telling us of the possible impacts. In the high street we are confronted by more and more sustainable choices — HSBC is suddenly a green bank; Ikea doesn't give free plastic bags. At the ballot box David Cameron wants us to "Vote Blue:...
Voluntary Sector Strategic Analysis 07/08 published 15th October
On Monday 15th October we published the latest edition of our annual analysis of the changing operating environment and drivers for the voluntary and community sector - the Voluntary Sector Strategic Analysis 07/08.
The publication brings together discussion of key drivers and their implications in 'aspects' of the operating environment. The six aspects discussed in the 2007 edition are:
- Local governance
- Public services
- Attitudes towards individual and collective...
