Help cover books for the Auckland Prison Library

Saturday 13 November between 10am and 4pm.
Librarians will be on hand Books will need stamping, covering and pocketing ready for loan to the prisoners at Paremoremo. Books are vital for the well-being of the men who have no access to radio or television and may be locked down for 23 hours a day.

Sausage Sizzle
Live Entertainment Grey Lynn Style
Jez Titterton and Karl Benton
Grey Lynn Ukuladies and the 3 Gees
Michael Goldwater and Celia Palmer Jazz Sax
Community Event. All Welcome

Book donations invited

For more info contact Sue Gee Ak 8363 099, mob 0274 783 086, or Barbara Austin Barbara.austin@corrections.govt.nz

This Review is from the excellent Econation Blog run by Michael Lockart. Worth checking out for excellent New Zealand content.

Ecological intelligence through ‘radical transparency’

The psychologist Daniel Goleman is famous as the author of the books Emotional Intelligence (which has sold more than six million copies worldwide) and Social Intelligence. The books’ titles allude to the idea that there are different types of intelligence. The sort of intelligence measured by IQ has no emotional or social value if you are a serial killer – apparently many psychopaths have high IQs.

Daniel Goleman recently published his book Ecological Intelligence. He defines Ecological Intelligence as “our ability to adapt to our ecological niche”. However the book is less about this sort of intelligence, which makes it quite different to its predecessors, and instead it talks about another kind of intelligence altogether. Rather than intelligence as a human capacity it talks about intelligence in the sense of gathering and distributing information.

The main thrust of the book is that people can only make good decisions if they have good information to base their decisions on. Goleman talks about ‘vital lies’, a phrase coined by playwright Henrik Ibson, which is the comforting story we tell ourselves that hides a more painful truth. Goleman explains:

Goleman talks about the need for ‘radical transparency’. It is the hidden, painful truths about what we consume that must be made apparent.

The problem is that manufacturing processes are so complicated. If you see a bargain you have to ask what corners have been cut to create that bargain. What has been dumped into a river somewhere? How many emissions have been created? What toxins have been used in the manufacturing process including the materials? What was the impact on the workers in the factory?
Goleman gives the example of shampoo which can have 50 or more ingredients which have all been made in chemical processes using other ingredients. One shampoo he mentioned had trace amounts of a known human carcinogen. The carcinogen was not noted on the label because it was there unintentionally as a residue from the process of making a foaming agent.

The ideal solution would be an international system of disclosure including the publishing of full details of a life-cycle assessment of every product and service. In addition a single, consistent system of code or codes could be developed for putting on labels and packaging.

If all this information is available then people who want to make good choices can make them. There is no guarantee that people will stop buying bad products, because as Goleman clearly points out in his earlier books, people are not just driven by rational decisions – there are such things as emotion and instinct.

Nevertheless it is better that people know the vital (if painful) truth of their actions rather than a vital lie.

Multiple crises — financial,economic and environmental – are
triggering big structural shifts in business, society and politics
around the world. Policymakers and corporates are scrambling
to understand the changes and respond to them in effective and
timely ways. Potentially, some of these shifts could be very beneficial
to New Zealand. If we figure out how to play to them, we could earn
a bigger, more sustainable livingin the world economy. Conversely,
if we chose to ignore them, we’ll be in deep trouble.

Rod Oram has more than 30 years’ experience as an international financial journalist. He has worked in Europe and North America for leading publications such as the Financial Times of London. His FT career spanned 18 years (1979-1997) as an editor and writer based in London and New York. Rod has also traveled extensively in North America, Europe
and Asia.Rod and his family emigrated from the UK to New Zealand in 1997. He is currently acolumnist for the Sunday Star-Times; a regular broadcaster on radio and television; and a frequent public speaker on business and economic issues. He was Editor of the Business Herald section of the New Zealand Herald, 1997-2000. Rod is an Adjunct Professor in Business School at Unitec, Auckland’s technology tertiary institution, and he has contributed to several regional economic development
projects.

At the 2006 Westpac Business & Financial Journalism Awards, Rod won the Reporting on Corporate Responsibility, Sustainability or Community Engagement category.

Penguin recently published Rod’s book about the New Zealand economy, Reinventing Paradise. It’s available in bookstores nationwide in New Zealand

Where Red Lecture Theatre Building 180 – B001 Unitec New Zealand
Entry 4, Carrington Road, Mt Albert, Auckland
When 28 April 2009
Time 6 – 7:30pm (refreshments will follow after the lecture)
Phone +09 815 4321 ext 7044
Email arodgers@unitec.ac.nz

Interested to see the  New Zealand Science Book Award has Hot Topic: Climate Change and the Future of New Zealand by Gareth Renowden (AUT Media) listed in the finalists. The winner will be announced by Richard Dawkins (via a video link) on May 15th in a special event at the Auckland Writers and Readers Festival.  These festivals and awards are excellent for reminding you of books that you have been meaning to read.

If reading books is not your thing, check out Gareth’s Hot Topic blog . This is an excellent climate change blog that really does bring the issues close to home. Reading books clearing is Garth Renowden’s thing. There are some excellent book reviews on the site as well.

Here’s a clip to get you interested

Carbonscape, the New Zealand company working on making charcoal from a microwaving process discussed here and here on Hot Topic, has just announced that they are one of only five companies to make the shortlist in a global competition, the Financial Times’ Climate Change Challenge.

The competition seeks the most innovative solution to the effects of climate change.  The winner, to be chosen by Financial Times readers and a panel of judges will receive a US$75,000 prize, sponsored by Hewlett Packard, to help bring their service to market. I notice Richard Branson, IPCC Chair Rajendra Pachauri and Jonathon Porritt among the eight judges.