Goodbye blogger.com After what seems like an eternity, I have finally succeeded in shifting my blog to Movable Type. I am still experiencing a few teething problems importing stuff from blogger.com, but you can now find me here. I can't take the comments over from enetation, but the additional features in Movable TYpe make it worthwhile.
Wednesday, January 21, 2004
An open letter to Lonely Planet This is copy of a letter I emailed this morning to Lonely Planet, the travel guide company:
Dear Tony and Maureen
As a long time consumer of your publications, I discovered to my horror today that you tacitly support the military junta in Burma. By producing such a publication you are effectively endorsing the actions of a government with one of the world’s worst records on human rights.
Turning a blind eye to murder, rape and torture is one thing, but almost as offensive is the following statement on your website:
"Lonely Planet is passionate about bringing people together, about understanding our world, and about people sharing experiences that enrich everyone's lives ... Travel can be a powerful force for tolerance and understanding. As part of a worldwide community of travellers, we want to enable everyone to travel with awareness, respect and care."
I think the very least you can do is remove this statement until you actually mean it!
The Introduction to the 'Myanmar' Guide is also a nauseating cop-out -- pity the people of Burma don't have the luxury of making such choices! If you are seriously concerned about the plight of these people, you would simply not publish the book and issue a statement on your website saying why. Many forward-thinking, and commercially-successful companies are now publishing reports detailing the actions they have taken aimed at greater corporate social responsibility (CSR). These companies are doing this because they realise that people 'vote with their wallets'. I think you would be well advised to wake up to this. Indeed, I predict that you will actually increase your company's overall sales by withdrawing the book, and making a public statement in support of Aung San Suu Kyi and the pro-democracy movement.
In the meantime, until you withdraw this publication, when I teach about CSR and competitive advantage in MBA courses I will use Lonely Planet as an example, and rather like your Introduction in the Myanmar Guide, I will let the students draw their own conclusions!
Also note that I will be publishing a copy of this letter on my web site.
Yours sincerely
Dr Jeremy Williams (former Lonely Planet Guide consumer)
Tuesday, January 13, 2004
More on the political economy of water The Economist this week reports on the Spanish government's national hydrological plan, Europe's biggest water project (Ebro eddies, password required). Originally proposed by the Socialist government in 1993, the plan is for 120 dams and 1,000km of pipelines to be constructed that would divert a cubic kilometre every year away from the Ebro River, of which a fifth would flow to the Barcelona area and the rest to Valencia, Murcia and eastern Andalusia. Last month the Spanish government formally requested European Union finance to meet a third of the $15 billion cost of the whole project. The European Commission conditionally approved €80m ($100m). The Economist notes that critics say 'the entire plan is outmoded, unwieldy and designed to benefit the government's business friends' and that there are claims it will 'cost twice as much to transport the water as it would to produce more water through desalination'. Asit Biswas, an international consultant recruited by the opponents of the plan, says it will be “a magnificent monument to bad planning for decades and even centuries to come”, while the Greens argue that it will 'destroy the Ebro delta wetlands, home to such protected species as spoonbills and egrets'. Nice to see that the EC is using European taxpayers' funds as effectively as ever.
Friday, January 09, 2004
Pass the 'anti-fat bastard cream' One of my favourite lines in the movie The Full Monty is when Dave musing over Gerald's wife's anti-wrinkle cream, lamented that what he really needed was some 'anti-fat bastard cream'. According to the State of the World 2004 report produced by the Worldwatch Institute, Dave is not alone. Indeed, he is being joined in increasingly large numbers. The report says that 'In the United States, an estimated 65 per cent of adults are overweight or obese, leading to an annual loss of 300,000 lives and at least $117 billion in health care costs in 1999.' Worryingly, the rest of the world is following suit. In Richer, stouter, and no happier, Alex Kirby of the BBC notes that more than 25% of the world's people now 'enjoy' the lifestyle which used to belong to the rich. Rising obesity and debt, and increasing pressures on time, are reducing many people's quality of life. Meanwhile, 'consumers' demands are devouring the natural world unsustainably, leaving the poor less able to meet their needs.'
