The European Commission underlines the crucial importance of reaching a global, ambitious and comprehensive climate agreement at the UN climate change conference in Copenhagen on 7-18 December.

The lessons New Orleans learnt, and must learn, from Hurricane Katrina are important to all low-lying coastal cities in the time of climate change. This is a book review by local Sandy Rosenthal, Executive Director of New Orleans non-profit Levees.org, of Craig E. Colton’s book,”Perilous Place, Power Storms: Hurricane Protection in Coastal Louisiana” – a comparative study of the cities responses.

It’s hard to innovate on an empty stomach. As more U.S. cities become Back-Slider cities it seems that an increased focus on food security, quality and supply – and related solutions – is needed across the U.S. – as this data from the U.S. Department of Agriculture points out.

Environmental reform is an opportunity for new business models, not a cost. 2thinknow trends support Alinga Consulting’s view.

VIDEOS, Rwanda — Engineers Without Borders-USA are doing a great job in this Rwanda project.
Rather than more political policy, it is these hands-on initiatives that practically help people.
Local matters.
Local economics, local innovation. That’s the 2thinknow view.
Practical small things help people here and now. In this generation, not in 100 years, as may be the macro-level solution.
Practical ideas improve lives in positive ways & move beyond the ‘too-hard basket’.
What’s yours? Thoughts? Experience?

NEWS, Mauritius — The small island nation of Mauritius is worried about climate change.
So worried that they are using inbound tourism dollars to set up a sovereign wealth fund.

Source:  [

Environmentalism is not all complex plans, and Emissions-Trading. There are some simple basic concepts – here Arzu Durukan of Alinga Consulting outlines them.

This morning noticed these excellent slides on slideshare, of creative workplaces.
Well done to Serdar Belbag.
The 2thinknow view is that companies seeking to become employers-of-choice, need creative workspaces as an element of their strategy.
What do you think? Would it inspire you to work in these offices?
Or is your work or dream office more creative?
Post the photos in our new flickr group: Creative Companies

About Creative Companies
Creative workplace. Employers of choice. Ethical corporations. Nice seats. Micro-finance projects. Creative Capitalism. Innovation Teams. Inspiring workplaces. Not cubicle farms (unless they are cool). Cool.
The places you …

COMMENT, Korea –A design agency in South Korea exploring new materials have arrived at a new design incorporating green ideas into the design of a shop.

The basis is a French botanist using a light material on the skin of a building, on which various plants can be grown.
From the site:
“Mass Studies was founded in 2003 by Minsuk Cho in Seoul, Korea, as an investigation of architecture in the context of market-privileged culture of mass production and intensely over-populated urban condition. Mass Studies explore building materials/techniques, space matrixes and building typologies …

ANALYSIS, Global – At one stage, the world of global shipping ran on steam.
But before that shipping and cargo ran on sailboats. Ships like the clippers ferried goods around the world, although their cargo was often human.

Sailing ships have a bright future once again. Because of climate change.
Why not create lighter weight sailing ships, and use light-weight sailcloth technologies. And light-weight shipping containers.
An innovation would be sailing ships. A further innovation would be light-weight freight ships powered by sails and solar sun energy. There are many recent scientific inventions that …

COMMENT, USA, Australia, UK– I look forward to a culture of ideas, dreams, art and individual creativity.Well I can hope! Many of you have said to me you dream of the same thing.
But first we have to get over this industrialist mass-produced thinking.
Here’s how the current global model goes:
Produce goods in a large a quantity as possible.
Ensure all production and pollution is outsourced to a developing country.
Ship goods all over the world.
Repeat until planet chokes.

COMMENT, Australia, USA, UK – This is a reminder that the world has changed.
Increasingly we live in a consumerist society, obsessed with consumption of the cheap, short term and disposable.
This will end eventually, because quite simply cheap consumption, especially plastic, is based on cheap oil. And cheap labor. And shifting pollution to some one else’s backyard.
So that cheap consumerism will end. Corporations that create polluting products will learn it can’t continue.
I mean what are we doing?
Irrespective of whether you, dear reader, believe in global warming, it has been scientifically, logically, …

COMMENT, Global – Today we are coming into a world where the ability to yell loudest counts for more than the structuring of logic in an argument.

Australia is having an Election on November 24. The rhetoric is thick and fast.
The Australian televised political debate, and subsequent wrap-up; has been full of the usual political shenanigans.

ANALYSIS, Global – We have a lot of goods. Cars, books, stereos, DVDs, printers, computers, Walkmans, toys, clothes, kitchenware, etc.
Even jeans (I don’t know about you, but I’ll never fit into them again!)

When we are finished with goods we throw them out. Doesn’t have to be that way…

COMMENT, Australia — Normally I don’t do this.
Make predictions, that is (in public, yet!).
However I am testing innovation models used for prediction. My innovation analysis though shows 3 likely outcomes for Australia.

(Photo by Ester Inbar )

COMMENT, Global – Often that is just too much information. Cell phone users in public often have little discretion.
Cell phones on trains.
Cell phones (or mobiles if you prefer) in restaurants.
Famously, I once heard a man chatting up a woman in a toilet cubicle with the door closed at a cinema. I first thought she was in there with him, then he came out holding a phone.
I wonder what she thought of the loud ‘flush’?
The Market Opportunity for Quiet
Expect a pendulum swing back to quiet and focus.
In the meantime expect a …

ANALYSIS, Sydney & Melbourne, Australia –
An open letter to visiting President Bush.
Mr Bush is in Sydney Australia at current for the APEC summit, this was written just after his joint speech with Mr Howard today.
Dear Mr President,
You spoke at the APEC Summit with our Prime Minister, Mr Howard.
I agreed with your remarks Sir, about freedom and human rights being critical to the world’s future.
But the Oil War is not the way to spread freedom.
This war is deeply unpopular because the people ‘get’ it was not an honest war.
Another’s freedom …

ANALYSIS, Global –Sometimes the logic for oil usage sounds crazy.
Rather than reduce use of oil we go into a war using oil to fight for more oil supplies so we can have more plastic goods made from oil.
This itself increases global oil consumption further reducing oil supply.
Huh?
Does that Sound rational? Read it out aloud. No.
Economically it is not rational. Common sense tells you it is not rational.
Sounds like a panic because we might run out of oil to:
a) drive our big cars/SUVs/motor homes
b) manufacture more plastic cr*p we don’t …

ANALYSIS, Global — Our town, our world, is drowning under a flood of cheap sub-standard products. Products that we can and did once live without.
This is because our modernist global economic system in English-speaking countries largely runs on the manufacture and mass consumption of cheap low-priced goods made from oil-based plastics.
Think about that for a second. What really happens?
The following chain of events was loosely based on media reports of the China pet food story, Fisher Price scandal, and recent other events.
Here is one average scenario:
A company in your city …

ANALYSIS, Melbourne – Where you work is important to how you are inspired to create & then implement innovation.
Do some of these describe your workplace?
Concrete, gray, drab, cubicle, boxed-in, noisy, mobile phone ringtones from hell, low barriers, bombarded with email, ‘no door’ policy, jokes, noise, prison-like gulag?
Or is it more interesting?
Post-modernist refugee camp for cultural relativists?
Weekend-after recovery center?
Creative desert?
Angst-ridden pit of teenage romance?
So what works for innovation?
One of the perks of having worked at so  many corporations (more than 350) is you get to see what works and what doesn’t …