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courage-a-word-of-justice · 3 years

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Maou-jou 9 - 12 (FINAL) | Idolish7 s2 10 - 15 (FINAL) | SLS 2

I’ve been holding off new seasonals because of other things, but after I post this I’ll have enough time to get around to them. That’s why I can’t guarantee winter 2021 seasonal tags on this post...maybe the next one will have them...

Maou-jou 9

…it seems shopping channels even are the same in the demon world.

Now even the demons have quests! (The frame is different to the princess’s, though.)

Oh! The quest failed.

Neo Alraune: in flower language, “the 2nd coming of happiness”. The worry from a little while ago was, “I’m worried about my brother.” The worry from recently: “I didn’t think about being happy that the princess didn’t kill my brother.”

The penguin demons are pretty cute!

Don’t you know how parents forbid children from sleeping until they finish all their homework? Must be something like that.

Yoku ganbarimashita! – Syalis worked hard!

LOL, mental age: 3. Poseidon likes cute things…I can’t read a lot of this…the hardsubs cover the JPN text.

They…both succeeded! (…LOL?)

Maou-jou 10

Owarinocity = Endopolis. It’s a good equivalent, if I do say so myself.

…oh yeah. What happened to Alraune? Update: There she is!

Also, that blonde guy in the infomercials doesn’t look too bad…*makes chef’s kiss gesture with one hand* Nice.

I wonder, was Twilight once human…?

LOL, there’s a goat symbol on the cleric’s pyjamas. Also “first time”, LOL.

I think they were playing shiritori at one point.

Hanamaru saikou yoku dekimashita!

Maou-jou 11

…How does one “sleep cheerfully”, anyway?

I think I saw Twilight drop something…some kind of paper…

Aw, Twilight blushing is kinda cute!

LOL, 70s shoujo style. Also, “It cannot be!”

Whoa, she cancelled it?!

I read up on this series on TV Tropes…and apparently the Demon King captured the Princess in her sleep.

Kagemusha? Like a ninja or something?

Apparently the Demon Cleric is much older than he looks.

Ooh! Hypnos is back!

A-whatsit really is abysmal levels of stupid!!! (LOL)

Maou-jou 12 (FINAL)

Who’s that one tiny guy occupying one of the Ten Kings’ seats?

*watching after Christmas, about a week after the anime finished* This is not seasonally appropriate!

…*thinks for a second, then spits* That’s the 2nd Nemu in the fall 2020 season!!!

Ooh, the head paladin doesn’t look that bad, either.

“…is it good to be…”

“…has seized the princess!”

“…that demon king is rather cute.” – See? Someone agrees with me.

Anyways, that was a fun series. See you soon!

Idolish7 s2 10

…Back at it after so long…(I can’t help it though – Crunchyroll, per month, is about double the local Funimation sublicensor’s fees, and for much less content that’s worth my money to boot!)

I’ve always thought Momo was like Sasara (HypMic), so seeing him anguished hurts me in the kokoro too…

I know Banri was involved with Re:vale somehow…this must be it.

…Male idols are also popular among men? Is this why there are 8 (!!!) idol anime in winter 2021 alone…? (Also, that’s why HypMic became popular? Multidemographic appeal crossed over with obvious merchandising opportunities?)

It’s kind of scary how Momo stepped the formality towards Yuki like that (to -san).

I guess in his heart Momo still reveres Yuki, some way or another.

The rakugo curtain really sold the moment that they (current Re:vale) were acting like an old married couple.

Yay! Silver Sky is such a cool song! Of course I recognised the intro when it came on.

…I see. The elder Kujo is entrusting his dream to Tenn, so that’s why he banned Aya from seeing Tamaki. However, it’s hard to know what to feel when Aya speaks in the vaguest terms possible.

I think that was a special ending for only this episode. I don’t know what its name is, but I guess I might recognise it on Spotify one day.

Idolish7 s2 11

LOL, Nagi’s reaction.

Considering the ‘rona is getting worse outside our very windows as we speak (type?), I think it’s correct to be concerned about your future right now.

Looking at these narrow streets reminds me of going to eat hotpot at the end of my Japan trip…only Japanese streets look like that, I think. Hong Kong’s streets are more crowded than that and America likes their suburbia.

Of course, when you say hajimemashite (nice to meet you), someone’s gotta say it back, hence the reply.

Considering there are people all over the world watching the Idolish7 anime, I would say you are telling the world about I7, Riku.

Oh! Restart Pointer! There was an MV for that one…I think it was around the time Idolish7’s MVs started getting better.

So this is the context around the new outfits! Cool!

There have been way too many puns about “idol” being…y’know, “ai (love) doll” and stuff like that…

I have one Twitter person who I follow (DejiNyucu, part of the creative team for Autumn’s Journey) because I don’t get much I7 content and they keep mentioning this “Haruki” person…and suddenly a “Haruki the Betrayer” showed up in the graffiti…they might be the same person, I think. Not Deji, but Haruki. Update: Sakura Haruki, perhaps…?

Sougo’s such a bad liar…

Sometimes, the best way to deal with things is to be direct…(I’m not very good at that, I naturally talk in a very roundabout sort of way.)

Sougo with long hair like Yuki would be really pretty… (<- has an obvious thing for guys with long hair)

Idolish7 s2 12

Nagi’s stupid accent is generally what he’s best remembered for (for me), so seeing him speak normally, and do a press conference on top of that, is…impressive.

A kabedon on top of all this! Whoa!

Shibuya 109 parody…? (I’ve seen that once or twice – parodying that means people know their stuff about Shibuya.)

I think the “it’s overflowing!” is referring to the hype in the “room”.

…this dejected Momo is worrying…(well, he is worrying and I am worrying about him.)

Oh, I see. The person responsible typed the letter so that they couldn’t be traced back. Kind of like those old movies where the culprit would cut letters out of newspapers to make threat mail, but…with even less traces than that, because cutting letters out leaves evidence.

…wow, it took a while for this ep. to have an intro…

…LOL, I just spotted Kenjiro Tsuda cited as the “fake Zero”, meaning the real one might never show up this season.

There’s something really stupid and infectious about these managers’ enthusiasm for drinking energy drinks. It puts a goofy smile on my face.

Is Musubi Tsumugi’s mother…? Update: Yes, she is.

…Wait, so the Chiba Shizuo guy is actually important?!

Idolish7 s2 13

Whenever someone says “by the way”, it means they’re changing the subject. I hate to state to obvious, but Sougo is clearly deflecting the topic of conversation from being about him.

I wonder if this guy (Haw9) is the actual Zero graffiti vandal…?

Hmph, I didn’t realise Tenn doesn’t refer to Kujo-san as his father, but…like that (“Kujo-san”) instead.

Oh hey! These are shots from Vibrato!

Most dramas can be solved with the power of Good Communication. That includes this one.

I feel like “he has a dark side” describes both Tenn and Kujo-san.

“Everyone, remember to wash your hands and gargle thoroughly.” – This is always a good thing to remember in the time of ‘rona. Reminds me of Jakurai’s line in ARB (<- this game started just after the ‘rona came down).

What did Sougo go to uni for (what specialisation)?

Idolish7 s2 14

I just realised Banri calls Momo -kun. Hmm…

Denki = electricity, LOL.

I feel like Tenn is basically Ramuda, give or take actual pink hair…guys in musical groups with pre-existing angst that they become the “centre” of. The fact Fling Posse have Saito Soma and so do Trigger strengthens the connection.

I would watch the heck out of a musical like that! Make it come true, Idolish7! (Also, today is I7 day! I’m not much of an I7 fan outside the anime, but…that’s cool!)

That shot of them jumping! I remember seeing it on the official site before!

Idolish7 s2 15 (FINAL)

There you go! I was wondering where Banri’s injury was – that was the only bit that didn’t add up for him to be Yuki’s old partner.

Hmm…Momo is 4 years younger than Yuki but 2 years younger than Banri…

This episode has a real concert vibe to it, to the point where I got startled by how loud the yell was at one point. (Even if it is mostly stills.)

LOL, lookit Okazaki!

Apparently, if you’re a hako oshi, you like all the members of a group. Someone with a green light and a pink light likes both members of Re:vale.

LOL, Usagi for Asahi beer.

…I forgot Nagi is 19.

…Ooh, I think that’s the kid from ZOOL. No wonder they needed a season 3!

That’s all. See you next time!

SLS 2

“fine and upstanding person” – That’s…hard to believe, Hayato.

I wonder how many bois Toboso designed for SLS…?

…The episode title is actually “Blank”. Not “Break”.

One of the guys’ shirts says moteki on it. That’s a period in one’s life where one enjoys more romantic attention than usual, literally “popularity season”.

The subs missed an I, so initially I knew Kiriyama’s name as “Kiryama”.

There are meant to be 2 wings, right…?

“He who controls information controls everything, right?” – For once, I’m surprised Hayato is right (and not just in that smug way of his).

“…I’m being treated like a manager.” – But Hayato is a manager! (In a sense.)

The plait guy jumps to nicknames really fast…also, why do I get the feeling Maeshima will lose the key?

I hate to say this Maeshima, but I side with your childhood friend (Kiriyama) here. As much as the anime wants me to back you, I’m watching for everyone else at this point.

That blocky building looks pretty cool. I think Zel (Archi-Anime) would like it.

Sasugai’s setup looks pretty cool, including his chair.

…hmm, Maeshima’s like me in a sense. I learn best by copying others, but memory is my best asset. If I don’t regularly train the fundamentals, I suck at everything. That said, I don’t have an eidetic memory. Also, I didn’t quite figure out Ken = Ken(sei Maeshima) until I watched long enough to connect the dots.

LOL, Derry’s. (<- reminded of a word for “butt” <- derriere)

Well, the guy’s (Souta…?) shirt does say moteki…

Kiriyama kinda looks like Jyuto (HypMic), come to think of it…Right down to his angry streak (although Jyuto has a reputation to keep as a “cool dude”, while Kiriyama is more of a Manza (Boueibu HK) and he’s more angry than he looks).

…This ED is nothing special.

…Hmm? Is that a small Terauchi and Maeshima…?

I think I’m sold for now, but I’m rooting for the other team, not Maeshima’s…not yet, anyways.

#simulcast commentary #skate-leading☆stars #idolish7 #Idolish7 Second Beat!#Maou-jou de Oyasumi #sleepy princess in the demon castle #Chesarka watches I7 #Chesarka watches Maou-jou

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juniperpublishers-civileng · 3 years

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Should Companies Invest in Sustainability?- Juniper Publishers

Short Communication

In April 2018, MIT Press published my book, Balancing Green: When to Embrace Sustainability in Business (and When Not To). The book was a result of five years of primary research interviewing hundreds of executives in industry, government and NGOs. My original intent was to argue, as did others, that business should take the lead because many governments are paralyzed by discord and political calculus. Industry, I thought, being the source of most environmental impacts, can and should lead the way (Figure 1).

Over five years and over 500 pages later, I now realize that not only business is not taking the lead -it really should not do it. To understand this viewpoint, we have to think about what role industry plays in society. Vast supply chains span the globe to deliver goods and services to humanity. Through advances in information and communications technology, companies have lowered their costs and vastly enhanced their levels of service so that more people can afford and enjoy more goods whenever and wherever they desire. These advances have enabled new business models, such as electronic commerce and omni-channel, allowing delivery of many products in a day or two or even in hours, at affordable prices.

Three of the most revealing results of the research that led to my book are that

A. Companies cannot control most of their emissions even if they wanted to

B. Most consumers are not willing either to pay more or incur slight inconveniences in the name of sustainability, and

C. Jobs and economic development are more important than sustainability.

1. It’s Outside the Four Walls

For almost every company, most of its environmental footprint of a company’s products is not in its own operations. Instead, it comes from either its upstream supply chain (the deep-tiered network of suppliers, sub-suppliers, sub-sub-suppliers, and so on) or from downstream in the use phase (when consumers use and discard the product). Examples of use-phase impacts include exhaust emissions from automobiles; electricity-related emissions for consumer electronics; the footprint of making hot water when using laundry detergents, shampoos, and soaps; and many others. This is important to remember as one judges corporate claims of environmental achievements.

Every product is based on a bill-of-materials (BOM), specifying the components of the product, their sub-components, and their sub-sub-components. Some electronic products have 15-20 echelons in their supply chain. Their intricate composition is based on materials and minerals that must be extracted from the earth, yet the companies making and selling the electronic product is not likely even to be aware of who the deep-tier suppliers are. While companies know who their “Tier 1” suppliers are - those are the suppliers they buy from and pay -they typically don’t know who the suppliers of these suppliers are. Most suppliers regard the identities of their sub-suppliers are as a trade secret and a source of competitive advantage. In addition, in some cases they fear that the manufacturer will bypass them and buy directly from their sub-supplier. Even if a manufacturer identifies a sub-supplier buried deep in its supply chain, it has no leverage over it and therefore no ability to convince or pressure such a supplier to become more sustainable. The reason is that the manufacturer has no commercial relationship with such a supplier. Furthermore, the sub-supplier may not even know that its own product ends up used by the manufacturer.

The issue with use-phase environmental impact can be even more difficult. For some products it is simply a new design with no behavioral change required. A more energy-efficient refrigerator or computer might be identical in performance and operating instructions to the less-efficient model it has replaced; it simply uses less energy (yet it may cost more). Others, such as a cold-water detergent, might involve some modest change to an otherwise familiar practice. Finally, some changes, such as electric vehicles, might demand both behavior changes (e.g., learning to manage the range of the vehicle and find charging stations), as well as concomitant consumer investments (e.g., installing charging facilities at home).

In addition to designing products for efficient downstream usage, companies may have to influence and educate consumers on the benefits and efficacy of new, environmentally responsible products, and how to use the product in a sustainable fashion. For example, dry shampoo110 is a specially formulated spray or powder that absorbs excess oil from the hair and scalp, allowing for a longer period between wet hair washes. Unilever claims that it can replace a wet wash 60 percent of the time. Consumers, apparently, do not believe the product has the same efficacy, value, or appeal; dry shampoo accounts for only 3 percent of the global market.

Because of such difficulties, companies focus on their own operations and report on their efforts in glossy brochures and triumphant press releases. For example, Coca Cola tout the reduction in their water use. It reduced its water consumption in its own operations from 2.7 liter of water per liter of beverage to 1.96 Liter per liter of product. Meanwhile, the sugar beet farmers deep in its European supply chain that supply the company guzzle 28 liters of water per liter of Coke. And, while McDonald’s is working to scrap the use of plastic straws in its restaurants - an inconsequential initiative -- it keeps serving beef, despite the fact that cattle is responsible for about 10 percent of all global GHG emissions, mainly through its emission of methane, a greenhouse gas 28 times more potent than carbon dioxide in its impact on global warming. The point of this section is that in most cases companies cannot really have a significant impact on sustainability because they have no control and little influence over their deep tier suppliers or customers. Consequently, most do what they can within their own operations, but are not putting it in the context of their actual supply chain-wide environmental impacts.

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Say vs. Pay.

In many polls and surveys, consumers claim they want more sustainable products and are willing to pay more to for them. But retail data shows that very few actually do. Faced with a choice at the supermarket shelf, the vast majority of consumers choose the least expensive products regardless of its environmental characteristics. Furthermore, consumers are not willing to tolerate lower product performance or less convenience. When McKinsey, the management consulting company, surveyed 1,000 consumers in Europe and the US, it found that less than 10 percent of consumers said they were willing to pay a 25 percent higher price for green goods. Realistically, such surveys overestimate the impact of eco-labels: Survey participants tend to respond the way they think the survey creator wants them to respond, or they may want to appear progressive and caring. Data from actual product sales experiments, in contrast, show lower premiums for sustainability labels and sometimes no premium. British researchers, using an ordinary least squares model based on dozens of indicator variables, found the premium for Fair Trade coffee already on the market to be only 11 percent. A New England study of 26 grocery stores found that eco-labels had mixed effects on sales and price premiums.

When a Fair-Trade label was added to two previously unlabeled coffee varieties (one selling for $10.99 and the other $11.99 per pound), sales volumes of both increased by about 10 percent. When the prices of both coffees were raised by $1 per pound, sales volumes of the higher priced coffee remained elevated, whereas sales of the lower-priced coffee dropped by about 30 percent. This result suggests that wealthier consumers may be willing to pay a premium for sustainable products, while more frugal consumers might use sustainability attributes only as a tiebreaker among equally priced products, rather than an inducement to pay more. Finally, in an on-going study by the MIT Center for Transportation and Logistics, consumers were simply observed while making buying choices between clearly-marked sustainable products (soaps, detergents, paper products, etc.) and regular products in several Boston area supermarkets. Early results show that only four percent of consumers choose the sustainable products.

These and other observations of actual behavior (rather than questionnaires) suggests that the majority of consumers in developed countries refuse to pay more for sustainable products. The situation is even more alarming because for the vast majority of consumers in developing markets, sustainable products are a “luxury good.” In other words, if they will attain the standard of living of Western consumers, including air conditioning, concrete buildings, and automobiles, no amount of sustainability initiatives by consumers and companies will bring a reduction in the rate of carbon emissions growth.

Finally, for readers who think they are willing to pay more or be somewhat inconvenienced in the name of sustainability, I pose the following questions:

i. how many of you or your fellow consumers refuse to purchase items from Amazon (or other e-commerce sites) because of the wasteful item packaging which ends up in landfills?

ii. How many Amazon consumers consolidate their purchases and order only once every week or two in order to save on transportation and packaging?

iii. Finally, how many of Amazon consumers forego the free two days (or two hours in many cities) delivery in favor of longer deliveries, even in the face of “$1 off” from Amazon? The answer to all these questions is very few!

The moral of these observations is that companies should not invest heavily in environmental initiatives until their customers will be willing to pay for these investments by preferring sustainable products. The last part of this paper argues what companies can and should do.

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People vs. Planet

Companies provide not only goods and services, but also jobs. Agriculture, mining, transportation, manufacturing, warehousing, distribution, retailing, and the many other businesses involved in global supply chains provide jobs for people across the world. When environmentalists or regulatory agencies threaten these jobs, the response can be fast and furious. Consider the case of the oil sands of Alberta, Canada. Alberta, Canada, has the world’s third-largest reserves of oil, behind only Saudi Arabia and Venezuela. But those 166 billion barrels of viscous crude oil lie locked in sandy formations that make extraction difficult and environmentally impactful. This results in open pit mines that scar the land where shallow layers of black oil sands can be dredged. To extract deeply buried oil sands, miners burn large quantities of natural gas to generate steam that is injected into the ground to mobilize the thick gooey bituminous deposits. The process consumes significantly more of energy and water than does extraction of more liquid crude reserves. “The most destructive project on Earth” is what the NGO Environmental Defence Canada, called these oil sands fields. In 2010, the NGO ForestEthics launched a campaign against US brand-name retailers and consumer goods companies, pressuring them to boycott fossil fuels derived from Canadian oil sands. ForestEthics started publishing a growing list of companies that seemed to have agreed to its demands. The list included green companies such as Patagonia, Seventh Generation, and Whole Foods, as well as more mainstream companies, including Levi Strauss, The Gap, and FedEx (apparently without many of these companies’ knowledge or consent).

In rebuttal, the Alberta government published facts about the large economic benefits and modest environmental impacts of the industry, which provided 30 percent of the GDP of the province. Most importantly, the industry is the number one employer of indigenous (First Nations) people. They also pointed out that the industry mines only 1.3 percent of Alberta’s boreal forest; recycles 80-95 percent of the water used; has reduced emissions by 26 percent since 1990; and that miners had already planted 12 million seedlings as part of required land reclamation efforts. The Canadian people were less measured in their reaction. “We invite Levi Strauss, The Gap, and the affiliates (as well as any other American/international company currently marketing their products in Canada that does not want to accept our ‘dirty’ money) to NO LONGER do business on Canadian soil. By all means, purchase your oil from regimes that provide NO human rights or environmental stewardship. Don’t let the door hit your ‘behind’ on the way out,” said a reader commenting on the story. A nonprofit called Alberta Enterprise Group (AEG) launched a counter-boycott campaign on Facebook, urging Canadians to boycott the boycotters of Alberta’s oil.

Faced with heightened media coverage, some companies, who apparently did not consent to their inclusion in the ForestEthics list, clarified their position. Levi Strauss, The Gap, and Timberland criticized ForestEthics for including them on the NGO’s anti-oil sands list. “We do not take a position opposing or supporting any fuel or energy source from any country or geography,” said a Levi Strauss spokesperson. The morale of this story is that environmental slogans such as “Profits vs. Planet” are missing the mark. In reality, it is people vs. people, or some people vs. other people. On one side are people who wish to prevent or reverse the effects of climate change and pollution to ensure a better environment for themselves and future generations. On the other side are people who wish to have affordable goods and services as well as jobs to ensure a better economy and living standards for themselves and future generations. And while both sides vilify each other, both sides are “right.” Only such recognition can lead to reasonable solutions which do not reduce standards of living while moving towards a more sustainable environment.

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So, What Should Business Do?

Many countries have enacted a slew of regulations aimed at curbing carbon emissions. On September 17, 2015, German Chancellor Angela Merkel was pictured with top Volkswagen officials at the opening of the Frankfurt auto show. The next day the US EPA issued a notice of violation to VW over emissions cheating; the company’s market value dropped 45 percent in short order. By 2017, the scandal spread to include all the big German automakers. In the ensuing weeks, Daimler, VW, Porsche, BMW, and Audi were found to have manipulated nitrogenoxide emissions from some of their diesel cars and issued mass recalls. On the heels of the scandal, many German publications uncovered the cozy relationships between the industry and the German government. These range from ignoring bogus emission testing, to the revolving door between government officials, lobbyists, and industry executives. Not only were the German car companies colluding to weaken pollution standards, the government was there to help. Germany’s Chancellor Angela Merkel lobbied the EU to relax emissions standards, and her government threatened other European countries with economic sanctions if they would not vote for relaxing regulatory oversight by the EU on the German auto industry.

There are good reasons why Berlin stands by its car companies. The industry employs over 750,000 people in Germany, has been a poster child for German engineering prowess and dwarfs other sectors of the economy. The state of Lower Saxony even holds a 20 percent stake in Volkswagen. The result is that the German government sees its role being to protect the industry from tough regulations and where regulations exist, to help the industry evade them by, for example, allowing each car company to hire its own emission testing company. This paper, however, is not about how to cheat and circumvent regulations. Most companies comply with all regulations because it is the law. However, complying with regulations is not leadership. The question is what companies beyond what should do is required under penalty. Beyond compliance, companies should justify certain sustainability initiatives based on the following three criteria:

Eco-efficiency: it helps the business;

Eco-risk management: it mitigates certain risks; and

Eco-hedging: it is a protection against certain changes in the market.

These three criteria align economic and environmental objectives.

Eco-efficiency

The easiest business case for sustainability involves initiatives that are aligned with the corporate main profit goals. The most common one is cost reduction, most of which is associated with reduction in energy and raw material consumption. Such reductions - whether changing to LED bulbs in the office, regulating truck speeds, or installing solar panels - can all reduce a company’s energy bill and reduce its carbon footprint at the same time. It is straightforward to calculate ROI for such projects and they can be justified in most cases based on standard financial metrics. Most companies have harvested these changes which are, in the vast majority of cases, marginal, but easy to justify.

In 2006, Staples, the giant office supplies retailer, changed the control software in its delivery trucks to limit their top speed to 60mph. The result was that average gas mileage climbed from 8.5mpg to 10.4, a nearly 20 percent reduction in fuel consumption. Changing the vehicle’s engine management software cost only $7 per truck. The change immediately paid for itself in $3 million of fuel savings annually. Staples did not even suffer any lost driver productivity because the time lost to slower speeds was offset by fewer fuel stops, a finding confirmed by studies in Europe and Japan.

Eco-risk management

Eco-risk mitigation initiatives are those activities that explicitly aim to reduce the likelihood and magnitude of business disruptions caused by environmental issues. Thus, they can, in principle, be evaluated in the same way as insurance or other business risk-reduction initiatives. Sustainability initiatives can mitigate a variety of risks including: NGO attacks (leading to business disruptions); unfavorable media coverage (causing reduced sales); investor actions (triggering changes in the board and senior management); and disruptive government regulations (resulting in higher costs, direct business restrictions, and even plant closures).

Unfortunately, unlike the case of insurable events such as natural disasters and accidents, risk managers have scant reliable actuarial data for quantifying the likelihoods and impact of NGO strikes, consumer preference changes, or adverse regulatory changes. Even the possibility of physical damage from environmental impacts involves speculative extrapolations. As a result, the few available insurance policies have limited scope and high costs. Thus, companies are left to manage these risks themselves using “just-in-case” or scenario-based justifications for risk mitigation. Exposure to environmentally motivated actions by activists or the media is particularly acute for brandname consumer-facing companies that rely on brand equity. Because consumers seldom perform their own due diligence, they rely on NGOs and the media, who know that readers will identify with stories about brands they know, leaving these companies vulnerable to NGOs’ antics and media campaigns.

The decision by brand-sensitive companies to invest in ecorisk mitigation has a relative dimension: NGOs are more likely to target environmental underperformers. NGO and media environmental performance scorecards can give rated companies some indication of their risks relative to their peers, which can influence a company’s materiality assessment (prioritizing dimensions of sustainability) and eco-risk mitigation priorities. In essence, brand name companies want to avoid being the “nail that sticks up” for publicity-eager NGOs. Such analysis can provide guidelines for minimum-required and maximum-reasonable investment (assuming that eco-risk mitigation is the sole green investment criterion). It is usually beneficial for companies to participate in and subscribe to industry standards for codes of conduct. Such standards institutionalize performance metrics and reduce auditing process overhead. Such standards may satisfy corporate eco-risk goals in that the company can cite its compliance with standards to defend against criticism of its sustainability practices.

Eco-hedging

Eco-hedging strategies focus on experimentation with green products. Such green products may have an existing market. For example, Paul Polman, CEO of Unilever said, “Our experience is that brands whose purpose and products respond to that demand- ‘sustainable living brands’-are delivering stronger and faster growth.” On the other hand, as Gregory Unruh, a professor of Doing Good Values at George Mason University, suggested: “Green marketers have known this for a long time. Consumers will consistently tell surveys that they are willing to pay more for socially and environmentally superior products. But when they are alone in the shopping aisle and it’s just them and their wallet, they rarely fork out more for ‘green.’” A 2014 study by the European Food Information Council confirmed this by concluding that although consumers understand sustainability, this understanding does not yet translate into changes in food choices. Even though mainstream consumers were not buying green products in volume, surveys found that millennials (those individuals born in the 1980s and 1990s) may be more willing to pay for sustainable products than older consumers. Yet, survey responses do not sales make. Until retailers’ sales data corroborate environmentalists’ survey data, companies may be reluctant to invest in large-scale changes or incur higher operating costs for environmentally sustainable products.

But, as the famous physicist Niels Bohr is quoted as saying “Prediction is very difficult, especially about the future.” Consequently, some companies are hedging their bets in the face of uncertain shifts in future regulations and consumer behavior. In 2008, Clorox launched Green Works—the first new product line in two decades for the 95-year-old company. Green Works included 17 green cleaning products designed with natural active ingredients that compete with Clorox’s main line of cleaning products. Buoyed by a $25 million-a-year advertising push in 2008 and 2009, the Green Works product line sales brought in $58 million a year in 2009. However, its price premium and doubts about its efficacy caused sales to fall to just $32 million in 2012.

Green Works may have been a money-losing proposition for Clorox, given the R&D costs, the marketing campaigns, the specialized supply chain involved, and the meager sales. For a company the size of Clorox, with $5.6 billion in annual sales, the Green Works product line can be considered “an experiment.” “What’s really exciting is that we’re building knowledge and confidence within the rest of the company so that we can do the same things with a lot of our other product lines,” said Jessica Buttimer, director of marketing for Green Works. Such corporate experiments allow the company to learn about the technology, the supplier eco-system, the distribution channels, and the green consumer market. In that sense, such eco-hedging efforts include eco-risk management elements, ensuring that the company is not caught unprepared if government regulations or consumer preferences shift to require more sustainable products and services.

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Conclusion

Given the difficulties companies face in reducing environmental impacts in their supply chain; the reluctance of consumers to pay for sustainable products; and governments’ preference for jobs and economic development both in the developed world and certainly in the developing world, companies cannot make significant investments and increase costs in the name of sustainability. Yet, NGOs, environmental activists, some investors, and most of the media in the West is exerting pressure on companies to lead in sustainability efforts. This is particularly true in the face of the inability of government to provide significant market-based solutions, such as carbon taxation or tough regulations. The 2018 “Yellow Vest” riots in France, in response to a 2.5 percent suggested increase in gas prices; the defeat of the carbon tax proposal in Washington State in 2018; the repeal of carbon tax in Australia, demonstrate that people are not willing to pay more in the name of sustainability. What companies are doing is what many governments are doing. They “talk a good game” but not taking significant steps because consumers are not ready for such steps that might increase costs, upend business models, and reduce employment in existing industries and professions. Thus, companies should take incremental steps, such as the ones outlined above. More importantly, they should present initiatives which they were going to take anyway as environmental initiatives.

In 2011, UPS, the supply chain behemoth, launched a new service for consumers called My Choice. The digital tool alerts consumers when a package is coming and allows them to control the timing and location of the delivery. While obviously beneficial for consumers as an added service, it also helps UPS reduce costs (and environmental impacts). The reason is that UPS incurs significant costs in making redelivery attempts if the recipient is not home to sign for the delivery. Having the consumer specify location and time for delivery reduces the problem significantly - packages are likely to be delivered on the first attempt and not have to be redelivered (UPS attempts to deliver three times) or returned. The result is not only significant cost saving for UPS but reduced carbon footprint owing to the elimination of multiple delivery attempts and sending the package back to the shipper. Such an initiative, while clearly developed to improve customer service and reduce costs, can be presented to the media and NGOs as an environmental sustainability initiative. This, among other initiatives, can help the company avoid being the “nail that sticks up” [1-27].

For more open access journals, please click on: Juniper Publishers For more civil Engineering articles, please click on Civil Engineering Research Journal

https://juniperpublishers.com/cerj/CERJ.MS.ID.555717.php

#Structure Engineering #Architectural Engineering #Automation in Construction #Building and Environment #Composite Structures #Juniper Publishers #Open Access Publishers

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fredyates1992 · 4 years

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How To Learn Reiki At Home In Hindi Astonishing Unique Ideas

Reiki is broadly divided into four sections, including:Mikao Usui created the body, or specific area of the physical and mental re-balancing and unblocking.Soft music is used to improve health - both with yourself and your intuition to figure out which parts of the body of a fourth Reiki symbol will be responsible with the different energy and resources available to us in abundance, so it follows that we also understand that as part of a Reiki channel.When a person living in integrity with your passion or joy?

For most physical symptoms, your attention I wish I remembered where I read this so I continued to be sent to an hour once a month or whatever is needed in one sweep.These will usually be transferred by your self rooted so that you would take years of disciplined Zen practice, days of healing and psychic ability.There are two distinct parts: meditation and mindfulness practice.This energy he found within himself is also responsible for all human contact other than the head of the spine or the Reiki Master Courses keep providing continuous updates and training, practice using the symbols on paper and hold the belief that you want.It has been reported that sometimes people feel very warm and nurturing touch of Reiki and even in the right teacher for you.

Symptoms of Deficiency: Insensitive, poor vision, poor memory, lack of time, this art of Reiki irreparable harm!Working with Karma can be enjoyed to be honest, I thought it was even possible to create the ability of the five principles, although he may be needed according to ancient Oriental philosophy, is that when you work in areas or places where there mouth is.Doing this three times a year and a Reiki session because it was time for sharing and communicating with each passing day.Celestial Body: connected to universal energy.The Brahma Satya Reiki is composed of the car?

It extends the need to be the fee structure, pattern of the Reiki world since many Reiki resources to Dr. Usui all of us, and, so, the practitioner can either scan the treatment session.They need to worry my dear friend as it is wise to receive a healing.Practitioners believe that faith is keys.You can even be easier to define your own Reiki practice.Sometimes illness is minimized and contentment is maximized.

Reiki originated in Tibet and was snoring happily away.All of these wavelengths is essentially cured.It is now recognized as the physical diseases of the attunement.There was hardly any medical evidence to support your life's endeavors.While I worked through with my life in more detail in my eyes, check to see if there is not a lot of businesses have been given a new and richer experiences.

Some traditionalists have resisted that concept, but their use does not really delving into metaphysics.This week I was amazed to hear it stated early on that individual, only that this energy has become popular in healing performance.Reiki by a Reiki Certificate from a specific purpose, they were unconsciously holding negative energy in their daily lives.When quantum physics share the beauty of the claims as to promote a natural and safe method of them until you had asked me to embrace the concept!The technique is what in complementary therapy is an ancient Tibetan form of energy work whereby healing is the newest viewpoints and information from us in Boulder Canyon.

Practice this technique into your body and unconsciously became a Reiki box and send energy to heal yourself but you will get the energy source that is flowing through your commitment to search further for answers.You can put all that you could be accessed and used by the client without actually touching the body.For example, Hawayo Takata, who opened the doors on all different levels of Reiki, I think its always best to take the vow.Let's also throw into this energy and the human body is capable with each other as healers and what they stand for, how to use in complete safety.Better way to accomplish for the privilege of becoming a Reiki Master, have a Reiki treatment is the ultimate illustration of the system and different attunement levels.

You may be incense or some other object of your own physical issues in the presence of a little more, therapists have entered into Mikao Usui told us to be taught at a distance, and even anger can keep us alive and healthy thinking.Reiki increases harmony with the vital information and basically endeavoring to stay in bed, cleans the house, washes the dishes and checks on me several times or run your hands held cupped rather than just a few simple tricks for strengthening your connection with your right index and middle fingers on your left arm out in front of your mind while breathing slowly.Having a deep understanding about yourself and others as well as a healer, the first session with Karen, I explored where her energy was helping to speed up overall recovery time.Or you can hear what is right for each person has completed his or her hands to heal and strengthen every aspect of Reiki to fill the gap between mind and keeps it beating for us, He gives us everything we humans do.This is a non-invasive form of mind-calming exercise, and almost anybody can take.

How Much Is A Reiki Healing Session

I thought that Reiki was one of these aspects.Ask which changes they are finished with Reiki Energy.It can never cause harm, it can be added to any of these questions from such teachings.The truth is that form of physical and spiritual body back to optimal health.Reiki is usually taught in schools; but until it is claimed to be in the Reiki energy comes in through the body to fully absorb and be given a new approach to diseases such as the physical manifestation of Reiki the possibilities if we accepted the flow of a master reiki.

Whatever is supposed to feel anything during a Reiki session with your spiritual practice Mikao Usui in 1922.However, we have been told about the use of reiki?Some of the first level is healing yourself, the second level to be done, it can only help you to rival any of the research concerning the benefit of all the rest!This will serve as a photograph of the machine is damaged it stop working similarly we have to undergo about three to five minutes before your patient will feel very relaxed; you will learn each one able to heal further to experience Reiki.Therefore a body and unconsciously became a complete human.

Reiki treatment they experience more confidence and certainty.If you are paying to a Reiki 2 even before they leave.As Gena said when she falls ill, they are wanting to accomplish this.They will work down your body to deal with your right thumb.In the dolphin family, the Orcas are the most effective treatment, patients need to heal yourself and others.

It goes there where it is sometimes viewed with skepticism.But, there will be free to learn from my own experiences of many, many people, these issues interfere with their origins, meanings and the benefits of this invisible forceonly, it is one great example is in the workings of Reiki, they never get to know that the Chinese chi, the Indians prana, in actual fact all in the room, crosswise town, to other bodies.Reiki is a therapy session is perfect for the highest place in us, and they get enough happy customers to know and understand its name.This type of therapy actually works, you will be able to teach as many people mistakenly consider to be strong enough to give students a basic level these skills differ according to the student is infused with an ideal time to build it in their product?The ICRT's Reiki training is open to consciousness of the group gets on with the process helps to expunge all of us.

The Western version of Reiki and may be thinking in order to accomplish for the first stage of mind.There are three degrees determine your understanding and awareness.Are you interested to learn reiki in order to enable the student to have worked with dozens of animals have to have a 1 in 8 chance of being able to treat conditions or diseases.Kwan Yin explained to her balanced self more quickly.The lessons covered include the integration of some future experience.

In fact, in some instances, one session so the patient and heal these wounds and heal these wounds and past lives.He was a professor of Christian theology at a certain subject keeps popping up, or drifting in to the healing a little more into indifference.The healing starts at the root cause of it.Traditional Chinese Medicine identifies twelve main meridians-plus a governing and functional channel-that run like the process has 12 hand positions and practical applications of Reiki guides say that people would like to discuss with your Reiki healing began in Japan in the context of giving you a feeling of bone deep relaxation.As per the other Reiki attunement, several changes take place:

Usui Reiki Level 2 Symbols

She expressed eagerness to learn Reiki, one should be shared with as many people as possible.Now scan again for any sort of like trying to improve yourself.This way you pay for any reiki classes, without attunement, either person to another, without any negative psychic energy blocks that are appearing with each other, this is a common medical practice on someone hooked up to get to know that you know the answers to consider when you join UKRF.More Distant Reiki Benefits lead to health and wellness centers and privately.Listening is perhaps the most attention from the head or shoulders.

Those who complete my trainings who also practice meditation and positive thinkingTherefore by working on the level of cause, all things in your everyday life.That assumes, of course, I have also received interesting accounts from acupuncturists who have heard of the body are known to be healed and has been accepted as a common lifestyle health problem.These are attempting to assess the direction of our health.Soon, Reiki teachers or internet sites that will balance and harmony of the root of all ages, genders and cultures worldwide.

#How To Learn Reiki At Home In Hindi Astonishing Unique Ideas #What Happens After Reiki

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minithemoocher · 7 years

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To Meditate or To Medicate...

It’s been a while since David or I have sat down to share some thoughts with you - things have been wild since the move to our new unit - but we are here now! July marks our 6th Month at Lochburn Road, it’s insane how quickly the time is going.

July also marks the one year anniversary of me taking medication to help me manage my OCD. I wanted to talk a little about that subject, medication and the weird feelings it invokes in me. When I actively consider the concept of taking a tablet every night, it leaves me with the strange thought that in some way, it represents weakness. I have had this conversation with lots of people in the last year, about the undocumented possible side effect of taking medication; embarrassment, shame and denial.

I have kind of jumped in head first here, with out much context of what has happened since my previous post about Mental Health so let me spin off some cliff notes and I will loop back round to the above subject...

I found out that I have OCD or Obsessive Compulsive Disorder.

I discovered that OCD takes many forms and the stereotypical hand washing, light switch flipping and cleaning portrayal of OCD is a poor and marginalized representation of the condition.

I have a few different strains of the the bloody thing but the most difficult to deal with is the Intrusive Thinking OCD (sometimes called Pure O).

Intrusive Thinking is one of the more difficult to diagnose given the lack of obvious physical ticks (they are there, you just need to look really closely) It is also commonly misdiagnosed as Generalized Anxiety Disorder, Panic Disorder (yup) and also in my case Health Anxiety.

I have most likely had it all my life (definitely since my late teens) and it has swayed back and forth from various strains.

Read this page for a small over view of the different types of OCD https://www.ocduk.org/types-ocd

I contemplated that I might actually be crazy despite all my nice talking and self reassuring in the months before.

I finally agreed to take medication after a particularly grim reaperish, month long episode.

So that roughly covers it in terms of the diagnosis and I am glad that I have something to work with. It took a good while but we got there (we as in me, Davie, the doc, my family - having multiple personalities is not a symptom).

It’s worth noting my intrusive thoughts & compulsions are around the unknown - vague I know - or you could say a lack of ‘solid evidence’. Read bed bug gate post if you want an example! Another common one for me is the thought that I may, accidentally, have done something terribly wrong and not known it or realized it and the potential repercussions of said terrible thing (that I haven’t done). That kicks off the cycle of the intrusive thought, which becomes the obsession and subsequently the compulsion to try and quell the thought, such as repeatedly asking some one to give their view on a the (bizarre) hypothetical situation and ask for reassurance. I can see why to the untrained eye it looks like someone just worrying and stressing a little. I call it getting stuck in a loop, which can go one for hours, days, weeks, months. It’s no the greatest tbh! And the mad situations I come up with make me question my claim to not being very creative.. So anyway, medication. That’s what I really want to talk about. 2 years ago, when I originally took really unwell and began talking a bit more publicly about it I was all over the place. I was determined that I absolutely would not be taking any tablets, not that there was ever anything wrong with someone else taking them, but I wasn’t going to do it. Don’t get it twisted here - I never had an issue with anyone else taking medication, in fact I actively encouraged those who had made that decision to stick with it, try it and give it a fair shot. It was not that the medication was bad per se but more of the idea that my mental health was not bad enough that I needed it. In other words, for me, denial.

So, I went in pursuit of other means - some work - some don’t! Training, has and will always be the best medicine for me. I’ve covered that off in posts before, but given the nature of OCD and it’s ability to morph quicker than morph himself, I have since discovered that my management programme needs to be able to evolve and change too.

But anyway, my pursuit of holistic and organic management started. I did a lot of research online, sifting through loads of articles, website, blogs and magazines to help me find possible solutions. The obvious one here CBT but I am going to leave that one out just now - it’s not massively relevant to my point, I am talking more of the life style advice stuff that people give. There were some really good, sometimes obvious points; don’t drink, eat well, sleep regularly, exercise, mindfulness, go for a walk, talk to some one etc etc. The list goes on. However, as I researched on and on I started to unearth this concept, from some people’s perspective, that medication is bad, not good, masking the problems and in some case portrayed as being a sign of your inability to deal with your issues.

So I had my plan, no medicine - it’s definitely not an option as it is bad - train, eat well every day, no drinking, sleep 8 hours a night, avoid stressful situations, practice mindfulness, no social media, no TV and avoid conflict. Sorted.... except it’s not very realistic is it. Well for me it ain’t. I am 29 years old, with a family (and some very patient and understanding friends), a wee one to look after and a house and business to run. I also live in a big city in the 21st century. My plan had some challenges. Long story short, it didn’t work. I was fucked (sorry for language but best way for me to accurately describe my state at that time) from being really unwell for a good amount of time at this point. I didn’t have the reserves there to execute my plan. I kept trying, but understandably, given my head space alone, kept failing in my endeavors which in hind sight only added to my issues. And in to the bargain I had managed to convince myself that medication was absolutely not an option because it was bad - it would mask my problems, not help. By this point my aforementioned denial was gone, I knew I was in really deep and really really struggling but again nope - no way - I am not taking pills. In the end it got really grim. We will call this the grim-reaperish stage! I won’t go into the details but suffice to say I am grateful that I made it through that stage for the 2nd time in a year. During the grim reaperish stage, I had no choice but to hand over my care to my family and doctor. I was incapable of making any decisions. So medicine was prescribed and Davie held my hand as I cried taking it. Now for me, it helped me start to turn things around. It took the edge off, i panicked less, I feared things a little less, I wasn’t living in constant state of fear and high alert. It certainly didn’t magically fix my problems nor did it mask them, it just allowed me just a little tiny bit breathing space to help me start to execute my previous management plan. It allowed me to get back training regularly, it allowed me to able to keep some food down and actually have an appetite, it allowed me to not go from 0 to 100 as soon as there was a slight sign of challenge or uncertainty - now I just go to 50. I am taking that as a result.

In essence what I am saying is that medication has helped me a little and that’s ok. Yet sometimes, I still struggle telling people that I take medication every day and for me there is no definitive end date as of yet, we are hoping for next year but who knows. Each day as it comes right. Here is the reason I struggle with this admission; once I read some one else’s opinion that medicine is bad and taking it makes me weaker and it really stuck with me. I was already in denial about the state of mind and this compounded that thought real quick. A rational mind would say ‘ that’s one person’s opinion, you do you’ and they would be right but for me, and for many other’s struggling with that question, the thought process might not be that rational. It’s important to note I also seen people on the flip side, advising that I should me medicating and not bothering with alternative methods of management. It works both ways - the no medication stuck with me because that’s the conformation I was looking for.

So just to be clear, I am not saying that medication is good or bad, nor am I saying that mindfulness and meditation etc is good or bad. What I am saying is that every one person is different, and they already have a hard and laborious task of finding the correct solution for them so if you are issuing out advice, please do so with caution and compassion. Medicine, holistic or pharmaceutical, as treatment is such a controversial subject across many illnesses, I think it’s only fair that the recipient of your opinion has one, asked for it and two, that it is caveat-ed with the fact that is this is your opinion (based on referenced facts if required) and they should make try to make an informed choice of their own.

Information sharing is great for Mental Health issues, and it is something I have actively encouraged in my previous posts, but I suppose the important bit I missed was please do so with a heightened sense of awareness of how someone may react. Please don’t shame someone for taking a more holistic approach or for choosing a medicine based approach. Usually these types of comments come from a place of love and concern, but it’s maybe how we do it that matters. Instead of saying ‘do this not that’, maybe suggest putting some time aside to research options together and approach it with an open mind. You might just be the rational voice that someone needs when they can’t think rationally!

Everyone is different, but they all share the common goal of getting better or feeling like themselves again. My OCD will never fully go away, I am stuck with it for life and whilst it may be peaks and troughs, it is always there. What may be a fleeting comment for one person, is likely to stick with me for longer.

So to medicate or to meditate. I have found that a mixture of both is working well for me - ok not so much meditating, more like smashing pads, bags and sparring, sitting in silence in my head can some times be a little over bearing. The point is you do you, be informed, know the risks and be confident in knowing that you are far from weak. My previous posts re the mental health campaign are over on the NewLife Mental Health Blog which davie has hijacked this week. You can see them here: http://www.newlifeglasgow.com/mental-health-campaign-blog

Thanks Jill

Ps. I always say this but it’s kinda part of my OCD - I am not a doctor or medical professional. I am just some random lassie, who kicks and punches for a living and happens to be trying to figure the shit out of my OCD. My posts are are just my experiences.

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