Posts Tagged ‘Obama’

Can We Change the World?

Posted on: June 12th, 2011 by Geoff Livingston 14 Comments

Barack obama yes we can

Many times we wonder if we really can change things. Some wish to change all of society, while others want to resolve a specific problem, like education, homelessness, or environmental issues. Passion drives them, but many of us question whether our actions really matter.

Simon Mainwaring’s current bestseller We First (See Beth Kanter’s book review) certainly challenges us to believe that change of all kinds can happen. Mainwaring advocates for a sea change in capitalist culture towards mandated ethical corporate social responsibility and cause marketing. He advocates for a We attitude instead of a Me attitude. His suggested primary catalyst for change is, you guessed it, social media.


If They Can Do It… From Ignite Better Baltimore

It’s easy to fall in love with social media, and believe we can change the world with it. Certainly, it is a powerful tool set for grass roots activism. The accomplishments of Middle East dissidents have shown us that with hard work over years it is possible to overcome established power structures and current media influences with these tools (see above video). Anyone of us can do this.

In the end social media are just tools. People change society, collectively. Individually, it takes hard work to get our peers one by one to move with us. Grassroots movements are not built in a day, and many are never fully realized. But as time evolves with momentum and success, we can move en masse towards desired change. The organizers behind Egypt’s January 25th revolution — Ahmed Maher, Asmaa Mahfouz, Wael Ghonim, and Israa Abdel Fattah — were unknown activists working behind the scenes since 2009.

You have to give Mainwaring credit. He advocates for change with We First, and leads by example with his marketing consultancy of the same name. As a long term resident in Washington, DC, his idealism is admirable. How that change occurs is another question.

The mandates from We First are reminiscent of the Obama campaign’s promises to sweep Washington, DC into the 2.0 conversation revolution. Three years later… In many ways Washington is still mired in bureaucratic reality. While some data has opened up, Congress is still a frustrating nightmare, and Obama’s progressive election platform of “Yes, we can” feels like the bitter empty promises of a dying love affair.

That doesn’t mean that changing the face of capitalism can’t occur. Again, any of us can become change agents, even if we are affecting one person at a time. Certainly, this book would be well served as an ethical challenge to business students. How Mainwaring convinces Wall Street and the Fortune 500 to change their ways remains to be seen. Kudos to Simon for throwing down the gauntlet, and taking an activist’s role.

What do you think? Can we change the world?

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One Year Later: BP Still Hasn’t Learned Ethics

Posted on: April 21st, 2011 by Geoff Livingston 3 Comments

Communications from BP in recent weeks claim the oil company has reversed the damage from the Deep Horizon oil spill, both environmentally and economically. This communications effort flies in the face of factual reality of dead wildlife, decimated fishing careers, and the ongoing economic hardship felt throughout the Gulf region. The unfactual, dishonest communications campaign once again demonstrates BP’s lack of ethical integrity. Worse, it is occurring as the globe moves to celebrate Earth Day this Friday, adding insult to injury.

Last year throughout the oil spill, BP consistently lied to the public about its actions and the damages sustained by the Gulf. The transgressions were in direct conflict with basic communications ethics, and represented one of the worst cover-ups in modern history. It demonstrated BP’s true lack of corporate citizenship, and a willingness to through entire ecologies under the bus all in the name of shareholder value.

Complicit in its lack of action, the Obama Administration only brought pressure to bear on BP after significant public anger was expressed. It took the likes of @BPGlobalPR on Twitter lampooning BP’s slimy communications and citizen journalists showing the damages on closed public (and policed) beaches, to inspire the incredible amounts of negative media pressure.

The ensuing call to the carpet caused bumbling yachtsman and BP America CEO Tony Hayward to step down from his job. It cost BP $20 billion is damages before a single liability trial began. It caused a leadership shake-up in the EPA’s Mines Minerals Service. All for naught.

One year later, the Gulf still suffers. BP is still lying through its public teeth, more worried about its public image than doing the right thing. And the Obama Administration claims to be holding BP accountable, whistling in the dark about what may really happen as the 2012 election looms.

It has been and remains evident that the only thing that can help the Gulf is us. Citizen action (see this current Ushahidi map) alone can help because the responsible parties simply won’t. If you want to help the Gulf, this Earth Day please consider donating to the Surfrider Foundation or the Ocean Conservancy.

What do you think about BP and the Obama Administration one year after Deep Horizon?

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Six Months Later: BP’s Oil Spill Still Stains

Posted on: December 27th, 2010 by Geoff Livingston

It has been six months since the height of public outrage about the Deep Horizon catastrophe and ensuing oil spill. Periodically, news bubbles up about potential lawsuits against BP and partners, but for the most part, the media has moved on to more current pastures. Meanwhile the damage left behind still ravages the Gulf Coast environs and economy.

Earlier this month, ABC News reported on University of Georgia’s Samantha Joye’s findings that Deep Horizon oil carpets the Gulf of Mexico floor. At 5,000 feet below the surface there appears to be an 80-square mile kill zone. “It looks like everything’s dead,” Samantha Joye said.

Meanwhile economic relief efforts seem to be hitting some walls. While tourist centric business like casinos located far away from Gulf shores are getting Gulf Coast Claims approved by the government, fishermen are being denied after one of the worst shrimping seasons every recorded. These fisherman fall into four classes:

  • Small vocal number who have presented Feinberg with strong documentation.
  • A much larger group that has been paid, but far less than their emergency claims called for.
  • Another group of more than 30,000 claimants, led by an organized Vietnamese contingent in Louisiana.
  • Thousands who can’t produce enough documentation to satisfy the Gulf Coast Claims Facility.

The government dismisses these as suspect or fraudulent. Somewhere in between lies the truth. And on the interwebs, the BP PR machine continues.

No one asked BP to negligently contract and manage the operation of the oil Deep Horizon rig and its ensuing damage. Regardless of how the government and BP spin it, Americans, and the global environment will suffer for years to come.

2010 will go down as one of the worst years ever for environmental disasters. And BP’s negligent actions before and after the oil spill will go down as the largest lump of coal in the lot. The novelty of this has not been matched by the actions necessary to reverse the affects of manmade climate change. In fact, at least in the United States, environmental regulation seems to be moving backwards. Again, action to change falls to the individual.

If you would like to take action to help the fishing families of New Orleans, please consider Citizen Effect’s CitizenGulf project. Money goes to provide fishing children after school education programs.

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