Work. Planet. People. Issue 1. July 2011.

Difference is produced by CSR United Limited. All pictures and articles are © CSR United 2011 unless otherwise credited. The copyright of all pictures, articles, logos and other material not belonging to CSR United is hereby acknowledged.

All opinions expressed are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views of CSR United.

Whilst reasonable steps have been taken to ensure that the information contained in this publication is correct, CSR United, its agents, contractors and sub-contractors give no warranty

and make no representation as to its accuracy and accept no liability for any errors or omissions.

Nothing in this publication shall be construed as granting any licence or right to use or reproduce any material in this publication without CSR United’s prior written permission.

CSR United Limited, 37 Ixworth Place, London SW3 3QH

Hello

Difference is all about everything. A bold claim. It’s opinionated. It’s provocative and it’s set in the world of corporate social responsibility (CSR). Difference will not try to define CSR. Nor will it pontificate. Difference will ask questions and seek opinions. Look for good where it can, express a view where it feels the need. The aim is to encourage debate. The emphasis is on the practical. Everyone’s view is equally valid. Enjoy.

Philip Jarman Editor

PS: Please let me know what you think of Difference by email: philip@csrunited.com

Work Planet People page 8 page 17 page 26

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CSR:

more than

caring for

your own by: Jeremy Wosner

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You can’t tell someone who they should fall in love with. As with love, so with CSR. Corporate Social Responsibility is about making the choices that are good for your business, good for the people in and around your business and good for the planet – which is really just saying the same thing three different ways. The point is that it starts with your business. That having been said, if you manage a business and don’t have a formularised, recognised, CSR programme, here’s a starting point: A. Write down the things your organisation represents to the

people involved with it. Be honest. B. Then write down a list of the things you would like your

organisation to represent. Be realistic. C. Two lists this time: the geographical areas in which your

organisation works and the market sectors in which it operates.

Only now, begin think about the opportunities to move from LIST A to LIST B in the geographies and sectors in LIST C. Involve your marketing people, because this is about brand positioning and perceptual mapping, as much as CSR. Of course, what you can do will depend on the sort of business you manage (a small consultancy will have different opportunities to a timber yard, for example). That having been said, start with what you can achieve. Save yourself some money. Reduce your energy consumption and waste, if you can. Then, as you move forward, bear the following in mind: • Be open and honest with everyone in the organisation about

CSR. Make it a democratising initiative in which every opinion is equally valid.

• For example: a CSR initiative is not an opportunity for the company to donate some money to the MD’s favourite charity and for him/her to sit on that charity’s board.

Advising on a CSR policy for someone else is a little like advising on a life partner. There’s a general consensus on what makes someone good looking and good company. There’s a general consensus on what is important in a relationship. But in the end success is going to be personal and depend on how the two individuals develop together.

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• Use your CSR initiatives as an opportunity for more junior staff with potential to take early responsibility for organisational initiatives.

• For example: an outstanding junior supervisor looking for more responsibility may be a better choice as part-time CSR Manager than the MD, FD or office manager.

• Ensure that the CSR function reports back to, and engages

with, all employees. • For example: all-employee votes on initiative

selection, intranet notices on progress, informal Q&A and brainstorming sessions on how things are going.

• Don’t over-reach.

• For example: your own business will always come first, so don’t make promises you can’t keep. Broken promises will end up causing problems.

• Be aware that most charities will prefer money to ‘donations

in kind’ – but don’t be afraid of offering whatever you can. Everyone can make a difference.

• For example: can your skills, experience or out-dated equipment be of use to others?

• Don’t expect your CSR initiative to be a major source of press

interest. • Practical tip: if you’re working with an established

charity, get their press relations people to lead any marketing.

CSR United co-founder and corporate social

responsibility expert, Jeremy Wosner

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CSR United annual membership is available to organisations of all sizes conducting socially responsible initiatives. Members benefit by: • Connecting with a broad network of other organisations

actively involved in CSR programmes, helping to further develop best practices.

• Having an impartial, pro-business, CSR-focused platform from which to announce their initiatives.

• Being a recognised member of the international CSR community – shown by displaying the prestigious CSR United member stamp on web pages and other promotional material.

*Other benefits include: • An enhanced listing in the online Companies with Spirit

directory of CSR-engaged organisations. • Free airing of CSR-relevant videos on CSR Digital. • Eligibility for coverage in Difference magazine. • Eligibility for CSR United Leadership status.

Why join …

CSR United

* Restrictions apply, contact Jeremy Wosner for precise details

Contact Jeremy Wosner for additional information 020 7225 6408

jeremy@csrunited.com

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Work

8

Inside the Work section: ARTICLE: Power at the Roof of the World INTERVIEW: Bringing Soul to the Pole

Work

Work Planet People page 8 page 15 page 24

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Insert: Mountaineers Display Suntech banner on the top of Mount Everest Picture Credit: PR Newswire. Main Picture © Suntech Power Holdings Co Ltd

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Solar panels. A good thing, surely? This from the Suntech Power Holdings Company, the world's largest producer of solar panels, in March: Suntech will develop a 10MW solar installation on the roof of the world that will generate decades of clean electricity for thousands of residents of the Tibetan Plateau. Located 4,000m above sea level in Chek Kang village, Shannan Prefecture, the power plant will be one of the highest on earth. It is due to be completed mid-2011 and expected to generate around 20,000MWh of electricity per year. Comments Dr. Zhengrong Shi, Suntech's Founder, Chairman and CEO: "From the desert sands of Arizona to the peaks of the Himalayas, anyone can look up and harness nature's cleanest and most abundant energy resource." All of which sounds great. And who would want to deny the Tibetan people the benefits of ‘clean and abundant’ energy? Particularly as, says Dr Zhengrong, "with intense sunlight and cool temperatures, Tibet is extremely well-suited for the utilisation of advanced photovoltaic technology." According to the same announcement, Suntech has donated more than 50 independent solar systems for schools, community centres and houses in Tebet. In 2008, it installed a solar system at the Mount Everest (Jomolungma) base camp to provide trekkers with clean and reliable power. In gratitude, a team of mountaineers carried a Suntech flag to the peak of the world. So here’s the question: at what point does natural beauty and the environment become more important than the need for electricity … or even the need to climb a mountain? Suntech is the world's largest producer of solar panels for residential, commercial, industrial, and utility applications. Its mission is to ‘provide everyone with reliable access to nature's cleanest and most abundant energy source’.

Power at the

Roof of the World by: Ed Staff

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Bringing

Soul to the Pole EWR Pre-event training in Norway. Picture: © Extreme World Races 2011

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At first glance, EWR does not seem the most obvious of ‘touchy-feely, caring-sharing’ environments. And yet... Head of Marketing, Darryl Butcher, is all about the good any organisation can do. With a 15 year background working in the caring sector and creating educational projects for organisations such as the Department of Education, NSPCC, Media Trust and Youth Net amongst others, Butcher knows what he’s talking about. “I’m not the typical EWR employee,” confesses the softly-spoken 42 year-old with a twinkling smile, “so I came to the company with a bit of a mission to create social value. “I saw there was an opportunity for EWR to bring the wild, adrenalin-fuelled, self-fulfilment of polar exploration and racing in extreme conditions to the third sector; and in particular the people and organisations who wouldn’t normally be able to afford it.” At between £40,000 and £60,000 to train, outfit and dispatch each novice, racing in extreme conditions isn’t cheap. Explains Butcher: “like most medium-sized organisations we simply could not afford to send teams of 10 deserving kids to the Pole on our own.” But Butcher wasn’t to be deterred. At the beginning of 2011 he began reaching out to nonprofits. “The basic idea is simple. We provide a foundation for charities to amplify their fundraising via our races – the most obvious being our Centenary Race to the South Pole this December. Combining our training and expedition management skills with a network of partner charities, we’re in a unique position to align corporate sponsors to their CSR objectives. In the process, we save the corporates a lot of time and resources whilst maximising the value of the initiative for all parties. “Our partner charities provide deserving adventurers from their ongoing projects, which creates a much higher level of both fundraising and awareness than would otherwise be achieved. “It’s a simple but effective winning formula which ensures life-changing, never-to-be-repeated experiences for individuals, groups and communities who need the most support as well as a platform for global media coverage and fund-raising.”

Based in Cirencester, Gloucestershire, Extreme World Races organises some of the toughest races on the planet. Founded in 2003 by ex-British Army PARA, Tony Martin, and staffed predominantly by grizzle-stubbled adventurers who spend around six months a year on one Pole or the other, EWR has developed unique new opportunities for nonprofits.

Philip Jarman interviews EWR’s Darryl Butcher.

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“EWR has a solid-gold reputation for Arctic activities,” adds Butcher with the smile of a man whose plans are coming to fruition. “We’ve worked with organisations such as Top Gear and headline presenters such as Ben Fogle and James Cracknell. Our events provide must-watch TV content for national broadcasters such as the BBC, ORF in Austria and German public television company ZDF. And now we’re able to provide the ultimate CSR experience. “Bringing all these elements together, our next goal is to create innovative, broadcast-friendly CSR related content with a mass appeal. So everyone wins again,” he says, grinning. EWR is currently working with, amongst other non-profits: Centrepoint, UNICEF, Help for Heroes, The Afghan Trust and The John Hartson Foundation. This year, the company has already held its annual ‘Polar Challenge’; a 320 mile race to the magnetic North Pole. It is currently organising a race to the South Pole to commemorate the 100th anniversary of the Scott and Amundsen expedition. Expected to take place in temperatures as low as -40˚C and 80mph winds, Butcher describes the event as “the toughest race on the planet”. Next March, EWR holds its first multi-disciplinary event, The Siberian Black Ice Race. A world’s first, the event, held on the world’s deepest ice lake, has a 379 mile course and is, says Butcher, “for everyone who has ever dreamed of speeding through one of the world’s most beautiful environments under their own power.” Visit: extremeworldraces.com to see how you can get involved.

Daryl Butcher: EWR’s man with a CSR mission

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Planet

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Inside the Planet section: ARTICLE: Where have all the buffaloes gone? The human cost of agricultural progress in Thailand ARTICLE: Living the dream (almost)

Planet

Work Planet People page 8 page 15 page 24

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He lives alone in a tiny shed at the back of his sister-in-law’s house. Fifteen years ago he lost his wife, struck down in the paddy fields by lightning. His kids have flown the coop, lured by city lights and the tourist dollar. The land he worked has reverted back to his wife’s family. But he was left a buffalo. Every morning I would see him lead his buffalo out to wallow in a muddy pool. Water buffaloes are not good at withstanding hot, dry weather. To cool off, they wallow in mud pools: hence their Thai name, kwai plak, or mud-pool buffalo. After bathing his buffalo, he would take it to graze in the harvested rice fields, and in the evening he brought the massive beast back home. It cost nothing to graze the 1,000-kilo buffalo. It ate the stalks of the harvested rice and the grass that grows between them. Farmers wanted his buffalo on their land. His dung, 18.8 kilograms every day; almost seven tonnes a year, gave nourishment to the soil. Rice seedlings like that. A month or two before the rice was to be planted, the buffalo’s stature rose. Harnessed to a plough, the great beast thrust through the earth churning up the soil. Though working two rai would take the best part of a ten-hour day for man and beast, the buffalo made man’s burden possible. The buffalo (kwai) was revered. Even the male’s proudest member is in coarse language called a kwai. Once, water buffaloes were the rice farmer's best friends, treated like members of the family. Children in farming communities were taught to treat them with loving care, walking them to their favorite grazing grounds, watching over them during the day, bathing them and, after nightfall, setting up bonfires near the barns to keep mosquitoes away. Such was the importance of the kwai that, like a human child, it was registered with the state. The owners, like surrogate parents, were listed on the certificate. In today’s world though, it is not the kwai that is registered, but the automobile. Perhaps that says it all.

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the buffaloes gone? Progress has come to my village. Somboone’s kwai is no longer needed to plough the fields. In a quarter of the time it takes man and buffalo, the two-wheel tractor (rot tai) with long, long handlebars can plough the fields and tow two-wheel carts. Coincidentally, the cost of a rot tai tractor is just four times that of a buffalo. True, the tractor doesn’t renourish the earth – we must buy chemical fertilizers for that – but it can pull a cart faster than a buffalo can – perhaps four times as fast. The pace of life picks up, though three or four former buffalo owners sit idle. Somboone kept his kwai for a year after the rot tai tractor arrived, taking it each day to the fields and returning in the evening. But with no work ploughing, Somboone and his kwai made no income. When the man from the slaughterhouse offered 10,000 baht for the buffalo, Somboone’s sister-in-law said she needed the money to complete the outstanding payment on the tractor. Most days now Somboone comes to sleep in the shade under the balcony of my house, the tai thoon baan, and perhaps cadge a cigarette and, if he can time it right, a glass of beer. Buffaloes are no longer man’s best friends. The reverence for the great beasts, which for so many centuries worked alongside man, is fading fast. They are now being seen as a hunk of meat on four legs. Although the buffaloes’ average lifespan is 15 to 20 years, few reach this age, owing to the demand for their meat, which is lower in cholesterol than beef. Every year, 200,000 to 300,000 buffaloes are slaughtered in Thailand. Exacerbating the problem is the selective breeding of ranchers, who focus their efforts solely on those breeds that are best-suited for consumption. Because of this, many breeds are already close to extinction.

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Further, despite the fact that it is illegal to kill female buffaloes, as stated in the 1956 Animal Breeding Act, ranchers and slaughterhouses pay scant attention to the sex of the animals they kill. What is truly shocking is that pregnant females and their calves are killed indiscriminately. According to Dr Charan Chantalakhana, founder and director of the Buffalo and Beef Production Research and Development Centre at Kasetsart University, "Many female buffaloes sent to the slaughterhouses are pregnant. Many are even ready to give birth." He says that less than a decade ago, Thailand had six million buffaloes, more than any other Southeast Asian nation. Now there are only 2.4 million left. Buffaloes may grow old and die, but they replenish themselves. From the age of four, female buffaloes can give birth about every 18 months and usually have one offspring at a time. Thus, the investment in a buffalo calf (less than 5,000 baht) does not depreciate. Rather, it appreciates. Tractors, too, get old and die, but because they do not procreate, another 40,000 baht has to be shelled out for a new one. Back in the village, there is 40,000 baht less in the community, plus the money that’s continually spent to buy petrol for the ploughing machine. Oil from the engines is absorbed into the soil, killing small animals like crabs, fish and earthworms, all of whom help keep the soil loose. Yes, and fertiliser must be bought. Never mind the fact that chemical fertilisers and pesticides destroy the organic content of soil. The constant shaking of the machines causes chronic chest pain in users, and long-term inhalation of toxic engine fumes can result in other health problems. Well, I guess that provides jobs for nurses, doctors and research scientists. But for the village, there are three men out of work, some 40,000 baht taken out of the community to line the pockets of a tractor company, and the ongoing costs of petrol and fertilizer, which benefit only foreign companies in other parts of the world. In my reckoning, the village is poorer.

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The fields can be planted four times faster than before. Ah, but these petrol guzzling machines don’t produce more rice. So while money is going out of the village to pay for the machine, petrol, and fertilizer, there is no increase in the rice yield – the village’s export. With less retained income in the village, the downward spiral to poorer and poorer begins. A solution has been found. The old are too old to go anywhere, so they will just have to be a burden to the village. But sons and daughters can be sent out to seek money and send their earnings back to the village to pay for machines, petrol, and fertiliser. Because the buffaloes are disappearing, the bond between teenagers and nature, created by the old community’s pastoral values, is weakened. The young Thai are better adapted than their parents to go to the cities and tourist playgrounds; they can quickly get into popping pills, gyrating to rap music and laying beneath some pot-bellied foreign tourist. Thank goodness for this. If it wasn’t for the 20,000 boys and girls now living in the fleshpots of Pattaya, Patong, and Patpong, there would be no money being sent home to the rural villages. The owner of the two-wheel tractor/ploughing machine would not be able to pay off his debt. The Japanese manufacturer, the Saudi oil company, the American research medical team, and the German-owned Indonesian fertiliser factory would all go broke. A world recession has been thwarted by the youth of Thailand with hips gyrating, lying on their backs and popping pills. Last evening I was trying to explain all this to Somboone. I wanted him to know that while he grieved for his buffalo and the loss of his life’s meaning, he was unimportant in the march of progress and the pursuit of international corporate gain. But he had already finished his beer and was fast asleep, dreaming of past days when communities cared for their buffaloes and communities cared for communities.

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Living the

dream

(almost) by Ed Staff

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If the dream is self-sufficiency in bucolic surroundings, then this has to be it. A small, 15 hectare farm in south west France. Beautiful scenery. Friendly locals. Different, but not that different, from the UK. Warm in summer, cold in winter. Open fires and enough land on which to grow your own (organic) crops. Minimal environmental impact. Virtually off the grid. Self-sufficiency. Sound ideal? First learn the French for septic tank (fosse septique). Then work out how to build one, visit the local DIY store, buy the components and start digging ... … while you are building the hen house (eggs for breakfast?) and the pig pen (ham for lunch?). But first make sure your home is weather-proof, because winter is just nine months away. Roof re-slated, windows sealed, nesting crows removed from the chimney. Months pass, and the fosse septique remains un-dug, but fallen wood has been (ecologically) collected from the nearby copse and cut into logs. Geese and ducks have joined the chickens and you have too many eggs to eat. So do all the locals, removing the fondly imagined possibility of barter. Feckless relatives come to visit, envisaging a free holiday. Ill-equipped for digging hard ground and unable to appreciate the delights of outdoor sanitation, they stay at a nearby pension and lurk to drink your wine during the day.

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But the ground got ploughed on by an old, scrounged tractor (no Health, no Safety, no brakes) and seed was planted. They’ll be a crop in the spring. And then winter comes. Outdoor showers under the garden hose no longer delight telescope-wielding neighbours. The shower is in, if prone to icy flooding. The egg over-supply problem has been solved, courtesy of the local fox. The pigs have been given names and become pets. They’ll be no ham in the Spring. The carefully collected and cut dead wood lasts less than three weeks in an open fireplace that burns all day. You call the local wood merchant.

Then you call a plumber. 23

People

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Inside the People section: OPINION: Understanding the Mind of God ARTICLE: Charity begins … in Odessa

People

Work Planet People page 8 page 15 page 24

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Understanding

the

MIND of

GOD by Ed Staff

No one doubts that the relationship between humankind and its environment is complicated. But that there is a relationship, even if it’s not properly understood, it is undeniable. Apart from anything else, everything from the air we breathe to the planet, the living beings that inhabit it and the sun that warms it, is composed of the same materials: protons, neutrons and electrons. A de facto relationship, of sorts. This ‘baryonic matter’ – the protons, neutrons and electrons – accounts for something like 5% of the universe. The rest is composed of Dark Matter and Dark Energy. Scientists have explained a massive amount about our world, but nobody seems to understand, precisely, what ‘dark matter’ and ‘dark energy’ actually are. And they account for a little over 95% of everything. So it’s complicated. And here’s the question: in a universe that’s so little understood, does it matter if you deforest a nation in search of oil, kill a 200 year old turtle for breakfast and a calving sperm whale for lunch, or have your products manufactured by indentured children in distant countries to keep their retail price down? Because who knows the final shape of the universe and the role and order of all things? Enter the moral philosophers, religious scholars and activists. Most religions, by and large, believe that killing is ‘bad’ and respecting others is ‘good’. Some extend this point of view to include the killing of all living things and the respecting of all points of view. Some do not. There are many different strands of moral philosophy, most of which would include justifications for taking life under some circumstances – some of which do not. Activists, by their nature, tend to have more certainty about the absolutes of what is ‘good’ and what is not. However, their focus tends to be much narrower than that of religious leaders or moral philosophers, so as a general guide to living one’s life, they are not, perhaps, the most helpful source of inspiration. Unless you have a cause, of course.

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But in general there is no one, single, unified and universally recognised code of moral conduct for the human race. Much like there is no one, single, grand unifying theory that explains all science. But to borrow from Professor Stephen Hawking: “If we discover a complete theory … it would be the ultimate triumph of human reason -- for then we should know the mind of God” (A Brief history of Time, p193). The Answer The answer must be something to do with personal choice and personal responsibility – particularly in a world where information is becoming ever more universally available. Almost everyone in the world buys and sells to some extent. Perhaps just the most basic products. Perhaps only through barter and selling their time and expertise, but if there’s an option, (trade with this person or that person, work for this organisation or that organisation) then a choice has been made. And with choice comes responsibility. Particularly in the developed world where, increasingly, everyone knows everything. However poor we may consider ourselves to be in the midst of recession, in the UK over 60% of adults access the internet every day (or almost every day) according to the Office of National Statistics. Broadband is accessible to over 77% of the American population according to the ITU. And so it goes. The point is that information, if we want it, is available. If individuals don’t want to know about the organisations which make, distribute and sell the products they buy, that’s fine. Or if people don’t care what the organisation they work for does in other parts of the world, that’s their choice. What they can’t say is that they didn’t know. Because we’re all involved now. It’s the curse-gift of the information age. So perhaps John Donne was right. No man is an island, entire unto his self. What individuals choose to do about the information they possess is a matter for their own consciences.

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Sometimes it’s easy to make a difference – you just have to act. Earlier this year my fiancée, Deborah Wasserman, and her best friend, Katie Silver, read a piece in the Sunday Times about the plight of the Ukrainian orphans. They were determined that we do something to help. A month later we were on our way to Tikva Children’s Home in Odessa, armed with over £1,000 and enough toys and fancy dress costumes to fill seven large suitcases. The response from family, friends, colleagues and the wider community had been staggeringly generous. But it gave us a problem when we checked in at Gatwick. We were hopelessly over our weight allowance. Ukraine International Airlines came to the rescue and generously allowed us to take all our luggage with no penalty. Navigating from Kiev to Odessa with seven bulging cases and no Russian or Ukrainian should have been a struggle. It wasn’t. On hearing why we were heading to Tikva, a passing stranger organised a lift from Kiev airport to the train station, a Russian-speaking escort to help with the bags and train tickets and, before the long night-time journey, dinner at his restaurant. Tikva coordinator Michael Brodman met us in Odessa the next morning and took us straight to the Infants' Home for the Friday morning sing-a-long. It was heart-breaking and heart-warming. These kids would never know any other home. Never know the gentle tenderness of their birth parents, or the warm embrace of family life. Yet here they were, warmed by the love of strangers. The next day was all about assigning costumes, handing out toys, distributing sweets and painting faces. There was a festival coming up. Everyone wanted to look their best.

Charity begins …

in Odessa by Jeremy Wosner

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The whole visit was a humbling experience. Tikva isn't just a children’s home. It also distributes over 1,000 meals a day, runs a community centre, provides a free university and cares for the elderly. This level of social care costs approximately $20,000 per day and our £1,000 donation was enough to keep the place going for about two hours. Over the course of our trip we met hundreds of children who would otherwise be on the street or struggling in filth with abusive, addicted or neglectful adults. Instead, they were now being cared for by a warm, dedicated organisation which gives them love and prepares them for a fulfilling and productive life. Surely we should have been able to do more? To find out more about the work of Tikva Children’s Home, and possibly make a donation, visit: tikvaodessa.org

Jeremy Wosner (left, centre) and some of the kids from Tikva Children’s Home

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