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Healthcare: Not just another business
Health |
Ano Lobb |
Friday 20th November 2009
A reader comment on a posting about electronic medical records (EMR) suggests that medicine needs to follow other industries into the digital age. This is likely inevitable: Medical record keeping is bound to become more digitized over time. The primary reasons are monetary: It facilitates the generation of bills to send to patients and payers, the jury is still out on whether it increases quali Read More |
Leading News and Opinion
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Biofuel: Solution to Sixty Percent of Carbon EmissionsClimate Change | Juan Carlo Pascua | Friday 23rd October 2009 Sixty Percent: Industry produces 14% of the world's carbon emissions, Agriculture emits 14%, Transportation emits 14%, and Land use accounts for 18% (Stern, 2008). The study was a conservative analysis- I've been in lectures where Industry alone was closer to 40%. If Industry and Transportation emissions were to become carbon neutral using the technology we hope to someday have, Agriculture (farming) and Land use (deforestation) would still remain formidable. What do industry, transportation, agriculture, and land use all have in common? Biofuels- a solution for carbon emissions and climate change.Annually, the United States consumes 137 billion gallons of fossil fuel. Ethanol (the largest share of the biofuel market) is limited to only 10% of that 137 billion because it is simply mixed in with regular fossil fuel. Beyond 10% in mixture car makers begin to get nervous what the increase in ethanol will do to engine components. The increase potential for biofuel use is substantial, but likely to remain untapped without a competitive price on carbon emissions to take away the home court advantage of King Coal and Big Oil. Like all renewables, government policy had to mandate fuel goals in order to create market penetration. The US government has decided that by 2020 there must be 21 billion gallons of advanced biofuel in use, which consequently has stimulated a $3 billion biofuel production industry. Read More |
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Clean Coal? clearing some smokeSustainable Development | Sara Wolcott | Thursday 22nd October 2009 To be clear. I'm a R.E.G. - A Renewable Energy Gal - and proud of it. I've got a particular fondness for Renewable Energy Guys- men who can look at a wind turbine and know how its made, fix a solar panel and install a solar water heater. I've been saying that 'clean coal ain't clean' since I heard the phrase, believing that renewable is the solution and anything else is part of the problem for any kind of sustainable development. I also hope to take an airplane to see an old friend in China for Christmas (ie, I can be a hypocrite too).But then I had a conversation with a man I respect who said how much he hates it when granola-eaters (me - and yes, I do love my granola, especially with yogurt and bananas) - are so darn closed-minded. I agreed wholeheartedly. But inwardly I shrunk back like I'd been stung. He'd hit close to home: I was anti-'clean coal', but I didn't even really know what 'clean coal' was. Not exactly good Sustainable Development Thinking! Fortunately, the great thing about admitting one's ignorance (at least to oneself) is then you can rectify it. With a little help from google and SPRU at the University of Sussex, I found out a few things I didn't know about 'clean coal' - and about what it means for sustainable development. Read More |
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Mickey Mouse CSRCorporate Social Responsibility | David Connor | Thursday 22nd October 2009 The latest CSR Index from the Boston College Center for Corporate Citizenship and Reputation Institute was released last week with some not so surprising results. Understandably, the financial sector suffered badly given that the Index is based upon public perception about the corporate citizenship, governance and workplace practices of the company. The Walt Disney Company just pipped Microsoft at the post to score the highest. However it may be worth noting that the Index only scores around 200 companies to produce the results and many smaller companies that have impressive CSR practices (and not just the written policies) are not covered in this list. The whole thing works on public perception, so the companies need to be fairly well known for the data to be accurately measured."A company's reputation today goes beyond products, services and financial performance," added Kasper Nielsen managing partner of Reputation Institute. "Organizations face increasingly higher expectations from the general public across the different aspects of their business." Whilst reputation is a core driver for CSR we have to remember that this index is about perception or potentially about marketing effectiveness, not about actual performance against industry accepted standards. Highlighting the barriers within the industry and also in contrast, British Telecom (BT) and Co-operative Financial Services topped this years list in similarly named tool in the UK. Business in the Community's Corporate Responsibility (CR) Index, again focuses on a limited group of voluntary participants but in this case with no consideration of public perception. All information is supplied by the company themselves. Read More |
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Sustainable success in the USSustainable Development | Sara Wolcott | Wednesday 21st October 2009 Sustainable Development is about green jobs and a green economy. Thankfully, there are so many great organizations doing this work. I recently received an update of one of my personal favorites, Green For All, in the United States. This is a summary (taken directly from their website, I must admit) about some of what they've done in the past month or so. It's an impressive list - a real sustainable demonstraton of how non profits, for-profits, governments, banks, academics, and civil society is coming together to make ideas a reality.Questions remain - questions not just for Green For All, but for the rest of the international community as it struggles with sustainable development. How can these kinds of successes be replicated in other parts of the world? How can sustainable development come to integrate the green for all mentality - where all people benefit from a greener economy? Do these initiatives make sense in a developing world context? * September 25, Green For All and Living Cities launched the Energy Efficiency Opportunity Fund at the Clinton Global Initiative. This fund will leverage an estimated $200 million to increase the energy-efficiency of thousands of buildings and create thousands of jobs. Read More |
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Breastfeeding. It's Healthy. Is it Sustainable?Sustainable Food | Tricia Edgar | Wednesday 21st October 2009 Mothers-to-be are deluged with so many messages about what we should and should not do. My plan was to avoid all of those messages by smiling nicely at people, plugging my ears, and singing "la, la, la." However, a few of the messages got through, despite my best intentions. One was the idea that breastfeeding was important for my child's health. As I struggled to nurse my baby in her first days and weeks, working to move off formula to exclusive breastfeeding, this was my mantra. And we did it - we persevered, and we made it to exclusive and extended nursing. This act that is so healthy comes with a host of environmental benefits as well: it's a sustainable food for babies.UNICEF and international health organizations promote breastfeeding as the healthiest food source for babies. In places where there is limited access to food and where water supplies may be contaminated, the lives of babies can depend on their mothers' ability to nurse. Less prominent are discussions about the sustainability of breastfeeding. Infant formulas are usually made out of cow's milk or soy. This means that livestock are fed grain so that they can make milk for infant formula. Cows are rather notorious for their production of both methane and feces, which contaminate our air and water. Soy formula depends on the production of soy beans, which have become controversial in recent years due to the clearing of tropical rainforests to grow the crop, an act that is now under an industry moratorium. There are organic infant formulas, but for many mothers around the world these are unavailable or financially out of reach. Read More |
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Social Entrepreneur: A DefinitionSocial Enterprise | Marcia Stepanek | Tuesday 20th October 2009 Urban Dictionary defines "social enterprise" as "groups or people who help the poor to make a living while teaching them how to make a business out of it, as well." Not bad. But just try finding a decent explanation of the phrase "social entrepreneur." Give up yet? Even Urban Dictionary, the Web-based dictionary of the newest words and phrases, doesn't yet offer a definition.And that's a problem, says New York University professor Paul Light, who has been studying the new field of social enterprise since the beginning. He says that persistent confusion over what -- or who -- is a social entrepreneur can often trigger disputes between people and groups who feel that everyone working for social change should qualify as one. But that wouldn't be fair, says Light. His definition of social entrepreneurship? "An effort to solve a tough social problem through innovative or pattern-breaking ideas." [The word "innovative" is key, he says, as is the notion of problem-solving versus problem-treating.] I caught up with Light recently to discuss his three-year quest for a definition and his 2009 book, The Search for Social Entrepreneurship. Light says social entrepreneurs tend to be more tech-savvy and optimistic than others but urges leaders in this new field to start focusing less on its charismatic personalities and more on which ideas work -- and which don't. "You don't find -- and there hasn't been -- a good investigation of failure," he says. Read More |
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Search for a malaria vaccine continues, despite challengesHealth | Ano Lobb | Tuesday 20th October 2009 My six year-old son is fascinated with monsters, dinosaurs, and vicious killers of all types. But he has a hard time understanding why, whenever he asks me to name the deadliest creature on the planet, I tell him it's the mosquito. If we lived in sub-Saharan Africa, he'd understand that what I'm referring to is the global plague of malaria.A previous posting looked at new research into the main causes of death for adolescents and young adults, but death rates among those younger than 5 years are an often-used metric for population health. Of the 3 billion people threatened by malaria each year, some 250 million become infected, and nearly a million die, 85%--800,000-- are children under the age of 5. Anti-malarial efforts center around four basic strategies: Insecticide treated nets, anti malaria drugs, indoor spraying with insecticides, and intermittent treatment of pregnant women. Studies have found that effectively implementing these measures can quickly cut infection and death rates in half. Vector control is also key: Eliminating or reducing the environmental factors that harbor the mosquito that transmits the disease. This includes appropriate sanitation, proper drainage to prevent standing water, and suitably bug-proofed housing. Read More |
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The Great Hydrogen DebateEthical Consumption | Caitlin Chock | Tuesday 20th October 2009 Imagine zipping down the highway in your fancy new car and instead of a trail of smoggy exhaust pluming from the tail end, your vehicle only released some hot air and water. While the idea of your car releasing some hot gas may cause you to be the butt of a few jokes, (okay, sorry to make a lame one here) it certainly would be a revolution step toward an ethical globalization consumption reduction of gas emissions. For those of you up todate on the latest in automotive technology, you probably already know that such cars are already in production and being driven (albeit by a select few) in California and Japan. However, as with any developing technology, there are both those for it and those opposed; let us take a look at both sides of the argument. First, a little chemistry background on hydrogen. Hydrogen is the most basic element, consisting of a single proton. It is also the most abundant gas in not only the world, but the entire universe, and it holds the greatest potential for energy. When a hydrogen fuel cell is put into use, three things are created: energy, water, and hot air. These fuel cells then work as a sort of battery, powering cars and other devices through a Read More |
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Governments Need a Businesslike Strategy to Tackle Global WarmingClimate Change | Juan Carlo Pascua | Tuesday 20th October 2009 This past weekend the MEF (Major Economies Forum) met in the UK. Seventeen of the major greenhouse gas emitting countries discussed strategies for the upcoming climate conference in Denmark. Maybe they should have invited the bosses of major businesses, also. In a separate and recent conference in London, businessmen from major companies put forth their view that governments cannot come to a deal because they aren't run like businesses.Kent, Coke's President, proclaims that world leaders needs to start thinking in terms of a business and think long term; he suggests the shortsightedness of many leaders is due to their short term goals driven by upcoming elections. Businesses, however, are built to last. All the executives agree that green consumerism is underestimated as a solution. Often, it is easy to write off such ideas as impractical. One haunting example being pop-singer Sheryl Crow's toilet paper scheme; she proposed we use reusable toilet paper. Thankfully, that is nothing near what the men suggest. They believe current consumer behavior can be "greened" instead of being restricted. As Lord Stern repeatedly writes: increasing energy efficiency is part of the first step toward carbon stabilization (in fact it would be profitable). Another CEO, Leahy of Tesco, stated: "It is only by realizing our potential as people, citizens, consumers, as users that we can turn targets into reality. It will be a transition achieved not by some great invention or some great act of parliament, but through the billions of choices made by consumers every day all over the world." Read More |
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Stomping on a cigarette company job adHealth | Sam Wertheimer | Tuesday 20th October 2009 Although I'm employed, job ads still catch my attention. After a year-long search for employment, it's hard to turn off the job-seeking reflex. This is why I found myself drawn to a simple, text-only magazine ad during a recent visit to the dentist. The ad - displaying only red and black lettering against a white background - stood out amidst the waiting room coffee table clutter because of its claim that early career workers "can't beat the experience." With my interest piqued, I brushed aside a few glossy US Weeklys and picked up the outdated magazine for a closer look.A quick scan of the ad only increased my interest. Phrases like, "creating value," and "aligning with society," appealed to my inner social entrepreneur. Mention of leadership development inspired me to read further. Just as I grabbed my phone to text an unemployed friend the website for resume submissions, I finally noticed the name of the company that posted the ad and stopped short. Small print at the bottom of the page displayed the name, "Altria Group Inc." Those less familiar with Altria might not have hesitated to pass on the job info. After all, the company is a member of the S&P 500 and boasted $5 billion in operating income during 2008. And while the ads mention "satisfying adult consumers" (emphasis added), a casual observer might be forgiven for thinking that the company with the friendly title of "Altria" offers pharmaceuticals or cars to mature shoppers with discerning tastes. Read More |
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