Business Schools Can Help Achieve Millenium Development Goals

In the July/August edition of BizEd is an interview with Ban Ki-moon, Secretary General of the United Nations. Among Ban's responsibilities are leading the organization to achieve the eight Millenium Development Goals:

1. Eradicate poverty and hunger



2. Improve global educational opportunities



3. Promote gender equality



4. Reduce child mortality



5. Improve maternal health



6. Fight diseases, such as HIV/AIDS and malaria



7. Inspire environmental sustainability



8. Establish a global partnership of organizations to achieve these goals

He is promoting the U. N.'s Global Compact, an initiative that brings together government, nonprofits, educational institutions, and business to improve the prosperity of those at the bottom of the world's economic pyramid.

The world's businesses possess the power to make these objectives a reality. The contributions of business schools also will be essential in helping the U.N. meet its 2015 deadline, Ban stresses. By teaching social responsibility, he says, business schools can instill in each of their students the skills to change the world--and the intention to make a difference.

Read the full interview in the July/August 2008 edition of BizEd.

The War Against Climate Change

Richard Branson is being branded the modern day Churchill in the "war on climate change." In a February address to the United Nations General Assembly, Branson said climate change is “The first war that truly threatens almost all human life - a war that to win we must all fight together - one world, one people”. He suggested we must create a "powerful partnership that helps to scale up the best innovations by bringing together business leaders, economists, scientists, environmental groups and other expert organisations to tackle the war against global warming."

"...Like all wars this one may have to be fought on many ‘fronts’. How to extract carbon represents only one ‘front’. It’s a battle that may never be won. We need an overall battle plan. We need a War Room." The War Room should encourage "innovative technological ideas to reduce greenhouse gas emissions or adapt to climate change."

Branson quoted Churchill throughout his speech and challenged governments to take action in the war against climate change. “One ought never to turn ones back on a threatened danger and try to run away from it. If you do that, you will double the danger. But if you meet it promptly and without flinching, you will reduce the danger by half. Never run away from anything. Never!”

If Richard Branson is being compared to Churchill in the "war against climate change," does that make Al Gore our modern day Eisenhower?

One-Third of All Species 'At Risk'

According to the Sydney Morning Herald, the U.N. plans to release a report this weekend which declares that "Almost one-third of the world's species will face extinction if greenhouse gas emissions continue to rise."

The newspaper goes on to report, "A draft circulated ahead of the conference blames human activities for rising temperatures and says cuts in greenhouse gas emissions, mainly from burning fossil fuels, are needed to avert heat waves, melting glaciers and rising seas. The Synthesis Report, the fourth from the climate panel this year, is intended to inform negotiations on a new climate change treaty next month in Bali."

"The scientists will say that it is possible to halt global warming if the world's greenhouse gas emissions start to decline before 2015. This is highly unlikely. Emissions are projected to increase by up to 90 per cent by 2030 on present estimates, the report says."

"The study, to be published on Saturday, will warn that if emissions continue to rise without action being taken until 2050, then global average temperatures would rise by up to five degrees."

"Such an average rise would cause "significant extinctions", a decrease in cereal harvests everywhere and the flooding of 30 per cent of coastal wetlands."

Read the full story here.

Logo Design Competition for the UN Documentary Film Festival

Call for Entries:

Design the official logo for “Stories from the Field: The United Nations Documentary Film Festival,” a film festival to showcase documentaries which reflect one or more of the points contained in the Millennium Development Goals.

Prize: $5000

Deadline: November 26, 2007

Click here for more information.

Climate Change: Filling the Bush Gap

From Time magazine, the article "Climate Change: Filling the Bush Gap" offers an overview of three international meetings last week on the topic of climate change: the United Nations' meeting, the Pres. Bush summit, and the Clinton Global Initiative's annual meeting.

Read the full story here.