Events
Marcus Barber invited to attend World Water Week in Stockholm 2007
Friday 11 May 2007
Futurist Marcus Barber has been invited to present at the Stockholm International Water Institute's prestigious World Water Week conference to be held in Stockholm later this year. His abstract submission 'Life versus Lifestyle: the emerging clash between consumer demands and water availability' forms part of the key workshop item of 'Managing Future Consumer Demands' which will attempt to consider the multitude of approaches and factors that will influence fresh water availability around the globe. The full abstract is availble below. To request a copy of the full paper, please contact us
Title of Paper:
‘Life versus Lifestyle: the emerging clash between consumer demands and water availability’
Key Words: Consumers; Commercial Impacts; Globals; Lifestyles; Values
Abstract
For arguably the first time in the history of humankind, the developed world is facing similar water access problems to those of their less developed counterparts.
The author asserts that as water is relied upon in every stage of production, all trade exchanges are simply examples of shifting water in its various end states. This understanding creates a paradigmatic shift in thinking for consumers of tomorrow who will increasingly rely upon ‘water used in production’ as an influencing factor when considering which products to buy.
In this piece we use two new concepts to change our paradigm on water access and use: the “Global Currency Map”(GCM) that assesses the types of challenges faced around the world and the different societal approaches to dealing with the crisis of water access; and a universal currency unit called “Globals” - the equivalent of 1 litre of fresh water.
By using Globals as a currency unit, consumers are made aware of the true costs associated with creating products and services and will begin to make more critical choices about the types of products they buy and influence their understanding about appropriate uses of water. This awareness will lead to a massive increase in pressure on companies whose high water use is deemed unacceptable give the consumers’ values. The author envisages a consumer based water usage guide that will enable the same product type from different manufacturers to be compared for water consumption.
The GCM also shines a spotlight on the topographical, geographical and societal biases that influence the amount and quality of available water. In this light we understand that countries that have an abundance of Globals to ‘spend’ tend to be more materialistic while those that have few typically face survival issues. The emerging consumer issue around the world can now be summed up as a choice between “Life versus Lifestyle”.Keep informed - Sign up
Events
Tuesday 8 May 2012
Have just spent a few hours discussing the Future of Money, hosted by James Bibby at Microsoft in Sydney and facilitated by Peter Vander Auwera from SWIFT/Innotribe. I'd like to flag that everyone understood that the session was way too short for such a big topic and everyone would agree that we just scratched the surface (not that the scratch would leave too much of a mark just yet). The session was a kick start for a group from a wide variety of interests: banks, payment providers' IT specialists and some specialty consultancies.
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Wednesday 2 May 2012
Ernst & Young and GreenBiz have completed a survey of business executives looking at the development of Corporate Sustainability around the world. The report shows that there has been a clear rise in awareness; that employees are a core source driving sustainability actions; that reduction of costs is a core appeal and that return on investment in sustainability actions is required to be judged in the same way as other corporate investments. For me this poses a dichotomy of thinking - the environment was built up over millennia and our use of it has taken just a couple of centuries yet we judge sustainability actions at the same 'speed of delivery' criteria. That poses a challenge and is perhaps an unrealistic set of expectations.
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Tuesday 24 April 2012
On the eve of ANZAC day here in Australia ABC Radio Darwin's Vicki Kerrigan chats with futurist Marcus Barber on the future of war - what the future triggers of war might be and how war will be fought
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