Episode 049 | March 27, 2023 | 47:59
Guest: Karen Blincoe
Published: March 27, 2023
Duration: 47:59
Description
Karen Blincoe is one of the most experienced voices in the field. Her book “Achieving Sustainability: The Ultimate Human Challenge” is out. In this episode we dive deep on all things sustainability and her personal journey into the field.
Full transcript
About this transcript
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I’ve been working with this for all these years and seen what’s been happening — all the initiatives, climate ministries, sustainability faculties, businesses with circular economy and triple bottom line, the 17 SDGs, the COPs — 26, 27, now 28 — and CO2 emissions are still rising.
Hello and welcome. Today Karen Blincoe joins us — decades in sustainability, design and much more.
Karen: I’ve been working with environmental issues since the 1980s. Trained as a graphic designer in England, set up a studio in Little Venice in London. I got bored — depressed even. Inspired by Nils Peter Flint who started the European O2 design network, and by Anita Roddick who started The Body Shop (we did her first identity, packaging and shops). Anita was the first business to start a refill system, anti-animal-testing campaigns, annual reports on recycled paper with vegetable-based inks. Sustainability gave me meaning back. I went back to Denmark, was head of an institute at Denmark’s Design School, and in 1998 at Schumacher College in Devon I was introduced to “sustainability” as such (launched 1987). I set up an ISIS Center in Denmark, then directed Schumacher College for about three years. In the 2008-2009 recession we had to choose family — I returned to Denmark and decided to write a book.
The book’s central question: is sustainability possible? Sustainability is the most logical next step on the ladder of human evolution. We’ve shown we can create a material world without comparison — technology, healthcare. So what’s next? Find a way to live in perfect harmony with the natural base that sustains us. Who would be so stupid as to undermine what sustains us?
The diagnosis — barriers:
Political, financial, industrial barriers. Technology barriers (governments rely on technology that hasn’t been invented yet). Cultural barriers — Christmas, Easter, weddings, all our traditions are consumption-based. Meat in Denmark — silent resistance. Spatial — city vs country, resistance to windmills “in my backyard.” And lack of a vision of the future we can live into. Small intentional communities work because the families co-create them. “Zero emissions 2045” — what does that mean? Where’s the vision? Government should make a master plan, back-cast from 2045 to now with milestones every 3-5 years, and the population would say “yes, let’s do it.” Three cases in the book: Samsø Renewable Energy Island, Novozymes (now Novonesis), and Brahma Kumaris in Copenhagen — all green transitions roughly 1997 to 2010-15.
Samsø: seven years to become renewable-energy island. Wind, solar, biomass. Heart, mind, wallet — the process assured the survival of the island after losing residents and the slaughterhouse. Tourist industry now ~100,000 visitors a year; the Energy Academy hosts 4,000-6,000 visitors a year. Won an energy-pioneering award in Glasgow.
Novozymes: high-profile, green business was good business — they sold more product and became an advisor to other companies. Strong principle and value base (inherited from Novo Nordisk), transparent, scientific, evidence-based — about 700 enzyme products. Visionary, professionally educated leadership. After 2013-15 sustainability became a fully integrated part of the company. The product itself makes the world a little better when sold — that is one of the pinnacles of sustainability.
What works: focus, dedication, transparency, walk your talk. Don’t take on values you cannot live up to. Companies fear greenwashing accusations so much that they sometimes stop doing the work — instead do it as normal operational business, not as marketing.
Frederik: If you have a chronic disease and the hospital prescribes your insulin, you do not have agency. Pharmaceutical companies and healthcare systems carry that responsibility on the patient’s behalf. We can keep our healthcare system the way it is — but it will break. Demographics, more demands. In the Nordics ~10% of GDP goes to healthcare. If developing countries adopt our model, the planet breaks. We cannot do the green transition without getting healthcare on board.
Frederik on the industry landscape: almost all multinationals have set corporate sustainability goals and signed SBTi. Local heroes inside each company. But a huge execution gap — strategy not translated into local KPIs and a local strategy. Some companies are running ahead in production but not in clinical trials or vice versa. SMEs lag. Commercial teams are the ones most needing to get going — healthcare systems and procurement are setting demands now.
Karen’s last barrier: lack of education. Sustainability is interpreted and misinterpreted everywhere. The field develops constantly — keeping up with what’s happening is a task in itself. Fragmented signaling confuses people. Without a sense of proportion / materiality, you get reusable bio-cups for awareness while the real big emitters go untouched. None of the cases in the book is 100% sustainable. But systematizing monitoring and assessment is moving us in the right direction.
Glass half full. Thanks Karen. Thank you for listening — please follow the podcast.