Greetings!
Lately my sense of what we’re working towards is filtered through a combination of awe and urgency. Things feel bigger and more interconnected than before. It feels harder to know what’s true, yet more important than ever to take the best possible actions.
I’m glad I unhooked from corporate agendas (and payments) so that I could surf the meandering channels and rushing currents that I wasn’t getting paid to surf before. I’m also glad that no matter which channel I meander and how rushing the current, when I look up to get my bearings there is a network of wisdom and patience all around.
Looking up reminds me that I have everything I need, and all the time in the world.
Here’s a meander through some of those channels and currents, with nods to what I see when I look up.
Evolving role, imaginary deadlines
Last October I refreshed my home page to explain what I do now, after 20 years in corporate sustainability. Now I write, speak, and advise on the path towards industrial healing, a role that is evolving in real time.
As a long-time sucker for imaginary deadlines, I picked October 12, 2022 to officially push go on that refreshed page. Why that day? Because that was the day I was Manda Scott’s guest on episode #148 of the Accidental Gods podcast – as in, it was the first time I was publicly giving voice to my new approach. It seemed an appropriate deadline for a refresh.
Then I got busy living that new approach, for example with the Matereality marathon, leading to the Danone assessment being released into the wild in November, 2022. There were lots of comments on this one since I was more public about it than the previous assessments, to my delight saying things like:
“This is so senseful. Thanks, Lorraine, for sharing this open-source.”
– Lavinia Muth (Un)sustainability speaker, educator + more
Another response – accompanied by a generous contribution to my tip jar – prompted a detour towards food company JBS for the next assessment, on my way towards the Glencore assessment. On a cheery note, I was glad for a chance to flex my Portuguese in a video letter addressing JBS executives. On a less cheery note, it was an immersive process into a harmful business model with painfully convoluted disclosures.
Recognizing that most people won’t read an 80-slide deck, I’ve been pulsing out a series of Matereality Bites, i.e. 5-minute video briefings. So far there’s one on Diversity and Inclusion (or rather, the bizarre lack thereof, in spite of disclosures to the contrary) and Deforestation (or rather, the company’s claims on forests and how they measure up when ground-tested). Oh, and hot off the press (it’s taken me a few days to edit this newsletter...): this Bite takes a closer look at greenwash and how it’s both harmful and misleading.
As I surfed the channels and currents of JBS, I “worked out loud” from January to the present, so anyone could follow along. I also kept a weekly accountability update through my Friday Medium Shorts.
Sidebar: Readers appreciated Medium guidance
Little sidebar on Medium while we’re here: in response to the piece I shared guiding readers on how to make the best use of this ad-free media source, I received the following unprompted messages:
“Thanks to you I've become an avid reader of Medium; the voices I'm finding there are thoughtful, transparent, and real.”
– M. Barnett, Communication, change and culture advocate
“Thanks again. This should be in Medium's ‘Start Here’ page for everyone that opens an account (paid or not). Well done.”
– Auntiegrav, Medium writer
That was encouraging to hear, as my slightly increased visibility on Medium (including a small but mighty number of members whose fees come directly through my link) has meant in the last few months my writing income has been enough to pay a couple bills – literally two: my electricity and internet bills, both of which are essential to my life. So, yay! And thank you!
Meanwhile, back to making mischief in the public square
Immersing myself in the public disclosures of the largest meat company in the world (where “surfing” channels and currents might be better described as “near-drowning”) to see how and if they work in service of life, was… um… hard.
The overall assessment findings (see slide 3) suggest that nearly everything – from the company’s current business model, to their goals, to how they organize themselves – is riddled with structural harm. Yet, changing this is not trivial, and will not be solved by more impressive “Net Zero” goals or other buzzwords, as outlined in the assessment. I offer ideas about what’s needed (see slide 4 and numerous stakeholder comments throughout) yet I know this change is part of a wider shift that will draw on our capacities in ways as yet unfathomed. (More on that in a sec.)
While immersed in JBS I took up some new bedside reading because apparently my life was lacking complexity and intrigue. I learned about Manda Scott’s Boudica series after our October 12 podcast chat, mentioned above. My secondhand copies arrived right when I was getting in deep with JBS.
I quickly realized this retelling of Rome’s invasion of Britain is a bestseller for good reason AND it’s relevant to what’s going on now across global industry.
So even though (especially because?) I was in the throes of JBS Matereality mayhem, making a mess of slideware in public, I hosted Manda Scott on my own scruffy non-podcast and produced the video, audio, and Medium piece with the full transcript and links. The video alone received over 500 views in under two days which, if you know my YouTube channel, you’ll know is an anomaly (like, by two decimal places...).
As one commenter graciously offered after listening to our conversation:
“Great interview – love the Boudica books. The last few minutes of the conversation gave me goosebumps.” – J.C., YouTube commenter
So now I understand that all of this has been leading me to the Glencore Matereality assessment – something I’ve been flowing towards since January but I think I’m finally washing up on those shores now. Why do I think this? Because while I was busy not getting to the distant Glencore shore, the meandering channels and rushing currents took me back to Manda Scott’s Accidental Gods podcast the other day where the most recent episode with Simon Michaux explains the puzzle of “renewable” energy which sets us loose in the quagmire that is global mining.
I have felt like a heretic pointing out, for example, issues around “sustainable finance” in the TD Bank Matereality assessment on slide 9. I gave more context in the post-assessment recap, Very Gently This Time: TD Matereality).
Calling out absurd claims about things like renewable energy, the circular economy, and green finance is awkward [insert: euphemism for career-ending blasphemy here] as people are buying into it left and right.
This concern came up again in the JBS assessment (see slides 17 and 31). Now among the Accidental Gods, here is a highly credentialed mining and engineering professional making it abundantly clear with deep experience and basic math.
It’s mind-bending. And it's perfectly timed as I dig into Glencore.
Simon Michaux’s research complements many diverse voices questioning the received narratives around climate, energy, and sustainable finance. This points to massive structural changes to industry if it is to truly serve the web of life. It also underscores structural changes to society if we are to adapt to what is needed and still possible.
On looking up
It can feel like endless, impassible rapids, surfing this kind of thing. I suspect this is why there are a lot of apocalyptic zombie memes floating around, and why various celebrities are telling us what to pay attention to. These memes and movie stars may make the uncertainty up ahead more entertaining (and profitable). But I am not looking to memes or celebrities for instructions.
I don’t usually come out right out and say stuff like this, but…
It’s going to be bumpy for a while – bumpier than most of us have ever known. And it’s possible to stay with what’s coming in life-affirming ways.
In case it wasn’t already obvious, I don’t think the way through is with bigger “sustainability” ambitions. I think it’s in leaning towards what restores us – preventing toxins from entering our minds and bodies, caring for ourselves and our neighbours near and far (not “protecting” – rather, caring for).
It’s hard to know what that means, but one rule of thumb I follow is that anything that relies on – or foments – fear and division is not that.
The way forward requires deep listening; unlearning and courage too. At least, that’s how I understand it.
Manda Scott mentions in our conversation how it was a hare and a hazelnut tree that led her to write about the Roman invasion. And on slide 77 of the JBS Matereality deck I acknowledge those who helped bring this work into the public square, including a veteran tree from São Paulo’s Atlantic Forest (also featured in the banner of this newsletter).
Towards those unfathomed capacities
I will keep working as transparently as I can, even if it leaves me vulnerable at times. And I will share what I learn, in the spirit of expanding those as yet unfathomed capacities I mentioned – such as in this recent update, Naked and Nakeder (speaking of vulnerable).
If you want to receive a notification every time I publish – beyond this occasional newsletter – click here. (You don’t have to be a paying Medium member; you can still access all my articles for free).
Meanwhile thanks for joining me on this surf through meandering channels and rushing currents. Now it’s time for me to go deeper into the salt mines. Or at least, the copper, cobalt, and zinc mines. I’ll keep you posted.
Even as I tunnel in there, I hereby remind myself to keep looking up in search of the next step on the path towards industrial healing.
Yours in connectedness,
Lorraine
