economy

Beer Brings Bonus to Businesses

- Adam Clare

Something exciting is happening in Cleveland and it’s that beer is bringing a bountiful amount of success to a failing neighbourhood. Great Lakes Brewing Company (not to be confused with GLB in Toronto) is one of many brewers that are drawing people and jobs back into the core of Cleveland. What’s happening there is not unique to Cleveland and similar success can be found all over North America.

Call it a “brewery incubation system,” says Benner, one that provides space, equipment and start-up assistance for hobbyists itching to hit the beer big leagues. “We’re bridging the gap between the home and pro brewer.”

Platform’s brewhouse will also house an onsite taproom, meaning patrons will be able to sample a seasonal lineup of beers in the very space in which they’re brewed. “It’s a manufacturing place where you can have a beer,” says Benner. “People are going to feel a connection to their product.”

The business model is not all that unusual, he believes. Benner estimates that 95 percent of professional brewers started out making beer in their home kitchens. He brewed up his first batch of homebrew (summer wheat) after being introduced to the hobby by a friend. Benner was instantly hooked, and he thinks that mentality will help Platform carve out its own niche in Ohio City’s — and Cleveland’s — craft brew scene.

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Carbon Output Shrinking as Economies Grow

- Adam Clare

Some odd people think that environmental policies and mandated efficiencies ruin economies, well, now there is another reason why those people are wrong. A report just released will hopefully have an impact on the climate talks in Poland happening this month shows the disconnect between economic growth and destroying the planet. Their findings buck the trend of wastefulness being associated with economic growth, which means that in all likelihood pro-environemnt polices of the past decade are having a very positive effect!

“The small increase in emissions [of 2012]… may be the first sign of a more permanent slowdown in the increase of global CO2 emissions, and ultimately of declining global emissions,” declares the Trends in Global CO2 Emissions: 2013 Report, published by the Netherlands Environmental Assessment Agency and the European Commission’s Joint Research Centre (JRC) last week. It analyses the latest emissions data, right up to 2012.
…
The data show that global carbon dioxide emissions rose by 1.4 per cent in 2012. Allowing for it being a leap year, the underlying increase was just 1.1 per cent, says the report, compared with an average of 2.9 per cent since 2000.

Importantly, the emissions rise is considerably less than the increase in global GDP of 3.5 per cent. “We see a decoupling of CO2 emissions from global economic growth,” says Greet Janssens-Maenhout of the JRC in Ispra, Italy, a co-author on the report.

Read more here.

Bicycle Commuters Save Economy $21 on Each Commute

- Adam Clare

Australian research has led to the conclusion that bicycle commuters are great for the economy! Every time a commuter chooses to ride a bicycle instead of a car or public transportation the economy benefits.

With the obviousness of health benefits from riding a bicycle and the ever-increasing amount of economic research that supports bicycle infrastructure the future of smart transit planning is just around the corner.

The economy benefits by more than $21 every time a person cycles 20 minutes to work and back and $8.50 each time a person walks 20 minutes to and from work, according to a policy statement released by Deputy Prime Minister Anthony Albanese on Tuesday.

Mr Albanese said the construction of walking and riding paths was relatively cheap compared with other modes of transport. A bicycle path costs only about $1.5 million a kilometre to plan and build.

“We need to get more people choosing alternatives to the car”: Anthony Albanese. Photo: Nic Walker
The government has agreed that, where practical, all future urban road projects must include a safe, separated cycle way.

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The B Team – A Plan B for the Economy

- Adam Clare

The economic stupidity of a few years back is still causing problems and the fact that the wrongdoers got bailouts for their transgressions hasn’t helped. Even years later economies haven’t recovered and the class divisions within multiple societies have widened. It’s time for an alternative to this current form of (rather bizarre) “hyper capitalism”.

This is where The B Team is looking to make a difference. It’s a new organization focused on researching and promoting a new form of economic thinking that doesn’t ignore the environment and people. Social entrepreneurship is on the rise and The B Team seems to want to help that trend continue.

The B Team is a not-for-profit initiative that has been formed by a group of global business leaders to create a future where the purpose of business is to be a driving force for social, environmental and economic benefit.

Working with a global community of advisors and partners, The B Team seeks to develop and implement a Plan B for business that puts people and planet alongside profit. The B Leaders will focus on execution and action, catalysing and amplifying others’ efforts by undertaking specific global Challenges where their collective voice can make a difference.

Check out The B Team.

Thanks to Liz! (again)

“Weirdos” Make Cities Better

- Adam Clare

Joi Ito, the director of the Media Lab at MIT, proposes that one way to make cities a better place for people and economies is to let weirdos flourish. What he’s getting at is that cities attract creative people who can generate wealth and culture so therefore we need to let these creative people do what they do best. The best way to do this, he says, is to have government step out of the way in some neighbourhoods because developing the place may change the weirdos who live there.

What’s more, the very effort to attract such talent by building infrastructure in advance, may well backfire, raising costs and destroying the vibe. “Look at New York,” he says. “If you have an area where established businesses have gone away, costs will go down, and entrepreneurs will move in. Scuzzy kids don’t need much space anymore, they just need a network and a place with a critical mass of energy to self-organize. Infrastructure comes later.”

As technology and the internet have lowered the cost of innovation and expressing yourself creatively, the ability of small groups of people to have a big impact has increased, he says.

“The barrier now isn’t lack of money,” he says, “it’s lack of permission. Untapped capital gets unlocked when authority gets out of the way and lets people do what they would do if given potential and the context in which to do it.”

Read more at Co.Exist.

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