Uncivil Society

The Dubai Chamber of Commerce has started awarding its CSR...

Tue, 27 Dec 2011 09:56:17 -0500

The Dubai Chamber of Commerce has started awarding its CSR label, a certification mark developed in late 2010.

Gollum gets a pound dog - a nonprofit ad from Brazil. A...

Thu, 15 Dec 2011 22:52:00 -0500

Gollum gets a pound dog - a nonprofit ad from Brazil.

A commenter on Ads of the World wonders how a charity could afford to license the rights from the Tolkien estate.

License? Nonprofits don’t need no stinkin’ license.

Or so they think.

Eco-zombies, tonight on Chiller: In a remote wilderness loggers...

Wed, 14 Dec 2011 19:15:00 -0500

Eco-zombies, tonight on Chiller:

In a remote wilderness loggers and environmental activists must join together to survive against zombies resulting from a logging company’s genetic experiments in an attempt to increase lumber production which will in theory lead to a 15% increase in profit.

Y’know, I’ve seen companies turn people into zombies for a heckuva lot less.

Somehow I’d missed the sustainability/eco-luxury angle to...

Wed, 14 Dec 2011 17:50:21 -0500

Somehow I’d missed the sustainability/eco-luxury angle to this controversy.

The ethics of Twin Towers imagery is an interesting issue. Take, for example, the erasure of the Towers from movies filmed before 9/11. Is it better to erase history to avoid sparking emotional reactions, or is doing so akin to the politically motivated photo-disappearances in, say, Stalin’s Russia?

That, at least, is the deep philosophical question that kept coming to mind a couple weeks ago I was watching the Towers-redacted version of The Muppets Take Manhattan.

mothernaturenetwork:

Sustainable architecture firm issues apology for WTC-esque design
Dutch architecture firm MVRDV issues a public apology after ‘The Cloud,’ a proposed eco-luxury development designed for South Korea’s Yongsan Dreamhub complex, reminds many of the World Trade Center on Sept. 11.

newyorker: Social-Documentary Photography, Back in...

Wed, 14 Dec 2011 10:08:55 -0500

Underwood & Underwood, ca. 1915

Lewis Hine, Comfort Station, 1910s

Brown Brothers, ca. 1918

newyorker:

Social-Documentary Photography, Back in Context

Creased prints, poorly reproduced images, frayed publicity materials—not what one expects when one enters a fine-art gallery. “It is not a documentary image, but the documentary mode that we see here on journal pages and exhibition walls,” Maren Stange writes in her introduction to the catalogue for “Social Forces Visualized,” on view at the Miriam and Ira D. Wallach Art Gallery at Columbia University.

- For a slide show of photographs from this exhibition: http://nyr.kr/tu8Vzd

All courtesy Community Service Society Records, Rare Book & Manuscript Library, Columbia University.

The 19th century’s social enterprise: scientific charity....

Wed, 14 Dec 2011 08:25:05 -0500

The 19th century’s social enterprise: scientific charity. Efficient, modern, driven by metrics and rigorous analysis—these were the stated advantages of the new strategy grounded in social science.

Ironically, this charitable infrastructure established by these reformers is what many folks now consider traditional and ineffective compared to social strategy today, which, in contrast to the past, aims to be efficient, modern and driven by metrics and rigorous analysis.

Should Video Games Adhere to International Humanitarian Law? | Popular Science

Tue, 13 Dec 2011 01:49:09 -0500

Should Video Games Adhere to International Humanitarian Law? | Popular Science:

murketing:

Lots of virtual people die in first-person shooter war games — as of January, 62 billion virtual people had died in COD: Black Ops, according to game maker Activision, and it’s surely way more than that now.

Another interesting statistic: “virtual people” death tolls.

Charity multiplies misery by Conservationist2007 on Flickr. The...

Tue, 13 Dec 2011 00:49:00 -0500

Charity multiplies misery by Conservationist2007 on Flickr.

The follow appears in the most recent Deal magazine. Note especially the last four words. The attitudes and perspectives described in this paragraph are quite revealing—in fact, they point the way to understanding why charity continues to be important, not to mention undervalued.

For the past decade or so, the term “social entrepreneur” has emerged as favorite jargon in development and philanthropic circles. The term has about as many definitions and applications as it does practitioners. Generally speaking, it implies new ideas to solving social problems, approaches that are ethical and compassionate but rooted in pragmatism and real-world business practices. And, say most in the field, social entrepreneurialism must have as a goal economic growth and sustainability. If not, it’s merely a charity.

A t-shirt from the Fashion 360 collection, a celebrity-driven...

Mon, 12 Dec 2011 22:34:26 -0500

A t-shirt from the Fashion 360 collection, a celebrity-driven project that uses fashion to spread positive messages & raise money for charities:

“The idea behind it is that it’s more than fashion, it’s a fashion statement …. Everything has an inspirational message that reflects the global cause that we donate to. It’s about more than clothing. It’s about style and looking cute, but it’s really about making a difference and making a global impact together.”

From 1926, when cars & fossil fuel were celebrated as a...

Mon, 12 Dec 2011 20:02:00 -0500

From 1926, when cars & fossil fuel were celebrated as a clean alternative to horse-drawn transportation.

Also worth noting: the reference to efficiency and, of course, the name “Zerolene.”

Indofin’s Nonprofit, a song of deep ambivalence toward...

Mon, 12 Dec 2011 18:19:16 -0500

Indofin’s Nonprofit, a song of deep ambivalence toward proclaiming one’s own moral authority. It seemed like an appropriate way to launch the new Uncivil Society.