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November 03, 2004
Oh yeah, school.
I shouldn't have so quickly dismissed my classes. This week saw the beginning of the second term in my Strategic Leadership Towards Sustainability, in which I'll be taking two classes--Strategic Management and Advanced Leadership. So far, we've only had one speaker, Jouni...
[Note on politics: There are 11 states with initiatives on state constitutional amendments to ban gay marriages. NPR is reporting that it looks like all 11 will pass, including the ones banning civil unions and even a couple banning domestic partnership benefits. UGH! This makes me so mad I can't even think straight. Ha-ha, straight. So far, the initiative in Oregon is the only one that looks like it might fail. On the bright side, activists are already ready to challenge the amendments in court--on the issues that 1) they violate the federal consitution and 2) violate process laws, which require that intiatives include only one issue (gay marriage, civil unions, OR domestic partnership benefits--NOT all three)]
...Korhonen, professor of Industrial Ecology at the University of Tampere in Finland. His lectures, focusing on industrial ecology and corporate social responsibility, have centered around his premise that the current industrial ecology paradigm (based on the neo-classical economics--with globalization, specialization, mass production and economic growth, and competition as key concepts) is misplaced. Instead, Jouni recommends that business should instead use a nature-based model (encompassing locality, diversity, cooperation, and development).
While I think that the lectures were interesting (although a little slow-moving), the best part was the final segment of today's session, where we engaged in a spirited discussion of business paradigms--particularly related to industrial parks. Not that there were many conclusions, but it was nice to reflect as a group on the topics we just heard about.
On an unrelated topic, today was absolutely BEE-YEW-TI-FUL. The sky was a deep blue, the kind you only see in cold weather. Class ended at noon, so I ate my pasta outside in the sun--not even needing my coat. It was lovely, and so unexpected.
I have class at 8:30 a.m. tomorrow morning (or, I guess, THIS morning) and it runs all day. I already can tell that I'm going to be EXHAUSTED.
