A year of media buzz on IFLAS

People are taking notice of IFLAS. During its first year, IFLAS and its team featured in British newspapers six times, on the radio twice, on television twice, in international media outlets over ten times, and in specialist sustainability magazines twice.

The Director appeared on Al Jazeera television explaining the need for community currency innovation (Money for Nothing: Counting the Cost), and our Associate Scholar Will Ruddick then appeared on that station discussing his action-research project in Kenya to create a local currency for a poor neighbourhood (Counting the Cost of Aid). That project generated dozens of newspaper and TV appearances in Kenya itself and a retrospective from Al Jazeera. Professor Bendell also wrote for Al Jazeera about the benefits and limitations of attending the World Economic Forum in Davos (Uncovering Davos Ma’am).

 

In the run up to the Institute’s launch at the Royal Geographical Society in May 2013, the Guardian ran a number of articles by the speakers. Our Senior Lecturer Kate Rawles wrote about “Injecting a Sense of Adventure into Sustainability,” Daniel Start wrote about “Why Google and Sony are turning to nature to inspire their leaders ” while Professor Bendell wrote about community currency in “Trading without money? Why a new system can address the economic spiral”, and the need to emphasise adaption to climate change (Is Sustainable Business Still Possible?). He also explored answers to the question “If It’s Too Late Why Bother?” in The Environmentalist. Then speaker and IFLAS Advisory Board member Ed Gillespie appeared with Dr Rawles on Sea Change radio, discussing how to see sustainability as an everyday adventure.

The need for a more sustainable financial system was the subject of articles in The Times and the Mail on Sunday, which focused on Professor Bendell’s reasons for switching his account to The Cumberland Building Society (Give Your Bank Its Marching Orders). Jem’s lecture tour in Australia on Bitcoin and the need for sensible currency innovation appeared in their leading daily newspaper The Australian (The Rise of Bitcoin to Put the Bite on Banks).

What’s all this got to do with sustainability leadership? Jem shared some ideas in an interview for the specialist CSR Wire on “How to Assess Top Talent for Sustainability Leadership Skills.”

2014 sees a continued interest in IFLAS, with Professor Bendell already appearing on ITV to discuss the growth of international attention for the University of Cumbria in its Lake District Campus in Ambleside. 

Stay tuned… one way is to join the Sustainable Leaders Linked In Group.