After 35 years of working in the trillion dollar food and beverage industry, I turned my layers of experience into helping companies of all sizes, the tiniest locally to some of the very largest globally. It is a great use of my experience having connections in an industry of such magnitude with multi-talented exceptionals to help. In the last four years I have worked with a fantastic brain trust team in a range of challenges that have had great practical success: product research and development; strategic marketing directives; packaging teams; consumer testing; ingredient sourcing; operational issues; equipment design; start-ups; creative ideation for new ventures; menu and recipe development; manufacturing and distribution, at home and abroad.
A few days ago, early in the evening clients had left and my friend Oscar shook up a couple of tasty chilly cold ones. A bunch of us gathered to discuss a plan to consider business in 2012. The Cocktails...Pure Blue Parrot Perfection! Moments later we had to start to address work in 2012 and our role effecting a planet about to hit 8 billion people. How will that impact clients? At a now crispy compounding birth rate of one per 7 seconds against a death rate of one every 11 seconds, numbers are showing a net gain of 1 person every 14 seconds! In 1950 we had just hit about 2.5 billion people. Almost unbelievably by the 1990's we humans grew to 6 billion! Records show it took humans 150,000 years to get to the first billion by 1850. That means in my lifetime we will hit 2 billion more. And......that last billion took only 12 years!
All during 2011 client issues centered around sales, ' what consumers want ' were the most popular topics. ' You can't stay in business unless you do business.' But NOW how much and how it is done is certainly THE factor we have to help companies add as a factor. We can keep that information under our pillow, hide it fearfully in vaults, or use it with wisdom and integrity. Without exception there is NO WAY we can possibly do business the same way we did when the planet was even 5 billion in this rapidly changing population and ecology. Oscar and I see that companies have to start working at opening their to ideations to foster opportunities that help change the consumption effect by designing products around a future of 8 to 9 billion consuming people. This is not the call for drama but honest proaction! Planet numbers are evident at...
Oscar and I are adding a plan, a vision, a team to drive the next global economy in more ecologically sensible ways. We know that while we work in the medium of food and beverage, it will take a lot more than integrating a plant based but not plant only diet into the United States, even at a yearly slow growth rate of 1% of the 321 million population to make big impact. OUR PLANET PLAN will take looking at what other big businesses do too. Energy, housing, clothing, water, 'security'....BASIC needs for humans.
Oscar suggests we engage big business: Wall Street, Pharmaceutical Companies, Energy, Social Media to produce sustainable plans. One of us suggests Oscar get some organizational, interactive power point help and share his point of view. Present the ideas of The Green Planet Project on TED bringing the vision to the marketplace. We know that a new collectively positive attitude, no matter how hard it is economically for many at present, could turn the focus to from woes to more positive solutions and jobs that fit a new sustainable lifestyle. Starting on TED with insights into food would be a great way others industries can add their thoughts and get more proactive.
As a food blog we leave you recipes. This time Oscar and I give you food in a different more important way. Taste: FOOD for thought! We can give you 7 Billion reasons to get involved while you count, and that includes, one very important planet. Ours!
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