No doubt many business people, their associates and workers, have lost much due to the financial gaming, even those within that industry.

The perspective of interdependent planetism is needed for the long term. How will the human community do that? I think an important step is the recognition of Humanity as a single race, which is a community of communities. That is what I advocate on my website. I think it fits planetism, which is what caused me to search the word and find your site. Cheers.

Good initiative. Yet, I somehow feel troubled by these questions, perhaps because as you say above, they lack ‘laughter’. They are also very top down. Perhaps because I cant answer them? Perhaps because I would prefer other questions since they are all too hurried. On the other hand, hurrying is important given the current catastrophe – half the planet suffer in poverty. Oh yes, the other catastrophe is about to hit us but we can all move to Siberia where it will be lovely and hot – from nuclear waste?

I hope you keep me posted as to any reactions.

“What is the most important piece of CSR legislation, from a CSR perspective?”

In fact, though, I suppose that what I am actually going to answer is: “What is the most important piece of law affecting CSR?”

There is a very strong case for saying that this is competition law (certain specific parts). This is because competition law prevents companies from adopting ethical behaviours where this will cause cost increases to consumers. In fact, of course, it is precisely the consumers who should be paying for the ethical costs of their products.

Changes to this area of law, then, would cause structural changes to the way that the economy/markets function. It is this type of structural change that we argue has the most potential: enabling the finding and development of solutions within the marketplace, rather than imposing them. Businesses would be empowered to cooperate – a radical shift in direction to the usual trend towards ever greater competition, which, while helpful in terms of encouraging growth and prosperity, needs to be treated differently where ethical concerns are at stake.

Australia is so far the only jurisdiction where these competition law modifications are in place. There is successful implementation but the model indicates (in a preliminary sense) that external stimulus is also necessary: thus the competition law changes are one ingredient amongst a number of others:
- This can be impetus from government (either through direct suggestion to businesses in specific industries for ethical agreements and help in achieving sign-up, or through help in achieving sign-up to agreements suggested by some businesses);
- In the longer term, combining ethical consumerism, ethical investment, and input from NGOs, employees etc. could create the additional pressure necessary to promote ethical agreements in business.

Andrew Dakers and I are working jointly in developing and promoting this area. Please contact me for any further details and with any queries or comments (tom@ethonomics.org). Some examples of resource materials that we have produced and collected are below for reference:

Business in the Community Response to the Conservative Party Commission on Waste and Voluntary Agreements December 2008 (http://www.bitc.org.uk/document.rm?id=8579)
(The Commission’s report is due to be published soon (for information about this Commission see, for example, http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/7300152.stm).)

Some more technical analyses:
- Integration of non-efficiency objectives in competition law – Ofer Green – 2008 https://tspace.library.utoronto.ca/bitstream/1807/17173/1/Green_Ofer_200811_LLM_Thesis.pdf

- An Assessment of the Public Benefit Test in Authorisation Determinations by the ACCC – Vijaya Nagarajan – September 2005 http://cccp.anu.edu.au/projects/VijNagaraganPaperSept05PubBenefit.pdf

- “How can you be happy going to heaven knowing others have gone to hell?”
Is this a bit similar to the question: How have you managed to feel happy in life knowing that there were many in the world who were not?

Can you explain more about what you mean by the natural and spiritual realms, and how the division occurred institutionally/sociologically, for example? How do the other major world religions of today compare on this (Hinduism, Buddhism, Islam, say)?

Integration of non-efficiency objectives in competition law – Ofer Green – 2008
https://tspace.library.utoronto.ca/bitstream/1807/17173/1/Green_Ofer_200811_LLM_Thesis.pdf

An Assessment of the Public Benefit Test in Authorisation Determinations by the ACCC – Vijaya Nagarajan – September 2005 http://cccp.anu.edu.au/projects/VijNagaraganPaperSept05PubBenefit.pdf

“What is the most important piece of CSR legislation, from a CSR perspective?”

In fact, though, I suppose that what I am actually going to answer is: “What is the most important piece of law affecting CSR?”

There is a very strong case for saying that this is competition law (certain specific parts). This is because competition law prevents companies from adopting ethical behaviours where this will cause cost increases to consumers. In fact, of course, it is precisely the consumers who should be paying for the ethical costs of their products.

Changes to this area of law, then, would cause structural changes to the way that the economy/markets function. It is this type of structural change that we argue has the most potential: enabling the finding and development of solutions within the marketplace, rather than imposing them. Businesses would be empowered to cooperate – a radical shift in direction to the usual trend towards ever greater competition, which, while helpful in terms of encouraging growth and prosperity, needs to be treated differently where ethical concerns are at stake.

Australia is so far the only jurisdiction where these competition law modifications are in place. There is successful implementation but the model indicates (in a preliminary sense) that external stimulus is also necessary: thus the competition law changes are one ingredient amongst a number of others:
- This can be impetus from government (either through direct suggestion to businesses in specific industries for ethical agreements and help in achieving sign-up, or through help in achieving sign-up to agreements suggested by some businesses);
- In the longer term, combining ethical consumerism, ethical investment, and input from NGOs, employees etc. could create the additional pressure necessary to promote ethical agreements in business.

Andrew Dakers and I are working jointly in developing and promoting this area. Please contact me for any further details and with any queries or comments (tom@ethonomics.org). Some examples of resource materials that we have produced and collected are below for reference:

Business in the Community Response to the Conservative Party Commission on Waste and Voluntary Agreements December 2008 (http://www.bitc.org.uk/document.rm?id=8579)

(The Commission’s report is due to be published soon (for information about this Commission see, for example, http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/7300152.stm).)

Some more technical analyses:
- Integration of non-efficiency objectives in competition law – Ofer Green – 2008

- An Assessment of the Public Benefit Test in Authorisation Determinations by the ACCC – Vijaya Nagarajan – September 2005