Inside the circular economy | Innovators magazine

Facing climate change and the fact that more than half of the world’s population already lives in cities that are constantly growing, the organisation and design of cities with their effects on resource consumption are of central importance in overcoming this millennium challenge. The third day of the UNESCO City of Design Panel Discussion deals with the topic of sustainable urban development.

Most procurement sustainability leaders will tell you they want responsibility for securing sustainable supply to be dispersed throughout the organisation. Better that sustainability be integrated into procurement’s standard sourcing, supplier selection, contracting and supplier management processes than managed separately.

Artists are recognising that music activities can contribute to the protection of our environment by raising awareness as well as encouraging and taking action. Musicians have joined the call for a green recovery from the coronavirus crisis, whilst several major record labels, bands and festival organisers who form the UK music industry have declared a climate and ecological emergency. The declaration has been administered by the newly formed Music Declares Emergency group, an independent organisation created by music business professionals and artists. Here I look at some examples of activities carried out by those involved in the music industry as they put ideas into action, including incorporating the circular economy into their activities.

Beneath the almond and citrus fields of the San Joaquin Valley lies an enormous system of aquifers that feeds some of the world’s most productive farmland. Hundreds of miles north and east, along the Nevada border, is the Surprise Valley, a remote, high-desert region undergirded by cone-shaped hollows of sediment that hold deposits of water. Both of these water systems, along with every other groundwater basin in California — a whopping 515 entities — must create individually tailored plans to manage their water use more sustainably.