社會企業不只有TOMS,還有很多可能!

閱讀暖身:

Toms鞋風靡全球,主打「穿一雙鞋、改變世界」的社會企業。其實還有許多其他企業在談利潤之餘,也致力於促進社會與環境的和諧美好。今天我們介紹四個社會企業家,他們的理念從根本上改變各地人們使用自然資源、教育年輕一代以及管理土地的方法。進入本文前,請先看以下單字:

 

a)    集合

b)    根深蒂固的

c)    動機

 

1. Alasdair Harris

Founder, Blue Ventures
London, United Kingdom

Blue Ventures organizes projects that a) rally coastal communities in the developing world around local conservation efforts. The main focus of his organization is to demonstrate the benefits environmental projects can yield. One of Harris's first demonstrations involved temporarily 1) cordoning off an octopus-fishing area in Madagascar. By allowing the ecosystem to rebuild, octopuses and other sea life flourished, leading to an increase in catch and profits.

 

阿拉戴爾‧哈里斯是英國「藍色探險」的創辦人。

藍色探險在開發中國家召集沿海城鎮居民來一齊推動當地的海岸保育。他們著重於向世界展示環境工程可以帶來的好處。哈里斯計畫初登場便足以證明其宗旨。其中一次是組織參與暫時封閉馬達加斯加內捕獵章魚區的計畫。這使該區域的生態系統得以重建,章魚以及其他海洋生物隨之繁榮、終使捕獲量與利潤俱增。

 

2. Ma Jun

Director, Institute of Public and Environmental Affairs
Beijing, China

The Institute of Public and Environmental Affairs since 2006 has maintained a publicly accessible national pollution database, where the data is displayed on an interactive online map of China. Users also can search individual companies' environmental supervision records.

馬軍是中國「公眾與環境研究中心」的創辦人。

公眾與環境研究中心自2006年始,持續推動每個民眾都有權查詢國家污染數據的資料庫。該資料庫可在一份中國互動網路地圖中找到,使用者也可查詢個別公司的環境監管紀錄。

Journalists, non-governmental organizations, and researchers were some of the first to use his database to advocate for change, Jun says. But now brands like Apple, Hewlett Packard and H&M are using the data to monitor their suppliers.

馬軍說,記者、非政府組織和研究學者是首批使用這個資料庫來表達支持改變的族群,但現在就連蘋果、惠普和H&M等大公司也都在使用這些數據來監督廠商。

 

3. Safeena Husain

CEO, Educate Girls,
Mumbai, India

The first main goal of Educate Girls is to bring Indian girls who aren't in school into the education system. And second, once they are there, to make sure that they are really learning. Changing b) entrenched views about girls and education is a long-term process, she says, but so far her organization's efforts have helped to educate 1.3 million children, including more than 80,000 girls that it has brought into the school system.

 

沙菲娜‧胡笙是印度「教育女孩」的執行長。

這個組織的第一個主要目標,是讓那些尚未就學的印度女孩們進入教育體系中;第二則是確保那些女孩在就學後真的有受教育。莎菲娜說,改變印度對女性受教育根深蒂固的觀念是無法一蹴可及的漫長過程,但在組織的努力下目前已幫助一百三十萬的孩子就學,其中包括超過八萬名女孩。

 

4. Jagdeesh Rao

Chief Executive, Foundation for Ecological Security,
Anand, Gujarat, India

About 200 million people in India rely on government-owned common land for their livelihoods. Historically these areas have been overexploited, since without ownership rights people have lacked a strong c) incentive to preserve local resources. That's why Jagdeesh Rao founded the Foundation for Ecological Security to help local villagers set up formal institutions in order to better maintain publicly owned land.

賈地許‧勞歐是印度「生態安全基金會」的執行長。

印度約有兩億人倚靠政府公有土地維生,由於這些土地長期缺乏良好的擁有權制度,使人們沒有動機留心於維護當地資源,土地一直過度開發。勞歐創立基金會就是要幫助當地居民設立正式機構,以更妥善的維護公有土地。

 

 

Rao hopes to empower people to make decisions that benefit their communities in the long-term, and moreover, to restore the environment and provide them with greater economic security.

勞歐希望能夠還權於民,使他們能夠在對群體有長期最大利益的事務上作主,並且修復環境、提供他們更好的經濟安全保障。

 

口語詞彙

Cordon sth off  包圍;隔離

Cordon 是警戒線的意思,cordon 當動詞時常和 off 連用,意思是把某地區包圍,隔離。

Police cordoned off this house where the crime occurred. 當犯罪事件發生時,警察把這房子封鎖了。

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