Think globally, Act locally

 

This maxim, which was reportedly coined by René Dubos, agronomist and biologist, during a conference on the Environment pronounced at the United Nations in 1972 and used many times since then by the advertising industry, applies perfectly to the sustainable development approach.
What is it all about if not to intelligently manage the resources of our planet? That is to put each decision back in the global and complex framework of the matter processing cycle. Having come back into favour, earth sciences are essential to understand the long-term consequences of our human behaviors.
Since concepts have never succeeded, as far as we know, to feed or heat humanity, it is necessary therefore to act locally and immediately: climate does not wait and the 21st century will be the century of optimization of all raw materials and their use.
The difficulty stems from the fact that when we change the cycle of processing or utilization of raw material, the consequences in terms of CO2 emissions or depletion of resources are generally not easy to calculate because certain consequences can have a negative effect but can be largely compensated by positive consequences.
Biofuels are a very good example of this difficult issue: we know that depending on the possible change of land use and farming methods (particularly the quantities of nitrate fertilizers), the carbon dioxide released by the cultivation of energy crops can in certain cases release more carbon dioxide than the quantity emitted for the same energy produced from oil or gas.
At the same time, the conclusion does not seem to us to call a halt on their production but simply to cultivate these crops in a sustainable¹ manner.

The same applies to G.M.Os; one cannot limit the debate to a few political slogans, therefore the resumption of a more scientific debate is essential.
Who has the necessary wisdom and the moral authority to replace, in a pedagogical manner each action in a “sustainable” perspective?
It is evidently the role of international organizations (U.N.O., O.E.C.D., C.E.E.), national authorities, and the scientific community from which we would have the greatest pleasure to hear more from. We would also be happy to see the associations and Medias adopting a more responsible attitude and teaching role instead of often seeking to exploit the current events negatively simply to affirm their presence.

At Demeter, we are very interested in natural resources, their production, usage and regeneration: we are more attracted by the recycling process of metals, seawater desalination and photovoltaic thin-film cell rather than by home automation software: it is what distinguishes us from our venture-capitalist peers who have switched to “Cleantechs” from “ITs”.

We are also attentive to the industrial processes which allow generating these resources and managing them in a sustainable manner.
We believe that a company, even a service firm, must preserve a minimum of control over the industrial process in order to swiftly adapt its products or services to its customers’ demands We are also among those who try to encourage France to follow the example of Germany or Spain in developing on its territory, wind or photovoltaic equipment manufacturing industries.
We try to give our industrial view cleverly, segment by segment, niche by niche then set the synergies between the companies of our portfolio, which activities were selected particularly according to their complementarities.

We believe that this view will be rich of future industrial and financial successes. We share this opinion with our entrepreneurs and the subscribers of Demeter 1 who can already assess the financial results. We are pleased to be able to share this perspective with several international investors who join us for Demeter 2, which closing is scheduled for July 25th.
But this is the beginning of the second chapter of the Demeter story which we will tell you soon.


 

 

                                                  

                                                    Have a good summer 

 

 

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