Hello Fediverse

[hello@www.melbournebranding.com]

Hello Fediverse

If everything works out according to plan, when I hit publish on this post it will show up in the #Fediverse. After a year of on-and-off attempts, to implement #ActivityPub on this website, with no success, I have hopefully cracked it! Well, when I say “I have hopefully cracked it,” what I mean is @pfefferle@mastodon.social and the #WordPress “open office hours” program, have cracked it. It turns out; if you have a problem with the WordPress ActivityPub plugin, the best thing to do is disable other plugins and, though a process of elimination, see if one of them is the issue. So big thanks to Mathias and WordPress for your help on this.

Now this is working and I am broadcasting out into the Fediverse, I feel like I should modify my content a little to appeal to all of you woke, leftists, godless, communists 🙂 out there. For a while I was far too smitten with the every little #Sustainability initiative, every little carbon reduction program, and every other bit of  #GreenWashing that was put out there by brands. Full confession I actually believed that ElonMusk wanted to save the planet! Yeh I know, I was naive…

While I do continue to applaud any actions that a corporation takes, that materially helps either people or planet, it’s clear that problems are systemic. We need corporations to shift from Shareholder Primacy to Stakeholder Capitalism, valuing environmental and social impact alongside profit. Or try someting completely different. Right now, if there is a more sustainable or ethical brand choice to be had, we should always take it, but we must understand, that we are not “saving the planet” with those choices, just minimising our impact. Nebula TV channel, Our Changing Climate,  has this excellent video on the subject of Ethical Consumerism.

It turns out, that whoever first pointed out “Corporations are Psychopaths” was mostly correct – How a corporation is designed to function, putting shareholders before people and planet, is psychopathic behaviour. (Psychopathic behaviour includes a lack of empathy and remorse, superficial charm, manipulation, and a disregard for social norms and the rights of others.) The only solution is to rewrite corporate charters and incorporation acts and include specific legal provisions that mandate environmental and social responsibility, shifting the core purpose of business beyond mere profit maximisation. Ultimately Corporations and their leaders are never going to fully act in the best interests of people and planet, because that’s not what they were created to do.

So the plan, for 2026, is to be posting more content here that challenges both brands and the whole system. To shine a light on the negative impacts to people and planet that brands are having. And to share more content about organisations and companies working on regeneration and decarbonisation.

Please follow and share your thoughts and ideas below.

#activitypub #branding #corporations #fediverse #sustaiability #sustainability #wordpress