Cross posted on The Huffington Post and Hub Culture.

For five days last week I was a fly on the wall in Davos, watching CEOs and leaders discuss the planet’s major issues at the World Economic Forum. I attended the conference as a social media producer for Hub Culture, producing short video interviews. Hub Culture is a social network of “global urban influencers,” and in Davos we occupied a building that served as a center for work, collaboration, and evening events.

At the Hub Culture Social Media Center we interviewed forty influential leaders. These five-minute interviews, conducted by our executive editor Edie Lush, let individuals share why they were at the World Economic Forum. CEOs of major corporations, directors of global non-profits, and other thought leaders sat in the Hub Culture “hot seat” and shared their concerns.

The following is an attempt to distill some of the major themes of these interviews. Obviously, the forty interviews don’t fall neatly into the categories below, and many people touched on multiple themes in their few minutes. All of the links below lead to videos of the individuals; click to hear the full stories.

Did Davos Have a Theme?

Every World Economic Forum has a stated “theme,” which sometimes relates to the actual theme of the conference. Last year, as the world was emerging from the global recession, the theme was “Improve the State of the World: Rethink, Redesign, Rebuild.” This year the theme was “Shared Norms for the New Reality,” which made everyone scratch their head. What is the “new reality” of the world, and what are the norms?

The former Prime Minister of Australia, Kevin Rudd, said he would rather state the goal as “shared values for common challenges.” (Off camera he asked, “Who are these guys named Norm that we are sharing?”) Rudd said that in the sessions he attended there was active debate over whether different countries of the world shared values or not. In one session the audience was split 50/50 on whether or not the West has common values with China with respect to global challenges.

Justin Blake, a managing director at Edelman, has now attended nine World Economic Forums, giving him a unique perspective. He said that this was the first Davos where there was no clear focus or theme, as if the world appears more splintered as it becomes more connected. Moreover, outside news–notably the chaos in Egypt–over shadowed any news from the conference.

Ian Bremmer, the President of the Eurasia Group, a firm that consults with businesses on political risk, expounded on what he thought was the “new reality.” He said that we are seeing a new type of globalization as the emerging markets flex their muscles and no longer take orders from the western powers. His major concern is what he called the “G-0” (as opposed to the G-20)–the fact that there is no effective global governance. He cited the failures of climate and trade negotiations.

Some claimed that a major focus of this year’s Forum was social inequality, which is on the rise in many parts of the world. Jasmine Whitbread, the CEO of Save the Children, felt that in previous years her comments on social inequity were ignored; this year she gained more attention.

The Way Workers Interact with the Economy has Fundamentally Changed

Malcom Frank, the Senior Vice President of Cognizant Technology Solutions, said that we are seeing the “future of work” because the generation now entering the workforce won’t accept the rigid hierarchies common in corporations. Businesses will need to be more flexible. In the information age, work no longer has to be done “at work,” but can be performed remotely and at any time.

This message was echoed by Jeffery Joerris, the CEO of Manpower, who even argued that we are no longer in the “Information Age,” but instead in the “Human Age.” In the “Human Age” (see article here), the focus is on individual talent instead of the corporation. He also remarked that companies have been reluctant to hire during this economic recovery because they’ve realized they can be just as productive with fewer people.

Arianna Huffington, the chief editor of the Huffington Post, talked about the explosion in unemployment, and how many in the United States’ middle class have experienced “downward mobility” as individuals have dropped into poverty. She implored governments to do more.

Media and Social Media are Rapidly Changing

One career that has changed dramatically in the past few years is journalism. We talked with Mike Perlis, the President and CEO of Forbes. Perlis described how Forbes’s online media has succeeded because it has adapted quickly to the changing ways that people consume information.

Likewise, Justin Blake of Edelman (mentioned earlier), said that a few years ago everyone was surprised when the first blogger showed up at the Forum. Forum meetings were supposed to be “off the record.” Now, because of twitter and blogging, everything is shared and no one expects secrecy.

Robert Scoble, a Rackspace Innovation Journalist and blogger on the popular site Scobleizer.com, described how twitter gave him his own little news feed on the world, giving him updates every second. “It’s like having a CNN news feed on my screen. I’ve always wanted that!”

The Global Gender Imbalance

A number of our interviews highlighted the need to empower women in business. Rachel Kyte, the Vice-President of the International Finance Corporation, told us that women run sixty percent of the world’s small businesses, but in some countries only five percent of the bank credit is awarded to females. She also cited numerous studies revealing that companies do better if women are on the corporate boards.

Wendy Clark, the senior Vice President of Integrated Marketing and Communications for The Coca-Cola Company, talked about Coca-Cola’s efforts to empower women franchise owners. Coca-Cola has a goal of empowering five million female entrepreneurs by 2020. Currently, many female entrepreneurs lack sufficient training, networks, or access to capital. Clark admitted that these efforts are good business practice for Coca-Cola, because small beverage outfits run by women tend to do better than those run by men.

Laura Liswood, the Secretary General of the Council of Women’s Leaders, lamented the slow progress in getting women into corporate boardrooms. She also gave a cultural anecdote to explain why boardrooms ate still dominated by western males.

And while we did see female executives (Indra Nooyi, the CEO of PepsiCo spent time at Hub Culture, and we also interviewed Beth Comstock, a senior Vice President of GE), Davos remains a mostly male affair. Only 16 percent of the roughly 2,500 fully accredited attendees were women.

Consumer Empowerment

We interviewed the heads of two organizations that are attempting to empower consumers. Joost Martens, the Director-General of Consumers International (a global umbrella organization that includes U.S.-based Consumer Reports), said that the world is becoming more globalized but there are not yet global standards for the quality and safety of products. His organization hopes to change that.

Dara O’Rouke, the founder of GoodGuide, described how his company researches the social and environmental impacts of various products and makes the information freely available. In the interview he showed us a new iPhone app that allows consumers to scan a product’s barcode and get vital statistics about the social, health, or environmental consequences of the item.

Sustainability Has Become Popular and Profitable, But Will It Be Enough?

To promote collaboration and climate solutions, Hub Culture hosted Climate Deal Day during the World Economic Forum (watch a Wall Street Journal video about the event). Consequently, we interviewed many individuals concerned with climate and other environmental issues. These conversations gave us many reasons to be hopeful; the question is whether our solutions will be sufficient.

Peter Lacy, the Managing Director of Sustainability Services for Accenture, said that businesses now understand the importance of sustainability. In a global survey of CEOs, Accenture found that 93% of company leaders say that environmental sustainability is key to their long-term success. Just three years ago, this figure was twenty percent lower. Lacy also said that the challenge is no longer recognizing the issue, but instead figuring out how to embed sustainability in the companies. He then added that more organizations see sustainability as “an opportunity” instead of a burden or a risk.

We interviewed the founders of two companies who believe in this opportunity. Kevin Surace, the CEO of Serious Materials, spoke about the high tech windows and walls that his company has developed to improve building efficiency. Nearly all of his company’s products have a payback time of less than two years, making them great investments for consumers. Likewise, Graham Andrews, the founder of Andrews Power, talked about his extremely high efficient air conditioners that dramatically reduce energy use.

The challenge is to get people to use these new technologies. Peggy Liu, the chairperson of JUCCCE (The Joint U.S-China Collaboration on Clean Energy), talked about the difficulties of getting knowledge to the right places. “There is no lack of interest to go green in China,” said Liu. The problem is access to technology, and Liu announced an innovative new plan to allow Chinese investors and U.S. research institutions to cooperate and develop clean technology.

Dr. Han Seung-soo, the former Prime Minister of South Korea and the current Chairman of the Global Green Growth Institute, partially echoed Liu’s ideas. Seung-soo’s country developed rapidly in the past few decades, converting itself from a poor country to a rich one in less than half a century. Dr. Seung-soo said that the rest of the world can’t develop in the same intensive way that South Korea did, and the Green Growth Institute will help developing nations grow their economies more sustainably.

Ian Cheshire, the Group Chief Executive for Kingfisher, Europe’s leading home improvement store, talked in depth about his company’s efforts to provide sustainable, efficient products for home owners and builders. We also spoke with Ann Davlin, the Director of Development for the Carbon War Room, who told of a number of other companies who are also stepping up and taking action.

One of Hub Culture’s partners in Davos was the Renault-Nissan Alliance, which has developed the electric cars the Nissan Leaf and Renault Fluence. At Hub Culture we had two charging stations for these cars, and we spoke with a number of people involved in the marketing or design of these vehicles. Nissan’s Head of Marketing, Simon Sproule, said that in 2011 the electric vehicle has finally come of age. Gilles Gautherot, the Communications Manager of the Renault-Nissan Alliance, told us that the real breakthrough has been making these cars “just like any other ordinary car, except much quieter.” Jack Hidary, the Global Electric Vehicle Leader for Hertz, talked about making electric cars available through Hertz, and he described innovative new car sharing programs for electric cars. We felt we saw the future when Hidetushi Kadota, the Chief Engineer for the Nissan Leaf, walked us outside and proudly showed off his company’s car.

Unfortunately, the environmental challenges that we face are acute. Christiana Figueres, the Executive Secretary of the UNFCCC (United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change), said that the global agreement reached in Cancun last December was “A big step forward for the community of nations, but a small step for the planet.” In other words, even though substantial progress was made, the progress still falls far short of what is needed to stop climate change. The Executive Director of Greenpeace International, Kumi Naido, agreed, saying that “time is running out,” and cited various scientific reports. Carl Ganter, the founder of Circle of Blue, a firm focused on freshwater issues, pointed out that water shortages could also limit our energy use. Finally, the President of the Environmental Defense Fund, Fred Krupp, talked about the dire state of the world’s fisheries and his organization’s efforts to change the way we fish.

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A few of our interviews couldn’t be lumped into these categories, but they provided important insights nonetheless.

Beth Comstock, General Electric’s Senior Vice President and Chief Marketing Officer, talked about innovation around the world and her company’s “Innovation Barometer.”

Malini Mehra, the founder and CEO of the Centre for Social Markets, discussed the need to look at climate issues, food security, and water issues as an integrated set.

Johnathan Reckford, the CEO of Habitat for Humanity International, talked about providing micro financing to help people build homes around the world.

Simon Zadek, the founder of AccountAbility, talked about the challenge of taking ideas generated during meetings in Davos and then applying them.

Atsutoshi Nishida, the Chairman of Toshiba, talked about many issues related to innovation, and he also convinced us that we needed a 3D television.

Bernardo Guillamon, the Manager of the Office of Partnerships at the Inter-American Development Bank, talked about the bank’s efforts to help Haiti and invest in education there.

Salil Shetty, the Secretary General of Amnesty International, explained how the growing power of corporations had changed his organization’s strategy. Amnesty International has traditionally pressured governments to protect human rights. Now, as corporations become more powerful and more global, Amnesty International needs to increasingly engage with companies in order to protect the rights of people around the world.

As these interviews have shown, the world is a rapidly changing place. The way we work is changing, as is the way we consume media and interact. Although environmental challenges are getting much more attention, it is not yet clear if that attention will translate into sufficient action. Likewise, more are aware of the need for gender equality in business, but we need to move from awareness to action. The global community faces countless issues, and as many of these leaders said in these interviews, it will take much more than just talk to solve them.

I have a new job. I am working with California Environmental Associates, an environmental consulting firm in San Francisco. The job is keeping me busy, so rather than bore you with the details, you can learn more about visiting the company’s website. So far, I am impressed by my coworkers and excited about the work.

I am consulting for foundations, helping advise their environmental giving. For my most recent project, I traveled to Costa Rica to learn more about the marine protected areas in the country’s waters. Rather than bore you with details of how such parks are managed and funded, I will provide you with the picture of a dolphin leaping out of Golfo Dulce on the Pacific Coast.

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In San Jose, I met with some friends who I visited the last time I was in Costa Rica (Thank you Marcela!), and I also met Ramon, an architect who, in his spare time, is advocating for the rights of cyclists in Costa Rica.

I biked across Central America. Perhaps because Costa Rica is the wealthiest nation in the region, it had the most cars, and I felt the most unsafe on its roads.

Ramon told me about the recent tragic death of a cyclist who was run over by a drunk driver.

Ramon is one of the leaders of ACONVIVIR, Asociación de deportistas CONtra la VIolencia Vial y el IRrespeto (Association of Athletes Opposed to Road Violence and Disrespect). I was sad that the organization has to frame its argument in the negative, but it reflects how dangerous it is to ride in the streets, and how out of place a cyclist feels in San Jose. During a short discussion at a bar, Ramon did offer some hope. He pulled out his laptop and quickly showed me slides of a presentation of his in which he offered an alternative vision for San Jose. Using photoshop and many hours, he displayed how San Jose’s roads could have bike lanes, and how cycling could become safer.

I hope he is successful.

On my way back to California from Copenhagen, I stopped in Colorado to visit the family of my girlfriend. It was not hard to convince me to visit: they live in Aspen.

Skiing and flying are incredibly resource intensive. They are also incredibly fun and, I would argue, make my life a whole lot better. We could give up skiing and flying, or we can invest in new technologies so that future generations can fly and ski without polluting. The investment will cost money–perhaps raising the cost of flying and skiing–but the payoff will be big: the slopes of Aspen will have snow in future decades.

In addition to enjoying a few days of skiing (wow – the snow was great!), I gave a presentation to the entire 2nd grade at Aspen Elementary. Below is the entire grade telling us to stop global warming. Enjoy!

I attended the Copenhagen climate conference as the Hopenhagen Ambassador, tasked with the responsibility of “spreading hope.” Unfortunately, the mood in Copenhagen was more frustration than optimism, and most people claimed some level of disappointment when the talks ended. Trying to reclaim optimism, I looked to history.

When speaking about climate change, we often talk about the next fifty or hundred years—but what have the last fifty or a hundred years been like?

I had a few free days after the Copenhagen conference and before returning to the States, so I decided to visit Berlin, the epicenter of the worst wars of the past 100 years. After the six-hour (comfortable and quiet) train ride from Copenhagen, and after finding a place to stay with a friend, I proceeded to tour the city by bike and on foot.

What surprised me the most is that landmarks from past conflicts are now just tourist attractions. During a walking tour of the city, a guide spoke about the Nazi Air Force building as if it were nothing more than a museum (it’s a tax office now). We walked over Hitler’s bunker, and as if to prove that Hitler failed, on the nearest street corner stood a gay bar and a Chinese restaurant. At the Brandenburg gate, which once sat in “no-man’s land” between East and West Berlin, I can now take a picture with a man posing like a Soviet soldier.

Deeply puzzled over how a city could have such a horrible past century, I bought a German history book, which I read on the return train ride. Reading over the past 1000 years of history, I was reminded how Europe seemed to always be at war. Wars that I had never heard of claimed large percentages of the population, and times of peace were short. Looking more carefully at just the past century, I learned that the past decade has had by far the fewest deaths from war of any decade.

I feel deeply lucky to live in an age when war is comparatively rare. Just over twenty years ago East Germany was a repressed country and many people feared nuclear war between the United States and Russia. Under such a global political environment, the leaders of the world would never have sat down and debated an environmental treaty like they did last week.

But just the past week over 160 heads of state sat in the same room to discuss our environmental future. The very fact that their concern was climate change and not global nuclear war gives me hope that we are making progress as a species.

If we make the needed investment—about one percent of the world’s economic output—twenty years from now we may look back and talk about how we have met the challenge of global warming. Maybe abandoned coal power plants will be nothing more than museums, much like the artifacts of the Cold War.

At the Copenhagen conference, our leaders did not meet this challenge, and did not make pledges that would result in the needed investment. But steps were taken that got us closer to reaching such goals, and for the first time, the world’s largest polluters, China and the United States, agreed to cut emissions. If we keep up public pressure, maybe in the next few years we will set ourselves on the right course.

Before catching a train back to Copenhagen, I biked along where the old Berlin Wall used to run. A few remnants of the wall stand along some streets. On other roads, a line of cobblestones marks where the wall was. At some points there is no sign of a wall, and only my map told me where the barrier once divided the city.

Below is video taken from my bike. Just over twenty years ago, men in towers armed with machine guns would have shot me for riding where I am in this video. Today my only threat is inclement weather and Volkswagens.

Here’s my most recent post on the Huffington Post: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/david-kroodsma/schneider-we-got-to-stay_b_402492.html