For a transition to a thriving and inspired society, we need to reinvent the way we organize, cooperate and produce. Traditional cultural values, such as stewardship, may inform new, value driven entrepreneurship as a platform for individual creativity and social change. I support this transition in the following ways:
| Consultancy | Training | Coaching |
How do I contribute with my business? What will be its legacy? How do I ensure that my employees come to work with excitement and inspiration? That is stewardship. It requires to evaluate the basis of the business operations – what was the mission and vision with which the company was founded?
The cultural tradition of stewardship takes man’s place in creation as a point of departure, from a position of care and responsibility. Sustainability from this angle provides a lens to realize the company’s mission and vision.
It is about operationalizing your values and provides a framework for innovation and a basis for cooperation. The positive impacts, financially, and societal, socially and environmentally, then follow automatically.
Worldwide, major changes are being implemented in our living environments through changes in land use policies. These policies are designed to implement an energy transition, water use transition, reduce car use and restrict mobility in urban zones, create smart cities, space for nature and rewilding, and more. The changes in land-use regulations can have serious consequences for the long-term strategy and permits of your business. What few realize, is that these local changes to land use rights are often informed by UN-policies. I show how where the policies come from, what the larger implications are, and how to push back to protect your business, local democracy and autonomy:
When people want a say in major changes to their local environment, they often run into bureaucratic walls of the municipality and province. Where do you find information? How do you engage in constructive conversation with legislators? What steps can you take? If you want to gain insight and grip on local politics, Elze can support you with advice or in a workshop.
For more information, please contact
info @ vanhamelen.eu
In the last couple of years I have researched a broad array for topics for different independent media platforms:
Damaging effects of wind energy, the unsustainability of the energy transition, effects of UN policies on nation states, farmers, fishermen and food security, governance and democracy, smart city and surveillance, health effects of electromagnetic radiation, lab-grown meat, propaganda, behavioral government and cognitive warfare, and Jungian psychology.
When working in the field of sustainability, my focus was on sustainable chemistry using ‘The Natural Step’ framework.
I give lectures about the topics that I have written about.
For more information please contact
info @ vanhamelen.eu
‘De grote verbouwing van Nederland’, (2023). The book on ‘the great remake of the Netherlands’ is a collection of articles that I wrote for ‘De Andere Krant’ (The other newspaper, a Dutch reader funded printed newspaper), that cover how UN-policies are integrated in national and local land-use regulations, and the effects of these policies on citizens.
Conversation with Maryann Gebauer on developments in the Netherlands: Link
Het Windmolendrama (2023) The ‘Windturbinedrama’ discusses the unfeasibility of the energy transition and unpacks all the damages to health, the environment and justice caused by industrial windturbines in the Netherlands. Link to English translation of the report, and conversations in podcasts.
Dutch Farmers and Fishermen. Local Heroes in the Global War on Our Food and Property Rights, (2023). Research conducted for the Solari Report of Catherine Austin Fitts.
Interview door Catherine Austin Fitts: link
‘Pharma Food. Biotech on Your Plate: The Next Chapter in Big Money’s Battle to End Food Sovereignty’ (2022). Research conducted for the Solari Report of Catherine Austin Fitts.
‘‘Market transformations in the chemical sector. The Chemical Sector: From Care to Circularity’ (2020). Boekbijdrage aan ‘Changing the Game. Sustainable Market Transformation Strategies to Understand and Tackle the Big and Complex Sustainability Challenges of Our Generation’ (editors Andre Nijhof van Nijenrode University en Lucas Simons).
Contribution to Green Chemistry Conference, Berlijn (2018). Systems approach to identify sustainable chemical innovations that encompass life-cycle impacts
Analytical and strategic. Are you facing complex challenges? I will help you to map the bigger picture, while keeping an eye for important details. I combine the business context with other influences that may be relevant: the social, psychological, geopolitical and historical contexts.
This creates new insights. Developments that may otherwise be missed become visible, and spark inspired discussion that leads to finding and implementing creative solutions.
Connector. Taking a personal approach and with solid listening skills, I translate complex information into actionable intelligence for multiple audiences. Facilitation of interpersonal and intercultural communication to achieve commonly supported solutions.
Because of a strong sense of idealism, I started my career in sustainability. In the Master’s program ‘policy, communication and organization’ at the Vrije Universiteit in Amsterdam I learned about the sociology of organizations. Even in our modern societies, people long to belong to a tribe, where you can contribute meaningfully. How do you support that, in large companies that are focused on the bottom line, and on creating shareholder value? I graduated on the subject of Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR). Because of the innovative power of the business sector, I was convinced that businesses have a pivotal role to play in the transition to sustainability. Therefore, subsequently I attained an MBA in sustainable management at the Presidio Graduate School in San Francisco. As a sustainability consultant I developed and implemented sustainability programs at international corporations, mainly in the chemical sector.
Because of the turbulence in society, I took a different path in the last couple of years. Although in my personal interpretation sustainability still is about ethical and responsible business, I increasingly had questions about the broader agenda and its shadow side. For example, wind energy is so damaging to the environment and people’s health – by our own definitions, can we honestly call this renewable? How realistic is the energy transition as it is currently pursued? Why are scientists with serious credentials cancelled instead of heard when they critique climate models? Within the sustainability sector, there was no space for raising these issues.
Additionally, the quest for sustainability raised deeper questions for me: what does sustainability mean when seen in the context of processes of globalization and the geopolitical context that has arisen after WWII? What is the basis of a thriving society, or a functioning democracy? How do you guard the human measure in larger organizational structures?
Different independent new media platforms, such as the Andere Krant, the Solari Report and the Clintel Foundation provided me the opportunity to explore these questions fully and freely.
Though conducting research was worthwhile, it does not fully suit me. Research is a time consuming and solitary process. I miss action, and interaction – working with other people to create something beautiful. My purpose was always that knowledge should be actionable. How can we nurture a culture that can sustain a civilization that will last for another 100, or even 1000 years? That would be real sustainability.
Are you facing complex strategic challenges? I am open for assignments.
“Elze has a remarkable ability to integrate intelligence from different worlds and disciplines and sort out what is real intelligence, who and what is useful, and who and what is not” – Catherine Austin Fitts, financial expert, president of Solari, Inc.
“Elze is wonderfully brilliant. From brainstorming ideas to tactical execution, she delivers only the highest quality of work. She brings a lot of expertise and dives deeply into new topics and quickly masters them. She’s also a delight to work with. Working with her raised my standards for what is possible for a team to achieve.”– Carrie Staller. Business Development Director, Search Inside Yourself Leadership Institute (SIYLI)
“Elze is able to dig into opportunity and reshape it in an engaging way for multiple audiences. I supervised her work with a firm to identify a way to start using sustainability as a catalyst for change with employees and customers. She brings a very systemic view to the development of unique strategies.”– Cynthia Scott. Ph.D. Core Faculty, Presidio Graduate School.