Economy, Ecology, and Sustainable Development

Sustainable Development | Kendra Pierre-Louis | Saturday 20th March 2010

The other day I met a coal analyst for the financial industry. Upon discovering his profession I joked that I spend my life trying to put him out of work.

He promptly informed me of three things. First that, mountaintop coal removal has maybe another ten years left in it, before the market goes bust. He didn't explain why, but I'm guessing they're running out of mountain tops that a

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	The Good Capitalist Party: SxSW Social Enterprise \| Marcia Stepanek \| Thursday 11th March 2010 South by Southwest (SxSW), the annual social media and cause festival that brings thousands to Austin, Texas, each spring, is offering something new this year for social entrepreneurs and other social innovators: The Good Capitalist Party. It's a bottom-up event organized by Justmeans reader and social entrepreneur Martin Montero that's gone viral in the past week or two among those SxSWers looking to party and network around making business better. The event was originally to have been just another networking event at the festival, which is hosting more than 200 such side events this year at various locations around Austin. But the Good Capitalist Party [set for Monday night] is now destined to be one of the festival's biggest off-program networking events, having attracted so many RSVPs so far that Montero and his crew have had to change venues twice just to accommodate those interested -- not to mention an expanding roster of sponsors, which now include Acumen Fund, Social Edge, Good Magazine, Kiva, and the Austin Center for Design and others. According to Montero, the event will focus on social entrepreneurship and the people and companies that str...

	Cause-washing: The new black? Social Enterprise \| Marcia Stepanek \| Thursday 11th March 2010 We've all heard about green-washing, what Urban Dictionary defines as "when companies pretend to be environmentally friendly -- when in fact they are not." Now there's a new term -- cause-washing -- that's being used with increasing frequency in the blogosphere to describe inauthentic marketing-for-good. To talk about this and other new trends and challenges in the worlds of corporate responsibility and social enterprise, I sat down recently with the popular Harvard Business School marketing professor V. Kasturi Rangan, who moderated a panel in February on the subject at Harvard's Social Enterprise Conference 2010. Rangan says he worries a lot about how some causes may be considered a better "sell" than others. He also says he thinks it will soon become critical for companies involved in cause-branding to start proving social impact amid an increasingly cause-crowded marketplace -- but adds that few firms are, as yet, up to the challenge. Here's an edited transcript of our conversation: What do you see as the next big cause-branding trends going forward? I see pluses and minuses. Cause branding requires you to attach the cause to brand and then ...

	Outfit that greener home with a low flow loo! Ethical Consumption \| Caitlin Chock \| Thursday 11th March 2010 Don't think that our greener home doesn't extend to that porcelain paradise where many of us may do our best thinking or reading. Well, the latter part may not be necessarily true, but the former certainly is. Did you know that when it comes to the amount of water your home is using, 40 percent of it can be claimed by that toilet of yours. Should you have one that is working off of 3.5 gallons per flush, during the course of just a single day one person could be then using 19.5 gallons a day; and that's not even taking into account that extra spicy dinner you had last week! To get an idea of how much water you could be saving by switching to a low flow toilet, if your model instead used 1.6 gallon per flush it would ring in only about 10 gallons per day for one person. A toilet using 1.28 gallons per flush then equates to 6.2 gallons a day, yet one with just 1 gallon per flush would bring that daily total down to a mere 5 gallons. But if the idea of a low flush toilet leaves you a bit wary in just how effective it is, you need not worry any longer. Thanks to the advancement in toilet technology (yes, you heard right) the g...

	Privacy vs. efficiency as Britain moves to electronic health records Health \| Sara Libby \| Wednesday 10th March 2010 The dueling priorities of the convenience and efficiency of digitalized health records and the significance of patient privacy is one that is looming as health care reform continues its long, slow slog through Congress. But it's possible that we are getting a preview of potential problems to come with recent events in England. A new electronic medical records database is causing quite a stir: among the complaints about the system are that the system is being pushed through too quickly, and that health officials will potentially have access to patients' sensitive health information without their knowledge or consent. Indeed, the British Medical Association admitted that some patients' records might have gone into the system without the appropriate 12 weeks' prior notice - time that was intended for patients to decide whether to opt-out of participating in the system. According to the BBC, so far a little more than 1 million records have been entered into the system; and 50 million are projected to go in by 2014. Reports the BBC: "Before a patient's details go into the database, they will receive a pack containing information about the Summary Care Recor...

	Go green when on the go Ethical Consumption \| Caitlin Chock \| Wednesday 10th March 2010 For those who love to travel, the idea of jet setting to the far reaches of the Globe may seem like a dream come true; I too have may places and sights I'd love to see before I turn into compost! But when one is looking to go green when it comes to traveling what can you do to improve your status as an ethical consumer? The fact is, much of travel is going to be contributing to greenhouse gas emissions through the flights, car rides, and other transportation processes alone. Yet there are still ways you can reduce your carbon footprint and still have an exciting holiday getaway. The first way you can go green and limit the amount of environmental impact you have is by cutting down on the load you take with you. If you are flying, or even driving for that matter, the heavier your luggage is the more of an effect that is going to have in the way of emissions. Do what you can to stick to the necessities and avoid those cute little travel sized goodies. Those little bottles of toothpaste and tiny lotions may be handy but they are going to contribute more waste when you use them up in only a few days' time. You can mimic the...

	Education Against Climate Change and Evolution: Skepticism with the Help of Creationists Climate Change \| Juan Carlo Pascua \| Wednesday 10th March 2010 A blow to climate change progress: a Kentucky bill was introduced last week that would have teachers discuss "the advantages and disadvantages of scientific theories," which include "evolution, the origins of life, global warming, and human cloning" (New York Times, 2010). Other states such as Louisiana, Texas, Oklahoma, and South Dakota have already initiated similar educational goals. The South Dakota resolution was passed last week; it called for the "balanced teaching of global warming in public schools." The resolution elaborated, "Carbon dioxide is not a pollutant, but rather a highly beneficial ingredient for plant life." By linking the skepticism of climate change with the skepticism of evolution theory, church groups are finding a potent formula to advance their religion in schools. Evolution theory is based on the fact that organisms progressively advance their biology, keeping components such as their wings or antlers if they help the organism survive. Over many generations, the organism is to improve its design to increase survivability. The theory goes against some church teachings that God created man in the likeness of himself (called Creationism), whi...

	CSR and the National Enquirer Corporate Social Responsibility \| Madeline Ravich \| Wednesday 10th March 2010 OK, I admit it: I am a sucker for the tabloids. That's why I couldn't resist the temptation to share some thoughts about the CSR rankings spawned by --- yes--- John Edwards' love child! Specifically, on Monday I was reading a NYT article ("The National Enquirer Earns Some Respect" by Stephanie Clifford) about how the National Enquirer catapulted from sensationalist tabloid to Pulitzer Prize contender. The article quoted the magazine's editor as explaining that its success breaking the John Edwards' story was "in line with The Enquirer's mission" of "show[ing] the reader that wealthy people, rich people, people who they may admire — when you take away the money, have the same types of problems that they have in real life." Apparently, I have been misinterpreting the National Enquirer. I had thought its function was to trigger impulse-buys in the supermarket checkout line, but apparently it has a much higher purpose. Its editors just want to make me feel better about myself. The National Enquirer did things on the up-and-up in its Edwards coverage. It did not pay its sources (for this story, anyway) and it went th...

	Misplaced economic nationalism? Sustainable Development \| Sara Wolcott \| Wednesday 10th March 2010 There is a distinct rise in nationalism - especially economic nationalism - conservativism across Europe. In the UK, we increasingly hear the cry for 'British jobs for British workers'. I am hard pressed to oppose their anger and their righteousness. The financial crisis no doubt plays a role in this - jobs have been cut, and with the imminent threat of increasing cuts in public spending to pay for the very expensive bank bailouts, people are left wondering who is going to bail them out. Meanwhile, around the world, the financial crisis is also affecting poor people in poor countries. Britain's DFID estimates that by Dec 2009, the number of people living on less than $1.25 a day was about 90 million higher as a result of the financial crisis. The World Bank estimates the number of new poor in developing countries will range from 46 million (on less than $1.25) to 53 million (on less than $2 a day). The African Development Bank estimates that a reduction in growth of GDP per capita of three percentage points would result in 98 million additional poor people in 2010 in Asia as compared with a baseline scenario of no economic slowdown. Regardless of which fig...

	Institute This: Sustainable Food Policy Sustainable Food \| Tricia Edgar \| Wednesday 10th March 2010 Do you work in an institution? By that I mean a big organization like a government, school, or hospital. Even a large company will do. If your organization has buying clout and wields it to garner good bulk deals as a consumer, it's an institutional buyer. This means that your institution has an opportunity to transform the landscape of sustainable food policy in a way that many individual consumers do not. While drops in the bucket make a difference in the world of sustainable food, changing the bucket is a fast way to transforming our buying relationship with food. What am I talking about? Let's use my past university as an example. Much to the chagrin of its students, one of my alma maters cut a deal with a major beverage manufacturer. All of the beverages sold on campus were going to be part of that manufacturer's brands, and that included those sold in vending machines. Students were up in arms about the limitation of choice and the social and political activity of the company in question. The university was pleased with the deal, since handing over the buying population of the university meant that the educational institution received a sum of money from the co...

	India's Endorses Copenhagen Accord, Looks to Lead UNFCCC Climate Change \| Brian Kahn \| Wednesday 10th March 2010 India has renewed its commitment to continued international climate change negotiations. In fact, two recent pieces of news indicate that they are perhaps looking to take an even larger role in shaping future global actions on climate change. First up, India has nominated their Secretary of the Environment, Vijay Sharma, to lead the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC). Yvo de Boer stepped down from the position last month, and there has been a lot of talk about the next Executive Secretary of the UNFCCC coming from a developing country. Right now, South Africa's minister of tourism and environmental affairs is the only other candidate vying for the position. Indonesia is also considering nominating one of their officials for the position. Either way, this positions the UNFCCC to move forward on the next climate change conference in Cancun later this year fairly seamlessly. Having a representative from a developing country at the top of the UNFCCC will provide a few benefits. It will give the negotiations new life as developing countries might feel their interests will be given mor...

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	The Good Capitalist Party: SxSW Social Enterprise \| Marcia Stepanek \| Thursday 11th March 2010 South by Southwest (SxSW), the annual social media and cause festival that brings thousands to Austin, Texas, each spring, is offering something new this year for social entrepreneurs and other social innovators: The Good Capitalist Party. It's a bottom-up event organized by Justmeans reader and social entrepreneur Martin Montero that's gone viral in the past week or two among those SxSWers looking to party and network around making business better. The event was originally to have been just another networking event at the festival, which is hosting more than 200 such side events this year at various locations around Austin. But the Good Capitalist Party [set for Monday night] is now destined to be one of the festival's biggest off-program networking events, having attracted so many RSVPs so far that Montero and his crew have had to change venues twice just to accommodate those interested -- not to mention an expanding roster of sponsors, which now include Acumen Fund, Social Edge, Good Magazine, Kiva, and the Austin Center for Design and others. According to Montero, the event will focus on social entrepreneurship and the people and companies that str...

	Cause-washing: The new black? Social Enterprise \| Marcia Stepanek \| Thursday 11th March 2010 We've all heard about green-washing, what Urban Dictionary defines as "when companies pretend to be environmentally friendly -- when in fact they are not." Now there's a new term -- cause-washing -- that's being used with increasing frequency in the blogosphere to describe inauthentic marketing-for-good. To talk about this and other new trends and challenges in the worlds of corporate responsibility and social enterprise, I sat down recently with the popular Harvard Business School marketing professor V. Kasturi Rangan, who moderated a panel in February on the subject at Harvard's Social Enterprise Conference 2010. Rangan says he worries a lot about how some causes may be considered a better "sell" than others. He also says he thinks it will soon become critical for companies involved in cause-branding to start proving social impact amid an increasingly cause-crowded marketplace -- but adds that few firms are, as yet, up to the challenge. Here's an edited transcript of our conversation: What do you see as the next big cause-branding trends going forward? I see pluses and minuses. Cause branding requires you to attach the cause to brand and then ...

	Outfit that greener home with a low flow loo! Ethical Consumption \| Caitlin Chock \| Thursday 11th March 2010 Don't think that our greener home doesn't extend to that porcelain paradise where many of us may do our best thinking or reading. Well, the latter part may not be necessarily true, but the former certainly is. Did you know that when it comes to the amount of water your home is using, 40 percent of it can be claimed by that toilet of yours. Should you have one that is working off of 3.5 gallons per flush, during the course of just a single day one person could be then using 19.5 gallons a day; and that's not even taking into account that extra spicy dinner you had last week! To get an idea of how much water you could be saving by switching to a low flow toilet, if your model instead used 1.6 gallon per flush it would ring in only about 10 gallons per day for one person. A toilet using 1.28 gallons per flush then equates to 6.2 gallons a day, yet one with just 1 gallon per flush would bring that daily total down to a mere 5 gallons. But if the idea of a low flush toilet leaves you a bit wary in just how effective it is, you need not worry any longer. Thanks to the advancement in toilet technology (yes, you heard right) the g...

	Privacy vs. efficiency as Britain moves to electronic health records Health \| Sara Libby \| Wednesday 10th March 2010 The dueling priorities of the convenience and efficiency of digitalized health records and the significance of patient privacy is one that is looming as health care reform continues its long, slow slog through Congress. But it's possible that we are getting a preview of potential problems to come with recent events in England. A new electronic medical records database is causing quite a stir: among the complaints about the system are that the system is being pushed through too quickly, and that health officials will potentially have access to patients' sensitive health information without their knowledge or consent. Indeed, the British Medical Association admitted that some patients' records might have gone into the system without the appropriate 12 weeks' prior notice - time that was intended for patients to decide whether to opt-out of participating in the system. According to the BBC, so far a little more than 1 million records have been entered into the system; and 50 million are projected to go in by 2014. Reports the BBC: "Before a patient's details go into the database, they will receive a pack containing information about the Summary Care Recor...

	Go green when on the go Ethical Consumption \| Caitlin Chock \| Wednesday 10th March 2010 For those who love to travel, the idea of jet setting to the far reaches of the Globe may seem like a dream come true; I too have may places and sights I'd love to see before I turn into compost! But when one is looking to go green when it comes to traveling what can you do to improve your status as an ethical consumer? The fact is, much of travel is going to be contributing to greenhouse gas emissions through the flights, car rides, and other transportation processes alone. Yet there are still ways you can reduce your carbon footprint and still have an exciting holiday getaway. The first way you can go green and limit the amount of environmental impact you have is by cutting down on the load you take with you. If you are flying, or even driving for that matter, the heavier your luggage is the more of an effect that is going to have in the way of emissions. Do what you can to stick to the necessities and avoid those cute little travel sized goodies. Those little bottles of toothpaste and tiny lotions may be handy but they are going to contribute more waste when you use them up in only a few days' time. You can mimic the...

	Education Against Climate Change and Evolution: Skepticism with the Help of Creationists Climate Change \| Juan Carlo Pascua \| Wednesday 10th March 2010 A blow to climate change progress: a Kentucky bill was introduced last week that would have teachers discuss "the advantages and disadvantages of scientific theories," which include "evolution, the origins of life, global warming, and human cloning" (New York Times, 2010). Other states such as Louisiana, Texas, Oklahoma, and South Dakota have already initiated similar educational goals. The South Dakota resolution was passed last week; it called for the "balanced teaching of global warming in public schools." The resolution elaborated, "Carbon dioxide is not a pollutant, but rather a highly beneficial ingredient for plant life." By linking the skepticism of climate change with the skepticism of evolution theory, church groups are finding a potent formula to advance their religion in schools. Evolution theory is based on the fact that organisms progressively advance their biology, keeping components such as their wings or antlers if they help the organism survive. Over many generations, the organism is to improve its design to increase survivability. The theory goes against some church teachings that God created man in the likeness of himself (called Creationism), whi...

	CSR and the National Enquirer Corporate Social Responsibility \| Madeline Ravich \| Wednesday 10th March 2010 OK, I admit it: I am a sucker for the tabloids. That's why I couldn't resist the temptation to share some thoughts about the CSR rankings spawned by --- yes--- John Edwards' love child! Specifically, on Monday I was reading a NYT article ("The National Enquirer Earns Some Respect" by Stephanie Clifford) about how the National Enquirer catapulted from sensationalist tabloid to Pulitzer Prize contender. The article quoted the magazine's editor as explaining that its success breaking the John Edwards' story was "in line with The Enquirer's mission" of "show[ing] the reader that wealthy people, rich people, people who they may admire — when you take away the money, have the same types of problems that they have in real life." Apparently, I have been misinterpreting the National Enquirer. I had thought its function was to trigger impulse-buys in the supermarket checkout line, but apparently it has a much higher purpose. Its editors just want to make me feel better about myself. The National Enquirer did things on the up-and-up in its Edwards coverage. It did not pay its sources (for this story, anyway) and it went th...

	Misplaced economic nationalism? Sustainable Development \| Sara Wolcott \| Wednesday 10th March 2010 There is a distinct rise in nationalism - especially economic nationalism - conservativism across Europe. In the UK, we increasingly hear the cry for 'British jobs for British workers'. I am hard pressed to oppose their anger and their righteousness. The financial crisis no doubt plays a role in this - jobs have been cut, and with the imminent threat of increasing cuts in public spending to pay for the very expensive bank bailouts, people are left wondering who is going to bail them out. Meanwhile, around the world, the financial crisis is also affecting poor people in poor countries. Britain's DFID estimates that by Dec 2009, the number of people living on less than $1.25 a day was about 90 million higher as a result of the financial crisis. The World Bank estimates the number of new poor in developing countries will range from 46 million (on less than $1.25) to 53 million (on less than $2 a day). The African Development Bank estimates that a reduction in growth of GDP per capita of three percentage points would result in 98 million additional poor people in 2010 in Asia as compared with a baseline scenario of no economic slowdown. Regardless of which fig...

	Institute This: Sustainable Food Policy Sustainable Food \| Tricia Edgar \| Wednesday 10th March 2010 Do you work in an institution? By that I mean a big organization like a government, school, or hospital. Even a large company will do. If your organization has buying clout and wields it to garner good bulk deals as a consumer, it's an institutional buyer. This means that your institution has an opportunity to transform the landscape of sustainable food policy in a way that many individual consumers do not. While drops in the bucket make a difference in the world of sustainable food, changing the bucket is a fast way to transforming our buying relationship with food. What am I talking about? Let's use my past university as an example. Much to the chagrin of its students, one of my alma maters cut a deal with a major beverage manufacturer. All of the beverages sold on campus were going to be part of that manufacturer's brands, and that included those sold in vending machines. Students were up in arms about the limitation of choice and the social and political activity of the company in question. The university was pleased with the deal, since handing over the buying population of the university meant that the educational institution received a sum of money from the co...

	India's Endorses Copenhagen Accord, Looks to Lead UNFCCC Climate Change \| Brian Kahn \| Wednesday 10th March 2010 India has renewed its commitment to continued international climate change negotiations. In fact, two recent pieces of news indicate that they are perhaps looking to take an even larger role in shaping future global actions on climate change. First up, India has nominated their Secretary of the Environment, Vijay Sharma, to lead the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC). Yvo de Boer stepped down from the position last month, and there has been a lot of talk about the next Executive Secretary of the UNFCCC coming from a developing country. Right now, South Africa's minister of tourism and environmental affairs is the only other candidate vying for the position. Indonesia is also considering nominating one of their officials for the position. Either way, this positions the UNFCCC to move forward on the next climate change conference in Cancun later this year fairly seamlessly. Having a representative from a developing country at the top of the UNFCCC will provide a few benefits. It will give the negotiations new life as developing countries might feel their interests will be given mor...