Rating America: 16 things we’re not good at.
This month the World Economic Forum released “The Global Competitiveness Report 2012-2013,” that ranks 144 countries, on everything from “Organized Crime,” to the “Quality of Overall Infrastructure,” and the “Protection of Minority Shareholders. #1 represents the best nation, and #144 represents the worst nation. America did very poorly almost everywhere other than Gross Domestic Product where we ranked #1. This is yet another message about a system that no longer works, or at least a system that works well only for the top...
read moreFor-profit Business Innovations impact tropical forest biodiversity
Guest Blog Post by Perzen Patel of Ennovent, a global organization that accelerates innovations for sustainability in low-income markets. Tropical forests are critical global ecosystems. Not only do they represent an incredible wealth of biodiversity, play an important role in storing carbon and help to control various diseases, but tropical forests also provide a source of income for many indigenous communities living in their boundaries. However, around the world tropical forests are being destroyed by harmful activities – such as slash...
read moreA sustainable economy: it’s not only about the jobs.
Recent research indicates that a green economy is a strong and inclusive one that will help the shift to an economy that is fairer, more sustainable and resilient. Author Ethan Pollack of the Economic Policy Institute outlines the benefits of a green economy in his paper “Counting Up to Green.” More than 3.1 million jobs are considered “green” as of 2010 and that number is increasing faster than the overall economy. Green manufacturing jobs are accessible to the nearly 70% of Americans without a college education. States with the...
read moreIt’s time.
In his inaugural address, President Obama finally acknowledged publicly that when it comes to climate change, it’s time to act. Yes, it’s time for the government to act. We knew this already. But did anyone else feel like the President was asking us, the citizens, to act on climate change? We, the people. We, the people. Words he repeated over and over again to emphasize that change happens with us, the people. We cannot let our time to act pass us by. We must respond to his call. Congress is compelled by urgency and this urgency comes...
read moreThe Relationship Between NGOs and Big Business
We’ve come a long way from the time when NGO leaders and businesses stood at opposite ends of the spectrum, with little collaboration or compromise. Now, with the realization that issues are interrelated, that big problems such as climate change, fresh water depletion, natural resource destruction can be solved by partnerships and collaboration, we see NGO leaders sitting in the boardroom of big businesses. However, this is not always the most efficient way to solve our problems. As Frances Buckingham points out in his article Why...
read moreHow Multi-National Business Holds the US Economy Hostage
In Jeffrey Sachs’ new book, The Price of Civilization, he states in no uncertain terms that the US economy is held hostage to a narrow group of corporate interests. ”Corporate wealth translates into political power through campaign financing, corporate lobbying and the revolving door of jobs between government and industry; and political power translates into further wealth through tax cuts, deregulation and sweetheart contracts between government and industry. Wealth begets power, and power begets wealth,” he says. Sachs...
read moreThe Startup Playbook
Fantastic new book out today that I highly recommend by entrepreneur and New York Times bestselling author David S. Kidder called THE STARTUP PLAYBOOK: The Secrets of the Fastest-Growing Startups From Their Founding Entrepreneurs. Kidder shares the raw experiences of some of the world’s most influential entrepreneurs and CEOs, revealing their philosophies and strategies for winning in complex and unforgiving marketplaces. Drawing on his unprecedented access to these men and women in addition to his own experiences as founder of three...
read more580
580. This is the number of times you have to multiply the lowest paid McDonald’s employee salary in order to arrive at the CEO’s salary. Twenty years ago, that number was 230. Reading this article from a few weeks ago in Bloomberg was distressing to say the least and really highlights the day-to-day impacts of the pay disparity between the highest and lowest earners in the fast food industry and beyond. When forming Seventh Generation 25 years ago, we made a decision that the highest paid employee would never be paid more than 17 times the...
read moreFair Trade sales increase rapidly despite economic downturn
The Ethical Consumerism Report 2010 was produced by The Co-operative Group, which has tracked shopping trends in the United Kingdom for more than a decade, found that, “despite the economic downturn, sales of ethical goods and services have remained resilient, going up almost 9% last year from £43bn to £46.8bn. Acting as a barometer of green spending since 1999 when annual ethical sales were just £13.5bn.” In 2010, expenditure on ethical food and drink increased 5.1% to reach £6.6bn as compared to 2009. Fair trade food sales grew by...
read moreLearning to Change the World: The Social Impact of One Laptop Per Child
Just released today, Learning to Change the World by Charles Kane, Walter Bender, Jody Cornish and Neal Donahue delves into the implications of one of the largest social entrepreneurial initiatives, One Laptop Per Child. From Amazon’s description: Learning to Change the World is the story of One Laptop per Child—a story that will resonate with entrepreneurs and social innovators in any field. OLPC is an example of a non-profit organization with aspirations for systemic change on a global scale, yet wrestling with tough questions...
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