Monthly Archives: July 2011

As the American tobacco industry has fallen with the overwhelming evidence of smoking’s negative health implications, the rise in international tobacco production competition, the mounting social taboo of smoking, as well a shift away from the government’s Depression-era tobacco quota system of subsidies, tobacco farmers have had to come up with new ways to earn [...]

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Harshly criticized for its human rights and environmental record in Nigeria, representatives from multinational oil and gas major Royal Dutch Shell opened up and conducted an online dialogue with members of the media recently. Human rights, democracy, the environment, corporate social responsibility and insight into its Nigerian operations were all on the table in what turned out to be an admirable venture in broad public engagement.

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China recently set up a strategic pork reserve (really!) to feed the middle class’ growing hunger for meat and to prevent the kind of crisis in pork supply that occurred after the outbreak of porcine blue-ear pig disease (PRRS) back in 2008. The outbreak required Chinese pig farmers to slaughter millions of pigs and the [...]

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By: Brian Thomas Most of us greet news of a looming threat with skepticism. “Show me” is the usual reaction. We are like the mayor of the fictitious Amity Island in Jaws, who refuses to shut down the town’s beaches because officially acknowledging shark attacks would hurt tourism. People who maintain that climate change demands [...]

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The new model, which is embodied in the new app, simply called Shopkick, focuses on giving away free stuff and guess what? It’s far more popular than Causeworld ever was. Customers using Shopkick, now get Kickbucks instead of Karma, which they can redeem for all kinds of free merchandise, or they can still choose to donate the credits to charity.

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What do you think happens when you toss a plastic drink bottle in the recycle bin? Another gets made from it? Sadly, that hasn’t historically been true. If that plastic is repurposed it is more likely to end up as a fleece jacket or piece of treated lumber than a new bottle. But, bottle to [...]

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At first glance, the connection between photo editing and CSR may seem weak. But  responsible advertising is a key tenet of sustainable practice. Recently the UK’s Advertising Standards Agency (ASA) banned L’Oreal advertisements featuring Julia Roberts and supermodel Christy Turlington for being “overly airbrushed.” The French make-up company admitted that the images were digitally manipulated [...]

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General Motors made two announcements this week, both indicating a strong commitment by the company to solar energy. On Thursday – GM Ventures – a General Motors subsidiary specializing in developing innovative technologies in the automotive industry, announced a $7.5 million equity investment in Sunlogics PLC – a specialist in commercial solar project development and [...]

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I have a special affection for tuna. I wrote my thesis on how to legally protect the Bluefin. Overfishing is a complicated situation fraught with geo-political issues. The bluefin is undeniably a money maker. However, it is a fact that the oceans of the world are being depleted of fish-stock largely due to over-fishing as well as illegal fishing [...]

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American Airlines’ blockbuster narrowbody aircraft order this month places a huge emphasis on achieving major gains in fuel efficiency over a short period of time. AA says that the order for 460 jets—with options and purchase rights for an additional 465—from Airbus and Boeing will “replace and transform” its fleet within about five years. The [...]

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Last week, Zipcar, Inc, along with the City of Baltimore and the Parking Authority of Baltimore City celebrated the one-year anniversary of Zipcar’s operations in the city with the release of survey results documenting the program’s impact. Zipcar’s expansion to Baltimore was part of a plan to reduce parking demand, congestion, and emissions, while offering citizens affordable personal transportation.

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When the U.S. Army began to decontaminate the 4,307 ton containers (TC) which stored chemical weapons at its Pine Bluff Arsenal in Arkansas in September 2003, it realized rinsing the TCs wasn’t working. To rinse all of the TCs would require 660,000 gallons of liquid. The U.S. Army Chemical Materials Agency (CMA) designed a magnetic [...]

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We’ve covered San Francisco-based startup Mission Motors on several occasions over the past couple of years. The electric vehicle company earned its reputation for innovation with the Mission One all-electric motorcycle. In 2009, the Mission One broke the electric motorcycle land speed record, topping 161 mph on Utah’s Bonneville salt flats. But that was just Mission Motors getting [...]

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Scholastic Inc., the global children’s publishing company, announced goals in 2008 for increasing its procurement of Forest Stewardship Council certified paper and recycled paper for use in its publications by 2012. The company announced this week that it is increasing its purchase of FSC certified paper beyond 30 percent, the goal set in 2008 to [...]

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Environmental Defense Fund (EDF) is well known for market-based environmentalism and its cooperative engagements with business. Through its relationships with companies like McDonald’s and Walmart, as well as its innovative Climate Corps program, the NGO has become a leader in proactive collaborations between the for-profit and the not-for-profit sectors. Certainly, such forward-thinking engagements are vital [...]

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In North America, the idea of integrative pharmacy – bringing together conventional pharma with ‘traditional’ remedies from naturopathy and homeopathy – is relatively new. But it’s catching like wildfire. Which brands are building the trend? And how do you get involved?

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As of Monday, Domino’s customers can tweet or submit their feedback via Domino’s Time Square Tracker, taking stakeholder engagement to a new level.

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The reporting on Detroit seems to be shifting away from the narrative of the once great American City disintegrating into a burned out warzone-like state as citizens flee to greener, safer, more vibrant locales.

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By: Katie Ware, Marketing & Communications, Corporate Partnerships, EDF This summer, Triple Pundit will follow three environmental change agents participating in the Environmental Defense Fund’s Climate Corps program. EDF Climate Corps recruits and trains top-tier MBA students and places them in leading corporations to identify and develop practical, actionable energy efficiency solutions. Now in its [...]

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Tesla will provide the electric powertrain system (including the battery, charging system, inverter, motor, gearbox and associated software) for the Toyota electric RAV4, according to an SEC filing on July 15, 2011. Tesla will provide Toyota “with certain services related to the supply of the Tesla Battery and Powertrain,” the filing states. Toyota will pay [...]

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McDonald’s USA announced plans on July 26 to offer healthier choices to its customers. The plans, which McDonald’s is calling, “Commitments to Offer Improved Nutrition Choices,” include making Happy Meals healthier. The iconic children’s meals will “automatically include produce or a low-fat dairy option,” according to a press release. McDonald’s estimates that the changes will [...]

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Victoria L. Petitjean A few weeks ago, I wrote about women’s empowerment and the importance of role models. Having someone to look up to, professionally and personally, remains a core foundation of any individual’s path to self-discovery. It is maybe even more the case for those who are traditionally put down and discriminated against in [...]

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Increasingly my world is filled with overachievers who feel like underachievers. Are we the FOMO Generation? Is ‘Fear OF Missing Out’ destroying happiness. In past generations people tryied to keep up with the Joneses, their neighbors with a nicer yard, cuter kids, or a better car. But now thanks to LinkedIn and Facebook we have to keep up with the Joneses and the Shahs, Lees, Carters, Smiths, Levys and our hundreds of other acquaintances online.

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Server underutilization is a major barrier to energy efficiency. Most large IT departments have been trying to improve server utilization for some years, primarily through the use of server virtualization technology. But many of these efforts have stalled for a number of reasons including financial constraints, organizational politics, and a shortage of sufficiently skilled IT staff.

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First, there were solar systems with a hefty up-front price that not many households and companies could afford. Then came the solar power purchase agreements (PPAs) and solar leasing that transformed solar systems from a product into an affordable service. One of the cornerstones of the new model is a 30 percent federal tax credit [...]

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According to news last week, upstart electric carmaker Tesla Motors took another major step forward when it completed a $100 million supplier agreement with Toyota to provide electric batteries and drive trains for an all-electric version of the popular RAV4 compact SUV beginning in 2012.

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Making Mandatory CSR reporting in India has been an ongoing debate for almost a year now. With the recent cabinet reshuffle, newly appointed Corporate Affairs Ministers Mr. Veerappa Moily recently said that the new Companies Bill would make it mandatory for corporate to earmark part of their profit for CSR initiatives. Moily said that India [...]

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This post is part of a series on Stakeholder Engagement sponsored by Jurat Software. Deloitte’s CFO Signals report summarizes the issues that CFOs are increasingly confronting with 4 words: Major Change Initiatives Stress. 56% of CFOs cite this stress with more than half placing it as a top three stress. One of the “Change Initiatives” confronting [...]

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The local food movement has has been gathering steam for the last few years. Time magazine put local food on its cover in 2007 and since then Walmart and Chipotle have both pledged to include more locally sourced food available to their customers. A few days ago a man in Burlington, Vt was arrested for [...]

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The scandal that is currently rocking the media world puts Rupert Murdoch clearly in the epicenter of the storm. News of the World (NoW), a UK based publication of News International (NI) has been accused of hacking a murdered school girl’s phone. The scandal has resulted in the resignation and consequent arrest of Rebekah Brooks, [...]

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