On August 6th, the English bank, Standard Chartered, was accused of being involved in illegitimate transactions with Iran worth up to $250bn. Two weeks later, with an investigation continuing, the financial institution was fined $340m and has had terms attached to its punishment, most notably having a monitor permanently installed in the New York branch […]
Europe is on the verge of plunging into a double dip recession. As the debt woes of the 17 eurozone countries continues to threaten any growth emanating from the continent, it looks more likely that the 27 country strong European Union will regress economically rather than progress. Eurostat, Europe’s official statistics agency, disclosed that the […]
The theme of the Irish economic rehabilitation continues as the country has successfully staged an auction to sell long-term bonds to investors. This is the first time the island has been able to do such an operation since entering the EU-IMF program in November 2010. In total, €5.2bn was raised, with €4.19bn of that money […]
If a week is a long time in politics than a day is a long time in banking. Within the space of 24 hours, three former senior executives at Anglo Irish Bank were arrested and charged in connection to financial irregularities at the bank. The bank (now known as the Irish Bank Resolution Corporation) is […]
Albert Einstein once said ”Insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results.” That quote definitely applies to the political leaders of Europe. Almost half a decade on from the inception of the global financial crisis, they have doggedly stuck to their failure of a policy that is austerity. And […]
Ireland hasn’t had anything to cheer about since the onset of the global financial crisis in 2008 but in the past week, that has slightly changed. Becoming the first eurozone country to enter recession, it was downhill since that declaration by the Central Statistics Office in September 2008. Almost four years on and with the […]
As recently as 2008, Ireland was ranked the highest western nation in the conservative think tank Heritage Index of Economic Freedom (ranked primarily based on low corporate taxes and deregulated financial markets). As the Irish economy began its self-destruction back in 2007, the fears of the Irish people that it would turn into a dangerous […]
Since the KONY2012 phomenon (it’s more than a meme, right?), I’ve been resisting the urge to blog about it. I raged on my The Facebook wall and on Google+ about it, but I just wanted it to go away, rather than give it more attention; I’ve already offended enough people for calling them idiots for […]
On Friday, the Obama administration took a major step in the long anticipated process of making it easier for commercial aquaculture firms to operate in federal waters. Currently there isn’t any fish farming — the cultivation of everything from bivalves like oysters and mussels to predators like salmon — in federal waters. Only states allow […]
It’s not often I hear positive environmental news from data centers and others involved in e-media, but this one caught my eye. Google has announced that it’s using sea water to cool its new data center in Hamina, Finland. It’s even produced a video that explains how it works. The water flows in through granite […]
Last week, I was stunned to read an article in The Telegraph claiming scientists in China “created genetically modified cattle that produce ‘human’ milk in a bid to make cows’ milk more nutritious.” Hold on. Did I read that correctly? Unfortunately… yes. According to the piece, the scientists successfully introduced human genes into 300 dairy […]
As corporate marketers and regulators alike evaluate how to communicate environmental commitments and avoid greenwashing, the 2011 Cone Green Gap Trend Tracker (download for free here) tested which of three common marketing approaches was most influential in consumer purchase decisions. Consumers were asked to “purchase” the most environmentally responsible of three generic cleaning products based […]
What are consumers looking for in marketers’ green claims? Honesty, according to the Cone’s 2011 Green Gap Trends Tracker. According to the research, a majority of American consumers are distrustful of companies’ environmental claims (57%) and are overwhelmed by the amount of environmental messages in the marketplace (51%). Given this confusion, it’s understandable that consumers […]
After all the effort marketers are putting into communicating their green claims, a new study shows that consumers — American consumers at least — continue to misunderstand phrases commonly used in environmental marketing and advertising. Often, this gives products a greater “green halo” than they may deserve. At the same time, these same consumers are […]