At the Envision Festival in Uvita, Costa Rica last month, one of the speakers present was Jon Perkins, author of Confessions of an Economic Hit Man. For those who haven’t read the book, Perkins writes about how he worked for years to identify foreign nations which had resources the US economy needed, and then to …
Love Armies and Love Economies: Economic Hit Man for good Read More »
Kevin Wilhelm, author of Return on Sustainability and Making Sustainability Stick, has released his new book Sustainability Jobs: The Complete Guide to Landing Your Dream Green Job, co-written with Annie Thomas, Katie Thompson and Ruth Lee. The book is for people looking to get into a green career. Topics covered include where to look for …
The international business community has been growing rapidly in the past few years, and changing how and where we work. New technologies are making it easier than ever to communicate with coworkers in faraway countries and across timezones. Here is a list of our favorite tools that can help you build a business, manage a …
New Technologies Make International Business Even Easier Read More »
There has been a dramatic change in how office space is being used in the past decade. Thanks to the rise of coworking spaces and an increasing level of employee demand for flexible working hours and remote working options, traditional office environments are fast becoming outdated. In fact, it could be argued that the alternative …
New Business Trends that Can Improve Your Company’s Environmental Footprint Read More »
Raise your hand if this has ever happened to you. You’re telling someone about some problem the world is facing, whether it’s global warming, animal cruelty in factory farms, sweatshop labor conditions, polluted rivers, e-waste, or some public health epidemic like diabetes, heart disease, cancer or obesity. In your mind, it’s clear as day: the cause …
AOL headlined the Ad:Tech media conference in San Francisco and opened the event this morning with a keynote by CEO Tim Armstrong, who announced that AOL is going “all in” (poker parlance), on advertising. Armstrong’s troubled past and shaky performance as CEO has many pundits questioning his moves, but through a series of strategic acquisitions, …
Israel’s central Arava desert, where saline soils and dry climates are the norm, a thriving community creates up to 60% of Israel’s exported agricultural products. Recently, I visited the Arava valley to see the miracle of agriculture in the desert up close and personal. According to our tour host Michal Marmary: “By any standard, farming …
Agriculture where plants can’t grow: Israel’s Arava valley Read More »
At the Bloomberg Fuel Choices Summit in Tel Aviv, we learned about Israel’s aggressive alternative transportation goals–reducing oil use by 60% by 2025–and how they plan to achieve it. A talk by Eyal Rosner of the Prime Minister’s office elucidated some of the insights the country has learned from its various clean tech programs over …
Israel’s Aggressive Oil Reduction Goals: Is 60% In 12 Years Achievable? Read More »
The opening of the London Array, the world’s largest offshore wind power plant, with 174 Siemens wind turbines installed in the Thames estuary, Siemens is well-positioned to continue to lead the way in offshore wind power development in the UK and EU. Their massive turbines, rated at 3.6 MW and with rotor diameters of 120 …
Siemens Pursuing Strong Offshore Wind Power Development in UK and EU Read More »
In the dry western United States, water rights are one of the biggest impediments to sustainable economic development, and often the cause of major conflicts between industries, companies and states. In addition, the archaic laws that protect water rights holders make it virtually impossible for streams and rivers to flow as they have for millenia, …
Last week’s general election victory for Tony Abbott and his liberal party may well spell the end of the carbon tax in Australia. Abbott’s liberals (which are kind of the opposite of liberals in the U.S.) have verbally opposed putting a price on carbon, and with overwhelming financial backing from heavy pollution industries in Australia, …
Often, it seems the news is full of companies doing bad things. Other times, it seems that their CSR efforts are largely just greenwashing (the act of advertising themselves as doing something good, when in reality, the big picture is still really pretty bad). But there are companies we love out there, and this series …
If you read Inspired Economist, you’re well aware that our economic model based entirely on Gross Domestic Product (GDP) is flawed and is driving us over the edge of a cliff. Growth, traditionally, has been measured only by transactions. The more transactions worth more money, the more the gross domestic product, the better. But of …
Sustainable Economics: Tim Jackson gives a reality check Read More »
John Kerry, Secretary of State, is tasked with making some high level recommendations to President Obama regarding the construction of TransCanada’s controversial oil pipeline known as Keystone XL. Environmentalists have weighed in firmly against the project, citing the “dirty” nature of tar sands oil and the high probability that the pipeline will leak and be …
Economic Analysis of Keystone XL: Jobs, the Environment, and Long Term Outcomes Read More »