It seems a perfect storm of events has lined itself up to create a political environment that *should* push forward a carbon tax. Will it happen, what would it do, and could it work? Let’s start with a quick definition. A carbon tax, in its simplest form, is simply a tax on polluting carbon emissions. […]
Many of us are trying to make the world a better place. Some of us inspired economics-focused folks would say that the best way to do that is to drive money into the sustainable marketplace: provide an organic carrot for businesses, and they will drive their operations towards it. Many of us seem to also
Holidays and positive uses of money Read More 👉
Have you ever had your life stopped in its tracks by a sudden crisis? Whether it is from illness, accident, a death in the family or one of life’s other challenges, most of us will run into a crisis at some point in our lives that throws us off the tracks. Torn from your normal
A Gift of Service Read More 👉
This is a great panel discussion about crowdfunding strategies in order to get a social-mission-driven company started (or a project developed). Jeff from Sustainablog hosted Tinia from Re-Nuble and Jen & Nick from TriplePundit, both of whom are doing crowdfunding campaigns at the moment, to talk about what’s going right, and what’s going wrong, with
Crowdfunding strategies for social entrepreneurs Read More 👉
Mario Chamorro had good reasons to be very unhappy. He was diagnosed with cancer, his girl friend broke up with him and he lost his job. So what did he do? He started a happiness project and that eventually led to him wanting to generate happiness for people all over the world. His initial effort
Happiness Project Started by Cancer Patient Read More 👉
The idea that coal is cheaper than wind and solar is what keeps coal in the forefront of energy production in the U.S. But what if the idea itself is completely flawed? The American Coalition for Clean Coal Electricity is actively promoting the benefits of coal power. If you see an ad on a website
How is coal power so cheap? (Hint: it’s because you’re subsidizing it) Read More 👉
You know that guy, Jim Cramer? He’s off his rocker. He’s got a TV show called Mad Money that’s akin to MTV of the early 90’s: the cameraman appears to have forgotten his tripod and also to be completely hammered, and there’s lots of random noises, buzzes, popups, bings, boops, and, well, Cramer. He analyzes
Impact Investing has a whole new game Read More 👉
Men experiencing a high level of erectile dysfunction may hold the secret to dramatically reducing our nation’s health care costs and the burden to taxpayers. It’s a lot more than ED, of course, but ED is one of the early warning signs of cardiovascular disease, which has been a leading cause of death in most
Attention to Erectile Dysfunction Could Save The U.S. Billions in Health Care Costs Read More 👉
A common challenge facing renewable energy development is the insecurity of funding. A new bill, HR 6275, the Clean Energy Victory Bonds (CEVB) Act, sponsored by Representative Bob Filner (D-CA), aims to give ordinary citizens the ability to invest in renewable energy through a program similar to World War II’s Victory Bonds. Supporters suggest the
Victory Bonds for Clean Energy Read More 👉
Green entrepreneurs account for critical green jobs creation. This is not to be understated, as not all jobs are created equal. Think about the recent announcement that Airbus is building a large manufacturing facility in Alabama. Yes, this creates a lot of jobs in both the construction of the plant and the ongoing operations at
Green Jobs are “Additive”, not simply replacing other jobs Read More 👉
Recently, I learned a great strategy for moving markets. Specifically, how to leverage consumer demand for greener goods to move large amounts of capital into the sustainable economy, and away from companies that are only profit driven and don’t mind externalizing their costs onto society. I’d like to share that strategy with you here, in
Congress has apparently reached a bipartisan agreement on a transportation bill that includes $109 billion to support the nation’s roads, bridges, and railways. 1.9 million jobs hung in the balance, and the political bickering delayed the bill’s passage several months, but the real question is…why subsidize highways at all? If we were to sell off
Why Not Privatize Highways? Read More 👉
Globalization has perhaps been most difficult for island economies. Despite limited land and other resources, island economies have been encouraged to produce export crops over subsistence goods, leaving the economies of island nations particularly vulnerable to supply chain disruptions. Hawai’i, in particular, is an interesting case study. Monsanto and other biotech firms have used Hawai’i
A path forward for island economies to break dependence on imported, processed foods Read More 👉
[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uigpyiEhWxY&w=560&h=315] In one of the most stunning keynote sessions I have attended over the past five Net Impact Conferences, Keen Healthcare CEO Vail Horton, who was born without legs or proper bone growth in his arms, closed yesterday morning’s “speed keynote” session to a thunderous standing ovation at the Portland Convention Center. Horton told
Net Impact 2011: Keen Healthcare CEO Vail Horton Inspires the Inspired Read More 👉
Since the movement began, people have discussed goals/themes/demands of Occupy Wall Street and have found little clarity. In some ways this is the essence of the movement, but in an effort to define everything, many people assume it’s the anger of the common person directed towards banks for manipulating their money and tanking the economy.
Is Occupy Wall Street Really About CSR? Read More 👉
The first “Cleanweb  Hackathon” is underway today at the Parisoma coworking space in San Francisco. Sunil Paul, a well-known cleantech investor through his Spring Ventures, has been one of the driving forces behind this great event. It remains to be seen what will come out of today’s (and tonight’s) hacking, but we’re sure to see
Sunil Paul Cheerleads CleanWeb Hackathon, live from San Francisco Read More 👉
The world of international development has so many buzzwords floating around, it’s hard to know what is legitimate and what isn’t. Over the past 10 years or so, the phrase “sustainable development” has entered the lexicon and appears here to stay. While there are a number of definitions for the term, ultimately it has to
VisionSpring: A Model TOMS Shoes Would be Wise to Adopt Read More 👉
I’ve written a number of articles regarding the complexities of “conflict minerals” and the trade in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) (you can find a few here and here). And campaigns undertaken by a number of advocacy groups have really put the issue on the map. So much so that a controversial rider was
Motorola Getting Proactive in the Conflict Mineral Debate Read More 👉
According to the venerable source, Wikipedia (there’s actually a citation from the 2002 book The World of Social Entrepreneurship by J.L. Thompson), social entrepreneurship is defined as, “A social entrepreneur recognizes a social problem and uses entrepreneurial principles to organize, create and manage a venture to achieve social change (a social venture). While a business
So You Want to Become a Social Entrepreneur? Read More 👉
Like other rapidly developing nations, India has a housing problem. The rural-urban migration has overwhelmed cities like Mumbai, where the formally rural poor come to find new opportunity. Often times this migration is one indication of a country’s development. The major issue however is, where do all these people live? Up until now, more often
Indian Real Estate: Housing for the Poor or Another Debt Crisis? Read More 👉
If Google indeed wants to “do no evil” perhaps it should stick to what it does best, grow and improve it’s search and more generally increase access to information on the internet. Obviously a statement like that is not exactly a stretch as companies that focus on their core competencies are often ones that succeed
Google Broadband: Will They Change the World Again? Read More 👉
I wasn’t planning on following up on last week’s article, “Twitter and Corporate Social Responsibility”, nor was I really considering taking the CSR conversation in this direction.  However I saw a video the other day on Mashable which was an interview of venerable Apple evangalist and venture capitalist veteran Guy Kawasaki at South By Southwest
Developing Platforms for Social Change: The New CSR Movement? Read More 👉
For the most part, discussion concerning the role of corporate social responsibility often revolves around the initiatives undertaken (or not) by large, established companies. I’ve personally written about Apple (multiple times, here, here and here), Proctor & Gamble, Louis Vuitton etc. These seem like obvious targets as they have enormous market share within their respective
Twitter and Corporate Social Responsibility Read More 👉
There are two new apps that help environmentally conscious businesses and consumers find and compare the most the most eco-friendly cities and cars. The Clean & Fuel Efficient Cars App and Modes of Transportation to Work App by FindTheBest.com. The Clean & Fuel Efficient Cars App displays air pollution score, greenhouse gas score, SmartWay designation,
Apps Make It Easier to Find Eco-Friendly Cars and Cities Read More 👉
