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The art and science of systems change
The corporate sustainability movement, such as it is, has made enormous progress in the last decade. Just not enough. Despite the well-intentioned efforts of forward-thinking companies, greenhouse gas...
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Walmart’s food czar
National Geographic is running a months-long project about the future of food in the magazine, online and at live events, including one last Friday here in your nation’s capital. It’s an impressive...
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Flour power? Soon you may be eating coffee
Maybe because I do a lot of writing in coffee shops (thanks, Quartermaine!), I’ve long been interested in the coffee industry. Many years ago, I wrote about Starbucks in my book Faith and Fortune. Last...
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The elusive fortune at the base of the pyramid
It’s been an exceptionally busy week, beginning with the 2014 edition of Fortune Brainstorm Green (selected videos are online here) and ending with a holiday weekend visit from my new grandson, so I’m...
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From an organic pioneer, a vegan cookbook
One of my favorite events each year is Cooking for Solutions, a conference and food festival staged beautifully by the Monterey Bay Aquarium. It’s a gathering of smart people who are passionate about...
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Has success spoiled Green Mountain Coffee?
“Doing well by doing good” has become a cliche on the corporate-responsibility circuit. And for good reason–smart companies that serve their customers, provide opportunity to their workers and connect...
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Feeding the hungry at Panera Bread
Not by coincidence, I’m blogging today from a Panera Bread cafe near my home in Bethesda, MD. The atmosphere is pleasant, the people are friendly, the wi-fi is reliable and the food is pretty good. (I...
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GMOs, engineered to make better food
With some reluctance, I’m again writing this week about genetically-modified organisms. My reluctance stems from the fact that on this topic, most people’s minds appear to be made up. People tend to...
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The upside of outsourcing
I heard an excellent, in-depth interview this week with William Easterly, the development economist and author of a new book called The Tyranny of Experts: Economists, Dictators and the Forgotten...
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Fair Trade USA, growing and still controversial
Fair Trade is an elegant idea. It’s an attempt to make globalization work for the world’s poor. Those of us in rich countries agree to pay a bit more for whatever it is we are buying — coffee is by far...
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When NGOs can’t be trusted
I’ve spent the last couple of weeks reporting a story for the Guardian on NGOs and GMOs–specifically, the ways that some nonprofit groups have stirred up fears about genetically-modified organisms, by...
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Paul Greenberg’s fish stories
Much of what I know about seafood I’ve learned from Paul Greenberg. Paul is an acquaintance and a gifted writer whose new book, called American Catch: The Fight for Our Local Seafood, looks at three...
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Tax avoidance, and corporate responsibility
Would you consider Apple, Coca-Cola, General Electric, Google, Microsoft, Nike and PepsiCo good corporate citizens? Certainly they position themselves that way, and they deserve credit for their...
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General Mills, Walmart, Target and compassion
The other day, I went to a daylong meditation retreat about lovingkindness. One of the themes: how to find ways to bring an attitude of loving kindness not just to friends, but to strangers and even to...
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Why animal welfare is a “green” issue
Where bacon begins Environmentalists love animals, the more exotic, the better. You can find environmental organizations dedicated to the protection of pandas, polar bears, sea turtles and birds....
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Is the sharing economy really green?
So many assumptions underly conventional wisdom about all things green. That biofuels are better for the planet than burning fossil fuels. That bans on plastic bags help the environment. That electric...
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Feeding my grandson
Meet my grandson, Hudson Scott, who is six months old and just started eating solid foods. This means that my daughter Rebecca and son-in-law Eric have to decide what to feed him–the baby food in...
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A smarter approach to biofuels
A field of sorghum–it grows tall and fast! The US biofuels industry has not covered itself in glory. It has consumed billions of dollars in taxpayer dollars, as much if not more from investors and in...
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The end of garbage
In nature, nothing goes to waste. The excrement of one species (forgive me if you are reading over breakfast) becomes food for another. Why can’t we design the industrial economy to be like nature?...
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PR firm Edelman has more than a PR problem
I’m an admirer of Edelman, one of the world’s biggest and most respected PR firms, and I’m friendly with a number of people who work there. The firm has been ahead of the curve on...
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