Tag Archives: bush administration

Michael Conroy on Activist Campaigns and the Certification Revolution — Rebroadcast

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Michael Conroy

This week CWR rebroadcasts a show from earlier this year that got great feedback. CWR co-host Bill Baue spoke with Michael Conroy, author of Branded! How the “Certification Revolution” is Transforming Global Corporations. Conroy discusses how activist campaigning for improved corporate social and environmental practices has gotten companies to respond. The two sides moved from antagonism to tense collaboration in the creation of certification schemes that solved activist concerns while preserving–and often boosting–companies’ profitability. Conroy brings a hands-on view to the story as a program officer at the Ford Foundation and Rockefeller Brothers Fund, where he helped fund the activists NGOs as well as the resulting certification processes. He also serves as chair of TransFair, the Fair Trade certifying body in the US, as well as serving on the board of Forest Stewardship Council, which certifies lumber and paper practices.

Michael Conroy

Branded!

SeaChange store

CWR Headlines:

—The Bush Administration Rushes to Weaken Workplace Health and Safety
—UN Climate Panel Reaches Out to Business to Green the Economy
—New Report Says Fish Can Be Farmed Sustainably

Greg Palast Links Spitzer Bust with Bernanke Bailout of Banks Behind Subprime Meltdown

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Greg Palast
Greg Palast
CWR co-hosts Bill Baue and Francesca Rheannon speak with investigative journalist Greg Palast, who notes the coincidental timing of revelations of Eliot Spitzer’s hiring of a prostitute on the eve of Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke’s $200 billion bailout of banks implicated in the subprime meltdown. The former New York Governor was set to unveil plans to pursue prosecution of the banks for predatory lending that is illegal under New York State law, where most of the banks are headquartered, according to Palast. So instead of being busted by Spitzer, the banks behind the subprime mess were rewarded with a fifth of a trillion dollars, printed by the US government.

14 March 2008, GregPalast.com: “Eliot’s Mess”

14 February 2008 Washington Post article by Eliot Spitzer: “Predatory Lenders’ Partner in Crime: How the Bush Administration Stopped the States From Stepping In to Help Consumers”

CWR HEADLINES

17 March 2008, BusinessGreen: “Experts warn Bear Stearns crisis could curb cleantech growth”

13 March 2008, The Economist: The Green Exchange, the first US-based carbon emissions market, opened on March 17 (“The greening of Wall Street: Tackling the carbon crisis amid the credit crisis.”)

16 March 2008, New York Times: “Hydrogen Fuel Station Opens in White Plains”

11 March 2008, New York Times: “Long Ocean Voyage Set for Vessel That Runs on Wave Power”

16 March 2008, New York Times: X-Prize Foundation announces contest for affordable, consumer-friendly car getting 100 miles a gallon

The New Congress and the Contract with Corporate America

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The new Congress faces a full agenda on the Iraq war and corruption in the Bush administration. Where do issues of corporate accountability fit in? We talk in depth with two Washington, DC area activists and researchers about CEO pay, expansion of Enron-era reforms against corporate crime, and the outsourcing of American jobs.

Our guests are Phil Mattera and Charlie Cray, coauthors of the provocative proposal, “A Contract with Corporate America.”

Contract with Corporate America

Center for Corporate Policy

Corporate Research Project