Tag Archives: Community Economic Engagement

Building Green – LEED and Passive Survivability

alexwilson

BuildingGreen.com founder Alex Wilson discusses the history, current state, and future of the green building movement. Erin Gorman, CEO of Divine Chocolate USA, welcomes the move by Cadbury to source Fairtrade cocoa from the Kuapa Kokoo cooperative in Ghana that owns Divine, and Bama Athreya of the International Labor Rights Forum also applauds Cadbury’s move.  And Karl Frisch of Media Matters brings us the ViewPoint on how the mainstream media is dropping the ball on covering climate change.

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Fairtrade Cocoa Goes Big League

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Cadbury, the popular British chocolate maker, just agreed to source Fairtrade cocoa for Cadbury Dairy Milk, the top-selling chocolate bar in the UK. The move effectively triples sales of Fairtrade cocoa for farmers in Ghana, where Cadbury sources from Kuapa Kokoo.  It was one of the first cooperatives there to be Fairtrade certified in the ’90s.  In the late ’90s, Kuapa Kokoo also started its own brand, Divine Chocolate, to keep more of the value that typically gets skimmed by middle-men and big chocolate companies.  Erin Gorman, CEO of the Divine Chocolate USA, welcomes the move, which validates its model of Fairtrade sourcing.   Bama Athreya, executive director of the activist NGO International Labor Rights Forum (ILRF), also supports the development

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The Mindful Path to Sustainability

stephaniekazaStephanie Kaza links buddhism and sustainability in her new book, [amazon-product text=”Mindfully Green: A Personal and Spiritual Guide to Whole Earth Thinking” type=”text”]1590305833[/amazon-product].  Sea Change Co-Host Francesca Rheannon covers coal protests at the Mount Tom Power Plant in Holyoke, Massachusetts, where she interviewed local activists Glen Ayers and Tina Clarke.  And finally, this week’s ViewPoint comes from Business for Social Responsibility CEO Aron Cramer, who proposes three corporate reforms.

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ViewPoint: Corporate Reform -The Bigger Picture

aroncramerCorporation 20/20, an organization promoting alternative corporate structures, just announced the Second Summit on the Future of the Corporation, slated for this June in Boston.  Discussion amongst those who attended the first Summit in November 2007 was abuzz about the future of boards of directors. In the broader press, fingers are pointing, primarily at the banking industry as the culprit and at outrageous executive pay.  As accurate as these points may be, the troubles run deeper and wider, according to  Aron Cramer.  He’s CEO of Business for Social Responsibility (BSR), a  global nonprofit network of businesses focused on sustainability, and he’s on the convening committee for the Future of the Corporation Summit.  In this week’s Sea Change ViewPoint, Cramer calls for more structural reforms.

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Slow Money = Compost for Growing New Economy

woodytaschToday we measure the speed of money.  Woody Tasch discusses his book, [amazon-product text=”Inquiries into the Nature of Slow Money: Investing as if Food, Farms, and Fertility Mattered” type=”text”]1603580069[/amazon-product].  And Katy Lederer transforms her experience working in the fast money culture of Wall Street into poetry in the book , [amazon-product text=”The Heaven-Sent Leaf” type=”text”]1934414158[/amazon-product].Read the show transcript

After Capitalism: PROUT as a Sustainable, Democratic Economic Model

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[amazon-product align=”right”]1877762067[/amazon-product]Today, Dada Maheshvarananda meditates on the alternative economic model of Progressive Utilization Theory, or PROUT. Joe Romm of Climate Progress analyzes the climate resolve of the Obama Administration. Lisa Woll of the Social Investment Forum proposes an Office for Innovation in Corporate Social Responsibility to the Obama Administration.  And auto and environment expert Jim Motavalli comments on the significance of President Obama’s executive order directing the EPA to reconsider its refusal to grant California a waiver allowing it to regulate greenhouse gases from autos.

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Clean Energy Connections

philgiudicekevindoyleAt the Clean Energy Connections Conference in November 2008, Sea Change Radio Co-Host Francesca Rheannon spoke with Massachusetts Commissioner of Energy Resources Phil Guidice about the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative (RGGI) and state-level clean energy initiatives. She also interviewed Kevin Doyle, co-chair of the workforce development group of the New England Clean Energy Council, about the importance for low income people to have a voice at the table in developing the clean energy economy. For the News Analysis, Rheannon and Co-Host Bill Baue speak with Elizabeth Kolbert about her New Yorker profile of Green for All Founding President Van Jones entitled “Greening the Ghetto.” And Francesca brings us a modest proposal for funding energy efficiency in this week’s ViewPoint.Read the show transcript

Elizabeth Kolbert on Greening the Ghetto

elizabethkolbertGreening the Ghetto” is the title of Elizabeth Kolbert’s profile of Van Jones in a recent New Yorker. The piece traces Van Jones’ development from a civil rights activist to a green collar jobs guru. Kolbert quotes Jones saying “Sometimes a breakdown can lead to a breakthrough.” She tells the story of how this resonates on a personal level for him. And, he’s also referring to this moment in history when an economic breakdown could lead to an environmental and economic breakthrough.

ViewPoint: Francesca Rheannon — A Modest Proposal

francescarheannonSea Change Co-Host Francesca Rheannon has a modest proposal for building demand for energy efficiency: a Home Energy Savings Equal Opportunity Program.Read the show transcript