Tag Archives: Sustainable Business

The Art of Sustainability

Be Realistic, Demand the Impossible; 2009, by artist Carrie Marill
Be Realistic, Demand the Impossible; 2009, by artist Carrie Marill

Heather Lineberry of the Arizona State University Art Museum in Tempe tells us about Defining Sustainability, a new exhibition at the museum. Native American conceptual artist Kade Twist talks about “Do You Remember When”, the installation he and his fellow Indigenous artists of Postcommodity created for the exhibition. Finally, Beth Paulson of Beyond Green describes the proposed permaculture garden for a hundred year old house that’s getting a deep energy retrofit in Easthampton, MA.

Read the show transcript

Banking Futures: Making Money Sustainable

PeterBlomDougRushkoff

Banks are increasingly viewed as a bane to a healthy economy.  But done right, banks can play a key role in the shift to sustainability.  Today, Sea Change presents three perspectives on futures for banking.  Peter Blom, CEO of Triodos Bank in the Netherlands, proposes a shift in the mission of banks, from maximizing profit to maximizing sustainability.  Doug Rushkoff, author of [amazon-product text=”LIFE INC” type=”text”]1400066891[/amazon-product], discusses how a surplus of debt that banks needed to sell triggered the financial meltdown.  LyleEstillAnd Lyle Estill describes the role a chapter in his book [amazon-product text=”SMALL IS POSSIBLE” type=”text”]086571603X[/amazon-product] played in a local currency in North Carolina, The Plenty, being carried by a local bank.

Read the show transcript

Empowering Citizens To Protect Their Local Community

steveviedermanLongtime shareowner activist Steve Viederman discusses the notion of community governance, where communities reclaim democratic power of self-determination from corporations and other external forces.  Exemplifying community governance is the Fair Trade Towns movement, where communities commit to supporting Fair Trade commodities such as coffee and cocoa.  Read the show transcript

ViewPoint: Communities Going Sweat-Free

lianafoxvogCurrently, communities are unwittingly supporting sweatshop labor when state and local governments use tax dollars to buy things such as firefighter uniforms.  Liana Foxvog, National Organizer of the advocacy organization SweatFree Communities, discusses findings of Subsidizing Sweatshops II, the latest research on sweatshops perpetuated by government contracts.Read the show transcript

Phoenix Economy Rising – Potential Sustainable Economic Order

johnelkington1

Sea Change Radio Co-Hosts Bill Baue and Francesca Rheannon speak with green business guru John Elkington about the new Phoenix Economy report.  And Sea Change members join in the conversation with Elkington in the second half of the show for the first Sea Change Radio RoundTable.  In this feature, we host a sustainability expert fielding questions from Sea Change members — this time featuring Calvert Social Funds Founding Boardmember and Ben & Jerry’s Boardmember Terry Mollner, Ener-G-Save Executive Director Karen Ribeiro, and Common Good Finance President William Spademan.

Read the show transcript

Closing the Climate Feedback Loop

Lars Klüver
Lars Klüver
Colin and Carrick McCullough
Colin and Carrick McCullough

Lars Klüver of the Danish Board of Technology talks about the World Wide Views on Global Warming project he directs that will gather opinions of everyday citizens in 45 countries globally in September 2009 to feed into negotiations at the United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP15) in Copenhagen in December 2009.  And Colin and Carrick McCullough of OurRenewableNation.org talk about their “cross-country eco-video adventure” where they will visit, video, and interview folks advancing sustainability solutions — as well as everyday folks on their thoughts about climate change and this shift toward renewable energy.  Finally, this week’s Sea Change ViewPoint comes from Nell Minow of The Corporate Library with commentary on first steps on toxic assets.

Read the show transcript

Seeding the Solidarity Economy

solidarityeconomyThe Center for Popular Economics (CPE) recently hosted the first Forum on the Solidarity Economy at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst — home of Sea Change Radio.  CPE Executive Director Emily Kawano explains the theory and practice behind the solidarity economy, and discusses strategies and next steps for the US Solidarity Economy Network in cultivating a socially and environmentally sustainable economy.  And Chilo Villarreal of the Coalición Rural in Mexico illustrates solidarity economy concepts through story.   Finally, the News Analysis examines the business of water.

Read the show transcript

The Business of Water

francescarheannon

Sea Change Host Francesca Rheannon brings us the Sea Change News Analysis examining the sustainability of water as a business proposition.  The News Analysis draws on content from the CSRwire.com News Alert by Sea Change Host Bill Baue.  For information not included in this version, check out the post on CSRwire.com.

Read the show transcript

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.

Read the show transcript

Fairtrade Cocoa Goes Big League

cadburydairymilk

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

Read the show transcript