...and now, in green news

The webinar mentioned in my previous post, plus a few more from GreenBiz.com

First up, a piece on IBM's fairly aggressive energy and waste reduction efforts. Pretty impressive, on the whole. Once again, business is proving that sustainable practices can be profitable.

Second, a pretty interesting piece on some changes at Ford Motor Co. Namely, that they're using more soy foam in car production, with especial interest in compostable foam. Pretty neat stuff, and it indicates to me they ought to have started in this direction a long dang time ago.

Finally, a piece from Interface, Inc--a really progressive carpet manufacturer whose aim is to go zero-waste over time--on 10 tips for making sustainability a core value in your organization. Much of it has already been said, but I like having things in tidy lists.

the times, they are a-changin'

In sustainability news, HBR brings yet another report on how businesses are going to have to shape up or ship out on the sustainability issue, this time because of the ginormous disparity of values between current CEOs and the replacement crop.

Interesting times, these.

...and one on Wal Mart

Despite the fact that I still can't bring myself to set foot in a Wal Mart without my gag reflex acting up (yeah, I know, I'm such a stereotype), I'm pretty routinely amazed by some of their new initiatives. Case in point, their new move to promote local agriculture.

If a store as big as Wal Mart can promote local, diversified agriculture, it could really shift the balance of power in agronomics.

More BP fun, and then some Alabama love... sort of.

In he spirit of the Great Gulf Debacle, Green Energy Reporter posted the top five BP "eco-friendly" ads. While I was a longtime fan of BP's solar efforts, when Tony Hayward stepped in, he kind of shot that all to hell and has been gradually reducing their efforts for three years. Maybe that will change now.

Now, on to Alabama.

*sigh*

Alabama's just not content to stay in Mississippi's and South Carolina's embarrassing shadows. Nope, we've got to represent with the crazy!

This guy clearly has a first-grade understanding of history and civics, and just comes off as a total nutter. The sad bit is that I'm sure many folks will vote for him.

Losing the race

While I bristle at the conclusion that regulation is the silver bullet and that federal standards will force innovation, this is a pretty telling comparison of energy investments in the Southeast US.

Finally, reason

The top 10 myths about immigration, most of which I have to repeatedly explain to people. From an economic perspective, immigration (even "illegal" immigration) is beneficial to the US economy.

more political than I usually prefer to get

...which is ironic, considering my undergraduate education.

1. A handy map of states in which it's legal to marry your first cousin. Note that in general, these states don't overlap with states where you can legally marry your same-sex partner. I think it's clear to see these states have their priorities fixed.

2. An article on why we should worry more about America becoming a kleptocracy than a commie regime. While I wouldn't necessarily go as far as calling this country a kleptocracy, I'd say greed and misinformation are definitely two of our greatest national threats.

3. Bill Moyers on Net Neutrality.

4. For feel-good value, a friend shared this with me. Ay, ayayay! Canta, no llores!

good news on the economic front

Magic 8-ball says "A tentative yes."

incomplete at best

A somewhat disappointing slideshow from HBR on the wage gap. In the end, it's not all that lucid or convincing.

one last amalgam of links

1.

(future poli sci majors, many illustrious housing options await you!)
Stop Asking Me My Major
Stanford Poli Sci grad complains that people asking what practical use a degree has only causes stress, isn't productive. As a poli sci undergrad myself, I can't help but say that yes, there's value to all degrees, but it would be nice if there were more guidance on career trajectory in high school and college. I *loved* my poli sci courses, but I didn't realize poli sci majors were expected to a) go to law school, b) get PhD'd in poli sci and teach, c) work as an unpaid lackey for some sleazy politician's campaign, or d) bag groceries. English majors may get into med school, but not without med school in mind, or there's no way they'd have all the prerequisite courses and grades. Also, someone from the comments (a liberal arts career counselor) posted this juicy nugget as evidence that liberal arts degrees are useful. My takeaway: further evidence that liberal arts degrees without PhDs land you a job serving tables. Another eyebrow-raiser: the author's friend ditched 'high-paying' medicine for a more populist engineering degree. Wait, what?

2.

Free is Not a Marketing Tool
A thought-provoking article that I think is ultimately a bit foolishly idealistic. While it's true that giving things away for free doesn't always--or even generally--create loyal customers, it can be an invaluable marketing tool in some instances. And it definitely shouldn't be discounted as a tool for startups and creative-class workers to generate interest in what they're selling. Suggesting that "free" as a marketing tool is somehow wrong is also pretty offensive to small businesses and self-employed workers relying on buzz and word of mouth. There's an aphorism in economics: you can't make money off something that's public knowledge. Which is to say, you can't create long-term competitive advantage when everyone's doing the same thing. To argue with this is to argue with the foundation of a capitalist system of exchange, which I won't do in this forum.

3.

The mole was a fake?*
30 Awesome Rare Celeb Photos
I'm particularly struck by #9.
*(I may be the last person on earth to know it, but it was news to me.)

4.

1930s Atlas Lust!
*drool* ...except, page 95 disturbs me. A lot.

Trust in me, in all you do. Have the faith I have in you.

I must admit I half-chuckled to myself as I imagined my housemate reading this post.

On the list of banks ranked by level of consumer trust, my bank takes the top spot in insurance, and is close at its own heels in banking.

There's a lot to be said for a bank that aims to please. I suppose it's able to cut its costs a bit by stabilizing its membership based on certain demographics, but my bank consistently offers top-notch customer service, competitive pricing, standard plan features that other banks and insurers consider premium (or don't even offer), and an overall fantastic customer experience.

Bank of America? Not surprisingly, not even on the list. That's a bank suffering a serious crisis in customer confidence--haven't heard a single member lately who's really happy to be a member of that bank.

rustic hotels

They look cool, but I'm reminded of the book That was Then, This is Now:

Besides, it was hard to tell a Soc from a greaser. Now the greasers wore their hair down on their foreheads instead of combed back-this went for Mark and Me too-and the Socs were trying to look poor. They wore old jeans and shirts with the shirt tails out, just like greasers always had cause they couldn’t afford anything else. I’ll tell you one thing though: what with fringed leather vests and Levi’s with classy store labels in them, those kids were spending as much money to look poor as they used to to look rich. It was crazy.
- credits to S.E. Hinton

Take note, Stephen Covey

The Seven Habits of Highly (In)Effective Managers

Kohl's cash

Kohl's is now funding (through offset vouchers and other means) 100% of their energy footprint with renewable energy.

(link via AWEA on facebook)

say it ain't so!

R.I.P., Green Leaf.

While not the absolute best Indian (or even South Indian) food in the Triangle--that spot is reserved for Udupi over in Stepford Cary--Green Leaf brought consistently decent South Indian fare much closer to home. 20 minutes closer, for me. Not to mention, it was hands-down the most interesting restaurant name in Durham. Its full name? The Almighty Wisdom of the Green Leaf God.

One of the things that always disturbed me (well, obviously it made me happy, too) was that I never once set foot in that restaurant without them giving me at least one appetizer, side, or dessert for free. It's often a bad sign when companies start offering things on deep discount or total discount, but when that happens consistently? It was bad portents from the get-go. The most ominous of it all was that they'd thank us every time we'd bring a new person in (and we didn't do that more than monthly at best).

I'll definitely mourn this loss. At the very least, who will take its place as strangest restaurant name?

Give a man a fish...

A new area restaurant I'd definitely love to give a try. If you ever have doubts about market segmentation and how business models gear themselves to serve different populations, take a look at places like Watts Grocery (or even one of my personal favorites, Toast) and compare them to places like Joe's, or like Chloe's on East Pettigrew St.

An interesting bit from the article:

In this way, Bushfan said, he believes a business can do as much as or more than a church or nonprofit to give life back to the community.

“There are so many nonprofits, but they’re not bringing any economic value. They’re not creating any jobs,” he said. “This area is so centrally located. It’s like Vegas. If you build it, they will come.”

For all the anti-capitalist naysayers, the man's got a point. While a definite advocate of non-profits myself, I'm no ostrich about the need for good business models to bring sustained economic benefit to an area. One can decry "gentrification" and things you consider "bourgie" (pronounced 'BOO zhee'; short for something that's decidedly "bourgeois," which is defined as "being of the property-owning class and exploitive of the working class") until one is blue in the face, but resisting economic development only further harms those you're trying to keep from being "exploited."

TARP worth the trouble?

I give you an article on TARP and whether it looks successful from my bank, who are not only awesome to do business with but also an excellent news source.

it's interesting how something expected to produce significant losses in government seems that it may turn an actual profit. not that it's guaranteed to, as the interview points out. it also illuminates explicitly why some banks have repaid so quickly. I think it was pretty commonly accepted that banks didn't like the limits on executive pay, but I haven't heard it much discussed that all big banks were pressured to accept the money even if they were financially healthy.

anyone have thoughts on TARP-in-retrospect and whether it will turn out to have been a good investment?

[ author's note: can someone please tell my investments that they're well positioned to continue growing? the past few days have seen my (significant) QTD growth almost completely devoured. ]

sustainable supply chain?

as a lover of Counter Culture's delicious coffees and a general nerd, I thought this business model for a "sustainable supply chain" was interesting (last blurb, page 2 of 2).

one thing that keeps popping into my head, though, is redundancy. Basically, if this is a fully transparent idea of the actual model, Peregrine is voluntarily eating into their own margins by donating beyond what was deemed fair trade value for their coffee. I hope it gets them enough business to make up for it in volume.