Green Options

I know people need to keep their jobs–but this is certainly a case of misdirected hostility…

Industrial hemp may be one of the most versatile and environmentally benign crops out there, but because of its relationship to marijuana, the cultivation of this crop has been banned in the United States since the late thirties. Last week, a group of farmers, along with David Bronner, president of Dr. Bronner’s Magic Soaps, staged a protest in front of the Drug Enforcement Agency in Washington, DC, and were promptly arrested for planting hemp seeds on the agency’s front lawn.

Billionaires for Wealth Care have created this rousing anthem to satirically support our nation’s for-profit health care industries. The group was counter-protesting at last week’s teabagger anti-health care reform 9/12 rally in Washington D.C. (which was funded by major health insurance corporations). The Billionaires were dressed in top hats, tuxedos and evening gowns, and carried placards like: “Fight Socialism—End Medicare Now!” and “Let Them Eat Advil!”.

According to the Billionaires’ website they are:

A grassroots network of health insurance CEOs, HMO lobbyists, talk-show hosts, and others profiting off of our broken health care system. We are not a political, religious or even particularly well-organized group. We’re simple folk, thrilled profiteers pouring out of our corner offices to dance on the grave of “Change.” We’ll do whatever it takes to ensure another decade where your pain is our gain. After all, when it comes to health care, if we ain’t broke, why fix it?

This column highlights the top economic stories of the week.

While Detroit has benefited from Cash for Clunkers, foreign automakers have gained even more. Some critics of the program warned that because it let consumers buy domestic or foreign cars, Clunkers could end up spending more American tax dollars to help foreign companies than American ones. More on this story here.

With irresponsible banking practices taking the blame for bringing about the global economic crisis, there has been a surge of interest in Islamic finance.Now, a slew of academic courses are springing up to meet the demand of those wanting to break into an expanding market. According to ratings agency Moody’s, the global Islamic finance sector is worth $700 billion and has the potential to be worth $4 trillion. More on this story here.

n an effort to curb solid waste pollution, China banned the import of scrap polysilicon at the beginning of August, an effort supported by its current environmental laws according to its Environmental Protection Ministry. Scrap polysilicon is a low-grade form of silicon not pure enough to use in microchips. However, it can be used as a component of solar wafers, which contain a variety of types of silicon, including up to 30% scrap polysilicon. More on this story here.

In my work in Corporate Social Responsibility and sustainable business, Whole Foods has always been a company to benchmark against.  They were one of the first major retailers to offset 100% of their energy use with wind energy credits; voluntarily stop using plastic bags company-wide; join the Non-GMO Project’s Product Verification Program; and develop a certification program, the Whole Trade Guarantee, in partnership with non-profits.  Plus, the company has received a plethora of sustainability and environmental awards and recognition.  So I was just wondering…with a track record like that, can a renegade CEO damage the company’s brand reputation as a socially responsible company?  Well, John Mackey, co-founder and chief executive of Whole Foods, is sure giving it the old college try.

The planned closure of a wind turbine manufacturing facility on England’s Isle of Wight moved several workers to seize control of the plant on Monday night.

[Update: July 21, 11:36pm GMT: Since workers first seized the plant on Monday night, 5 more workers slipped police lines to join the 25 workers already occupying the administrative offices at a Vestas Wind Systems plant on the Isle of Wight. Some food also made it inside, but police reportedly now have that route blocked.]

According to reports, 25 workers facing imminent termination at a shuttering wind turbine plant entered the administrative offices of the Vestas Wind Systems factory in Newport, Isle of Wight, at around 7:30 on Monday night. The workers vowed to remain there until the government discusses their proposal to save it from closure by nationalizing the plant.

More than 100 Greenpeace activists from around the world have occupied four coal-fired power stations across Italy (live stream and twitter feed).  The action is aimed at forcing the Heads of State to take leadership on climate change as top politicians from the world’s most powerful nations arrive at the G8 Summit today.

Early this morning, an international team of Greenpeace activists occupied key positions at the site of four current and planned Italian power stations in Brindisi, Marghera (just outside of Venice), Vado Ligure, (near Genoa) and Porto Tolle.

The Brindisi facility is Italy’s biggest coal-fired power station and the country’s largest single C02 polluter. The Greenpeace sabotage operation will entail blocking the coal conveyor belts and preventing coal from going into the plant.

Worldwide there has been a growing solidarity with the people of Iran, and their brave local activism protesting against their increasingly repressive government. Their grassroots movement is gaining support as millions of us across the globe follow their struggles to be heard. This photographic tribute to the Iranian people is accompanied by a partly Farsi cover of the

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Worldwide there has been a growing solidarity with the people of Iran, and their brave local activism protesting against their increasingly repressive government. This photographic tribute to the Iranian people is accompanied by a partly Farsi cover of the Ben E. King classic “Stand by Me“, which was recorded by

Coal River Vally, WV, has become home to a civil disobedience campaign against Massy Energy company in an attempt to halt their destructive mountaintop renewal coal mining practices.

Kay Sexton, with her regular run down of environmental protests, has been examining the “imperatives and complexities” of protests that are unique to the environmentalist movement. Here’s another data point to add into the discussion.

Jonathan Mann, the brilliant creator of Rock Cookie Bottom, composes a song every single day. Today’s gem simply relates some of the horrific twisted language in the Bush administration’s morally reprehensible and illegal torture memos. It is an incredibly powerful song, but makes me a little queasy every time I hear it. One of the most empowering local actions any of us can

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