Extending the conversation: What does the fair trade consumer look like?

This week’s Question of the Week is focused on who takes the lead on sustainable consumption – producers or consumers? Incorporating some of the insightful comments, I’ve extended the conversation in a new post on JustMeans “All Things Reconsidered” blog. Read it here.
Scruffy. Sandals. Tie-dye. Granola. Grateful Dead. Fair trade?
Even a few years ago, [...]

Question of the week: who needs to take the lead on sustainable consumption – producers or consumers?

This month’s Fast Company magazine has a great interview with Jeff Swartz of Timberland. Swartz has long been seen as something of a poster boy for how companies can incorporate values of human rights and environmental sustainability into their supply chain and remain succesful. But as financial pressure mounts on Timberland, the article asks how [...]

Cool social change news and opportunities from around the web:

From CSRWire.com: International mining company Rio Tinto Alcan has opened applications for the fifth year of its $1million prize for sustainability. One of a growing number of groups to use prizes to induce “crowd-sourced” solutions to global problems, “the Rio Tinto Alcan Prize is open to all not-for-profit, non-governmental, and civil society organizations based anywhere [...]

Great article on the rise of social venture capital

The July issue of the Venture Capital Journal has a great article on the rise of social venture capital funds. These funds, which include Good Capital, TBL Capital, Equilibrium Capital, and New Cycle Capital are growing at an unprecedented rate. According to the article, seven new firms are on track to raise $750 million this [...]

A triumph of language?

Just coming back from a planning meeting for the annual Chicago Global Donors Network conference (CGDN). CGDN is a regional philanthropy association that’s designed to connect both global donors in the Chicago and midwestern regional area.
Each year, the annual conference solicits proposals from around the country for panel sessions and roundtable discussions. The discussion and [...]