The guru of green: After years of being told that products are eco-sensitive, author Daniel Goleman says consumers are finally getting a better sense of which ones really are
Posts Categorized: Ecological intelligence
Daniel Goleman and Dara O’Rourke on NPR’s On Point
Daniel Goleman and Dara O’Rourke discuss emerging technologies that reveal the hidden societal, environmental and health impacts of products we buy. If you missed this on NPR, you can still find out more about consumer awareness and radical transparency.
E-Reader Versus Book: The Eco-Math
With e-readers like Apple’s new iPad and Amazon’s Kindle touting their vast libraries of digital titles, some bookworms are bound to wonder if tomes-on-paper will one day become quaint relics. But the question also arises, which is more environmentally friendly: an e-reader or an old-fashioned book?
Getting Ecological Transparency Right
Call it death by Froot Loops. The food industry’s much-ballyhooed, and hugely expensive, Smart Choice campaign was launched last August and pulled just months later. Why? Questionable products like Froot Loops and Cocoa Crispies got a Smart Choice green check of approval. The New York Times slammed the campaign in an article headlined, “For Your… Read more »
Green Intelligence: Toward True Ecological Transparency
Several months ago, Wal-Mart made an announcement that could set off an ecological earthquake: The giant retailer disclosed it was cooperating with an academic consortium to develop a sustainability index for rating its hundreds of thousands of products.
The Secret Life of Buildings
The U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC) has done an outstanding job in greening the industry. But as the LEED standard continues to evolve, the question is: What’s next? To get a feel for where the green building marketplace might head one day, go to GoodGuide.com and look up any of the 75,000 consumer products they… Read more »
Why Investors Should Consider Sustainability Risk Management
Here’s yet another concern for investors: sustainability risk management, or SRM. While the basic concept has been around for years, emerging market forces are creating a new strain of investor sustainability risk: point-of-purchase reputation risk. Disruptive systems are on the verge of revealing ecological impacts of products that could sink some brands — and boost… Read more »
The Age of Eco-Angst
My grandson’s third birthday is at hand, and I’m looking at a toy racing car I won’t be giving him. Painted a bright yellow, this nifty little toy seemed just right for him when I paid a buck for it at a big box store. But before I could give it to him, I learned… Read more »
When Ecological Awareness Hurts
At a Cambridge restaurant one night, I was about to order the cod when my dining companion, Gregory Norris, whipped out his iPhone, accessed www.Blueocean.org, and told me the sad news. On the Eastern seaboard cod has been over-fished; while it’s fine to order it in San Francisco, with Pacific Ocean supplies plentiful, doing so… Read more »
Wal-Mart Exposes the De-Value Chain
Wal-Mart’s announcement of its new sustainability index marks the dawning of the age of ecological transparency in the marketplace. This is not just idle speculation; Wal-Mart has signaled that suppliers who ignore the requirements for ecological transparency will become “less relevant” to them. In other words, suppliers may one day compete for shelf space on… Read more »