American Jewish World Service Launches Fair Trade Project with Equal Exchange | 3BL Media

(3BLMedia/theCSRfeed) West Bridgewater, MA – December 9, 2009 – Equal Exchange is proud to announce the formation of a new fairly traded coffee and chocolate partnership with American Jewish World Service (AJWS). The Partnership is Equal Exchange’s first Jewish partnership and it’s twelfth overall. The AJWS “Better Beans” Fair Trade Project was formally launched at the United Jewish Communities General Assembly held in Washington, D.C. on November 8th-10th. In celebration of this new partnership, Equal Exchange also donated fairly traded coffee at the Union for Reform Judaism Biennial in Toronto, Canada, on November 7th. Equal Exchange and AJWS will work together to involve the Jewish community in Fair Trade with small-scale farmer communities around the world. 

AJWS is an international development organization dedicated to alleviating poverty, hunger and disease among the people of the developing world, motivated by Judaism’s imperative to pursue justice. AJWS invites all Jewish brotherhoods, sisterhoods, youth groups, or religious schools to serve Equal Exchange fairly traded coffee and chocolate at Oneg Shabbats, brunches, events or to use them for fundraising. When synagogues or Jewish organizations order fairly traded products through the AJWS Project, a portion of every pound of coffee or chocolate purchased will go to support AJWS’s Fighting Hunger from the Ground Up campaign.
 
Equal Exchange is a democratically organized, worker-owned co-operative, founded in 1986, to pioneer a new model of trade built upon fairness and stronger relationships between farmers and consumers. Purchasing Equal Exchange coffee and chocolate allows participants to join a network that enables farmers in Latin America, Africa  and Asia to stay on their land, support their families, plan for the future, and care for the environment. Equal Exchange launched its Interfaith program in 1998 and currently works with over 10,000 participating churches, synagogues, mosques and other places of worship. Equal Exchange applies the principles of democracy, ownership, participation and transparency to its own model; each worker has an equal stake in ownership, an equal vote, and a voice in key decisions.
 
The AJWS “Better Beans” Fair Trade Project includes Equal Exchange kosher certified coffee and chocolate products only. Equal Exchange coffee is kosher certified by the Orthodox Union or “OU”. The Organic Hot Cocoa mix, Organic Baking Cocoa, Organic Spicy Hot Cocoa and Organic Drinking Chocolate are certified by the Kashruth Council of Canada. Chocolate bars are certified by Rabbi Abraham Hochwald, Chief Rabbi of the Northern Rhine-Germany.
 
Chanukah is a perfect time for the Jewish community to give gifts of AJWS fairly traded chocolate and coffee to family and friends. AJWS brochures and stickers are available.   
 
About American Jewish World Service
AJWS is international development organization dedicated to alleviating poverty, hunger and disease among the people of the developing world, and is active in 36 countries in Africa, Asia and the Americas. AJWS also educates the American Jewish community about global issues, offers service volunteer opportunities, and is an advocate for human rights and peaceful conflict resolution. This year AJWS earned Charity Navigator’s highest rating for the eighth time. www.ajws.org
 
About Equal Exchange
A pioneer and U.S. market leader in Fair Trade since 1986, Equal Exchange is a full service provider of high quality, organic coffee, chocolate, cocoa, and other products. Customers include grocery stores, restaurants, cafes, schools and places of worship nationwide. 100% of Equal Exchange products are fairly traded, benefiting more than 40 small farmer co-operatives in 22 countries around the world.  For more information see www.equalexchange.coop/ajws
 
Contact:
Susan Sklar
Interfaith Program Manager
Equal Exchange
ssklar@equalexchange.coop
Tel (774) 776-7418

Shut Up and Reload: Another “Round”! | 3BL Media

Shut Up and Reload: Another “Round”!

Last week we posted a piece Shut Up and Reload!, about reusing spent shell casings in jewelry and art.  The piece enjoyed thousands of reads in just the first day, including the folks at Esprit Mystique, who commented on the piece and showed us a line of their gorgeous jewelry made from reused brass shell casings and copper bullets. Apparently the Arizona desert near Tucson is littered with thousands of spent rounds of ammo. What are they shooting at in the Arizona desert?  Scorpions? Saguaro Cacti? Mirages?

However they get there, the folks at Esprit Mystique dig them up, clean them and make one-of-a-kind jewelry from them. The brass shells that are too bent or damaged get melted down and re-cast into creative shapes.

The Esprit Mystique folks have been cleaning up a make-shift shooting range in the desert as they transform ammo into art.  This stuff is toxic to birds and wildlife and contaminates ground water and the shells take a lot longer to recycle into the earth than it took to shoot them into that sand hill.

Esprit Mystique is also happy to trade jewelry for spent pure brass shells that they can transform into jewelry, as they continue their mission of keeping scores of women, men, and the Arizona desert beautiful!

Greenopolis.com is dedicated to our users. We focus our attention on changing the world through recycling, waste-to-energy and conservation. We reward our users for their sustainable behaviors on our website, through our Greenopolis Tracking Stations and with curbside recycling programs.

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New Anti-Corruption Guidance Raises Bar for Company Reporting | 3BL Media

(3BLMedia/theCSRfeed) (Berlin, 9 December 2009) – As calls for corporate accountability increase, Transparency International (TI) and the United Nations Global Compact today published reporting guidance for companies committed to combating corruption.

Public reporting sends a strong signal to employees, investors and consumers, that a company is serious about clean business. The guidance, developed in the framework of the Global Compact, the world’s largest voluntary corporate citizenship initiative, equips business with a practical means to report on anti-corruption policies and actions comprehensively and effectively.

“Following the financial crisis the spotlight is on companies to prove they are responsible, accountable corporate citizens,” said Huguette Labelle, Chair, Transparency International, and Global Compact Board Member. “The Reporting Guidance helps companies to convincingly demonstrate they are fully assessing and addressing corruption risks.”

“Making a commitment to anti-corruption is only the first step,” said Georg Kell, Executive Director of the Global Compact. “The true challenge lies in implementation as well as meaningful and transparent disclosure. This much-needed guidance will be of significant help to companies seeking to assess and improve their anti-corruption performance.” 

Recent TI research reveals that many leading companies make high-level, strategic commitments to prevent corruption but still have a long way to go in reporting how these commitments are integrated into their policies and activities. The new guidance aims to fill this current gap in reporting and is designed to fit the needs of all companies, from small enterprises to multi-national businesses, regardless of sector.

The guidance is the most succinct, practical guide currently available to what anti-corruption aspects companies should report on. It sets the standard for thousands of Global Compact signatories, while its use will be beneficial well beyond this network.

“The reporting guidance sets a new benchmark for reporting on anti-corruption,” said Labelle. “By following the reporting guidance, companies stand to strengthen internal anti-corruption systems through transparency, enhance their external reputation and allow progress to be measured.”

At the invitation of the Global Compact, TI chaired a taskforce consisting of businesses, NGOs and anti-corruption experts to develop the guidelines, which were successfully field tested by 19 organisations around the world. Every organisation reported that the guidelines will help them in implementing anti-corruption practices.

“This Guidance is the result of a global, multi-stakeholder endeavour to support companies in their efforts on anti-corruption reporting in the Global Compact Communication on Progress and beyond”, said Sven Biermann of Accenture, co-chair of the taskforce. “It promotes the strong benefits of reporting and provides structured and comprehensive guidance.”

Following this first introduction, the Global Compact Office will, over the coming months, work with participants and Local Networks around the world to advance adoption of the guidance into standard reporting practice. The Reporting Guidance will also be presented at the upcoming Global Compact Leaders Summit, to be held on 24-25 June 2010 in New York.

Transparency International is the global civil society organisation leading the fight against corruption.

The UN Global Compact is the world’s largest voluntary corporate citizenship initiative, with over 7,000 participants in more than 135 countries. www.unglobalcompact.org

To download the Reporting Guidance click here.

Announcing the “Plant a Tree with Florence I.T. Every Hour” Campaign | 3BL Media

(3BLMedia/theCSRfeed) December 9, 2009 – The “Plant a Tree with Florence I.T. Every Hour” campaign for the month of December, 2009 is simple: Florence I.T. clients this month simply continue what they are doing already, using Florence I.T. for their I.T. support. For EVERY HOUR spent on services Florence I.T. will plant ONE TREE in the client’s name. There is no limit, so prepayment of time may appeal to some clients if they wish to make a larger impact. “This is, quite simply, one more easy thing we can do.” said President of Florence I.T., Matt Lampiasi. He went on to say  ”The program is being offered because we believe urgent action is needed to reverse the effects of climate change. Instead of it just being about our company, we are doing what it can for the environment, we want to continue to tie the rewards to customer action.” 

About Florence I.T.

Florence I.T. began offering I.T. consulting, Value Added Reselling and I.T. support with a strong social and environmental focus from the start in early 2005.  We donate a large portion of our yearly pretax income to local nonprofit and community programs, usually around 15%.  As a home based virtual business, we employ (and deploy, for clients), remote access technologies which have clear environmental benefit. Our home office employs the aid of a grid-connected solar electric system  that covers most of our yearly power requirements. Client locations are intentionally focused to the immediate geographical area to minimize travel.  We use LED and CFL lights, hardly any paper, responsibly recycle, and use and offer low power computing solutions whenever possible. In addition, we use a small “off-grid” solar setup that runs the Florence I.T. web server, completely on solar power, independent of the electric grid. For more information on our services, environmental or social initiatives, please visit our solar powered website at florenceit.net.

 About Mokugift

A social venture focused on customer experience and tangible, positive benefit to the environment and society, Mokugift makes it easy and rewarding to plant trees, for $1 apiece, through online “gifting.” Giving a mokugift tree is similar to sending an e-card, and recipients can proudly display their trees online at Facebook, MySpace, Yahoo!, and 50 other popular Web sites.

An official partner of the United Nations Environment Programme’s Billion Tree Campaign, mokugift collaborates with award-winning nonprofit agroforestry organizations such as Trees For The Future and Sustainable Harvest International to plant trees in twelve countries: Belize, Honduras, Nicaragua, Panama, Cameroon, Ethiopia, Burundi, Senegal, Zambia, India, the Philippines and Haiti.  Using environmentally sustainable methods, farmers in these countries plant mokugift trees to restock existing forests and enable more diverse, productive and economically sustainable land-use systems.

For more information on mokugift, please visit http://www.mokugift.com

Let’s Get Wild! | 3BL Media

Let’s Get Wild!

Have you ever been to a wildlife habitat? I have, and I love them. It’s incredible to be surrounded by nature, with the opportunity to see hundreds of animals, insects or fish literally at your fingertips.

But here’s the issue: there’s not enough of them. (No, really, there isn’t.) And that’s a major problem.

Check it: “The amount of viable wildlife habitat has been declining at a fairly rapid pace over the years. Although scientists can point to a number of individual reasons for the decline, it is the cumulative impact of these environmental stresses that has exacerbated the problem. Among the most significant reasons for the decline in wildlife habitat is the effect of urbanization. As urban and suburban boundaries expand, and as available open space is consumed, there is an obvious decrease in the quantity and quality of habitat and its ability to perform the life sustaining functions…

“It is not only the development pressures that has had an impact, but also agricultural operations that reduce cover, the draining of wetlands for development or agriculture, and the construction of new infrastructure that has combined to reduce productive habitat lands…” (source)

Ouch. That’s not good. When our wildlife doesn’t have a place to reside, they are forced to find new locations —such as our backyards, cities, etc. And yes, those weird “and that coyote just wandered into our backyard during the picnic” stories are real—a prime example of habitat reduction.

But there is hope, and Waste Management (WM) is making it a point to be at the forefront of the wildlife habitat revolution. According to WM’s Wildlife Habitat Council, “Waste Management’s sustainability goal is to earn Wildlife Habitat Council certification at 100 sites and preserve 25,000 acres by 2020. The “Wildlife at Work” program preserves land as wildlife habitats by providing food, water, shelter, cover and space “suitable to animals” needs. “A site must be actively maintained and monitored for a year before it qualifies for certification.”

I’m not going to downplay it—I’m impressed, because that’s a whole lot of acreage. And WM is well on its way to making good on its promise. Case in point: GROWS, the first WM site to be certified. “Located in Falls Township, Pennsylvania, this landfill has been in operation since 1970. It is located near freshwater tidal wetlands of the Delaware River, an ecological treasure. This river is the primary source of drinking water for many surrounding communities, including the City of Philadelphia to the southwest. Several rare or endangered species call this area home, including the New Jersey chorus frog, southern leopard frog, red-bellied turtle, short nose sturgeon, and Atlantic sturgeon. These factors make meticulous environmental management crucial.”

Now, WM is clearly doing something on a grand scale, but you can do something too. How? By creating your own wildlife habitat in your own backyard.  Want a good place to start? Check out this link.

by Gingerly Green of Two Girls Go Green

Greenopolis.com is dedicated to our users. We focus our attention on changing the world through recycling, waste-to-energy and conservation. We reward our users for their sustainable behaviors on our website, through our Greenopolis Tracking Stations and with curbside recycling programs.

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Gifts of Christmas Past, Present, and Future | 3BL Media

Gifts of Christmas Past

Mistletoe, Yule log, stuffing stockings with treats and gifts and bringing an evergreen inside to decorate in midwinter are pagan rituals that go back millennia to the Romans, Druids and ancient Saxons. Most of these customs have been recycled in meaning and practice into today’s Christmas holiday.

Melissa is following this ancient custom of rebirth, renewal and recycling, as she incorporates the cards, ribbons, and handmade ornaments from her own Christmas Past into her Christmas Present. She adds fresh flowers and strung cranberries and popcorn, and uses low energy LED lights to help conserve Christmas Future.

What she‘s doing is a beautiful practice of taking what has meaning from the past, adding what’s fresh and beautiful from the present and passing it all on as a legacy for the future. Whether Christmas season is a deeply significant religious event or just a fun holiday for you, creating your own customs, festivities and gifts from the reused, handmade, and locally grown can add layers of meaning and message. It beats plastic schlock from a big box retailer hands down.

Reusing the gifts of Christmas Past, and conserving the gifts of Christmas Present, ensures that there will be a lovely Christmas Future! What will you do this season to conserve joy to the world?

Greenopolis.com is dedicated to our users. We focus our attention on changing the world through recycling, waste-to-energy and conservation. We reward our users for their sustainable behaviors on our website, through our Greenopolis Tracking Stations and with curbside recycling programs.

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A Bridge Over Troubled Waters

GoodB Blog

New York State of Mind

A new law on the books since last year in New York helps protect subprime mortgage holders from foreclosure. A similar bill protecting prime borrowers recently was passed by the State Legislature. The bill requires lenders to give 90 days’ warning and forces lenders into settlement conferences with borrowers before proceeding with foreclosure.

Read More

Love Thy Neighbor

The “City of Brotherly Love” lives up to its name these days with a foreclosure prevention program that is inspiring other struggling communities to follow. Not one to wait for Washington to come through, the city made famous by America’s revolutionary founders has created a program for distressed homeowners like no other.

Read More

Upping the Ante

The Treasury Department ordered Bank of America, Citigroup, Wells Fargo, and big and small lenders to Washington D.C. this week to inject a little gratitude into their blood money veins. Of the 71 participating lenders, few have accomplished significant mortgage modifications for troubled homeowners. To insure a patriotic zeal from “take the money and run” lenders, the Treasury is installing “three person SWAT teams to monitor the eight largest companies’ work and requesting twice-daily reports on their progress.”

Read More

Click for GoodB Blog – provocative and informative.

Click for the latest updates on GoodB

Who Moved My Green Cheese? | 3BL Media

Glenn Croston’s Blog

Climate talks got underway in Copenhagen on Monday with representatives from 192 nations. A great many people around the world see climate change as the greatest global threat we face, likely to adversely affect billions of people in the decades ahead if nothing is done. The feeling is not universal though; some people and businesses view efforts to fight climate change as the threat. For businesses changing their perspective to match a changing world, efforts to fight climate change and build a greener economy hold the opportunity of a lifetime.

Read more from Fast Company blog

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REI Foundation Establishes the Mary Anderson Legacy Grant to Celebrate Co-Founder’s 100th Birthday | 3BL Media

(3BLMedia/theCSRfeed) SEATTLE, WA - December 9, 2009 – The REI Foundation, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization supported by outdoor gear and apparel retailer REI, has established the Mary Anderson Legacy Grant in celebration of the company co-founder’s 100th birthday.  The annual grant will recognize the contributions that Anderson made in the lives of young people during her years as a teacher, over her years of working at REI and through her life-long love of the outdoors.

 
The Foundation will award the first $50,000 Mary Anderson Legacy Grant in 2010 in support of efforts that actively engage young people in learning about nature through hands-on engagement and exploration of the outdoors. The Mary Anderson Legacy Grant will be presented annually by the REI Foundation.
 
“We are forever grateful to Mary for her passion to introduce people to the wonders of nature. At 100 years young, Mary is an inspiration to me, REI employees and outdoor enthusiasts everywhere,” said Sally Jewell, REI president and CEO. “From her career as an educator to helping operate the co-op from the attic of her Seattle home, Mary’s selfless energy and involvement will be recognized for years to come through the REI Foundation.”
 
On Dec. 7, 1909, Mary (Gaiser) Anderson was born in Washington’s Yakima Valley, where her family enjoyed regular walks and hikes together. As a teacher in Seattle during the 1930s, Mary used nature as an extension of her classroom to enrich the lives and learning of her students. For more than 30 years, she continued to connect people to nature through her work at REI.
 
REI was founded as a co-op in 1938 by Mary and her husband, Lloyd Anderson, and 21 mountaineering friends in Seattle. Today, the co-op is an active community partner with 110 stores, nearly 10,000 employees and more than 3.7 million active members.
 
In honor of Mary’s centennial birthday, Governor Christine Gregoire and Seattle Mayor Greg Nickels each proclaimed, Dec. 7, as “Mary Anderson Day” across the State of Washington and City of Seattle.
 
REI celebrated Mary and her legacy at its headquarters on Dec. 8 at an event that included past company presidents and retired employees who worked with Mary in REI’s early years. The celebration also featured the co-op’s annual Anderson Awards. Since its inception in 2002, the Anderson Awards are presented annually to employees who exemplify the values of Lloyd and Mary and the co-op’s purpose and core values. 
 
The co-op continues the Andersons’ legacy by helping millions of enthusiasts enjoy the outdoors, engaging more people in discovering beautiful, natural places and promoting the benefits of a healthy, active outdoor lifestyle. Across the country, REI partners with local non-profit outdoor and conservation organizations through education, volunteerism, gear donations and financial contributions.
 
About the REI Foundation
The REI Foundation was founded and supported by Recreational Equipment, Inc. (REI) in 1993. The Foundation’s mission is to help ensure that tomorrow’s outdoor enthusiasts and conservation stewards reflect the diversity of America. Recognizing that most people with a love of the outdoors discover the natural world early in their life, the Foundation’s primary efforts are in encouraging active outdoor participation by young people and their families. The REI Foundation has provided grants to organizations stemming from recommendations and collaboration with the National Forum on Children and Nature, including EarthTeam Environmental Network in San Francisco, National Audubon Society in New York and New York Green Stops Partnership, a coalition of nonprofits including New York Restoration Project, Solar One, Sustainable South Bronx, and Mount Sinai Center for Children’s Environmental Health in New York.

CONTACT:
Megan Behrbaum, REI Public Affairs
253-437-7736
mbehrba@rei.com

CSR Minute: 12/9/09 – Sodexo’s “Better” CSR Plan; Royal Surveyors’ Sustainability Survey

Corporate Social Responsibility News: Sodexo’s “Better Tomorrow” CSR Plan; Royal Surveyors’ Sustainability Survey