Shareholders Slam Apple's Environmental Initiatives

“The Apple shareholder meeting on Thursday was a telling example of just how difficult it is for a public company to go green, even if it really wants to.

Apple currently has a much greener reputation than it deserves according to the recent New Scientist study. Consumers rank Apple #3 in sustainability, even though the scientists rank them at #19. Yes, they have made efforts to reduce toxicity in their products and created an e-waste recycling program, but both of these green initiatives came as a response to activist campaigns led by NGO’s like Greenpeace.”

(via Good)

Yahoo Pact Gives Twitter Distribution, Revenue

Nice to see Twitter will finally bring in some revenue! This new partnership seems good for Yahoo, but better for Twitter,

“It’s the latest step in Yahoo’s latest strategy, which is to integrate the world’s most popular social networks into the Yahoo environment rather than try to compete with them. The pact is similar to a deal with Facebook announced in December, allowing users to import their connections and update their status through Yahoo.

The deal will give Twitter a vast new distribution to 600 million Yahoo users, and something else it has found scarce: revenue.”

(via Ad Age)

Yes, the Tiger Woods Confession Is Compelling, but Is It News?

“News, it seems, is less and less about what’s important—and more and more about what’s compelling. So it’s fitting that all the major broadcast networks broke into their regularly scheduled programming to carry what is, in fact, a tabloid story—Tiger Woods’s apology—the day after the Pulitzer Prize Board acknowledged that an actual tabloid, The National Enquirer, was eligible for journalism’s most prestigious award.”

(via Vanity Fair)

The Supreme Court's gift to big business

The Supreme Court is going to make a ruling over whether or not corporations can run ads during political elections.  I am strongly against this.  At its core, if the Court rules in favor of corporations, it will be conferring the rights of an individual upon a corporation.  It sickens me that self-proclaimed Originalists like Scalia or Thomas would dare infer from the Constitution that a corporation is entitled to a right like Freedom of Speech (thus declaring a 1926 law barring corporations from running campaign ads unconstitutional).

The issue is this: corporations already have outsized influence on our legislative process through their lobbies.  They have destroyed our healthcare system (through McCarron-Ferguson), our financial system (through Gramm-Leach-Bliley), and blocked any investment in energy for three decades.  Why we, as citizens, do not revolt against this, I do not understand.  But if corporations can run ads during elections, then whatever tiny shred of integrity left in the legislative process will be long gone.  All candidates will be stuck pandering to their corporate puppet masters.  We will be McDonald’s Nation.

Sign the petition, guys, and don’t let special interest groups drown out the voice of ordinary citizens

(via Fortune)

The Wannabe Warhol

Plain weird, but interesting. Read more about Damon Dash’s “hippie art collective” aka “DD172”

“You can spend hours at 172 Duane Street, in Tribeca, and still have no clue what’s going on here…DD is for Damon Dash, the 38–year–old fallen hip-hop impresario who thought it would be cool to start a hippie art collective right smack in the middle of one of the wealthiest neighborhoods in Manhattan. It is, in short, the kind of scene you hoped still existed in Manhattan, but feared might have gone away.”

(via The New York Observer)

MOCA says Jeffrey Deitch is its new director

and one more reason why LA is the new NY!

(via Flavorpill)

A Clothing Clearance Where More Than Just the Prices Have Been Slashed

This makes me livid. Not only is this process wasteful and irresponsible, but a clear example of a corporation in disorganization. I had higher hopes for H&M, and especially Walmart who has been a leader in sustainability.

“The New York Times is having a hard time these days, and the mainstream media are taking a lot of hits. But you have to admit, there is still a lot of power in those presses. Just yesterday Jim Dwyer wrote A Clothing Clearance Where More Than Just the Prices Have Been Slashed, about how graduate student Cynthia Magnus discovered that piles of clothes from Wal-Mart and H&M were being destroyed and thrown out.”

Coke Announces Global Rollout of Plant-Based Plastic Bottles

A huge move by one of the largest consumer food manufacturers, The Coca-Cola Company unveiled today a new plastic bottle made partially from plants.  The “PlantBottle™” is fully recyclable, has a lower reliance on a non-renewable resource, and reduces carbon emissions, compared with petroleum-based PET plastic bottles. The new bottles stand to cut down on carbon emissions by up to 25% compared to traditional PET bottles.

Nearly 1.6 billion servings of Coca-Cola-branded beverages are served each day.

(via Inhabitat.com)

The Carnivore’s Dilemma

“It’s true that food production is an important contributor to climate change. And the claim that meat (especially beef) is closely linked to global warming has received some credible backing, including by the United Nations and University of Chicago. Both institutions have issued reports that have been widely summarized as condemning meat-eating.

But that’s an overly simplistic conclusion to draw from the research… it could be, in fact, that a conscientious meat eater may have a more environmentally friendly diet than your average vegetarian.

None of us, whether we are vegan or omnivore, can entirely avoid foods that play a role in global warming. Singling out meat is misleading and unhelpful, especially since few people are likely to entirely abandon animal-based foods.

Still, there are numerous reasonable ways to reduce our individual contributions to climate change through our food choices. Because it takes more resources to produce meat and dairy than, say, fresh locally grown carrots, it’s sensible to cut back on consumption of animal-based foods. More important, all eaters can lower their global warming contribution by following these simple rules: avoid processed foods and those from industrialized farms; reduce food waste; and buy local and in season.”

(via The New York Times)

Todd S. Purdum on Sarah Palin

Despite her disastrous performance in the 2008 election, Sarah Palin is still the sexiest brand in Republican politics, with a lucrative book contract for her story. But what Alaska’s charismatic governor wants the public to know about herself doesn’t always jibe with reality. As John McCain’s top campaign officials talk more candidly than ever before about the meltdown of his vice-presidential pick, the author tracks the signs—political and personal—that Palin was big trouble, and checks the forecast for her future.

(via Vanity Fair)

Fast Food: Would You Like 1,000 Calories with That?

If public-health advocates, and now the Senate, get their way, when you look at a menu from a chain restaurant, those calorie counts will be staring you down.

(via, my pal, Maria Gonima)

Increasingly, Food Companies Cannot Guarantee Safety

Increasingly, the corporations that supply Americans with processed foods are unable to guarantee the safety of their ingredients.

The Fine Print: What's Really in a Lot of 'Healthy' Foods

A lot of Americans think they’re eating a healthy diet these days. But it’s easy to be fooled by our assumptions and the ways that food manufacturers play on them.

(via Wall Street Journal)