After recent interviews with large renewable power purchasers, I've learned a few remarkable things. One is that there's a deeper ethic at work than simple branding. And two, leadership is coming from citizens, businesses and local governments, not from Washington, D.C.

"Our long-term commitment to renewable energy is more about contributing to the health of our local economy and less about branding," said Jeff Harvey, chief operating officer for The Holland Inc., which recently purchased 100% wind energy for its 39 Burgerville fast food restaurants in the Pacific Northwest.

"Wind helps our local cattle ranchers because the turbines can be placed on their land," he said. "Because all of our restaurants are located in the Pacific Northwest, and because we buy all local

I received an email the other day from a professor who wanted fresh, expert-certified information about the green job scene. (No snickering about the abysmally low standards for "expert" status, please.) His college planned to offer a new environmental studies degree, and the state legislators wanted to know whether graduates would become gainfully employed in exchange for their four years and $80,000. Picky, picky, picky.

"It'll be a slam dunk!" the prof answered. "Employers will greet our graduates like liberators, throwing flowers at their feet when they enter the lobby!" It was a powerfully convincing argument, but unlike some government leaders we can think of, the governor required actual data before ponying up the taxpayer's cash. This is the kind of limited,

It is very tempting to just answer "Yes" to this question, as it would seem to be a simple matter of fact. However, the reality is that the issue is rather complicated (and often political). For excellent coverage of climate science, I continue to recommend RealClimate.org. But to really answer the question being posed, you have to get into what I call the "sciensocioeconomic" aspects of the issue; looking at climate change in as simple a way as the question above suggests doesn't provide a lot of insight into today's Gordian policy knot. To do that, you have to add some additional questions.

1. Will increasing greenhouse gas (GHG) concentrations raise global temperatures?

We know for a fact that natural levels of GHGs in the atmosphere keep the planet about 59 degrees

A recent Ethical Corporation conference delved into the dynamics of partnerships between business and non-governmental organizations.

Delegates from companies, NGOs and academia explored the grey area where the responsibilities of business and civil society blur. They discussed the benefits and pitfalls of working together to tackle social and environmental challenges

The partnerships discussed covered a spectrum, from a business handing a check to an NGO, to the two sides sitting together around the table to strategically shape a particular project, specific products or wider processes.

Anita Roddick, founder of Body Shop, declares partnerships between companies and organizations that have an image of ethical and environmental credibility to be "a lever that can

Two major trends, globalization and the widespread adoption of information communication technology, have created an operating environment far more complex and challenging for business than ever before.

How businesses are organized, operate and compete have all undergone, and will continue to undergo, profound changes. As globalization picks up momentum, the firm is faced with new challenges, including operating in multicultural environments and being forced to navigate complex and varied political environments with a weak or non-existent state. There is more uncertainty and volatility.

Simple corporate philanthropy, on the way to massive profits, is no longer acceptable. A business's impact on the environment -- and the broader economic, cultural and political setting --

In Jacquelyn A. Ottman's April 2006 column, "The Real News About Green Marketing : Yesterday, Today and Tomorrow," the green marketing guru offered a disturbing statistic for any environmentally focused business. In her article, Ottman cites Roper's Green Gauge poll: around 42% of consumers still feel that environmental products don't work as well as conventional ones.

"Eco-inclined" consumers are savvy. And yes, maybe even a little cynical. And that's exactly why I believe the show-and-tell style of experiential marketing works so well to reach them.

Known also as event marketing, experiential marketing (XM) inserts eco-friendly brands into a consumer's life in a way that is unique. Consumers are able to touch, feel, taste, hear, use, and play, fostering a positive brand

The easiest way to answer this question is to break it into its three parts:

Where's the GHG market headed generally?
What’s the demand for forestry-based offsets?
Will forestry offsets be competitive in the market?

Each of these questions poses challenging issues. Let’s take a look at each in turn.

First, there are multiple GHG markets, particularly when it comes to forestry. There are mandatory markets, such as Europe has initiated, and there are voluntary markets, which dominate in the U.S. Nobody really knows where either of these markets is headed. The biggest single variable is U.S. politics -- will the U.S. rejoin the international markets, or will it implement GHG market policies of its own (by creating a demand for reductions)? Some people

Lately, politicians from Tony Blair to comrade-in-arms George Bush have raced to embrace green technology -- at least on the surface. But is there substance behind their carefully crafted words? Well, while government funds may be slow to swing around to so-called "cleantech," venture capitalists are suddenly sniffing the air. We recently had the chance to take the pulse of the VC crowd, and it seems they're ready for action in what is shaping up as a multibillion-dollar market. In San Francisco last March, the latest Cleantech Venture Forum -- number IX for those keeping count -- gathered 500 delegates from around the world, its biggest crowd yet. With issues like abrupt climate change now climbing up the agenda even inside U.S. energy companies, the buzz around cleantech can

Corporations exist primarily to create wealth by developing new and innovative products, pleasing customers and delivering shareholder value. This "value proposition" has been the source of the private sector's great influence and legitimacy in society for many decades. Increasingly powerful stakeholders challenge this view by arguing for a new context of business in which wealth creation is but one of a number of objectives necessary to ensure society's well being.

In this viewpoint, business has a primary responsibility to help solve a growing number of social needs. These include improving environmental, health and labor practices; mitigating global climate change; reducing social inequities (including excessive amounts of executive compensation); reforming governance in the

When David Cameron stuck a micro wind turbine on the roof of his west London pad, he struck an overdue blow for the "show me" world.

Needless to say, his breezy little number has inevitably been dismissed as gesture politics. And as both gestures and generation technologies go, a pretty micro one at that.

But for anyone desperate to see change taking shape, rather than being stuck on the screen, it was a gesture worth making. Why? Because you can actually see the damn thing. Unlike a policy or a promise or a grant form, it's there doing something. (In this case, spinning around prettily, if not quite as effectually as ardent fans of micro-generation, myself included, would like to think.)

This matters, because despite soaring fuel prices and a splurge of media