Yesterday, on a local SF bay area radio station, I heard an interview with Martha E. Gimenez, a retired professor of Sociology at the University of Colorado at Boulder. The interview centered around her essay in the December 2007 issue of the Monthly Review magazine titled “Self-Sourcing: How Corporations Get Us to Work Without Pay!”. I’d like to preface that I am not endorsing this particular magazine, the radio program on which this interview aired or for that matter the author. I say this because I wouldn’t want the left leaning, pro-labor ideologies that may surround this person or this magazine distract you from the point that I’m wanting to make or for that matter the key points that she tries to make(not to mention that I know very little about this magazine).

We’ve all used self-checkout systems at grocery stores, Homedepot, even airline counters by newcomers like Virgin America. We’ve fumbled through the learning process of (more…)

Adam smith’s notion of the “invisible hand” has been quoted and misquoted many time in popular media and by many of our dear friends who wish to hold on to the belief that “capitalism” is the best institution in the world and that “market forces” are natural and necessary for a healthy society.  In cases where a specific industry is in a dire need of government regulation, opponents are quick to say that businesses must be left alone to self-regulate because the tenants of capitalism, supply and demand will fix all quarks in the system.  Those of us who don’t buy the text-book ideology are often ridiculed , but today on the heals of an “economic stimulus package”, we can once again point to how we do not, nor can we fully practice capitalism in the truest sense of the word. What is about to happen in the congress and with the help of the president and the Fed is an artificial manipulation of the markets in order to satisfy the status quo of wealth, consumerism and ultimately unfettered greed. Sure the package will have various ramifications, short term, long term, some positive and some perhaps negative, some intended and some unintended. None-the-less, we are once gain reminded that what we’ve been led to believe about our financial systems for years is in fact an illusion. Institutional economic collapse has happened before the reality of “globalisation” and it is happening again today with the complexities of globalisation… We don’t need a PHD in economics or listen to CNN to figure this out. The underlying human suffering and the desire to backfill happiness with wealth and power in an unprecedented rate globally I feel is closer to the truth of our current situation, and only once we are able to truly internalize this can we create solutions that will bring prosperity for everyone.

Its another fitting occasion today after the meltdown of global financial institutions that we are once again reminded that the way to get us out of the mess caused by the sub-prime loan fiasco is to increase our individual spending.. Is it me or everyone who has their fingers on the monetary policy of this nation(an other global financial partners) are out of sync with reality. It was greed and the desire for consumers to want more “stuff” that got them into trouble in the first place. How quickly we forget the true reasons behind the sub-prime meltdown..it wasn’t people with bad credit but people who had eyes bigger than their stomach… Somehow we are told that the way to fix the current problem is with a solution that caused the problem in the first place… What are we going to hear next from the Fed : “we must relax lending policies so that we can bring back more sub-prime loans?” We are ripe for a change in how we consume, how we measure health of our societies, how we take care of everyone so that artificial financial situations don’t devastate us? Remember the time in human history where the only societal crisis was a natural disaster like a volcanic eruption or a flood? I think we all know how we got ourselves into this current mess…

The title of this post could very well have been “An open letter to Peet’s Coffee”. In terms of frequenting any one coffee shop, Peet’s has always stood high on my list due to their beginnings in Berkeley, but even with that accolade, they are not the highest on my list because they don’t carry an entire line of organic or fair-trade products(Certainly not in any of their fancy drinks) Today another blow caused Peet’s to fall down another rung on my list. They’ve begun selling “sugar-free” lattes and mochas. The sad part is that their fancy posters don’t mention the fact that they put splenda and arethretol into their syrups (I actually had to ask them what made these new drinks “sugar free”)… In case you’re wondering about the negative health impacts of Splenda, just google it and you’ll get a waterfall of links to keep you researching till the wee hours of the night, but here is a link from a source that I like (www.mercola.com) only because he has good research documents, not necessarily because I think he’s always giving the best advice.

http://www.mercola.com/2000/dec/3/sucralose_dangers.htm

Today at Macworld 2008 Steve Jobs unveiled the company’s newest computer Macbook Air. The one feature of this new notebook that perhaps got the least applause from the audience was unfortunately it’s “green” features, and I felt, due in part to how Jobs presented this feature.. WIRED ran this story about the launch along with reactions and criticism from Green-Peace. After reading this article, it became clear as to why there was a lack of enthusiasm on Jobs’ part in delivering this message… He was afraid of being blamed for not doing enough company wide to reduce environmental impacts.. I’m reminded of a story I heard from Joel Makower of Greenbiz.com at an event about 4 years ago about how at that time Nike was one of the biggest if not the biggest purchaser of organic cotton on the world markets yet no-one knew about it. When Nike was asked why they did not make that info public, they said that if they began talking about the fact that only a small % of their cotton purchase was organic, then people would ask why the rest of their cotton purchase was not. Oh the internal anguish people inside companies must feel when they find hiding behind the truth easier than living in it, then and today. Apple can either be blamed for not doing better or they can be applauded loudly for taking the first step and equally held accountable for their second step(something that clearly did not happen at the show) We can only hope that in future events, Jobs can bring the same level of charisma to launching green features as he does when he introduces new colors for ipods. To check out more photos of the environmentally friendly features of the notebook click on the following link.. (more…)

Now with more and more companies of all shapes and sizes delivering organic products, it is important that consumers recognize the “quality” and the “real-ness” of these organically produced products. We can’t forget that processed organic food is still processed food which ultimately ceases to resemble food. That truth goes specially with milk and here’s a new video of Mark McAfee founder of Organic pastures giving a quick lesson about the difference between Raw milk, pasteurized and homogenized. Next time you think OrganicValley milk, Organic Straus Milk, or Organic Clover milk, or any of your favorite organic milk brand is the healthier way to go…think again! Soon I’ll have a section on this blog with links and there I’ll include plenty of information on milk.

Just when you thought you could count on a product line such as Burt’s Bees to stay true to its roots, it too has now been purchased by a multi-national corporation with a spotty record. In the past I would have bereaved the marriage of companies such as these but today I hold hope that the philosophies of the purchased company will somehow rub off onto the corporations, ie. their employees and most importantly, their leaders.

For full story, check out the LINK