Dirty politics costs you millions.

Transparency International’s 2009 corruption survey is out. There is no improvement in the swathe of corruption that stifles the work of everyone. It is a dirty scum of waste that feeds the rich, all over the world. The report notes that in the US corporations spent an average of $200,000 a year on lobbying every …
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Green rankings for US big 500 companies

Newsweek has produced a ranking of America’s 500 biggest companies according to green criteria.  It is useful to get a quick overview of the initiatives taken by America’s biggest companies.  However, the ranking omits companies that are much greener, like Interface, because they are not in the biggest 500.  It is also noteworthy that there …
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Smoking bans’ benefits greater than expected.

Two new studies report that smoking bans cut the number of heart attacks in Europe and North America by up to a third.  This “heart gain” is far greater than both originally anticipated and the 10% figure recently quoted by England’s Department of Health. Second-hand smoke is thought to increase the chances of a heart …
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Zero Growth: The Future of Business – Ethical Corp/Jonathan Porritt

The big interview: Jonathan Porritt – When real progress means standing still Business must see that zero growth is the future for developed economies, according to Jonathan Porritt Interview by Eric Marx As he prepared to step down in July as chief environmental adviser to the UK prime minister, Jonathan Porritt headed out for one …
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A story about changing course: Trading derivatives for dogs.

Here’s a short story about a former financial trader who now sells frankfurters in Frankfurt’s business district. A new and interesting job, hard work, fulfilling.  “If you’re not happy with your job, it’s bad for you.” BBC: German fat cat turns to hot dogs

Looking at the dawn of time.

A telescope sent far in to space to study the oldest light in the Universe has returned its first images. The Planck observatory is surveying radiation that first swept out across space just 380,000 years after the Big Bang (15,000,000,000 years ago).  The light holds details about the age, contents and evolution of the cosmos.  …
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US to cut missile defence plan. A good start.

The US has cancelled or postponed the plan to emplace missiles in Poland.  This is good news.  Increasing the volume of armaments is a ludicrous policy in a world where people are dying of malnutrition and thirst and where a gun has no practical purpose except to kill another person.  The resources would be better …
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