3BL Media Corporate Social Responsible News and Commentary

A new social investment fund has been formed to invest in millions of African producers using corporate business strategies to increase and secure their income from exporting to developed countries. Substantial returns look promising to Investors and Producers alike.

Each week, in Elegant Roots' Tuesday Tracts, we will recognize one of the artisans/designers whose creations grace the pages of our website. We think you'll find the stories worthy of notice.

After receiving over 6,200 letters from Change.org community members, the Department of Labor released their long-awaited report on goods produced by child labor and forced labor today. Thank you all for urging DOL to release this important tool for consumers!

Bank depositors looking to do their part regarding climate change, environmental responsibility and societal stewardship now have a new tool to help them select their banking relationships. SustainLINK provides a free service profiling only the most eco-conscious banks and credit unions in the country.

Awarding-winning sustainability communications firm SRB Marketing, which has served dozens of clients including Ben & Jerry's, National Geographic and Yale University since 2003, rebrands as SDialogue this month.

Many of the Boston-area high school students held hands with their Rwandan student hosts as they walked through the Murambi genocide memorial in a former school in rural Rwanda. That helped the Americans and the Rwandans alike to make it through the trauma of witnessing exhibits that included the human remains of victims of the 1994 genocide.

Either Overstock.com CEO Patrick Byrne is certifiably insane, or he's a genius. Perhaps he's a blend of both. I have to admit, the guy fascinates me. For the past five years, Byrne has waged an unrelenting crusade against the banking practice known as naked short selling, a financial sleight of hand that floods the market with nonexistent stock. Today that war has culminated into two Internet websites, a high-profile public relations campaign, and a $3.48bn lawsuit that Byrne has filed against 12 New York brokerage firms, alleging a "massive, illegal stock market manipulation scheme." The case is still pending. To get a sense of both the scale and significance of Byrne's claims, take a few paces back in time. Years prior to the 2008 financial crisis, Byrne went on TV warning people of the dangers of naked short selling and predicting that a financial catastrophe was just around the corner. "I think there is something going on in the American marketplace that has to be stopped," Byrne told Bloomberg in November of 2006. "When it comes to light, it's going to be something that makes Enron look like a tea party."

Corporate Social Responsible News: H. J. Heinz + World Food Program's Project; Coverall Health-Based Cleaning Systems' Award Nominations; Wordpress Marketing's Top Five Facebook Tips

As corporate social responsibility has evolved into a major component of corporate strategy, so has the importance and urgency to "get it right." Firms are now forced to deal with the implications of undertaking a more responsible approach to doing business, both internally (building the business case for a CSR strategy) and externally (avoiding the trap of "green washing"). And while the benefits of a "triple bottom line" approach may seem obvious, the road to get there remains unclear to many.

Sunday's NYT piece about life settlements - selling a life insurance policy to a third party, who collects on it when you die - sparked much conversation in the blogosphere. Felix helpfully points out that there's actually not much news in the story as the market is still minuscule. Still, this is a financial innovation worth discussing in its earlier stages, while there's still time for legislators/regulators to kill it. It really is a terrible idea, one that will benefit no one besides those running Wall Street's securitization machine.

We laughed as Glenn Beck took to his whiteboard to outline an absolutely preposterous "theory" about how the Apollo Alliance, led by Van Jones, was organizing a revolutionary army to take over the United States in the name of communism (or something). We smirked as he claimed Americorps was going to become Obama's personal army (or something). We wondered how anyone could take this lunatic seriously. And then it turned out people took him seriously. Due to Beck's incomprehensible but persistent soap-boxing, Van Jones has lost his job as Special Adviser for Green Jobs--Jones resigned over the weekend to prevent his being a 'distraction' to the administration. Now, no doubt pleased with his success, Beck has released the names of the Obama Administration advisers he plans to smear next.

Alice Korngold, contributing writer for Fast Company Magazine and President and CEO of Korngold Consulting, asserts in her most recent commentary that the current economic instability isn't only affecting communities, both urban and suburban, but now is making destitute of  Non-Profit Corporations as they scramble for needed resources to help keep the unemployed, families, and the retired afloat.

With the success of previous years "Our Daily Bread" candidate proposals on how to sustain and create better processes behind Food Security, Vital Systems is looking for new team and community oriented submissions for this year's event. I've taken the liberty of copying the details and instructions to their campaign and adding it below.

Corporate Social Responsible News: Kyocera's "Green Curtains"; Fives + UN Global Compact; Grays Harbor Paper's Eco-Profits

PCI Media Impact, a non-profit organization specializing in the use of Entertainment Education to promote social change, premiers their Ecuadorian serial drama, "Toque Magico (Magic Touch)", every Wednesday on both YouTube and Facebook. Magic Touch was first broadcast in 2008 to promote youth awareness of gender equality and assist in the cultural elimination of inequity and prevention of violence against women.

mperial County, tucked away in the southeastern corner of California, has long suffered from perennial unemployment rates exceeding 20 percent. Yet Imperial County is also home to the "crown jewel" of all geothermal steam resources in the U.S., making it a prime spot to showcase how renewable energy can help spur the new green economy so enthusiastically touted by the Obama Administration.

China is set to tighten its hammerlock on the market for some of the world's most obscure but valuable minerals.

Our society has changed - dramatically - over the past few decades. We talk about it all the time in the context of business (flattening), government and politics (opening) and community (connecting). What about media and arts?

Spurred by generous government incentives, big banks are financing new wind projects around the country the Wall Street Journal says.

Every 90 days, I report to Wall Street and our shareholders on the financial health of our company--called to the carpet when results are bad, receiving a pat on the back (if memory serves) when numbers are good. Many years ago, we put corporate social responsibility on the agenda for these quarterly financial calls, because as a critical component of our effort to be a responsible business--fiscally and socially--it felt not only appropriate, but necessary