7gen Bloc

In case you missed Thomas Friedman’s year end Op-Ed piece in the New York Times, it’s worth checking out if you’re looking for a hopeful start to the new year. Commenting on Time Magazine’s choice of “You” as Person of the Year, Friedman says he would have instead chosen Green as the Color of the Year. He writes:

A few weeks ago BusinessWeek ran an unusually long and cautionary tale about the challenges and limitations of “ethical” purchasing in China. “Some companies that thought they were making dramatic progress are discovering otherwise. A study commissioned by Nike last year covered 569 factories it uses in China and around the world that employ more than 300,000 workers. It found labor-code violations in every single one.”

We’ve working to understand and measure our carbon footprint and develop a plan to offset our contributions to global warming. This is obviously a good and necessary thing, but an article in today’s U.K. Telegraph points out some of the potential speed bumps we’re likely to encounter as we rush down this particular road to climate change prevention.

Marci Young, star of our most recent video and climate change-fighting hero, posted this note to our comments section. But after reading it, we thought it deserved to be a full-fledged post in its own right (write?). So we’re making it one. Here’s Marci’s response to the thoughts you’ve been sending our way… My Friends, Thank you for getting involved and sending comments to the Inspired Protagonist Blog.

Here's a quick housekpeeing note for everyone, which I thought to post because there have been some issues lately...

Our consumers tell the best stories. They tell us when we do well, they tell us when we can improve, they tell us when we need to change, and they tell us that they count on us. They count on us to do the right thing, whatever the question, whatever the issue. They expect that we will ask ourselves hard questions and look at all sides of the question. They want us to be ahead of the pack, leading and not following, so when Tracy called me from Illinois about a month before Christmas, I was so happy that she was able to count on us.

Here's this week’s contest update and global warming tip sheet from Jeff McIntire-Strasburg at Treehugger

This just in… There’s a new petition from MoveOn asking Congress to do something meaningful (please!) about global warming right here right now. Like most MoveOn efforts, it’s pretty simple. Add your name and a short message. Doesn’t take long. Everyone should do it. (These MoveOn things generate decent numbers and tend to get noticed more than most.) Here’s my message:

WR