Tag Archive for profits

Not a Contradiction–Just an Enlightened Bottom Line

April 10, 2017 Comments Off on Not a Contradiction–Just an Enlightened Bottom Line

Here’s a bit of seeming contradiction that I think is a brilliant idea:  the Kentucky Coal Museum is installing solar panels on its roof.  It will save them money.  Even better, it’s part of Kentucky’s attempt to replace coal as its primary source of energy.  Read about this at the USA Today article.

In fact, the coal industry is dwindling, not just out of environmental concerns, but because of corporations’ bottom lines. Coal is too expensive to produce when alternative energy sources are available to cash in on.

Coal miners are losing jobs, and families are suffering as a result of that.  They need to be retrained and hired in the energy jobs of the future, not kept in unhealthy,  unsafe underground mines.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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New Sweetener Stevia Not Such a Sweet Deal

March 7, 2017 Comments Off on New Sweetener Stevia Not Such a Sweet Deal

We’re seeing more and more products containing a “new,” natural sweetener, Stevia.  Companies–especially Coca Cola–are reaping billions of dollars because of it.  But they didn’t invent it.  It occurs in nature; in Paraguay and Brazil, the Guarani people discovered it and have been using it for generations.  Coca Cola uses the plants but doesn’t pay those indigenous people for their knowledge–in violation of the Convention on Biological Diversity.

These groups of people live in poverty, a life-situation that stevia could alleviate if Coca Cola at least shared the profits that legally and morally belong to the people.  According to international law, the traditional knowledge and use of stevia belongs to them.  That makes what Coca Cola is doing simple theft.

Watch this short video to get a picture of the situation. Then read Public Eye’s “Stivia” for more details.

 

 

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“Super Fakes”–What a Deal!

December 26, 2013 Comments Off on “Super Fakes”–What a Deal!

Spending some cash you got for Christmas or after returning that sweater that was three sizes too large (or small)?  As you walk along the street, you my find quite a bargain: a high-fashion, big-name handbag that normally costs $5,000 but is only $600.  And it’s not cheesy looking like the $40 fakes.  In fact, because even the experts have trouble telling these excellent copies from the real thing, they’re called “Super Fakes.”

Before you give in to temptation, be aware that the profits from these handbags go to some people you may not want to finance.  That money funds child labor, organized crime, and terrorism.

Maybe they aren’t so “Super” after all.

 

 

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