With Whole Foods continuing to dazzle Wall Street with its growth and Wal-Mart vowing to become the world's No. 1 organic grocer, now would seem to be a wonderful time to be an organic farmer -- particularly one with enough acreage to supply the corporate giants. According to classical economics, when demand jumps, supply should follow, pulled up by the good's rising price. But a funny thing is happening in the certified-organic fields and orchards of California, home to about 40 percent of the nation's organic-vegetable acreage: produce is shriveling unpicked on the vine, choked by weeds and neglect. Ripe …

In public talks about Aspen Skiing Company's environmental programs, I used to describe our wind-powered Cirque chairlift. Renewable-energy purchases for that lift keep 30,000 pounds of carbon dioxide, the primary greenhouse gas, out of the air annually, I'd tell my audience. Furthermore, it was the first renewably powered lift in the country. My listeners would often applaud the accomplishments I was describing. But then I'd tell them they had been greenwashed. Walking the walk? Photo: iStockphoto To greenwash, according to Word Spy, is "to implement token environmentally friendly initiatives as a way of hiding or deflecting criticism about existing environmentally …

A fuel tax is a great idea waiting for a champion; paging a Mr. Nader It's time for Americans to get over their sense of entitlement to cheap energy, bite the bullet, and institute a progressive fuel tax, says economist Charles Komanoff. Making energy more expensive would result in a host of benefits, both at home and abroad. It might even be politically palatable. But it needs a vocal public champion. How about ... Ralph Nader? Discuss.

I'm going to sit the fence on Kit's poll by saying that reigning in climate change will require both a re-envisioning of capitalism and a revision of our core values. An excellent professor of mine at MIT introduced our class to the concept of "natural capitalism," pioneered by Paul Hawkins and Amory and L. Hunter Lovins. Their 1999 book on the subject, probably familiar to many of you, was an eye-opener for me at the time. Here is a short synopsis of the book from Publisher's Weekly: The short answer to the logical question (What is natural capitalism?) is that …

The local-food movement has reached an interesting juncture. Through one lens, things are looking better than ever. According to a USDA report (PDF), the number of farmers' markets leapt 79 percent to 3,100 between 1994 and 2002. Community-supported agriculture programs -- wherein consumers buy a share of a farm's output before the season starts, sharing the risks and rewards of the harvest -- have followed a similar trajectory. According to one source, North America boasts 1,200 CSAs. Just 25 years ago, the concept didn't exist in these parts. Tastes great, less shipping. Photo: iStockphoto All that growth aside, though, the …

"What's your company's climate footprint?" It's a hot question these days -- one being asked increasingly of companies by customers, investors, activists, regulators, and others. OK, it may not be exactly that question, but it's probably in some form, like, "What's your company doing to reduce its climate impacts?" Or, "How do you call yourself environmentally responsible when you take so damn many plane trips?" Photo: iStockphoto Whatever the question, providing an answer will require understanding what, exactly, your company does to contribute greenhouse gases into the atmosphere. And therein lies a challenge: Calculating a company's climate footprint (sometimes referred …

Your AWOL blogger here, just to make a quick point: Bart is very right about what he says here. Chris' poll is fun, and it's interesting to see the results, but it's worth emphasizing that Wal-Mart is not a person. It's not a sentient entity. We (human beings) seem to have an irresistible tendency to anthropomorphize, and it's as true here as anywhere else. We conceive of Wal-Mart as a big bully, or a liar, or a hypocrite, or a sinner seeking absolution, etc. But those terms apply only to other human beings, from whom we expect a kind of …

GM builds world's first LEED-certified auto plant, slows SUV production If BP went Beyond Petroleum, does that mean GM is Greening Motors? The struggling U.S. automaker recently unveiled two nuggets of eco-friendly news. Its brand-spankin' new Lansing Delta Township assembly plant in Michigan received the U.S. Green Building Council's gold LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) certification, making it the world's first LEED-certified auto-manufacturing plant. The facility's eco-features -- which include waterless urinals and a lights-out section where robots will work -- are expected to save 30 million kilowatt-hours of electricity and over 40 million gallons of water during …

Investment money pours into the green-tech sector Investors are ga-ga for green. In 2005, clean energy projects in the U.S. were showered with $17 billion in investment money, up 89 percent from 2004. Just in 2005, the worldwide market for carbon credits blossomed from essentially nothing to around $11 billion. And these are not just do-gooders: public pension funds, hedge fund groups, venture capitalists, they're all scouring the landscape for the next Big Green Thing. Says Lehman Brothers' John V. Veech of clean-tech gatherings, "If you went five years ago you'd see a lot of ponytails. Now these conferences are …

I have an op-ed on TomPaine.com today about Wal-Mart's recent green initiatives. Give it a read. I'm sure the accusations of corporate whoredom will come rolling in at any moment. I worry that, even given the copious pixels expended, my overall point was not entirely clear. So below the fold, I shall try to express it in more compact form. The basic dilemma Wal-Mart's greening poses is this: they're doing good environmental things -- real things, substantive things, despite knee-jerk dismissals from some quarters -- but they still suck on labor relations (wages, healthcare benefits, etc.). Since many progressives consider …