In a spectacle similar to the one conjured up by the U.S. Supreme Court in 2000, a Mexican judiciary panel handed the nation's presidency to Felipe Calderón last week. Even The New York Times, in its circumspect way, acknowledged that the new president-elect's narrow victory over leftist rival Andrés Manuel López Obrador involved seemingly illegal activity by Calderón's governmental and big-business supporters. Classic Mexican cuisine is falling victim to crony-inflected neoliberalism. Photo: iStockphoto Calderón represents Mexico's conservative National Action Party (PAN), which scuttled more than 70 years of one-party rule by defeating the Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI) in the 2000 …

BP executives were under fire in Washington, D.C., this week for failing to prevent two oil leaks that occurred earlier this year in the largest oil field in the country. The company willfully ignored pipeline corrosion and harassed employees who voiced concern, Congressional representatives say. The first leak occurred last March, spilling 5,000 barrels of oil onto the Prudhoe Bay's western tundra. The second, in early August, forced the closure of half the oil field after further testing found significant corrosion in pipelines. The nearly five hours of questioning on Thursday focused largely on BP's failure to monitor the pipelines …

For being a big-ass chain, Starbucks Coffee at least has a reputation as a socially responsible big-ass chain. They've partnered with Conservation International for their Conservation Coffee program, "to encourage environmentally sound coffee-growing practices and to improve farmer livelihoods" in Mexico, Colombia, Peru, "and other Conservation Coffee™ sites around the world" that apparently don't warrant mentioning. They recycle "at 1,544 of our stores, of which 61 percent have a recycling program." (Side note: I'm spoiled here in hippie Seattle, but it's depressing that there are Starbucks stores "located in communities where commercial recycling facilities are not available.") They've got a …

In January 2006, the University of Michigan suspended the purchase of Coca-Cola products on its campus. Corporate decision-makers should pay heed: this event is notable on several dimensions. Coke learns that CSR is the real thing. Photo: iStockphoto First, this decision was not due to any problems with product or pricing. Instead, the university cut the contract because of concerns over environmental issues in India and labor issues in Colombia. Second, and more amazingly, the decision was prompted by one man and the small nonprofit he runs out of his home in Southern California. Amit Srivastava and his India Resource …

Although I'm no fan of the cigarette companies, I have to give credit where credit is due. They have often been on the cutting edge of advertising and marketing. Marlboro made it cool for men to smoke, Virginia Slims made it cool for women to smoke, and Camels made it cool for -- well, let's not go there. Flipping through Newsweek the other day, I came across an ad for American Spirit. Since I'm a non-smoker, I didn't realize there was a cigarette company marketing itself as the "organic" cigarette manufacturer. As I was rolling my eyes at the advertisement, …

Green communications technology heading to developing countries Solar-powered internet and recycled cell phones are coming to a developing country near you. Internet access is widely heralded as a tool with the potential to transform the lives of low-income people, but construction of a wired network to remote villages is often prohibitively expensive. Enter the Green Wi-Fi project, which has developed a solar-powered wireless router that can run for up to four weeks even in prolonged periods of gray skies. Another organization aiming to increase global communication is the cleverly named ReCellular; with about 53 percent of the U.S. phone-recycling market, …

BP under investigation for possible manipulation of oil and gasoline markets Petro-behemoth BP is being investigated by two U.S. agencies for possible manipulation of crude-oil and unleaded-gasoline markets. (These are, of course, in addition to ongoing investigations of BP over a Texas refinery explosion, an Alaska pipeline spill, and alleged manipulation of the U.S. propane market.) The Commodity Futures Trading Commission has subpoenaed BP in the oil-market probe, which concerns possible evildoing in 2003 and 2004 in the over-the-counter market (trades conducted out of sight of regulators, by phone or electronically, in products not listed on exchanges). The gasoline inquiry, …

U.S. automakers acknowledging that gas prices are likely to stay high Expect gasoline prices to stay between $3 and $4 a gallon for the rest of the decade, says ... no, not some fearmongering environmentalist or peak-oil nut, but Chrysler CEO Thomas LaSorda. In fact, all of Detroit's Big Three automakers have resigned themselves to current gas prices and are revamping their business models accordingly. "We are looking at it as if it's going to be much higher, rather than hoping it comes down," LaSorda said this week. Ford's chief sales analyst agreed, but declined to cite a price range, …

In perhaps the most memorable career-counseling session ever served up on celluloid, the poolside conversation ran like this: Mr. McGuire: I want to say one word to you. Just one word.Benjamin: Yes, sir.Mr. McGuire: Are you listening?Benjamin: Yes, I am.Mr. McGuire: Plastics. This exchange came to mind when we were developing our latest survey of SustainAbility's 60-person faculty, as part of a project on the future of globalization. For fun, we tacked on a final question: "If -- as in that memorable scene in the film of The Graduate -- you were giving career advice to a bright student on …

TerraPass, sellers of carbon offsets, has undergone its first verification report: Based on an agreement with Center for Resource Solutions (CRS), creator of the Green-e program, this report details our impact for the year, the sales-supply balance and our distribution of offset projects. The good news, in case you’re wondering, is that we passed! Big deal, you think? Perhaps for this individual company, but it's quite important that the carbon offsets industry -- which seems to be capturing public attention and taking off -- establish some shared standards of accountability. TP's Tom Arnold says: We, along with CRS, hope to …