Indian Wildlife Club Forum

"Increasingly, nonprofit experts are beginning to question one of the fastest-growing sectors of giving, the practice of building a donation into the purchase of items as varied as fine jewelry and Always feminine products.

What’s interesting is that some charities don’t even know that their brand is being used to entice shoppers to buy the primary product:

The WorldWildlife Fund, a major charity that works to preserve and protect animals and the environment, was among them. John Donoghue, its senior vice president, was disconcerted to learn that his organization was among a number of charities named as beneficiaries of items bought from Barneys’ “Have a Green Holiday” catalog.

“Unfortunately, just like Barneys shoppers, we’re in the dark as to how or if Barneys and the manufacturers will fulfill their commitment to donate a portion of the proceeds from these products to W.W.F.,” Mr. Donoghue said.

Read the full article at nytimes.com

BP Solar Decathlon

The BP Solar Decathlon is a parntered event by BP that has received 20 selected teams by the U.S. Department of Energy to work on this project. The teams are from various colleges and universities from around the world and will work together as teams competing in a competition to design and build the most energy efficient and aesthetically appealing home powered by solar energy. The event started this month and will be based off of 10 different contests for the overall winner. The homes will ultimately be transported to the national mall in Washington D.C. for viewing. The whole event is a great opportunity to showcase the young bright minds of new clean and renewable technology.

This is a great idea that could inspire many young and aspiring students for the new wave of alternative energy building methods and the new wave of green tech. For one, this is great PR for BP considering it got a lot of negative attention over its Oil Refinery in Whiting, Indiana. Now this could a chance for BP to regain its name as a "green" company that truly cares about the environment.

With BP fully supporting this competition, they have designated an on-site reporter to which the reporter and the teams can all post about the challenges of the event. The whole idea is to have the competition get media coverage through the internet as well as other means.

From an environmentalist point of view, this is a very good move for BP. It shows that it cares about the future of renewable energy and hopefully it convinces the many residents surrounding the Great lakes as well.

Source: http://www.theenvironmentalblog.org/atom.xml
   

Corporate Revenge?

At the June 2007 annual meeting of the World Wildlife Fund in Bejing, soft drinks giant Coca Cola launched a multi-year partnership with WWF to conserve and protect fresh water resources.

The partnership will focus on " measurably conserving" China’s Yangtze, South East Asia’s Mekong, the Rio Grande/Rio Bravo of South West US and Mexico, the rivers nad streams of the Southern US, the water basins of the Mesoamerican Caribbean Reef, the East Africa basin of Lake Malawi and Europe’s Danube River. 

The $20 million plan skipped India, where Coca -Cola faces protests for allegedly depleting ground water.

Source: Times Of India  6Th June 2007