If you drink coffee, you’ve probably heard the words “fair trade” and “direct trade.” Both seek to protect farmers from predatory corporations and work with farmers to develop partnerships that benefit both stakeholders. So, what’s the difference? What is Fair Trade? The fair trade movement has grown in demand over the decades—the most obvious sign being the development of multiple fair…

Through aggressive vertical integration, the Monsanto-Bayer merger represents a near-monopoly on the agriculture supply chain, which eliminates marketplace competition and forces farmers’ complete reliance on genetically modified organisms (GMOs). This phenomenon poses a massive threat to global food supply and environmental health. In 2016, Green America’s Food Campaigns Team published an…

In 2015, New York City instituted a polystyrene ban which was challenged by recycling firms and plastic manufacturers under the premise that polystyrene is recyclable. New York Supreme Court judge Margaret Chan agreed with the coalition under the premise that the industry had a feasible recycling plan. Polystyrene foam, or more commonly known as Styrofoam, is widely used as packaging (in the…

From water bottles to clamshell containers to grocery bags, plastic pervades Americans’ everyday lives… and sea turtles’ stomachs. Nearly 8 million metric tons of plastic invade marine ecosystems annually, and if we keep up unchecked production and poor disposal, there will be more plastic than fish in Earth’s oceans by 2050. But are there plastic solutions? Our friends at As You Sow are…

In March, Starbucks found itself under a scorching spotlight for racial profiling when a manager called the police on two African American men who were waiting to conduct a business meeting in one of its stores. Since then, the coffee chain has launched into a corporate crackdown on discrimination in efforts to restore trust with customers, and on May 29, all of its 8,000 US stores will close…

An increasing number of both institutional and individual investors are aligning their investment dollars with their values. Whether you use the term “SRI (Socially Responsible Investing),” “impact investing,” “green investing,” or “ESG (Environmental, Social, and corporate Governance) investing” -- this approach to investing totaled $8.72 trillion in assets under professional management in the…

The average American tosses 4.4 pounds of trash per day. This seems insignificant, but with 323.7 million people living in the United States, that’s roughly 728,000 tons of daily garbage. The annual garbage weight for the entire country equals 254 million tons, equivalent to 1.2 million blue whales –enough to reach the moon and back 25 times, which is why zero waste is key. These numbers are…

Plastic pervades all aspects of our lives – from the wrapping on the food we eat to the microfibers that wash out of the clothes we wear. We are producing nearly 300 million tons of plastic every year and more than 8 million tons end up in the ocean each year. These plastics break down into smaller pieces, which are then consumed by marine life and eventually us when we put seafood on our plates…

Grounds for Change, a Certified member of the Green Business Network since 2007, is making waves as an industry leader for its impressive environmental sustainability and social commitments. This article originally appeared as the Impact department titled “Organic Coffee Changing the Lives of Peruvian Women” in the Fall 2016 issue of B Magazine. Grounds for Change co-founder Kelsey Marshall…

The Obama administration's new overtime rule, originally set to take effect on December 1, 2016, has hit a roadblock in court. A federal judge issued an injunction, thereby stalling President Obama's attempted overtime reform that would have impacted 4.2 million workers in the US. The original rule would have allowed employees to earn overtime if they make under $47,476 a year, more than…