The second in a two-part conversation with Chris Martenson of the Martenson Report, who recently spoke about the convergence of economic, environmental, and energy crises at the Northeast Sustainable Energy Association (NESEA) Annual Conference. Martenson has a doctorate in neurotoxicology from Duke, an MBA in finance from Cornell, and is a former vice president at Pfizer. In the early 2000s, Martenson quit his high-status position when he recognized profound instabilities in our economic, environmental, and social structures. The interview culminates with Martenson mapping out the idea of re-imagining and transforming the stories we tell ourselves as a culture about growth, surplus, and prosperity.

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The Martenson Report

Part One: Chris Martenson on Economic, Environmental, and Energy "Hockey Sticks"

We also hear commentary from Jennifer Taub of the Isenberg School of Management at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst on how mutual fund conflicts of interest intersect with genocide-free investing.

Jennifer Taub working paper: Able But Not Willing: The Failure of Mutual Fund Advisers to Advocate for Shareholders' Rights

CWR HEADLINES: Listen

--Senate Extends Energy Tax Credits in Housing Bill
--New Report Lists Top 100 Polluters
--Amount of Farmland Certified by Rainforest Alliance Reaches Million Acre Milestone
--Brazilian Lovers Can Now Show Their Love--For the Planet

The first in a two-part conversation with Chris Martenson of the Martenson Report, who recently spoke about the convergence of economic, environmental, and energy crises at the Northeast Sustainable Energy Association (NESEA) Annual Conference. Martenson sees "hockey stick graphs," or exponential graphs that rise slowly and steadily before suddenly shooting upward, increasingly happening in all three of these areas. Martenson has a doctorate in neurotoxicology from Duke, an MBA in finance from Cornell, and is a former vice president at Pfizer. In the early 2000s, Martenson quit his high-status position when he recognized profound instabilities in our economic, environmental, and social structures. He developed the End of Money seminar series, which has evolved into the Crash Course on these instabilities and options for navigating them.

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The Martenson Report

CWR HEADLINES: Listen

--World Bank Accused of Seizing Control of Climate Change Funds
--Agribiz Lobbying Against Certification of Imports as Free from Slave Labor

CWR co-host Bill Baue speaks with Mil Niepold, senior policy advisor at Verité, a supply chain monitoring and auditing nonprofit that serves as secretariat of the International Cocoa Verification Board, and Bama Athreya, executive director of the International Labor Rights Forum, an advocacy organization that combats child labor and has collaborated with other NGOs and Fair Trade chocolate companies to propose a "Commitment to Ethical Cocoa Sourcing. Niepold and Athreya present diverse views on how best to address child labor in the cocoa supply chain in Cote d'Ivoire and Ghana--Niepold promotes Verité's multistakeholder initiative supported by industry and West African governments, while Athreya points to progress occurring outside of industry and government influence.

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Verité

International Cocoa Verification Board

International Labor Rights Forum

Commitment to Ethical Cocoa Sourcing

February 4, 2008 Fortune article by Christian Parenti: "Chocolate’s Bittersweet Economy: Seven years after the industry agreed to abolish child labor, little progress has been made"

January 30, 2006 edition of CWR: Independent Monitoring of Corporations: Verité

CWR Headlines:

--'Kyoto II' climate talks open in Bangkok,
--Carbon prices rising, carbon markets are booming
--Produce giant Ag-Mark settles a pesticide exposure case

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CWR co-hosts Francesca Rheannon and Bill Baue attended the conference, hosted by investor-environmentalist coalition Ceres and its Investor Network on Climate Risk. Rheannon speaks with British Telecom Pension Scheme Trustee Donald MacDonald about the impact of war on climate change and what institutional investors can do to address it. Baue speaks with Co-op America CEO Alisa Gravitz about its multi-tiered approach to address climate change through member company actions, investor advocacy, and consumer activism. And Ian Gray of Ceres speaks with McKinsey Global Institute Director Diana Farrell about its new report on energy efficiency. We also excerpt highlights from the presentations by Harvard Professor and Woods Hole Research Center Director John Holdren outlining the current science on climate change and AFL-CIO President John Sweeney placing climate change in the social context.

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Institutional Investor Summit on Climate Risk

McKinsey Global Institute report: The Case for Investing in Energy Productivity

John Holdren presentation: Global Climatic Disruption

John Sweeney speech

6 September 2006 CWR interview with John Holdren: "Will Nuclear Power Save Us from Global Warming?"

13 May 2006 CWR interview with Ceres President Mindy Lubber: "Climate Risk and Investors"

CWR Headlines: Over a quarter of Fidelity fund shareholders support genocide-free resolution.

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Investors Against Genocide

Investors Against Genocide webpage on Fidelity resolution vote

19 March 2008, Associated Press: "Fidelity Holders Defeat Investment Limit"

19 March 2008, Reuters: "Fidelity funds reject genocide-linked proposal"

Corporate Watchdog Radio co-hosts Francesca Rheannon and Bill Baue speak with Laura Berry, executive director of the Interfaith Center on Corporate Responsibility. Founded in 1971, ICCR pioneered the modern practice of shareowner activism by reviving an obscure rule allowing shareowners to file resolutions addressing social and environmental issues at company annual meetings and on their proxies. Now, over three-and-a-half decades later, ICCR is a coalition of about 275 faith-based institutional investors with over $100 billion in assets who filed over 300 resolutions this proxy season. Berry clarifies common misconceptions about how the ins and outs of shareowner activism. For example, media accounts often report a less-than-majority vote as a "defeat," when in fact, companies often implement what resolutions request when they receive 20 percent or more support. She also discusses transformations she sees taking place in the corporate social responsibility landscape.

CWR also debuts a new segment with headlines on corporate sustainability developments from the past week, the first in a series of exciting changes to enhance the show.

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Interfaith Center on Corporate Responsibility

Edited transcript of this interview on SocialFunds.com

CWR HEADLINES:

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February 27, 2008 Geophysical Research Letters abstract: "Stabilizing climate requires near-zero emissions"

February 29, 2008 Reuters article: "Weyerhaeuser, Chevron Form Biofuels Joint Venture"

February 28, 2008 Gristmill blog on "Stabilizing climate requires near-zero emissions"

February 27, 2008 New York Times article: "Flooded Village Files Suit, Citing Corporate Link to Climate Change"

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