March 2011
Sustainable Community Development
Can foodies bring fresh energy to the environmental movement? TEDx Manhattan explored the social and political dimensions of the growing grassroots local food.
Does bringing finance to developing communities help or hurt? A new film, Catch a Dollar and a video from the Foundation for Sustainable Development argue yes, while abuses in microfinance suggest otherwise.
NEN member Brett Brandt shares a white paper on the same subject, Real Returns: Linking Communities to Investors.
While NEN member David Korten explains why debt financing is inherently unstable in “A System Designed to Crash”.
Two new reports document positive trends in the growth and impact of of responsible business, the State of Green Business 2011 report and If Not Now, When the B-LAB 2011 Annual report.
Environment
The earthquake, tsunami and ensuing nuclear disaster in Japan has re-energized longstanding concerns about the safety of nuclear power. The Heinrich Boell Foundation reviews the realities and politics of nuclear energy.
Another “clean energy”, natural gas extracted through hydro-fracking, is getting increasing resistance from citizens, investors and even the NY Times.
Lance Lindblum and Peter Teague, from the Nathan Cummings Foundation, challenge funders to shift their Climate Change strategies from a regulatory framework to an investment in innovation.
A new British film about the social and environmental costs of factory farming, Pig Business, launched in DC with the support of many NEN members.
Now you can practice saving the world in a video game, Fate of the World, where you are pitted against climate change, dwindling food and energy resources and an ever growing population.
Democracy and Corporate Accountability
NEN member Annie Leonard is stirring up public debate with her new film The Story of Citizen’s United.
Many organizations, including NEN members Demos and Common Cause, have created a new coalition, The Campaign for a Stronger Democracy.
Josh Silver announced his resignation from Free Press to become the founding CEO of the Democracy Fund a new operating foundation that will aggressively take on the undue influence of corporate lobbyists over policymaking in government.
As we observe how critical the Internet has been to pro-democracy movements in the Middle East, we need to renew our commitment to protect an open internet and net neutrality in the US.
Macroeconomic Policy 
We’re Number One! Gus Speth takes aim at the doctrine of American exceptionalism in an article for YES! magazine.
John Cavanagh explains how developing nations can protect themselves from global food price hikes with food sovereignty.
Jeffery Hollender outlines a ten point plan for a just and sustaining economic recovery in The Next Great Reconstruction.
Rob Johnson explains why austerity measures are misguided in an interview with the Real News Network.
Diane Coyle’s new book, The Economics of Enough, examines how to run the economy as if the future matters.
Social Justice
Verite has created an interactive atlas to illustrate the link between commodities and some of the worst forms of labor exploitation in the global economy.
The Americas Program has documented the political consequences of high oil prices in Bolivia.
Chuck Collins and the Inequality Project launched an anti-austerity campaign, US UNcut, demanding fair taxes, not budget cuts.
Van Jones makes an eloquent plea to renew the American Dream in the face of attacks on labor and the middle class.
Wisconsin firefighters took matters into their own hands when they moved their money from the Madison M&I bank which supported Governor Walker.