Take a look at the receipts in your wallet. They show what you paid for the items you bought, but what's missing are the true costs -- to people and the environment. But, good news: Sustainable and fair trade products don't have to cost you more. Consider, for example, a banana ...
At EARTH University, students don't produce papers. They produce -- organically grown crops they harvest and sell -- along with other entrepreneurial agricultural products. Is this hands-on education in working the soil and changing the world a model for a better future.
McDonald's has finally caught up with consumer sentiment on the subject of factory farming and the inhumane treatment of animals. The fast food giant is using its massive leverage to push its pork suppliers to phase out cruelly confining gestation crates for their pigs.
Walmart, which has long been associated with cheap, high-calorie, low-nutrition foods, wants to get healthy: Its new "Great for You" initiative aims to show shoppers it can help them eat healthy on a budget. But can the retail tiger change its spots -- or it's rep?
Retailers are spicing up their brick-and-mortar stores to keep you walking through the door. Their game plan? To design environments that are equal parts high-tech and homespun. But will the changes be enough to keep physical stores from being reduced to showrooms for e-commerce sites?
Whole Foods is asking its shoppers to help a good cause -- with "LIFE Jackets." They're reusable cup sleeves to protect your hands from hot beverages, and all proceeds go to Kenyan women and special-needs children.
McDonald's reintroduction of the McRib sandwich has made news headlines and mouths water. However, the fans eagerly awaiting the limited-time opportunity to wolf down McRibs may not realize that McDonald's pork products contain a secret, unappetizing ingredient: pain.
If you're one of the many people planning to start using more paper checks to avoid incurring a monthly debit-card fee, think again. While many merchants continue to accept paper checks, some are moving in the opposite direction, among them national grocery store chain Whole Foods.
It's been awfully quiet on the earnings front in recent weeks, and there's a reason: This is the time of year when accountants are nailing down the financials for the fiscal quarters that ended in September. Later this week, the conference calls will begin trickling in, and then it will be a deluge of quarterly reports until early November.
Americans may soon get the opportunity to invest more conscientiously in their workplace retirement accounts: A new survey shows that more and more employers are adding socially responsible investment choices to their plans, screening companies based on social and environmental impact.
It's a tough admission to make, but we're all friends here: Lately, I've taken to watching old DVDs of Dallas. It's become a vice I can't shake. And, much to my surprise, I'm learning a lot about investing from the adventures of the oil-rich Ewing family, especially the sly, conniving older brother, J.R.
By now we're all accustomed to hearing about the "two-speed economy," in which the wealthy flourish and the less affluent fall farther and farther behind. The widening gap between rich and poor has not been lost on the stock market: The valuations of luxury goods companies are much higher than those of lower-end firms.
The sweet taste and sunny hue of the banana contrast sharply with the high environmental and social costs its cultivation extracts in Latin America: pollution, deforestation, poor working conditions. Whole Foods Market is working to change that, in partnership with a non-profit international school in Costa Rica called EARTH University.
If the line at your local Whole Foods Market is a little longer than usual over the next few days, don't blame it on a surge in popularity of soymilk or organic cherries. Instead, you can thank LivingSocial's national deal which offered $20 worth of groceries for just $10.
Starbucks CEO Howard Schultz has grand plans to cut through the partisan noise and remind our country's politicians of their problem-solving duties: On Tuesday, he's hosting a gigantic, public telephone town hall, and asking all "concerned Americans" to join his movement and participate.