By now, the idea of buying locally is imprinted on the minds of most sustainably minded consumers. Buying food and products sourced from local vendors and stores close to your home (and preferably within your city limits) is smart AND eco-friendly for many reasons;
1.Local manufacturing and production of goods is vastly more eco-friendly because the product doesn’t have to travel miles on a truck to get to you OR to be manufactured.
2.The money from your purchase stays in your community, allowing the business owner to reinvest in the community by hiring new employees and upgrading their facilities
Organizations like SFMade know this better than anyone. SFMade is an organization whose mission is to build and support a vibrant manufacturing sector in San Francisco that sustains companies producing locally-made products, encourages entrepreneurship and innovation, and creates employment opportunities for a diverse local workforce. Similar organizations have sprung up across the country in places as diverse as New York and Detroit to Chicago and Philadelphia; all dedicated to promoting local manufacturing jobs. Over the summer, I was able to tour several local SFMade merchants operating within San Francisco and was amazed to see the diversity of businesses operating and manufacturing products right here in the city limits. From food and beverages to clothing and accessories, I was amazed by how much actual manufacturing is done right here in San Francisco. I will be profiling a few of these local businesses over the next week to share how they use local resources to produce superior, sustainable products. Do you know of “Locally Made” organizations in your city? If so, please let us know in the comments section below.
Dharma Merchant Services was privileged to become one of the first California companies to register as a Benefit Corporation.
“Benefit Corporation” provides a new legal structure to registered S or C Corps that allows companies to legally expand their purpose beyond exclusively maximizing shareholder value. Benefit Corporations are also certified by an independent third part that affirms the company creates a material positive impact on society and the environment, and meets higher standards of accountability and transparency.
Many thanks to our legal counsel who scrambled to get our paperwork ready in time for this special day. Pictured is Jonathan Storper from Hanson Bridgett LLP right there with Alexia to help file the documents. Now that’s amazing service!
January 3rd was the first day the law went into effect, so we joined a cadre of like-minded businesses, including Patagonia, Give Something Back and ThinkShift, in line at the state office to register and show our support for this tremendous step forward in bringing triple-bottom-line operations into the mainstream.
For more information on Benefit Corporations, please visit benefitcorp.net.
On November 12-13, Green America and Global Exchange hosted the 10th Anniversary Green Festival in San Francisco and Dharma was grateful to be there. We are always excited to see our conscious, sustainable community show up in force to network with each other.
A big THANK YOU! to everyone who stopped by our booth to say hello and to express gratitude for the work we do. We wouldn’t be here without you and we thank you for choosing to support us. And if you appreciate what we do and find it valuable to your business, we urge you to share your experiences with your friends. As we saw this weekend, our community grows stronger when we partner together. We hope to see you at next year’s event!
We thoroughly enjoyed the fabulous program of speakers (expertly put together by Green Chamber Executive Director Stacie Shepp and the Green Chamber team) that included passionate and engaging community leaders such as Mitchell Rofsky of Better World Club, David Bodwin, co-founder of the American Sustainable Business Council , and Donald Simon of Wendel Rosen Black & Dean LLP, who also served as lead attorney in advocating for the recently passed B-Corporation bill. The joyous Jess King ushered the evening to its close accompanied by a small, but riveting electric cello.
Congratulations to all who attended, catered, volunteered, and made the annual event a wonderful success! Our sincere thanks to the Green Chamber for hosting and fostering such a brilliant community of movers and shakers in the green business movement.
This is one of the most enjoyable business books I have ever read. Actually I’m not sure I’d even call it a business book. To me most business books lecture, prescribe esoteric theory and talk at 10,000 feet. It’s like the author never started a business, except for writing business books. (Please send us examples to the contrary!) This book, while about the incredible business called Method that broke into the uber-saturated soap business, is more like a fantastic conversation. You always have the sense that you are hearing from a person, not an author. It’s refreshingly honest, gives practical and useful information, and is really funny.
The book covers the 7 obsessions that are the method to method. According to founders Eric Ryan and Adam Lowry, these are the “rules written by our younger selves, holding us to the ideals we shared when we first decided to launch the company”. The seven range from internal culture to retail relationships, from to commitments to sustainability to commitments to high design. Knowing how vision and intention can get obscured and muddled by the frenetic pace and amount of daily challenges when running a business, it’s great to learn how Method has been successful by not losing sight of their priorities at the heart of their business.
One of my favorite aspects of the book (besides the humor) are the “error autopsies”. In “The Method Method”, these stories of how some pretty big blunders came about and what was learned from them are inspiring because they’re so honest and real. At Dharma we celebrate mistakes in order to create a shame-free environment and not let mistakes take us away from our commitment to oneness and being our best selves. As Rama says, “it’s not about whether or not you make a mistake, what matters is how fast you recover”, and in “The Method Method” we get to learn how mistakes didn’t stop them from forging on. In fact, we learn how these “learning experiences” increased their knowledge of their product, understanding of their customers and commitment to their principles.
On October 9th, California became the newest state to pass benefit corporation legislation, creating a new, fully voluntary class of corporation in California called “benefit corporations”. This new corporate structure allows businesses to pursue a material positive impact on the environment and community in addition to maximizing profits. Previous corporate law required corporations to exclusively prioritize financial interests and shareholder profits. For example, this meant that executives could be sued for choosing organic ingredients over cheaper alternatives produced with pesticides that are toxic to consumers, workers and the environment. They could also be sued for giving back to the community if shareholders felt that was taking money out of their pocket. With this new legislation, businesses can choose to incorporate benefit corporations and enjoy these significant advantages:
Greater access to social impact and venture capital investments;
Legal protection for directors and officers in their more broadly defined fiduciary roles of maximizing profits as well as ensuring social and environmental considerations; and
Marketing opportunities that will allow consumers to distinguish, in a very real and ascertainable fashion, between a business that claims to be socially responsible, and one that is responsible.
The legislation was proposed by Assemblymember Jared Huffman under Assembly Bill 361, which passed with overwhelming bipartisan support in both chambers of the California Legislature. The bill was supported by over 200 California-based businesses and associations. As noted in previous blog posts, we were more than happy to appear in Sacramento twice to testify in support of this bill. We’re thrilled that it passed and encourage you all to propose similar legislation in your state or consider becoming a Benefit Corporation!
Willie Nelson, Sara Wasserman, and friends at Amazon Watch & SBA Benefit Concert
On July 22nd, Dharma was privileged to attend the Benefit Concert with Amazon Watch and the Sustainable Biodiesel Alliance (SBA) at the beautiful Bently Reserve in downtown San Francisco. This team-up was the first time that a rainforest protection organization and a bio-fuels organization worked together to raise money and awareness for a common cause. SBA’s hope was that the benefit would “help educate the public on how supporting local, sustainable biodiesel production and using local renewable resources instead of feedstocks like international soy and palm can protect our planet’s precious rain forests.”
SBA sources community-based biodiesel and works with celebrity environmentalists and social activists like Willie Nelson (who performed for the event along with Sara Wassermanand others) to use biodiesel for tours and festivals as well as to educate fans about its benefits. SBA’s chief mission is to ensure the U.S. is sustainable in our use of biodiesel. They create independent sustainability certification systems, educate the public, and provide tools to consumers and the biodiesel industry itself.
Unlike many environmental organizations, Amazon Watch actually partners with the indigenous people of the Amazon in their fight against deforestation, sickness, and death caused by oil drilling and other harmful enterprises threatening their ecosystem and way of life. Currently Amazon Watch is working with the Achuar (an indigenous tribe who call the Amazon home) to petition Chevron to acknowledge the damage caused by oil spills and to take responsibility for cleaning up Ecuador; to stop the drilling of oil; and to prevent the Brazilian government from damning the Amazon rainforest.
On a personal note, Dharma enjoyed meeting the collection of vendors, like the beautifulVilla Creek Winery in Paso Robles who donated some delicious wine for the auction that night.
We look forward to seeing this collaboration continue between these two amazing organizations. Dharma is grateful to be the merchant services provider for Amazon Watch and even prouder to have taken action and joined the cause ourselves. Please join us for their annual luncheon on September 27th.
Dharma is also doing our part in our daily lives to combat the use of oil and promote the preservation of the rainforest. Read about our green initiatives here. What are some of the ways you are taking action?
U.S. Supreme Court Justice Louis Brandeis said “Sunlight is the best disinfectant” in regards to openness and transparency in government. Extended amounts of sunlight is also one of the best ways to grow a delicious tomato. Barry Estabrook, author of “Tomatoland,” drove these points home in a dinner/talk hosted by 18 Reasons, the community outreach organization of San Francisco’s own Bi-Rite Market and Bi-Rite Creamery. Estabrook writes the popular food blog Politics of the Plate and his article for Gourmet on labor abuses in Florida’s Tomato fields received the 2010 James Beard Award for magazine feature writing. This article has now been expanded into a book that details how the industrial farming behemoths grow the majority of supermarket/fast food tomatoes and the blind eye they turn to horrific abuses of the imigrant labor force in Florida. The talk was both informative and shocking.
Estabrook’s research took him to Immokalee, Florida, the tomato capital of the United States. During the winter months of December to May as much as 90 percent of the fresh domestic tomatoes we eat come from south Florida, and Immokalee is home to one of the area’s largest communities of farmworkers. According to Douglas Molloy, the chief assistant U.S. attorney based in Fort Myers, Immokalee has another claim to fame: It is “ground zero for modern slavery.” When Molloy was asked if it was safe to assume that a consumer who has eaten a fresh tomato from a grocery store, fast food restaurant, or food-service company in the winter has eaten a fruit picked by the hand of a slave, he corrected the choice of words. ‘It’s not an assumption. It is a fact.’ In the last 15 years, Florida law enforcement officials have freed more than 1,000 men and women who had been held and forced to work against their will in the fields of Florida, and that represents only the tip of the iceberg.
Not only are the working conditions of the farm-workers horrible, but as anyone who has ever tasted a winter tomato from a chain supermarket knows, the taste is virtually non-existent. Estabrook explained that Florida soil where the tomato plantations exist is some of the worst soil for tomatoes. Sandy and drenched in harmful pesticides, these plantations produce barely edible tomatoes. In order to last the long truck ride to stores, these unripened tomatoes are picked while still green and hard. Ethylene gas is used to “ripen” the fruit for store shelves. However, the gas only turns the tomatoes red, it doesnt really ripen the fruit. Essentially, you are still eating the same unripened, hard green tomato. This is why winter tomatoes are so flavorless. In addition, these tomatoes have a third of the vitamin C of Summer tomatoes and less calcium but14 times the sodium! Also, pestcide residue from 110 different pesticides and fungicides has been found on 54% of tomatoes in grocery store produce sections. 34 of these agents make Pesticde Actions “Bad Actor” list because they contain known carcinogens, mutagens, neurotoxins and deadly poisons.
So, what can you do in your community to effect change?
In the winter, dont buy tomatoes shipped from across the country. If they can’t be grown locally in your current climate, dont eat them.
Instead of a boycott, Estabrook suggests a “Buycott.” If you see locally grown, organic tomatoes, buy those and send a message to your grocer that those are the only ones you will buy. By buying a local, organic tomato you are supporting just wages and healthful choices.
Grow your own. If you have a sunny yard or balcony, tomatoes can be grown easily and cheaply. And nothing beats the flavor of a sun-ripened tomato.
Consider donating to the Coalition of Immokalee Workers. This organization has been fighting for humane treatment for farm workers since 1993. They have managed huge success getting tomato buyers such as McDonalds, Burger King and Taco Bell to agree to pay an additonal $0.01 per pound for their tomatoes so that farm workers can have a living wage. And the fight continues. Currently, no giant food supermarket chain, other than Whole Foods, has agreed to this penny a pound more agreement.
The event, hosted by 18 Reasons, included an amazing organic heirloom dinner prepared by our hosts. 18 Reasons
was created to bring people together and deepen our relationship to food and community. Through an innovative community center and thought provoking, fun programming, they have inspired action and fostered collaboration toward creating a just and sustainable food system. Dharma is grateful to be a member of this amazing group of concious foodies. You can check out their upcoming calendar of events here.
Barry Estabrook has succeeded in shining much needed sunlight on the treatment of tomatoland farm workers and on the tomatoes they grow. What change can you enact in your own life that will improve the lives of the Immokalee farm workers in Florida and send a message to the huge industrial farming companies that these tomaotes are no longer acceptable on your plate?
On May 17th, San Francisco set a precedent for cities around the country to stand up to the Yellow Pages Association and prevent them from dumping unwanted Yellow Pages directories, sometimes more than once per year, on residents who don’t use them.
David Chiu, President of the San Francisco Board of Supervisors, proposed the legislation to eliminate the burden on Waste Management and costs to city taxpayers of over a $1 million a year for the production, delivery and disposal of unwanted phonebooks. This legislation is a key part of the city’s goal to reach zero waste 2020.
Among the Sierra Club, Rain Forest Action Network, the Product Stewardship Institute, Californians Against Waste, Senior Action Network, numerous small businesses, the San Francisco Small Business Commission, homeowners, tenants, and landlords, The Green Chamber of Commerce was behind this all the way, and as Vice President of the Board, I had the wonderful opportunity to participate in supporting its passage. I spoke at at a press conference with President Chiu, representing the business case for why we supported this measure in three main reasons:
it would bring advertising rates more in line with actual exposure
the environmental and cost reduction benefits of this ordinance would be done without a negative impact on business’s ability to advertise, and
reduction in distribution would make the Yellow Pages a more targeted and thus attractive advertising channel for the appropriate consumer demographic.
I also appeared at a Land Use Committee Hearing on behalf of the Green Chamber and Dharma Merchant Services to speak on behalf of businesses in San Francisco who supported the measure. I also met with Chief City Economist Ted Egan on this issue, prior to his preparing an Economic Impact Report that concluded “Many environmental policies involve a trade-off between environmental benefits and economic costs. This proposed legislation, however, generates both environmental and economic benefits. It will reduce the city’s waste and recycling costs, as well as fostering a more efficient business advertising system in San Francisco”.
Great news: AB361 passed with majority support in the vote on May 3rd!
The bill was supported by Assemblymember Jared Huffman, and would authorize and regulate the formation and governance of a new form of corporate entity known as a benefit corporation. The only two dissenters were the two republicans, which surprised everyone since this is not a partisan issue. Assemblymember Huffman did an amazing job of presenting the bill, and as you can see from the picture, there were many influential folks there testifying in support of the bill. In the group are the founders of RSF Social Finance, Method,Guayaki, Kinesys, AlterECO, and folks from New Resource Bank, The Clarity Project, the American Sustainable Business Council, and the law firms of Wendell Rosen Black & Dean and Hanson Bridgett.
The opposing arguments came from the California State Bar Association and a representative from the non-profit sector. The bar thinks this could give stakeholders too much control to do whatever they want at the expense of the directors of a corporation. Huffman refuted that saying the increased transparency required to be a B Corp would prevent stakeholders from doing anything in extreme conflict with directors’ interests.
The non-profit sector rep said that non-profits can do this “benefit” work better. Huffman said this bill would increase the funds to non-profits and actually better enable existing non-profits to do the great work they do.
This is only one of the steps in the long walk to November but it was a really important one and the amount of enthusiasm and support shown at this early stage is giving this a lot of momentum. We were proud to be there to testify in support of this important legislation, and make a stand for a new type of corporate structure that legally supports doing the right thing!
If it’s spring it must be Green Festivals time! We love the sense of community, the inspiring speakers, the delicious food, the energy and the happening environment of these great events. At the April San Francisco Green Festival, we displayed a brand new exhibit that was sustainably provided by Greenerprinter.
As usual we made many new friends and got to see many of our existing merchants that were displaying their beautiful, sustainable products at the show.
We demonstrated our new iPhone solution and we offered copies of the book Sacred Commerce – Business as a Path of Awakening. We plan on attending several more Green Festivals in the future and we hope you plan on attending also. Please let us know about any Green Festivals in your area in the comments section below. See you there!
Photo: Dharma Office Manager Yebuny Johnson, Dharma President and Co-Founder Jeff Marcous and Trace Wendell, Dharma Accounts Manager in the Dharma Booth designed by Greenerprinter
It may sound like the punchline to a joke but it was anything but funny when partners Dr. Brent Ridge and Josh Kilmer-Purcell originally purchased Beekman Farm at the height of the real estate boom in 2007. One year later the market crashed, both had lost their jobs, and coming up with a monthly farm mortgage payment was no easy task. Enter sustainable TV network Planet Green who approached the boys to create a reality program based on their experiences on the farm raising a herd of goats and one unruly llama. One year later, “The Fabulous Beekman Boys” aired on Planet Green Network and two new icons for the sustainable set were created.
Josh and Brent traveled to San Francisco April 9 to appear at the SF Green Festival to talk about their farm and their lifestyle brand, Beekman 1802. (1802 was the year their farmhouse was originally built.) The guys try to embrace seasonal, natural living wherever they can. With a little help from an appearance on the Martha Stewart show, the Beekman Boys introduced their first product: goat milk soap. Many more goat milk products were to follow including the newly released “Cajera” caramel sauce. With the launch of these products and the success of the reality program, the boys have now been approached by Williams-Sonoma to release packages of their favorite heirloom seed varieties grown on the farm.
It was great fun listening to these guys discuss the in’s and out’s of life on the farm during the festival. But the main takeaway for me was their exhortation to plant something. Josh and Brent believe the only way humans are going to get back to our food roots is to learn how to grow our own food; on farms, in our yards, our roofs, our kitchens, even at our offices. In fact, their goal is to make their website the largest online farming community in the world. I would say they are well on their way.
My friends at Dharma have encouraged me to accept the challenge of Brent and Josh. So, I have decided to try my hand at farming. Like the Beekman Boys, I have little farm experience but a lot of passion. I will keep you posted on my progress in the days and months ahead. And if you have tips I encourage you to post them in the comments section. I assure you, I will need all the help I can get!
Photo: Brent Ridge, Trace Wendell and Josh Kilmer-Purcell. The Fabulous Beekman Boys and a fabulous Dharma Boy!
I recently had the very good fortune of being interviewed on the KKCR Kaua’i Community Radio Malama Kaua’i Radio Show by Keone Kealoha, co-founder of Malama Kaua’i.
The interview was conducted to feature the Green Chamber of Commerce, and share the work the Green Chamber is doing to promote sustainability, support member businesses and campaign for climate change legislation at the local, state and national levels.
It was an honor to be connected to Malama Kaua’i, an organization that seeks to merge the traditional Hawaiian values of aloha and malama (take care of)`aina (the environment) with contemporary principles of sustainability. Founded in 2006 by Keone Kealoha and Chris Jaeb, Malama Kaua’i has grown to include a significant number of projects and initiatives designed to increase the production and consumption of local agricultural products, advance towards energy independence with renewable sources, promote sustainable watershed management and foster a strong local economy.
With an environment that contains many species that only exist on the Hawaiian islands, and a location that makes importing and exporting cost and carbon footprint-prohibitive, we’re grateful for the incredible work the folks at Malama Kaua’i are doing. Mahalo nui loa!
“And when you trust your television, what you get is what you got, cause when they own the information, oh, they can bend it all they want.”
So sings John Mayer in his song “Waiting for the World to Change.” Democracy Now! broadcast journalist, syndicated columnist, investigative reporter and author Amy Goodman drove his point home in a stirring speech at the San Francisco Green Festivalthis past weekend and Dharma was thrilled to be in attendance. Amy Goodman is an award-winning investigative journalist and host of “Democracy Now!” which airs on more than 800 public television and radio stations. She is the first journalist to receive the Right Livelihood Award, known as the “Alternative Nobel Peace Prize” for “developing an innovative model of truly independent grassroots political journalism that brings to millions of people the alternative voices that are often excluded by the mainstream media.”
Amy has often found herself directly in the middle of news-worthy protests, covering the news from the ground level. She says the only way a reporter can get a true picture of what is going on is by directly talking to the women and men in the streets. This brave ( and dangerous) commitment to her craft has often placed Amy in harm’s way. Amy was arrested while trying to locate two ”Democracy Now!” producers on the streets of St. Paul, Minnesota during the 2008 Republican National Convention. You can see a video of her arrest here.
Amy urged Green Festival attendees to actively support independent news and independent journalists whenever possible. Her message: “How can we expect for-profit news channels to report accurate information about the environment, healthcare and the financial meltdown when their ad revenue may depend on them doing the exact opposite. How can we expect to hear accurate information about healthcare when the healthcare industry is paying millions for advertising. How can we expect to hear accurate information about the banking industry when they are paying millions for advertising to the very news networks who are supposed to be telling us the truth about them.”
Amy will rerurn to San Francisco to speak at the New Living Expo on May 1. If you care about independent voices in our news media you wont want to miss this opportunity to hear Amy and to get a signed copy of her new book “Breaking The Sound Barrier.” (We did!) To find out where Democracy Now! is broadcast in your area, click here.
Photo: Dharma employees Yebuny Johnson, Office Manager, and Trace Wendell, Accounts Manager, with Amy Goodman at the April 2011 SF Green Festival.
A theme of the discussion was collaboration, where I shared how the GCC has partnered with Green America and B Lab to share expertise and best practices. We also talked about the Green Chamber’s membership in the American Sustainable Business Council to counter the anti-environmental lobbying voice of the National Chamber of Commerce on climate change legislation. I was glad to give a resounding yes when Ben asked if we also partnered with organizations like 350.org, which I see as necessary to keeping attention on climate change and having businesses be a driver in making sustainability an essential part of our economic recovery.
Collaboration happens to be what 2degrees is all about. An online community of over 12,000 sustainability professionals from over 90 countries, 2degrees connects like-minded businesses and public sector organizations from around the world to share expertise, connect with new partners and find new customers.
The community is built upon subject-specific Working Groups such as Greener Healthcare, Low Carbon Commercial Real Estate, Carbon Compliance Strategies and Water Risk and Strategy.
Their free membership level provides access to their latest news, blogs, non-legal documents and forums. Premium, paid-for services include access to certain live and recorded webinars and podcasts, access to legal briefings, and the ability to contact other members.
I see joining as a way to participate in a global community dedicated to sharing knowledge and fostering the collaboration that is critical to solving some of our world’s most difficult questions around how to best implement sustainable solutions. Thank you 2degrees for bringing us together!
Many thanks to our legal counsel who scrambled to get our paperwork ready in time for this special day. Pictured is Jonathan Storper from Hanson Bridgett LLP right there with Alexia to help file the documents. Now that’s amazing service!
A big THANK YOU! to everyone who stopped by our booth to say hello and to express gratitude for the work we do. We wouldn’t be here without you and we thank you for choosing to support us. And if you appreciate what we do and find it valuable to your business, we urge you to share your experiences with your friends. As we saw this weekend, our community grows stronger when we partner together. We hope to see you at next year’s event!
We were delighted to attend the 
This is one of the most enjoyable business books I have ever read. Actually I’m not sure I’d even call it a business book. To me most business books lecture, prescribe esoteric theory and talk at 10,000 feet. It’s like the author never started a business, except for writing business books. (Please send us examples to the contrary!) This book, while about the incredible business called Method that broke into the uber-saturated soap business, is more like a fantastic conversation. You always have the sense that you are hearing from a person, not an author. It’s refreshingly honest, gives practical and useful information, and is really funny.
On October 9th, California became the newest state to pass benefit corporation legislation, creating a new, fully voluntary class of corporation in California called “benefit corporations”. This new corporate structure allows businesses to pursue a material positive impact on the environment and community in addition to maximizing profits. Previous corporate law required corporations to exclusively prioritize financial interests and shareholder profits. For example, this meant that executives could be sued for choosing organic ingredients over cheaper alternatives produced with pesticides that are toxic to consumers, workers and the environment. They could also be sued for giving back to the community if shareholders felt that was taking money out of their pocket. With this new legislation, businesses can choose to incorporate benefit corporations and enjoy these significant advantages:
On July 22nd, Dharma was privileged to attend the Benefit Concert with 
We look forward to seeing this collaboration continue between these two amazing organizations. Dharma is grateful to be the merchant services provider for Amazon Watch and even prouder to have taken action and joined the cause ourselves. Please join us for their 
U.S. Supreme Court 
The event, hosted by 
If it’s spring it must be 
Big shout outs to:
It may sound like the punchline to a joke but it was anything but funny when partners Dr. Brent Ridge and Josh Kilmer-Purcell originally purchased 
It was great fun listening to these guys discuss the in’s and out’s of life on the farm during the festival. But the main takeaway for me was their exhortation to plant something. Josh and Brent believe the only way humans are going to get back to our food roots is to learn how to grow our own food; on farms, in our yards, our roofs, our kitchens, even at our offices. In fact, their goal is to make their 
I recently had the very good fortune of being 
“And when you trust your television, what you get is what you got, cause when they own the information, oh, they can bend it all they want.”
Amy urged Green Festival attendees to actively support independent news and independent journalists whenever possible. Her message: “How can we expect for-profit news channels to report accurate information about the environment, healthcare and the financial meltdown when their ad revenue may depend on them doing the exact opposite. How can we expect to hear accurate information about healthcare when the healthcare industry is paying millions for advertising. How can we expect to hear accurate information about the banking industry when they are paying millions for advertising to the very news networks who are supposed to be telling us the truth about them.”
What a pleasure it was being 
