In one of your future visits to Wal-Mart, you may notice that something has changed. Wal-Mart has announced that it will put into effect a program that will assign environmental labels to all of its products, labels that will allow customers to easily determine the environmental costs of producing their merchandise.
This move may come as a surprise to many of the environmental groups that have vehemently protested Wal-Mart for its alleged disregard of the environment. Wal-Mart has taken several steps toward reducing man’s effect on the environment, such as its massive sale of low-energy light bulbs to its creating much …read more

According to the Conference Board’s Consumer Confidence Index, American consumer confidence jumped in April from 26.9% to39.2%. Short-term outlook significantly improved, as far fewer people anticipate business orsening over the next six months. The percentage of people expecting the economy to improve is still low at 15.6%, but that number too is up from 9.6% in March.
People also had a more optimistic view of employment, according to the report. The percentage of people expecting the job outlook to improve saw a boost from just 7.3% to 13.9%, and fewer peopl expect to see the job market to get even worse …read more

In tough times, people pull back.  They pull in their spending and they think carefully before buying anything. Baby Boomers have been particularly hard hit by the collapse of the stock market and layoffs.  If your small business sells to Baby Boomers, you might be wondering if there is any hope.  Well, as a Boomer, I can give you some insight into why Baby Boomers are not buying and how to get them to buy now rather than later.
Baby Boomers are on a “recession diet” (coined by Miranda Marquit of Yielding Wealth) and they are spending less.  Boomers are starting …read more

“Once regarded as irrelevant to economic activity, environmental problems are drastically rewriting the rules for business, investors, and consumers, affecting over $100 billion in annual capital flows,” say Worldwatch Institute project co-directors Gary Gardner and Thomas Prugh.
The world’s first global, sustainable market is becoming a reality according to a new report from the Worldwatch Institute. Environmental initiatives, revolutionary industrial production methods and a surge in environmentally focused investment groups are all highlighted among the increasingly important role that environmental issues play in the new world economy.
Another sign of dramatic change is the 575 environmental and energy hedge funds now in …read more