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We are often told that “green” businesses are profitable. Businesses, governments, and even a friend who drives a hybrid car gains immediate recognition for using and promoting renewable energy. Companies like the Bank of America and General Electric are examples of such companies that are getting recognition for turning towards sustainability.

But are corporations really “going green”?

Making money = Making more carbon emissions. No matter how much companies try to “go green”, they cannot deny that the more money they are making, the more they contribute to emissions. As a company expands, so does its carbon footprint. It may encourage recycling and a more sparing use of energy but more often than not, even though the overall percentage of its carbon footprint is reduced, the overall quantity still goes up. And this is for companies that have are eco-friendly; many companies out in the market might not even consider spending on “green” programs.

Why would a company choose to have a factory supplied by wind power (which might require tapping up a source from a faraway place) or solar energy (expensive to start-up)? Other companies that are not eco-orientated would see little benefit in cutting CO₂ emissions because energy is cheap, while green programs are not, meaning that there is little incentive to do so. For example, Walmart needs to spend up to $500 million per year¹ in order to achieve its environmental goals.

The bottom line is that carbon emissions will always be on the rise, but the implementation of “green” programs in corporations is a positive step toward sustainability.

We had discussed in class the power of social media, how organizations can best use it, and its influence on the world.

Similar to how organizations have taken advantage of the power of social media, so have politicians.

Obama did not just “talk change”, he changed the way politicians ran for presidency. The first televised presidential debate^[1] of Kennedy vs Nixon (1960) was the entry of politicians into the mass media, and it is well-remembered for how Kennedy used the media to win. In the current day, politicians look far beyond the television, at social websites such as Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, Youtube, &c. Obama was quick to realize this and saturated the media with everything to do with him.

He used Youtube, Twitter and Facebook to leverage vast audiences quickly. Two interesting facts to take note of:  On Facebook, Obama^[2] has 14,442,059 “likes” vs. McCain^[3]’s 697,995 (that’s 2069% of what McCain has!), and Obama has 1941^[4] uploads on Youtube vs. McCain’s 452^[5] (429! of what McCain has!). Personally, I had accessed Youtube on a regular basis during the campaigning period to keep up with his captivating speeches of promise.

Did Obama really win on the basis of his promises and what he had to offer? Or was it his charming of the media that got him to where he is now? At the end of the day, it doesn’t matter because he’s in the White House and John McCain is not, and this just goes to show how individuals, groups, and organizations can use the social media to their advantage.

[2] http://www.facebook.com/barackobama

[3] http://www.facebook.com/johnmccain

[4]https://www.youtube.com/user/barackobamadotcom?blend=1&ob=4#p/a

[5]https://www.youtube.com/user/JohnMcCaindotcom#g/a

In our last class, we went through the principles of Buy, Sell and Hold. These three “actions” are what we can do with stocks. Personally, I have never been involved in any form of stock trading whatsoever, and the concept of so I decided to do some more readings on techniques on when I should buy, sell or hold.

Basically, everything on the net told me how I should buy low, and sell high. However, I analyzed some graphs and it appeared that the best option in fact, was to buy low, and NEVER SELL. Based on both graphs attached below, it showed that even though the market fluctuates, goes through periods of ups and downs and even depressions, the market would always recover and surge beyond its previous “high”. When we look at the S & P Stock Price Index, we can infer that there were times that individuals would have been tempted to pull out because of fear of losing even more money. This is especially true during the Great Depression but look seventy years later in 2010 (and this is after the recent crisis in ’08), and we can see growth of more than tenfold! The market has exhibited a capability experience new “ups” after each “down”. No matter how many “downs” there were since 1900, the slope of all the points on the graph is still positive.

We can look at it as an excellent return with no fees and zero effort on our part, but then again, who would be of the investing-age in 1900 and still be alive now?