Edglings

-From the Arab Spring to capitalism, Time brings us five hot topics from this week’s Davos conference.

-With food security on the agenda at Davos, The Financial Times takes a look at how governments, industry and other organizations are scrambling to address an increasingly urgent issue.

-Two executives attending Davos report in for The Guardian: Peter Lacy of Accenture Sustainability Services outlines the need to get consumers on board in order to scale sustainability. And Aron Cramer of BSR discusses his workshop on “Consumers as Innovators.”

 -Boston magazine looks at the rising numbers of Americans who are single by choice. And Fortune spotlights the “extraordinary rise” of Americans who live alone and the business opportunities they present—all in line with our 2012 trend Marriage Optional.

-The Washington Post reports on a survey it conducted with the Kaiser Family Foundation that paints a complex portrait of black women in America.

-The Financial Times reports that many luxury brands have yet to bond with China’s millionaires and looks at how they’re trying to change that.

-According to new Nielsen findings, a majority of global consumers have difficulty understanding nutrition labels and about half support calorie labeling on menus.

-The New York Times looks at the rise of luxury hospital suites—complete with butlers, designer linens and gourmet food—for the super-wealthy.

-The New York Times takes a look at how smart the “smart” appliances shown at CES actually are.

-YouTube’s audience is reaching mind-boggling heights, as ReadWriteWeb reports.

-Fast Company gives us an update on the great Indian tech war.

-U.S. mobile ad spending is slated to grow by 80 percent this year, according to eMarketer.

-The New York Times looks at how some e-commerce merchants are gaming the system to get good reviews.

-The Atlantic spotlights “The Slow Death of the Signature in a PIN-Code World.”

-The traditional résumé may become another casualty of the digital age, reports The Wall Street Journal.

-Software coding is going mainstream, reports Bloomberg Businessweek, with free online courses helping non-techies do things like design their own Web apps.

-The Guardian looks at the potential for lab-grown meat to help curb world hunger and climate change.

-The color brown conveys “green” to consumers, according to The Wall Street Journal, explaining the proliferation of brown paper products.

-A former food executive examines why iconic food brands need to remake their products for a more health-conscious consumer, in The Atlantic.

-San Francisco’s airport has opened a “zen room” yoga studio for travelers.

So Newt Gingrich has promised to build a lunar base by the end of his second term (sic … or is that sick?).  Why?  Jon Stewart believes the answer is global warming:

“Newt Gingrich did that global warming ad with Nancy Pelosi, realized that the Earth is very sick, and now he wants to leave it for a younger planet.”

The Daily Show
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Related Post:

• Sorry, Buzz Aldrin, we’re not sending people to Mars by 2029 to “homestead” or study “climate change”

Buffett casts his vote for renewable energy. Will he cast a vote against coal?

Warren Buffet’s utility subsidiary, MidAmerican Energy Holdings, has made a number of large investments in renewable energy over the past few years. But the famed investor doesn’t exactly make environmentalists jump for joy.

Buffett’s take on climate change has been schizophrenic, to put it kindly. In 2009, he penned an op-ed in the New York Times expressing his concern for the problem, mostly for economic reasons. But since then he has made massive bets on coal mining and transportation — calling the industry “fascinating.” MidAmerican also owns 11 coal-fired power plants around the U.S.

Oddly, the same year Buffett wrote that “the world properly worries about greenhouse emissions,” he fought against legislation that would have put a value on global warming pollution. Rolling Stone labeled him one of the top “climate killers” of 2009 due to his sizable investments in oil and coal.

But MidAmerican made a positive move worth mentioning this week. The company announced on Tuesday at it would set up a new business devoted to developing renewable energy generation projects in the unregulated market — focusing on wind, solar, geothermal and hydro. This is in addition to the $6 billion MidAmerican has invested in wind projects in the last three years, and $3 billion it invested in solar last year.

The announcement itself is notable. But the real story is the way executives at the company are talking about the move. Greentech Media reported on the news this week:

“We look forward to expanding our wind, geothermal, solar and hydro portfolio,” said MidAmerican Energy chairman, president and CEO Greg Abel. “We believe the need for renewable energy will continue to grow.”

Like other well-capitalized, high-profile investors such as Google and Ted Turner, the Buffett company believes this increased emphasis on renewables in its portfolio is a solid business decision that will pay off over time.

“This is a vote for renewable energy,” Weisgall told GTM in discussing why Warren Buffett, perhaps the nation’s premier investment maven, is for this move. “It is not a bet.”

Yet again, the world’s top businesspeople are telling us that renewable energy is not a fad, not a bet, but a solid long-term investment.

This isn’t huge news to anyone who follows the business. But at a time when deep political opposition to clean energy has become completely divorced from the reality on the ground, it’s always worth highlighting what top investors really think — especially the people representing the one of the most successful investors in the world.

Given Buffett’s continued interest in coal and past efforts to stop a price on carbon, this news won’t give much solace to those working to slow global warming pollution. But it’s also a positive sign that an investor of his caliber is “voting” for renewable energy.

When will he finally cast a vote against coal?

…

Thank you to UD Pride and Voices of East Anglia

by Rebecca Leber

Chevron Corp. announced fourth-quarter earnings today of $5.1 billion, falling from $5.3 billion a year earlier. However, the second-largest U.S. energy company had a record year-end profit of $26.9 billion, a 23.3 percent jump since 2010. Here are a few other useful facts about Chevron:

• Chevron has spent more than $9 million lobbying Congress in 2011.
• Chevron contributed $467,996 to federal campaigns in 2011, with 91% to Republican candidates.
• Chevron is the third-largest campaign contributor in the oil and gas industry.
• Chevron had $13 billion in cash on hand last year. The five oil companies collectively have cash resources of $59 billion.
• The company spent $1.25 billion on stock repurchases for Q4. They spent 16 percent — $4.35 billion — of annual profit to reinvest in their own stock. That enriches their shareholders, but it doesn’t add to oil supplies or investments in alternative fuels or other new technologies.

Earlier this week, ConocoPhillips reported record fourth-quarter profits of $3.4 billion — a 66 percent gain, with a 2011 profit totaling $12.4 billion. Exxon releases its fourth-quarter results this coming Tuesday.

RAJAN: A Crisis in Two Narratives
With the world’s industrial democracies in crisis, two competing narratives of its sources – and appropriate remedies – are emerging. For better or worse, the narrative that persuades these countries’ governments and publics will determine their future – and that of the global economy.

The Rising Americas: Latin America’s Stymied Innovators
The main challenge facing Latin America is to transform its huge natural-resource wealth into the kind of wealth that does not run out, because it is constantly enlarged by human creativity. Indeed, if a diversified economy is the best predictor of future growth, Asia will grow much faster than Latin America for decades to come.

EVANS: Responsibility While Protecting
Ten months ago, the UN Security Council, with no dissent, authorized the use of “all necessary measures” to protect civilians at imminent risk of massacre in Colonel Muammar el-Qaddafi’s Libya. Now, however, the “responsibility to protect,” applied for the first time in the subsequent NATO-led campaign, must be revised if it is to be used again.