KFC Cuts Trans Fats

As people begin to be more concerned with the food they eat, big businesses are also having to adapt to these changes. KFC is the latest to give in to consumer demand and activist led campaigns that demand change.

New York City is also considering banning the artery clogging trans fatty acids that restaurants use, as they say it has no nutritional value and increases the risk of heart disease dramatically.

"KFC said it will replace trans fats with a new low-linolenic-acid soyabean oil by the end of April at its 5,500 US restaurants."
and
"KFC previously resisted change - in June, the chain said it had been using the same type of oil for 50 years and did not want to tamper with Colonel Sanders's "finger lickin' good" recipe. But it was hit with a lawsuit from the non-profit Centre for Science in the Public Interest, which maintains that trans fats contribute to 50,000 deaths annually in the US. The class action was in the name of Arthur Hoyte, a retired doctor who said he had eaten KFC's chicken without being warned of the health risks." Guardian

It's just another case that proves the power of the consumer. If enough people make enough noise, which starts to affect the profits of a company, they will change. No company is too big and powerful enough to ignore the customer.
>> Business Ethics, Big Business News

Suing Big Corporate Polluters

First it was tobacco, then fast food, now lawyers are looking at big car makers, oil companies, and utilities. With more than fifteen cases pending, big corporations with a history of polluting the environment are nervously looking over their shoulder.

It's a very negative way of changing the way business sees the environment, but anything that makes large corporations think about how they treat the environment has to be a good thing. It's a pity we need the stick rather than the carrot to change though.

Global Warming: Here Come The Lawyers
"As with tobacco, plaintiffs are trying out a variety of legal theories, some quite speculative. Judges and juries, however, particularly in hard-hit areas like the Gulf Coast, may be inclined to sympathize with even legally marginal claims. The Hurricane Katrina suit filed by Maples in Mississippi alleges that the emission of carbon dioxide is a "nuisance" under common law." BusinessWeek

>> Big Business, Car Makers, Climate Change, Environment

Optimistic Quotes

Whenever I'm reading a book from the library, I always have a small notebook close to me so that I can write down any good quotes I come across. It's a habit I have had since I started reading books regularly.

I can refer back to the notebook of quotes later and the whole book comes flooding back to me.
I now buy more books than I borrow, so I just underline quotes that interest me, which makes the process a bit quicker. I just find the habit so useful, as I rarely ever read a book twice, but referring back to my favorite quotes and paragraphs is something I do often.

Anyway, here's some Optimistic Quotes that I have found online. A lot of quotation sites online are filled with too many adds and popups, but there's also a few beauties out there.

Optimistic Quotes Online

• Miracles happen every day. Not just in remote country villages or at holy sites halfway across the globe, but here, in our own lives.
  Deepak Chopra Quote
• Leaders need to be optimists. Their vision is beyond the present.
  Rudy Giuliani Quote
• You stay in touch with the boy who dreamed impossible dreams.
  Hugh Hefner Quote
• We would accomplish many more things if we did not think of them as impossible.
  Vince Lombardi Quote
• A positive attitude is important, but it is only part of the story. Understanding how to surmount pain, doubt, and failure is a vital component in winning the game of life.
  Chin-Ning Chu Quote
• I was 52 years old. I had diabetes and incipient arthritis. I had lost my gall bladder and most of my thyroid gland in earlier campaigns, but I was convinced that the best was ahead of me.
  Ray Kroc Quote

There's some more Optimistic quotes here.
>> Motivational Quotes

Wal Mart Seeing Green

The world's largest retailing company is working hard to turn around it's poor environmental image. After years of criticism, the $300 billion giant is making positive changes, making money from it, and getting praise from environmental groups and people in power.

Among Wal Mart's latest changes is a plan to reduce packaging by 5% over 5 years. It sounds insignificant until you think about the size and influence of the company. It employs more people than any other company in the world (1,800,000 employees), and is second in terms of revenue generated.

Anything that Wal Mart does has a far reaching effect that influences suppliers, competitors, and consumers in a range of ways.

Wal Mart has also vowed to invest $500 million each year into energy saving technology. Here's a few more initiatives being taken by the retailing giant, taken from USA Today..

• Slash gasoline use by its trucking fleet, one of the largest in the USA, and use more hybrid trucks to increase efficiency by 25% over the next three years and double it within 10 years. That will save $310 million a year by 2015, the company says.
• Buy 100% of its wild-caught salmon and frozen fish for the North American market only from fisheries that are certified as "sustainable" by the non-profit Marine Stewardship Council within three to five years. That designation means areas of the ocean aren't fished in ways that destroy fish populations.
• Cut energy use at its more than 7,000 stores worldwide by 30% and cut greenhouse-gas emissions at existing stores by 20% in seven years. Wal-Mart is the largest private electricity user in the USA.
• Reduce solid waste from U.S. stores by 25% within three years.

>> Wal Mart News, Green Business News