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Energy Failure

Editorial, Oct. 31, 2005 President Bush’s habitual response to energy-related problems like oil dependency is to try to increase supply rather than to cut demand through energy efficiency. The imbalance is getting worse as Congress rushes to open up the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge to oil exploration. Meanwhile, the Interior Department is leasing out more fragile public land than the oil and gas companies know what to do with in the Rocky Mountain West. The administration’s conservation strategy, by contrast, consists mainly of gestures, like Treasury Secretary John Snow’s pledge to ride the train to New York instead of flying the shuttle, and the Energy Department’s chirpy consumer-education program featuring a cartoon villain called Energy Hog. As we learned long ago when President Gerald Ford started passing out those WIN (Whip Inflation Now) buttons, a policy that rests solely on slogans and mascots is no policy at all. Obviously we can’t expect this administration to turn on a dime and start supporting big increases in automobiles’ fuel economy. But Mr. Bush has also ignored less controversial measures. Last month, Attorney General Eliot Spitzer of New York joined with the Natural Resources Defense Council and others in a suit against the […]

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Timberland Releases 2004 Corporate Social Responsibility Report

The Timberland Company (NYSE: TBL) issued its third corporate social responsibility (CSR) report highlighting Timberland’s CSR priorities, programs, progress and challenges related to global human rights, environmental stewardship, community involvement, and employee engagement. The report uses the standards of the Global Reporting Initiative (GRI). “It’s been several years since Timberland last reported publicly on our activities and efforts to be a good corporate citizen,” said Jeffrey B. Swartz, Timberland’s President and Chief Executive Officer. “That is not to say that we haven’t tried to produce a CSR report since that time. In fact, we’ve started several. But each time, we ultimately decided that it wasn’t enough. There were too many holes, too many questions and not enough concrete, tangible, reliable information to share. And, in this age of too many voices and not enough time to listen, we felt it best not to add one more voice to the conversation unnecessarily.” Timberland’s report relies heavily on the guidelines issued by the GRI and primarily covers the 2004 calendar year. Highlights include: * Timberland’s 2004 audits of 94% of its contract factory base identified health and safety, compensation and fair and equal treatment as the three most frequent areas where infractions […]

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