Choosing a college is a big deal, not the least because there are SO many choices to complicate your decision. What should you look for in a school? Here are a few suggestions to help get you started.

• Affordability: Really, the first thing you need to look at is the cost. Have an idea of how much you can afford, based on what you’ll be getting in financial aid and how much you can afford to pay yourself. The less you have to take out in loans, the better — otherwise you may find yourself saddled with impossible amounts of debt by the time you graduate.
• Curriculum: Be sure not only that the school has a degree in the subject you want, but that the specifics fit your interests, too. For instance, if you want to pursue a career in the pastry arts, you will need to narrow down your list of culinary arts institutes to those that offer a curriculum you are interested in.
• Student life: Sure, your education is the most important part to consider, but you also need to think about how other things will impact that education. For example, having access to a good college library can make a big difference. Student lounges with wifi can also make a big difference. A good career counseling department will help you stay on track, and job placement services help you with one of the most difficult parts — finding a job after graduation.

This is by no means a comprehensive list, but it should give you some things to think about when you are looking for the right college!

Technorati Tags: college, culinary arts institutes

Tags: college, culinary arts institutes

This week Newsweek’s cover story promotes an exclusive ranking of “The Greenest Big Companies in America”. This is an important moment in time. In 2006, Vanity Fair was among a few high profile publications to introduce entire annual issues to the green movement and their readership was reported to have been the lowest of the yearly issues.

Fast forward three years and six months later, the introduction of Newsweek’s list marks an important moment in time. Joining the annually released lists of the Best 100 Companies to Work For (Fortune), the 100 Best Global Brands (BusinessWeek) and The Largest 500 Companies (Fortune), the (presumably) annual list represents a palpable and permanent shift in business ethics and operations. Transparency is a leading value of those engaged in the green movement but it is still interesting to read that 70% of the companies participating voluntarily provided the data necessary to compile the list (otherwise utilizing publicly available information).

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By Kelli Peterson

Technorati Tags: Economics

Tags: Economics

The last time you went to the grocery store or the local Walmart, did you count the number of cleaners, soaps, and detergents that labeled themselves “green.” At Target last week while attempting to find the laundry detergent that was supposed to be on sale, I was boggled by all the new green chemicals that I’d never heard of before my shopping trip. I wasn’t certain what most of them did — much less exactly how “green” they really were.

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By Lisa Wojnovich

Technorati Tags: Economics

Tags: Economics

You have just completed a course of education in the cosmetology industry. Now what? Here’s what you should do next:

- Party! You want to celebrate this great accomplishment, don’t you? Throw yourself a big party to celebrate that you’ve just graduated. You might even want to offer beauty treatments to your friends at the party for an added bit of fun.

- Go shopping for college diploma frames. You’ll need to put your certificate of completion into a college diploma frame so that you can post it at the salon when you get your first job.

- Get yourself a makeover. It’s very important that people in the beauty business look their best. Do you? If not then it could be time for an overhaul of your own.

- Start looking for jobs. The goal of graduating from a beauty school program is typically to get a job in this industry. After you’ve celebrated the accomplishment of graduating, you should start looking for your first job. Don’t be discouraged if it takes you a little while to find work; that’s to be expected when you’ve first graduated. The job will come along and you’ll be working in the beauty business in no time.

Technorati Tags: college diploma frame, college diploma frames

Tags: college diploma frame, college diploma frames

There are many cynics out there that critique and question the future of sustainable products and businesses. It’s easy to side with them, mostly because it’s difficult to understand what comprises a “sustainable” product which in turn creates a domino chain of skepticism about achievability. We don’t endorse what we don’t understand. The industry is in self-defining mode and most of us lack the degrees in chemistry, biology, natural sciences or any other course of study that might support our inclination to trust what marketers tell us is “safe” and what is not.

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By Kelli Peterson

Technorati Tags: Economics

Tags: Economics

When we think about “sustainable packaging,” we think about recycled paper and plastics, but there is a lot more to sustainability than that. In running across a company called Distant Village Packaging, which specializes in sustainable packaging, that fact was brought home in a powerful way. . . in pictures.

I learned of A Distant Village when it introduced what it calls “the world’s most environmentally-friendly labels.” Called Pure Labels, these are adhesive-backed inkjet or laser printer labels made of wild grass paper. They are not only produced with 100% recyclable materials (including no HDPE or other plastics) but are manufactured according to what the company calls “the strictest adherence to socially responsible business practices.”

That’s what impressed me most about the company. Lots of companies claim to produce “green” products, but A Distant Village is looking at the entire lifecycle and social, as well as environmental, impact of the packaging design and production.

Its website states:

Job creation, fair wages, fair trade, pre-payment to support artisan workshops, and steady, guaranteed demand chains are some of the ways we contribute toward fair and conscientious global economic participation. By engaging industries in remove villages, families thrive, children have futures, and local economies flourish.

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By Heidi Tolliver-Nigro

Technorati Tags: Economics

Tags: Economics

By admin

Technorati Tags: wellness

Tags: wellness

A bridge is about to open up that will make things easier but safer for people who want make their investments consistent with their values.

Just like a bridge makes traveling between two islands easier, the new rating system to be unveiled at Socap09 will be like taking a train instead of having to paddle through choppy waters.

The bridge, called GIIRS, is being built for people who are trying to make sure their investments have a positive social and environmental impact while they also try to earn a financial return. It’s a tool that makes it easier, safer and clearer for those investors who want to make a difference.

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By Kevin Jones

Technorati Tags: Economics

Tags: Economics

This column highlights the top economic stories of the week.

One way in which today’s corporation is becoming enlightened to the fact that green manufacturing CAN equal more profitable manufacturing is through a new concept called “lean manufacturing“.   In the 1980’s, JIT, or just-in-time techniques became all the rage in management circles as they shaved costs from production by eliminating the need for high levels of inventories by focusing on using just what was needed, when it was needed. More on this story here.

Economists are examining the argument for imposing special taxes on goods and services whose prices do not reflect the true social cost of their consumption, are now considering a tax on junk food. But while it might seem obvious and logical, some argue that a tax on junk food might even increase obesity, especially among the physically active. More on this story here.

Does Cause Marketing thwart social change? In the “The Hidden Costs of Cause Marketing” in the Summer issue of theStanford Social Innovation Review, Angela M. Eikenberry argues that cause marketing is “consumption philanthropy,” connecting shopping with a social good, whereas high-levels of consumption in the developed world could be hurting philanthropists’ efforts to save rain forests, fisheries, etc. And it may be counterproductive in increasing empathy for people in need and a sense of responsibility to help. More on this story here.

China’s economy grew nearly 8% in the second quarter of 2009, the government said, in a stunning turnaround for the Asian powerhouse that offered some hope for the rest of the world. Analysts said the rebound in China would offer a boost of confidence for the global economy as it struggles out of the worst economic crisis since the Great Depression of the 1930s. To fight the downturn, the government had begun implementing an internal infrastructure stimulus package that invest heavily in renewable energy.  More on this story here.

Hollywood has unleashed a new wave of disaster films that focus on what will happen after the apocalypse. But even when they tackle serious issues, most of the new disaster movies and TV shows take pains to avoid moralizing, which can be toxic at the box office. Issue-oriented films, such as “In the Valley of Elah,” starring Tommy Lee Jones, and Tom Cruise’s “Lions For Lambs,” have tended to fare poorly with audiences. More on this story here.

Much like California, Guangdong province in Southern China, is the incubator of a large, innovative and dynamic economy far from Beijing and Shanghai, China’s centres of political and financial power. With an official population of 95.4m, it leads the country in economic output and exports, though the latter have fallen about 20 per cent from pre-crisis levels. The Chinese Communist party’s leader, Wang Yang, uses this as an opportunity to carve a cleaner and greener Guangdong. More on this story here.

By Reenita Malhotra

Technorati Tags: Economics

Tags: Economics