Corporations not only have the power to effect our natural environment, but also our cultural norms and expectations.  They provide us, for a price, access to the goods and services that we require in order to successfully get through our days.  We place expectations concerning the proclaimed levels of quality and safety on those products and trust that what we are getting in return is in keeping with those expectations.  Occasionally, corporations do not hold up their end of the bargain.  Such was the case over the past few months with General Motors and its recall of over 28 million cars in the year 2014 alone.

Sustainability is infiltrating our national consciousness. These days, the marketing strategy of nearly every iconic American brand – promoting companies like Ford, Marriott, Microsoft and Walmart – seems to include some reference to it. Fortunately, photo-ops with employees dressed in Earth Day T-shirts as they build a garden don’t quite cut it anymore. Rather, sustainability agendas, corporate responsibility reports, corporate sponsorships, green initiatives, sustainability assessments and memberships in a variety of public-private multi-stakeholder initiatives are becoming the norm.