The new draft also fails to provide any long-term goals for emissions reductions, the peaking of emissions, and long-term financing to help developing countries deal with the impact of climate change. It stated only that the provisions were “to be elaborated” with reference to an earlier draft issued last Friday, which contained a range of emissions targets.

The new draft comes as leaders from over 100 countries arrived in the Danish capital to hammer out a plan, but the talks have been slow going due to tensions over who should cut carbon dioxide emissions and who should pay for it.

The draft was issued the day after the group of 77, which includes poor countries as well as large emerging economies like China, India, and Brazil, walked out of the talks, accusing industrialized nations of trying to kill the Kyoto Protocol.

The walk out prompted a suspension in the official negotiations Monday, and the chairman of the conference appointed five different working groups to advance consultations on the more complicated issues.

The global climate summit in Copenhagen seeks to find a new agreement on international rules to limit global warming after 2012. Developing countries want to keep the structure of the Kyoto Protocol – which requires developed nations, but not poorer countries nor the United States, to cut greenhouses gasses – with a new document to supplement it.

It is my opinion that since developed nations have been historically responsible for most global emissions of greenhouse gases, they must also take the lead in combating climate change by abating their carbon emissions and providing money and technology to poorer nations.

View a previously written post by Mouli Cohen about the global climate summit

While its “inspired by Starbucks” new store concept is a novel idea, it does little to change the culture around the brand, but with its recycling pilot program, its seems poised to make a real impact. The goal of the endeavor is simple yet impressive: ensure that every single coffee cup and food wrapper can be recycled by 2012. The full scope of the plan can be read here.

If Starbucks can achieve this goal, the ripple effect will definitely influence the entire industry. While adopting a similar program won’t be mandatory by any means, once consumers see the results, it’s hard to imagine other major fast food chains being able to resist the shift.

With the increase in recyclable material, there is the potential for an influx in the recycling sector, creating more jobs and less waste with a much smaller carbon footprint.

[image via imotion dung]

CNET examines this question as increasing numbers of charities get on board in the already crowded space, noting that two major concerns begin to surface: a thinning pool of money to go around and too much noise for users to sift through.

Fundamentally, the strategy doesn’t have to change, but it does need to get smarter. In order to ensure lasting success, here are a number of considerations to keep in mind, both for social media and beyond:

1) Message – Regardless of what channel you use to spread the word, that message needs to be abundantly clear. Any good organization needs to have a defined mission statement and reachable set of goals.

2) Audience – Simply broadcasting to the masses without any consideration for who the people are you are trying to target, will result in a call to action that falls on deaf ears. Personalized communications that speak to your audience will show greater returns.

3) Community – Of course, soliciting monetary donations is the lifeline for any good charity, both in achieving its aims and maintaining its longevity, getting people involved, as volunteers and advocates, are the true measure of success. Building a committed cache of members is important, but implementing a culture that can leverage their interest is essential.

4) Diversification – While social media provides a cheap and effective way to reach large numbers of people, it can’t be the only platform through which an organization delivers its message. Traditional outreach methods – events, mailings, and phone calls – exist for a reason, they still work.

5) Scale – Position your organization in such a way that it is able to grow. Keep your expectations reasonable in the beginning, but be prepared to expand to meet demand as more interest is generated.

6) Infrastructure – An intelligent system that enables individuals to give and/or join easily is essential for charities of any size.

Rich Karlgaard, publisher of Forbes, argues that the companies who have done well in past depressions – Intel, Xerox, IBM, Sun Microsystems – all benefited from design, speed and purpose as a means to overcome the bad business models that have felled so many others.  Karlgaard writes, “Beauty transcends cultural difference, and speed is really supply chain excellence.” Purpose is essentially a focused mission statement, and something that company leaders should spend some considerable thought on as it shapes one’s entire business operation (think Microsoft or Whole Foods).

Author Sylvia Anne Hewlett speaks to Forbes.com about loyalty and engagement in the workplace, two factors that have enormous impact on business efficiency. She quotes Mona Lau, group head of diversity and campus recruiting at UBS, who says, “In tough times, it’s easy for even the most dedicated to lose energy and second-guess their direction.You’ve got to get people to remember why they joined the organization in the first place.”

Whether its the Friday afternoon tea time started by Google, or sharing a quarterly success story with the entire staff, company leaders are responsible for trickle-down optimism. By affirming belief in the company and its goals, you give employees a reason for why they should take risks and work harder with less prospect of reward in crunch time.

IBM recently conducted a study of 61 major companies to determine what sets them apart as winners. “First, they focus on cost value without sacrificing long-term goals; second, they exploit opportunities unique to the downturn; third, they act quickly, with an agility that lets them keep pace with rapid changes in the business environment.” Essentially, a company must keep an eye on growth while conserving capital – investors might look to emerging markets overseas, for example, or to existing fields that show promise, if not guaranteed success (telemedicine is one sector that comes to mind). Another key element is turning information into insight, as it takes an astute leadership to turn data into tangible details.

So, business as usual? Not for the winning companies who learn to adapt now and secure a strong future. With the recession transforming the landscape of business the way we’re seeing today, successful companies pursue avenues that, as unorthodox or unimportant as they may seem now, are fundamental in the continued health of an organization.

Worldwide, an estimated 40 million people are blind. The number of people affected grows each year, particularly in developing countries which are least equipped to respond. In these countries, cataract accounts for at least half of the blindness, and preventable conditions cause much of the rest.

The Child Vision Campaign collaborates with its partners to prevent blindness and restore sight by supporting locally-run programs in under-served communities. Our eye care work emphasizes research, service and evaluation of community-based methods to provide cataract surgery and other eye care of high quality, high volume and low cost. Our program partnerships, built on mutual respect, share the goal of making quality eye care services affordable and accessible to everyone.

The Child Vision Campaign was started to leverage the combined experience of the right partnerships to dramatically reduce childhood blindness and promote healthy vision. Every year almost 500,000 children go blind. Many of these children die within the first two years of going blind. Today, there are more than 1.4 million blind children in the world. The causes of childhood blindness vary. For many of these children, simple eye glasses can change their lives. For some, their blindness can be prevented and treated with education, intervention and early detection. For others, their blindness must be addressed through hospital treatment. A large number of children suffer from blindness that cannot be treated and must be addressed through rehabilitation services and community education.

The Child Vision Campaign is moving forward with significant programs using the expertise and talents of our various international partners to achieve remarkable results. Education, detection and rehabilitation are all being employed to understand local needs, develop service networks, and solve eye problems. Through our relationship with global world leaders and institutional clinics around the world the systems and strategies developed by the Childhood Vision Campaign and its partners will be leveraged for use in dozens of additional poor countries.