Walking down the aisles of your local supermarket, you've probably seen all the product packaging promoting the benefits of organic food. Everywhere we look, we’re taught that organic food is healthier, more nutritious, and free of chemical substances when compared to conventional foods. Some products even claim to protect consumers from cancer-causing pesticides. (I’ll take those in bulk, please!)

Here’s a question confronting our latest crop of graduates: is the value of education worth its cost? It depends on who you ask.

With a four-year degree at a private college averaging $100,000 many college students graduate with thousands of dollars in debt, and often no job in sight.

If we ever thought there was one way to campaign for the presidency, the 2008 primary season has changed that opinion forever.

Gone are the days of stumping, baby-kissing and whistle stops. Welcome to the virtual world of in-your-face, on-your-airwaves, everywhere-you-look politicking.

To begin this story, let's start with some basic stats:

• According to the Marketing to Moms Coalition (MMC), American mothers are responsible for purchasing power to the tune of $2.1 trillion/year.
• Mothers typically have the last word in deciding what products their families consume.
• In a recent MMC survey, three-quarters of mothers feel that Super Bowl ads don't target their needs at all.

You’ll notice that we’ve deliberately refrained from posting a “best of” list for 2007. And for good reason.

We believe in using the past as a learning tool, but it doesn’t pay to get too overwhelmed or to drift into morbid reflection. Because today—as every day—we’re moving forward…ever forward.

What do we look forward to in 2008?

It’s inevitable. No matter how much you plan in this holiday season, there’s always one last gift you forgot to buy…one last-minute add-on to a loved one’s wish list…one last person for whom you feel a sudden rush of generosity.

What is there to do? Where do you start? Where can you go for a great, fun, absolutely perfect gift?

Remember the good old days of using a favorite catalog to write your Christmas list? My companion was a classic behemoth that became my toy-shopping bible, happily lugged from place to place while I daydreamed about the Barbie Dream House and EasyBake Oven that Santa had, no doubt, set aside for me.

It was a sad day when, due to changing lifestyles and so-called “advances” in technology, these Christmas catalogs became just a fond memory. Since the Sears Wish Book—one of the last to succumb to the advent of the web—was discontinued in 1993, a whole generation of children has missed out on this cherished holiday pastime.

In recognition that yesterday was America Recycles Day, it’s worth noting that we everyday consumers create a shocking amount of e-waste. According to the EPA’s stats for 2005, “between 1.5 million and 1.9 million tons of used or unwanted electronics were discarded in US landfills, including as many as 130 million cell phones [our italics]. Only a little more than 350,000 tons were recycled.”

Sodexho, the food service giant known for supplying hotel chains around the world, has recently gone native. Sodexho—which supplies breakfast and lunch for more than a dozen school districts in Rhode Island—will now purchase a larger percentage of its produce from local farms.

In conjunction with nonprofit group Kids First, Sodexho worked on this project for three years—making sure local farms met their certification needs and negotiating fair prices for produce.

Still full from lunch? Not hungry for dinner yet? Then go grab a free taco from Taco Bell during the inconvenient hours of 2-5pm on October 30th. While you’re there, feel free to drink a soda, or order a gordita…or six. Taco Bell found a PR goldmine in its advertising “gamble” to give away free tacos to America if any player stole a base in any game of the World Series. In Game 2 on October 25th, everyone’s wishes came true when Red Sox rookie Jacoby Ellsbury stole second, and consequently Taco Bell stole the stage.