“F” Is for Fat
As U.S. public officials try to address the rise of childhood obesity, some schools are issuing “fat report cards.” Does the initiative pass or fail?

Massachusetts recently joined the ranks of U.S. states where schoolchildren receive more than course grades on report cards: Progress reports for kids in 1st, 4th, 7th and 10th grades now indicate their BMI (body mass index) stats as well. Arkansas, under then Gov. Mike Huckabee—who has, notably, lost more than 100 pounds—led [...]

Let’s Redo Lunch
In light of childhood obesity issues, public debate over U.S. school lunches—going on in varying intensity for decades now—is high on the national agenda once again

The quality—or lack thereof—of U.S. school lunches has been a hot potato issue since before today’s schoolchildren were even born; we all remember the Reagan-era wisdom of trying to classify ketchup as a vegetable (just another reason to rue the ’80s). In the last year, growing childhood obesity rates in the U.S. [...]

No Money, Mo’ Problems?
More stores are eschewing greenbacks for plastic

Will it happen that in the future we’ll all have debit cards that we can just wave at a payment center without ever having to put our hands on germy, unhygienic cash? We’re not sure how quickly, if ever, we’ll get to that vision of tomorrow—certainly not tomorrow, but we’re inching closer with a new attitude from merchants, who won’t accept those grungy bills wadded up in your hand. You’d [...]

Ladies’ Might
It was mostly men who got the U.S. into this financial mess (sorry, fellas!), so it makes sense that women have been called in to oversee the fix

Lamentably, it’s true that the financial system that has put so many Americans in tight spots was created—and mostly run—by people of the, um, male persuasion. Now women have been tasked with captaining the recovery, including Sheila Bair, chairwoman of the FDIC; Mary Schapiro, chairwoman of the SEC; and Elizabeth Warren, [...]

Growing Businesses
As companies go green, one initiative some are undertaking is to grow gardens, with employees tending—and harvesting—the crops

Recycling bins, reusable cups, used-computer refurbishing programs…businesses are going green in many ways, and now some are taking their eco-friendly initiatives and running them into the dirt. Corporations such as Google, Yahoo!, PepsiCo, even Kohl’s HQ near Milwaukee, are growing gardens on company grounds (or sometimes on rooftops, as is the case with Trenton Forging, in a town not far from [...]

I’m Hillevi Lausten, PR manager focusing on social media at Euro RSCG ABC, in one of the most beautiful cities in Germany: Hamburg. I will replace Baptiste Limb during the time he’s busy moving.

As social media and PR are getting more connected every single day, let’s first focus on a Mashable blog post about the future of social media and PR. Indeed, when [...]

High Times
A new trend in the highly controversial medicinal marijuana market finds schools offering courses in how to make growing pot a legal income stream

As marijuana-legalization wars rage on, the market is answering the call for more supply in the growing medicinal marijuana arena (it’s been called the greening of America). Some schools now offer students insights in how to make their living growing pot—for legal, medicinal purposes, of course. There’s Med Grow Cannabis College in Michigan and Oaksterdam [...]

The Greening of a Revolution
The green movement, though one that has been going for decades, has seen a renewal of vision in some segments of the world

The green revolution is a long time coming, but don’t count it out just because it’s no longer the very latest craze. There has been slow and steady progress in many countries toward more sustainable systems, with recent developments including a call for “good old-fashioned” farming methods in Africa, eco-friendly rebuilding in New [...]

Good Sports
Regardless of differing politics, economic conditions or social policies, the countries of the world could unite on one thing: World Cup referees’ bad calls

This year’s World Cup was a rousing success across the globe, with record audiences watching the games…and expressing their dislike of the universally panned drone of thousands of vuvuzelas. But the issue that really united the entire planet was one of greater import: the preponderance of disputed calls by the referees. After some initial support [...]

Bold New Wage
Chinese workers, long considered a docile work force, finally demand better pay and improved working conditions

A startling rash of suicides at a Chinese company, Foxconn, in which at least 10 workers died in six months, shined an unflattering light on the less-than-ideal working conditions and low wages laborers endure in China. It also seemed to galvanize the workers to action, as a series of labor strikes were set off across the country. Though the Chinese Ministry of [...]