Carnegie Council Podcasts

If you don't know the roots under a farmers' market or a colleague's produce, should you trust the food you get from them? How does the joy of growing and giving fresh vegetables weigh against potential soil hazards? Does even a carrot require an ethical choice?

"The more Xerox found out about the value of inclusion--" says Joseph Cahalan of Xerox, "that good talent comes in all colors, genders, religions, and sexual orientation, that the company became stronger and stronger because of it--the more we consider diversity a competitive strategy."

Should government supplement markets to increase the public good? Should it regulate markets to protect the public good? How much is too much regulation?

"Where we are fiercely critical of grants-based approaches is the design of services that ignore the end recipient," says Acumen Fund chief investment officer Brian Trelstad. In this interview he shares ideas on how to use entrepreneurs in the developing world to combat poverty.

Policies are often debated along three dimensions: effectiveness, efficiency, and expediency. In place of a fourth dimension—applied ethics—we usually find sensationalism and polarization. Can public discourse rise above shouting?

Consultant, author, and blogger Alice Korngold talks about her work connecting corporate executives with nonprofit boards, and the transformation that takes place, person after person, as executives come up with new ways to help.

Modern self-determination and the concept of nationality are closely linked, and have frequently led to instances of ethnic cleansing. Can nationalism and multi-ethnic societies co-exist? Must self-determination imply ethnic cleansing?

Sarah Greenberg discusses the social and environmental risks that companies sometimes take and how these can affect the bottom line. Tobacco is a prime example. In the long run, a product that kills its consumers is not as viable as one that is sustainable. Then Devin Stewart talks about the Council's work.

How can you help change the world, and get paid for doing it? Alissa Wilson shares what she learned from interviewing scores of practical idealists, including international development workers, lawyers, business people, and artists.

Is it ever ethical to violate a democratic constitution? If the rationale for military intervention is to save democracy, does that make it legitimate?