I don't think you can expect get-rich minded corporations to just adopt corporate responsibility because they are nice people. But, you can use the loudest voice you have - money. I buy more expensive products that are organic, natural, or whatever partly because I want to eat that stuff, but also because I want to send a signal (however faint) to the market that people like me will spend a little more for stuff like that, so keep it comming.

Eventually (hopefully) enough congomerates will respond and competition will drive the price down some - although we also have to realize that it really does cost more to raise/grow organic food that is covered with pestacides or pumped full of antibiotics and growth hormones.

Saving the Environment, One Quarterly Earnings Report at a Time

By CLAUDIA H. DEUTSCH

A few years ago, scientists at Cargill Inc. learned how to make rigid, transparent plastics from corn sugars. There was just one problem: they cost a lot more than the oil-based plastics they would replace.

But that was before the price of oil shot up and companies came under pressure from consumers and investors to find economically sound ways to adopt "green" packaging and other environmentally friendly products and processes. This year, Wal-Mart, Wild Oats Market and many other retailers, as well as food suppliers like Del Monte and Newman's Own Organics, all embraced corn-based packaging for fresh produce.

Sales at NatureWorks, the Cargill subsidiary that makes the plastic, grew 200 percent in the first half of this year over the period last year. "The early adopters were more influenced by environmental concerns than costs," said Kathleen M. Bader, chairwoman of NatureWorks. "But now we're competitive with petrochemicals, too."

Cargill is one of several companies profiting from the concerns - of shareholders, communities and consumers - about global warming, leaking landfills and other potential environmental hazards. Huge companies like General Electric and Chevron now have separate businesses to market what they are calling environment-friendly products.

Read the rest here: http://www.nytimes.com/2005/11/22/business/22enviro.html?th&emc=th