Having just been appointed Associate Lecturer to a new and exciting module 'Business, human rights law and corporate social responsibility', several articles caught my attention in the last few days. I admire the 'shareholder nun' who uses her Christian inspiration to stand up for social justice, "While executive compensation spirals out of control, so does the number of people who suffer from food insecurity throughout the world. Companies have a moral obligation to be accountable, to...consider equity and justice for the worker." The campaign is supported by the ethical investment group FairPensions.

And while it seems generous of Total (one of the world's largest oil companies) to invest 800mn USD in solar, it's peanuts compared with the 40bn USD BP is suing the owner of the Deepwater Horizon Rig for and Shell's Q1 2011 profits (yes, profits, not turnover) are 6.9bn USD.

A positive initiative (brought on by the endless pushing of climate change science denying... oil co's have lots to lose and as we've seen above, more than a bit of pocket money to confuse us - to our detriment!) is the Skeptical Science website.

Talking of oil, and contemplating the serious turmoil in the Middle East and wider, is the difference in approach to the situations related to oil? We now finally know oil was a relevant issue in Iraq (if denied at the time). Libya exports 1.5mn/ day, Syria 0.15mn barrels/ day (> 400 civilians dead), and the Ivory Coast (with many hundreds of dead since election last November)... exports cocoa.

Food for thought...