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Whether or not to return a gift seems more like an etiquette subject for a Miss Manners column, but a few headlines in nonprofit news over the past week have addressed situations where nonprofits are forced to consider whether or not to return a gift from a donor.

The domestic violence charges against Mel Gibson have some questioning whether or not Casa Myrna Vazquez should return the $25,000 donation the actor made to the Boston nonprofit when filming "Edge of Darkness" in 2008.  The nonprofit, which provides shelter and support services to victims of domestic violence, will not be returning the gift, and co-executive directors Nathalie Favre-Gilly and Deborah Collins-Gousby got it right in their Boston Globe op-ed  stating that they are grateful to Gibson for supporting their work 2 years ago and for making the case for their work today. Casa Myrna Vazquez has smartly inserted their organization into the dialogue and used this as an opportunity to raise awareness of their work and more importantly, the issue of domestic violence.

Jonathan Hiskes recent Grist post is an excellent exploration of a schism in the environmental community over the long awaited American Power Act (i.e. the Kerry/Lieberman and one time Graham bill.) Earlier this month, I took a day off from my day job at Rasky Baerlein, put on my private citizen hat and joined the NRDC in Washington, DC for a day of lobbying in support of the bill. 

The night before the bill was released Senator Kerry joined us for dinner. He made it clear that the bill would contain compromises, like some limited provisions on off-shore drilling or a pathway for coal, but appealed to NRDC to support the bill because politically, the window to put a price on carbon was rapidly closing. Although I cannot speak for NRDC, I think it would be fair to say that the consensus in the room was that, despite strong opposition to specific pieces of the bill, it was more important to get something done.

Hiskes does an excellent job of explaining the fine-line that environmental organizations are walking on climate legislation and for me, I'm convinced that in this case, a bird in hand is worth two in the bush.

Jim Cabot is Senior Vice President and manages Rasky Baerlein Strategic Communications' energy and environment practice.

Looking around the room at MassInc's "Starting Line" event, I had the sense of being in the right place at the right time, as far as political intelligence gathering goes. The "Starting Line" brings together a distinguished group of local journalists for a discussion on state politics and the year ahead. Moderated by CommonWealth Magazine editor Bruce Mohl, this year's panel included Scot Lehigh of The Boston Globe, Janet Wu from WCVB-TV (Ch. 5), Hilary Chabot of the Boston Herald, and Craig Sandler from the State House News Service.

As the panelists went back and forth on topics ranging from casino gambling in Massachusetts, the state of the media industry, the Massachusetts film tax credit, and the surprise election of state Senator Scott Brown, I was struck by how much agreement there was on relatively contentious issues. Each panelist had a unique perspective to offer, but on the whole, there seemed to be a general consensus on several key things: gambling is on its way in; the days of free and unlimited internet journalism are on their way out; the candidate with the best TV advertisements wins; and anyone running for office should go out and buy a truck.

Sunday's New York Times article, "Rulings Restrict Clean Water Act, Hampering EPA" by Charles Duhigg and Janet Roberts, illustrates a fundamental problem with the way our country regulates environmental problems, particularly with water issues.

One must agree that it is pretty ironic that just when many of the world's leading security organizations are predicting potential wars over increasingly scarce water resources, the US Supreme Court issues a decision that makes it easier for entities to pollute by removing many water bodies from EPA's jurisdiction. At the heart of the matter is the basic criteria that any regulated water body needs to be "navigable." The intent and interpretation of this clause have been widely debated over the years and the Supreme Court just ruled that EPA will now have to prove "navigable" and establish jurisdiction on a case by case basis. The result is that EPA will fail to pursue many of its potential enforcement cases because establishing jurisdiction will be too costly.

Over the last four years as Director of Business Development at the Massachusetts Office of International Trade and Investment (MOITI), I realized firsthand the positive impacts that international trade can have across the many regions of Massachusetts. Now that I'm at Rasky Baerlein, I see the opportunities to work with foreign companies looking for professional assistance in dealing with state and local government in Massachusetts, and taking advantage of the resources that my new firm has in Washington with the Congress and the administration.

A few weeks ago I had the chance to meet Leo Gerard, International President of the United Steel Workers. Leo was talking about the Apollo Alliance; a consortium of labor and clean energy organizations looking to further the renewable energy agenda in the U.S. If you had told me ten years ago, when I was an environmental regulator with the E.P.A., that the Steelworkers would be calling for comprehensive energy and climate change regulation as a way to "put the American worker back at the front of the line", I would have said you had a better chance of going to moon. Well, as it turns out, that just might be the case!

News that The Wall Street Journal will shutter its Boston bureau seems little more than a footnote in the dull parade of bad news recently emanating from the nation's print media outlets. Some twelve Boston-based reporters now find their jobs in peril, which pales in comparison to the carnage both realized and threatened at other news outlets. Consider this: in the month of October, Forbes fired something like 60 editorial staff, The New York Times hinted it may soon shed 100 newsroom jobs and Time Inc., which publishes the eponymous newsweekly, as well as People, Sports Illustrated and Fortune may layoff some 540 employees. As one Journal reporter summed up the Boston news to me: "I think these days it's just 'business.'"

I must admit, I was somewhat speechless when last month's issue of the Harvard Business Review landed on my desk. Actually it landed on my colleague Kate's desk and I stole it before she even had the plastic wrapper removed. The theme for the issue, announced in large font on the cover, was "Sustainability and Innovation: How Green Will Save Us."

About fifteen years ago, I had the (mostly) enjoyable experience of attending HBS. I had already started my career in environmental work and thought business school would be a good way to build the skills I would need to bridge the gap between business and environmental interests. In typical HBS style, my section-mates dubbed me the "token environmentalist."