For nonprofits, persuading the masses to donate is a matter of survival. To fund their work continually, they must be able to reach the people who care most about what they're doing - and make sure those people can find them, too.

These days it's easier to count the companies that are not taking sustainability action than to count the ones who are. However, there is a wide variance in how (or if) brands are communicating about their world-friendly efforts.

People tend to fall into one of two categories when it comes to wearable tech: those who scramble to purchase and try them out, and those that just don't get it. But maybe the slow adopters don't want to contribute to the tech waste left behind with every generation of improvements.

When over 100 million people shush each other and edge up on their seats during commercial breaks on Superbowl Sunday, they will expect to be entertained. Anything less than a guffaw or awe will be disappointing.

Most of our business is conducted on mobile devices these days, even if we're not on-the-go when we're using them. And it won't be long until most of our other activities - both professional and personal - are conducted using apps.

When you get to a certain stage in life, it's all about decluttering. Clearing the decks of everything from old furniture to old flames. The dozens of cardboard boxes still in the garage from the last move (15 years ago). Layers of furniture crowding the basement like the rings of a tree, paying tribute to evolving tastes. And, of course, kids' college furniture ranging from the cheapest Jennifer Convertible to foldable dining table and chairs.

Whether you're an environmentally-missioned organization like TreePeople, a mega-brand that's incorporating sustainability into nearly every aspect of your business (think Unilever, Ikea), or one of 24% of Americans who worry a great deal about climate change, per Gallup, you've probably encountered baffling resistance in getting people to engage in more sustainable behavior.

There is nothing like a real emergency to galvanize people into action. At such times, communication becomes critical - but technology, like people, can be vulnerable to acts of God or terrorism.

December 2015. The end of another year of fire-storms, earthquakes, hurricanes and other Cecil B. DeMille-style reminders of the impending apocalypse we have wrought by messing with the world's climate. But don't lock the door to your fallout shelter and settle in with your 780 cans of pea soup just yet.

Thomas Paine wrote that government is inherently punitive, a necessary evil consequent to the "inability of moral virtue to govern the world." That comes to mind this week, as the 21st Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (COP21) meets in Paris. The goal, of questionable achievability, is to keep global warming at two degrees Celsius.