True costs & social value

We've been talking a few of my classes about how you actually measure social costs and values - for example, how much does it cost when companies pollute the earth or what is the value of the program a nonprofit creates to teach childhood literacy?

There is really no perfect way to measure these things out there yet, but the term being thrown around is SROI (social return on investment). So, much like in traditional business where returns on investments are a measure of success or failure, the hope is to create some standardized measurements that allow society and businesses to see the value or costs associated with choosing to act or not act in a socially responsible way.

One good example of an effort at this is a short film that a local organic farm used to show to all of its work groups at my last job titled "The True Cost of Food." It's put out by the Sierra Club, and its purpose is to show consumers all of the additional social costs (ie pollution, transportation, etc) that go into the production of food purchased at big box stores versus the social value created when purchasing local, organic foods.

Check it out here: http://www.truecostoffood.org/truecostoffood/movie.asp