It will come as a surprise to no one that the media has caught on to the “green movement” in a big way this year. It is difficult to pass by a news stand without seeing at least one magazine touting an article about what is really going on in this space.

While many of these articles rehash the same information, interview the same people and generally are less than illuminating, it is important for those trying to explore the world of SRI, CSR, clean energy and all related topics to keep tabs on what is being written. To that effect, I bring you two recent reports made up of several articles exploring the private sector’s shift toward the responsible, social, environmental and otherwise.

FORBES: In their recent report, Going Green, Forbes attempts to examine the efforts of many different companies to be both green and profitable.  It asks the eternal question, “What’s a fad and what’s real?” While it is by no means a complete answer to this question, the Forbes report does a good job of covering companies both new to this sector and veteran, as well as a wide variety of industries.  Articles cover issues such as biotech at BP (BP), Starbucks’ carbon footprint (SBUX) and MTV’s green campaign (VIA).

THE FINANCIAL TIMES:  The FT recently published their special report, Corporate Citizenship and Philanthropy, in order to discuss their new ranking tables of NGOs and issues related to the connections between the private and social sectors.  As partnerships between corporations and non-governmental organizations become more prevalent, the FT looks at the effect of large charitable gifts, the new forms of philanthropy such as SRI for foundation endowments and social entrepreneurship, among other issues.