In less than two months, all direct operations divisions of Microsoft will be forced to reduce emissions or pay the price. But it's not a government organization or NGO who's enforcing the mandate – it's the company itself.

Microsoft announced this week it is committed to going carbon neutral by July 1 and is extending this responsibility throughout its company. Through what Microsoft deems the "accountability model," each division within the company will be responsible for its own carbon emissions, which will not only raise internal awareness, but will also send a strong message to stakeholders and competitors. And the company is taking the program one step further. As part of its neutrality goal, Microsoft will be imposing a carbon tax on all direct operations in more than 100 countries, including data centers, software development labs, air travel and office buildings. Divisions that do not meet emissions goals through efficiency measures and increased use of renewable energy sources must pay a carbon fee that the company will use to purchase carbon offsets.

By creating its own internal carbon market, Microsoft hopes to discourage unsustainable actions and incentivize environmental progress. And to ensure its success, the company has put forth the most effective motivator of all – money.

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For years, the Department of Motor Vehicles has inquired whether we'd like to be an organ donor, but Facebook has posed a more direct question: Are you?

The world's leading social network announced Tuesday it will now allow users to include organ donor status among other biographical information on member profiles, marking perhaps the first time an individual's donor status has been shared in such a public way. Yet, the outcome is much more than a timeline milestone. The New York Times reports nearly 7,000 people die each year waiting for an organ transplant; Facebook reaches 161 million users in the U.S. alone. The potential impact is clear.

Dr. Andrew M. Cameron, the surgical director of liver transplantation at Johns Hopkins Hospital, explained, "This is going to be an historic day in transplant. The math will radically change, and we may well eliminate the problem." In fact, motor vehicle registries have already seen the effect of the announcement, with more than 6,000 individuals enrolling as donors through 22 state registries on Tuesday alone, a number which usually only hits around 400 per day.

Facebook may ultimately change the trajectory of organ donation, bringing an issue once relegated to a checkbox on a DMV form to the public forum – something that can be discussed, shared and supported on a wide scale. And, Facebook is eager to show peer pressure isn't necessarily a bad thing when lives are at stake. With 114,000 people currently waiting for organ transplants, the company hopes a status update might help save a life.

We encourage your thoughts and comments. Continue the conversation on Twitter by using #WDYSF.

Burger King, the world's second largest fast food chain, signaled bold change this week when it announced it will source 100 percent of its eggs and pork from cage-free chickens and crate-free pigs by 2017. The company, which purchases hundreds of millions of eggs and millions of pounds of pork annually, currently sources just nine percent of eggs and 20 percent of pork from cage-free vendors. Burger King joins a number of other brands making cage-free egg purchasing decisions, but according to Matthew Prescott, a spokesperson for the Humane Society of the United States, this is the first time a major chain has made a commitment of this caliber.

This announcement signals an important shift for the industry and for consumers, even if they don't happen to dine at BK. USA Today reports that the cage-free issue has just recently hit the public radar in a big way, with Paul Shapiro, vice president for animal farm protection at the Humane Society, stating, "This is an issue that just four to five months ago was not on the food industry's radar. Now it's firmly cemented into the mainstream in a way that I think few people would have imagined." Bruce Kennedy of GreenBiz.com also noted that as such a large buyer, Burger King could actually force more of the industry to shift to cage-free, ultimately opening up a larger market and reducing the price for everyone due to economies of scale.

Big brands have the opportunity to set industry precedents and drive social and environmental progress in ways that make it hard for others to ignore. Just as Walmart helped forever change the laundry aisle by committing to sell only concentrated detergent, Burger King may in fact do the same for cage-free.

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As Earth Day supporters look to "Mobilize the Earth" on the National Mall on Sunday, companies are mobilizing consumers to take part in Earth Day promotions. Here's a sampling of programs you can expect to see as you do your part to reduce, reuse and recycle this weekend:

• Target is celebrating "Earth Month" by offering special discounts on environmentally friendly products throughout the month of April, in addition to giving out 1.5 million reusable bags on Sunday. The retailer has also partnered with Recyclebank, a B Corp that doles out points and discounts at major retailers to members who make environmentally sound decisions.

• JetBlue is partnering with CarbonFund.org to plant a tree for every person who flies on the airline this Sunday, which should equate to about 83,000 new trees. The trees will be planted in Haiti to help rebuild areas affected by the 2012 earthquake. JetBlue crew members and volunteers will also head to Long Island City to plant an additional 100 trees in support of the "Color NYC Green" program.

• Eileen Fisher is helping consumers with spring cleaning this weekend by taking back used Eileen Fisher clothing at all retail, company stores and wholesale locations. The used clothing will be resold at the company's GREEN EILEEN stores, which have already raised more than $600,000 for a number of nonprofits supporting women and girls.

• Macy's is launching a Brazilian-themed curated shop called "O Mercado, the Market at Macy's" to benefit The Nature Conservancy, which will open on Earth Day and run through July 15. Ten percent of each purchase at the shop will go to help the nonprofit in its effort to protect the Brazilian Amazon Rainforest.

• Origins celebrates Earth Day every day by taking back all brands of used cosmetic and toiletry bottles that are traditionally unrecyclable through municipal systems. This Sunday, to encourage consumers to take advantage of the program, customers that bring in any empty cosmetic tube, bottle or jar will be rewarded with a free full-sized Origins sample.

Earth Day campaigns offer companies a unique opportunity to connect with consumers when environment is top-of-mind, and Americans are primed to participate. In fact, Cone's newest Green Gap Trend Tracker revealed that the environment is a consideration while shopping for many, but they rely on companies to provide them with the information to make environmentally informed shopping decisions. Earth Day provides an ideal window to grab consumers' attention, but remember – the true measure of a responsible company is how it conducts business the other 364 days of the year as well.

We encourage your thoughts and comments. Continue the conversation on Twitter by using #WDYSF.

It's no secret most companies prefer to keep their proprietary tools and processes under wraps for competitive reasons. Yet in the age of transparency, companies have become more willing to open their doors to inspection. One company has taken this a step further by allowing anyone – even its competitors – to view an essential aspect of its supplier assessment process, all in the name of sustainability.

Bart King recently reported for Sustainable Brands on P&G's newest innovation in sustainability, its Supplier Scorecard Analysis Tool. The scorecard measures supplier improvement year over year on a number of environmental sustainability criteria, from hazardous and non-hazardous waste disposal to greenhouse gas emissions. Although the scorecard itself is not new, P&G has made news by making its tool publicly available, giving all companies a launch pad to more sustainable supply chains. The Excel spreadsheet, with instructions and rating criteria, is now available for download directly from P&G's website. The company has even gone so far as to offer a public webinar to anyone who is interested in learning more, complete with a live demo and tips for reapplying the tool to other businesses. And many may benefit from learning about P&G's sustainability efforts, as the company has saved nearly $1 billion in operational costs over the past 10 years.

There are no secrets when it comes to P&G's supplier sustainability scorecard. The company has put everything on the table with the hope others will follow suit. With this step, P&G has sent a message that environmental sustainability is important, not from a competitive standpoint, but for business and society at large.

We encourage your thoughts and comments. Continue the conversation on Twitter by using #WDYSF.