Berry good business: companies--too long poor stewards of the planet--can have their juice and drink it, too.

A long Rids sunny Copacabana and Ipanema beaches, Brazilians and tourists for years have been able to buy an icy, deep-purple drink made from an Amazon berry known as acai. Some nutritionists sing its praises as a sure way to lower cholesterol, fight heart disease and boost energy. "The miracle berry" as some promoters have called it, has such famous fans as Brazilian supermodel Gisele Bundchen, British rocker Sting and U.S. tennis star Andre Agassi. Today, acai is increasingly available in U.S. health food stores, fitness gyms, some mainstream groceries and at Jamba Juice, a 500-store chain in 26 U.S. states and at Booster Juice, a 110-store Canadian chain.

But the better news is that acai marketers are competing among themselves to sell a product that encourages sustainable farming in Brazil's Amazon rainforest. They represent a new breed of executive, one who in the era of globalization strives to be a good corporate citizen. These businessmen are well aware that the enduring popularity of other Amazon products such as rosewood and some kinds of hearts of palm have made them endangered species. Since 1978, cattle ranchers, subsistence and commercial farmers and loggers have destroyed more than 530,000 square kilometers of the world's largest rainforest. "It's a rare opportunity for business to take something from the rainforest in an economically low impact, sustainable way," Alton Johnson, CEO of Bossa Nova Beverage Group, told me.

Bossa Nova, a Los Angeles company, recently teamed up with Rainforest Alliance to help finance the preservation of one Amazon tree for every bottle of acai sold. The two groups have also agreed to sell fruit certified by the Forest Stewardship Council, an international organization that promotes responsible management of the world's forests. The dark berry, which its promoters say is rich in antioxidants, iron, calcium, vitamins A, C and E, is handpicked from palm trees.

In San Clemente, California, a company known as Saving and Managing the Brazilian Amazon (Sambazon) is bypassing usurious middlemen to buy acai directly from poor farmers, who also agree to designate part of their land as an ecological reserve. And Nu Fruits of Australia buys acai only from sustainable forestry programs and donates part of its proceeds to fund a school near an acai processing plant.

"Big business always looks at the bottom line, but this goes beyond the bottom line" says Cheryl Roth, co-founder of Organic Works Marketing, a New York public relations firm that represents Bossa Nov& "They are pushing the envelope in a lot of different directions to save the rainforest. It is something you can feel good about."

Okay, the nascent U.S. acai industry is tiny, an estimated US$2 million a year. Bossa Nova's Johnson says it could be "years down the road" before acai catches on outside Brazil. "People can't even pronounce it now," he says. Johnson, who changed careers after tasting acai while working as a sales executive for Harmon International in Silo Paulo, predicts the Amazon fruit "could be huge business" as part of the growing $2 billion a year U.S. energy drink and $11 billion natural-foods markets, the latter projected to reach $30 billion annually by next year. Acai in powder and chewable tablets is already available over the Internet. Vitasti, a Canadian beverage company, recently began promoting an acai-flavored water and granola cereal.

If the demand does skyrocket, Ana Paula Tavares, the Brazilian deputy director of Rainforest Alliance in New York, will be there to gauge the environmental impact. "We want to make sure that products like acai that become fashionable are not over-harvested, like palm hearts and rosewood" she says. "This is all very timely. If you read the front pages, it's about global warming and deforestation. People don't want to promote a product from the Amazon without saying they are protecting the region. And people who want something from the Amazon also want to protect it."

Too often, the notion of corporate responsibility falls to the side of donations to charity or, worse, public relations "cover" for plain old misbehavior. It's fine if a bank wants to give money to a scholarship fund for poor kids, quite another ff a tobacco company or fast food operation hopes its check for cancer research is enough to make up for years of mis-marketing their products as safe. The better strategy by far is to find businesses and business models that actually do good, not try to make up for social problems after the fact.

The CEOs of these three companies are showing a respect for people, their communities and the environment. These are among one of the brightest stars of global free trade.

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