Monthly Archives: May 2011
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What BP Could Teach Bill Gates About Sustainability
About 10 years ago, I wrote an article about the role brands could play in driving social responsibility. My argument was that social change was needed on a massive scale, but that the institutions that had addressed societal ills in the past — government, religion, education, even the family — were no longer trusted. Therefore, brands were the only forces capable of changing human behavior.
Sprint Establishes First-in-Industry Product Stewardship Policy
Last week Sprint announced a long term plan on how the cell phone carrier will handle the handsets it sells from product design to the end of their use.
Atlantic Bluefin Tuna: Wild, Farmed, or Neither?
The bluefin tuna is one of the world’s most endangered fish. Weighing up to 1000 pounds, the fish are majestic, sport incredible torpedo shaped bodies, and socialize in enormous schools–which also makes them vulnerable to large-scale fishing operations.
Despite the Cost of Virgin, Recycling Rate for Rare Metals is Very Low
Less than one percent of 34 rare metals studied in a UN Environmental Program (UNEP) report are recycled. Less than a third of 60 metals studied have end-of-life recycling rates above 50 percent, but less than one percent of 34 rare metals are recycled. Overall recycling rates are “discouragingly low,” according to the report. Lead, [...]
Compostable Packaging Company Will Open Manufacturing Plant in South Carolina
In a move that illustrates how quickly the parameters of sustainability are evolving, the company Be Green Packaging, LLC is moving ahead with plans to manufacture its compostable food packaging products in South Carolina. The company has purchased a factory in Ridgeland, and the operation will focus squarely on the company’s triple bottom line strategy. [...]
43 “Green” Companies Called out for Anti-Environmental Stance
A GreenBiz article asks, “Can a company take on sustainability initiatives — and promote their green credentials — while also lobbying behind the scenes to halt, slow or weaken environmental legislation?” That question is one that the 43 major companies on the board of the National Association of Manufacturers (NAM) need to answer. NAM, the [...]
Tips for Using Biofuels in Your Corporate Fleet
Converting a corporate fleet to biofuels is one way to reduce emissions, and improve your corporate social responsibility. Biofuels are not a panacea by any means, but can be locally grown, locally processed, and are completely renewable, helping to break your company’s addiction to oil. For smaller companies looking to do biofuels for deliveries, sales [...]
Capitalism: Can Long Term Thinking Overcome Quarterly Earnings?
By: Kate Shaw Capitalism, as we currently understand it, is failing and has been failing for some time. Just as we adapted our wings, we need to adapt our understanding of capitalism and the framework within which it functions. First we assume that the last several decades have viewed capitalism as it is defined by [...]
Equal Exchange, Fair Trade Execs on Certification, Consumption and Change
By Becky Eisen, MBA Student at the University of Maryland, Smith School of Business; President, Smith Net Impact Chapter As Leslie Lammers put the finishing touches on Organic Eggs Not Created Equal, Says New Scorecard, I spent the day at the Just Means Certification, Consumption and Change Conference at the National Press Club in Washington DC, listening [...]
New Jersey Leaves the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative
New Jersey Governor Chris Christie (R) announced that his state is leaving the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative (RGGI), a cap-and-trade scheme involving 10 northeastern states. During a press conference, Christie called the RGGI a “failure,” and claimed it is “not effective in reducing greenhouse gases and is unlikely to be in the future.” He described [...]
Best Buy Switches Off Electric Motorcycles
Recently Best Buy decided to cease the sales of most battery powered bikes and scooters after committing to them for over two years as part of its sustainability strategy. So what happened?
Food Giants Get Behind Sustainable Egg Farming – of a Kind
The Coalition for Sustainable Egg Supply (CSES) has just provided a $6 million grant for a study of the sustainability of hen housing systems at egg farms. While the word “sustainable” conjures up images of optimal free range conditions, the specific focus is on three kinds of housing systems at commercial egg farms. That makes [...]
HP Manufactures One Billion Recycled Plastic Ink Cartridges
HP’s recently released CSR report touts a variety of accomplishments worthy of praise. The company has manufactured over one billion ink cartridges that contain some degree of post-consumer recycled plastic among other things. For example, HP replaced the 100 percent virgin fiber in HP consumer photo paper with 100 percent recycled fiber that contains a [...]
Common Points of Confusion on California RECs
By: Adam Gerza, Founder/Principal of Leaf Exchange LLC So what exactly is a Renewable Energy Certificate (REC)? A REC is essentially the right to say that “I made one megawatt-hour of clean electricity happen.” Another way to think about it is that a solar system has dual outputs: (1) generic electricity or electrons, (2) REC [...]
Ripple Q Founders Discuss a Revolution in Workplace Culture
Produced by Penina Eilberg Schwartz and Amy Benziger The following audio interview is the first of a series brought to you by the HUB Bay Area – a 3p partner. The audio is produced in partnership with Storycorps. [soundcloud url="http://soundcloud.com/hubbayarea/hub-stories-rippleq-storycorps"] Listen to Ripple Q founders talk about how their company will revolutionize workplace culture via [...]
Facebook’s Mark Zuckerberg Kills His Own Food
Mark Zuckerberg is making waves lately. He was named TIME magazine person of the year and he has managed to create, in the span of seven years, a social network that transverses the entire globe. It is said that if Facebook was a country it would be third largest only behind China and India. He’s [...]
Zynga and Dreyer’s Give Farmville Players a Real Life Farm
Farmville, the widely used Facebook game, is moving players’ hands off the computer keyboard and into some real, non-virtual dirt this summer. On June 13, Farmville’s top winning competitors will have the opportunity to travel to Farmville, VA and plant a real fruit orchard. The creation of this new orchard is to acknowledge the branded [...]
No Concessions from Chevron on Ecuador
Among the developments this week at Chevron’s raucous annual shareholder meeting—some surprising, some not so—was the oil company’s continuing refusal to settle an $18 billion lawsuit over oil pollution in Ecuador. A letter from New York state comptroller Thomas DiNapoli and several investor groups urged Chevron to settle case, which has dragged on in various [...]
Tougher Fuel Economy Standards Could Add 236,000 California Jobs
A new report released this week on fuel economy and emissions standards for the state of California concludes that the idea there is a necessary trade-off between environmental goals and economic growth is a fallacy. It comes at a time when there is much deliberation over vehicle standards by both the NHTSA and the California [...]
Kohl’s Is the Largest Retail Host of Solar Power In North America
Kohl’s released its first CSR report this week, which highlights its sustainability accomplishments in 2010. One of Kohl’s biggest achievements is in its use of renewable energy. The department store chain is the “largest single retail host of solar electricity in North America,” according to the report. In 2007, Kohl’s entered a 20 year power [...]
Geostellar Takes the Guesswork Out of Planning a Solar Installation
Along with a steady stream of cheaper, more efficient solar technology, the solar industry is beginning to offer a growing number of tools that let prospective customers calculate their potential savings more accurately. Virginia-based startup Geostellar is one such example. The company has developed a type of high resolution computer modeling it calls Big-Data Geomatics [...]
Coca-Cola, Gates Foundation and Others Team Up to Give South American Recyclers Dignity
The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, Coca-Cola Company, Funación Avina, Inter-American Development Bank (IDB), and Multilateral Investment Fund (MIF), launched a coalition that aims to improve the lives of the at least 4 million people who make a living off of recycling.
Project Aura: Lighting the Way to An Upsurge in Bike Commuters?
I have the good fortune of living in Portland, Oregon, where I bike commute daily. In a recent article it was reported that a former car dealership is soon opening as a 10,000 square foot bike shop and that other bike shops in town are expanding. A sign of the times or something Portland specific? [...]
How CSR Yields Higher Investment Returns With Lower Risk
This post originally appeared on alrroya.com By: Ron Robins When I started my career as an investment analyst in 1970, the idea that a company’s environmental and social activities would be important in helping predict its future financial and stock performance was seen as largely irrelevant. Well, not anymore! Inclusive of governance issues and abbreviated [...]
Remotely Green: Why Working from Home is the Ultimate Green Move
By Phil Green Are you looking for a green career? Well, join the club. Many workers these days are on the lookout for ways to enrich the environment while they enrich their bank accounts. Some of the most sought-after jobs nowadays are those in the renewable energy industry or those where a direct positive affect [...]
First Dubai Chamber CSR Label Conferred
In September of last year, the Dubai Chamber of Commerce launched a CSR label to increase the profile of responsible business. The idea behind the label is to allow the companies to grow internally and to take their CSR practices to the next level through self evaluation and then as the next step, to provide evidence [...]
Expanding the Availability of Sustainability Data
We know a lot about the sustainability performance of about 5,000 large companies. We know something about the sustainability performance of another 16,000 smaller companies and organizations. But, our world economy includes millions of economic entities. How can we get data on their social and sustainability performance?
What Green Innovators Can Learn From Luxury Toilets
This article first appeared in Huffington Post By: Marc Stoiber I’m a creative director with a passion for innovation, brands and sustainability. When I write, it tends to be on topics that touch on all three. It’s a fascinating space, with no shortage of inspiration. So I was a bit surprised to get a note [...]
SC Johnson Commits to Sourcing Sustainable Palm Oil
SC Johnson announced earlier this week that it will purchase 100 percent sustainable palm oil by 2015. The company uses palm oil in many of its household cleaning products as a stabilizer. Palm oil is grown on huge plantations in tropical regions, and is in 50 percent of all consumer goods. Approximately 85 percent of [...]
DOE Funds Nevada Solar Project Worth $737 Million
Energy Secretary Steven Chu announced a $737 million loan guarantee from the Department of Energy (DOE) for the Crescent Dunes Solar Energy Project. The project is being developed by Tonopah Solar Energy, LLC, a subsidiary of SolarReserve, LLC. The project is located 14 miles northwest of Tonopah, Nevada on 2,250 acres leased from the Bureau [...]
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