Planetsave

What’s it like to live in an off the grid straw bale house, use solar power, grow your own food, and collect rainfall from your roof? What if your father was a famous actor turned green activist? Nick News documents the lives of kids living alternative, ecological lifestyles in their new A Kid Off The Grid television program. The show features three kids’ stories from Dancing Rabbit Ecovillage in northeastern Missouri, a sustainable off the grid community, and that of Hayden Begley, daughter of Ed Begley Jr., the popular environmental celebrity.

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In a controversial statement, leading environmental campaigner Jonathon Porritt has said that couples who have more than two children are being ‘irresponsible’ by creating an unbearable burden on the environment.

Porritt, Chair of the UK’s high-level Sustainable Development Commission, has urged world government’s to consider adopting widespread contraception and abortion policies as a vital component of strategies to reduce global warming.

Speaking about his views, which are sure to raise an eyebrow or two amongst liberal thinkers, Porritt said, “I am unapologetic about asking people to connect up their own responsibility for their total environmental footprint and how they decide to procreate and how many children they think are appropriate.”

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A startling new WWF study has revealed that people living in Hong Kong currently use twice as many resources as residents in China, more than double the sustainable level.

To feed the vibrant city’s massive demand for natural resources, and absorb the CO2 emitted, residents need an area of land and sea larger than 250 Hong Kong’s, an incredible seven-fold increase since 1965.

According to Mathis Wackernagel, Executive Director of the Global Footprint Network, “Although small geographically, Hong Kong not only has significant resource demands, but it also has an over-proportional influence on the world.

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In October, Steve Jobs issued this statement in response to Greenpeace’s call to stop using toxic PVC plastic and brominated flame retardants:

Last year we announced the unprecedented goal of eliminating polyvinyl chloride (PVC) and brominated flame retardants (BFRs) from Apple products by the end of 2008. I’m proud to report that all of Apple’s new product designs are on track to meet our 2008 year-end goal.

As it turns out, Macworld came around and this promise has been broken. And Greenpeace is pissed.

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This holiday season, you can save a cloud forest, adopt a tiger and remove 1 ton of CO2.  Although none of it will fit in a box or under the tree, Changing the Present makes all these things possible by giving consumers access to a variety of charitable initiatives so that they can give the gift of hope, health and happiness for a world in need.

Some perks include not having to go near a crowded mall, finding something for everyone on your list, and no lines, returns or exchanges.  Best of all, you’ll be making a tangible difference in the world with the cause of your choice, and it’s something that will last long after the latest retail trends fizzle out.

Changing the Present features more than 1,500 meaningful charitable gifts that users can browse by cause or nonprofit to find the perfect gift for friends or their own charitable giving.

Building on a commitment to changing the social norm when it comes to gift giving, and seeking to spark positive change in the world, Robert Tolmach, CEO of WellGood LLC, spearheaded the team that implemented this important effort, and was kind enough to share more details about the program with me in a one-on-one chat about the future of giving.

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Repeatedly, you’ll hear or read the same suggestions as to what you can do to prevent global warming. Big media sources typically suggest very simplistic things like changing your light bulbs to compact fluorescents, buying a hybrid car, or unplugging appliances when they’re not in use.

But you want to make a real difference.

You are not content with the mainstream media’s advice, because you know that there are bigger things to be done, more dramatic actions to be taken to stop climate change from wrecking further havoc upon our precious ecosystems. Here I will share with you some of those bigger solutions that big media won’t tell you.

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In a recent Businessweek article, Kim Jeffery the CEO of Nestlé Water North America, makers of Poland Spring waters, whines (yes, whines) that they are misunderstood and not given the credit they deserve.  Clearly he thinks all the charges of greenwash are unfair.

But, are they? The article tells of all the environmentally preferable things that they had done but that no one knew about.  The article then goes on to say:

Part of the reason Nestlé Waters wasn’t touting its environmental efforts, according to Jeffery, was that he and the rest of management considered such actions business as usual.

Yes! That’s the point. the “green” things Nestlé were doing were part of normal business operations, many of which saved the company lots of money. Are they good for the environment? Of course. But that’s not really what greenwashing is all about. Its about consumer marketing. This is where the real greenwashing occurs. Before I go on, I want to say that I truly applaud the industry for implementing eco-bottles. That said, it seems to be a blatant case of greenwash to position bottled water as being good for the environment. Water companies should tout eco-bottles, but they shouldn’t suggest that they are good for the environment. They should sell the water, not the the environmental friendliness of the packaging. I would like to ad, that Nestlé is not the worst offender of greenwashy bottled water ads and their ad campaigns are far less offensive than those for Fuji Water and Deer Park.

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A new study has found that commercial birds raised for eggs and meat are missing more than half of the genetic diversity found in native chickens, possibly increasing a vulnerability to new diseases and raising serious questions about the sustainability of the poultry industry.

Yikes. We’ve all heard stories about the Irish Potato Famine, what has been called Ireland’s “biggest catastrophe.” We’ve learned that a lack of biodiversity among potato crops in Ireland at that time was a major factor in that disastrous event.  What if the same thing were to happen to the poultry industry?  Scientists warn that with the way the industry has evolved, this is all too possible.

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Convicted murderer Robert Knowles stands in the morning sunlight, composting food scraps from the chow hall and coffee grounds from the prison Headquarters.

“It’s nice to be out in the elements,” he says, as he stirs the dark, rich compost that will assist the soil at a small farm where he and other inmates of the Cedar Creek Corrections Center work.

Inmates of the facility, 25 miles from the Washington State Capital, raise bees, grow organic tomatoes and lettuce, and compost 100 percent of food waste.

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In what is being called the “the most ambitious private sector drive yet” to go green, Wal-Mart told hundreds of the chain’s top Chinese suppliers this week that the store intends to raise standards and “green” its supply chain.

You read correctly.  At this week’s “sustainability summit,” in Beijing,  Lee Scott, Wal-Mart’s CEO,  told top Chinese suppliers that the chain “intends to use its market power to get more than just low prices.” At the gathering: Procter & Gamble, FedEx, Kimberly-Clark, Coca-Cola and Rubbermaid.

The Financial Times called the summit “the most ambitious private sector drive yet to reduce waste and pollution in China’s export-focused manufacturing industries.”

“Our environmental footprint is primarily through our supply chain as a company,” says Matt Kistler, head of Wal-Mart’s global sustainability efforts. “So we have the ability to really build a world-class, better quality, better value supply chain.” Read the rest of this entry »