Today August 1, 2018, is Earth Overshoot Day which marks the date when all of humanity have used more from nature than our planet can renew in the entire year. An article on World Wide Fund For Nature’s (WWF) Danish site makes it clear that Denmark is no leader when it comes to protecting the
An open letter to the International Olympic Committee (IOC) and Tokyo 2020 Olympic authorities criticizes the Olympics for knowingly exploiting tropical forests and potentially fueling human rights abuses in the construction and implementation of the games. The groups are calling for full transparency and an end to the use of rainforest wood to construct the Tokyo Olympic facilities, including the new National Olympic Stadium.
John-Paul Maxfield of Colorado wants to be the Tesla of sustainable agriculture, but to get there he is making a living selling compost to marijuana farmers.
Heating a college campus with biofuel takes ingenuity, adjustments, and a commitment to sustainability. Have you been to Keene State College in NH lately?
Entering into a 37-year agreement with Dominion Virginia Power, the Department of the Navy (DoN) recently announced plans for a 21 MW direct current, or DC solar facility in Virginia Beach, Virginia. Following closely on the heels of a 10-year purchase contract for 25 MW DC for Naval Station Norfolk, the new DC solar facility
14 US mayors made a historic commitment last week to take action to reduce climate risks and protect the future of their communities. The Midwestern mayors, from St. Louis to St. Paul, Dubuque, and others, signed the The Path to Positive Proclamation to pledge their leadership, prepare for climate change, and promote solutions that advance
Seven billion dreams. One Planet. Consume with care. Those are the messages of today, which is World Environment Day everywhere. It’s the biggest day for positive environmental action! The United Nations declares this day every year to energize worldwide awareness and action for the environment. Stakeholders in over 100 countries celebrate through public outreach every June 5. This
Reinforcing its long-term commitment to sustainability and confidence in solar technology, IKEA officially plugged-in the largest rooftop solar array in Kansas. The huge solar array will support the recently opened 359,000 square-foot IKEA Merriam and its 1,200 parking spaces soaking up the rays on 19 acres along the eastern side of I-35 eight miles southwest
Originally published on InspiredEconomist.com On a mission to transform the globe “through ethical relationships with small-scale farmers, and an integral sustainability orientation at every point on the supply chain,” Alter Eco Foods has bitten off a big bite to chew on. But it sure looks delicious. Especially those chocolate truffles. Organic, fair trade truffles! In
Did you know that McKinsey & Co. has estimated that the world could save $2.9 trillion annually just by eliminating wasted energy? The following video explains how… and so much more!
{Note to the reader: this is my entry into the UNEP’s World Environment Day (WED) blogging competition, addressing the 2012 theme: The Green Economy – Does It Include You? After considering many examples of who the ‘you’ in the title could refer to, I’ve decided to hand over this blog entry to my GAIA (General
Public discourse surrounding the direction of national agricultural production seems to highlight one specific point of divergence. In one direction, mass supply, transportation, industrialization, and accessibility are the driving forces. In the other, sustainability, localization, organics, and environmentally conscious production are deemed most essential. With “advancements” in technology and a growing green movement, heated
Despite the disheartening defeats for environmental causes in the past year or so (with one recent exception: the upholding of the forest ‘roadless rule’), it is more than encouraging to learn that sound environmental management amongst many of our leading businesses has become a competitive arena…Yes, it’s true, really. Various business quality rankings such as
I’ve been involved in environmental activism in one form or another since I was a teenager. It’s what I studied for my bachelor’s degree and I always seem to come back to it in every field of work I engage in.
One of the biggest struggles for an activist such as me (and perhaps you) is keeping a balance. Not getting overworked, overwhelmed, or putting too much on my (your?) own shoulders.
Worldwatch report assesses U.S. sustainability record and calls for renewed innovation and leadership
I have spent hours researching how to turn my community green. I suppose I’m a little too anxious to create change. I went directly for who I should contact locally for changing laws and such. Again, I was reminded that all things take time. One of the first things pretty much every site said about community change was that you should form a group. And it’s true, there is great strength in numbers, so here’s how to go about it.
In recent years, environmental concerns have become greater than ever. Lots of us are recycling at home, but many businesses still believe that going green is difficult and requires a lot of hard work. In reality, there are several simple ways that businesses can go green and reduce their impact on the environment – as well as reducing their outgoings, since going green is all about minimising waste.
On the heels of their 125th anniversary, health care product and pharmaceutical giant Johnson & Johnson announced their ambitious five-year plan to move in a new sustainable and environmentally friendly direction.
In the quiet town of Putney Vermont, the Putney school teaches the value of sustainability. The new field house is the first net-zero, LEED Platinum certified school building in the country.
A group of leading scientists, economists and farmers, brought together under the leadership of John Reganold, a Washington State University soil scientists and lead author of a paper published in the journal Science, have called for a broad shift in federal policies to speed the development of farm practices that are economically, socially, and environmentally sustainable.
Jonathan T. Scott’s latest book, New Standards for Long-Term Business Survival, has just been published. As with his previous two books on sustainability, this book is very easy-to-read and is available as a free, 30-page, PDF document that explains what sustainability is, why it is important, and how sustainable practices are being successfully implemented in businesses around the world.
I had a chance to interview Jonathan prior to the book release, and discuss his many years of influential work in promoting sustainable business practices.
For those unfamiliar with the work of Wendell Berry (and for those familiar who may need a little refresher), he is David to the agribusiness Goliath. Berry works tirelessly to promote proper land stewardship, sustainability, and conservation and uses every opportunity to point out the drastic short-sightedness of our current path. A passage from his
I’ve got a love-hate relationship with politics, for sure. It can be extremely frustrating, especially given the ignorance and corruption dominating U.S. politics today. I have sworn myself off of politics in the past, but have come back around to it. One of the reasons I’ve done so is the clear need for the U.S.
Last August, Planetsave reported on voluntary changes made by maga-wholesaler Costco to its seafood procurement practices. Most notably, in response to a letter from concerned share-holders, Costco ceased the sale of seven types of fish currently at risk of collapsing from over-fishing (the Atlantic cod, Atlantic halibut, Chilean sea bass, orange roughy, shark, swordfish, and
This sounds absolutely wonderful. A green underground data center. Building its facilities underground, Helsinki is cutting its carbon emissions by huge amounts. Instead of using electricity to cool the computers in the data center, it is using sea water. Which is also used to provide heat to the city. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jXNyEiw28D0 Below Helsinki, Finland lies the
As the world’s economies continue to dig themselves out of the “Great Recession of ’08“, some are now looking to a rising stock market, a sputtering of new jobs, and an uptick in corporate profits (much of it from the same corporations that triggered the collapse in the first place) as signs of recovery. As
(From our sister site, Red Green and Blue) The US Department of Agriculture continues its unprecedented give-away to big agriculture monster Monsanto and its Genetically Modified (GMO) seeds. On Friday, while the media was preoccupied with the Superbowl and Egypt’s rioting, the USDA quietly announced it was deregulating Monsanto’s GMO sugar beets – despite a court
Remember AIDS awareness ads like the one above? Newspaper articles and PSAs were appearing with increasing frequency in newspapers and magazines in the early 1990’s. But that trend has been dramatically reversed, according to recent findings. In a survey of newspaper (broadsheet) content conducted by the Trends in Sustainability (TIS) Project, coverage of AIDS-related issues
Why our political and societal leaders don’t do more for the environment is a question many of us green bloggers face every day. There are a number of reasons for it, but one big one is that there isn’t the societal demand for such action. People don’t care that much. Sure, if you ask people
Water will become the most contentious and increasingly scarce resource. 3D modeling technology can help manage our most vital resource. This past summer the United Nations issued a declaration proclaiming access to clean water and sanitation as a fundamental human right. The declaration further advised that UN member states provide both financial and technological assistance for developing
As we all know, China is growing rapidly. It is focusing a lot on clean energy and other clean tech, but it is also using a lot of dirty energy and is consuming natural resources like never before. Some may not want to believe it, but the Earth has finite resources and finite abilities to
I was recently tipped off to an awesome website that documents real-world projects focused on both protecting the environment and saving money. Each story comes with a video, and website founder Susan Neisloss also provides resources on how to save/make money through such sustainable efforts in the videos and throughout the website. As far as I
President Bill Clinton got into the topic of trash at the 2010 Clinton Global Initiative recently. It is an important topic. We create tremendous amounts of waste these days, and much of it could be used in a constructive way, rather than polluting our planet. While some companies are trying to be greener and minimize
In this time of internet, cell phones, and iPhones, we have so much information at our fingertips, and so many options possible to us every second of the day, it can be a little overwhelming. While these tools have created great things and great opportunities, they also create a handful of problems. “Information overload” is
The unsustainability of constant economic growth and constant energy growth are topics I got into a bit in college (many years ago…), studying sociology and environmental studies. While I keep these issues in the back of my mind, I had not looked into them or thought about them in great detail for awhile… until recently.
Ecover, a leading company selling eco-friendly home cleaning products (and one of my favorites), is now 30 years old. In celebration of its 30th birthday, it is hosting a Thirty Under 30 contest. If you think you are living a super-environmentally-friendly life (and are between 18 & 29), you can enter the contest by filling
Costco has responded positively to its shareholders’ suggestions in a letter posted on its website last month. Costco has, as of 2009, voluntarily disclosed more information about its seafood suppliers.
Additionally, Costco has begun working with suppliers of farmed salmon to insure compliance with the Salmon Aquaculture Dialogue and will partner with the World Wildlife Fund to monitor Thailand’s compliance with the Shrimp Aquaculture Dialogue.
I’m going to start off this series with something probably a little unexpected. Before you get into specific, practical ways of going green, you have to have a good reason for going green in the first place. There are practical economic and health reasons on the personal level that definitely warrant going green. Additionally, there
Genetic barcoding is a technique that involves identifying segments of animal DNA (genomes) that are unique to each species. These unique genetic sequences are preserved in a database (the iBOL library) that anyone can access for free.
The key to achieving sustainable, global population growth, according to Doctor Hans Rosling in a recent TED Talk, is raising the standard of living of the world’s poor. But, isn’t a higher living standard correlated with increased use of energy and raw materials (the ‘factor 32’ effect) and thus bad for the planet? While the
Its official name is Strata SE1, and it’s the first “skyscraper” to integrate wind turbines into its original facade. The 42 story, energy-producing building is hopefully representative of a not-too-distant-future trend in large-scale, urban structure design and development.
Researchers Overpeck and Udall cite a litany of troubling trends to support their prediction: “soaring temperatures, declining late-season snow pack, northward-shifted winter storm tracks, increasing precipitation intensity (note: not total rainfall), the worst drought since measurements began, steep declines in Colorado River reservoir storage, widespread vegetation mortality, and sharp increases in the frequency of large wildfires.”
Farming has always been hard, and in the last 50 years has become incrementally harder with the need to make more, pollute less, satisfy everyone while still supporting yourself. All of this has to happen with increasingly scarce natural resources and the looming crisis of climate change and the effect farming is having on climate
In the guest post below, Lester R. Brown of the Earth Policy Institute discusses transforming our cities into more sustainable and more livable places. (Subheadings and pictures added.) by Lester R. Brown As I was being driven through Tel Aviv from my hotel to a conference center in 1998, I could not help but note
The UN’s Millennium Development Goal of ending global under-nourishment by 2015 will not be met, but a new set of “mega” initiatives are being implemented to achieve more efficient delivery of “research outputs” to speed agricultural development.
Since its inception in 2000, some 2500 companies from 60 countries have joined in on the Carbon Disclosure Project and begun reporting their estimated carbon emissions and other climate change related policies. This also provides a strong public relations incentive for said companies to set reduction targets and implement improvements such as stronger energy efficiency standards.
“To lead decent lives, at least two billion people are in dire need of more consumption, but extending American consumption patterns to even today’s 6.8 billion people is not only unsustainable but likely a biophysical impossibility.” — Paul R. Ehrlich, Stanford University
At least a dozen global food companies collaborate toward practical, cost effective solutions to reduce the climate impact of specific farming systems. [social_buttons] I happen to be a fan of the Sustainable Food Lab, which is a group of businesses, NGOs and academic institutions working together to accelerate the shift toward sustainable agriculture. I respect
