SustainableBusiness.com News Today the Obama administration moved the federal government closer to its goal of cutting petroleum consumption 30% by 2020 and putting 1 million advanced vehicles on the road by 2015. President Obama issued a Presidential Memorandum ordering federal agencies to develop guidelines for 100% purchasing of alternative fueled passenger vehicles and light-duty trucks by 2015.…
The following case study is part of a project by MPA students at the Presidio Graduate School on information management technology and policy. You can read the rest of the series here. By Evelyn Lee In the US, the tourist industry routinely generates more than $10 billion a month in trade surplus and is consistently listed…
SustainableBusiness.com News New solar installations and energy efficiency projects are expected to save a Silicon Valley school district $3 million dollars next year- enough to cover the salaries of 30 teachers. And over the life of the projects, the East Side Union High School District expects to save about $43 million. At a time when the school…
From Bicycling Magazine: From fatter wallets to smaller waistlines, more Americans than ever are discovering the benefits of cycling to work: According to the League of American Bicyclists, bike commuting in the U.S. increased 44 percent from 2000 to 2009. Thinking of joining the pack? Get started with the following tips, excerpted from Bicycling Magazine’s Big…
It takes a lot — perhaps a minor miracle — to put more than a thousand people in a celebratory mood at 7:30 a.m. And apparently, a public discussion with Bill Gates about climate change and its solutions is just such an occasion. This week, the former Microsoft chief and current philanthropist and head of…
A discerning locavore might have questions about their origins, but a new study suggests those concerns are somewhat misplaced. It is a veritable maxim of the modern environmental movement: To help heal the planet, eat local. If only it were that simple. A growing number of studies, including one recently published in the journal Environmental Science…
Kraft Foods, the packaged food and snack giant — which includes such household brand names as Oreos, Triscuits, Ritz, LU, Maxwell House, Kool-Aid, Chips Ahoy, Jell-O, Cadbury products, Oscar Meyer, Nabisco, & Kraft macaroni and cheese products – announced this month that they will be increasing sustainability goals for the 2010-2015 period. In addition to…
A new study casts aside the supposition that younger consumers are more eager to buy environmentally friendly products than older ones. Results show shoppers in the 18-to-34 demo are “slower to embrace” behavior where they would pay more for eco-friendly products than in age groups 35 to 44 and 55 to 64. Overall, nearly 25%…
With floodwaters swelling the Mississippi River to historic levels and rivers nationwide at risk from gas drilling, sewage pollution, and other threats, NGO American Rivers today released its annual list of America’s Most Endangered Rivers. The Susquehanna river, which provides drinking water for more than six million people, is the most endangered river in the US – a…
by Sami Grover, Carrboro, NC, USA on 05.17.11 Image credit: Chuck Coker, used under Creative Commons license. It’s become common to talk about “kicking the oil habit“. Even the oil-industry friendlyGeorge W. Bush accepted that America was addicted to oil. Given our deep dependence on fossil fuels for our economic well-being and way of life, not to…