Switching to a Green Economy Could Mean Millions of Jobs
Tens of millions of new jobs can be created around the world in the next two decades if green policies are put in place to switch the high-carbon economy to low-carbon, the UN has said.
Sustainable LED Technology Outshines Incandescent Bulbs
What’s practical, runs on electricity, and lasts 20 years? The answer is “almost nothing.” In 20 years our current cell phones, iPads, GPS locators, routers, computers, laptops, stereo receivers, and their cordless cousins will all have given up the digital ghost just a few years hence. The lucky ones will live again, reincarnated by emerging…
Corporate Social Responsibility: Ethical Corporate Practices Sustain Higher Profit Margins
When profits ruled corporate policy As baby boomers, we grew up in an era that celebrated our pioneer heritage and revered the naive view of America as a boundless land of plenty. Major industries like manufacturing, mining, logging, and agriculture reaped big profits through generations of minimal regulation under limited state, regional, and federal oversight.…
Hybrid Car Owners Aren’t Driving New Sales
Hybrid owners place loyalty on short term savings when shopping for their next car. Recently pundits for NPR’s Marketplace Sustainability Desk announced a marked downtrend in hybrid vehicle purchases among green car owners who opt to return to standard combustion cars. Citing a survey from auto consultants, R.L. Polk, Marketplace’s discussion focused on findings demonstrating…
Press Release by ACEEE: Massachusetts Overtakes California as #1 Energy Efficiency State
The American Council for an Energy-Efficient Economy released its fifth annual ACEEE State Energy Efficiency Scorecard today. California, four time top-ranked state in energy-efficiency, was beaten out by Massachusetts this year. New York State, Oregon, and Vermont finish up the top five states in rank order. The 10 states most in need of improvement (starting with dead last)…
2011 Eco-Maverick Honorees Announced
Celebrity co-founder Adrian Grenier and founder Peter Glatzer will be honored for their innovative approach to raising awareness about the environment at the 5th Annual Opportunity Green Business Conference in Los Angeles this November. The Eco-Maverick award is given each year to a prominent celebrity for using their influence and exposure to promote sustainability issues…
UN Report Calls for Immediate Gains In Cleantech and Sustainable Agriculture
Over the next three to four decades, humankind must bring about a fundamental technological overhaul of production processes worldwide to end poverty and avert the likely catastrophic impacts of climate change and environmental degradation, the United Nations says in a new report. Major investments will be needed worldwide in the development and scaling up of…
The Lowdown of Labeling
By Valerie Kosheleff Still unsure what “natural”, “biodegradable”, “compostable” or “ecofriendly” truly mean? No worries, so is everyone else. Fortunately, 2011 shows great promise for integrity in environmental labeling. Not only has the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) taken steps this past year to revise its Guides for the Use of Environmental Marketing Claims (called Green…
Just Color San Diego Algae Green in Research
If you’re thinking about going solar, well, in a way, you already have. Most of the energy we use on Earth was created by the sun. Oil, coal, natural gas, wind, hydropower, even the heat from a wood-burning stove. (Big exceptions are nuclear and geothermal power.) By relying on fossil fuels, we’ve built a civilization…
Global Warming Clues from Melting Glaciers
TASIILAQ, Greenland — With a tense pilot gripping the stick, the helicopter hovered above the water, a red speck of machinery lost in a wilderness of rock and ice. To the right, a great fjord stretched toward the sea, choked with icebergs. To the left loomed one of the immense glaciers that bring ice from…