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The Spanish environment ministry released Spain’s first national forest strategy since 1957. It includes proposals to launch a reforestation programme and to create a national council to oversee forest management and produce an annual report on the state of Spain’s forests. The strategy will likely be approved within a year in consultation with regional governments, environmental groups and forest industries. Forests cover just over half of Spain’s land area, which is high by European Union standards, but eight percent suffers from soil erosion. World Wildlife Fund/ADENA is concerned that only five percent of its forests have sustainable management plans and the new strategy does not specify how new initiatives will be funded.
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The Green Schools website offers teachers, students, and school administrators information on combining energy education with real energy savings. [sorry this link is no longer available]
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Headed by Sainsbury of the UK, seven European supermarket chains from six countries formed a consortium to jointly source non-genetically modified (GM) food ingredients and additives. The European Union supermarket association, Eurocommerce, called this a move of “major significance.” “Many of our customers clearly want to choose GM-free food,” a Sainsbury spokesperson said. “We decided we could only be sure of eliminating GM derivatives by tracking ingredients all the way from the farmer’s field to the supermarket shelf and we would only get the buying power to do this by working together with supermarket chains in other European countries.” The supermarkets will make direct, long-term agreements with farmers who guarantee non-GM crops, and track them right through the production process. Sainsbury is examining foods containing soy oil and lecithin, neither of which yield to scientific testing for the presence of GM material. They will eliminate product lines when they cannot find alternatives to GM foods, including milk and meat products produced from animals fed on GM food. The other supermarkets are: Marks and Spencer (UK), Carrefour (France), Effelunga (Italy), Migros (Switzerland), Delhaize (Belgium) and Superquinn (Ireland). British food retailer, Iceland, reported a nine percent sales increase for one week when […]
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How should corporations respond to calls to take wider responsibility and demonstrate accountability in the social arena? The World Business Council for Sustainable Development has released “Meeting Changing Expectations,” its first report on corporate social responsibility. Its case studies illustrate best practice examples. It was created through dialogue with business and its stakeholders including representatives from labor, academia, church, indigenous people, government, and NGOs. Christine Elleboode: elleboode@wbcsd.ch Download in PDF (lots of others too): [sorry this link is no longer available]
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How should corporations respond to calls to take wider responsibility and demonstrate accountability in the social arena? The World Business Council for Sustainable Development has released “Meeting Changing Expectations,” its first report on corporate social responsibility. Its case studies illustrate best practice examples. It was created through dialogue with business and its stakeholders including representatives from labor, academia, church, indigenous people, government, and NGOs. Christine Elleboode: elleboode@wbcsd.ch Download in PDF (lots of others too): [sorry this link is no longer available]
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In the first year of California’s competitive electric market, more than 50 percent of all residential power switches, or about 100,000 households, have been to green power marketers. Power marketers are thus shifting their focus from selling the cheapest electricity to the greenest blend possible! Public and private organizations are contributing to the shift: Patagonia, Toyota, the City of Santa Monica, and seven Episcopal churches have fueled the green power bandwagon. The result: almost 500 MW of new wind, geothermal, biomass and landfill gas capacity is being added. In a 1000-person survey conducted by the Yankee Group, 25 percent of respondents said they would select an environmental organization as a power supplier if offered the option. Over half of all utility customers in the U.S. would switch to a green power supplier if offered a 10-15% discount in cost. [sorry this link is no longer available]
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From biobased paints, inks and chemicals to biofuels and renewable construction materials, the Carbohydrate Economy Clearinghouse provides one-stop shopping for information on the latest developments in this new materials economy. It is produced by the Institute for Local Self-Reliance, a nonprofit that provides technical assistance and information on environmentally sound economic development strategies. The clearinghouse includes information on hundreds of plant matter-derived products and the companies who manufacture them. Some of the topics it covers from this emerging green economic sector are: industrial uses for biobased chemicals, the state of the industrial hemp industry, and why ethanol may be increasing its market share. [sorry this link is no longer available] ILSR: [sorry this link is no longer available]
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A study by the Council on Economic Priorities, a nonprofit research organization that rates companies on social/environmental responsibility, gives Mitsubishi and Honda top marks as the manufacturers of the most fuel-efficient car lines, but ranks them as the overall worst performers in clean manufacturing operations. The report, “The Worst and Best Auto & Tire Companies,” shows that Mitsubishi generates 21.6 lbs of toxic pollutants per vehicle at its Normal, Illinois manufacturing plant, more than four times the emissions of the cleanest plant, a Chrysler facility. Paradoxically, manufacturers of the most fuel-consumptive and polluting vehicles have the cleanest factories. The study also ranks tire manufacturers’ production processes for their overall environmental quality. Michelin has the most polluting production process and Bridgestone/Firestone, has the cleanest. Read the report: http://www.cepnyc.org
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4,638 organic farmers participated in the survey. It gives an overview of the most common organic management strategies and examines constraints and challenges to organic production. Organic Farming Research Foundation: research@afrf.org
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Corning Inc.’s new 900/2 catalytic converter enables car manufacturers to reduce emissions by as much as 70 percent over current national standards, allowing them to meet the U.S. Super Ultra Low Emission Vehicle (Super ULEV) standards, which begin in 2004. Automobile manufacturers may begin using it as early as this fall to reduce fleet-average emissions of automobiles, trucks and sport-utility vehicles. A substrate coated with a precious-metal catalyst is positioned at the core of the catalytic converter. Untreated exhaust gas passes through the substrate, where it reacts with the catalyst and is converted to harmless gases and water vapor.
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