1999 Shareholder Resolutions

Shareholder activism has been gaining ground, with the number of resolutions coming to vote increasing by almost 20 percent from 1997-1998. Some of the important votes in 1998 were: After two years of pressure, Sara Lee withdrew from the tobacco business. Anheuser Bush, GTE and Phillip Morris pledged to halt use of racist stereotypes in advertising, ending the use of the Cleveland Indian’s mascot “Chief Wahoo.” Coca-Cola endorsed the CERES principles, which commit the company to improve environmental performance, produce environmental corporate reports and engage in dialogue with shareholders. Ford agreed to implement the Macbride Principals on Northern Ireland. Resolutions planned for 1999: Human Rights: resolutions at Boeing and Allied Signal for adopting human rights criteria for doing business in China, and at Chevron, Sun and Texaco in Nigeria. Franklin Research & Development is hoping to stop Coca-Cola from doing business in Afghanistan due to tremendous problems there. Labor: Chrysler, Ford, GM, Johnson & Johnson, and Allied Signal will be asked to adopt global labor standards for their factories and suppliers. Environment: Exxon, Amoco, Texaco, Chevron, Ford, GM, Southern Company, and Reynolds Metal will be asked to report on the emission of greenhouse gases from their products and plants, and […]

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Nicaragua to Get Sustainable Forestry Funds

Reforestation and land rehabilitation in some areas of Nicaragua most affected by Hurricane Mitch will get a jump start from the Sustainable Forestry Investment Promotion Project, a $9 million credit approved by the World Bank. Certification of sustainable forestry practices is a primary aim of the newly funded project. “Unless a good market for forestry products can be developed, trees will continue to be looked upon as obstacles to agriculture, and be cut down or burnt down, since they present no economic benefit for the landowner or shifting cultivator,” says Paola Agostini, environmental economist of the World Bank and task manager of the project. A national forestry policy strategy will be created with relevant governmental agencies, the private sector and civil society. A grants program will finance pilot projects for private and communal forestry entrepreneurs. At current rates of deforestation, the remaining areas of productive broadleaf forests will be eliminated in only 10-15 years. Source: Environment News Service (ENS) [sorry this link is no longer available]

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The Other Food Group: Pesticides!

The Environmental Working Group has an interactive website which allows you to enter the food you eat and find out the Unsustainable businesses you support. The powerful search engine matches your food selection against more than 90,000 government lab test results for pesticides in food. You can select a full day’s worth of meals and find out what pesticides you ate, or select a single item like an apple. The program matches it with the results of 2,500 batches of apples tested for pesticides by the US Department of Agriculture. You can voice your concern through emails to supermarket chains, food companies, and Washington. And it just might give you the impetus to support the Sustainable organic industry. This website gets 5 stars. http://www.foodnews.org

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Edison Invests in PV

Southern California Edison, a regulated subsidiary of Edison International, is one of three major investor-owned utilities in California and has experimented with solar for several decades. In 1998, Edison International formed a unregulated subsidiary called Edison Technology Solutions to meet the needs of emerging competitive energy markets. One of its goals is to aggressively assist the PV industry in bringing cost-competitive products to the marketplace. Edison is partnering with the California Energy Commission and U.S. DOE to educate the public about PV. The company plans to put panels on 100 schools in southern California by the end of 2000; presentations to science classes will inform students about what’s happening on their rooftops. To reach the public at large, they are setting up highly visible systems at tourist attractions like the Santa Monica Pier and the Long Beach Aquarium, where millions of people visit each year. Edison is installing so many systems, that they have matched SMUD, the industry leader (see Business Activism). An electronic kiosk at each of the sites will teach the public about PV. The Santa Monica Pier installation is complete, with a 50-kW array running a Ferris wheel. The 660 solar panels started generating electricity in October. […]

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Employers Can Reduce Pollution & Promote Mass Transit

Thanks to a change in federal tax law, commuters have new options to reduce pollution and be compensated for taking mass transit to work. Employees are eligible to receive tax-free transit passes and can be reimbursed for sharing a ride to work. For years, employees were able to get tax-free commuter benefits only if they took advantage of free or subsidized parking at work, but not if they commuted by transit, car-pool, bicycle, or foot. Under the new law, employers can give commuters travel vouchers for the local transit system and reimburse employees for ride-share expenses. Another option allows up to $780 per year of an employee’s gross income (tax free) to be used for transit and ride-share expenses. The law also allows for a combination of the two approaches in which the employer and employee contribute toward the cost of transit. Employees can save 25-35 percent on the cost of commuting this way. Association for Commuter Transportation: 202-393-3497 mailto:acthq@aol.com FROM Co-op America Quarterly

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Wild Oats is a Model for Mainstream Supermarkets

A recent Food Marketing Institute summit focused exclusively on natural foods and highlighted Wild Oats Community Market as a model to follow. 40 mainstream retailers attended, proof that the natural foods industry is no longer a niche market. The conference goal was to help mainstream grocers and pharmacies gain market share with shoppers seeking one-stop shopping to meet all of their health-related needs. “We believe the whole health concept is going to be the major driver of the supermarket industry in the next few years,” said Roy White, executive director of the General Merchandise Distributors Council’s educational foundation. One roundtable discussion promoted the idea of hiring produce, health and beauty care, and natural foods category managers, as well as nutritionists and “earth people” to lend credibility to the store image. Attendees included: Bergen Brunswig Drug Co., Bristol Myers Squibb, Food Circus Supermarkets, Nabisco, Pfizer, Pratt Foods, Procter & Gamble, SUPERVALU Pharmacies, and Wegmans Food Markets. Source: Natural Foods Merchandiser: [sorry this link is no longer available]

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Worldwatch Releases Millennium

In this millennial edition of its yearly sober overview of the “State of the World”, Worldwatch, shows us how we can create a sustainable economy in the next century. “Satisfying the projected needs of eight billion or more people with the economy we now have is simply not possible,” says Lester Brown, president. “The western industrial model – the fossil-fuel-based, automobile-centered, throwaway economy that so dramatically raised living standards in this century – is in trouble.” “No challenge is greater, or more satisfying, than building an environmentally sustainable global economy, one where economic and social progress can continue, not only in the 21st century, but for many centuries beyond,” Brown concludes. Another Worldwatch release, “Mind Over Matter”, chronicles the growing movement toward “dematerialization” as a solution to the “unparalleled waste that characterizes this century.” Worldwatch: http://www.worldwatch.org

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Reinventing Waterland: Dutch Farmers Change the Landscape for Wildlife's Sake

Dutch farmers, aided by federal subsidies, now stake out canals for wildlife, using willow branches instead of old cars and washing machines. Farmers and residents are becoming aware of the agricultural threats pervading these verdant fields: pesticide runoff, increased development, fragmented wildlife habitat, and intensive crop growing, which leaves little room or fodder for wild animals. Ferdinand Ex of Amsterdam’s Environmental Planning Department says, “In Waterland, farmers are in charge of the nature reserves and get paid by the government for protecting the area and wildlife.” Says M. De Gier, a biodynamic farmer, “We’ve developed a program where animals, people and nature are the three tenets of protection. 450 farmers of the 600 in Waterland are members, and each gets a task, depending on what they can do. One example is a farmer flooding part of his land to make a pond for birds during migration stopovers. The lapwing has been helped tremendously by this.” Most of the farms consist of low-cropped grasses for dairy grazing; they are no orchards or bird-friendly crops. 70 percent of endangered redshank birds and 80 percent black-tailed godwits breed in the Netherlands. Farmers search for the birds breeding in their fields, and mark the […]

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Solar Incentives in California

SMUD (Sacramento Municipal Utility District) offers customers the opportunity to purchase rooftop solar PV panels through their PV Pioneer II Program. Units are net metered; any excess power is sold back to the utility. and on days when the PV panels can’t meet a household’s demand, the customer buys the additional energy from SMUD. SMUD will “buy down” over half the cost of the system. A typical 2-kilowatt system generates enough energy to offset about half the annual energy needs of a household and costs under $4500 through SMUD (total cost is over $10,000). A financing program to provide a loan is also available. In Los Angeles, the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power has started a $1.2 million Residential Photovoltaic Program. It will install 125 PV rooftop systems on customer homes in 1999. Six 75-watt modules will be placed on the roof, providing about two-thirds of the energy needed for a typical home. Interested people are encouraged to contact them to find out if the roof meets specifications. The PV program has been successfully tested on six homes. SMUD: riwasko@smud.org [sorry this link is no longer available] FROM Solar Today

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An Opportunity For International Accomplishment: Ozone Hole

By 2050, the ozone layer is likely to return to the condition it was in before 1970, when freon was first used, according to the Scientific Assessment of Ozone Depletion 1998, by the World Meteorological Organization and the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP). The predicted recovery depends, of course, on fully implementing the Montreal Protocol, including its ultimate goal of a total ban on ozone-destroying chemicals in the 165 countries that are parties to it. The U.S. has kept its commitment to ban CFCs and developing countries will begin phasing out the chemicals this year. Unfortunately, one of the riders passed for this year’s U.S. budget postponed the phase-out of methyl bromide until 2005. CFCs already in the stratosphere will peak at about 2020 before gradually declining. FROM E Magazine

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