One World, Cooperatively
There's a strong connection between September 11 and the world's growing environmental mega-crises - the unchallenged power of private capital, acting unilaterally in a multi-lateral world.
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Mercedez-Benz Made From Coconuts?
The northern Brazilian state of Para is in the largest contiguous tropical rainforest in the world, four times the size of Germany. To protect the rainforest, it’s critical to build a sustainable economy for the 42 million people that live in Brazil’s rural areas. It starts with coconuts. There’s a well established market for coconut milk and meat there, but the shells are discarded or burned, adding to the pall of smoke hanging over rainforest land cleared for subsistence agriculture. In a small way, that situation is changing as the unlikely partnership between a tiny Brazilian nonprofit group and one of the world’s biggest auto giants, DaimlerChrylser, is getting those coconut shells out of the waste stream. In the small community of Praia Grande on idyllic Marajo Island off Brazil’s northern coast, 10 workers are employed by the modest, low-tech factory that processes the coconut fiber, turning it into headrests and seat padding for Mercedes cars and trucks. There are eight facilities like the one on Marajo Island, and together they keep 900 farm families at work gathering the coconut husks. The project began in 1991, with the creation of Program Pobreze e Meio Ambiente na Amazonia (POEMA), which uses […]
The Safety- Sustainability 'Connect'
One thing Ecos Corporation - a leading sustainability consulting firm - learned from the September 11 terrorist attack is the strong connection between safety and sustainability.
New Social Investing Reports
Globalization and Sustainable Development: Opportunities and Challenges for the Financial Services Sector, a UNEP Finance Initiatives Roundtable report. It covers implications for the insurance sector, lending banks and asset management, innovative approaches to environmental management and reporting in financial institutions, and microfinance as an opportunity for the financial services sector. fi@unep.ch“Sustainable and Responsible Investment Strategies: A Guide for Fiduciaries and Institutional Investors” is a new guide from SRI World Group to help institutional investors incorporate social, economic, and environmental factors into the investment process. It explains how institutional investors – representing about approximately $7 trillion in assets – can capitalize on market opportunities and generate social and environmental benefits for their participants. Strategies analyzed in the guide include corporate governance, proxy voting, shareowner resolutions, screening, and best-in-class investing. www.ishareowner.comAmy Domini, one of the originators of social investing, has published a book, Socially Responsible Investing: Making a Difference and Making Money. She shows readers how to evaluate companies to invest in as well as methods of investment.
New Green Building Websites
Achieving a green building demands a holistic approach, far beyond a little recycled plastic decking here, a few solar panels there, and a coat of low-VOC paint, says Steven Winters Associates, organizers of a new web site, the Whole Building Design Guide. Its producers hope to educate designers in environmentally sound design and simplify access to criteria and standards. www.wbdg.orgAnother site, Roadmaps to Energy Efficiency, is a step-by-step guide to retrofitting commercial properties to improve energy efficiency and reduce operating costs. There are three ways (RoadMaps) to do it: do it yourself, hire an energy consultant firm, or work with an energy service company. Case studies and calculators demonstrate the benefits that have been achieved in buildings throughout the country.http://energyroadmaps.org
Renewable Energy Resources
Want help in accessing the financial aspects of a renewable energy project? RET Finance (Renewable Energy Technology Financial Model) is an online calculator that simulates a 30-year nominal dollar cash flow for a variety of renewable energy projects. You can calculate project earnings, detailed cash flows and debt payments, based on your assumptions. It also computes the cost of electricity for a project, after-tax rate of return, and debt service coverage ratio. You an create several scenarios and save or send them. http://nrel.communityzero.com/retfinanceThe new version of RETScreen International – used to evaluate energy production, lifecycle costs and greenhouse gas emissions – is online. It can be used for off-grid, grid-connected and water pumping projects. [sorry this link is no longer available]Whether you’re a solar do-it-yourselfer or want to get into the profession, S??nergy provides an on-line course for you. Online offerings include PV, Passive Solar Design, Environmental Building Design, Wind & Water Power, Solar Hot Water, Solar Cooking and Drying & Water Purification. [sorry this link is no longer available]A new report, Solar Generation, concludes that solar power could provide energy for more than 1 billion people, creating over 2 million jobs by 2020, and 26% of global energy needs […]
The PAPER Project
It's easy for magazines to use recycled paper and the costs keep going down.
Center For Environmental Leadership in Business Launched
Conservation International and Ford Motor Company have joined to create the Center for Environmental Leadership in Business. A five-year, $25 million contribution from the Ford Motor Company Fund supports the effort, which engages the private sector to create solutions to global environmental problems. The Center concentrates on industries with the greatest environmental impact and those with the potential to bring about positive environmental change – agriculture and fisheries, forestry, energy and mining, travel and leisure, transportation, manufacturing, and financial services. The goal is for industries to replicate proven best practices around the globe. Some of the initial projects are: * Water Conservation. The site of a Ford Motor Company manufacturing plant in Sonora, Mexico, will be used to develop replicable business practices and public policies that conserve water resources, enhance water quality, and protect watersheds in critical ecosystems. * Natural Resource Development. Industry and environmental leaders are developing best practices for oil, gas and minerals exploration and development. * Food and Agriculture. Leaders in the food and beverage industry are developing sourcing guidelines to conserve ecosystems affected by global agriculture.* Tourism. Tour operators are developing conservation principles for day-to-day operations environmental criteria for suppliers. http://www.celb.org
A New Marshall Plan? Advancing Human Security and Controlling Terrorism
Finding the terrorists should be part of a much more ambitious campaign - a New Marshall Plan, exhorts Dick Bell & Michael Renner of the Worldwatch Institute.
Dow Jones Sustainability Index Turns Two
The newly re-named Dow Jones Sustainability World Index (DJSI World) is two years old and is on its way to fulfilling its mission as a carrot for sustainability. Each year, the Zurich-based SAM Group analyzes the 2,500 largest companies in the Dow Jones Global Index looking for cream of the crop of companies that meet sustainable business criteria – the top 10 percent of each industry group. A year ago, the index consisted of 236 companies around the world. This year, the number of companies increased to 312 – 62 industries in 26 countries. SAM credits this increase to a greater interest among companies in incorporating sustainable business practices. ” It is encouraging to see the progress different sectors and companies made during the last twelve months,” says Ivo Knoepfel, Head of Index Research at SAM. ” The increasing level of sustainability competition creates value for the companies and for investors.” Alcoa and Starbucks are new additions to the index this year. Placer Dome, a Canadian mining company and Bethlehem Steel have been dropped. New indexes will be added to the Dow Jones Sustainability Indexes family. Dow Jones Indexes, SAM Group and STOXX Limited just launched a regional index that […]
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