Nike Inc. is turning old athletic shoes into shock-absorbent playground surfaces across the U.S. through a joint venture with Surface America. Nike is manufacturing “Nike Grind”, a combination of recycled shoe and tire rubber.
A recent paper released by the World Resources Institute adds to the growing literature which links environmental and financial company performance, thus to shareholder value. Once this connection is clearly shown, institutional investors and investment advisors will be more likely to consider environmental performance in their investment decisions. “Green Shareholder Value: Hype or Hit?” can be freely downloaded: [sorry this link is no longer available] Contact the author: Don Reed mailto:donr@wri.org
A coalition of more than 60 organizations is pressuring the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) to strictly enforce and improve securities law which requires corporations to file significant environmental material expenses. The Corporate Sunshine Working Group includes a wide range of organizations including money management firm, Kinder Lydenberg & Domini, United Steelworkers of America, and Friends of the Earth. “Our objective is to for the SEC to uniformly enforce their environmental accounting regulations and create more clarification for existing rules,” says Sanford Lewis, an attorney and co-chair of the Corporate Sunshine Working Group. Under current regulations, inappropriate threshold reporting requirements often mean environmental problems may not be reported to shareholders. SEC requires disclosure of all environmental proceedings which are material to the business or financial condition of the registrant. Environmental organizations believe this requirement allows corporations too much leeway in interpreting what is financially material when it comes to disclosing environmental liability and cleanup costs to shareholders. Source: Environment News Service (ENS): [sorry this link is no longer available]
The majority of Englands leading restaurants are backing a campaign which would impose a five year ban on genetically modified food and crops, enough time to evaluate their impact on health and the environment. Shaun Hill, Chef and Proprietor of Merchant House in Ludlow, Shropshire says, “Like many restaurateurs I am very concerned about the introduction of genetically modified food. There are just too many question marks hanging over this new technology. I care about food quality which is why I avoid using GM ingredients. It’s about time the government learned from the mistakes of the past and stopped people messing about with our food.” Source: Natural Life: http://www.life.ca
Even if the worst predictions don’t come to pass, many people view the Y2K bug as an opportunity to get to know your neighbors, plant a community garden, and get connected to solar power. Utne reader has produced the “Y2K Citizen’s Action Guide” to help people organize their community and neighborhood – a good step toward sustainable community. Chelsea Green has also published a book, Y2K And You which explains why there may be interruptions in essential services and guides you through the easy steps that will provide for your home’s basic needs. Utne’s guide: [sorry this link is no longer available] Chelsea Green: http://www.chelseagreen.com/Y2K/index.html
The Ideal Sustainable Home will be constructed for public view at Sustain ’99, the World Sustainable Energy Fair, May 25-27, in Amsterdam. It will be fully equipped with the latest innovations to demonstrate that clean energy and energy efficiency are affordable and offer a higher standard of living. The house will feature PV, solar water heating, passive glazing, and combined heat and power, as well as many energy saving techniques, including a low-water washing machine and a rainwater collection system. Furniture and fittings will be produced from sustainable wood and other materials. The architecturally designed house will be built in the exhibit hall by one of the largest construction consortiums in The Netherlands, NBM-Amstelland. The house will be re-located afterward to the major housing project at Leidsche Rijn near Utrecht. Source: Environmental Design & Construction http://www.edc-mag.com
17 member groups of the Sustainable Energy Coalition sent comments to Vice President Al Gore, urging the Administration to set aggressive goals in its draft executive order for using energy efficient and renewable energy technologies in federal buildings. The groups recommend the “Federal government should lead the nation in reducing carbon emissions by setting a government-wide goal of 20 percent below 1990 baseline by 2010.” They propose that by 2005, 10 percent of Federal facilities’ electricity come from renewable energy (including hydroelectric up to 30 MW), increasing by 1 percent each year thereafter, such that, by 2020, 25 percent of the Federal energy supply is from renewable sources. They suggest EPA Energy Star standards be used for all products for which such standards have been set or, where not available, products that are either in the upper 25 percent of energy efficiency or at least 10 percent more efficient than minimum levels” be purchased. The Sustainable Energy Coalition is a coalition of 36 national business, consumer, environmental, and energy policy organizations founded in 1992 to promote improved energy efficiency and renewable energy technologies. Contact: Ken Bossong: kbossong@cais.com
Development of solar, wind, geothermal and tidal energy will be given priority by the Chinese government, expanding on the 300 million tons of coal equivalent that provides 25% of national primary energy consumption. China has 7,000 hydro stations, five million square metres of solar heaters, six million square meters of fixed solar panels, 40,000 square meters of solar-heated greenhouses and 140,000 solar-heated stoves. There are 160,000 small wind turbines and 15 power plants with large turbines from Denmark, the Netherlands, and the U.S. Ten tidal power stations have also been built.
The Regional Environmental Center for Central and Eastern Europe (REC) is accepting grant proposals from eastern European NGOs on the topic, “People in Nature.” The goal of the project is to encourage environmental projects which give central and eastern Europeans an understanding of nature. The deadline is March 1, 1999. REC: epinguli@rec.org http://www.rec.org
Situated more than 2300 miles from the mainland, Hawaii faces unique challenges when it comes to marketing its recyclables. “The state has never had much of a manufacturing base – the main economic base is agriculture, then tourism,” says John Harder, solid waste coordinator for the state’s Dept. of Health. “Most of our materials go to Asia, but with the downturn there, we are seeing slumps in our fiber market.” Most of the western U.S. states don’t want Hawaiian recyclables because they too, ship recyclables to Asia. Small, local markets are growing in Hawaii. Aloha Plastics on Maui manufactures plastic lumber from local plastic. Another company on Oahu is pulping recovered newspaper and making cellulose insulation and hydro mulch. The state is also making inroads in using recovered glass as glassphalt on highway projects. Hawaiian Cement in Honolulu has found a use for crushed glass in concrete applications. “One advantage to using recovered glass is that Hawaii imports 80,000 tons of silica sand for golf course applications and sandblasting, at a cost of $100 a ton.” FROM Waste Age’s Recycling Times
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