For the first time, the environment was prominent on the agenda of the Caribbean Hotel Industry Conference. It was standing room only at the Environmental Seminars in Nassau, Bahamas. There were workshops on waste management, energy efficiency, and green management. Technologies such as wind and solar power, recycling machinery and energy efficient lighting were featured at the trade show. FROM The Green Hotelier
Keep America Beautiful Inc. presented Ford with the 1998 Vision for America award which honors achievements in recycling and use of recycled-content materials and for innovative reuse of cast-off and scrap materials. Recycling initiatives established by Ford include a “Carpet to Car Parts” project, where recovered carpeting is screened, pelletized, and combined with virgin resin to make engine air cleaner housings for nearly 3 million vehicles annually. The company also uses 50 million recycled soda bottles each year to make grille reinforcements, door padding, and roof liners. Ford cars and trucks made in the U.S. and Europe are, on average, 75 percent recyclable. And Ford recycles its own tires, using them to manufacture ergonomic floor mats. FROM Waste Age’s Recycling Times
How environmentally conscious are the nation’s top 50 business schools? Almost nine in 10 have one elective course in environmental management – but only 16 percent have integrated the topic into core requirements. Only 21 percent offer a degree in environmental management (as a dual degree with natural resources or forestry). Those are the findings of a study by the Management Institute for Environment and Business (MEB), a program of the World Resources Institute. The study ranked eight schools as offering the best environmental focus: George Washington University New York University (Stern) Northwestern University (Kellogg) University of Michigan University of North Carolina/Chapel Hill (Kenan-Flagler) University of Tennessee/Knoxville University of Virginia (Darden) University of Washington To order the report, Grey Pinstripes With Green Ties: [sorry this link is no longer available] To see the survey results: [sorry this link is no longer available] FROM Business Ethics
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Keep America Beautiful Inc. presented Ford with the 1998 Vision for America award which honors achievements in recycling and use of recycled-content materials and for innovative reuse of cast-off and scrap materials. Recycling initiatives established by Ford include a “Carpet to Car Parts” project, where recovered carpeting is screened, pelletized, and combined with virgin resin to make engine air cleaner housings for nearly 3 million vehicles annually. The company also uses 50 million recycled soda bottles each year to make grille reinforcements, door padding, and roof liners. Ford cars and trucks made in the U.S. and Europe are, on average, 75 percent recyclable. And Ford recycles its own tires, using them to manufacture ergonomic floor mats. FROM Waste Age’s Recycling Times
Over 400 of Habitat for Humanitys 1500 affiliates have signed up for the Green Team, a new program that provides education on energy efficiency, indoor air quality, and sustainable building design. How a house is built is largely up to the particular affiliate. Were trying to provide information that is volunteer-friendly, affordable, and that enables them to conserve energy without hatcheting up costs, explains Graham Davis, Green Team director. The plan is to build all Habitat homes to EPA Energy Star standards. At a recent five-day blitz-build in Houston, all 100 homes were built to the standards. After affiliates are up-to-speed on energy efficiency the Green Team will expand to alternative building materials such as strawbale. They also promote job site recycling; at a recent blitz build they recycled or reused sheet rock, scrap lumber, aluminum and vinyl. Source: Environmental Design & Construction
There are now more than 10 million hectares of forest independently certified to meet the Forest Stewardship Councils (FSC) criteria. And in only two years after the first certification body was accredited. More than 115 forests in 25 countries meet FSCs standards. The largest area of certified forest is in Sweden. The 3.3 million hectares there are owned by AssiDoman. Muzama Crafts in Zambia owns 1,273,700ha. Notes FSCs executive director Tim Synnott, Many companies enrolled when it was clear FSC was on a roll, thats why the area of certified forest doubled in the first half of 1998. There are 3,000 certified wood products available. One of Europes largest forest owners, SCA, recently secured FSC-endorsed chain-of-custody certification for a UK paper mill. The World Wildlife Fund announced a new target – 25 million hectares by 2001. In the U.S., Scientific Certification Systems (a certifier) has seen requests for chain-of-custody certifications triple in the last year. Debbie Hammel, program director, observed that two years ago, there was more supply than demand for certified products. Now the situation is reversed and demand is easily outstripping supply. For a listing of companies that sell certified products: [sorry this link is no longer available] […]
Over the next few months, 250 people working in the Canadian Governments Office of the Auditor will receive training in The Natural Step (TNS) to raise awareness of sustainable development. “Our objectives are to stimulate auditors to think about their work in the context of the 4.5 billion years of evolution of planet Earth, and, hopefully, to encourage them to think systemically about sustainable development with the help of the four system conditions of The Natural Step, says Ron Bergin, a Board member of TNS Canada and a Director on the Commissioner of Environment and Sustainable Developments staff. Collins Pine, a certified wood products company, and Norm Thompson Outfitters have trained 600 and 200 employees respectively. In September, Nike launched its environmental policy at a rally for 2,000 employees, where they announced the integration of TNS into their employee education programs. As a result of TNS, Nike announced its intention to eliminate PVC from its products. Bornt Family Farms, one of the oldest and largest organic farming operations in the U.S., trained its entire management team. Interface is in the process of training every staff member through One World Learning, its coaching and consulting company. One World Learning: Nicole Armstrong […]
The Energy Outreach Center, a nonprofit organization based in Washington State, has established an Internet-based building materials exchange system available for use by governments anywhere. The Reusable Building Materials Exchange operates as a bulletin board where users can post materials they have available or are seeking. Local government offices or solid waste jurisdictions can subscribe to the service for a sliding scale fee, depending on the population. There are four counties in western Washington using the system so far. There seems to be an even balance between available and sought materials, across a wide range of categories. Among the available materials is used pressure-treated wood – since reuse may be the only environmentally viable way to handle this material, this listing shows the value of such exchanges. Contact Paul Horton, Energy Outreach Center: [sorry this link is no longer available]
After building several pilot projects using green building principles, the U.S. Navy has made such practices policy. The Naval Facilities Engineering Commands Whole Building Guide defines sustainability, details the principles involved, and lists 14 criteria to use when evaluating architectural and engineering firms, including energy-efficient design, life-cycle analysis, and indoor air quality. The first pilot, in 1993, was a $19 million, 156,000 square foot conversion of the Washington D.C. Naval Yard, Building 33. Through improvements such as increased insulation and efficient lighting they reducee the chiller size and amount of ductwork. These savings paid for other improvements. Building 33: [sorry this link is no longer available] Source: GreenClips
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