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Why would the world’s largest manufacturer of modular carpet be interested in systems thinking and education for sustainable living? An InterfaceFLOR executive says it’s essential for business leaders to address the technical as well as the softer side of sustainability when greening a company.
In a town where green building is latest rage among mega resorts and gaming palaces, the Las Vegas Sands Corporation has upped the ante on eco-friendly development and business operations with the launch of a sustainability program for its properties in Vegas and beyond.
With the launch yesterday of the company’s latest and most energy efficient 32-nm processors, hardware manufacturers and data center managers got a big boost in their green IT efforts.
Tropicana is shrinking its most popular size of orange juice by five ounces due to freezes in January that put the squeeze on orange crops.
Two awards recently bestowed on companies and organizations around the globe highlight new levels of sustainability for fish and fowl alike.
Three years before Walmart announced it would squeeze 20 million tons of greenhouse gas emissions from its supply chain, the retailer rolled out its Supplier Energy Efficiency Program with the goal of helping its suppliers save electricity and money, in turn bringing down the price of products.
Japan’s business leaders are focused on cutting emissions, though they have about the same level of a roadmap as Americans; their neighbor to the southwest, however, has quickly moved into the spotlight as a challenger, and potentially an economic threat.
Companies in the greater Miami area can win a $4,000 greening package as part of an effort to raise awareness about green office practices among small and medium businesses.
Procter & Gamble is reformulating its Herbal Essences shampoos to reduce the amount of a carcinogenic chemical in them.
Aid to Artisans, a nonprofit group helping economically depressed artists generate sales from products created with local materials, also ensures the environment benefits from its endeavors.
The organization’s first project, started in Honduras more than a decade ago, involved recycling corn husks that even the pigs wouldn’t eat, said President Clare Smith. The husks were used to create wreaths and flowers that were then adorned with clay cherub figurines.
From these raw materials grew a thriving industry employing more than 600 villagers. Eventually, an export company owned by the local Hondurans was formed.
“The environment is a consideration in all our projects — it’s always a stipulation,” Smith said. “People are a part of the environment, so we try to integrate the two so everyone benefits.”
In Bangladesh, Aid to Artisans is developing a project to make paper products out the water hyacinth and another weed that clog many of the country’s rivers. However, the group must be careful not to create too large a demand for the paper.
“You have to be sensible,” Smith said. “While these plants now clog many rivers, if you had a big run on the paper, you could cause problems because a certain amount of the plants is needed to purify the water.”
Because of the delicate balance between creating economic opportunities and protecting the environment, Aid to Artisans develops relatively small-scale projects. Projects are currently under way in Jordan, Ghana, Mexico, Hungary, Bangladesh, Nepal, Tibet, Guatemala, Ecuador and Indonesia.
Aid to Artisans first sends designers to work with the local people in developing marketable products, then brings the products to the New York International Gift Fair, held twice a year, to take orders. The next step is to locate appropriate importers for the various product lines to create steady demand.
In 1990, the Mexican government created a reserve in a cloud forest along the Pacific coast, angering a local community which could no longer expand its coffee plantations by cutting down the forest. Ecologists who came to tell them about the law were threatened.
Aid to Artisans helped the community start painting T-shirts with images of birds and animals common to the cloud forests. A market for the shirts was created and now the community makes a living without continuing to destroy the cloud forest.
“We believe that what we do has to be suitable to both the people and their environment,” Smith said. “There’s an infinite number of things we can do to help save the planet — little by little.”
For more information about the group or to become a member, write to: Aid to Artisans, 80 Mountain Spring Rd., Farmington, CT 06032. Or call (203) 677-1649.
Earth Fact: Through the Aid to Artisans project in Honduras, more than 200 different products have been brought to the U.S. market.
Technorati Tags: environment benefits, save the planet, protecting the environment, cloud forest
The billionaire’s new NGO, Carbon War Room, puts the global shipping industry’s massive carbon footprint under the spotlight, and spread the word about simple ways to shrink its impact.
Support for green construction and LEED certification dipped slightly in 2009 but remains strong across the past three years despite the recession, according to the latest green building survey by Allen Matkins, Constructive Technologies Group and the Green Building Insider.
This survey of more than 1,600 design and construction professionals in the U.S. charts their latest perceptions and practices regarding green building — and compares them to attitudes and activities before and during the Great Recession.
This slideshow from Cisco Systems outlines some of the steps the company has taken to save $24 million per year as part of its sustainable packaging pilot.
With the chorus of business leaders calling for comprehensive climate rules appearing to grow louder, the face of potential legislation continues to shift as Congressional leaders work to build bipartisan support.
Engagement is the mot du jour today. It’s being pitched as a new religion, buoyed by the social media wave; however, behind all the hype is a remarkably simple concept: If you need help, ask.
We hear it all the time: “It’s the young people we need to target! They’ll buy anything green.” In fact, they do a lot of talking, but are only just starting to buy green products and change their behaviors
The final installment of our three-part series on transparency explores how organizations must walk the line between an unhealthy and unsustainable obsessions with quarterly earnings results and an unmanageable expectation of ‘accountability to everyone.’
The latest industry rankings from Tomorrow’s Value Rating looks at fossil fuel firms and finds that, despite solid leadership in innovation, the 10 largest companies are failing to take action on a number of environmental issues.
This report outlines the ways that broadband technologies and smart grids can create jobs, save individuals and businesses money, and cut the national carbon footprint.
More than three million U.S. citizens are expected to descend on local parks and schools with brooms, shovels and garbage bags over the next three months as part of the Great American Cleanup, an initaitve of Keep America Beautiful (KAB). Allowing workers to participate in volunteer activities helps to cultivate skills prized by many companies, such as ability to work as part of a team and self-direction, according to KAB’s president.
A new project from a California college aims to map how far the various ingredients in your taco-truck lunch have traveled to reach your plate.
This report from the U.N. Environment Programme looks at the growth of e-waste generated by and sent to developing nations, and suggests ways to reduce the health and environmental impacts from discarded electronics.
British restaurants have come together to establish an association aimed at improving their reputation for poor environmental performance.
The desire to be environmentally friendly and the promise of saving money through improved efficiency were cited in a recent survey as the most significant drivers for companies to reduce their greenhouse gas emissions.
To many children, pizza ranks as their favorite food on Earth. Now an environmentally correct pizza aimed at helping them save the Earth is available at natural food stores across the country.
Tree of Life, the nation’s largest distributor of organic foods to the natural food industry, introduced its new Pizza Power Pack in March. Pizza is the second product marketed under the company’s Small World brand, following the success of its Animal Grahams organic cookies.
Small World pizzas are made entirely with organic ingredients, said John Rowland, product development manager. Packaging used for the product is a recycled paperboard made from old newspapers and printed with soy-based inks. Also, the St. Augustine, Fla.-based firm donates 2 percent of all wholesale dollars to the Rainforest Action Network.
To help educate their young customers, as well as parents buying the product, the company includes an ecosystem card in each package of pizzas. Each fact-filled card features a color photo of an ecosystem and map of the world showing where it exists. Each card also explains what ecosystems are, how they work, why they’re in trouble and how kids can help.
“The idea is to educate children about Earth’s ecosystems. And the wonderful thing is the kids eat it up,” Rowland said. “They are very much in tune with the environment — much more so than adults. It has amazed us how ecologically minded they are.”
Small World Animal Graham cookies, introduced in 1990, set the tone for the pizza packaging. Each box of cookies contains an endangered-animal card instead of an ecosystem version. Each animal featured on a card matches one of the 10 cookie shapes. The cards also tell children and their parents how to learn more about organizations working to protect endangered animals.
Two percent of the wholesale dollars raised through the cookie sales is donated to environmental groups like the the African Wildlife Federation. And like the pizzas, Small World cookies also are made entirely with organic ingredients.
“By using organic supplies, we’re helping support sustainable agriculture and eliminating the use of artificial fertilizers, pesticides and herbicides in the ingredients we use,” Rowland said.
Pizza was chosen to follow up the Small World Animal Grahams because the company already distributed the main ingredients — organic bread, cheese and tomatoes, he added.
“We knew kids liked pizza and we had all the ingredients,” he said. “It was a natural fit.”
More Small World foods are in the planning stages. Anyone interested in the products should visit their local natural food store. If they don’t carry the Small World brands, ask them to call Tree of Life.
Earth Fact: There are approximately 9,000 natural food stores in the United States.
Technorati Tags: ecosystems, organic foods, environmentally correct pizza, packaging, sustainability
The new Bloom Energy Server was touted far and wide last week as a game-changing fuel-cell device. We talked to some of the first owners of ‘Bloom Boxes’ to find out why they made the $700,000 purchase — and whether it’s right for your firm.
New rankings from Tomorrow’s Value Rating gives the three firms high scores for their sustainability leadership, embrace of innovation, and drive toward sustainable supply chains. AT&T and Verizon finish last in the rankings.
There is much to learn from Toyota’s grief. As automakers set out to release innovative vehicles, they will do well to remember the past few weeks. With consumer perception such a powerful force, stakeholders in the electric vehicle industry know they can ill afford such a crisis.
Rather than the usual two-minute forum on green topics at Apple’s annual meeting, today’s gathering in Cupertino focused on environmental issues like never before — although the company still has a ways to go to prove its commitment to the planet.
