Sustainability

Ecopreneurist commends innovators for their entrepreneurial spirit—publishing news and helpful tips for social and sustainable entrepreneurialism. Discover new green products and services for the Lifestyles of Health and Sustainability (LOHAS) demographic, and get branding and marketing advice for starting a...

SPRU (Science and Technology Policy Research) at the University of > Sussex (UK) is pleased to offer two DPhil positions, available to start > in October 2008. > > The two doctoral positions are part of a larger ERC-funded research > programme titled: ‘/Destabilisation of sociotechnical regimes as the key > to transitions towards sustainability/’. > > The successful applicants will receive a [

To lots of companies, sustainability can seem like a pretty exotic exercise. This perception can make it hard for us to convince clients and colleagues about the benefits of green building. That may not have to be the case. 'Tackling...

SPRU (Science and Technology Policy Research) at the University of Sussex is pleased to offer two DPhil positions, available to start in October 2008. The two doctoral positions are part of a larger research programme led by Professor Frank W Geels and funded under a prestigious first round grant from the European Research Council.The title of the research programme is: ‘Destabilisation of socio

Rio Tinto Alcan and the International Business Leaders Forum have announced that the $1 million Rio Tinto Alcan Prize for Sustainability (formerly known as the Alcan Prize for Sustainability) is now open for entries. The prize is open to all not-for-profit, nongovernmental, and civil society organizations based anywhere in the world that are working to advance [...]

Hewlett-Packard's commitment to corporate social responsibility dates back to the 1930s, but until just a few years ago, customers didn't seem much interested, according to Michelle Price of HP's Imaging and Printing Division. On the final day of Sustainable Brands '08, Price told attendees that the computer giant is ready for its sustainability close-up. "Until recently, our customers were

Report consists of three basic parts as required by the relevant sustainability report methodology, i.e., Financial, Social and Environmental sections, and presents key indicators in each of these three pillars.Read more...

Škoda Auto has today issued its 2007/2008 Sustainability Report. The document is a third report describing the environmentally-friendly and socially responsible policies of the Czech Republic's largest car manufacturer. The Report consists of three basic parts as required by the relevant sustainability report methodology, i.e., Financial, Social and Environmental sections, and presents key indi

Sustainability & Community Relations ProfessionsBarrickLocation: Tanzania, Papau New Guinea, TorontoLast Date: June 15, 2008Email: applyafrica@barrick.comBarrick is a leading international gold mining company, with a portfolio of 27 operating mines and seven advanced exploration and development projects, located across five continents. The Company is committed to responsible mining and is seeking

Ubiquitous Sustainability: Citizen Science & ActivismWorkshop at the 10th International Conference on Ubiquitous Computing(UbiComp 2008)Call for Papers21 September 2008, Seoul, South KoreaIn this workshop we want to explore new approaches to bring about real environmental change by looking at the success of empowering technologies that enable grassroots activism and bottom up community partici

In 1999, Sustainable Asset Management (SAM) teamed up with Dow Jones Indexes to launch the Dow Jones Sustainability Indexes (DJSI)—the first benchmarks tracking the performance of sustainability leaders on a global scale....

Last year on my visit to Srilanka, I had the chance of witnessing the work of the great Geoffrey Bawa. It was one thing to read about his architectural aptitude (and see his work on paper) and quite another to actually see what it means to tie modernity within the roots of a rich architectural culture. Unique to his work, one of his earliest buildings, a courtyard house built in Colombo for

AB Volvo has today published its Sustainability Report for 2007, which is available on Volvo Group’s website. Volvo Group has published environmental reports since 1990 and up until today the Sustainability Report has been a part of the Annual Report. For 2007, however, the sustainability performance is presented in a separate report, and the composition of [...]

Sponsor’s Content: The Green Workplace: Sustainability in the OfficeResearch indicates a clear connection between a company’s sustainability practices and the price of its shares. What’s not so apparent is whether it’s just a feel-good idea or actually good for cash flow. addthis_url = 'http%3A%2F%2Fwww.drewryonline.net%2F%3Fp%3D512'; addthis_title = 'Sponsor%26%23

Research indicates a clear connection between a company’s sustainability practices and the price of its shares. What’s not so apparent is whether it’s just a feel-good idea or actually good for cash flow. See headlines and more here……. addthis_url = 'http%3A%2F%2Fwww.drewryonline.net%2F%3Fp%3D510'; addthis_title = 'Sponsor%26%238217%3Bs+Content%3A+The+Green+W

Sure, the pictures are nice. But in-depth sustainability reports are more than good PR. They provide better information to stakeholders and rich data to guide wiser management decisions. See headlines and more here……. addthis_url = 'http%3A%2F%2Fwww.drewryonline.net%2F%3Fp%3D491'; addthis_title = 'Sponsor%26%238217%3Bs+Content%3A+Earth+in+the+Balance+Sheet%3A+Sustainability+Re

Living Green: A Practical Guide to Simple Sustainability (Paperback)By Greg Horn Buy new: $14.95$10.4671 used and new from $3.22 Customer Rating: First tagged “cleaning” by Julie Wade Customer tags: green living(13), sustainability(10), [...]

Research indicates a clear connection between a company???s sustainability practices and the price of its shares. What???s not so apparent is whether it???s just a feel-good idea or actually good for cash flow. See headlines and more here……. addthis_url = 'http%3A%2F%2Fwww.drewryonline.net%2F%3Fp%3D453'; addthis_title = 'Sponsor%26%238217%3Bs+Content%3A+The+Bottom+Line+on+Sustainability'; addthis_pub [...]

From: Homo Luminous: The New Human by Alberto VilloldoThis new mythology has yet to emerge, but we have the traditions of the Earth Peoples to provide us with models of the kind of world our children's children can truly inhabit. The Earth People have an animistic relationship with all of life. Animism is practiced by people who believe they can speak to the rivers and to the trees and to the canyons and to the mountains and to God. This is what we were able to do before we were cast out of the garden. We were still in relationship with Spirit and with the natural world. Spirit is actually talking to us all the time. But we, in the west, don't open our ears to hear. If we are to find that self that still walks with beauty on the earth, that speaks to the rivers and to the trees

A couple of weeks ago ASPAPEL (Asociación Española de Fabricantes de Pasta, Papel y Cartón) made public the Second Edition of a Sustainability Report (PDF, 5.2 MB) summarising the state-of-the-art... [[ This is a content summary only. Visit my website for full links, other content, and more! ]]

Sightline Institute is a not-for-profit research and communication center—a think tank—based in Seattle and founded in 1993 by Alan Durning. Sightline's mission is to bring about sustainability—a healthy, lasting prosperity grounded in place. Nonpartisan and wholly independent, Sightline's only ideology...

Sustainable architecture or building is only a small part of a greater whole. It has been said many times that “sustainability” is a good short term goal. Sustainability is only equilibrium, a tipping point where we no longer are damaging the planet that we inhabit with the effects of our daily lives - manufacturing, power production, construction, transportation, agriculture and every aspect of our lives that affects our global ecosystem. Author Paul Hawken states, “Today, our continuing progress is restricted not by the number of fishing boats but by the decreasing numbers of fish; not by the power of pumps but by the depletion of aquifers; not by the number of chainsaws but by the disappearance of primary forests.” Sustainability by definition is actually the point where we ceas

I've been wandering in cyberspace this morning reading various pages and articles relating to the many facets of sustainability. I've been delving into global warming and climate change, amongst other things. Some people are certain that it is definitely happening, other are certain that it definitely isn't happening. The strangest thing is that they seem to be using different parts of the same

David Holmgren is co-originator (with Bill Mollison) of the permaculture concept and author of the recent book, PERMACULTURE: Principles and Pathways Beyond Sustainability. He talks about the need to move beyond the lulling hope that 'green tech' breakthroughs will allow world-wide 'sustainable consumption' to the recognition that dwindling oil supplies inevitably mean a mandatory 'energy descent' for human civilization across the planet. He argues that permaculture principles provide the best guide to a peaceful societal 'powering down."

PE INTERNATIONAL has been steadily guiding companies all over the world along this road since 1989. Today, PE INTERNATIONAL is an international market leader in strategic consultancy, software solutions and extensive services in the field of sustainability. Their applied methods...

Intensive gardening for renters. You dont have to buy a smallholding to  provide some of your food needs. Peak Oil, climate change and the general endgame of civilisation is going to push us into a style of living that is actually far far better for us than the wage slave reality that we are forced to live now. Start collecting those seed stocks now!! Share This

For US citizens I found an interesting contest with really nice prises:The Rainforest Alliance Picture Sustainability. The winner will not only win a Fujifilm Finepix S100fs 11.1MP Digital Camera with 14.3x Wide Angle Dual Image Stabilized Optical Zoom, but also a trip for two (2) to Ecuador and the Galapagos Islands and a wildlife photography [...]

American consumption and our everyday living have become chronically unsustainable. We cannot deny entropy and the Second Law of Thermodynamics. Regular Conservation Report readers know I preach the Second Law of Thermodynamics ad nauseum. However, the Law is relevant to conservation, our energy needs and the stability of America.The Law is starting to eat visibly into the suburbs. The suburbs are perhaps America’s biggest mistake because suburbs are essentially useless. Good lands that could have been used for agricultural purposes, growing lumber or even forest carbon sequestration are paved over with concrete. Wetlands that provide ecosystem services such as filtration, which promotes clean drinking water, are drained. Nature is fragmented and entropy further increases. Wildlif

The Organic Consumers Association (OCA) is an online and grassroots non-profit 501(c)3 public interest organization campaigning for health, justice, and sustainability. The OCA deals with crucial issues of food safety, industrial agriculture, genetic engineering, children's health, corporate accountability, Fair Trade,...

Expert says big energy picture must balance security, sustainability, and supply The world has no choice but to build more energy-producing plants--and find new sources of energy--but the build out process will not happen overnight, a government expert recently told an MIT audience. A worldwide boost in demand for energy, coupled with environmental concerns, will force a huge U.S. increase inthe

A Spanish utility Union Fenosa-led consortium has launched EnergyLab, an international technological center for energy efficiency and sustainability. The center seeks to become a standard-setter in Spain and internationally, to guide, co-ordinate and lead the way for projects which have a significant impact on society, the economy and the environment.EnergyLab’s primary goal is to encourage the [...]

by Crystal Davis Earth Trends - Feb 25, 2008 Original URL   Now home to half of the world's people, cities are increasingly at the forefront of our most pressing environmental challenges. While the current pace of urbanization is not unique in human history, the sheer magnitude of urban growth--driven by massive demographic shifts in the developing world--is unprecedented, with vast implications for human well-being and the environment. However, where cities pose environmental problems, they also offer solutions. As hotspots of consumption, production, and waste generation, cities possess unparalleled potential to increase the energy efficiency and sustainability of society as a whole. Global Urbanization Trends Cities generate a disproportionate share of gross domestic product (GDP)

  Olson Homes, a pioneer in sustainable building practices and a leader in California’s move towards urban living, recently announced it has earned a Silver rating from the United States Green Building Council’s LEEDÒ program for its commitment to sustainable home building practices.  Olson’s Depot Walk is a transit-oriented development and Orange County’s first all-solar multi-family community. [...]

Hawai‘i is a unique and beautiful state – for many, it is an ideal place to live and is second to none for providing a preferred quality of life. Because our future is so important, and the ecosystem so fragile, I'd like to quote from the Hawaii 2050 Sustainability web site, to help generate feedback on the draft plan:"The lack of affordable and adequate housing; steady deterioration of our pu

I have always wanted to help people in my community become a little more technologically literate. Nowadays, there are so many legitimate ways to earn money online simply by being engaged with a little ingenuity. The Internet is global so what could be a barrier in your local community, could be a strength in your global community. It does not matter where you are from or what language you speak, the Internet serves a purpose of bringing everyone together. I really want to make an effort in 2008 to identify some people in my community who could commit to learning some new skills and one of the things I thought I could do is teach a group of residents how to maintain a blog. What goes with that is learning how to get paid for blogging. I am working on reaching out to people in the commu

There's nothing like a nice stress relieving cocktail! Now you can booze it up AND meet interesting environmental types at a pub near you, thanks to Green Drinks International. Green Drinks is a non profit company that set out to create informal meetings/cocktail parties where environmentalists could meet and talk. With the explosive popularity of eco living, GreenDrinks has sprouted up in 309 cities worldwide, including Seoul and even Kabul for heaven's sake! Hey, climate change must be really serious if they are even meeting about it in Kabul! Anyway, it's a great cause and a wonderful opportunity to meet people and network.Find your next meeting at Bottoms up!

You’re looking at Land Rover’s next big thing. The LRX concept making its debut at the Detroit show is small, sporty, and designed to be as luxurious as any Landie. It could go on sale in three years or so for more money than the 10-inch-longer LR2/Discovery. It’s Land Rover’s Mini Cooper or Audi TT says design director Gerry McGovern, showing off his first concept since leaving Lincoln. With a sports-car-fast windshield, low, sloping roofline, and wheels pushed out to the four corners, it looks longer than it is in the vacuum of a single-car studio showing. Note how the shoulderline rises faster than the beltline. The C-pillars have see-through openings leading into a rather squat rear window. These cues combine with traditional Land Rover exterior design elements; hexagonal grille, vents atop the power-bulge hood and with the vent shape repeated in the front fenders, dark wheel-lip accents and 20-inch wheels. The hood opens clamshell-style and the power tailga

You're looking at Land Rover's next big thing. The LRX concept making its debut at the Detroit show is small, sporty, and designed to be as luxurious as any Landie. It could go on sale in three years or so for more money than the 10-inch-longer LR2/Discovery. It's Land Rover's Mini Cooper or Audi TT says design director Gerry McGovern, showing off his first concept since leaving Lincoln.With a sports-car-fast windshield, low, sloping roofline, and wheels pushed out to the four corners, it looks longer than it is in the vacuum of a single-car studio showing. Note how the shoulderline rises faster than the beltline. The C-pillars have see-through openings leading into a rather squat rear window. These cues combine with traditional Land Rover exterior design elements; hexagonal grille, vents atop the power-bulge hood and with the vent shape repeated in the front fenders, dark wheel-lip accents and 20-inch wheels. The hood opens clamshell-style and the power tailgate is two-piece, top-

The Rashomon Effect by Patricia H. Werhane from Environmental and Economic Sustainability"The Academy Award-winning 1950 Japanese movie Rashomon depicts an incident involving an outlaw: a rape or seduction of a woman and a murder or suicide of her husband. A passerby, who is also the narrator, explains how the story is told to officials from four different perspectives: that of the outlaw, the woman, the husband, and himself.The four narratives agree that the outlaw, wandering through the forest, came upon the woman on a horse being led by her husband, tied up the husband and had sex with the woman in front of the bound husband, and that the husband was found dead. The narratives do not agree on how these events occurred or who killed the husband. The outlaw contends that consensual sex occurred between him and the wife and he claims to have killed the husband. The wife depicts the sex as rape, and claims that because of her disgrace, she killed her husband. The husband through a mediu

One credit union client wanted to do some brainstorming during a rebranding process. The process was designed to give them a fresh look, a fresh image and an opportunity to reemerge in the community with their new charter. The process lasted pretty much the entire day and fresh ideas were popping all over. Toward the end of the day names were getting whittled down to fewer options and it suddenly dawned on a couple of participants that a new name and image was going to be arrived at. Immediately, feet got shoved into the dirt and the resistance happened and the big shift in image and name became stalled, in fact the board finally voted on simply using the initials of the previous name for the "rebranding" "To get significantly different results you have to do something significantly different" When you find your credit union is losing members, market share and the competition is becoming a more preferred provider, some significant shifting has to occur. You can't

I have a new hero. His name is William McDonough and he is an architect and designer. He thinks AND ACTS (!) like I wish all people did, including myself - because we all do and create things that impact others. He always starts designing by asking how our buildings and products can take into account “all children, all species, for all time.” (more…)

There was a comment in today's PD article on Ohio's plan to restructure energy costs as well as trying to prevent spikes in charges and provide incentives for renewable energy sources. The comment was made by State Rep. Jim McGregor: "...our only choices in Ohio are to lead in energy or experience a second rust belt period where we become an economic backwater because we missed the opportunity." The 'missed opportunities' seem to take two roads. One, missing out on a chance to be the state that brings in renewable energy companies. Secondly, missing the chance to require our existing utilities to provide a certain percentage of their energy in renewable form. Of course I like the idea but I need to ferret out people with experience to tell me what is possible here in Ohio. The article quotes people who say Ohio is not the Rocky Mountains so wind energy is not super feasible and Ohio is not.....well you can fill in the blanks and let's just say some people do not agree. I don't k

One of the keys to green building is executing a balance between carbon released and carbon consumed or sequestered in construction. There's other issues that I'm sure will get revisited later, with regards to rainwater collection, site selection, and sustainable construction materials, but carbon neutrality is one of the most attractive avenues of attack for green building advocates. And the brass ring in carbon neutrality is the zero emission building, an example of which has been unveiled in the UK and is featured in one of our premiere posts. Without microgeneration, however, the zero emission building will have a hard time coming to fruition. The Lighthouse as described below takes significant advantage of a broad roof to collect solar for both electrical production and water heating, and other zero emission projects are going to have to take similar paths. A vision where power generation stations shrink and spread out is attractive, but ultimately the distributed and decen

If you live in the Bay Area, you might want to check out this Championing Sustainability Workshop on Friday June 8th. The organizers promise that attendees will learn more about sustainability and Gain inspiration from a community of business and non-profit leaders committed to sustainable practices Create the future you want to see through sustainability leadership skills and personal mastery Explore innovative and collaborative tools to enhance your organization’s effectiveness and impact Engage in creative problem solving techniques that align your values and vision with your work The presenters are supposed to be experts and leaders in the field of sustainability. Tickets are now 260.00 per person and can be bought here. Howeber, they have pretty good group deals to. Head over there to check them out and to get more information! bay area, collaborative tools, creative problem solving, Eco Friendly, green events, leadership skills, problem solving techniques, sustainability

The University of California at Santa Barbara is hosting the sixth annual University of California, California State University, and California Community Colleges Sustainability Conference. The conference focuses on increasing the sustainability of university campuses and learning about how universities can get involved in sustainability movements both within their own campuses, in their local communities and across the nation. UCSB is expecting this conference to be one of the largest sustainability conference in the nation. Over 800 participants from all 10 campuses in the University of California system, all 20 from the California State University system, and 10 community colleges are expected. Additionally, in an effort increase student involvement, over 150 students from several different campuses were invited to attend. Several exciting initiatives emerged from the past sustainability conferences including efforts about green design, clean and renewable energy and sustainable tr

With public focus on global warming being at an all-time high, experiments in sustainable backyard agriculture like this one are gaining interest and momentum. Gardeners want more control over what they eat and how it's grown and produced. Take a look... I must admit, I'm always a little critical when I see experiments of his type mainly because the proponents always have more land than the average household to farm. Sure, any gardener can implement some of the strategies, but to provide enough food for the whole family is, in most cases, unlikely. What I'd really like to see, and I would guess it occurs already in allotment gardens, is the growing of one or two certain crops and then sharing them with other gardeners so that some of your needs are met. Still, these methods won't produce all your needs so the question is, how does sustainable agriculture work to eke out broad-acre farming? Any ideas?

I keep meaning to get to some posts on evolution, but I keep getting distracted by end-of-the-semester work (and winning money at poker). This is the concluding paragraph from a paper I just finished on the Fermi Paradox for a class. I'm pretty happy with how it turned out, and I'm interested to see what my advisor thinks of it.The Fermi Paradox cannot logically conclude that humans are the only advanced intelligence in the galaxy, but the absence of evidence for ETI colonization of the galaxy is uggestive that no ETI has successfully formed a galactic civilization. This is not because no sufficiently advanced intelligence has developed technology, but it is because civilization itself is an unsustainable mechanism. SETI assumptions often imply that civilization is a necessary consequence of intelligence—but even if this were true, the ecological instability of civilization would render any galactic civilization short-lived. A galactic civilization may arise in the Mil

A team of MBA students from Instituto de Empresa (IE) came up with the Grand Prize at the Thunderbird Sustainable Innovation Summit competition, taking home $20,000 and the title "2007 Global Champions of Sustainable Innovation" The IE team competed against 85 teams from 45 universities from the US, Europe and Asia. German students Philipp Pausder and Tobias Schirmer, Macedonian Blagoja Hamamdziev and Mexican Guillermo Ortega presented their work called "Disruptive Thoughts" to a jury integrated by experts in innovation and CSR, including entrepreneurs, business men, consultants and academics. IE Students also won in 2004 and were in 3rd place last year at the same competition , which was named Global Citizenship Challenge back then. The 10 teams in the final round of the competition were challenged to develop the most innovative and sustainable business plans that addressed real-life challenges faced by Johnson & Johnson and Merck & Co. Inc. Merck asked the MB

Información Sobre el Reciclaje Una Casa Ecologista El Abono Orgánico Información sobre el reciclaje Reciclaje en las residencias Comercios y negocios Para los niños Las compañías de recolección de basura Introducción A menudo la palabra reciclaje se utiliza para significar cualquier tipo de reducción de desperdicios, pero en realidad "reciclar" describe el proceso que reduce un artículo a su material básico y luego lo emplea para hacer un artículo nuevo. El papel, el vidrio y el metal se...

This one is for sun lovers who want to experience more than light and heat from our powerful star. From 9:00 am to 4:00 pm on Saturday, April 28, the annual Solar and Sustainability Spring Tour will visit 15 properties throughout the Valley. With a theme of "Real Buildings for ...

This one is for sun lovers who want to experience more than light and heat from our powerful star. From 9:00 am to 4:00 pm on Saturday, April 28, the annual Solar and Sustainability Spring Tour will visit 15 properties throughout the Valley. With a theme of "Real Buildings for ...

In new growth markets particularly, where mobile networks are expanding into rural areas, advanced infrastructure such as a power grid is not always reliable or readily available and base station sites need to run autonomously. A sustainable alternative is to use renewable energy sources such as wind and solar power.