One Minute Tips for Moms: Greening Your Family

A one minute video that features a mom walking through some quick and easy ways to green your family.

Greening Live Earth Rio

Seven-Star, the worlds largest green event production firm provides a behind the scenes story of greening Live Earth Rio.

The electric post office: Greening the government

Iran says nuclear talks could happen in Turkey
TEHRAN (Reuters) – Iran could return to talks with major world powers concerned about its nuclear programme “as soon as possible”, its foreign minister said on Sunday, suggesting Turkey as a possible venue.

Read more on The Star

Hint of ease on dual-use tech exports
New Delhi, Nov. 6 : President Barack Obama today signalled that the US may further relax its export restrictions that deny certain dual-use technology items to India’s missile production laboratories, and launch vehicle and rocket fuel centres.

Read more on The Telegraph

Research and Markets: Drug Discovery Outsourcing Market in China – Cost Benefits & Considerable Scientific Expertise …
DUBLIN–(BUSINESS WIRE)–Research and Markets (http://www.researchandmarkets.com/research/3b387d/drug_discovery_out) has announced the addition of Frost & Sullivan’s new report “Drug Discovery Outsourcing Market in China” to their offering. This Market Engineering research service has been developed to address the dynamics of Drug Discovery in China. The market covers …

Read more on Business Wire

Research and Markets: Drug Discovery Outsourcing Market in China – Cost Benefits & Considerable Scientific Expertise …
Research and Markets has announced the addition of Frost & Sullivan’s new report “Drug Discovery Outsourcing Market in China” to their offering.

Read more on Business Wire via Yahoo! Finance

The electric post office: Greening the government
Up to 10 times a day, somebody will stop mail carrier Taran Edge on her route and ask to take her photograph. While she is flattered by the attention, she knows that it is her vehicle they are really interested in.

Read more on KMIR 6 Palm Springs

Greening Design

www.riverwired.com – Cutting edge design meets eco living? Sounds like you can have your cake and eat it, too. This video takes us to New York’s HauteGREEN design exhibition that showcases the best in sustainable design for the home. We’ve never thought of recycling paper into “paperstone,” a material hard enough to make chairs and countertops, but these 57 designers from around the world aren’t pulling punches. From turning felt scraps into a rug you don’t have to vacuum to growing air-purifying plants using solar panels, there are tons of great ideas here that will make you look twice. And greenest of all, these pieces are built to last, wasting fewer materials and making sure that our planet can last a little while longer, too

The Power of Greening Supply Chains

Sustainable supply chains are an integral part of a rapidly growing trend that is transforming businesses around the world. Supply chains are critical links that connect an organisation’s inputs to its outputs. The increasing environmental costs of these networks and growing consumer pressure for eco-friendly products has led many organisations to look at supply chain sustainability as a new measure of profitable logistics management.

Approximately 70 percent of all surveyed top executives consider sustainability efforts essential to long-term profitability. For firms’ purchasing strategies, purchasing heads rank environmental efforts as most important among sustainability initiatives.

In response to overwhelming demand for sustainable supply chain expertise, educational facilities like the W. P. Carey School of Business at Arizona State University are building green supply chains into their curriculums.

The level of an organizations involvement can be catagorized into one of three general groups sometimes referred to as the three tiers of sustainability.

Tier 1) The Basics: This is the base level where companies employ simple measures such as switching lights and PCs off when left idle, recycling paper, and using greener forms of travel with the purpose of reducing the day-to-day carbon footprint. Some companies also employ self-service technologies such as centralised procurement and teleconferencing.

Tier 2) Thinking Sustainably: This is the second level, where companies begin to realise the need to embed sustainability into supply chain operations. Companies tend to achieve this level when they assess their impact across a local range of operations. In terms of the supply chain, this could involve supplier management, product design, manufacturing rationalisation, and distribution optimisation.

Tier 3) The Science of Sustainability: The third tier of supply chain sustainability uses detailed auditing and benchmarks to provide a framework for governing sustainable supply chain operations. This clarifies the environmental impact of adjustments to supply chain agility, flexibility, and cost in the supply chain network. Moving towards this level means being driven by the current climate as well as pushing emerging regulations and standards at both an industry and governmental level.

An October 2009 GTM report, titled Greening the Supply Chain: Benchmarking Sustainability Practices and Trends, indicates that green supply chain leaders are benefiting from reduced costs, increased revenue and recognition.

The report includes case studies and interviews with supply chain executives and sustainability officers. Although energy reduction in the supply chain has received a lot of attention, there are other efforts including more efficient product designs.

According to David Schatsky, one of the report’s authors, “The supply chain represents a big opportunity for firms to realize the financial, operational and strategic benefits of sustainable business practices.”

Despite its growing prominence, sustainability is not at the core of most companies’ strategic planning and although involvement is increasing, it is not yet the prime driver of supply chain agendas.

While there are many benefits to greening the supply chain, there are also impediments. Many companies cannot fully evaluate their suppliers and customers, making it difficult to assess the true environmental costs. However, as the basic standards of sustainability reporting become increasingly common it will be easier to make more accurate assessments.

Sustainable supply chain efforts are a defining feature of a serious environmental commitment. Overall the research indicates that firms that take sustainability seriously show major competitive advantages, especially with regard to production efficiency, supplier management skills and employee morale.
    Supply chain sustainability reporting is a key feature of Puma’s overall sustainability strategy. At the GRI Global Conference in Amsterdam, sporting goods manufacturer Puma, in cooperation with the Global Reporting Initiative, announced its intention to expand environmental considerations and improve working conditions throughout their strategic supplier network.

Those responsible for more than two-thirds of all Puma products will receive GRI certified training on transparent measurement and reporting on their sustainability performance using the GRI G3 Guidelines – the world’s most widely-used framework for sustainability reporting. These twenty Puma suppliers are based in China, Vietnam, Cambodia and other countries. The first sustainability reports are expected to be released in 2011/2012.

Reiner Hengstmann, Puma’s Global Head of Social and Environmental Affairs said, “Without sustainable suppliers, we will not be able to produce sustainable products or credibly report about Puma’s own sustainability initiatives.”

Puma originally joined a GRI pilot project called “Transparency in the Supply Chain” back in 2006. Under this project three South African Puma suppliers were trained on issuing sustainability reports. Managers learned how to measure sustainability concepts such as waste diversion, energy efficiency, and other performance indicators.

As the result of this training Impahla Clothing, a Puma supplier in Capetown, was the first carbon-neutral garment supplier on the African continent in 2009. Impalah’s 2009 Sustainability Reports reveals a 40% increase in production, a doubling of its permanent staff, and a 10% drop in absenteeism. The company’s bottom line improved through the cost savings gained.

Similar projects are underway in China, South Asia, Turkey, and Portugal. By engaging with its vendors and offering them further resources, PUMA has empowered these companies to proactively address the weak points in their operations, while also giving them the tools to find those improvements independently.

Many companies can learn from PUMA’s leadership. PUMA has added value to its offering by changing its corporate mission from the most ‘desirable’ sporting brand, to ‘desirable AND sustainable.’ Once accused of having low labor standards, Puma is now emphasizing transparency and using supply chain reporting as a central part of its strategy to become the most sustainable sport-lifestyle company in the world.   Walmart and HP are also leveraging their buying power to increase sustainability throughout their supply chains. Wal-Mart has launched a number of sustainable supply chain programs, including its Sustainability Value Network which directly involves its suppliers in a number of green initiatives. Wal-mart also implemented a supplier packaging scorecard, that formally rates suppliers on their progress toward developing sustainable packaging, as well as their ability to help Wal-Mart reach the company’s sustainability goals to reduce waste, use renewable energy and sell sustainable products.

In 2008, HP published a set of guidelines to make their supply chain more sustainable. The guidelines help multinationals to better equip their suppliers. This initiative focuses on assisting small and medium-sized business to effectively compete in the global market while improving environmental standards.   Research funded by the European Supply Chain Institute (ESCI) indicates that IT supply chains afford significant opportunities for carbon reduction.

The ESCI is a member-driven organization that researches all areas that will have a direct, positive impact within the supply chain. Last September, ESCI formed a new group called the Supply Chain Carbon Council to research issues related to carbon emissions in the supply chain and make recommendations.

According to the Supply Chain Carbon Council, “Businesses need to focus less on how IT contributes to their environmental impact and more on how IT can help lessen the environmental impact of their supply chain operations. While making IT more green must remains a concern, there are areas where deploying more IT can significantly contribute to making an organization’s supply chain activities more environmentally sustainable.”

There’s a mounting evidence to indicate that by leveraging their supply chains companies can multiply environmental benefits. Although there are barriers that need to be overcome, sustainable supply chains are part of a world changing trend that is sure to continue.

Majora Carter: Greening the ghetto

www.ted.com In an emotionally charged talk, MacArthur-winning activist Majora Carter details her fight for environmental justice in the South Bronx — and shows how minority neighborhood suffer most from flawed urban policy.TEDTalks is a daily video podcast of the best talks and performances from the TED Conference, where the world’s leading thinkers and doers are invited to give the talk of their lives in 18 minutes — including speakers such as Jill Bolte Taylor, Sir Ken Robinson, Hans Rosling, Al Gore and Arthur Benjamin. TED stands for Technology, Entertainment, and Design, and TEDTalks cover these topics as well as science, business, politics and the arts. Watch the Top 10 TEDTalks on TED.com, at http

Greening up your weekend

Vermont, Quebec seal power deal for electricity supply through 2038
ESSEX —Vermont’s two largest electric utilities signed a power-purchase agreement Thursday with H.Q. Energy Services, a subsidiary of mega-electricity producer Hydro-Quebec, locking in a pricing deal for 225 megawatts annually for 26 years beginning in 2012.

Read more on The Burlington Free Press

Youths join forces to improve cancer retreat
Members of the California Conservation Corps Summer Youth Program joined forces with LifeBound Leadership Youth Development Program participants this week to improve the grounds of the Healing Us Garden Sanctuary in Nipomo.

Read more on The Adobe Press

Hi Score Corporation (HSCO) Appoints New CEO and CFO
MIAMI, FL–(Marketwire – August 13, 2010) – High Score Corporation ( PINKSHEETS : HSCO ) announced today that on August 1 st , in a unanimous vote, the board of directors has appointed Mr. Zoyes the President of the company until June 13 th , 2011.

Read more on Marketwire

Celebrate museum’s milestone
Sunday marks Stepping Stones Museum’s temporary closing and it’s going to shut its doors with a bang. Hundreds of Stepping Stones members, friends, community leaders and children from all over Fairfield County are expected to come together for the first ever “STEPPING STONES COMMUNITY BLOCK PARTY ” from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. The event is a “pep rally style” celebration created as part of the museum …

Read more on The Norwalk Citizen

Greening up your weekend
On Saturday, Whole Foods Market, 5022 Poplar, will host a back-to-school event from 1 to 3 p.m., to encourage healthy lunches.

Read more on Memphis Commercial Appeal

Greening your Catering Operation through Environmental Assessments

Managing and operating a catering company based on eco friendly norms and with an environmentally conscious mandate has become the moral responsibility of many catering entrepreneurs today. There are several reasons why you should consider “going green” in your catering operation especially if you are committed to your social responsibility, increasing your market share and generating multiple income streams by providing catering services to several events simultaneously. However, before you can embrace the latest environmental standards of operation, you need to identify the various functional subsets of your catering operation—areas in which you foresee the possibility of improvement from an ecological standpoint. Here are two environmental assessments you should conduct prior to articulating your eco friendly Green Action Plan. If you have a functional subset that is unique and specific to your catering niche, incorporate it as well because you will be perceived by your prospects, existing customers and the media as a responsible operation. Conducting an environmental assessment is a fancy way of saying that you should give your catering company a thorough look-over to see how you can become an environmentally friendly operation. This incidentally, is very good for business in these days of carbon credits, ecological footprints and innumerable discussions about GHG and other related subjects.

Energy Assessment

According to a recent survey conducted by a utility research group, the food services industry, of which the catering industry is a part, spends approximately $10 billion each year for energy consumption. Most unfortunately, 80% of the energy, regardless of the source—electricity, gas and others, is wasted due to energy inefficient appliances and human activated waste. A periodic assessment of your use of energy resources will keep you updated on the amount of energy you spend during a specific period of time. Let a representative from your neighborhood utilities company, of which you are a customer, come to your assistance to conduct an energy audit. Most utility companies provide this as a free service where as others may charge a small fee. A highly effective way to conserve energy resources without compromising on quality and service delivery is by investing only in commercial kitchen appliances that carry the Energy Star logo. This is a reliable, federally mandated program that is sure to reduce your utility bills. Visit the Energy Star Resource Page at energystar.gov for more information.

Water Assessment

Conducting periodic and timely water assessments of your catering operation is as vital as conducting energy assessments. A dripping faucet will always come as an additional burden on your budget in the form of increased water bills. The best way to perform this function is by asking your plumbing company to go on a calendar-based retainer and visit your catering company’s cooking premises to check for leaks and other related problems. If you are a small operation and prepare your food only on customer sites, there is not much you can do about conserving water resources except to ask your employees to use water judiciously. However, you are bound to expand into your very own commercial kitchen in due course where you can implement the suggestions we have offered in this regard. You can also consider calling your local water treatment plant and request a quick and thorough water consumption audit. Very often, the problems that cause water wastage are to be found outside your building.

The most efficient method of saving the environment from potential disaster is to educate yourself and your employees about the various environment friendly and energy efficient alternatives available today. Teach your employees the habits, which will help your catering business to go green, and your catering company is sure to soar to new heights of success.

Greening Paris – Sustainable Transport Award

Paris Velib Tram

CSD 18 Sweden – Climate Change, Green cars, greening taxation, sustainable cities

Sweden: Moving Toward Sustainability: Green cars, greening taxation, sustainable cities, and keeping 95% of its Waste out of Landfills! The Minister for the Environment speaks of the thematic issues in the eighteenth session of the Commission on Sustainable Development (CSD-18 bit.ly He shares examples of what can be done to tackle Sustainable Transport, Waste Management, Sustainable Consumption and Production Patterns (SCP) amongst other topics.