Browsing environmental news sources so you don't have to. Contact Laura Barnes (lbarnes@istc.illinois.edu) with questions, comments, and suggestions.
Follow ENB on TwitterRead the full story in E The Environmental Magazine.
Last week the University of Maryland’s Center for Excellence in Service and Technology research firm Rockbridge Associates released the results of a survey showing that Americans are willing to spend as much as $104 billion in 2008 for environmentally friendly consumer products and technologies. But finding the products to satiate surging demand might be the hard part.
Applications are now being accepted for the 2008 Governor’s Pollution Prevention Awards.
Apply for the 2008 Governor’s Pollution Prevention Award. Please note that applications are being accepted online this year. Applications are due May 19, 2008.
Your organization will be judged on the strength of your application. It is extremely important that you be as complete and descriptive as possible. If possible, include real numbers and concrete results from your efforts. Also, we look very closely at the areas of employee involvement and management commitment, two areas in which we often find applications are weak.
Remember, we are evaluating your organization’s overall dedication and commitment to pollution prevention along with any specific projects you might be undertaking. This is usually what separates our winners from the rest of the group.
WMRC is also accepting applications for the 2008 Sustainable Technology Awards.
The Waste Management and Research Center (WMRC) is now accepting applications for the 2008 Illinois Sustainable Technology Award. Applications must be submitted by May 19, 2008.
Apply for the 2008 Sustainable Technology Award
Application Information
Before beginning the on-line application, be sure to have:
Illinois Sustainable Technology Award Overview
The Illinois Sustainable Technology Award recognizes a novel technology or process that leads to significant waste reduction, waste elimination, or environmental impact. Applicants must illustrate how innovative the technology or process is, discuss the long-term beneficial impact of the technology on the environment in Illinois, and show how it has been implemented.
The Illinois Sustainable Technology Award requires a separate application from the Governor’s Pollution Prevention Award, and is judged across all categories of organizations, regardless of size. This award comes with a scholarship, provided by external sources, which goes to an Illinois resident attending a college or university.
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency is announcing a new Web-based compliance assistance center that provides comprehensive environmental compliance assistance and pollution prevention information for colleges and universities. The center was developed by the National Association of Colleges and University Business Officials with support and funding from EPA.
The Web site makes it easier for school officials to learn more about applicable environmental regulations and ensure a safe and sustainable environment for their students, faculty, and staff. The online center provides information on topics including waste management, air and water resources, drinking water, and public safety. Viewers can find out what types of campus activities are regulated by EPA, see how best to comply with environmental regulations, query federal enforcement and compliance data, learn how to apply for federal grants, and e-mail comments to EPA on regulations under development.
EPA sponsors 15 other Web-based compliance assistance centers on agriculture, auto repair, automotive recycling, chemicals, construction, federal facilities, health care, local government, metal finishing, paints and coatings, printed wiring board, printing, transportation, tribal, and U.S. borders. These Web sites were visited nearly 2 million times last year.
Campus Environmental Resource Center: http://www.campuserc.org
Information on EPA’s compliance assistance centers: epa.gov/compliance/assistance/centers/index.html
Energy Star award winners, Lowe’s Cos. Inc., PepsiCo, Food Lion, LLC, Toyota Motor Engineering & Manufacturing North America Inc., Marriott International Inc., and 3M, are among those showcased in a report released today by EPA for reducing greenhouse gas emissions through energy efficiency. The report, Profiles in Leadership: 2008 Energy Star Award Winners, highlights 74 award-winning organizations across many sectors of the U.S. economy, including schools, hospitals, real estate, manufacturing, chemicals and home building.
Read the full story in Technology Review.
A new kind of hybrid vehicle could offer reduced fuel consumption to consumers concerned about gas prices. Mechanical engineers in the United Kingdom have developed a novel kind of combustion engine that is able to switch between being a two-stroke and a four-stroke engine. The system, they say, can reduce fuel consumption by 27 percent.
Read the full story at Conscious Choice.
These days we’re constantly bombarded with media messages touting the latest and greatest eco-saviors. Compact fluorescent light bulbs save the polar bears! Bamboo clothes redefine eco-agriculture and couture fashion! Mineral makeup pretties-up your face and the planet too!
And to be honest, we’re all probably more than a little susceptible to latching onto any new idea that could protect the planet from impending eco-doom. That is, at least until the honeymoon ends and the media backlash begins, undermining our most well-meaning intentions to green up our lives with these products. CFL bulbs contain neurotoxins! Bamboo clothes are carcinogenic! Mineral makeup will give you emphysema!
How do you separate the hope from the hype? Despair not, intrepid econista. Allow us to assist you in sidestepping the spin, wading through the warring headlines, and maybe even tipping a few eco sacred cows. While we can’t promise that what you’ll learn will single-handedly stop global warming, create world peace or even ease rush-hour traffic, at least you’ll know what real green hopes these products provide — and what kinks they still have to work out.
Read the full story in Occupational Health & Safety.
For the first time, the association between Parkinson’s disease and exposure to pesticides has been shown in patients with the neurological disorder compared with their unaffected relatives, according to a study in the online open access journal BMC Neurology.
Read the full story in Time Magazine.
Most references to the role of China and India in global mitigation of emissions of greenhouse gases (GHGs) are generally simplistic. The typical argument put forward highlights the fact that these countries would continue increasing their emissions substantially, and, therefore, any efforts at reduction in the developed world would be more than neutralized by increases in the former. The reality is in fact much more complex. It is important to remember that the problem of human induced climate change has been caused by the cumulative emissions of GHGs with concentration levels at 280 parts per million of CO2 in pre-industrial times growing to around 380 parts per million currently. This increase is largely the result of substantial increase in use of fossil fuels in the industrialized world. For this reason, the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) included the principle of “common but differentiated responsibility”, requiring the developed countries to take the first steps in mitigating emissions of GHGs. However, the record of the developed world has been less than satisfactory in this regard.
To further protect children from exposure to lead-based paint, EPA is issuing new rules for contractors who renovate or repair housing, child-care facilities or schools built before 1978. Under the new rules, workers must follow lead-safe work practice standards to reduce potential exposure to dangerous levels of lead during renovation and repair activities.
View the story from WCIA-TV (Champaign).
Community members just set up a link on the on the Gibson city website to go to erideshare.com. People in Gibson city can just go to this website type in their destination and see who else is going their way. eighbors say since a lot of people in Gibson City work in Champaign or Bloomington this idea is perfect for their community.
Illinois-Indiana Sea Grant, a program supporting research, education and outreach that contribute to a sustainable environment in the two states, announces funding awards for four research projects for 2008-2010.
These projects address some long-term concerns facing the Great Lakes, including human health, wetland management and restoration, and sustainable coastal development, said Brian Miller, IISG director. Outcomes from these studies will inform in policy and management decisions related to economic and environmental sustainability in the region.
The first project addresses concerns about the rising number of beach closings along southern Lake Michigan due to contaminated waters. With Sea Grant funding, Kizhanipuram Vinodgopal and Julie Peller from Indiana University Northwest will develop a fast, innovative way of detecting sewage in swimming waters. They will establish a system to rapidly alert managers when a problem is detected, which can result in more timely decisions on beach closures.
Nancy Tuchman of Loyola University Chicago will study the impact of invasive plants on the ability of wetlands to filter nitrogen. Wetlands play an important role filtering excess nutrients and other contaminants from a watershed. The concern is that a significant change in wetland plant species may alter that process. Tuchman will provide science-based recommendations to managers charged with maintaining the integrity of coastal wetlands and help them prioritize efforts to manage invaded ones.
In the Lake Calumet area, wetland restoration is the order of the day. This region on the southeast side of Chicago and northwest Indiana has endured decades of industry and now is in need of rehabilitation. Yanqing Lian and George Roadcap of the Illinois State Water Survey and Ximing Cai of the University of Illinois are developing modeling tools to assess ecosystem restoration plans and develop restoration benchmarks for the region.
Finally, IISG is funding a cutting edge project to create computer-simulated versions of coastal cities in northern Indiana. Jie Shan of Purdue Universities School of Civil Engineering will develop 3-D data collection technology for urban planning. This technology will provide users with the capabilities to interact, modify, manipulate and demonstrate different design scenarios, said Shan. The use of virtual cities will ultimately benefit long term sustainable economic and environmental development in the coastal areas in northern Indiana.
Join PRN for a workshop focused on helping river advocates understand the true costs of biofuel production and its impacts on Illinois water resources. Learn how to effectively participate in the biofuels decision-making process.
April 5, 2008
10:00 AM 3:00 PM
Location: White Oak Park, Bloomington, IL
Cost: $15/ person (includes organic lunch)
Workshop Topics
Limited to 30 participants! To reserve your spot or for more info, please visit www.prairierivers.org.
How can you reduce your carbon footprint, make your home or business water efficient or make sure our nation’s beaches stay clean this summer? April 22 is Earth Day and this year, EPA is launching several online initiatives throughout the month of April to help raise environmental awareness.
Via Organic Bytes # 131, courtesy of the Organic Consumer’s Association.
Obviously driving less, using mass transit, biking, walking or purchasing a fuel efficient vehicle are the best ways to cut your fuel consumption. But for those times where driving a car is a necessity, here are some tips:
- Don’t be a jerky driver: Jumpy starts and fast getaways can burn over 50 percent more gasoline than normal acceleration. Use cruise control once accelerated.
- Drive slower: According to the U.S. Department of Energy, most automobiles get about 20 percent more miles per gallon on the highway at 55 miles per hour than they do at 70 miles per hour.
- A well maintained car (oil change, fuel filters, tire pressure, alignment) gets an average of 10 percent better fuel efficiency.
- Turn off your engine if you stop for more than one minute. (This does not apply if you are in traffic.) Restarting the automobile will use less gasoline than idling for more than one minute.
- Decrease the number of short trips you make. Short trips drastically reduce gas mileage. If an automobile gets 20 miles per gallon in general, it may get only 4 miles per gallon on a short trip of 5 miles or less.
Doug Fine, “adventure journalist” and NPR contributor, has written Farewell, My Subaru, a book about his year of trying to live a carbon-free life. Here’s the publisher’s excerpt:
In Farewell, My Subaru, Doug Fine vows to grow as much of his own food as he can, use only the sun to power his ‘Net surfing and sub-woofer, and consume little to no fossil fuel for an entire year — never mind that he’d never raised so much as a chicken or a bean. Or that he had no mechanical or electrician skills. Or that coyotes and mountain lions would like to treat his Funky Butte Ranch like a buffet line.
Beginning with a near-Biblical flood that makes Doug’s ranch in New Mexico resemble Noah’s Arc, and ending with a hilarious farewell to his beloved Subaru, Fine struggles at every turn with the contradictions and challenges of going green as his shopping list changes overnight from things like, “wasabi” and “pineapple juice” to “shotgun shells” and “goat syringes” (for the mischievous Pans he found on Craigslist).
Including practical resources for regular Americans who want to live greener and funny sidebars with facts you never imagined about the clean, local life, Farewell, My Subaru is both a hilarious romp and an inspiring call to action; it’s a book for the reluctant environmentalist, the armchair traveler, and anyone who has ever wondered: do I really need that four dollar frappuccino from Kenya?
You can find the book at your favorite bookseller or at your local library.
As part of the Season 2 kick-off of “The Green” on Sundance Channel, the network has partnered with Barneys New York and the eco-chic fashion brand Loomstate to launch a first of its kind, national T-shirt recycling program. Beginning April 13th, consumers will be encouraged to drop off old t-shirts at all Barneys’ locations nationwide. Loomstate will “re-fashion” the T-shirts (re-style, re-dye, re-print, etc.) to create a new, limited edition T-shirt collection to be sold exclusively at Barneys for Holiday 2008. Participating consumers will receive a 20% discount on women’s Loomstate for Barneys Green and men’s Loomstate merchandise from April 13-27. Proceeds from the program will benefit 1% for the Planet.
