·:[ Environmental News Bits ]:·
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Read the full story at Plenty Magazine.

From attire and flowers, to food and invitations, Plenty’s style and food editor details the ‘how to’ of an eco ceremony.

Read the full story in Plenty Magazine.

As 18 million students return to more than 4,000 colleges and universities around the country this fall, whatever color the foliage may be, campuses are going green. A Princeton Review study reports that 63 percent of students want to know about a school’s commitment to the environment as part of their college decision.

For a full-color, graphic version of this newsletter, go to
http://greenbiz.com/enewsletter.

Greening Distribution with Industrial Infills
By Leslie Guevarra
http://greenbiz.com/podcast/2008/09/02/greening-distribution-with-industrial-infills
For years, distribution centers were built outside urban centers. But concerns about fuel and energy costs are prompting firms to rethink that strategy. Steven E. Campbell of AMB Property Corporation talks about industrial infills as a solution.

Xerox, DuPont and Bosch Free More Than 50 Eco-Patents for Public Use
http://greenbiz.com/news/2008/09/08/xerox-dupont-bosch-eco-patents
The three companies, along with new eco-patents released by Sony, more than double the total number of patents on environmental innovations that are available in the Eco-Patents Commons

Half of GM Plants to Be Landfill-Free By Late 2010
http://greenbiz.com/news/2008/09/08/half-gm-plants-be-landfill-free-by-late-2010
General Motors plans to reduce, reuse, and recycle all waste from more than 80 manufacturing plants around the world by the end of 2010.

A Shifting Delivery Model Leads to Higher Emissions, Energy Use for UPS
http://greenbiz.com/news/2008/09/03/shifting-delivery-model-higher-emissions-energy-ups
Acquisitions and growth in residential deliveries led United Parcel Service to fall short of a handful of five-year environmental goals, according to its latest sustainability report.

HP Reduces Laptop Packaging 97 Percent for Wal-Mart
By Jonathan Bardelline, GreenerDesign
http://greenbiz.com/news/2008/09/02/hp-reduces-laptop-packaging
An HP laptop bundle exclusive to Wal-Mart minimizes packaging down to a couple plastic bags.

Vattenfall Launches CCS Pilot
http://greenbiz.com/news/2008/09/05/vattenfall-launches-ccs-pilot
A project being touted as one of the world’s first carbon capture and sequestration pilots will be commissioned next week in Germany.

China Passes New Green Laws Aimed at Businesses
By BusinessGreen Staff
http://greenbiz.com/news/2008/09/03/china-passes-new-green-laws
Companies operating in China are to face tough new green legislation after the country’s top legislature passed a package of laws designed to underpin the government’s climate change strategy.

Manufacturers Poised for Energy Efficiency Opportunity
http://greenbiz.com/news/2008/09/04/manufacturers-poised-energy-efficiency-opportunity
U.S. manufacturers on the cusp of investing to boost capacity face a great opportunity to incorporate energy efficiency in their decision-making, according to a new report.

Green Shopping Trends Tapped in Studies, Launch of E-Commerce Platform
By Leslie Guevarra
http://greenbiz.com/news/2008/09/04/green-shopping-trends-tapped-studies-launch-e-commerce-platform
Eco-friendly shopping trends have inspired two studies of U.S. buying habits and are fueling eBay’s launch of a new online marketplace that’s aimed at channeling purchasing power with consumers’ interests in environmental and social responsibility.

Synthetic Genomics Takes Top Spot on Cutting-Edge Cleantech List
http://greenbiz.com/news/2008/09/05/synthetic-genomics-takes-top-spot-cutting-edge-cleantech-list
A La Jolla, Calif.-based company attempting to address environmental problems by engineering cellular “bio-factories” topped the cleantech heap in the 2008 GoingGreen 100 Top Private Companies list.

Scientists Explore Floating ‘Eco-Rigs’ as Power Source for Japan
http://greenbiz.com/news/2008/09/05/scientists-explore-eco-rigs-japan
Scientists in Japan are exploring the use of huge clean-tech generators that would float at sea as a power source for the country, Japan’s leading daily newspaper reported.

The Planet Cuts Lighting, Costs at Data Centers
http://greenbiz.com/news/2008/09/03/the-planet-cuts-lighting-costs-data-centers
Hosting company The Planet has implemented a company-wide efficiency program to reduce lighting and HVAC consumption.

Whole Foods’ Farmed Seafood Standards Reviewed
http://greenbiz.com/news/2008/09/02/whole-foods-farmed-seafood-standards
The Environmental Law Institute and The Ocean Foundation praised Whole Foods’ recently published farmed seafood purchasing standards but also said the grocery chain could take steps to improve them, such as increasing transparency.

Trends in Ethical and Sustainable Packaging: Innovation by Product Category
http://greenbiz.com/resources/resource/trends-ethical-and-sustainable-packaging-innovation-product-category
Business Insights examines trends related to packaging development, government regulations and retailer initiatives.

The Designer’s Field Guide to Sustainability
http://greenbiz.com/resources/resource/the-designers-field-guide-sustainability
This guide looks at 15 things to consider when designing products, including how to make parts recyclable, use less energy and make less waste.

Growing a Green Business Without Compromise
By Christina Inge
http://greenbiz.com/feature/2008/09/08/growing-green-business-without-compromise
How do you expand the size and scope of your operations while staying true to your green beliefs? Environmentally friendly skin-care companies offer a good example of how to ride the wave of green business, sustainably.

Driving Adoption of Renewable Energy: Part II ­ An Energy Marketer’s Perspective
By David Wigder
http://greenbiz.com/column/2008/09/01/driving-adoption-renewable-energy-part-ii
An interview with Adam Capage, Director, Utility Partnerships, 3Degrees.

Tarnished Gold?
By Marc Gunther
http://greenbiz.com/column/2008/09/03/tarnished-gold
Gold mining is a dirty business, for many reasons. In poor countries, where most of the world’s gold is mined, regulations are lax, cyanide is commonly (and carelessly) used to separate gold from waste rock, and children work under unsafe conditions, literally scratching out a living from the earth.

Read the full story in Technology Review.

Fluorocarbons–common chemicals in which carbon is bound to fluorine–are potent greenhouse gases, and some form toxic compounds that can accumulate in the environment. But neutralizing fluorocarbons has required a process whose high temperature drives up its cost, limiting its adoption. Researchers at Brandeis University report in Science today that they have found a catalyst that breaks the carbon-fluorine bond at room temperature, promising easier and more effective disposal of pesky pollutants.

Read the full story in Time Magazine.

College cafeteria food is about to get a bit tougher to take — literally. This fall thousands of students will have to navigate their university dining halls without one crucial feature: the cafeteria tray.

The makers of Hidden Valley Salad Dressings are now accepting applications for the 2008-09 Love Your Veggies grant program. Each grant award will support an elementary school in developing a program offering fresh vegetables and fruits lasting through the 2009-10 school year. Each school grant will consist of $15,000 in direct funding.

Grant awards will be based on proposals that demonstrate need, innovation, greatest likelihood of sustainable impact on the students they are serving and potential for community involvement.

Funding must be spent on any of the following:

• Fresh produce (vegetables and fruits)
• A vegetable station (such as a dedicated salad bar)
• Kitchen equipment (primary usage must relate to proposed program)
• Program staffing (cafeteria personnel, lunchroom staff, etc.)
• Nutrition education supplies
• Food Safety Training

All proposals must be submitted via the grant program’s Web site, www.LoveYourVeggiesGrants.org. Proposals must be submitted by 5:00 p.m. Eastern Nov. 7, 2008. Late proposals will not be accepted. Schools will be notified of their award status by March of 2009.

Read the NOAA press release.

Short-lived gases and particle pollutants — which stay in the atmosphere for just days or weeks — have a greater influence on Earth’s climate than previously thought, according to a new NOAA-led report released today as part of the series of Synthesis and Assessment Reports coordinated by the U.S. Climate Change Science Program. The report also says that while these pollutants are generated locally they will have global climate implications.

Such short-lived pollution includes black carbon (soot), low-altitude ozone, nitrates and sulfates. Each type of pollution influences surface temperatures differently — from the cooling influence of sulfate particles, which tend to reflect sunlight, to the warming characteristics of heat-absorbing black carbon.

The full CCSP report, Climate Projections Based on Emissions Scenarios for Long-Lived and Short-Lived Radiatively Active Gases and Aerosols, and a companion summary brochure are available online.