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 TwitterSee the April 2009 ITP E-Bulletin at
http://www.eere.energy.gov/industry/resources/ebulletin/. This month’s Technology Spotlight is “Versatile Low-Emissions Burner Can Be Used in Various Industries and Settings”.
Read the full post on Microsoft’s Unlimited Potential blog.
Last week my colleague Sean Nicholson wrote about the refurbished PC market. While many of the tens of millions of used PCs discarded each year can be refurbished and reused, some have reached the end of their life and need to be disposed of properly — which brought me to Champaign, Illinois this week.
‘Ever wonder what happens to your electronic waste – that old computer or cell phone that you discard?’ This was just one of the many challenging questions that the students from University of Illinois had to answer when competing in the first annual Sustainable e-Waste Design Competition. The goal of the competition was to educate students, the university community at large and ultimately the nation (and of course me too!) about the importance of understanding and resolving the growing international problem of electronic waste.
Read the full story from HealthDay.
Fish from five U.S. rivers were found to be tainted with traces of medications and common chemicals, according to a new study from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and Baylor University.
The common antihistamine diphenhydramine (Benadryl), an anticonvulsant and two types of antidepressants were among the seven types of pharmaceuticals found in the tissue and livers of fish from waterways in or near Chicago, Dallas, Philadelphia, Phoenix and Orlando, Fla. Each river is considered “effluent-dominated,” because they receive large amounts of wastewater discharge from nearby sewage treatment plants.
Read the full story in School Library Journal.
With its community facing tough economic times, the Galesburg Public Library has reached out by offering free prom dresses to teens who otherwise couldn’t afford them.
Read the full story in the Ames Tribune.
When libraries in Iowa want to borrow materials from another library in the state, they use the U.S. Postal Service, except here in Ames.
In town, it’s faster to send things with Jim Gregory, who bikes books, articles and other circulation materials around daily between Ames Public Library, the Veterinary Medical Library and the Iowa State University Parks Library.
The idea that bicycle delivery would be faster got started in 2007, when librarians realized the postal service added at least a day to deliveries across town.
The Young Adult Library Services Association (YALSA), a division of the American Library Association (ALA), has compiled a list of activity ideas to help teens learn about their environment on Earth Day, April 22. In addition, YALSA offers a booklist called “Change Your World,” highlighting titles nominated for the 2010 Popular Paperbacks for Young Adults booklist, which offer books about activism, politics and volunteering.
Earth Day activity ideas include geocaching seminars, recycled jewelry programs, community clean-up programs and more. Librarians looking for activity ideas related to Earth Day can find them at http://wikis.ala.org/yalsa/index.php/Teen_Volunteering_%26_Service_Projects#Earth_Day, or libraries who have events planned for Earth Day can add their own.
Via Docuticker.
U.S. and Canada to Increase Scrutiny of Flea and Tick Pet Products
Source: U.S. Environmental Protection AgencyThe U.S. Environmental Protection Agency is intensifying its evaluation of spot-on pesticide products for flea and tick control for pets due to recent increases in the number of reported incidents. Adverse reactions reported range from mild effects such as skin irritation to more serious effects such as seizures and, in some cases, the death of pets.
Flea and tick products can be appropriate treatments for protecting your pets and your family’s health because fleas and ticks can transmit disease. While many people use the products with no harm to their pets, EPA recommends that pet owners take precautions when using these products. People should carefully follow label directions and monitor their pets for any signs of an adverse reaction after application, particularly when using these products for the first time. Pet owners may also want to consult a veterinarian about the responsible and effective use of flea and tick products.
Incidents with flea and tick products can involve the use of spot-on treatments, sprays, collars and shampoos. However, the majority of the incidents reported to EPA are related to flea and tick treatments with EPA-registered spot-on products. Spot-on products are generally sold in tubes or vials and are applied to one or more localized areas on the body of the pet, such as in between the shoulders or in a stripe along the back. This advisory pertains only to EPA-registered spot-on flea and tick products; these products have an EPA registration number on the label.
Via Docuticker.
Faith in Global Warming — Religious Groups’ Views on Earth Warming Evidence
Source: Pew Forum on Religion & Public LifeEarth Day takes place on April 22 each year. One issue at the center of public discussions about the environment is global warming: whether it is occurring and what its causes might be. An analysis by the Pew Research Center’s Forum on Religion & Public Life of a 2008 survey conducted by the Pew Research Center for the People & the Press examines views on global warming among major religious traditions in the U.S. The unaffiliated (58%) are the most likely among the religious groups studied to say there is solid evidence the earth is warming because of human activity. White evangelical Protestants are the most likely to say there is no solid evidence the earth is warming (31%), and the least likely to believe that humans have contributed to heating up the planet (34%). While only 39% of black Protestants say global warming is a result of human activity, they are, however, the least likely of the religions studied to deny global warming is occurring (15%).
See also: Science in America: Religious Belief and Public Attitudes
Via Docuticker.
Clearing the Air? The Effects of Gasoline Content Regulation on Air Quality
Source: Center for the Study of Energy Markets (via University of California eScholarship Repository)This paper examines the effects of U.S. gasoline content regulations on groundlevel ozone pollution. These regulations are costly and have been shown to fragment gasoline markets and raise prices paid by consumers. We provide the first comprehensive empirical estimates of the regulations’ air quality benefits. We exploit the fact that gasoline regulations vary by time and place of introduction, using both difference-in-difference and regression discontinuity designs. We show that federal regulations targeting the emissions of volatile organic compounds (VOCs), one of the two main precursors to ozone, do not substantially improve air quality. This outcome is driven by the response of refiners to the regulation: minimizing the cost of abatement involves removing a type of VOC from gasoline that is not an important determinant of ozone pollution. In California, however, we show that precisely targeted regulations requiring the removal of VOCs particularly prone to forming ozone caused a significant improvement in air quality.
Read the full story in the Wall Street Journal.
You can read a label to find out what’s in your food. And a quick look inside a collar or hem tells you what your clothes are made of. Now, the same is happening with the stuff you use to clean your kitchen and bathroom.
ASME’s Board of Governors recently approved a general position statement
on the issue of carbon dioxide mitigation, a technical assessment of
energy systems that will likely play a key role in any policy that the
nation may undertake in order to reduce carbon dioxide emissions.
Read the full story from the Union of Concerned Scientists.
Unlike typical plastics made from crude oil, “bioplastics” are often made from plant matter such as corn starch, potato starch, cane sugar, and soy protein. A potentially renewable alternative to petroleum-based plastics would have the long-term benefits of reducing global warming pollution and our dependence on fossil fuels, but do bioplastics fit the bill? As they become more ubiquitous—in the form of grocery bags and disposable plates, food containers, and cutlery—numerous concerns have been raised about their true value:
Read the full story in Environmental Health Perspectives.
Pick up a tube of sunscreen, a tennis racquet, an iPod, or any number of other consumer products, and there’s a good chance that it’s been “nano-enabled,” meaning it contains nanoscale particles designed to give it some beneficial feature. An estimated $147 billion worth of nano-enabled commercial and consumer products were sold in 2007, according to Lux Research, a market analysis firm in New York City. Citing the firm’s latest estimates, Lux analyst David Hwang predicts that figure could top $3.1 trillion by 2015, reinforcing a broad view that nanotechnology is fueling a new industrial revolution.
Yet nanotechnology’s spread through the market has been met with mounting concerns over the potential human health effects of these miraculous materials. Because of their small size—100 nanometers or less—nanomaterials have unique physical properties that can influence their uptake, distribution, and behavior in the body. Indeed, some nanoparticles have been shown to penetrate into cells, where they can trigger inflammatory responses and oxidative stress.
Read the full story in Science Daily.
When the petroleum runs out, renewable sources of raw materials will have to be found to replace petrochemical feedstocks. In the case of furniture varnishes, Fraunhofer researchers at the Institute for Wood Research, Wilhelm-Klauditz-Institut WKI in Braunschweig have already developed an alternative product in which the majority of petrochemical components have been substituted.
New Report Sheds Light on Corporate Attitudes Toward Forestry Carbon Offsets
http://www.greenbiz.com/news/2009/04/20/new-report-corporate-attitudes-forestry-offsets
A new study released today from EcoSecurities, Conservation International, the Climate, Community and Biodiversity Alliance, and ClimateBiz analyzes the perceptions and expectations driving corporate decisions to buy forestry carbon offsets.
Budweiser Brewery Uses Solar Energy to Help Power Plant
http://www.greenbiz.com/news/2009/04/17/budweiser-brewery-uses-solar
More than 6 acres of ground-mounted photovoltaic solar arrays are now up and running at the Anheuser-Busch brewery in Fairfield, California.
Live From Ceres: Climate Change Requires Bold Thinking
By Tilde Herrera
http://www.greenbiz.com/news/2009/04/16/ceres-climate-change-bold-thinking
Earth Policy Institute Lester Brown and PG&E CEO Peter Darbee argued Thursday that bold actions are required to address climate change at the level needed to preserve civilization.
Book Industry Group Wants to Cut Emissions 20 Percent by 2020, 80 Percent by 2050
http://www.greenbiz.com/news/2009/04/16/book-group-wants-emissions-cut
The Book Industry Environmental Council said today that it has set goals of
cutting the U.S. book industry’s greenhouse gas emissions 20 percent by 2020 — and slashing them 80 percent by 2050.
Live From the Ceres Conference: How Do We Change the Rules of the Game?
By Matthew Wheeland
http://www.greenbiz.com/blog/2009/04/15/ceres-how-to-change-rules
Throughout the opening morning of the 20th anniversary Ceres Conference, the global economic crisis served as a backdrop for exploring how we can reimagine the business-as-usual that failed the economy and is destroying the environment.
Aspen Skiing, Clif Bar, Seventh Generation Strengthen BICEP Climate Coalition
http://www.greenbiz.com/news/2009/04/16/aspen-clif-bar-seventh-generation-bicep
Three more companies have joined the BICEP (Business for Innovative Climate and Energy Policy) coalition of companies advocating for stronger climate and energy legislation in the United States.
Live from the Ceres Conference: The Water-Energy Nexus
By Amie Vaccaro
http://greenbiz.com/blog/2009/04/15/ceres-water-energy-nexus
The connection between water and energy was discussed during a morning workshop at today’s Ceres Conference in San Francisco. The panel brought together three outspoken voices from non-profit, industry and investment organizations to talk about water’s implications for business operations.
Sempra Announces Plans to Expand Nevada Solar Installation to 58MW
http://www.greenbiz.com/news/2009/04/15/sempra-nevada-solar-plant-58mw
Sempra Generation plans to add a 48-megawatt solar energy plant to its
4-month-old, 10-megawatt El Dorado site in Nevada, which would create the
largest operational photovoltaic solar-power facility in North America, the
company said today.
Renewables and Efficiency Fuel Timberland’s Climate Strategy
http://www.greenbiz.com/news/2009/04/14/timberland-climate-strategy
The Timberland Co. published a formal white paper Tuesday laying out the climate change strategy it will use to halve absolute greenhouse gas emissions by 2010.
How Sustainable Thinking Can Change Design
http://www.greenbiz.com/podcast/2009/04/16/how-sustainable-thinking-can-change-design
Terry Swack, co-founder and CEO of SustainableMinds.com, spoke with GreenBiz Radio about how sustainable design can help companies through the economic downturn and into the future, and where design changes need to be made to have the biggest impact.
Tropicana, 3M Earn Sustainable Forestry Certification
http://www.greenbiz.com/news/2009/04/14/tropicana-3m-forestry
The paper and board used to make Tropicana’s juice cartons and 3M’s Post-It
Notes have been certified through the Sustainable Forestry Initiative.
Solar Power Plans Take Off at Home, Business and City Levels
http://www.greenbiz.com/news/2009/04/14/solar-plans-home-business-city
A slew of news about solar-powered buildings has hit the wires of late,
including everything from a bill to make California homes provide their own
power to the first-ever solar-power city.
Organic Dairy Farming Avoided 40M Pounds of Fertilizer in 2008: Report
http://www.greenbiz.com/news/2009/04/13/organic-dairy-avoided-40m-pounds-fertilizer
A Colorado-based nonprofit has created a calculator that estimates the amount of chemicals avoided through organic dairy farming in the U.S.
Los Angeles Building Retrofit Designed to Boost Green Jobs
http://www.greenbiz.com/news/2009/04/09/la-building-retrofit-boost-green-jobs
The city’s new “Green Building Retrofit Ordinance” will bring all city-owned
buildings that are 30 years old or older up to LEED Silver levels, and will give
priority to projects that bring jobs to the surrounding community
IBM Wants to Help You Find and Keep Green Suppliers
http://www.greenbiz.com/news/2009/04/09/ibm-helps-find-green-suppliers
IBM is expanding its consulting services to include a Sustainable Procurement offering, which can help companies launch or maintain environmentally and ethically friendly supply chains.
GM, Segway Hype Prototype City-Focused Electric Vehicle
http://www.greenbiz.com/news/2009/04/07/gm-segway-electric-vehicle
The companies are collaborating on a two-seater vehicle, called PUMA, that’s all-electric, hits up to 35 mph and travel 35 miles on one charge.
Michigan Financiers Plan to Green Detroit with Urban Farmlands
http://www.greenbiz.com/news/2009/04/07/michigan-financiers-plan-green-detroit-with-urban-farmlands
The Hantz Group wants to develop up to 10,000 acres of underutilized and vacant land in downtown Detroit — almost a 10th of the city’s 143-square-mile area — and turn it into a mixture of cash crop land, ornamental gardens, and riding trails.
HP’s 2008: Millions of Pounds Recycled, Emissions Reduced, Green Design Embraced
http://www.greenbiz.com/news/2009/04/06/hp-2008-csr-report
In its eighth annual CSR report, Hewlett Packard listed its significant green
achievements from the past year, including the recycling of a cumulative 1.7
billion pounds of e-waste and comprehensive emissions tracking for its
first-tier suppliers.
FedEx Express Road Test of Iveco Hybrid Van Shows Fuel Savings of More Than 25 Percent
http://www.greenbiz.com/news/2009/04/08/fedex-express-iveco-hybrid-van
FedEx Express and commercial truck-maker Iveco say their road test of 10 hybrid vans in Italy has shown a 26.5 percent drop in fuel consumption and a reduction of 7.5 tons in CO2 emissions in six months of testing.
Carbon-Intensive Mutual Funds to Become Big Losers: Report
http://www.greenbiz.com/news/2009/04/08/carbon-intensive-mutual-funds
Carbon-intensive mutual funds will become big losers in a carbon-constrained economy because a price on emissions will increase the cost of doing business for the companies in their portfolios, according to Trucost, which ranked the country’s largest funds based on their carbon footprints.
Businesses Need to Move CSR Beyond Headquarters, Report Says
http://www.greenbiz.com/news/2009/04/08/businesses-move-csr-beyond-headquarters
The number of companies joining a U.N. corporate responsibility initiative last year grew 30 percent, but they lag in extending their commitments to their supply chains and subsidiaries.
DOE Forms Commercial Real Estate Energy Alliance
http://www.greenbiz.com/news/2009/04/10/doe-forms-commercial-real-estate-alliance
The Department of Energy and 19 commercial real estate companies launched the Commercial Real Estate Energy Alliance Thursday to link building owners with the latest efficiency research and technologies from the agency’s laboratories.
U.K. Recycles Two-Thirds of All Packaging: Report
http://www.greenbiz.com/news/2009/04/10/uk-recycles-two-thirds-packaging
New figures from the British government shows that the U.K. has exceeded E.U. targets for recycling, but campaigners claim supermarkets should do more to combat the problem.
The Phony Green Jobs Debate
By Marc Gunther
http://greenbiz.com/blog/2009/04/15/the-phony-green-jobs-debate
As the battle over climate change legislation heats up, several Big Green groups — the Environmental Defense Fund, the Natural Resources Defense Council and the Sierra Club — are rolling out TV and Internet ads designed to persuade voters that regulating greenhouse gas emissions will create green jobs.
The Seven Sins of Greenwashing: Is Everybody Lying?
By Joel Makower
http://greenbiz.com/blog/2009/04/15/the-seven-sins-greenwashing
An updated version of the 2007 report “The Six Sins of Greenwashing” has just been released. Like its predecessor, this version offers sensational findings: Of 2,219 products making environmental claims that researchers found in North American retailers, “over 98 percent” committed one of several “sins.” The 2007 report identified six sins. This year’s edition adds a seventh.
Green Businesses’ Dirty Little Secret: Implied Ethics
By Nick Ellis
http://www.greenbiz.com/blog/2009/04/17/green-businesses-dirty-little-secret
What’s interesting in the domain of environmental companies is that these
companies rely on their “ethical business models” to attract employees more than do traditional “brown” employers. The dirty little secret is that employers — from solar companies to sustainability consultancies and the like — rely on jobseekers’ assumption that they are ethical more than other firms because of their “eco” business models.
Whose Carbon Is It? The ABCs of Counting Emissions in Your Supply Chain
By Betsy Fargo and Ryan Schuchard
http://www.greenbiz.com/blog/2009/04/16/whose-carbon-is-it-counting-emissions-supply-chain
Accounting for a company’s indirect greenhouse gas emissions in their supply chains raises a slew of questions: What are the emissions hot spots in a supply chain? Will companies downstream be held responsible? How much “ownership” should they claim?
New Soap, Old Bottle: Repackaging Name Brand Cleaners
By Jonathan Bardelline
http://greenbiz.com/blog/2009/04/14/new-soap-old-bottle
The new company New Soap, Old Bottle takes bulk supplies of cleaners — some name brand — and repackages them in used bottles.
How the Stimulus Will Help Green Jobs and Green Businesses
By Joel Makower
http://www.greenbiz.com/feature/2009/04/13/stimulus-green-jobs-and-businesses
Nancy Sutley, the head of the White House Council on Environmental Quality — and Van Jones’ new boss — talks to Joel Makower about how the federal stimulus package will be a boon for the environment, and areas where companies might benefit from that spending.
Why Greenwashing Hurts Even the Most Eco-Friendly Businesses
By Joshua Saunders
http://www.greenbiz.com/blog/2009/04/09/greenwashing-hurts-even-eco-friendly-firms
Your business has been designing more environmentally friendly products for the past 15 years. Your marketing team is trained to make accurate and truthful environmental claims about your products. Your company wholeheartedly believes in its sustainability efforts. Think you’re immune to the effects of greenwashing? Guess again.
Who’s Not on the Green Energy Bandwagon? Oil Companies.
By Matthew Wheeland
http://www.greenbiz.com/blog/2009/04/08/oil-and-green-energy-bandwagon
The world’s biggest oil companies are not only not investing heavily in
alternative energy sources yet, but some are actively scaling back their green programs, according to a new report in the New York Times.
Can Environmental CSR Initiatives Stimulate Economic Growth?
By Eric Meliton
http://www.greenbiz.com/blog/2009/04/10/can-environmental-csr-initiatives-stimulate-economic-growth
The economic downturn brings with it new wrinkles for large corporations to
address as part of their corporate social responsibility planning.
How to Help Consumers Feel Secure, Not Screwed
By Suzanne Shelton
http://www.greenbiz.com/blog/2009/04/08/help-consumers-feel-secure-not-screwed
How many times have you conducted a survey to test consumer likelihood to buy a product or product, and seen encouraging propensity numbers, only to have actual purchase/participation not bear out like the survey predicted? It happens all the time, particularly in the green arena — and it doesn’t have to be that way, says Suzanne Shelton.
Lies, Damn Lies, and the Seventh Sin of Greenwashing
By Joel Makower
http://www.greenbiz.com/podcast/2009/04/14/the-seventh-sin-of-greenwashing
TerraChoice Environmental Marketing this week is releasing an updated version of their widely discussed “Six Sins of Greenwashing,” and to explore the new findings, as well as just how grave a sin greenwashing can be, GreenBiz.com executive editor Joel Makower talks to TerraChoice’s Scot Case about the seventh sin of greenwashing.
Getting Green Done Means Moving Past ‘Sustainability 101′
By Joel Makower
http://www.greenbiz.com/podcast/2009/04/10/getting-green-done
Auden Schendler, author of the new book “Getting Green Done,” talks to Joel
Makower about the barriers to green success that every company faces, why
climate change is the only problem we face, and how telling stories of failures
is the way to succeed.
The Forest Carbon Offsetting Survey 2009
http://greenbiz.com/resources/resource/forest-carbon-offsets-survey-2009
This report, produced by EcoSecurities, ClimateBiz.com, and other partners, offers an in-depth look at the current corporate attitudes toward carbon offsets from forests and the growth opportunities in this market.
Shades of Green: Quantifying the Benefits of Organic Dairy Production
http://www.greenbiz.com/resources/resource/shades-green-quantifying-benefits-organic-dairy-production
This report describes the methodology behind the Organic Center’s new
calculator, which estimates the environmental impacts avoided by shifting dairy cows from conventional to organic management practices.
Virtual Meetings and Climate Innovation in the 21st Century
http://www.greenbiz.com/resources/resource/virtual-meetings-and-climate-innovation-21st-century
Due to technological improvements, an increasing number of business trips can now be substituted by ‘virtual meetings’ and therefore help to minimize
aviation-related carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions.
The Gort Cloud
http://www.greenbiz.com/resources/resource/the-gort-cloud
In this new book, brand expert Richard Seireeni interviewed over two dozen
“ecopreneurs” from a broad range of industries — home improvement,
transportation, household products, food and beverage, energy, real estate,
finance, and fashion — to offer a rich source of wisdom for green businesses
getting off the ground or for any business aiming to improve its environmental performance.
Read the full story in Green Building News.
The new Timberglen Branch Library received LEED NC 2.1 Gold Certification and features an educational kiosk where visitors can use a touch screen to monitor the building’s resource consumption in real time.
Read the full story in Green Building News.
Economic uncertainty looms at every corner these days, but Rachel Gutter, the U.S. Green Building Council’s senior manager for the education market, says green school construction projects have the potential to make it through the turmoil unscathed.
Gutter discussed the school construction market with Green Building News about the state of the market.
Read the full story in the Washington Post.
The Environmental Protection Agency for the first time will require pesticide manufacturers to test 67 chemicals contained in their products to determine whether they disrupt the endocrine system, which regulates animals’ and humans’ growth, metabolism and reproduction, the agency said yesterday.
Read the full story in the Washington Post.
The Environmental Protection Agency yesterday officially adopted the position that carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gas emissions pose a danger to the public’s health and welfare, a move that could trigger a series of federal regulations affecting polluters from vehicles to coal-fired power plants.
Fox Mobile Distribution (FMD), a unit of Fox Mobile Group, today announced that in celebration of Earth Day on April 22, it is offering the Green Living Guide mobile application for free to U.S. consumers through April 26, 2009, via its Jamster service. The mobile application offers tips and recommendations on how to live a greener, environmentally-friendly life and includes sections on conservation, recycling, reuse, transportation, and ongoing sustainable solutions for green living.
Read the full story in ComputerWorld.
Just as a seed sprouts and stretches toward the sun, the green-IT movement has grown and pushed skyward in the past year. When the bright minds of IT start brainstorming, expect a bounty of new ideas and success stories.
With this second annual Top Green-IT Organizations issue, we showcase the achievements at 12 IT departments that are reducing power demands and using technology to create energy efficiencies. In addition, 12 vendors are honored in our online listing.
Read the full story in the Chicago Tribune.
Like every town across the nation, south suburban Crestwood tucks a notice into utility bills each summer reassuring residents their drinking water is safe. Village leaders also trumpet the claim in their monthly newsletter, while boasting they offer the cheapest water rates in Cook County.
But those pronouncements hide a troubling reality: For more than two decades, the 11,000 or so residents in this working-class community unknowingly drank tap water contaminated with toxic chemicals linked to cancer and other health problems, a Tribune investigation found.
Read the full story from the Associated Press.
U.S. manufacturers, including major drugmakers, have legally released at least 271 million pounds of pharmaceuticals into waterways that often provide drinking water — contamination the federal government has consistently overlooked, according to an Associated Press investigation.
