Archive for February 2014

Exotic Electric Marine Vehicles

February 28, 2014 Add Comment Edit

While everyone knows about the electric vehicles the Chevy Volt and the Nissan Leaf (fuel economy of 93 mpg and 99 mpg respectively) the real growth market in electric vehicles will be in marine vehicles. According to IDtechex, the sales of electric and hybrid marine vehicles are expected to...

Environmental Impacts of Duke Energy's Coal Ash Spill

February 28, 2014 Add Comment Edit

In addition to contaminating the Dan River, Duke energy coal ash spill has contaminated groundwater with unsafe levels of arsenic. The February 2 spill from the Eden power plant has coated the bottom of the Dan River with toxic ash as far as 70 miles downstream. The US Fish and Wildlife Service has...

Happiness in the Workplace: An Imperative for Sustainable Business

February 28, 2014 Add Comment Edit

While happy employees are beneficial to all types of businesses, they are particularly important for sustainable enterprises. Happiness is an often overlooked corollary of sustainability. It is closely associated with productivity and corporate social responsibility (CSR). In fact happiness contributes...

Why We Need a New Climate Change Narrative

February 27, 2014 Add Comment Edit

We need new narratives to combat the pervasive popular and political inertia. Our old narratives are not working and may even lead to apathy and indifference. Despite the scientific consensus about anthropogenic climate change we are not moving fast enough to change our perilous course. According...

Attribution Science and UK Storms and Flooding

February 27, 2014 Add Comment Edit

While it is widely known that it is hard to assign individual extreme weather events to climate change, advances in attribution science including a new project will help us to zero in on the causes of specific storms. Improved attribution science including spatial resolution climate models will enable...

UK Flooding and the Science of Climate Change

February 26, 2014 Add Comment Edit

While it is widely understood that it is hard to ascribe individual weather events to climate change, there is strong evidence to suggest that the floods experienced in the UK at the end of 2013 and the beginning of 2014 are a taste of what weather will be like as the world warms.A top Welsh climate...

Employee Uniforms Made from Recycled Plastic Bottles

February 26, 2014 1 Comment Edit

There are a number of greener textiles ranging from organic cotton to cutting edge silks and wools, but one of the more interesting apparel choices involves repuposing recycled plastic bottles. The fabric is called RPET which is simply recycled polyester made from post consumer plastic bottles.One...

Declining Levels of Snow and the End of Winter

February 25, 2014 Add Comment Edit

Now that the Sochi Olympics have come to a close, we are being forced to reevaluate the future of the Winter Games. It is not just the Olympics that are being threatened by global warming, winter sports are under siege. Even more than this we are being forced to reckon with the global decline of snow...

The Future of the Winter Olympics is Being Threatened by Climate Change

February 25, 2014 Add Comment Edit

Finding a site for future Winter Olympics will prove challenging in a warming world. Cities like Sochi will likely be out of the question. Even this year Sochi registered temperatures hovering around 60 Fahrenheit and limited snowfall forced the cancellation of two test events last February. Although...

Sustainable Green Fashion is Being Buoyed by Growing Consumer Demand

February 24, 2014 Add Comment Edit

There is a growing wave of interest in green fashion sweeping around the world. Companies are responding to demand from socially conscious consumers who are looking for sustainable clothing. However in the absence of clear standards, it is hard to know who is truly making sustainable clothing and who...

February 24, 2014 Add Comment Edit

Russian President Vladimir Putin's Winter Olympic games were little more than a poor disguise from a corrupt regime that is one of the world's worst environmental criminals.In addition to the jailing of environmentalists Yevgeny Vitishko, and Igor Kharchenko prior to the Sochi Olympics, two members...

Program - Sustainability in Project Management Practices (SiPMP)

February 23, 2014 Add Comment Edit

Sustainability in Project Management Practices - SiPMP will take place on Tuesday March 25, 2014, in Toronto, Ontario, Canada.This unique offering will enable project managers to improve overall return on investment by incorporating greater sustainability during both the deployment and operational...

Event - Global Geothermal Summit: Indonesia and Philippines 2014

February 23, 2014 Add Comment Edit

Global Geothermal Summit: Indonesia and Philippines 2014 will take place on Thursday March 20 to Friday March 21, 2014, in Indonesia. With in-depth research and careful investigation, the Global Geothermal Summit is ready for you to update industry information and to network with C-level executives...

February 23, 2014 Add Comment Edit

This event will take place on in South Africa. The most recent additions include companies such as E.ON, RES, WKN and Mainstream are among those to sign up to the Wind Energy Summit South Africa. Wind Energy Summit South Africa brings together over 100 key members of the renewable industry to facilitate...

Event - Responsible Business Summit 2014

February 23, 2014 Add Comment Edit

This event will take place on May 19-20, 2014, in London, UK. The Responsible Business Summit is Europe’s leading conference on corporate sustainability.This event is brought to you by Ethical Corporation which provides business intelligence for sustainability to more than 3,000 multinational companies...

Video - It is No Coincidence that Costa Rica is both Happy and Green

February 22, 2014 Add Comment Edit

Costa Rica ranks first in the Happy Planet Index and is the greenest country in the world according to the New Economics Foundation. The HPI measures how much of the Earth's resources nations use and how long and happy a life their citizens enjoy. Costa Rica was the first country in the world to constitutionally...

Video - Bhutan is Both Happy and Sustainable

February 22, 2014 Add Comment Edit

Bhutan, a small country enshrined in the Himalaya's leads the way in the pursuit of holistic, inclusive and truly environmentally sustainable development.This commitment emanates from the visionary statement in the early 1970s, of His Majesty, the Fourth King of Bhutan, Jigme Singye Wangchuck, who...

February 22, 2014 Add Comment Edit

In this Ted Talk video, statistician Nic Marks asks why we measure a nation's success by its productivity -- instead of by the happiness and well-being of its people. He introduces the Happy Planet Index, which tracks national well-being against resource use (because a happy life doesn't have to cost...

Video - The Economics of Happiness (Trailer)

February 22, 2014 Add Comment Edit

The Economics of Happiness - Trailer from The Economics of Happiness on Vimeo.The Economics of Happiness describes a world moving simultaneously in two opposing directions. On the one hand, government and big business continue to promote globalization and the consolidation of corporate power....

Duke Energy's Environmental Destruction May be at the Taxpayers Expense

February 21, 2014 Add Comment Edit

Duke Energy spilled tens of thousands of tons of arsenic infested coal ash into the Dan River. This is the third-largest disaster of its kind in US history has contaminated the river and prevents people from safely swimming and fishing. People are not the only life forms impacted, clams, mussels, crustaceans...

Nebraska Court Rejects the Keystone XL Pipeline

February 21, 2014 Add Comment Edit

A Nebraska court has struck a blow to the northern leg of the Keystone XL. On Wednesday February 19, District Judge Stephanie F. Stacy struck down a state law that supported the pipeline saying it violated the state's constitution. This decision that could significantly delay the building of the $5.3...