By Cassie Walker •
March 27, 2008
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We’ve all heard about the greening efforts of some pretty big companies, including GE and WalMart. But what’s behind the press releases and green logos? Though some corporate efforts may be greenwashing, many companies, both large and small, are making solid verifiable moves toward sustainability.
A panel held at UCLA this month, dedicated to sustainability in business, put this issue in the spotlight and revealed some useful information for companies looking to reduce their footprints. A few key points:
Walmart CEO Lee Scott Jr. discussed the retail giant’s green efforts at this week’s ECO:nomics conference in California. During his speech, Scott acknowledged that Walmart is trying to reduce its carbon footprint but also needs to keep growing.
Read more about his comments here.
By Ranjit Arab •
March 6, 2008
Editor’s note: Welcome to “Tangled Up in Green,” Red, Green and Blue’s weekly debate over the hot issues in environmental politics. Each week, writers Ranjit Arab and Adam Bowman will “throw down the glove” on current events involving environmental policy, legislation and citizen action. Adam and Ranjit are both graduate students in journalism at the University of Kansas, and currently enrolled in Professor Simran Sethi’s “Media and the Environment” course.
Does the town of Holcomb, Kansas sound familiar?
I’m sure it does if you’ve read “In Cold Blood,” or seen the movies based on the book and its author Truman Capote.
In a perverted way that negative association has been somewhat of a godsend. People remember Holcomb; they immediately recall it as the place where a senseless and unspeakable crime was committed.
Unfortunately, it looks like Holcomb may be preparing for a sequel, featuring yet another heinous act. This time it involves the attempts of Sunflower Electric Corp.—along with several lawmakers—to force an expansion of the power company’s Holcomb facilities, which would include two hazardous coal-burning electric plants.
Pretty neat: a device called “Carbon Hero” uses satellite navigation data to calculate your personal, daily carbon footprint with almost no manual input required. Carbon Hero, which was a prize-winner in the 2007 European Satellite Navigation Competition, is the size of a key ring and sends your carbon data for display on a cellphone.
By Paul Smith •
February 7, 2008
You’ve probably heard about carbon offsets. They’re everywhere these days, and it seems not a week goes that I don’t hear about a company pledging to go carbon neutral. And yet, it all seems so…full of hot air. What’s real? What do they really do? Which will make the most impact? How are the different purveyors, well, different?
I have a suggestion: Take a look at LiveNeutral.
Why? Well on a basic, financial level, they are a non-profit. And? And that means that offsets purchased through them are tax deductible. More, you say? The resulting lower overhead means better priced offsets as compared to similar for-profit companies offering similar quality offsets.
By MC Milker •
January 13, 2008
Many of us obsessively use one or two credit cards to hoard miles on our favorite airline or earn reward points for future purchases. Now, thanks to Brighter Planet you can reward Mother Earth with every purchase you make.
Brighter Planet, the brainchild of two college students and their economics professor at Middlebury College, ties carbon offset credits to credit card purchases. The interactive website lets users enter as much or as little personal information as they want and calculate their carbon footprint. The site can be updated manually, based on changes in activity and is automatically updated monthly based on carbon offsets earned using the Brighter Planet credit card.
It took me just a few minutes to set up a profile, which admittedly is not as comprehensive as other calculators available as it is based on averages by zip code and doesn’t include things like type of heating system and amount of public transportation used. But still, it’s a start.
By jenbaele •
December 11, 2007
Hi everyone!
Do you find yourselves searching for a green holiday gift that’s hip, relevant, and makes a difference in the fight against climate change? Well, look no further than WE ADD UP. WE ADD UP is a brand new global warming awareness project! It’s a global count of people committing to help fight global warming by taking simple steps in their everyday lives that make a big difference. WE ADD UP is an organic [...]
Actor Neil Flynn — who plays your favorite comic villain on a certain sitcom — lets us know that everyone in the world relies on nature for survival. And when he’s not practicing taxidermy, this bully shows us how climate change is affecting nature and people and… janitors!
By happyhighways •
October 1, 2007
Using this Driving Directions and Fuel Efficiency Tool you can calculate the dollar and environmental cost of your daily commute, or almost any other type of trip you make in your car. The various ways we can reduce our fuel consumption have been widely published, but many people do not understand the impact each change in their driving behavior will make.
So every big corporation is green now, huh? That’s apparently what I’m supposed to believe based on every other commercial on prime-time TV: Walmart, esurance.com, Waste Management, GE, Delta, Coca Cola, and on and on. But, to one degree or another, I’m not buying it.
Sure, some companies are doing some things to reduce their carbon footprints or save energy … but, in plenty of cases, those are moves
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