For the first time, the World Trade Organization (WTO) teamed up with the United Nations Environmental Programme (UNEP) to release a report outlining the relationship between trade and climate change. The report describes the multitude of ways in which climate change and trade intersect.
Women entrepreneurs, don’t miss the Keiretsu Forum’s 4th Annual Summer Solstice panel discussion tonight about “How Women Investors and Entrepreneurs Will Revive the California Economy.”
The event will bring together the Bay Area’s most talented minds to:
In [...]
On an historic day which proved America’s spirit during the Revolutionary War, the spirit of America was again proved. As news came that Nevada’s unemployment rate hit a record high of 11.3 percent, Senate majority leader Harry Reid addressed the people whose roles are instrumental in helping America survive.
Editor’s Note: The is a guest contribution by Danny Kennedy, President of Sungevity. This is part of a series from the CEO’s of major solar companies. You can follow the complete series here.
Sometimes it is hard to contemplate what a good news story our industry – solar sales and installation – and the broader clean energy economy really represents. I was reminded on Monday at the graduation ceremony for the Oakland Green Collar Jobs Corps.
Washington D.C. - On May 14, 2009, GreenlightAC, one of the pioneers in the creation of EV charging stations, launched its own infrastructure last month with the release of the Chargebar(TM). The company claims that this innovative charger is easy, safe, and, importantly, cost-effective.
The Chargebar will make charging your EV or Plug-in Hybrid easy because it charges both 120v and 240v vehicles, is simple to use and does not require membership, proprietary technologies, or specialized knowledge. It is the EV/PHEV charger for everyone. David King, a co-founder of GreenlightAC said, ”Our goal was to make it as easy and convenient to use our charging unit as it is to use a gas pump. And with our GreenlightAC ChargeBarTM we believe that we have succeeded in meeting that goal.”
Listening to NPR’s Morning Edition yesterday, there was a segment in which some environmentalists lamented Obama’s new fuel economy standards as being a small drop in the bucket for what needs to be done to solve our climate problems.
While this is true, two comments made by Harvard University Professor, Robert Stavins, during that segment struck me as weird and based in something less than reality — a kind of academic fantasy if you will. At the time, I was driving and the comments slid out of my mind. But last night an old friend from college brought it up again in a Facebook thread and it got me thinking more in depth about it.
A Green Printer interview with Deb Ozarko, Director, Creative Services of Clearly Green Design.
1. If a client comes to you saying that they want to market themselves as a green company, what kinds of advice would you give them in terms of identity and design?
Before I would give them any advice, I would accurately determine their motives. As both a visual communicator and a social/environmental activist, I have a very large responsibility to the public and the planet - as well as my own personal ethics. Clearly Green Design takes our commitment to the environment, animals and social justice causes very seriously so its critical that we understand the motivating factors for a company before we go any further. A green claim or green identity no longer has the same validity that they used to because of excessive greenwashing. Greenwash is rampant because so many companies have simply jumped on the green bandwagon in order to keep up with the trend. Personally, I find this really sad because there is alot at stake here - namely, planetary survival. A glaring example of greenwash are the green claims made by the Walmart corporation. I honestly don’t know how the folks at the communications agency who market Walmart can sleep at night.
Editor’s Note: Jeff Wolfe is the co-founder and CEO of groSolar. This is the second post in a series from the CEO’s of major solar companies. The first post was by the CEO of SolarCity, Lyndon Rive. You can follow the complete series here.
groSolar operates in the downstream solar market. We are affected by all the US and global macro economic trends. I describe the current economic conditions as a Vortex. Heavy winds of the economy swirling downward, a huge updraft caused by declining raw material and finished goods prices, and sweeping cross-currents of over-supply and the failure of major banks to provide normal business services.
But within this maelstrom is a gentle wind of opportunity. Finding this breeze, like finding a thermal in a hang glider, can not only fuel a great ride, but can bring your company to new heights. This is more easily said than done!
By Lester R. Brown, Earth Policy Institute
In 1543, Polish astronomer Nicolaus Copernicus published “On the Revolutions of the Celestial Spheres,” in which he challenged the view that the sun revolved around the earth, arguing instead that the earth revolved around the sun. With his new model of the solar system, he began a wide-ranging debate among scientists, theologians, and others. His alternative to the earlier Ptolemaic model, which had the earth at the center of the universe, led to a revolution in thinking, to a new worldview.
Today we need a similar shift in our worldview, in how we think about the relationship between the earth and the economy. The issue now is not which celestial sphere revolves around the other but whether the environment is part of the economy or the economy is part of the environment. Economists see the environment as a subset of the economy. Ecologists, on the other hand, see the economy as a subset of the environment.
Like Ptolemy’s view of the solar system, the economists’ view is confusing efforts to understand our modern world. It has created an economy that is out of sync with the ecosystem on which it depends.
The Fourth Annual Sustainable Industries Economic Forum will feature ecopreneur Ray Anderson, founder and Chairman of Interface, a company specializing in sustainable carpets and other industrial products. The event will showcase a panel discussion with rock stars of the green business world, representing a broad swath of green industries. The timely discussion for this year’s event will focus on the current economic realities of the green business sphere.
Other speakers and panelists including Anup Jacob, founding partner of Virgin Green Fund, a consulting and venture capital firm affiliated with Sir Richard Branson’s Virgin Group, Laura Rodormer, Division Manager of Green Construction for
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