Green Options » scorecard

San Fran’s Orchard Hotel Nabs LEED-EB Certification

Keith Rockmael — Fri, 17 Apr 2009 15:37:40 +0000

If it works for one San Fran hotel then it must work for another. No, we’re not talking about more upscale mini bar items but Greening a hotel. In this case, the Orchard Garden Hotel’s (which garnered LEED-NC certification) sister property the Orchard Hotel just nabbed LEED-EB certification.

The Orchard represents San Francisco’s only hotel to earn this honor, the Orchard Hotel is the second hotel in California and fourth hotel in the world with this certification. The inspiration from these green hotels comes from its 85-year-old owner, Mrs. S.C. Huang, who has pushed her environmental agenda and created more environmentally safe and sustainable hotels after the untimely cancer-related deaths of three family members.

Horizon, Aurora, and Woodstock Organic Milk get the Smackdown from Cornucopia

Derek Markham — Wed, 29 Oct 2008 04:11:38 +0000

What’s the integrity of your organic milk?

The Cornucopia Institute’s Organic Dairy Products Scorecard pulls no punches in its ratings of organic milk producers.

Which brands are at the bottom?

The factory farms of Horizon, Aurora, Woodstock, Natural Prairie, and Shamrock.

The recently updated Organic Dairy Scorecard rates 107 organic dairy producers based on their answers to an in-depth survey asking about:

the milk supply source (farmstead or open market)
the amount of pasture time for the herd
the use of hormones and antibiotics
the health and longevity of the cows (cull rate)
the source of replacement animals (organic or conventional farms)
their organic farm certifier

“Consumers who pay premium prices for organic products do so believing that they are produced with a different kind of environmental ethic, a different kind of animal husbandry ethic, and social justice for family farmers. But not all organic dairy products are alike.” - Mark Kastel, Senior Farm Policy Analyst, Cornucopia Institute

In an exposé of factory farm dairy producers and the brands that threaten to take over the organic dairy industry, Cornucopia’s scorecard helps consumers all over the country to select foods best representing their values.

Australia Scores Poorly on Carbon Future Score Card

Joshua S Hill — Mon, 08 Sep 2008 20:47:10 +0000

Being an Australian means a lot to me, but when this story came across my desk, my pride took a bit of a dive. WWF-Australia recently assessed 19 of Australia’s power firms on what each are doing to prepare for a future with lower carbon emissions.

The report, entitled the Power Generators Carbon Future Score Card, was released late last week, and saw 11 companies rate two stars or less out of five, with three companies receiving no stars whatsoever.