I’ve had the opportunity to do a few more thorough posts recently but thought I’d get another issue of Sustain-a-Links out to the millions of readers who sit at the edge of their collective seat waiting for it to come out. Anywho . . .

—–

Bush Administration | RAW: uncooked truth, beyond belief | “When President Bush and Vice President Cheney came to power six years ago, they had their sights set on Interior design. I’m not talking about putting an air hockey table in the Oval Office, and a trap door in the West Wing Press Room, although my sources tell me both ideas received serious consideration. I’m talking about redesigning the actual Department of Interior to match the taste of their special interest friends and to serve their political ambitions.” | Sierra Club, Eric Antebi, RAW Contributor

Construction | Green Building Alliance ramps up efforts to develop Earth-friendly construction products | “Hoping to leverage Pittsburgh’s leadership in green, sustainable design for growth in economic development, the Green Building Alliance is launching a new program to encourage research and development of green building products in Western Pennsylvania.” I hope this works because I’d like to see this model replicated in every freakin’ city on the planet. The Green Building Alliance aims to create a database of green products and manufacturers, provide business assistance and foster the development of new technologies and products. Sweet! | Patricia Lowry, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

Development | DuPont Vice President to Chair Public-Private Committee for Sustainable Development | “William S. Niebur, DuPont vice president, Crop Genetics Research and Development, has been appointed chair of the Private Sector Committee of the Consultative Group on International Agricultural Research (CGIAR), an organization that works to achieve sustainable food security and reduce poverty in developing countries through scientific research.” DuPont has done constructive things like form Solae with Bunge Limited but for a chemical company I’d like to see some more accountability and risk-taking in the sustainability arena. Perhaps Neibur’s assignment will raise his awareness on what irresponsible production in poor countries does to the environment and the nation’s people. Maybe. | DuPont

Seafood | Report: Seafood faces collapse by 2048 | “If current trends of overfishing and pollution continue, the populations of just about all seafood face collapse by 2048, a team of ecologists and economists warns in a report in Friday’s issue of the journal Science.” Science? That rag? No one should believe this report. Lies I tell you! Nothing but lies! Oh wait, I thought I worked for the Administration for a second. I know I’m in the minority here but this is the kind of stuff that reinforces my vegetarianism. SUSTAINABILITY. Maybe I’ve mentioned it on this site once or twice. Even if you don’t care about killing the animals realize there won’t be any left soon. And don’t give me that bullshit about overpopulation of deer, etc . . . Stop taking their land and they’ll be fine. If there are still too many let nature take its course, not a bunch of ignoramuses with buck shot. We all know that’s a fair fight. | Associated Press

Website | Smart Growth Online | “Smart growth recognizes connections between development and quality of life. It leverages new growth to improve the community. The features that distinguish smart growth in a community vary from place to place. In general, smart growth invests time, attention, and resources in restoring community and vitality to center cities and older suburbs. New smart growth is more town-centered, is transit and pedestrian oriented, and has a greater mix of housing, commercial and retail uses. It also preserves open space and many other environmental amenities.” I’m surprised I haven’t come across this site, or its parent, before. Great information.

—–

Some good stuff today. I much more energized to publish and issue of this “newsletter” when I have the opportunity to provide some commentary. If don’t like the commentary then “sucks to your asmar”. Because of this the five item list is working better than the ten item list. It’s easier to find good reference articles and comment on them. I hope you enjoyed the issue.

 

I’ve been a little distracted lately witnessing the sustainability of the St. Louis Cardinals in the National League Championship Series. They’re a perfect example of maximizing utility if there ever was one in baseball. Let’s hope they can continue to extract ridiculous levels of performance from sub par / untested resources. Not too bad an analogy . . . 

—– 

Award | Triad textile firm nominated for sustainability award | “Sustainable North Carolina named a Greensboro textiles firm to its list of nine finalists for its fifth annual N.C. Sustainability Awards. The awards are intended to recognize businesses, nonprofits and other organizations that combine strong financial returns with environmental stewardship and social responsibility.” Even if good press is a company’s only motivation, sustainable behavior is the end goal. | The Business Journal

Event | UR to host ‘Sustainability’ Farmers Market | “To push the idea of buying local, ecologically-friendly produce, University of Rochester will host its first ever Sustainability Farmers Market from 3 to 6 p.m. Friday in Dandelion Square on UR’s River Campus.” What a great venue to host an event like this. Even the closest-knit neighborhoods don’t have the sense of community found on college campuses. Hopefully other colleges follow suit. | Rochester Democrat and Chronicle 

Island | Future of sustainability discussed on Kaua‘i | “Kaua‘i residents met last night with representatives of the Hawai‘i 2050 Sustainability Task Force, joining a statewide conversation about the policies that will best guide the islands’ future. The legislature charged the task force with developing a plan for Hawai‘i’s sustainable future — a plan that will take account of the impact development has on the environment, the community and the economy.” Task forces usually generate more waste in paper than good in ideas, or implementation. Let’s hope these guys (and gals) come up with something that’s actionable. I’ve never been but I hear it’s beautiful. It’d be a shame if it was under water. | Charlotte Woolard, The Garden Island

Reporting | New GRI guidelines make sustainability reporting simpler | “The GRI’s vision is that reporting on economic, environmental and social performance becomes a matter of routine. It aims to achieve this by inspiring businesses and organisations to make this kind of reporting the norm and by encouraging them to use its GRI Guidelines to disclose their impact in a standardised and comparable way.” I know, I know . . . boooooring. But, reporting is key if businesses are to measure the impact of their sustainability efforts. For better or worse, shareholders like to see numbers more than hear feel-good stories. | Business in the Community

Trade | Encourage sustainable trade | “The World Trade Organisation (WTO) promotes free trade for the gain of private interests, over and above our health and the environment. It is fatally flawed and is moving the world in the wrong direction – away from peace, security and sustainability. By stalling on issues that are crucial to poorer countries, the WTO faces a crisis of legitimacy.” I really wish Greenpeace would let us know how it really feels. Some interesting things to think about on this page. Check it out. | Greenpeace

—–

There you have it and there you are. I italicized my comments while leaving the quotes from the various sources untouched. Hopefully that makes the information in each paragraph easier to dissect. Go Cards!

Oooh, some really good stuff today. Links about action, accomplishment and bringing like-minded people together . . . and then ruining it by having the President show up. I really hope he’s rendered powerless soon. November 2006 is shaping up to be one of the most important months in recent history. Onward ho, sustainability galore.

—–

Bioenergy | Bioenergy effort at least has a name: CE2 | “St. Louis area business and civic leaders who want to make the region a bioenergy hub have given their effort a name: the Center for EverGreen Energy, or CE². The announcement will be made during a two-day renewable-energy conference at America’s Center that will include speeches by President George W. Bush, Energy Secretary Samuel W. Bodman and Agriculture Secretary Mike Johanns.” Boo to Bush. Yeah to everything else, though I’m sure some pseudo-science Bush Administration plants will be conveniently present. | St. Louis Post-Dispatch

Conference | Advancing Renewable Energy Conference | “Accelerating the development and use of alternative energy sources is not only a critical national security issue, but is key to maintaining America’s economic competitiveness, as well as a tremendous opportunity for farmers, businesses, and rural communities across our nation.” The conference ends tomorrow with the presentation of lies by the President. Hopefully some good comes out of the conference before he shows up.

Corporate |DuPont Expands Sustainability Commitments, Goals Focus on Market-Driven Innovations to Address Safety, Environment, Energy & Climate Challenges | “DuPont Chairman and CEO Charles O. Holliday, Jr. today said the company is broadening its sustainability commitments and will expand its business offerings addressing safety, environment, energy and climate challenges in the global marketplace. The company expects to derive additional revenues of $6 billion or more by 2015 from the targeted effort.” | ChemPoint 

Ethanol |Why we’re not buying E85-yet | Hmmm, maybe ’cause non-cellulosic ethanol sucks. Anyway, I suppose it a step sideways to reduce fuel efficiency while also decreasing pollution, as long as the latter out paces the former. ‘Brian Behme of Worden said he was unaware that his Ford Ranger pickup was E85-compatible until a friend told him. For years, he’d owned the truck without paying attention to the small rectangular corn stalk emblem on the lower right of the tailgate or what it meant. “I had no idea that I could run this stuff,” Behme said, filling up at the Zephyr Express on East Broadway in Alton. “It smells like Jack Daniel’s.”‘ Welcome to America. | Jeffrey Tomich, St. Louis Post-Dispatch

Surplus | Sustainability first, equitable tax cuts second | A surplus is not something we’re used to in the U.S. but the New Zealanders have a decent sized one and one man, Dr. Russel Norman, has a good idea what to do with it. “The first call on the $3 billion cash surplus announced today should be investments in environmental and social sustainability, and if tax cuts do go ahead then they should be introduced as a tax-free threshold at the bottom of the tax scale that would benefit all New Zealanders, says the Green Party.” | Scoop

—–

I broke my rule of having a different source for each one of the links but energy is the theme today, and since the President will be in St. Louis for the energy conference I felt the exception was warranted. Go Cardinals!

Columbus Day . . . I have a day off so I like that we’re honoring a guy who got more lost than anyone in history. Here’s to you Chris. And so we take a trip around the globe.

—–

Alternative Energy | Hydrogen: The clear alternative | ‘”Running in the hydrogen mode, the BMW Hydrogen 7 essentially emits nothing but odorless vapor,” reports The Auto Channel. “And unlike fossil fuels and traditional gasoline, hydrogen is available in virtually infinite supply.” A BMW engineer took off his glasses for the press and held them a few inches from the car’s exhaust pipe. “See, I can even clean my lenses,” he said, wiping the warm steam off with a felt cloth.’ Not only can you clean off your glasses with this car, it also reduces the options by one for suicide. Bad taste? | Ralph R. Reiland, Pittsburgh Tribune-Review

Development | Call for development to be sustainable under regional plan | Australia is becoming more and more conscious of sustainable development. Experts in Queensland are trying to figure out ways to limit the environmental impact of development. “One example would be to work out what might be a carbon footprint per household in this region and then use that as a way of saying any development in this area has to maintain our carbon footprint within a certain limit, so if you want to put in a proposal that blows that out well then you have to go away and redesign it,” said John Rainbird, of the Cairns and far North Environment Centre. | ABC News

Renewable Energy | €100m boost for renewable energy? | The European Commission on Friday proposed creating a €100-million global risk capital fund to boost private investment in renewable energy in poorer nations. “This is an innovative mechanism. It underlines the Commission’s commitment to help developing countries invest in renewable energy and energy efficiency,” said EU Environment Commissioner Stavros Dimas. | iAfrica

Seafood | Consumers want sustainable seafood, says Waitrose report | “To mark the start of Seafood Week – running from 6-13 October – a new report published today by Waitrose highlights that the Scottish public are making a stand and demanding a halt to the fishing of endangered species or fish from declining stocks. More than three-quarters of the population – a staggering 77 per cent – now want it stopped. However, there is still a huge amount of confusion around the issue.” | FISHupdate (finalist for coolest web address award)

Style | Gap (PRODUCT) RED(TM) Collection Designed to Make a Difference for Africa | “On October 13, Gap will introduce Gap (PRODUCT) RED(TM) — a new, limited collection of clothing and accessories for men and women designed to help eliminate AIDS in Africa. As part of Gap’s global partnership with (PRODUCT) RED, half of the profits from sales of the Gap (PRODUCT) RED Collection will go to The Global Fund to finance programs that help women and children affected by HIV/AIDS in Africa.” More socially conscious business ventures. I love it! | PRNewswire

—–

This concludes our global travels in honor of one Mr. Christopher Columbus. Sustain-a-Links actually travels the globe with most of its issues but it can’t hurt to give ol’ Colmbus a shout out on his day.

Shorter, sweeter, sexier. Five is the new ten people! You heard it here first. This isn’t the best news but it’s often hard to find ten good links to compile into a Sustain-a-Links issue. So, I’m going with five from here on out. Hopefully I can publish the lists more often – to date I’ve often had to spend more than one day compiling good articles to reach a total of ten. No more. Mix in the regular assortment of stories and bam, quality and quantity. Enjoy.

—– 

Agriculture | Eat Your Veggies | “Sustainable agriculture is often equated with organic farming or ecological issues, such as fossil-fuel consumption, global warming and food safety. However, sustainability is more than just an environmental issue: it’s economic—if a farmer cannot stay in business today, there is no future for agriculture; and social—if consumers do not demand local produce, imports will continue to account for 90 percent of the state’s available fruits and vegetables.” | Keala Francis, Hawaii Business

Business | Businesses need a sustainable future | “The time of the fast buck is over for responsible companies. The number-one priority now must be sustainable growth. Our horizon has become not just the next quarter, but the next quarter of a century.” | Robert Bruce, CRN

Organization | Garden of Life | “We are a company that nurtures good health and we are fully aware that good health cannot be achieved in isolation from the environment, so we are strong proponents of sustainable business and sustainable lifestyles.”

Petition | New Energy Future | “America has the know-how to move us away from our dependence on oil and toward a cleaner, more secure future. We’re asking citizens to join us in calling on candidates to endorse a bold and sensible plan to move America toward a new energy future.” | Missouri Public Interest Research Group

Seafood | New program provides sustainable seafood information | Maybe if people stopped raping the oceans for food these types of coalitions wouldn’t be needed. Until then . . . | Fort Francis Times

Has it been that long? First things first. I don’t know if I’ve ever suggested signing up for Grist’s newsletters but I’m doing it now, so do it. I’ll wait. Grist gave me two of today’s ten articles, and for that I thank them. Apologies for my absence last week. Travel for work and a general level of “hectosity”.

—– 

Agriculture | 2 in CNMI get $20K grant for agricultural research | I’m in favor of micro-grants and micro-lending in depressed areas of the world. A little money can go a long way in changing our habits. Hopefully the money makes the crabs happier. Too bad someone’s still going to eat them.

Blog | Making Love Sustainable |  This entry doesn’t have to do with sustainability in the environmental sense but we can always use a little more love in the world. | Wendy Strgar

Development | Green, sustainable development in Hermitage renovation plan | “A year after the New Camaldoli Hermitage, perched 1,300 feet above the Big Sur coastline, was founded in 1958, a fire destroyed all but one building on the property. With little money and limited resources, the hermitage, home to 20 or so monks at any given time, was rebuilt quickly and with volunteer labor. The resulting structures — still standing today — were not built to last.” Now a $40 million remodeling aims to make them durable and long-lasting.

Energy | Tobacco and oil ballot issues draw big money | Tax the cancer that plagues us and fund research for a cure. Seems like a good idea, no? Well, “Oil companies since January have pumped in the bulk of about $35 million contributed to kill Proposition 87, which would impose a tax on oil producers in California. The tax would range between 1.5 percent to 6 percent, depending on the price of oil per barrel. The aim is to raise $4 billion for researching and producing alternative fuels and energy.” | Lynda Gledhill, Matthew Yi, SFGate.com

Farming | U.S. Soil: Changing the Way We Farm Throughout America | “Established in 1947, U.S. Soil works tirelessly to promote sustainable agriculture and the use of a bioactive mineral foundation.” These guys are holding a conference in November in Columbia, Missouri, not too far from my home town. The keynote is Joel Salatin, the guy who started the free-range chicken movement. If there ever were a movement to start . . . | Market Wire

Fundraising 1 | Branson pledges $3B to fight global warming | “Billionaire Virgin Group Chairman Richard Branson Thursday committed an estimated $3 billion over the next 10 years, or all of the profits from his airline and rail businesses, to combating global warming.” This link and following on really make me optimistic about our future. If only we could change people’s behavior so that we didn’t need such huge commitments to solving problems created by our own laziness, greed and ignorance. | Reuters

Fundraising 2 | Clinton raises billions for world issues | “A conference hosted by Bill Clinton on world problems ended Friday [9/22/06] with the former president announcing a total of $7.3 billion in pledges to help reduce global warming and fight Third World poverty, disease and ethnic strife.” I wish I could convince people to give ten figures to a cause. I miss you Bill. | Beth Fouhy, Yahoo News

Organization | Farm Aid | “The mission of Farm Aid is to keep family farmers on their land. Family farmers are our only guarantee for fresh, local food. Our goal is to bring together family farmers and citizens to restore family farm-centered agriculture. Family farmers ensure safe, healthful food, protect natural resources, and strengthen local economies.”

Solar | Iowa State Advances Thin Film Solar Technology | “With solar cell manufacturers around the globe scrambling to find a solution to the silicon shortage, Iowa State researchers are hoping their recent discoveries in materials science and plasma chemistry will boost the performance of thin film solar cells by 40 to 50 percent.” I know solar technology still has a long way to go but this is great. Shine on. | Renewable Energy Access

Style | How Green Are My Blue Jeans | “Levi Strauss will debut more than a new CEO when current COO John Anderson takes over in November. The company will also introduce Eco jeans, its first organic-cotton line. The target customers: upscale shoppers, the kind of eco-consumers for whom price ($250) will be less important than the tag it’s printed on (recycled paper, soy ink). Levi’s will launch the naturally dyed “green” jeans, handcrafted in the U.S., in select Levi’s stores. In early 2007 the company will roll out cheaper versions — $65 to $80 — in department stores, followed by jeans costing $40 to $60 in the fall.” | Product Peek, Business Week

—–

Check check check it.

Good stuff in Issue #7.  The weekend was good. Yours? My favorite link this issue is probably the one for “Planetary Ethos”. The article doesn’t present a practical solution to anything but it does open the mind, and if everyone’s minds were opened the world would be a much different place. Hell, it doesn’t even have to be everyone, just the people in power to influence others.

—–

Agriculture | Spray wins sustainable agriculture award | “Brothers Rex and Glen Spray went back to sustainable farming methods more than 50 years ago. This month, Rex was awarded the 2006 Patrick Madden Award for the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s North Central district of the Sustainable Agriculture Research and Education program. The award recognizes the contributions of farmers and ranchers who have adopted sustainable practices that are profitable as well as beneficial to the environment and their communities.” | George Breithaupt, Mount Vernon News

Environment | Ecopessimism v Ecoeffectiveness | This article comes from the red side of the site (think fiery inferno) but it makes some good points. I don’t think Gore is an ecopessimist. People need to know how stupid they’ve been for so long, and history is our best teacher. Jack says, “The solution to our problem will be found in human innovation and new technologies. We have lots of options. Government, business and society in general all have a role to play.” Too bad his party sucks at making any of this a reality. | Jack, WatchBlog

Global Stability | Summit likely U.S. bash fest | “One visiting leader calls for the annihilation of Israel. A second labels the United States the biggest terrorist nation on Earth. And the host country describes President Bush as a Nazi-style warmonger. Expect plenty of verbal fireworks when Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez join more than 50 world leaders in Havana for the 14th Non-Aligned Movement summit beginning Monday.” Uh . . . I’m pretty sure this is where World War III will be planned. Crazy thing is some of the countries represented are doing more on the environmental side of sustainability than the U.S. Funny how the world works. | Gary Marz, Chicago Tribune

Green Grocery | Supermarkets unveil more eco-friendly schemes | “Britain’s largest supermarket chain expects the collection to catapult organic clothes into the mainstream and dispel their hippy image. The range will include men’s, women’s and children’s wear. The collection will be launched in 40 stores next spring and uses raw materials that have been grown without chemical fertilisers and manufactured and dyed in an eco-friendly way.” Score! | Which?

MTV | U.S. Colleges to Buy Green Power in MTV Competition | For years I’ve thought the only good thing that was ever produced by MTV was “Pimp My Ride” – I was wrong. There’s something else, and it’s this. I can envision a rebirth of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles . . . singing “T-U-R-T-L-E POWER!” and advocating all things green . . . and pizza, of course. | Timothy Gardner, Reuters

Organization | Energy Action Coalition | “Energy Action is a coalition of more than 30 organizations from across the US and Canada, founded and led by youth to help support and strengthen the student and youth clean energy movement in North America.” It’s always nice to give college students a dose of reality from time to time. These guys are the ones partnering with MTV. Good for them.

Planetary Ethos | Ignore the earth and be doomed | Boff sums up the goal of sustainability better than anyone else I’ve read to date. He said, “What is needed is a new paradigm of co-existence between nature, earth, and humanity which puts life at the centre, maintains natural and cultural diversity, and guarantees the continuity and co-evolution of the physical-chemical-ecological nexus that supports life on earth.” Sing it loud! | Leonardo Boff, Nation Media

Recycling | What becomes of my plastic, my glass? | “A couple of weeks ago, while I was depositing my recyclables into their proper bins, a dismaying thought came upon me: Would these newspapers, this plastic mayo-lite jar cleaned of every trace of mayonnaise, this collection of beer bottles that needed no after-care, actually end up recycled? Or would they all end up at the dump—landfill—in a hole in the ground?” The answer will surprise you, or will it? That’s right. | Betty Bell, Idaho Moutain Express

Smart Growth | UrbanAdvantage | I found this link on Steve Patterson’s website. The before and after shots are amazing. I wish all urban developers (hell, all developers) planned like this.

Smart House | the sustainable mandurah home | A house smarter than most people! Don’t believe it? You’re probably one of those people . . . “Built using standard materials and construction techniques, the Sustainable Mandurah Home will offer flexible accommodation featuring three bedrooms, two living areas and an activity area ideal for use as a study or fourth bedroom. The passive solar design will ensure rooms are a pleasant temperature all year round – reaching no more than 28C in summer months and dropping no lower than 18C in winter – without the aid of artificial heating or cooling.” The site is loaded with good information. Check it out!

—–

As always, I trust you enjoyed this issue of Sustain-a-Links and the past few articles on education and the (possible) end of civilization as we know it.

Yesterday was a doozy. I tell you what, holidays really throw me off. At least it’s a short week. So much good stuff in this issue, so little time. You will not believe how many great articles I found but had to leave out of this issue. Seriously, you will not believe it. In fact, the number is so mind-boggling I won’t even tell you, basically to save you from yourself. Thank me later.

—–

Building | Croxton Collaborative and Gould Evans Team Up to Design Florida’s First LEED™ Gold Building | This article is a couple years old but I thought it was interesting. It details Florida’s first LEED building, has some great photos and talks in depth about how the building represents multiple approaches to sustainability. | AIArchitect

Bush Adminstration | Gore Predicts Shift in Bush Climate Policy | “Former U.S. Vice President Al Gore predicted on Tuesday that President George W. Bush would shift to do more to fight global warming, under Republican pressure from California to New York.” | Alister Doyle, Reuters

Clothing | Spiritex | Pretty hip store located in Asheville, North Carolina. “Spiritex is dedicated to using the collective knowledge and expertise of its management team to facilitate the creation and expansion of markets for responsibly produced fabrics, apparel, and home products. The adherence to a “direct to the source” approach, on all levels of production, optimizes competitive pricing advantages.” Apparently these clowns looked up some fancy business terms to throw into their “Commitment” section. Whatever, their stuff is cool so buy it.

Ethanol | Ethanol Plant May Not Be in Our Best Interests | What? The “U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has identified a number of hazardous emissions from these facilities, including a wide variety of hazardous air pollutants (HAPs), voluble organic compounds (VOCs), methane, acetaldehyde, formaldehyde, methanol, toluene, solvents, denaturing compounds, sulfuric oxide, nitrogen oxide and carbon monoxide.” My theory used to be is if I can’t pronounce it it can’t hurt me. Then one day the Lithuanian kid in grade school beat me up. One great point made in the article is that corn sucks for ethanol production, which I’ve said before. We’ll keep advertising the hell out of it though and it’ll probably instrumental in the demise of Ford. | Jay Burney, RedOrbit

Farming | Sustainable Crops For Farmers In The Sertão, Brazil | Small scale sustainability makes me think of the days before the industrial revolution. I have fond memories of the olden days. Ahem . . . for farmers in Brazil, “a farm is sustainable if it enables them to feed their family and animals.” Not quite the capitalistic mega-farm mentality of the U.S. but sophisticated nonetheless. What’s being done in Brazil to promote sustainability “enables farmers to understand how their farming systems function, by placing their sustainability criteria in a grid that includes biomass flows and resource balances.” Kickin’! | Medical News Today

Fossil Fuels | Gulf oil discovery may be bigger than Alaska’s Prudhoe Bay | This actually kind of sucks. Just when the tides were turning toward renewable energy stupid Chevron finds a giant well of oil four miles beneath the ocean floor. How the hell do you look for something that far down to begin with? It’ll take a few years for the oil to start flowing but the pessimist in me says this will mitigate the rise in gas prices (the article says otherwise) and the SUVs will start rolling. | CNN.com

Git ‘er Done | Secret of success: Be a bulldog | The advice presented in this article is invaluable. You’ve heard it before in many forms . . . creativity is 99% perspiration and 1% inspiration. The point is get off your butt and do something. Go to the environmental events in your community, support sustainability on every level. These are the things that matter. You and all your MENSA buddies can sit around all day with your thumbs up your wahoos and it won’t do the world a lick of good. | Jeffrey Pfeffer, Business 2.0

Invention | EcoKettle | The Department of Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (DEFRA) have quantified how important this is with the following statement: “If everyone boiled only the water they needed to make a cup of tea instead of ‘filling’ the kettle every time, we could save enough electricity to run practically all the street lighting in the U.K.” Amazing!

Publication | The Healthy Planet | This magazine’s “mission is to help our readers and their families improve the quality of their lives. We promote all that is healthy, natural, organic, earth-friendly and socially-responsible.” It can be borderline fru-fru but is very informative. Oh yeah, it’s focused on St. Louis but many of the articles are general interest.

Urban Density | Greater Number of Smaller Grocery Stores the Key to Revitalizing St. Louis? | What does it take to increase urban density. Patterson offers a look at what small, neighborhood grocery stores have done for Toronto’s urban core, and what they could for St. Louis’. Another interesting take from one of my favorit urban blogs. | Steve Patterson, Urban Review

—–

Well, thar she blows. Hope you enjoyed it. I’ll be trying to publish a couple of features in the coming days. Have a good one.

A holiday weekend approaches. Man do I need a vacation. I don’t actually do any labor but I’ll tip my cap to people who work on their feet and relax with them Monday.

—–

Building |  Bressi Ranch getting Carlsbad’s first LEED building | “The 21-acre development within Bressi Ranch Corporate Center will total 280,000 square feet of industrial/flex condos and stand-alone office condos ranging in size from 1,800 square feet to 5,000 square feet.” | San Diego Source

China | Chinese watchdog calls for new powers to protect the environment | China has long been on the list of worst environmental offenders. When they were awarded the 2008 Olympics, one condition was that Beijing had to be cleaned up. I’ve been there, it’s bad. Hopefully the efforts discussed in this article will help stop such blatant pollution. | Edie

Energy Savings | Builders getting the green as more are going green | One of the biggest obstacles to people building green is the imagined imbalance between the (perceived) increase in building costs and potential future energy savings. People just don’t want to risk spending more upfront – though building green isn’t always more expensive – when they can’t measure what they’ll get back in the future. This article is further proof that the energy savings associated with green building are real. | Henry Holcomb, Philadelphia Inquirer

Global Environment | $3.13 billion pledged to Global Environment Facility | Awesome.  A global fund that gives grants to stop environmental degradation in the developing world. The key negative in this article is, “China and Korea, but not the US, are among the nations who have said they will give more, alongside a roll call mainly made up of European countries.” We suck. | Environmental Finance

Investing | Introduction to Socially Responsible Investing | “Integrating personal values and societal concerns with investment decisions is called Socially Responsible Investing (SRI). SRI considers both the investor’s financial needs and an investment’s impact on society. With SRI, you can put your money to work to build a better tomorrow while earning competitive returns today.” | The Social Investment Forum

Organization | Office of Sustainable Development | The City of Portland has an office with 40 employees dedicated solely providing leadership and contributing practical solutions “to ensure a prosperous community where people and nature thrive, now and in the future.” Wow. We should all be so lucky to live in cities with similar departments. Now if only they could get it to rain less.

Planting Seeds | Unions, environment groups form alliance | “A new coalition of unions, businesses, and environmental and healthy schools groups is urging New York leaders to invest in clean energy and create more jobs.” I really like this story. It’s about doing things from the ground up and we don’t have nearly enough of that going on. Power to the people! | New York State United Teachers

Rebuilding New Orleans | Pitt picks winner | “Brad Pitt has announced the winners of his design competition to rebuild areas damaged by Hurricane Katrina.” Pitt “co-sponsored the design contest with environmental organization Global Green USA and served as the chairman of the contest jury.” | Life Style Extra
 
Solar Power | Contentious Solar Licensing Issues Still at Play in California | This kills me. A $3.2 billion bill, know as the “Million Solar Roofs” bill, was passed in California in 2006. One of the reasons it passed was because “licensing requirements saying who can and cannot install solar photovoltaic (PV) projects were left out.” Now they’re fighting about who can and cannot install the roofs and nothing is actually getting done. What the hell? | Renewable Energy Access

Style | Ailin Unveils Sustainable Clothing Collection | New Zealand in the house! The house of fashion! “Taking the dedication to being an environmentally conscious business to the next level, not only is the collection sustainable, but the booth the collection is housed in at the show is also completely sustainable – a space that includes a sales counter made from coffee beans, furniture designed with downcycled cork, and bamboo furnished floors.” | Transworld Business

—–

Happy Labor Day. That sounds weird. Merry Labor Day? Much worse. Have a good weekend.

Fore! Watch out, issue #4 is here to represent. Good stuff today. Well, it’s not all good news but it’s educational, and that’s what I’m here for. Happy reading.

—–

Alternative Fuels | Environmentalists Burn Ethanol Hype as Empty Promise | The Bush administration’s give-away to ethanol producers leaves critics saying the “green” gasoline creates a host of additional environmental and political problems. | Michelle Chen, The New Standard

Building | New House Residence Hall | Environmentally friendly co-ed interaction is definitely better than non-environmentally friendly co-ed interaction. I actually don’t know if this dorm is co-ed but “over 50 ash and serviceberry trees are a main feature of the landscape”, and if that doesn’t get you in the mood . . . to learn, I don’t know what will.

Capitalism | Is Capitalism Growing More Socially Conscious? | I hope so. How amazing would it be if people were enlightened to change their behavior instead of being forced? It would take (most of) the politics out of doing what’s right. | Corey Tarrazza, Worldwatch

Equality | The Gap is Getting Wider | Oh man. I’ve felt for years that we’re stressing the net that holds the (growing) poorer part of our society. The evidence is mounting and the future looks grim . . . happy Thursday! Take this article with the insanely good news presented in the Labor article and you have no choice but to be all smiles. Good luck. | Isaiah J. Poole, TomPaine.com

Global Power | Why India will overtake China | “For all the advances in personal freedom in China over the past 15 years – and these have been enormous – the Communist Party’s clenched grip on power has not relaxed. It’s a whole lot less traumatic for a democratic country to open its economy, as India is doing, than for a dictatorship to open its politics, as China is not doing. And that’s why, a generation or so down the line, it is India that is going to be the Asian tiger that everyone watches.” The article details the pluses and minuses of both countries . . . where they’ve improved and where they need to. The conclusion is interesting. We’ll have to wait and see what happens. | Cait Murphy, Fortune

Labor | Devaluing Labor | Two friends sent me this article. I’ve been having interesting discussions regarding the importance and priority of ethically fair labor standards. This piece doesn’t relate directly to that topic but it gives a very direct analysis of what’s happened to labor in the U.S. over the past few decades. | Harold Meyerson, Washington Post

Longevity | Live Long? Die Young? Answer Isn’t Just in Genes | How long should we live? This article explores the factors that drive long life. It got me thinking about practicality in long life if we do in fact find ways to live well into the three digits. What impact will it have on our planet and its resources? That’s a lot of Viagra, that’s all I’m saying. | Gina Kolata, New York Times

Organization | The World Conservation Union | “The Union’s mission is to influence, encourage and assist societies throughout the world to conserve the integrity and diversity of nature and to ensure that any use of natural resources is equitable and ecologically sustainable.”

Product | Style Limited | Floors even a koala would love!

Solar Power | In Nevada, Solar Power on a Massive Scale | Learning while showering has to be the epitome of multi-tasking. Downside – you spend more time in the shower, thereby wasting hot water. BUT, if my water were heated by the sun that would be less evil, no? | Ted Robbins, NPR

—–

What did you think? Any suggestions? Please send me your thoughts.