Think Green Live Clean

www.triplepundit.com/2010/08/sustainability-mcdonalds-csr/

We all know that McDonalds has never been closely tied with corporate social responsibility… This is largely due to the health risks associated with the products this fast food giant peddles to us everyday. However, with this in mind McDonalds has taken huge steps in establishing itself as one of the most socially responsible companies out there today… Read more…

Photo Credit: GardenRow

On Monday, the city of Honolulu agreed to incinerate around 20,000 tons of trash, which had been sitting in Honolulu’s Industrial Park for 5 months waiting on orders to be shipped to Washington.  When an incomprehensible amount of trash has to be shipped somewhere else in order for Hawaii not to sink under its own weight in trash, you can see that there is a serious waste management problem.  Especially when a country is thinking of defaming land that sits near an Indian reservation. Read more…

Mike Lee

The worlds main urban centres contribute to nearly 80% of total carbon dioxide emitted each year. If urban areas continue to grow at the rate they are today, it is likely that they will be the major cause of severe environmental destruction. Major changes need to be introduced into these areas in order to prevent this almost certain catastrophe. Read more…

Photo: Dawn

A November ballot measure threatens to halt California’s pioneering global-warming laws.  Prop 23 would also set back other environmentally progressive acts such as requiring utilities to generate a third of electricity from renewable sources and programs requiring oil refineries to make cleaner burning fuels.  “If we don’t go forward with 33% renewable standard for California’s energy supply, we undercut all those companies and entrepreneurs creating jobs in solar, wind, biofuels, and other renewable forms of energy,” said Carl Guardino, CEO of the Silicon Valley Leadership Group. Read more…

Photo Credit: Don Franco

The Pinnacles National Monument, located in Southern California just northeast of Los Padres National Forest, is looking for an upgrade in status.  First established by President Theodore Roosevelt in 1908, this wilderness area is a well-known nesting place for the endangered California Condor, the largest airborne bird in California with a wingspan of 9 feet or less. It is also a culturally significant land for some Native American tribes.  Approximately 165,000 visitors a year come to see the condors and the beautiful landscape formed on an eroded volcano.  However, this amount of visitors is not enough to keep the economy up to speed. Read more…

Photo Credit: Mark Goble

Drilling…drilling…and more drilling.  It seems as though oil drilling has become one of the most prevalent topics in recent times, which is exactly why a ground-breaking agreement to refrain from drilling in Ecuador represented a fresh, much-needed change on a global scale. Read more…

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Energy-efficient homes have significantly lower default and delinquency rates than typical homes, according to an internal analysis conducted for a major financial institution last year. Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac have recently killed Property Assessed Clean Energy (PACE), which is a financing tool that has helped make energy efficiency improvements affordable. Read more…

Photo Credit: Cameron Grant

Effective energy management has become a necessity for successful businesses. In the past, companies were relatively unaware of the implications of their environmental footprint. However, with the help of Hara Environmental and Energy Management Software, many businesses, and even entire cities, have found ways to minimize environmental impact while maximizing profits. Read more…

Photo Credit: Max Braun

Recently, China has been working on the development of new energy policy. This comes at a time when the United States and President Obama have placed emphasis on a similar agenda. The Chinese, like the Americans, are making progress toward greater reliance on renewable energy, however for reasons of national security it seems the Asian superpower will remain behind the environmental curve for some time. Read more…

While the consumption of bananas—even organic or fair trade bananas—has been taboo for decades, the $5 billion banana industry is slowly adopting sustainable forms of production. Bananas have historically caused massive degradation of rainforest land across the tropics—not to mention exploited farm workers and spread chemicals throughout watersheds—but organizations like the New York-based non-profit the Rainforest Alliance are working to change the industry. Read more…