President-Elect Barack Obama stands a better chance of advancing a green agenda in his first 100 days in office if he can continue mobilizing the country on a grassroots level around environmental issues and tie green initiatives to the economic stimulus package and recovery.That’s the consensus of a group of journalists and a business advisor that explored the future of the green economy in an Obama presidency during a panel discussion at the GreenBiz-Business for Social Responsibility (BSR) Leadership Dinner held Thursday in New York.

The panel, which included Fortune’s Marc Gunther, Business Week’s Adam Aston, The New York Times’ Kate Galbraith and BSR’s vice president of advisory services, Eric Olson, was moderated by GreenBiz.com’s Executive Editor Joel Makower in what he described as his version of “Meet the Press.”

“I think we’ve all heard the superlatives about this week in terms of just how extraordinary it was whether your team won or not, but now the question is: What’s next?” Makower said.

The economy is clearly at the top of the heap, as President-Elect Obama made clear in his first press conference. The news is grim: Job losses are escalating and he warned that if Congress fails to pass another stimulus package, he’ll make the move as one of his first actions in office. Marrying the environmental agenda to the economic stimulus package presents one possibility of advancement, according to Gunther of Fortune.

“You have to come up with a way to say the purpose of this is do two things: do something about climate change but also to stimulate the new green economy,” Gunther said. “If it can be packaged that way, as opposed to something that will raise gasoline prices or raise electricity prices — which it absolutely will do — then it has a much better chance.”

It comes down to politics and tapping into the excitement and energy he generated during his campaign, Gunther said

“One of the really interesting questions to me about Obama is what does he do with to whatever degree it is a movement - - he sent out his thank you email at 12:30 or 1 a.m. Tuesday night — what does he do to keep that group of people engaged and alive?” Gunther said. “If he says I need your support now because energy is my priority and here are things you have to do, if he can do that, I think he can get his agenda done.”

Galbraith, of The New York Times, pointed out that the appeal of green jobs, for example, extends beyond Obama’s Democratic platform.

“It’s not just Obama that’s been talking about green jobs,” she said. “It’s virtually every Congressman or Senator running for office so in a sense, green jobs is the ultimate centrist issue.”

The outreach must extend to the business community, which is ideally positioned to help move the agenda forward, according to BSR’s Olson, who noted its strengths in technology, infrastructure, intellectual property and equipment. He suggested giving the business community an “assignment” to help find the solutions to solve the big problems facing the country.

“One of the amazing things about business and why I think it is about an assignment is if you think about what we’re up against, businesses, in terms of resource allocation … an important part of our job, more important than usual, is going to be figuring out how to do more with less,” Olson said.

People in the business community need to be at the negotiating table in greater numbers to build off the efforts already started, Olson said.

Companies are hungry for the dialogue that will offer clarity in various aspects of green business, such as labels, greenwashing and carbon, said Aston, of Business Week.

“All of these things are areas where I have business people come to me and say, ‘We need standards. We can’t continue to create 50-state code books for all of our operations.” Aston said.

Gunther reminded the audience of the dreariness facing the business community at the moment but doesn’t believe that businesses will simply abandon sustainability because of the economic downturn.

“Once these companies go down the sustainability path and start asking questions and start looking at the science and start engaging their employees, I think it’s really hard for them to turn back, even if there are some short-term losses, and even as grim as some of the other things are,” Gunther said. “I don’t know of any company that’s said, ‘you know, we tried the sustainability thing and it just didn’t pay off for us so we’re not going to do it anymore.’”

He noted a grassroots push toward sustainability coming from the bottom of companies: employees. Tying green corporate initiatives to energy security or patriotism resonates more powerfully that the general green agenda, Olson said.

“If the assignment is we have the opportunity to harness some of the activates that our companies desperately need anyway in the direction particularly in efficiency, and put that in the context of service to country, the broader economic agenda and community agenda, I don’t think that’s something we need to wait that long for,” Olson said.

http://www.greenbiz.com/news/2008/11/10/obama-must-tie-green-agenda-economy-panel

             

By Rebecca Pattiz

If you are starting to feel guilty about your failure to recycle or your occasional failure to turn off the lights, there is an easy and surprising way to appease your conscience—pastries.

With the whole world going green, it is no surprise that we are changing our level of environmental consciousness in everyday activities, including the satisfaction of our sweet tooth. Bakeries with greener outlooks are popping up everywhere, allowing you to decrease your carbon footprint while getting your sugar fix.

Perhaps the trendiest of this new breed of bakery is Babycakes NYC, a vegan and gluten-free bakeshop on the Lower East Side. The tiny space is cute and cozy, giving the impression that your grandma very well might be cooking in the back. If you have a very chic and health-conscious grandma, that is. Owner and operator Erin McKenna, a former stylist, left the fashion world for baking and never looked back. McKenna, who has sensitivities to sugar, dairy, and wheat cites her own food restrictions as the impetus for Babycakes.

“The life of a baker never appealed to me until I realized that there were no delicious, healthy, safe alternatives on the baked-good market,” said McKenna. Thankfully, she was not alone in this realization. Her shop has become a celebrity mecca, drawing stars such as Hilary Swank and Halle Berry to sample the sweets.

Though there are many items on the menu, from brownies to cinnamon buns, the cupcakes are the real star here. The cake is moist and the frosting is creamy, giving absolutely no hint that these cupcakes do not contain many of the not-so-healthy things—butter, refined sugar, eggs—that we associate with cupcakes’ deliciousness. “We have a lot of customers come in who have no idea that we are a gluten-free and vegan bakery and thoroughly enjoy what we have to offer. Sometimes, they even leave without figuring it out,” said McKenna.

If you are concerned about the environment, but have no qualms about a liberal use of butter and sugar, Birdbath perfectly balances environmental consciousness with taste. Created by Maury Rubin, Birdbath is a tiny space created entirely from sustainable materials. Rubin can often be found giving tours of the bakery to intrigued customers, showing off the walls made of wheat and the floors of reclaimed wood from Pennsylvania. Items like the “save the polar bears pastry claw” exemplify the special personality that has made Birdbath a success.

Needless to say, this place is hardcore. This is very much due to Rubin’s own passion for the environment. To build a space made solely of eco-friendly materials is no small feat. Nonetheless, Rubin insists that it was not all that difficult to create Birdbath. “I do not think that it actually takes harder construction, it just takes more ingenuity,” he said.

Rubin applies the same sentiment to finding ingredients, almost all of which are local and organic. The wheat, for example, is all grown east of the Mississippi and milled in Pennsylvania—unusual, as most flour is produced in the Midwest. Birdbath takes the eco-theme as far as it will stretch, giving a discount to customers who arrive on wheels, either by bike, skateboard, or even with a stroller.

With plans of expansion to include another dozen locations, Birdbath is a bakery on a mission. “If people don’t start to do things differently we’ll have problems, we’ll really have problems. So it’s about watching the world go by, watching the physical world fall apart, thinking that it is falling apart, and deciding that a small food business is perfect as a mechanism for trying to help,” said Rubin.

If Babycakes and Birdbath are the young trendsetters in the eco-baking world, Whole Earth Bakery is their wise and traditional grandfather. A crowd of regulars can be found sitting at the bakery’s countertop, reminiscing about the old days on the Lower East Side and praising the talents of the owner, Peter Silvestri. Whole Earth was founded by Silvestri and his mother after the pair sold their homemade cookies at a local flea market to rave reviews. Silvestri researched bakery locations in a newspaper, paid $1,500 for the space, and began business from there. Though Silvestri’s mother recently passed away at age 94, she worked with him at the bakery until that point, making her somewhat of a legend.

Up until about eight years ago, the bakery still made non-vegan products. The change was a gradual one, but now, as Silvestri proudly announces to all customers who peruse his cases, everything is completely vegan. As much a philosopher as he is a baker, Silvestri is happy to share his musings with anyone willing to listen.
“One must be careful of animal product these days, with what they’re doing to animals,” he said. “That’s my take on the amount of diseases that are present in our society. How people treat each other these days… can you imagine how they would treat something that can’t speak back?” Silvestri’s own vegetarianism—he confesses that he is not completely vegan—began first as a “selfish sort of emphasis… First I was macrobiotic, but the idea of it is like for my own body, my own health, my own self,” he said.

Now, Silvestri will often explain the need for society to stop eating meat as a much broader and existentialist idea, linking people to animals and thus to their environment. As much as Silvestri can talk, he has the baking chops to back it up and is constantly inventing new recipes and doling them out the next day to the supportive comments of customers. From vegan pizza to soy cheesecake to various cookies, Whole Earth is entirely committed to providing honest, hearty, and delicious vegan food, without the trendiness that one associates with the newer bakeries.

As the green trend continues and new eco-conscious restaurants and bakeries become more and more hip, we are left wondering if this trend toward environmental conciousness is here to stay. According to the owners of the bakeries, the answer is yes. Birdbath’s Rubin said that although greenness is currently “too trendy,” once the hype dies down, we will be left with “business practices and goods and services that are for real.”

Silvestri, whose own bakery is currently involved in rent issues and is not generating the same publicity as Babycakes and Birdbath are, is surprisingly quick to defend the current green trend as well. He points to McDonald’s and other seemingly anti-vegan institutions. He believes that the fact that even these chains and fast-food joints are offering vegan and vegetarian options is a sign of progress and not something to complain about.

Regardless of the lasting power of the country’s newfound environmental concern, as McKenna points out, more greenness equals more tasty and healthy options when it comes to sweets. So greenhouse gasses and energy crises aside, the increase in green bakeries may not only make for a cleaner planet, but a tastier one as well.

http://www.columbiaspectator.com/?q=node/28328

             

by Joanne Macdonald

SOUL sensation Joss Stone surprised pupils at a Linwood school by supporting their environmentally friendly work.

The chart-topper, whose hits include Super Duper Love and Tell Me ‘Bout it, gave her support to St Benedict’s High School’s Green Day last week.

The day aimed at increasing awareness among pupils of their duties as ‘good citizens of the earth’ and the singer/songwriter sent a special goodwill message on a signed poster of herself.

Her special message backed the school’s drive to promote Fairtrade, increase knowledge about the environment and our role in preserving it and raising cash for the Prince’s Trust Charity.

Events on the day included: a stall selling Rainbow Turtle Fairtrade goods; a talk on the problems plastic bags can cause to the environment; posters from the SPCA on the threat rubbish poses to wildlife; pupil displays on litter; quizzes and a display featuring a super-light, carbon fibre bicycle.

Pupils will also be building a shed in the school grounds to house tools which are being used in their eco garden.

Michael Canning, head teacher at St Benedict’s High School, said: “The school fully supports any initiative which increases our awareness of our duties as good citizens of this earth, to protect and enhance its potential.

“We encourage and work with the pupils to respect their environment and this day allows us to press home this message.

“Similarly our continued and on-going commitment to the Fairtrade initiative encourages both pupils and staff to be aware of the benefits of this wonderful project.

“We are looking forward to future participation in these events.”

Delighted second-year pupil, Daniel McIntyre, 14, said: “I wanted to be involved in Green Day because I would like to stop people polluting the Earth. I would like more people to walk to school.”

http://www.paisleygazette.co.uk/article.php?sec=1&id=16781

             

When the formal portion of the third annual Clinton Global Initiative closed in New York on Friday, former President Bill Clinton announced that participants’ commitments will result in 170 million acres of forest protected or restored, plus millions of people with better access to health care, sustainable incomes, and education.

 ”Giving,” the title of Clinton’s new book, is also the theme of the Clinton Global Initiative, CGI. The program for the 2007 Annual Meeting concentrated on four focus areas - education, energy and climate change, global health, and poverty alleviation.

“I’m ecstatic about the work that’s been done here over the past three days. We have seen firsthand that one commitment of action inspires a myriad of others,” President Bill Clinton said. “The quality and level of commitments that we have seen this year are a testament to the positive impact our CGI members and initiatives are having around the world.”

Then on Saturday night at Harlem’s historic Apollo Theater, just around the corner from Clinton’s office, the former president was joined by Bono, Wyclef, Shakira, Chris Rock and Alicia Keys to wrap the philanthropic summit with a mantle of celebrity attention in a roundtable on the state of youth activism.

Jerry Lee Lewis and Solomon Burke opened the show with a musical celebration in honor of Lewis’ 72nd birthday.

Colombian star Shakira announced that her charity foundation, Latin America in Solidarity Action, would donate $40 million to helping victims of natural disasters in Nicaragua and Peru.

Keys, a spokesperson for the Keep a Child Alive foundation, said the organization is launching a “Good Cents Initiative” through which businesses make small contributions to help children with AIDS get the medicine they need.

Performances by Keys, Shakira and Wyclef topped off the evening, which was hosted by MTV.

One of the new commitments announced on Friday will benefit all nongovernmental organizations. YouTube will create a special section on its video-sharing website dedicated to NGOs. This will provide them with branded channels, a vehicle for advertising their organization and a link to a Google checkout donation tool to allow browsers to make donations. The project aims to help NGOs reach new audiences and educate people about the issues on they work on.

In addition to the long list of commitments made at this year’s CGI meeting, hundreds of commitments were made by more than 40,000 people who visited the newly launched website MyCommitment.org. Through this online tool, nearly 200,000 hours of volunteer time and close to $130,000 were committed.

To cultivate a new generation of philanthropists and citizen-servants, Clinton announced a new project called CGI-U, that will expand CGI to university and college campuses.

“I believe the world has never needed a community of givers more than it does today. CGI-U will serve as a catalyst for commitments of action by young people around the country to make a difference in their world,” Clinton said.

Like CGI’s annual meeting, the CGI-U meeting will feature panel discussions and commitments. This spring the first CGI-U meeting will convene at Tulane University with several hundred student leaders from around the country.

In a separate commitment that also will involve young people, in November, the Energy Action Coalition will bring together thousands of young adults in Washington, DC for Power Shift 2007, the first-ever national youth summit to address the climate crisis.

Participants will receive tools and training to increase youth voter turn-out and pressure politicians to offer bold climate solutions particularly around the 2008 elections. The Energy Action Coalition comprises 44 member organizations and almost 400 allied organizations and companies.

Young people in conflict and post-conflict situations need education most urgently, said actress Angelina Jolie during a panel discussion on Wednesday. In a heartfelt plea she said, “The children in conflict and refugee children have lost everything, they have nothing and they have been traumatized and they have been hurt and they have witnessed what we pray our children never have to see. All they have left is their minds. All they have left is a possible future. And what are they going to do and what are they going to be? They are susceptible to so much and they are feeling so much.” “And we can take these young people who are such great young people, survivors, and give them amazing opportunities and say we are going to help show you how to learn about reconciliation, we are going to teach you about what it is to be a teacher, a lawyer, an engineer. … We don’t want them to grow up and not have anything to live for and not feel that they are of any use and not know what to do,” Jolie said.

A $30 million pledge to help educate children affected by conflict, especially in Iraq and the Occupied Palestinian Territory, and Norway’s pledge of $1 billion over the next 10 years to help improve maternal and child health worldwide were announced at the Clinton Global Initiative.

The Netherlands also has pledged $176 million for the effort.

“Today we launch a campaign to save millions of lives,” said Norwegian Prime Minister Jens Stoltenberg at a press conference launching the pledge. Clinton was joined at this year’s meeting by 1,300 leaders of business, government and nongovernmental organizations, including 50 current and former heads of state, who traveled to New York from six continents.

Rwandan President Paul Kagame unveiled his country’s first national conservation park to promote reforestation and conservation, and research to enhance knowledge of the world’s diminishing number of great apes.

In collaboration with Ted Townsend, founder of Earthpark and the Great Ape Trust of Iowa, President Kagame announced at the Clinton Global Initiative a joint 10-year program called The Rwanda Forest Protection Project. The partners will develop both a national conservation park and field station for reforestation and conservation of great apes, including mountain gorillas, which currently number around 700 worldwide.

The government of Rwanda will identify, dedicate and protect in perpetuity a region of ecologically significant size to create the Rwanda National Conservation Park. Earthpark, a proposed 240 acre environmental center in Iowa, in partnership with the Great Ape Trust, will establish a field station in this park to research and promote reforestation and conservation of great apes. Rwanda is inhabited by about half of the world’s remaining 700 mountain gorillas and a small population of eastern chimpanzees numbering approximately 500.

Resources for the program will be mobilized from carbon trading and other potential sources in Rwanda, a country where 10 million people live in an area smaller than the state of Maryland. These factors have caused acute land and resource scarcity, and resulting pressure on natural habitats.

Africa needs clean energy, and with a $150 million commitment, a small European country that has expertise in developing geothermal energy will help African countries to develop their own geothermal power.

The Geothermal Power Company of Iceland will help countries in the African Rift Valley to develop their geothermal energy resources helping them to develop sustainably. The project will invest in comprehensive research into the geothermal potential of Djibouti and if successful will build a large power plant driven on geothermal power.

These newly announced and previously unannounced CGI energy and climate commitments cover a wide spectrum of projects from fresh water to energy efficiency, from environmental education to wines.

Apollo Alliance and the Office of the Mayor of NewarkThe Apollo Alliance, the City of Newark, New Jersey and partners commit to organize Newark’s Green Future Summit, to take place in Spring 2008, in collaboration with the Mayor’s office and other city leaders to identify best practices and mobilize the resources to make Newark a national showcase for clean and efficient energy use, green economic development and job creation, and equitable environmental opportunity. The aim of this effort is to ultimately engage and touch the lives of Newark’s two million residents, especially those in its most economically and environmentally distressed communities.

ASSET4 Over the next two years, ASSET4 will gather environmental, social and governance data on the world’s 3,000 largest corporations, working with academics, non-profit groups and investment organizations, to prove best practice environmental performance has a direct impact on financial performance. The findings will be published no later than September 2009. This commitment is worth an estimated $10 million.

Circle of Blue: Solving the Global Freshwater CrisisIn a $25 million commitment, Pacific Institute, an online journalism and research project, plans to increase the resources it dedicates to reporting on the causes and solutions to freshwater pollution. They will achieve this by increasing their editorial resources and providing more editorial staff to cover freshwater pollution. In addition, they will develop the resources needed to present an exhibition on freshwater pollution.

Cool GlobesWorking in Chicago with the Field Museum, Department of the Environment and public schools, Cool Globes will launch a $500,000 program targeting 35,000 students to educate them about the importance of environmentalism. Children participating in Chicago Conservation Clubs will take part in community activities, such as establishing recycling programs, composting, planting rooftop gardens and conducting energy audits.

Ceres/United Nations Foundation/Bank of America FoundationCeres is partnering with the United Nations Foundation and Bank of America Foundation to create a national Task Force on Energy Efficiency. Over a five-year period, the task force will bring business leaders together with consumers, labor, and environmental groups to build awareness and catalyze increased deployment of energy efficiency goals. A major component of this work will be the development and implementation of innovative policies that, by changing the relationship between public utilities and their customers, permit a doubling of the rate of improvement in US energy efficiency by 2012.

China: Training Chinese Mayors: Bringing Energy Efficiency to Cities NowJoint US-China Cooperation on Clean Energy (JUCCCE), working with China’s Ministry of Construction, will create a solutions-oriented course for mayors, including a roundtable assembly of international experts, which will be presented in Chinese. The goal is to give mayors a clear menu of possible next steps for energy and environmental change, and then partner them with solution providers.

China Lighting ConversionJoint US-China Cooperation on Clean Energy (JUCCCE) will invest $20 million over two years to distribute 10 million energy-efficient Compact Fluorescent Lamps for free in an effort to reduce greenhouse gases, predominantly CO2. Deploying 10 million lamps would save 3.5 million tons of CO2 over 4 years, and would eliminate the need for ten 50 mega watt coal-fired power plants. In other words, an investment of $20 million effectively eliminates the need for the equivalent of $500 million investment in new power plants. Also, the commitment will create 50 new jobs, involve thousands of volunteers, and accelerate a much needed energy efficiency awareness consumer campaign in China. JUCCCE hopes to eventually scale this program to 60 million lamps.

Cooler, Inc.Cooler Inc. commits to eliminate the global warming impact of over $600 million of goods and services next year. They will eliminate over 20 million tons of CO2 equivalent emissions, enough to offset the annual emissions of 1.75 million US households over five years.

Eagle CapitalEagle Capital and its partners will build a school in the Dominican Republic. Additionally, the partners will set aside a minimum of 300 acres of undeveloped land on the northern coast of the Dominican Republic on which they will develop a research center, hiking trails and an organic farm to grow high-value produce and train local farmers to diversify their crops into areas that can earn them higher incomes.

Emergya Wind Technologies (EWT)EWT will commit to develop the technology to provide a 10 megawatt wind turbine for offshore use and to formulate partnerships with governments to develop wind farms and increase its order portfolio of megawatt production by 100%.

EnBW Energy Efficiency CompanyEnBW, a German utility company, is committing to share their energy efficiency expertise with customers to achieve sustainable reductions in energy consumption and CO2 emissions.

Energy for Development & EnvironmentOver the next five years, E+Co will invest $210 million to enable businesses in Africa, Asia and Latin America to deliver modern energy to 17 million people and offset 16 million tons of carbon. This investment is expected to mobilize over $1 billion of additional capital for local clean energy businesses. Further, E+Co will aggregate and monetize the carbon credits of E+Co supported enterprises, share these monetary benefits with the enterprises, and offer these third-party, independently verified carbon credits for sale to companies and others wanting to achieve carbon neutrality in a way that also promotes development. This commitment is expected to produce $20 million for small, local companies in developing countries.

Federal Climate Policy Portfolio Based on Scale-Up of State Level Best PracticesThe Center for Climate Strategies, CCS, will develop a blueprint for addressing climate change through federal government action. This $500,000 project, which is a scaling up of CCS’ state and regional work, will seek to reduce America’s emissions of greenhouse gases to 1990 levels by 2020. These reductions will be made by implementing a cost-neutral to net positive portfolio of policy measures.

FourWinds Capital Management - Bio-FuelsFourWinds Capital Management, along with its local partners, will develop investment programs that focus on tropical bio-fuel production projects that maximize environmental and social welfare. The goal of the $300 million program is to establish an eco-integration program in which local communities participate at all levels in the planting, harvesting, and processing of novel sources of bio-fuels using emerging technologies that offer significant environmental and social benefits in addition to alternative energy sources.

FourWinds Capital Management - Environmental InfrastructureFourWinds will develop and institute a broad, global investment program that will assist large municipalities and concentrated rural areas in improving their environmental infrastructure, with a particular focus on waste and water management systems. Issues targeted will include for waste (sanitary landfill implementation, landfill mining, sorting and recycling, waste-to-energy and methane capture, bio-digestion, and composting) and for water (leakage reduction, pumping efficiency systems, filtering, disinfection, purification and clean water programs, waste water treatment, rainfall and runoff recovery, water table management, and recycling). The program, with an estimated value of $1 billion, will combine economic, environmental and social yield so as to produce a scaleable and truly sustainable long term model for development.

Green City IndexICLEI (Local Governments for Sustainability) and its partners U.S. Green Building Council and CAP, commit to establishing the Green City Index (GCI) where US cities can rate certain measures, policies and actions they have taken to reduce greenhouse gas emissions in their municipal operations and communities while advancing climate protection and sustainable development. The GCI will bring greater quality control, foster a high level of accountability, facilitate prioritized decision-making, and create a clear and informed roadmap to help them track and achieve their climate and sustainability goals. The $1 million project will initially focus on the United States but standards will be developed for application globally.

Hall Financial Group & Hall WinesThe Hall partners commit to helping cut CO2 emissions, employ conservation strategies and promote an economic approach in the development of their first green winery. The total cost of the project will be $2.5 million.

Infinity Bio-EnergyIn this $400 million, eight year project, Infinity Bio-Energy will reduce the levels of emissions produced during the production of sugar cane ethanol in Brazil and other ethanol producing countries. The project will lead to a reduction in CO2 emissions of 16 million tons-equivalent to the planting of 106 million trees.

IUCN-World Conservation UnionThe IUCN-World Conservation Union, the Swiss government, Mava Foundation and Holcim are partners in this $36.2 million three year program to build an environmentally friendly new headquarters for the World Conservation Union on Lake Geneva, Switzerland. The IUCN is aiming to set some of the highest environmental standards in the world. The new building will act as an international showcase for functional, affordable and attractive environmentally sustainable buildings.

Mexican Reforestation by Coca-Cola CompanyThe $6.2 million Mexican program will plant 30 million trees to restore 25,000 hectares of important natural habitat with native species, helping to reduce greenhouse gases and remove more than 350,000 tons of CO2 over five years. Coca-Cola has also made a reforestation commitment in Brazil.

New Orleans Energy Efficiency Blitz Ameresco, Inc., Global Green, Simon Foundation and Wal-Mart will work together to reduce utility costs for residents in New Orleans. The project aims to reduce energy costs by $250,000 by undertaking a high profile three day “efficiency blitz” setting out the steps to reducing energy consumption. As part of the program 500 New Orleans homes and one school will be retrofitted, directly impacting 2,000 to 2,500 people. Additionally, ten conservation teams will provide hands-on training to community members to teach housing conservation measures like lighting and bathroom retrofits, insulation, tinting windows, and other efficiency measures.

Nurture Nature FoundationThe Pace University School of Law has partnered with the Nurture Nature Foundation to create a teaching and research center promoting environmental protection. The center, which opens with a gift of $1.25 million, will help resolve “interest” disputes - those that can only be resolved by agreement or voluntary consent - as compared to “rights” disputes which address violations of law through the courts.

Sea Studios FoundationSea Studios Foundation will produce a $16 million integrated media initiative to help audiences understand the connections between seemingly unrelated problems-and solutions-in global health, poverty, climate change, and the environment. Using television, the Internet, and new media, Strange Days on Planet Earth “2020″ will include periodic primetime television events featuring Edward Norton; an interactive Web site hosted by PBS.org, an iTunes video Podcast series, ongoing “Search for Solutions” contests to foster user-generated content and showcase high-impact opportunities to make a difference, and live screening events involving the public, business leaders, opinion leaders, and policymakers.

Solar Thermal PowerPacific Gas & Electric (PG&E) and Ausra’s $4 billion commitment will reduce the amount of carbon emitted into the atmosphere by delivering utility-scale, zero-carbon power generated by solar thermal technology that is cost-competitive with fossil fuel generation. Over the next five years, Ausra will build at least 1,000 megawatts of solar power plants and PG&E will purchase at least 1,000 megawatts of solar thermal. These actions will eliminate over 36 million tons of CO2 emissions in California and neighboring states over the next 20 years.

The Energy and Resources Institute (TERI)Over 78 million households in India lack access to electricity, causing an impediment to progress and development opportunities with a direct impact on the health, environment, and safety of millions of people. To remedy this, TERI commits to launching a four-year Lighting a Million Lives campaign based on an entrepreneurial model of energy service delivery designed to benefit both the user and the supplier of services. For instance, rural entrepreneurs can be trained to manage and run a central solar lantern charging/distribution center where lanterns are charged during the day and rented in the evening. The campaign has a total value of $30 million and in its first year aims to light 150,000 lives through a total of 30,000 lanterns spread over 300 villages.

Verdeo GroupWorking with Clean Carbon Consulting in a $500,000 project, Verdeo Group will educate and inform US business leaders about the risks and financial opportunities posed by possible US climate change regulation. The information will be provided during two free half-day workshops to be held for US executives.

Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. Wal-Mart commits to reducing the water, plastic and cardboard used in laundry detergents, both by committing to stock only concentrated detergents, and by creating conditions that encourage other retailers to follow. By May, Wal-Mart will sell only concentrated detergent in all of its US stores. The impact of this effort will save more than 400 million gallons of water, 95 million pounds of plastic resin and 125 million pounds of cardboard.

World Vision The Southern Africa Water Initiative will ensure the supply of safe drinking water and the provision of hygiene training to around 500,000 people. Part of the program will also help 250,000 people access improved sanitation systems and increase the income of 100,000 people, mostly women, through the development of irrigation systems. SAWI will be implemented in Zambia, Malawi, Mozambique and Swaziland and at a total cost of $36 million.

More detailed information on all these and other commitments are available on the Clinton Global Initiative website at: http://www.clintonglobalinitiative.org/

The greenhouse gas emissions created by the CGI meetings will be offset 100 percent, Clinton has pledged. EcoSecurities is working with CGI to calculate 2007 emissions and Van Ness Feldman will assist CGI, the donors, and EcoSecurities to structure an agreement that allows donors to offset these emissions.

Donors will purchase rights to verified emission reductions from EcoSecurities’ emission reduction projects and transfer those rights to CGI. This commitment will offset $150,000 to $200,000 worth of carbon emissions through May 2008.

http://www.ens-newswire.com/ens/oct2007/2007-10-01-05.asp

             

They’ve gotten plenty of mileage from the eco-bandwagon, but now no garbage can is being left unturned.

By Gina Piccalo

NO, it’s not easy being green, least of all for Hollywood A-listers living in jaw-dropping decadence. Solar panels on a 50,000-square-foot manse in Malibu just don’t scream “Live simply!” Ditto hopping onto a private plane to get to the Live Earth concert.

Of course, celebrities don’t let their lavish lifestyles stop them from preaching to the rest of us about temperance. Eco-friendly living isn’t about great sacrifice, they contend, it’s about making small but powerful changes. It’s about voting green. It’s about buying green. Besides, they say, they’re doing their part by using their fame to broadcast a pro-Earth message that reaches millions of people. Isn’t that enough?

Photo Gallery

Fuel-efficient star power

It might have been, a few years back. But then, rather quickly, the green movement became part of the mainstream. For the rich and famous, the competition to stand out, to out-green the next guy, got so fierce that the next logical place to take the Greening of Hollywood was the exposé: sussing out the hypocrites. Every media outlet and website (green or otherwise) has upped its scrutiny of green-speaking stars. As a cause, environmentalism is now all about personal choices — your teeth-brushing ritual is tied directly to our dwindling water supply, for example — so the lives of green stars are expected to be especially transparent.

Even passive support of the cause — say performing at a pro-Earth event — is reason enough for a celebrity’s carbon footprint to be inspected. Laurie David, once a green beacon for the glitterati, is now a media target whose every perceived indiscretion is somehow undermining the veracity of her activism. Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie can adopt three children from impoverished nations, travel the world to promote humanitarian aid, and still have to answer for a helicopter ride they took last weekendfrom Manhattan to a Hamptons fundraiser for Pitt’s green-home-building project in New Orleans.

On the surface, celebrities have become prickly and defensive when the subject of their green habits comes up. The new standard mea culpa is “No one’s perfect.” “We’re all trying the best we can, truly we really are,” said an exasperated Leonardo DiCaprio in May. But even the subtext of that quote reveals a good bit of genuine confusion out there. When you’re extravagantly rich and high-profile, just where is the line between flat-out decadence and mindful, green luxury? Does one cross-country ride in a private jet cancel out the vegetarianism and the bamboo floors? Is the only answer total asceticism?

This is the next phase of Hollywood eco-chic: earnest self-assessment, with a side of anxiety. Everyone wants to find a comfortable place in the growing divide between the biodiesel-driving, rainwater-collecting Daryl Hannah-Ed Begley Jr. model and the carbon-offsetting, private jet-riding Laurie David-Al Gore approach.It’s no wonder the new Hollywood must-have is the eco-lifestylist.It takes a real professional to navigate the increasingly murky middle ground and guide an Earth-conscious star to his or her natural spot in the spectrum of green.

Eyeing every kilowatt

THERE’S no shortage of outlets eager to chronicle every green move a celebrity makes in the now-standard “green issues” of general interest magazines and green-centered TV shows and websites such as treehugger.com, dailygreen.com and grist.org, a well-established eco-news site. Some activists even say the increased scrutiny is actually a boon to the cause. Green gossip tells us that Julia Roberts brings her own metal cup to coffeehouses, that Pitt and Jolie bought an organic vineyard, that Rosario Dawson refuses to date non-recyclers, that Adrian Grenier is insulating his home with recycled denim, that Matt Damon bought his entire family Priuses and that Metallica is funding a rain forest reserve.

But to many, much of this now looks like mere window dressing.

Take the green website ecorazzi.com , which launched a year ago. The primary mission of the site, co-founded by Ithaca, N.Y.-based Michael d’Estries and Rebecca Carter in Miami, is to track the green habits of celebrities. “If people in the spotlight are going to get up there, they’re going to have to come prepared,” said D’Estries. “They’re going to have to look at their own lives first. Otherwise it’s just green washing.”

Ecorazzi.com is not a vigilante effort. D’Estries and Carter work hard to give celebrities the benefit of the doubt. But in June, the site landed some exclusive dish on the movement’s reigning mouthpiece. David, “An Inconvenient Truth” co-producer who had helped drive Hollywood eco-chic, was spotted cavorting at dawn on a boat dock with her building contractor, Bart Thorpe, shortly after her separation from “Seinfeld” co-creator Larry David was made public. David’s neighbor Jackie Mendez-Diez cast off the tidbit about Thorpe and David in a tirade she posted on the site about David’s “Carbon Sasquatch” lifestyle. It was ecorazzi.com’s first big scoop, and one that two years ago would have gone completely unnoticed. Even the New York Post’s Page Six didn’t catch up with the story until days later.

D’Estries admits David’s personal relationships have nothing to do with her activism. But unlike other causes, environmentalism is all about shifting our private habits to help the Earth. So David’s personal life, more than other celebrities, is subject to especially intense scrutiny.

“Even if Ed Begley Jr. is the greenest person in the world, if something happened in his personal life, that would come with the entire package and people would judge and expose,” D’Estries said.

It’s hard not to see a strain of Puritanism in all this: Any kind of behavior that looks like self-indulgence or irresponsibility, it would seem, provokes a public stockading. And yet in the context of a cause that demands limits and personal responsibility, the extreme consumption habits of many green stars do boggle the mind. From afar, the life of any A-lister can look like one long bacchanal.

For her part, David has long defended her massive Martha’s Vineyard property with its heated pool and barbecue pit that encroach on protected wetlands (an honest mistake by David’s contractor at the time, a spokeswoman said). David has said she feels justified living this life because she uses her home to host “eco salons” that build mass awareness and raise money.

David declined to comment on the ecorazzi.com imbroglio. But she does have a point of view on the scrutiny facing ecologically conscious celebrities.

“If I have learned anything from my work, it is this: The gold standard is unattainable,” she said in a statement released to The Times. “There is always something to criticize in someone’s lifestyle and I have learned that it’s not about one person doing everything, it’s about everybody doing something. If everybody did something, we would be well on our way to solving our problems.”

Al Gore too has come under fire. The day after “An Inconvenient Truth’s” Oscar win in February, political blogger Matt Drudge posted an item from an obscure conservative think tank claiming that the former vice president’s 20-room mansion and pool house in Nashville, Tenn., consumed 20 times more energy than the average American home. Gore’s camp didn’t deny the claims but quickly issued a press release explaining that he offsets with carbon credits and solar power.

At the Cannes Film Festival in May, DiCaprio couldn’t secure a hybrid, so he insisted his driver drop him off out of sight of reporters so he could walk up to the premiere of his new eco-crisis film, “The 11th Hour.” A British reporter still asked him whether he’d taken a private jet to France.

“No,” he quipped, “I took a train across the Atlantic.”

http://www.latimes.com/entertainment/news/celebrity/la-ca-eco2sep02,1,660281.story?track=crosspromo&coll=la-headlines-entnews&ctrack=1&cset=true

             

http://www.plentymag.com/blogs/lifestyles/2007/09/go_green_go.php#trackback

With New York’s U.S. Open in full swing, the greening underfoot isn’t just the color of the courts. The namesake for the stadium—the Billie Jean King National Tennis Center—is leading the charge, announcing the launch of her eco-initiative, GreenSlam. “I’m challenging myself – the industry of sports, professional athletes and fans, to take positive action to help counter the negative effects of climate change,” says King, legendary pro and change-agent. “If the billions of people who live and love sports take just one single step—we can help win back our planet.”

The first project, an adopt-a-highway clean-up campaign, may seem lame, but her plans also involve “green collar” work/study opportunities, a counsel of “greening experts” to establish GreenSlam standards to venues and events, and an eco-friendly line of sports equipment, apparel, shoes, and accessories, with partner Prince Sports. Love all.

Wilson Racquets is already on the case. Sponsors of the glam-slamming Williams sisters and Roger Federer just announced their initiative to develop environmentally responsible products such as tennis balls, cans, and packaging with higher levels of recycled materials and reducing volatile solvents in manufacturing processes…

Other sports stars with eco-fever naturally include nature-loving surfers, swimmers, skiers, and the Action Sports Environmental Coalition, who are “greening the planet, one skateboard at a time.” Their tag: “Viva la Resolution!”

Baseball is stepping up to the plate with solar panels on stadiums in San Francisco and Denver, and (not-so) minor leaguers from California’s Lake Elsinore Storm recently had a Green Night. The event featured hemp uniforms and green fireworks (sound like an oxymoron?). The stadium has water-efficient sprinklers, irrigation, and waterless urinals, saving an estimated million gallons a year—a winner in drought territory. Team prez, Dave Oster says, “It takes 51 percent to create a shift of awareness and The Storm hopes…to create a positive difference in our community and in the world we live.”

The Super Bowl offset emissions last year but Philadelphia’s Eagles have been ahead of the game since 2003. Besides recycling, the Stop Global Warming Virtual March members donate to Treevitalize, offset travel with renewables, and, get this: reimburse employees who purchase wind energy through PECO Wind.

The Indy 500 switched to ethanol from petroleum-based fuel this year. It’s a stretch but a start at waving the green flag…

As for a green Olympics, plans are underway for Vancouver (2010) and London (‘12), but we’ll see about Beijing in ‘08.

by Roberta Cruger