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Environmental Update |
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Consumers : As of this writing, it is still early in January. Did you make resolutions for the New Year? Once a year, people around the world resolve to change from negative to positive behaviors. But, why should we wait until once a year? Why not make eco-resolutions, to change the way we impact the earth, on a continual basis. Review what you want to resolve based on your ecological footprint and begin changing your lifestyle. Check out Eco-resolutions at: http://www.ecomanor.com/eco_ecoresolutions.html. : Thinking of building a new home, garage, kid’s playhouse, other construction, or remodeling? The sustainable living lifestyle is not only a prescription for how you can change your daily behavior; it also brings into focus how your private living area is designed (http://www.ecohome.org). There is much we can do within our homes, such as changing to energy-efficient light bulbs, insulating, reducing our home temperature, etc. However, to really develop a plan for a new living or work area, a person has to develop a sustainable design plan. Other Web sites available for review include: http://www.greenhomeguide.com and http://www.greenhomebuilding.com. : In 1901, Sierra Club leader William Colby led 100
hardy souls—men and women—on the first Sierra Club monitoring of Yosemite
high country. The Sierra Club Outings continue today, with ever-expanding
locations for adventure. As you think about your spring and summer travel,
you should review the "2008 Best Adventure Travel Companies on Earth",
which was awarded to Sierra Club Outings by the editors of National
Geographic Adventure magazine (http://www.ngadventure.com/ratings). |
Business : The University of South Carolina’s Moore School of Business continues to climb in academic excellence. U.S. News & World Report ranked the Moore School’s undergraduate program in international business No. 1 in the nation in the 2008 "America’s Best Colleges" guide and listed the Moore School No. 41 among the top 50 business schools. Among public universities, the Moore School is ranked No. 24. In 2007, the Moore School achieved another top ranking. In its first year of being evaluated, the Moore School ranked number 51 among the world’s top 100 business schools in the Beyond Grey Pinstripes survey. "The Beyond Grey Pinstripes is a biennial survey and alternative ranking of business schools." Its mission is to spotlight innovative full-time MBA programs that are integrating issues of social and environmental stewardship into curricula and research (http://www.beyondgreypinstripes.org/index.cfm). : ForestEthics’ 2007 Catalog Industry Environmental Scorecard shows
"an industry-wide trend toward more sustainable forest and paper policies,
despite stubborn resistance from some of the industry’s largest
companies." Twenty-one companies were evaluated according to four
criteria: whether or not endangered forests are cut to produce the
company’s catalogs, whether the company uses Forest Stewardship Council
(FSC) certified paper, the amount of post-consumer recycled content in the
company’s catalogs, and the extent of the company’s efforts to reduce
overall paper consumption. Check out how Sears rated, for example. It
sends out 425 million catalogs a year (http://www.forestethics.org/downloads/ : From mom-and-pop stores to manufacturers, tens of thousands of small businesses are going green. Many of these small companies are suppliers to Wal-Mart and General Motors, which require supply-chain partners to adopt ecologically sound practices, says Joel Makower, founder of GreenBiz.com. "Small businesses have barely scratched their potential," Makower says. "In every market now, there’s a retailer, dry cleaner, auto mechanic, coffee shop with a green consciousness." Trade group surveys found that small business owners "are worried about the global climate, rising fuel costs and other environmental issues." Read more at http://www.usatoday.com/money/smallbusiness/2007-12-02-greenbiz_N.htm. . |
Government : In a 2007 study by Nicolas Muller and Robert Mendelsohn, estimates of the total damage costs associated with emissions of some air pollutants (particulate matter, nitrogen oxides, ammonia sulphur dioxide, and volatile organic compounds) were shown for the U.S. at between $71 billion and $277 billion per year. These costs are reflected, for example, in household expenditures on medicines and preventive measures (such as buying bottled water or air purifiers), which rise as pollution increases. The study can be downloaded at http://www.olis.oecd.org/olis/2006doc.nsf/linkto/env-epoc-wpnep(2006)17-final. For more on the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) work on cost of policy inaction with respect to key environmental challenges, contact Nick.Johnstone@oecd.org. : A report published by The Institute for Energy and Environmental Research entitled Carbon-Free and Nuclear Free: A Roadmap for U.S. Energy Policy, provides findings and recommendations on the U.S. use of fossil fuels and nuclear power. The report states it is of urgent importance for the United States to "physically eliminate CO2 emissions from the U.S. energy sector without resorting to nuclear power, which has serious security and other vulnerabilities." One of the findings is that "the transition to a zero-CO2 system can be made in a manner compatible with local economic development in areas that now produce fossil fuels" (http://www.ieer.org/index.html). Dr. Phillip E. Barnes is Research Professor in the School of the Environment at the University of South Carolina. You can reach him at (803) 777-1373, or via e-mail at pbarnes@environ.sc.edu. |
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