Wednesday, September 24, 2014

The energy we (US) use, and don't!

WoW! This is the new energy charge for the US. Note that the new chart shows how much energy we waste as well as how much weed is! Far more goes to waste.
And 2013 was the first year that energy consumption was up, since 2010. One benefit of a recession is that you produce less of a carbon footprint, and get more efficient.
https://www.llnl.gov/news/newsreleases/2014/Apr/NR-14-04-01.html#.VCOBhMcpDMK

Thursday, September 11, 2014

Green, But Mostly White: The Lack Of Diversity In Enviro Movement, 5 parts - JustMeans

Green, But Mostly White: The Lack Of Diversity In The Environmental Movement, Part 1 of 5—Future 500 | Justmeans:

There are 5 parts to this series. It's talking about who is evolved int the Environmental movement, and why there isn't more diversity. And why that is starting to change?

This is a very interesting 5 part series by several authors.

Part 1: http://www.justmeans.com/blogs/green-but-mostly-white-the-lack-of-diversity-in-the-environmental-movement-part-1 by Danna Pfahl

Part 2: http://www.justmeans.com/blogs/green-but-mostly-white-the-lack-of-diversity-in-the-environmental-movement-part-2-of-5-future by Marvin Smith

Part 3: http://www.justmeans.com/blogs/green-but-mostly-white-the-lack-of-diversity-in-the-environmental-movement-part-3-of-5 by Shilpi Chhatray

Part 4: http://3blmedia.com/News/Green-Mostly-White-Lack-Diversity-Environmental-Movement-Part-4-5-Future-500 by Brandon Steele

Part 5: http://www.justmeans.com/blogs/green-but-mostly-white-the-lack-of-diversity-in-the-environmental-movement-part-5-of-5-future by Nick Sorrentio

The last one, by Sorrentio, talks about engaging businesses to help address environmental issues. SustainZine has long promoted serious action by business (and all organizations) in areas where the payback is obvious and near-term. Conservation, as in reducing energy, improved logistics (so less shipping), and telecommuting (so no travel) are all areas that have rapid payback to business and to the environment. So not only area companies making money in doing this, they are helping out the environment in doing this. Plus, it can become a perpetuity of savings, if properly monitored and maintained.

This is something we call in the triple bottom-line business, a win-win-win... and a perpetuity of savings.

'via Blog this'

Monday, September 1, 2014

Sustainable Universities fall in two

Sustainable Universities falls into to two schools (note the pun).
1) Those that have greener campuses in terms of reduced usage of resources and renewable resources.
2) Those that teach sustainability programs academically.
Of course, doing both is entirely possible... and even highly synergistic.

Here's a few sources of Green campus and green(er) universities:
Plus there has been some rather interesting reports on the topic in August of 2014. So this list should be updated soon.

Keywords: Best Universities, Green Education, renewable energy, sustainability, sustainable education, sustainUcation 
First published on www.SustainUcation.com, here.