Articles Tagged ‘ carbon footprint ’

Further To Fly: Exploring Air Travel Part II

Last week on Sea Change Radio, we talked about how a single flight can virtually neutralize all the efforts a family makes in a year to reduce their carbon footprint. As individuals, it’s essential that we begin to fly less, but isn’t there something more that the airlines can do, too? This week, Alex Wise interviews Jim Walsh, Managing Director of Corporate Environmental at American Airlines. He explains how early motivations to become more efficient and sustainable stemmed from rising fuel costs and an associated self-interest in saving money. But these seeds of sustainability began to sprout and the airline now boasts a number of employee-informed solutions, including donating used carpets to animal shelters, plans for burning alternative fuels, replacing heavy food carts with lighter ones, and even serving rain-forest certified coffee.

The Future of Luxury: Can we have our world and sustain it too?

Our guests this week on Sea Change Radio talk about the development of green luxury, and suggest that products that are both luxurious and sustainable may be an important trend. First, Sea Change Radio host, Alex Wise, speaks with Dr. Jem Bendell, a sustainability professor, consultant and author. Next, Alex talks to Beth Gerstein, the Co-founder and Co-Ceo of Brilliant Earth, a socially responsible jewelry company.

Green luxury. The two concepts seem diametrically opposed. We usually equate sustainable lifestyle with one involving sacrifices – driving a smaller car, turning down the AC, or reaching deeper into our wallets to buy pesticide-free fruit. And we think of luxury as something involving “no sacrifice.” But ever-increasing consumer awareness and demand, coupled with product innovation has led us to the dawn of the green luxury age. One in which sacrifices can be minimal. Click to continue reading and listen to the show…

NewsAnalysis: Dark Clouds Gather Over SEC Climate Regs?

In a January 27 vote – split three-to-two along party lines – SEC Commissioners approved interpretive guidance on rules requiring companies to disclose potential impacts of climate change on their bottom lines.  The move was prompted by a petition filed in September 2007 by Environmental Defense Fund – Finding the Ways That Work and Ceres.  The petition was backed by institutional investors with $1.5 trillion in assets, including treasurers from California, Florida, and New York, among others.

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Brewing Biofuel from E. Coli — and Fill Er Up with Yellow Grease

Bill Haywood

Robin Gold and Tofu Pup

Producing biofuel is kind of like brewing beer, a practice that’s been around since the Phoenicians and Egyptians first fermented things, according to Bill Haywood, CEO of the San Francisco-based company LS9.  He explains to Sea Change Radio West Coast Correspondent Alex Wise how his company uses E. Coli‘s digestion capabilities (which have been around for billions of years) to convert sugar to biofuels and chemicals.  Next, Alex speaks with Robin Gold, co-founder of Dogpatch Biofuels, a filling station in San Francisco where drivers can gas up on “yellow grease,” or waste vegetable oil.

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COP15 Dispatch: Don Carli on Media Carbon

International Printing Weekcop15_logo_imgWhen Sea Change Radio Executive Producer Bill Baue logged onto his computer Thursday morning, Skype immediately rang with a call from Don Carli, Senior Fellow of the Institute for Sustainable Communication, in Copenhagen for the UN Climate Conference (COP15). Don’s passion is to raise awareness about the carbon embedded in the entire lifecycle of every communication act – for example, the energy and emissions to power your computer to read and listen to this dispatch. He urges everyone, especially companies, to walk our talk, and reduce our emissions in how we communicate.

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Back to the Future: Reduce, Reuse, Retrofit

BetsyPettit

Welcome to the third episode in our Sea Change series, Back to the Future.  Green architect Betsy Pettit talks about retrofits and what older building methods can teach us about saving energy. And John Grossman of ReStore tells us about re-using salvaged building materials.

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