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Monday, September 26, 2005
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Since 1990, the annual Bioneers conference in California has been the pre-eminent and largest gathering of leading social and scientific visionaries with practical solutions for restoring the Earth. These biological pioneers -- or bioneers -- represent a wide array of fields ranging from botany to industrial ecology, organic farming to integrative medicine, activism to the arts.
For the fourth time, Bioneers is hosting satellite conference sites to double the access to the speakers, information, and networking. A live satellite downlink of the headlining speakers from the Bioneers Conference in San Rafael, CA will be part of this unique regional event. Workshops and other local events will focus on the people and issues integral to our own Great Lakes region, including music, food and farming, renewable energy, and water.
12:06:18 PM Google It! 
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Deadline: November 1, 2005
Grant Announcements: March 2006
Grant Range: $7,500 - $70,000
Contact: James Williams
This fund makes grants to grassroots organizations that are working to decrease exposure to toxic substances in neighborhoods and workplaces, particularly in low-income areas and communities of color. Groups engaged in community organizing, applied research, policy advocacy, litigation, or popular education are eligible to apply.
In 2005, a total of $269,000 was given through the Environmental Justice Fund. Grants were made possible because of the generosity of individual donors and foundations such as The Ford Foundation, The William and Flora Hewlett Foundation, and The California Wellness Foundation.
The Environmental Justice Fund Fund is now accepting applications for funding. Download a PDF version of the guidelines and application below or contact James Williams to have a copy faxed or mailed to you.
Environmental Justice Fund 2006 Guidelines and Application (PDF) (258k)
Environmental Justice Fund 2006 Cover Sheet and Budget Only (PDF) (105k)
12:03:49 PM Google It!
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You know that new-car smell that contributes to the thrill of buying a new car? Research indicates it's a toxic danger. And now there's a move afoot to put the brakes on it. More from AP's Hans Greimel in a story that appears in the Monterey (Calif.) Herald, 9/26/05. [SEJ Environmental Journalism Today]
11:49:23 AM Google It!
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ITHACA, N.Y, Sept. 22, 2005 - Cornell University has been awarded more than $8.2 million in federal funding over four years as one of five Sun Grant Centers of Excellence -- regional hubs that will take the lead in researching green technologies. [GreenBiz.com]
11:45:29 AM Google It!
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PLEASANTON, Calif., Sept. 19, 2005 - Safeway Inc. has announced that it will purchase 100% renewable energy to power the company's 270 fuel stations in the United States, its 15 stores in San Francisco, and the Safeway corporate campuses in Pleasanton and Walnut Creek, Calif. [GreenBiz.com]
11:44:30 AM Google It!
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OAKLAND, Calif., Sept. 16, 2005 - The Oakland Athletics have teamed up with Computer Recyclers of America, California's largest electronics recycler, to host a host an E-Waste Collection Day. [GreenBiz.com]
11:43:51 AM Google It!
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This environmental sustainability portal -- one of the oldest on the Web -- features a wealth of informational links. [GreenBiz.com]
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True to its title, this August 2005 report offers strategies for improving energy efficiency in municipal water treatment facilities. [GreenBiz.com]
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This July 2005 report is intended as a guide for companies interested in a systematic appraisal and decision-making process in regard to energy management. [GreenBiz.com]
11:40:58 AM Google It!
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There's some encouraging news for polylactic acid, the promising but beleaguered corn-based polymer intended to replace conventional petroleum-based plastics and help usher in a new era of biobased products. [Joel Makower: Two Steps Forward]
11:39:36 AM Google It!
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The University of Victoria wins an award for reusing water from an aquatic facility in campus toilets. [Green Building]
11:33:26 AM Google It!
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As you scrub away at the ring around your bath, have you wondered what effect your cleaning fluid is having on the environment? Well, if you use Mr Muscle®, its makers SC Johnson will have a better idea than most, because they have given every ingredient in the bottle, and the bottle itself, a 'green' score. [Source: Green Futures (UK)]
11:32:00 AM Google It!
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Gasoline prices soaring past $3 and the deadly consequences of the interruption of electricity and other utilities for much of the Gulf Coast in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina have heightened Texans' interest in solar energy. [Source: San Antonio Express]
11:26:43 AM Google It!
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In an effort to make the county less dependent on foreign oil, experimental wind energy projects are underway at opposite ends of Georgia. By The Associated Press. [Stateline.org RSS - Energy]
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Robert Soohey thought the price of fuel oil was high last year. So he went out and bought himself a pellet stove as an alternative heating source for his log home in Whitefield. By By Mechele Cooper. [Stateline.org RSS - Energy]
11:24:31 AM Google It!
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It's Big Oil v. Big Corn. A major political fight is shaping up over a plan in the Legislature that would require all gas sold in Wisconsin to contain 10 percent ethanol by July 2006, a mandate that supporters say will benefit farmers while reducing gasoline prices and dependence on foreign oil. By By The Associated Press. [Stateline.org RSS - Energy]
11:23:39 AM Google It!
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Via sustainablog:
From ENN, news of the start of the eighth World Solar Challenge in Australia:
Twenty-two bug-shaped solar cars designed and built by corporations and universities from around the world set out across the vast, inhospitable Australian outback on Sunday in the eighth World Solar Challenge.
Japan's Sky Ace Tiga car, from the Ashiya University in Osaka, led off after qualifying fastest for the 3,000 km (1,860 miles) race across the centre of Australia from the tropical north city of Darwin to Adelaide in South Australia. Now that NASCAR is "America's sport," and reality shows like The Amazing Race get huge ratings on television, perhaps the US is ready for solar car racing...?
11:22:22 AM Google It!
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Via sustainablog:
From RenewableEnergyAccess.com, news of Metro Denver Habitat for Humanity's new Zero Energy House.
[The house] combines energy efficient building design that reduces energy consumption with solar heat and power generation technologies that supply the home's remaining energy needs.
The project was sponsored by the U.S. Department of Energy's National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) and served partly to help kickoff Secretary of Energy Samuel W. Bodman's tour "Energizing America for Energy Security" last June 13 when the construction first began.
As part of DOE' s Building America Program, NREL researchers designed the house using the latest research tools. The house features super-insulated walls, floors, and ceilings; efficient appliances; a solar water heating system; heat-recovery ventilation system to assure indoor air quality; compact fluorescent lighting; and windows coated with thin layers of metallic oxide to help keep heat in during the winter and out during the summer. The home's 4-kW photovoltaic system is sized to produce excess energy in the summer to balance out winter consumption.
"Together, we created a home that is not only comfortable and affordable, but uses less than half of the energy of a standard home while producing energy through renewable energy systems," said NREL Director Dan E. Arvizu. First, it's great to see a Secretary of Energy out actively promoting renewable development. Second, I wonder if this will become a common feature of Habitat homes. The organization is certain to have a lot of work in the wake of Katrina and Rita -- could HH lead the way in sustainable rebuilding of storm-ravaged regions?
11:18:38 AM Google It!
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More than a year after Clackamas County switched on the lights in its new energy-efficient Public Services Building, the county has saved thousands on utility bills -- but not quite as much as projected. [Source: The Portland Oregonian]
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Students at the Yale School of Architecture use hammers as well as T-squares in their daily education. In an effort to fulfill the building project requirement of their first year of study, graduate students completed construction of a home Thursday. The welcome mat at 590 Orchard St. not only leads to the first home the architecture school's Class of 2007 built, but also New Haven's first home to use solar photovoltaic panels to produce electricity. [Source: Yale Daily News]
11:15:18 AM Google It!
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If the weekend's Green Building Expo is any indication, consumers ache for environmentally compatible products. Thousands attended Friday and Saturday's expo at the Scottsdale Center for the Arts, which featured 70 vendors, workshops and demonstrations. [Source: The Arizona Republic]
11:13:49 AM Google It!
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As more and more builders, suppliers and governments adopt sustainable practices, the City of Ottawa has recently followed suit, offering businesses increased incentives to go green. The city's corporate services and economic development committee approved last week the development of a green building policy. This plan will require new buildings and large-scale renovations to be designed, delivered and operated in a more sustainable manner. [Source: Ottawa Business Journal]
11:11:51 AM Google It!
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RIVERSIDE, Calif. - Although California farmers are now legally accountable for emissions, environmentalists, regulators and farmers are feuding over how far the government can go in regulating things such as cow emissions and aging diesel equipment in the San Joaquin Valley. By By Juliet Eilperin. [Stateline.org RSS - Home]
11:02:00 AM Google It!
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Summary: This volume focuses on research in which land use or land cover change is a key mediator of human-environment interactions, in which demographic variables figure prominently among the driving forces investigated, and in which efforts are made to investigate the causal mechanisms by which human population changes affect land use and environmental outcomes.
10:58:24 AM Google It!
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Its no time for 'business as usual' or is it? Entrepreneurs thrive on excitement, says Solitaire Townsend. Business should do what business does best and seize the new opportunities thrown up by climate change. [Source: Green Futures]
10:53:40 AM Google It!
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This conference will look at costs and issues related to cleanup of groundwater contaminated with petroeum, volatile organics, and other pollutants, focusing on a host of state-of-the-art technologies. The meeting will conclude with a workshop on ecosystem restoration. [SEJ Environmental Events Calendar]
10:50:42 AM Google It!
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The International Society of Regulatory Toxicology and Pharmacology is hosting a conference on new technologies for assessing toxicities and impediments--social, political, technological, economic--to implementing them. [SEJ Environmental Events Calendar]
10:49:56 AM Google It!
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The 4th summit is taking place as a parallel event of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change COP11/MOP 1. It will provide an international venue for the latest knowledge and best practices in building sustainable cities and communities through greenhouse gas mitigation and adaptation strategies. The Summit will also facilitate a dialogue among national and supranational orders of government, multilateral bodies and international organizations about the important role of local government in addressing climate change issues. [SEJ Environmental Events Calendar]
10:49:09 AM Google It!
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With an American city swamped by two hurricanes in less than a month, debate has flared over the role of global warming. By ANDREW C. REVKIN. [NYT > Science]
10:24:46 AM Google It!
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California's utilities will spend nearly $2 billion to encourage customers to cut electricity consumption, in what supporters call the nation's largest energy-efficiency program. The San Francisco Chronicle's David R. Baker reports, 9/23/05. [SEJ Environmental Journalism Today]
10:23:01 AM Google It!
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Jennifer 8. Lee of The New York Times reports The Big Apple is dimming parts of its renowned skyline to ward off one group of visitors: migratory birds. The aim is to protect them from crashing into buildings, 9/23/05. [SEJ Environmental Journalism Today]
10:22:11 AM Google It!
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Building and construction contribute a remarkable share of the greenhouse gas emissions that lead to global warming. In the second of a two-part series on Sustainable Design in the Pacific Northwest broadcast on KBCS-FM in Bellevue, Wash., Francesca Lyman explores commercial green building and how it can ease global warming. (Click on link dated 8/3/05; segment starts in second third of MP3 file.) [SEJ Environmental Journalism Today]
10:21:31 AM Google It!
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LA Weekly has a special report on a problem plaguing Los Angeles and other cities for decades -- air pollution. Just when it looked like it might win the war on smog, a new and more deadly form of air pollution is stalking Los Angeles. William J. Kelly reports on a situation that could affect anyone anywhere in the nation living near a port or freeway, 9/23/05. By southlandreports@earthlink.net. [SEJ Environmental Journalism Today]
10:20:49 AM Google It!
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Green businesses are growing more popular these days, and turning your business into a green one is becoming a good financial choice, as well as a good choice for the planet. [ENN Business Headlines]
10:19:57 AM Google It!
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Outside the Al-Salam Day School in Ballwin, a few wispy shrubs and flowers sprout among birdfeeders in a garden that consumes part of the school's small, trampled playground. The garden isn't big, and it's clearly young, but for the school's students, it offers a modest chance to connect with the natural world outside their basement classrooms. [Source: St. Louis Post-Dispatch]
10:18:51 AM Google It!
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Via sustainablog:
From Vendely Communications, news of the latest green offering in reality TV: Coolfuel Roadtrip .
Beginning the week of September 5, 2005, stations across the U.S. will air the first episode of COOLFUEL ROADTRIP. In 18 episodes, viewers will travel with a crazy bunch of adventurers, meet celebrities including Daryl Hannah, Jack Johnson, Ed Begley, Jr., and Alexandra Paul and get to know America's new innovators. These COOLFUEL ROADTRIP pioneers are involved in a 16,000 mile road-trip across the U.S. and are sure to change U.S. fuel woes into a happier reality....
COOLFUEL ROADTRIP is a raucous ride on American back-roads, by-ways and highways exploring the variety of non-fossil fuel dependent vehicles and fuels available. Hosted by Murphy, Australian TV adventurer and personality, the show delivers the all-American road trip, complete with humor, drama and adventure. Murphy, his loyal dog Sparky (a better scene-stealer than Rupert Everett in My Best Friend's Wedding ), and their crew travel around the U.S. without using gasoline.
"A coolfuel is anything besides gasoline," explains Murphy. "You can grow it, squeeze it, fry it, heat it up, or catch it. Heck, you can even generate coolfuel with your own two legs!" And in 18 episodes the energetic and passionate Aussie takes on the challenge of finding and using coolfuels. Murphy says, "Along the way we have a great time with the celebrities who are really into coolfuels, and we meet the innovators and inventors who know a thing or two about designing and building vehicles and developing fuels from a wide range of resources. It's just fantastic!" Among the "coolfuels" featured on the show: "hot rocks, cow manure, garbage, hempoline, food, sugar and vegetable oil." This sounds like great fun, and a fantastic way to promote alternative fuels. Has anyone caught an episode of the show yet? If so, what did you think? Right now, a St. Louis station hasn't picked it up, but if you're in one of these markets, check it out.
10:13:41 AM Google It!
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Via sustainablog:
From GreenBiz (which now has an RSS feed) comes news of a new sustainable growth initiative by The Business Roundtable called "S.E.E. Change" (S.E.E. stands for "Society, the Environment and the Economy").
The initiative... encourages CEOs of the nation's leading companies to commit to business strategies that combine traditional corporate goals of higher profit and lower cost with a strong commitment to environmental stewardship and social improvement. Roundtable companies will be asked to set challenging goals that contribute to both the bottom line and improvements to the quality of life - now and for future generations.
"Businesses are in business to generate growth, but sustaining growth is more complicated," said Charles O. Holliday, Jr., chairman of the Roundtable's Environment, Technology and the Economy Task Force and chairman and CEO of DuPont. "The purpose of S.E.E. Change is to urge companies to adopt business strategies and projects that are good for the environment and society - and good for their bottom line."
Among the first Roundtable companies to commit to participate in S.E.E. Change are: 3M, Alcoa, American Electric Power, Citigroup, Coca Cola, Dow, DuPont, Eastman Kodak, FPL Group, General Electric, General Motors, HSBC, ITT Industries, Office Depot, Procter & Gamble, Sun Microsystems, Weyerhaeuser, Xerox, and the Global Environmental Management Initiative (GEMI) will also be a partner. While several of these companies stand out in the sense that we've seen sustainability initiatives with some teeth to them, we'll have to keep an eye on this, as it could easily devolve into high-stakes greenwashing. I know GE's "ecoimagination" campaign is associated with this, and I haven't been very impressed with it so far: all I've seen at this point is the promotion of "clean coal" with supermodel-caliber babes as coal miners... At the same time, it seems foolish not to praise this to some degree, if only to let these companies know that we'll be watching them.
10:06:47 AM Google It!
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The Los Angeles Department of Water and Power is partnering with the Los Angeles Unified School District in sponsoring a series of teacher training workshops this fall, including sessions on electricity, water science, ecology and general environmental subjects [ENN Business Headlines]
10:05:17 AM Google It!
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© Copyright
2005
Laura L. Barnes.
Last update:
10/25/2005; 12:11:54 PM.
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