Safeway has become a founding member of the Sustainability Consortium, the group launched in support of Wal-Mart’s Sustainability Index.

The goal of the consortium is to develop guidelines and promote innovations as the supply chain seeks to reduce its energy use, emissions and packaging. The consortium made headlines in January when Wal-Mart and Best Buy, together with electronics suppliers Dell, HP, Intel and Toshiba, officially launched the effort.

The consortium is administered by Arizona State University and the University of Arkansas, with financial support from Wal-Mart.

The consortium has courted Safeway, in hopes that it would become involved in what could be an industry wide sustainability metric system.

Safeway made its involvement in the initiative public March 1, reports Supermarket News. Safeway is the first grocer to join the group, according to a press release.

The retailer will use life cycle assessment data to create a company-wide supply chain policy encouraging sustainable purchasing and manufacturing practices throughout the organization’s direct and indirect buying.

Colorado Carbon Fund Advisory Committee Meeting

The Colorado Carbon Fund’s Advisory Committee meets Monday, March 1 from 2-4 pm at the GEO office.

The Agenda includes:

• An update on Colorado Carbon Fund marketing and plans for 2010.
• An introduction to Ben Vitale, the new president of The Climate Trust, our partners in managing the Fund and finding high quality projects.
• An Executive Session review of proposals received during the RFP for solar hot water systems. This portion of the meeting will be closed to the public.

If you’d like to listen in by webinar, please register online.

To attend in person, please contact
Susan Innis

Don’t miss this opportunity to network and share resources and best practices with industry leaders and experts, and your peers.
For more information visit:
www.awea.org/events/supplychain4

Paul Hawken, keynote speaker Source: http://paulhawken.com

Santa Monica, CA – The Sustainable Industries Economic Forum, scheduled Jan. 14, will feature environmental economist, Paul Hawken, and The Huffington Post co-founder, Arianna Huffington.

Paul Hawken, CEO of Pax Engineering Group and author of “Ecology of Commerce” and “Natural Capitalism,” will address the opportunities created by a triple-bottom-line approach (people, planet, profit) in the midst of the current business climate.

Arianna Huffington, the co-founder and editor-in-chief of The Huffington Post , will give a presentation and serve as moderator for a question-and-answer session with Hawken.

The event will also feature an informational panel of local business leaders which will be moderated by Lewis Perkins, Sustainable Strategist at New House, LLC.

Business leaders across the country recognize that being committed to sustainability and corporate responsibility is not a passing trend, but rather a fundamental component of successful business. A 2008 survey by The Economist

found that “most executives (57 percent) say the benefits of pursuing sustainable practices outweigh the costs…Specifically, sustainable practices can help reduce costs (particularly energy expenditure), open up new markets and improve the company’s reputation.”

“In a down economy it is easy to ask the question ‘is sustainability still relevant’?” said Brian Back, Founding Editor & Publisher of Sustainable Industries. “Many people think it’s the first thing that goes, but in reality most cutting-edge companies see it as their way out of the downturn.”

Sustainable Industries is an independent business magazine, Web site, event and media company serving sustainable business leaders on the West Coast, with offices in San Francisco, Portland and Seattle.

For further information, contact Laura Christiansen, Sustainable Industries, laura@sustainableindustries.com (970) 471-6587, or Kathleen Warren, Parsons Public Relations, kathleen@parsonspr.com O: (206) 789-5668 / M: (206) 778-6695

Bevan Suits,Sustainable Design Group

Bevan Suits, head of Sustainable Design Group and recently featured on Green Streets in a review of  his Aquaponics Guidebook, penned this analysis: “Hydroponics is an industry. Aquaculture is an industry. Aquaponics is not an industry…yet. What current trends will guide its growth?”

As author of The Aquaponics Guidebook, Access to Personal Agriculture, Suits has a pretty good notion about how such questions might be answered, especially by today’s college students.

To make a point, he refers to compelling book on food by Michael Pollan, “In Defense of Food.”

If you have not read the book, this quote tells a lot about his concerns.  “Food. There’s plenty of it around, and we all love to eat it. So why should anyone need to defend it?

“Because most of what we’re consuming today is not food, and how we’re consuming it — in the car, in front of the TV, and increasingly alone — is not really eating. Instead of food, we’re consuming “edible foodlike substances” — no longer the products of nature but of food science.”

Suits believes Pollan’s work appears to be taken as a call to action by many university students attending the University of Wisconsin-Madison campus. Incoming freshmen were given copies of the book for free and seemed happy to think of it as a guidebook.

While what happened with Wisconsin’s students had no direct relationship to aquaponics, Suits, reports there is great potential on the horizon, based on the idea of locally grown fresh food.  “We are clearly on the verge of something with the potential to go mainstream,” says Suits. “I would add that the the volume of students and their level of enthusiasm is striking.”

Green Streets has asked Suits to provide occasional perspectives on the subjects of food and aquaponics. He has consented.

“There is some crossover,” he writes, ” with the worlds of hydroponics, aquaculture and ponds, but as a functioning economic platform, it’s still in prototype form. in other words, this baby is not yet born.

“If aquaponics were to take off, there would need to be a thousand times more experts at it than there are now. This is why education and promotion is the most valuable aspect to pursue. The students of Michael Pollan may be the future leaders for producing food in America with aquaponics.

“Some hydroponics vendors are moving ahead with installations, but for consumers who might like to learn about it and try it out, there is no single resource. There are plenty of websites by people who are aquaponics contractors, with expertise ranging from top-notch to eh. But these are not designed for teaching.”

Stay tuned. More is to come come on the teaching end of the food spectrum.

Glenn:

“Almost certain you’re on Al’s list, but just in case.
It’s almost worth a blog article about the next generation of nonpartisan “political” speech and action.
It also helps to be Nobel laureate :~)

Regards,

P.”

REPOWER AMERICA

When a clean energy economy finally becomes a reality in America, people will look back to the day that together, you and I launched The Repower America Wall.

The Wall is a place where literally thousands and thousands of people committed to a revolutionary new energy future for our nation and the world are coming together — to express our hopes, share our resolve, and step up to a leadership role in building a grassroots movement for change like nothing America has ever seen. It’s an opportunity for you to be part of the climate movement in a new way, in a way that takes us beyond ourselves.

By asking people from all over the country to share their thoughts and images on the Wall, we are fueling a campaign that brings together the power of national media with the strength and connection of on-the-ground organizing in a way that no one has ever done before. Your voice, and the voices of your friends, neighbors and colleagues, will become the language of our campaign on TV, in print, on billboards, online, and in brand new ways that you will help us invent as we create the Wall.

We know that the political will to transition America to a clean energy economy already exists. You are part of it. But now we must make sure our leaders know it too. The Wall will become our collective voice and thus transform the debate into action.

It’s an ambitious strategy — and it has to be.

Nothing short of every one of us joined together is needed to overcome the resistance of the powerful special interests blocking our path to a clean energy future, settling for the dangerous status quo.

But the time for politics is over. We have the power to force change in America.

Together, you and I will use the Wall as the foundation for all of our activism in the days and weeks ahead.

But first, I need you to meet me at the Wall.

Share your voice on The Repower America Wall right now.

The Wall is a revolutionary approach to standing up for what we believe in — for what our country needs. It combines the power of your voice with the force of a multi-media campaign, to build a collective call for change so loud it’s undeniable.

The messages you and many thousands of others leave at the Wall are the tidal wave that will break on Washington, and put us on the path to victory.

Our grassroots organizers in the states will use the Wall — your Wall — as proof that all of our friends and neighbors are as committed to clean energy as we are — that we are joined together in this commitment.

Content shared on the Wall will be used to create ads and other forms of communication that will go directly to your elected officials so that everywhere they look they will see the very people they represent, their constituents, calling for action now on clean energy — in the local newspaper, on television, on billboards, on the radio, and on important local and national websites. There will be no place to hide. The Wall will be everywhere.

When our opponents throw roadblocks in our way, we’ll gather at the Wall to fight back.

And when key decisions are at hand, we’ll light up the Wall to let politicians who side with powerful interests against clean energy do so at their own peril.

The time to demand a clean energy future for America is now. But we must stand together. Unless we do everything in our power to make our voices heard, the change we seek will not happen.

Stand up and be a part of the generation that makes future generations proud — join the movement and share your voice on The Repower America Wall today.

This is just the beginning. Next week we will take this campaign to the airwaves with new Repower America national television ads featuring real messages from the Wall. By acting now to share your own personal message on the Repower America Wall, you can insure that you were there at the start.

What you and I do today will determine everything about our country’s future and the world our children will inherit. The time for action is right now and the cause deserves your best efforts.

If you want to win and insure our clean energy future, I’ll see you at the Wall.

Together we can make this happen.

Thank you,

Al Gore

Thank you, Mr. Gore!

Earthship logo

“Long Way Home and Architects for Humanity will present world-renowned founder of Earthship Biotecture, Michael Reynolds (http://www.earthship.net/home/begin-here.html) as part of BuildBoston 2009 at the Seaport World Trade Center in Boston on Nov. 18, 2009 from 7 until 8 pm.

“Reynolds is best known for starting Eathship.net, a socially conscious construction venture that builds homes out of garbage with yearly utility bills under $100.”

Nov 16 and Dec 15 events:Nov 18 Webinar with Michael Reynolds
(venue in Boston, MA) Followed by Q/A, approximately 2 hours. Anyone in the world with an internet connection can virtually attend. You can also have people physically gather together and have a laptop with projector on site so everyone can see. $10 per person (per connection).

Dec 15 Webinar With Michael Reynolds
(venue in Melbourne, Australia) Followed by Q/A, approximately 2 hours. Anyone in the world with an internet connection can virtually attend. You can also have people physically gather together and have a laptop with projector on site so everyone can see. $10 per person (per connection).

“…because your blog is related to our mission of living healthy lives on a green planet. This is just a quick note introducing the Local Action Challenge, a local contest that encourages people in Denver, CO to think global, act local… and win prizes doing it!

“SustainLane is heading up the Local Action Challenge in partnership with Hopenhagen, an international movement to drive action on climate change at the United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP15) in Copenhagen this December.

“Cities across the country – like Denver, CO – have sent in their top-ten lists of actions they’d like residents to take in order to combat climate change and otherwise care for the planet right in their own communities.”

According to Adam Waks, marketing manager for SustainLane Media, the program is gaining momentum. “So far, we have seen an incredible number of participants from all over the country. Since we launched the site on October 7th, thousands of people have visited and many are stepping up to the challenges, including Berkeley Mayor Tom Bates, who challenged his constituents to follow his lead and “walk at least 10,000 steps each day.” As we get closer to the Copenhagen Climate Conference in December and as more media begins to cover our challenges, we expect this number to increase rapidly.”

May the Force be with us!

I recommend visiting the Buckminster Fuller Challenge 2010, and looking at some of the entries from previous challenges, particularly the winners from last year (2009).

Bucky with tensegrity mode

To cite BFI executive director, Elizabeth Thompson:

“There is a movement afoot–of highly motivated individuals all over the world seriously engaged in coming up with solutions to the mounting set of problems we face. These design pioneers and social innovators are not waiting for large scale institutions to deliver us to a sustainable future. They understand the critical role they play as the change agents for the future we all want to see. These are the people and projects we are excited to see submit an entry to the Challenge.

“We have an amazing line-up of the international systems thinkers and design pioneers serving on the jury. This year we plan to capture and publish some of the discussion leading to the selection of the winning solution as we feel it surfaces some of the most critical issues faced in trying to figure out which solutions are leverage points for turning the ship around.”

This is a solid location for folks to spend time, look, absorb, invent.

Business and government leaders from Spain and the U.S. will explore how public and private partnerships are critical to creating growth in the renewable energy, transportation infrastructure and water treatment industries.

Both conferences will feature Spain’s Minister of Industry, Tourism and Commerce, Miguel Sebastián, as a keynote speaker. The Los Angeles conference will also include the California Secretary of Business, Transportation and Housing, Dale E. Bonner, California Natural Resources Agency Secretary, Mike Chrisman, Qualitative Economist and Nobel Peace Prize recipient, Dr. Woodrow W. Clark II and Spain’s Secretary of State for Energy, Pedro Luis Marín Uribe.

Speakers at the Houston conference include Texas Secretary of State, Hope Andrade, Texas High-Speed Rail & Transportation Corporation Chairman, Judge Robert Eckels, Texas Water Development Board Executive Administrator, Kevin Ward, and Gestamp Wind North America CEO, Javier Mateache Sacristan.

Register to attend this event.Spain – US

source: gibbs-soell.com