Check out the Corporate Responsibility Report by Walmart for 2012. http://www.walmartstores.com/sites/responsibility-report/2012/pdf/wmt_2012_grr.pdf
This is very impressive. It not only includes such things as Energy and Carbon Footprint from all of Walmart's stores, it also addresses the impact of the products and foods from suppliers and how sustainable they are.
Walmart's goals of renewable energy are pretty impressive, but they step up and state the long-term obvious: the long-term goal is 100% renewable energy.
They are moving toward more local suppliers (for foods) which also means they will have a lot more suppliers. They are moving toward all suppliers reporting on their carbon footprint (and water footprint).
One of the things I really like it that they focus on 10 areas that they think are the most important. Some should help the bottom-line directly, others only long-term or indirectly. Still, they seem to be an impressive, yet target-able set of objectives. This fits very well into the Triple Bottom-Line of Sustainability.
Note the need for reporting all along the value chain.
Note the need for education & training all along the value chain.
[With all that Walmart does well/right, there are still some who complain and criticize. More on this view in another post.]
'via Blog this'
Thursday, November 1, 2012
Sunday, October 28, 2012
Rising ocean acidity tips delicate balance | TBO.com
Rising ocean acidity tips delicate balance | TBO.com:
There are lots of reasons to be concerned about rising ocean acidity. If it kills one year's generation of oysters, that is disquieting. If it starts to kill of the next year, and the next year, that is a disaster.
The kill off of the ocean reefs, pretty much world-wide, is in part because of ocean acidifciation. An estimate of 10% of ocean reefs are dead with some 60% at risk. That should rise to 90% and essentially 100% at risk by 2030 and 2050, respectively. Most of that impact is human caused, and a big part of that is fossil fuel related.
The greenhouse gases raise the air temperatures (again, the big debate is about how much and how fast). The oceans raise in temperature at a much delayed rate, especially deep ocean. So it may be years or decades before ocean temperature rises are felt from the time of increase in air temperatures.
But the other impact is directly from CO2 emissions. Land and water masses absorb the CO2 from the atmosphere. Maybe 30 to 40% go into water, mainly oceans. This ocean sink of carbon dioxide make the water more acidic. This in turn causes lots of problems for shell fish, coral reefs, etc...
Double whammy for the oceans.
'via Blog this'
There are lots of reasons to be concerned about rising ocean acidity. If it kills one year's generation of oysters, that is disquieting. If it starts to kill of the next year, and the next year, that is a disaster.
The kill off of the ocean reefs, pretty much world-wide, is in part because of ocean acidifciation. An estimate of 10% of ocean reefs are dead with some 60% at risk. That should rise to 90% and essentially 100% at risk by 2030 and 2050, respectively. Most of that impact is human caused, and a big part of that is fossil fuel related.
The greenhouse gases raise the air temperatures (again, the big debate is about how much and how fast). The oceans raise in temperature at a much delayed rate, especially deep ocean. So it may be years or decades before ocean temperature rises are felt from the time of increase in air temperatures.
But the other impact is directly from CO2 emissions. Land and water masses absorb the CO2 from the atmosphere. Maybe 30 to 40% go into water, mainly oceans. This ocean sink of carbon dioxide make the water more acidic. This in turn causes lots of problems for shell fish, coral reefs, etc...
Double whammy for the oceans.
'via Blog this'
Why the Mail on Sunday was wrong to claim global warming has stopped... Ice cold debate
Why the Mail on Sunday was wrong to claim global warming has stopped | Environment | guardian.co.uk:
The Guardian comes back with a strong argument against the David Rose article in the Daily Mail on Oct 20, 2012. David argues that there has been only a very small increase in global surface temperatures for the 16 years ending in 2011. Not as much, certainly, as expected, by forecasts.
First, no one anywhere can deny climate change. Higher highs, lower lows, and more extreme temperatures, pretty much everywhere. All of the places I travel (in the US and most of the places I read about and talk to people from) have been exhibiting extremes almost every year. Often the 100-year extremes have been reached a couple times over the last couple years!:-) Ouch.
The chilling goosebumps should come out on anyone who starts to check out the arctic ice caps. Much of the north pole was navigable this summer by ship, something that no researchers forecasted last century, they expected it about 2050 or later. The recession of the Arctic ice seems to be happening at a faster and faster pace.
James Hansen gives a simple but visual image of the warming of our planet. See this blog post here.
Richard Muller, the last skeptic of the climatologists, recently published research that was funded by the right-leaning Koch brothers. (I refuse to call them "conservative" because it debases the word.) In the first report Muller found that there is, in fact, global warming. In the second report he found that humans appear to be almost entirely the cause.
Carbon Dioxide has increased in the atmosphere in a direct match with the industrialization of the world and also with the increase of the population. But, if you look at the earth's systems as, well, systems, it is impossible to believe the the massive buildup of CO2 in the atmosphere would have not effect... And that many of those effects would not be adverse.
Given that we know CO2 has a long persistence, say 100 years, in the atmosphere, it should make a sane man nervous... very nervous.
Ignoring the facts, is a long distance from being helpful in any way.
'via Blog this'
The Guardian comes back with a strong argument against the David Rose article in the Daily Mail on Oct 20, 2012. David argues that there has been only a very small increase in global surface temperatures for the 16 years ending in 2011. Not as much, certainly, as expected, by forecasts.
First, no one anywhere can deny climate change. Higher highs, lower lows, and more extreme temperatures, pretty much everywhere. All of the places I travel (in the US and most of the places I read about and talk to people from) have been exhibiting extremes almost every year. Often the 100-year extremes have been reached a couple times over the last couple years!:-) Ouch.
The chilling goosebumps should come out on anyone who starts to check out the arctic ice caps. Much of the north pole was navigable this summer by ship, something that no researchers forecasted last century, they expected it about 2050 or later. The recession of the Arctic ice seems to be happening at a faster and faster pace.
James Hansen gives a simple but visual image of the warming of our planet. See this blog post here.
Richard Muller, the last skeptic of the climatologists, recently published research that was funded by the right-leaning Koch brothers. (I refuse to call them "conservative" because it debases the word.) In the first report Muller found that there is, in fact, global warming. In the second report he found that humans appear to be almost entirely the cause.
Carbon Dioxide has increased in the atmosphere in a direct match with the industrialization of the world and also with the increase of the population. But, if you look at the earth's systems as, well, systems, it is impossible to believe the the massive buildup of CO2 in the atmosphere would have not effect... And that many of those effects would not be adverse.
Given that we know CO2 has a long persistence, say 100 years, in the atmosphere, it should make a sane man nervous... very nervous.
Ignoring the facts, is a long distance from being helpful in any way.
'via Blog this'
Tuesday, October 2, 2012
The next crisis: Sponging boomers | The Economist
The next crisis: Sponging boomers | The Economist:
The math is ugly. This is a great article that summarized some really big key issues that arise from the generational move of the Boomers into retirement. BoomAge could be the syndrome.
Those age 65 or older are expected to consume about $333B more in benefits/services than they paid in taxes. No worries, let's let our kids and grandkids take care of that bill.
And the bad thing about doing nothing (gridlock and more) is that it simply delays the solution and compounds the impact.
Some really cool (ugly really, but interesting) stats are the impact that inflation has had on the US national debt. The young, with debt, benefit from inflation. Older, with savings, get hit. The voting and politically active retirees will increase by almost 10% to 26% of the voters and will have time to push for services, benefits and low inflation.
Social Irresponsibility: Debt, Population, Inflation, Politics, gridlock, Boomers, Boomage
'via Blog this'
The math is ugly. This is a great article that summarized some really big key issues that arise from the generational move of the Boomers into retirement. BoomAge could be the syndrome.
Those age 65 or older are expected to consume about $333B more in benefits/services than they paid in taxes. No worries, let's let our kids and grandkids take care of that bill.
And the bad thing about doing nothing (gridlock and more) is that it simply delays the solution and compounds the impact.
Some really cool (ugly really, but interesting) stats are the impact that inflation has had on the US national debt. The young, with debt, benefit from inflation. Older, with savings, get hit. The voting and politically active retirees will increase by almost 10% to 26% of the voters and will have time to push for services, benefits and low inflation.
Social Irresponsibility: Debt, Population, Inflation, Politics, gridlock, Boomers, Boomage
'via Blog this'
In China, an underground luxury hotel | SmartPlanet
In China, an underground luxury hotel | SmartPlanet:
Wow. Don't know if we should be happy or sad about this resort project.
Kind of makes you wonder how and why this massive hole in the ground was constructed as a by product of the need for resources?
Good. This should start to make miners think hard about the use of the land when done. The open-pit mines for ore and oil and coal might start to design their end-game for the land as they dig and truck.
So, is this a resort that you wanna go visit? That's the Billion Yuan question?
'via Blog this'
Wow. Don't know if we should be happy or sad about this resort project.
Kind of makes you wonder how and why this massive hole in the ground was constructed as a by product of the need for resources?
Good. This should start to make miners think hard about the use of the land when done. The open-pit mines for ore and oil and coal might start to design their end-game for the land as they dig and truck.
So, is this a resort that you wanna go visit? That's the Billion Yuan question?
'via Blog this'
Tuesday, September 18, 2012
Bill Gates Helps Reinvent the Toilet - Earth911.com - Poo Power
Bill Gates Helps Reinvent the Toilet - Earth911.com:
I know what you're thinking, when you contemplate the power of poo. You're thinking about Winnie the Pooh. Right. "You can't stay in your corner of the Forest waiting for others to come to you. You have to go to them sometimes." Winnie famously said... Talking about going out and making a difference.
Apparently the same can be said for poo. We need to take new and better toilets to the masses of people, 2.5B or so, that do not have clean sanitation. And you use that same poop and pee-power toilet to generate poop and pee-power. Something you would want to call Poop-Pee Power, I'm sure.
Processing it and storing the "fuel" (methane?) can then be used for power. Fuel cell for on demand, when needed,no moving parts, power seems logical. A requirement is that the final outputs must be power and hydrogen. Bill Gates says in the press release related to the challenge/competition:
“Imagine what’s possible if we continue to collaborate, stimulate new investment in this sector, and apply our ingenuity in the years ahead, . . . Many of these innovations will not only revolutionize sanitation in the developing world, but also help transform our dependence on traditional flush toilets in wealthy nations.”
Innovation such as this will bring sanitation, health and power to poor and unclean masses.
No crappy jokes here. (Well, maybe a few.)
This is a great idea, that's a HEAD of its time -- or maybe a little BEHIND the times.
We all really should have done something like this a LONG time ago.
And that's the stinking true of it.
“Innovative solutions change people’s lives for the better,” said foundation Co-chair Bill Gates. “If we apply creative thinking to everyday challenges, such as dealing with human waste, we can fix some of the world’s toughest problems.”
By the world's toughest problems, do you think that Bill thinks we can apply some of such solutions to politics? It seems that PolitiPoo should be especially high-octane and extremely combustible. !:-)
The trick seems to be keeping it out of the fan long enough to harness PolitiPoo power.
'via Blog this'
I know what you're thinking, when you contemplate the power of poo. You're thinking about Winnie the Pooh. Right. "You can't stay in your corner of the Forest waiting for others to come to you. You have to go to them sometimes." Winnie famously said... Talking about going out and making a difference.
Apparently the same can be said for poo. We need to take new and better toilets to the masses of people, 2.5B or so, that do not have clean sanitation. And you use that same poop and pee-power toilet to generate poop and pee-power. Something you would want to call Poop-Pee Power, I'm sure.
Processing it and storing the "fuel" (methane?) can then be used for power. Fuel cell for on demand, when needed,no moving parts, power seems logical. A requirement is that the final outputs must be power and hydrogen. Bill Gates says in the press release related to the challenge/competition:
“Imagine what’s possible if we continue to collaborate, stimulate new investment in this sector, and apply our ingenuity in the years ahead, . . . Many of these innovations will not only revolutionize sanitation in the developing world, but also help transform our dependence on traditional flush toilets in wealthy nations.”
Innovation such as this will bring sanitation, health and power to poor and unclean masses.
No crappy jokes here. (Well, maybe a few.)
This is a great idea, that's a HEAD of its time -- or maybe a little BEHIND the times.
We all really should have done something like this a LONG time ago.
And that's the stinking true of it.
“Innovative solutions change people’s lives for the better,” said foundation Co-chair Bill Gates. “If we apply creative thinking to everyday challenges, such as dealing with human waste, we can fix some of the world’s toughest problems.”
By the world's toughest problems, do you think that Bill thinks we can apply some of such solutions to politics? It seems that PolitiPoo should be especially high-octane and extremely combustible. !:-)
The trick seems to be keeping it out of the fan long enough to harness PolitiPoo power.
'via Blog this'
Ethanol Producer Mag -- Strategies for Collaboration in Innovation
Ethanol Producer Magazine | EthanolProducer.com:
'via Blog this'
http://www.ethanolproducer.com/articles/9101/strategies-for-collaboration-in-innovation
Strategies for Collaboration in Innovation
This is a short, but concise article on collaboration and strategic partnerships in the agrofarm business.
In forming agreements of sole supplier, independent contractor & R&D agreements, it is clear that clairvoyance would be best to make these decisions!:-)
Unfortunately, in farming, as in many things in life, you make your bets in advance when you make your agreements and when you sow the seeds. And then you wait to see if it was the right bet given the weather appears on the horizon.
You might hedge your bets with revenue insurance and such, but your bets are pretty well planted in the ground with the seeds.
In this article, it's not so much the farm as the bins to store grains in, but the concepts and strategies still apply.
'via Blog this'
http://www.ethanolproducer.com/articles/9101/strategies-for-collaboration-in-innovation
Ethanol Producer Magazine
Issuu - bbiinternational - Documents:
Check out issues of Ethanol Producer Magazine... And other Biomass, biodiesel, biomass, biofuel rags. (Reading these online is surprising smooth once you get the swing of it.)
Great info in this month's edition of Ethanol Producer. Because of the trade-off between burning our food (corn) and eating it, the use of corn-ethanol as a fuel is critical. It's especially critical during times of drought. It takes a lot of water to grow corn, and it takes a lot of water to process ethanol.
Ethanol is down, corn-based ethanol is down, exports are down, etc.
But what's interesting is the field tests (pun intended) of new corn crops that are more drought tolerant.
If you haven't yet ventured off into this genre of magazines, you will find it very interesting and surprisingly relevant. Relevant, if you drive, if you eat food, if you have interests in the economy. . .
Make no doubt about it, the drought is gonna impact us all in food, fuel and more, for at least the next couple years. What we have just learned this year about droughts will be useful for the rest of the world, too, in seasons to come.
Hang on for the bumpy ride.
'via Blog this' (also blogged at IPZine)
Friday, August 24, 2012
Dirty little Coal secrets... shhh .... Talking Tr-Ash...
Sustainability eMagazine
If you have never done so, you want to visit the EarthJustice site about coal ash: http://earthjustice.org/our_work/campaigns/coal-ash-contaminates-our-lives
And what you want to do, is visit this site every time you see one of these sweet and pretty ads about "Clean Coal".
Admittedly, the EarthJustice takes the other side of this far, very far-from-clean, source of energy. However, coal produces half of the electric power in the US. Well, all right, now only about 34%. But that "cheap" energy has a lot to do with the high quality of life that we all enjoy. It also does not get credit for the hidden costs it presents to the environment and to personal health.
Back to the dirty little secret of Coal Ash. Remember the Ash trashing by TVA in 2008. The damage is into the billions of dollars and climbing. And it has not been cleaned up. All those heavy metals in the ash down a couple rivers. Sadly, that's a gift that keeps on giving.
Heavy metals include lead, mercury, arsenic and more. Sulfur, lots of sulfur. They can have traces of radiation. We, in the US, tend to want to clean most of these by-products from this soot from the smoke. Other countries like India and China, not so much so.
And we have these ash build-ups all over the world.... And the mountains are growing.
Here's just one source on the running costs and litigation at ABC News.
Of course is the worst fossil fuel, by far, in terms of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions.
We don't need to burn that dirty coal, better simply to ship it to China and India and let them burn it there. No harm done in that.
If you have never done so, you want to visit the EarthJustice site about coal ash: http://earthjustice.org/our_work/campaigns/coal-ash-contaminates-our-lives
And what you want to do, is visit this site every time you see one of these sweet and pretty ads about "Clean Coal".
Admittedly, the EarthJustice takes the other side of this far, very far-from-clean, source of energy. However, coal produces half of the electric power in the US. Well, all right, now only about 34%. But that "cheap" energy has a lot to do with the high quality of life that we all enjoy. It also does not get credit for the hidden costs it presents to the environment and to personal health.
Back to the dirty little secret of Coal Ash. Remember the Ash trashing by TVA in 2008. The damage is into the billions of dollars and climbing. And it has not been cleaned up. All those heavy metals in the ash down a couple rivers. Sadly, that's a gift that keeps on giving.
Heavy metals include lead, mercury, arsenic and more. Sulfur, lots of sulfur. They can have traces of radiation. We, in the US, tend to want to clean most of these by-products from this soot from the smoke. Other countries like India and China, not so much so.
And we have these ash build-ups all over the world.... And the mountains are growing.
Here's just one source on the running costs and litigation at ABC News.
Of course is the worst fossil fuel, by far, in terms of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions.
We don't need to burn that dirty coal, better simply to ship it to China and India and let them burn it there. No harm done in that.
Thursday, August 23, 2012
Hain up about 20% on great earnings?
Hain Celestial (HAIN) was way up today on great earnings... That's right, the high end and heathy food company. Shouldn't they be getting crushed on the high prices from the great drought of 2012?
Healthy eating is "not a fad, not a trend", according to CEO Simon. Consumption of the category is up 14%, vs about 1% on the main stream food categories.
Of course the super fast growth of Whole Foods doesn't hurt, but HAIN is growing like mad in Walmart, Costco,and ... wait for it ... Amazon!
Organic chips, Sleepy Time tea and a book, why not?
97% are GMO free.
Healthy eating is "not a fad, not a trend", according to CEO Simon. Consumption of the category is up 14%, vs about 1% on the main stream food categories.
Of course the super fast growth of Whole Foods doesn't hurt, but HAIN is growing like mad in Walmart, Costco,and ... wait for it ... Amazon!
Organic chips, Sleepy Time tea and a book, why not?
97% are GMO free.
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