Joel Makower’s Posts

• Inside Newsweek's new green corporate rankings 3

  Posted 2 months agoOn Monday, Newsweek magazine unveiled its first annual Green Rankings, the fruits of a near-Herculean endeavor: rating and ranking the environmental performance, achievements, and reputation of the S&P 500. The resulting rankings are straightforward, almost elegant, but it wasn't a straight or easy path. Like most such rankings, they're imperfect.

• Alma Matters

  Colleges and universities are learning what it takes to go green 4

  Posted 3 years, 2 months ago

  The dawn of the new school year has brought with it a corps of fresh-faced ideas and initiatives aimed at making colleges and universities cleaner and greener. And, like any freshman class, they are all beaming with potential: Most will succeed, a handful will excel, and a few will end up disappointing their parents.

  

  Campuses are going green -- and not just with ivy.

  Photo: iStockphoto

  The greening of academe is nothing new, but it seems to have taken root in a big way. Today, it's not just about doing a… Read More

• Foot the Bill

  Getting a toehold on your company's climate footprint 1

  Posted 3 years, 3 months ago

  "What's your company's climate footprint?" It's a hot question these days -- one being asked increasingly of companies by customers, investors, activists, regulators, and others.

  OK, it may not be exactly that question, but it's probably in some form, like, "What's your company doing to reduce its climate impacts?" Or, "How do you call yourself environmentally responsible when you take so damn many plane trips?"

  

  Photo: iStockphoto

  Whatever the question, providing an answer will require understanding what, exactly, your company does to contribute greenhouse gases into the atmosphere. And therein lies a… Read More

• Supply and Da Man

  Companies that green their supply chains can find savings galore 0

  Posted 3 years, 4 months ago

  How many light bulbs does it take to change a supply chain? In the case of Baxter Healthcare Corp., just three.

  When Jenni Cawein, manager of corporate environmental health and safety engineering at the Illinois-based $9.8 billion health-care giant, arrived six years ago, she saw that the company was losing ground on waste. "I asked my boss, 'Who's working with purchasing?' It turned out it was nobody," she says. Cawein set out to build a case for integrating environmental criteria into the company's procurement process.

  

  Show them the money.

  Photo: iStockphoto.

  … Read More

• Think Inside the Box

  How a business can pick the best packaging 1

  Posted 3 years, 5 months ago

  You've created the World's Greenest Product, and you're shipping it off to your first big customer. You've made it from the most environmentally sensitive materials, using only renewable energy. It's the pinnacle of eco-friendly everything.

  

  Special delivery.

  Photo: iStockphoto.

  So what are you going to pack it in, cardboard or plastic? And how are you going to keep it safe: Styrofoam, newspaper, popcorn, peanuts, Crackerjacks?

  Last month, this column reviewed the impacts of shipping by plane, train, and automobile (and ship, of course). This time we dig a little deeper,… Read More

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