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Author |
Published |
Section |
A Drop in the Starbucket
Starbucks accused of big-time water-wasting |
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06 Oct 2008 |
News |
| Posted at 1:25 PM on 06 Oct 2008 Starbucks wastes some 6.2 million gallons of water each day through a health policy that requires a constantly running tap at each store, says a breathless indictment in British tabloid The Sun. A Starbucks spokesperson confirms the use of a dipper well, which uses "a stream of continuous cold fresh-running water to rinse away food residue, help keep utensils clean, and prevent bacterial g ... |
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| Topics: business, food, green living, news, water crisis (all these topics) |
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On Your Markets, Get Set, Grow!
Carbon offsets still booming despite financial crisis |
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06 Oct 2008 |
News |
| Posted at 5:55 AM on 06 Oct 2008 The carbon-offset market in the United States is still booming despite the financial crisis, with offset sellers reporting continued gains even in the face of rising offset prices. Analysts say the carbon market's relative strength could mean consumers' green guilt knows no bounds or that the country's recent economic troubles have not hit most would-be offset buyers -- typical ... |
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| Topics: business, carbon offsets, climate, news, United States (all these topics) |
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Feeling Out Smart ED
All-electric version of tiny Smart car unveiled at Paris Auto Show |
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02 Oct 2008 |
News |
| Posted at 4:54 PM on 02 Oct 2008 Automaker Daimler unveiled an all-electric version of its tiny Smart car at the Paris Auto Show this week, dubbed the Smart ED for its electric drive. Diesel-powered versions of the ultra-cute, ultra-compact Smart Fortwo went on sale in the United States just this January to wide acclaim. Company spokespeople said the all-electric Smart Fortwo will be available in the U.S. by ... |
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| Topics: business, cars, electric vehicles, green living, news (all these topics) |
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Bloomberg Where He's Planted
NYC eco-mayor will seek third term; mayors foresee green jobs |
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02 Oct 2008 |
News |
| Posted at 1:19 PM on 02 Oct 2008 New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg is seeking to change term-limit rules and win reelection to a third term; if he succeeds, it will be to the benefit of his ambitious plans to address climate change. Bloomberg's PlaNYC aims to reduce municipal greenhouse-gas emissions 30 percent by 2030 through planting 1 million trees, converting taxis to hybrids, and making buildings ... |
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| Topics: business, climate, energy, green jobs, local politics, New York City, news, placemaking, politics (all these topics) |
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Throw 'Em a Loan
Bush signs off on $25 billion loan to Big Auto |
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01 Oct 2008 |
News |
| Posted at 1:07 PM on 01 Oct 2008 President Bush on Tuesday signed a $630 billion spending bill that includes a $25 billion loan to the struggling auto industry. (Bush's sign-off also marks the expiration of the offshore-drilling ban and keeps the federal government funded through Mar. 6, 2009.) The loan package -- the biggest federal subsidy for Big Auto since the feds bailed out Chrysler in 1980 -- is aimed at helping carmakers im ... |
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| Topics: Big Auto, business, cars, Department of Energy, fuel efficiency, George Bush, legislation, news, offshore drilling, politics (all these topics) |
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Give 'Em a Hand
Wal-Mart will slice use of plastic bags |
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25 Sep 2008 |
News |
| Posted at 12:10 PM on 25 Sep 2008 Wal-Mart aims to cut plastic-bag waste in its global operations by an average 33 percent over the next five years, the retail behemoth announced Thursday at the annual meeting of the Clinton Global Initiative. And if you ever doubted that Wal-Mart is big, consider this: The move is expected to eliminate some 9 billion plastic bags each year, equating to more than 135 million pounds of trash by 2013. Wal-Mar ... |
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| Topics: business, green living, greening biz operations, greenish companies, news, progress, shopping, Wal-Mart, waste (all these topics) |
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Driving Made EV
Chrysler to offer electric car by 2010, full lineup of EVs sometime after |
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24 Sep 2008 |
News |
| Posted at 6:56 AM on 24 Sep 2008 Automaker Chrysler announced Tuesday that it too is jumping into the electric-car fray, aiming to roll out its own electric vehicle in the United States by 2010, followed soon after by a full line of electric and/or plug-in hybrid vehicles. If the company meets its intended deadline, 2010 will be a busy year for electric car enthusiasts in the U.S.; GM's Chevy Volt and Tesl ... |
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| Topics: business, cars, news, United States (all these topics) |
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West for the Weary
Western states announce proposal for cutting GHG emissions |
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23 Sep 2008 |
News |
| Posted at 3:07 PM on 23 Sep 2008 Participants in the Western Climate Initiative on Tuesday announced specific plans for cutting greenhouse-gas emissions 15 percent below 2005 levels by 2020. The seven states and four provinces will initiate a cap-and-trade program, establishing a carbon market that applies to industries and utilities by 2012 and transportation, heating, and other fuels by 2015. The proposed program is ... |
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| Topics: Arizona, business, California, Canada, carbon trading, climate, climate change mitigation, Montana, New Mexico, news, Oregon, Utah ... (all these topics) |
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Standard & Poor Form
U.S. biz waiting for regulation before cutting emissions, report shows |
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23 Sep 2008 |
News |
| Posted at 1:32 PM on 23 Sep 2008 Only about one-third of leading U.S. companies have set targets to reduce greenhouse-gas emissions, compared to 74 percent of global corporations, says the sixth annual report from the Carbon Disclosure Project. CDP, an influential initiative backed by 385 institutional investors, received input from 64 percent of the Standard & Poor's 500 U.S. companies (a jump u ... |
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| Topics: business, climate, greenhouse-gas emissions, greening biz operations, greenish companies, investing, news, regulation (all these topics) |
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Beyond the Fail
Failing to address climate change could hurt industry, report finds |
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22 Sep 2008 |
News |
| Posted at 6:37 PM on 22 Sep 2008 Failing to address climate change could significantly hurt many industries in the world economy that are together worth around $7 trillion, according to a report by the United Kingdom's Carbon Trust. The report examined six different sectors of the world economy -- aluminum, automotive, building materials, consumer electronics, oil and gas, and, uh ... brewing -- and found that b ... |
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| Topics: business, climate, climate change mitigation, economy, news (all these topics) |
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Huffing posts
GM flack jumps into Huffington Post fray to defend exec's climate-change skepticism |
Kate Sheppard |
22 Sep 2008 |
Gristmill |
| We posted last week about GM Vice Chair Bob Lutz expressing a little climate-change skepticism on The Colbert Report. Josh Nelson wrote about it as well over on Huffington Post, and thus began an online conversation with GM's director of news relations, Tom Wilkinson, who defended both Lutz and the company's environmental policies. 'There is no reason a three-dimensional human being (like Bob Lutz) can't be skeptical about global warming orthodoxy and still be ... |
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| Topics: gas prices, business, cars, climate change skepticism, news, Muckraker (all these topics) |
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The Chemistry Between Us
Hazardous substances still a mainstay for Big Chemical |
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19 Sep 2008 |
News |
| Posted at 2:36 PM on 19 Sep 2008 The good news: some companies are moving toward nontoxic chemicals and products. The bad news: many aren't. In a 2007 report, consultants hired by Big Chemical concluded that the industry's eco-initiatives are "reactive, not proactive," and that it "has a very short-term focus and discounts long-term issues." There is, wrote the consultants, "a lack of produc ... |
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| Topics: business, news, toxics (all these topics) |
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Honey, We Pumped Up the Grid
Google, GE team up to tout 'smart grid,' clean energy initiatives |
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18 Sep 2008 |
News |
| Posted at 9:52 AM on 18 Sep 2008 General Electric and Google announced on Wednesday they're teaming up to promote renewable energy, specifically geothermal energy and plug-in hybrids, and spur better investment and swifter government action to create "smart," more efficient electrical grids. In recent years, both enormous companies have announced big green investments: GE launched its Ecomag ... |
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| Topics: business, energy, news, renewable energy (all these topics) |
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It's a Clean Job, But Somebody's Gotta Do It
California air agency says cutting emissions will boost economy |
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18 Sep 2008 |
News |
| Posted at 7:47 AM on 18 Sep 2008 California's 2006 law requiring the state to reduce greenhouse-gas emissions to 1990 levels by 2020 would help boost its economy and save residents more money in the long term than doing nothing, according to a report by the influential California Air Resources Board. The state's draft plan for reducing emissions focuses on requiring utilities to generate ... |
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| Topics: business, California, climate, economy, news, politics (all these topics) |
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'I don't believe in the CO2 theory'
Touting the Volt, GM exec denies anthropogenic climate change |
Kate Sheppard |
18 Sep 2008 |
Gristmill |
| GM Vice Chairman Bob Lutz was on the 'Colbert Report' last night to talk about the new Chevy Volt, but a lot of the conversation ended up being about whether or not Lutz believes in anthropogenic climate change. Colbert, on the Volt: 'This is tantamount to admitting that we have to do something about global warming, sir. You are capitulating with the enemy. Why not just call this the Chevy Gore? You don't believe global warming is real. You've said so.' Lutz: 'I acce ... |
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| Topics: news, business, climate change skepticism, cars, gas prices, video, Muckraker (all these topics) |
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Taking Charge
GM unveils Chevy Volt 'production model' at 100th birthday celebration |
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16 Sep 2008 |
News |
| Posted at 5:28 AM on 16 Sep 2008 Chevy Volt. Photo: gmeurope At its 100th birthday party on Tuesday, General Motors unveiled its oh-so-close-to-production model of the Chevrolet Volt --a plug-in hybrid that the automaker swears will be on sale by the end of 2010. GM has been plagued by massive financial problems lately caused mainly by its heavy focus on SUVs, which have largely fallen out of favor with consume ... |
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| Topics: business, cars, hybrids, news (all these topics) |
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Sweet and Sour
Everglades restoration deal could still benefit Big Sugar |
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15 Sep 2008 |
News |
| Posted at 10:53 AM on 15 Sep 2008 When Florida Gov. Charlie Crist announced in June that the state would buy 187,000 acres of land from U.S. Sugar Corp. to "jump start" an Everglades restoration effort, environmentalists cheered visions of flowing, fresh water and pristine, untouched habitat. But that may not turn out to be exactly the case. Crist initially said he would use the land to build a flow way between La ... |
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| Topics: agriculture, business, Florida, habitat protection, industrial ag, national parks, news, water pollution, wetlands (all these topics) |
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Chad and Subtract
World Bank yanks corruption-tainted pipeline funding from Chad |
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12 Sep 2008 |
News |
| Posted at 12:36 PM on 12 Sep 2008 The World Bank has pulled funding from a 663-mile oil pipeline in Chad and Cameroon, having lost its gamble that the project would funnel oil wealth into poverty reduction instead of the pockets of corrupt officials. The bank made the loan in 2000, with the stipulation that 72 percent of oil royalties be spent on schools, hospitals, and roads. Covering the decision, Grist wrote that ... |
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| Topics: business, Cameroon, Chad, energy, news, oil, World Bank (all these topics) |
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A Matter of Import
Palin asks Schwarzenegger to veto bill that would reduce port pollution |
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12 Sep 2008 |
News |
| Posted at 10:25 AM on 12 Sep 2008 One day before being catapulted into the running for GOP vice president, Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin wrote a letter to California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger (R), urging him to veto a significant pollution-reduction effort. Specifically, she asked the Governator to not sign a bill that would impose container fees on ships entering the ports of Long Beach, Los Angeles, and Oakla ... |
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| Topics: air pollution, Alaska, Arnold Schwarzenegger, business, California, economy, news, politics, presidential race 08, Sarah Palin, state politics (all these topics) |
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Lipstick It to the Man
Market for natural personal-care products booming in spite of economy |
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11 Sep 2008 |
News |
| Posted at 4:48 PM on 11 Sep 2008 Despite an economic slump, eco-friendly personal-care items have Americans sitting up and paying attention top dolla. Sales are booming despite high food and energy prices, and analysts predict the products' popularity won't ebb anytime soon. Chicago-based research firm Mintel reports that sales of natural personal-care products rose 12.5 percent last year to an inflatio ... |
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| Topics: business, consumerism, green living, green products, health, news, shopping (all these topics) |
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Jobs Well Done
Newest iPod nano is 'toxic free' |
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09 Sep 2008 |
News |
| Posted at 4:27 PM on 09 Sep 2008 The newly unveiled update of the iPod nano is slender and sexy, equipped with "shake-to-shuffle" capability, and eco-friendly to boot. (Well, you don't actually have to boot it ... oh, whatever.) Apple CEO Steve Jobs, who is alive and kicking despite reports to the contrary, says the music player is Apple's "cleanest" and most "toxic free" offering. The device contains no arsenic, brom ... |
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| Topics: business, green living, green products, greening biz operations, music, news, tech, toxics (all these topics) |
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A Baikal to Arms
Russia's Lake Baikal under threat from massive lead and zinc mine |
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09 Sep 2008 |
News |
| Posted at 7:18 AM on 09 Sep 2008 One-fifth of the world's freshwater could be under threat from heavy-metals pollution if a giant lead and zinc mine opens as planned upstream from Russia's giant Lake Baikal, the deepest lake in the world. Mine advocates say leaving the world's third-largest lead and zinc field unmined would be a waste of natural resources regardless of its location, but environmentalists, conserv ... |
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| Topics: business, mining, news, Russia, water pollution (all these topics) |
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An Uphill Bottle
U.S. bottled-water guzzling is slowing |
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08 Sep 2008 |
News |
| Posted at 4:58 PM on 08 Sep 2008 Americans' seemingly insatiable thirst for bottled water seems to be slowing, according to new industry stats. Annual U.S. bottled-water consumption shot up nearly 46 percent between 2002 and 2007, to an average 29.3 gallons per person. But the Beverage Marketing Corporation predicts that bottled-water guzzling will grow only 6.7 percent in 2008, the smallest increase this decade. The editor of Beverage Dig ... |
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| Topics: business, food, news, water conflicts (all these topics) |
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It's a Fiesta, But You're Not Invited
Ford won't sell 65-mpg diesel car in U.S. |
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05 Sep 2008 |
News |
| Posted at 1:34 PM on 05 Sep 2008 The Ford Fiesta ECOnetic, a small, sporty five-seater that gets an impressive 65 miles per gallon, will the hit the road in November -- but only in Europe. "We just don't think North and South America would buy that many diesel cars," says Ford America President Mark Fields. The new generation of diesel cars, which are dramatically cleaner than old-school diesels and are at ... |
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| Topics: Big Auto, business, cars, European Union, fuel efficiency, news, United States (all these topics) |
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They've Had Their Fill
Half of GM's manufacturing plants to go |
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05 Sep 2008 |
News |
| "landfill-free" by 2010 Posted at 7:04 AM on 05 Sep 2008 Automaker GM is planning to make half of its 181 manufacturing plants worldwide "landfill-free" by 2011 through initiatives to reuse or recycle some 90 percent of its waste, according to USA Today. The not-reused, not-recycled portion of the waste would potentially be incinerated to produce energy. GM has yet to formally announce the program, but USA Today ... |
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| Topics: business, cars, news, recycling, waste (all these topics) |
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