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Environment Tuesday, 16 December 2008 |
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Environment: Companies Going Green
There's good news, and there's bad news, but the nation--and the world--is coming to grips with the staggering responsibility of recycling and waste management. Consumers aren't the only ones asking what we're going to do. Corporations have been facing the challenges head-on, too, from car manufacturers to fast food vendors to plastics and paper producers to architects and designers. Businesses around the globe are actively seeking ways to develop, produce, market, and sell more earth-friendly products.
Creating a Culture of Sustainability: How Campuses Are Taking the Lead
The influences of sustainability efforts, large or small, can change a student's educational experience, a staff or faculty member's commitment to the college, and a community's awareness of its ecological responsibility. Sustainability initiatives seen on college and university campuses throughout the country are influencing curriculum decisions, operations budgets, facility plans, and campus culture. Students, faculty, and staff are leading the efforts. They often find it to be difficult work, requiring the kind of campus-wide coordination and cooperation that's often absent from the organizational structure of higher education institutions. Yet while the approaches and participants vary, all share a common motivation--to do the right thing.
LEED: A Standard for Future Generations
One program designed to recognize those who are doing something about sustainability, as opposed to just talking about it, is the Leadership in Energy & Environmental Design (LEED) rating system devised by the U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC). This conversation between Herman Miller and four HOK architects (including Bill Odell, co-author of an influential guidebook to sustainable design and an early participant in the USGBC and the LEED process) offers a frank discussion of LEED, its present and future prospects. The conversation also includes references to other resources for sustainable building design. To echo Walter Gropius, the "ethical necessity" of sustainable design is beyond doubt.
Environment: Sustainable Products for a Sustainable Planet
While the "reduce, reuse, recycle" approach to the environment has slowed the consumption of natural resources, it's not enough. What's needed, say environmental experts, is sustainability--i.e., meeting the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs. It's an ambitious goal, but some companies are making headway. Here, four companies talk about the steps they've taken and the lessons they've learned since setting out on the journey to sustainability.
The Search for Good Wood: Sustaining the Yield from Tropical Rain Forest
Anger is the one emotion the fate of the tropical forests most often engenders: Indigenous forest dwellers are angry at the loss of their ancient way of life. Pioneers, given the chance to start a new life away from overcrowded cities, are angry that the forestland they cleared for agriculture has failed to produce. Politicians with tropical forests in their countries are angry that the forests are not producing enough hard currency to alleviate poverty, or that they are not being settled fast enough to ensure sovereignty. Foresters, mostly scientists, are angry that the chorus pressuring them to increase forest yields has been joined by an equally vehement group assailing their mismanagement of a critically important resource. Environmentalists are angry that too few governments and too few people are hearing the death knell of the tropical forests. While the anger flares, the tropical forests continue to disappear.
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