Recently in Conservation Category

Global Sustainability

As the global conversation on sustainability heats up, this quarter's survey examined what steps companies are taking to become more environmentally responsible, and why they may be taking them.

• The most frequent "green" action among respondents' companies is reducing energy consumption in company facilities (48%).
  
• This was followed by reducing waste in production and packaging (30%) and promoting incentives and initiatives encouraging customers to be "greener" (21%).
  
• Least popular initiatives were reduction of greenhouse gas emissions from factories and plants (6%),
  
• Supporting legislation on environmental issues (7%)

Spur Innovation, Yes.  Regulate Abuses ... no.

While few are actively supporting legislation on environmental issues, sentiment toward governmental regulation of environmental responsibility is split among CFOs. Though nearly half (49%) believe regulation a bad response, more than one-third (37%) support government incentives to spur innovation, 14 percent support limits on emissions, and 9 percent support cap and trade and other financial incentives.

28% of Companies are Doing NOTHING

Perhaps disappointingly, 28 percent of CFOs indicated that their companies are not taking any actions to make their companies more sustainable. With regard to those companies who are taking actions, the survey revealed a number of motivators.

Cost Efficiencies Main Driver

More than one-third cited cost efficiencies as the main driver, 31 percent refer to personal priorities of their leadership as the cause, 29 percent say enhancement of public perception is the reason, and 24 percent point to a desire to emerge as a committed leader in the industry.

Additional Findings:

Other topics examined in this quarter's survey included International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS), CFOs' perceptions of Barack Obama's presidency nearly one year after his inauguration, and the impact of the SEC's enhanced disclosures on risk, compensation and corporate governance in annual reports. With regard to IFRS, an overwhelming majority of CFOs (80%) are confident that IFRS will be adopted, but do not know when. CFOs' perceptions of President Obama remain low, with 64 percent reporting their U.S. economic outlook has weakened since he took office.

Full survey results and historical data comparisons are available at www.cfosurveys.com or from Nicole Madison at Nicole.Madison@fd.com. The study is also available online at the Financial Executives Research Foundation bookstore and on the Baruch College home page at www.baruch.cuny.edu.

This new report by the National Academies is broad, comprehensive, and interdisciplinary to see how the rapidly developing tehcnologies and masses of data can be merged to address the four key challenges ahead of us:

• Climate
• Food
• Energy
• Health

  What's different is the scale of the challenges and problems facing us, as well as the collaboration in a multi-faceted world. The report is also downloadable for free.

  PDF Summary
  Download executive summary in PDF.
  
  Report In Brief
  Download report in brief in PDF.
  
  Full Text
  Jump to this book's table of contents to begin reading online for free.
  
  

Sustainable homes are about making a living with your work...at home.  I grew up on a similar kind of home.  We farmed 20 acres and supported an extended family of grandparent(s), parents and six children. 

This story touches me deeply because it is about a treasure so fleeting and so powerful... and it is coming back into style after a very long hiatus.

The intersection of earth and civilization.
Restoration is Paul Hawken's key theme. 
WiserEarth.org

Grantee	Headquarters	Grant Amount
Operative Plasterers and Cement Masons International Association of the United States and Canada	Beltsville, Md.	$622,562
National Ironworkers and Employers Apprenticeship Training and Journeyman Upgrading Fund (Ironworkers)	Washington, D.C.	$536,499
Home Builders Institute	Washington, D.C.	$623,297
National Institute for Metalworking Skills, Inc.	Fairfax, Va.	$624,300
Trimmer Education Foundation	Arlington, Va.	$624,300
American Culinary Federation Education Foundation Inc.	St. Augustine, Fla.	$481,200
Finishing Trades Institute	Hanover, Md.	$622,757
United Association of Journeyman and Apprentices of the Plumbing and Pipefitting Industry of the United States and Canada	Annapolis, Md.	$624,300
The National Joint Apprenticeship and Training Committee	Upper Marlboro, Md.	$614,943
International Masonry Institute	Bowie, Md.	$545,149
New Horizons Computer Learning Centers Inc.	Carmel, Ind.	$580,685

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency EPA awarded the Los Angeles Conservation Corps $700,000 in August, 2009, funded in part through the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act to provide job training for 160 students to learn the latest environmental technologies and prepare them for "green" jobs.

"Through this Recovery Act funding, EPA and our community partners will provide training and environmental career opportunities to California residents," said Laura Yoshii, EPA's acting Regional Administrator for the Pacific Southwest. "These grants will help ensure that a trained work force is ready to clean up contaminated sites and revitalize them for productive reuse in our communities."

Brownfields Job training

The Los Angeles Conservation Corps will receive $700,000 in brownfields job training grants which will be used to recruit residents from the city's impoverished Empowerment Zone. The funding includes $500,000 in Recovery Act funding and $200,000 in other EPA brownfields funds.

Green Job Categories

The Los Angeles Conservation Corps will train and graduate 160 students, place at least 130 graduates in environmental technician jobs, and track students for at least one year.

Green Job Training

The Los Angeles Conservation Corps' training program will consist of approximately 400 training hours in hazardous waste health and safety, environmental technologies, lead and asbestos abatement, refinery safety, forklift training, and general industry standards. Four certifications will be offered.

LACC previously received over $400,000 from EPA and with those funds they trained 126 people and placed 86% in jobs with average salaries of $18/hour.

"Getting trained for green jobs makes me feel like I'm making a difference, doing something good for the generations to come," said Brunny Smith, a recent graduate of the Los Angeles Conservation Corps. "I thank the Los Angeles Conservation Corps for giving me the tools, it's up to me to do the work."

Since 1998, EPA has awarded more than $25 million in brownfields job training funds. EPA established the Brownfields Job Training Program to help residents take advantage of jobs created by the assessment, as well as to spur cleanup and sustainable reuse of brownfields sites and to ensure that the economic benefits derived from brownfields redevelopment remain in the affected communities.

Brownfields

Brownfields are sites where expansion, redevelopment, or reuse may be complicated by the presence or potential presence of a hazardous substance, pollutant, or contaminant. In 2002, the Small Business Liability Relief and Brownfields Revitalization Act (Brownfields Law) was passed. The Brownfields Law expanded the definition of what is considered a brownfield, so communities may now focus on mine-scarred lands or sites contaminated by petroleum or the manufacture and distribution of illegal drugs.

EPA's Brownfields Program encourages redevelopment of America's estimated 450,000 abandoned and contaminated waste sites.

President Obama signed the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 on February 17, 2009, and has directed that the Recovery Act be implemented with unprecedented transparency and accountability. To that end, the American people can see how every dollar is being invested at Recovery.gov.

Information on ARRA brownfields job training grants and other EPA Brownfields activities under the Recovery Act: http://www.epa.gov/brownfields/eparecovery/index.htm

Information on brownfields job training grants: http://www.epa.gov/brownfields/job.htm

Apollo Alliance Chairman Phil Angelides joined Ohio Senator Sherrod Brown on Capitol Hill to introduce the "Investments for Manufacturing Progress and Clean Technology Act (IMPACT) Act of 2009." The measure, which Sen. Brown hopes to enact as part of our new national energy policy, proposes a $30 billion revolving loan fund designed to help small- and medium-sized manufacturers improve their energy efficiency, retrain workers for clean energy manufacturing jobs, and retool plants in order to expand into the clean energy supply chain.

Senator Brown based his proposal on Apollo Alliance's Green Manufacturing Action Plan (GreenMAP), which was introduced in April and lays out aggressive steps to scale up production of American-made clean energy systems and components while making U.S. factories more energy efficient.

The country's manufacturers are poised to act on our recommendations. The recovery bill signed by President Obama in February, the appropriations bill enacted in March, and the budget agreement approved in April commit more than $300 billion to clean energy investment and green-collar job generation. These investments will provide vast new clean energy markets, but "without a program to support our own domestic manufacturers, policies that create new demand for clean energy will just lead to more imports," explained Angelides.

I grew up in a live/work home.  I've always had a productive home...because I'm self employed and have always either had a full time or part time business going.  And so has my husband.

"Over half of all businesses are run out of an owner's home. As the economic crisis deepens, live/work housing provides a viable and appealing solution for small entrepreneurs who want to work and live in the same place for economic reasons. It is also a promising market for Baby Boomers who are starting to retire - or soon will retire - and want to live in upscale housing in an urban area while conducting consulting and other service oriented businesses which can function in a live/work condo."  says Dick Lewis, President, Lewis & Associates

A Productive Home

Homes used to provide us with clothing, food, shelter, education, entertainment...and more.  But over the years we've exported most of those functions to businesses and public facilitie outside the home. 

And paid the price!  Both in "retail" prices...and in loss of a strong safety net.

Part of a green career is balancing what you build OUTSIDE the home in jobs and networks and investments -- and what you build INSIDE your home in hobbies and food preparation and car repair and gardening...etc. 

How's your personal career productivity going?  What would you like to balance between outside and inside?

A large majority of Californians remain concerned about the impact of global warming on the State's quality of life and economy.

A Next 10/Field Research Organization survey from September 2008 found that statewide, 7 in 10 registered voters believe that global warming poses a serious threat to both the State's economy (69%) and the overall quality of life in California (73%).

In every region of California--from the San Francisco Bay Area to Los Angeles, the Inland Empire to San Diego, the Central Valley to the North State--no fewer than 6 in 10 registered voters hold these views.

Among registered voters, larger percentages of Latinos and African Americans felt that global warming was a serious threat to California's economy and quality of life.

This is also true of those in younger age groups (aged 18-29) and lower income groups (annual incomes of $40,000 or less).

Climate Change Scoping Plan

The California Global Warming Solutions Act, Assembly Bill 32 (AB 32) was signed into California law in 2006. This groundbreaking legislation has put California at the forefront of the fight against global warming by requiring the state to reduce its greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions to 1990 levels by 2020. Measures go into effect in 2012.

CARB - California Air Resources Board

In order for California to meet these GHG reduction targets, the California Air Resources Board (CARB), which serves as the lead agency for the implementation of AB 32, released a Proposed Scoping Plan that outlines a set of actions for reducing GHG emissions.

The measures adopted by CARB December 11, 2008 in the Proposed Scoping Plan include a combination of

• policy standards
• incentives
• technology innovations

... to increase energy efficiency and renewable energy generation, and reduce GHG emissions in the residential, commercial, industrial, and agriculture sectors.

CARB Recommended Reduction Measures

• Light-duty vehicle greenhouse gas standards
• Energy Efficiency in buildings and in power generation
• Renewables Portfolion standard (33% by 2020)
• Low Carbon fuel standard
• Regional transportation related GHG targets
• Vehicle efficiency measures
• Goods Movement electrification and efficiency improvements
• Million Solar Roofs
• Heavy and Medium duty vehicle hybridization and GHG emission reduction
• High speed rail
• Industrial measures at refineries, energy efficiency and co-benefits audits
• High global warming potential gas measures
• Sustainable forests
• Industrial measures in oil and gas extraction and transmission
• Recycling and waste landfill methane capture
• Reductions in state and local government operations
• Green buildings
• Mandatory commercial recycling
• Water sector measures
• Methane capture at large dairies

Just a tip -- whether you're already employed, or trying to impress a prospective employer -- it's a good thing to know what kinds of energy saving incentives are available.  Here are some resources for you to check out...and learn about:

Searchable Incentive Databases

• U.S. Environmental Protection Agency ENERGYSTAR Database
  California-specific database of financial resources (not specific to energy efficiency); energy services and products providers; and success stories.
• Flex Your Power Database
  Searchable database of energy-efficiency related rebates, incentives and services available in California.
• Database of State Incentives for Renewable Energy
  Searchable database on state, local, utility and federal incentives that promote renewable energy and energy efficiency.