Negative Impact

Cross-posted from GreenTech Media <http://www.greentechmedia.com/articles/read/food-fertilizer-and-biofuel-all-in-one-place1>

By: Michael Kanellos 17 Jan. 10

Abu Dhabi – Take marginal land, fish waste and a plant that’s not currently cultivated for human purposes and what do you get? Hopefully jet fuel.

The Masdar Institute of Science and Technology, Honeywell UOP, Boeing and Ethiad Airways announced a project on the eve of the World Future Energy Summit to study how to combine fish farms and biofuel crops in a manner that will also potentially reduce carbon dioxide as well as the amount of waste going into oceans.

The project essentially revolves around an oily plant called Salicornia (also known as pickleweed and sea asparagus) that grows in salty water in the region. Under the plan, fish farmers would create ponds and streams for raising shrimp and/or tilapia interspersed with Salicornia and mangrove, which also grows natively. The fish would be harvested for food. Their waste-which can run into the ocean and pollute it — would be absorbed by the Salicornia and mangrove as fertilizer.

The Salicornia could then be harvested for oil, which could be converted into jet fuel or biodiesel. The seed meal left over after the plant gets squeezed, meanwhile, could be converted into fish food while the straw of the plant could get burned in a biomass reactor to produce electricity, according to Scott Kennedy, an associate professor at the Masdar Institute, a graduate school created here with MIT’s help focused on alternative energy. It’s a whole cycle of life thing.

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Cross-posted from Andrew Winston’s blog <http://www.andrewwinston.com/blog/2010/05/walmart_the_largest_sustainabl.php>

By: Andrew Winston, 6 May 10

The 2010 Fortune 500 list just came out and I’m completely blown away by Wal-Mart’s size. We all know that the retail giant is the largest company in the world. But it’s by how much that gets me.

Wal-Mart clocked in at $408 billion in revenues in 2009. The second-ranked Exxon Mobil, brought in $285 billion. If the difference between the two –$124 billion — were a company, it would be ranked 7th on the list. Let me say that again: Wal-Mart is bigger than the next largest company by the equivalent of an AT&T.

Let’s exclude the oil companies from the list for the moment, since their revenues depend heavily on the price of oil and swing wildly — Exxon’s revenues were over $400 billion last year. Looking at companies that make anything but oil, Wal-Mart is basically three to four times the size of the largestones, including Ford, HP, Citigroup, GM, IBM, and so on.

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Cross-Posted from <http://www.greenscroll.org/blog/EIO-Global-Carbon-Rankings-Launch>

By: Heather Adams, 28 Mar. 10

The Environmental Investment Organisation (EIO) Ltd., an independent not-for-profit company from the U.K. is tackling climate change in a very interesting way: via ethical and environmental improvements to the financial system.

They just launched their Global Carbon Rankings System, which ranks the World’s largest companies according toabsolute greenhouse gas emissions.

Shortly, the rankings will be used to make a tradable index that will financially reward or penalize companies bases on their position in the rankings. If you’re not a trader or a Green House Gas professional, I recommend clicking here for the short movie (less three minutes) explaining how it all works. If you would like ever more information there is an online book that you can view for free here.

EIO views the climate emergency as being understated and as a result, they are doing something about it.  Now that is a cool idea!

Cross-Posted from EcoGeek.org <http://www.ecogeek.org/component/content/article/3026-fossil-fuel-free-cargo-ship>

By: Phillip Proefrock 1 Apr. 10

Cargo ships are a very efficient means of shipping cargo in terms of cost and energy per ton of freight moved. But the ships use some of the dirtiest fuel, and global shipping is responsible for 3-4% of all greenhouse gas emissions. So, while cleaning up ocean freight isn’t the sole solution to atmospheric greenhouse gasses, it’s an area that could stand some improvement.

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Cross-Posted from MediaClub South Africa <http://www.mediaclubsouthafrica.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=1332:nedbank-carbon-neutral-170909&catid=45:economy_news&Itemid=114>

By: Janine Erasmus, 17 Sept. 09

South African banking group Nedbank, already a leader in environmentally responsible practices, is to become carbon neutral by continuing to cut its greenhouse gas emissions and buying up carbon credits.

Nedbank is the first South African bank, as well as the first large corporation in the country, to take this step.

The development was announced on 15 September 2009 by the bank’s CEO Tom Boardman. He said the decision to go for carbon neutral status was the culmination of a long road travelled by Nedbank, which has been at the forefront of environmental issues for many years.

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