Monthly Archive for March, 2011

Consumer Consequences: Find Out if You are Living a Sustainable Life

Published on March 31, 2011 in News and Newsletter. 0 Comments

From American Public Media

Welcome to Consumer Consequences, our interactive game designed to illustrate the impact of our lifestyles on the Earth. It’s part of American Public Media’s™ special series, “Consumed,” which explores whether the modern American lifestyle is sustainable in the long run. (Stay tuned to this site for more “Consumed” content).

Consumer Consequences will ask you a series of questions about your lifestyle, and as you play, it will show you how many “Earths” of natural resources it would take to sustain all 6.6 billion humans… if everyone lived like you.

Keep an eye on the background graphics of your in-game world as you play. They’ll slide across the screen like theater scrims as you answer questions to illustrate what your “world” of consumption would look like. They’ll reflect the waste you produce… the infrastructure (commercial, residential, industrial and transportation) you require… the energy (fossil, nuclear, and renewable) you consume… and how your lifestyle impinges on forests and other undeveloped land.

The impact of your lifestyle is calculated based on the “ecological footprint” model created by our research partner, Redefining Progress. Learn more about ecological footprinting or about the calculations that underlie Consumer Consequences.

Consumer Consequences lets you compare your lifestyle with other players and gives you a chance to modify your choices and reduce your footprint.

To Play the Game…

Sustainable Farming Can Feed the World?

Published on March 31, 2011 in News, Newsletter and Uncategorized. 0 Comments

From Mark Bittman, The New York Times

The oldest and most common dig against organic agriculture is that it cannot feed the world’s citizens; this, however, is a supposition, not a fact. And industrial agriculture isn’t working perfectly, either: the global food price index is at a record high, and our agricultural system is wreaking havoc with the health not only of humans but of the earth. There are around a billion undernourished people; we can also thank the current system for the billion who are overweight or obese.

Yet there is good news: increasing numbers of scientists, policy panels and experts (not hippies!) are suggesting that agricultural practices pretty close to organic — perhaps best called “sustainable” — can feed more poor people sooner, begin to repair the damage caused by industrial production and, in the long term, become the norm.

On Tuesday, Olivier de Schutter, the United Nations’ special rapporteur on the Right to Food, presented a report entitled “Agro-ecology and the Right to Food.” (Agro-ecology, he said in a telephone interview last Friday, has “lots” in common with both “sustainable” and “organic.”) Chief among de Schutter’s recommendations is this: “Agriculture should be fundamentally redirected towards modes of production that are more environmentally sustainable and socially just.” (To access a press release about the launch of the report, click here (pdf). To read the full report click here (pdf).)

To Read More…

How to Make Your Business Greener (and Save Money)

Published on March 31, 2011 in News and Newsletter. 0 Comments

From Jim Witkin, The New York Times

While Joe Santana does not presume to understand all of the latest climate science, he has his own opinions about global warming. But as head of operations at Mi Rancho, a family-owned tortilla producer in San Leandro, Calif., he understands the importance of saving money.

After attending a series of workshops on sustainable business practices, Mr. Santana recently put into action a number of energy-efficiency and waste-reduction measures that he estimates will save Mi Rancho about $100,000 a year and pay for themselves well within the first year. “And if that’s good for the planet,” he said, “all the better.”

“Sustainability” and “going green” are buzzwords that get overused, but many business owners are discovering that looking at their operations through a green lens can help them reduce costs, rethink long-held business practices and open doors to new opportunities.

Here are some tips on getting started.

To Read More…