Blog Entries tagged 'consumer'

Idea 16: Sustainable Building

will@oneplanetonelife.com — Mon, 13 Oct 2008 00:00:00 +0100

DAVID HEYMANN
Professor of architecture at the University of Texas at Austin

In the summer of 1999, I received a call from Laura Bush. She and then-governor George Bush wanted a design for a house that would blend into the landscape of an extraordinary piece of land they had just purchased in Crawford, Texas. We talked at length about environmental systems, and Laura was clear at the outset that they wanted to do everything possible to protect the land. It is exceptionally beautiful, with [...]

Idea 15: Efficiency

will@oneplanetonelife.com — Mon, 06 Oct 2008 00:00:00 +0100

ROCKY ANDERSON
Mayor of Salt Lake City

In Salt Lake City, we've been able to reduce greenhouse-gas emissions in our municipal operations by 31 percent in four years. We've eliminated 143 cars from the city's light vehicle fleet, and replaced 41 SUVs with smaller, more efficient cars. By retrofitting all city and county buildings with compact fluorescent bulbs, we save the city $33,000 a year. We then invest one third of that in wind power, making Salt Lake City the state's largest purchas [...]

idea 14: Sustainable agriculture

will@oneplanetonelife.com — Mon, 29 Sep 2008 00:00:00 +0100

MARY T'KACH
Executive director, Environmental Sustainability for Aveda

Since our inception in 1978, our focus has been on producing plant-based personal-care products. Currently, 90 percent of the essential oils that go into our products are certified organic, and, as we continue to learn about the functionality of plants, we are able to use even more. That's been a lot of work for our suppliers. In terms of the industry, we're certainly a leader, as a lot of companies have come into orga [...]

Idea 10: New stores will use less energy

will@oneplanetonelife.com — Mon, 01 Sep 2008 00:00:00 +0100

ANDY RUBEN
Vice President for Sustainability, Wal-Mart

New stores will use less energy
Hurricane Katrina was a big turning point for us. It showed us that we've got a role we can play that might be greater than we realized. Two years later, we have prototype stores-the first is in Kansas City, Mo. It uses LED lighting in the freezers, and a heating and cooling system without a fan. That store uses 20 percent less energy than a store we'd have opened in 2005. One product we're promot [...]

Idea 6: Being green is just good business

will@oneplanetonelife.com — Mon, 04 Aug 2008 00:00:00 +0100

DAVID STANGIS
Director of Corporate Responsibility, Intel

Being green is just good business
As the largest chip manufacturer worldwide, Intel has been leading the area of environmental excellence for decades. For us, being green is just part of the way we do business. One thing that plays to our advantage is that our manufacturing process essentially gets refreshed every few years. We can anticipate that, so instead of having to retrofit facilities, we've applied a philosophy of des [...]

Idea 2: Energy efficiency is the ultimate answer

will@oneplanetonelife.com — Mon, 07 Jul 2008 00:00:00 +0100

ARTHUR H. ROSENFELD, PH.D.
Commissioner, California Energy Commission

Energy efficiency is the ultimate answer
If we're going to survive global warming, there are two things we must do. We have to move in the direction of renewable energy, such as wind and solar power, and we have to improve energy efficiency. You can measure it in different ways-passenger miles per gallon of gas, lumens per watt-but we need to think in terms of doubling efficiency. Not "conservation," whi [...]

We Are Doomed! Sort Of!

will@oneplanetonelife.com — Wed, 25 Jun 2008 00:00:00 +0100

Published on Wednesday, June 25, 2008 by the San Francisco Chronicle

We Are Doomed! Sort Of!

Earth in crisis, food and water increasingly scarce, people freaking out. Should you join them?

by Mark Morford

It would be nice to think much of the ugliness is coming to an end.

It would be lovely to imagine the era of brutal Earth-mauling technologies, coal extraction and petroleum and industrial agriculture and strip mining and clear cutting and ind [...]

Victim-Hood

chad@oneplanetonelife.com — Mon, 23 Jun 2008 00:00:00 +0100

It is unfortunate that we live in a present reality where the only way for global civilizations to transcend past pain and fear is to go trough it at such intense polarities; polarities that create extreme dissension and conflict. We can blame such adverse conditions on the Illuminati, Rothschilds, Bilderbergs, Rockefellers, and the remaining ilk of Secret Societies, benign aliens, Luciferians, government conspiracies, whatever you want. But in the act of blaming, we ourselves become the creator [...]

The Global Effects Of Meat Consumption

willadams@oneplanetonelife.com — Fri, 06 Jun 2008 00:00:00 +0100

"The global effects of meat consumption don't stop on land. Agriculture also requires water consumption, and animal agriculture is no exception. Animal production consumes an amount of water roughly equivalent to all other uses of water in the United States combined. Besides grains, animals need water to survive and grow until they are slaughtered. One pound of beef requires an input of approximately 2500 gallons of water, whereas a pound of soy requires 250 gallons of water and a pound [...]

We cannot rely on technology to save us

will@oneplanetonelife.com — Thu, 22 May 2008 00:00:00 +0100

Technology provides us with some answers to the environmental challenges we are facing. Hybrid technologies have recently made it to the auto market, promising more fuel efficient transportation and less greenhouse emissions. Hydrogen fuels are a very promising alternative to the dirty energies we are using today. Ultra-clean and unlimited, it is the fuel of the future.

Renewable energy sources such as photovoltaics, wind and thermal energies and future renewables we can't imagine yet, prom [...]

Reigning King of the Modern World

will@oneplanetonelife.com — Thu, 08 May 2008 00:00:00 +0100

Materialism/Consumerism has succeeded as becoming the reigning king of the modern world. Almost all action that mankind does is measured in some means by this intangible creation. Though mankind claims to be concerned with the well being of other creatures he shares this planet with, this concern falls very, very short of the power material wealth and its measuring ugly-stick has over it.

It is not necessary to destroy or eliminate this material mindset in order for us to become an evol [...]