Whole Foods to sell only sustainable seafood

Whole Foods announced last week that they will no longer sell wild-caught seafood as of April, 22 2012, Earth Day.  According to the Huffington Post article http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/03/30/whole-foods-sustainable-seafood_n_1390973.html, Whole Foods will no longer carry “red-rated,” seafood a color coding system developed by the Blue Ocean Institute http://www.blueocean.org/home that indicates that seafood is either overfished or caught in a way that harms other species.  To this end, Whole Foods will no longer carry octopus, gray sole, skate, Atlantic halibut and Atlantic cod caught by trawls.  Replacements like cod caught on lines and hlibut from the Pacific will be offered instead.

More than 90 Colleges and Universities Ban the Sale of Bottled Water

According to Bloomberg, more than 90 US colleges and universities, including most recently the University of Vermont, http://www.uvm.edu/~uvmpr/?Page=news&storyID=13129, have joined municipalities and counties across the US and Canada in banning the sale of bottled water on their campuses.

As reported in the article, “Reducing or eliminating plastic bottled water saves students money and has the environmental benefit of reducing the need to truck bottles across the country.”  To read more about the ban see http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-03-07/ivy-colleges-shunning-bottled-water-jab-at-22-billion-industry.html.

 

 

Even the Super Bowl is Going Green

Amid the competitive clamour for consumers — Super Bowl Sunday provides advertisers with the chance to reach 111 million viewers — some of this year’s Super Bowl sponsors, along with the Super Bowl committee, made 2012 the greenest Superbowl yet.

The NFL partnered with Green Mountain Energy to offset the greenhouse gas emissions associated with the NFL’s major venues.  According to Green Mountain, they provided 15,000 megawatt hours of renewable energy certificates (RECs) http://www.greenmountain.com/super-bowl-xlvi-infographic/.

In addition to the offset certificates, Lucus Oil Stadium also implemented a series of “green initiatives”, including making their facilities more eco-friendly, adding more recycling opportunities for vendors, and partnering with local farmers to supply organic and locally grown food, see http://www.lucasoilstadium.com/pdf/ICCLOS_GreenInitiatives_8.5×11.pdf for more information.

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Wind and Waves…Maine’s Renewable Energy Opportunities

As reported in last week’s Bangor Daily News http://bangordailynews.com/2012/01/20/business/federal-reports-highlight-untapped-energy-potential-of-maine-tides-waves/,  two US Dept. of Energy reports calculated Maine’s potential wave and tidal energy output could, if developed to its maximum potential,  generate over 15 trillion watts of energy per year. According to the January 20th article, “for tidal energy, Maine had the third-highest potential behind Alaska and Washington in terms of the total theoretical generation capacity and the number of tidal hot spots.”

As the debate over renewable energy mandates heats up this week as the Maine Citizens for Renewable Energy are working overtime trying to get their proposal of 20% by 2012 (see previous posts to this blog), the Bangor Daily News http://bangordailynews.com/2012/01/26/business/passamaquoddy-tribe-plans-120m-wind-farm-in-washington-county/ reported this past weekend that the Passamaquoddy Tribe of Indian Township and Pleasant Point has partnered with a Midwest energy firm to launch a $120 million wind farm in Washington County.  According to the story, the tribe hopes to generate “between 36 and 72 megawatts of electricity. According to the American Wind Energy Association, one megawatt of wind-generated electricity can power 240-300 households per year.”

With so much potential for renewable energy, Maine is poised to become a major producer of clean power, but this can only happen if the current political climate doesn’t thwart businesses and investors, sending them to other states more eager to welcome them.    

As Vermont moves ahead, Maine’s fight for clean energy continues

The Maine Citizens for Clean Energy coalition continues to face an up hill battle. The coalition’s two-pronged goal, requiring 20% of Maine’s power to come from renewable sources by 2020, and requiring utilities companies to invest in cost-effective energy efficiency whenever it would lower rates for users, is under attack from the Governor’s office. 

In an  op ed piece in today’s Bangor Daily News, Ken Fletcher, directory of the Governor’s Office of Energy Independence and Security asserts that the coalition’s goal will “burden Maine People with higher energy costs for the benefit of their own special interests.”

In fact, the 20% by 2020 is a far cry from the 90% by 2050 recently passed in Vermont.  The Vermont Energy Act of 2011 was recently recognized by the DSIRE (Database of State Incentives for Renewables and Efficiency) as one of the most important US renewable energy policies for the year. 

As its neighbors continue to push for policies to reduce their dependence on fossil fuels, will Maine be able to compete and further its economic development objectives?

Same Ol’ Story at the Durban Climate Negotiations

Anyone who has been following the recent climate negotiations at the UN Climate Change Conference of Parties, COP 17, in Durban this week will notice that the arguments leading to the current stalemate looks much like those from COP 16 in Cancun and the 2009 conference to end all conferences, COP 15, in Copenhagen.

Nearing the close of the meeting most (122 countries) had signed on to the EU proposal to begin negotiations on a legally binding treaty on global warming that would be signed by 2015, begin in 2020, and replace the soon ending Kyoto Protocol. However, three of the world’s largest economies, the US, China and India have yet to support the EU proposal.

As ministers began heading to the airport, according to The Guardian, the US was still blocking some key elements of the EU’s proposal. For more details on the talks and stalemate see http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/blog/2011/dec/10/durban-climate-change-conference-2011-global-climate-talks

Can the “Walmart Effect” Green China?

Can Walmart’s commitment to go green influence the Chinese to embrace sustainable business practices?  The December issue of The Atlantic explores this idea in Orville Schell’s article entitled: How Walmart is Changing China. 

In 2005, Walmart laid out three long-term goals:  1) to be supplied 100% by renewable energy, 2) to create zero waste, and 3) to sell products that sustain our resources and the environment. 

According to the article, Wamart has 30,000 suppliers making products for them in China.  Greening their supply chain would require pressuring their Chinese suppliers to embrace their three goals.

In addition to suppliers, Walmart also operates 352 retail stores in China and views their  growing middle class as a major opportunity for the company’s growth.

While Schell is not sure if Walmart can influence the Chinese Communist Party to take the necessary steps to improve environmental regulations, Walmart’s to green the supply chain for the more than 70% of their products that are manufactured in China is, in my opinion, a step in the right direction.