More Corporate Sustainability

The evening news doesn't want you to know about maverick corporations setting global guidelines for companies to follow with regard to sustainable initiatives. And if you didn't know that, then you certainly don't know that the third edition of those guidelines was unveiled earlier this month in the Netherlands, to much fanfare.

The first week of October saw a crowd of 1,150 people from 65 countries rubbing shoulders in the Netherlands, including royalty (in the form of HRH the Prince of Orange), politicians (including former Vice President Al Gore and Margot Wallström, VP of the European Commission), titans of industry (like Gerard Kleisterlee, CEO of Royal Philips Electronics, and Sir Mark Moody-Stuart, chairman of Anglo American), and the heads of multilateral agencies (among them Achim Steiner, the new United Nations Environment Program executive director). All came together for the launch of "G3," the latest version of the Global Reporting Initiative's Sustainability Reporting Guidelines.

In a world with more than 50,000 multinational corporations, the GRI counts just over 1,700 companies using its guidelines in some way -- and far fewer reporting "in accordance," which requires comprehensive reporting against the GRI's core indicators, plus CEO or board-level sign-off.

Awarded the Santa Barbara County "Green Award", everGREEN landscape architects is doing its best to implement sustainable methods and materials into every way we design, build and do business.

Home Depot Smarthome

Imagine a college dormitory with more audiovisual equipment than most theaters, runs on electricity generated by solar panels and is protected with biometric security. This unique living experience will become a reality for 10 students of Duke University's Pratt School of Engineering.

Duke University and The Home Depot are partnering to create "The Home Depot smarthome," a residential laboratory where students will research and develop innovative solutions for the home in areas such as security and home monitoring, communications, energy efficiency, entertainment, environment and health.

Sustainable features will include cisterns that capture and reuse rainwater and solar panels that track the sun through the day. The 6,000-square- foot dorm house has been designed to achieve LEED Platinum certification. The house is expected to be completed by Fall 2007.

For more...

Antarctic Ice Shelf Collapse Tied to Global Warming

LONDON, England, October 16, 2006 (ENS) - Scientists on Monday reported the first direct evidence linking the 2002 collapse of an Antarctic ice shelf to global warming. The researchers found that stronger westerly winds in the northern Antarctic Peninsula, fueled primarily by human-induced climate change, were responsible for the dramatic summer warming that led to the retreat and collapse of the Larsen B ice shelf.

"This is the first time that anyone has been able to demonstrate a physical process directly linking the break-up of the Larsen Ice Shelf to human activity," said lead author Gareth Marshall from the British Antarctic Survey (BAS).


The chunk that collapsed into the Weddell Sea in 2002 was 1,255 square miles, bigger than Luxembourg or the U.S. state of Rhode Island. Scientists believe the 220-meter thick shelf had been in place for some 5,000-12,000 years.


For this and other reasons, we at everGREEN landscape architects have signed on to the 2030 Challenge to reduce fossil fuel emissions by 100% before 2030.

Google Goes Solar

Google Inc. is converting its renowned headquarters to run partly on solar power, hoping to set an example for corporate America. The Internet search leader announced what is believed to be the largest solar project undertaken by a U.S. company during a solar energy conference in Silicon Valley on Monday. Google believes the sun eventually can deliver as much as 30% of the power at its 1-million-square- foot campus in Mountain View -- a suburb about 35 miles south of San Francisco.

The ambitious project will require installing more than 9,212 solar panels provided by Sharp Electronics on a high-tech mecca nicknamed the "Googleplex." (See a Google Video Preview of the project.) For more.

The next step is to mitigate the impervious surface created by the "campus" parking lots and roofs. As Landscape Architects, we have been encouraging Google to mitigate the runoff pollutants, reduce peak storm flows, and help recharge the water table. A "green roof" seems the next logical step... similar to the 10.4 acre "green roof" on the Ford Motor Company plant in Dearborn, MI.

Alliance to develop biocrude oil from algae

Oct. 13 -- A Menlo Park, Calif., company has created an alliance of scientists to focus on producing biocrude oil from algae by 2010.

LiveFuels Inc. is funding the alliance, which Sandia National Laboratories will lead. Sandia National Laboratories is a U.S. Department of Energy national security laboratory that Sandia Corp., a Lockheed Martin subsidiary, operates.

The LiveFuels alliance plans to develop commercial technology that can make million of barrels of crude oil per day from algae. The challenge is to cheaply grow and transform specific algal species into crude oil within days rather than millennia, said Lisa Morgenthaler- Jones, CEO of LiveFuels.

As Landscape Architects and stewards of the environment, NWA employees have been driving automobiles powered by biofuels since April of 2005. As we understand it, algae produces 20 times the biofuels per square foot as corn, canola, soy or rapeseed. And algae needs little to grow - sunlight and water, meaning very little fuel is needed to create an energy source eminating from algae. There are no tractors, irrigation or other energy needs required to grow it. Algae and seaweed seem to have the most to offer for the least expenditure... Stay tuned.

Research Links Acid Rain to Decline of Sugar Maple

Colorful fall foliage is one of the characteristic signs of autumn throughout much of the eastern United States, and sugar maples, with their brilliant orange and red leaf colors, are one of the signature trees. Acid rain is threatening to reduce the number of sugar maples in our forests, alter the forest ecosystem, impact the maple sugar industry, and reduce the colorful fall brilliance. Although pollution controls since the 1960s have reduced the amount of sulfuric acid in the atmosphere, the amount of nitric acid from automobile pollution has not decreased. This has resulted in highly acidic forest soils.

Researchers at Cornell University investigated the influence of acid soils on sugar maple growth. Because nitric acid and sulfuric acid leach calcium -- an essential plant nutrient -- from the soil, in 1999 the researchers added calcium to a sugar maple test plot at their research facility in North Woodstock, New Hampshire, to replicate the soil conditions that existed 25 years ago, prior to the acid rain era. Every year since then, sugar maple growth in the test plot and in a similar, non-treated plot has been evaluated.

Within a few years the acidity in the top levels of the soil on the calcium-treated plot had neutralized. The sugar maples' response was better seed production, seedling germination, and root growth. Adult sugar maples in the untreated plot continued to decline and produced fewer seedlings.

This research suggests that highly acidic soils resulting from nitric acid pollution are creating a soil environment that's harmful to sugar maple growth and reproduction.

Global Warming May Decrease Plant Yields

Much attention has been given to the possible ways plants will respond to the warming of global temperatures. Many scientists believe that plant growth will increase. New research from the USDA-ARS Center for Medical, Agricultural, and Veterinary Entomology, in Gainesville, Florida, suggests that while plant growth may increase, the yield of seeds may decrease. This could have a dramatic effect on seed crops critical to our food supply.

Seed crops such as rice, grain, sorghum, kidney beans, soybeans, and peanuts were grown in greenhouses under natural sunlight. Researchers increased the temperatures in the greenhouses to four different levels to evaluate the effects.

Each crop was found to have an optimal mean daily temperature (OMDT) for seed yield. As temperatures rose, seed yields decreased about 6 percent for every 1 degree above the OMDT. While all the seed crops grown had decreased yields, kidney beans were the most sensitive. Pollination failure was the chief cause of yield declines.

Researchers suggest that breeding for heat tolerance should be a priority in the future to avoid crop declines as the planet warms.

Demand for organic food outstrips supply in U.S.

WASHINGTON - No almonds. Big problem. The makers of the high-energy, eat-and-run Clif Bar needed 85,000 pounds of almonds, and they had to be organic. But the nation's organic almond crop was spoken for.

Eventually, Clif Bar found the almonds - in Spain. But more shortages have popped up: apricots and blueberries, cashews and hazelnuts, brown rice syrup and oats.

America's appetite for organic food is so strong that supply just can't keep up with demand. Organic means food is grown without pesticides, fertilizer, hormones, antibiotics or biotechnology.
"We're doing a lot of scrambling," said Sheryl O'Loughlin, CEO of Clif Bar Inc.

Organic products still have only a tiny slice, about 2.5 percent, of the nation's food market. But the slice is expanding at a fast pace. Growth in sales of organic food has been 15 percent to 21 percent each year, compared with 2 percent to 4 percent for total food sales.

Mainstream supermarkets, eyeing the success of organic retailers such as Whole Foods, have rushed to meet demand. The Kroger Co. and SuperValu Inc., which owns Albertson's LLC, are among those selling their own organic brands. Wal-Mart Stores Inc. said earlier this year that it would double its organic offerings.

Governor Richardson announces Rail Runner will run on Biodiesel Fuel

New commuter train one of the first in the country to use biodiesel fuel.

As part of his effort to address sustainable resources, Governor Bill Richardson announced that the new commuter train - the New Mexico Rail Runner Express – will start running on biodiesel fuel.

“I am committed to promoting clean renewable energy in New Mexico,” said New Mexico Governor Bill Richardson. “American made renewable energy sources increase national security and help protect our air and water. The Rail Runner is fast and clean, and -- with the switch to biodiesel -- it will be green as well.”

The Rail Runner is one of the first commuter rail systems in the country to use biodiesel. The fuel, which is made from the vegetable waste of farm products, is 20-percent less expensive than regular diesel fuel. – that’s about 30-cents a gallon cheaper.

“This goes hand-in-hand with our continued commitment to environmental responsibility. With rising gasoline prices it’s a wise decision to explore and utilize alternative fuel sources,” Transportation Secretary Rhonda Faught said.

“From our perspective, this fuel source burns much more efficiently and much cleaner for the environment”, says Lawrence Rael, Mid-Region Council of Governments Executive Director. “The Council of Governments is extremely sensitive to doing what is right for the environment, and looking toward renewable resources is right in line with that way of thinking”.

Rail Runner Express service began carrying passengers between Bernalillo and Albuquerque two weeks ago.

everGREEN landscape architects' employee vehicles have run on biodiesel since April 2005.
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