Global Green News
Santa Monica-Malibu Schools Embrace Solar
September 2, 2010: Global Green USA and the Santa Monica-Malibu Unified School District are celebrating last night’s board passage of the School District’s decision to adopt a plan for installing solar panels on nine elementary schools that will generate nearly two-thirds of all the power needs for the schools, save the district $2.8 million - $5.1 million dollars and reduce 24,000 tons of CO2 emissions over the next twenty five years.
School board considers solar deal
SANTA MONICA DAILY PRESS. SEPTEMBER 1, 2010. By Nick Taborek
SMMUSD HDQTRS — The rooftops at nine Santa Monica-Malibu Unified School District campuses could soon be getting solar panels designed to generate two-thirds of the district's electricity needs, under a deal expected to receive approval from the school board at its meeting tonight.
Katrina, Five Years Later
THE NEW YORK TIMES. SEPTEMBER 1, 2010. EDITORIAL
New Orleans is rebounding well from the devastation wrought by Hurricane Katrina in 2005 and could conceivably end up on a stronger economic footing than before the storm — if the city redevelops in the right way. For that to happen, federal, state and local authorities must step up the effort to restore flood-damaged neighborhoods, some of which are heavily blighted and still have less than half their prestorm populations.
5th Anniversary of Hurricane Katrina
Prior to Hurricane Katrina, New Orleans and Louisiana lacked virtually any green building or energy-efficiency infrastructure. Louisiana didn’t have a modern energy code, there were no LEED certified buildings, and most of the shotgun houses and schools were built with cheap building materials that were often unhealthy and incredibly energy-inefficient.
Five years later, we celebrate the thousands of green points that symbolize the healthy and energy-efficient rebuilding going on throughout New Orleans. New Orleans is a Department of Energy (DOE) Solar America City, Louisiana has the most progressive solar tax credit in the country, there are numerous green homes, schools, and building projects throughout the city and hundreds of green building products are now widely available. As recently noted by USA Today, there are more green single-family affordable housing units being built in New Orleans than any other city in the United States.
New Orleans Five Years After Hurricane Katrina
August 29, 2010. On Sunday, we marked the 5th Anniversary of Hurricane Katrina. In light of this event, Global Green USA has created a map that shows the greening of Greater New Orleans. Take a look at the map, and all the ways in which Global Green has responded to the storm and catalyzed the community to rebuild in a sustainable way.
Obama to commemorate Katrina on 5th anniversary
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS. AUGUST 27, 2010.
VINEYARD HAVEN, Mass. — President Barack Obama will use the fifth anniversary of Hurricane Katrina to reaffirm his commitment to the Gulf Coast amid lingering questions over his administration's response to the BP oil spill.
"He inherited a legacy problem with New Orleans rebuilding just like so many incredible challenges with the economy," said Beth Galante, director of the New Orleans office of Global Green USA, a sustainable building initiative active in the city since the hurricane struck. "It does really put the burden on him to acknowledge the failures and make sure there's a serious and ongoing federal commitment to righting those problems."
Katrina 5th Anniversary News
Here is a round-up of the news articles related to the 5th Anniversary of Hurricane Katrina that Global Green USA has been a part of.
Hurricane Katrina anniversary: Ways to help with on-going rebuilding efforts
USA TODAY. AUGUST 27, 2010.
In honor of Hurricane Katrina's fifth-year anniversary this Sunday, we'll be sharing several "hero" stories here in Kindness next week. Be sure to share yours!
We wanted to additionally highlight several ways you can still get engaged and help out with rebuilding efforts that continue today.
Climate change center to be in Lower 9th Ward
KLFY 10. AUGUST 26, 2010. By Associated Press.
NEW ORLEANS (AP) - A $3.2 million center where people will learn about climate change and the threat of sea level rise is slated to be built in the Lower 9th Ward with federal and private dollars.
Post-Katrina, Global Green Gives New Orleans An Eco-Facelift
THE HUFFINGTON POST. AUGUST 26, 2010. By Laura Bassett
Before Hurricane Katrina struck, New Orleans was far from a model of environmental sustainability. The centuries-old houses with 10-foot ceilings that lend the city its charm were horribly energy inefficient, nearly every building in the city was vulnerable to heavy flooding, and the city had no LEED-certified buildings or an energy code before the storm.
Soon after Katrina and the inadequate government response to the disaster, environmental non-profit Global Green capitalized on the opportunity to rebuild the city as an international example of sustainability. Through green affordable housing projects, education initiatives to teach residents about global warming and sustainability, and efforts to green local schools, Global Green hopes to achieve the greatest impact possible on New Orleans while inspiring national and international governments to follow suit.
Holy Cross Neighborhood Gets 'Green' Face-Lift
WDSU.COM. AUGUST 25, 2010.
New Homes Being Built With Latest Technology
NEW ORLEANS -- The Holy Cross neighborhood is getting a face-lift, one green home at a time.
The Global Green project has constructed five green homes, and there's more housing in the works.
There is still a green apartment building with 18 units set for the area, as well as a community center. The new homes stand out in the older neighborhood, but neighbors said it's a look they are getting used to. "I think it might be a little unusual from the old traditional, houses but it's very beautiful," said Holy Cross resident Mamie Smith.
It’s Easy Being Green: The Big Green Easy
CENTER FOR AMERICAN PROGRESS. AUGUST 25, 2010.
When Hurricane Katrina hit New Orleans five years ago, the devastation was heartbreaking. Residents lost homes, schools, and churches, and in some cases entire neighborhoods were destroyed. The city was in ruins by the time the water finally receded, leaving the task of rebuilding to those whose homes and livelihoods had been swept away by the massive storm. The Crescent City slowly but surely crept back to life, and in the process, New Orleans 2.0 is becoming better, stronger, and greener.
For Hurricane Katrina Victims, A Solar Restart
NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC. AUGUST 26, 2010. By Marianne Lavelle
Renewable energy, efficiency part of New Orleans rebuilding
The rooftop of Robert Green’s home bears two unmistakable marks that it is part of the effort to rebuild New Orleans with a new resilience.
There is a safe exit to a secure area of the roof—a feature that needs no explanation for longtime Lower Ninth Ward residents like Green, who lost both his mother and his three-year-old granddaughter in 20-foot-high floodwaters after the Industrial Canal levee broke in the wake of Hurricane Katrina on August 29, 2005.
No on 23: Stop the Dirty Energy Proposition
Please join Global Green in OPPOSING Proposition 23 which will appear on the California ballot on November 2, 2010.
Two Texas oil companies are spending millions to push Prop. 23, a deceptive initiative that would kill California clean energy and air pollution control standards.
Wind turbine plant may spur offshore wind energy development
THE TIMES-PICAYUNE. AUGUST 22, 2010. By Richard Thompson
Days after a British wind turbine company announced plans to begin manufacturing turbine blades and components in part of the Michoud Assembly Facility in eastern New Orleans, local environmentalists expressed optimism that a strong industry presence in the region could spur interest in offshore wind energy development among state officials and utility providers.
Mercury News editorial: Vote No on Proposition 23
THE SAN JOSE MERCURY NEWS. AUGUST 22, 2010.
The most important vote Californians cast in November may not be in the governor's race but on Proposition 23, the measure to suspend the state's landmark global warming law. The initiative would devastate efforts to create a vibrant clean-energy sector and have a disastrous impact on the state's economy.
Vote no on Proposition 23.
New York City mayor signs new recycling legislation
WASTE & RECYCLING NEWS. AUGUST 18, 2010. By Amanda Smith-Teutsch
New legislation to expand residential recycling in New York City has been signed into law.
Mayor Michael Bloomberg signed the 11 new laws updating the city’s 21-year-old recycling laws Monday.
Global warming measure could suspend other landmark environmental rules
THE MERCURY NEWS. AUGUST 16, 2010. By Paul Rogers
A November ballot measure that would suspend California's landmark global-warming law could also end up rolling back some of the state's other sweeping environmental standards -- including rules that require utilities to generate a third of their electricity from renewable sources and programs requiring oil refineries to make cleaner-burning fuels.
Better Oversight of Chemical Industry Sites Needed, Experts Say
GLOBAL SECURITY NEWSWIRE. AUGUST 13, 2010. By Rachel Oswald
WASHINGTON -- As the world’s declared state stockpiles of chemical warfare materials dwindle, the nonproliferation community is turning its focus to another concern -- a multitude of commercial plants that could be converted to produce weapon agents (see GSN April 10, 2008).
Lessons in Resilience From New Orleans
THE NEW YORK TIMES. DOT EARTH BLOG. AUGUST 13, 2010. By Andrew C. Revkin
After reading yesterday’s piece on strategies for limiting losses in climate-related disasters, Robert Kates, a scholar studying human development patterns and a longtime source of mine, offered the following summary of lessons on building resilient communities derived from the history of New Orleans.
Recovery School District makes long-term building assignments
THE TIMES-PICAYUNE. AUGUST 5, 2010. By Cindy Chang
The Recovery School District has released a plan for where each of its nearly 70 schools will be located as it moves forward with a massive slate of construction and renovation projects.
Since the storm, the Recovery School District has built or totally renovated six schools, including Greater Gentilly High School, Joseph Craig Elementary and L.B. Landry High School. The challenges of rebuilding the New Orleans public school system after Hurricane Katrina are reflected in the school facilities themselves, many of which were damaged by the storm and levee breaches and were in poor condition to begin with.
Multi-year Arctic Sea Ice Continues Dramatic Declines, Even If No New Record Low Likely
TREEHUGGER. AUGUST 5, 2010. By Matthew McDermott
Recent projections on the extent of Arctic sea ice melt showed, though this year's melting would be significant, no new record would be set. New data for July from the National Snow and Ice Data Center confirms this trend, but importantly also reveals how older, thicker multi-year ice continues dramatic declines.
Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill: Global Green's Response
GLOBAL GREEN USA RESPONDS TO THE GULF COAST OIL SPILL...AND NEEDS YOUR HELP!
On April 20, 2010 there was an explosion at the Deepwater Horizon drilling rig, which killed 11 plaform workers and injured 17 others. It also resulted in the damaged wellhead - 5,000 feet below the surface - to start gushing oil into the Gulf. The ongoing Deepwater Horizon oil spill is now considered to be the largest offshore spill in U.S. history, with tens of millions of gallons spilled to date, and the nations worst environmental distaster. All attempts to cap the well have thus far failed.
Global Green USA, one of the leading green voices in New Orleans, is responding to the nation’s largest environmental disaster by supporting the communities impacted, helping to document the devastation, and fighting for more legislative regulation of the oil industry and increased investment in renewable energy and clean technologies.
Interview with Sebastian Copeland
EXPLORERSWEB.COM. JULY 29, 2010.
Sebastian holds, with partner Eric McNair-Landry, the world record for the longest distance travelled in a twenty four hour period with kites on skis. He documents his extreme expeditions on film and tells ExWeb about caring for cameras and filming in sub-zero temperatures, what damage sastrugi can do to food packaging and about frustrating long hours in the tent without enough books to read.
Leaked Documents Suggest Taliban Chemical Strike on U.S. Soldiers
GLOBAL SECURITY NEWSWIRE. JULY 27, 2010.
Information gleaned from this week's giant unauthorized release of tens of thousands of U.S. military documents suggest soldiers in Afghanistan might have been exposed to a chemical weapon, Wired magazine reported (see GSN, March 18).
Plan B: Grading New Orleans's Readiness for Climate Change
GOOD MAGAZINE. JULY 27, 2010. By Ben Jervey
With geography and climate change working against it, New Orleans prepares for the future. GOOD assesses its resiliency plan.
There has been a lot of admirable progress in New Orleans in the last five years, but what happens during the next big storm? Could all this progress be washed away? After all, the physical geography of the city hasn’t changed: It still sits vulnerably surrounded by water, tucked between (and in many places, below) two massive lakes, the continent’s biggest river, and an ever-warming Gulf of Mexico.
Pete Seeger Debuts New BP Protest Song
ROLLING STONE. JULY 26, 2010. By Patrick Doyle
Pete Seeger may be 91 years old, but the iconic folk singer still has plenty to protest. On Friday night at New York's City Winery, Seeger debuted a new song he wrote about the disastrous BP oil spill as part of a fundraising concert for the Gulf Restoration Network and Global Green USA . "It's a strange, strange song," said Seeger about the new tune, which featured a simple finger-picked chord progression and gravelly ominous lyrics like, "When the drill baby drill turns to spill baby spill/God's counting on me/God's counting on you." Check out video of "God's Counting on Me, God's Counting on You" above.
L.B. Landry High School counting down to opening day
THE TIMES-PICAYUNE. JULY 26, 2010. By Kari Dequine
L.B. Landry High School has kicked into high gear, said Principal Natalie Franklin, amid the sounds of hammers and buzzing saws. The brand-new $54 million school building in Algiers was crawling with landscapers and construction workers last week as they hurried to finish the final touches on the state-of-the-art building.
GGUSA Joins Coalition in Support of Reducing Highly Enriched Uranium for Medical Isotopes.
AUSTIN, TX – July 20, 2010 - An unusual coalition of medical and national-security organizations today called on U.S. Senator Kit Bond (R-MO) to lift his “hold” that is blocking legislation to relieve shortages of vital medical isotopes and reduce risks of nuclear terrorism.
Stanford climate scientist Stephen Schneider dies at 65
SAN JOSE MERCURY NEWS. JULY 19, 2010. by Paul Rogers
Stephen Schneider, a Stanford University biologist and one of the nation's leading climate scientists, has died.
Stanford officials announced Monday that Schneider, 65, suffered a heart attack today while flying from a science meeting in Stockholm to London.
Over a career that spanned 40 years, Schneider was an outspoken and visible voice about how the buildup of carbon dioxide has been steadily warming the earth. He published more than 400 scientific papers, proceedings and legislative testimonies and more than 200 book reviews, editorials and other works.
The Passing of a Climate Warrior
THE NEW YORK TIMES. JULY 19, 2010. By Andrew C. Revkin
Stephen H. Schneider, a Stanford University climate scientist who for decades built the case that global warming, while laden with complexity, justified an aggressive response, has died. Ralph Cicerone, the president of the National Academy of Sciences, of which Schneider was a longtime member, said he had confirmed the news.
The Right to Water
THE NEW YORK TIMES. JULY 16, 2010. By Mikhail Gorbachev.
The right of every human being to safe drinking water and basic sanitation should be recognized and realized.
The United Nations estimates that nearly 900 million people live without clean water and 2.6 billion without proper sanitation. Water, the basic ingredient of life, is among the world’s most prolific killers. At least 4,000 children die every day from water-related diseases. In fact, more lives have been lost after World War II due to contaminated water than from all forms of violence and war.
Kicking the Oil Habit
THE NATION. JULY 15, 2010. By Mark Hertsgaard
Port Sulphur, Louisiana
Captain Pete, as everyone in town calls him, has been an oysterman nearly his entire life. He started as a boy, learning the trade from his father, who had learned it from his father. Working fourteen-hour days from leased oyster beds in Barataria Bay, forty miles south of New Orleans, Captain Pete's family supplied the city's premier vendor, P&J Oyster Company. When P&J closed its doors on June 10, it was front-page news in New Orleans—one more in a string of casualties of BP's deep-sea oil catastrophe.
Voices from the Gulf official selection of the 2010 Lights. Camera. Help. Film Festival
"Voices from the Gulf: Shell Beach Fishermen" is an official selection of the 2010 "Lights. Camera. Help." Film Festival. Out of a pool of 235 documentaries, PSAs and short films, 33 were selected to screen in the nation's only festival dedicated to cause-driven films. The festival runs from July 29 - 31 in Austin, TX. As an official selection of the festival, the film is now eligible for one of three jury prizes to be awarded at the conclusion of the event.
Filmmakers Gary and Kristin Schillinger moved to New Orleans from the San Francisco Bay Area just weeks before the catastrophic oil spill threatened the wildlife, marshlands, beaches and communities of the Gulf Coast. They teamed up with Global Green to produce a series of online shorts that would help shed light on the human toll of the country’s worst environmental crisis.
For more information about the "Lights. Camera. Help." film festival, visit http://lightscamerahelp.org/
(Malibu) Council on board for strong green building standards
THE MALIBU TIMES. JULY 14, 2010. By Jonathan Friedman / Associate Editor
The City Council on Monday supported in concept the adoption of strong energy efficiency standards for new developments as part of a Green Building Program. The council also supported city staff's proposal for a pilot program that will fast track a handful of “high-level” green projects through the permit review process.
Walker Wells of Global Green USA told the council increased energy efficiency could be achieved with “no or very little changes to design.”
ABC Star tries to bring environmental awareness to national audience.
ABC26 WGNO. JULY 11, 2010. By Glynn Boyd
MYRTLE GROVE, LA - You saw her last night in the hit ABC hit series, "The Gates."
She plays the Vampire.
But Rhona Mitra is also an activist for clean energy.
U.S. Reaches Chemical Weapons Disposal Milestone
Global Security Newswire. Wednesday, July 7, 2010. By Chris Schneidmiller
WASHINGTON -- The U.S. Army announced yesterday it had eliminated 75 percent of the nation's stockpile of chemical warfare materials and remained on track to meet the demilitarization deadline set by an international nonproliferation treaty (see GSN, June 21).
AB 758 - Energy Efficiency in Existing Buildings
In October 2009, CA Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger signed Assembly Bill (AB) 758, legislation that will make existing buildings more energy efficient and less expensive to operate. The bill, sponsored by Global Green USA and authored by Assembly Member Nancy Skinner (D- Berkeley), will require the California Energy Commission (CEC) to develop an energy efficiency program for all existing residential and commercial buildings.
Russia to Miss Chemical Weapons Disposal Deadline
Global Security Newswire. Wednesday, June 30, 2010. By Chris Schneidmiller
WASHINGTON -- Russia has acknowledged that it would not meet the deadline for complete elimination of its arsenal of chemical warfare materials, the head of the international organization that oversees the Chemical Weapons Convention announced yesterday.
BIBG Fights Poverty with Energy Knowledge
New Orleans homeowner Shirley Johnigan was distraught over high utility bills, which averaged nearly $400.00 a month, even though her income was 80% below the Area Median Income (AMI). Because she could not afford such expense, she felt like she might have to move out of the Gentilly neighborhood she loves. “I was robbing Peter to pay Paul. I couldn’t afford my medicine and my utility bill,” she said.
She sought help from Global Green’s Build it Back Green (BIBG) program. BIBG team members Andrew Spaulding and Myron Warden visited Ms. Johnigan’s house and performed a Home Energy Assessment. They also found a total lack of insulation in her attic, and substantial points of air leakage in her attic floor and ductwork.
Bid to suspend California's global warming law qualifies for November ballot
THE LOS ANGELES TIMES. JUNE 23, 2010. By Margot Roosevelt
The battle over the initiative, launched by Texas oil giants Valero and Tesoro, will pit that industry against environmentalists and the state's clean-tech businesses.
California headed for a high-stakes battle over global warming Tuesday, as an oil industry-backed measure to suspend the state's aggressive climate-change law qualified for the November ballot.
The fight will pit the state's powerful environmental organizations and clean-tech businesses against the oil and manufacturing industries. It also arrays many conservative political leaders, including the GOP nominee for governor, Meg Whitman, against Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, a fellow Republican who regards the global warming law as a key part of his legacy.
Gov. Schwarzenegger Issues Statement on AB 32
Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger today issued the following statement on AB 32:
“This initiative sponsored by greedy Texas oil companies would cripple California’s fastest growing economic sector, reverse our renewable energy policy and decimate our environmental progress for the benefit of these oil companies’ profit margins. I will not allow this to happen on my watch. We will continue moving this state forward with our comprehensive energy policy that creates jobs, reduces our reliance on foreign oil and ensures the California we love will be the California we hand over to the next generation.”
Sophia Bush, Austin Nichols on Gulf Oil Disaster
June 20-22, 2010. One Tree Hill stars Sophia Bush and Austin Nichols joined Global Green USA President Matt Petersen in the Gulf to tour Grand Isle and some of the areas being affected by the oil spill, and to get the word out to as many people as possible about the effects it has having on the people, communities, and ecosystems down there.
Here is some of the news coverage their visit - and tweets - has garnered.
Searching for the Best Way to Punish BP
The ATLANTIC WIRE. JUNE 16, 2010. By John Hudson
During the president's 20-minute address to the nation Tuesday, he vowed to set up a BP-stocked fund to pay out damages to oil spill victims. The escrow fund would directly compensate people such as fishermen and tourism industry workers whose businesses have been damaged by the oil. Is this the best way to right BP's wrongs?
Global Green Millennium Awards Honor Eco-Luminaries
ECORAZZI. JUNE 15, 2010. By Elizah Leigh
Established 14 years ago, the yearly Millennium Awards is held by national eco-non-profit organization Global Green USA – a branch of former Soviet Union President Mikhail S. Gorbachev’s Green Cross International – in order to celebrate individuals and companies that take sustainable action to help the environment.
Celebs get their eco-activism on at Global Green's Millennium Awards
THE LOS ANGELES TIMES. JUNE 13, 2010. By Irene Lacher
For all we know, Alison Brie might have been wearing a recording of Frank Sinatra singing "Fly Me to the Moon" at Global Green USA's 14th annual Millennium Awards on Saturday.
BP Oil Disaster Threatens Mississippi Delta Goods and Services Worth Far More than BP's Value
ENVIRONMENTAL DEFENSE FUND. JUNE 10, 2010.
(Baton Rouge, LA–June 10, 2010) The BP oil disaster, hurricanes and wetlands loss threaten a net value of $330 billion to $1.3 trillion in natural system goods and services, according to the first study of the Mississippi River Delta as a capital asset. Even the low end estimate of the Delta's value exceeds BP's market capitalization before the oil disaster on April 20 of $189 billion. The study was completed shortly before the spill.
I.H.T. Op-Ed Contributor Europe Energized
THE NEW YORK TIMES OP-ED. JUNE 8, 2010.By Stephen Hill
With toxic black ooze spreading throughout the Gulf of Mexico, it may be time for the Obama administration to think seriously about national energy policy. It could learn plenty by looking across the Atlantic.
The average European today emits half the carbon of an average American and uses far less electricity. It takes 40 percent more fuel for an American car to drive a mile than a European car. Europe overall has managed to reduce its ecological footprint to half that of the United States for the same standard of living.
How has Europe managed this? Through smart, strategic government policy, working closely with the private sector, to advance incentives and regulations that encourage the necessary behavior from consumers, households and businesses.
BP oil spill: Louisianans want more from Obama ... but more what?
THE CHRISTIAN SCIENCE MONITOR. MAY 28, 2010. By Bill Sasser
With Obama in Louisiana Friday to assess the response to the BP oil spill, residents have strong views about what needs to happen next. But their ideas can conflict, and expectations are low.
Arriving in Louisiana Friday to counter increasing criticism of his handling of the BP oil rig disaster, President Obama will find few allies and low expectations in a region still stinging from the government's botched response to hurricane Katrina.
Americans Strongly Support Cutting Oil Consumption, Increasing Fuel Economy Standards to 50 mpg
PRNEWSWIRE. MAY 18, 2010.
SAN FRANCISCO, May 18 /PRNewswire/ -- A national survey released today by California-based Consumer Action and the Consumer Federation of America (CFA) shows that, even before the Gulf oil spill, Americans strongly supported reduced oil consumption and tougher fuel economy standards. In a late March survey commissioned by CFA and undertaken by Opinion Research Corp. (ORC), 87% of respondents said it is "important that the country reduce its consumption of oil," while more than half (54%) said this was "very important."
The Pentagon’s Love-Hate Relationship With Clean Energy
National Defense Industrial Association Blog. MAY 20, 2010. By Sandra Erwin.
The Defense Department expects to remain quite busy fighting the nation’s wars. At home, it also plans to be hard at work feuding against a pesky enemy: Environmental encroachment.
Agency Orders Use of a Less Toxic Chemical in Gulf
THE NEW YORK TIMES. MAY 20, 2010. By Campbell Robertson & Elisabeth Rosenthal
GRAND ISLE, La. — Local and state officials here voiced desperation on Thursday as their fears became far more tangible, with oil from the BP spill showing up on shore as tar balls, sheens and gooey slicks.
NOT ONE DROP E-Book Download Benefits Global Green
FREE BOOK DOWNLOAD!
Note from the Author Riki Ott: If 100,000 people download and give even $1, we’ll be able to raise a significant amount for the relief efforts. At $10/download, that’s a million dollars! Just hit the “Donate Now” button beside Not One Drop on Scribd. Funds will go toward mitigating social trauma from the spill, because I remember how much the Exxon Valdez hurt my town, Cordova.
Oil spill shuts down 19 percent of Gulf fishing
KANSAS CITY STAR. MAY 18, 2010. By MELISSA NELSON, The Associated Press
The sign outside the Pensacola Beach marina says "We're Still Fishing," but that's not really true.
The federal government announced Tuesday it was nearly tripling the size of an area in the Gulf of Mexico that's closed to fishing because of a massive oil spill off the coast of Louisiana.
The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration said it had closed nearly 46,000 square miles, or about 19 percent of federal waters.
Sea-Dumped Chemical Weapons are a Rusting Time Bomb
WEAPONS OF MASS DESTRUCTION IN D.C. (BLOG). MAY 17, 2010. By Allen Hengst
Global Green USA's Security and Sustainability Program continued discussion on sea-dumped munitions, especially chemical weapons (CW) as part of its "Healing the Oceans" initiative. This roundtable gave a general introduction to the issue, describing the geography, quantities and potential health hazards. The session was particularly important in defining the context within which the more in-depth roundtables to follow will delve further into the primary geographic locations – the Baltic, the Pacific including Hawaii, and the Mediterranean – and tackle legal, public health and possible mitigation issues respectively.
GULF COAST FAMILIES AND ENVIRONMENTAL GROUPS JOIN FORCES TO SEND A GIANT HUMAN TEXT MESSAGE TO BP
May 16th, 2010 - Grand Isle, LA - During a break in daylong thunderstorms, hearty Gulf Coast community members -- including fishermen, shrimpers, grandmothers and families -- directly impacted by the massive Deepwater Horizon oil spill, sent the giant human text message "NEVER AGAIN" to BP and the federal government, Congress, and other officials calling for urgent action to address the economic and environmental devastation from the spill. The event was sponsored by the Commercial Fisherman of America and Global Green USA and included food relief for out of work fishermen and their families.
Voices From the Frontlines of the BP Oil Spill
THE HUFFINGTON POST. MAY 14, 2010. By Matt Petersen
Dateline: Monday, Venice, Louisiana
I spent last Monday touring part of Louisiana coast, talking with media covering the BP oil spill, and meeting with fishermen struggling to weather the worst imaginable storm of their lives. It was a sobering time. The whole Gulf Coast seemed to be holding its breath, waiting for the oil to hit the beach.
Latest Oil-Based Catastrophe Shaping Up in California
ENVIRONMENTAL LEADER. MAY 12, 2010. By Andy Mannle
Even as the oil from the Deepwater Horizon disaster is washing ashore in Louisiana, another oil-based catastrophe is shaping up in California. Opponents of CA’s landmark global warming legislation AB32 – led by Texas oil giant Valero and other out-of-state oil interests – recently spent nearly $2 million dollars in a successful bid to put an initiative on the November ballot that would suspend AB32 from taking effect.
Senate Gets Climate and Energy Bill, Modified by the Gulf Spill
THE NEW YORK TIMES. MAY 12, 2010. By John M. Broder
WASHINGTON — The long delayed and much amended Senate plan to deal with global warming and energy was unveiled on Wednesday to considerable fanfare but highly uncertain prospects.
After nearly eight months of negotiations with lawmakers and interest groups, Senators John F. Kerry, Democrat of Massachusetts, and Joseph I. Lieberman, independent of Connecticut, produced a 987-page bill that attempts to limit climate-altering emissions, reduce oil imports and create millions of new energy-related jobs.
California Makes Green Housing Affordable
SOLVECLIMATE. MAY 11, 2010. By Leslie Berliant
Sunlight is free, but getting power from solar panels remains far from it. At least for some low-income families in California, it's now affordable for the first time.
For the Mothers of the Gulf Coast, and Mother Earth
THE HUFFINGTON POST. MAY 8, 2010. By Matt Petersen
As we continue to watch the disastrous impact of the BP Horizon oil catastrophe, the children and families of Gulf Coast mothers -- fishermen, indigenous people, and residents -- are struggling to make ends meet. Parents are struggling to even feed their families after their livelihoods have been abruptly terminated by the impacts of the spill.
CALIFORNIA ENVIRONMENTAL LEADERS ANNOUNCE OPPOSITION TO TEXAS OIL COMPANIES' DIRTY ENERGY INITIATIVE
LOS ANGELES, CA – May 6, 2010 – As the horrific Gulf of Mexico oil spill continues into its third week, Southern California's top environmental leaders today announced their opposition to stop the Dirty Energy Proposition – a ballot measure financed by Texas-based oil companies that will kill California’s leading clean energy and air pollution standards.
In oil spill, environmental groups see opportunity for changes
THE WASHINGTON POST. MAY 6, 2010. By Juliet Eilperin
The catastrophic oil spill unfolding in the gulf has provided the environmental community with a rare opportunity to shift public opinion on climate and energy issues, an opening on which it has been quick to capitalize.
U.S. exempted BP's Gulf of Mexico drilling from environmental impact study
THE WASHINGTON POST. MAY 5, 2010. By Juliet Eilperin
The Interior Department exempted BP's calamitous Gulf of Mexico drilling operation from a detailed environmental impact analysis last year, according to government documents, after three reviews of the area concluded that a massive oil spill was unlikely.
Nature on Its Own
THE HUFFINGTON POST. MAY 3, 2010. By Gary Hart
One of the perennial questions we ask ourselves is whether all of nature is there for us to use and then discard or whether mankind owes a debt to nature. Many humans do have an instinct to personalize the natural world in the form of Mother Nature and to see the planet as a complex living thing... the so-called Gaia outlook. Questions like this are usually raised when a man-made disaster, such as the current Gulf of Mexico oil catastrophe, occurs.
Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill Impact: Get Involved
THE HUFFINGTON POST. APRIL 30, 2010.
Now that the oil spill in the gulf coast has reached land, the effects are being felt in towns and cities across the area -- this is in addition the local wildlife in both the land and sea that are dying by the thousands.
HuffPost Impact has compiled a list of ways you can help contribute to the cleanup and save local wildlife. Thanks to CrisisWiki for compiling this information.
LEED-Neighborhood Development: It’s Official (and California Already “LEEDs” the Way)
NRDC.COM. APRIL 29, 2010. By Justin Horner
In twin events today in Washington DC and Chicago, the three partners who created LEED-Neighborhood Development (NRDC, the Congress for the New Urbanism and the US Green Building Council) announced the system’s official launch. Nearly a decade in the making, LEED-ND is the first national standard to attempt to describe and quantify what “green” actually is on the neighborhood scale. We all know green buildings; ND gives us green neighborhoods.
Global Green to Receive Award at 2010 Healthy Housing Conference
Global Green will be receiving an award at THE INDOOR ENVIRONMENTAL HEALTH & TECHNOLOGIES CONFERENCE on Wednesday, April 28, 2010 at their Opening Plenary Session "for the tremendous work and efforts of your organization in rebuilding areas ravaged by Katrina."
Nuclear Terrorism Seen Overshadowing Other WMD Threats
GLOBAL SECURITY NEWSWIRE. APRIL 23, 2010.
Some proliferation analysts worry that U.S. President Barack Obama's high-profile effort to thwart a nuclear strike by a rogue actor is diverting attention from the more probable threats of chemical and biological terrorism, the Wall Street Journal reported yesterday.
For Sebastian Copeland, going 'Into the Cold' is a way of life
USA TODAY. April 22, 2010. By Brian Truitt
To some, venturing out in 50-below temperatures and crossing rough Arctic terrains may seem amazing, or even nutty. But for photographer and environmental advocate Sebastian Copeland, it's another day at the office.
EARTH DAY TIPS
This Earth Day, follow these tips for living a greener, more sustainable life.
On Earth Day's 40th anniversary, a different world
THE LOS ANGELES TIMES. APRIL 22, 2010. By Jim Tankersley, Tribune Washington Bureau
Denis Hayes, coordinator of the first Earth Day in 1970, discusses the challenges for the environmental movement and prospects for global warming legislation in today's changed political climate.
When millions of environmental activists gathered on college campuses and in major cities 40 years ago for the first Earth Day, the rallies, teach-ins and organizing helped galvanize action on a historic scale — including passage of the Clean Air and Clean Water acts and creation of the Environmental Protection Agency.
Mitch Landrieu gets reports from citizen task forces calling for action
THE TIMES-PICAYUNE. APRIL 22, 2010. By Michelle Krupa
From overhauling the code enforcement system to improving the City Hall budget process, Mayor-elect Mitch Landrieu on Thursday heard from 17 citizen task forces charged with crafting policy advice in the run-up to his May 3 inauguration.
Earth Day Endorsement from The Big Easy: Build it Back Green
THE HUFFINGTON POST. APRIL 22, 2010. By Karen Dalton-Beninato
Global Green's New Orleans Director Beth Galante is on the incoming mayor's environmental transition team, so an eco friendly voice will be front and center in the next administration. That seems appropriate to mention on on this 40th anniversary of Earth Day.
A green jobs generator
THE LOS ANGELES TIMES. APRIL 22, 2010. By Carolyn Zabin and David Graham-Squire
AB 32 won’t cost the state 3 million jobs, despite claims by opponents.
We are the authors of an often-cited study about the economic impact of California's landmark global warming law, AB 32. The law was passed in 2006 to control the state's greenhouse gas emissions; now some in Sacramento want to see it shelved. And to bolster their case they are misrepresenting our research — despite the facts and over our objections.
Andrew H. Wilson Charter School Goes Green
BEST OF NEW ORLEANS.COM. APRIL 19, 2010. By Brandon Meginley
Green schools practice what they teach
For a moment, it's quiet on the second floor of Andrew H. Wilson Charter School in Broadmoor. Because of the building's acoustics, not even the air conditioner can be heard. Then there's a distant squeak of a rubber sole against bamboo floorboards. And another. A gaggle of first-graders winds around the corner — a blurry flock of khaki and forest green. The students are headed to the courtyard where they will play traditional recess games like hopscotch, dodge ball and four square next to a not-so-traditional 12,000-gallon water cistern.
Affordable housing goes green too
THE LOS ANGELES TIMES. APRIL 10, 2010. By Jessica Garrison
Like the Prius and the $5 locally grown heirloom tomato, green building has been a status symbol among the wealthy. Affordable housing, on the other hand, typically has been made as economically as possible — the better to provide homes for as many people as possible. Green touches have long been a luxury. Casa Dominguez is one of a number of new developments signaling a change.
Senator Lautenberg Introduces “Safe Chemicals Act”
HEALTHY CHILD, HEALTHY WORLD. APRIL 15, 2010.
U.S. Senator Frank R. Lautenberg (D-NJ) today announced legislation to overhaul the “Toxic Substances Control Act of 1976” (TSCA), an antiquated law that in its current state, leaves Americans at risk of exposure to toxic chemicals. Lautenberg, who chairs the Senate Subcommittee on Superfund, Toxics and Environmental Health, introduced the “Safe Chemicals Act of 2010” to protect the health of families and the environment.
Obama Secures 47-Nation Pact At Nuclear Summit
THE WASHINGTON POST. APRIL 14, 2010. By Mary Beth Sheridan
President Obama persuaded 46 countries Tuesday to sign on to a plan to put the world's nuclear material beyond the reach of terrorists within four years, but the commitments are voluntary, and experts said reaching the goal will be difficult.
The governments attending Obama's Nuclear Security Summit agreed to take their own measures to safeguard nuclear material used in bombs, civilian nuclear reactors and power plants, and to strengthen international efforts. The gathering raised the profile of an issue long considered a sideshow in discussions of international security.
NGOs Praise U.S. Leadership on Nukes
INTER PRESS SERVICE. APRIL 12, 2010. By Matthew Berger and Eli Clifton
WASHINGTON, Apr 12, 2010 (IPS) - One of the largest gatherings of world leaders ever on U.S. soil began Monday with representatives of 47 countries gathering here for the Nuclear Security Summit.
The two-day event is organised around the goal of keeping nuclear materials out of the hands of terrorists. Representatives of NGOs, along with experts from academia, held a parallel summit on the same topic several blocks away.
Ukraine To Give Up Nuke Material; Boost For Summit
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS. APRIL 12, 2010. By Robert Burns
WASHINGTON -- President Barack Obama optimistically opened a 47-nation nuclear summit Monday, boosted by Ukraine's announcement that it will give up its weapons-grade uranium. More sobering: The White House counterterror chief warned that al-Qaida is vigorously pursuing ingredients and expertise for a bomb.
At the same time, Obama and Chinese President Hu Jintao sought agreement on potential sanctions to discourage Iran's efforts to come up with its own nuclear weapon.
The Nuclear Security Summit
THE NEW YORK TIMES. APRIL 11, 2010. Editorial.
After 9/11, the world was forced to contemplate an even more terrifying nightmare: the possibility that terrorists could buy or steal a nuclear weapon. Far too little has been done since to head that off.
The vulnerabilities run from thousands of poorly secured short-range nuclear weapons in Russia to poorly guarded nuclear reactors or fuel storage sites in far too many states. There are no mandatory, international security standards for nuclear facilities or for hospitals whose radioactive waste could be used in dirty bombs.
On Monday, President Obama holds a summit meeting in Washington to address these dangers. His very ambitious target is to secure all weapons-useable nuclear material within four years.
Mayor-elect's team gets green suggestions
THE TIMES-PICAYUNE. APRIL 10, 2010. By Molly Reid
Municipal recycling service, more efficient stormwater management and a bicycle sharing system were all ideas suggested to New Orleans Mayor-elect Mitch Landrieu's transition team at a recent public meeting.
Urban farms herald green city 'revolution'
CNN. APRIL 8, 2010. By Thair Shaikh
London, England (CNN) -- As the world's urban population continues to grow at a rapid rate, communities around the world are increasingly turning to "city agriculture" to produce cheap, locally grown fruit and vegetables.
A legacy of Katrina: Green homes
USA TODAY. APRIL 7, 2010. By Rick Jervis
NEW ORLEANS -- In this city on the mend, hundreds of state-of-the-art sustainable, energy-efficient homes are being built in lower-income neighborhoods, a trend that's outpacing most of the rest of the country.
Water: Our Thirsty World
The Annenberg Space for Photography presents an exhibit examining the precarious state of the world’s fresh water. Coinciding with National Geographic’s special issue "Water: Our Thirsty World," this exhibit features the work of award-winning photographers looking at our most precious resource from environmental, social, political and cultural perspectives.
Obama Limits When U.S. Would Use Nuclear Arms
THE NEW YORK TIMES. APRIL 5, 2010. By David E. Sanger and Peter Baker
WASHINGTON — President Obama said Monday that he was revamping American nuclear strategy to substantially narrow the conditions under which the United States would use nuclear weapons.
But the president said in an interview that he was carving out an exception for “outliers like Iran and North Korea” that have violated or renounced the main treaty to halt nuclear proliferation.
Building a Green Economy: Connecting Sustainability to Business and Job Creation
THE NEW YORK TIMES. APRIL 5, 2010. By Paul Krugman
If you listen to climate scientists — and despite the relentless campaign to discredit their work, you should — it is long past time to do something about emissions of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases. If we continue with business as usual, they say, we are facing a rise in global temperatures that will be little short of apocalyptic. And to avoid that apocalypse, we have to wean our economy from the use of fossil fuels, coal above all.
Texas Oil Companies Invade California
HUFFINGTON POST. MARCH 3, 2010. By Kamala D. Harris
It is not a headline we would expect to see, but that is exactly what is happening in California as we speak.
In 2006, the California Legislature passed AB 32, the Global Warming Solutions Act. The Governor then signed this law to make our state the leader in fighting greenhouse gas pollution.
Preventing Nuclear Terrorism
BULLETIN OF THE ATOMIC SCIENTISTS. MARCH 30, 2010. By The Fissile Materials Working Group
The television drama 24 is currently portraying one of the most frightening and dangerous terrorist scenarios possible--an anti-American terrorist group with radioactive fissile materials intent on detonating a "dirty bomb" in New York City to render it uninhabitable for decades to come. Jack Bauer, the show's intrepid hero, is trying to track down the terrorists and capture the fissile materials before the terrorists have a chance to blow them up. Although television dramas often engage in hyperbole, the basic theme of this terrorist scenario is very real.
The News from NYC is Good: Transit Up, Cycling Up, Cars Flat
TREEHUGGER. MARCH 29, 2010. By Michael Graham Richard
Headed the Right Way
The New York City Department of Transportation has released statistics on transportation in the city. The 2009 numbers aren't all in, so the most recent full year is 2008, but the trends are encouraging and it looks like all the improvements the city has made to its infrastructure and the efforts of green urbanism activists are paying off.
Green gadgets help save planet and money
THE TODAY SHOW. MARCH 29, 2010.
Steve Greenberg, author of "Gadget Nation: A Journey through the Eccentric Work of Invention," shows Kathie Gifford and Hoda Kotb an array of eco-friendly products that can ultimately save you cash.
U.S., Russia Reach Agreement On Nuclear Arms Reduction Treaty
THE WASHINGTON POST. MARCH 26, 2010. By Michael D. Shear
President Obama and Russian President Dmitry Medvedev sealed a new nuclear arms reduction treaty during a phone call this morning, committing the two nations to a significant new reduction of the strategic missiles each side has deployed, U.S. officials announced Friday.
Flanked by Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton, Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates and Adm. Mike Mullen, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Obama announced the agreement to reporters at the White House, calling it a historic step toward a world without nuclear weapons.
Navy and Marines Aim for a Leaner, Greener Fighting Machine
THE NEW YORK TIMES. MARCH 25, 2010. By Lauren Morello of ClimateWire
LAUREL, Md. -- Going green and renewable doesn't just save money, it may save lives of U.S. soldiers, according to military leaders who argue that a push for energy efficiency and a move away from fossil-based fuels could strengthen America's military.
"Every dollar spent on gasoline is a dollar that could be better spent on armor, or artillery, or machinery," Navy Secretary Ray Mabus said, speaking here at a conference at Johns Hopkins University's Applied Physics Laboratory.
World Water Day: March 22, 2010
UN-Water is dedicating World Water Day 2010 to the theme of water quality, reflecting its importance alongside quantity of the resource in water management.
Global Green Links Water Quality to Sea-Dumped Chemical Weapons
GLOBAL GREEN USA. MARCH 22, 2010. By Finn Longinotto
Today is World Water Day with the focus this year on raising the profile of water quality at the political level so that water quality considerations are made alongside those of water quantity. The focus, however, is more on drinking water but the pollution in oceans should not be overlooked. As such, Global Green USA is working on the issue of Sea-dumped Chemical Weapons, an important part of the larger problem of thousands of tons of weapons that have been dumped into the world’s oceans over the years.
Starbucks sponsors the Betacup sustainable coffee-cup design challenge
EXAMINER.COM. MARCH 18, 2010. By Cindy Tickle
Starbucks has taken the next step in its sustainable coffee-cup journey by sponsoring the Betacup Challenge.
The goal of the Betacup Challenge is to redesign the popular to-go coffee cup in an effort to eliminate waste. According to Toby Daniels, co-founder of Betacup, 58 billion paper coffee cups are thrown away and unrecycled, each year. That's a lot of caffeine.
Mayor-elect Landrieu names leaders of 14 new transition teams
WWLTV.COM. MARCH 17, 2010. By Paul Murphy and Dominic Massa / Eyewitness News
NEW ORLEANS -- New Orleans mayor-elect Mitch Landrieu and his transition team have tapped more than two dozen business and civic leaders to lead task forces on a host of city issues as Landrieu prepares to take office in May.
Brad the builder in New Orleans
THE GUARDIAN UK. MARCH 14, 2010. By Rowan Moore
Debra Dupar, pregnant with her fifth child, is sitting outside her new house. She is washed by the noon sun of an early spring day, nursing a pinkish-red drink and chatting to her friends. A short way off a camera crew is setting up, assessing shots, squinting at the light, chatting to potential interviewees. They are working for Spike Lee, who is making a documentary about the place where Debra lives.
What Does Sustainability Look Like? Photos From Around the World
TREEHUGGER.COM. MARCH 11, 2010. By Jennifer Hattam
What does "sustainability" mean to you? That's the question that JPG Magazine, a publication of reader-submitted photography, posed to members of its online community, who posted hundreds of images of peaceful landscapes, freshly grown vegetables, bicycles, wind farms, and more.
Green Schools in Africa give kids Smart Water
Geneva, 10 March 2010 – In Africa 2 out of 5 people live without adequate water supply systems needed for basic sanitation and hygiene. The building of reliable and long-lasting rainwater harvesting systems and ecological latrines in schools are cost effective and efficient means to secure water supplies and improve water sanitation for an entire school community.
Vote for Global green in the Members Project
Everyone can help change the world for the better, one step at a time. American Express has joined with TakePart to bring you opportunities to make a difference. Global green has been chosen as one of the participating charities of this year's Members Project and needs your vote to help us try to win $200,000!
How Green Is My Mansion?
THE NEW YORK TIMES. MARCH 10, 2010. By Fred A. Bernstein
MITCH KAPOR, the software mogul and philanthropist, has given millions of dollars to environmental groups. Now Mr. Kapor wants to build a 10,000-square-foot house, complete with a 10-car garage, in Berkeley, Calif.
When the house won planning approval earlier this year, many neighbors were surprised — not so much by the size of the house, or by its sleek design, but by the fact that, under Berkeley regulations, the house will qualify as “green.” In Berkeley, building proposals are evaluated on a “green point” scale, earning credit for such eco-conscious features as low-flow shower heads and insulation. A house with more than 60 points is labeled green, regardless of its size.
6th Annual Top Achievements of the Environmental Community in Southern California
Environment Now, a non-profit based in Southern California whose mission is to be an active leader in creating measurably effective environmental programs to protect and restore California's environment, just released their report entitled "6th Annual Top Achievements of the Environmental Community in Southern California."
A Green Pre-Oscar Party
THE HUFFINGTON POST. MARCH 5, 2010. By Tara Settembre
While the spotlight is focused on Hollywood this week for the Academy Awards, Matt Petersen, President and CEO of Global Green USA, wanted to "raise awareness, help support the work of Global Green and have fun" at the 7th Annual Global Green USA Pre-Oscar Party held at Avalon Hollywood on Wednesday night.
HOT GALLERY: Global Green USA’s Pre-Oscar Party Gets the Stars Pumped Up
OK MAGAZINE. MARCH 4, 2010. By Nicole Eggenberger
Jessica Alba and her hubby Cash Warren made friends with Benji Madden and Joel Madden at Global Green USA’s 7th Annual Pre-Oscar Party last night. The young stars got close together to pose for a photo — perhaps Jessica and Cash just wanted to capture a shot with two of the big performers of the night!
Leo DiCaprio, Jessica Alba, James Cameron party pre-Oscars with Global Green
THE LOS ANGELES TIMES. MARCH 4, 2010. By Matt Donnelly
The annual Global Green pre-Oscar party got a streak of "Avatar" blue on Wednesday, as best director nominee James Cameron and a host of other environmentally conscious celebs turned out to celebrate at the Avalon Hollywood.
Hummer vs. Hybrid at the Oscars
THE HUFFINGTON POST. MARCH 4, 2010. By Matt Petersen
The Prius -- and of course Toyota -- is coming under increasing scrutiny due to the massive recalls for accelerators on Toyota's other models, and the braking recall for the leading hybrid vehicle in the world. Global Green has been getting frequent calls of late to comment on the fate of the Prius as the favored 'green' car of Hollywood, all thanks to the 'take a hybrid to the Oscars' initiative we started and spearheaded for many years.
Global Green's Pre-Oscar Party Guest Hosted by James Cameron
TREEHUGGER. MARCH 4, 2010. By Roberta Cruger
Across the street from Capitol Records' tower, outside the Avalon Hollywood club, a line of green autos included the Tesla, Prius and luxury Audi A3 TDI from LA Car Guy, the biggest green car dealer in the US. GM also displayed its Chevy Volt as celebrity guests arrived in a variety of hybrids for Global Green's 7th annual Pre-Oscar bash last night, raising awareness for climate change solutions. Strolling down the lead-free green carpet, eco-minded stars shared stories, such as the set of Valentine's Day had solar powered trailers and no bottled water. Suzy Amis Cameron, wife of Avatar's director, unveiled her "green" Oscar gown, Leonardo DiCaprio snuck in and surprise guests took the stage for a jam session.
2010 Pre-Oscar Party News Coverage
March 3, 2010. Check out some of the coverage of our 7th Annual Pre-Oscar Party.
Iraq Faces Major Challenges in Destroying Its Legacy Chemical Weapons
CENTER FOR NONPROLIFERATION STUDIES. MARCH 4, 2010. By Jonathan B. Tucker
Iraq joined the Chemical Weapons Convention in February 2009 and now faces major challenges destroying the chemical munitions it inherited from the Saddam Hussein regime.
Check out the Pre-Oscar Party Widget
Check out the PopRule Pre-Oscar Party Widget. To share it on your blog or site, click the Grab tab and copy and paste the code.
Activists Criticize Uncoordinated DOD Energy Measures, Seek Changes
DEFENSE ENVIRONMENT ALERT. MARCH 2, 2010. By Suzanne Yohannan
A new report from the environmental group Global Green USA is recommending the Defense Department undertake a high-level coordinated effort to expand its use of renewable energy, prioritize energy efficiency at its forward operating bases and adopt fuel efficiencies in its tactical systems, in order to reverse what it says is the department’s approach of talking about moving towards energy efficiency but not acting.
James Cameron's Wife Goes Green for Oscars
TONIC. FEBRUARY 15, 2010. By Lauren Le Vine
Suzy Amis Cameron holds the first annual Red Carpet Green Dress Challenge to choose an eco-friendly Oscar dress — and an unknown designer.
There's one strong fashion trend developing at award shows this season, and no, I'm not talking about the large number of celebrities wearing purple (Sandra Bullock at the Golden Globes, Tina Fey at the SAGs) or white (Kate Hudson at, well, everything and Rihanna at the Grammys). This trend is one we can wholeheartedly get behind: the spouses of award nominees wearing eco-friendly fashion on the red carpet.
Lean Year for Hollywood's Favorite Green Machine
NBCLA. FEBRUARY 10, 2010. By Yvonne Beltzer and Ted Chen
Prius troubles not prompting a vehicle change
It's been the vehicle of choice for Hollywood's environmentally minded stars. But now, Toyota is adding a recall of its best-selling Prius Hybrids to its troubles.
So will the greenest stars still climb into these hybrids for all important red carpet arrivals like the Academy Awards?
New schools open in New Orleans
THE TIMES-PICAYUNE. FEBRUARY 8, 2010. By Katie Urbaszewski
After holding school in trailers, weathering mold infestations and relocating several times, three New Orleans school communities have finally moved into new, state-of-the-art buildings.
The Recovery School District opened the new buildings for Greater Gentilly High, Andrew Wilson Charter and Joseph Craig Elementary last month, touting them as models for "green" construction, as well as their capacity to withstand storms.
Help NOLA Win Big On Superbowl Sunday
Out of the Ruins, A More Sustainable Haiti?
TREEHUGGER. FEBRUARY 7, 2010. By Jesse Fox
With over a million left homeless and its capital city all but destroyed, Haiti is set to become the focus of an enormous rebuilding effort. Internationally, many are calling for a full-fledged "Marshall Plan" to rebuild the country, lasting at least a decade and costing billions of dollars. Moves this weekend to cancel its debts, while funding rebuilding efforts with grants, instead of more loans, are a positive step in this direction.
But what of sustainability? How can the island, which has for so long existed on the edge of disaster, be put back together in a way that is at once socially, environmentally and economically sustainable?
Green groups enter betting game
THE INDIANAPOLIS STAR. FEBRUARY 3, 2010.
The stakes apparently weren't high enough with a bet between Mayor Greg Ballard and New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin.
Now, the environmentalists are in on it. On Tuesday, the Hoosier Environmental Council and its New Orleans' counterpart, Global Green USA, announced a "green" wager.
Stay in 'green' house wagered on Super Bowl between New Orleans Saints and Indianapolis Colts
THE TIMES-PICAYUNE. FEBRUARY 3, 2010. By Mark Schleifstein
Add a free stay in a "green living" showcase home in either New Orleans or Indianapolis to the list of wagers pending on the outcome of Super Bowl XLIV on Sunday.
A New Set of Wheels for the Big Show?
THE NEW YORK TIMES. FEBRUARY 3, 2010. By Melena Ryzik
With the news that thousands of Toyotas are being recalled because of acceleration and brake problems, and the federal transportation secretary, Ray LaHood, Wednesday morning asking people not to drive the cars at all, the Bagger has a pressing question: What will celebrities drive to the Oscars if not their precious Priuses?
Implications of a Global Black Market for Botox
WAMU 88.5 FM. JANUARY 27, 2010.
One of the world's deadliest poisons is the key ingredient in the popular anti-aging drug, Botox. The emerging global black market for Botox and growing concerns the toxin in the drug could be used in a bioterrorism attack.
Green platform wins support of candidates for mayor and City Council
THE TIMES-PICAYUNE. JANUARY 27, 2010. By Molly Reid
Numerous candidates for New Orleans mayor and City Council signed onto a platform Tuesday that cited environmentally sensitive building and energy efficiency as a largely untapped engine of local economic development.
Last Two U.S. Chemical Weapons Disposal Sites Funded at $550M
GLOBAL SECURITY NEWSWIRE. JANUARY 26, 2010. By Rachel Oswald
WASHINGTON -- Funding for preparation of the last two U.S. installations set to begin destruction of their chemical weapon stockpiles received a significant boost in the fiscal 2010 budget -- roughly 30 percent over last year's allowance.
Officials fear toxic ingredient in Botox could become terrorist tool
THE WASHINGTON POST. JANUARY 25, 2010. By Joby Warrick
In early 2006, a mysterious cosmetics trader named Rakhman began showing up at salons in St. Petersburg, Russia, hawking a popular anti-aging drug at suspiciously low prices. He flashed a briefcase filled with vials and promised he could deliver more -- "as many as you want," he told buyers -- from a supplier somewhere in Chechnya.
Rakhman's "Botox" was found to be a potent clone of the real thing, but investigators soon turned to a far bigger worry: the prospect of an illegal factory in Chechnya churning out raw botulinum toxin, the key ingredient in the beauty drug and one of world's deadliest poisons. A speck of toxin smaller than a grain of sand can kill a 150-pound adult.
Starbucks Takes Recycling to a Whole New Local Level
EARTH911.COM. JANUARY 25, 2010. By Trey Granger
When you oversee more than 11,000 stores across the U.S., it’s easy to think of recycling on a national level. But for coffee retailer Starbucks the key lies in the availability of local recycling options.
Starbucks is currently working with the U.S. Conference of Mayors to determine what recycling barriers exist in each U.S. city and how to overcome them. Starbucks Director of Environmental Impact Jim Hanna evenspoke at the annual U.S. Mayors Conference last week.
Green fashion has new cachet
SAN FRANCISCO CHRONICLE. JANUARY 24, 2010. By Carolyne Zinko
Wherever style-setters train their sights, green is the new black, it seems.
Apparel made using organic materials and fair trade practices has increasing cachet, in large part because the designs are finally catching up with other luxury products on the market.
Making Things Green
HEALTHY LIVING MAGAZINE. JANUARY 2010. by David Steinman
Miracle in the Big Easy: The Ninth Ward is Coming Back
New Coalition Aims to Promote Chemical Weapons Disarmament, Nonproliferation
GLOBAL SECURITY NEWSWIRE. JANUARY 22, 2010. By Chris Schneidmiller
WASHINGTON -- Dozens of nongovernmental organizations from around the world are forming an umbrella group to help promote the total elimination of chemical weapons and prevent their use by terrorists.
Starbucks Seeks Support of U.S. Mayors to Overcome Recycling Barriers
BUSINESS WIRE. JANUARY 21, 2010.
Public-Private Collaboration Could Improve Recycling Infrastructures and Help Keep Cups out of the Landfill
SEATTLE--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Starbucks Coffee Company (NASDAQ: SBUX) is asking mayors and other municipal leaders across the United States to evaluate and improve local commercial and residential recycling systems. Currently, recycling capabilities vary considerably from city to city and county to county. This presents a significant barrier for a business with more than 11,000 retail locations in the U.S. alone.
Will Design and Architecture Help Haiti Rise Again?
KCRW. JANUARY 19, 2010. Frances Anderton.
Haiti's catastrophe has killed thousands and destroyed Port-au-Prince, once a jewel in the Caribbean. We look at the architecture past, present and -- possibly -- future in Haiti's heart. Is there a design solution to the desperate need for low-cost housing in overpopulated cities? Can good design trump political mayhem? We hear from experts here and from Haiti: historian Patrick Sylvain, Architecture for Humanity's founder Cameron Sinclair, Global Green's Ted Bardacke, Alejandra Lillo, co-creator of Make It Right, and others.
Beth Galante on Green Patriot Radio
GREEN PATRIOT RADIO. JANUARY 15, 2010.
This week, Beth Galante, Director of Global Green USA's New Orleans office is featured on Green Patriot Radio.
Northborough teacher aide, students helping New Orleans school reopen
THE METROWEST DAILY NEWS. JANUARY 15, 2010. By Evan Lips
Three Algonquin Regional High School students presented a $300 donation yesterday to Proctor Elementary School teaching aide Martha Bigelow, money that will help a New Orleans school reopen more than four years after Hurricane Katrina ravaged the area.
Haiti Earthquake Relief: How You Can Help
THE HUFFINGTON POST. JANUARY 13, 2010. By Victoria Fine
An earthquake centered near the impoverished Haitian capital of Port-au-Prince caused the collapse of several buildings and an unknown number of fatalities Tuesday. The quake measured 7.0 on the Richter scale and at least 1.8 million people live within the area where the earthquake had its highest intensity.
President Obama said on Tuesday that his "thoughts and prayers" were with the people of Haiti. "We are closely monitoring the situation and we stand ready to assist the people of Haiti," Obama said in a statement. The Obama administration said that the State Department, USAID and the U.S. military were working to coordinate an assessment of the situation and any possible assistance.
Huffington Post Impact is working to collect a comprehensive list of links and ways to get involved in relief efforts, detailed below.
Pope Denouces Failure of Copenhagen Climate Change Negotiations
VOICE OF AMERICA. JANUARY 12, 2010. By Sabina Castelfranco
Pope Benedict XVI focused his annual address to ambassadors accredited to the Vatican on the environment and the protection of creation. He denounced the failure of world leaders to agree to a new climate change treaty in Copenhagen last month.
Environmental groups try to block parts of California's green building code
LOS ANGELES TIMES. JANUARY 11, 2010.
The Sierra Club and Natural Resources Defense Council are among six groups waging a last-minute campaign to derail some of the rules, saying they aren't tough enough.
Environmental groups are mounting a last-ditch effort to derail key elements of the state's first-in-the-nation green building code -- a major initiative of Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's administration.
Germany receives A-grade for solar power policies
RENEWABLE ENERGY FOCUS. DECEMBER 29, 2009.
Germany has received the top grade for solar power policies in the Global Solar Report Card released by Global Green USA on behalf of President Gorbachev’s Green Cross International (GCI).
Although Germany was the only country among the 16 evaluated to receive an A, Italy, Japan, Greece and China received higher grades than last year for the solar energy policies.
Greenhouse gas decision is target of coordinated protest by Louisiana agencies
TIMES-PICAYUNE. DECEMBER 28, 2009. By Rebecca Mowbray
The Jindal administration is mounting a coordinated campaign against the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's plan to regulate the man-made gases thought to be responsible for climate change and has filed letters protesting the potential economic dislocation of the proposed policy.
Beanstockd Does Global Green's Gorgeous & Green Event
BEANSTOCKD. DECEMBER 22, 2009.
While the world crossed its fingers for positive progress at the Copenhagen Climate Summit, San Francisco celebrated the green spirit of our city at Global Green's 5th Annual Gorgeous and Green Benefit. Held at the recently LEED certified W Hotel in San Francisco, Gorgeous and Green benefits Global Green’s nationwide and local efforts building green housing, communities and schools, such as, the Edes Avenue development project in Oakland. In a partnership with Habitat for Humanity and Pacific Gas & Electric, Global Green helped to achieve affordable, sustainable single-family housing for a neighborhood in East Oakland.
Global Green USA Finds City Fertile Ground
YOUNGSTOWN BUSINESS JOURNAL. DECEMBER 18, 2009. By Dan O'Brien.
YOUNGSTOWN, Ohio -- The city missed out on the technology revolution during the last decade and it won’t make the same mistake with the “green” revolution, vow U.S. Rep. Tim Ryan, D-17, and Mayor Jay Williams.
Ryan and Williams announced Thursday a partnership with Global Green USA, a nonprofit organization based in Santa Monica, Calif., that pledges to help the city get grants and philanthropic contributions to boost its stature in environmental and neighborhood redevelopment.
Youngstown Partners With "Green" Firm
WYTV 33. DECEMBER 18, 2009.
As world leaders debate on how the U.S. and other nations can reduce pollution, some here in the Valley are hoping a new partnership between Youngstown and a California-based consulting firm will help this area lead the way in ecofriendly development.
Partnership will aid in turning Youngstown green
VINDY.COM. DECEMBER 17, 2009. By David Skolnick
U.S. Rep. Tim Ryan left Wednesday for the international climate- control conference.
YOUNGSTOWN — Global Green USA, an environmental nonprofit organization, is going to work with Youngstown to turn this “Rust Belt” city green.
“Given their solid track record of leadership, practical results, and leveraging resources, we are partnering with Global Green to lead a green economic renaissance and to help create a sustainable future for Youngstown,” said U.S. Rep. Tim Ryan of Niles, D-17th, who represents Youngstown in Congress and was instrumental in bringing the organization to the city.
Germany Still Making the Most of Available Solar, Says Global Solar Report Card
TREEHUGGER. DECEMBER 15, 2009. By Kristin Underwood
The Global Solar Report Card, published by Mikhail Gorbachev's Green Cross International and Global Green USA, once again gives top honors to Germany for its continued abundance of installed systems and the country's pro-solar policies that facilitate ease of installations. Think your country should have made the list? Keep reading to find out if they made the grade.
Which countries make the grade in solar power?
REUTERS. DECEMBER 14, 2009
Germany is still at the top of the class when it comes to solar power, according to a new report by nonprofit Global Green USA.
Fifth Annual Gorgeous & Green Eco-Fashion Show
INHABITAT. DECEMBER 13, 2009. By Piper Kujac
This year marked Global Green’s 5th annual Gorgeous and Green fundraiser and celebration in beautiful San Francisco. This star packed event promoted the organization’s numerous charitable green initiatives, and left the Bay area buzzing with an incredible eco-fashion show, a showcase of Sage Vaughn’s artwork, and a living wall exhibit by Design Ecology.
We Have a Real Emergency
THE NEW YORK TIMES. DECEMBER 9, 2009. By Mikhail Gorbachev
As the climate change summit meeting moves forward in Copenhagen, it is increasingly clear that more than just the environment is at stake. The global environmental crisis is at the heart of practically all the problems now confronting us, including the need to create a global economic model grounded in the public good.
True Angels in the City of Angels: The Top 5 Social Enterprises in LA
THE HUFFINGTON POST. DECEMBER 2, 2009. By Jonathan Greenblatt
It may be the image capital of the planet, but Los Angeles itself suffers from a huge image problem. If you watch cable news, LA is little more than the location for a never-ending disaster movie: fires, gridlock, droughts, earthquakes, riots. While New York cultivates writers and Chicago molds future presidents, Los Angeles offers Octomom and Khloe Kardashian. In LA, Mario Lopez actually passes for a journalist.
Yet, the City of Angels seems a well-deserved name because it's a city that frequently prompts our better angels. Despite the negative press, LA is a vibrant hub of ethnicities and ideas, a thriving metropolis that spurs continuous innovation for the common good. Among its 20 million residents, LA has nurtured a number of remarkable hands-on social entrepreneurs. Indeed, the city hosts some of the pioneering, pro-social organizations in the world.
Pam Dashiell, Lower 9th Ward activist, dies at age 61
THE TIMES-PICAYUNE. DECEMBER 2, 2009. By Katy Reckdahl
Pam Dashiell, a civic activist who deftly galvanized her Lower 9th Ward neighbors while pushing for structurally sound levees and environmentally friendly construction, died in her home on Tuesday. She is believed to have died of natural causes, but findings by the coroner's office are incomplete. She was 61.
Pilgrim's Progress: 10 Reasons to be Thankful for New Orleans
THE HUFFINGTON POST. NOVEMBER 26, 2009. By Karen Dalton-Beninato
While thankful for the closure that comes from a ruling that engineering disasters in the Mississippi River Gulf Outlet and levees led to post Katrina flooding, I was taken aback when a CNN commentator conjectured that New Orleans residents are now looking for their "Pound of flesh."Our diaspora can be compared to many literary classics - the Illiad comes to mind, but not Shakespeare's Shylock character.
Fairness and revenge are two very different things. Having a foot in both worlds for four years has been challenging, but gratifying because I was able to be with my father during the last years of his life. Valuing that time is just one of the lessons learned from the journey home. Also Live and Let Die is on, with its French Quarter Second Line, and Baron Samedi's big voodoo scene is up next. It's the little things.
Over 100 icebergs drifting to N.Zealand
AFP. NOVEMBER 23, 2009.
SYDNEY — More than 100, and possibly hundreds, of Antarctic icebergs are floating towards New Zealand in a rare event which has prompted a shipping warning, officials said on Monday.
Cool weather provides insulation inspiration
THE TIMES-PICAYUNE. NOVEMBER 21, 2009. By Molly Reid
With temperatures dropping and cold winds blowing in, New Orleans residents who are staying cold indoors as well may start pondering the efficacy of their insulation.
Insulation, however, does not exist in a vacuum, and a number of factors concerning a home’s wall composition and building envelope, as well as the installation of the insulation, can bring R-value down significantly, said Myron Warden, energy efficiency fellow for the nonprofit Global Green’s New Orleans office.
Climate Change: The Threat of Sea Level Rise
Scientists warn that the biggest danger from global warming is raising sea level through a combination of increased water from glacier melting and warmer water temperatures causing expansion. Sea level has risen 4 to 10 inches this past century and is projected to rise up to 3 feet by 2100. For every foot of sea level rise we can expect about 100 feet of coastal flooding.
Top EPA official tours 9th Ward
FOX 8 NEWS. NOVEMBER 18, 2009
Lisa Jackson, the woman in charge of making sure our air and water stay safe at the top EPA administrator, is now back in a place that's shaped her career agenda.
"Spiritually these folks have a since of renewal and purpose about the importance of sustainability, the importance of the environment," said Jackson.
Lisa Jackson Tours Holy Cross Project (Video)
ABC26.COM. NOVEMBER 18, 2009
Lisa Jackson tours the Visitor Center at the Holy Cross Project (Video)
Obama Hobbled in Fight Against Global Warming
THE NEW YORK TIMES. NOVEMBER 15, 2009. By John M. Broder
WASHINGTON — President Obama came into office pledging to end eight years of American inaction on climate change under President George W. Bush, and all year he has promised that the United States would lead the way toward a global agreement in Copenhagen next month to address the warming planet.
Al Gore calls for a green building revolution
LOS ANGELES TIMES. NOVEMBER 12, 2009. By Susan Carpenter
Saying he "used to be the next president of the United States" and is now a "recovering politician," Nobel laureate and former Vice President Al Gore spoke Wednesday night at Greenbuild, the world's largest sustainable design conference, calling for a green revolution to solve the country's problems.
Global Green USA Presents 10th Annual Sustainable Design Awards
ECORAZZI. NOVEMBER 11, 2009. By Michael Parrish DuDell
I’ll just say it: here at the Razz, we’re pretty massive fans of Global Green USA! A mighty force in the field, Global Green works hard to create a more sustainable planet and to honor Mother Earth each day. On Monday, I had the chance to spend some time with the GG crew at their 10th Annual Sustainable Design Awards in New York City. The annual ceremony honors green businesses, schools, governments, and utilities for excellence in environmentally-friendly projects.
Rebuilding a Green New Orleans: An Interview with Matt Petersen
TREEHUGGER. NOVEMBER 10, 2009. By Alex Pasternack
"This wasn't just folks with a bunch of good ideas and a Hollywood star"
Global Green USA, a charity founded in 1993 by Mikhail Gorbachev, may be best known for its initiatives with celebrities like Leonardo di Caprio. But far from the glare of Hollywood, the group has done some of its most important work in New Orleans. Shortly after Hurricane Katrina, Global Green began rebuilding a community meant not only to improve the lives of residents but to inspire other green construction around the country.
Global Green Design Awards, Celebrities, Toast Cooper Union, PG&E, Sebastian Copeland and Others
TREEHUGGER. NOVEMBER 10, 2009. By Alex Pasernack
"Mr. Obama -- Tear down this carbon!" news presenter Miles O'Brien demanded in his speech at the Global Green Sustainable Design Awards last night in New York City, before an audience of benefactors and green luminaries. His reference to Reagan's famous call to Gorbachev, a few years before the latter would help usher the collapse of the Berlin Wall wasn't just timely, but poignant too. Gorbachev would go on to found Green Cross and Global Green USA, a celebrity-heavy organization that has most recently led green reconstruction efforts in New Orleans.
Tear down this wall! And save the planet
TIMES ONLINE. NOVEMBER 9, 2009. By Mikhail Gorbachev
There are urgent parallels between the fall of Communism and the fight to stop climate change
The German people, and the whole world alongside them, are today celebrating a landmark date in history: the 20th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall.
Not many events can claim their place in the collective memory as a watershed that divides two distinct periods. The dismantling of the Berlin Wall — that stark, concrete symbol of a world divided into hostile camps — is such an event. It brought incredible hope and opportunity to people everywhere, and provided the 1980s with a truly jubilant finale. That is something to think about as this decade draws to a close, and the chance for humanity to take another momentous leap forward appears to be slipping away.
eBay & GGUSA Board Member Team Up with Re+Purpose Campaign
This fall, eBay’s Green Team champions this growing consumer mindset with their six-week “re+purpose” campaign. Re+purpose is designed to inspire people to make more sustainable shopping choices and increase awareness that the greenest products are often ones that already exist, whether vintage, used, or repurposed.
New Orleans in the forefront of a green building revolution
THE CHRISTIAN SCIENCE MONITOR. NOVEMBER 4, 2009. By Husna Haq
Hurricane Katrina provided New Orleans with the opportunity to be part of an environmental revolution and rebuild its houses, schools, and neighborhoods in a green, sustainable way.
When hurricane Katrina blew into New Orleans four years ago, Matt Petersen watched in shock as the floodwaters retreated, revealing one of the most devastating natural disasters in US history: billions of dollars in damages, 80 percent of the city flooded with filthy water, and a government response that provoked a firestorm of criticism.
How Starbucks is Changing Packaging
QSR MAGAZINE. NOVEMBER 2009.
Starbucks wants its cups to be 100 percent recyclable by 2012 and is recruiting the packaging and recycling industries to help it get there.
Americans use about 58 billion paper cups each year. But landfills are quickly running out of space for the 645,000 tons of waste they result in. At the same time, consumers are taking notice of the foodservice industry’s growing inconvenient truth, pushing for more green alternatives to traditional packaging. The solution seems easy: Prevent the cups from going into landfills and cut back green house emissions equivalent to removing about half a million cars from the road.
California green building code: a small step forward
SUSTAINABLE INDUSTRIES. NOVEMBER 2, 2009. By Nick Zigelbaum
Currently, there is no precedent for a California ‘green’ building standard as compared to a traditional building standard. But the state is on the cusp of adopting a state-wide California Green Building Standards Code (CGBSC), which outline both mandatory and voluntary energy efficiency, water efficiency, resource efficiency and air-quality building standards.
Now Clear Away the Rubble of the Wall
THE NEW YORK TIMES. NOVEMBER 2, 2009. By Mikhail Gorbachev
The year 1989 was a turning point for Europe and for the world, a time when history went into high gear. This acceleration was symbolized by the fall of the Berlin Wall and the velvet revolutions in Central and Eastern Europe. Totalitarian and authoritarian regimes were exiting the stage of history.
Houses of the Future
THE ATLANTIC. NOVEMBER 1, 2009. By Wayne Curtis
A sturdy bike is a good way to get around the Lower Ninth Ward in New Orleans. The roads are still pretty rough, the distances between places tend to be too long to walk and too short to drive, and on a bike you can easily stop and chat with the residents who have returned. I moved to New Orleans about a year after Hurricane Katrina, and I’ve ridden my bike out here every month or two to see how the rebuilding has been faring. Also, I’ve heard that Brad Pitt likes to bike around when he’s in town. Folks tell me he’s a pretty regular guy. “Brad was here yesterday,” a woman sitting on the front steps of her new and very modern house told me one day last fall. “He was talking to everyone, just checking things out.”
At Solar Conference, Robert F. Kennedy Jr. Sees Tide Turning For Clean Energy
THE NEW YORK TIMES. October 29, 2009. By Todd Woody
In a barn-burning speech Wednesday at the Solar Power International conference in Anaheim, Calif., Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., sounded a bit like green Gordon Gecko.
“We are in process of overthrowing the incumbents in a $1.3 trillion industry,” said Mr. Kennedy, a veteran environmental activist, in a full-throated attack on one of his long-time foes, the coal industry. “We are going to democratize the energy industry and take it away from the incumbents.”
Green Rebuilding in New Orleans
RENEWABLE ENERGY WORLD.COM. October 27, 2009. By David Bernell, Oregon State University and Think Energy Inc.
The ongoing effort to rebuild and restore the city of New Orleans has prompted a number of questions about exactly how to rebuild in the city. As it has turned out, the times are ripe for rethinking how we build and organize urban spaces and a number of people – in New Orleans and around the country – have called for an approach that offers greater attention to sustainability.
Historic district panel honors 35
THE TIMES-PICAYUNE. Monday, October 26, 2009. By Bruce Eggler
Thirty-five architectural projects completed between 2006 and 2008 were honored recently by the New Orleans Historic District Landmarks Commission.
The awards ceremony, held at the City Council chamber in City Hall, "recognizes a huge financial investment in the city by mostly private individuals, and many of the projects reflect the recovery since Katrina," said Eleanor Burke, the commission's deputy director.
'Green' job presentation is geared to high school students
THE TIMES-PICAYUNE NOLA.COM. October 23, 2009. By Times-Picayune Staff
The New Orleans office of the environmental nonprofit Global Green is hosting a job fair Saturday for local high school students to provide information about the burgeoning "green" economy.
More than 40 representatives of local nonprofit groups, educational institutions and businesses will be on hand to provide information about jobs in so-called green building practices, energy efficiency, alternative energy and environmental science.
Pipeline Renews Debate on Sea-Dumped Chemical Weapons
IPSNEWS.NET. OCTOBER 20, 2009. By Matthew Berger
WASHINGTON, Oct 20 (IPS) - On Sep. 24, a beachgoer near Swansea, Wales reported a piece of military equipment washed up on the shore. Three days later, the two members of the team that had showed up to dispose of the shell developed symptoms compatible with mustard gas – a chemical warfare agent used in the two world wars and other conflicts.
Recycling Goes From Less Waste to Zero Waste
THE NEW YORK TIMES. OCTOBER 19, 2009. By Leslie Kaufman
At Yellowstone National Park, the clear soda cups and white utensils are not your typical cafe-counter garbage. Made of plant-based plastics, they dissolve magically when heated for more than a few minutes.
It's 'Big Easy' Being Green
THE HARVARD CRIMSON. OCTOBER 16, 2009. By Raul A. Carillo
Green-collar pioneers are rebuilding New Orleans
Stuck in the middle of party-line polemics over President Obama’s brief visit yesterday, the people of New Orleans remain unmoved. One can imagine they’re not so much concerned with whether solutions come in red or blue so much as they are the amount of greenbacks: From federal outlays, state funds, or private investors, the money must come in.
President Obama tells students at MLK Charter he's proud
THE TIMES-PICAYUNE. OCTOBER 15, 2009. By Bill Barrow
Addressing students at his first stop in New Orleans since taking office nine months ago, the nation's first African-American president told students at Martin Luther King Jr. Charter School that he is proud of their work, but expects them to keeping working hard to meet high standards.
Gov. Schwarzenegger Signs Legislation to Protect Environment, Create Jobs
Governor's Office of External Affairs. October 12, 2009.
Furthering his commitment to protecting the environment and the economy, Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger announced he has signed legislation that will reduce California’s greenhouse gas emissions and create thousands of new jobs in the state.
Help Build It Back Green Win a $20,000 Grant!
Tom's of Maine has selected our project as a Top 50 finalist out of over 2000 applications to receive one of five $20,000 grants! You can go online and vote for our project - Home Energy Efficiency for a Sustainable New Orleans - located in the Environment tab here.
You can vote daily through October 30th, so show your support for Global Green every day!
Green Car of the Year finalists announced for L.A. Auto Show
LA TIMES. October 7, 2009. By Martin Zimmerman
Diesels and hybrids dominate the roster of finalists for the 2010 Green Car of the Year award, which will be presented at the L.A. Auto Show in December.The Audi A3 TDI, Honda Insight, Mercury Milan Hybrid, Toyota Prius and Volkswagen Golf TDI will be vying for the annual Green Car award, which is sponsored by Green Car Journal magazine. The winner will be announced Dec. 3.
Bill Gives Incentives for Energy Efficiency
KCBS. October 6, 2009
BERKELEY, Calif. (KCBS) -- Backers of Assembly Bill 758 are now waiting for the Governor to attach his signature to it.
The measure, which has passed both the senate and assembly, was co-authored by Assembly Members Karen Bass and Nancy Skinner, who hope it will make existing buildings more energy efficient and less expensive to operate.
Battered by criticism, H. David Nahai resigns from DWP
LA TIMES. OCTOBER 3, 2009.
Utility official joins Bill Clinton's climate initiative, bruised by system failures and union battles.
After nearly two years of fending off criticism from ratepayers and his own employees, H. David Nahai stepped down Friday as head of the nation's largest municipally owned utility, the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power.
Two First Steps on Nuclear Weapons
THE NEW YORK TIMES. SEPT 25, 2009. By Mikhail Gorbachev
YESTERDAY, President Obama presided over the United Nations Security Council meeting that passed a resolution seeking to strengthen the international commitment to limiting the spread of nuclear weapons. A week ago, he announced that the United States will not deploy — at least, not in the foreseeable future — a missile defense site in Central Europe, including powerful radar in the Czech Republic and interceptor missiles in Poland.
Is there a link between the two events? I believe there is. Yet initial comments by many political figures and journalists have for the most part ignored this key relationship.
It’s Easy Being Green
THE NEW YORK TIMES. SEPT 24, 2009. By Paul Krugman
So, have you enjoyed the debate over health care reform? Have you been impressed by the civility of the discussion and the intellectual honesty of reform opponents?
If so, you’ll love the next big debate: the fight over climate change.
Nongovernmental Experts Urge Action on Nuclear Weapons Test Ban Treaty
September 23, 2009. Global Green has joined a diverse set of nongovernmental nuclear nonproliferation and disarmament leaders, as well as former government officials and diplomats, urging key governments to ratify the 1996 Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty and bring it into force.
Energy legislation would give the economy a boost
DAILY NEWS LOS ANGELES. SEPT 17, 2009. By Matt Petersen
REPORTS last month that California's jobless rate had reached its post-World War II zenith provide us with both a stark reality and a paramount question: What can we do immediately to put people back to work, in stable, good-paying jobs?
Although there is no panacea, there is a lost opportunity sitting idle that will help remedy this problem while simultaneously putting money back in the pockets of consumers and mitigating the effects of global warming. The answer lies within our existing buildings.
ABC Family Show GREEK Joins Forces with Global Green USA
September 11, 2009. ABC Family is partnering with Global Green USA, and other non-profits in an effort get their audience to pledge to get involved and do something. The season-long partnership will tap into ABC Family’s millennial audience and give them fun and easy ways to get involved in their communities.
NY Starbucks stores launch cup-recycling program
GREENER PACKAGE. SEPTEMBER 10, 2009. By Anne Marie Mohan
Seven Starbucks stores in Manhattan have launched a cup-recycling program in cooperation with Global Green USA’s Coalition for Resource Recovery (CORR). The pilot will test the collection and recycling of coffee cups when combined with old corrugated cardboard (OCC), which CORR says is the most extensively recycled material in the U.S. The objective of the program is to develop a cost-effective mechanism to close the loop on paper packaging, reducing greenhouse gases and assisting municipalities in reaching their solid waste diversion goals.
Arctic Shortcut Beckons Shippers as Ice Thaws
THE NEW YORK TIMES. SEPTEMBER 10, 2009. By Andrew E. Kramer and Andrew C. Revkin
MOSCOW — For hundreds of years, mariners have dreamed of an Arctic shortcut that would allow them to speed trade between Asia and the West. Two German ships are poised to complete that transit for the first time, aided by the retreat of Arctic ice that scientists have linked to global warming.
A Port in the Storm
AUDUBON MAGAZINE. SEPT-OCT 2009. By Renee Ebersole.
Four years after Katrina, New Orleans is still knocking the seawater from her ears. But along the banks of the Mississippi River, there’s a new sign of the times: a small collection of buildings that should provide a lifeline—not only in the next storm but also in the face of higher oil prices. These structures in the Holy Cross neighborhood in the city’s Lower Ninth Ward are built a solid seven feet above sea level (then elevated further by pilings) and outfitted with solar panels, a cistern system to collect water, and an array of details that earn them one of the highest energy-efficiency ratings in the country.
New post-Katrina construction shows that a sustainable industry may have come out of the storm
THE TIMES-PICAYUNE. AUGUST 31, 2009. By Kim Quillen
New Orleans' "green" building infrastructure is only partially developed, but has made significant strides since getting a jumpstart from Hurricane Katrina, according to local environmental advocates and home builders.
With several high-profile green home developments under construction and an expanded pool of contractors knowledgeable about new building practices and recent changes in city and state policies, many believe New Orleans is poised for a flurry of environmentally-friendly construction.
Four Years Later, New Orleans' Green Makeover
TIME. AUGUST 29, 2009. By Bryan Walsh
After Hurricane Katrina flattened New Orleans exactly four years ago, on Aug. 29, 2005, the city emerged as an inadvertent symbol of global warming, the first American victim of climate change. Over 200,000 homes were destroyed during the Category 5 hurricane. But in the years since, the Crescent City has quietly embraced a new and unexpected role as a laboratory for green building. Sustainable development groups that range from the international nonprofit Global Green to earth-friendly celebrities like Brad Pitt descended on New Orleans, determined not just to build the city back, but to build it back green. "It's going to come back," says Matt Petersen, the president of Global Green USA. "But we want to build it better than it was before."
Nonprofits help Katrina victims rebuild their homes, lives
CNN. AUGUST 29, 2009. By Sean Callebs and Jason Morris
NEW ORLEANS, Louisiana (CNN) -- As floodwaters washed away homes in the Lower 9th Ward, Robert Green watched with horror as his mother got swept away in the storm.
Four months later, Green and other family members found Joyce Green's remains in the splintered wreckage of the house where they left her. Robert Green's granddaughter Shanay also drowned the night Hurricane Katrina hit.
Green spent almost the entire last four years living in a small FEMA trailer on his land, sharing his story with anyone who came through the Lower 9th.
We are New Orleans
AC360. AUGUST 27, 2009. By Matt Petersen, President & CEO, Global Green USA
In four years of working closely with the residents of New Orleans, I have seen one trait remain paramount among its citizens —their deep love for their city.
To understand New Orleans is to appreciate its beauty and uniqueness, music, food, art, warts and all. Although Hurricane Katrina may have damaged much of the physical city, the strength and love of New Orleans citizens has never wavered, and their enthusiasm to rebuild their city better and more sustainably is inspiring.
Hollywood’s next green generation
GRIST. AUGUST 26, 2009. By Claire Thompson
We know. There’s nothing green about owning a 20,000-square foot house, or flying in a private jet, or stocking a wardrobe the size of a studio apartment. Famous actors indisputably leave a much larger carbon footprint than the average citizen. But their celebrity gives them a far greater ability to influence others, so their efforts toward eco-consciousness can make a difference. Two years ago Grist published a list of green actors. Now we give you an updated version: some younger, fresher faces whose greenness may not be as dark or deep as that of Robert Redford and Ed Begley Jr., but who could be on their way to becoming Hollywood’s next green dream team.
New Orleans: The green rebuild
MOTHER NATURE NETWORK. AUG 24, 2009. By Melissa Hincha-Ownby
A new report from the Sierra Club examines the green rebuilding efforts in New Orleans, nearly four years after Hurricane Katrina devastated the city.
On Aug. 29, 2005, Hurricane Katrina raced into New Orleans and the city was forever changed. The rebuilding efforts have been focused in certain regions, but many areas of the city still look as they did shortly after New Orleans dried out from the devastating levee breaks. Last week, the Sierra Club released a report that examines the green rebuilding efforts in the city.
Clock ticks down on a deadly chemical stockpile
THE LOS ANGELES TIMES. AUGUST 23, 2009. By Bob Drogin
Efforts have been stepped up at the Blue Grass Army Depot to wipe out the last of the U.S. chemical weapons' stockpile. But disposal isn't expected to be completed until 2021, well past deadlines.
Hurricane Katrina Four Years Later: Greening the Crescent City
TREEHUGGER. AUGUST 19, 2009. By Greg Haegele
Next Saturday, August 29th, marks four years since Hurricane Katrina hit the Gulf Coast. The Sierra Club has been actively involved in many facets of the recovery (from exposing the toxic FEMA trailers, to helping restore wetlands, and more) - and this week brought some good news for those wanting a comprehensive look at the green recovery in New Orleans.
The devastation of Hurricane Katrina has provided the city of New Orleans with a unique opportunity to develop a national model for rebuilding green - and there are many, many projects under way.
Architects Return to Class as Green Design Advances
THE NEW YORK TIMES. AUGUST 19, 2009. By Robin Pogrebin
It seems like only yesterday that environmentally conscious building practices began making their way into the architecture profession.
How times have changed.
This year, the American Institute of Architects implemented a policy requiring all members to take four hours of continuing education courses in sustainable design every year.
The requirement, which extends through 2012, represents a response to a rapidly changing field and a recognition that architects must continue to refresh their knowledge of sustainable construction methods and building materials.
California’s Green Building Code Seen as a ‘Good Balance’ for Builders
ECOHOME. AUGUST 17, 2009. By Jennifer Goodman
Standards focus on water conservation, mold prevention, and stormwater measures for new construction.
California’s new Green Building Standards Code, which contains mandatory residential standards starting in 2011, has support from the state’s building industry association and from the USGBC.
The new code, which became effective Aug. 1, calls for a 20% improvement in water use efficiency--as compared to current regulations--in all new residential construction. The standards will be verified by local building permit departments, according to Dave Walls, executive director of the California Building Standards Commission.
The Climate and National Security
THE NEW YORK TIMES. AUGUST 17, 2009. EDITORIAL
One would think that by now most people would have figured out that climate change represents a grave threat to the planet. One would also have expected from Congress a plausible strategy for reducing the greenhouse gas emissions that lie at the root of the problem.
That has not happened. The House has passed a climate bill that is not as strong as needed, but is a start. There are doubts about whether the Senate will pass any bill, given the reflexive opposition of most Republicans and unfounded fears among many Democrats that rising energy costs will cripple local industries.
The problem, when it comes to motivating politicians, is that the dangers from global warming — drought, famine, rising seas — appear to be decades off. But the only way to prevent them is with sacrifices in the here and now: with smaller cars, bigger investments in new energy sources, higher electricity bills that will inevitably result once we put a price on carbon.
Clinton: Efficiency efforts would bring jobs boost
LAS VEGAS SUN. AUGUST 10, 2009. By Alexandra Berzon, J. Patrick Coolican, Stephanie Tavares
Former President Bill Clinton today urged America to take control of its energy future.
In a nearly hour-long speech at the National Clean Energy Summit at UNLV, Clinton urged Americans to support energy efficiency measures, including green building practices and weatherization retrofits on all buildings. He called efficiency measures low-hanging fruit as the country battles global warming, recession and rising energy costs. Clinton noted that millions of Americans are unemployed or underemployed but that their plight could be eased by aggressive retrofit campaigns that would save energy and money while putting Americans back to work.
Russia Restricts Transparency at Major Chemical Weapons Site, Group Says
GLOBAL SECURITY NEWSWIRE. AUGUST 14, 2009. By Martin Matishak
WASHINGTON -- Russia recently forced an international nonprofit organization to close offices intended to ensure transparency in the operations of one of the country's largest chemical weapons destruction sites (see GSN, July 22).
Some worry that the June 30 shuttering of three Green Cross International offices devoted to community outreach at the chemical stockpile facility and associated demilitarization plant might be an attempt to minimize oversight as Russia accelerates operations to meet the 2012 disarmament deadline set by the Chemical Weapons Convention.
Global Green USA calls for major nuclear weapons reductions
Washington, DC. August 6, 2009. Global Green USA joined with a dozen other NGOs in drafting a letter to President Barack Obama on August 4, 2009 urging him to reduce nuclear weapons far below today's levels.
A Big Job for the Big Easy: Rebuilding a Sustainable New Orleans
ICLEI USA. LOCAL ACTION BLOG. AUGUST 4, 2009. By Ryan Foshee
After the devastation of Hurricanes Katrina and Rita, the City of New Orleans has returned to state of near normalcy. Most of the sights familiar to vacationers remain or have been restored, but much of the city will never be the same.
This is doubly true because of the renewed spotlight on sustainability. The great lesson of the storms is not merely one of levies and emergency response; Katrina and Rita are reminders of the raw power of the natural world, and the city has since become a focal point for adaptive and sustainable growth.
ICLEI is pleased to offer a sneak peak of the City of New Orleans 2009 Carbon Report, to be formally released at the end of the month. The report details the efforts of city staff, partner groups, and residents to innovatively and mindfully reinvent New Orleans neighborhoods and infrastructure.
Volunteer Spotlight: Global Green's Simon Warren and Marie Cita
CAUSECAST.ORG. AUGUST 4, 2009.
Yale student and environmental activist Simon Warren has been interning with Global Green USA in New Orleans for the past three months. His work in the Lower Ninth Ward and on sustainable home building projects makes him a prime candidate for the first installment in our month-long series on Volunteers and Public Service.
Read our interview with Simon below and see how this college student found a life-changing experience with Global Green. You can also hear from Global Green volunteer Marie Cita and read her contribution.
Home Depot Foundation, Habitat for Humanity Give Green Building a $30M Boost
REUTERS. AUGUST 4, 2009. By GreenBiz.com
The Home Depot Foundation and Habitat for Humanity International are expanding their Partners in Sustainable Building program to a $30 million five-year effort to construct at least 5,000 homes to meet Energy Star guidelines, or even higher green building standards.
The two nonprofit organizations announced plans today to broaden their green building pilot, which was launched in April 2008, so that the program provides funds, training and support to Habitat affiliates across the U.S. The initiative pairs the philanthropic arm of the leading home improvement retailer in the country with the nonprofit that's dedicated to providing housing to people in need.
School rebuilding boom boosts N.O. economy
THE TIMES-PICAYUNE. JULY 31, 2009. By Darran Simon.
With a turbulent economy and tight credit taking the wind out of private-sector projects involving office buildings and condominiums, Gootee's workload has shifted to publicly financed projects such as the renovation of Joseph A. Craig Elementary in Treme.
Ryan Gootee's Metairie-based company is among the beneficiaries of one post-Katrina construction push that could sustain contractors -- and the swarms of carpenters, brick masons, electricians and others they employ -- for some time, a bright spot in the New Orleans economy.
During the next five years, a flurry of public school construction projects, valued at about $700 million, will roll out in New Orleans, with the bulk of the tab paid through Federal Emergency Management Agency recovery funds.
A new crop of school gardens
LOS ANGELES TIMES. JULY 29, 2009. By Krista Simmons
Even as state funding wilts, support for school gardens is growing.
A freckle-faced Malloy Sparling wraps her dirt-dusted fingers around a three-pronged cultivator and looks up with a big-toothed smile. "We're making a garden," she says, plucking a weed out of the ground, then wiping her little hands on her tomato red T-shirt.
Sparling and other young volunteers, plus parents and politicians, are taking part in a community work day at Farragut Elementary School in Culver City. But they're not the only ones spending this summer working toward a greener fall semester.
Success Stories in Energy Efficiency
NEW YORK TIMES. JULY 29, 2009. By Kate Galbraith
A McKinsey report on energy efficiency in the United States, released today (see related post), cites $1.2 trillion in potential savings by 2020 if the country first invests $520 billion in efficiency improvements such as better insulation for buildings.
The big question is, what policies can help us to get there? The report cites several “success stories.” Potentially, some could serve as models for other programs or policies.
How to be a green school
THE GUARDIAN. JULY 28, 2009. By Zac Goldsmith
Teachers and students want to do good things for the environment, but sometimes they can't see the wood for the trees. Zac Goldsmith sets out five things all schools can do
It's a worrying fact that around 400,000 British children are on behavioural drugs such as Ritalin. Some, no doubt, need the treatment, but the sheer number of children taking these drugs suggests that in our society, childhood itself has come to be seen as a disease.
Children spend an average of 13.9 hours a week in front of their televisions, and six hours in front of their computers. It can't be healthy. According to Unicef, British children are the unhappiest in Europe, despite unprecedented material wealth.
Climate change could put the heat on California crops
LOS ANGELES TIMES. JULY 22, 2009. By Margo Roosevelt
Fruit and nut orchards in the Central Valley rely on winter chilling hours, but those are in decline, according to a UC Davis study.
The Lockes have tilled the rich soil along the Mokelumne River since 1850. Now Chris Locke, 57, looks forward to passing down his orchards of 40,000 walnut trees to his four sons.
But the threat of global warming has him worried. "I talk to my boys about climate change," he said. When he was young, frigid fogs rolled off the delta into Lockeford, the town named for his forebears. "We would go a week without seeing the sun. But we don't seem to get that weather anymore."
Continued Commitment Needed on U.S. Chemical Disarmament, OPCW Chief Says
GLOBAL SECURITY NEWSWIRE. JULY 22, 2009. By Chris Schneidmiller
WASHINGTON -- A leading international nonproliferation official is urging the United States not to retreat from providing sufficient funds to accelerate the complete elimination of the U.S. stockpile of chemical weapons (see GSN, May 6).
Water-saving fixtures now required in new Los Angeles buildings
LOS ANGELES TIMES. JULY 22, 2009. By David Zahniser
New buildings in Los Angeles will be required to have low-flow faucets, toilets, urinals, shower heads and other plumbing devices under a law passed today by the City Council.
Officials with the Department of Water and Power said the water conservation ordinance, which is part of the city’s Green Building program, would reduce water consumption in new buildings by 20%. The measure would help building owners save money as well, said Council President Eric Garcetti.
School's green roots go deep
CHICAGO TRIBUNE. JULY 22, 2009. By Cara Anthony
Classrooms in Chicago's Tarkington School of Excellence are equipped with natural light sensors, temperature-regulating windows and acoustically sound walls. It's easier for students to learn in a school that focuses on environmental awareness and education, said school officials.
Going to school in a green environment has even helped the students' test scores go up, said principal Vincent Iturralde.
WMU takes leading role in recycling fast food containers
WMU NEWS. JULY 17, 2009.
KALAMAZOO--Imagine going to a fast food restaurant and not seeing a trashcan.
A recycle bin is the only thing you'll need.
That's the idea behind an effort to eventually allow all fast food containers, from cups to food boxes, to be readily recyclable after customers finish their meals. And Western Michigan University's Paper, Recycling and Coating Pilot Plants are playing a leading role. The plants have teamed up with Global Green and it's Coalition for Resource Recovery (CoRR) to bring the recycling effort to the fast food and packaging industries.
The 15 most sustainable U.S. cities
GRIST. JULY 16, 2009. By Claire Thompson
Seattle is the most sustainable big city in the nation, according to a list compiled by Smarter Cities, an NRDC project that looks at the progress American cities are making toward going green. Not surprisingly, San Francisco and Portland are the runners-up.
Using data from the EPA and the U.S. Census Bureau, as well as some voluntary survey responses from city governments, the project identified the top 15 large, medium, and small cities according to 10 different environmental criteria, from air quality to recycling to transportation.
Reflective roof paint repels the heat
THE LOS ANGELES TIMES. JULY 15, 2009. By Tiffany Hsu
Hyperseal paints can reduce the costs and energy needed for cooling by lowering the amount of heat a building absorbs from the sun. White roofs may be the new green.
On bright days, the rooftop of the Anaheim Hilton is so blindingly white that it looks like a mirror positioned directly at the sun. That dazzling glare might just be the greenest thing to happen to the top of a building since solar panels.
The white coating deflects nearly 85% of the heat that hits it, reducing the surface temperature by as much as 50 degrees. That means less energy is needed to cool the hotel's interior, cutting air-conditioning costs and carbon emissions.
A Sustainable New Orleans Slowly Rises in Katrina's Wake
THE NEW YORK TIMES. JULY 14, 2009. By Katie Howell
NEW ORLEANS -- People here are finally seeing a bright side to the catastrophic damage done four years ago by hurricanes Katrina and Rita.
The city is being rebuilt slowly as what many hope will be a clean, green model for the nation.
"After the storm events happened, now everybody is interested in the environment," said Wynecta Fisher, director of the city's Office of Environmental Affairs. "I hate to say that it came at a good time, but because of the storm, we've been able to build on that momentum."
There is a big push in the Big Easy for dramatically improving energy efficiency in homes and public buildings. The city has purchased a fleet of hybrid buses and has plans to install solar-powered LED streetlights. And the renewable energy sector is drawing up grandiose plans for using hydrokinetic turbines to tap powerful currents in the Mississippi River to generate electricity.
Green Impact
NEW ORLEANS CITY BUSINESS. JULY 13, 2009. By Deon Roberts
Louisiana is on the front lines of the congressional battle over whether clean energy will create or cost jobs
As Congress debates the American Clean Energy and Security Act, its supporters say tens of thousands of jobs will be created in Louisiana, in addition to improving the environment.
But opponents say the act could cost the state high-paying refinery jobs, a loss that would not be offset by new clean-energy jobs.
A Solar Land Rush
THE NEW YORK TIMES. JULY 13, 2009. By Todd Woody
The Department of the Interior’s move last month to accelerate development of large-scale solar power plants on federal land in six Western states could give an edge to companies that have already staked lease claims in 24 new “solar energy study areas.”
How Green Building Can Save the Housing Industry
THE HUFFINGTON POST. JULY 10, 2009. By John F. Wasik
Green is gold. Why didn't homebuilders get this idea? They could be building new homes again, employing millions, making inner cities and suburbs habitable and bring down the cost of housing for everyone.
Homebuilding needs to join the 21st century and apply the best, efficient technologies to lower costs and reduce energy and resource consumption. But the vast majority of homes have been built using the very best 19th-century, stick-built/balloon frame methods. That's got to change if we want to revive the bedrock of the American Dream.
A Push to Hide Solar Panels in Santa Monica
THE NEW YORK TIMES. GREEN INC. JULY 9, 2009. By Kate Galbraith
Want to put solar panels on a condo in Santa Monica, Calif.? Just keep them out of sight, please.
That’s the sentiment behind a pending city ordinance that would require solar panels to be installed in a way that is “least visible.” (Single-family homes are excepted.)
Dr. Piers Millet Speaks at a BWC Roundtable Discussion
Washington, D.C. – July 9, 2009 – On Wednesday afternoon, July 8, 2009, Global Green USA partnered with the New America Foundation to host Dr. Piers Millet in a discussion entitled, "Strengthening the Biological Weapons Convention." Piers Millet is one of three experts from the Biological Weapons Convention Implementation Support Unit in Geneva, Switzerland, and spent time in Washington, D.C. in order to discuss the opportunity and necessity of better implementation strategies for the Biological Weapons Convention (BWC). His discussion regarding the BWC was flanked by dialogue with Dr. Paul Walker, Director of Global Green USA's Security & Sustainability Program, as well as the words of the New America Foundation's own Dr. Jeffrey Lewis, Director of the Nuclear Strategy and Nonproliferation Initiative.
Poorer Nations Reject a Target on Emission Cut
THE NEW YORK TIMES. JULY 8, 2009. By Peter Baker
L’AQUILA, Italy — The world’s biggest developing nations, led by China and India, refused Wednesday to commit to specific goals for slashing heat-trapping gases by 2050, undercutting the drive to build a global consensus by the end of this year to reverse the threat of climate change.
Prince fears Earth 'catastrophe'
THE BBC NEWS. JULY 8, 2009
The Prince of Wales has issued a fresh warning of environmental catastrophe, telling an audience in London "if we fail the Earth, we fail humanity".
Prince Charles said we must "urgently confront" the risks to avoid "destroying our children's future".
He was delivering the 33rd Richard Dimbleby lecture at St James's Palace, in honour of the late broadcaster. The prince's audience included former US President Bill Clinton and the Archbishop of Canterbury.
New solar panel law draws concerns
SANTA MONICA DAILY PRESS. JULY 2, 2009. By Melody Hanatani
CITY HALL — A proposal by city officials to streamline the permit application process to install photovoltaic panels has drawn concerns from solar advocates who believe that a new provision could deter interested property owners in the future.
Aspen Ideas Festival: Arne Duncan, It Is Also About the Building
THE HUFFINGTON POST. JULY 2, 2009. By Cameron Sinclair
At the Aspen Ideas Festival on Wednesday Secretary Arne Duncan was under the spotlight on his plans to revamp the education system in America. With $100B in play, there is a lot of opportunity to encourage and support innovative educational reform and there was no denying his passion and eloquence in speaking about pushing the entire system back to being one of the best in the world.
While a small sliver of the pie I felt the most exciting aspect of this far-reaching plan was the $5B being set up to encourage and reward states that are proactively pushing reform. Additionally while I can write about the many, many positive things said what worried me, as someone involved in improving school environments, was his comment that 'it is not about the building'. Sorry Arne, while I agree it is about the children and while teacher performance is important -- it is ALSO about the building.
Starbucks brews global green-building plan, renovates Seattle shop
GRIST. JUNE 30, 2009. By Sarah van Schagen
Stroll into the newly renovated Starbucks coffeehouse in Seattle’s University Village and the décor may feel more familiar than you’d expect.
The menu boards are made from the chalkboards you may have scribbled on at nearby Garfield High School; the shelving is from old bleachers you may have sat upon; the leather accents near the bar are from your old shoes and car seats; and the ash-wood community table that stretches the length of the store and patio (one-third of it is outside) is salvaged from a tree that fell in Seattle’s Wallingford neighborhood.
New Measures to Aid Solar on Public Lands
THE NEW YORK TIMES. JUNE 29, 2009. By Kate Galbraith
Interior Secretary Ken Salazar announced measures on Monday to hasten the development of solar energy on Western public lands.
Mr. Salazar, appearing in Las Vegas with Harry Reid, the Senate majority leader, said that 670,000 acres of lands managed by the Bureau of Land Management (an agency within the Department of the Interior) would be studied to determine whether they could support large solar power arrays.
Top 10 Green Building Products of 2009 announced
Sustainable Industries. June 24, 2009.
Award-winning business magazine Sustainable Industries today announced the release of its 2009 Top 10 Green Building Products guide, the annual publication profiling industry-leading green building products selected by a panel of expert judges and the Sustainable Industries editorial team. This year’s Top 10 Green Building Products guide received more nominations than anytime over the last 4 years.
Find out the 2009 Top 10 Green Building Product winners here.
Global Green USA Hosts OPCW Director-General Ambassador Rogelio Pfirter in Washington DC
Washington, DC – June 19 – For the third consecutive year, Global Green USA was pleased to host Ambassador Rogelio Pfirter, Director-General of the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW), the implementing agency for the Chemical Weapons Convention (CWC) in The Hague, in Washington DC for a series of high-level meetings and presentations. Ambassador Pfirter holds the title of Career Diplomat from Argentina, and prior to his appointment as Director-General in 2002, he served as Director of Nuclear and Security Affairs for the Argentine Foreign Service, Under-Secretary for Foreign Policy, and Ambassador to the United Kingdom.
Matt Petersen Nominee for First Annual Hanley Award
EcoHome Magazine Announces Nominees for The First Annual Hanley Award for Vision and Leadership in Sustainable Housing
Washington, D.C. (PRWEB) June 17, 2009 -- Hanley Wood Business Media and its EcoHome magazine, in partnership with The Hanley Foundation, announce the official nominees for The 2009 Hanley Award for Vision and Leadership in Sustainable Housing. The award honors individuals who have made extraordinary, lasting, and far-reaching contributions to the advancement of sustainable housing in the United States. The award winner will receive $50,000--the largest award in the industry recognizing contributions to environmental building.
Santa Monica's Solar Ordinance
Permanent June Gloom for Santa Monica? Proposed Solar Ordinance could discourage installations
The City of Santa Monica has traditionally been at the forefront of sustainable energy initiatives, as the first city in the country to purchase green power. The City's current goal is to have 25% of its electric power come from renewable energy sources by 2010.
Unfortunately, a proposed ordinance amending Santa Monica Municipal Code 9.04.10.02.220--Solar Energy Design Standards--would blemish that record.
Disarmament lessons from the Chemical Weapons Convention
BULLETIN OF THE ATOMIC SCIENTISTS. JUNE 16, 2009.
The recent joint declaration by U.S. President Barack Obama and Russian President Dmitry Medvedev to negotiate a new treaty reducing their countries' nuclear stockpiles as a first step toward "a nuclear-weapon-free world" has spurred hopes for renewed progress in global disarmament after a decade of gridlock. An excellent example of how nations can work together effectively within a multilateral framework to eliminate weapons of mass destruction is the Chemical Weapons Convention (CWC).
City works on green building ordinance
THE MALIBU TIMES. JUNE 10, 2009. By Olivia Damavandi
Lower permit fees could be used as an incentive to get developers/homeowners to build environmentally friendly.
Pressured by impending deadlines for compliance with state-mandated sustainable development standards, the Malibu City Council and Planning Commission held a joint meeting at City Hall last week where staff was directed to continue drafting a citywide sustainable development ordinance.
The budding sustainable development ordinance would consist of mandatory standards for approval of new construction and major remodel projects. It would also require larger projects to be certified by Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design, or LEED, a green building rating system that verifies the sustainable qualities of different building types.
Solar Showdown Looms in California
THE NEW YORK TIMES. JUNE 9, 2009. By Jennifer Kho
Solar installations could grind to a halt in California, industry advocates say, unless a legislative proposal, which the state Senate is considering this month, passes.
Some opponents, including electrical and utility workers, disagree.
We Had Our Perestroika. It's High Time for Yours.
THE WASHINGTON POST. JUNE 7, 2009. By Mikhail Gorbachev
Years ago, as the Cold War was coming to an end, I said to my fellow leaders around the globe: The world is on the cusp of great events, and in the face of new challenges all of us will have to change, you as well as we. For the most part, the reaction was polite but skeptical silence.
In recent years, however, during speaking tours in the United States before university audiences and business groups, I have often told listeners that I feel Americans need their own change -- a perestroika, not like the one in my country, but an American perestroika -- and the reaction has been markedly different. Halls filled with thousands of people have responded with applause.
Los Angeles Wears Green
LA OPINION. JUNE 5, 2009. By Jorge Morales Almada
(Translated from the original Spanish) Los Angeles is considered one of the more "green" cities in the country for its efforts to protect the environment. However, it is also one of the most polluted cities in the world. According to Global Green USA, it still has a long way to go.
On the occasion of World Environment Day, celebrated today, environmental groups called on people to think about the damage done to the planet and called on governments to take measures to combat climate change.
Stars Go Green With A Hollywood Affair
HOLLYSCOOP.COM. JUNE 4, 2009. BY DIANA MAGPAPIAN
The world may be carried away with our poor economy, but let’s not forget about our mother Earth. Thank goodness to some of our favorite Hollywood stars who went green this past weekend, all for a good cause.
Actress Rosario Dawson (at left), David Duchovny, Adrian Grenier among others came out to celebrate the 2009 Millennium Awards Honorees at a star-studded fundraiser gala at the Fairmont Miramar in Santa Monica, California.
What is a City of the Future?
CLIMATEPROGRESS.ORG. JUNE 2, 2009. By Bill Becker
The choice should be simple. A city official’s first responsibility is to ensure the health and safety of the people in his or her community. Insofar as stimulus funds are available to repair failing bridges, dams, roads and vital infrastructure, that’s where they should be invested.
But as more funds are available -– for example, the $100 billion earmarked in the stimulus package for energy grants to states and localities, or the $6.3 billion targeted for clean energy grants, or the $17 billion for transit or part of the $40 billion for roads, bridges and other infrastructure — a high priority should be to begin putting each city on the road to the future.
Greening Hollywood: Westside Story And Eastside Luv
HUFFINGTON POST. JUNE 1, 2009. BY PAIGE DONNER
From the West Side to the East Side this past week was one gala dinner after another. Every single night, from the West Side to the East Side of L.A., and everywhere in between, there were people recognizing one another for their accomplishments. Or, as Father Greg Boyle, founder of Homeboy Industries and recipient of the Friends of Boyle Heights Genesis Award put it, people were "recognizing each other as accomplices in their accomplishments."
It was sort of a citywide festival of "You're great." "No, YOU'RE great."
On Thursday evening Heal The Bay hosted their "Bring Back The Beach" annual benefit dinner for 1,000 guests - and raised over half a million dollars to support ongoing education, advocacy and community outreach. It was held at the Santa Monica Airport Barker Hangar and featured a mid-dinner performance by Cirque du Soleil. Watching the steel-cut muscle bound men perform their superhuman feats of balance and strength lent me, and the other women sitting at my table, an appetite for dessert. Cirque announced their partnership with Heal The Bay that evening.
The Boyle Heights Technology Youth Center honored Father Greg Boyle, founder of Homeboy Industries, Taboo of the Black Eyed Peas and Congresswoman Roybal-Allard, the first Mexican-American woman elected to Congress. She shared that she is, "Very very excited about [Sotomayor's] appointment. We're all working very hard to make sure she gets the support that she needs. Never before have we had anyone more qualified to sit on the Supreme Court."
When I caught up with Arianna Huffington at the Global Green Millennium Awards Gala on Saturday night, she echoed this enthusiasm for Sotomayor's nomination. You can read her fired up "Rock on Love" blog about it here at HuffPo.
When I mentioned to her my recent lunch with U.S. Rep. David Obey, and several others, even she was impressed. You know the lady knows her politics when the name "Obey" draws immediate recognition.
Austin Nichols of One Tree Hill commented at the Global Green USA Annual Millennium Awards how he would like to make videos and put them on YouTube and fire up the youth to make them "environmental revolutionaries." He's all about greening the schools and getting kids into environments more conducive to learning - such as natural daylight, fresh air, and school yard gardens.
Global Green's Millennium Awards: From The Green Carpet
CAUSECAST. MAY 31, 2009. BY MELISSA JUN ROWLEY
I’ve stood along a number of red carpets in the past. But few have been as vibrant and positively charged as the green carpet I covered at the 13th Annual Global Green Millennium Awards in Santa Monica, CA on Saturday, May 30th. The stars and supporters who turned out to honor this year’s Global Green award recipients shared their views on preserving the environment, the need for green education and sustainable buildings, and their call to bring social change into the spotlight.
I don’t know if it was the coolness of the ocean air, that I was first in line to speak with all the gorgeous attendees, or that every celebrity and honoree I spoke to was knowledgeable about the latest green technology and eager to learn more, but a calm and reassuring synergy wafted through the wind, as my flip cam and I zeroed in on the delightful display of humanity that stood before me. Events like this generally rake in a good share of eye candy for onlookers, but at this particular benefit the passion for the cause and the integrity of the guests was more than commensurate with their fashionable flair.
Many of them had a great deal to say about the focus of the night, which was making schools green. Adrian Grenier and Rosario Dawson discussed the importance of rehabilitating educational facilities and keeping our children healthy.
“We need to start changing the way we live fundamentally,” said Grenier. We can start with the school, start with the kids.”
WHAT YOU CAN DO TO HELP GREEN YOUR LOCAL SCHOOL
UPDATE THE LIGHTS
Swap out old, inefficient incandescent light bulbs with compact fluorescent light bulbs (CFLs). Compact fluorescent lamps (CFLs) last up to 10 times longer than standard incandescent light bulbs, saving you time buying and replacing bulbs, and an average of $30 or more in energy costs over the life of each bulb. Every CFL can prevent more than 450 pounds of greenhouse gas emissions. Every bit helps to reduce the risks of global climate change. Many local utility companies have free or reduced-cost exchange programs.
PLANT AN ORGANIC EDIBLE GARDEN
Organize school garden projects that engage students, teach about nutrition, and produce some food for their consumption (like they have at the White House). Create a school-wide composting program of cafeteria and food scraps. Composting provides a way not only of reducing the amount of waste that needs to be disposed of, but also of converting it into a product that is useful for gardening, landscaping, or house plants. Through basic and worm composting programs, students can learn about ecology, biology and waste reduction.
REDUCE, REUSE, RECYCLE
Create a school recycling program. Recycle everything that cannot be reused; and encourage the purchase of items that can be recycled. A successful and meaningful recycling program must involve the whole campus -- there is no teaching tool like the daily, hands-on practice of recycling everything that cannot be reused. By recycling just one glass bottle, you save enough electricity to power a 100-watt bulb for four hours.
Shchuch’ye Chemical Weapons Destruction Facility Opening
On May 29, 2009 the Russian Federation formally opened its new chemical weapons destruction (CWD) facility in the Kurgan Oblast, just north of Kazakhstan and just east of the Ural Mountain Range. Located near the Trans-Ural village of Shchuch’ye (pronounced “shoo-che”), the chemical weapons stockpile which will be neutralized and destroyed over the next several years is one of seven CW stockpiles declared by Russia under auspices of the international Chemical Weapons Convention (CWC).
Global Green Honors Green Innovators
TREEHUGGER.COM. May 28, 2009. By Roberta Cruger.
For the 13th year, Global Green USA is celebrating its 2009 Millennium Awards to pay tribute to environmental leaders. This Saturday night, May 30, the fundraising gala honors those who “demonstrate successful strategies for tackling current economic and environmental crises as part of the same problem.” Eco-celebrities will present the kudos, including Rosario Dawson, Adrian Grenier, Arianna Huffington, and LA Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa, among others, plus a special presentation by playwright Eve Ensler.
This year’s Millennium Honorees are:
California Environmental Leadership Award: Wallis Annenberg/Annenberg Foundation for her serious support of environmental organizations and transformative green projects including the Universally Accessible Treehouse Project in Torrance, CA
Green Building Environmental Leadership Award: Marc Nathanson, head of Mapleton Investments and founder of Falcon Waterfree Technologies which reduces water use and greenhouse gas emissions
Founder’s Award: Zem Joaquin, founder of ecofabulous and Global Green's Gorgeous Green event in San Francisco, who also appears on Planet Green’s “Alter Eco” with Adrien Grenier
Entertainment Industry Environmental Leadership Award: Jeff Skoll, founder of Participant Media creating films that compel social change such as An Inconvenient Truth, Darfur Now, and Syrianna, and also head of the Skoll Foundation and Skoll Urgent Threats Fund to battle climate change
“Their transformation and commitment each tell a story of how we can address the environmental and economic crises together head on,” said Matt Petersen, President and CEO, “and create a truly sustainable future.”
In Siberia, the Death Knell of a Complex Holding a Deadly Stockpile
THE NEW YORK TIMES. MAY 26, 2009. By Clifford J. Levy
MOSCOW — Soon after the Soviet Union’s collapse, an American inspection team arrived at a decrepit storage complex in Siberia. The front gate was guarded by a scrawny teenage soldier who had not been paid in months. Giant sheds seemed to hold little of value. Why else would their doors be secured only with rusty bicycle locks? The reality was far more disturbing: the sheds contained two million artillery shells and warheads filled with nerve agents, extremely deadly substances, row after row, stacked like cordwood. Many were portable, and a single one detonated in a stadium or other crowded area could kill tens of thousands of people.
Google Rolls Out Home Energy Software
THE NEW YORK TIMES. MAY 20, 2009. By Kate Galbraith
Google’s initiative to allow people to monitor their energy use on their computers took a step forward on Wednesday, as the company announced partnerships with eight electric utilities that will be the first to use its “Power Meter.”
Essentially, the secure software gadget will interact with the intelligent metering devices currently being installed by utilities for their customers. The software will “show consumers their home energy information almost in real time, right on their computer,” the company says.
Googlers testing the device, which includes a graphic-rich, Web-based interface, have reported learning which appliances cause the largest spike in home energy use — causing them to make changes like ensuring that an energy-intensive dishwasher or washing machine is fully loaded.
“One of my colleagues learned that her pool pump had been operating for years,” said Dan Reicher, the head of climate change programs at Google.org, with whom I spoke last month.
Another time, he said, while monitoring his own home’s energy usage from afar: “I called up my daughter and said, ‘I think you may have left the lights on in your room.’”
Google cites studies that suggest consumers could cut their electricity bills by 5 percent to 15 percent if they had access to information about how much electricity they are consuming.
The eight electric utilities include one in India and one in Canada, as well as six in the United States.
(These are: Glasgow EPB in Kentucky; TXU Energy in Texas; San Diego Gas & Electric in California; White River Valley Electric Cooperative in Missouri; JEA in Florida; and Wisconsin Public Service in Wisconsin.)
Bill Clinton to cities: Act on climate
CNN.com. May 20, 2009. By Dean Irvine
SEOUL, South Korea (CNN) -- Former U.S. President Bill Clinton on Tuesday urged urban leaders and policymakers they need to take the lead now in fighting climate change.
"What are you going to do and how much are you going to spend?" Clinton asked leaders from the world's biggest cities at a climate summit being held in South Korea's capital, Seoul.
Officials from the world's 40 biggest cities plus 17 affiliate municipalities are attending the C40 Large Cities Climate Summit, which ends on Thursday.
Waiting for nations to take the lead with a new climate protocol in Copenhagen in December is not an option, said David Miller, mayor of Toronto and chairman of the C40 Cities Leadership Group.
"If governments talk about reducing CO2 (carbon dioxide), cities are the ones that show how it's done," Miller said. "The point is that cities act, and working together we have a scale and a size that we dramatically increase people's ability to fight climate change.
"The challenge for national governments is that while they can sometimes reach agreement they don't know how to act collectively," Miller continued. "For cities, that's easier. We all have climate strategies, but can make our actions work better and make the partnerships to do that."
The Seoul summit is the third conference by cities held to discuss responses to climate change. The C40 group was established in London in 2005. A second summit was held in New York in 2007.
Much of the talk at this week's conference was how major urban centers could work toward adhering to the Kyoto Protocol, the existing environmental treaty that sets targets for nations to reduce greenhouse gas concentrations. Adopted in December 1997, the Kyoto Protocol entered into force in February 2005.
In countries that did not sign up to the Kyoto agreement, cities took it upon themselves to reduce their carbon footprint. While the United States did not sign Kyoto, 825 U.S. cities and towns signed up to a climate protection agreement that embraced that protocol's goals.
Starbucks' Cup Summit: Does the Cost of Recycling Runneth Over?
GREENBIZ.COM. MAY 15, 2009. By Scott Seydel
Starbucks' Ben Packard, the vice president of Global Responsibility, and his running mate, Jim Hanna, the director of Environmental Impact, think so -- and they invited 30 cup, cupstock and coating manufacturers, recyclers, waste managers and university researchers to Seattle this week to have a chat about it.
The experts were matched up with an equal number of Starbucks professionals in sessions that included a talk led by CEO Howard Schultz. From Monday's opening reception and dinner through the next full day at SBUX headquarters, every aspect of the iconic coffee cup was discussed as if the subject was "the beans."
Three billion of the world's 200 billion-plus paper cups that start as trees and end up at the dump each year bear the Starbucks logo, and Packard and Hanna are taking on the responsibility to fulfill the promise Schultz made to 10,000 baristas who met in New Orleans last October: All the company's iconic coffee cups will be recyclable by 2012.
Joel Kendrick, Western Michigan University's director of Paper & Coating facilities, reported that his laboratory has conducted preliminary trials indicating that many paper coffee cups in today's market are readily repulpable and recyclable.
Annie White, who directs Global Green's Coalition for Resource Recovery (CoRR), co-authored a white paper with Kendrick detailing how spent cups and food packaging certified as OCC (old corrugated cardboard) grade could hitch a free ride to recycling mills if source separated. Dick Lilly, business area manager for waste prevention at Seattle's Public Utilities, reported that Starbucks' hot beverage cups (among others) are already considered recyclable and are recycled as paper in Seattle. Thus recyclers may be receptive to CoRR's cup and cartonstock certification program, if it serves to upgrade that recyclability from "mixed paper" to "OCC equivalent."
CoRR's current program will facilitate collection of spent cups from a representative number of Starbucks shops in Manhattan and utilize the city's efficient OCC collection/distribution systems to deliver them to Pratt Industries' recycling plant on Staten Island.
"Receptacles that are fitted with special paper liners will be provided for consumer use to collect spent cups, and those paper sacks will be bound in the OCC bundles that are daily shipped to the Pratt plant," said White. "Within 72 hours after being discarded, the cups collected in this demonstration program will be component in linerboard used to form New York's take-out pizza boxes."
House Approves 'Green Schools' Bill
NPR.ORG. May 14, 2009. By Associated Press
The House on Thursday passed a multiyear school construction bill with the ambitious goals of producing hundreds of thousands of jobs, reducing energy consumption and creating healthier, cleaner environments for the nation's schoolchildren.
Opponents, almost all Republicans, objected to the cost associated with the 21st Century Green High-Performing Public School Facilities Act. The cost would be $6.4 billion in the first year with similar outlays approved over the next five years.
It passed 275-155, and now goes to the Senate, which did not act after the House passed similar legislation last year.
The situation has changed this year. While then-President George W. Bush threatened to veto the measure, objecting to a costly new school construction program, President Obama made school improvement projects an element of his economic stimulus initiative.
"It will give much needed money to our schools struggling with huge budget deficits and deteriorating facilities while encouraging energy efficency and creating jobs for Americans that cannot be shipped overseas," said Rep. Ben Chandler, a Kentucky Democrat who was a sponsor of the legislation.
The bill would provide states with money to make grants and low interest loans so school districts could build, modernize and repair facilities to make them healthier, safer and more energy-efficient. The funds would be allotted under a formula based on a district's share of students from low-income families, but the bill guarantees that every district that receives federal money for low-income students will get at least $5,000.
Supporters spoke of the difficulties of trying to learn in buildings with poor lighting, bad air quality, leaking roofs and ill-functioning furnaces. "Thirty-two million children in our country attend schools which are reportedly having environmental problems with their facilities that affect students' health and their learning," said Rep. Paul Tonko, a Democrat from New York.
A majority of the funds — rising to 100 percent by 2015 — would have to be used for projects that meet green standards for construction materials and energy sources. Those include the Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) Green Building Rating System and Energy Star.
The measure also approves a separate $600 million over six years for public schools in Mississippi, Louisiana and Alabama damaged by hurricanes Katrina and Rita in 2005.
In German Suburb, Life Goes On Without Cars
NEW YORK TIMES. MAY 12, 2009. By Elisabeth Rosenthal
VAUBAN, Germany — Residents of this upscale community are suburban pioneers, going where few soccer moms or commuting executives have ever gone before: they have given up their cars.
Street parking, driveways and home garages are generally forbidden in this experimental new district on the outskirts of Freiburg, near the French and Swiss borders. Vauban’s streets are completely “car-free” — except the main thoroughfare, where the tram to downtown Freiburg runs, and a few streets on one edge of the community. Car ownership is allowed, but there are only two places to park — large garages at the edge of the development, where a car-owner buys a space, for $40,000, along with a home.
As a result, 70 percent of Vauban’s families do not own cars, and 57 percent sold a car to move here. “When I had a car I was always tense. I’m much happier this way,” said Heidrun Walter, a media trainer and mother of two, as she walked verdant streets where the swish of bicycles and the chatter of wandering children drown out the occasional distant motor.
Vauban, completed in 2006, is an example of a growing trend in Europe, the United States and elsewhere to separate suburban life from auto use, as a component of a movement called “smart planning.”
Automobiles are the linchpin of suburbs, where middle-class families from Chicago to Shanghai tend to make their homes. And that, experts say, is a huge impediment to current efforts to drastically reduce greenhouse gas emissions from tailpipes, and thus to reduce global warming. Passenger cars are responsible for 12 percent of greenhouse gas emissions in Europe — a proportion that is growing, according to the European Environment Agency — and up to 50 percent in some car-intensive areas in the United States.
While there have been efforts in the past two decades to make cities denser, and better for walking, planners are now taking the concept to the suburbs and focusing specifically on environmental benefits like reducing emissions. Vauban, home to 5,500 residents within a rectangular square mile, may be the most advanced experiment in low-car suburban life. But its basic precepts are being adopted around the world in attempts to make suburbs more compact and more accessible to public transportation, with less space for parking. In this new approach, stores are placed a walk away, on a main street, rather than in malls along some distant highway.
“All of our development since World War II has been centered on the car, and that will have to change,” said David Goldberg, an official of Transportation for America, a fast-growing coalition of hundreds of groups in the United States — including environmental groups, mayors’ offices and the American Association of Retired People — who are promoting new communities that are less dependent on cars. Mr. Goldberg added: “How much you drive is as important as whether you have a hybrid.”
Washington DC City Council Hearing on Chemical Weapons
Global Green USA testified before the Washington D.C. City Council on May 11, 2009 regarding the cleanup of dumped chemical weapons in Northwest Washington, an area known as “Spring Valley.” Ward 3 Council Member Mary Cheh, Chairperson of the Committee on Government Operations and the Environment, questioned fourteen witnesses on public health and environmental impacts from the post-World War I burial of chemical weapons, agents, and other toxic materials in the 661-acre area in Northwest Washington.
EPA chief calls for environmental justice
NJ.COM. MAY 9, 2009. By Spencer Gaffney
PRINCETON BOROUGH -- The federal Environmental Protection Agency needs to address the systemic environmental issues facing America's poor, EPA Administrator Lisa Jackson said in a speech yesterday at Princeton University's Woodrow Wilson School.
"I see it as part of my essential mission to show all Americans that the Environmental Protection Agency works for them," said Jackson, the first African-American head of the EPA.
Jackson said that long-term environmental issues can devastate a community if left unchecked, leading to a cycle of pollution and poverty in the country's poorest neighborhoods.
"If there is unchecked pollution, if there is littering, then that will lead to additional pollution, additional littering," said Jackson. "Businesses won't invest in that community, not even if you pay them to do so."
Jackson also said that President Obama would reject the "false choice" between the economy and the environment, and said that the president would see the environmental sector as an economic opportunity.
"The opportunities are there to create green jobs," said Jackson, "in places in our county where both the green and the job are absolutely vital."
Jackson cited an initiative in the president's Recovery Act to weatherize low-income housing as an example of the compound benefits of the green sector.
"The idea was more than just to make that housing green, which is very important, but to put 80,000 Americans to work at the same time that it saves their families hundreds of dollars a year in energy bills," Jackson said.
Improving environmental conditions in underprivileged areas can have widespread positive effects on areas beyond the immediate community, said Jackson. As an example she described the affects of polluted air in urban settings on health-care costs.
We Need a Green New Deal
TRUTHOUT.COM. MAY 6, 2009. By Norman Solomon
In the Arctic, sea ice is melting. In the United States, houses are foreclosing.
And in Washington, the Senate is becoming a real-life Bermuda Triangle for progressive agendas.
Proposals for major limits on carbon emissions aren't getting far in the Senate, where the corporate war on the environment has an abundance of powerful allies.
As for class war, it continues to rage from the top down. Last week, a dozen Democratic senators teamed up with Republicans to defeat a bill that would have allowed judges to reduce mortgages in bankruptcy courts.
President Obama supported that bill. But as The Associated Press reported, he was "facing stiff opposition from banks" and "did little to pressure lawmakers" on behalf of the measure. The Senate "defeated a plan to spare hundreds of thousands of homeowners from foreclosure through bankruptcy."
Big-money vultures are circling the Capitol dome to feast on the latest multibillion-dollar carrion, whether under the heading of "cap and trade" or "health care reform." And many billions in profits can be found inside yet another supplemental bill to fund war in Iraq and Afghanistan.
Meanwhile, a familiar pattern is unfolding for the most important piece of labor legislation in decades - the Employee Free Choice Act (EFCA) - which would go a long way toward protecting the rights of workers to form unions. Obama says he supports EFCA. But there are no signs that he'll go all-out for its passage.
There are pluses and minuses on Capitol Hill these days. But on big-picture items, it's clear that environmentalists and labor rights activists are mostly up against the corporate wall - and the wall is not yielding.
We need a Green New Deal.
CHFA Tops in Green QAPs
AFFORDABLE HOUSING FINANCE. April/May 2009
THE CONNECTICUT HOUSING FINANCE AUTHORITY (CHFA) has the greenest low-income housing tax credit (LIHTC) program in the country, according to an analysis by Global Green USA.
Connecticut’s qualified allocation plan (QAP) and corresponding Design and Construction Standards earned 48 points out of a possible 55.
Global Green, a nonprofit environmental organization, studied each state’s 2008 QAP for the inclusion of green building strategies in four categories—smart growth, energy effi ciency, resource conservation, and health protection.
CHFA earned high marks for incorporating its Green Design and Construction Standards as part of a design review process, reported Global Green. Those guidelines represent a consensus standard of national and regional building codes, design practices, and construction methods and materials.
Overall, the 2008 QAPs, which spell out the states’ rules and scoring system for developers to receive LIHTCs, show an increased emphasis on green building. Forty-four states improved their scores in the recent analysis. The average score increased from 17 to 25. The recent QAPs were most successful in scoring points in the smart growth category followed by the energy-efficiency category. The greatest increase in points was seen in resource conservation.
Georgia, New Jersey, Massachusetts, California, Maine, Vermont, Pennsylvania, Montana, and North Dakota round out the Top 10 list of greenest QAPs.
Going Green moves into mainstream
PODER360.COM. MAY 2009. By Elsie Morales
In the wake of a failing economy, the U.S. looks to new green initiatives to spur societal change.
The past 10 years have seen an upsurge of interest in environmental issues as well as a dramatic shift in economic systems. With new government spending, regulation, and policies supporting investments in energy technologies, environmentalism is no longer just a moral issue or an ethical obligation, but an opportunity to bolster the U.S. economy and increase our collective intelligence. New cutting-edge green initiatives throughout the nation encompass a wide range of efforts, with alternative energy production taking center stage. Rather than rely on oil and gas for energy production, these initiatives represent the latest projects using reliable, efficient methods to create energy from solar rays, wind, water, and steam.
New Jersey Children's Museum Donates to Global Green
New Jersey Children's Museum has generously donated $500 to Global Green's New Orleans office. The money was donated from their Hyberfolic Funnel exhibit at the museum. Children roll coins down the funnel which represents the solar system and its gravitational pull of the planets around the Sun. Both fun and educational, the money collected is donated to chariites, usually local.
Weapons of Mass Destruction and Public Health
Global Green USA organized a plenary session at the 12th World Congress on Public Health in Istanbul, Turkey on April 28, 2009 on “Weapons of Mass Destruction and Public Health.” Chaired by Dr. Paul Walker, Director of the Security and Sustainability Program at Global Green USA, the session was introduced by Dr. Hikmet Pekcan, President of the Turkish Public Health Association which hosted the meeting of some 2,400 health officials from 142 countries. The plenary speakers were Ambassador Rogelio Pfirter, Director-General of the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) in The Hague; Ambassador Tibor Toth, Executive Secretary of the Preparatory Commission of the Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty Organization (CTBTO) in Vienna; and Richard Lennane, Head of the Implementation Support Unit of the Biological and Toxin Weapons Convention (BWC) in Geneva.
New Orean's Green Renaissance
THE WEATHER CHANNEL. APRIL 27, 2009
The Waether Channel visits New Orleans and talks to Beth Galante, Global Green USA's New Orleans Director, about the Holy Cross Project, as well as Linda Stone, a Global Green associate who is renovating her house using green materials.
WATCH THE VIDEO (search for the video titled New Orleans' green renaissance)
Zero Net Energy Buildings
WHAT IS A ZERO NET ENERGY BUILDING?
A zero net energy home is one that produces as much energy on site as it uses, as measured on an annual basis. These homes utilize the most energy efficient building methods coupled with clean, renewable technologies to produce energy. In spite of producing their own energy, net zero homes are not detached from the grid. At times when the building is generating excess power it is fed back to the utility and when its not yielding enough energy the home will take from the grid what is needed, averaging out to zero usage.
POSITION PAPER ON THE LOS ANGELES SOLAR ENERGY PLAN
The undersigned people/organizations represent an affiliation of leading environmental, social justice and health organizations who, collectively over the last 10 years, have successfully advocated for policies that have led to cleaner air, more renewable energy and measures to mitigate the impacts of climate change in Los Angeles and beyond. As a group we represent numerous and diverse stakeholders, whose common goal is to promote clean energy in Los Angeles, with the larger goal of working to stem climate change.
Commentary: Green way to create jobs, save cities
CNN. APRIL 22, 2009. By Majora Carter
NEW YORK (CNN) -- In the midst of our economic and environmental crisis, I am grateful our new president embraces the potential of green ideas.
He faces challenges from two directions. Often, advocates forget to manage expectations about how the green economy will grow. In addition, those vested in the pollution-based economy desperately want "green" to fail. Both sides of the debate require equal attention.
Support Non-Profits on Earth Day
THE HUFFINGTON POST. APRIL 21, 2009. By Matt Petersen
In this weekend's New York Times Magazine Jon Gertner ("Why Isn't the Brain Green?") evokes the Pew Research Center poll taken in late January that ranked concern about climate change in last place of the top 20 concerns Americans have.
This is alarming, since scientists are repeatedly discovering that global warming impacts are accelerating at a pace more quickly than initially expected. Hence our need to significantly reduce greenhouse gas emissions is more urgent than ever.
Celebrate Earth Day with Leonardo DiCaprio via eBay
TREEHUGGER. APRIL 15, 2009. By Neil Chambers
If you’ve ever tried to figure out how to support important projects like green schools while combating climate change AND meet a movie star all while shopping online, wonder no more. eBay and Global Green USA is holding an auction for a lucky somebody to meet Leonardo DiCaprio.
Media and Environmental Activism
In this rich "Perspective on Media" feature for the Paley Center for Media from Annie White, the director of the New York office of Global Green USA, she writes about the media's role in environmental activism, lessons learned during the filming of Away We Go, and the first steps of the Paley Center's own green initiatives in the construction of The Kissinger Global Conference Room.
From Rachel Carson’s seminal work, Silent Spring, to Al Gore’s An Inconvenient Truth, media has played an important role in teaching, raising awareness, and organizing the public to action on environmental issues.
Getting chemical weapons destruction back on track
BULLETIN OF THE ATOMIC SCIENTISTS. APRIL 15, 2009. By Jonathan B. Tucker & Paul F. Walker
One of the many arms-control challenges facing the Obama administration is to revitalize the sagging effort to destroy the vast U.S. stockpile of chemical weapons left over from the Cold War. A new U.S. Army report, to be released in May along with the Pentagon's 2010 budget request, will likely conclude that without additional funding, the elimination of these obsolete and dangerous weapons could drag on for another 15 years.
Save the Earth, Go to a Premiere with Leonardo DiCaprio!
PEOPLE.COM. APRIL 14, 2009. By Michelle Tauber
Want to hit the red carpet with Leonardo DiCaprio at the premiere of his next film? Here's your chance.
The actor and environmental activist, 34, is auctioning off the opportunity to attend the premiere of his upcoming drama Shutter Island complete with eco-car service to and from the event and a stay at a green hotel.
PLANT A VIRTUAL FLOWER & SUPPORT GLOBAL GREEN
April 13, 2009. Today in New York City, Kelly Ripa helped launch a virtual flower campaign where Electrolux Appliances will donate $1 for every flower planted to support Global Green's National Green Schools Initiative.
"Planting a virtual flower helps Global Green raise funds to create healthier, more energy-efficient schools for kids, our most precious natural resource," said Global Green President & CEO Matt Petersen. "We are so pleased be the beneficiary of this initiative and to join with a company long dedicated to creating energy-efficient appliances." Plant your virtual flower here.
Talking Green with Matt Petersen
The New Wave. April 9, 2009. By Ryan Rivet.
In the wake of Hurricane Katrina, many saw the widespread rebuilding effort as an opportunity to reinvent New Orleans as an environmentally sustainable city. Global Green USA, a national environmental organization, mobilized resources to create the “Healthy Homes and Smart Neighborhoods” initiative. Matt Petersen, president, CEO and board member of Global Green, was on the Tulane uptown campus on Friday (April 3) to address the Tulane Law School Summit on Environmental Law and Policy.
Global Green has several major projects under way in the Crescent City area, including the New Orleans Sustainable Design Competition, the NOLA Green Schools Initiative, and ongoing work with Habitat for Humanity to create more energy-efficient housing throughout the Gulf Coast. New Wave talked with Petersen about the city’s progress in rebuilding green as well as the future of environmentalism. Here are highlights of the interview.
Earth Promise Interview with Matt Petersen
April 8, 2009. This month, the Earth Promise website is publishing a "21 in 21" Interview Series in honor of Earth Day. The series includes an interview with Global Green President & CEO Matt Petersen.
Earth Promise: Were you “green” as a child?
Matt Petersen: As a child, I was struck by the imbalance between man and nature. My father shares a story of us sitting the park together when I was five years old and looking around at the trash and cans littering the area after a busy Sunday of picnics and parties. I said to my Dad “ we have to do something to take care of our planet, Dad.”
Gorbachev Joins the Call for Green Stimulus
Huffington Post. April 5, 2009. By Matt Petersen
On March 30, I joined President Gorbachev in San Antonio, Texas to call upon the leaders of the G20 nations and the leaders of the global energy sector to help make significant investment in solar energy immediately as one critical way to solving our current economic and environmental crises. We also unveiled Global Green's new Solar Report Card -- the first of its kind--which analyzes 16 countries' (and the state of California's) investments in solar energy.
This Old Wasteful House
THE NEW YORK TIMES. APRIL 5, 2009. By Richard Moe
NEVER before has America had so many compelling reasons to preserve the homes in its older residential neighborhoods. We need to reduce energy consumption and carbon emissions. We want to create jobs, and revitalize the neighborhoods where millions of Americans live. All of this could be accomplished by making older homes more energy-efficient.
Let’s begin with energy consumption and emissions. Forty-three percent of America’s carbon emissions come from heating, cooling, lighting and operating our buildings. Older homes are particularly wasteful: Homes built in 1939 or before use around 50 percent more energy per square foot than those constructed in 2000. But with significant improvements and retrofits, these structures could perform on a par with newer homes.
So how does a homeowner go green? The first step is an energy audit by a local utility. These audits can be obtained in many communities at little or no cost. They help identify the sources of heat loss, allowing homeowners to make informed decisions about how to reduce energy use in the most cost-effective way.
Homeowners are likely to discover that much of the energy loss comes down to a lack of insulation in attics and basements. Sealing other air leaks also helps. This can be done by installing dryer vent seals that open only when the dryer is in use, as well as fireplace draft stoppers and attic door covers.
Experience has shown that virtually any older or historic house can become more energy-efficient without losing its character. Restoring the original features of older houses — like porches, awnings and shutters — can maximize shade and insulation. Older wooden windows perform very well when properly weatherized — this includes caulking, insulation and weather stripping — and assisted by the addition of a good storm window. Weatherizing leaky windows in most cases is much cheaper than installing replacements.
From perestroika to an appeal on petroleum
San Antonio Express-News. March 31, 2009. By Anton Caputo.
Former Soviet President Mikhail Gorbachev is in San Antonio pushing solar and renewable energy as building blocks for the economy of the future.
Gorbachev, who is in town to speak to the International Petrochemical Conference, said he hopes his remarks will help prod leaders at the Group of 20 summit in London this week, when world leaders convene to discuss the global economic crisis.
Green Cross Founder Mikhail Gorbachev Tells Oilmen Solar Power Investment Means Economic Recovery
TREEHUGGER. March 31, 2009. By Matthew McDermott
In a move which seems a bit like talking to cattle ranchers about the need to cut down on beef consumption, Mikhail Gorbachev, founder of Green Cross International (among other things...), addressed the 33rd NRPA International Petrochemical Conference by urging world leaders and the private sector that the way out of the current economic morass and the way to combat climate change was to make big investments in solar power, and make them quickly:
Trekking with Tech to the Top of the World
KTLA. March 30, 2009. Kurt the Cyberguy
Arctic adventurer, photographer and environmental activist Sebastian Copeland is headed to the North Pole to commemorate the 100th anniversary of the first trek to the North Pole and raise awareness of melting polar ice caps. Kurt shares the advanced technology that will be helping him along the way, and how you can follow his treacherous 40-day trek online.
Mikhail Gorbachev sings in the solar choir
San Antonio Current. March 30, 2009. By Greg Harman
Gorby has an idea about the sun. And a pretty good one, too.
As he is settles into a chair beneath an American flag and stark Green Cross/Global Green banner and slowly takes control of the podium, I realize he’ll do just fine to reinforce the article’s conclusion that the world must jump now to avoid possible worst-case runaway global warming. Maybe.
In a somewhat dragging baritone, the 78-year-old insists, much as President Barack Obama has been want to do, that the economy can be revived by deep and rapid deployment of green technology, something that will also uplift the less prosperous nations of the world. That solar, in fact, can save the world.
At this momentous crossroads, hoping to lure some of Big Oil’s investment dollars and draw some media attention, Gorbachev is taking this possibly heretical message not only to Texas but straight to the beast itself, addressing the 33rd annual meeting of the International Petrochemical Conference wrapping up in San Antonio tomorrow.
“Moving toward a low-carbon economy is an urgent task, both political and economic,” Gorby tells us through his translator. “The leaders of a number of countries have already taken steps to make the economy less carbon dependent.” You see it in Obama’s plans for green jobs, he says, and in the European Union, and, more recently, from Russia and China.
Gorbachev pushes for solar energy in San Antonio
THE DALLAS MORNING NEWS. March 30, 2009. Associate Press.
Former Soviet president Mikhail Gorbachev is in Texas pushing solar power as the "best hope" of delivering electricity to the poor and helping the environment. Gorbachev is founder of Green Cross International, an environmental organization that also released a global report card Monday on solar energy and development. Germany led all countries with an A-minus, while the U.S. was given a C-plus.
Jake Gyllenhaal & Global Green Launch "National Green Schools" Initiative
TREEHUGGER.COM. March 26, 2009. By Collin Dunn
The good folks at Global Green USA have teamed up with Jake Gyllenhaal to launch the “National Green Schools” initiative with a Green Service Day at Manual Arts High School in Los Angeles, helping students to clean up the school’s edible garden. The “National Green Schools” initiative is aimed at raising general awareness of the benefits of green schools and the critical need for building and modernizing all schools with healthy, high performance green classrooms.
Green schools make a huge difference
For the last five years, with the support of the Annenberg Foundation, Global Green has partnered with the LA Unified School District to insure that every new school in Los Angeles is built to a high performance green standard -- we saw evidence of this last year. This has resulted in 34 new schools under construction that will benefit more than 40,000 students and teachers, save 21,695,238 gallons of water, 164,357,593 KwH of electricity and reduce CO2 emissions by more than 94,000 tons every year -- the equivalant of planting 282,000 trees or eliminating more than 15,000 cars from the road every year.
Jake Gyllenhaal Serves Up Global Green
JUSTJARED.COM. March 26, 2009.
Jake Gyllenhaal lends a helping hand in building a garden during Green Service Day at Manual Arts High School in Los Angeles last month.
He joined Global Green USA President Matt Petersen for the launch of the National Green Schools Initiative.
The 28-year-old actor spoke about his experience, saying, “What I learned is that something like this is possible. There are so many things that I’ve thought of [including making] gardens like this. I had always thought this is possible on a mass scale. This is possible within a massive city like Los Angeles!”
Nickelodeon Honors DiCaprio for Inspiring Young Activists
THE HUFFINGTON POST. March 26, 2009. By Frances Beinecke
Nickelodeon just announced that Leonardo DiCaprio will receive the first-ever Big Green Help Award during Saturday's broadcast of the Kids Choice Awards. I have known Leo for almost 10 years, and I am delighted that his environmental advocacy will be recognized this way.
World Water Day: March 22, 2009
In 2009, the theme for World Water Day is "Shared Water - Shared Opportunities". Special focus will be placed on transboundary waters. Nurturing the opportunities for cooperation in transboundary water management can help build mutual respect, understanding and trust among countries and promote peace, security and sustainable economic growth.
The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) leads the activities of the World Water Day 2009 with the support of United Nations Economic Commission for Europe (UNECE) and the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO).
Global Green & Green Cross at the World Water Forum
The 5th World Water Forum will be held in Istanbul, Turkey, March 16 – 22, 2008. There will be strong participation of Green Cross, with representatives from Green Cross International (David Alix), Green Cross Switzerland (Stephan Robinson), Green Cross Brazil (Celso de Oliveira), Green Cross Russia (Alexander Fyodorov), Green Cross France (Marie-Laure Vercambre), and Global Green USA (Finn Longinotto). Finn will be sending daily reports from the event.
PEARY-HENSON CENTENNIAL EXPEDITION UPDATES
MYSPACE.COM. By Sebastian Copeland
One hundred years ago, Admiral Peary led the first successful expedition to the North Pole, reaching it on April 6th 1909 with Mathew A. Henson and four Inuit. In Peary’s day, the ice at Pole was twelve feet deep on average. Today, the ice is around five and half feet deep. The changing icy environment spells an ominous future for the Arctic region which, unlike Antarctica, does not benefit from an international treaty of protection. This needs to change.
Fixed Income Investments Support Green Building
SocialFunds.com. March 19, 2009. By Robert Kropp
The New Mexico Mortgage Finance Authority and Community Capital Management describe how fixed income investment help fund successful rehabilitation of buildings based on green building principles.
Green building initiatives have emerged as significant opportunities for realizing energy efficiencies on a national scale, both in new construction and the rehabilitation of existing buildings. Many federal and state programs now exist for supporting green building initiatives on the neighborhood level. In many cases, funding for these programs is achieved by a combination of government grants and taxable municipal bonds and other instruments that provide fixed rates of returns for investors.
According to the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), buildings account for 39% of total energy consumption, 38% of carbon emissions, 30% of raw materials waste in landfills, and 12% of potable water consumption. Adoption of green building practices can improve energy efficiency, reduce energy consumption costs, and provide safe and healthy living environments. Because sprawl development, low-density housing, and commercial uses located in automobile-dependent outlying areas can harm the natural environment in a number of ways, many programs focus on the rehabilitation of urban areas.
In a recent blog entry, Walker Wells, Director of the Green Urbanism Program at Global Green USA, a national environmental non-profit organization, observed, "Green urbanism is the practice of creating communities beneficial to humans and the environment." Strategies utilized in achieving the goals of green urbanism include the application of green building principles at the neighborhood scale, the linking of buildings, infrastructure, and natural systems, and an emphasis on retrofitting existing urban areas.
With the adoption of green building principles as a central platform of President Obama's economic stimulus package, the number of building projects that incorporate environmentally sustainable practices while making sense as financial investments are expected to grow. At a time of historic turmoil in the stock market, the fixed returns offered by municipal bonds and similar financial instruments are likely to gain increased attention from sustainability investors as well.
Mikhail Gorbachev meets with US Senator Richard Lugar to Discuss Elimination of Weapons of Mass Destruction
March 19, 2009. The founder of Green Cross International, Mikhail Gorbachev, met on Thursday, March 19, 2009 in Washington DC with the ranking Republican Senator of the US Senate Foreign Relations Committee, Richard Lugar, of Indiana.
New Orleans schools reborn in a green image
Green Right Now. March 18, 2009. By Shermakaye Bass
Global Green upgrades will save the International School of Louisiana an estimated $21,781 in utility costs and reduce the carbon emissions by 177,109 pounds annually.
In late summer 2005, the city of New Orleans suffered a horrific blow when Hurricane Katrina howled in from the Gulf of Mexico, inundating the 300-year-old city and severely crippling its infrastructure and its collective psyche. But if anything positive surfaced after Katrina, it’s that the storm gave New Orleans an opportunity to go green.
Crescent City transplant Brad Pitt has taken a high-profile role in rebuilding the poorest parts of the city, with a focus on energy efficient, eco-friendly affordable housing. And Global Green USA, an offshoot of Mikhail Gorbachev’s non-profit Green Cross International, also has made headlines with green reconstruction of devastated districts such as the Ninth Ward’s Holy Cross neighborhood.
Less known is the fact that post-Katrina NOLA has positioned itself to become one of the country’s national leaders in terms of green school construction - both in retrofitting old ones and building new ones. Turning rot and ruin into hope and rebirth, organizations like Global Green (GG) and the Clinton Climate Initiative are helping locals change the landscape of public education, one “brick” at a time.
Reporter's Notebook with Sebastian Copeland
KCRW. March 17, 2009.
Sebastian Copeland appeared On Which Way, LA?, hosted by Warren Olney, to talk about his trek to the North Pole.
Sebastian Copeland Treks to North Pole ( 7:45P)
Admiral Robert Peary made the first recorded walk to the North Pole just 100 years ago. In a week, photographer and environmental activist Sebastian Copeland sets off on a two-man trek that he hopes won’t be the last such expedition.
Matt Petersen talks rebuilding green on Australia's ABC Radio National
ABC NEWS AUSTRALIA. MARCH 10, 2009.
In Australia, almost half of the federal government's upcoming $42 billion economic stimulus package will be spent on schools infrastructure and public housing. To get the deal through the Senate, the government has agreed to make the package more energy efficient.
Australia's ABC Radio National reporter Fran Kelly talked to Matt Petersen, Global Green CEO, about rebuilding green and greening schools in the US - especially in New Orleans.
The Inflection Is Near?
The New York Times. March 7, 2009. By Thomas L. Friedman.
Let’s today step out of the normal boundaries of analysis of our economic crisis and ask a radical question: What if the crisis of 2008 represents something much more fundamental than a deep recession? What if it’s telling us that the whole growth model we created over the last 50 years is simply unsustainable economically and ecologically and that 2008 was when we hit the wall — when Mother Nature and the market both said: “No more.”
New Russian Chemical Weapons Site Begins Operations
Global Security Newswire. Friday, March 6, 2009.
Russia has begun to operate a U.S.-backed chemical weapons disposal facility near the Ural Mountains, the environmental organization Global Green USA announced yesterday (see GSN, Oct. 3, 2008).
Cooperative Threat Reduction Programs Should Be Upgraded
March 6, 2009: Global Green is cited in a new congressionally mandated report from the National Research Council. The report discusses the need to reformulate U.S. Cooperative Threat Reduction programs to focus on combating international terrorism and other current threats.
Brad Pitt urges House leaders to continue help for New Orleans' recovery
TIMES-PICAYUNE. MARCH 5, 2009.
WASHINGTON - Brad Pitt today met with House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and House Democratic Whip James Clyburn, and received their thanks for his rebuilding efforts in New Orleans.
Pitt thanked the two Democratic leaders for the assistance provided for New Orleans and urged them to continue to help the city rebuild.
"I just want to say thank you to the speaker for opening up her doors for us to come in and discuss the rebuilding effort, the current rebuilding effort going on in New Orleans and how we can expand this idea of affordability and sustainability because we think we have a model that works,'' Pitt said.
Recyclable shipping-case initiative launched in NYC
Greener Package. March 2, 2009. By Anne Marie Mohan
Global Green USA has announced the launch of an initiative with the Hunts Point Distribution Center in New York City, the world’s largest food DC, to substitute all of its nonrecyclable transfer packaging with recyclable packaging. If successful, the program is expected to divert 30,000 tons per year of corrugated from landfills, reduce greenhouse gases by 103,000mtCO2e (metric ton carbon dioxide equivalent) per year—which is equal to taking 19,000 cars off the road—and save businesses $3 million-plus per year. Global Green also hopes the initiative will set the standard for “greening” transfer packaging throughout the world.
Holy Cross Projects's Green Interiors Featured in domino magazine
DOMINO MAGAZINE. MARCH, 2009. Produced by Lucilla Eschmann
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Rebuilding Green In New Orleans
domino magazine rolls up its sleeves to help out a community still feeling the effects of Katrina.
The result is a home that's sustainable in every sense of the word - made of healthy materials, affordable to maintain and cozy to live in.
2009 Pre-Oscar Party News Coverage
VARIOUS MEDIA OUTLETS. Feb. 19, 2009.
Global Green's Annual Pre-Oscar Party, which raised money for our National Green Schools initiative, was a great success! Check out some of the news coverage and pictures from both the green carpet outside, and inside the event.
GREEN SCHOOLS ACTION
Today, millions of children and teachers (20% of all Americans) go to school every day. Many of them go to unhealthy, inefficient schools that waste money, make kids sick and provide poor environments for learning. The state of aging school infrastructure is truly a national travesty. Fortunately, we have already begun to build healthy green schools right here in Los Angeles, throughout California and in cities across the country. But with millions of kids at risk, and the opportunity to dramatically improve learning conditions at schools, we must build green schools NOW.
You can help. Here are a few simple ways you can help create healthy green schools in your community and throughout our country to help protect our most precious natural resource—our children.
Jake Gyllenhaal Helps Mix The Compost With Global Green
ECORAZZI. FEBRUARY, 19 2009.
Yesterday, as a kick-off to their green school initiative, Global Green USA was joined by Jake Gyllenhaal for Green Service Day at Manual Arts High School.
Gyllenhaal and Global Green CEO Matt Petersen inspected a garden, composting effort, and other initiatives taking place at the school. The organization hopes to raise money to help schools around the country become more sustainable and add programs that teach green skills for future jobs.
Jericho Road Staff Members Participate in Green Design Charrette
Jericho News. February, 2009.
Jericho Road staff members, in collaboration with local architects and representatives from green housing expert Global Green USA, participated in the organization’s first green design charrette on February 18th. Walker Wells, editor and co-author of Global Green’s book “Blueprint for Greening Affordable Housing”, facilitated the charrette and led a thorough discussion of green building techniques and materials, and the widespread benefits they provide to communities and homeowners.
$60 Billion for Green in the Stimulus Bill: Where the Money Will Go
TREEHUGGER. February 16, 2009. By Brian Merchant
After weeks of intense negotiations, spirited debate, and some name calling, President Obama will sign the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 tomorrow. The much publicized, lengthily titled stimulus bill has been on center stage seemingly since the day after Inauguration. And even though it's proved extremely divisive—it's been called "generational theft," an insult to taxpayers, and useless pork by its detractors—one group in particular seems to sing its unanimous praise: environmentalists.
Everyone from the Sierra Club to the National Resource Defense Council to environmental bloggers and journalists have been downright jubilant about all the green initiatives included in the bill. But just how green will the bill actually be?
Global Green’s Pre-Oscar Party 2009 draws on star power
Green Right Now. Feb 12, 2009. By Shermakaye Bass
Over the past few years, the Academy Awards have become a fuel-efficient vehicle for Hollywood’s green movement. And perhaps no environmental nonprofit has gleaned more momentum from star power than Global Green USA, which helped put the celebrity machine into first gear in 2003, when it shuttled A-list’ers to the Oscars in alternative-fuel cars.
DRM Syndrome
GreenerBuildings News. Feb 12, 2009. By Rob Watson
I'm afraid we are currently suffering from DRM Syndrome, a nonfatal but almost always non-curative disorder that inevitably follows a calamity. Disaster-Recovery Mentality Syndrome is a natural, and completely understandable, reaction to severe dislocation that serves to filter out any activity or thinking that does not get things Back To Normal as quickly as possible. DRM is a handy excuse to suspend critical thought and almost always results in lost opportunities. If suffered on a sufficiently large scale, DRM Syndrome actually might invite a relapse of the conditions that triggered the disaster in the first place.
Lower 9th Ward advocates want share of stimulus
THE TIMES-PICAYUNE. FEB 7, 2998. By Jonathan Tilove
WASHINGTON -- This time, residents of the Lower 9th Ward are worrying about being left high and dry.
An unprecedented torrent of federal spending will almost certainly be unleashed once the Obama administration economic stimulus package clears Congress in one form or another. But advocates for the Lower 9th Ward, which came to symbolize the devastation wrought by Hurricane Katrina, are left to wonder how much will come its way.
Healthier, Wealthier and Wiser: The Case for Creating Green Schools Now
THE HUFFINGTON POST. FEB 5, 2009.
Today, millions of children and teachers go to school every day in unhealthy, inefficient schools that waste money, make kids sick and provide poor environments for learning. The state of aging school infrastructure is truly a national travesty. When I first visited New Orleans shortly after Hurricane Katrina to see how my environmental organization Global Green could help rebuild the city green, I toured a local high school and was overwhelmed to discover such decay and disrepair. I later learned this didn't result from the storm, but from years of neglect. Sadly this is not an isolated school or city.
The Eighth Annual Cinema For Peace Gala
PRNEWSWIRE. FEB 4, 2008.
Oscar Winning Actor Leonardo DiCaprio to be Honoured; Event to be Sponsored by BMW
BERLIN, Feb. 4 /PRNewswire/ -- The international film industry will gather to honour the most significant films of the year at the Eighth Annual Cinema For Peace Awards and Charity Gala on Monday, February 9, 2009, at the Konzerthaus Berlin. Twenty years after the Peaceful Revolution and the fall of the Berlin Wall, this year's Cinema For Peace Gala will focus on ecological awareness and the preservation of our environment; tolerance and peace in the time of war and natural disasters; and social commitment.
Assembly Member Lori Saldana introduces AB 212
Feb 2, 2009. Today, Assembly Member Lori Saldana introduced AB 212, which will require that new residences built in California after 2020 be Zero-Net energy buildings. It is a re-introduction of AB 2112 from last year. Assembly Member Ted Lieu is a Joint-Author (last year Asm. Lieu introduced a companion bill requiring zero-net energy commercial buildings by 2020). This bill codifies recommendations made by the California Energy Commission in their 2007 Integrated Energy Policy Report.
To learn more about last year's version of the bill, click here.
5th World Water Forum prepares its launch
Building on the success of the 4th World Water Forum held in Mexico City three years ago, Istanbul will host the 5th World Water Forum from 15 to 22 March 2009. Known to be the most important event on water in the world, World Water Forum 2009 organizers expect an attendance of over 15,000 people from 150 countries to discuss the strategies and solutions regarding water in the world. Turkey is known for its rich history in water resources, culture and technology and strategic tri-partite cooperation between the General Directorate of State Hydraulic Works, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Istanbul Metropolitan Municipality.
In preparation for the World Water Forum, a presentation on the Istanbul Water Consensus will be held in Singapore from 3 to 4 July 2008 in Macedonia during the World Cities Summit to plan the themes and topics under discussion in the World Water Forum.
Huffington Post Inaugural Ball Packs In Celebs From Pete Wentz To Don King
MTV.COM. JAN 20, 2009. By Sarah Maslin Nir
WASHINGTON, D.C. — It was billed as D.C.'s "most exclusive party," but the Huffington Post Pre-Inaugural Ball certainly was crowded. Make that can't-move-without-spilling-your-drink, can't-talk-without-shouting, sardines-in-a-tin-can packed. Held at the ultramodern Newseum on Pennsylvania Avenue, the party took place amid giant models of laptop computers and interactive journalism terminals that partygoers played with at random.
Emmy Rossum takes orders for Global Green
LA TIMES. Jan 19, 2008. By Richard Rushfield
Sundance 2009 -- Live from MySpace: Emmy Rossum takes some orders
One of the many spectacles unfolding across the MySpace cafe has been that of actors regressing back to their native talents -- waiting tables once again for the patrons. No, it's not that they are trying to keep their skills fresh as a fallback; it's all for charity. Guest celebrity wait staffers are donating all their tips to the environmental charity Global Green as part of MySpace's attempts to get the world in tune with the coming era of hope.
Charities for a Green Cause
KTLA.com. January 15, 2009.
If you vowed to be more eco-friendly in the new year, Asha tells us how you can go green by giving some green. She shows us some charities that all benefit a green cause.
David Hyde Pierce Talks Global Green And Planet-Saving
ECORAZZI.COM January 8, 2009.
“This is an organization that I’m quite new to. A friend of mine was putting this event together and brought my attention to it. And I’m excited to be here because, although they’ve been doing this for 9 years, this is an idea that finally the rest of the world has caught up with: the idea of being greener and being responsible and possibly even leaving a planet for our children and our children’s children. It’s a nifty idea. So I’m glad to support them. ”
- David Hyde Pierce speaking to Ecorazzi at Global Green’s Sustainable Design Awards.
West Hollywood City Council Commends Environmental Task Force
The West Hollywood City Council continued its support of sustainable initiatives Monday, January 5 through commending participants in the city's Environmental Task Force for developing recommendations on how the the City could advance its sustainability efforts.
Global Green's Green Urbanism team members Walker Wells and Troy Simpson led the 12-month process and drafted the final report that outlines short- and long-term suggestions and methods for measuring success, as identified by the task force.
Celebrities with a Cause: Rebuilding Homes
PointClickHome.com. January 6, 2009. By Jill Connor
In the world of philanthropy, celebrities are truly stars—bringing well-deserved attention to worthy causes. When the cause involves building or remodeling a home for someone in need, celebrities—from actor Brad Pitt to actress Kristin Davis—step in with architects, builders, and designers to make it happen, sometimes wielding hammers themselves.
In addition to nitty-gritty building and renovating work, celebrities also devote time to causes that raise awareness of green living issues involving the home. From actor Edward Norton’s involvement in a program that helps low-income households install solar photovoltaics on their roofs, to an Oscar night party featuring eco-friendly products, many green causes count on celebrity magnetism to spread the word. Read on to get the details on what home-related causes your favorite celebrities support.
Global Green to invest $17M in New Orleans
New Orleans City Business. Deceember 29, 2008.
Global Green USA, a group that has promoted the construction of eco-friendly homes in the 9th Ward in the wake of Hurricane Katrina, says it will invest $17 million in New Orleans.
“Green is not a trend for Global Green. It is a stalwart commitment to bring environmental consciousness to the center of local and national policy development,” said Matt Petersen, president and CEO of Global Green USA. “We will be bringing in an estimated $17 million in investment to New Orleans — leveraging tens of millions of dollars of investment beyond that through our impact on other projects including the Holy Cross Project, Build it Back Green, Green Seed Schools, green policy advocacy efforts and forums for professional builders and the public.”
Beanstockd Does Global Green’s Sustainable Design Awards
Beanstockd. December 22nd 2008
On Wednesday December 10th, A-list celebrities, high-powered environmentalists, NYC charity gala regulars, and the Beanstockd team, all descended upon Pier Sixty for the 9th annual Sustainable Design Awards hosted by Global Green USA.
ECO-FRIENDLY GIFTS CAN BE FOUND HERE AT HOME
TIMES-PICAYUNE. December 20 2008. By Molly Reid
...gifts with a green bent can set themselves apart from the same old sweaters and gadgets of the holiday season.
I'm not talking about gift baskets of compact fluorescent bulbs (though individually and with a little ribbon, they make great stocking stuffers).
A well-chosen, eco-friendly item can work from a number of angles: stylish but not too trendy, responsible but not sanctimonious, and money-saving without screaming, "I'm poor!"
To help in the search, the nonprofit Global Green recently held a panel discussion on green gift-giving, featuring several of New Orleans' environmentally friendly retailers.
Antarctica: A Call to Action
Few people have actually witnessed, first-hand, the effects of climate change on Antarctica. But Sebastian Copeland, an award-winning photographer, environmental activist and Global Green board member, has made it a personal mission to document this fragile and quickly changing part of the world.
Greening Hollywood: EcoTainment, Creating Good Content About Doing Good
The Huffington Post. December 16, 2008. By Paige Donner
Hewlett-Packard and GM were the title sponsors, again, this year, for the two-day conference held at Universal City put on by Zahava and Michael Stroud. "HGG was truly a top tier 'Green' event! The moment I arrived I was greeted with enthusiasm. The venue was lovely," said Cynthia Kiktavi of Kiktavi Design. "Topics were interesting as well as thought provoking and vendors were knowledgeable about their products. Zahava did a great job!"
Environmentally-Aware Stars Get Green At Sustainable Design Awards
ECORAZZI.COM DEC 12, 2008
On Wednesday night Ecorazzi had the honor of attending Global Green’s Sustainable Design Awards here in lusty, dusty NYC! Established in 1999, the Sustainable Design Awards recognizes specific advancements in industry, building, media, organizations, and public policy.
Al Gore Receives Honorary Doctorate from Poznan University
Al Gore called for more concerted action to save the planet yesterday as he addressed the audience at the University of Poznan, after receiving an honorary doctorate from the University during a side event to the 14th climate change conference taking place in the Polish city.
Tis the season: The stars shine at green benefits
PLENTY Magazine. Dec 9, 2008. By Roberta Cruger
Mel Gibson, Ed Norton, Katie Couric, David Hyde Pierce, and Deadwood’s Brian Cox are presenters at Global Green’s 9th Annual Sustainable Design Awards this week. Honors for Policy Design go to Bill Richardson, New Mexico’s Governor and newly appointed Commerce Secretary. Other kudos include Rabobank, which snagged The Founders Award for its corporate social responsibility and sustainability oriented banking, particularly exemplary in these financial times.
Sebastian Copeland on This Is America
On the Air America show "This Is America," host Jon Elliott is joined by Global Green Board member Sebastian Copeland who discusses his new book, Antartica: A Call To Action.
Good Housekeeping Green House Dazzles
THEDAILYGREEN.COM. NOV 13, 2008. By Brian Clark Howard
After months of planning, hammering and painting, the Good Housekeeping magazine Green House debuted as the first LEED-certified green private residence in all of New York City. The inspiring, pioneering remodel was undertaken with the expert assistance of Global Green (of Brad Pitt's New Orleans fame) and Connecticut's Steven Winter Associates.
U.S. Boosts Funding for Last Two CW Disposal Sites
Global Security Newswire. Nov 6, 2008. By Chris Schneidmiller
WASHINGTON — The U.S. Defense Department has received its highest-ever budget for preparing two chemical weapons disposal sites that hold the key to meeting the congressional demand to eliminate the entire U.S. stockpile by 2017.
Los Angeles Launches Green Building Program
The Los Angeles green building program went into effect for commercial projects over 50,000 sf November 1. The standards require projects at that threshold to meet the intent of the United States Green Building Council's Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) rating system, at the "Certified" level. The City also offers priority processing to projects on the path to achieving a LEED Silver rating.
Global Green conducted a workshop at the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power for interested stakeholders on compliance features of the program. Global Green will continue to provide guidance to the City as the program moves into implementation.
GREEN TO THE PEOPLE: Low-income housing and sustainable architecture
KCET Online. OCT 2008. By Christopher Hawthorne
For this edition of Web Stories, we decided to turn the spotlight away from glitzy green design and look instead at the intersection of sustainable architecture and affordable housing. That intersection, it turns out, is busier than you might realize, and in the next five to ten years is poised to grow even busier. We developed material in four categories -- Community, Energy, Materials & Reuse, and Urbanism -- to help explore the ways in which architects, planners, public housing advocates and others are bringing authentic and effective green design to the masses.
L.A. council orders solar rooftop measure drafted
L.A. TIMES. OCT 28, 2008. By David Zahniser.
If the council OKs it by Nov. 7, the initiative to add solar panels would be on the March ballot. The panels would provide 400 megawatts to commercial and other buildings by 2013.
The Los Angeles City Council voted Tuesday to draft a solar rooftop measure for the March 3 ballot, even though officials with the Department of Water and Power still don't know what the initiative would do to electrical rates.
Global Green Cuts the (Green) Ribbon on Eco-Friendly School
TREEHUGGER, OCT 27, 2008. By Marissa Moss
Global Green, Hollywood's favorite environmental non-profit, is showing they have the substance to back the style: last week, they launched their pilot program to create five green schools serving low income children in the Los Angeles area. Along with Local Initiatives Support Corporation (LISC), Global Green unveiled two of the finished projects with a ribbon cutting ceremony. Of course, the ribbon was green. Pics of the school after the jump.
LISC, Global Green Move Forward With 'Green' Charter Schools in L.A.
LOS ANGELES, Oct 16, 2008 /PRNewswire-USNewswire via COMTEX/
Local Initiatives Support Corporation (LISC) has joined forces with Global Green USA on a pilot program to create five "green" charter schools that serve low-income children in the Los Angeles area. Two projects are now complete, with children attending classes, and three others will be considered for the pilot in the coming months.
South Korea Completes Destruction of Its Chemical Weapons Stockpile
Environmental News Service. October 17, 2008.
THE HAGUE, Netherlands - In a step towards the global elimination of chemical weapons, South Korea has become the second country to destroy its declared chemical weapons stockpile. The country beat its December 31, 2008 deadline by at least three months.
Villaraigosa, 3 council members back solar power initiative
LOS ANGELES TIMES. OCT 15, 2008. By David Zahniser.
Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa and three City Council members have thrown their support behind a proposal to install enough rooftop solar panels on buildings across the city to power 100,000 residential customers of the Department of Water and Power by 2013.
Energy-efficient home projects dot New Orleans
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS. October 13, 2008. By Eileen Fleming
NEW ORLEANS (AP) - About a mile from the Make It Right project is another energy-efficient residence, the first of five planned houses to be accompanied by an 18-unit apartment building and a community center. The Global Green Holy Cross project, like the Make It Right project, aims for energy self-sufficiency.
Birgitta Bisztray of Global Green USA takes visitors on tours of the house. All the electricity comes from the 28 solar panels on its roof, she said. And knowing their house will have power when storms knock out public systems is reassuring for residents, she said.
Smarter Building: Lean and Green
Allianz Knowledge Partnersite. October 5, 2008.
Architect and urban planner Walker Wells talks about why building green is more than just following a checklist.
Are green buildings still affordable only to the rich?
It's true that green is more expensive, but it adds value, and generally things of greater value have a higher price tag, because it reflects the long-term value that you're going to derive from that initial investment. You will spend more money to get a more efficient air conditioner or better windows. However, that initial investment can be too big of a hurdle for many people, which is why we have historically seen the majority of green buildings built by people who are affluent.
REBUILDING GREEN WILL GET A LITTLE EASIER THIS WEEK
TIMES-PICAYUNE. October 4, 2008. By Molly Reid
Rebuilding a home after a major hurricane while holding down a job and keeping a family together is difficult enough. Rebuilding a home sustainably, using energy-efficient products and materials with a low environmental impact, is even harder.
Energy-conservation advocates and architects agree that investing extra time and money into a stronger, greener home yields significant rewards in energy savings. But green building poses questions -- "What makes a home green?" "Where do I find bamboo floors?" "How long will it take this tankless water heater to pay off?" -- that many homeowners may not feel equipped to answer.
To make fact-finding easier, the nonprofit Global Green will launch its "Build It Back Green" initiative Wednesday. Made possible by $400,000 in grants awarded earlier this year from Greater New Orleans Inc. and the Surdna Foundation, the initiative will target Road Home recipients with information and technical assistance to make green rebuilding easier.
Abolishing Chemical Weapons Globally: Successes and Challenges - An NGO Perspective
OPCW. September 24, 2008. By: Dr Paul F. Walker, Legacy Program Director, Global Green USA
The successful, verified elimination of some 40% of the six declared chemical weapons stockpiles in the first 11 years of the Chemical Weapons Convention represents a major achievement for the treaty regime and its implementing body, the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW). The primary goal of the Convention – the total elimination of existing chemical weapons stockpiles – is well on the way to being met in the foreseeable future.
GLOBAL GREEN MAKES TOP 25 OF MEMBERS PROJECT
Our Rebuilding New Orleans Green project made the Top 25 of the American Express Members Project. Thanks to the efforts of our supporters, our project garnered over 4,000 votes. While that was not ultimately enough votes to get into the Top 5 and win funding, we thank everyone for rallying for the green rebuilding of New Orleans.
Green Affordably
CHICAGO TRIBUNE. Sept 21, 2008. By Chuck Greene.
Owners of existing homes also can improve the energy efficiency of their homes, Miller said, with projects such as window replacements, new appliances and insulation, as well as landscaping to take advantage of sun and shade.
It's worth noting that reduced utility costs increase the amount people can afford for rent or mortgage, said Walker Wells, director of the resource efficiency and sustainable communities program for Global Green USA.
Green Building Resource Center
SANTA MONICA MIRROR. Sept 19, 2008. By Lynne Bronstein
In the midst of Main Street’s “green area,” near the communal garden and several yoga centers, is the Green Building Resource Center (GBRC). Open since April 2004, the Center is a partnership between the City of Santa Monica and Global Green USA, an organization that helps people with the design and construction of green buildings.
Hopeful Gorbachev receives Liberty Medal
Philadelphia Daily News, Sept. 19, 2008. By Stephanie Farr
Former Soviet President Mikhail Gorbachev accepted the 2008 Liberty Medal last night at the National Constitution Center after delivering a sharp rebuttal to remarks made earlier in the day by Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice.
Global Green Works on National Energy Efficiency Campaign
Global Green Policy and Legislative Associate David Fink will be in Minneapolis from Sept. 17th through Sept. 23rd for the culmination of a nine month campaign aimed at updating the most utilized residential building code in the country to make it 30% more energy efficient.
Walker Wells blogs on building green
Walker Wells, AICP LEED AP, is Director of the Green Urbanism Program at Global Green and the editor and co-author of Blueprint for Green Affordable Housing. He is blogging about green building for the new two months on the Island Press website.
Reflections: New Orleans and China
THE NEW YORK TIMES. Sept 14, 2008. By Nicolai Ouroussoff
Not surprisingly, what little progress has been made has been the work of a few determined nonprofit organizations. In the Holy Cross neighborhood, Global Green built a prototype for a sustainable shotgun house, complete with solar panels, natural ventilation and recycled materials. The house is the first step toward creating a planned sustainable community, organized around a town green that is designed to collect runoff water during a storm.
What I've Learned: Mikhail Gorbachev
ESQUIRE. Sept 10, 2008. By Cal Fussman
That Louis Vuitton ad? The proceeds go to Green Cross International and its American counterpart, Global Green. Also, I travel a lot, and a good bag comes in handy.
Look at what happened in New Orleans. Look at how big the blow was and how difficult the consequences are in dealing with such a blow. Imagine what would happen in a situation where nuclear weapons were used. Imagine the effect of the radiation. It's been years since the Chernobyl accident, and there are towns and villages where people do not live. The towns are still there. They haven't been torn down, but not a single person lives there. So this is a very serious matter--more than serious.
THIRD SEASON OF CRITICALLY ACCLAIMED PBS SERIES E2
e2 (pronounced e-squared)is a critically acclaimed PBS series about the innovatiors and pioneers who envision a better quality of life on earth: socially, culturally, economically and ecologically.
New Orleans: The Water Line explores the efforts to rebuild New Orleans' Lower 9th Ward in a way that is environmentally, culturally and socially sustainable. It features Pam Dashiell - formerly of the Holy Cross Neighborhood association - who has worked closely with Global Green on the Holy Cross Project, as well as Global Green CEO Matt Petersen, and our New Orleans Director Beth Galante.
Vista Dunes housing complex is affordable and 'green'
THE DESERT SUN. Aug 31, 2008. By Maricar Mendoza
Vista Dunes,off Miles Avenue near Adams Street, received the Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design for Homes Platinum certification for green building standards in August.
Vista Dunes is the first project in the Coachella Valley to receive the certification, which also made it the nation's largest multi-family affordable housing project to achieve the Platinum level of certification, said Ted Bardacke senior program associate with Global Green USA, an environmental nonprofit organization that helped in the certification process.
New Orleans, three years after Katrina
LOS ANGELES TIMES. Aug 31, 2008. Editorial
No, the city is not restored. But there are many signs of progress.
This weekend marks the third anniversary of Hurricane Katrina's devastating foray through the Gulf Coast, and though residents of New Orleans need no reminder of how vulnerable they are, Mother Nature is providing one anyway in the form of Hurricane Gustav. With some portions of the city's extensive levee system still waiting for upgrades, a direct hit by Gustav could bring flood waters back to neighborhoods that haven't recovered from the last go-round.
Should that happen, some critics will no doubt argue that investing tax dollars in New Orleans is throwing good money after bad. The federal government has put up $126 billion for repairs to the region, including nearly $60 billion for New Orleans and surrounding areas. It would have to spend billions more to restore the region's natural defenses against flooding. Why not move everyone out of harm's way and be done with it?
Watch Bob Woodruff's interview with Matt Petersen on Planet Green
This week on the Planet Green show Focus Earth, Bob Woodruff and his team head to New Orleans for the third anniversary of Katrina, to check out green rebuilding in the 9th Ward, and talk to Louisana's governor about the state's ecological future. The show includes an interview with Matt Petersen, President of Global Green. Bob Woodruff met with Matt Petersen at the first home completed in Global Green's Holy Cross Project, which is located in the Lower Ninth Ward of New Orleans.
It’s Getting Easier to be Green
COMMUNITY INVESTMENTS. Aug 2008. By Naomi Cytron
Cultivating the intersections between community development and environmental sustainability
The construction and operation of the buildings where we live and conduct business consume over 60 percent of the electricity used in the U.S. and account for one-third of total greenhouse gas emissions. Inefficient heating and cooling systems, lighting, and appliances contribute to the carbon footprint of the built environment; an old or poorly maintained refrigerator, for instance, can emit over 1,500 pounds of CO2 annually—the equivalent of about 75 gallons of gasoline. Building construction, renovations and operations also consume vast amounts of raw materials and generate heaps of waste; while some building materials are recycled, millions of tons of wood, concrete, drywall, and asphalt shingles end up in landfills. Conventional building practices may also have negative impacts on our health; materials and finishes are thought to contribute to poor indoor air quality and resulting respiratory illnesses such as asthma. The negative impacts of conventional building practices on human and environmental health require that we rethink where and how to design, construct, operate, and maintain both residential and commercial buildings in more sustainable ways.
THE HOLY CROSS PROJECT: A LOOK BACK
In 2006, as part of our commitment to the sustainable rebuilding of New Orleans and to demonstrate green building as a solution to global warming nationally, Global Green and Brad Pitt joined forces to sponsor an international architectural design competition. Reporter Ann Curry of the TODAY show traveled down to New Orleans in July of 2006 to do a two-part interview about the design competition with both Brad Pitt and Global Green President Matt Petersen. Here's a look back at that coverage, plus other related articles.
Smokey on the Water: Rock Star Camp Rolls Into New Orleans
THE HUFFINGTON POST. Aug 20, 2008. By Karen Dalton-Beninato
When Rock and Roll Fantasy Camp rolled into New Orleans, the rock star counselors asked the New Orleans Musicians Relief Fund to fill some scholarship positions and show them the effects of Katrina three years later. Showing someone around New Orleans these days not only includes pointing out abandoned slabs where homes were washed away three years ago, it also includes touring the areas where the city is finally rising thanks to ongoing grass roots efforts.
Camp counselors were Elliot Easton (The Cars); Glen Hughes (Deep Purple); Gilby Clark (Guns and Roses); Dave Ellefson (Megadeath); Kip Winger (Winger); Mark Slaughter (Slaughter); Chris Slade (AC/DC); Marc Hudson (the Hudson Brothers); and Earl Slick (David Bowie). We visited Global Green, Make it Right, Furnishing Our Neighbors and the Habitat for Humanity Musicians Village the day before the show.
City of West Hollywood green building program wins award
The California Chapter of the American Planning Association (APA) has awarded the City of West Hollywood a 2008 "Outstanding Innovation in Green Community Planning" Award for the West Hollywood Green Building Program to be presented at an awards luncheon at the State APA Conference on Tuesday, September 23, 2008 at the Renaissance Hotel in Hollywood. As an APA-State winner, the City has also qualified for submission to the National APA Awards Program.
The American Planning Association is a nonprofit public interest and research organization representing 43,000 practicing planners, officials, and citizens involved with urban and rural planning issues. Sixty-five percent of APA's members work for state and local government agencies.
The West Hollywood Green Building Program was written by Global Green USA. Newsweek wrote an article about the program late last year.
HOLY CROSS PROJECT SITE UPDATE
Global Green, in partnership with the Holy Cross Neighborhood Association, chose to build its green affordable housing development on a site that is immediately adjacent to the Mississippi River in the Lower Ninth Ward. At approximately 7 feet above sea level, this half city block is on the highest ground in New Orleans, and should therefore be safe from future hurricane storm surges.
In selecting a site next to the river, however, Global Green is encountering lead contamination - an additional hurdle to sustainable rebuilding that tens of thousands of sites in the city are also burdened with. Global Green has met the challenge of cleaning up a contaminated site in a sustainable way head on: rather than simply scrap the contaminated soils into a dump truck and ship them off to a landfill in someone else's community - usually a low-income and/or minority community without the power to protect themselves from toxic imports - Global Green has chosen to keep the soils on-site, but to do so in a way that ensures that they are safely sealed off from the community and the environment.
A STARTER KITCHEN
TRIBUNE MEDIA. July 27, 2008. By Anne Willan
New Orleans - Leaving downtown and the anonymous halls of a large conference hotel, I escape across the Mississippi to the other New Orleans, to the infamous Lower Ninth Ward, where the flooding from Hurricane Katrina struck at its most brutal. Many of the original residents have left. The roads are eerily quiet with few cars and scarcely a passerby; this could be deep countryside, green with the brilliant colors of spring. I am headed to a small experimental project nestled right below the levee bank that holds in check the treacherous, swirling river water, here up to 200 feet deep.
JOHN EDWARDS SURVEYS 9TH WARD 'GREEN HOME'
TIMES-PICAYUNE. FRI, JULY 25, 2008. By Nicole Dungca
During his second visit to New Orleans this year, former U.S. Sen. John Edwards on Thursday toured a green home in the Lower 9th Ward and held a news conference to talk about efforts to combat climate change. Edwards will co-chair a national climate initiative that will focus on influencing civic leaders and lawmakers to push environmentally-friendly legislation.
Edwards, who last visited New Orleans in January when he announced he was dropping out of the presidential race, was joined in a news conference by Global Green USA CEO Matt Petersen, who spoke of the dangers facing coastal cities across the country.
GLOBAL GREEN HELPS N.O USE LESS ENERGY
2THEADVOCATE.COM. JULY 25, 2008. By Amy Wold
Urging the use of more energy-efficient homes and discussing how to cut climate change pollution are parts of a new national initiative announced Thursday to reduce global warming-related pollution.
“New Orleans is a front line for sea level rise in this country,” said Matt Peterson, president of Global Green USA.
Reducing the amount of global warming pollution could help reduce the projected sea level rise if nothing is done, Peterson said.
NEW ORLEANS REBUILD EFFORTS GOING FOR LEED PLATINUM
INHABITAT. JULY 9, 2008.
The opportunity to rebuild New Orleans as an international example of sustainability comes in the aftermath of what is increasingly being recognized as the tipping point for global awareness of climate change and its devastating impacts. Global Green is committed to helping New Orleans rebuild and to use the national and international attention on the city as a wake-up call to push urgently for solutions to global warming. Global Green is accomplishing this through many initiatives including The Holy Cross Project which is going for the USGBC’s highest LEED certification.
GRANT TURNING CITY ONTO SOLAR POWER
TIMES-PICAYUNE. JUNE 29, 2008. By Molly Reid
Gathered around a mock roof in the middle of a workshop at the Louisiana Technical College Jefferson campus this week, 13 potential solar panel installers analyzed a quartet of photovoltaic panels mounted in a continuous row. The group had spent the past two days in class learning the basics of solar technology installation, and they seemed ready to put their skills to use.
Russia opens 4th chemical weapons destruction plant
INTERNATIONAL HERALD TRIBUNE. June 17, 2008.
Russia opened a fourth plant Tuesday to destroy its chemical weapons stockpiles, which are the largest in the world. The destruction facility, located near the site of one of Russia's seven major chemical weapons arsenals, will help accelerate an ambitious effort to fully eliminate the stockpiles in less than four years.
ARCTIC SEA ICE MELTING FASTER THAN EXPECTED
THE CHRISTIAN SCIENCE MONITOR. JUNE 12, 2008. By Peter N. Spotts
Arctic Ocean sea ice – one of the most visible indicators for global warming – may be headed for another record-breaking summer decline.
If the pattern continues, new research suggests, its warming effect could reach up to 900 miles inland, melting permafrost and potentially altering weather patterns at lower latitudes. As of June 7, preliminary data show that the vast expanse of ice at the top of the world is some 55,800 square miles smaller than it was on the same date last year, according to University of Colorado researcher Sheldon Drobot. In May, sea-ice extent was slightly large than in May 2007. But the melt rate during the month – some 3,000 square miles a day – was faster, according to the National Snow and Ice Data Center in Boulder, Colo.
Spring Valley Weapons Search to Continue
WASHINGTON POST. May 30, 2008.
The cleanup of World War I chemical weapons buried under the Spring Valley neighborhood of Northwest Washington could last three more years, as crews search for more shells and remove tainted soil, officials said yesterday.
GLOBAL GREEN SEES RISE IN N.O.'S ECO-ACTION
TMES-PICAYUNE. MAY 24, 2008. By Molly Reid
Global Green USA and its New Orleans office last week celebrated the official opening of their first home in Holy Cross.
The house, built to platinum standards under the Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design program, will serve as a visitor's center and informational resource for residents interested in the rest of the Brad Pitt-sponsored Holy Cross project.
California Building Standards Commission votes to adopt the nation's first statewide green building code
"California continues to be a national leader in addressing climate change. With the adoption of the new standards, builders and local governments have a sound foundation to create greener communities in the state." said Global Green staffer Walker Wells, an appointed member of the Green Building Technical Advisory Committee that helped develop California’s green building code.
HOLY CROSS PROJECT IS GREEN INSIDE & OUT
WASTE NEWS. APRIL 28, 2008. By Chrissy Kadleck
Avocado-painted walls in the living room are just one obvious sign that the first home of the Holy Cross Project is categorically green. This innovative two-story, three-bedroom home is not only a showcase of best practices in green building and materials, but also a model for environmentally friendly decor that is stylish and affordable.
ON EARTH DAY, L.A. PASSES A 'GREEN' BUILDING LAW TO CLEAN THE AIR
LOS ANGELES TIMES. APRIL 23, 2008. By Margot Roosevelt
Los Angeles embarked on one of its most ambitious projects to combat global warming on Monday, becoming the biggest city in the nation to impose "green" building rules that would potentially cut millions of tons of pollution over the next decade.
GLOBAL GREEN HOUSE UNVEILS ECO-FRIENDLY DECOR
TIMES-PICAYUNE. APRIL 12, 2008. By Renee Peck
Back in 2006, when we were rebuilding our house post-Katrina, the emphasis was on hurricane-resistant construction: SIPS panels and trusses, paperless drywall and borate barriers. No one was talking VOCs or BLUwood, tankless water heaters or low-flush toilets.
My, how things have changed. If I had it do to all over again -- and luckily I don't, because who would ever go through all that again -- I'd get not only a strong house, but also a green one. In the past couple of years, green building and eco-friendly decorating have come of age.
21ST CENTURY SHOTGUN BLENDS TRADITIONAL & MODERN
TIMES-PICAYUNE. APRIL 10, 2008. By Doug McCash
The design of the Global Green model home in Holy Cross is smart. I'm not talking about all the futuristic energy saving features; I'm just talking about the appearance.
To do its job, it had to be jazzy enough to draw attention to itself, but stay pretty much within the scale and prevailing taste of the neighborhood. I think it does both.
SCHOOL SAVINGS SPROUT FROM GLOBAL GREEN
NEW ORLEANS CITY BUSINESS. MARCH 3, 2008. By Stephen Maloney
A.P. Tureaud Elementary School on Pauger Street is a whole lot greener today even without a new coat of paint.
Santa Monica, Calif.-based Global Green U.S.A. designated Tureaud as its first Green Seed School in June and immediately went to work on the 69-year-old Seventh Ward building.
Pioneers in the Green School Revolution
GREEN TECHNOLOGY MAGAZINE. FEB 14, 2008. By Racquel Palmese.
When a school district in California wants to build a green school or implement a green school program, they will often call Global Green USA, an organization, headquartered in Los Angeles, that is uniquely involved in the spiraling green schools movement.
Ted Bardacke, Senior Program Associate with Global Green USA, spoke with Green Technology Magazine about the organization’s work with California’s green schools.
Building a new home while dreaming in green
SACRAMENTO BEE. January 14, 2008. By Ngoc Nguyen
Annica Hagadorn is carefully building what will become more than just a rural dream home, nestled among pine trees near Grass Valley.
Instead of granite countertops or hardwood floors, she's installing more Earth-friendly cork flooring. She'll have solar panels on the roof to generate all of the electricity she'll need – which won't be too much, she hopes, given the energy-efficient appliances and a thick layer of insulation around her water heater.
Small City, Big Impact: How West Hollywood is casting itself as a green leader
NEWSWEEK. Oct 18, 2007. By Andrew Murr.
Being green means different things in different parts of the country. In St. Louis, Seattle and other places, eco-friendly construction standards apply only to city-owned or city-funded buildings. In Boston and a few other cities, green construction codes also apply to major commercial or residential developments.
So which American city thinks it can lay claim to the most comprehensive green building standards? Look west to tiny city of West Hollywood, Calif., a 1.9-square-mile patch of Los Angeles with 37,000 people, making it the city with the highest population density west of the Mississippi. Starting October 1, every private and public development must meet the city's ambitious new green building requirements. The policy includes new construction, rehabs and additions. The only exemptions: duplexes and single-family homes. Requiring so many of the city's real estate projects to meet green building standards puts West Hollywood in the forefront of the move to thrust eco-friendly design closer to the mainstream of architecture and planning.
Brad Pitt Helps Out as New Orleans Rebuilds
THIS OLD HOUSE. AUG 28, 2007.
On the eve of Hurricane Katrina's second anniversary, Global Green USA toured progress of their first affordable green home under construction. The Holy Cross project is one of the first new home construction projects to be built in the Lower 9th Ward. It is being built with green products and energy efficient systems that will be included in the completed project of five single family homes, an multi-unit apartment complex, and a community center/Sustainable Design and Climate Action Institute. Here, Brad Pitt (initial sponsor and chair of the sustainable design competition jury), Global Green USA, and The Home Depot Foundation (lead funding partner) unveil the final design.
Pitt envisions day when energy bills will be ‘useless'
TODAY. AUG 27, 2007. By Mike Celizic
Brad Pitt wants to make energy bills go away, and he doesn’t think that’s an outlandish pipe dream. In the second part of an exclusive one-on-one interview with TODAY’s Ann Curry, he showed how the new houses he’s helping to build in New Orleans will make a giant stride toward that goal.
The actor and activist sponsored a design competition for affordable apartments and houses along with Global Green USA. With the second anniversary of Hurricane Katrina arriving next week, work on 18 apartments and five homes is nearing completion. Global Green is constructing the homes, which will be sold to residents, with preference being given to former residents of the neighborhood.
Brad Pitt shares hopes, dreams for New Orleans
TODAY. AUG 23, 2008. By Mike Celizic
Hollywood star lends his time, celebrity to rebuilding Ninth Ward
Brad Pitt doesn't pretend that the 18 apartments and five homes rising in New Orleans’ Ninth Ward are anything more than a start toward the massive job of rebuilding from the devastation inflicted by Hurricane Katrina. But the Hollywood star believes the project he's putting his time and celebrity behind is an important step toward shaping what the area could become.
Pitt and his wife, Angelina Jolie, have adopted New Orleans. In January, they bought an early-19th-century mansion in the French Quarter. Not long afterward, Pitt teamed with Global Green USA to sponsor a competition to design environmentally friendly and energy-efficient housing for the Ninth Ward.
Pitt Power: Actor's fame helps build the first house in the Holy Cross affordable-housing project
TIMES-PICAYUNE. AUG 22, 2007. By John Pope
…Pitt showed up to check on the first house in a project he has been helping with his money and the power of celebrity. Accompanied by neighborhood residents and representatives of Global Green USA, which is sponsoring the initative, and the Home Depot Foundation, an underwriter, Pitt strolled through the two-story house, which will have solar panels that could reduce utility bills by 75 percent.
Brad Pitt aims to keep focus on Katrina recovery
REUTERS. AUG 21, 2007. By Russell McCulley
Pitt was in the Lower Ninth Ward neighborhood to tour an ecologically sustainable single-family being built by Global Green USA, an environmental group he backs.
The actor praised the house in the Holy Cross area of the ward as a “small victory” for efforts to rebuild the city, but said it’s hard to find an overall victory when you see how slowly everything is still moving. And Katrina was a man-made disaster. This house is a man-made solution.”
Energy-efficient affordable housing
THE SAN DIEGO UNION-TRIBUNE. June 2, 2007.
In Solara, Poway has built an environmentally pioneering low-income apartment complex that basically powers itself.
Those involved with developing Solara say they wanted to achieve the important balance of providing solidly built low-cost housing to help their tenants, while at the same time making that housing ecologically friendly.
Pitt's Green Building Project Begins
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS. MAY 10, 2007. By Stacey Plaisance
With a brass band accompaniment, developers in this city’s devastated Lower 9th Ward celebrated the start of construction Thursday on an environmentally friendly new home, based on the winning design in a competition started by Brad Pitt.
“Hopefully this can be a model for the level of redevelopment that can be done here,” said Matt Petersen, president and CEO of Global Green USA, the environmental group working with Pitt on the project.
Brad Pitt Breaks Ground on Green-Housing Project
PEOPLE. MAY 10, 2007. By Mary Green
Brad Pitt may be halfway around the world with his family in Prague, but on Thursday, ground was broken on his green-housing project in New Orleans.
Pitt, 43, tells PEOPLE: "The greatest victory for me will be when the first people move into one of these green homes – when they can put their key into that lock, sit down at the table, have dinner with their families and live their lives. That's what we're getting closer to with this announcement today."
Pitt on building an eco-friendly New Orleans
TODAY. SEPT 5, 2006. By Ann Curry
The ‘Today’ show’s Ann Curry talks with the actor about his efforts to bring housing to the region on the first anniversary of Hurricane Katrina
All week, we've been looking at the shocking devastation that still remains in New Orleans, as citizens there mark one year since Hurricane Katrina struck. On Thursday, actor Brad Pitt announced a major step forward in his effort to bring back housing in one of the hardest-hit parts of the city. Not only did he vow that it will be built, ground-breaking is expected in a matter of months. I caught up with him in New Orleans on Thursday for an exclusive interview.
Global Green New Orleans Competition Winner Announced
TREEHUGGER. SEPT 4, 2006. By Lloyd Alter
And the winner of the Global Green competition is Andrew Kotchen and Matthew Berman of Workshop/APD. We might have rejected them just for the punny name GreeNOLA and the retro drawings, but the scheme has winning attributes-
"The winning design integrated the newest sustainable technologies while drawing upon the wisdom of the past," said Matt Petersen, President of Global Green USA. "The impressive innovations show how to rebuild a healthier New Orleans. These homes, once built, will help improve the lives of families by lowering energy costs and improving the health of the residents." ....Pam Dashiell, President of the Holy Cross Neighborhood Association served as one of the design jury members and described the role of the community process throughout the competition saying, "these green building designs breathe new life into our communities; the amount of community input was incredible."
Rebuilding a better, greener New Orleans
TODAY. JULY 18, 2006. By Ann Curry.
Global Green and Brad Pitt join forces to help bring housing to the Gulf Coast region. Check out the eco-conscious designs and video
To help encourage environmentally-friendly building, Brad Pitt, along with Global Green, announced a sustainable design architectural competition for the areas of New Orleans devastated by Hurricane Katrina. It drew 3000 registrants from all over the world, six finalists were chosen. Check out the designs, and watch video of Pitt, the “Today” show's Ann Curry, and Matt Petersen, president of Global Green USA, discuss the finalists.
Pitt on rebuilding New Orleans, fatherhood
TODAY. JULY 18, 2006. By Ann Curry
The ‘Today’ show's Ann Curry talks with the actor about eco-friendly housing in the region, and the joys of being a dad
Nearly a year after Hurricane Katrina, Brad Pitt sat down with the “Today” show's Ann Curry to discuss the devastation in New Orleans, environmentally friendly development, and his new role as a dad.
The rebuilding process in New Orleans has been slow, so has the clean-up. The need for affordable housing is chronic. Brad Pitt recently teamed up with the non-profit group Global Green to try to spur green-friendly building in the Crescent City. As he tells us, it is a need that is way overdue.
Pitt Shocked by Post-Katrina Devastation
FOXNEWS.COM. JULY 15, 2006. By STACEY PLAISANCE, Associated Press Writer
NEW ORLEANS — After two days of getting his first up-close look at post-Katrina New Orleans, Brad Pitt said Friday he was shocked at the devastation that remains almost a year later.
"I was not prepared,"the actor said, describing how he drove for miles and saw street after street of devastation.
Pitt was in New Orleans to give an update on a project he's promoting - a competition to choose ecologically sound designs for rebuilding neighborhoods.
The Softest Sell
THE LOS ANGELES TIMES. SEPT 25, 2005. By Emily Young
When it comes to designing an earth-friendly house, most people want to do the right thing. But the minute the process requires more time, more labor or more money, the impulse to do good quickly wanes. That's where Global Green USA's Green Building Resource Center comes in. A joint venture of the environmental organization and the city of Santa Monica, the center wants to pave the way to a healthier planet, not with good intentions but by putting sound ideas into action.
S.F. MAYOR TOUTS 'GREEN' GOAL IN AFFORDABLE HOUSING
SAN FRANCISCO CHRONICLE. AUG 3, 2005. By Ilene Lelchuk
Standing next to some solar panels on the roof of the unfinished Plaza Apartments, where 106 new studios for poor individuals are under construction, San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom announced Tuesday that the city was the first in the nation applying high environmental standards to all its new affordable housing developments.
Go Vertical, Young Green
LA WEEKLY. April 28, 2008. By Judith Lewis
With each passing hour in the United States, 365 acres of open space — wilderness, countryside, farmland and native habitat — disappear under the foundations of brand-new houses. ...Unlike so many other ecological nightmares these days, however, this one has a solution: apartment life. Where once the nature-lover’s imperative was to carve out a space in the wilderness and get off the grid, many now realize that polluting the air on long commutes and paving over open space so you can live on it is fast becoming unhip: The Natural Resources Defense Council and the Sierra Club now hand out pamphlets and fliers on "smart-growth" and "transit-oriented" housing; New York City is heralded as a haven of greenness.
ECO-FRIENDLY BUILDINGS
NEWSHOUR. APRIL 15, 2005
Jeffrey Kaye of KCET-Los Angeles reports on efforts to build environment-friendly buildings.
JEFFREY KAYE: Think about what harms the environment and the culprits that most likely come to mind are factories, power plants and cars, all belching pollutants. What probably isn't thought of as an environmental menace are America's more than 80 million commercial and residential buildings.
But whether they're soaring skyscrapers or suburban tract homes, buildings have a huge effect on the environment, say scientists, from the consumption of energy and the wasteful use of raw materials to the production of greenhouse gases.
ROB WATSON: Well, I believe that buildings are the worst thing that people do to the environment.
JEFFREY KAYE: Rob Watson is a senior scientist with the environmental group NRDC, The Natural Resources Defense Council.
A natural, inside and out
THE LOS ANGELES TIMES. JAN 6, 2009. By Steven Barrie-Anthony
"Feel my windows," Al Rosen tells you. Feel his windows?
But you do, and the floor-to-ceiling glass enclosing Rosen's den and living room is cool to the touch, despite the blazing weather outside. This is triple-glazed glass filled with argon gas, and it lets in sunlight (which saves electricity and lightbulbs) and insulates against heat in the summer and cold in the winter.
Back to Basics for College Buildings
LOS ANGELES TIMES. MARCH 6, 2002. By Stuart Silverstein
Policy: L.A. district's 'green' construction plan includes windows that open and trees that offer cooling shade.
What will new college buildings look like in the technology-mad early 21st century?
Maybe not as space-agey as you think. As envisioned by the leaders of the Los Angeles Community College District, cutting-edge and environmentally friendly campus architecture will embody about as much old-fashioned practicality as high-tech gadgetry.
The ‘new’ L.B. Landry – ‘Ribbon in the Sky’ for Algiers
THE LOUISIANA WEEKLY. AUGUST 10, 2010. By Nayita Wilson
After five years of waiting, planning, a community supported demolition process and meticulous construction, a community celebrates the return of a neighborhood landmark and educational pillar in Algiers. Local and state education leaders, alumni and supporters congregated in the “new” L.B. Landry High School’s auditorium last Thursday, August 5, to celebrate the completion of Landry’s new structure and ultimate re-opening.
