Blogs & Ecology

As you read this, someone close to you may be cleaning, stuffing, or slicing a turkey. Over 45 million turkeys were purchased for Thanksgiving out of the 265 million raised this year alone. The vast majority of these birds were grown on industrial farms. Perhaps your bird is organic, free range, or locally grown, but odds are you won’t be dining on a heritage turkey this holiday. You may be surprised to learn just how much healthier these birds are, how crucial they are for the future of our food system, and why its hard for this niche to turn a profit.

Try the Reusables Cost Comparison Tool designed by the Reusable Packaging Association. The tool was demonstrated this past week at the 2008 "Choose Reusables!" Education Forum sponsored by Reusable Packaging Association (RPA) and StopWaste.org. In just a few minutes, using your own company's pricing and volume and "dwell time" estimates you can get a rough idea of whether or not it makes sense for your company to invest in reusable shipping containers vs. a one-time use cardboard box.

Retailers and consumer goods manufacturers are going to have to collaborate and work more closely with their supply chain partners if their climate change mitigation strategies are to be translated into effective action and if they are to realize the competitive benefits inherent in them, according to new research results from McKinsey & Co.

It's faster, it's cheaper, it's just as beautiful, and now it's greener--at least its packaging is.

Production of polycrystalline silicon (polysilicon) has begun at Hemlock Semiconductor Corp.’s new facility – the single largest in the world - in the Michigan town of the same name. The new plant will produce some 9,000 metric tons of polysilicon a year, bringing the Hemlock facility’s total annual capacity to approximately 19,000 metric tons by the end of this year.

A recent annual survey into the carbon reduction efforts by suppliers has revealed that business leaders dread the potential impact of emissions legislation on their activities. The survey, carried out by the Carbon Disclosure Project (CDP), a transatlantic not for profit organization, covered responses of 144 supply companies to multinational corporations. Only 26% of the suppliers have actual plans in place to achieve greenhouse gas reductions. But more than double that number (58%) was tracking their emissions. Around 33% of all the surveyed suppliers has a dedicated board member in place dealing with climate change issues.

Charter members of the Carbon Disclosure Project’s Supply Chain Leadership Council are leading the way forward when it comes to fostering greenhouse gas emissions accounting and disclosure practices, emissions reduction targets and the formulation of climate change strategy across their multinational supply chain networks.

Mainstream businesses are embracing sustainability initiatives. You probably knew that. But did you stop to consider the motives behind such initiatives? Look at the words of Michael Potts, chief executive officer of Rocky Mountain Institute, the self-described entrepreneurial, nonprofit organization focused on the efficient and restorative use of the world's natural resources: