Wanted: Your Ideas for Healthcare Reform

Have an idea to improve the U.S. health care system?

ChangeNow4Health is sponsoring an open challenge for you to submit your ideas "for improvements to the United States health care system. The key requirement is that the idea must be able to be implemented quickly and effectively."

Up to three finalists will be awarded $10,000 each for the best solutions. Deadline for submission of ideas is May 23, 2008. Details and guidelines can be found at http://community.changenow4health.com/community

Call for Climate

On Earth Day 2008 (Tuesday, April 22), citizens are asked to participate in "Call for Climate" by calling your Representative or Senator and asking them to "enact tough and fair climate change legislation." U.S. residents can phone 1-202-224-3121 and residents of other countries can check the website to find the appropriate phone number for their country. Call for Climate is sponsored by Earthday Network.

Earth Day Every Day (At Work)

In honor of Earth Day, what can your business do to make a difference?

Create a list of options for becoming more environmentally-friendly in the workplace and begin with a single project. Establish goals and timelines for your project, assign responsibility for various tasks associated with the project, and remember to measure results so that you can share your success stories.

Here are some project ideas for starters:

Green Team - Create a Green Team to begin discussing and exploring issues related to sustainable business. Educate employees through emails, newsletters, and announcements. Get everyone involved!

Recycled Paper - Make the switch to recycled paper. It's possible to experience immediate financial and environmental benefits by making this single change at your office.

Green Procurement - Develop a green procurement policy that gives preference in purchasing to products and service providers that have minimal environmental impact.

Recycling - Establish a recycling program.

Reduce Your Emissions - Commit to reducing your carbon emissions by following the steps outlined in the Low Carb Corporate Diet.

Make every day Earth Day.

baabaaZuZu - Sustainable & Responsible Business of the Week

baabaaZuZu (Lake Leelanau MI) was started in 1994 by Sue and Kevin Burns. baabaaZuZu makes clothing from items that would otherwise be discarded. All clothing is made from 100% recycled materials, primarily wool and tweed. Most of the supply comes from second hand shops. Each product is unique but all have a common pocket and hand sewn blanket stitch. The product line consists of jackets, vests, hats, scarves, mittens, purses & bags, pins, and Christmas stockings.

Sustainable & Responsible Business of the Week: If they can do it, so can you!

Pinehurst Inn - Sustainable & Responsible Business of the Week

Pinehurst Inn Bed & Breakfast (Bayfield WI) is an historic inn, built in 1885. In 2003, owners Steve and Nancy Sandstrom added the Garden House, a green building that is energy-efficient and used sustainable materials in construction. The Pinehurst Inn uses solar hot water heaters, green cleaning products, and organic linens and towels. Pinehurst Inn composts food and garden waste, recycles, avoids chemical treatments on lawn and gardens, serves locally grown organic food and organic coffees and teas, and has converted their vehicle (the Grease Car) to run on recycled grease. The Inn also purchases carbon offsets for their business as well as offsets for 50% of customers' travel to the Inn.

Sustainable & Responsible Business of the Week: If they can do it, so can you!

nvohk's Social Business Model: You own it, you manage it, you wear it

"Social" or "open" forms of business are gaining in popularity, from open social software to wikipedia, social marketing, social lending, social design, participatory retail, Web 2.0, and many other collaborative forms with the purpose of engaging the masses. nvohk™ (Los Angeles CA) has only been around a few months and they are already generating a lot of attention with their social business model.

nvohk™ (pronounced 'invoke') will create eco-friendly clothing, with your help. The site is open to everyone to become a member-owner. Membership is limited to 40,000 member-owners and they will officially launch business when they reach 5,000 member-owners (down from the previous goal of 20,000 member-owners to launch). They currently have over 2100 members. Member-owners will contribute $50/year to join and will have the opportunity to vote on designs, advertising, sponsorships, and other business decisions. Ten percent of net profits will go to charities selected by the member-owners and 35% of net profits will be returned to member-owners through reward points. Member-owners have no legal or financial responsibility for the company.

nvohk™'s website states that they are "the first community-managed eco-friendly surf-inspired clothing company." I think it's appropriate to say "how gnarly!"

Clean School Bus USA - Encourage Your School District to Join

The Environmental Protection Agency's Clean School Bus USA initiative is a voluntary program that seeks to reduce children's exposure to diesel exhaust and the amount of air pollution created by diesel school buses. They will to do this by eliminating unnecessary bus idling, retrofitting buses with better technologies and/or using cleaner fuels, and replacing the oldest buses with new, less-polluting buses.

Realizing these alternatives can be costly to schools, funding is available to assist schools through the EPA's regional offices. A map on their site allows you to identify your state's regional office and their contact information. You can also check their site to see which school districts are already participating in your state. Funding is also available to assist states in implementing diesel emission reduction programs.

Beyond the environmental impact, why does the Clean School Bus USA initiative matter? A study from the National Resources Defense Council and the Coalition for Clean Air found that children riding a diesel school bus may be exposed to up to 4 times more toxic diesel exhaust. This level of exposure "pose(s) from 23 to 46 times the cancer risk level considered significant under federal law." Diesel exhaust can also exacerbate asthma and other respiratory illnesses. Children are the most vulnerable to the toxic effects of diesel exhaust and air pollution because they breathe 50% more air per body weight than adults.

If you are a parent, grandparent, school board member, school employee, or concerned citizen you should encourage your school district to voluntarily become involved in the Clean School Bus USA initiative.

Did Turning Off Your Lights Matter?: Some Early Earth Day 2008 Results

Results are starting to come in from Earth Hour 2008. What impact can be made by turning off non-essential lighting for one hour?

Chicago saved an estimated 420 tons of carbon dioxide emissions

Toronto saw an 8.7% drop is electricity usage over the hour

British Columbia saved 125 megawatts of electricity

Bangkok saved 73.3 megawatts of electricity

Christchurch (in southern New Zealand) saw power consumption drop 12.8%

Fiji reports electricity use was down 11.2 megawatts and saved 7.34 tons of emissions

Dubai reduced electricity use by 100,000 kilowatts and 60,000 kilograms (60 tons) of emissions

The "We" Campaign: We Can Solve the Climate Crisis

This week, Al Gore has launched the "we" campaign, a project of the nonprofit he founded, The Alliance for Climate Protection. The goal of the "we" campaign is to educate the U.S. and the world about the need for action on climate change and to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. The campaign also urges elected officials to take action toward solutions, provides suggestions and solutions for individuals, corporations, and governments, urges the media to ask elected officials more questions on climate change, and asks lenders to consider climate impact when funding new coal plants.

The campaign will reach people through advertising, online organizing, and partnerships with grass-roots groups. You can watch the first television advertisement and other videos on their website. At their site, you can sign up for action alerts, read success stories of individuals and businesses, watch for the opening of the "we" carbon neutral store, and learn more about the campaign.

You can visit the "we" campaign website at http://www.wecansolveit.org/.

Green Home 2008 Giveaway Sweepstakes Now Open!

Each year, HGTV gives away a Dream Home. In addition to the Dream Home, this is the first year they are also sponsoring a Green Home Giveaway. The Green Home is located in Tradition Hilton Head, SC, comes fully furnished with eco-friendly furnishings and appliances, and even includes a GMC Yukon Hybrid. On their website, you can take a virtual tour of the Green Home and enter the Green Home Giveaway sweepstakes until May 9, 2008.

Clean Air Lawn Care - Sustainable & Responsible Business of the Week

Clean Air Lawn Care (Fort Collins CO) was started in 2005 by Kelly Giard. The company uses solar-powered lawn mowers for yard care. Trucks are equipped with solar panels to recharge the mowers throughout the day. When it is not possible to use solar-powered mowers, they use conventional mowers fueled with biodiesel. They will also remove yard waste to an organic waste recycling center, where available. The company purchases carbon offsets for the business and is carbon neutral.

Clean Air Lawn Care has seven nationwide company-owned locations and 20 employees. Franchises are also available. Locations are now in Fort Collins, Boulder, Denver, Boston, New York, Atlanta, Austin, San Francisco, Salt Lake City, Portland, and Seattle.

On their website, you'll find an online calculator to determine the carbon emissions of your current mowing methods. You'll also find a $1000 scholarship application for environmentally-minded students preparing to enroll in college for the first time; deadline for applications is May 1, 2008.

Sustainable & Responsible Business of the Week: If they can do it, so can you!

Sustainability Webinars in April

Here is a list of upcoming sustainability-related webinars for April (offered from a variety of sources). Don't forget to visit our site for a full list of upcoming and archived (on demand) webinars.

Save the emissions...do it online!

• Organizations II: Internal Influences on Corporate Climate Strategy (April 2)


• Extra Credit: Bringing LEED to College Campuses (April 7)


• Greening Your Office 101 (April 16)


• Supply Management's Role in Sustainability (April 17)


• The Carbon Reduction Workshop (Apr. 22-24)


• Green Purchasing (April 23)


• Carbon Offsetting (April 30)


• FTC: Green Packaging Workshop (April 30)

Earth Hour, Saturday March 29, 8-9pm

This Saturday, March 29 is Earth Hour 2008. Cities, businesses, and individuals around the world are asked to turn off non-essential lighting for 60 minutes (8-9pm local time) "to deliver a powerful message about the need for action on global warming."

To date, over 250,000 individuals and 18,000 businesses have signed up to participate. Have you? Visit their website to register.

How To Make A Difference - For Free!

How can you make a difference and it won't cost you any time or money? Here are several companies that make it easy for you!

Search Engines

• Carbon Neutral Search - makes a contribution through carbon offsets for each search
• GoodSearch - select a charity and $.01 is donated for each search
• Magic Taxi - select a charity, 50% of advertising revenue is donated to charities
  

Instant Messaging

• I'm Making a Difference - for each message sent, Microsoft donates a portion of advertising revenue

Email

• ippimail email service - 45% of advertising revenues are donated to charity for each email you send or read on their web-based service

Toolbars

• Care2 - install their toolbar and for every day you use it, they will save 25 feet of Amazonian rainforest

Click Your Mouse (no purchase required - just click and they donate)

• LJ Urban - for every 10,000 visitors by July 1, they will train a local mason in Africa
• Free Rice - for each word you get correct, this online vocabulary building game donates 20 grains of rice
• Free Flour - for each question you get correct, they donate one spoon of flour
• FreePoverty - for each geographic location you can find on the map, they will donate up to 10 cups of water
• JogoGreen - for every 10 questions you answer correctly, they will plant a tree
• Race to Stop Global Warming - your click offsets 25 pounds of carbon dioxide
• Race for the Rainforest - select which cause you wish to support
• Race to Save Baby Whales - your click supports airtime to raise awareness
• Race for the Oceans - for a donation to ocean protection programs
• Race for the Big Cats - select the species to support conservation efforts
• Race for the Primates - your click generates a donation for conservation efforts
• Race to Help Children in Need - your click helps sponsor a child
• Race for Pets in Need - your click supports a donation to the Humane Society
• Stop Violence Against Women - your click supports Amnesty International programs
• Climb to Prevent Breast Cancer - your click donates $.005 to the Breast Cancer Fund
• The Hunger Site - your click gives 1.1 cups of food to the hungry
• The Breast Cancer Site - helps fund free mammograms
• The Child Health Site - helps provide free healthcare for children
• The Ecology Fund - select your choice of which project to click and help
• The Literacy Site - helps provide free books to children
• The Rainforest Site - your click protects 11.4 square feet of rainforest
• The Animal Rescue Site - your click provides .6 cups of food to rescued animals
• The Environment Site - donations will be made to Surrey Wildlife Trust
• Enhancing Niagara Naturally - every 5 clicks plants a tree in the Niagara region
• A Click for the Forest - save 2 square decimeters of old growth forest in Sweden
• Tarahumara Children's Hospital - each click provides 1 minute of free child's healthcare in Mexico
• Hunger Fighters - one click gives one cup of food
• Poverty Fighters - your click supports microcredit
• Nourish the Needy - your click provides vitamin supplements to the needy

Shopping (okay...shopping will take time, but if you are planning on shopping and making a purchase anyway, then let these companies make a donation)

• GoodShop - select a nonprofit and Good Search will make a donation when you purchase through participating online retailers
• Nau - select a nonprofit at the time of your purchase and Nau will make a donation (NO LONGER VALID)
• Magical Shopping - select a nonprofit or school and MagicTaxi will make the donation

Auctions (update added 3/30/08)

• BiddingForGood.com - online charity auction site

For additional sites, please see http://www.freewebs.com/clickforcharity/
Update 5/5/08

Educate to Escape

Ford Motor Company and ABC's Extreme Makeover: Home Edition are teaming up for "Educate to Escape." The contest allows you to nominate the school of your choice for an eco-friendly makeover valued at up to $250,000. In 250 words or less, you must explain why the school deserves a green makeover. The contest ends May 18, 2008.