Environmental News

On the exterior, the Ford Endeavour -- one of the best-known midsize SUVs in India -- may look like just any other rugged all-terrain transportation option. But the company hopes the advanced technologies accessible through the vehicle, including wireless communications and an open-source development platform called OpenXC, could inspire smarter and more cost-effective first responder and telemedicine solutions for rural communities, under-served urban areas or developing economies. Ford researchers recently completed a nine-month pilot test of these capabilities in Kodamaathi, a small rural village in India with an above-average infant and maternal mortality rate compared with other regions. The program, Sustainable Urban Mobility with Uncompromised Rural Reach (SUMURR), used Ford Endeavours with mobile phones and laptops to bring medical care to where it was needed, including areas that are difficult to reach with other modes of transportation and where communications networks haven't penetrated. In all, the initiative visited 54 villages, facilitating community awareness among 3,100 people and helping 41 women deliver their babies more safely. Source: GreenBiz.com, 5/14/13

GreenTouch, in a report released today, revealed how much more efficient ICT networks could be if the technologies and proposals developed by its members over the last three years are implemented by 2020. The numbers are dramatic, particularly in mobile networks, which are the most inefficient and also expected to grow the fastest. The study claims that energy consumption across all networks could be reduced by 90 percent compared to 2010 levels. That's despite projected traffic volume increases of 88.6 times in the United States, Europe and Japan. That means the overall energy efficiency of mobile networks -- defined as the ratio of useful traffic carried by the total energy required to support that traffic -- would increase 1,043-fold. Source: GreenBiz.com, 5/13/13

The Guardian published an article that ties climate change to real health concerns. As the article points out, as a society, we are much more inclined to take preventative action when it directly impacts our own health and well-being. By casting environmental concerns in the terms of public health -- something done to great effect in the 1970s during the passage of the Clean Air Act -- it's possible to shift the climate change conversation toward issues that impact people's daily lives. Source: Sustainable Industries, 5/14/13

Examines the issue of debris in the Great Lakes. Source: Marine Debris Blog, 5/14/13

In the most recent P2 Pathways column, Natalie Hummel, US EPA, discusses how converting waste from one company into a feedstock stream for another can generate revenue while reducing virgin material and energy use. Source: GreenBiz, 5/14/13

The Vermont Agency of Natural Resources (VTANR) has been awarded Silver recognition from the State Electronics Challenge (SEC) --a Vermont-based national environmental stewardship program--for its achievements in decreasing the environmental footprint of its computer equipment. In its time in the SEC program VTANR saved enough energy to power almost 140 households per year, avoided greenhouse gas emissions equivalent to removing 210 cars from the road, avoided almost 1,500 pounds of hazardous waste from being created, as well as avoiding the generation of almost 38,000 pounds of trash. VTANR achieved these results by purchasing only computer equipment qualified by the Electronic Procurement Environmental Assessment Tool (EPEAT) standard, extending the life of its computer equipment, and by reusing computer equipment. Source: Vermont Business Magazine, 5/7/13

Scotts Miracle-Gro today said it has achieved its goal of removing phosphorus from its Turf Builder brand lawn food maintenance products. Source: Environmental Leader, 5/13/13

The European Union bans nearly 1,400 chemicals from personal care products because they are carcinogenic, mutagenic, or toxic to reproduction. But in the United States, the Food and Drug Administration entrusts safety regulation of cosmetics to a private entity that is housed and funded by the industry's trade association. To date, this entity has found only eleven chemicals to be "unsafe for use in cosmetics." Source: Washington Monthly, 5/6/13

The federal agencies and departments of the Great Lakes Interagency Task Force today announced opportunities for the public to provide input to a planned update of the Great Lakes Restoration Initiative Action Plan. Source: U.S. EPA, 5/13/13

Illinois law requires that, if possible, renewable energy should come from Illinois or surrounding states. However, unless a municipality or business explicitly has stated it wants local renewable power, the power it receives is probably from outside Illinois, where energy credits are cheaper. Source: Chicago Tribune, 5/13/13

Customers' defection to other suppliers, language in Illinois law are hindering investment in green electricity Source: Chicago Tribune, 5/13/13

Sustainability is steadily becoming strategically integrated into all departments at hospitals and health care systems. Source: GreenBiz, 5/10/13

For years, carbon dioxide and other greenhouse pollutants have been closely monitored around the planet by stations on the ground and in space. Last week, worldwide levels of carbon dioxide reached 400 parts per million at a Hawaii station that sets the global benchmark -- a concentration not seen in millions of years. Now, some scientists are eyeing large cities -- with LA and Paris as guinea pigs -- and aiming to observe emissions in the atmosphere as a first step toward independently verifying whether local -- and often lofty -- climate goals are being met. Source: Associated Press, 5/13/13

Capital Bikeshare -- the Washington,D.C.-area bike sharing program -- has long been the darling of the bicycle community as the largest program of its type in America. But in a few weeks, it'll lose that title twice over, when Chicago and New York are both scheduled to launch bike shares of their own that are even bigger. Source: Governing, 5/10/13

Along the shores of New York Harbor, scientists are investigating whether this ubiquitous bivalve can be grown in urban areas as a way of cleansing coastal waters of sewage, fertilizers, and other pollutants. Source: Yale360, 5/9/13

ISTC is now accepting applications for a Director to lead the Center in the execution of its mission and in maintaining and enhancing its tradition of excellence. Source: ISTC, 5/8/13

The world needs water. Milwaukee not only has lots of it, but it also has transformed itself into a hub for water research and technology. Source: Governing, May 2013

Getting a sustainability project approved takes more than just having a positive financial ROI. Initiatives also need to improve a company's brand and keep risks at bay. Source: GreenBiz, 5/6/13

Nike, NASA, U.S. Agency for International Development and the U.S. State Department have launched a challenge to create new, sustainable materials. Source: GreenBiz, 5/7/13

The city's Department of Aviation is expected to announce Wednesday that it has awarded a contract to Central Commissary Holdings LLC -- operator of Lincoln Park restaurant Butcher & The Burger -- to bring about 25 goats onto airport property, helping the airport launch its pilot vegetation-management program. Source: Chicago Tribune, 5/8/13