The Green Building Certification Institute (USBGCI) is accepting applications from professionals interested in taking the LEED AP Neighborhood Development beta exam and potentially earning the credential for free. You must submit the application and required documentation online by December 15th. The final, balloted version of LEED for Neighborhood Development was recently released with a few interesting changes including new requirements for certification of at least one green building, walkable sidewalks, increased density, and an allowance for minor construction such as boat access ramps in green buffer areas that encourage human interaction with nature.
The 2009 Copenhagen Diagnosis: Climate Science Report provides a critical update to the global public on the latest climate science. The purpose of this report is to synthesize the most policy-relevant climate science published since the close-off of material for the last IPCC report that supplements the IPCC AR4 in time for Copenhagen in December, 2009.
A new report entitled Global Oil & Gas – The Adaptation Challenge has identified top five impacts of climate change to the oil and gas industry. While three quarters of the world’s oil and gas companies surveyed believe climate change could impact their business, only 19 percent are taking action as noted in this report.
Al Gore delivered the keynote address to green building professionals at the Greenbuild conference. He praised the leadership of the USGBC for bringing real change to the marketplace. He also urged the crowd to take responsibility for expanding green building globally and to call out greenwashing.
A new study by the Marine Biological Lab (MBL) of Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI) has reported that biofuels that displace food crops may have a much bigger carbon footprint than previously thought. MBL senior scientist Jerry Melillo and his colleagues at the MBL have reported that carbon emissions from land-use change caused by the displacement of food crops and pastures by a global biofuels program may be twice as much as the emissions from lands directly devoted to biofuels production.
With global eco awareness expanding on climate issues, it is not a surprise to many that the fastest growth in CO2 levels has occurred in the last 10 years. Studies indicate that electricity generation and consumption is the largest contributor and is increasing faster than any other energy sector. However, efforts to manage electricity show the slowest decline in emissions progress.
If you think your business is too small or too service-based to benefit from going green, or you’re waiting for the hype about green and sustainability to die down, then you’re missing an opportunity to chart an upward course for your company.
Green Dream Jobs and green workforce development consultant Jim Cassio, recently released data that shows the top green job titles posted by employers and in which cities over the past year – during the recession. Despite the fact that there are scores of studies that show the potential for green jobs going forward, many note the dearth of data on current green jobs in the U.S. economy. Green Dream Jobs has collected concrete historical and current data on the job titles employers are actually looking to fill.
Lobby groups are ramping up opposition to the Obama administration’s climate change plans, however not all their plans are perfect. In these difficult times it’s vital that companies stand up for what they believe in. Too often over the past 15 years, many firms have said one thing in public, and then allowed their lobby groups to do the ‘dirty work’ of lobbying in short term financial interest for them. This is not always true of course. Sometimes NGOs have said this was happening when it may well not have been, such as in the case of Starbucks a few years ago. But in the case of climate change, we are seeing some very aggressive lobbying indeed. No doubt. And one group, the powerful US Chamber of Commerce, is really going way too far.
