Green Infrastructure, Earth Day and Global Awareness

Spring 2010 is approaching and there’s a lot of buzz around topics like the economy, taxation, global poverty, restoration in Haiti/Chile, and lastly, green awareness. With spring, Earth Day also draws nearer (April 22nd); as individuals, we must remember and realize the importance of global warming and all of its implications. Subsequent topics discussed as of late include space travel/burning of fossil fuels, deforestation and green building. As nations like Haiti and Chile prepare for rebuilding and new construction, there are many things to consider when advancing. Moving towards cleaner, greener infrastructure is vital in ensuring a successful restoration campaign.

The U.S. Green Building Council is a 501(3)(c) non-profit community of leaders working to make green buildings available to everybody. It’s one of the many organizations playing its role in green progression. Heavy discussion lies on green topics, especially the more recent ones like space travel; others include deforestation, green crops, clothing, energy, and much more. It’s important that we as individuals/citizens stay up-to-date on important global topics like warming. As organizations like the CGI (Clinton Global Initiative), AFH (Architecture for Humanity), and the USGBC (U.S. Green Building Council) conducts sustainability campaigns and enforce strict green constraints, our world will continue to become a better, cleaner place. Machines behind the CGI, Doug Band and Former President Clinton have been pursuing an emission reduction plan in the San Francisco Bay area. Meanwhile, CEO of GEC (Globetrotters Engineering Corporation), Niranjan Shah, is underway with green building projects in Chicago, IL. Despite these few national examples, green infrastructure, particularly in places like Haiti, has become an integral part of restoration and construction.

As polluters continue to buy their way out of Carbon Cuts globally, and large organizations continue to dump their waste into lakes, ponds and rivers, communities and must play their role in ensuring sustainability. Organizations like the CGI, AFH, and USGBC provide repercussion and policy change for acts such as. Most of the results from warming and climate change are miniscule and unnoticeable now, but our youth and earlier generations will experience firsthand the effects of pollutants and unsustainable efforts. Feel free to visit http://www.earthday.org/ to learn more about what you can do to support your world.

Global investors representing $13 trillion in assets called on the United States and other countries to adopt policies to fight climate change they said would unleash a potential flood of private money into renewable and efficient energy.

Green Business | COP15

“Without policies that create a stable investment environment our hands are tied,” Anne Stausboll, chief executive of the California Public Employees Retirement System, a pension fund with more than $205 billion in assets, said at a meeting called the Investor Summit on Climate Risk on Thursday.

“We are ready and willing to up the ante to finance the transition to a low carbon global economy but you need to have the courage to act,” said Mindy Lubber, the president of Ceres, a coalition of investors and environmentalists which was hosting the meeting.

More than 20 countries, including China and the United States, agreed to a non-binding Copenhagen Accord at a U.N. climate summit last month. They are hoping at least 100 countries sign on to the accord by pledging carbon cuts or action on climate in order to show the momentum needed to form a binding global agreement, a Western diplomat said.

But the United States, the world’s second-largest emitter, has not formed a national plan to cut emissions as climate legislation has stalled in the Senate. And major developing countries want the United States to act first before agreeing to take binding action.

Opportunities for investing in the low carbon economy have been proven, investors said. A Deutsche Bank report released on Thursday found companies that specialize in renewable energy like wind, solar and geothermal power and energy efficiency outperformed peers across the wider global economy last year and expected that to continue in 2010.

“Until the U.S. Congress passes climate regulation, America will be at a competitive disadvantage in the development of renewable energy and other climate change industries,” said Kevin Parker, the bank’s head of global asset management, which had $695 billion in assets as of September 2009.

(Reporting by Timothy Gardner; editing by Todd Eastham)

So far, the Electronics Manufacturers Recycling Management Company (MRM) has collected more than 3 million pounds of old-fangled televisions being discarded in the national transition from analog to digital formats.

The figure was released this week by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, which has been running a National TV Recycling Challenge to help divert at least some analog TVs from improper/irresponsible disposal fates. MRM was the winner of the challenge, which has so far recycled close to 8.2 million pounds of materials. The materials were collected between January and August. MRM is a joint venture of electronics giants Panasonic, Sharp and Toshiba.

‘Huge damage’ in Australia spill

Environmentalists fear oil is heading towards an area where whales breed The international conservation group, WWF, says a spill from a damaged oil rig in the Timor Sea off Australia has caused massive contamination. The WWF, which made a three-day survey of the area off Australia’s north-west coast, said the spill was having a significant impact on marine life. A spokeswoman said she had seen dolphins swimming in water that was covered with oil. Engineers are mounting a fourth attempt to plug the leak on the West Atlas rig. It has been spilling oil for almost nine weeks. Outrage The WWF spokeswoman, Dr Gilly Llewellyn, said that if the spill was closer to shore there would be global outrage. She said there were areas where the slick extended in every direction for as far as the eye could see. Officials from Australia’s Department of Resources, Energy and Tourism said on Thursday the damaged rig could be leaking as much as as 2,000 barrels of oil a day. Described as a vast wilderness area, the area affected by the spill is home to many humpback whales, endangered turtles, dolphins and other marine life. Conservationists have said this is Australia’s most damaging oil spill in 25 years.

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• Australia fails to plug oil leak (news.bbc.co.uk)