The State of Green Business in 2008: Are We Swimming, Treading or Sinking?
GreenBiz.com, 30 January 2008 - Hardly a day goes by without a company proclaiming their intent to slash energy consumption, reduce waste or take some other bold action to green their operations or products. The wave of announcements is dizzying. It made the editors at GreenBiz.com wonder: Is this is just lip-service, or is the adoption of green business practices really growing? The group embarked on a journey to solve this mystery using data on a slew of indicators comprising the GreenBiz Index, part of the inaugural "State of Green Business 2008" report released today. The conclusion: Environmental performance overall in the U.S. is gradually advancing, but often not at the pace needed to offset economic growth or avoid the worst effects of climate change. "The state of green business is improving, slowly but surely, as companies both large and small learn the value of integrating environmental thinking into their operations in ways that align with core business strategy and bottom-line goals," says Joel Makower, executive editor of GreenBiz.com. "Green business has shifted from a movement to a market. But there is much, much more to do." Makower and his fellow editors at GreenBiz.com compiled a set of indicators measuring various aspects of green business, ranging from paper use and toxic emissions to building energy use and employee commuting. The group then assigned each indicator a symbol to represent progress: a "sinking," symbol means a measure is losing ground; a "swimming" icon indicates progress is being made; and a "treading" symbol shows an indicator holding its own. In half of the measures — 10 of the 20 indicators — the verdict was "treading," as progress was lacking or be slow, or at least too slow to address the magnitude of environmental challenges. They include pesticide use on U.S. farms, which hasn't changed much since 1999. The number of teleworkers is slowly gaining but there hasn't been much progress in getting employees to abandon their solo commutes to work. While publicly traded companies are more likely to publish corporate responsibility reports, the number of companies reporting totaled only 253 in 2007 -- that's less than a 50 percent increase over five years. There are bright spots, including eight indicators deemed "swimming." Clean technology investments in the U.S., for instance, soared to more than $48 billion in 2006, largely driven by a 132 percent increase in venture capital dollars going toward renewable energy, waste reduction, resource management and other activities that fall within the loosely defined area of clean tech. Related patents shined, too, with U.S. clean-tech patents accounting for nearly half of those issued worldwide. The explosion of commercial green building projects also is heartening, with a 500 percent increase in the amount of LEED-certified office space between 2005 and 2007. The total amount of paper used in the U.S. has hit a plateau, while at the same time, the economy continues humming. Energy use, measured per dollar of gross national product, is declining, although the rate of improvement has slowed. Packaging use of aluminum, paper, plastics and steel is making small but steady improvement in efficiency. And renewble energy generation, though increasing, may not grow fast enough to overcome the need to build more fossil fuel-fired power plants. Two of the indicators were deemed "sinking." One was carbon intensity, measured as carbon dioxide emissions per unit of gross domestic product. Between 2005 and 2006, carbon intensity fell 4.2 percent, which, at first blush, appears encouraging. But it doesn't change the fact that the U.S. leads in both overall greenhouse gas emissions and per-capita emissions, or the need to significantly reduce absolute emissions. And even though the amount of e-waste being recycled keeps growing, the absolute tonnage of electronics waste entering landfills or being sent overseas is staggering. But with no reporting mandates, federal e-waste laws or single clearinghouse for e-waste recovery data, it is difficult to determine exactly how much unwanted electronics is being recycled in a responsible way. The lack of data transcended the e-waste recycling indicator. After determining the indicator list, the editors looked for reliable data that was both meaningful and repeatable, since they intend to track progress annually. Some data were relatively easy to find while others proved more elusive. Was it really true that the most recent data showing the amount of water used in the U.S. is nearly eight years old? The short answer is yes, which is troubling considering drought concerns in various parts of the country, particularly in the Southeast. Concludes Makower: "If you believe in the adage, 'what gets measured gets managed,' then it's clear why many of the major impacts of business aren't being well managed, at least on the macro scale." Download the free State of Green Business 2008 report at StateOfGreenBusiness.com .
This article is reproduced www.greenbiz.com.
29.1.08
Voce decide? Tips para resolver
Get in touch with your gut first. Once you start listing pros and cons, your rational mind will drown out your intuition. Klein defines intuition as the accumulation of experience converted to flash-fast thinking. "As you ponder that new job, you might think about the way you were treated at the interview and that may color your reaction," he says. "Even a bit of body language could instill some discomfort that could be warning you off."
To uncover your intuitive point of view, you can even flip a coin—not to make the decision for you, but so you can register your gut reaction to the result. How do you feel when one option drops out? If you're disappointed, ask yourself why.
Open up the options and visualize each one. Doing research is obviously valuable, but sometimes the fear of making a mistake can keep you researching beyond the point of productivity. On the flip side, the hunger for the relief of making a decision, any decision, can keep you from doing enough legwork. Without overdoing it, brainstorm a lot of options. Think creatively about combining the best pieces of each one by compromising or going whole hog: You could buy both the red and the black sweater.
Banish vague fears, such as "It may be a mistake," and instead try to see yourself in a specific scenario. Ask yourself concrete questions about the possible outcome: What's the worst that could happen? What would I do then? Could I live with that? "It's more important to visualize how each option would turn out," says Klein. "If you can, actually walk through them or do something on a trial basis. It's hard to evaluate things you haven't really savored."
Let go of the idea of the perfect answer. You cannot possibly get all the info, nor can you foretell the future and calculate all the risks. Chill out. "The harder a decision is to make, the closer the outcomes are to each other, and the less it matters," says Klein. "If you are agonizing over different resorts in Hawaii, you're just beating yourself up. There is never a guarantee that you're making the right decision. Just accept that."
Trust yourself. Improve your intuition by examining your decisions after you've made them. Look at whether you would do it the same way again.
To uncover your intuitive point of view, you can even flip a coin—not to make the decision for you, but so you can register your gut reaction to the result. How do you feel when one option drops out? If you're disappointed, ask yourself why.
Open up the options and visualize each one. Doing research is obviously valuable, but sometimes the fear of making a mistake can keep you researching beyond the point of productivity. On the flip side, the hunger for the relief of making a decision, any decision, can keep you from doing enough legwork. Without overdoing it, brainstorm a lot of options. Think creatively about combining the best pieces of each one by compromising or going whole hog: You could buy both the red and the black sweater.
Banish vague fears, such as "It may be a mistake," and instead try to see yourself in a specific scenario. Ask yourself concrete questions about the possible outcome: What's the worst that could happen? What would I do then? Could I live with that? "It's more important to visualize how each option would turn out," says Klein. "If you can, actually walk through them or do something on a trial basis. It's hard to evaluate things you haven't really savored."
Let go of the idea of the perfect answer. You cannot possibly get all the info, nor can you foretell the future and calculate all the risks. Chill out. "The harder a decision is to make, the closer the outcomes are to each other, and the less it matters," says Klein. "If you are agonizing over different resorts in Hawaii, you're just beating yourself up. There is never a guarantee that you're making the right decision. Just accept that."
Trust yourself. Improve your intuition by examining your decisions after you've made them. Look at whether you would do it the same way again.
23.1.08
19.1.08
9.1.08
Momento Sustentabilidade
Conversas com expert reafirmam que este é o momento da sustentabilidade. Soutien est le verbe e le nom. Sustenire de baixo para cima.
8.1.08
Gripe e silogismos do Washington Post via Edu Prado
Once again, The Washington Post has published the winning 2007 submissions to its yearly contest.
The Washington Post's Style Invitational asked readers to take any word from the dictionary, alter it by adding, subtracting, or changing one letter, and supply a new definition. Here are this year's winners:
1. Bozone (n.): The substance surrounding stupid people that stops bright ideas from penetrating. The bozone layer, unfortunately, shows little sign of breaking down in the near future.
2. Foreploy (v): Any misrepresentation about yourself for the purpose of getting laid.
3. Cashtration (n.): The act of buying a house, which renders the subject financially impotent for an indefinite period.
4. Giraffiti (n): Vandalism spray-painted very, very high.
5. Sarchasm (n): The gulf between the author of sarcastic wit and the person who doesn't get it.
6. Inoculatte (v): To take coffee intravenously when you are running late.
7. Hipatitis (n): Terminal coolness.
8. Osteopornosis (n): A degenerate disease. (This one got extra
credit.)
9. Karmageddon (n): its like, when everybody is sending off all these really bad vibes, right? And then, like, the Earth explodes and it's like, a serious bummer.
10 Decafalon (n.): The grueling event of getting through the day consuming only things that are good for you.
11. Glibido (v): All talk and no action.
12. Dopeler effect (n): The tendency of stupid ideas to seem smarter when they come at you rapidly.
13. Arachnoleptic fit (n.): The frantic dance performed just after you've accidentally walked through a spider web.
14. Beelzebug (n.): Satan in the form of a mosquito that gets into your bedroom at three in the morning and cannot be cast out.
15. Caterpallor (n.): The color you turn after finding half a grub in the fruit you're eating.
And the pick of the literature:
16. Ignoranus (n): A person who's both stupid and an asshole.
The Washington Post has also published the winning 2007 submissions to its yearly neologism contest, in which readers are asked to supply alternative meanings for common words.
The winners are:
1. Coffee (n.), the person upon whom one coughs.
2. Flabbergasted (adj.), appalled over how much weight you have gained.
3 . Abdicate (v.), to give up all hope of ever having a flat stomach.
4. Esplanade (v.), to attempt an explanation while drunk.
5. Willy-nilly (adj.), impotent.
6. Negligent (adj.), describes a condition in which you absentmindedly answer the door in your nightgown.
7. Lymph (v.), to walk with a lisp.
8. Gargoyle (n.), olive-flavored mouthwash.
9. Flatulence (n.) emergency vehicle that picks you up after you are run over by a steamroller.
10. Balderdash (n.), a rapidly receding hairline.
11. Testicle (n.), a humorous question on an exam.
12. Rectitude (n.), the formal, dignified bearing adopted by proctologists.
13. Pokemon (n), a Rastafarian proctologist.
14. Oyster (n.), a person who sprinkles his conversation with Yiddishisms.
15. Frisbeetarianism (n.), (back by popular demand): The belief that, when you die, your Soul flies up onto the roof and gets stuck there.
16. Circumvent (n.), an opening in the front of boxer shorts worn by Jewish men.
The Washington Post's Style Invitational asked readers to take any word from the dictionary, alter it by adding, subtracting, or changing one letter, and supply a new definition. Here are this year's winners:
1. Bozone (n.): The substance surrounding stupid people that stops bright ideas from penetrating. The bozone layer, unfortunately, shows little sign of breaking down in the near future.
2. Foreploy (v): Any misrepresentation about yourself for the purpose of getting laid.
3. Cashtration (n.): The act of buying a house, which renders the subject financially impotent for an indefinite period.
4. Giraffiti (n): Vandalism spray-painted very, very high.
5. Sarchasm (n): The gulf between the author of sarcastic wit and the person who doesn't get it.
6. Inoculatte (v): To take coffee intravenously when you are running late.
7. Hipatitis (n): Terminal coolness.
8. Osteopornosis (n): A degenerate disease. (This one got extra
credit.)
9. Karmageddon (n): its like, when everybody is sending off all these really bad vibes, right? And then, like, the Earth explodes and it's like, a serious bummer.
10 Decafalon (n.): The grueling event of getting through the day consuming only things that are good for you.
11. Glibido (v): All talk and no action.
12. Dopeler effect (n): The tendency of stupid ideas to seem smarter when they come at you rapidly.
13. Arachnoleptic fit (n.): The frantic dance performed just after you've accidentally walked through a spider web.
14. Beelzebug (n.): Satan in the form of a mosquito that gets into your bedroom at three in the morning and cannot be cast out.
15. Caterpallor (n.): The color you turn after finding half a grub in the fruit you're eating.
And the pick of the literature:
16. Ignoranus (n): A person who's both stupid and an asshole.
The Washington Post has also published the winning 2007 submissions to its yearly neologism contest, in which readers are asked to supply alternative meanings for common words.
The winners are:
1. Coffee (n.), the person upon whom one coughs.
2. Flabbergasted (adj.), appalled over how much weight you have gained.
3 . Abdicate (v.), to give up all hope of ever having a flat stomach.
4. Esplanade (v.), to attempt an explanation while drunk.
5. Willy-nilly (adj.), impotent.
6. Negligent (adj.), describes a condition in which you absentmindedly answer the door in your nightgown.
7. Lymph (v.), to walk with a lisp.
8. Gargoyle (n.), olive-flavored mouthwash.
9. Flatulence (n.) emergency vehicle that picks you up after you are run over by a steamroller.
10. Balderdash (n.), a rapidly receding hairline.
11. Testicle (n.), a humorous question on an exam.
12. Rectitude (n.), the formal, dignified bearing adopted by proctologists.
13. Pokemon (n), a Rastafarian proctologist.
14. Oyster (n.), a person who sprinkles his conversation with Yiddishisms.
15. Frisbeetarianism (n.), (back by popular demand): The belief that, when you die, your Soul flies up onto the roof and gets stuck there.
16. Circumvent (n.), an opening in the front of boxer shorts worn by Jewish men.
7.1.08
Gripe ou Tristeza
Congestionada, com afta e dor de garganta , estou triste. Gripe dá tristeza. Ou será que é o contrário? Não importa. Sinto-me arghhhh.
5.1.08
3.1.08
Pernil de Araçoiaba da Serra
Dizem que o pernil de lá é bom . Deve ser porque eles são abduzidos e depois entregues amaciados e gordos. Edu Prado mostra como neste pequeno sketch feito para Maria Amélia.
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