ECO-circle Organization News Blog

SFI : Certified Greenwash

noreply@blogger.com (ECO-circle) — Tue, 05 Apr 2011 07:02:25 PDT

Inside the Sustainable Forestry Initiative’s Deceptive Eco-Label

a report by ForestEthics, November 2010

Today’s increasing consumer demand for green products has led corporations to make a wide variety of environmental marketing claims, and to use ‘green seals of approval’ on their products.

Witness the rise of the ‘eco-label.’ More than 340 such labels are now being used to certify that products or services comply with certain environmental or social standards.

When these labels are transparent, financially independent and have rigorous standards, they can be very useful in guiding consumers’choices toward products that match their values. However, too many eco-labels are little more than marketing schemes, seeking to profit from the tremendous potential size of the green market, estimated to be worth more than $500 billion worldwide.

Among the worst of these marketing schemes is the Sustainable Forestry Initiative, or SFI, which is funded, promoted and staffed by the very paper and timber industry interests it claims to evaluate.

Read the full article here.

Jobs & Recycling

noreply@blogger.com (ECO-circle) — Thu, 19 Aug 2010 11:20:58 PDT

Green buildings typically involve greater initial costs to achieve important green objectives such as improved energy efficiency, increased use of renewable energy (on site and off site), and diversion of waste from landfills for reuse or recycling. These changes create local and US jobs and offset wasteful consumption of energy (some of it imported from anti-democratic nations) and improve productivity and the US trade deficit. Each of these aspects of green design – efficiency, renewable energy and waste diversion — involves increased employment compared with conventional non-green buildings.

Energy Efficiency

The typical green school uses one-third less energy than conventional schools. This reduction is a result of a combination of things, including better design, more energy efficiency equipment, and installation of energy efficiency measures such as increased insulation. A 2004 Massachusetts report found that every $10 million in additional energy efficiency investments contributes about 160 short-term jobs and 30 long-term or permanent jobs. Assuming about $200,000 in additional energy efficiency related investments in a green school relative to a conventional school, investment in energy efficiency creates three short- term jobs through additional work and half of a long-term job per school. The average income for a permanent job created can be conservatively estimated as $38,000, indicating a long-term annual increase in salary in-state for each green school of $19,000 (half of one fulltime job created from increased energy efficiency). On a 20 year discounted basis, and assuming salaries grow at inflation, this is $250,000 of direct in-state salary created, equal to $2/ft2 for a typical 125,000 ft2 school. This calculation does not include the positive net employment impact of short-term jobs created.

Only 2.5 jobs are created for every 1,000 tons of waste disposed, while 4.7 jobs are created for 1,000 tons of waste diverted.

Needed: 500 new Biofuels Plants to Meet 2022 Consumption Target

noreply@blogger.com (ECO-circle) — Fri, 23 Jul 2010 08:40:13 PDT

Image via Wikipedia

More than 500 new biorefineries are needed to meet the nation's goal of tripling biofuel consumption by 2022, and the price tag for building the plants would come to about $168 billion, according to a study by the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA).

Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack released a report outlining both the current state of renewable transportation fuels efforts in America and a plan to develop regional strategies to increase the production, marketing and distribution of biofuels. The report provides information on current production and consumption capacities as well as projections to meet the Renwewable Fuels Standard (RFS2) mandate to use 36 billion gallons of biofuel per year in America's fuel supply by 2022.

"The Obama Administration has made domestic production of renewable energy a national priority because it will create jobs, combat global warming, reduce fossil fuel dependence, and lay a strong foundation for a strong 21st Century rural economy, and I am confident that we can meet the threshold of producing 36 billion gallons of biofuel annually by 2022," Vilsack said. "The current ethanol industry provides a solid foundation to build upon and reach the 36 billion gallon goal. As we prepare to celebrate Independence Day, we must reaffirm our commitment to bring our country closer to complete energy independence and this report provides a roadmap to achieve that goal."

USDA's report identifies numerous biomass feedstocks to be utilized in developing biofuels and calls for the funding of further investments in research and development of:

Feedstock;
Sustainable production and management systems;
Efficient conversion technologies and high-value bioproducts, and
Decision support and policy analysis tools

The report provides data on the significant impact the ethanol industry will have on job creation. It is estimated that as many as 40 direct jobs and additional indirect jobs are created with each 100-million-gallon ethanol facility built. USDA plans to adopt regional strategies that allow the placement of biorefineries in areas of economic distress through the leveraging of regional resources for transportation, labor and feedstocks. The regional strategy provides greater potential for economic benefit.

The full report is available here.

US Department of Agriculture
www.usda.gov

Green Collar Jobs Still an Answer to Employment Crisis

noreply@blogger.com (ECO-circle) — Mon, 12 Jul 2010 07:20:16 PDT

Seventy-five percent of U.S. buildings will undergo a retrofit over the next two decades and idle factory space is there for the taking, notes Tay Yoshitani.

The most recent government employment reports have been disappointing because they show a profound lack of job creation on the part of the private sector.

In addition to calling the health of the overall U.S. economy into question, many analysts say that the latest data raise troubling issues about the viability of clean technology as a positive force for 21st-century prosperity. After all, we've been told repeatedly that legions of new green-collar jobs will materialize and generate growth for communities all across the nation.

I believe the analysts are wrong; my view remains that the creation and proliferation of well-paying green-collar jobs in America will ultimately help us address the biggest employment crisis since the Great Depression.

In fact, after assessing a host of other statistics and reports, I think it's safe to forecast a far-reaching and broad-based green jobs revolution over the next decade.

When all is said and done -- from my perspective, at least -- the green jobs revolution will improve the economic quality of life in hard-hit states such as Ohio, Michigan, Tennessee, and Pennsylvania. It will boost prospects for a wide range of people who are currently electricians, plumbers, machinists, and sheet metal workers, not just the scientists, engineers and software programmers. It will help transform countless numbers of solid, established and much-needed blue-collar jobs, which anchor local communities today, and turn them green for the 21st century. And it will help spawn a new and muscular manufacturing sector here in the U.S. that will be globally competitive.

If you look closely and carefully, you can see tangible signs of the green jobs revolution starting to take hold everywhere today. Buildings are being retrofitted for greater energy efficiency; new energy systems are being installed; electric infrastructure is being rebuilt; and smart irrigation systems are being put in place.

This represents meaningful and next-generation work for -- among others -- many of the nation's 1.7 million truck drivers, 969,000 carpenters, and 400,000 welders. Indeed, I believe that over time the green-collar job revolution will eventually start to replace a good number of the 4.1 million blue-collar jobs we've lost in the United States since 1998.

My optimism about green collar job creation in the U.S. is based on four fundamental aspects of the latest available data, each of which reinforces important and supportive trends:

The ZERO Waste Concept

noreply@blogger.com (ECO-circle) — Thu, 22 Apr 2010 12:43:44 PDT

The ZERO Waste Concept on which the ECO-circle is founded was originally formed in Sweden in the early 2000's and is based on the 5 R's:

Respond
Reduce
Reuse

Recycle
Recover

Respond to the health risks priorities. This also includes responding to the need for education in the community on the risks of wastes and the rewards of creating a sustainable community.

Reduce the amount of waste created in unnecessary packaging and reduce the amount of toxic waste generate by the community.

Reuse as many materials as possible like bags, containers and other item, while encouraging reusable products, rentals and sharing.

Recycling waste materials into reusable materials is a major key to attaining a ZERO waste community. Making the recycling process easy for the consumers and the waste management companies is the key to making the program a success.

Recover unsorted, co-mingled waste to be processed. Taking this last step will transform a recycle program into a ZERO Waste Concept. Missed recyclables are recovered and remaining organic, inert and toxic waste is processed, neutralized and converted into useful materials and green energy.

More information, and new website coming soon!

Welcome to the ECO-circle Blog

noreply@blogger.com (ECO-circle) — Wed, 21 Apr 2010 14:32:59 PDT

The ECO-Circle Organizations mission is to help neighborhoods and cities grow into green living communities and to assist those communities in developing the facilities necessary to become sustainable, economically and ecologically.

Look here in the blog section for articles, press releases and other announcements regarding the ECO-Circle Organization.

ECO-circle Organization News Blog

SFI : Certified Greenwash

Inside the Sustainable Forestry Initiative’s Deceptive Eco-Label

Jobs & Recycling

Needed: 500 new Biofuels Plants to Meet 2022 Consumption Target

Green Collar Jobs Still an Answer to Employment Crisis

Seventy-five percent of U.S. buildings will undergo a retrofit over the next two decades and idle factory space is there for the taking, notes Tay Yoshitani.

The ZERO Waste Concept

Respond

Reduce

Reuse

Recycle

Recover

More information, and new website coming soon!

Welcome to the ECO-circle Blog