Why seas are rising faster on the U.S. East Coast

Why seas are rising faster on the U.S. East Coast

Seen from a pedestrian footbridge overlooking Myrtle Park — a sliver of land that Norfolk, Virginia is allowing to revert to wetlands — the panorama of surrounding homes illustrates the accelerating sea level rise that has beleaguered this neighborhood along the Lafayette River. A grey house, among the first raised in the area, is slightly elevated on cinderblocks, standing 2 feet off the ground.

Yale 360

Airbnb launches global office of healthy tourism

Airbnb launched the Office of Healthy Tourism, an initiative to drive local, authentic and sustainable tourism in countries and cities across the globe. Along with the launch of the Office, Airbnb is also releasing data that shows the benefits of healthy tourism for hosts, guests, and cities around the world, as well as announcing the creation of its new Tourism Advisory Board.

Green Lodging News – Airbnb Citizen

The business case for health and wellbeing in green building

The World Green Building Council’s report Doing Right by Planet and People: The Business Case for Health and Wellbeing in Green Building urges companies to make green improvements by highlighting the tangible economic benefits of green building and showcasing improved occupant satisfaction when companies implement new health, wellbeing and productivity features in existing green structures.

World GBC

Test the Pembina’s new Energy Policy Simulator

The Energy Policy Simulator (EPS) was developed by the Pembina Institute in collaboration with Energy Innovation.  It is Canada’s first free, open-source tool giving you a chance to see how energy and climate policies influence emissions across the country. The tool allows users to gain a deeper understanding of how Canada can lower carbon emissions and meet our international climate commitments.

Pembina Institute

Ottawa says carbon levies effectively cut emissions

The Liberal government has defended its carbon-pricing plan, with an analysis that concludes the federal and provincial levies would reduce greenhouse gas emissions by up to 90 megatonnes by 2022. The report provides an answer to a longstanding demand from Conservative MPs to reveal the impact and cost of the federal carbon pricing legislation that is currently working its way through Parliament as part of the 2018 budget bill.

Globe and Mail – Pembina Institute

Premier says Liberals would expand the Greenbelt if re-elected

A Liberal government would expand the Greenbelt of protected land if re-elected June 7, Premier Kathleen Wynne said in a hastily called announcement Wednesday to capitalize on rival Doug Ford’s flip-flop, the Progressive Conservative leader’s rapid retreat on a secret promise to developers to open up what he called “a big chunk” of the Greenbelt’s environmentally sensitive land to housing development.

Toronto Star – Globe and Mail

Doug Ford recants vow to allow Greenbelt development

Ontario PC Leader Doug Ford says he would keep the province’s Greenbelt “in its entirety,” reversing himself after a video released by the Liberals showed him pledging to allow development on a “big chunk” of the ring of protected farms and wetlands. In a statement released on Tuesday afternoon, Mr. Ford said he had changed his mind on the Greenbelt “after consultations with the people of Ontario” and that the coming PC Party platform would pledge not to touch it.

Globe and Mail – CTV News

	Conflux Canada, May 10, 2018, Ottawa CEC
	Getting the Conflux Canada conference off the ground nerve-wracking wracking. But as founder James McNeil prepares for year two he’s already looking for ways to grow the event, which focuses on sustainability, clean tech, and green buildings.
	Sustainable Biz Canada, March 21, 2018

 

Do photocatalytic finishes really clean the air?

No, there is no magic bullet, we have to stop pollution at the source. Inhabitat sports an intriguing headline: This NYC skyscraper will clean the air “at a rate of 500 trees.” Lacy Cooke writes that 570 Broome, a new condo in New York City, is clad in a new facade material that “will have an equivalent impact to removing 2,000 cars from roads for a year, or that of 500 trees.”

TreeHugger – Inhabitat

Microgrid clustering and the dilemma of human nature

It won’t happen overnight, but eventually, microgrids will interact with each other to achieve greater efficiencies, a concept known as microgrid clustering or grid-of-microgrids. How much and how soon remains to be seen, but clustering is beginning. Commonwealth Edison is the first utility to move forward with a microgrid cluster of significant scale, a project known as the Bronzeville Microgrid.

Microgrid Knowledge

Montreal wants to know how it can wean off fossil fuels

The City of Montreal wants to be less dependent on fossil fuels and it’s asking its environmentally-minded citizens for ideas. A public consultation and brainstorming consultation on Saturday did just that — by asking people to pitch their suggestions for reducing greenhouse gases in the city. Montreal wants to reduce emissions by 30 percent of its 1990 levels by 2020, but so far it’s only reached six percent.

CBC

Niagara Bottling Joins The Recycling Partnership

Niagara Bottling has announced it will join The Recycling Partnership to help transform recycling in states, cities and communities across the country. By supporting The Recycling Partnership’s recycling solutions, Niagara Bottling, along with 38 other companies, brands and organizations, including Coca-Cola, Target, Pepsi, P&G, Heineken, ExxonMobil and Amazon, is helping to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, decrease landfill waste and create stronger communities.

Environmental Leader

	WorldGBC, CaGBC partner in 2018 conferences
	The World Green Building Council Congress 2018 will be held in Toronto, Canada, in June, in partnership with the Canada Green Building Council’s Building Lasting Change conference.
	World GBC, April 24, 2018

 

How to increase collaboration and sustainability objectives

Over the last several weeks, we have been delighted to publish a series of articles to help you and your sustainability team shape your internal collaboration efforts. With this series, we have aimed to provide concrete guidance on pain points, success factors and collaboration potential for a range of functions — from marketing to risk to investor relations to HR.

GreenBiz

Financial sector progress on the Ceres Roadmap

Major controversies — including insider trading, the subprime mortgage crisis and the 2008 bailout of large banks — have spurred increased scrutiny of the culture, ethics and sustainability of U.S. financial institutions and led to significant new regulations. Companies, policymakers and consumers called for improving corporate governance to not only protect customers and rank-and-file employees, but also to rebuild trust in the stability and ethical foundation of financial institutions.

Ceres.org

4 steps to walking the talk through SDGs disclosure

In September 2015, the U.N. General Assembly adopted the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development that includes 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Since then, companies have been assessing their role in contributing to this shared global agenda. The business benefits of doing so can include: access to new markets; stabilizing and strengthening markets of current or future operation; and of course, enhanced reputation and stakeholder relations.

GreenBiz

A U.N. guide for how banks can talk about climate risks

Voluntary disclosure recommendations can be tough to interpret and even tougher to implement — especially within the framework of existing risk management models and mandated disclosure policies. So, while hundreds of companies are talking up their intention to embrace the G20’s framework for disclosing risks related to climate change far fewer organizations actually have worked out an official roadmap for doing exactly that.

GreenBiz

Products, Technology and Design

AccorHotels plans rollout of unbleached linen

To mark Planet 21 Day, AccorHotels announces the rollout by 2021 of a new range of eco-friendly linen. Not chemically bleached, it will approach an unbleached color: the natural color of cotton. Novotel, Mercure, ibis, ibis Styles and ibis budget will equip their rooms with bed linen and towels that respect the environment.

Green Lodging News

Market Trends and Research

Mass timber is in for massive change

Mass Timber is all the rage in the construction industry and many magazines and websites are full of headlines like “first mass-timber building constructed in Minnesota” or wherever, when in fact, people have been building with mass timber for centuries; just about every funky old warehouse in North America is mass timber, built of 2x8s or 2x10s on 2 inch spacing, nailed one to another.

TreeHugger

Can mini-grids solve sustainable energy access?

Providing sustainable energy access to the world’s population is at the forefront of the widely discussed energy trilemma — how to ensure energy security, equity and environmental sustainability for all. Despite dramatic improvements in electricity access since 2000, 1.1 billion people (PDF) remain without access to electricity. This problem is particularly acute in sub-Saharan Africa.

GreenBiz

Residential Green Buildings

Not much to see in Vancouver’s first Passive House apartment block

While in Vancouver recently I visited The Heights with the architect and really, there wasn’t much to see. There were no big mechanical rooms filled fancy heat pumps; Passive House buildings are so well insulated that all they need is a teensy bit of electric resistance heat that will probably never get turned on. There was no smart technology or fancy smart thermostats; there is nothing for them to do.

TreeHugger

Government Programs and Incentives

Toward a playbook for public-private partnerships

Public-private partnerships (PPPs) are a powerful organizing vehicle for taking on challenges and realizing opportunities — with the potential to transform cities, industries and societies toward smarter and more sustainable models. PPPs are perhaps best known for facilitating formal collaborations to deliver hard infrastructure and development projects — think roads, bridges, bike trails and urban real estate developments.

GreenBiz

Corporate Sustainability

INTUS Windows becomes one for one giving company

INTUS Windows has become the first One for One giving company in the building industry with the launch of One Window, One Tree. For every window or door purchased, they plant a tree to further offset the structure’s carbon footprint. By 2030 INTUS anticipates they’ll be planting 2 million trees in the United States every single year. This is about the size of 5,000 football fields or one-third of Manhattan.

Green Lodging News

Vista Outdoor, U.S. firm dropped by MEC

A U.S. outdoor gear company that was dropped by Canadian retailer MEC in the wake of the Marjorie Stoneman Douglas High School School massacre plans to exit the gun manufacturing business. Vista Outdoor Inc., which is based in Farmington, Utah, said Tuesday it will look at selling its Savage and Stevens firearm brands. 

CBC

Municipal Policy and Urban Issues

A letter to support zero emissions buildings catalyst policy

We are writing in support of the proposed Zero Emissions Building Catalyst Policy, which constitutes a key step in implementing the City’s ambitious Zero Emissions Building Plan. This policy will support industry leaders who are working toward meeting the City’s goal of realizing a new generation of high-quality buildings that are also low-carbon.

Pembina Institute

Transit, bikes and transportation

It’s time to make protected bike lanes and sidewalks

Crashes, hit-and-runs, and now terrorism are killing people who walk and bike; it’s time to make the streets safe.  Scott Calvert reports in the Wall Street Journal that the number of hit-and-run fatalities has increased 61 percent in the US since 2009. A report by the AAA foundation for traffic safety found that the rate of hit-and-runs was increasing by 7.2 percent per year, now averaging 682,000 per year.

TreeHugger

Where it makes sense for fleets to go electric

On Tuesday night, the North American Council for Freight Efficiency (NACFE) published a report looking at what point commercial electric vehicles reach parity with diesel-powered vehicles in terms of attributes like cost, weight and maintenance needs. The group, which worked with Rocky Mountain Institute on the research, looked at class 3 to class 8 commercial vehicles, which represent various sizes ranging from a walk-in delivery van to a school bus to a sleeper cab truck.

GreenBiz

Water Management

Blueprint for action on contaminants in wastewater

The findings of a national review of contaminants in municipal wastewater were released this week by Canadian Water Network, highlighting opportunities for a more strategic, risk-based approach to investments to address uncertain risks. The expert panel noted that keeping contaminants out of municipal systems through source control is more effective than trying to remove them from wastewater.

Water Canada

Waste Management

Tetra Pak to launch paper juice-pack straws

While one school has banned juice boxes in an effort to promote litter-less lunch, anyone who has attended a kids’ birthday party knows that juice boxes are still insanely popular among kids and parents alike. While they may be convenient, they pose a challenge in terms of sustainability. Those little, pointy straws that are designed to pierce the foil seal?

TreeHugger

Petition wants McDonald’s to ditch plastic straws in U.S.

If the company is doing it already in the United Kingdom, then why not in the States, too? Nearly a half-million Americans want McDonald’s to ditch plastic straws. A petition started by global advocacy group SumOfUs is calling on the fast food giant to conduct a study that would examine the ‘business risks’ associated with continued use of plastic straws.

TreeHugger