“The auto industry is embracing the age of electrification, and so too is the Ward’s 10 Best Engines list.
Both the Nissan Leaf electric vehicle and Chevrolet Volt extended-range EV earn their way onto the 2011 list, as selected by Ward’s editors after evaluating 38 vehicles with new or significantly improved engines for the ’11 model year.”
Ward’s Names 10 Best Engines Winners via Tom Murphy at Ward’s Auto
San Francisco – Green Festival hosted more than 34,000 socially and environmentally conscious participants on November 6-7, to celebrate what’s working in regional communities and engage in solutions to create a cleaner, greener and more socially-responsible world. Green Festival, the nation’s premier sustainability event, stimulated the green economy by giving back $24,000 to more than 300 local, regional and national sustainable businesses through the new “GF Bucks” admissions policy. Also, new this fall, Green Festival gave 10,000 free tickets, a $150,000 value, to local non profit organizations and asked community members to give back to their local communities in exchange for free admission.
Green Festival’s new admissions policy, “Pay it Forward, Get it Back at Green Festival,” engaged community members with 10 local non profit organizations to create year-round community involvement. These non profit allies engaged with new volunteers and donors by providing free Green Festival admission as incentive.
Highlights of the weekend included inspiring presentations from 350.0rg founder Bill Mckibben, Amy Goodman of Democracy Now and empowering activist Dolores Huerta. Additional highlights included eco-fashion shows, a screening of the movie “Ghetto Physics” and fun interactive art projects, creepy crawly insects and reptiles in Annie’s Green Kid’s Zone
Green Festival partnered with T-Mobile to recycle old, unused cell phones in exchange for free admission. T-Mobile representatives were thrilled to report that 560 cell phones were collected at Green Festival for recycling, as well as a large amount of phone accessories, such as wall and car chargers. Recycling cell phones is incredibly important, as it aids the recycling of energy and preserves a significant amount of precious resource metals, including gold, silver, copper and palladium.
The San Francisco Food Bank and KPIX CBS 5 partnered with Green Festival to host a food drive in which nonperishable cans were donated for free admission. Over 3,000 lbs of food was collected and distributed to families in need in preparation for the Thanksgiving holiday. According to the SF Foodbank, in San Francisco, 197,000 people struggle each day to feed themselves and their families.
“The generous donation of food collected at Green Festival will aid the SF Food Bank in delivering nutritious and delicious Thanksgiving meals for over 35,000 families throughout San Francisco and Marin,” says Events and Food Drives Manager, Jessica Brittsan. “Every donation helps in the fight to end hunger in our community.”
A project of Green America and Global Exchange, two leading non profit organizations dedicated to environmental and social justice for more than twenty-six years, Green Festival serves as a foundation to explore and build sustainable solutions to benefit communities and the environment, discover new environmentally-friendly products and practices and connect with like minded individuals from all over the nation.
In a continuing commitment to green event management, Green Festival diverted over 31,000 lb. of waste over the weekend, for a 93.5% per cent diversion rat
Green Festival will return to San Francisco April 9th and 10th, 2011. For information and regular news updates, visit http://www.greenfestivals.org. Also, keep up with continuing news from exhibitors, partners and more on the new Green Festival press portal at http://www.greenfestivals.org/press or through Twitter @GreenFestival and Facebook.
Special thanks to: Made, Earthbound Farm, Park Merced, Nissan LEAF and KPFA.
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About Green America
Green America is a national nonprofit organization founded in 1982, providing the economic strategies, organizing power and practicing tools for businesses and individuals to address today’s social and environmental problems. Its Green Business Network is the largest national network of businesses screened for their social and environmental responsibility. www.greenamericatoday.org
About Global Exchange
Global Exchange is a membership-based international human rights organization dedicated to promoting social, economic and environmental justice around the world. Since its founding in 1988, Global Exchange has successfully increased public awareness of root causes of injustice while building international partnerships and mobilizing for change. www.globalexchange.org
About Seven-Star, Inc.
Seven-Star, Inc. is the nation’s premier green full-service event company focusing exclusively on green events. Since 1999, Seven-Star has provided turn-key green event services for environmentally Responsible and socially Respectful (eR/sR) festivals, trade and consumer expositions, conferences and concerts. From the greening of the 2007 International Live Earth events, to the 2008 Democratic National Convention events, to producing the nation’s largest consumer Green Festivals, Seven-Star has defined itself as the company for eR/sR event production. Seven-Star is the first event company to have won the EPA’s Gold Waste Wise Award for Excellence in recognition for their proprietary system of event waste diversion, which has consistently achieved greater than 85%. www.sevenstarevents.com
The nation’s largest green consumer living event returns to San Francisco November 6-7 with new options to engage locally for free admission
SAN FRANCISCO — Green Festival®, the nation’s largest sustainability event, returns to the San Francisco Concourse November 6-7. This year’s Green Festival theme is ‘Engagement,’ with exciting new ways to shop green, be inspired, get engaged and give back. Green Festival’s mission is to inspire and inform as many people as possible to help make our world more just and sustainable. New admission options allow people to invest in their local community while receiving immediate dividends from Green Festival. “Pay It Forward and Get it Back at Green Festival” invites community members to volunteer with or donate to local nonprofit organizations to receive complimentary admission to Green Festival. Also new this year, when an individual purchases any ticket to Green Festival, they receive “GF Bucks,” which can be used as currency at Green Festival in the green marketplace.
Green Festival allied with local nonprofit organizations for the “Pay it Forward, Get it Back at Green Festival” campaign, including: Mission Graduates, Alliance for Climate Education, Oakland Local, Bay Localize, Communities for a Better Environment, Ella Baker Center for Human Rights, Green For All, La Onda Verde, California Food and Justice Coalition, Greenlining Institute, Innercity Advisors and Latinos A Morir. Community members who engage with these organizations through donations or volunteerism receive free Green Festival Tickets.
There are also many other ways to get in free to Green Festival, including:
- Bring a receipt from Rainbow Grocery dated Nov 1 – 7, 2010 with a minimum purchase of $10 and your receipt is your ticket
- Bring 5 nonperishable canned food items to Green Festival for the San Francisco Food Bank, thanks to KPIX
- Bring an old unused cell phone and/or cell phone accessories to Green Festival for recycling with T-Mobile
- Visit San Francisco area Nissan dealerships and test drive for free tickets
- As always, Green Festival is free for Green America and Global Exchange members, Festival volunteers and youth under 18
Discount admission is also available for public transit riders, seniors, students with ID and bicyclists (with use of bike valet).
For those who purchase tickets, $15 per day or $25 per weekend, Green Festival will give back a portion of their ticket price in “GF Bucks” to use with more than 300 green exhibitors in Green Festival’s marketplace.
More information can be found at http://www.greenfestivals.org/sf/admission.
Green Festival attendees enjoy informative, insightful speakers, incomparable green shopping, cutting edge eco-innovations, great live music, fun and educational family activities, hands-on workshops, organic wine and beer and delicious, local vegetarian cuisine. Ten stages and pavilions give attendees the opportunity to engage with 125 local experts and nationally-renowned authors, actors, leaders, educators, farmers and visionaries. Exciting keynote speakers include Bill McKibben, Amy Goodman, Thom Hartmann, John Perkins, Dolores Huerta, Gil Friend, Karen Stewart, Howard Brown, Kirk Boyd, Starhawk, Penny Livingston, Ibrahim Abdul-Matin, Ari Derfel, Daniel Pinchbeck and many more.
San Francisco Green Festival highlights include:
A project of Green America and Global Exchange, two leading nonprofit organizations dedicated to environmental and social justice for more than twenty-six years, Green Festival serves as a foundation to explore and build sustainable solutions to benefit communities and the environment, discover new environmentally-friendly products and practices and connect with likeminded individuals from all over the nation.
Green Festival demonstrates an unmatched commitment to reducing environmental impact by reusing, recycling or composting 97 percent or more of festival waste through the efforts of full-service green event management company Seven-Star Events.
Special thanks to: Made, Earthbound Farms, Park Merced, Nissan LEAF and KPFA.
To purchase tickets to Green Festival or for more information about new ways to get free tickets or shopping money, visit http://greenfestivals.org.
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About Green America
Green America is a national nonprofit organization founded in 1982, providing the economic strategies, organizing power and practicing tools for businesses and individuals to address today’s social and environmental problems. Its Green Business Network is the largest national network of businesses screened for their social and environmental responsibility. www.greenamericatoday.org
About Global Exchange
Global Exchange is a membership-based international human rights organization dedicated to promoting social, economic and environmental justice around the world. Since its founding in 1988, Global Exchange has successfully increased public awareness of root causes of injustice while building international partnerships and mobilizing for change. www.globalexchange.org
About Seven-Star, Inc.
Seven-Star, Inc. is the nation’s premier green full-service event company focusing exclusively on green events. Since 1999, Seven-Star has provided turn-key green event services for environmentally Responsible and socially Respectful (eR/sR) festivals, trade and consumer expositions, conferences and concerts. From the greening of the 2007 International Live Earth events, to the 2008 Democratic National Convention events, to producing the nation’s largest consumer Green Festivals, Seven-Star has defined itself as the company for eR/sR event production. Seven-Star is the first event company to have won the EPA’s Gold Waste Wise Award for Excellence in recognition for their proprietary system of event waste diversion, which has consistently achieved greater than 85%. www.sevenstarevents.com
Nissan Offers Roadside Assistance to LEAF Owners in Japan by Michael Graham Richard via Treehugger.
Whether to Go the Distance With a Brand News Nissan Leaf by Pamela Coyle via SunPluggers
Nissan Motor Co., Ltd. and Kagoshima Prefecture signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) to jointly embark on the “Development of a CO2-Free Island” project to create an advanced low-carbon society on Yakushima Island. Japan’s first World Heritage Site, Yakushima Island is home to some of the country’s oldest trees – the oldest of which may be more than 7,000 years old – and has an abundant source of renewable energy: hydropower.
The partnership will primarily focus on promoting the widespread adoption of electric vehicles (EVs) on the island and creating an environment where people can safely drive EVs and utilize renewable energy.
Already, Kagoshima Prefecture has offered a purchase incentive for EVs under the “Support Program for EV Promotion in Yakushima Island.” The prefecture is providing subsidies for installation of chargers, while Nissan has started a project to analyze how to install chargers optimally using drive data analysis technology.
The widely varied topography of Yakushima Island will offer an ideal setting to conduct studies on further refining the navigation system for EVs to more precisely factor in road gradient. A study on utilization of electricity generated by EVs also will be conducted.
Nissan and Kagoshima Prefecture believe the Development of a CO2-Free Island project will be a study in best practices for similar countries and regions throughout the world. They hope to establish a working model for the wide-spread adoption of EVs on remote islands.
Nissan Zero Emission Website
http://www.nissan-zeroemission.com