Posts Tagged safety

Cutting Need for Energy by Using Less of It

“In Hong Kong, as in much of the rest of the world right now, a debate is raging about how best to generate the additional electricity that is needed to power economic growth and development.

Do we use more oil and coal, which pollute and are ultimately finite? Or nuclear energy, which comes with safety concerns, and is being phased out entirely in Germany? Or renewable energies likesolar power, which many nations are promoting, but which make up only a small portion of the energy mix in most countries, and often have physical limitations?

Relatively little attention is being paid to what some analysts refer to as the “fifth fuel”: ways to consume less energy in the first place.”

Cutting Need for Energy by Using Less of It via Bettina Wassener – NY Times

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Ford’s Safety Technology Tells a Sustainability Story

“Reporting from Dearborn, MI, I was pleasantly surprised by Ford’s “safety technology” demonstration – a ride in a kitted out Ford Explorer to demonstrate various ways new cars will avoid collisions.  After the demonstration, which turned out to be fascinating, it struck me that public safety is an obvious aspect of sustainability – not to mention common-sense business.  Keeping people safe matters.

Let’s start with the basics:

Ford has had something called “adaptive cruise control” for a couple years now (PDF here).  It’s a simple radar on the front of your car which determines whether a distant vehicle in front of you is travelling a slower rate of speed.  As you get close to it, your car automatically adjusts its cruise control to a slower rate to avoid a rear end collision.  It will automatically increase your speed if the other car moves out of the way or speeds up.

More exciting, however was a system called the “Blind Spot Information System” and a host of ways cars will “talk” to each other to communicate their positions and speed – avoiding more complex collisions hundreds of yards in advance.  Take a look at this:”

Ford’s Safety Technology Tells a Sustainability Story via Nick Aster – Triple Pundit

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Safe Cosmetics Act of 2011 Could Clean Up Chemical-Laden Beauty Industry

“From the toxic heavy metals found in popular cosmetic products to the shocking amounts of formaldehyde found in Brazilian Blowout formula , finding harmful chemicals in cosmetics is no new story. In fact, the existing law hasn’t been updated since 1938.

But there’s a new bill in the House of Representatives, called the Safe Cosmetics Act of 2011, that will give the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) authority to regulate personal care products, including cosmetics, to ensure they are free of harmful ingredients before they hit the shelves. That is, if it passes.”

Safe Cosmetics Act of 2011 Could Clean Up Chemical-Laden Beauty Industry via Emma Grady – Treehugger

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Mark Ruffalo wants you to stand up against hydrofracking

“Actor Mark Ruffalo, who lives in a rural New York town on the Delaware River with his family, is not one of those celebrities who parachutes into a random political cause and starts ignorantly pontificating about solutions. He has been actively involved with efforts to keep potentially disastrous hydrofracking practices out of New York State for three years, and he knows his stuff. He’s even co-founded his own initiative on water quality, Water Defense.

Now Ruffalo has banded together with some other famous friends, including Ethan Hawke and Zoe Saldana, to make a new video, “I Love My New York Water,” that he hopes will encourage people to get involved in the battle to keep New York’s water safe from the effects of hydrofracking. Fracking, in case you don’t know, is a controversial natural gas extraction process that has the potential to cause severe environmental damage (remember the flaming faucets in Gasland?). “It is a new technology, ” Ruffalo told me. “The industry is using us as guinea pigs. The more we learn about it, the uglier it looks.”

Mark Ruffalo wants you to stand up against hydrofracking via Sarah Goodyear – Grist

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Hip hop activist speaks on asthma, environment

Rev. Lennox Yearwood Jr. cleared the air about pollution and sustainable existence when he spoke recently at the Green Festival.

The two-day event celebrating a decade of providing eco-friendly solutions to everyday life was held at McCormick Place earlier this month.

Yearwood is the president of the Washington, D.C.-based Hip Hop Caucus, and has traveled the country discussing the need for renewable energy and clean air.

May is Asthma Awareness Month, and Yearwood remarked how staggering asthma rates reached the local level.

Hip hop activist speaks on asthma, environment via Keisha Price – Chicago Defender

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Connecting the City: Stephanie's Story

Connecting the City is a project from the San Francisco Bicycle Coalition all about encouraging a vision of the Bay Area that is more bike-friendly to families, seniors and everyday folks who endeavor to ride more than they already do.  Connecting the City advocates for a series of safe, protected cycletracks on a number of vital cross-town streets to make it safer and easier to bike.”

This Richmond District family loves riding their bikes whenever possible, but they wish they could ride more. Connecting the City will help families like this one be able to fully embrace a bike lifestyle and get where they need and want to go in a safe and healthy manner.

Connecting the City: Stephanie’s Story via Treehugger; Connecting the City; Street Films

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Meet one of PINK's Top 10 Women in Sustainability, 2011 – Susan Cischke – Group Vice President, Sustainability, Environment and Safety Engineering, Ford Motor Company

“Remember when the family went car shopping, and Dad patrolled the vehicle, weighing the glitz of a shiny new car against the sobering cost of filling the tank? What would Pop think of today’s Ford? The company is curbing petroleum use not only through fuel but also in the guts of their vehicles, which are now 85 percent recyclable by weight.

“What was once see as ‘nice to have’ is now recognized as imperative to our business and our planet,” says Ford’s Susan M. Cischke. Soy foam seat cushions, in more than 20 Ford vehicles, have helped Ford reduce its annual petroleum oil usage by more than 10,500 barrels and cut its carbon dioxide emissions by 11 million pounds – the annual equivalent of 965 typical American households.”

Meet one of PINK’s Top 10 Women in Sustainability, 2011 – Susan Cischke – Group Vice President, Sustainability, Environment and Safety Engineering, Ford Motor Company via Rachel Pomerance – Little Pink Book

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Join One Nation Working Together in Washington DC

Join One Nation Working Together in Washington DC by Sarah Hodgdon via Treehugger

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