Newsweek released their 2009 Green Environmental Ranking list of America’s 500 largest corporations. This could be a good list to keep in mind if you want to work for a company that is making a step in being environmental. A lot of companies may talk about it, but looking at this list may help to see how much the companies are actually doing.

It is an interesting list as 4 out of the top 5 are technology companies. Hewlett-Package is number 1 and Dell is number 2. It seems like computer makers are really making an effort to be green in their supply chain management. IBM, also a computer maker is number 5 and Intel,  a CPU manufacturer is number 4. Sadly, Apple is number 133 which was sort of surprising because they like to say they are pretty green. For a company with such a well known brand recognition and with so many Apple products used, you would expect the company to do a little more.

The ranking is done with environmental researchers LDK Research and Analytics, Trucost, and CorporateRegister.com and is based on actual environmental performance, policies, and reputation.

http://greenrankings.newsweek.com/top500

 The United Nations has chosen the first Monday in October, Oct 5th to be World Habitat Day – a day to stand up and let it be known that affordable, adequate housing should be a priority everywhere.

According to the United Nations, more than 100 million people in the world today are homeless. Millions more face a severe housing problem living without adequate sanitation, with irregular or no electricity supply and without adequate security.

More info can be found at http://worldhabitatdaynews.com/

U.S. Housing Facts

• About 95 million people, one third of the nation, have housing problems including a high-cost burden, overcrowding, poor quality shelter and homelessness. (National Low Income Housing Coalition: 2004)
• One in three American households spend more than 30 percent of income on housing, and one in seven spends more than 50 percent. (Joint Center for Housing Studies: 2006)
• The number of low-income families that lack safe and affordable housing is related to the number of children that suffer from asthma, viral infections, anemia, stunted growth and other health problems. About 21,000 children have stunted growth attributable to the lack of stable housing; 10,000 children between the ages of 4 and 9 are hospitalized for asthma attacks each year because of cockroach infestation at home; and more than 180 children die each year in house fires attributable to faulty electrical heating and electrical equipment. (Sandel, et al: 1999)

Global poverty facts

• By the year 2030, an additional 3 billion people, about 40 percent of the world’s population, will need access to housing. This translates into a demand for 96,150 new affordable units every day and 4,000 every hour. (UN-HABITAT: 2005)
• One out of every three city dwellers – nearly a billion people – lives in a slum. (Slum indicators include: lack of water, lack of sanitation, overcrowding, non-durable structures and insecure tenure.) (UN-HABITAT: 2006)
• UN-Habitat has reported that because of poor living conditions, women living in slums are more likely to contract HIV/AIDS than their rural counterparts, and children in slums are more likely to die from water-borne and respiratory illness. (UN-HABITAT: 2006)
• Housing formation generates non-housing related expenditures that help drive the economy. (Kissick, et al: 2006)
• Investing in housing expands the local tax base. (Kissick, et al: 2006)

Info taken from http://worldhabitatdaynews.com/

What exactly is a green photographer and what makes him/her green?

Since the advent of digital photography, the industry has become more green in general as we do not need to process film in order to see the output and spend a lot less money and resources on producing photos. With digital cameras, you can see what you just took and if you dont like the shot, you can simply delete it right away without having to wait to see if it turned out ok after getting it developed. You can also simply save all your images on your computer/laptop and hard drives/dvd/cd instead of printing it all out. You can even display your images in a digital picture frame.

By being a green photographer, however, the photographer is someone who is socially and environmentally conscious about his/her business. There are renewable resources and local vendors that could be used for the purchases, products, and services that you provide.

There are also organizations and groups that you can join to become a certified green business. Although there are guidelines that they provide that you have to follow in order to qualify, I do not know how I feel about some of those organizations because it feels like it is just another organization that you have to pay money to join. In the bay area, we have the Bay Area Green Business Program which I would actually join but unfortunately, my studio is in South San Francisco, and they do not have the program in that city yet. There is also www.greenweddingproviders.com, but I have not decided whether or not I want to apply.

Ways that photographers can be green

• Using digital cameras instead of film
• delivering image electronically using online galleries or on a DVD/CD instead of having printed proofs
• using local printing and album services and products
• using rechargeable batteries for your equipment
• recycling material when possible in your studio
• reusing boxes and packing material
• using CFL light bulbs in your studio
• donating or recycling old equipment and electronics/e-waste
• carpooling for sessions and weddings when possible
• sharing resources and even lending your equipment to friends and family
• purchasing used products to save money and promoting reuse

You can read more extensively about Green Photography here

I personally do all of the above and can say I am a green wedding photographer even though I am not officially certified.

www.alexhophotography.com

Back in April, President Obama announced that the Department of Energy will fund two UC Berkeley professors $30 million to research carbno capturing technology. The goal will be to find a way of storing underground the carbon dioxide released from fossil fuel and power plants. My friend is actually helping take part in the research to find the solution. The entire world emits about 6 million tons of carbon dioxide every year and the United States contributes 20% of that. Finding a way to capture that output and store it underground to prevent it from going into the atmosphere would be pretty cool. If we could find a way of reusing the carbon dioxide produced from power plants, that would be nice as well. There are a lot of ways that carbon dioxide gets used and reusing the stored carbon dioxide would be a huge resource. Here are some interesting facts about how carbon dioxide is used. 

• It is used to produce carbonated soft drinks.
• Liquid carbon dioxide is a gold solvent for organic compounds and is used to remove caffeine from coffee.
• carbon dioxide extinguishes flames so fire extinguishers contain pressurized liquid carbon dioxide.
• Pop Rocks is pressurized with carbon dioxide.
• Plants require carbon dioxide to conduct photosynthesis and greenhouses may add additional CO2 into the atmosphere.
• Solid carbon dioxide is also known as dry ice and it is crucial as a refrigerant in the food industry for the transportation of frozen foods and ice cream.
• Dry ice is also used in wine making to cool down grapes after picking to prevent spontaneous fermenting.

 references:

Daily Cal

Wikipedia