Solar Skyscraper

Skyscrapers are bombarded with solar rays and all they did before was heat the building, now an entire skyscraper is being covered in solar panels! No more wasting of that precious light.

Buy 10 million dollars of solar panels and cover the building with them! They’re just as pretty as any facade, and produce hundreds of kilowatts of power for use in the building. In concert with 24 roof-mounted wind turbines, 10% of the CIS tower in Manchester will be powered by building-bound renewable energy. While that might not seem like much, it is a very big building. Only the building’s service tower (shown) will be covered with panels. The attached office building (which gets to have windows instead of solar panels) is much larger.

New York to Plant One Million Trees

New York City is considered a place of glass and concrete (with a park in the middle) and Mayor Bloomberg is looking to add trees to the mix. On Earth Day, Bloomberg proclaimed that one million trees will be planted in the city by 2017. At first I thought that the trees would go in Central Park and in the surrounding parks in the burroughs, particularly Staten Island; indeed, trees will be placed all over.

Bloomberg, whose second term expires at the end of 2009, has a goal of reducing New York City’s carbon emissions by 30 percent over the next two decades. He has said that the population is likely to grow by another million in that time – up from 8.2 million today – and that the city needs a plan now to deal with the strain on infrastructure and the environment.

For the next 10 years, the city will plant 23,000 trees each year along city streets, to reach a goal of having a tree in “every single place where it is possible to plant a street tree,” Deputy Mayor Dan Doctoroff said.

The remaining will be planted in parks and public lots, while the private sector will also be encouraged to plant trees on their properties as well.

Going Green is Profitable

There two articles out in the mainstream press today that focus on companies that have realized that saving the environment is good for their bottom line.

Publishers have discovered that there is a demand for green coverage:

“Buoyed by the breakaway success of “An Inconvenient Truth,” the film documentary of Al Gore’s environmental lecture, publishers like The Washington Post, National Geographic and others are increasing their offerings of “green” content, hoping to attract readers and advertising revenues from manufacturers and retailers who are suddenly walking the earth-friendly path.”

And being earth friendly is good for advertising:

“Participating in Earth Day is a way for companies to get their name out there,” said Diane Osgood of Business for Social Responsibility in San Francisco. “It can get them publicity because right now green is in. Green is the new black.”

6 Environmental Warriors!

earth.jpgThe Goldman Environmental Award is the world’s largest prize honoring grassroots environmentalists, and this years winners were just announced! Check out these 6 amazing people from all over the Globe who have done some really incredible stuff for nature!

North America
Sophia Rabliauskas, 47, Manitoba, Canada: Working on behalf of the Poplar River First Nation, Rabliauskas succeeded in securing interim protection for the boreal forest of Manitoba, effectively preventing destructive logging and hydro-power development while the government and international agencies deliberate on the future of the region.

Africa
Hammerskjoeld Simwinga, 45, Zambia: In an area where rampant illegal wildlife poaching decimated the wild elephant population and left villagers living in extreme poverty, Simwinga created an innovative sustainable community development program that successfully restored wildlife and transformed this poverty-stricken area.

Asia
Tsetsegee Munkhbayar, 40, Mongolia: Munkhbayar successfully worked with government and grassroots organizations to shut down destructive mining operations along Mongolia’s scarce waterways. Through public education and political lobbying, Munkhbayar has effectively protected Mongolia’s precious water resources from additional unregulated mining.

South & Central America
Julio Cusurichi, 36, Peru: In the remote Peruvian Amazon, Cusurichi secured a national reserve to protect both sensitive rain forest ecosystems and the rights of indigenous peoples living in voluntary isolation from the devastating effects of logging and mining.

Europe
Willie Corduff, 53, Ireland: In the small farming community of Ross Port, Corduff and a group of committed activists and landowners successfully forced Shell Oil to halt construction on an illegally-approved pipeline through their land.

Islands & Island Nations
Orri Vigfússon, 64, Iceland: Vigfússon brokered huge international fishing rights buyouts with governments and corporations in the North Atlantic, effectively stopping destructive commercial salmon fishing in the region.

All winners will be honored as they come together at the San Fransisco Opera House tonight!!

Scroll To Top