Category Archives: Good Fact

Consumers Care About Social Responsibility

I recall early in the last decade that companies didn’t respond to calls for corporate social responsibility because consumers didn’t care. That seems to have changed, which is a very good thing. Since then, corporations have had to accommodate the growing concerns of people and have even gone so far to create new brands that focus on ethical behaviour. The consumer times are changing!

Treatment of employees is the biggest factor (45%) when people decide how responsible a company is. Environmental impact follows close behind (38%). Transparency, corporate oversight, and impact on society are also important factors.

Companies shouldn’t think that the trend towards socially-responsible purchasing means that they can just claim that their products are “green” and call it a day. According to the survey, 63% of people trust company claims about social responsibility only sometimes–when they do verify information, it’s often by reading product packaging, checking out the news, and doing independent research.

Read more.

Dynamic Systems Modelling for Better Prediction of Emissions

Canada has a large pulp and paper industry and it produces tons of waste in the form of wastewater and greenhouse gas emissions. Collectively the industry spends hundreds of millions of dollars to lower their environmental damage, so even a marginal increase in environmental efficiency can have a large impact on their bottom line.

A study from Concordia University looked into using dynamic systems modelling to asses what the output of processing facilities to predict waste output.

“With dynamic modeling, we can better understand the behaviour of the treatment plant over time,” says senior author Fariborz Haghighat, professor in Concordia’s Department of Building, Civil and Environmental Engineering and Concordia ResearchChair in Energy and Environment. “With this knowledge, we can then recommend a strategy to reduce the emission of greenhouse gas and also improve energy efficiency.”

“Models such as this are used to simulate the behaviour of a particular management system either in the early stages of system design or in later development to incorporate changes,” adds Yerushalmi. “We want to make sure that we use the most accurate method possible and the dynamic model isbest predictor yet.”

Read more at Concordia.

Movie Sets Get a Second Life

The film industry needs to custom build sets and costumes for their productions and more often than not the unique objects get tossed away after filming is done. Filming a movie can cause a lot waste and carbon output so it’s good to see that some people are trying to green the film industry.

ReadySetRecycle.com is a website that allows production companies to list sets, props, and costumes from film sets that they want to sell. They’re located in Canada but there must be something similar in California as well. So if you want unique clothing or things for you house you may want to check out what’s for sale.

We are entertainment industry professionals who are appalled to see thousands of tons of scenery, props and costumes ending up in landfill every year.

So… we’ve created ReadySetRecycle.com a new website where industry professionals can list such items for sale (or giveaway).

Basic listings (one item per listing) are free.
…
In the first year of operation, Set/Reset processed over 150 tons of scenery.

Set/Reset was a classic win win for its customers, users and the environment.

As the company grew we built up the largest inventory of rental stock in Canada.

Our monthly input was up to 25 tons. From this input, we had only 3% waste!!!

Check out ReadySetRecycle.com

Peru bans GMO foods

Due to the unknown effects that genetically modified plants can have and the intellectual property issues around them (basically Monsanto sues everyone), Peru has joined other counties in banning GMO foods. This good to see since there are so many unknowns around growing and consuming GMO products.

Peru has said “no” to genetically modified foods — a 10-year ban on GMO foods takes effect this week. Peru’s ban on GMO foods prohibits the import, production and use of genetically modified foods. The law is aimed at safeguarding the country’s agricultural diversity and preventing cross-pollination with non-GMO crops. It will also help protect Peruvian exports of organic products.

Peru isn’t the first country to ban GMO foods or place restrictions on their use. Earlier this year, Russia suspended imports of Monsanto’s GMO corn after a French study linked the corn to cancer; France also has a temporary ban on the corn. Ireland has banned the growing of GMO crops since 2009. Japan and Egypt also ban the cultivation of GMO crops. In 2010, Switzerland extended a moratorium on genetically modified animals and plants, banning GMOs until 2013.

Read more here.

2012 Was/Is Arguably the Best Year Yet

If the world refuses to listen to the Mayan doomsayers on December 21 then 2012 many go down as the best year in humanity’s history (hopefully 2013 will be better). Most people are well aware that mainstream media is excellent at espousing doom and gloom, which may be why you’re reading this website. Well, despite the fact that there are very real environmental problems that still need to be addressed, overall, we’re doing OK as a species.

War has historically been humanity’s biggest killer. But in most of the world today, a generation is growing up that knows little of it. The Peace Research Institute in Oslo says there have been fewer war deaths in the last decade than any time in the last century. Whether we are living through an anomalous period of peace, or whether the risk of nuclear apocalypse has proved an effective deterrent, mankind seems no longer to be its own worst enemy. We must bear in mind that things can fall apart, and quickly. Germany was perhaps the most civilised nation in the world in the 1920s. For now, though, it is worth remembering that, in relative terms, we have peace in our time.

Read more at the Spectator.