Month: October 2011

Healthy Campbell Campaign: Remove BPA from Soup

Healthy Campbell campaign

Thousands of people have joined a campaign on Change.org demanding that Campbell Soup Company remove bisphenol-A (BPA), a hormone-disrupting chemical linked to cancer and diabetes, from its soup cans. Healthy Child Healthy World, a Los Angeles-based non-profit that helps parents protect kids from toxins, launched the online campaign on Change.org and has recruited more than 3,000 people to join, many over the last 24 hours. “With studies linking BPA to many serious illnesses that can be heartbreaking to families, it only makes sense that we start eliminating it from our daily lives,” said Rachel Sarnoff, executive director of Healthy Child Healthy World. “We supported the ban on BPA in baby bottles that’s been adopted by many states, but older children also need protection from BPA’s potential health risks. It’s time to help companies like Campbell’s understand how important it is for us as parents to get BPA out of our cans – and our kids.”

E-Waste Campaign: Empowering Teens for Change

DoSomething.org, Best Buy and EPA’s ENERGY STAR Program Helped Teens Collect 60,000 Pieces of E-Waste

DoSomething.org, Best Buy and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA’s) ENERGY STAR Program teamed up to encourage teens to recycle their unwanted electronics that may have otherwise ended up in local landfills. Teens across the country signed up to help at http://www.dosomething.org/ewasteand each team was able to gather an average of 300 pieces, totaling in over 59,000 pieces of e-waste. The campaign went from August 15 to October 1 and called for teens to run localized “E-Waste Drives” in their schools, homes or communities. They got people to drop off their e-waste at their local Best Buy store and Best Buy pushed ENERGY STAR products for their next purchase. You see folks, we in the USA throw away over 1.5 million tons of e-waste each year. Recycling is one simple step everyone can take to protect the environment!!!

U.S. EPA Approves South Coast, San Joaquin Valley Plans for Particle Pollution

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency is approving California’s air quality plans for fine particles — known as PM2.5 — in the South Coast and San Joaquin Valley. These plans will reduce pollution to the level required by the health based 1997 PM2.5 standard by 2015. “These air quality plans rely on first-of-their kind requirements for the engines in trucks, ships and construction equipment, impacting almost a million vehicles in California,” said Jared Blumenfeld, EPA’s Regional Administrator for the Pacific Southwest. “Clean air is critical to everyone’s health, especially our children and seniors.”

From Solar Carports to Spanish Airports, GE Makes Electric Vehicle Push

Mitsubishi i-MiEV

As the adoption of electric vehicles becomes more widespread and automakers roll out new models, GE continues to lead the development of the critical infrastructure technology needed to connect all of those EVs to the grid. Last month, GE and Nissan announced a joint R&D effort to speed the creation of the charging infrastructure necessary for widespread EV adoption. And just recently, GE announced a partnership with Inovateus Solar to build solar-powered electric vehicle-charging carports, marrying two sustainable technologies. And now Spanish airports are getting in on the action: last week GE Energy Industrial Solutions teamed with Spanish energy supplier Endesa to supply and operate the EV-charging infrastructure for airport vehicles at four airports in Spain: in Madrid, Barcelona, Palma and Lanzarote. Spanish airport operator AENA is just the sort of natural customer for switching to electric fleets: it will incorporate the EVs into the airports’ existing energy management infrastructure and the vehicles will be charged on off-peak overnight electricity tariffs. For now, the EVs are part of a three-year pilot program to assess the feasibility of switching the entire airport fleet to electric. GE will provide 53 of its DuraStation* electric vehicle chargers, which enable faster charging by integrating higher voltages and currents that require specialized equipment. In addition to charging systems like DuraStation and the Yves Behar-designed WattStation, GE Energy provides the full range of electrical systems and smart grid tech needed to build and manage a complete EV infrastructure.

Up ↑