Environmental News

Green infrastructure recently installed in the Bronx and Brooklyn is already directly improving the water quality of the Hutchinson River and Newtown Creek. Source: Metropolitan Waterfront Alliance, 6/7/13

In this article, the most recent in the P2 Pathways series, author Ken Zarker from the Washington State Department of Ecology's Pollution Prevention and Regulatory Assistance Section, discusses the Chemical Safety Improvement Act of 2013 and how its beneficial to look at lessons learned from states action on chemicals management to help craft a workable national solution. Source: GreenBiz, 6/11/13

A facility data manager may be the missing ingredient to help boost onsite efficiency and performance. Source: GreenBiz, 6/10/13

Blame tunnel vision for practices that fail to address growing water scarcity. Here's the antidote to business as usual. Source: GreenBiz, 6/7/13

More than 100 U.S. ski resorts signed Ceres' Climate Declaration, calling for a coordinated effort to combat climate change threatening the winter sports industry. Source: GreenBiz, 6/7/13

A New York program is incubating bio-inspired technology by funding companies seeking to harness its genius. Source: GreenBiz, 6/4/13

Want to know if your office supplies are really sustainable? Put them under the microscope. Source: GreenBiz, 6/6/13

Dell yesterday announced sustainable packaging initiatives including goals for a waste-free packaging stream by 2020 and a new wheat straw material (pictured) that turns agricultural waste into boxes. Source: Environmental Leader, 6/6/13

Researchers and governments have a tough balance to maintain when communicating the risks to the public. They still do not know much about the health effects of these chemicals. They do not want to cause undue alarm. And even once better understood, the risks will need to be weighed against the benefits many of these chemicals also provide. None of the dozens of experts interviewed recommended that people abstain from well water or swimming to avoid known or suspected endocrine-disrupting chemicals that have been found in lakes, rivers and groundwater. At the same time, many of the researchers said they had begun trying to limit their own and their children's exposures, taking a "better safe than sorry" approach. Source: Great Lakes Echo, 6/5/13

Food waste decomposing in landfills is both a financial burden on cash-strapped municipalities and results in the release of methane emissions which have a climatic impact at least 25 times greater than carbon dioxide. While the root causes of food waste are multifaceted and complex, the costs of inaction are too great to ignore. Source: Environmental Leader. 6/5/13

Bill McDonough and Waste Management today announced a new partnership -- the Waste Management-McDonough Sustainable Innovation Collaborative -- aimed at advancing and improving recyclability and lessening the environmental impacts of products and packaging. It's a bold move on the part of America's largest waste-hauling company, whose CEO, David Steiner, has long envisioned mining waste materials to create new value for Waste Management and its customers. The new collaborative aims to help producers, manufacturers, retailers and suppliers of packaged goods and products consider the recyclability as well as the ecological and human health impacts of materials, beginning with the design phase. Source: GreenBiz.com, 6/5/13

The American Society of Plumbing Engineers (ASPE) and the American Rainwater Catchment Systems Association (ARCSA) are collaborating to jointly develop and publish an American National Standard on stormwater harvesting system design for direct and indirect end-use applications. Source: Water Efficiency, 6/3/13

The prototype for the "most important hotel in America" is sitting on a patch of grass at Eastern Market, says a national hotel guru. But to the throngs who will visit today's annual Flower Day at Eastern Market, it will look like a creatively customized shipping container. Source: Detroit Free Press, 5/19/13

Archived webinars and related information are now available on GLRPPR's Conferences & Webinars page. Source: GLRPPR, 6/5/13

MACKINAC ISLAND, Mich. -- After eight years on the sidelines during one of the most dynamic periods for the Great Lakes, two governors took the first step aimed at getting their gubernatorial colleagues to engage on the Great Lakes. Michigan Gov. Rick Snyder and Illinois Gov. Pat Quinn last weekend hosted a long overdue Great Lakes "summit" on Snyder's pristine home turf, Mackinac Island. The executives were last together to sign the Great Lakes Compact in 2005. For perspective, President George W. Bush was just beginning his second term. The event is Snyder's brainchild, emerging last year from his Energy and Environment position paper. He had noted the need for governors to engage on Great Lakes environmental issues, primarily fighting Asian carp and other invasive species. Over time the priority morphed from the environment to three themes: economic development, regional collaboration and protecting the Great Lakes -- specifically combating invasive species. The discussion over two days proceeded in that priority order. Source: Great Lakes Echo, 6/3/13