Forced Green

Starbucks addresses water wastage following tabloid indictment

Following the revelation in British rag-mag The Sun that constantly running
dipper wells waste a humongous amount of water, a Starbucks spokesperson confirms, “Stores will be instructed to switch off the dipper well tap and will wash
spoons after use.” And the plot thickens: According to PRWeek.com, a senior-
level source at an unnamed PR agency claims, “We warned [Starbucks] several
years ago that their usage of water was not good for their environmental
credentials and could be a potential problem for them. They listened, but
they didn’t do anything about it.” Starbucks has tried to polish its green
image, saying that by 2010 it wants to source 50 percent of its energy from
renewables, use green-building practices in all new stores, and “reestablish” Read more…

Since Hurricane Ike, the City of Houston has been trying to figure out how
to recycle the wood debris.  From Galveston to North of Houston, there is
plenty of wood debris to be collected but not sent to the local landfills.

So the City has come up with a nationwide contest in hopes of someone coming
up with a recycling idea that will get rid of 5.6 million cubic yards of
tree waste cleaned up from households and front yards. Read more…

Bostonians might be the only ones who gained from the summer’s record high fuel prices.
In an effort to save fuel and lower emissions, the city piloted a program that shortened
red lights to reduce the amount of time cars sat idling. The test was such a success that
Boston is now considering expanding the program to the rest of the city.

The results, released last week, show that shorter red lights will help Boston’s drivers
regain 135,000 hours each year that would normally be wasted waiting for a light to turn.

Traffic delays during the 60-intersection trial decreased 29 percent, while vehicle Read more…

The American coffee shop chain Starbucks has been accused of wasting more than 23 million
litres of water each day because staff are told to leave taps running non-stop.

The bizarre policy, which is aimed at preventing germs developing in the taps in its
10,000 stores worldwide, has outraged environmental groups.

Every Starbucks branch has a cold tap behind the counter providing water for a sink
called a “dipper well” used for washing spoons and utensils and the staff are banned from
turning the water off under “health and safety rules”, an investigation claims. Read more…

Planet Green has a new series called TOTAL WRECKLAMATION …..

When a home faces extinction, what happens to all of the materials that make up
that home?  Enter Jodi Murphy – green entrepreneur, demolition auctioneer and
force of nature.  Once a house is slated to come down or be gutted, Jodi makes
it her business – literally – to save as much of its contents and materials as
possible from ending up in the landfill. Read more…

While watching  the weather channel, I saw this amazing  commerical and here it is!

To Our Leaders …. Read more…