Climate Technology

Sub Pop Records offsets energy use

As Grist's unofficial music correspondent, I feel compelled to share this exciting news with you: Sub Pop Records announced today that they have partnered with Bonneville Environmental Foundation to purchase enough Green-e certified Green Tags to offset 100 percent of the company's energy use.

Based in Seattle, Sub Pop Records has worked with bands ranging from Nirvana and Soundgarden (when they were relatively unknown) to The Postal Service, The Shins, Iron and Wine, and others.

"Sub Pop has been synonymous with helping talented new artists support their passion for creating music," said Patrick Nye, director of sales at Bonneville Environmental Foundation. "Now, Sub Pop Records is directing the same energy toward new, renewable sources of power."

Rock on.

Learning to love Wal-Mart

We've done some good stuff on Wal-Mart's greening, but Marc Gunther's cover story in Fortune this week pulls it all together better than any single story I've seen, and advances it in some interesting ways.

Particularly in reference to our ongoing debate over morality, listen to Wal-Mart CEO Lee Scott:

To me, there can't be anything good about putting all these chemicals in the air. There can't be anything good about the smog you see in cities. There can't be anything good about putting chemicals in these rivers in Third World countries so that somebody can buy an item for less money in a developed country. Those things are just inherently wrong, whether you are an environmentalist or not.

He later says:

I had an intellectual interest when we started. I have a passion today.

What moved him from intellectual interest to passion? Morality.

I hadn't realized how big a role a Walton played in the story. This line sounds like the beginning of a joke:

A thorough job search reveals skills in high demand

As director of program development at The Environmental Careers Organization, Kevin Doyle knows a thing or two about job searching. In this recurring column for Grist, he explores the green job market and offers advice to eco-job-seekers looking to jumpstart their careers.

Is it hot out there, or is it just me? Lately, I've been hearing from employers who can't find the talent they need and more than a few lucky job seekers who have multiple offers. Are these just random anecdotes, or is the environmental job market heating up along with the summer thermometer?

In an effort to track down the story (and spend some paid time surfing the 'net), my crackerjack research staff devoted a day to searching government, nonprofit, "green business," and consulting websites for job postings. Here's what we found:

Soycott

Big soy companies pledge not to source from recently deforested Amazon Now for some Amazon news that won’t make you want to slit your wrists: Soy producers operating in Brazil — including U.S. agribiz giants Cargill and Archer Daniels Midland — announced yesterday that they will put a two-year stop to buying soybeans grown in […]

Long-Haired Freaky People Need Apply

Green job market heating up After hearing from environment-related employers struggling to fill open positions and green job-seekers receiving multiple offers, Kevin Doyle of the Environmental Careers Organization decided to do some job searching of his own. An examination of job postings at government agencies, nonprofits, green businesses, and environmental consulting firms in the U.S. […]

In working with Wal-Mart, activist Adam Werbach is abandoning his principles

In late 2004, Adam Werbach proclaimed that environmentalism was dead due to the movement’s unwillingness to connect with ordinary working people and its inability to effectively grapple with the most profound problem the earth has ever faced, climate change. His diagnosis was clear: In order to build the next liberal majority in this country, environmentalists […]

Al Gore takes his green message to Wal-Mart headquarters

Picture Al Gore standing in a modest auditorium deep in America’s heartland before an exultant crowd of Wal-Mart employees, comparing their campaign to lighten the company’s environmental footprint to the Allies’ righteous struggle in World War II. This after Rev. Jim Ball, head of the Evangelical Environmental Network, likened the giant retailer’s greening efforts to […]

Companies that green their supply chains can find savings galore

How many light bulbs does it take to change a supply chain? In the case of Baxter Healthcare Corp., just three. When Jenni Cawein, manager of corporate environmental health and safety engineering at the Illinois-based $9.8 billion health-care giant, arrived six years ago, she saw that the company was losing ground on waste. “I asked […]

Dispatch from a green-themed gathering of Wal-Mart execs

I write from a quarterly meeting of Wal-Mart managers and execs, focused on implementing CEO H. Lee Scott's eco-friendly vision. (For more on that vision, see my interview with Scott.)  

I never dreamed I'd find myself feeling anything but depressed after a day of immersive conference activities at Wal-Mart headquarters in Bentonville, Ark. But now that I'm here, I'm feeling decidedly optimistic.

Granted, I was a tad creeped out when the 800-plus members of the audience erupted in a Wal-Mart chant that involved much gesticulating, grunting, sky-punching, and the like. ("Give me a W ... A ... L ... etc. ... What does that spell? ... Who do we love? ...")

But generally speaking, there's a lot of hopeful news to report. More details will be forthcoming in next week's Muckraker, but here's a snapshot with a few highlights:

California Connected on organic and Wal-Mart

A nifty PBS show called California Connected recently did a special on organic food, focusing on Wal-Mart's decision to get into the organic-food market. It's unusually substantive and thoughtful (at least relative to cable tv fare). Check it out.