Wednesday, August 20, 2008

Commuter Survey

I am in the process of calculating Northgate’s baseline CARBON FOOTPRINT.

That’s right... We have one. And we don’t know what size of sandals we need for that upcoming vacation in Cabo.

So, please take a few minutes and complete a brief survey about how you get to and from work.

http://www.surveymonkey.com/s.aspx?sm=Rb107Zj1sDZrJOT8jMYBWw_3d_3d

Thanks!

Let Your Fingers Do the Walking

Are you tired of annually lugging 20 pounds of paper to the recycler?

Unsolicited phonebook delivery may soon go the way of the $1.99 toll for directory assistance (try 1-800-GOOG-411 if you haven't already).

Yellowpagesgoesgreen.com will contact the local telephone company on your behalf and ask them to stop delivering the yellow and/or white pages to your doorstep. The service doesn't cost you a cent.

It's similar to the National No-Call Registry that aims to stop (or at least decrease) the number of unwanted telephone solicitations.

Click this link to sign up: http://www.yellowpagesgoesgreen.org/stop-yellow-pages/

Monday, August 18, 2008

Investing in Ecosystems

Stanford biologist sees money in preservation
Carrie Sturrock, SF Chronicle, August 18, 2008

Gretchen Daily, a Stanford biology professor, is working to protect the planet by convincing governments and big investors there's money to be made - or at least saved - in preserving nature instead of exploiting it.

Daily is the co-founder and chair of the Stanford-based Natural Capital Project. Under her leadership, a team of scientists has created software called InVEST, which can estimate the worth of a natural resource. In November, it will be distributed free. Already the Colombian government plans to use it to relicense water and land access.

Daily is the first biologist to attend a brainstorming session at Goldman Sachs, where she and some of Wall Street's brightest minds discussed how to create a financial model for pricing nature. She is working with economists, lawyers, and businesspeople to try to forge a new paradigm for the conservation movement.

She recently won the Sophie Prize, one of the environmental world's most esteemed honors. However, she makes clear that her "ecosystem services" ideas aren't new: the notion that nature provides invaluable services can be traced to Plato.

Read the complete story here: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2008/08/18/MNH31227HE.DTL

Tuesday, August 5, 2008

Follow the Money

Clean-tech investment leaps 83% in a year
Deborah Gage, San Francisco Chronicle, August 5, 2008

U.S. venture investments in clean-technology companies climbed to a record $961.7 million in the second quarter of 2008 - up 41 percent from the first quarter and 83 percent from the same quarter last year, according to a new report from Ernst & Young.

"It's not just energy - there are a host of markets, from fuels to electricity to storage to efficiency to water treatment," said Jeff Grabow, head of Ernst & Young's clean-tech unit for the Pacific Northwest.

Read the complete story here: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/c/a/2008/08/05/BUQE11TFP5.DTL