Ah Oui… Ces’t g=9.8

Sophie Young is the the founder of g=9.8. In a similar industry to the American company Nau, her company has a great brand within a very sustainable approach to development.Her product lines within g=9.8 have a limited impact on the environment. For starters they use wood fibers recycled as raw materials for the clothing. In production they use limited water consumption. All of the items they sell are certified under the OEKOTEX STANDARD 100. They have developed eco-friendly packaging (their clutch bags are made of recycled materials or purchased from fair trade in Cambodia). And last but not least, their production located in France despite the relatively high cost.

The factory where g=9.8 lingerie and loungewear articles are manufactured is located in a small village near Angers, France, a town of about 1500 people. They chose to base the entire production in France because their belief is that sustainable relies on local development, employment and preserving local knowledge and skills.

Green Technology Conference: Joel Makower Keynote

Covered by Cutter Hutton of Kaiju Studios.

Yesterday in Providence, Rhode Island the Brown Forum For Enterprise held its Green Technology Conference where a wide range of “green” related presentations were made. Kicking off the event was Joel Makower’s excellent keynote, Business, the Environment and the Bottom Line. For those unable to attend, his presentation was a diverse discussion of sustainability in the business world, a few of the key points being:

- Industries that were traditionally unrelated are finding themselves in the energy business as sustainability becomes a driver. Automotive firms will need to focus on the nation’s electrical infrastructure to implement plug-in cars, while Tyson chicken is attempting to use its 2.3 billion lbs of chicken fat waste as bio-fuel.

- Surprising savings can be had when a company begins to measure where its environmental impacts and inefficiencies lie and addressing those issues with innovation solutions. By replacing traditional wood pallets in its manufacturing plants with cardboard versions, GM was able to save $100,000 a day in costs, and switch from a non-recycleable waste product to a recyclable alternative which is purchased after use by outside firms, saving an added $50,000 a day.

- Many companies are silent on the environmental improvements they are making out of fear of enlightening consumer’s to a problem they were unaware of, and that this would lead to demands of more improvements or face a consumer backlash.

- Joel uses 3 questions to determine if a company is “good enough” in improving their green impact.

1- what do you know? You have to know your impacts to solve it.

2- what are you doing about it? There has to be tangible action to improve those impacts.

3- what are you saying about your improvements? How are you telling the public about what you are doing.

Joel’s talk was an informative and entertaining opening to get the audience primed for the other presentations at the conference. He also provided the take-away line of the day: “Sustainability is like teenage sex; everyone says they do it, few actually are, and those that are doing it don’t do it well.” Find out more at Joel’s site, where you can read his fantastic blog Two Steps Forward.

For more information about the Brown Forum For Enterprise click here.

Ecolect member in the LimeLight

We’re happy to announce a new monthly series that looks at the outstanding work produced within the Ecolect community. This month brings us Teresita Cochran from SMIT. You may already be familiar with their work if you’ve visited the recent MoMA exhibition titled “Design and the Elastic Mind”. Read more about that along with an inside look of an entrepreneur hot on the trail of renewable energy.

Read the interview.

Daily GreenBoard

Blackle - Energy Saving Search

According to a study by Judy A. Roberson (et al), white background websites use more energy than black ones. So, responding to that, Blackle is an energy saving search engine.
Read more here:

http://www.blackle.com/

Daily GreenBoard

Daily GreenBoard

South Korea Opens Global Warming Center

The first environmental group not tied to government in South Korea is being formed under the name “Korea Green Foundation”, or KGF. Their goal is to attack issues of global warming in and outside of South Korea. They will soon be opening the Global Warming Center at the Korea Chamber of Commerce and Industry in Seoul. Their committee is comprised of local and international scholars, business leaders, and civic activists who are working collectively to combat global warming. Through ongoing support, the KGF will continue to define and act on long-term plans to solve the issue of global warming. Their first actions will come in the form of campaigns to stop environmental damage. They have already been backed by Seoul National University and world-famous anthropologist and activist Jane Goodall.