With a new President France is taking a look back at the progress accomplished 5 years after after the national push towards sustainability. The Minister of Economy, Delphine Batho, asked for 30 indicators to track the improvements made in protecting the environments. The indicators ranged from green house gas emissions to recycling and energy efficiency (picture - courtesy of Le Monde newspaper).
The report was developed ahead of the conference on the environment to take place in Paris mid-september. Like many other countries, France is dealing with the realities of trying to support industrial growth while transitioning to an eco-friencly economy. Overall, the report gives a B- ("can do better"), and highlights areas where more progress must be made to meet the 2020 goals.
The first public decisions of Marissa Mayer as Yahoo’s top
executive has brought light onto the perks to attract critical talent in
Silicon Valley and foster a productive environment:
free food, smart phones, etc. One of the most successful employee programs at
Google is the shared shuttle service between San Francisco and Mountain View,
which has expanded to tens of buses in the Bay Area. The oldest company bus benefit is actually
run by Genentech in South San Francisco. It started as a way to deal with parking
limitations before growing into a popular employee retention program.
RidePal is bringing this green “perk” to smaller businesses who cannot afford it or do not have the resources to operate a bus system.
The San Francisco based start-up launched last week four additional routes in
the Bay Area, and participating companies can have a say on where the bus stops
depending on their level membership. Workers can also vote on prospective
routes on RidePal’s website (picture above).
We are in mid-summer and it is still a great time to go camping. With so many outdoor treasures like Yosemite, California has plenty to offer for those who want to reconnect with nature for the time of a week-end. But how green is camping? If you are packing charcoals and a gas lamp in your car, you may want to think twice before you take the road...
Actually, going "off-grid" is a good opportunity to realize some of the challenges that developing countries have to face on a daily basis: little access to reliable electricity and clean water. Luckily water is not an issue in most camping spots. So I tried to focus on limiting my carbon foot-print when I went camping with my daughter. Here are the top-5 green products to go camping.
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