The big environmental news this week was the demise of the Keystone XL Pipeline Project.  For those in need of a refresh, this is an extension of an already existing pipeline that would facilitate the transportation of synthetic crude oil from the Alberta, Canada tar sands to multiple locations in the United States.  Needless to say, environmentalists have not been big fans of this venture. On November 10 of last year, after months of protests, President Obama announced a delay of the decision until 2013.  So we got a reprieve, if not a victory, for the environment.  Shortly thereafter Republicans introduced legislation that would require a decision be made on the project within two months, deadline February 21^st 2012. On December 18^th the White House released its decision.  From the official statement:

As the State Department made clear last month, the rushed and arbitrary deadline insisted on by Congressional Republicans prevented a full assessment of the pipelines impact, especially the health and safety of the American people, as well as our environment. As a result, the Secretary of State has recommended that the application be denied. And after reviewing the State Departments report, I agree.

This announcement is not a judgment on the merits of the pipeline, but the arbitrary nature of a deadline that prevented the State Department from gathering the information necessary to approve the project and protect the American people.

So does this mark the end of the project and its environmental threat?  Not really. The statement focuses on Republican strong-arming instead of environmental concerns and TransCanada has already said they intend to reapply for a permit. For more information on the pipeline fight, visit http://www.tarsandsaction.org/spread-the-word/key-facts-keystone-xl/ For insight into different green opinions on this development, visit http://grist.org/politics/is-the-anti-keystone-campaign-good-or-bad-for-the-environmental-movement/

Giant Plankton is an independent game company based in Seattle whose mission is to create fun and innovative multi-player games that bring people together. Their first product is a two-player iPad game called Skwint that recently launched on the App Store. Skwint is a clever update to the traditional matching game that rewards a good strategy as much as a good memory. It’s simple enough to play with your five year old daughter yet challenging enough to play with your neighbor who reads statistics magazines for fun. It all depends on the Settings you choose and the skills you bring to the game. Besides having great game-play, Skwint was also conceived as a vehicle for a variety of beautifully designed audio-visual experiences or “themes”. The first version of Skwint comes with a theme called Pulse which has a clean, minimal feel. More great themes are coming soon. While the primary mission of Giant Plankton is to create great social games, they are doing it in an environmentally responsible way. Giant Plankton is happy to be a CarbonFree^® Partner and purchase carbon credits to offset all of the emissions from their business activities. It is a sincere goal at Giant Plankton to always be a carbon-neutral company. But being carbon neutral doesn’t reverse the damage that has already been done to the planet, so a percentage of Giant Plankton’s profits will be donated to organizations that work to improve the health of the oceans. After all, healthy seas are critical to plankton survival. The team at Giant Plankton has temporarily priced Skwint at $.99 in support of Occupy Wall Street!  So check it out and spread the word to your friends. The world will be a more entertaining... and sustainable place.

Need to get your message out to a wide and specific audience?  Find your solution with APS Mobile Advertising, LLC, providing on-demand, focused and targeted advertising to the customer at an affordable rate.  Their professionals provide the wealth of knowledge and experience that defines their highly qualified and motivated advertising team. APS Mobile Ads offers a full range of mobile advertising solutions, including mobile billboard, aerial, static billboard and over-the-road advertising, targeted by geography, demographic or event.  And mobile advertising is effective: • 98% of in-car audiences indicated they noticed truck-side ads. – American Trucking Association • 97% is the recall rate on mobile advertising. – Outdoor Advertising Magazine TACA’s market research July/August 2002 • 96% of respondents say mobile advertising is more effective than traditional outdoor advertising. – Outdoor Advertising Magazine TACA’s market research July/August 2002 • Mobile advertising generates 2.5 times more attention than a static billboard. – Perception Research • 91% of target audiences noticed both graphics and text. – American Trucking Association and 3M APS Mobile Advertising, LLC is a USDOT compliant, environmentally conscious, veteran owned and operated company. APS Mobile Ads is the only Detroit-based mobile billboard advertising company, directly serving the mid-west, and through partner companies, coast to coast. And APS Mobile Ads is driven to maximize environmental responsibility in its operations. Utility consumption is kept extremely low, all eligible materials are recycled, drivers are instructed to operate all company vehicles at the most fuel efficient speeds, and APS Mobile Ads participates in Carbonfund.org’s CarbonFree™ Partnership program. “At APS Mobile Ads, we believe that business can be done more efficiently and just as effectively, while at the same time reducing the environmental impact of daily operations. We all have a responsibility to minimize our carbon footprint, and we look forward to achieving that goal through a successful partnership with Carbonfund.org,” exclaims Christopher A. Falster, Chairman of APS Mobile Ads. Learn more about the mobile advertising options and solutions at www.APSmobileAds.com.  They'll make you - and your audience - look!

Ever found yourself in the furniture-buying quagmire, staring at one of the furniture industry’s behemoth showrooms with homogeneous products, thinking there has to be a better way to furnish a house, office or apartment? Well so did the creative team that founded Viesso. Most furniture companies present their products in an outdated and inefficient fashion, and consumers were forced to settle for products that are generic, whether or not the pieces fit their specific needs. Viesso brings an innovative process to furniture design and creation that allows for maximum customization, with a website and more efficient showrooms as the core of the company. Viesso allows you to create custom furniture on their innovative website: select the model that suits your sense of style and is the right size for your space. From there, you pick from a large variety of options for fabric, filling, finishes, legs, and more to create your own custom piece, many of which are made from ‘green’ materials. You can price out all the options available on the website. Once ordered, your furniture piece is ready to ship nationwide in about 3 weeks. The aim at Viesso is to be the best solution for modern furniture, on and offline. While all their quality products are created and sold on their website, they support the website offering with a showroom and honest design help to allow people to make educated (and stylish) decisions. By blending customization, modern technology, smart design, and sustainable living, Viesso offers a refreshing way for you to furnish your space. While creating Viesso, the founders aligned themselves with other companies that share the same passion for the environment. All the products designed and produced by Viesso as made to be as “green” as possible. Check the “How It’s Green” tab at the bottom of every product page to see specific details for each individual product. Viesso carries its environmental focus through its overall operations, from small showrooms to reliance on technology and electronic communication. All products are custom-built, so there is little to no waste, and there is no large inventory of products to store, like most companies, because each piece is custom-built when ordered. This makes Viesso’s manufacturing process very efficient and reduces the impact on the environment in terms of materials used. Viesso also offsets a portion of its operational emissions through Carbonfund.org’s CarbonFree™ Business Partnership program. “We liked the way the programs were setup, and believed in the cause they [Carbonfund.org] are focused on. In addition, we got a good feeling after contacting them initially,” comments Travis Nagle, one of Viesso's founders. You owe it to yourself to experience the unique furniture selection, design and purchasing experience that Viesso has to offer. Visit their website at http://www.viesso.com/.

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has come out with a simple and easy-to-use tool to educate you about your friendly neighborhood polluters. Click here to explore their interactive map of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions throughout the United States.  You can search quickly by state or create a more specific custom location search (though the latter doesn’t seem to work quite as well). The coolest feature is the option to select specific pollutants or polluting industries. So let’s say you’re researching the paper industry, writing a compelling report about the environmental impact of paper factories in your state.  You can use checkboxes to narrow down your search to return only the examples that pertain to your thesis.  Results include the name and location of facilities, as well as the quantity and variety of emissions. One very important thing to note about this map: the data set used does not reflect total U.S. GHG emissions, only those from the largest facilities. So don’t be duped into believing the total is this low!    

The 2011 United Nations Climate Change Conference in Durban, South Africa, concluded on December 11 after two weeks of tense negotiation. The outcome?  An agreement to be part of a new treaty to address global warming. This comprehensive global agreement to reduce greenhouse gas emissions is different from past climate agreements, as none of its predecessors have been legally binding. The precise phrase used is "a protocol, a legal instrument or an agreed outcome with legal force," which admittedly leaves a lot of wiggle room, but experts agree this is still a step forward from prior voluntary arrangements.  The agreement, referred to as the "Durban platform," is expected to go into effect in 2020, with discussions slated to finish by 2015. Other takeaways from the Durban conference:

• Unlike Kyoto, the pending treaty will apply to both developed and developing countries
• A new Green Climate Fund will provide support to the poorest countries to help them reach their emission reduction goals and adapt to the realities of climate change

Michael Jacobs, visiting professor at the Grantham Research Institute on Climate Change and the Environment in London, said of the Durban agreement:

"[It] has not in itself taken us off the 4°C path we are on, but by forcing countries for the first time to admit that their current policies are inadequate and must be strengthened by 2015, it has snatched 2°C from the jaws of impossibility."

[caption id="" align="alignright" width="300" caption="South African foreign minister Maite Nkoana-Mashabane (right) gets a congratulatory hug from the conference executive director Christiana Figueres at the closing session."][/caption] The 2 °C to which he refers is the safe threshold, beyond which we'll begin to see catastrophic climate changes.  4 °C refers to the average surface temperature increase in the next century if we continue emitting greenhouse gases at the rate we are. As Jacobs' statement implies, despite the moderate advances made in Durban, there were also astonishing losses—among those, Canada, Russia and Japan's decisions to withdraw from the Kyoto protocol, citing an inability to meet their reduction targets.  It's clear that no matter what the UN climate conferences achieve, negotiations between state leaders aren't going to be enough. Individuals and businesses must do their part by reducing what they can and offsetting what they can't. Carbonfund.org provides helpful tips and resources for reducing your emissions on our site, as well as tools to help you calculate you, your family, or your business' carbon footprint. Once you've reduced as much as possible, donate to our portfolio of carbon reduction projects to become entirely carbon neutral! To avoid 4 °C, we must remain committed to the fight on climate change.  Join us today!

Modwalls® is “Making Tile Modern” with easy online shopping and colorful collections inspired by mid-century architecture and modern design. Back in 2005, while searching for tile products for their own home renovations, founders David Bousfield and Rebecca Lonergan were frustrated with the lack of colorful modern tile options available, the high prices and extended lead time to receive tile products. With their backgrounds in high tech, David and Rebecca knew they could bring a traditionally brick and mortar retail experience online. Their goal was to design and stock the modern tile products they were seeking, make these products available for immediate delivery via online purchase, and to provide customer service equal to or better than the hands-on assistance offered at traditional tile showrooms. Modwalls began by offering glass mosaic tile in many colors with custom blending options. From that single product beginning of Brio® glass mosaic tile, they’ve created several other lines, including their Lush® clear glass subway tile with clean modern edges, and colorful retro inspired ModDotz™ porcelain penny round tile.  Since 2008, Modwalls has expanded to offer several sustainable tile options including Viridian™ Recycled Glass Tile, ModRocks™ 100% post-consumer Recycled Glass Pebbles, and CorkDotz all Natural Cork Mosaic Penny Rounds made of end cuts from a wine cork manufacturer.  All of these products are mesh mounted in square foot sheets or larger as noted, for easy modular installation. The Modwalls staff has grown to a small team of dedicated customer care and shipping professionals. In addition, Modwalls partners with HOPE Services and their workshop of developmentally disabled clients to produce their custom Brio® glass mosaic blends locally. The team at Modwalls is working to reduce their operational carbon footprint in a number of ways. They design and sell glass, porcelain and cork tile collections which emit no VOC’s, and carry an ever expanding line of products made with recycled content including tile grout made of 80% post consumer recycled glass dust. Their packing material is recycled and recyclable, and they donate imperfect and discontinued tile products to Resource Area for Teachers and school art programs, diverting them from landfills. Modwalls is also a CarbonFree™ Partner with Carbonfund.org, offsetting their business shipping emissions by supporting renewable energy projects that reduce emissions while creating cleaner energy sources. “As an online retailer we are concerned about the carbon emissions generated by the shipping of our products. Carbonfund.org is a key partner in our initiative to reduce our company’s carbon footprint,” says Rebecca Lonergan, Co-Founder and Creative Director of Modwalls. Check out the colorful, creative and sustainable tile products from Modwalls for your next remodeling project.

Forever Cheese announced on January 4th, that since 2007  (including their recent 2011 donation) it has offset its carbon emissions by 11 million lbs. or over 5000 metric tons! Through this partnership with Carbonfund.org Foundation, Forever Cheese is actively supporting reforestation and renewable energy such as wind and solar, actively demonstrating the proactive steps it is taking to fight against global climate change. Forever Cheese, importer of unique cheeses and specialty foods from Italy, Spain, Portugal & Croatia, has spent the past 5 years making donations that are the equivalent of carbon emissions from over 560,000 gallons of gasoline consumed, the electricity use (both solar and wind) of over 600 homes for one year or the carbon sequestered annually by over 1000 acres of pine forest. This year they have invested 80% of their funds in U.S. renewable energy projects (including both wind and solar) and 20% of their funds on reforestation.  Forever Cheese uses recyclable materials whenever possible in the office and is actively looking to increase their commitment to preserving the environment. This combination of both internal and external carbon reductions helps Forever Cheese reach their sustainability objectives while protecting important biodiversity and encouraging the shift to clean energy solutions. Michele Buster, Vice President of Forever Cheese, commented that she was looking for a way to make a greater difference on the environment and to the community than just her commitment to wind energy at home and thus engaged her company to support renewable energy for a more far reaching effect. Forever Cheese is dedicated to sourcing the most unique and highest quality cheeses and specialty foods  of the Mediterranean. For the last 15 years owners Michele Buster and Pierluigi Sini have been importing and educating Americans on these unusual and fantastic products. Carbonfund.org, the leading nonprofit carbon offset and climate solution organizations, supports third party renewable energy in the U.S and abroad to reduce CO2 pollution. The support Carbonfund.org Foundation receives for carbon reduction projects offer important climate change solutions that benefits both planet and people. Carbonfund.org Foundation helps both social and environmental commitments by supporting third-party validated renewable energy, energy efficiency and reforestation projects around the world. For more information please contact (718)777-0772 or This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.  or visit: www.forevercheese.com