Denver, U.S.A. – The Green America Better Paper Project released its latest “green paper,” ‘Green in All Grades,’ which debunks recent myths and proves that recycled paper is always the best environmental choice, especially when used in magazines.

‘Green in All Grades’ dissects the key arguments from recycled paper detractors so that paper purchasers can best understand and remain confident and comfortable that purchasing and using recycled paper is the best choice for the environment, climate, and people. In fact, the benefits are wide-ranging from mitigating climate change impacts to creating more jobs while also protecting biodiversity and improving air and water quality.

Frank Locantore, the director of the Better Paper Project, remarked, “Over the past few years, we’ve heard a lot of misinformation and unsubstantiated claims that recycled paper is a poor environmental choice for magazine paper, so we wanted to clear up confusion and present science-based facts to support magazines that want to do the right thing for the planet by using recycled paper.”

‘Green in All Grades’ proves:

• There is no shortage of wastepaper available for recovery and recycling, so there’s no need to allocate recycled content to only certain paper grades.
• When comparing the same grade of paper (“apples to apples”), recycled paper environmentally outshines its virgin counterpart.
• The greatest environmental savings occur when recovered paper is used to make recycled printing-writing paper, instead of recycled newsprint or packaging.
• Adding “request” to “reduce, reuse, recycle” can spur more paper recycling and a green manufacturing industry to support thousands of jobs.
• Collaboration between industry and non-profit organizations is the solution to growing a green and profitable magazine industry.

Scientists have estimated that human activity has degraded almost 80 percent of what remains of the planet’s forests. Producing more virgin paper, which requires further harming our natural ecosystems, is not a sustainable solution to the growing global paper demand. However, a solution is within reach – utilizing the vast reserves of recoverable paper that are not currently being collected and turned into recycled paper.

To help magazine publishers stand out as environmental leaders, ‘Green in All Grades’ offers a step-by-step plan to increase the recycled content in their magazines, attract green consumers and support a sustainable 21st century economy.

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Transportation is the second-highest contributor to greenhouse gas emission. Cars rank among the highest within this category, due to the way they are manufactured and the sheer number of them.

According to the Environmental Protection Agency, passenger cars emit 5.19 metric tons of carbon dioxide per 12,500 miles. In the United States, this is 94-95% of the total emissions from transportation. While cars appear to be necessary in the United States, there are several easy, green alternatives to driving that will reduce your carbon footprint.

For individuals, a carbon footprint is the amount of carbon dioxide (from transport, food, energy consumption, manufactured goods, and more) emitted throughout a lifetime.

Scientists speculate that these gases are the cause of global warming. Limiting one’s carbon footprints can slow down catastrophic effects on the environment and delay the moment of peak oil, when oil production reaches its maximum rate and begins to decline.The EPA believes greenhouse gases are contributing to a global climate change, and causing the heat waves meteorologists predict for this summer.

To slow down climate change, it is a good idea for each person to start thinking about reducing his or her individual carbon footprint. Trains are a more energy-efficient way to travel. Compared to cars, they emit only 2% of the carbon dioxide in the United States, which makes them the lightest of all methods of transportation. Many countries are now using other methods, as opposed to power trains, that reduce their carbon footprint even further.

For example, in Japan, the Shinkansen, or ‘bullet train,’ utilizes electric or magnetic power depending on the train. Neither leaves any trace of a carbon footprint. This train is faster and more efficient than the conventional railway systems. The United States has already begun planning to implement these train systems in Florida, Texas, the Midwest (Chicago Area), the Northeast (Washington D.C.-Boston), and California. All of these train routes are expected to be completed by 2025.

For shorter trips, consider taking a bus. A bus emits 2.99 metric tons of carbon dioxide per 12,500 miles. This is already less carbon dioxide than cars, and can carry more people per trip. Bus companies themselves are making an effort to be “greener.” In California, Proterra has unveiled a hybrid-electric bus that is classified as a zero-emission vehicle.

About 15% of buses to date in California emit no greenhouse gases. Washington D.C., Philadelphia, St. Paul, Minneapolis, and many other cities have invested in these buses as well. New York City, a leader in investing, has even begun using these hybrids for school buses. Many people can now enjoy the comfort of a clean, quiet, efficient bus ride.

In China, a solar-powered bus called the 3D Express Coach, designed by the Shenzhen Hashi Future Parking Equipment Company, will save at least 860 tons of fuel each year, or 2,640 metric tons of carbon. With China’s overpopulation and heavy dependence on public transport, these buses will soon be mass produced and available all over the country. The bus straddles the highway, above the drivers. Yet it is faster, cheaper and cleaner compared to the cars it passes over.

If none of these options are available to you, try investing in a hybrid or electric car. These cars emit about one third of the gasses conventional cars do. Electric cars, however, need to be charged. At home, with a standard plug, this charging can take up to twelve hours. At electric fueling stations, cars can charge up to 80% in about 30 minutes.

Yet these stations are in select cities, and could possibly wear down the battery. Hybrid cars also offer the advantage of using fuel for long distances, or time away from electric refueling stations. Hybrid and electric cars are getting to be more and more affordable as car companies realize the importance of reducing carbon footprints.

For example, the hybrid Honda Insight gets 42 mpg and starts at $18,500. The all-electric Nissan Leaf gets the equivalent of 106 mpg and starts at $35,200. Plus, buying a hybrid and or electric car earns tax credit in some states. Companies are making hybrid SUVs and trucks as well, like the Lexus RX Hybrid and the Chevy Silverado Hybrid.

Consider walking or bicycling as healthy alternatives to driving. These also have no carbon footprint and are easily accessible. The bottom line: no matter your situation, there is an eco-friendly alternative to driving out there for everyone.

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R. Buckminster Fuller, inventor and futurist, has become a major influence in the Occupy Movement. Represented by his book, “Grunch of Giants”, and by his geodesic dome, Fuller’s spirit is infusing the hearts and minds of humanitarians working to implement global change through sustainable design science. The time for change is now, and synergy can save the world.

Fuller coined the term, “synergy”, to demonstrate how the sum of the whole is greater than the sum of the individuals. Through the synergy of the inventive mind and generous hearts of humanity “Spaceship Earth” can be turned around. He understood that we have all the technology and resources necessary to foster Earth as an integrated regenerative system.

In his cautionary tale, “Grunch of Giants”, Fuller warns of the immediate dangers posed by the “invisible, abstract, and completely ruthless empire of corporations that control the world’s finances.”  It is time to create a true economy, a sustainable economy, that recognizes the proper resources and technology that will nurture and support all life.

Through design science, Fuller envisioned our entire planet operating with a higher standard of living. The Buckminster Fuller Institute is promoting design science through The BFI Challenge which awards $100,000 to support the development of strategies to solve world problems.

Buckminster Fuller’s most famous invention, the geodesic dome, is the strongest structure known to man. Pacific Domes has helped to supply the Occupy Movement with their portable domes in four key locations: Occupy UC Davis, Occupy Buffalo NY, Occupy Eugene, and Occupy Harvard University.

Following Fuller’s lead, Pacific Domes has been working to create sustainable solutions for humanity for 30 years and is now actively supporting the Occupy Movement as well as many sustainable Earth projects, including Bee Restoration, Bio-Energy, Aquaponics, Mycological Restoration, and Eco-Living. Pacific Domes has plans to support a further vision “Occupy Earth”.

Occupy Earth will be a global organizational tool to help educate and create sustainable villages all over the globe. Pacific Domes is currently working with The Global Eco-Village Network to create a database that will support the birth of a new world.

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The worldwide movement toward sustainability has made significant progress over the past half-dozen years as companies and cities have pursued strategies that balance future and current societal needs. Now, sustainable development is entering a new phase, characterized by greater alignment within and between the public and private sectors.

The road to sustainability has been plagued with roadblocks, including an unprecedented global financial crisis and attempts by entrenched business and political interests to deny climate science. Perhaps the greatest obstacle has been the lack of consistent and comparable standards for defining and measuring sustainability. Although these issues have yet to be fully resolved, many well-coordinated initiatives in recent years have pointed the way forward for companies and cities.

In 2012, major trends shaping the sustainable development movement include:

Transparency – Buildings, companies and cities are measuring and disclosing energy usage, carbon emissions, and other information relating to sustainability. Commercial building owners do not always have a choice: Five major U.S. cities and two states have enacted energy performance measurement and disclosure policies to date, and nine more cities and states have bills under considerations to help tenants and investors make better informed decisions. Buildings in Europe are required to display energy performance certificates, and Australia is implementing similar requirements.

Corporations do not require legal mandates to encourage disclosure. In 2011, more than 3,000 companies voluntarily reported their carbon emissions, water management, and climate change policies to Carbon Disclosure Project in 2011, perhaps swayed by CDP’s 551 investor members, who use the information in deciding where to place more than $71 trillion in investment capital.

Transparency is also on the rise at the city level. CDP invited 58 cities worldwide to report sustainability related data for the first time in 2011.  Forty-two responded, with 38 of them making their responses public. This year, CDP Cities is expanding its request to 150 cities and continues to see a high response rate, as well as extraordinary awareness and commitment on climate change issues by city leaders.

Global Consistency – Deeper sustainability reporting by cities and multi-national corporations has intensified the need for consistent ways to measure the effectiveness of energy, water, and other sustainability strategies on a worldwide basis. Given the wide regional variation in environmental priorities around the world, the end goal may not be a single global standard, but a way to translate local government and business practices into a common global vocabulary for measuring effectiveness and recognizing achievement.

LEED, the building sustainability rating system originated in the U.S., is now frequently pursued in many countries with their own systems, as owners seek to attract international tenants. Energy Star, the U.S. EPA energy benchmarking standard, will soon be able to provide accurate ratings across North America, thanks to a new cooperative agreement with Canada.

In 2011, the International Organization for Standardization released the ISO 50001 standard for energy management systems, which includes specifications for measurement, documentation, and reporting on energy consumption.

Consistent measurement is important to corporations as they focus on sustainability, not only in their own operations, but increasingly throughout their supply chain as well. And while CDP Cities is not attempting to rank the sustainability of cities, it is developing a globally cohesive framework for understanding the effectiveness of sustainability strategies pursued by different cities.

Public/Private Collaboration – 2011 stood out as a year when government and business organizations explored their shared green goals and realized that public-private partnerships and collaborative initiatives are often the best way to overcome obstacles to sustainability. Some of these joint efforts will start to bear fruit in 2012.

A clear example is the December announcement of a $4 billion energy retrofit commitment by the U.S. federal government and 60 CEOs, mayors, university presidents, and labor leaders. Called the Better Buildings Challenge, the eight-year initiative includes $2 billion in energy upgrades of federal buildings and another $2 billion of private capital to improve energy by 20 percent in buildings totaling 1.5 billion square feet.

The Better Buildings Challenge illustrates the alignment between business and government goals in seeking energy and carbon reduction. Achieving those goals also requires cooperation; for example, groups ranging from the World Economic Forum to Greenprint Foundation have called for changes to loan underwriting guidelines set by governmental bodies to facilitate financing of energy retrofits.

More directly, U.S. states have found they can increase renewable energy installations at buildings by offering incentives that would make solar power cost-effective for owners within a relatively short period.

As a firm that serves government and business entities, Jones Lang LaSalle sees tremendous untapped synergy between the two groups in achieving energy and sustainability goals, particularly in the area of public-private partnerships. As just one of many examples, airports and other government entities often have surplus land that is unsuitable for commercial property development, but could be leased to private companies for development as large solar energy installations;

Focus on Solar Energy – Speaking of solar power, 2011 was a breakthrough year for new installations in the U.S. and continued growth is seen for 2012, albeit at a slower pace.  More than 1 gigawatt of photovoltaic solar energy capacity was installed across the U.S. in the first three quarters of 2011, according to the Solar Energy Industries Association. By comparison, 887 megawatts came online in all of 2010, which represented a doubling of the total installed base at the time.

Solar energy installations at commercial properties drove much of the market growth in 2011, but the pace of new installations dropped significantly in the third quarter, SEIA reported. The big story going into 2012 is the unprecedented rise in utility-based installations, which jumped by 325 percent from the second to the third quarter.

The strength of the solar market in 2012 and beyond will be affected by several variables, including basic supply and demand economics, technological improvements, and the amount and type of available incentives. It is clear, however, that interest in solar energy continues to grow as payback periods grow shorter and fossil fuel costs continue to rise.

2012: Taking Sustainability to the Next Level

The common theme to all these trends is of an industry poised to break through to the next level. The industry has moved swiftly through initial phases of understanding the basic costs and benefits, implementing low-cost initiatives, exploring more sophisticated strategies, and navigating around roadblocks.

Today, it is easier to see the opportunity for dynamic progress by cities, property owners and corporate tenants that have laid the groundwork for growth and success.

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The American Lung Association applauds the Obama Administration for adopting public health safeguards to reduce mercury and toxic air pollution from power plants.  The new Mercury and Air Toxics Standards for Power Plants are long overdue and will reduce the harm from air pollution like mercury, lead, arsenic, and a host of other pollutants.

“Since toxic air pollution from power plants can make people sick and cut lives short, the new Mercury and Air Toxics Standards are a huge victory for public health,” said Albert A. Rizzo, M.D., National Volunteer Chair of the American Lung Association, and pulmonary and critical care physician in Newark, Delaware.

“The Lung Association expects all oil and coal-fired power plants to act now to protect all Americans, especially our children, from the health risks imposed by these dangerous air pollutants.”

The Mercury and Air Toxics Standards will reduce toxic emissions from coal- and oil-fired power plants that are found in more than 40 U.S. states and are the largest producers of mercury pollution. Air pollution emitted by coal-fired power plants contains 84 of the 187 hazardous pollutants identified for control by the Clean Air Act.

Many of these pollutants, such as, dioxins, arsenic, and lead, can cause cancer and cardiovascular disease; harm the kidneys, lungs, and nervous system; and even kill. The Mercury and Air Toxics Standards will reduce these pollutants and prevent 130,000 childhood asthma attacks and 11,000 premature deaths each year.

The 1990 Clean Air Act Amendments required the tighter standards on power plants in an effort to reduce toxic emissions in communities across the country. However, big polluters have fought for and won delays for more than 21 years.

“Attempts to delay or dismantle the Clean Air Act, or rules like the Mercury and Air Toxics Standards, reward industry polluters and punish those most vulnerable to dirty air,” said Dr. Rizzo. “These new standards mark a huge step forward in clean air protections and will be responsible for saving thousands of lives each year.”

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