Ecotourism, or environmentally responsible travel, is no longer just a trip with backpacks, spending nights in the open air and with little comfort. The world’s best resorts are adding “eco” to their names, combining sustainability with a high level of service. Luxury-Eco is a new concept that combines two seemingly opposing directions. Since luxury is defined as a good or service that is not considered to be a necessity, it is associated with waste. In reality, however, rarity and durability lies in the concept of true luxury. It is not something mass produced but precious, therefore it is in luxury brands best interests to protect scarce resources.

“Luxury brands can not be that proud about their performance on social environmental issues yet,” says Dr. Jem Bendell, Associate Professor in Griffith Business School.  The business of luxury, however, cannot be isolated from the problems of  pollution, climate change and scarcity of resources. The question is not whether luxury industry could be green, but how it could do so.

“The biggest problem in sustainability in any industry is that there is no general definition of what it is,” comments Vanessa Friedman, fashion editor for the Financial Times. The possible answers could be an efficient use of resources, help to local communities, and decent working conditions for employees. Currently each industry faces the challenge to define its own sustainable practices to make sure the resources we have today will be available tomorrow.

The tourism industry is one of the first that has developed criteria for a clear understanding of what sustainable tourism is, and the rules the tourism business should follow. The framework, called the Global Sustainable Tourism Criteria, published in March 2012, covers four main directions: effective sustainability planning, maximizing social and economic benefits for the local community, enhancing cultural heritage and reducing negative impacts to the environment. Market leaders make efforts to follow the criteria.

The Marriott, for example, is about to spend 75 percent of its budget this year to get sustainable furniture and equipment. Another giant, Hilton, managed to cut waste 19 percent during 2010 with its system LightStay. The company states an objective to cut energy consumption by 20 percent, CO2 emission and waste output; water consumption is to be cut by 10 percent in the period from 2009 to 2014. Hilton’s sustainability policy includes eleven points, one of which is engaging  team members through training, tools, and active involvement.

Not only employees, but also customers, should be educated. Hotels cannot limit clients’ consumption of food, water and energy, but what they can do is to create a community with recommendations that are easy to follow. Practices such as changing the towels only when necessary, not using straws for cocktails and reusing glasses are not restricting, therefore customers are likely to respect them. The key here is to give visitors the idea about their contribution. It’s not enough for a hotel to claim to be green. The figures about reduction of water use and energy and contribution to the local community must be presented. The Sol Melía chain, for example, reported 35,506kg of waste collected and recycled for hotel. Another important factor to look at while choosing a green place is whether a hotel has environmental certification.

The current challenge common for all luxury industries is how to make customers accept and follow green practices. Kavita Maharaj, the Director of Global Corporate Relationship in Havas Media, is optimistic about the future: “It’s quite clear from the research we have done that consumers want it. They say quite categorically: we want to be a part of the solution, we want to be engaged in this issue and do something about it.”

In the end, luxury has sustainability in its roots. “The essence of real luxury is to sell high quality, creative and rare objects with an image of good taste and elegance. Thus luxury is resource dependent and obsessed by the sustainability of its resources,” says Jean Noël Kapferer, expert in brand-management.

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Alexander Laszlo is co-founder and President of Syntony Quest and former Director of the Doctoral Program in Management at the Graduate School of Business Administration and Leadership (EGADE- ITESM) located in Mexico. He was recently elected President of the International Society for the Systems Sciences (ISSS). He has also worked at UNESCO and for the U.S. Department of Education. He has been Visiting Professor at the London School of Economics and the European University Institute. In addition to being the author of multiple book and journal articles, he is also a 5th Degree Black Belt in Korean Karate. This is part two of an exclusive Toonari Post interview, find the first part here.

TP: How do you believe that virtual education is transforming the world?                               

AL: I believe that universities and educational systems which do not keep up to date with current technology enhanced Interactive systems will be left behind. Education should encourage a dynamic play with creating knowledge and not only memorizing what is already known, because memorizing what we already know is not going to provide solutions to the current challenges faced by humanity. These challenges require a new paradigm, a new way of understanding. It’s not about learning and applying the models of last century; we have seen that these models do not work; we need people to develop their own response to their realities in which they live.

This is the purpose of Giordano Bruno; to create perspective. Take Facebook, for example. People use it but mainly for social pursuits. How can we create an education system that works like Facebook in which students share their learning with others and with a group of friends, and so among them discuss, comment, share extra resources and in this way go into an enriching conversation of shared understand on any particular topic?

So really, it’s like creating an education system based on this type of model, which is today one of the most widely used type of interaction. As I say, education systems that don’t use it will stay stuck in the past.

TP: What is the holistic paradigm?

AL: The idea of the holistic paradigm is not seeing the world in a fragmented way. For example, here in California, where I live, I need to see how to get clean water, the same as anyone anywhere else in the world. One solution would be to use all the water that falls from the mountains for irrigation, or we could also get it from our aquifers.

Now, if we don’t proceed with a perspective that considers the impacts of using water-intensive agricultural practices, then we are acting badly. We need to create a solution that allows the aquifers to be restored and regenerated. That’s the holistic way of understanding the secondary and tertiary impacts, and more so to really understand the interdependence of all living systems as the non-living systems, that also sustain life, as is the case of climatic water cycles.

This is the perspective and sensitivity that we want to foster among students, because once we understand that everything is interconnected, we see that nothing is only a problem from a technical perspective, as this type of thinking usually creates more problems [than] it resolves. So the idea is to create a system of solutions, not just a one-dimensional solution that could be purely technological or economic. Really, a set of solutions involves seeing and understanding dynamic and interactive patterns; once you understand a little bit and have developed sensitivity for seeing how these complex adaptive systems are intertwined with each other, you can start creating a new dialogue with nature, society, future generations, our ancestors and yourself. In this way, we create a flow of abundance without making the mistake of trying to maximize our return on investment, which is a way of addressing a context in only a myopic way.

TP: Recently you have been elected President of the International Society for the Systems Sciences (ISSS). What are your expectations in this new position?

AL: This organization was founded in 1954 and now has had a total of 56 annual conferences. My job as President is to create an international event that represents the emerging direction of systems science, which also includes human science.

I have chosen a theme for this year which is aimed at moving toward a systemic consciousness that heightens and draws upon relational intelligence. So my purpose is to stimulate a more dedicated development of relational intelligence, which must not only be empathetic and compassionate to others, but also embody ways of being interactive and interconnected with all living systems on this planet.

TP: How can you handle so many projects at the same time?

AL: I have several clones (laughs). My secret is that I have excellent teams, and this is what I want to bring to both the Giordano Bruno University and the ISSS. In both cases, we want to create a thrivable world of collaborative communities. Alone, I just can’t achieve all these goals, but luckily the people I work with are much competent than me, which ensures the success of all these projects.

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Alexander Laszlo is co-founder and President of Syntony Quest and former Director of the Doctoral Program in Management at the Graduate School of Business Administration and Leadership (EGADE- ITESM) located in Mexico. He was recently elected President of the International Society for the Systems Sciences (ISSS). He has also worked at UNESCO and for the U.S. Department of Education. He has been Visiting Professor at the London School of Economics and the European University Institute. In addition to being the author of multiple book and journal articles, he is also a 5^th Degree Black Belt in Korean Karate.

Toonari Post (TP): You are well known for being the co-founder and President of Syntony Quest. Could you explain to us a little bit about this organization?

Alexander Laszlo (AL): Syntony Quest is an educational non-profit organization whose purpose is to serve as a bridge between academia and the business world on topics of sustainability. Many NGOs are focused on working with the problems of people; however, they often lack a more strategic platform from the point of view of theoretical and scientific progress on sustainability issues.

In our organization we conduct interactive research on socio environmental issues with a, participatory approach that is informed by the emerging context. This is the main purpose of Syntony Quest, to be a bridge that fosters self-directed sustainable development in case-specific contexts.

Sustainability means not exceeding the carrying capacity of our planet- trying to maintain a certain balance. But the goal of Syntony Quest is to help create a prosperous world, one that goes beyond mere sustainability to true thrivability, fostering an economy of abundance.

We must create an economy based on nature and not on abstract economic concepts, which are very common in the current economic system.

TP: On the other side, one year ago Giordano Bruno University was opened, where you have the role of Director of Learning and Curriculum Innovation. Tell us, what is the pedagogical model used?

AL: Giordano Bruno University does not seek to impose models that are not relevant to the current context. We are against the subordination of ideas. We want to develop a process of change in the narrative presented by the instructor in which the student has to memorize theory in the most efficient manner possible. Normally, the student has only to learn and repeat the narrative presented by the teacher in order to get the best score, trying to be as faithful to the original narrative as possible.

We want to move beyond this approach, to a second and then to a third point. The second part consists in a change of the teacher’s narrative. The narratives become based in simulations, which allow students to be an actor in a narrative, such as an interactive game like Buckminster Fuller’s World Game or the Model UN experience offered at the high school level for students to simulate a Conference of the United Nations. A simulation like this allows students to experiment, and see how to practice playing different roles.

This second option is good but, what is the intention of Giordano Bruno? It’s not only about the first model that consists of repeating the teacher’s narrative, and it is even beyond the second, which is to live in a designed narrative experience of it, which is still provided by the teacher.

The third model consists of the students creating their own narratives around the learning themes being focused on in the course. This is a process in which students are given the opportunity to live the topics of the course into their own narrative experience, making the course material relevant to their own situation and their own environment in a global context.

TP: Could you tell us a little bit about the instructors and the academic community?

AL: The Giordano Bruno model is very interesting, because the goal is to create an international cultural community of students from many parts of the world based on study groups of 21 students. These groups function as cells in a structure that can have from 10,000 to 300,000 students in a single course. Nevertheless, we are always focused on the groups of 21 students.

This model allows us to significantly reduce the costs while at the same time increasing accessibility, thereby potentially reaching students in any part of the world. Of course, they need to have access to Internet. Once there, they can interact with the other students of their group.

In this process, there is an instructor who designs the course. The course has certain parameters that allow for the use of technology in ways that are rapidly becoming more common in education these days. We want ideas and information to arise through a collegial process among students.

Thus, the learning challenges and the instructions for how to find the resources are designed by the instructor. However, the model for understanding the lesson arises through the cell interaction among students.

We seek to encourage interactions, for students to do two things: the first is to take the lessons and discuss them with their family and community, and the second is to report their results, perspectives and outcomes with their group of 21. All this helps the student to know the global context of the challenges of being an evolutionary change in the world while at the same time learn to be sensitive to the needs of their locality.

The teachers that we have are people of advanced preparation in their chosen field; as Subject Matter Experts (SMEs), they design courses of large-scale and scope, which are then managed by a team of facilitators. However, the professor is mainly a designer of the course and responds only to questions that assistants can’t respond to. Primarily, we are looking to help students learn to answer their own questions and solve their own problems.

Read part two here.

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Paris, France — In a landmark ruling that should signal the end of a hugely destructive commercial fishing practice France’s advertising authority ruled June 19 that the French supermarket giant Intermarche must pull all advertisements that claim its deep-sea fish are sustainably caught.

The non-profit BLOOM Association, based in France, challenged consumer ads run by Intermarche that claimed its deep sea fleet, Scapeche, used sustainable fishing practices. The French Authority for the Regulation of Professional Advertising – known by its French acronym, ARPP – declared that Intermarche’s ads were misleading in their claims of sustainability and that their fishing did not contribute to “the preservation and the renewal of marine resources,” as Intermarche had claimed.

ARPP also warned that Intermarche’s own label claiming “Responsible Fishing” bore too close a resemblance to the Marine Stewardship Council label and risked confusing consumers. The ARPP ruled that Intermarche’s ads must be discontinued.
“This decision sends a clear signal to the seafood industry that deep-sea bottom trawling cannot be marketed as ‘sustainable’” said Matthew Gianni, co-founder and policy advisor at the Deep Sea Conservation Coalition. “We hope the ruling convinces Intermarche to get out of the business of deep-sea bottom trawling, given the damage this fishery causes to its reputation.”
The ARPP ruling echoes the findings of a number of recent studies which found that deep-sea bottom trawling had a far greater impact on the deep seabed in the Northeast Atlantic than all other activities combined, and that deep-sea trawling was responsible for the depletion of whole communities of deep-sea species. The International Council for the Exploration of the Sea, the lead intergovernmental body providing scientific advice on fisheries, estimates that 100 percent of the French and other European fisheries for deep-sea species have been fished “outside Safe Biological Limits.”

In recent years, the United Nations has called on fishing nations to take urgent action to protect deep-sea ecosystems, and the Rio+20 Conference this week reaffirmed this call to action. The European Commission plans to release a proposal for a major overhaul of the European’s deep-sea fisheries management legislation in the coming months.
“We hope the ARPP ruling will bolster the resolve of the European Commission to propose a timely phase out of deep-sea bottom trawling as a core element of much needed reform of the EU’s deep-sea fisheries management regime” added Gianni. “A phase-out of deep-sea bottom trawling in European waters would be a major victory for the conservation of vulnerable deep-sea species and ecosystems.”

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Water.org is the charitable organization co-founded by Matt Damon and Gary White in 2009. The organization has worked in many developing nations including Haiti, Bangladesh, Ethiopia, Honduras, Uganda, Ghana, Kenya, and India. They work to not only provide the communities they help with potable water but also better sanitation; however, the power of these projects is put in the hands of the communities themselves.

While working in Haiti, water.org tries to work with local non-profit organizations that know the local, usually rural communities and can better understand their cultural, political, and environmental needs. The local partner will also know what the best technologies to use for that region are based on the environmental needs of the community and whether or not the parts for repair are easily obtained in that region or country.

Additionally, water.org does its best to work with the Haitian government and DINEPA, the organization responsible for water regulations in Haiti. Recently DINEPA has been addressing the cholera epidemic that began in October 2010 after the earthquake, monitoring water quality throughout the country, and decentralizing water and sanitation so that there are regional representatives. This decentralization works well with the water.org system

Water.org has been in Haiti since 2009 and has helped to sustainably provide 18.000 people – mainly in the Pignon region of Saint-Raphael – with potable water; their goal is to reach 50.000 by March of 2014.

In addition to providing drinkable water, water.org does its best to encourage better sanitation practices. They will analyze what sanitation barriers are in place and what the needs of the community are. Currently in most of Haiti only fifty-one percent of individuals are using some kind of latrine as opposed to the eighty-three percent of people who have and use these sanitation measures in communities aided by water.org. However, Laura Ralston, International Programs Manager, states, “you will always find people who are not necessarily going to be on board [with sanitation measures] for whatever reason.” Unfortunately these seventeen percent of people are still affecting the health of the rest of the community.

Ralston stated that in one community she visited recently, the water sanitation committee put together by water.org was “at their wit’s end” trying to get the last few households to get latrines. The families did not have financial difficulty, but simply did not see the need. According to Ralston, some individuals do not see a need for the latrines even after they are given presentations and explanations.

Perhaps the most important aspect of water.org’s work is the community involvement. Water.org is, of course, essential for the projects, but they only get involved with communities who reach out to them through their local non-governmental organizations or charities. Then the community forms a committee to oversee the water and sanitation projects and to collect the maintenance fees for the well. The communities will also decide the rules and regulations regarding the wells and what kind of savings threshold they want to meet every month as a community. Only when these communities have trouble does water.org intervene with advice and as a facilitator of conversations. Ralston claims that “it’s [the communities] prerogative to meet those thresholds.”

As of now all of the communities in Haiti are meeting their savings goals. Some communities are even saving enough money to consider getting a solar panel for their well or another well for the purposes of irrigation. It is very important to water.org, according to Ralston, that these projects are sustainable for the community financially and technically so that when water.org leaves the community will not have to worry about the well breaking and the funds or parts not being there to fix it.

Most of the projects in Haiti use wells but there are some that capture water from springs. Before determining which type of construction needs to be done, water.org and the local partner will do hydrological and sometimes geological assessments. It is also important for them and the community to know if the spring they are using is in a delicate watershed.

The community is also responsible for the water quality treatments from the wells and springs. Most of these water supplies will require chlorine treatments before human use and the community can decide whether they want some kind of automatic dispenser or if they would prefer to do the treatments manually.

Since the devasting Haiti earthquake in 2010, over 4500 people have died from cholera. The main source of this contamination was the Artibonite River. The journal Nature published an article that claimed Haiti’s limited resources should be spent not on vaccinations but on sanitation and access to clean water. Obviously, water.org has been working towards these goals and begin their projects with surveys and assessments. After the communities have taken over the responsibilities of sanitation and clean water some have continued to do surveys and gather data on how many are sick and they are seeing improvements in fewer numbers of cholera cases.

Some projects are not always successful. Although water.org may start a project in a location, the project can be halted for several reasons such as a lack of any kind of water resource, or human interference. Human reasons are the main reason for the cancellation of projects such as social reasons, rivaling groups, or political disputes. According to Ralston the problem boils down to “money always complicates things.”

Water.org will continue its work in Haiti until it hopefully reaches its 2014 goal of 50000 people with potable water. Although water.org has other projects elsewhere around the globe Ralston claims the direst situations at this time are in Haiti so this is where they will focus.

Find out more on how to get involved and support the Water.Org project by visiting Water.Org or Facebook.

Image Courtesy of  Water.Org

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Safeway, a recognized leader in embracing sustainable seafood practices, builds on its leadership by announcing that its Safeway brand skipjack (chunk-light) canned tuna will be responsibly caught using free-school purse-seine methods. The company will transition to the purse-seine method by the end of the year.

Free-school tuna is caught by purse-seiners using traditional methods of spotting schools of fish using radar and sonar, while captains employ powerful binoculars to spot birds attracted by schools of tuna. Joe Ennen, Senior Vice President of Consumer Brands, said the new sourcing policy is an important step in addressing the consumer demand for a more sustainably sourced product without compromising quality.

“We are committed to building a brand portfolio that is innovative and gives consumers what they want. We have always felt that the Safeway brand is the best tasting canned tuna product. Now we’re excited to offer that same superior quality from a source that is more sustainable and eco-friendly,” Ennen said.

Safeway is implementing these new specifications at a time when the tuna fishing industry is finding better ways to address the significant negative ecosystem impacts associated with purse-seine netted tuna fishing, a method that employs fish aggregating devices (FADs).

Safeway’s move to eliminate FAD-caught tuna is part of the effort to make its branded tuna across the shelf stable category more responsibly sourced and to also enhance the company’s “Dolphin Safe” tuna commitments made years ago to Earth Island Institute. Safeway is in the process of instituting additional specifications for responsibly sourced albacore tuna caught on longline vessels with improved fishing techniques.  Safeway brand “responsibly caught” tuna is the first brand in North America to make this important move.

Greenpeace has greeted Safeway’s announcement with significant excitement. According to Casson Trenor, Senior Markets Campaigner, “Safeway has just galvanized its hold on pole position within the U.S. retail industry in regard to sustainable seafood. Safeway’s canned skipjack tuna specifications are progressive, comprehensive, and visionary.

They address the dangers of fish-aggregating devices. Greenpeace applauds Safeway for stepping up to the plate and making this powerful and public commitment and looks forward to the company’s forthcoming albacore tuna policy.”

“Sourcing responsibly fished tuna is vital to marine ecosystem health. said Phil Gibson, Safeway’s Group Director of Seafood. “We are pleased to include the canned tuna category in our company’s Comprehensive Sustainable Seafood Policy.”

The specifications will be implemented over the coming year. By establishing this detailed sourcing plan, Safeway will be working with capable suppliers and verification partners who can provide responsibly caught tuna with full supply chain transparency.

“Safeway’s new specifications for canned tuna perfectly complement the work we are already doing together on fresh and frozen seafood. Engaging with existing suppliers to drive improvements over time is emphasized,” noted Matt Owens, Operations Director at FishWise, a California-based NGO specializing in seafood sustainability.

Safeway’s sourcing decision is driven by concerns about over-harvesting of fish and the significant mortality rate of non-target (bycatch) species – such as sea turtles, sharks, and pelagic fish – associated with skipjack fishing using FADs. Fishing tuna without FADs can significantly reduce bycatch levels.

However, verifying that a tuna source is not using FADs requires new protocols and building partnerships with stakeholders in ocean ecology.  In the future, Safeway will conduct in-depth research towards bringing to market economically viable, bio-regionally supported pole & line sourced tuna fish.

Safeway has now made clear its intention to work with the fishing industry, governments, Regional Fisheries Management Organizations, NGOs, and scientists to improve the management, sustainability and fairness of the fisheries that Safeway continues to source from.

Safeway is an industry leader in environmental sustainability, ethical business practices and effective community outreach.  Safeway upholds an operating philosophy that is rooted in corporate social responsibility focused on four key fundamentals: People, Products, Community, and the Planet.

These fundamentals are “The Heart of Safeway,” bringing together our passion for food and serving our customers with the rapidly developing needs of our communities and our planet.

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9 1/2 recycled plastic bottles = 1 dress. That’s the future when it comes to sustainable clothing production from the Danish Fashion Brand, Jackpot. Material recycling is currently the most environmentally friendly type of production on the market. So it is really a natural step for Jackpot’s designers to include recycled polyester in the clothing collections, which also feature organic cotton, linen, alpaca wool and Tencel.

An elegant grey dress, adorned with three exotic parrots, will be introduced as part of the spring collection 2012 from Jackpot. The dress is made of the polyester extracted from 9 1/2 plastic bottles!

With an appealing print in dusty purple cropped sleeves and delicately formed waist, there is nothing “recycled” about it. On the contrary, the dress combines the values of a perfect look, a good price and ethical environmental concerns. And who would have imagined all this could be achieved from just 9 1/2 plastic bottles?

“Pure Love by Jackpot” now uses two types of polyester, won from pre-consumer recycled industrial polyester-production bi-products and post-consumer recycled plastic bottles. Both types help spare the environment and provide a fine alternative to organic cotton and linen.

To date, Jackpot has sold 950,000 pieces of sustainable clothing and used 430 tonnes of organic cotton in the clothing collections. The dress bears the same print as the season’s Donation T-shirt and takes the Jackpot’s tradition of sustainable fashion one step ahead. The Eriana Dress will be in stores from February 2012 with a retail price of price of DKK 999 or Euro 129.95.

Jackpot Organic – Sustainable Fashion

Jackpot was one of the first fashion brands in Scandinavia to launch a collection of organic cotton. The company prides itself on being front-runners in the evolution of sustainable fashion Recycled Polyester (recycled plastic bottles) is one of the most environmentally friendly fabrics, and this season you can find beautiful dresses, skirts, knits and blouses made of recycled plastic bottles.

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The Plastic Packaging Market 2012-2022 is Visiongain ‘s new materials report for readers globally. Although the overall packaging industry was severely impacted by the economic recession, the plastic packaging market is gradually gaining significance through the latest technologies and enhanced products in the vast global packaging industry.

The global plastic packaging market is a steadily growing market which is expected to follow a modest growth rate in mature markets and a progressive above average growth rate in emerging markets. Visiongain calculates that the global plastic packaging market will reach $196.42bn in 2012.

Whilst the recession impacted demand for all types of packaging; upcoming environmental issues, changing consumer needs, high disposable incomes and improved packaging products, have resulted in sturdy growth for plastic packaging. Visiongain expects the global packaging market and in particular, the plastic packaging market to demonstrate solid growth in line with previously expected growth rates.

The emerging economies, which in total maintained positive growth during the crisis, will continue to register strong growth, driving demand for sustainable, lightweight, user-friendly and enhanced plastic packaging products in the coming decade. Plastics have increasingly replaced traditional materials in the packaging industry because of their lightweight and superior functionality. Although the consumption of flexible plastic packaging is growing at a rapid pace, rigid plastic packaging still holds the majority of the market.

A key trend that has been beneficial to growth has been a shift by the consumer to consumption at home. In an attempt to save money, many consumers are attempting to re-create the dining out experience at home, with intelligently packaged ready meals. As such plastic packaging applications are increasing in the food & beverage sectors. Also, the sub-markets of the consumer plastic packaging industry continue to rapidly develop, with stand out growth rates being witnessed in the personal care and healthcare sectors in particular.

The plastic packaging market stands immune to the recent economic downturn as technological advancements related to lightweight, convenient and sustainable packaging will retain its demand in the industry. Furthermore, key industry players and manufacturers are opting for better materials made from renewable sources for packaging purposes thus keeping them out of the landfills.

Environmental-friendliness and sustainability have become basic qualifying criterions for all packaging products. In this regard, the plastic packaging market is at a distinctive advantage since with the advent of biodegradable plastic and bio-plastic, the plastic packaging market has gained an edge over other packaging materials, which makes it easier to recycle, reduce and reuse and raise its eco-friendly profile.

The global plastic packaging industry is expected to exhibit solid growth, driven by three major drivers – escalating demand for lightweight and sustainable packaging solutions; healthier and better lifestyles worldwide; and rapidly developing emerging markets with improved disposable incomes and growing consumer demand for plastic packaging across all submarkets.

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Southwest Airlines has introduced a new sleek cabin experience to enhance Customer comfort, improve fleet efficiency, and give back to the environment. Dubbed ‘Evolve: The New Southwest Interior’ , the cabin update utilizes durable and environmentally responsible products to reduce waste and create weight savings onboard the aircraft, while enhancing comfort for Customers.

Inspired by Southwest’s past with a nod to the airline’s future, the cabin refresh features recyclable carpet, a brighter color-scheme, and a more durable, eco-friendly, and comfortable low-profile seat that weighs less than the current seat.

The new interior design also provides the unique opportunity of greater revenue potential by increasing the number of seats onboard from 137 to 143, without sacrificing Customer comfort and personal space but, at the same time, increasing under-seat room for carryon luggage.

“We are preparing now for our next 40 years with a fleet modernization plan that includes the new interior, the Boeing 737-800 which is scheduled to come online beginning in March this year, and the 737 MAX, which is expected to join the Southwest fleet in 2017,” said Bob Jordan, Executive Vice President and Chief Commercial Officer.

“The evolutionary changes we’re making with the new interior uphold our low-cost roots and historic focus on Customer Service. The cabin upgrade also allows us to create significant revenue opportunities without adding unwanted fees.”

Beginning with a partnership between Southwest’s Maintenance and Engineering and Marketing Teams, Southwest set out to improve the inflight Customer Experience while increasing the durability of onboard materials, but without adding costs. In 2009, Southwest launched the “Green Plane” to test the market’s latest sustainable products onboard an aircraft in an effort to forge a new path in onboard eco-friendly products.

Based on the inflight test results and feedback from Customers onboard the Green Plane, Southwest’s new Evolve interior features the E-Leather seat cover and many of the other products tested on the Green Plane including the carpet, life vest pouch, foam fill, and passenger seat rub strips. To view a time lapse video of a Boeing 737-700 transforming into the Evolve: The New Southwest Interior.

Southwest will begin retrofitting its current fleet of 372 Boeing -700s with the Evolve interior in March 2012, anticipating completion in 2013, for a total estimated cost of approximately $60 million.

As integration of AirTran Airways, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Southwest, moves forward, Southwest anticipates that AirTran’s Boeing -700s and 717s will also be retrofitted with the new cabin interior as those aircraft are converted into the Southwest brand over the next several years. Other Southwest fleet types are still being evaluated for a possible retrofit.

reventon2527 / Shutterstock.com

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Universe Day is an annual event that starts each December 31st at noon and runs until noon on January 1st. Universe Day seeks to pick up where Earth Day leaves off and to effectively solve our planet’s evolutionary problems from a universe evolutionary perspective.

“Universe Day is similar to Earth Day in that individuals and organizations all over the planet are encouraged to self-organize their own events to forward the Universe Day message. Universe Day is a no-ownership, no-egos, get-the-message-out-now event. Imitate it, adapt it, improve it. Steal it, even, if it hastens the spread of its message,” says Lawrence Wollersheim, Director of the Universe Institute and one of the founders of Universe Day.

The message behind Universe Day is derived in part from the wisdom of Albert Einstein, who said, “We cannot solve our problems with the same thinking we used when we created them.” As many are aware, the challenges we now face on a planetary scale – such as radically increasing temperatures, nuclear and traditional wars, pollution, environmental degradation, lack of sustainability and a troubled global economy – have serious consequences.

Rather than allow ourselves to feel overwhelmed by these challenges, however, we can, as Einstein suggests, adopt an entirely new way of thinking. Such is the impetus behind Universe Day: to expand our approach to these issues by adopting the much broader Universe Evolutionary Worldview.

“The progressive evolution of the universe as a whole system is the power that sustains our physical existence – both personal and planetary. We are embedded in the unstoppable flow of the evolutionary process, which is the most dominant factor in all of life and in everything around us,” says Wollersheim.

“Recent innovations in cosmology and evolutionary biology have revealed more about the evolution of life and the cosmos in the last twenty years than in all the previous eras of human history combined, and our ability to accumulate more of this essential knowledge is accelerating. Humanity is now capable of understanding the full evolutionary scope of the biggest playing field there is – the universe.”

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From Saturday, September 24, 2011, eastern Europe should consider itself cleaner as a result of one of the largest voluntary movements in Romania. “Let’s Do It Romania!” or what should become “The National Cleaning-up Day,” motivated 250,000 people to become actively involved in cleaning up their country.

Launched as a response to a successful Estonian idea, “Let’s Do It 2008!”, “Let’s Do It, Romania!” had its first event last year, when 200,000 people participated. The aim was to collect as much garbage from natural areas as possible in only one day with the help of volunteers.

Long before the chosen date, a whole organizational system was build from central, regional, and departmental teams to the involvement of shareholders, the mapping of garbage and the establishment of communication networks.

In addition to the clean-up effort, “Let’s Bike It, Romania!,” an event from earlier this year, people took their bikes and went for a bit of adventure and pleasure while mapping garbage spots on GPS references system. The 250,000 volunteers marked their presence on Saturday.

Early in the morning, the teams went to their assigned spots, supplied with gloves and bags. Until 3 p.m., forests, barbecue places, and valleys – all were cleaned-up.  The national campaign resulted in 350,000 garbage bags at a first count with final statistics to be given this week.

In the year of volunteering, “Let’s Do It, Romania!” brought together individuals, students and professors, employers and employees, non-profit organizations and private companies, under the same message: “Ff there’s something that bothers you, take action, be the change you want to see around!” as stated on the official web-site “Let’s Do It, Romania!”

“They explained that it is extremely difficult to mobilize Romanians. That they are not like Estonians. That the country is huge. That Romanians don’t like volunteer work. That the Romanian team has had many meetings, but results are not much. That they are kind of stuck. That was an honest discussion.

Frankly, I could see it was not easy for them. They had worked hard for a dream. We tried to figure what to do. I urged them to go mapping at least few spots and go from there. To keep trying,” remembers Rainer Nõlvak, one of the organizers of “Let’s Do It, 2008!” on the Let’s Do It, World! website, about one of the first meeting with the Romanian initiators.

Hanks to their determination, a quarter of million people at the second country clean-up proved their active support and registered another success of the campaign, nationally. The project is already catching on in different countries farther than Romania and Europe.

In 2008, different countries subscribed to the “Let’s Do It, World!” campaign:

Estonia (2008 – 50,000 volunteers),
Latvia (2008- 50,000; 2009- 110,000; 2010- 150,000),
Lithuania (2008 – 6,000; 2009 – 100,000; 2010 – 200,000),
Portugal (2010 – 110,000),
Slovenia (2010 – 275,000),
New Delhi, India (2010 – 50,000),
Kerala, India (2010 – 4,100),
Moldova (2011 – 113,000).

Further action is expected for Bangladesh, Ukraine, Brazil, Finland, Netherlands, France, Bulgaria, Cambodia, Russia, Thailand, Austria, Italy, and California. “Let’s Do It, World!” could become one of the greatest citizens’ initiatives in the world, where each of us could have a say in the cleaning-up of our environment.

However, strongly recommended would be a secondary project of “Let’s Keep it Clean!” which would very probably add sustainability to the project and double the results. Until then, let’s just hope the goal of this civic movement will be soon achieved: a world free of waste!

Image Courtesy of   http://www.flickr.com/photos/d-i-a/

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