Worn out but doing well

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Going home tomorrow

WHITE BLOOD COUNTS SOAR

The transplant is taking

Single digits and Leela update

Downs and Ups

Patience for the patient

.1, .2, .3

Solidarity

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We threw the dice and we won the jackpot and elected a black guy with a Harvard degree, the middle name Hussein and a sense of humor he said, “I’ve got relatives who look like Bernie Mac, and I’ve got relatives who look like Margaret Thatcher.” The French junior minister for human rights said, “On this morning, we all want to be American so we can take a bite of this dream unfolding before our eyes.” When was the last time you heard someone from France say they wanted to be American and take a bite of something of ours? Ponder that for a moment.

The world expects us to elect pompous yahoos, and instead we have us a 47-year-old prince from the prairie who cheerfully ran the race, and when his opponents threw sand at him, he just smiled back. He’ll be the first president in history to look really good making a jump shot. He loves his classy wife and his sweet little daughters. At the same time, he knows pop music, American lit and constitutional law. I just can’t imagine anybody cooler.

It feels good to be cool, and all of us can share in that, even sour old right-wingers and embittered blottoheads. Next time you fly to Heathrow and hand your passport to the man with the badge, he’s going to see ” United States of America ” and look up and grin. Even if you worship in the church of Fox , everyone you meet overseas is going to ask you about Obama, and you may as well say you voted for him because, my friends, he is your line of credit over there. No need anymore to try to look Canadian.

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The Case Against the Case Against CSR

Contrary to a recent opinion article in the Wall Street Journal, corporate social responsibility is not only a good idea but -- like breathing -- somewhat necessary.

A Call for Serious Debate and Action on Our Energy Future

Contemporary energy security demands a mixed basket of energy sources. A move from the current carbon energy usage, to a more balanced energy portfolio, delivers this as well as opening up almost unlimited business opportunities and a pathway to creating thousands of green jobs.

Ford Opts for Liquid Cooling to Maximize Battery Life

 Ford Motor Company's all-electric Focus will use liquid instead of air to cool and heat the car battery in order to maximize the battery's life and driving range.

Banks Back Away from Financing Mountain Top Removal

The environmentally destructive coal mining practice, for years a target of shareowner activists, faces new regulatory restrictions and limited financing from major banks.

Fairground Dung and Leftovers Tested in Waste-to-Energy Project

Which waste is the best to convert to energy -- animal dung or leftover funnel cakes, corn dogs, cotton candy and other fairground favorites? That's what a Midwest scientist and a group of researchers are exploring at the Minnesota State Fair.

Burger King Drops Controversial Palm Oil Supplier

Burger King has become the latest company to stop buying palm oil from Sinar Mas, an embattled Indonesian company its critics accuse of deforestation.

Marketing to Consumers: Don't Think Green

In most cases, brands and organizations should have long since crossed the line from needing to point out their green-ness to working to integrate it throughout their operations.

Climate Risks That Every Executive Should Know About

When it comes to a company’s impact on climate change, does directors and officers insurance cover executives? While companies say yes, the insurance industry is saying no. We’re talking millions -- perhaps billions -- in legal liability here, so someone will end up holding the bag.
 

eBay Gives Away 100K Reusable Green Shipping Boxes to Sellers

The company's latest green initiative encourages sellers to reuse shipping boxes made of recycled materials as a way of promoting greener shipping methods.

ComEd Creates 'Smart Grid Innovation' Corridor Near Chicago

The company, a subsidiary of utility giant Exelon, launched what it is calling a "Smart Grid Innovation Corridor" in 10 Northern Illinois communities where there are already smart meters installed in 130,000 homes. Five pilot tests will take place in the corridor, using the smart meter technology as the foundation.

Nescafé Targets Coffee Sustainability with $350M Investment

 Nestlé is investing nearly $350 million over the next decade to expand its reach into sustainable coffee farming, make its factories more efficient and reduce its packaging. Beyond the Cup: The Nescafe Plan is the company's global project that adds onto the nearly $200 million already spent on coffee project in previous years.

Spotlighting the Green Benefits of LEDs

Since the first humans carried a torch to provide light, heat has been a by-product of producing light. Traditional electric lights give off more heat than light. But LEDs are twice as efficient as fluorescents at converting electricity to light, generate very little heat, are nearly maintenance free and provide a high quality of light. So what's standing in the way of their broad adoption?

Why We're Asking the Wrong Questions on Cap-and-Trade

Instead of asking how much cap-and-trade will cost, we should be asking how much it saves us. The glacier in the room is that the real costs won't come from cap-and-trade, but from climate change itself.

How the Fate of PACE Could Influence the Clean Energy Economy

PACE financing is a potentially revolutionary way to retrofit commercial, residential, and industrial properties with energy efficiency and renewable energy technologies. The program overcomes one of the largest hurdles to investment in clean energy -- the upfront cost. This post, the first of a three-part series, looks at how the fate of PACE programs could determine the future of the clean energy economy.

New Rainforest Alliance Standard Targets Cattle Farming

The Rainforest Alliance has launched a new certification aimed at helping cattle farms improve their environmental and social performance.

How the FTC Will Tame the 'Wild West' of Green Marketing

The Federal Trade Commission's forthcoming 'green guides' for making environmental claims promise to shake up how green -- and not-so-green -- products promote themselves. Here are four things you need to know.

Concerns Arise Over Sudden Changes to Calif. Chemical Review Panel

Five of the nine members on a panel that reviews chemicals and helped get diesel emissions labeled as toxic have been dismissed. Those that have been hoping to see turnover on the panel say it's a matter of putting in fresh eyes, while others feel the sudden changes are a result of pressure from industrial interests and will harm the panel's credibility and effectiveness.

'Dry Water' Could Make Commercial Waves in Storing Carbon

 U.K. scientists have unveiled a super powder called 'dry water' which could help tackle global warming by storing carbon dioxide.

U.N. Climate Change Panel Gets Tips to Boost Credibility

The InterAcademy Council recommends that IPCC improve review processes and transparency in wake of attacks on climate science.

EPA Unveils New Grading System for Fuel Efficient Vehicles

The Environmental Protection Agency and the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration have proposed new fuel economy labels for cars and light trucks that will score each vehicle with a grade from A+ to D, aiming to encourage adoption of more fuel-efficient vehicles.

Climate Corps 2010: A Search for Leaks Lands Savvis $6M in Savings

A blast of cool air far away from the servers in a Savvis data center triggered a hunt for iar leaks and ended with the discovery of $6 million in savings

UL Acquires TerraChoice in Green Standard Consolidation

ULC Standards, part of the Underwriters Laboratories family of companies, has acquired the managers of Canada's EcoLogo program in a move that will expand both group's reach in the universe of green certifications.

Staying Sane for Sustainability's Sake

As we approach what will be for many in the U.S. a long, vacation-filled weekend, it's time to reflect on something those leading the sustainability movement need more than almost anything else: Some down time.

France Injects $1.7B Into Renewables, Green Chemistry, Carbon Capture

France's Environment and Energy Management Agency has launched a program to pump €1.35 billion ($1.71 billion) into green chemistry, solar and other renewable power, biofuel and carbon capture and storage research.

SF Hits Waste-Reduction Target Two Years Early

Recycling and composting helped San Francisco divert 77 percent of its garbage from landfills in 2008, which it hailed as a national record and the highest of any city in the U.S.

TVA Outlines Plans for Idling Coal-Fired Units

The Tennessee Valley Authority plans to begin idling nine coal-fired power generation units in the next fiscal year as it moves toward cleaner sources of energy.

10 Must-Answer Questions When Mulling Third-Party Certification

Is third-party certification right for your company's products or processes? It's essential to consider your firm's requirements, impacts and capacities. Here are 10 questions that will help you focus when mulling whether to pursue certification.

The View from the C-Suite: Diversey's Ed Lonergan

Diversey President & CEO Ed Lonergan talks about the Johnson family legacy of sustainability; innovations that save water, energy and labor; and how his team has reinvented his first summer job: waxing grocery store floors.

Climate Corps 2010: Four Ways to Plug in PC Power Management

Simple steps, such as power management software and using available green ratings can lead to big savings in energy and money for companies large and small.

How Can 'Power IT Down Day' Help Your Company Save Money?

Today is Power IT Down Day, a global effort to get workers to turn off their computers, monitors, printers and other peripherals before they go home. And though it may be a small action to take, the rewards are potentially huge.

German Army Enlists Johnson Controls to Boost Energy Efficiency

As the U.S. military musters efforts to lighten its environmental bootprint, the German Army also is striving to march down a green path and has enlisted Johnson Controls Inc. to retrofit the Oranienstein base in Diez.

Selling Sustainability to Whiskey Drinkers

If I were to say, "Quick -- name five green products!" I'm betting Jack Daniels wouldn't be at the top of your list. It should be.

NEC Makes Cashew-Based Bioplastic for Electronics

 Electronics company NEC has developed a bioplastic made with an extract from cashew nut shells and plant cellulose that is twice as strong as another bioplastic typically made from corn starch.

Minding the Sustainability GAAP

Limited transparency around corporate sustainability risks can lead to investments that are bad for the environment, and investors’ bottom lines.
 

U.K. Waste Company Adds Plastic Trucks to Its Fleet

A waste firm will introduce plastic vehicles to its fleet which are lighter than traditional trucks and could each save up to 11 tonnes of carbon a year.

Employees Losing Confidence in Companies' Green Commitments

The monthly Green Confidence Index shows that employers are losing ground among 
major institutions' green commitments
, while confidence in other institutions is holding steady.

Recovery Act Keeps U.S. on Clean Energy Path

The Recovery Act has kept the country on track to halve the cost of solar power and has helped lay the foundation to double renewable energy generation and renewable equipment manufacturing in the U.S., according to a White House report.

Climate Corps 2010: Shining a Light on Energy Savings

A little knowledge on lighting goes a long way. EDF Climate Corps fellow Sarah Will has helped REi identify almost $900,000 in potential energy savings, and lighting improvements account for a big chunk of the money. Now she can’t help eyeing commercial lighting wherever she goes and contemplating possible savings.

How Businesses Can Plan for the Unpredictability of Climate Change

While climate science provides evidence of general trends, we are still a long way from predicting specific climate events. In lieu of precise predictions, a key to effectively managing the physical effects of climate change is preparedness: developing literacy, identifying plausible impacts, evaluating priorities, and building resilience.

10 Ways to Make Your Message Resonate with Green Consumers

So many businesses want to jump on the green bandwagon -- but too often there’s a lot of room for improvement in the ways they focus their messaging. Effective green messaging successfully combines education with marketing. Here are 10 guideposts for formulating those dual-purpose messages.

Shooting the Messenger Over CSR -- Again

While legitimate criticism of corporate responsibility is healthy and welcome, suggesting it will destroy the free enterprise system is nothing more than hyperbole.

Four CSR Myths Debunked

Whether out of ignorance or malevolence, two recent op-eds in major daily newspapers have cast a critical eye on CSR as a tool for good. But there can be no doubt about the benefits responsible companies bring to people and the planet.

NextEra Credits Renewable Energy for Small Carbon Footprint

The electric utility formerly known as FPL Group has one of the industry's smallest carbon footprints due to a steady shift to low-carbon sources since the 1990s.

Cintas' Recyclable Shirt Made from Plastic Bottles, 'Eco-Charcoal'

Used Full Circle Eco Polo shirts can be sent back to the company to be repurposed for other uses, which Cintas said is new for the uniform market.

How Shoddy Chemical Regulations Hurt U.S. Businesses

Successful and responsible business owners support new U.S. chemicals laws because they know that they will support innovation and a marketplace with integrity, transparency and safe products, which will give U.S. businesses a competitive advantage.

How to Move Green IT From Defense to Offense

The industry is by and large playing a defensive tactic of improving its energy efficiency, while failing to take advantage of the coming huge market opportunities like the smart grid, which use IT for green.

Rechargeable Fabric Batteries to Charge the Army of the Future

A team working on lithium-ion battery technologies that can be poured into any shape or woven into fabrics reported progress in using a non-harmful virus to develop high-efficiency rechargeable batteries for military use.

The Perils of Oversimplifying CSR

An article laying out a case against corporate social responsibility has prompted a swift response from a former sustainabilty chief for a major Silicon Valley firm.

Kyocera's Edible 'Green Curtains' Take a Bite Out of Energy Use

Kyocera Group has planted edible "green curtains" stretching thousands of feet across facilities in Japan, Thailand and Brazil in a bid to keep its buildings cool and greenhouse gas emissions low.

Plan Seeks 100 Pct Renewable Energy in Australia in Ten Years

A report from Beyond Zero Emissions asserts that Australia's energy needs can be fully met by renewable sources within 10 years with technologies that are already available.

Royal Caribbean Charts Incremental Progress on Cruise Ship Impacts

Royal Caribbean Cruises Limited, the world's second largest cruise operator, has cut fuel consumption by about 4 percent with better designed ships, smarter sailing practices and energy efficiency measures that include installing solar window film in every ship in the fleet.
 

Climate Corps 2010: News Corp Cleans Up with Telepresence, Lighting Retrofit

In his final filing from the 2010 class of EDF's Climate Corps, Jonathan Stone looks at the successes from his 10-week fellowship at News Corp.

Are Chemical Companies Gaming the Carbon Credit System?

A controversy is brewing over whether some chemical companies are abusing a program that gives them carbon credit revenues for destroying a potent greenhouse gas created as a by-product in their operations.

Shrinking Packages Help Dell Cut Material Use by Nearly 9M Pounds

Dell has reduced its packaging by 8.7 million pounds in the past year, neared its goal to add more recycled content and is well over halfway to making the majority of its packaging recyclable in most places.

Is Your Product Good for the Climate? Here's How to Prove It

Rigorous environmental product declarations are relatively new in the U.S., and Bekaert Specialty Films is among the early adopters of the practice. BSF completed a climate declaration with the lifecycle analyses of 32 of its solar window films.
 

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Anyway, I feel lucky to have grown up in the mid-west with my parents at in their mid-point of life. I had a lot of opportunities to spend quality time with Dad, sailing on Willy Wispe, hanging out at the Detroit Boat Club, and traveling on vacations all around the country and world.

But, there was something special about cruising on the sailboat. I think it was because Dad was at such peace when he was on the water. I’ll never forget summers cruising in the Georgian Bay and North Channel in Canada, where we would go for days without seeing another boat, anchoring at uninhabited islands, and filling the water tanks right from the lake (you can’t do THAT in salt water!)

The longest time Dad and I spent together was taking the boat from Michigan to Maryland after he retired, a trip which took an entire summer between high school and college. It was such an amazing journey. From Dad, I learned the joy of timelessness, where each day blended into the next. It was an adventure- we never knew what to expect. I remember circling around a buoy in the fog in the Thousand Islands for an hour. We didn’t know exactly where we wanted to go because Dad refused to spend money on charts for a place we’d only be once in our life. So we used a Texaco ROAD map as our guide, which didn’t clue us in as to where the shoals were or the location of the next buoy. But sailing the Thousand Islands with a road map made the trip that much more fun.

A really important lesson I’ve learned from Dad is that you can keep growing and enjoying life. He LOVED his retirement. It was so smart for him, especially now as I look back, to retire in his fifties. He got more than 10 wonderful years with mom traveling to cool places, visiting family and friends, and hanging out in their new home in St. Michaels.

But then events surprised us all. The family script, as I remember it, was that mom was supposed to live into her 90s, and dad to die earlier. Historically, men in the Foster family were not long-lived. But mom died in 1991 at the age of 69, and I have always been thankful Dad didn’t wait to retire until he was 65.

Mom’s death was devastating to us all. But Dad KEPT his sense of adventure and desire to learn new things. He continued his travels and adventures THEY had once BOTH enjoyed. I was lucky to go to the Galapagos with him on his first big trip after Mom died. Dad’s nature was to remain receptive to what life had to offer. (pause)

And then, the best “tip” he got from his financial advisor, Judy Werbitt, was Diane Keane’s phone number. In Diane, dad found a fellow widower with a zest for life who wanted to share the adventure. I saw their relationship grow in love and admiration over the years, and I want to thank Diane for bringing so much happiness to my father the last years of his life. I saw him grow and change at an age when many people are bent on remaining the same.

THAT is one of the GREAT GIFTS he has given us…. The lesson that life is to be lived to its fullest. No matter what your age, growing older doesn’t mean you stop growing.

I’m the baby of the family, but even I am quickly approaching the mid point of my life, and my siblings, I hesitate to say, crossed that mark a little while ago. But if we have learned anything from Dad, it’s to enjoy life to the end.

DAD…. WENT…. QUICKLY, which in many ways, as hard as it is for us, was a blessing for him. I believe he’s now in a place that’s like sailing in the St. Lawrence on a foggy day. And if I know Dad, he’ll circle that buoy for a while, but it won’t be too long before he changes course and goes where the current takes him.

Good bye dad, I love you.

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But when I return to my little world
To make the preparations
I forget the reality of that intense love
When I acquiesced.
Eventually, I return to the sanctuary
Calculated to miss the promised time
Having forgotten about the ceremony
And the Beloved must start over again.

My preference is to arrange
A fling with the Divine
I have secretly married my little world,
Vainly believing I have foiled the Supreme
I arrange discreet encounters
When I have a moment to spare

I convince myself it’s not my fault
That our relationship is not fulfilling
Because the Beloved
Hasn’t succumbed to the dictates
Of my terms.

I have lost count of the promises I have made,
When in the midst of your embrace.
Yet, in a blink of an eye
I have already forgotten

I pray that some day I will realize
That the separation between
The Divine and my little world
Is merely my own illusion
And unbounded love and joy
Are mine for the taking
When I walk down that aisle
And say, “I do”.

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Throwing Rocks through windows
Using my own head to ring
Great bells

Pulling out my hair
Tearing off my clothes
Tying everything I own
To a stick
And setting it on
Fire

What else can Hafiz do tonight
To celebrate the madness
The joy

Of seeing God
Everywhere

– HAFIZ –

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It’s not just a contract

It is the result of my desire

to give you an unconditional love

For me this is a big step

To stop hedging my bets

Keeping my options open

Love is not something to do half-way

To contain

It is the ocean with boundless depths

It is reality

So let’s jump in together

Into it’s warm embrace

So sign on the dotted line

And we shall win and lose everything

together

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