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National NeighborWoods Month Exceeds Expectations

2009-11-20 15:28:48 -0500

In October, The Home Depot® Foundation worked with the Alliance for Community Trees to sponsor National NeighborWoods Month, a month long series of tree planting events by 24,000 volunteers in 231 cities across the country. As a result, more than 36,000 trees were planted in just one month. In addition to the NeighborWoods Month tree planting projects, volunteers also provided tree maintenance tips, training activities and educational seminars to improve urban communities. Team Depot volunteers were a critical part of National Neighborwoods Month. They led and participated in many of the projects across the country:

In Asheville, NC, 24 Home Depot associates volunteered their time to plant more than 100 oak, dogwood and fruit trees and sixty holly shrubs at the Dearview Apartments.
In Albuquerque, NM, 30 Home Depot volunteers planted a total of 300 trees at 100 homes in the Sawmill neighborhood and several other affordable housing communities.
In Pittsburgh, PA, 50 Home Depot volunteers planted 20 trees throughout the East Liberty development.

The Home Depot Foundation is committed to efforts that support environmental stewardship and provide proactive solutions to helping create healthy sustainable communities and affordable housing. "Trees are an important component of responsible design to ensure that homes are affordable, energy efficient, safe and healthy," said Kelly Caffarelli, president of The Home Depot Foundation. "By partnering with ACT and local NeighborWoods organizations, The Foundation is able to further its goals of investing in the overall health and success of our communities." Many American cities have shrinking tree canopies, because it is difficult and expensive to maintain older shade trees and plant new ones, however many mayors have recognized that urban forests are an integral part of a city's infrastructure just as roads, buildings and bridges. Trees reduce cooling bills in summer with shade trees, help reduce greenhouse gases and make low-income neighborhoods more inviting. "This year's outstanding NeighborWoods Month celebration is a reflection of that growing movement for green cities. A dozen major cities have declared city-wide tree canopy goals, involving residents and the private sector to plant and care for trees," said Alice C. Ewen, executive director of the Alliance for Community Trees. "People everywhere are looking for simple, affordable ways to go green and improve their communities. Just by shading a home, you can cut summer energy use by a third, eliminating emissions that contribute to global warming. What's more, that same shade tree will clean the air, save you money, and enhance your home's curb appeal. Those are great benefits everyone can appreciate." For additional information about the 2009 National NeighborWoods Month events, please visit: www.neighborwoodsmonth.org. About The Home Depot Foundation The Home Depot Foundation was created in 2002 to further the community building goals of The Home Depot. The Home Depot Foundation is dedicated to building affordable homes for working families that are healthy to live in and affordable to own. To make homes healthy and affordable, the Foundation encourages developers to incorporate responsible design and use durable and quality materials to ensure that homes are more energy and water efficient, have good indoor air quality, and provide a safe and healthy space to live. Since its formation, The Home Depot Foundation has granted $120 million to nonprofit organizations and supported the development of more than 65,000 affordable, healthy homes. For more information, visit www.homedepotfoundation.org. About Alliance for Community Trees The Alliance for Community Trees was incorporated in 1993 as a problem-solving center for leaders of community-based urban forestry groups. Its founders shared a vision of healthy, functioning urban ecosystems nurtured by a broad base of community stewards. Today, ACT is a growing network of more than 150 organizations engaged in tree planting, care and education. Its members are involved in grassroots community greening, public education, policymaking, job training, and other activities to support urban forest stewardship. Together, they have planted 14.9 million city trees by engaging more than 4.3 million volunteers. Information on ACT and its members can be found at www.actrees.org.

USAID, Walmart, TransFair USA and SEBRAE-Minas Gerais Sponsor Brazil Coffee Cupping Competition

2009-11-20 12:33:12 -0500

Winners for this week's Brazilian Fair Trade Certified coffee cupping competition have been announced. Sebastiao Reguim of the producer association, Unipcafem, and Marcos Antonio Nali of the producer association, Pro-nova, won first place in the natural and semi-washed coffee categories. The competition, which is a specialized tasting process to assess quality, capped off several months of intensive quality training for farmers and was attended by high-ranking Brazilian and U.S. officials, representatives of the Brazilian coffee industry and international coffee buyers. The event was sponsored by U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), Walmart, TransFair USA and the Brazilian non-profit SEBRAE, as part of the Responsible Sourcing Partnership project to benefit farmers throughout Brazil. The project aims to expand and improve the quality of Fair Trade Certified coffee supply though investments in infrastructure, technical assistance with production and postharvest processing, as well as training in coffee quality management. "The 2009 Fair Trade Cupping Competition is an important milestone of the Responsible Sourcing Partnership Project," said Lisa Kubiske, Charge d' Affaires a.i. for the U.S. Embassy in Brazil. "The competition recognizes and rewards premium quality coffee and demonstrates how the Brazilian producers are taking advantage of the economic, social and environmental benefits resulting from the adoption of Fair Trade practices." USAID, Walmart, TransFair USA and SEBRAE have partnered together on a three-year, public-private responsible sourcing partnership program. From 2007 - 2010, program partners will commit $1.9 million in investments and technical support to help 5,000 farmers from the Brazilian states of Sao Paolo, Minas Gerais and Espiritu Santo increase coffee quality, improve cooperative management and enhance marketing. "We want to congratulate the farmers that participated in the competition and appreciate them for their tireless efforts to bring our members the highest quality coffee," said Jill Turner-Mitchael, senior vice president of Merchandising, Sam's Club. "We are proud that through this partnership, we are giving these farmers the opportunity to continue to improve their operations, compete in the global market and provide a better life for their families and their communities." Producers and their families benefit from increased employment opportunities, expanded access to new domestic and international markets, increased use of environmentally-sound farming methods, better prices for their coffee beans and overall improvements in their quality of life. "These coffee farmers have spent the past two years tirelessly working to improve the quality of their crops. They have participated in training sessions, attended specialty coffee conferences, and for the first time, many of their cooperatives have skilled, inhouse cuppers," said Paul Rice, president and CEO of TransFair USA. "Because of the Responsible Sourcing Partnership Project, some of the best specialty coffee in Brazil has been uncovered, and we are so proud to say that it is Fair Trade Certified." In 2008, imports of Fair Trade Certified coffee into the United States grew more than 30 percent. Fair Trade Certification provides higher prices, support for sustainable agriculture and funds for democratically-elected development projects. The Responsible Sourcing Partnership Project is an innovative public-private union designed to amplify the benefits Brazilian farmers gain from Fair Trade, increasing their incomes and capacities going forward. About USAID/Brazil USAID is an independent federal government agency receiving overall foreign policy guidance from the Secretary of State. Our work supports long-term and equitable economic growth and advances U.S. foreign policy objectives by supporting global health, economic growth, agriculture and trade, democracy, conflict prevention, and humanitarian assistance. In Brazil, USAID supports Brazilian efforts towards sustainable socio and economic development, while strengthening the partnership between the United States and Brazil. For more information about USAID, visit brazil.usaid.gov About Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. (NYSE: WMT), or "Walmart," serves customers and members more than 200 million times per week at more than 8,000 retail units under 53 different banners in 15 countries. With fiscal year 2009 sales of $401 billion, Walmart employs more than 2.1 million associates worldwide. A leader in sustainability, corporate philanthropy and employment opportunity, Walmart ranked first among retailers in Fortune Magazine's 2009 Most Admired Companies survey. Additional information about Walmart can be found by visiting www.walmartstores.com. Online merchandise sales are available at www.walmart.com and www.samsclub.com. About TransFair USA TransFair USA, a FLO member organization, is the only independent, third-party certifier of Fair Trade Certified™ products in the United States. TransFair USA audits and certifies in accordance with FLO's internationally agreed standards, monitoring transactions between U.S. companies and their international suppliers to guarantee that the farmers and workers producing Fair Trade Certified goods were paid fair prices and wages. TransFair USA certifies coffee and more than 20 other product categories. For more information about TransFair USA, visit www.FairTradeCertified.org About SEBRAE The Service of Support for the Micro and Small Companies of the State of Minas Gerais -SEBRAE-MG was created in 1972. Its mission is to promote the competitiveness and the sustainable development of the micro and small companies as well as to promote the entrepreneurship in the State of Minas Gerais. It offers entrepreneurial orientation, promotes courses, lectures and projects of managerial training, encourages the formalization, approaching micro and small companies with the market and stimulates the generation of business. SEBRAE-MG, thus, contributes to induce the socioeconomic development of the State of Minas Gerais with the generation of revenue, work, income and better life conditions for the population.

CVS/pharmacy Kicks Off Annual Thanks and Giving(R) Campaign for the St. Jude Children's Research Hospital

2009-11-20 09:06:24 -0500

CVS/pharmacy kicks off its annual in store fundraiser for the sixth year to support the St. Jude Children's Research Hospital Thanks and Giving campaign, beginning this Sunday and running through December 12. CVS/pharmacy store colleagues will encourage customers to add $1 to their purchase at the register to support the lifesaving research of St. Jude, one of the world's premier centers for the research and treatment of pediatric cancer and other catastrophic childhood diseases. In the first five years of the campaign, CVS/pharmacy and its customers raised more than $13 million for the hospital. "We are thrilled that CVS/pharmacy is once again a part of our annual Thanks and Giving campaign," said Marlo Thomas, National Outreach Director. "Their dedication to the campaign has an enormous impact on the lives of countless children and their families in communities across the country who benefit from their caring and generous spirit." Funds raised by CVS/pharmacy for Thanks and Giving support the CVS Caremark Rehabilitation Services Center at St. Jude. Children with catastrophic diseases like cancer may experience developmental, cognitive or physical impairments as a result of their illnesses as well as the treatments used to save their lives. The new facility, which opened this summer, doubled the space dedicated to providing audiology, occupational therapy, physical therapy and speech-language pathology services to St. Jude patients. "We are delighted that our partnership with St. Jude has made it possible for us to support some extraordinary children to reach their greatest potential on their road to recovery," said Eileen Howard Dunn, Senior Vice President, Corporate Communications and Community Relations, CVS Caremark. About St. Jude St. Jude Children's Research Hospital is internationally recognized for its pioneering work in finding cures and saving children with cancer and other catastrophic diseases. St. Jude is the first and only pediatric cancer center to be designated as a Comprehensive Cancer Center by the National Cancer Institute. Founded by late entertainer Danny Thomas and based in Memphis, Tenn., St. Jude freely shares its discoveries with scientific and medical communities around the world. St. Jude is the only pediatric cancer research center where families never pay for treatment not covered by insurance. No child is ever denied treatment because of the family's inability to pay. St. Jude is financially supported by ALSAC, its fundraising organization. For more information, please visit www.stjude.org. About CVS/pharmacy CVS/pharmacy is the retail division of CVS Caremark Corporation (NYSE: CVS). The Company operates more than 7,000 CVS/pharmacy and Longs Drugs stores. CVS/pharmacy is committed to improving the lives of those we serve by making innovative and high-quality health and pharmacy services safe, affordable and easy to access, both in its stores and online at CVS.com. General information about CVS/pharmacy and CVS Caremark is available at www.cvscaremark.com.

Universal Children's Day Commemorated With New Research: 300 Million School Children Worldwide Lack Acces To Clean, Safe Drinking Water

2009-11-20 08:00:07 -0500

In recognition of Universal Children's Day, established by the United Nations General Assembly as a day to promote the protection, welfare and education of the children of the world, Global Water Challenge (GWC) today released "Clean Start: Focusing on School Water, Sanitation and Hygiene." The report identifies the challenges and solutions associated with the global water crisis and its effect on children. It identifies access to clean drinking water as one of the leading health threats to children around the world today and the cause for millions of deaths and education loss each year. Every day, more than 300 million children attend schools without safe drinking water or access to a clean toilet. Without clean water, children cannot wash their hands and disease travels rapidly through crowded classrooms, causing sickness and forcing kids to miss and often drop out of school. In the long term, educational achievement is one of the most important determinants of health, life expectancy, economic productivity and the well-being of future generations. Those most burdened by this crisis are women and girls who are oftentimes forced to walk 6 km (3.7 miles) each day to secure water that is likely unsuitable for drinking. Girls who have to help their mothers fetch water often arrive to school late, or not at all. There are solutions available to help combat this crisis. GWC currently supports school programs that provide clean and safe drinking water, sanitation and hygiene to communities around the world. Where schools lack access to water, GWC assists through the collection of rainwater - known as rainwater harvesting - or by building wells. If the school has access to only dirty water, GWC works to provide water filters and chlorine tablets. These current programs are taking place in countries around the world such as Kenya, Tanzania, Guatemala, Honduras, El Salvador and Nicaragua. Schools are one way to reach thousands of children each day with these common-sense inputs for improved health. "It is clear that access to clean water, safe sanitation and hygiene are building blocks for healthy schools. With 300 million children in school and enrollment growing everyday, Global Water Challenge believes that it is imperative that governments work to scale up the most effective and sustainable solutions," said Dr. Tanvi Nagpal, director of water and sanitation programs at Global Water Challenge. This Universal Children's Day, GWC is urging people around the world to become part of the solution. On April 18, 2010, GWC will join Live Earth and Dow to host the Dow Live Earth Run for Water, a historic movement to help put an end to the global water crisis. The event will consist of a series of 6 km run/walks (the average distance many women and children walk every day to secure water) taking place over the course of 24 hours in countries around the world, featuring concerts and water education activities aimed at igniting a tipping point to help solve the water crisis. Ten percent of registration fees from run/walk events taking place in Atlanta, Chicago, Los Angeles, Minneapolis, New York City and Washington D.C. will be donated to GWC to support water projects, including those that bring clean, safe drinking water and sanitation education to school children worldwide. For more information on registering for a run or donating funds, please visit http://liveearth.org/run. "This event will encourage the global community to take action on one of the most serious environmental issues today, the global water crisis," said Kevin Wall, founder and CEO of Live Earth. "It will raise the profile of this issue, educate the world’s citizens about its challenges and bring resources and solutions to the nearly one billion people around the world who lack access to clean, safe drinking water." The Dow Live Earth Run for Water will take place in hundreds of countries around the world, participants of the Dow Live Earth Run for Water are encouraged to RUN in a run/walk in their community or organize their own run/walk through the Friends of Live Earth program, SAVE water in their home and local community through conservation efforts, GIVE money to support clean, safe water projects and SPEAK UP by signing the Live Earth petition to express your support that eeveryone should have access to clean water, adequate for the health and well-being of the individual and the family. "Dow is committed to being a leader in addressing the global water crisis," said Ian Barbour, general manager at Dow Water & Process Solutions, a business unit of Dow. "As a company, we are developing innovative water treatment technologies, reducing water use at our manufacturing facilities and initiating creative partnerships like the Dow Live Earth Run for Water to ensure children and adults worldwide have access to this basic human necessity." For more information on the GWC White Paper, please visit http://action.globalwaterchallenge.org/childrensday. For more information on the Dow Live Earth Run for Water, please visit http://liveearth.org. About Global Water Challenge GWC is a diverse coalition that consists of leading organizations working to provide creative and sustainable solutions for universal access to safe drinking water and sanitation. GWC's mission is to generate a global movement to meet the urgent need for safe water and sanitation by spurring collective awareness and investment in water supply/sanitation innovation by corporate, public, and nongovernmental actors. Our challenge is to reach people with the tools and education they need to empower themselves. Access to clean water and sanitation leads to healthier, longer and more productive lives, and breaks the cycle of poverty. Water and sanitation are not just human rights, they are human necessities. More information about Global Water Challenge can be found at http://www.globalwaterchallenge.org. About Live Earth Founded by Emmy-winning producer Kevin Wall, in partnership with former U.S. Vice President Al Gore, Live Earth was built upon the belief that entertainment has the power to transcend social and cultural barriers to move the world community to action. A for-profit company, Live Earth seeks to leverage the power of entertainment through integrated events, media and the live experience to ignite a global movement aimed at solving the most critical environmental issues of our time. More information about Live Earth can be found at http://liveearth.org. About The Dow Chemical Company With sales of $58 billion in 2008 and 46,000 employees worldwide, Dow is a diversified chemical company that combines the power of science and technology with the "Human Element" to constantly improve what is essential to human progress. The Company delivers a broad range of products and services to customers in around 160 countries, connecting chemistry and innovation with the principles of sustainability to help provide everything from fresh water, food and pharmaceuticals to paints, packaging and personal care products. On April 1, 2009, Dow acquired Rohm and Haas Company, a global specialty materials company with sales of $10 billion in 2008 and 15,000 employees worldwide. References to "Dow" or the "Company" mean The Dow Chemical Company and its consolidated subsidiaries unless otherwise expressly noted. More information about Dow can be found at www.dow.com.

The Levi's(R) Brand Announces charity: water as $100,000 Green Charity Winner

2009-11-19 19:56:32 -0500

The Levi's® brand is proud to announce charity: water as the winning charity of its recent GO IV Fortune $100,000 green charity giveaway. Beginning in mid-October, GO IV Fortune players nominated hundreds of charitable organizations with a commitment to sustainability and the environment. The list was narrowed down to ten finalists and thousands of gamers voted for the charity they felt best embodied the Levi's® brand's pioneering spirit and rich legacy of promoting sustainability. Today charity: water was announced as America's choice. charity: water (www.charitywater.org) is a non-profit organization that brings safe and clean drinking water to people in developing nations. Almost 1 billion people on the planet don't have clean water - one in eight people don't have access to the most basic of human needs. In three years, charity: water has raised more than $11 million and funded 1,549 water projects in 16 countries. 100 percent of public donations to charity: water goes directly to fund these important water projects. The charity: water team rallied their followers and fans to join in the movement to bring water to developing nations and used social networking and word-of-mouth efforts to encourage people to vote for them in Levi's® GO IV Fortune challenge. "We're thrilled to accept the generous $100,000 charitable gift from Levi's. Almost a billion people on the planet currently lack access to clean drinking water, and 100 percent of the money will be used to bring clean and safe water to 5,000 people in need," says Scott Harrison, president and founder of charity: water. Levi Strauss & Co. is an industry leader in promoting sustainability issues. From pioneering labor and environmental guidelines for suppliers, to supporting more sustainable ways to grow cotton - values guide everything the company does. charity: water shares Levi's® passion for pioneering positive change and commitment to making our world a better place. The Levi's® brand is honored to support charity: water's mission to provide safe and clean drinking water to people in developing nations. The GO IV Fortune interactive challenge wraps up later this week and another $100,000 will be awarded to the player who cracked the final cipher on Tuesday, November 17. The winner, who will be announced next week, will go to an undisclosed location on Saturday, November 21 to dig up the buried $100,000 prize. About the Grayson Ozias IV Fortune Challenge Launched October 5, 2009, at levi.com/goforth, this interactive challenge invites participants to solve mysteries as they unfold, keep up with other players or go for the gold themselves with the final cipher. It is a mystery, wrapped in a puzzle and an adventure across our country. The narrative behind the challenge follows Grayson Ozias IV, a fictional character based on the Levi's® brand's pioneering and innovative spirit, on his adventures across America until his 1896 disappearance into the wilderness, after hiding his considerable fortune. The game's scavenger hunt lead to many cities and towns across America, each a part of Grayson's journey and tasks players to step out from behind their computers and the hunt will lead some lucky player into the real world directly to the buried treasure. Each task at each city or town triggers the next clue in the challenge. The ongoing puzzle, an elaborate cryptogram, requires a combination of knowledge, skill and determination. The players will be receiving clues and pieces of the puzzle from launch to finish. The first player to crack the final puzzle and send it to the Levi's® game team will win Grayson Ozias's buried fortune. Players can also win other great prizes throughout the journey. The hidden fortune is the third expedition from Levi's® Go Forth campaign, first launched July 1, 2009. The campaign has been supported heavily in digital social media (Facebook, Twitter), online via rich media and offline (ESPN The Magazine). The first two expeditions-the New Declaration and the New Americans-were an homage to today's America. About the Levi's® Brand The Levi's® brand epitomizes classic American style and effortless cool. Since their invention by Levi Strauss in 1873, Levi's® jeans have become the most recognizable and imitated clothing in the world - capturing the imagination and loyalty of people for generations. Today, the Levi's® brand portfolio continues to evolve through a relentless pioneering and innovative spirit that is unparalleled in the apparel industry. Our range of leading jeanswear and accessories are available in more than 110 countries, allowing individuals around the world to express their personal style. For more information about the Levi's® brand, its products and stores, please visit http://levi.com.

UPS Tops 'Climate Counts' Scorecard For Consumer Shipping

2009-11-19 15:41:11 -0500

UPS (NYSE:UPS) has earned the top score in the consumer shipping sector of the annual "Climate Counts" scorecard and also was rated No. 11 among all 143 ranked companies. UPS ranked No. 1 in the consumer shipping sector, leaping ahead of competitors Deutsche Post World Net/DHL, the U.S. Postal Service and FedEx. Climate Counts ranks the world's largest companies based on 22 criteria that focus on measuring and reducing climate impact, corporate support of public policy initiatives on climate change and openness and transparency in reporting. The Climate Counts ranking is just the latest in a long list of honors for environmental leadership received by UPS in recent months. Other recent honors include: Carbon Disclosure Leadership Index's "Top 50 Global Companies," the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) SmartWay Excellence Award, and Newsweek's Greenest Companies in America. "Increasingly consumers are choosing to spend their money with companies that are environmental leaders. The Climate Counts scorecard helps consumers find those leaders," said Bob Stoffel, UPS senior vice president of supply chain, strategy, engineering and sustainability. "UPS's top ranking highlights the major strides we've taken to credibly report and minimize our environmental impact. For example, in 2009 we introduced several new green packaging and shipping services including the UPS carbon neutral program, the first such option available to offset the climate impact of shipping within the United States." The Climate Counts scorecard can be found at www.climatecounts.org. More information about UPS's sustainability initiatives is available at www.responsibility.ups.com/sustainability.

SC Johnson Reaches Ingredient Transparency Ahead of Schedule...With More to Come

2009-11-19 13:54:20 -0500

Just nine months after launching an industry-leading ingredient communication website, SC Johnson today announced it has already completed the task of populating the U.S. site with more than 200 products and their ingredients. The site, www.WhatsInsideSCJohnson.com, now includes 129 SC Johnson air care products and 76 home cleaning products, as well as explanations of the 169 ingredients that comprise these products. The company also today announced a soon-to-launch Spanish-language version for the U.S. "Today's families want to know what's in the products they use in their homes," said Chairman and CEO Fisk Johnson. "For us, it's about living up to the trust our consumers put in us." What's Unique about WhatsInsideSCJohnson.com SC Johnson’s ingredient disclosure site includes the company's lineup of air care and home cleaning products, each with a consumer-friendly list of ingredients, a more technical list of ingredients using the International Nomenclature of Cosmetic Ingredients (INCI) and an explanation of each ingredient's purpose. Additionally, the site lists out each of the dyes used in the product, and by January 1, 2012 will also provide preservative and fragrance ingredients as well. This is a departure from an industry right-to-know initiative announced in late 2008, which does not require the listing of dyes, fragrances or preservatives. However, SC Johnson wanted to do more. "Transparency doesn't mean cherry-picking which things to share and which things to hide. It means opening the door and letting people see what you’re made of," noted Johnson. "We have already included in our ingredient communications the dyes we use in products, and we're committed to communicating the fragrance ingredients and preservatives as well." SC Johnson's ingredient disclosure plan also differs from the industry initiative in terms of how information is communicated. To comply with the industry effort, companies will need to provide ingredient information through at least one form of communication: online, on product labels, via toll-free number or using some other non-electronic means. SC Johnson is making its information accessible in not one but three ways: the dedicated Web site (www.WhatsInsideSCJohnson.com), the company’s toll-free number (1-800-558-5252), and on product labels that will be phased in for home cleaning and air care products by January 2012. Early in 2010, the company will launch a Spanish-language version of its WhatsInside site, to make its information more accessible for its Spanish-speaking consumers in the U.S. According to the U.S. Census Bureau, as of 2007, there were 35 million U.S. residents who speak Spanish at home.* SC Johnson: History of Doing What's Right SC Johnson's ingredient communication leadership extends the company's long history of doing what’s right for people and the planet. In this decade alone, the company developed its Greenlist$trade; process to classify raw materials according to their impact on the environment. Using our Greenlist™ process, over the last five years SC Johnson cut nearly 48 million pounds of volatile organic compounds (VOCs) from its products. SC Johnson also is known for slashing coal-fired energy dependence at its manufacturing facilities. Since 2003, the company has used cogeneration with methane from a local public landfill to produce green energy for its largest global manufacturing plant. Last spring, SC Johnson also struck a five-year deal to source nearly half of the power for its second-largest North American plant from wind power. In Medan, Indonesia, the company has cut its use of diesel fuel by 80 percent by burning waste palm shells as a fuel source. And at SC Johnson's largest European manufacturing facility, located in Mijdrecht, The Netherlands, the company built a wind turbine that is expected to eliminate about 3,900 tons of carbon dioxide annually and allows the facility to use 655,000 kilograms less coal. About SC Johnson SC Johnson is a family-owned and managed business dedicated to innovative, high-quality products, excellence in the workplace and a long-term commitment to the environment and the communities in which it operates. Based in the USA, the company is one of the world's leading manufacturers of household cleaning products and products for home storage, air care, and insect control. It markets such well-known brands as GLADE®, OFF!®, PLEDGE®, RAID®, SCRUBBING BUBBLES®, SHOUT®, WINDEX® and ZIPLOC® in the U.S. and beyond, with brands marketed outside the U.S. including AUTAN®, BAYGON®, BRISE®, ECHO®, KABIKILLER®, KLEAR®, and MR. MUSCLE®. The 123-year old company, with more than $8 billion in sales, employs approximately 12,000 people globally and sells products in more than 110 countries. For more information, please visit www.scjohnson.com

Global Stakeholder Influence Examined in New Boston College Report

2009-11-19 13:31:21 -0500

The Boston College Center for Corporate Citizenship today released a timely review of the influence of stakeholders and pressure groups in nine countries. The research reflects dynamics such as the spread of market capitalism, increasing wealth and power of business, the mounting pressure for companies to take on greater social and environmental responsibilities and the growing public distrust of business. The report "Mapping Stakeholder Landscapes" describes how stakeholder groups differ around the world and the need to balance the variation at the local level with interests shared globally. The report is the result of a one-year research project by the Global Education Research Network (GERN), a network of 12 global institutions, including the Boston College Center, focused on responsible business working together. Funded by the UPS Foundation, this is the second report on global corporate citizenship produced by the GERN. While many business practices are shared universally, social and political realities that can affect the way business is managed can vary greatly among countries. The new report helps corporate social responsibility (CSR) leaders understand differences such as:

The U.K. government appears to be the most supportive of CSR, while the U.S. government is much less involved.
Developing countries such as Chile and South Africa are deeply influenced by international organizations such as the U.N. Global Compact, while these organizations hold less influence in the United States and Italy.
Business associations play a large supportive role in South Africa, but hold little power or credibility in Mexico.
The influence of the socially responsible investment (SRI) market is growing in developed countries such as the United States and United Kingdom, but remains almost non-existent in countries such as Chile and the Philippines.
Italian media seems to have the greatest appetite for CSR news, while the role of media is rather minimal in Chile, the Philippines and South Africa

"This is essential reading for business leaders," said Chris Pinney, director of research and policy for the Boston College Center. "Companies that understand where the support and pressure for corporate citizenship is coming from are better able to map strategies and devise programs that meet the interests of the company and key stakeholders." Key findings include:

Government is the most powerful and positive force for corporate citizenship globally.
Mainstream investors do not yet appreciate or understand the financial value of corporate citizenship.
Many stakeholders - especially employees and consumers - are "on the fence" due to a lack of awareness about corporate citizenship and weak social movements advancing these issues.
Developing countries differ from developed countries in the influence of certain stakeholder groups such as socially responsible investors and ethical consumers.

The report also provides details, analysis and charts for each country regarding how stakeholders influence issues ranging from market entry to production practices, advertising, community relations and employment. The nine countries examined are: Chile, China, Germany, Italy, Mexico, the Philippines, South Africa, United Kingdom and United States. It also provides country-specific analysis of the levers of influence used by groups as diverse as government, investors, nongovernmental organizations, labor, media and consumers. The authors of this report are Sylvia Kinnicutt, Philip Mirvis, Ph.D. and Rene Carapinha. Bradley K. Googins, Ph.D. is the principal investigator for the project. Download the report for free (registration required). The Global Education Research Network (GERN) is a network of 12 global institutions focused on responsible business working together to advance research and education that will build the capacity of businesses worldwide to maximize their benefit to society. It connects academics and researchers who take specific interest in application of corporate citizenship principles, and can offer perspectives from developing and developed economies on issues related to responsible business practice. Its goal is to deconstruct and unpack everyday questions on the role of business in society in a manner that can result in practical application. GERN members who participated in this report are: AIM-Ramon V. del Rosario Sr. Center for Corporate Responsibility at the Asian Institute for Management; the American Chamber of Commerce in Shanghai, the Boston College Center for Corporate Citizenship; the Doughty Centre for Corporate Responsibility, Cranfield University School of Management; IDEARSE Center for Corporate Sustainability and Responsibility at Anahuac University; the Center for Corporate Citizenship Deutschland (CCCD); the Center for Responsible Leadership, University of Pretoria; ALTIS, Catholic University of Milan; and Vincular, Center for Corporate Social Responsibility at Catholic University of Valparaiso. The Boston College Center for Corporate Citizenship is a membership-based research organization associated with the Carroll School of Management. It is committed to helping business leverage its social, economic and human assets to ensure both its success and a more just and sustainable world. As a leading resource on corporate citizenship, the Center works with global corporations to help them define, plan, and operationalize their corporate citizenship. Through the insights of its 350 corporate members, the Center creates knowledge, value and demand for corporate citizenship.

International Youth Foundation Announces Recipients of 2009 StarbucksTM Shared PlanetTM Youth Action Grants

2009-11-19 12:38:04 -0500

With support from the Starbucks™ Shared Planet™ Youth Action Grants program, 20 youth-led initiatives in 12 countries will expand the impact of their social change work. The grants, ranging from US$7,500-$10,000, will support youth-led projects such as efforts to influence the legislative agenda in Kenya, equip disadvantaged women in the Philippines with income-generating skills, and raise awareness of solutions to climate change. The Youth Action Grants program is a key component of the Starbucks™ Shared Planet™ commitment to communities. Grant recipients were chosen by Starbucks and the International Youth Foundation (IYF) in order to make funding available to young leaders who have completed IYF’s YouthActionNet® Global Fellowship. The Fellowship seeks to develop a new generation of socially-conscious global citizens who create positive change in their communities, their countries, and the world. "The diversity of projects led by this year's grant recipients testify to the tremendous drive, creativity, and compassion of today's young social entrepreneurs," said IYF President and CEO William S. Reese. "Through this much-needed support, Starbucks is enabling these youth to realize their visions of a better world - and inspire others in the process." "We congratulate each of these young leaders for their hard work and innovative solutions to local challenges," said Ben Packard, Starbucks vice president, Global Responsibility. "Through Starbucks™ Shared Planet™ commitment to communities, we seek to celebrate, support, and spread this spirit of innovation and service in addressing community needs." Among the 20 projects to receive a total of US$200,000 in StarbucksTM Shared Planet™ Youth Action Grants are: Family in Need Trust, Zimbabwe: The Trust, established by Jack Bbabbie Mukulu, 29, will provide vocational training and HIV/AIDS prevention education to 50 women caretakers of orphans and vulnerable children. Human Artificial Vision, Mexico: Developed by Luis Octavio Ortigoza Ayala, 27, Human Artificial Vision will train 500 visually-impaired individuals in the use of a prosthesis enabling them to perceive images. Sri Arunodayan Charitable Trust, India: Under the leadership of Iyyappan Subramanyan, 29, the Trust will construct a physiotherapy room serving 90 children with intellectual disabilities. Youth Action for Change (YAC), Italy: Founded by Selene Biffi, 26, Youth Action for Change will publish an online youth magazine, Young Innovations Europe, aimed at showcasing youth-led innovation, entrepreneurship, and creativity. Fired Up Media, United States: Launched by Richard Graves, 26, Fired Up Media will form seven new media teams, one from each continent, to report on the most compelling climate change stories in the world related to the UN Climate Conference in Copenhagen in December 2009. A committee comprised of IYF staff and Starbucks partners (employees) selected the final grant recipients. To learn more about the Starbucks™ Shared Planet™ Youth Action Grants program and the planned activities of all 20 grant recipients, visit www.youthactionnet.org. About YouthActionNet® Launched in 2001, YouthActionNet® seeks to develop a new generation of socially-conscious global citizens who create positive change in their communities, their countries, and the world. Through its fellowship programs, national institutes, dynamic website, grants, and peer-to-peer learning opportunities, YouthActionNet® offers young change makers ideas, resources, and connections to like minds around the world. To date, YouthActionNet® has launched national programs in Australia, Brazil, Israel, Mexico, and Spain. For further information, visit http://www.youthactionnet.org. About the International Youth Foundation (IYF) The International Youth Foundation (IYF) invests in the extraordinary potential of young people. Founded in 1990, IYF builds and maintains a worldwide community of businesses, governments, and civil society organizations committed to empowering youth to be healthy, productive, and engaged citizens. IYF programs are catalysts of change that help young people obtain a quality education, gain employability skills, make healthy choices, and improve their communities. To learn more, visit www.iyfnet.org. About the Starbucks™ Shared Planet™ Youth Action Grants Program The Starbucks&trae; Shared Planet™ Youth Action Grants program helps young people realize their natural potential to reinvent their local communities. The program is the primary vehicle through which The Starbucks Foundation invests in communities globally as part of the Starbucks™ Shared Planet™ commitment to communities. Since launching the grants program in 2007, more than $1.5 million has been invested in youth-led initiatives around the world. The program is integral to the company achieving its goal by 2015 of engaging 50,000 young social entrepreneurs to innovate and take action in their communities. For more information, please visit www.starbucksfoundation.com/sef.

Corporate Impact Awards Recognize Companies' $1 Million-Plus Annual Gifts to American Cancer Society

2009-11-19 11:51:05 -0500

The American Cancer Society's nationwide Corporate Impact Awards were presented today to 16 corporations during the organization's 96th Annual Meeting in Los Angeles. The awards recognize businesses' and their employees' financial as well as in-kind contributions of $1 million or more during the past year. These donations were raised to support the fight against cancer through a variety of means, and they represent these corporations' dedication to the Society's lifesaving vision of a world with less cancer and more birthdays. The companies honored for their substantial gifts to the Society were: AstraZeneca Pharmaceuticals LP; Best Buy; Curves International; dressbarn inc.; HairUWear; International Business Machines (IBM); Merrill Lynch & Co.; Novartis Corporation; Oracle; PartyLite Gifts, Inc.; Pfizer Inc; The Pampered Chef, LTD; UAL Corporation and United Airlines; Walgreen Co.; Walmart; and WellPoint, Inc. "Through their generous contributions to the American Cancer Society, these companies and their many employees have demonstrated their commitment to our mission of saving lives by helping people stay well, by helping people get well, by finding cures and fighting back against a disease which has taken too much from too many," said American Cancer Society Chief Executive Officer John R. Seffrin, Ph.D. "During these challenging economic times, the level at which each of these 16 companies has contributed to the cancer fight is extraordinary." Initiated in 2006, the Corporate Impact Awards commend companies' significant financial contribution to the Society, generated through employee workplace giving, corporate philanthropy, in-kind support, cause branding, corporate promotions, event sponsorship and team fundraising. The awards are presented annually as part of the Society's Corporate Initiative, a project which creates meaningful, long-term relationships with corporations and employers of all sizes by engaging them in delivery of the Society's lifesaving mission and support for its numerous programs and services. The American Cancer Society Corporate Initiative helps companies implement scientifically-sound, comprehensive health and wellness programs and provides information and high-quality support for cancer screening and care. "The Society is extremely grateful to these companies for their investment in enabling the substantial progress that continues to be made against the disease. In engaging the fight against cancer, these compassionate organizations and their like-minded employees are helping to substantially ease the burden on those diagnosed with cancer as well as their families and caregivers," said George W.P. Atkins, 2009-10 national volunteer chair, American Cancer Society Board of Directors. AstraZeneca Pharmaceuticals LP is in the midst of a five-year, $10 million pledge to accelerate development of at least 50 new Society-operated Patient Resource Navigator Program sites throughout the U.S. to help guide cancer patients through the process of planning and receiving their cancer treatments. AstraZeneca also has supported three of the Society's Hope Lodge® facilities, which provide cancer patients and their caregivers with free, extended-stay accommodations during treatment. In 2008, AstraZeneca helped sponsor the American Cancer Society Cancer Action Network's (ACS CAN) "Fight Back Express" national bus tour that highlighted the crucial role elected officials play in supporting laws and policies that benefit cancer patients. In 2009, Best Buy employees organized nearly 600 Relay For Life® teams and generated more than $820,000 in grants to recognize employee volunteerism. The company also became a Making Strides Against Breast Cancer® National Team Program partner. Best Buy retail employees have expanded their support of the Society by organizing local volunteer teams and leveraging the company's dollars for doers program, TagTeam Awards. Curves International, through its four million members and thousands of locations worldwide, is a veteran supporter of the American Cancer Society and its National Corporate Team Programs. In 2008, Curves formed more than 850 Relay For Life teams and raised in excess of $900,000 and formed 500-plus teams which raised more than $400,000 for Making Strides Against Breast Cancer. As well, through cause marketing events at its nationwide health clubs, Curves raised an additional $115,000. dressbarn inc., which includes the dressbarn and maurices brands, has contributed more than $6 million to the American Cancer Society. Over the past seven years, the company has been a Relay For Life National Corporate Team Program member, and the dressbarn inc. Foundation has provided registration fee funding for each of the company's Relay teams, which, in 2009, numbered 300. Additionally, the net profits from selected dressbarn and maurices in-store cause-related promotional items have been donated to the company's Relay For Life effort. dressbarn inc., is an active participant with the Society's Making Strides Against Breast Cancer initiative as well as with the Workplace Wellness Program. An Impact Award recipient for the fourth consecutive year, dressbarn inc., contributed more than $1 million to the Society in 2009. HairUWear has been a generous supporter of the American Cancer Society since 2003 and has donated more than 44,000 wigs, valued at $6.4 million, which have been distributed to Society wig banks nationwide. Through these generous donations, tens of thousands of women facing cancer have been provided with these products that they otherwise might not have been able to afford. For more than a decade, International Business Machines (IBM) employees have generously donated to the American Cancer Society, with the IBM Employee Contribution Campaign having yielded the second-highest level of corporate-driven payroll deduction donations. In 2008, 13,621 employees pledged more than $2.5 million to the Society. Also, for the fourth consecutive year, the company has employed an American Cancer Society-provided enterprise class computer server to deliver 24 hours per day, seven days per week operation of the IBM World Community Grid's (worldcommunitygrid.org) "Help Conquer Cancer" project. Merrill Lynch & Co., employees, thanks to a matching gift from the company's Merrill Lynch Foundation, contributed more than $4.3 million to the American Cancer Society in 2008. The company is an active participant in the Relay For Life National Corporate Team Program, and Merrill Lynch continues to support various collaborative efforts focused on educating and supporting the needs of underserved populations. Thanks to the generous support of Novartis Corporation, the American Cancer Society's Latin America Best Practices Award program has, for the last two years, recognized regional patient support groups with financial aid for their projects. Novartis has provided matching gifts in support of employee contributions through Relay For Life, Making Strides Against Breast Cancer and Daffodil Days. Domestically, through integrated, in-store promotion of its nicotine replacement therapy products, the company has worked with four of its major retail chain accounts to encourage customers to quit smoking. Robert Pelzer, Novartis' president and chief executive officer, is co-chair of the American Cancer Society Eastern Division's CEOs Against Cancer® initiative. Oracle actively addresses improving the quality of life in communities within which it does business. Oracle Giving awarded a $1 million Oracle Commitment Grant to benefit a two-year American Cancer Society project designed to expand evidence, improve planning, and promote action for cancer control in the African countries of Ghana, Nigeria, Senegal, South Africa and Tanzania. The company has also, for the past two years, underwritten or sponsored an American Cancer Society Cancer Action Network (ACS CAN) breakfast at Oracle's Redwood City, Calif., headquarters. PartyLite Gifts, Inc. made the American Cancer Society its charity of focus 11 years ago, and the company's employees and independent PartyLite consultants have contributed more than $11 million. PartyLite fundraising efforts range in size from backyard sales to conferences attended by thousands. Additionally, the Party Lite Change the World™ program encourages customers to round up their purchase prices to the nearest dollar, or up to $10, with the difference benefitting the Society. Also, PartyLite is active with the Relay For Life National Corporate Team Program and most recently ranked fourth nationally, with 426 teams and $506,000 in contributions. Pfizer Inc, along with the Pfizer Foundation, have supported the American Cancer Society with $1.6 million in grant funding as well as technical assistance for regional cancer and tobacco control programs in Latin America, Southeast Asia and North Africa. In Latin America, grant money is supporting regional trainings and information sharing as well as early detection and cancer screening projects. In Southeast Asia, Pfizer funding is helping to improve local access to cancer control services through training and country-specific projects. In North Africa, Pfizer aid is supporting anti-tobacco youth advocacy leadership training, and the region’s national governing organizations are receiving assistance for training programs in Istanbul, Turkey, that share best practice measures from successful, smoke-free environments. The Pampered Chef, LTD began its collaboration with the American Cancer Society in 2000, and has since raised more than $7.6 million through its Help Whip Cancer campaign. Independent Pampered Chef consultants have raised funds through the sale of pink, limited-edition products and through cooking shows, and they have helped increase awareness of breast cancer and have promoted the importance of cancer prevention and early detection. In 2008, Pampered Chef became a Making Strides Against Breast Cancer National Team Program participant and raised more than $325,000 - marking its place as the nation's third-largest fundraising team. UAL Corporation and United Airlines began their alliance with the American Cancer Society in 2007, when chairman, president and CEO Glenn Tilton and his wife, Jackie, co-chaired an event that raised more than $2 million. Tilton also serves as chair of the CEOs Against Cancer program in the Society's Illinois Division, and in 2009, he co-chaired the Society's inaugural national Corporate Impact Conference in Chicago. A marketing program was launched two years ago, whereby United frequent travelers were encouraged to donate their earned miles and/or make financial contributions to provide cost-free transportation for children needing cancer treatment. The campaign has generated more than $3.1 million in miles and promotional support, in addition to $360,000 in cash donations that have helped provide Gund® teddy bears for nearly 18,000 children. During its nearly two-decade alliance with the American Cancer Society, Walgreen Co., has contributed more than $17 million through a variety of programs. This year, Walgreens offered customers point-of-checkout donation opportunities in exchange for coupon booklets redeemable for future purchases - an initiative which raised nearly $750,000. The company has been active with the Relay For Life National Corporate Team Program, engaging 600 teams and 5,000 employees. Last year, Walgreens engaged the Society's tobacco-cessation program, with nearly 2,500 company employees calling the program's information line for help in quitting tobacco. In 2009, Walgreens was the recipient of the Corporate Impact: Award of Excellence at the Society's Corporate Impact Conference. Walmart raised more than $8 million for the American Cancer Society in 2008, through contributions to the National Corporate Team Programs for Relay For Life and Making Strides Against Breast Cancer, and through other Society community events. Additionally, the hourly, in-store Walmart TV delivery of the Society's lifesaving public service announcements reached more than 128 million shoppers each month. Walmart and Sam's Club also provided associates with payroll deduction contribution opportunities through the company's Associate Giving Program. In 2009, Walmart received the Corporate Impact: Employee Engagement award at the American Cancer Society's Corporate Impact Conference. WellPoint, Inc., and its employees have been active participants in local Relay For Life events across the country. In 2008, the WellPoint Foundation assisted with the buildout of the American Cancer Society Patient Resource Navigator Program in six of the Society’s 13 Divisions. Additionally, in 2009, the WellPoint Foundation committed its financial support to the Society’s Hope Lodges in Marshfield, Wis., Cleveland, Ohio, and Lexington, Ky. The American Cancer Society combines an unyielding passion with nearly a century of experience to save lives and end suffering from cancer. As a global grassroots force of more than three million volunteers, we fight for every birthday threatened by every cancer in every community. We save lives by helping people stay well by preventing cancer or detecting it early; by helping people get well by being there for them during and after a cancer diagnosis; by finding cures through investment in groundbreaking discovery; and by fighting back by rallying lawmakers to pass laws to defeat cancer and by rallying communities worldwide to join the fight. As the nation’s largest non-governmental investor in cancer research, contributing about $3.4 billion, we turn what we know about cancer into what we do. As a result, more than 11 million people in America who have had cancer and countless more who have avoided it will be celebrating birthdays this year. To learn more about us or to get help, call us anytime, day or night, at 1-800-227-2345 or visit cancer.org.

Ten Schools Recognized for High Achievement through the 2010 MetLife Foundation-NASSP Breakthrough Schools(TM) Program

2009-11-19 11:00:29 -0500

Ten middle and high schools are being recognized for academic success through the 2010 MetLife Foundation-National Association of Secondary School Principals (NASSP) Breakthrough Schools program. The schools will be honored at the annual NASSP Convention, which is being held in Phoenix, AZ, March 12-14. Established in 2007, the program recognizes middle level and high schools that are high achieving or are dramatically improving student achievement and serve large numbers of students living in poverty. The diverse set of schools being recognized -- public, charter, and private schools in urban, suburban, and rural communities -- share the common trait of having an economically diverse, high-achieving student population. Not surprisingly, the schools also share common strategies -- collaborative leadership; alignment of curriculum, instruction, and assessment; and a highly personalized, caring environment. These factors reflect the priorities of . "These schools are testaments to the fundamental principle that collaborative leadership and high-quality instruction in a personalized environment are essential to academic achievement," said NASSP Executive Director Gerald N. Tirozzi. "I applaud these schools for their focused efforts and we look forward to spotlighting them as models of success in the coming year." The ten schools being recognized are: High Schools

Brentwood High School, Brentwood, NY, Thomas P. O'Brien, Principal
Franklin Towne Charter High School, Philadelphia, PA, Patrick Field, Chief Academic Officer; Jason Kegel, Principal
Park View High School, Sterling, VA, Virginia Minshew, Principal
San Diego Met High School, San Diego, CA, Mildred Phillips, Principal
San Miguel High School, Tucson, AZ, Bro. Nick Gonzalez, FSC, Principal

Middle Schools

Fieldale-Collinsville Middle School, Collinsville, VA, Moriah L. Dollarhite, Principal
Mater Academy Charter Middle School, Hialeah Gardens, FL, Judith C. Marty, Principal
Menominee Indian Middle School, Neopit, WI, Stephanie Feldner, Principal
Ravenswood Middle School, Ravenswood, WV, Gary Higginbotham, Principal
Tefft Middle School, Streamwood, IL, Lavonne Smiley, Principal

"Effective education is a collaborative venture," said Dennis White, president and CEO of MetLife Foundation. "We commend the principals of these Breakthrough Schools for providing leadership that helps teachers, parents, students and communities work together to succeed." Selection criteria are based on a school's documented success in implementing strategies aligned with the three core areas of NASSP's Breaking Ranks framework for middle level and high schools. Success in implementing the strategies is documented and verified through school site visits. For more information about the program, visit www.principals.org/breakthrough. About MetLife Foundation MetLife Foundation supports programs that increase opportunities for young people to succeed, create connections between schools and communities, and develop leadership of teachers and principals throughout their careers. The Foundation works with national nonprofit organizations, including NASSP, to improve education, often by addressing findings from the annual MetLife Survey of the American Teacher. For more, please visit www.metlife.org. About NASSP In existence since 1916, the National Association of Secondary School Principals (NASSP) is the preeminent organization of and national voice for middle level and high school principals, assistant principals, and aspiring school leaders from across the United States and more than 45 countries around the world. The mission of NASSP is to promote excellence in school leadership. NASSP administers the National Honor Society®, National Junior Honor Society®, National Elementary Honor Society™, and National Association of Student Councils®. For more information about NASSP, located in Reston, VA, visit www.principals.org.

IFC-ILO Better Work Conference Promotes Improved Labor Standards, Increased Competitiveness

2009-11-19 10:37:30 -0500

IFC, a member of the World Bank Group, and the International Labour Organization are meeting today with governments, garment industry leaders, and labor-related organizations to promote labor standards for millions of workers and expand efforts to increase companies' competitiveness in global markets. IFC and ILO are hosting a conference, Harnessing Global Incentives for Development, to discuss lessons learned in the past decade from experiences of Better Factories Cambodia, an initiative under the joint IFC-ILO Better Work partnership program. Launched in 2006, Better Work seeks to improve labor standards and competitiveness in global supply chains. The conference highlights successful elements that led to the growth of Cambodia's textile sector, such as increasing dialogue at the factory level, implementing dispute settlement mechanisms, building mature industrial relations, and improving the investment climate. "Collaboration among government, local industry leaders, and international brands continues to be instrumental in achieving the success that Better Work Factories and Better Work have experienced in the last 10 years," said Greg Radford, IFC Director for Environment and Social Development. "While millions of workers are benefiting from these commitments, companies are becoming more competitive in the global marketplace and more likely to weather the financial crisis." Major apparel companies that support the Better Work program also are attending the conference, including American Eagle Outfitters, Gap Inc, Jones Apparel, Levi Strauss & Co, Martha Stewart Living, Nike, Polo Ralph Lauren, Walt Disney, and Wal-mart. The valued supporters will contribute a multistakeholder perspective. "Better Work is supported widely by international buyers and local suppliers. This has made a significant impact on the lives of workers and their families, the performance of enterprises, and the economic and social development of the countries involved," said Ros Harvey, Global Director for the Better Work program. IFC is the only international financial institution focused exclusively on the private sector, the engine of sustainable development in emerging markets. Along with IBRD, it is currently seeking a capital increase to strengthen its ability to create opportunity for the poor in developing countries-including by helping improve labor standards to benefit millions of workers and businesses worldwide. About IFC IFC, a member of the World Bank Group, creates opportunity for people to escape poverty and improve their lives. We foster sustainable economic growth in developing countries by supporting private sector development, mobilizing private capital, and providing advisory and risk mitigation services to businesses and governments. Our new investments totaled $14.5 billion in fiscal 2009, helping channel capital into developing countries during the financial crisis. For more information, visit www.ifc.org. For more information about ILO, visit www.ilo.org. For more information about Better Work, visit www.betterwork.org.

Kraft Foods Eliminated More Than 50 Million Truck Miles Since 2005 Through Focus on Transportation Sustainability Efforts

2009-11-19 09:56:18 -0500

Everyone hates traffic. It eats up time, wastes energy and emits harmful carbon dioxide. As population and urbanization increase, experts say traffic is only getting worse. Kraft Foods is addressing this challenge by finding alternatives to trucking and making its distribution network more efficient. Since 2005, innovative sustainability projects have saved the company more than 50 million miles (80 million km) in its global transportation and distribution network. That's the same as driving from Madrid to Beijing more than 8,500 times! "We think about miles, piles and idles when moving our product," said Steve Yucknut, Vice President, Sustainability. "We're finding ways to drive fewer miles, reduce inventory piles and eliminate idling trucks. We're collaborating with customers and suppliers. And we're using a number of high-tech innovations for our trucks and warehouses to reduce energy and CO2 emissions." Following are examples from Kraft Foods operations around the globe: Riding the Waves (and Rails) to Environmental Efficiency

In North America, Kraft Foods saved more than a million miles (1.6 million km), replaced 10,000 truck shipments and reduced 2,000 tons of CO2 emissions by shipping wheat via waterways to its Toledo, Ohio, flour mill. Now, ships make bigger deliveries less frequently.
In Brazil, employees saved nearly 250,000 miles (390,000 km) and reduced 300 tons of CO2 emissions by using boats to send products to distribution centers. In just six months, the change saved more than 125 truck shipments.
In Germany, Kraft Foods transports coffee beans from Bremen to its Berlin roasting plant, saving about 1.8 million miles (2.8 million km) and eliminating 2,300 tons of CO2 emissions. And the project took 7,000 trucks off the road.
In Austria, Kraft Foods saved more than 150,000 miles (nearly 250,000 km) by sending products in refrigerated containers on railcars, eliminating 400 truck shipments and reducing 250 tons of CO2 emissions.
In the United Kingdom, the company now sends products to one of its key customers by train instead of truck, saving more than 40,000 miles (nearly 70,000 km) and eliminating 120 truck shipments.

Fewer, Faster and More Fuel-Efficient Deliveries

In Europe, Kraft Foods is modernizing its transportation network by establishing a single hub in Bratislava, Slovakia to make 20 percent fewer trips between its European plants and distribution centers. And in the Philippines, the company now uses a national distribution center so customers receive shipments 20 percent faster than before, saving miles and fuel.
In North America, Kraft Foods has purchased 11 hybrid direct store delivery vehicles for frozen products. The hybrid power train and electric refrigeration technology use up to 30 percent less fuel than a traditional truck. And in Mexico, the company has pioneered a double-decker transport system that allows trucks to safely carry up to 56 pallets in one load - twice as many as before.

Deploying Smarter Technology

Kraft Foods has been working with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to benefit from the latest technology and share best practices. Earlier this month, the EPA awarded Kraft Foods for its environmental excellence, innovation and creativity. As part of its participation in the EPA's SmartWay Transport Partnership (www.epa.gov/smartway), the company has adopted no-idle engine policies at its shipping locations, piloted a hybrid frozen delivery truck program and increased its use of intermodal (rail and barge) transport.
Using Oracle®* Transportation Management to create Project MOST (Management of Optimized Sustainable Transportation), Kraft Foods measures truck movements and designs new trip segments to minimize "empty miles," eliminating more than 500,000 miles (800,000 km) last year. Now, Kraft Foods' private fleet and its top 50 carriers use the software and Oracle has recognized the company for its work with its 2009 "Enable the Eco-Enterprise" award. *Oracle is a registered trademark of Oracle Corporation and/or its affiliates.
Kraft Foods' 20 largest plants and distribution centers in North America use software from Transportation/Warehouse Optimization to maximize product per truckload, taking the equivalent of 1,500 trucks off the road and more than a million miles
(1.6 million km) off the highway system.

About Kraft Foods Kraft Foods (www.kraftfoodscompany.com) makes today delicious in 150 countries around the globe. Our 100,000 employees work tirelessly to make delicious foods consumers can feel good about. From American brand icons like Kraft cheeses, dinners and dressings, Maxwell House coffees and Oscar Mayer meats, to global powerhouse brands like Oreo and LU biscuits, Philadelphia cream cheeses, Jacobs and Carte Noire coffees, Tang powdered beverages and Milka, Cote d'Or, Lacta and Toblerone chocolates, our brands deliver millions of smiles every day. Kraft Foods (NYSE: KFT) is the world's second largest food company with annual revenues of $42 billion. The company is a member of the Dow Jones Industrial Average, Standard & Poor's 500, the Dow Jones Sustainability Index and the Ethibel Sustainability Index. For more details on the company's sustainability focus and progress, please visit www.kraftfoodsbetterworld.com. - make today delicious - Available Topic Expert(s): For information on the listed expert(s), click appropriate link. Steve Yucknut https://profnet.prnewswire.com/Subscriber/ExpertProfile.aspx?ei=90658

WWF And Forum For The Future Lead The UK Environmental NGO Market

2009-11-19 04:00:06 -0500

To help CSR Directors select suitable partners to support their climate change, sustainability and environmental goals a new report from independent research firm Verdantix compares 12 environmental NGOs on 35 criteria. The report finds that WWF and Forum For The Future lead the UK market and 10 NGOs, including Business In The Community, the Carbon Disclosure Project, The Climate Group and Oxfam offer specialised services which differentiate their value. "Environmental NGOs provide a wide range of advisory, thought leadership, partnering and brand-credibility services to UK corporates" commented Verdantix Director Rodolphe d'Arjuzon. "The realisation by CSR Directors that they needed to take action on climate change resulted in an influx of new NGOs into the UK market, but there is intense competition to get the attention of sustainability leaders. As a result, successful NGOs have developed either a remarkable issue-based focus or specialist expertise and stakeholder networks. For example, Green Alliance has a strong position in shaping environmental policy decisions and the Forest Stewardship Council achieves incredible leverage over business decisions with its product certification scheme." The Verdantix report, Green Quadrant: Environmental NGOs UK, launched today, applies the proprietary Green Quadrant methodology that helps sustainability decision-makers to compare and shortlist potential suppliers. The 3 month study included 30 interviews with FTSE 100 CSR Directors and in-depth discussions with 12 senior managers at NGOs. The analysis compares NGOs such as Fauna and Flora International, Tomorrow's Company and The Earthwatch Institute on their capabilities to provide CSR Directors with services that help them achieve their environmental business goals. The study found that: WWF is a Leader due to the breadth of its capabilities and resources. The 250 employees of WWF UK score highly on thought leadership, communication and awareness building, advisory services, partnerships and investment in sustainability projects outside the UK. By working with firms on a selective basis it maintains strong brand credibility - which is highly valuable for CSR Directors at firms with consumers brands like HSBC, IKEA, Marks & Spencer and SABMiller. Forum For The Future is a Leader due to its consulting prowess. This London-based charity is distinguished by its strong business alignment, reflected in its customer base: BP, BT, Eurostar, PepsiCo and Unilever. The 70-strong staff at Forum For The Future, which was founded in 1996, help businesses plan for the future by envisioning scenarios and promoting innovation to address strategic issues like climate change. Issue-specific specialists offer valuable niche expertise. The detailed assessment of 10 other NGOs found each occupies a specialist domain. For carbon management advice CSR Directors turn to the Carbon Disclosure Project, for forestry issues the FSC, for policy advice the Green Alliance, for best practice sharing Tomorrow's Company and for bio-diversity Fauna & Flora International. "Our survey of 30 CSR Directors in FTSE 100 firms found that the environmental agenda has progressed beyond climate change awareness building" continued Rodolphe d'Arjuzon, author of the report. "What are the NGO growth areas for 2010? We heard that running a sustainable business, water management and climate change adaptation top the list. Fifty per cent more CSR directors plan to work with an NGO on water scarcity in 2010 compared to 2009. And 57% of respondents intend to launch NGO-related activities on climate change adaptation in 2010 compared to just 40% in 2009." Quashing the hopes of Board room influence, very few FTSE 100 CSR Directors, speaking on an anonymous basis, consider NGO engagements achieve deeper CEO engagement on environmental issues. The consensus is that the primary business benefit from working with NGOs is their ability to validate and challenge sustainability strategies which reflects the perception that environmental NGOs are an independent, external stakeholder in the successful delivery of climate change and sustainability strategies. The Verdantix report, Green Quadrant: Environmental NGOs UK, launched today is available to buy online and Verdantix clients can download the report at www.verdantix.com. About Verdantix Verdantix is an independent business research firm focused on climate change, sustainable business and energy management. Visit: www.verdantix.com

Traditional Medicinals(R) First U.S.-Based Manufacturer to Introduce New FairWild(R) Certified Herbal Products

2009-11-18 19:52:13 -0500

AmeriCares and Boeing Deliver Emergency Relief Supplies to the Philippines

2009-11-18 19:35:30 -0500

AmeriCares and Boeing today delivered an emergency shipment of medical aid to the Philippines, where thousands of people are still reeling from the devastation caused by back-to-back storms this fall. Floodwaters from Typhoon Ketsana and other storms have been slow to recede, creating a breeding ground for waterborne diseases. With tens of thousands still homeless and living in crowded evacuation centers, the threat of infectious diseases spreading remains high. Today's shipment includes antibiotics to fight infections and treat waterborne diseases, as well as pain relievers, medical supplies and personal hygiene items. "With thousands of people homeless, crowded into temporary shelters, survivors have an increased risk of developing serious, potentially life-threatening diseases," said AmeriCares President & CEO Curt Welling. "The medicines and supplies we delivered today will keep families in the Philippines healthy as they rebuild their homes and their lives." The medical aid, valued at over $120,000 and weighing nearly 7,000 pounds, was transported to the Philippines in the cargo hold of a brand new Boeing 777 through a partnership with Boeing and Philippine Airlines. "It is our great hope that this collaborative effort will bring some comfort to the flood victims during this very challenging time," said Fred Kiga, vice president, State and Local Government Relations and Global Corporate Citizenship for the Northwest Region, Boeing Commercial Airplanes. Today's shipment brings the total value of AmeriCares aid to the Philippines to nearly $5 million since Typhoon Ketsana made landfall on Sept. 26. About AmeriCares AmeriCares is a nonprofit international disaster relief and humanitarian aid organization which delivers medicines, medical supplies and aid to people in crisis around the world. Since it was established in 1982, AmeriCares has distributed more than $9 billion in humanitarian aid to 137 countries. For more information, go to www.AmeriCares.org

Leonardo Academy Announces Opportunities to Participate in Development Process for Emissions Inventories, Offsets and Reduction Credits Standard

2009-11-18 15:54:02 -0500

Leonardo Academy, a charitable nonprofit organization that works to advance sustainability, announced today five opportunities to participate in the development of the Emissions Inventories, Offsets and Reduction Credits Standard (LEO-5000). Interested parties can: (1) Apply for membership on the standard development committee, (2) Apply to be an observer of the standard development process, (3) Sign up to pilot test the draft standard, (4) Sign up to use the standard once it is approved as an American National Standard and (5) Make a charitable donation to support the development of the standard. Visit the Leonardo Academy web site at: http://www.leonardoacademy.org/programs/standards/emissions-standards.html to learn more about how to engage in the LEO-5000 standard development process. Objectives of the Standard The objectives of LEO-5000 are to: (1) Provide transparent reporting of the scope of emissions sources being addressed and how emissions, sequestration and offsets are calculated, in order to help companies and consumers make sense of claims made by businesses about their emission reductions and offset achievements. (2) Provide an alternative methodology to the traditional one-dimensional approach of targeting single emissions by addressing the full range of emission types, including those that adversely affect climate and those that adversely affect human health. (3) Fill in the gap left by current climate emissions standards by addressing carbon sequestration in existing forests. Need for the Standard A wide variety of reporting methodologies are used around the globe to track emission inventories, offsets and reduction credits. However, current methodologies frequently address a relatively narrow range of both emission types and sources of emission reductions. The LEO-5000 standard proposes to provide a multi-pollutant approach that will help companies and organizations that implement energy efficiency, renewable energy and other emission reduction actions to calculate and earn reduction credits for all types of pollutants reduced, including carbon, sulfur dioxide, nitrogen oxides, particulate matter and mercury. Furthermore, the need for alternative approaches with regard to what qualifies as an appropriate emission reduction source is supported by growing recognition that maintaining existing forests is a key component to effectively addressing climate change. The recent UN-REDD (the UN's Collaborative Programme on Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Forest Degradation in Developing Countries) discussions seek to provide recognition and rewards for the carbon-storing benefits of preserving rainforests. The LEO-5000 standard proposes to develop a systematic approach to addressing carbon sequestration in all types of forests. Michael Arny, President of Leonardo Academy, said, "Approximately 25% of global carbon dioxide emissions are attributed to forest destruction. It is imperative that we fix the hole in our carbon bucket by systematically addressing the benefits of carbon sequestration in existing forests. Additionally, we need to expand our focus on emissions to encompass a more broad and integrated approach that covers the full range of emissions and emission reduction sources. The LEO-5000 standards development committee will seek to accomplish these goals." How to Engage in the LEO-5000 Standard Development Process

a. Joining the LEO-5000 email list b. Pilot testing the draft standard c. Using the final standard

About Leonardo Academy Leonardo Academy is a charitable nonprofit organization dedicated to advancing sustainability by leveraging innovative tools and information to motivate the competitive market. By utilizing an interdisciplinary approach to sustainability education and implementation, we strive to make sustainability practical for everyone. We develop integrative sustainability solutions designed to enhance the environmental stewardship, social responsibility and economic prosperity of organizations, corporations and individuals. We envision a world filled with sustainable opportunities that can transform the way we live today and ensure the prosperity of future generations. About Leonardo Academy Sustainability Standards Development As an ANSI-accredited standards developer, Leonardo Academy is actively engaged in the development of voluntary consensus standards - an important tool for driving sustainability objectives through the marketplace. Leonardo Academy develops Leonardo Academy-ANSI standards and also provides process administration support to other organizations that develop sustainability standards. Our current standard development activities include: Emissions Inventories, Offsets and Reduction Credits; Sustainable Gaming; Sustainable Agriculture; Life-Cycle Impact Profile Declaration; Sustainable Vehicles; Sustainable Organizations and Sustainable Events. Learn more about these standards at: http://www.leonardoacademy.org/programs/standards.html.

Ben and Jerry’s, Eileen Fisher and Stonyfield Farm Join BICEP Coalition

2009-11-18 14:06:48 -0500

Ceres president Mindy Lubber announced today that three new companies - Ben & Jerry's, Eileen Fisher and Stonyfield Farm- have joined the business coalition, Business for Innovative Climate and Energy Policy (BICEP) that is calling for strong climate and energy legislation from Congress in 2009. The new members were announced as the U.S. Senate considers a comprehensive climate and energy legislation and as world leaders prepare to meet in Copenhagen next month to negotiate a new international agreement on climate change. "These companies know that there is no distinction between what is good for business and what is good for the environment," said Lubber, whose group helps coordinate BICEP. "We welcome these new BICEP members and look forward to their contributions in achieving strong Congressional action to catalyze a clean energy economy." Launched last November, BICEP includes 16 of the nation's largest consumer brands, including founding members Nike, Starbucks, Levi Strauss & Co., Sun Microsystems and The Timberland Co. "Supporting positive change has always been important at EILEEN FISHER. We are honored to join the collective voices of BICEP and support the work of our U.S. legislators to develop climate policy," said Eileen Fisher, CEO of the clothing company based in Irvington, NY. This wave of companies joining BICEP comes against the backdrop of growing momentum for strong nationwide energy and climate policies. Last month, as part of Ceres' and Clean Economy Network's "We Can Lead" effort, more than 150 companies from 30-plus states came to Capitol Hill to advocate for comprehensive climate and energy policies. Business leaders from a variety of sectors brought the message to Washington that strong climate and energy legislation would create over 1.7 million new jobs, cut global warming pollution, restore America's competitiveness and provide for our economic and national security. "Stonyfield rejects the notion that aggressive climate action is going to be costly," says Gary Hirshberg, CEO Stonyfield Farm, an organic yogurt company headquartered in New Hampshire. "Based on our experience, climate action offers economic opportunity rather than economic penalty. With global warming now approaching dangerous levels, Congress must look less at economic models and more at economic reality - what the actual, on-the-ground experience of pro-active entities like the BICEP companies shows." BICEP's core principles include stimulating production of renewable energy, promoting energy efficiency and clean energy jobs, requiring the auction of all carbon allowances and limiting new coal-fired power plants to those that capture and store carbon emissions. Details on BICEP's principles and members can be found at www.ceres.org/bicep. "Ben & Jerry's believes in the power of grassroots activism to create positive change. By working cooperatively with our consumers, we can tell our Congressional representatives that strong climate-change legislation is critical. Together, with our consumers and the BICEP coalition, we have a much better chance to pass meaningful climate-change legislation," said Walt Freese, CEO of Vermont-based Ben & Jerry's. The new BICEP companies all have long track records of making sustainability a central component of their business models:

Eileen Fisher is using innovative solutions to reduce the environmental impact of its clothing through all four stages of its life cycle: raw material, production process, product use and disposal.
To help reduce its own contribution to global warming, Stonyfield has dramatically improved efficiency in its production and distribution, offset all of the CO2 emissions generated from its facility energy use for well over a decade and made several investments in renewable energy.
To get a clear picture on generation of company greenhouse gases, Ben & Jerry's continues work on a carbon inventory of United States operations to identify the best areas for reducing climate impacts and offset 100% of emissions associated with the Vermont manufacturing facilities for the seventh consecutive year.

About BICEP

www.ceres.org/bicep

About Ben & Jerry's

www.benjerry.com

About Eileen Fisher

www.eileenfisher.com

About Stonyfield Farm

www.stonyfield.com/about_us

NBC Universal Goes "Green Behind The Scenes"

2009-11-18 12:52:13 -0500

NBC Universal is making "green production" easier for its televisions shows by integrating environmental sustainability into its core production culture. As part of an ongoing goal to implement eco-friendly practices across the company, NBC Universal has launched a green production initiative to deliver a comprehensive combination of environmental tools and resources to its crews and staff to facilitate a move towards more sustainable production. "Over the last few years, we've been committed to changing the way we do business so that we can lessen our impact on the environment and do our part to help our industry operate more sustainably," said Beth Colleton, VP of Green Is Universal. "By making green practices a part of our work culture, we can make significant strides in reducing the environmental footprint of our shows as well as the entertainment sector." In partnership with "Green Is Universal," NBCU's company-wide environmental initiative, NBCU's television production arms, Universal Media Studios (UMS) and Universal Cable Productions (UCP), have developed a series of best practices and educational materials that are being put to use on all productions. Highlights include: Green is Universal Film and Television Production Guides: NBCU has published step-by-step instruction guides that detail environmental best practices specific to film and TV production - from location scouting to set design construction to vendor selection to wrapping and locking a set. These guides, which can be found on www.greenisuniversal.com, are not only available for use within the company, but are also available to the industry at large. "Green is Universal" will soon publish additional guides specifically geared towards television news, cable originals, award programs and special events. "Green 17": A baseline commitment to 17 green goals produced by UMS and UCP are currently implementing that cover key areas of environmental impact including recycling and repurposing, alternatives to VOC paints and toxic cleaners, paper use reduction and digitization and water bottle removal. Many productions already go above and beyond the baseline goals, with shows like "Saturday Night Live" and "Psych" using sustainable wood and rechargeable batteries for sound equipment (respectively). Dedicated and experienced personnel: In addition to the resources and support of the company's "Green is Universal" and operational staff, NBCU has a Manager of Sustainable of Production who liaises with both film and television productions to help implement and track green best practices and assist shows to transition to more sustainable operations. NBCU continues its commitment to reducing the environmental footprint of its films and TV shows all the way through the DVD release process. In early 2009, Universal Studios Home Entertainment transitioned to a DVD case that uses 20% less plastic than the standard DVD case. Approximately 60 million of these cases will be used in 2009, resulting in a 1.8 million pound reduction in C02 emissions. NBCU is also pursuing other innovative ways to "go green". Earlier this year, the company implemented a "closed loop" recycling system at its 30 Rockefeller Plaza corporate headquarters in New York where more than 50 tons of paper trash has been recycled and converted into cardboard DVD cases and boxes for company use. About "Green is Universal" Launched in May 2007, "Green is Universal" is NBC Universal's ongoing environmental initiative dedicated to raising Green awareness, effecting positive change to the environment, and substantially greening its own operations.

"Green Is Universal" Launches "Green Counts Here," A New Campaign Designed To Activate Consumers Around Green

2009-11-18 12:43:08 -0500

"Green Is Universal kicks off its annual "Green Week" November 15th, demonstrating a continued company-wide commitment to raise environmental awareness and activate consumers around ways to preserve the environment. For the third straight year, over 40 NBCU brands will feature environmentally themed programming across the company's television and digital platforms. The centerpiece of this year's "Green Week" is the "Green Counts Here" campaign, a cross-platform initiative that invites NBC Universal audiences to make green count, by pledging to make small green changes in their daily lives. The sum of these pledges will illustrate to consumers' the collective impact of their environmentally friendly actions. Throughout "Green Week", both on-air and online promotion for "Green Counts Here" will appear across many of NBCU's properties, inviting consumers to make an online pledge to adopt an eco-friendly habit. For instance, USA Network will encourage viewers to power down their computers, iVillage will promote shopping with reusable bags, The Weather Channel will ask people to turn down the thermostat and Syfy will suggest carpooling to work or school. The pledges can be made on each brand's website, and a running tally of these commitments will be featured online. "While the challenges facing the planet can seem vast, we can all make small green changes that cumulatively add up to make a huge difference," said Beth Colleton, Vice President of Green is Universal. "Through this program we hope to mobilize our audiences in pledging to green just one aspect of their daily routines. Together we can have a meaningful impact on the environment." Talent across all NBCU networks will play a significant role in encouraging viewers to be greener, through a series of environmentally themed "The More You Know" PSAs. Topics include how to conserve water, use less energy and recycle. Following are "Green Week" Highlights: NBC Sports: "Green Week" kicks off during NBC's "Football Night in America," where viewers will see highlights of past and upcoming "Green is Universal" programming. NBC News: The TODAY show will feature a weeklong look at innovative and cost-efficient ways for families to live greener lives. Additionally, in a three-part series, "Nightly News" Environmental Correspondent Anne Thompson will travel to Greenland, Arizona and Denmark, examining everything from melting ice cores to drought-stricken areas to new green energy sources for the home. David Gregory will also discuss the environment with his guests on "Meet the Press." NBC Primetime: Green themes will be woven into the storylines of "Heroes," "The Biggest Loser," "Community," "The Office" and "30 Rock." "The Jay Leno Show" will feature Ed Begley, Jr. in the "Green Car Challenge," as well as a green-themed "Jaywalking" segment and a green comedy piece with correspondent Brian Unger. NBC Late Night will feature green segments on "The Tonight Show with Conan O'Brien" and "Late Night with Jimmy Fallon," while Carson Daly will host "Last Call with Carson Daly" from green locales throughout the week. CNBC: Several programs, including "Fast Money" and "The Suze Orman Show," will feature green stocks to watch and discuss the role of green companies in the economy. MSNBC will feature the next installment of its "Future Earth" series with Jeff Corwin's documentary, "100 Heartbeats," which chronicles the global environmental crisis and the impact on animal and plant species. The Weather Channel will air segments on climate change throughout the week. Viewers will also have the opportunity to see the first installment of MSNBC's documentary series "Future Earth" about the melting of the Arctic Ocean. USA Network will celebrate characters who are making a difference to help save the environment, with a green-themed vignette as well as an updated "Ecoist Corner" on www..green.usanetwork.com. Bravo will re-air environmentally themed episodes of "Top Chef," "The Real Housewives of Orange County," "Shear Genius" and "Project Runway" with contestants using environmentally conscious and organic products. The network will also air Green Week vignettes featuring personalities numerous Bravo shows. BravoTV.com will run features including "10 Simple Ways to Be More Green," "10 Ways to Green Your Kitchen" and "10 Must-Have Green Buys." Oxygen's "The Naughty Kitchen With Chef Blythe Beck's" Blythe Beck will talk about the sustainable practices at Central 214, a Kimpton Hotel Restaurant, where she is the Executive Chef, including its use of organic, locally grown produce and its zero carbon footprint water filtration system. Syfy will feature several environmental specials including a full day of "Earth in Peril" themed films, detailing potential future natural disasters. Telemundo: "Levantate," "Al Rojo Vivo con Maria Celeste" and "Noticiero Telemundo" and the network's sports shows will feature segments on global warming, recycling, and other ways to improve the planet. mun2 will air its original documentary entitled "Toxic City: This is Where I Live," an exploration of Latino communities and the effects of daily exposure to environmental hazards of air pollution, water contamination, as well as other health risks. Universal Studios Theme Parks and Resorts will show highlights from MSNBC's "Future Earth: 100 Heartbeats" at the Animal Actors attraction and CityWalk. NBC Local Media Television Stations will also incorporate environmentally- themed stories into their newscasts. NBC Universal Domestic Television Distribution: "Access Hollywood" will report on the latest Hollywood celebrities making an environmental difference. "The Martha Stewart Show" will showcase green tips and gardening techniques that highlight the importance of cultivation and conservation. "Maury," "The Jerry Springer Show" and "The Steve Wilkos Show" will encourage viewers to conserve energy by turning out the lights when leaving a room. iVillage will feature new content to provide the latest green trends in beauty and style, home and garden, entertainment, and health - with a focus on helping moms make a green lifestyle work for them and their families. The site will also host a month-long Green Community Challenge, with daily tips and assignments that will help users live more eco-friendly lives. NBCU Volunteers will host environmental community service projects in Los Angeles, Chicago, Dallas, Miami, Washington D.C. and New York. Also in New York, employees will work with acclaimed environmental artist Tom Deininger to create a 3D eco-trash art installation from recycled, reclaimed and re-purposed materials from NBCU's headquarters. The NBC Universal Foundation will award a series of "green" grants to non-profits that promote environmental education in underserved communities. About "Green is Universal" Launched in May 2007, "Green is Universal" is NBC Universal's ongoing environmental initiative dedicated to raising Green awareness, effecting positive change to the environment, and substantially greening its own operations.

Thanks for Giving 2009

2009-11-18 12:09:36 -0500

WHAT: The Center for Family Resources Thanks for Giving 2009 Food Distribution WHO: The Center for Family Resources (CFR) has been providing Thanksgiving boxes to families in need in Cobb County for more than 20 years. CFR is different from shelter-based holiday programs in that CFR preserves family traditions and treasured time together by providing everything each family needs to enjoy a meal at home together. WHY: CFR has seen a 49 percent increase in need during the first half of 2009 and has set a goal to provide boxes to 1,500 families! The effort each year is made possible through corporate and community support. Support from corporate sponsors including UPS and Lockheed Martin ensures CFR meets its goal. The effort takes more than 65,000 food items and 300 volunteers to be successful as families pick-up their boxes and head home to cook their holiday meal. The 2009 effort will make organizational history as CFR serves more families than ever in the program's 24-year history. Visit www.TheCFR.org to find out more about Thanks for Giving 2009. WHEN: Monday, November 23, 2009 from 1p.m. to 4 p.m. Tuesday, November 24, 2009 from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. WHERE: Cobb County Civic Center 548 South Marietta Parkway, Marietta, GA 30060 MORE: Since 1960, CFR has helped tens of thousands of low-income families with employment, education, and housing services; leadership development programs; mentoring opportunities; and temporary financial and food assistance. Guided by organizational values of Family, Integrity, Results, Service and Teamwork, the staff at CFR is committed to breaking the cycle of poverty by helping families acquire the resources they need to become independent and self-sufficient. www.TheCFR.org

Earth Advertising marks a 10-year benchmark with new communication tools:

2009-11-18 11:36:29 -0500

Earth Advertising marks a 10-year benchmark with new communication tools: interactive CSR reports, web series, and games. (See "Selling Without Selling Out" web series trailer: above) Earth, the ad agency best known for its supporting role in the growth of eco-preneurs, celebrates 10 years today at a time when sustainability marketing is booming. "At the beginning, we were the only green marketing agency in the U.S., according to Adweek." said Martha Shaw who founded Earth's studio eFlicks Media in 1999. "Now, corporate America is embracing environmental issues and that's good for our entire industry. A rising tide floats all boats." With its 360° approach to pr and media, the agency has a history of hitting the sweet spot where creative messaging, brand authenticity and new media tools converge. That approach has worked to put many of today's leading green companies, organizations and issues in the limelight, including clean technologies, organic foods, car concepts, and non-toxic household goods. Beyond commerce, Earth has worked to empower women scientists, support local living economies, and promote renewable energy. Selling Without Selling Out: Eco-preneurs and Wall Street A recent Earth Advertising e-series is Selling Without Selling Out. The web commentary features some of the most prominent environmental entrepreneurs of our time, sharing their challenges of gaining distribution, market share and capital. These often lead to mergers with multinational corporations, where contrasting priorities play out. These founders offer their experiences and discoveries. “Hold on to your principles and be willing to walk away from the deal," says CEO and Founder Gary Hirshberg of Stonyfield Farm, an organic producer and distributor of yogurt, milk and other dairy products. Selling without Selling Out also features the founders of Honest Tea, Odwalla, Dagoba, and other leading brands, including the board of Ben & Jerry's Ice Cream. CSR Reports: Corporate transparency, accountability and new regulations. "CSR reports are a relatively new communications tool," says Stuart Ross, Communication Director at Earth Advertising who came from Environmental Defense Fund (EDF), and has a history with corporate marketers including PepsiCo. "Increasingly, CSR reporting is becoming legally mandated. We can help clients get to where they want to be from a reporting standpoint, and then share their best practices with the world." Regulators aren't the only ones asking for CSR reports, all stakeholders are asking questions, he noted. Earth creates multi-media CSR reports that convert to video, web content, lobby and tradeshow displays, commercials, training tools, and interactive games for setting internal goals and measuring achievement. A whole new language that explains and entertains with CSR. CSR has its own vocabulary and it's universal. As more companies share their best practices with the world, the greater the groundswell. CSR reports identify new metrics of sustainability, from impact, footprints, resource consumption, waste diversion, energy consumption, offsets and product lifecycle, and social and environmental justice. The digital footprint. One project of the firm is helping to measure the environmental impact of the industry itself. A friend of Earth Advertising, SustainCommWorld founder Lisa Wellman said, "Advertising can educate and inform, and can be a powerful driver for positive action - or not." Don Carli, Fellow of the Institute for Sustainable Communication is an advisor to Earth and agrees, "By its very nature, advertising itself calls into play a great deal of energy and materials. It's good to see agencies like this taking it on." One of Earth's media directors has been a producer of games for children since the first interactive products, bringing hundreds of interactive products to the marketplace for AT&T, Simon & Schuster and Paramount. "Earth has some interesting interactive projects in development that are proprietary," says Diane Strack who believes in the power of gaming to create behavior shifts. "We're in the early stages of one game that is competitive, reaps instant rewards and makes it fun to know about trash." New media partner for Green Drinks. When commerce and environment come together, great things can happen. Earth Advertising is a founding member of SBNYC and media partner with Green Drinks, the watering hole of NYC’s green jet set that has been unifying the community for 8 years, and is now in 650 cities. The big holiday party is featuring the great aquanaut and heroine of the sea, Sylvia Earle. "We've been connecting people to collaborate on business, make friends, find jobs and experience moments of serendipity," says Margaret Lydecker, Founder of Green Drinks NYC. "Don't miss it on December 8th." Talented people join the agency to work on marketing they care about. The company was formed to concentrate marketing experts and talent with common interests under one logo, including moms. This has meant creating an environment that has room for family. Like others on the team, brand strategist Nancy Orem Lyman brings a wealth of experience from a career with multinational brands. "To work with companies and organizations just starting to embrace a sustainability agenda, and those who are leading the way, is rewarding." says Nancy, who is also founder of the Women's Climate Initiative. "When you take the power of advertising and apply it to brands and initiatives that motivate others, change can happen very quickly." LINKS Zmags is a leader in Interactive Collateral Materials and Management--reducing print and distribution costs while presenting content in an engaging format that is user-friendly. Zmags sample of Earth's work" http://viewer.zmags.com/publication/440142a6 Earth Advertising on JustMeans: http://www.justmeans.com/companies/earth-advertising/139192.html Shop Green Mall, green retailers pooling their resources and keeping cash in the community : http://www.shopgreenmall.net

America's Promise Alliance and the ING Foundation Partner to Recognize the 100 Best Communities for Young People

2009-11-18 10:56:25 -0500

The America's Promise Alliance (the Alliance) today announced a three-year partnership with the ING Foundation to recognize the 100 Best Communities for Young People (100 Best). Launched in 2005, the 100 Best competition celebrates communities that have made the well-being of young people a top priority through programs that help them reach their potential, prepare them to graduate high school, and succeed in the 21st century workforce. Last held in 2008, the 100 Best competition has been updated for 2010 to include more specific selection criteria on how communities address their high school dropout rates and will include local celebrations in each of the 100 winning communities. "The no. 1 predictor of whether a young person succeeds is whether they receive a high school diploma. Our 100 Best communities understand this and are working every day to help children and youth in their communities overcome challenges and reach their potential," said Marguerite Kondracke, president and CEO, America's Promise Alliance. "This work isn't easy, but it's essential, and that's why we’re thrilled to partner with the ING Foundation - a longtime supporter of our Alliance - to recognize outstanding large cities and small towns and share their great example with the rest of the nation." The 2010 100 Best competition will serve as a key component of the Alliance's Grad Nation Campaign, which has a goal of helping the nation cut the high school dropout rate in half by 2018. Communities will not only be judged on the success of dropout prevention initiatives, but also on their delivery of the "Five Promises": caring adults, safe places, a healthy start, an effective education, and opportunities to help others - holistic support resources that research shows increase a young person's chances of success and will help achieve the Grad Nation goal. "ING is committed to children's education, and joining with America's Promise to recognize communities that share in our goal of empowering young people to achieve a better future is a natural extension of our partnership," said Rhonda Mims, president of the ING Foundation and senior vice president, ING Office of Corporate Responsibility and Multicultural Affairs. "We are excited to learn about and celebrate modeling programs around the country that are helping to reduce the high school dropout rate." To participate in the 2010 competition, applicants must submit a research-based application early in 2010, which will be judged by a distinguished panel of civic, business and nonprofit leaders, as well as young people who are part of the Alliance’s Impact Network. Previous selection panel judges have included such well-known figures as the former mayors of Indianapolis and Denver, the First Lady of West Virginia, leadership from the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and United Way, and the late Tim Russert. The 2010 application drive will be announced in February 2010. The previous 100 Best competition was the most competitive in the initiative’s history, with nearly 750 applicants from more than 300 communities in all 50 states, the District of Columbia and Puerto Rico. To learn more about 100 Best or read about prior winners, visit: www.americaspromise.org/100best. About America's Promise Alliance America's Promise Alliance is the nation's largest partnership organization dedicated to improving the lives of children and youth. Through the collective power of our partner network, we raise awareness, support communities and engage in nonpartisan advocacy to ensure that young people receive more of the fundamental resources they need to graduate high school prepared for college, work and life. Building on the legacy of our Founding Chairman General Colin Powell, the Alliance believes the success of our young people is grounded in the Five Promises-caring adults; safe places; a healthy start; an effective education; and opportunities to help others. For more information about America's Promise Alliance, visit www.americaspromise.org. About ING ING is a global financial institution of Dutch origin offering banking, investments, life insurance, and retirement services to over 85 million residential, corporate and institutional clients in more than 40 countries. With a diverse workforce of about 115,000 people, ING is dedicated to setting the standard in helping our clients manage their financial future. In the U.S., the ING (NYSE: ING) family of companies offers a comprehensive array of financial services to retail and institutional clients, which includes life insurance, retirement plans, mutual funds, managed accounts, alternative investments, direct banking, institutional investment management, annuities, employee benefits, financial planning, and reinsurance. ING holds top-tier rankings in key U.S. markets and serves nearly 30 million customers across the nation. ING's diversity management philosophy and commitment to workplace diversity, diversity marketing, corporate citizenship and supplier diversity fosters an inclusive environment for employees that supports a distinctive product and service experience for the financial services consumer. For more information, visit www.ing.com/us. About the ING Foundation The ING Foundation's mission is to improve the quality of life in communities where ING operates and its employees and customers live. Through charitable giving and employee volunteerism, the foundation focuses on programs in the areas of financial literacy, children's education, diversity, and environmental sustainability. For more information, visit www.ing-usafoundation.com. Notice to U.S. Persons This document shall not constitute an offer to sell or the solicitation of an offer to buy any securities in any jurisdiction. If and when the upcoming rights offering is launched, ING will arrange to send you the prospectus it expects to file with the Securities and Exchange Commission if you request it by writing to ING Group Investor Relations, Location code IH 07.362, P.O. Box 810, 1000 AV Amsterdam or by calling +31 20 541 5419.

BJ’s Charitable Foundation Donates More Than $492,000 Dollars to 68 Nonprofits that Provide Basic-need Services

2009-11-18 10:15:31 -0500

BJ's Charitable Foundation distributed 68 grants totaling $492,700 to nonprofit organizations that focus on providing services in the areas of hunger prevention, self-sufficiency, health care, and education to children and families in need that reside in the communities BJ's Wholesale Clubs serve. "BJ's Charitable Foundation is proud to continue supporting some of the best organizations in our communities who focus on social services," said Jessica Newman, manager of community relations for BJ's Wholesale Club. "We are especially happy to give back during the holiday season to assist the nonprofits with their increased demand for donations." Below is a list by state of the 68 organizations that received grants through BJ's Charitable Foundation: Connecticut Community Soup Kitchen (New Haven) - $5,000 to support a portion of the general operating costs of the soup kitchen, which is expected to serve more than 70,000 meals in 2009. Connecticut Food Bank (East Haven) – $15,000 to support warehousing and transporting of donated food. Through warehouses in East Haven, Fairfield, and Waterbury, and distribution sites in New London and Stamford, CFB provides 31 tons of food products to more than 650 soup kitchens, shelters, food pantries and daycare programs daily in Fairfield, Litchfield, Middlesex, and New Haven, New London, and Windham counties. The Open Door Shelter (Norwalk) - $10,000 to stock their chest freezers and storage pantry with non-perishables and frozen meats. During 2008, they served 191,594 soup kitchen meals and 179,493 food pantry meals to homeless and working poor men, women and families throughout the state of Connecticut, with the majority of clients coming from Norwalk. Village for Families & Children, Inc. (Hartford) - $10,000 for clothing, food, sheets, pillows, blankets, sports equipment, and after school activity supplies for the Safe Home Program, which is a short term residential facility for children, between ages birth to 12, who have been removed from their families for the first time. Delaware YWCA Delaware, Inc. (Wilmington) - $5,000 to purchase food and clothing for clients at its Home-Life Management Center, which is a temporary housing program that provides safe and secure housing with individualized skills training to homeless families. Florida Daily Bread Food Bank (Miami) - $15,000 to leverage their bulk buying power to purchase nutritious food such as rice, beans, peanut butter, tuna and beef stew. The Daily Bread Food Bank distributes food to 800 member agencies serving approximately 146,653 unduplicated individuals per year. HandsOn Jacksonville (Oviedo) - $5,000 to purchase backpacks, educational books and toys to be given out at their 2009 annual literacy event being held in 16-18 of their most challenged elementary schools. Hope Foundation for the Homeless (HOPE), Inc. (Oviedo) - $5,000 to be expended in partnership with Second Harvest Food Bank for volume basic food item purchases to meet the needs of over 30,000 individuals and also enable granting a full bag of food basics to needy individuals and families this coming Christmas. South Florida Cancer Association (Doral) - $7,500 for Project SCREEN, which provides breast cancer screenings to underserved women residing in the Miami Dade and Monroe Counties. Sulzbacher Center (Jacksonville) - $10,000 to provide nutritious meals to the homeless men, women and children of Northeast Florida. The funds will be used to buy food and paper products necessary for giving nutritional meals to the hungry. Teaching Tools for Hillsborough Schools (Tampa) - $5,000 to purchase supplies for its "supply store" that more than 2,000 teachers from Title I schools and educational sites are eligible to shop, once a month taking up to $280 of free school supplies back to their classrooms. Title 1 schools are the largest federal funded education program authorized by Congress that provides supplemental funds to school districts to assist eligible public and private schools with the highest student concentration of poverty to meet school educational goals. Volunteers of America Florida (Miami) - $10,000 to purchase food and supplies for individuals and families that are experiencing homelessness and other economic hardships or disabilities. Women's Center of Jacksonville, Inc. (Jacksonville) - $5,000 for program administration, student supplies, babysitting, transportation assistance costs, and a classroom instructor to increase the number of women served for The Expanded Horizons Program, which assists women who are 18 years old and above who need assistance with reading, basic math, English as a Second Language, GED preparation and computer skills. Georgia All Grown Up, Inc (Stockridge) - $5,000 to purchase supplies, cover field trips costs, facility fees and personnel expenses to operate after-school programs to 75 at-risk girls. Atlanta Community Food Bank (Atlanta) - $5,000 to purchase nutritious food that will provide more than 23,000 meals for the growing numbers of unemployed and low-income families in the community. Everybody Wins! Atlanta (Atlanta) - $5,000 to go toward serving 2,000 students for both the Power Lunch Program and StoryTime Literacy initiative during the 2009-10 school year in public elementary schools throughout the Metro Atlanta region. Program expenses include the cost of training mentors and buying children’s books and other materials Furniture Bank of Metro Atlanta (Atlanta) - $10,000 toward fuel and truck maintenance expenses of the nonprofit’s two, 24-foot box trucks that pick up donations of essential household furnishings Monday through Friday for individuals and families moving out of homelessness. Maine Child Health Center (Auburn) - $5,000 to fund their Big Brothers Big Sisters mentoring program, including healthy snacks and activity boxes that contain items such as basketballs, board games, books and craft materials. Southern Maine Agency on Aging (Scarborough) - $5,000 to provide one month of meals to more than 100 homebound older people in Portland. This program serves over 800 people every weekday in 51 towns. Maryland Bright Beginnings, Inc. (Washington DC) - $5,000 to support a portion of the salaries and benefits for teachers, speech pathologist, OT, High/Scope Trainers as well as staff training, classroom supplies and space rental. The nonprofit addresses the special needs of homeless children ages six weeks to five years and their parents through extensive support and innovative educational, therapeutic, and family social services. Massachusetts A Place To Turn (Natick) - $7,200 to the "Healthy Learners: Feed the Body, Feed the Mind" initiative within their food pantry. This initiative targets families with young students in school who need certain nutrients for healthy development. The grant will impact 800 families during a 6-month period. A Suitable Image, Inc. (Framingham) - $5,000 for the Men's Clothing Distribution program providing low-income clients, who are referred from job training or educational programs, with free "gently used" quality business attire and accessories appropriate for job interviews. Boston Health Care for the Homeless Program (Boston) - $7,000 for its Family Teen Program, which conducts outreach work to family shelters, domestic violence shelters and daycare centers delivering healthcare and supportive services to homeless families. Funds will be used to purchase diapers, over-the-counter medications, and formula and transportation vouchers for 200 family members. Boston Medical Center (Boston) - $10,000 to hold a free cancer screening on a Saturday morning that will cover the costs of EMS services, testing supplies, advertising, refreshments and entertainment. Boston Learning Center (Lynn & Revere) - $5,000 to fund the "Smart is Cool America" program for 150 students, including instructional materials, community outreach efforts, food and refreshments for participants, incentives and personnel. The workshop helps 6th-12th grade students who are typically failing core subjects or repeating a grade by showing them that they can do well in school, while still having fun and being themselves. Center for New Americans (North Hampton) - $5,000 to go towards teacher salaries for both the English as a Second Language and technology classes, impacting about 200 students over the course of the year and its funds will be matched by a Department of Elementary and Secondary Education. Community Health Center of Cape Cod (Bourne) - $10,000 to fund the education, screening, assessment, clinical services through the Family Resource Center, which was established to improve the health and well-being of children and adolescents and their families by providing access to mental health services. Cradles to Crayons (Quincy) - $10,000 toward the Gearing Up for Winter initiative, which will provide 400 children with winter packs filled with one week's worth of warm clothes, boots, coats, and other supplies necessary to stay safe and warm during the New England winter. Henry Lee Willis Community Center (Worcester) - $5,000 to purchase 2,084 meals for the pantry. The organization serves more than 11,000 individuals and families annually. The services they provide at their center include emergency food pantries, case management services, emergency clothing and assistance with a job search and placement. Jewish Family & Children's Services of Greater Boston (JF&CS) (Waltham) - $10,000 to purchase food for the pantry that currently serves almost 500 individuals on a monthly and emergency basis to individuals and families in need. JFCS also reaches approximately 800 individuals annually through the Nutrition Services educational programs. Natick Visiting Nurse Association (Natick) - $5,000 to help defray the costs of medical supplies used for healthcare services to patients in their homes. New Hope (Attleboro) - $10,000 for partial cost of the Bilingual Crisis Intervention Specialist as well as hotline and training costs. The nonprofit is a domestic violence and sexual assault agency that serves 54 cities and towns in Central and Southeastern Massachusetts. Reach Out and Read (ROR) (Boston) - $10,000 to purchase books for children to take home at each well-child pediatric visit from ages 6 months to 5 years, and trainings for medical providers. ROR serves 3.8 million children annually at over 4,500 clinics, hospitals and health centers across the country. Rosie's Place (Boston) - $10,000 to purchase food for both the Dining Room Meal Program that provides lunch and dinner daily, 365 days a year and a Food Pantry that allows nearly 1,300 poor and homeless women a month to take home 20-40 pounds of food for their families. The Salem Mission (Salem) - $5,000 to support the Community Meals Program expenses including food, food preparation and supplies that serve 300 meals a day, 7 days a week to shelter guests and members of the community. New Hampshire Corpus Christi Food Pantry and Assistance (Nashua) - $5,000 to support the cost of purchasing food for the Food Pantry and to augment the demand for emergency grants within the Assistance Program. In 2008, Corpus Christi provided combined assistance to a total of 15,729 individuals. New Jersey Court Appointed Special Advocates (CASA) for Children of Monmouth County (Eatontown) - $3,000 to recruit, screen, train and support volunteers to advocate for abused and neglected children within the court system that are in out-of-home placement. Court Appointed Special Advocates (CASA) for Children of Ocean County, Inc (Toms River) - $3,000 to enable two training programs, which will educate 15-18 volunteers and will serve a total of 20-25 individual abused and neglected children within the court system that are in out-of-home placement. The funds will be utilized specifically toward training space, supplies, refreshments and guest speaker fees. Dress for Success Mercer County (Hamilton) - $5,000 toward management and administration costs of their boutique and its Professional Women's Group (PWG). PWG offers supportive services of consulting, coaching and clothing selection for disadvantaged women. The grant will impact 350 women in the coming year. Francis House (Camden) - $5,000 to provide community service opportunities and meals through 2009-2010 fiscal year for those infected and affected by HIV and AIDS. Francis House serves as a safe haven for persons with the virus and provides them with companionship, nutritious meals, and an opportunity to develop trusting relationships with folks who can assist individuals and families addressing and managing their disease. Ladacin Network (Wanamassa) - $10,000 toward the Specialized Clinic Program to support psychiatry, neurology, and nutrition clinics to children and adults with disabilities at no cost. Literacy Volunteers in Mercer County, Inc. (LVMC) (Hamilton) - $5,000 to support Turning Volunteers into Tutors, their tutor in training program. LVC provides free, confidential tutoring to help increase basic literacy for adults and ESL clients. Jersey Battered Women's Service (Morristown) - $10,000 for food and household items as well as apartment refurbishment upon a client’s departure at The Simon House - the organization's transitional living program for abused women. Womanspace, Inc. (Trenton) - $5,000 to purchase supplies for the nonprofit's Barbara's House, which is a short term housing option of 3-to-6 month stays for individuals impacted by domestic and sexual violence. New York Cayuga/Seneca Community Action Agency (Auburn) - $5,000 to purchase both diaper wipes and creams for its Healthy Families Program, which focuses on care and basic needs for children of low-income families. The grant will impact 50 families. Food Bank for New York City (New York) – $15,000 to purchase food that will be distributed among its 1,000 member food providers that serve approximately 300,000 meals a day to New Yorkers in need. Green Guerillas (New York) - $10,000 to provide urban agriculture internships for teenagers in Central Brooklyn. These funds will help boost the harvest of local fresh food Central Brooklyn neighborhoods like Stuyvesant and Brownsville. The food is distributed to both local families and local food pantries and the job creation provides career direction for teenagers. Notre Dame Learning Center (Rochester) - $5,000 to purchase educational materials, math and reading workbooks, computer and printer supplies for approximately 150 economically and educationally disadvantaged children each year. Project Hospitality (Staten Island) - $10,000 to maintain The Moveable Feast. This mobile unit will serve 14 communities of need that were previously under-served or un-served. Project Hospitality plans to serve over 2,000 individuals annually through this service. Rochester Education Foundation (Rochester) - $5,000 to purchase the books, blankets, and ribbons for the Book & A Blanket holiday season project. This is a program that gives more than 4,000 pre-kindergarten to second graders a book and a handmade fleece blanket for the holidays. The Children's Village (Dobbs Ferry) - $5,000 to support a portion of the salary for a Youth Advocate from its StreetWise Street Outreach Program. The Program consists of a team that makes three outreach trips per week in the evening hour to help street-involved youth access safe, long-term housing so they can leave the streets. Youth Advocates have first hand knowledge of life on the streets and are former or current clients of the program North Carolina Cabarrus Partnership for Children (Concord) - $5,000 to purchase new activity kits, children's books, and professional development materials for early childhood teachers for their Mobile Resource Center, that is equipped with a wide variety of early education materials for early childhood educators and families with young children. Meals on Wheels of Rowan, Inc. (Salisbury) – $5,000 to pay for three Third Party Pay clients (who are unable to pay anything) to have meals for an entire year. This equals to three meals a day for an average of 22 delivery days a month. Second Harvest Food Bank of Metrolina (Charlotte) - $10,000 to purchase food for five proposed mobile pantries to be held in rural counties with high poverty rates and will deliver food to approximately 1,500 families. Ohio Akron-Canton Regional Food Bank (Akron) - $5,000 to purchase 5,293 pounds of bulk cereal product which will create 4,135 meals. Cleveland Foodbank (Cleveland) - $5,000 to purchase food that will be distributed to their network of agencies, which serves 450 hunger programs. Pennsylvania Domestic Violence Services of Cumberland & Perry Counties (Carlisle) - $5,000 toward shelter utilities, a 24-hour telephone hotline, food, client prescriptions and transportation for adult victims of domestic violence and their children. More than 125 adults and children will benefit from this grant. Garage Community and Youth Center (Kennett Square) - $5,000 to purchase school supplies for students, including materials for school projects, conduct background checks on volunteers and staff and a small portion to help pay salaries for after-school program staff. The Mentoring Program provides students with academic and graduation project support, internship searches, jobs, and help changing negative behavior into positive. Maternal and Child Health Consortium of Chester County (West Chester) - $5,000 to help fund the salaries of the Parent Educators who address roadblocks to care for low-income women and their children. These include linguistic and cultural barriers, lack of health insurance and delayed or no prenatal care. Meals on Wheels of Lehigh County (Allentown) – $5,000 to subsidize meal costs for clients (1,587 meals) whose incomes are below the poverty level and pay their lowest fees. This year they are delivering meals to more than 450 clients each week. Meals on Wheels of Northampton County (Bethlehem) -$5,000 to subsidize the cost of 4,274 meals among the 430,000 they prepare annually. Meals on Wheels fills 43 routes daily from 1,100 volunteers to deliver meals throughout Northampton County, serving more than 780 clients each day. The Children's Hospital Foundation (Philadelphia) - $20,000 to fund medical supplies for the Homeless Health Initiative, which provides medical care to homeless children. Rhode Island RI Mentoring Partnership (Warwick) - $5,000 to help the organization conduct an intensive statewide campaign to recruit, screen, as well as train and match 500 volunteer mentors with at-risk youth across the state. They will recruit, match, and support 4,400 mentoring relationships this year alone. Rhode Island Community Food Bank (Johnston) - $15,000 to offset the escalating transportation costs associated with food distribution. At the end of this fiscal year they will have distributed more than 9 million pounds of food including meat, fresh fruits and vegetables as well as canned goods. Visiting Nurse Services (VNS) of Newport and Bristol Counties (Portsmouth) - $5,000 toward the salaries and benefits of employees who work in VNS Maternal Child Health Program. The program serves low income and under-served children and families with preventive care, health screenings, and education. Virginia Bethany House of Northern Virginia, Inc. (Alexandria) - $5,000 to cover several months of the mortgage and heating for their largest shelter that serves battered spouses and their children, who are homeless and destitute because of abuse. Foodbank of Southeastern Virginia (Norfolk) - $10,000 to provide backpacks containing food to 50 children at risk of hunger with food to take home during the school year. The program seeks to ensure youth have nutritional meals over weekends and during holiday breaks. The backpacks are provided to the students once a month for 9-11 times a year. Sudden Infant Death Services (SIDS) Mid-Atlantic (Haymarket) - $10,000 for 200 new, portable cribs to needy families through its Cribs for Kids program. About BJ's Charitable Foundation BJ’s Charitable Foundation was established with the mission to enrich every community BJ's Wholesale Clubs serve. The Foundation supports nonprofit organizations that primarily benefit the underprivileged in the area of basic needs (hunger prevention, self sufficiency, education and health). For more information about BJ’s Charitable Foundation please visit, www.bjs.com/charity.

IBM Launches Consulting Service for Sustainable Assets

2009-11-18 08:50:53 -0500

IBM (NYSE: -- Property carbon footprinting -- Property carbon audit; -- Travel carbon footprinting; -- Project-based travel tracking and analysis; -- Workplace transformation; -- Consolidated real-time property-related data reporting; -- Product and service lifecycle carbon analysis; -- Data center management Sustainable Asset Analytics is supported by a number of key IBM offerings, services, software tools and products, including: -- IBM Maximo Property Performance Management Solution software, which is designed to extract and consolidate key property data from across all of a client's real estate to help assess and manage true total cost of ownership and environmental performance for buildings and other tangible assets; -- The Green Sigma™ consulting offering, which is based on Lean Six Sigma methods, tools and advanced analytics to help clients measure and reduce energy and water use, waste and greenhouse gas emissions. After the data are collected and analyzed, the information is presented on a dashboard that allows the client to understand where consumption and waste are occurring; -- Strategic Carbon Management, which uses a Component Business Model approach to help analyze CO2 emissions and energy use in any part of a client's business or an entire operation. This allows the client to prioritize where to make changes that will lower environmental impact and reduce costs. -- IBM's strategic information management and analytics tool, Cognos, which is being integrated with many of our offerings in the sustainability arena: notably with both IBM Maximo and Green Sigma. This will allow powerful, flexible, customizable queries across the entire set of asset-related sustainability data. To hear a podcast about this new offering visit: www-03.ibm.com/press/feed/audio/SSA_Podcast_Simon_Parsons_FINAL.mp3 For more on IBM's asset management consulting capabilities, go to: www.ibm.com/gbs/uk/assetmanagement To learn more about IBM's green and sustainability consulting offerings visit: www.ibm.com/gbs/sustainability For more information on IBM's full portfolio of energy and environment offerings and products, go to: www.ibm.com/green

The Mayan Calendar Portal calls on Hollywood to get 2012 right

2009-11-17 23:31:07 -0500

November 18, 2009-Roland Emmerich's special effects extravaganza 2012 has taken up the baton in the latest leg of humanity's millennia-spanning race toward the End of Days. But for many, it's running the wrong way. Representing a much more balanced and positive discourse on the 2012 phenomenon, the Mayan Calendar Portal is calling on Hollywood to help lead the change in the portrayal of the Mayan Calendar and its message and meaning for modern society. The message to Hollywood is, "Get it right!" Following the footsteps of the other big-budget Maya-related film in recent memory-Mel Gibson's Apocalypto (2006)-2012 falls much deeper into the chasm of misrepresentation of the legacy this ancient culture has left us. This time, the motive for hijacking the Mayan calendar is neither religion nor geophysical conquest, but rather simply, mass entertainment and box office receipts. And riding the tsunami of 2012 are countless survival web sites, pundits and even real estate agents peddling everything from canned food and survival kits to your very own underground bunker. "With so many serious issues weighing down our political and economic discourse, from unemployment and a growing national debt, to climate change and and health care reform, I don't think our national psyche-nor that of other nations-has room for more fear and anxiety," says Birgitte Rasine, producer of the Mayan Calendar Portal and chief evolution officer of LUCITÀ, the company that maintains the site. "People are burned out from the constant worry about their future; why not give them a future they can actually look forward to? It would cost the same." And despite strong box office receipts, audiences are not impressed; some are boycotting the film outright. The Mayan Calendar Portal is experiencing an influx of web traffic, emails and fans on its social media platforms looking for objective information about the 2012 phenomenon and the Mayan Calendar, as well as requests from networks planning their own 2012-related programming. Citizen movie reviews have been pouring in, calling on the director and SONY Pictures to use their massive production and marketing resources to produce movies that celebrate the more complex drama of the world we live in rather than rampant, wanton destruction, or at the very least an accurate representation of what the Mayan Calendar stands for. The citizen movie reviews can be viewed online at http://www.maya-portal.net/reviews/2012. In his review of the film, Robert Sitler, Director of the Latin American Studies Program at Stetson University, says that the "misrepresentation of Maya ways has now reached new extremes in the 2012 phenomenon, the rapidly growing social movement surrounding the December 21, 2012 date on the Maya Long Count calendar. The stunning computer-generated apocalyptic images of the richly entertaining "2012" movie will no doubt draw even greater public interest in this extraordinary date in a way that may already exceed the dimensions of the earlier Y2K phenomenon. Unfortunately, the film only adds to the confusing amalgam of misinformation concerning the date’s significance." "Creating fear about the future is irresponsible," agrees Mayan scholar and author Dr. Carl Johan Calleman. "Inherent in the Mayan calendar is a hope for the future, the advent of a renewed or better world, not the apocalypse." "Equating the Mayan Calendar to doomsday, '2012' misinforms and distorts the true meaning of the Mayan sacred calendar which is about transformation, not the end of the world," says Michael Shore, director of Mayan Majix, another key international web site dedicated to the Mayan Calendar. The living Maya themselves have been conspicuously quiet-if only because they prefer to attend to their affairs rather than fight against the massive torrents of Hollywood's marketing muscle. One of the few representatives of the Maya, Don Alejandro Cirilo Perez Oxlaj, Head of the National Maya Council of Elders of Guatemala, and the first Ambassador of Indigenous Peoples ever appointed to a formal government office, has consistently expressed his peoples' incredulity at the West's tenacious fascination with the end of the world. For the Maya, the end of one 5,125-year Long Count cycle is simply to make way for the next: in 2012, the world is going to transition from the fourth to the fifth Sun, which many consider a "shift of the ages", an evolutionary step toward higher consciousness. As for the recent reports that Mr. Emmerich plans on developing a television series about the post-2012 world, he and the studios would be well-served by consulting the vast collective expertise of the international community supported by the Mayan Calendar Portal-and it is very willing to collaborate. About the Mayan Calendar Portal The Mayan Calendar Portal is the world’s most active portal web site dedicated to the sacred Mayan Calendar. Independently funded and maintained by LUCITÀ, the Portal provides information and resources about the Mayan Calendar, posts daily Tzolk'in energies for individuals and businesses via its social media platforms, features blogs from authors and other personalities working with the Mayan Calendar, displays photography, art, music and videos from its communities, and serves as a platform for a broad variety of voices from all over the world on issues related to the role the Mayan Calendar plays in modern society. For more information about the Mayan Calendar Portal, please visit http://www.maya-portal.net. About LUCITÀ LUCITÀ is a socially responsible visual communications company providing high-end design, production and communications consultancy services to domestic and international business, non-profit, academic and government entities that strive to improve the world we live in. A signatory member of the Global Compact, the company is based in Milford, Connecticut. For more information about LUCITÀ, please visit http://www.lucita.net.

BSR Releases First Research into Sustainable Investment in China

2009-11-17 23:30:07 -0500

BSR has released "Sustainable Investment in China 2009," the first research of its kind on the topic, according the World Bank Group's International Finance Corporation, which commissioned the report. Available in a full-length version and as a shortened overview, the report surveys the sustainable investment (SI) landscape in China, identifies the challenges associated with the nascent field, and makes recommendations for speeding up the growth of the SI market. "The increasing interest in sustainable investment from government agencies, and the practices of investors such as Tsing Capital, indicate there is real momentum gathering behind SI and that it is feasible in China," said Zhuo Xin, BSR's Manager, Advisory Services, who leads BSR's financial services practice in China. "The four main drivers are the evolving environmental, social, and governance (ESG) regulatory landscape; the growing awareness of the need for risk management by investors; the increasing-but still limited-amount of third-party information available; and the increasing attention from international SI initiatives." Recent Trends The public and private sectors' strong interest in SI in China is supported by several recent developments. The increase in strategic management of ESG by Chinese companies suggests fertile ground for continued SI growth in China. Some Chinese companies have joined the first tier of global companies in corporate social responsibility (CSR) leadership, such as China Mobile, which was included in the 2008 and 2009 Dow Jones Sustainability Index. Additionally, a growing number of Chinese companies are improving their extra-financial information disclosures. Due in part to guidelines established by the Shanghai and Shenzhen stock exchanges, more than 500 Chinese companies, including many listed on those exchanges, now release ESG reports annually-a significant increase in the past two years. Taking advantage of these improvements, China's first mutual fund, the AEGON-Industrial Fund Management Co. Ltd, was launched in May 2008 and outperformed the market benchmark by 47 percent through June 2009. Other evidence of increased SI activity in China includes the Shanghai Stock Exchange's release of a Social Responsibility Index in August 2009, and the Ministry of Environmental Protection's rejection of 20 companies' IPO applications in 2008 due to their environmental performance. The growing interest in SI was also evident at BSR's recent Beijing event featuring the report. That roundtable, jointly organized with the United Nations-backed Principles for Responsible Investment, was well attended by local and international investors, research organizations, and civil society groups. BSR's Recommendations To nurture this interest and promote the growth of SI in China, BSR makes three main recommendations for the SI community in the report:

Form a China sustainable investment working group

Enhance ESG research and disclosure

Increase public education about ESG

Main Challenges These recommendations are designed to overcome the seven main challenges to SI in China that BSR identifies in its report:

Confusion over terminology

Short-term investment horizons

A questionable business case

Limited ESG information

SI lacks funding sources

China's SI market does not have ESG research institutions

China lacks experienced practitioners

About BSR

www.bsr.org

MillerCoors Launches Corporate Responsibility Web Site

2009-11-17 15:05:31 -0500

MillerCoors today announced a new addition to its corporate responsibility platform, a consumer Web site designed to educate and engage stakeholders and consumers on how MillerCoors is taking action and ways in which you can "Be Great." GreatBeerGreatResponsibility.com communicates MillerCoors corporate social responsibility initiatives and invites visitors to participate in responsibility efforts across three focus areas: environmental sustainability, alcohol responsibility and people and communities. "The new Web site gives us a unique opportunity to connect with consumers who enjoy our great beers, and would like to learn more about the responsibility behind those brands," said Cornell Boggs, chief responsibility and ethics officer for MillerCoors. "In addition, the site invites consumers to share in our action, by pledging to conserve water, plan ahead for a safe ride and contribute ideas that represent how big change starts with small steps." Earlier this year, MillerCoors launched Great Beer, Great Responsibility as its corporate responsibility platform, initially incorporating it as a responsibility tag into brand packaging and advertising, followed by the creation of Miller Lite and Coors Light advertising focused solely on recycling and the prevention of drunk driving. MillerCoors has communicated its commitment to alcohol responsibility, environmental sustainability and people and communities as key focus areas for the corporation. The company's progress against these areas and others and its goals for the future are outlined in a Sustainable Development Report, released earlier this year entitled, "From Grain to Glass" which can be found on www.GreatBeerGreatResponsibility.com. About MillerCoors Built on a foundation of great beer brands and more than 288 years of brewing heritage, MillerCoors continues the commitment of its founders to brew the highest quality beers. MillerCoors is the second largest beer company in America, capturing nearly 30 percent of U.S. beer sales. Led by two of the best-selling beers in the industry, MillerCoors has a broad portfolio of highly complementary brands across every major industry segment. Miller Lite is the great tasting beer that established the American light beer category in 1975, and Coors Light is the brand that introduced consumers to refreshment as cold as the Rockies. MGD 64 completes the company’s premium light beer portfolio, offering consumers fresh, crisp taste at just 64 calories. MillerCoors brews premium beers Coors Banquet and Miller Genuine Draft; and economy brands Miller High Life and Keystone Light. The company also imports Peroni Nastro Azzurro, Pilsner Urquell, Grolsch and Molson Canadian and offers innovative products such as Miller Chill and Sparks. MillerCoors features craft brews from the Jacob Leinenkugel Company, Blue Moon Brewing Company and the Blitz-Weinhard Brewing Company. MillerCoors operates eight major breweries in the U.S., as well as the Leinenkugel's craft brewery in Chippewa Falls, WI and two microbreweries, the 10th Street Brewery in Milwaukee and the Blue Moon Brewing Company at Coors Field in Denver. MillerCoors vision is to create America's best beer company by driving profitable industry growth. MillerCoors insists on building its brands the right way through brewing quality, responsible marketing and environmental and community impact. MillerCoors is a joint venture of SABMiller plc and Molson Coors Brewing Company.

Top Business, Government & Nonprofit Leaders to Chart a “Sustainable Economy” for Massachusetts

2009-11-17 14:11:12 -0500

As Massachusetts prepares to emerge from the worst recession in decades, more than 200 executives from health care, life sciences, finance, technology, education and clean energy companies will gather with top state policymakers and nonprofit leaders to chart a course toward a more "sustainable economy." On Friday, Nov. 20, Governor Deval Patrick will kick off the Business Leadership and Public Policy Summit, which aims to foster lasting economic growth through business practices and public policy designed to benefit the economy, society and environment. Candidates vying for the U.S. Senate seat of the late Sen. Edward Kennedy will also make a joint appearance at the Summit. The candidates will discuss their visions for creating a sustainable economy, and answer questions from the audience about how they would address challenges in health care, energy, education and financial policy. Currently scheduled to attend are U.S. Rep. Michael Capuano, City Year Founder Alan Khazei, Boston Celtics co-owner Stephen Pagliuca, and attorney Jack Robinson. Attorney General Martha Coakley and State Sen. Scott Brown have also been invited. The forum will be moderated by Robert Kuttner, Founder and Co-Editor of The American Prospect. "As the state works to recover from this difficult recession, the time has come to chart a new course toward a more sustainable economy," said Tom Dretler, CEO of Eduventures, Inc., and President of the Progressive Business Leaders Network. "Business is too often seen as standing in the way of solutions - on issues like climate change, health care and financial reform. We are a community of business leaders who believe in a 'triple bottom line' that values profits, people and the planet. This Summit will produce provocative ideas, innovative solutions - a new level of business leader engagement. PBLN is about CEOs and other senior executives partnering with the shapers of public policy to create progressive solutions to major public challenges." Hot Topics Aggressive Health Care Cost Containment. While Congress debates health care reform, Massachusetts is pursuing a far more ambitious restructuring of health care. Participants will discuss the next frontier of health reform – cost containment – including a move away from the traditional fee-for-service payment model toward a system of "global payment." Panelists include: James Roosevelt, Jr., CEO of Tufts Health Plan; Dr. JudyAnn Bigby, Massachusetts Secretary of Health & Human Services; Paul Levy, President & CEO of Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center; and Robert Kuttner, Founder & Co-Editor of The American Prospect. Putting a Real Price on Carbon. PBLN supports the "cap-and-trade' system proposed in federal climate change legislation - but business leaders are concerned with fairly accounting for the costs of carbon pollution under this new system. Panelists will discuss how to set a fair price on carbon - and the implications of this system for our businesses, communities and environment. Panelists include: Mitch Tyson, CEO of Advanced Electron Beams; Martin Madaus, President & CEO of Millipore Corporation; Pattie Prairie, CEO of Brighter Planet; State Rep. Jay Kaufman; and Nick d'Arbeloff, Executive Director of the New England Clean Energy Council. Making Innovation the Norm in Education. As the state legislature debates the most sweeping education reforms in a generation, business and education leaders will gather to examine what it really takes to make innovation the norm in public education: charter schools, in-district schools, readiness schools, innovation schools, and longer school days. Panelists include: Paul Sagan, President & CEO of Akamai Technologies; Paul Reville, Massachusetts Secretary of Education; Christopher Gabrielli, Chairman of the Massachusetts 2020 Foundation; Anne Wass, President of the Massachusetts Teachers Association and Paul Grogan, President & CEO of the Boston Foundation. PBLN is a non-profit peer-to-peer network of CEOs and top corporate officers committed to socially and environmentally responsible economic growth and the public policies that advance it. To learn more, see www.pbln.org

Entergy Charitable Foundation Tops $3.7 Million in Grants for 2009

2009-11-17 12:16:00 -0500

The Entergy Charitable Foundation has awarded approximately $1 million in grants to nonprofit groups in states served by Entergy businesses, bringing to more than $3.7 million the total given during 2009. One of the primary grants is a $200,000 gift to help the Volunteers of America of Greater New Orleans' housing subsidiary build 315 affordable housing units. The group's Renaissance Neighborhood Development Corporation is working on Phase 3 of its program, which includes the group's Chateau Carre Apartments, New Covington, 1770 Tchoupitoulas, and Gentilly Home Ownership projects. "The Entergy Charitable Foundation is investing in our work to build affordable housing for working families in greater New Orleans. Entergy's investments in our housing development efforts have helped Volunteers of America leverage over $45 million of additional funds to bring these housing units to market," said James LeBlanc, president and CEO of Volunteers of America Greater New Orleans. The group has received more than $625,000 from the foundation since 2004. Another $200,000 grant is going to a matched savings program run by the United Way of Greater New Orleans. The agency operates an Individual Development Accounts program, which uses government and private donations to match a portion of the savings accumulated by qualified participants. The savings have to be used for certain purposes, including starting or expanding a child care business, buying a car, or acquiring a new home. The Hendrick Hudson School District is receiving $100,000 to expand the SmartBoard initiative in its elementary schools. The funds will be used to deploy 30 SmartBoards and train 30 teachers. Another $100,000 grant is going to help fund the new home for the Elizabeth Seton Pediatric Center in the South Westchester Executive Park in Yonkers, N.Y. Ground was broken in September for the 137-bed pediatric and acute rehabilitation center, which will include a 14-classroom special education school for resident children. The Yonkers location will replace the center's current home in the Chelsea section of New York City. A $93,000 grant will be used to help restore the Julius Freyhan High School in St. Francisville, La., and convert it to a community and cultural center that will feature a performing arts center as well as two museums, one of which will be devoted to the history of education in the St. Francisville region and the other focusing on the contributions of the late 19th century Jewish population in the area. In addition, the Anti-Defamation League of B'nai B'rith is receiving $37,000 for its "No Place for Hate" initiative aimed at teaching schoolchildren to fight prejudice and bigotry of all types. This grant will establish relationships between ADL, Entergy Diversity Council members and up to 30 schools, including teachers, students and parents. The program is already in place in a handful of New Orleans high schools. The Entergy Charitable Foundation is a private, nonprofit foundation wholly funded by Entergy Corporation. The goal of the foundation is to support initiatives that help create and sustain thriving communities. The foundation has a special focus on low-income initiatives as well as educational and literacy programs and efforts to protect the environment. The ECF accepts applications three times per year. For more information or to access an application form from the Entergy Charitable Foundation, look under "Our Community/Corporate and Foundation Giving" at entergy.com. Entergy Corporation is an integrated energy company engaged primarily in electric power production and retail distribution operations. Entergy owns and operates power plants with approximately 30,000 megawatts of electric generating capacity, and it is the second-largest nuclear generator in the United States. Entergy delivers electricity to 2.7 million utility customers in Arkansas, Louisiana, Mississippi and Texas. Entergy has annual revenues of more than $13 billion and approximately 14,700 employees. For more information about Entergy, visit entergy.com.

Changing the Face of Apparel in the United States: TransFair USA to Open Up New Fair Trade Certified(TM) Apparel and Home Goods Pilot Program for Public Comment

2009-11-17 11:51:55 -0500

TransFair USA, the third-party certifier of Fair Trade Certified™ products in the United States, today announced that it is extending the "Fair Trade lifestyle" into cotton clothing, bed and bath products. The first Fair Trade Certified apparel and home goods products are expected to hit U.S. retail shelves in spring 2010. To ensure the highest impact program for Fair Trade Certified garments, TransFair USA is now seeking public comment on its new draft factory standard. The pilot standard is published on TransFair USA's Web site at http://transfairusa.org/content/certification/apparel_program.php beginning Nov. 16 for a 45-day public review and comment period. The new standard extends strong labor protections based on International Labour Organization (ILO) Conventions to garment workers in factories and sewing cooperatives. It builds on the success of Fair Trade at the farm level and follows extensive research and collaboration with garment workers, factory managers, non-governmental organization (NGO) advocates, companies and consumers. "Consumers have become increasingly aware of humanitarian issues in the garment industry. They want to make ethical choices but are faced with very few options," said Paul Rice, president and CEO of TransFair USA. "This new draft standard will give consumers the opportunity to use their purchasing power to guarantee fair prices to farmers and social justice for workers who sew their clothes. By wearing Fair Trade Certified garments, consumers will now have a voice in ensuring better factory working conditions and higher earnings for cotton farmers in countries like Mali, India and Peru." For the first time ever, two points of the supply chain - cut-and-sew workers and cotton farmers - will benefit from Fair Trade premiums. U.S. companies that source Fair Trade Certified apparel will pay a percentage on top of the cost of the garment as a Fair Trade premium, which goes directly to factory workers who decide democratically how the funds are spent. Additionally, cotton farmers will earn a guaranteed minimum price and Fair Trade premium to invest in community needs such as schools, health centers and infrastructure. "Fair Trade garments could be path-breaking in the field of ethical business," said Gopinath Parakuni of Cividep, a workers rights organization in India, where Fair Trade apparel will be made. "Through Fair Trade, workers can begin to truly have a choice about how to be represented in the workplace and how to communicate with their employers." TransFair USA and Fairtrade Labelling Organizations International (FLO) collaborate to ensure that the chain of custody is tracked from the farm to the finished product. FLO certifies cotton producers and audits processors (such as ginners and spinners) against Fairtrade standards, and TransFair USA certifies the cut-and-sew factory against this new pilot standard. TransFair USA's current list of Fair Trade Certified products now spans more than 20 categories - from coffee, tea and cocoa to flowers, wine and even sports balls. Through the sales of Fair Trade Certified products in the United States - which hit an estimated $1.2 billion in 2008 - TransFair USA has delivered nearly $150 million in additional revenue to farmers and workers in rural communities throughout the developing world. About TransFair USA TransFair USA is the only third-party certifier of Fair Trade Certified™ products in the United States. TransFair USA audits and certifies transactions between U.S. companies and their international suppliers to guarantee that the farmers and workers producing Fair Trade Certified goods were paid fair prices and wages. Visit www.FairTradeCertified.org for more information.

Innovative Recruitment and Staffing Strategies by Employers Help Workers Over 50 Find, Thrive in Encore Careers

2009-11-17 11:16:29 -0500

To honor organizations that are making it easier for experienced workers to transition into encore careers - paid jobs that offer meaning and the chance to make a social impact - Civic Ventures and MetLife Foundation today announced the winners of the 2009 Encore Opportunity Awards: eight nonprofit and public sector organizations that are tapping encore talent to serve the common good. "For those in midlife and beyond, looking for a job these days is often a do-it-yourself project made all the worse by exhaustion, isolation, and high unemployment," said Phyllis N. Segal, vice president of Civic Ventures, a think tank on boomers, work and social purpose. "But some nonprofit and public sector organizations are hiring and retaining people over 50 to meet community needs - and doing so in an exemplary fashion." Spread across the country, the 2009 Encore Opportunity Award winners are engaging people over 50 in creative ways to protect public safety, build low-income housing, teach job skills, preserve the environment, even save dying Native American languages. A summary of the winners is below, and fuller descriptions - along with insights about their strategies - are included here. "This year's Encore Opportunity Award winners are innovative, adaptable and smart - and clearly recognize the need to take advantage of the windfall of talented older Americans," said Dennis White, CEO and president of MetLife Foundation. "These trailblazing employers can serve as a model for others to follow." While layoffs and hiring freezes remain the norm in most industries, experts still project talent shortages in some health care, education, nonprofit and government jobs. Meanwhile, surveys show that millions of boomers want to find encore careers where they can give back and have an impact. The 2009 winners - which exemplify how employers can help experienced workers find encore careers – are:

Alliance of Early Childhood Professionals (Minneapolis) -- This nonprofit created a youth development program that pays "elders" - Native Americans over 50 who know the Dakota or Ojibwe languages - to work with children ages 16 months to 5 years old. The language immersion experience aims to pass along native languages and a sense of culture.
Civitan Foundation Inc. (Phoenix) -- This organization designed its Caring Connections program to engage encore workers as direct caregivers for its programs serving people with disabilities of all ages. In its first eight months, the project trained 50 older Americans and placed 20 in caregiver roles with clients.
Executive Service Corps of Chicago (Chicago) -- To fill the leadership transition challenges experienced by many nonprofits, the Executive Service Corps recruits, trains and places retired nonprofit executives in interim director positions in Chicago-area nonprofits.
Gwinnett County Sheriff's Department (Lawrenceville, Ga.) -- This public safety agency recruits and employs encore workers to fill jobs at all levels. One-fourth of the department's civilian and sworn work force is over 50, coming from previous careers in government, retail and business.
Habitat for Humanity of Lake-Sumter Florida Inc. (Eustis, Fla.) -- To provide homes to people living in substandard and overcrowded conditions, this Habitat for Humanity affiliate has enlisted a multigenerational work force. Half of its staff is over 50.
National Center for Appropriate Technology (Butte, Mont.) -- This organization helps people nationally - through offices in Montana, Arkansas, California, Iowa, Louisiana and Pennsylvania - use environmentally sound, energy-efficient methods in farming. More than 40 percent of its employees are 50-plus, thanks to a recruitment strategy that seeks their skills and experience, and a retention strategy offering flexible schedules.
Orleans Technical Institute a division of JEVS Human Services (Philadelphia) -- This technical training school employs retirees from the building trades as instructors to provide training and individualized support to an "at-risk" student population. More than half of the school's employees are 50-plus, including full- and part-time instructors, support staff, recruiters and counselors.
Umbrella of the Capital District (Schenectady, N.Y.) -- To help older adults and persons with disabilities live independently in their own homes, this nonprofit intentionally recruits 50-plus workers with the appropriate technical skills. More than 130 "handypeople" are paid an hourly stipend for light carpentry, lawn and garden maintenance, house cleaning and transportation to appointments.

In 2007, MetLife Foundation and Civic Ventures first honored nonprofit and public sector employers with what was then called the BreakThrough Awards. The inaugural winners similarly exhibited successful strategies for finding, hiring and maximizing workers over 50. About Civic Ventures (www.encore.org) Civic Ventures is a national think tank on boomers, work and social purpose. About MetLife Foundation MetLife Foundation was established in 1976 by MetLife to carry on its long-standing tradition of corporate contributions and community involvement. The Foundation has been involved in a variety of aging-related initiatives addressing issues of caregiving, intergenerational activities, mental fitness, health and wellness programs and civic involvement. More information about the Foundation is available at www.metlife.org.

New Deloitte Whitepaper Addresses Carbon Accounting Questions as Companies Prepare for Climate Legislation

2009-11-17 10:23:47 -0500

What: "Challenges in Carbon Accounting: Are You Ready? Who: Steve Engler, director, Carbon Management Services, Deloitte & Touche LLP Mike Rohrig, partner, Deloitte & Touche LLP Matt Davis, senior manager, Deloitte & Touche LLP When: Available immediately Where: http://www.deloitte.com/us/carbonaccounting Details: The development of carbon markets worldwide has created a host of challenges for companies - and of these challenges, accounting is among the least understood. Europe still has not reached consensus on how to account for emission allowances and carbon traders in the United States have only started to grapple with the accounting issues of an already complex and unfamiliar market. Moreover, as carbon markets evolve and incorporate new elements, additional accounting challenges will continue to emerge. Deloitte's new point of view seeks to address some of the common accounting questions that companies will need to address as carbon legislation impacts their operations. Specifically, Deloitte discusses accounting for the following topics:

1. Emission allowances 2. Obligations 3. Presentation of allowances and obligation 4. Forward emission contracts The paper also provides an example that demonstrates the different accounting results that can exist as companies individually develop accounting policies in the absence of explicit and authoritative literature. For discussion purposes, the concepts included in the paper assume a "cap-and-trade" type program that may include free allocation of allowances, auctioning of allowances, or a combination of both. To speak with Steve Engler, Mike Rohrig and Matt Davis about new challenges in carbon accounting, please contact Cory Ziskind at +1 212-492-4408 or cziskind@deloitte.com; or Jon Rucket at +1 713 982 4217 or jrucket@deloitte.com. About Deloitte As used in this document, "Deloitte" means Deloitte LLP and Deloitte Services LP, a subsidiary of Deloitte LLP. Please see www.deloitte.com/us/about for a detailed description of the legal structure of Deloitte LLP and its subsidiaries.

IBM Expands Global Intelligent Utility Network Coalition to Advance Smart Grid Development

2009-11-17 10:02:31 -0500

IBM (NYSE: IBM) today announced two new utilities have joined the Global IUN Coalition designed to further the adoption of smarter energy grids around the world -- CPFL Energia from Brazil, and Liander from The Netherlands. The coalition now collectively serves approximately 100 million energy customers worldwide. "The addition of these new members furthers the global scope of the coalition and accelerates how we can fundamentally change the way power is managed and distributed," said Guido Bartels, general manager of IBM's Energy & Utilities Industry. "Each utility company brings specific expertise to the table that allows members to apply new competencies to their own networks." Liander, the largest grid operator in the Netherlands, envisions a smart grid that facilitates sustainable energy generation and consumption. Among other initiatives, Liander is using technology to detect and reduce grid losses and supports energy conservation for consumers. CPFL Energia is the largest private company in the Brazilian electric sector, and is widely recognized for sustainability in its business practices. The coalition member companies are diverse in their knowledge contributions. For example, DONG Energy of Denmark is a leader in renewable energy, sourcing 20 percent of their power from wind and working toward generating 50 percent of their energy with CO2-neutral resources by 2020. NDPL of India offers the perspective of providing power to an emerging market, where reliability and full access to electricity are still in development. San Diego Gas and Electric (SDG&E), a Sempra utility, is the first utility in the continental United States to commit to generating 33 percent of electricity from renewable resources by 2020. The GIUNC shares ideas and best practices through in-person meetings and virtual interactions, benchmarks their efforts, shares knowledge on critical issues and undertakes collaborative initiatives. For example, the successful CenterPoint Energy Smart Grid Demonstration Center gave Country Energy the insight they needed to create their own center in Queenbeyan, Australia. Of the U.S.-based coalition members (CenterPoint Energy, Pepco Holdings, Inc, Progress Energy and San Diego Gas & Electric), all four utilities were awarded part of the $3.4 billion of U.S. government funding announced last month dedicated to modernizing the power grid. The GIUNC's first collaborative effort was the creation of a Smart Grid Maturity Model, which has been used by more than 60 utilities from around the world to benchmark their current progress and plan long term smart grid programs. The model was recently donated to Carnegie Mellon's Software Engineering Institute for use by the industry. Other collaborations are focused on the smart grid's impact on climate change, consumer perspectives, standards and interoperability and possible future regulatory models. About CPFL Energia CPFL Energia is the biggest private power company in Brazil with distribution, generation and trading businesses. The distribution sector serves 6.4 million customers in 568 cities in the states of São Paulo, Rio Grande do Sul, Minas Gerais and Parana. In the generation sector, the holding company manages business in Sao Paulo, Rio Grande do Sul, Santa Catarina, Goias, Tocantins and Minas Gerais. The company has 33 small hydroelectric power plants and owns significant stakes in eight hydropower plants. Its current power generation capacity reaches 1,704 MW and should reach 2,202 MW by 2010. CPFL Energia stocks are traded on the Bovespa New Market and on the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE), both committed to the highest standards of corporate governance. Its gross revenue in 2008 was $6.2 billion. About Liander Liander manages the gas and electricity networks in about a third of the Netherlands and has 2.8 million customers. Liander is part of the network company Alliander. About the Global Intelligent Utility Network Coalition In 2007, IBM formed a coalition of innovative utility companies to accelerate the use of smart grid technologies and move the industry forward through its most challenging transformation. The Global Intelligent Utility Network Coalition wants to change the way power is generated, distributed and used by adding digital intelligence to the current systems to reduce outages and faults, manage demand, and integrate renewable energy sources such as wind and power. Members include CenterPoint Energy, Country Energy, CPFL, DONG Energy, Liander, North Delhi Power Limited, Pepco Holdings, Inc, Progress Energy, San Diego Gas & Electric and Southern California Gas Co. For more information about the Global IUN Coalition, please visit http://www.ibm.com/ibm/ideasfromibm/us/smartplanet/topics/utilities/20081124/index.shtml?&re=sph For more information about IBM, please visit www.ibm.com/energy

Going Green Makes Sense for Commercial Real Estate Market

2009-11-17 08:55:06 -0500

Energy consumption in both old and new buildings can be cut by an estimated 30 to 50 percent while producing a favourable return on investments, according to a KPMG report, Climate Change: Risks & Opportunities in the Canadian Commercial Real Estate Market. Commercial buildings are a major source of both direct and indirect greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. Direct GHG emissions come from the on-site combustion of fuels for heating and cooling, as well as from the use of refrigerants, which are powerful greenhouse gasses. Indirect emissions come primarily from the GHGs released from fuel combustion related to producing construction materials and electricity used in the buildings. "Going green is not just good for the environment, but can also make solid business sense," said Phil Ludvigsen, Director, Carbon Advisory Services, KPMG LLP. "Advantages include easier facility zoning and permitting, reduced tax burdens, and potentially lower insurance premiums. Add to this of course, the knowledge that going green is good for the planet." Commercial real estate groups should realize that the economics are becoming even more compelling, particularly since a Canadian national market for carbon offsets related to building efficiency is on the horizon. Before this happens, forward-thinking companies will have long-term real estate agreements in place addressing development, ownership, and sale of all environmental attributes accrued from their commercial property. Having a clear carbon management strategy should be part of any large commercial real estate holding. This strategy starts with assessing the GHG emissions related to the entire portfolio (knowing the carbon footprint). Gathering GHG information should follow a well-constructed GHG information management plan. Elements of such a plan include:

Organizational and Operational Boundary Conditions
GHG Qualification Process, Procedures, and Methods
Data Quality Control and Management
Ongoing Roles and Responsibilities
Auditing and Verification.

In 2005, the International Energy Agency estimated that buildings account for 20 to 40 percent of the world's energy use, a number that varies greatly depending on a country's climate and economy. In Europe, for example, buildings use about 40 to 45 percent of the total energy consumed. A recent estimate for North America is 46 percent, from which 8 percent can be attributed to the embedded energy of the materials used in construction. The commercial building sector in Canada is estimated to account for 13 percent of Canada's carbon emissions and 14 percent of end-use energy consumption. "Climate change has been called the greatest challenge of the 21st century," said Phil Ludvigsen. "Commercial real estate will now be bought and sold within the constraints of a new 'low-carbon' economy. The challenge will be to align incentives so that owner/operators, investors, and tenants all benefit from improved environmental performance - especially improved energy efficiency." The "greening" of commercial real estate is not a fad, but rather a fundamental change. Real estate groups that want to attract the best deals, strategic investors, and marquee anchor tenants should realize this change. Leaders in commercial real estate need their advisers to help them reduce these strategic risks while enhancing business opportunities in this new low-carbon economy. About KPMG KPMG LLP, a Canadian limited liability partnership established under the laws of Ontario, is the Canadian member firm affiliated with KPMG International, a global network of professional firms providing Audit, Tax, and Advisory services. Member firms operate in 144 countries and have more than 137,000 professionals working around the world. The independent member firms of the KPMG network are affiliated with KPMG International, a Swiss cooperative. Each KPMG firm is a legally distinct and separate entity, and describes itself as such.

Cities and Allies Combat Childhood Hunger on Many Fronts, New Report Shows

2009-11-16 13:12:30 -0500

President Obama's goal of ending childhood hunger in the nation by 2015 is being pursued in a wide variety of ways by mayors and their public and private partners in cities across the country, according to a report issued today by the U.S. Conference of Mayors and funded by the Sodexo Foundation. The report showcases successful programs in 24 U.S. cities, many of which are leveraging established national programs to address hunger locally. "These challenging economic times are increasing the number of families that are hungry and at risk of hunger, so we must learn from the innovative programs that are working and replicate these good ideas across the country if we are to address the recent reverses in the fight against hunger," said Stephen J. Brady, president of the Sodexo Foundation. "Because childhood hunger results in poorer academic performance, increased absences and tardiness, this report can help spread initiatives that break the cycle of hunger and poverty." The report "Childhood Anti-Hunger Programs in 24 Cities" focuses on programs in cities including Boston, Baltimore, Chicago, Dallas, Honolulu, New Haven, Philadelphia, San Francisco, Seattle, Spokane, and Stockton. Many of these programs are addressing the needs of specific communities within their populations by:

building on existing programs, such as the National School Lunch Program, and existing infrastructure, such as Feeding America and food banks
educating parents and parents-to-be about how to maximize the nutritional value of the meals they do access
providing meals to those in need at locations other than food banks and similar sites, to help reduce the stigma and physical obstacles associated with going to a food bank
distributing food through back packs and other take-home efforts to ensure that children have adequate nutrition over the weekend as well as during the week

In publishing the report, both the Conference of Mayors and Sodexo acknowledge that the ongoing economic recession has worsened hunger problems in the nation, and that the increased pressure on governments and other public and private agencies to provide food to families in need will continue to grow for years to come. "Ending childhood hunger in America by 2015 is an enormous challenge. We need reports of successful models if we are to inspire and motivate people to take action," said Tom Cochran, CEO and Executive Director of the Conference of Mayors. The Conference’s goal, he said, is to facilitate the exchange of information among mayors on the most effective programs to combat hunger in their cities, and "We offer this publication in support of that goal." Sodexo, Inc. Sodexo, Inc. (www.sodexoUSA.com), a member of Sodexo Group, is a leading provider of Comprehensive Service Solutions serving more than ten million customers daily in corporations, health care, long term care, retirement, schools, higher education, government and remote sites. Headquartered in Gaithersburg, Md,, Sodexo, Inc. operates in the U.S., Canada, and Mexico, with $7.7 billion (USD) in annual revenue and 120,000 employees. The Sodexo Foundation (www.SodexoFoundation.org) is an independent charitable organization that, since its founding in 1999, has made more than $11 million in grants to fight hunger in America. Visit the corporate blog at www.sodexoUSA.com/blog. U.S. Conference of Mayors The U.S. Conference of Mayors (www.usmayors.org) is the official nonpartisan organization of cities with populations of 30,000 or more. There are 1,139 such cities in the country today, each represented in the Conference by its chief elected official, the Mayor.

The Coca-Cola Company Begins Global Launch of Innovative PlantBottle™

2009-11-16 08:56:46 -0500

The Coca-Cola Company announced today that beverages in its innovative PlantBottle™ packaging are beginning to arrive on store shelves in select markets throughout the world, initiating the Company's journey toward a goal of producing 2 billion of the special PET plastic bottles by the end of 2010. PlantBottle PET plastic bottles are made partially from plants, which reduces the Company's dependence on a non-renewable resource -- petroleum. Other benefits are that it is 100 percent recyclable, and preliminary research indicates that from the growing of the plant materials through to the production of the resin, the carbon footprint for the PlantBottle packaging is smaller than for bottles made with traditional PET. 'Today, we are taking a major step along our sustainable packaging journey as The Coca-Cola Company becomes the first-to-market with a recyclable PET plastic bottle made partially from plants," said Muhtar Kent, Chairman and CEO, The Coca-Cola Company. "From Coke brands in Copenhagen to DASANI water in the Western United States, we are starting to roll out the first generation of the bottle of the future." Throughout Denmark, Coca-Cola, Coca-Cola Light and Coca-Cola Zero in 500mL and 2L sizes are now available in the PlantBottle packaging. A variety of products, including Coca-Cola, Sprite, Fresca and DASANI will be in Western Canada in the PlantBottle beginning in December and for the Vancouver 2010 Winter Olympic Games. And for select markets in the Western United States, including Seattle, San Francisco and Los Angeles, PlantBottle packaging will be used for sparkling brands and DASANI in several sizes, starting in January. Future launches are being planned in other markets, including Brazil, Japan and Mexico and for China's Shanghai Expo in 2010. PlantBottle samples also will be featured at the Company's investor event, "A Growing World of Refreshment, A 2020 Vision," which begins later today in Atlanta. "The PlantBottle is precisely the kind of innovation that demonstrates how businesses can help address climate change and reduce stress on our precious natural resources," said Kate Krebs, Director of Sustainable Resources for The Climate Group. "While Coca-Cola is just beginning to bring its plant-based PET plastic into the mix, this is a revolutionary solution that has the potential for long-term, meaningful benefits." PlantBottle packaging is currently made through a process that turns sugar cane and molasses, a by-product of sugar production, into a key component for PET plastic. The sugar cane being used comes from predominantly rain-fed crops that were processed into ethanol, not refined sugar. Ultimately, the Company's goal is to use non-food, plant-based waste, such as wood chips or wheat stalks, to produce recyclable PET plastic bottles. "Coca-Cola is currently sourcing raw materials for its PlantBottle from suppliers in Brazil, where third parties have verified that best-in-class agricultural practices are the norm," said Dr. Jason Clay, Senior Vice President of Market Transformation for WWF. "Preserving natural resources through sustainable agriculture is essential for businesses like Coca-Cola as they search for ways to alleviate environmental challenges." While the bio-based component can account for up to 30 percent of the resulting PET plastic in PlantBottle packaging, the percentage varies for bottles that also contain recycled PET. For example, Denmark uses recycled content in its PlantBottle packaging. The combined plant-based and recycled content makes up 65 percent of the material, with 50 percent coming from recycled material and 15 percent from plant-based material. For the PlantBottle packaging in the United States and Canada, up to 30 percent of the content in the PET plastic comes from plants. "While the PlantBottle introduction and market launch put The Coca-Cola Company on the forefront of bio-based packaging innovation, we are continuing to strive to make an even better bottle," said Scott Vitters, Director of Sustainable Packaging, The Coca-Cola Company. "Our vision is to continue innovating to achieve a bottle that is made with 100 percent plant-waste material while remaining completely recyclable." The Coca-Cola Company is the world's largest beverage company, refreshing consumers with nearly 500 sparkling and still brands. Along with Coca-Cola®, recognized as the world's most valuable brand, the Company's portfolio includes 12 other billion dollar brands, including Diet Coke®, Fanta®, Sprite®, Coca-Cola Zero®, vitaminwater, POWERADE®, Minute Maid® and Georgia® Coffee. Globally, we are the No. 1 provider of sparkling beverages, juices and juice drinks and ready-to-drink teas and coffees. Through the world's largest beverage distribution system, consumers in more than 200 countries enjoy the Company's beverages at a rate of nearly 1.6 billion servings a day. With an enduring commitment to building sustainable communities, our Company is focused on initiatives that protect the environment, conserve resources and enhance the economic development of the communities where we operate. For more information about our Company, please visit our website at www.thecoca-colacompany.com.

Materials Science and Mathematics Research Honored at Nation's Premier High School Science Competition

2009-11-15 09:41:35 -0500

Research projects in the areas of materials science and mathematics scored top marks this evening, as Peter Hu of Denton, Texas and the team of Sean Karson of Winter Park, Florida, Dan Liu of Austin, Texas and Kevin Chen of Missouri City, Texas received the highest honors at the Region Two Finals of the 2009 Siemens Competition in Math, Science & Technology, the nation's premier high school science competition. Tonight's winners will receive thousands of dollars in college scholarships and be invited to compete at the National Finals in New York City on December 3-7, where the winners of six regional competitions across the United States will vie for scholarships ranging from $10,000 to the top prize of $100,000. The Siemens Competition, a signature program of the Siemens Foundation, is administered by the College Board. "These students have just earned their place among the nation's greatest high school scientists," said James Whaley, President of the Siemens Foundation, based in Iselin, New Jersey. "Each year, the students' work becomes more impressive, and in a record-setting year such as this one, their achievements become even more outstanding. We are proud to welcome them into our family of Siemens Scholars and look forward to their participation at the national finals in New York City." The students presented their research this weekend to a panel of judges from The University of Texas at Austin, host of the Siemens Competition Region Two Finals. Individual Winner Peter Hu, a senior at the Texas Academy of Mathematics and Science in Denton, Texas, won the individual category and a $3,000 college scholarship for his materials science project that aimed to develop a novel and biologically compatible material for protein drug delivery. While similar delivery systems for therapeutic proteins are known in scientific literature, many of these materials were found to be carcinogenic. Mr. Hu's research, titled Novel Thermogelling Dispersions of Polymer Nanoparticles for Controlled Drug Delivery, focused on an alternative FDA-approved material to mimic the behavior of these previous delivery systems, effectively avoiding prior toxicity issues. "While all of the projects were very impressive today, Mr. Hu's research was successful on many levels," said Dr. Christopher Bielawski, Associate Professor in the Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry at The University of Texas at Austin. "This research project established a key proof of concept in the laboratory and the materials presented are poised for examination in living systems. Mr. Hu's work is very advanced and comparable to that of a second or third year graduate student; with minimal tweaks, this research project stands an excellent chance at being published in a top-tier scientific journal and will likely make quite a splash in many scientific communities." Mr. Hu is a senior who aspires to one day lead a research team at a university or facility, such as the National Cancer Institute. Currently, he is the Vice President of the Junior Engineering Technical Society, and is organizing a science demonstration team in order to promote interest in math and science among elementary and middle school students. Mr. Hu is also a member of his school's Research Organization. Both of Mr. Hu's parents are physicists, spurring his interest in science at a young age. In addition to his academic pursuits, Mr. Hu plays piano and violin, as well as basketball and table tennis in his free time. His mentor for this research project was Professor Liping Tang of the Department of Bioengineering at The University of Texas at Arlington. Team Winners Sean Karson, a senior at Trinity Prepatory High School in Winter Park, Florida; Dan Liu, a junior at the Liberal Arts and Science Academy High School in Austin, Texas; and Kevin Chen, a junior at William P. Clements High School in Sugar Land, Texas, won the team category and will share a $6,000 college scholarship for their mathematics project entitled Relating Missing and Decycling Edges in Directed Graphs. The team's mathematics project has the potential to increase efficiency in real world networks by establishing an upper bound on the minimum number of connections that must be removed to destroy all cyclic pathways in systems like the World Wide Web and transcontinental trade routes. "The team's work was truly impressive in that it focused on a topic in pure mathematics," said Dr. Haskell Rosenthal, John T. Stuart III Centennial Professor Emeritus in Mathematics at The University of Texas at Austin. "With new and delicate techniques, they have advanced the infrastructure and knowledge of graph theory by providing better bounds, which is of fundamental importance to the mathematics community. Their depth of knowledge was remarkable, and their work was on the same level of that of a Ph.D." Mr. Karson is a senior who has received Excellence Awards for Honors Computer Programming C++, Graphics I, Honors Chemistry, Honors Precalculus, AP JAVA and AP Chemistry. He has also received the Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute Math & Science Award, and is recognized as a National Merit Semifinalist. Mr. Karson is Captain of the Quiz Bowl Team, President of Mu Alpha Theta, a member of the Spanish Honor Society and the National Honor Society and volunteers for the Center of Math, Arts and Science Achievement. He has also received the Varsity Baseball Coach's Award and the Most Valuable Defensive Player Award, and has been the starting third baseman on the Varsity Baseball Team since his sophomore year. Mr. Karson has also leveraged his love of puzzles to create a club called Rubik's Revenge, aimed to teach middle school students how to solve Rubik's Cubes. Mr. Liu is a junior who aspires to one day become a computer or electronics engineer or programmer. He is currently Vice President of the InvenTeams Club, Co-Director of his school's Math Team, and a member of the Liberal Arts and Science Academy's (LASA) National Honor Society Chapter. Mr. Liu is also a part of the LASA Camerata Orchestra and Science Olympiad Team. He is a part of the Circle C Swim Team, and also plays badminton and ping-pong. Mr. Chen is a junior and is a member of his school's Mu Alpha Theta, Junior Engineering Technical Society and Computer Science Team. He is also an active volunteer at a local middle school Math Club. Mr. Chen's dad is a computer engineer and has taught mathematics and physics in the past, playing a large role in sparking his interest in math when he was young. His mother is also very encouraging and supportive of his passion for math and science, helping to foster his current academic interests. He enjoys practicing piano, playing tennis and programming games in his free time. The team's mentor was Dr. Jian Shen, Professor of Mathematics at Texas State University in San Marcos, Texas. Regional Finalists Regional Finalists each received a $1,000 scholarship. Regional Finalists in the individual category were:

Sai Achi, Texas Academy of Mathematics and Science, Denton, TX
Somak Das, Texas Academy of Mathematics and Science, Denton, TX
Prianka Ghoshal, Westlake High School, Austin, TX
Sahil Khetpal, Texas Academy of Mathematics and Science, Denton, TX

Regional Finalists in the team category were:

Fayen Bastani and Jonathan Lin, Jasper High School, Plano, TX
Sumit Gogia and Patrick Kim, The Science Academy of South Texas, Mercedes, TX; and Vincent Yu, Sha Tin College, Sha Tin, Hong Kong
Sunil Pai, The Kinkaid School, Houston TX; and Aneesh Sampath, Ward Melville High School, East Setauket, NY
Tianjiao (Tom) Zhang and Liang Gu, Bellaire High School, Bellaire, TX

The Siemens Competition The Siemens Competition was launched in 1998 to recognize America's best and brightest math and science students. In another record-setting year, 2,151 students registered to enter the Siemens Competition in Math, Science and Technology in 2009 - more than ever before - for a total of 1,348 project submissions - a 14% increase in project submissions over 2008 figures and more than a 12% increase in the number of registrations. Entries are judged at the regional level by esteemed scientists at six leading research universities which host the regional competitions: California Institute of Technology; Carnegie Mellon University; Georgia Institute of Technology; Massachusetts Institute of Technology; University of Notre Dame; and The University of Texas at Austin. Winners of the regional events are invited to compete at the National Finals at New York University in New York City, December 3 - December 7, 2009. Visit www.siemens-foundation.org on December 7, 2009 at 9:30 am EST to view a live webcast of the National Finalist Award Presentation. You can also log into and follow the Siemens Foundation on Twitter (http://twitter.com/SFoundation) for the latest information and announcements throughout this year's competition. About the Siemens Foundation The Siemens Foundation provides more than $7 million annually in support of educational initiatives in the areas of science, technology, engineering and math in the United States. Its signature programs, the Siemens Competition in Math, Science & Technology and Siemens Awards for Advanced Placement, reward exceptional achievement in science, math and technology. The newest program, The Siemens We Can Change the World Challenge, encourages K-12 students to develop innovative green solutions for environmental issues. By supporting outstanding students today, and recognizing the teachers and schools that inspire their excellence, the Foundation helps nurture tomorrow's scientists and engineers. The Foundation's mission is based on the culture of innovation, research and educational support that is the hallmark of Siemens' U.S. companies and its parent company, Siemens AG. For further information, visit www.siemens-foundation.org. The College Board The College Board is a not-for-profit membership association whose mission is to connect students to college success and opportunity. Founded in 1900, the College Board is composed of more than 5,700 schools, colleges, universities and other educational organizations. Each year, the College Board serves seven million students and their parents, 23,000 high schools, and 3,800 colleges through major programs and services in college readiness, college admission, guidance, assessment, financial aid, enrollment, and teaching and learning. Among its best-known programs are the SAT®, the PSAT/NMSQT® and the Advanced Placement Program® (AP®). The College Board is committed to the principles of excellence and equity, and that commitment is embodied in all of its programs, services, activities and concerns. For further information, visit www.collegeboard.com.

Exceptional Teens from Illinois and Michigan Celebrated for Biology and Mathematics Research in Nation's Premier High School Science Competition

2009-11-15 09:18:52 -0500

Research projects in the areas of biology and mathematics scored top marks this evening, as Marissa Suchyta of South Barrington, Illinois and the team of Randy Jia of Rochester Hills, Michigan and David Lu of Bloomfield Hills, Michigan received the highest honors at the Region Three Finals of the 2009 Siemens Competition in Math, Science & Technology, the nation's premier high school science competition. Tonight's winners will receive thousands of dollars in college scholarships and be invited to compete at the National Finals in New York City on December 3-7, where the winners of six regional competitions across the United States will vie for scholarships ranging from $10,000 to the top prize of $100,000. The Siemens Competition, a signature program of the Siemens Foundation, is administered by the College Board. "These students have just earned their place among the nation's greatest high school scientists," said James Whaley, President of the Siemens Foundation, based in Iselin, New Jersey. "Each year, the students' work becomes more impressive, and in a record-setting year such as this one, their achievements become even more outstanding. We are proud to welcome them into our family of Siemens Scholars and look forward to their participation at the national finals in New York City." The students presented their research this weekend to a panel of judges from University of Notre Dame, host of the Siemens Competition Region Three Finals. Individual Winner Marissa Suchyta, a senior at the University of Chicago Laboratory High School in Chicago, Illinois won the individual category and a $3,000 college scholarship for her biology project. She researched the mechanism by which the protein Geminin prevents DNA from replicating more than one time before a cell divides. Over-replication of DNA will lead to genetic instability, which in turn gives rise to cells exhibiting uncontrolled cell division. The project, titled, Geminin mutant reveals the mechanism to inhibit DNA re-replication, has implications to develop new approaches to treating diseases like cancer. "Ms. Suchyta understood that the research was a great approach to study the replication process. By studying a modified Geminin protein she could investigate how Geminin structure affects its function," said Dr. Joseph O'Tousa, Professor in the Department of Biological Sciences at the University of Notre Dame. "It is important that the replication machinery allows one and only one start during the S phase of mitosis, and Geminin regulates this. The work adds to our knowledge of how DNA replication is controlled, a fundamental process involved in the development and proper maintenance of tissues and a potential target in managing disease conditions," he said. Ms. Suchyta is taking college courses in addition to her full high school schedule. Even with this rigorous course load, she has maintained straight A's throughout all of high school. In college, she would like to double major in Neurobiology and Molecular/Cellular Biology, eventually becoming a neurosurgeon with a PhD in molecular oncology. She placed second at Nationals in the National History Day Competition and was named a Regional Winner in the Discovery Young Scientist Challenge. Ms. Suchyta competes on the Model United Nations and Varsity Science Olympiad Teams. Ms. Suchyta founded the first Midwest chapter of the American Cancer Society's "High Schools Against Cancer" campaign and began her own nonprofit organization that donates gift buckets to teenage oncology patients. Through her work with the American Cancer Society (ACS), she has been invited to be on the organization's board and has presented research at the ACS Annual Meeting. Additionally, Ms. Suchyta has been the President of the Gavel Club, Captain of the Forensics Team and the Captain of the Mock Trial Team. She is also a Peer Leader and is near completion of earning the Girl Scout Gold Award. Furthermore, Ms. Suchyta is a competitive ballroom dancer, specifically in the Latin division. She plays the violin as well as the mandolin and speaks French. Her mentor for this project was Dr. Thomas McGarry, Assistant Professor of Medicine at the Feinberg School of Medicine at Northwestern University in Chicago, Illinois. Team Winners Junior Randy Jia and sophomore David Lu, both students from the Detroit Country Day School in Beverly Hills, Michigan, won the team category and will share a $6,000 scholarship. Their graph theory project, titled Matching Preclusions for Augmented Cubes, presents a way to measure the strength of a network in the event of link failure. This study examines the matching preclusion number as it relates to the augmented cube graph. The augmented cube has been proposed as an example of a network that is resistant to link failure. "In certain instances a desirable property of a network is that each node can pair up with a partner. The team answers the question of how many links need to be broken until it's no longer possible to pair up the node in the augmented cube," said Dr. David Galvin, Assistant Professor in the Department of Mathematics at the University of Notre Dame. "Their project uses clever mathematical techniques and extends our understanding of an important and natural network parameter." Mr. Jia is a three-time United States Math Olympiad Qualifier and also placed tenth in the Michigan Math Prize Competition. He is a member of the Detroit Country Day School's Investment and Math Competition Clubs. Mr. Jia serves as a helper for his school's Math Invitational and a scorer for the Oakland County Mathcounts program. He enjoys studying both math and physics most in school, and his older brother was a Siemens Competition Semifinalist three years ago. He participates in various school volunteer opportunities, such as Open House, and also serves as an Auction Volunteer. Mr. Jia would like to go to college for finance/economics, and hopes to one day become a fund manager on Wall Street. Mr. Lu is a Science Olympiad participant and active member of Quizbowl. He participated in several mathematics competitions before, and also attended the USA Mathematical Olympiad program in the ninth grade. His favorite subjects to study in school are math and the sciences, and he aspires to be a mathematics professor. Mr. Lu is a runner and is a member of the Detroit County Day School's Cross Country and Track and Field teams. The team's mentor for this project was Eddie Cheng, a Professor at Oakland University in Rochester, Michigan. Regional Finalists Regional Finalists each received a $1,000 scholarship. Regional Finalists in the individual category were:

Angela Ma, Carmel High School, Carmel, IN
Arjun Puranik, William Fremd High School, Palatine, IL
Dennis Tseng, William Mason High School, Mason, OH
Kevin Wang, Wylie E. Groves High School, Beverly Hills, MI

Regional Finalists in the team category were:

Qingyuan Chen, University of Chicago Laboratory High School, Chicago, IL; and Fred Schmitt, Naperville Central High School, Naperville, IL
Renjay Liu and Bingjie Qiu, Troy High School, Troy, MI; and Lucille Zhang, Detroit Country Day School, Beverly Hills, MI
Qinqin Yu and Sarah Kang, Rock Bridge High School, Columbia, MO
David Zheng and Michael Luo, Carmel High School, Carmel, IN

The Siemens Competition The Siemens Competition was launched in 1998 to recognize America's best and brightest math and science students. In another record-setting year, 2,151 students registered to enter the Siemens Competition in Math, Science and Technology in 2009 - more than ever before - for a total of 1,348 project submissions - a 14% increase in project submissions over 2008 figures and more than a 12% increase in the number of registrations. Entries are judged at the regional level by esteemed scientists at six leading research universities which host the regional competitions: California Institute of Technology; Carnegie Mellon University; Georgia Institute of Technology; Massachusetts Institute of Technology; University of Notre Dame; and The University of Texas at Austin. Winners of the regional events are invited to compete at the National Finals at New York University in New York City, December 3 – December 7, 2009. Visit www.siemens-foundation.org on December 7, 2009 at 9:30 am EST to view a live webcast of the National Finalist Award Presentation. You can also log into and follow the Siemens Foundation on Twitter (http://twitter.com/SFoundation) for the latest information and announcements throughout this year's competition. About the Siemens Foundation The Siemens Foundation provides more than $7 million annually in support of educational initiatives in the areas of science, technology, engineering and math in the United States. Its signature programs, the Siemens Competition in Math, Science & Technology and Siemens Awards for Advanced Placement, reward exceptional achievement in science, math and technology. The newest program, The Siemens We Can Change the World Challenge, encourages K-12 students to develop innovative green solutions for environmental issues. By supporting outstanding students today, and recognizing the teachers and schools that inspire their excellence, the Foundation helps nurture tomorrow's scientists and engineers. The Foundation's mission is based on the culture of innovation, research and educational support that is the hallmark of Siemens' U.S. companies and its parent company, Siemens AG. For further information, visit www.siemens-foundation.org. The College Board The College Board is a not-for-profit membership association whose mission is to connect students to college success and opportunity. Founded in 1900, the College Board is composed of more than 5,700 schools, colleges, universities and other educational organizations. Each year, the College Board serves seven million students and their parents, 23,000 high schools, and 3,800 colleges through major programs and services in college readiness, college admission, guidance, assessment, financial aid, enrollment, and teaching and learning. Among its best-known programs are the SAT®, the PSAT/NMSQT® and the Advanced Placement Program® (AP®). The College Board is committed to the principles of excellence and equity, and that commitment is embodied in all of its programs, services, activities and concerns. For further information, visit http://www.collegeboard.com.

Hooters Makes $40,464 Donation to the MDA

2009-11-13 17:47:22 -0500

On Monday, November 16th a check will be presented to the Muscular Dystrophy Association in the amount of $40,464 raised by 60 Hooters Restaurants located in the southeast. The Hooters Girls and employees raised the funds in just 4 weeks through various fundraising events. The check presentation will take place in Atlanta, at the Hooters of Cumberland located at 2977 Cobb Parkway at 5:00 PM. "Hooters has a solid and extensive relationship with the MDA," stated Bonnie Rhinehardt, Division Vice President for Hooters of America, Inc. "I am extremely proud of the management, Hooters Girls and staff that pulled together and exceeded our goal for this cause." Hooters restaurants are involved with many invaluable charitable organizations at the national and local level. Over the past ten years, Hooters restaurants have donated over $8 million to various causes, including Make-A-Wish Foundation, Operation Homefront, Special Olympics and the V Foundation for Cancer Research. About Hooters of America, Inc. Hooters of America, Inc. is the franchisor and operator of over 450 Hooters restaurants in 42 states and 26 foreign countries. The first Hooters opened in 1983 in Clearwater, Florida. Hooters is well-known for its brand of food and fun, featuring a casual beach-theme atmosphere, a menu that features seafood, sandwiches and Hooters nearly world famous chicken wings, and service provided by the All-American cheerleaders, the Hooters Girls. For more information about Hooters visit www.hooters.com.

First Book Awarded Charity Navigator's Highest Four-Star Rating for Third Consecutive Year

2009-11-13 14:57:12 -0500

First Book, the nonprofit providing new books to children in need, has been awarded with a 4-Star rating for the third consecutive year by Charity Navigator, the nation's leading charity evaluator. Only 13% of the charities rated by Charity Navigator have received at least 3 consecutive 4-star evaluations, indicating that First Book consistently executes its mission in a fiscally responsible way and outperforms most other charities in America. "We are particularly pleased to receive this 4-star rating as Charity Navigator is well-known for the rigor of its careful analysis of the financial stability and efficiency of the nation's top nonprofits," said Jane Robinson, First Book chief financial officer. Charity Navigator highlights the fine work of efficient charities and provides donors with essential information needed to give them greater confidence in the charitable choices they make. Based on the most recent financial information, this "exceptional" designation from Charity Navigator differentiates First Book from its peers and demonstrates to the public it is worthy of their trust. Charity Navigator, which does not endorse nonprofits, uses an objective, numbers-based rating system to assess the financial health of more than 5,500 of America's best-known charities. The group's professional analysts examine tens of thousands of nonprofit financial documents. Charity Navigator's rating system examines two broad areas of a charity's financial health -- how responsibly it functions day-to-day, as well as how well-positioned it is to sustain its programs over time. Each charity is then awarded an overall rating, ranging from zero to four stars. About Charity Navigator Founded in 2001, Charity Navigator has become the nation's largest and most-utilized evaluator of charities. Last year alone, more than four million donors used the award-winning site. The site is easily navigable by charity name, location or type of activity and also features opinion pieces by Charity Navigator experts, donation tips, and top-10 and bottom-10 lists which rank efficient and inefficient organizations in a number of categories. More information is available at www.charitynavigator.org. About First Book First Book provides new books to children in need, addressing one of the most important factors affecting literacy -- access to books. An innovative leader in social enterprise, First Book has distributed more than 65 million free and low cost books in thousands of communities. First Book now has offices in the U.S. and Canada. For more information about the nonprofit First Book please visit www.firstbook.org.

Highlighting 10 Years of Increasing Competitiveness through Improved Labor Standards

2009-11-13 13:19:34 -0500

IFC, a member of the World Bank Group, the International Labour Organization, and Better Work are inviting media to a full-day event highlighting 10 years of increasing competitiveness through the improvement of labor standards. On November 19, the event will bring together more than 200 participants, including policymakers, businesses, international and U.S. employer organizations and trade unions, opinion leaders, donors and technical agencies, the broader think tank and policy research community, and senior staff of the World Bank and IFC. Several garment companies also will be represented, including American Eagle Outfitters, Gap Inc., Jones Apparel, Levi Strauss & Co, Martha Stewart Living, Nike, Polo Ralph Lauren, Walt Disney, and Wal-mart. A full list of participants is available upon request. Participants will review the achievements of the Better Factories Cambodia and Better Work programs that have benefited more than 1.2 million workers worldwide, and discuss ways to reach millions more by expanding to new industries. Date: Thursday, November 19, 8:30 a.m. – 5:30 p.m. Media may choose to attend one or all sessions according to availability and also are invited to a luncheon scheduled for 12:45 p.m., located at the lobby level. Venue: IFC Auditorium, 2121 Pennsylvania Avenue N.W., Washington, D.C. Speakers:

Michael Kobori, Vice President, Supply Chain Social and Environmental Sustainability, Levi Strauss & Co
Sandra Polaski, Deputy Under Secretary for International Affairs, U. S. Department of Labor
Rachel Kyte, IFC's Vice President, Business Advisory Services
Ros Harvey, Global Program Manager, Better Work
Cham Prasidh, Senior Minister, Minister of Commerce, Cambodia
Dr. Gazi Shbeikat, Minister of Labor, Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan

To register or for more information please contact Katia Theriault About IFC IFC, a member of the World Bank Group, creates opportunity for people to escape poverty and improve their lives. We foster sustainable economic growth in developing countries by supporting private sector development, mobilizing private capital, and providing advisory and risk mitigation services to businesses and governments. Our new investments totaled $14.5 billion in fiscal 2009, helping channel capital into developing countries during the financial crisis. For more information, visit www.ifc.org. For more information about ILO, visit www.ilo.org. For more information about Better Work, visit www.betterwork.org.

HBCU College Fair Hosted by Siemens

2009-11-13 12:16:00 -0500

In partnership with the Building Technologies Division of Siemens Industry, Inc. and its Sustainability Education Program, Chicago Public Schools (CPS) Department of College and Career Preparation is offering an unprecedented opportunity for the Class of 2010 to connect with the admissions personnel from Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs). The day-long event, held at the Sheraton Hotel and Towers in Chicago today, introduces CPS seniors to HBCUs-schools that they might not normally consider because they're either out of state or perceived as beyond their financial means. "During these tough economic times many of our students are struggling to find the money to pay for college," said Ron Huberman, CPS chief executive officer. "Not only does this event expose our students to some of the best institutions in the nation, the scholarships provided can help make their dream of going to college a reality." Through this event, thousands of CPS seniors can virtually tour 40 HBCUs and meet the admissions staff in one location. Each student has a chance to register with schools that interest them and provide data on their academic records. Later in the evening, HBCU staff members from 23 schools announce the names of individual students and the amounts of scholarships they were willing to offer prospective candidates. Like an awards show, this part of the evening provides an exciting and lucrative cap to the entire event and approximately 300 students were offered partial, annual and full-ride scholarships collectively worth more than $35 million. It's an established fact that HBCUs create an ideal educational environment for students with diverse backgrounds. Spanning the current and last two centuries, HBCUs have a legacy of providing a strong cultural, spiritual and academic platform from which students can launch and then fulfill their higher-education goals. Unfortunately, because HBCUs are predominantly located in southern states, students and parents living in Chicago are rarely exposed to students or alumni and likely not aware of the institutions or the educational opportunities they may offer. Similarly, the admissions staffs of these venerable institutions are faced with budgetary concerns that prevent them from traveling and reaching out to prospective students in the North. Through the financial support of Building Technologies' Sustainability Education Program, for the fifth year in a row HBCUs and CPS students have an opportunity to connect. "We recognized that a student's academic career is vulnerable at major transitional points," said Michael Moats, Siemens Sustainability Education Program director. "We like to create opportunities where our support and positive intervention can really help less privileged students rise above challenges; ones that usually don't get in the way of kids from more affluent families. With the HBCU fair, we help CPS students move past geographic and financial barriers -- things that would normally keep them from considering HBCUs -- schools with a rich tradition of fostering the academic and civic achievement of students from diverse backgrounds." Since 2001, Siemens Building Technologies has helped HBCUs award millions of dollars in scholarships to students in Chicago. The outreach program continues to sponsor summer bridge programs to help students prepare for the world of work after high school, trunk parties to help provide college-bound students with needed school supplies, and adult learning programs. Sustainability Education is also active nationwide supporting STEM initiatives and green curricula development. The goal is to provide students opportunities that will lead to careers in energy-related fields, including environmental and energy engineering as well as 21st century green technician jobs. The program partners with professional and philanthropic organizations such as the Association for Career Technical Education and the Ford Motor Company Fund. About Siemens: Building Technologies A division of Siemens Industry, Inc. (SII), Building Technologies (BT) Division is a leading provider of energy and environmental solutions, building controls, electrical distribution equipment, fire safety and security systems solutions. BT's solutions enable America's buildings to be more comfortable, secure and environmentally friendly as well as less costly to operate. With a U.S. headquarters in Buffalo Grove, Ill., BT employs 7,400 people and provides a full range of services and solutions from more than 100 locations coast-to-coast. Worldwide, the company has 28,000 employees and operates from more than 500 locations in 51 countries. The Building Technologies Division posted worldwide revenues of $9.02 billion in fiscal 2008. www.usa.siemens.com/buildingtechnologies Siemens Industry Siemens Industry, Inc. (SII) is the U.S. affiliate of Siemens' global Industry Sector business -- the world's leading supplier of production, transportation and building technology solutions. The company's integrated hardware and software technologies enable comprehensive industry-specific solutions for industrial and infrastructure providers to increase their productivity, sustainability and profitability. The Industry Sector includes six divisions: Building Technologies, Industry Automation, Industry Solutions, Mobility, Drive Technologies and OSRAM SYLVANIA. With nearly 222,000 Siemens Industry Sector employees worldwide, the Industry Sector posted a worldwide profit of $5.82 billion on revenues of $57 billion in fiscal 2008. www.usa.siemens.com/Industry

Anvil Knitwear Launches TrackMyT.com

2009-11-13 12:11:03 -0500

Anvil Knitwear, Inc. today announced the launch of TrackMyT.com, a groundbreaking, interactive Web site that chronicles and brings to life the complete journey and environmental impact of a t-shirt, from cotton-seed to consumer. The site, which specifically tracks t-shirts for youth ages two to 12, allows users to explore cotton farms, a gin and spinners, as well as Anvil’s textile mill, cut and sew plants, and distribution facility – all by inputting a unique tracking number printed on their very own shirt. With a highly dynamic experiential approach, the Web site is designed to appeal to kids and adults alike. It features surprise pop-up messages and graphics, alongside lesson plans for teachers that focus on the environmental, historical and social aspects of manufacturing, buying and owning a t-shirt. The idea for TrackMyT.com began as a response to the federal government’s recent Consumer Product Safety Improvement Act, which this year required manufacturers of children’s products to provide labels allowing consumers to trace the product’s history. Anvil made a commitment to go beyond the letter of law. "Our goal in creating this site was not only to comply with industry requirements, but to turn it into an educational experience and teach about our footprint and ecological impact," said Anthony Corsano, Chief Executive Officer of Anvil, a leader in the sustainable apparel industry and the sixth-largest organic program in the world. "TrackMyT.com teaches kids, parents and educators how to be more environmentally responsible." In keeping with Anvil's commitment to being an environmentally and socially responsible company, the site explores the differences between organic and conventional cotton farming, and calculates the carbon footprint of each step in the manufacturing process. Because many consumers are unaware that an average of 60 percent of a shirt’s carbon contribution comes from a lifetime of washing and wearing (as opposed to its manufacturing), the site identifies ways the user can minimize his or her carbon footprint as a t-shirt owner. To create the site, Anvil partnered with the Webby-award winning AgencyNet, a digital advertising and marketing agency that specializes in developing emotionally engaging digital brand experiences and communication strategies. "It's hard to put into words just how proud I am of TrackMyT.com. I really believe this is one of our finest moments," Corsano said. "And it's one more way Anvil demonstrates that we not only understand and care about the future, but that we are committed to being responsible and good citizens of this world." About Anvil Knitwear Anvil Knitwear, Inc., a socially and environmentally responsible manufacturer of sportswear and accessories, is a leader in the sustainable apparel industry with its AnvilOrganic®, AnvilRecycled™ and AnvilSustainable™ brands. Anvil was ranked as the world’s sixth-largest organic program for 2008 and the largest domestic purchaser of U.S.-grown certified organic cotton and transitional cotton (cotton in conversion to organic farming methods). Anvil offers 16 affordable eco styles made from a variety of fibers such as certified organic cotton, transitional cotton, recycled cotton, and recycled PET bottles and blends, as well approximately 70 traditional styles. Anvil’s website www.TrackMyT.com offers educational information on the making of its youth tees. For more information about Anvil, please visit www.anvilknitwear.com and www.anvilcsr.com.

The Home Depot Foundation Announces Winners of Awards of Excellence for Affordable Housing Built Responsibly

2009-11-13 09:06:43 -0500

Today, The Home Depot(R) Foundation (THDF) announced the winners of its fifth annual Awards of Excellence for Affordable Housing Built Responsibly. The winners receive a total of $175,000 to further their goal of producing affordable, efficient and healthy housing, which is a major funding focus of THDF. The Home Depot Foundation believes building in a responsible and environmentally friendly way is simply a smart way to build quality, affordable housing. In particular, THDF emphasizes the monthly savings families enjoy from lower utility, maintenance and transportation costs associated with homes built to recognized green standards. The Awards of Excellence for Affordable Housing Built Responsibly identify, recognize and showcase the outstanding and innovative work of nonprofit organizations in the area of ‘green’ design and management of affordable housing. The award recipients were selected based on a number of criteria, including the physical design and building performance, as well as how well they met the needs of the local community while maintaining affordability for the residents. The first place winner in the Home Ownership category is:

First Place – Habitat for Humanity, St. Louis, MO (HFHSL): In a two-year blitz build, Habitat for Humanity St. Louis (HFHSL) has reinvigorated the Jeff-Vander-Lou neighborhood in Midtown St. Louis. The Jeff-Vander-Lou Neighborhood project, completed in 2008, is comprised of 27 single family homes that are 49 percent more energy efficient than homes built to code. In addition, the homes meet the U.S. Green Building Council’s LEED Platinum standards and earned the EPA’s Indoor Air Package (IAP) certification. HFHSL was able to build to green standards without adding any incremental costs to the development by utilizing available rebates and incentives. View the case study and video.

The first place winner and the runner up in the Rental category are:

First place – National Community Renaissance (National CORE), La Quinta, CA: National CORE revitalized a distressed mobile home park into a beautiful and affordable 80-unit green housing development, called Vista Dunes, which meets LEED Platinum standards. Meeting this stringent certification standard added no incremental costs to the project. As a result of energy-efficient building, residents typically have 67% lower utility bills than homes built to standard code in the area. To ensure the continuing high-performance of the apartments, the project team developed a manual and a DVD to inform residents how to maintain the green features of their new homes. New residents also receive hands on training from the property maintenance manager and a National CORE employee. View the case study and video.
Runner Up– Office of Rural Farm-Worker Housing from Yakima, WA: Completed in 2008, the 26 rental townhomes at Pear Tree Place are certified by Enterprise’s Green Communities program. As a result of the quality construction, residents, who typically earn less than $40,000 annually usually save 35 percent on their energy bills and 31 percent on their water bills, yet greening the project added less than 1% to the total development costs. View the case study and video.

"Building healthy, safe homes that families can afford to live in over the long-term is our purpose and our passion," said Kelly Caffarelli, president of The Home Depot Foundation. "We hope that identifying, recognizing and showcasing the outstanding and innovative work being done by nonprofits around the country will not only offer insight, but also inspiration, to others developing sustainable communities and housing for those of modest means." Winners were selected from projects submitted by nonprofit housing developers throughout the country. An advisory committee of experts from a variety of affordable housing, community development, building sciences and environmental organizations participated in the selection process. The committee included representatives of 360GREEN, Inc., Global Green USA, Enterprise Community, Partners, Inc., Forest Stewardship Council-US, Housing Assistance Council, Jay Hall and Associates, Inc., Mercy Housing Lakefront, Southface, US Green Building Council, The Noisette Company, LLC, City of Atlanta Office of Sustainability, National League of Cities, and the Madison Area Community Land Trust. Full case studies and videos on each winner are available at www.homedepotfoundation.org. About The Home Depot Foundation The Home Depot Foundation was created in 2002 to further the community building goals of The Home Depot. The Home Depot Foundation is dedicated to building affordable homes for working families that are healthy to live in and affordable to own. To make homes healthy and affordable, the Foundation encourages developers to incorporate responsible design and use durable and quality materials to ensure that homes are more energy and water efficient, have good indoor air quality, and provide a safe and healthy space to live. Since its formation, The Home Depot Foundation has granted $120 million to nonprofit organizations and supported the development of more than 65,000 affordable, healthy homes. For more information, visit www.homedepotfoundation.org or follow THDF on Twitter - @HomeDepotFdn.

Chef One Presents Dumpling Festival Proceeds to Food Bank For New York City

2009-11-12 17:19:46 -0500

On October 24th, Chef One, a Brooklyn food manufacturer, hosted the first ever New York City Dumpling Festival at Sara D. Roosevelt Park in Manhattan, benefiting the Food Bank For New York City. The park was filled to capacity and the event successfully raised $17,092.87, which the Chef One Board has decided to match, doubling the total to $34,185.74. On Friday, November 13th, Chef One will present a check to the Food Bank, to help the Food Bank fight hunger in New York City. We invite you to help us commemorate our joint efforts in bringing public awareness to the hunger issues facing New York City. When: Friday, November 13, 2009 10:30 a.m.-12:00 p.m. Where: Community Kitchen & Pantry of West Harlem 252 W. 116th Street New York, NY 10026 What: Chef One presents Dumpling Festival proceeds to Food Bank For New York City. TMI Food Group announces donation of additional 10,000 pounds of noodles to Food Bank. (TMI Food Group is composed of Twin Marquis Inc., Chef One Corp, and TMI Trading Corp.) Who: Tricia Rumola, Director of Business Partnerships, Food Bank For New York City Joseph Tang, President of TMI Food Group Terry Tang, CEO of TMI Food Group

GfK Custom Research North America Identifies New 'Age Of Green Pragmatism'

2009-11-12 13:20:49 -0500

Market research firm GfK Custom Research North America has identified a new "age of green pragmatism," finding Americans' attitudes towards environmentalism is shifting away from altruistic motivations towards more practical drivers such as saving money, health, getting value and promoting safety. While more consumers are reporting that they are making lasting changes in their environmental behavior, new data from GfK Roper Consulting shows 60% of Americans find green products are still too expensive (up six points from 2006). Additionally, nearly one third (28%) report they are "too busy" to do what it takes to go green. "Faced with today's muted economy, consumers are looking for more realistic ways to go green through simple cost-cutting and energy-saving practices," says Tim Kenyon, Senior Analyst for GfK Roper Consulting, GfK Custom Research North America's consumer trends division. "In today's climate, it's absolutely essential for marketers to understand the factors that are driving both the adoption of and rejection of eco-action in order to communicate effectively. They must also focus their innovation on making going green easier and cheaper for everyday Americans." Green experts from GfK will be in Chicago at the 3rd Annual Good and Green®...The Green Marketing Conference on November 17th and 18th. Through a series of presentations, GfK will address several pressing questions facing the environmental marketing community, including the degree to which the economy is affecting green consumption and what consumers expect from businesses vis-a-vis the environment in this climate. For more information or to register for the conference visit: www.goodandgreen.biz. About GfK Custom Research North America Headquartered in New York, GfK Custom Research North America is part of the GfK Group. The GfK Group offers the fundamental knowledge that industry, retailers, services companies and the media need to make market decisions. It delivers a comprehensive range of information and consultancy services in the three business sectors Custom Research, Retail and Technology and Media. The no. 4 market research organization worldwide operates in more than 100 countries and employs over 10,000 staff. In 2008, the GfK Group's sales amounted to EUR 1.2 billion. For further information, follow us: www.gfkamerica.com, www.gfkinsights4u.com, www.twitter.com/gfkamerica.

Nike and Doernbecher Children’s Hospital Collaborate to Empower Kids Through Design

2009-11-12 13:08:35 -0500

Nike and OHSU Doernbecher Children's Hospital are uniting for the sixth year to create the Doernbecher Freestyle footwear collection, which pairs young patients with Nike designers to raise money for Oregon's premier children's hospital. The young Doernbecher patients work alongside Nike designers to create footwear that expresses their personal stories, while raising awareness and funds for the hospital. To date the program has raised more than $2 million dollars. All profits from the collection benefit Doernbecher by supporting advanced pediatric research, providing healthcare to uninsured patients, funding the purchase of state-of-the-art medical equipment, and training the next generation of pediatric specialists. "We are proud to support this one-of-a-kind project," said Elliott Hill, Vice President of Global Retail for NIKE, Inc. "Doernbecher Freestyle is about empowerment through design, bringing together bright young patients and some of our most talented Nike designers to give back to Doernbecher Children's Hospital." The young designers range in age from 11 to 14 and all have courageously battled serious illness at Doernbecher. Through the Doernbecher Freestyle Project each child is given the unique opportunity to design a pair of Nike's and is granted complete artistic freedom as he or she works alongside a Nike designer through the entire design process -- from selecting a shoe style to choosing materials, colors, patterns and other individual details. "We are so grateful for Nike's continued vision and generosity. In the six years of the Freestyle program, the company's hard work has translated into more than $2 million for Doernbecher," said Sue Nicol, Executive Director of the Doernbecher Foundation. "Apart from the significant financial impact, Nike is providing a priceless experience for some really brave kids. Their moment in the spotlight as a Nike shoe designer is one they'll never forget." The Doernbecher Freestyle collection will be available for purchase at Niketown stores, nike.com, and at select Nike retailers beginning November 14, 2009. This year's collection features popular basketball, running and skateboarding styles, including a retro Nike Air Jordan VI. The 2009 Doernbecher Freestyle Design Team and Footwear Collection:

Bradley Bowlby, 11, (Stevenson, Washington): Nike Air Force I Low Bradley's desire to get dirty in style is reflected with a custom camouflage design featured on the outsole and upper.
Collin Callsen, 11, (Stayton, Oregon): Nike P-ROD 3 Skate Shoe Collin's playful attitude comes through with a personalized logo at the bottom of the shoe's tongue and fun graphics on the upper inspired by his love of hunting, dirt bikes, skulls and playing pool.
Jordan Dark, 12, (Mt. Angel, Oregon): Nike Air Jordan VI Retro Jordan's creativity comes to life in this shoe that takes inspiration from the Jordan 12, 5, 9 and 6, a play on his birth date of 12-5-1996.
Anna Finley, 11, (Salem, Oregon): Nike Air Max Zenyth Anna's vivid imagination and love of color is highlighted in this multi-colored shoe with hand-drawn balloons, animals, trees, hearts and music notes.
Makayla Hansen, 12, (Elgin, Oregon): Nike Skinny Dunk High Makayla's love for playing basketball and riding her bike is clear with a multi-colored basketball design on the upper and five bikes waiting to be discovered under the ankle support straps.
Molly Anne Modeste Martin, 14, (Lake Oswego, Oregon): Nike Shox NZ Molly's colorful Nike Shox design incorporates symbols of her life's passions and beliefs-a silhouette of herself running track, a basketball hidden under the top eyelet, a music note, and "Just Do It" embroidered on the back of one heel and "Together" on the other.

To find the location of your nearest Nike retailer or purchase the Doernbecher Freestyle Collection directly, visit www.nike.com. Suggested Retail prices start from $88. For more information and imagery, visit www.nikemedia.com. About Nike NIKE, Inc. based near Beaverton, Oregon, is the world's leading designer, marketer and distributor of authentic athletic footwear, apparel, equipment and accessories for a wide variety of sports and fitness activities. Wholly-owned Nike subsidiaries include Cole Haan, which designs, markets and distributes luxury shoes, handbags, accessories and coats; Converse Inc., which designs, markets and distributes athletic footwear, apparel and accessories; Hurley International LLC, which designs, markets and distributes action sports and youth lifestyle footwear, apparel and accessories; and Umbro Ltd., a leading United Kingdom-based global football (soccer) brand. For more information, visit www.nikebiz.com About the Doernbecher Children's Hospital and the Doernbecher Foundation Doernbecher Children's Hospital is Oregon and southwest Washington's premier pediatric health center, providing the region's widest range of children's health care services and serving as the primary center for pediatric research and specialist education programs at Oregon Health & Science University. As part of Oregon's only academic health center, Doernbecher offers patients exceptional primary care and access to the region's most advanced treatments. The Doernbecher Foundation is a 501(c)(3) organization that exists to secure private philanthropic support for the hospital. The foundation raises funds from individuals, companies, foundations and organizations, and invests and manages gifts in accordance with donors' wishes.

ACCION Takes Equity Stake in Saija Finance, a Microfinance Institution Serving India’s Poorest

2009-11-12 13:00:06 -0500

ACCION International, a pioneer and leader in global microfinance, announced today that it has invested $500,000 for a 49.5 percent equity stake in Saija Finance Private Limited, a microfinance start-up that provides financial services to microentrepreneurs and low- and middle-income families in one of India’s most underserved regions. The investment was made through ACCION’s equity investment arm, the ACCION Gateway Fund, and represents the fund’s fourth investment in India. Other Gateway investments in India include Swadhaar FinServe, Lok Capital and United Villages. Based in the city of Patna, state of Bihar, Saija was founded by entrepreneurs and husband and wife team S.R. Sinha and Rashmi Sinha, and currently operates two branches in that city. Registered as a non-banking financial company (NBFC), it is the only Bihar-based microfinance institution, and serves the country’s poorest state. Bihar, with a per capita income of approximately $160, a 90 percent illiteracy rate, and 37 million of its 90 million people living below the poverty line, is one of the most densely populated agglomerations of poor people anywhere in the world, reports the World Bank. Over the next five years, Saija plans outreach to households in several of the poorest states in India: Bihar, Jharkhand, Chhattisgarh, Madhya Pradesh and Uttar Pradesh. Saija aims to serve 400,000 customers by 2014 with group and individual loans, microinsurance and remittances, and will also roll out financial literacy training, as well as consumer protection assessment work through ACCION's Center for Financial Inclusion. For the last year, ACCION has been providing technical assistance to Saija, primarily through the secondment of commercial and operations managers. Going forward, ACCION's technical assistance will assist Saija in testing and deploying innovative technologies and delivery channels, such as mobile phone-based payment services or point of sale (POS) terminals. With its investment, ACCION will also play an active governance role in the organization, joining founders S.R. Sinha and Rashmi Sinha. "Bihar faces some of the most extreme poverty in the world," said Michael Schlein, president and CEO of ACCION. "It is a very difficult environment. And yet, in a relatively short time, Saija has shown that it has what it takes to thrive and innovate in one of the world’s most challenging markets. We’re delighted to partner with Saija in its drive to deliver a full array of financial services to a vastly underserved population." "As we ramp up our outreach to India’s poorest states, we are fortunate to have ACCION as a partner to help us grow in the right way, mindful of the needs of our customers and with the technical know-how to develop cutting-edge services tailored to those needs," said S.R. Sinha, co-founder of Saija. About ACCION in India ACCION first launched microfinance operations in India in 2005, in order to make a substantive contribution to the outreach and impact of microfinance in major urban areas. Through its subsidiary, ACCION Technical Advisors India, headquartered in Bangalore, ACCION today provides management services, technical assistance, training and investment to MFIs across the country. Current partners include Swadhaar FinServe in Mumbai; YES SAMPANN, the microfinance initiative of YES Bank, also in Mumbai; Grameen Financial Services Private Limited, in Bangalore; and now Saija Finance in Bihar. ACCION also runs an industry training center in Bangalore, and has recently expanded its successful client education program, 'Dialogue on Business,' to meet the unique needs of the sub-continent.

Greenbuild 2009 Conference Goes “Carbon-Neutral” with the Help of Renewable Energy and Offset Donations

2009-11-12 12:56:16 -0500

Leonardo Academy announced today that the emissions resulting from the U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC)'s annual Greenbuild International Conference & Exposition have been offset through the generous donations of carbon offsets and renewable energy certificates (RECs) from Milliken & Company and WindCurrent, respectively. This marks the 8th year that Leonardo Academy's Cleaner and Greener® Program has donated its services to the USGBC for quantifying and procuring the offsets for the event's greenhouse gas emissions and emissions that affect health. Based on projected Greenbuild attendance and energy use, the donations to this year's conference in Phoenix, Arizona, have offset 100 percent of the greenhouse gas, sulfur dioxide, and mercury emissions, as well a portion of the nitrogen oxides and particulate emissions associated with the event. Due to this emission reduction achievement, Greenbuild 2009 earned Gold-level certification through the Cleaner and Greener® Program. Greenbuild, an annual conference hosted by the USGBC, brings together sustainability-minded people from all over the world to address the future of the built environment. In an effort to make Greenbuild a sustainable event, renewable energy certificate (REC) provider WindCurrent donated 3,100 MWh of RECs to completely offset the electricity use from the event, and Milliken donated 12,500 metric tonnes of carbon offsets to offset the remainder of the greenhouse gas emissions. WindCurrent's donation of RECs included Green-e certified wind-generated renewable energy from wind farms in the eastern United States. The carbon offsets donated by Milliken were created through carbon sequestered in the company's existing forests, which were assessed according to the Leonardo Academy Draft Standard for Trial Use for Emissions Inventories, Offsets, Reduction Credits, and TAGs. This donation from Milliken, a founding member of the USGBC, stems from a long-term commitment to the organization. Leonardo Academy's Cleaner and Greener® Program calculated the emissions resulting from the energy used at the event facility, as well as for travel, meals, and lodging associated with the event. This year's conference is expected to host more than 20,000 attendees, who will incur over 2 million vehicle miles and over 40 million flight passenger miles in transit to and from the Phoenix event, which will make a weighty contribution to the event's emissions impact. In addition to the substantial donations made by Milliken and WindCurrent, Greenbuild vendors, exhibitors, and general attendees also have the opportunity to offset the emissions associated with individual attendance by purchasing offsets through the Cleaner and Greener® website (www.cleanerandgreener.org/greenbuild2009.html). Donated and purchased emissions offsets will be permanently retired to offset the carbon dioxide (CO2) and other greenhouse gas emissions (methane, CH4 and nitrous oxide, N2O) as well as the health--impacting sulfur dioxide (SO2), nitrogen oxides (NOX), particulate matter (PM10 and PM2.5) and mercury (Hg) emissions resulting from the use of the convention center and the travel, meals, and lodging connected to the conference. The pre-event estimates of the event emissions and offset achievements are posted on Leonardo Academy’s Cleaner and Greener® website(www.cleanerandgreener.org). This website also breaks down the total event emissions to the level of emissions per attendee, and provides a means for attendees to offset their personal event emissions. Following Greenbuild, the emissions and offset achievements will be updated to reflect actual event attendance and additional donations made during the event. Michael Arny, President of Leonardo Academy, stated, "Milliken and WindCurrent have, through their donations, brought to light the importance of two very different, but equally important emissions topics: the sequestration of carbon in existing forests and the continued support of renewable energy. It is wonderful that both of these companies have stepped up to make Greenbuild a carbon-neutral event again this year." About Milliken (www.sustainablecarpet.com) Milliken & Company, a founding member of US Green Building Council, achieves carbon negative certification without purchased credits. The privately-held international chemical and textile manufacturer uses alternative energy and generates zero waste to landfill from carpet manufacturing. Supporting its No Carpet to Landfill Pledge, all Milliken carpet products may be renewed, reused or recycled. Milliken champions sustainable principles and practices internally and in partnership with others. Together with USGBC, the company annually recognizes the achievements of local USGBC organizations by presenting the annual Chapter Awards of Excellence during Greenbuild. About WindCurrent (www.windcurrent.com) The WindCurrent company has been providing LEED-spec Renewable Energy Certificates to US institutions since 2002. Its current customers include the US Department of Energy, the World Bank, the National Institute of Health, M&T Bank, and Random House. WindCurrent has also greened most of the US federal buildings across the planet. About the U.S. Green Building Council (www.usgbc.org) The Washington, D.C.-based U.S. Green Building Council is committed to a prosperous and sustainable future for our nation through cost-efficient and energy-saving green buildings. With a community comprising 78 local affiliates, more than 20,000 member companies and organizations, and more than 131,000 LEED Accredited Professionals, USGBC is the driving force of an industry that is projected to contribute $554 billion to the U.S. gross domestic product from 2009-2013. USGBC leads an unlikely diverse constituency of builders and environmentalists, corporations and nonprofit organizations, elected officials and concerned citizens, and teachers and students. Buildings in the United States are responsible for 39% of CO2 emissions, 40% of energy consumption, 13% water consumption and 15% of GDP per year, making green building a source of significant economic and environmental opportunity. Greater building efficiency can meet 85% of future U.S. demand for energy, and a national commitment to green building has the potential to generate 2.5 million American jobs. About Leonardo Academy (www.leonardoacademy.org) Leonardo Academy is a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization founded in 1997 that is dedicated to advancing sustainability and putting the competitive market to work on improving the environment. We develop and distribute strategies, guidance, metrics, standards, education, and information on how to increase sustainability. We also help companies, organizations, families, and individuals successfully promote, encourage, and implement sustainability. Our integrated approach makes sustainability very practical for our clients. We provide sustainability assessments and strategies for companies and organizations, LEED® implementation and certification, emissions footprint analysis plus emission reduction and offset strategies, sustainable land management, sustainability education and training, and certification of emission reduction and offset achievements through our Cleaner and Greener® Program for events, companies and organizations.