Chef Marcus Samuelsson, owner in Harlem, New York of a restaurant called the Red Rooster, has lots to say about the impact of food on popular culture and values. Born in Ethiopia but raised in Sweden, Samuelsson's background is as diverse as his cuisine. He promotes "eating with a spiritual compass, with spirituality in mind". He explains: we need to think harder about what's in our plates, where it came from and how what we eat affects us and our planet. Is it tomato or corn season when you eat it or has it been shipped from who knows
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Saturday, January 29, 2011
Wednesday, January 26, 2011
Reducing Emissions and Benefitting the Environment
Lafarge Shui On Cement is actively reducing the environmental footprint of its cement production and contributing to social development in China. One of the company’s first steps has been to close down 38 high-energy consumption, obsolete vertical kilns and wet kiln production lines. To do so, it invested some US$ 900 million in technology upgrades and in new dry lines from 2005-2009.
Dust, NOx and SO2 emissions have been cut by 90%, 49% and 78% respectively per metric ton of clinker produced in the cement plants, and CO2 emissions have been reduced by 29% per metric ton of cement produced between 1990 and 2009. Lafarge Shui On Cement is continuing to explore further low-carbon energy solutions, including projects focusing on sludge usage, soil remediation and quarry rehabilitation.
In local communities throughout China, Lafarge Shui On Cement is actively engaging its stakeholders, sharing its experiences and providing the general public with a safe, comfortable and high-quality living environment. During a June 2009 CEO roundtable for the country’s leading cement companies organized by Lafarge Group and the China Cement Association, all participating cement companies signed a sustainable development declaration, the first common plan and commitment to sustainable development shared by China’s top cement enterprises.
As another major achievement of this meeting, five top Chinese cement companies joined the Cement Sustainable Initiative (CSI). It has been regarded as a milestone in China’s cement history as they are the first Chinese cement companies to join.
In September 2009, Lafarge Shui On Cement signed a strategic cooperation agreement with the Chongqing Municipal People’s Government to accelerate the city’s sustainable development. This strategic partnership covers all of Lafarge’s business operations in China, from cement to ready-mixed concrete to aggregates and plasterboard. Lafarge has already operated several successful modules in the city, including a waste heat recovery project, a sludge usage project, soil remediation via sustainable cement kiln practices, and a project centered on the use of flue gas desulfurization gypsum (a waste material produced through the desulfurization of flue gases in power stations and heating plants in high amounts that has a good potential for application in building structures).
These projects explore new solutions for the harmless treatment and use of local waste and have presented good results. For example, the sludge usage project in Chongqing could help the city treat over 30,000 metric tons of sludge per year, which not only reduces the amounts of sludge occupying land, but also precludes the need for investment in incineration, and significantly reduces coal consumption, dioxin pollution and CO2 emissions.
This article was first published in the November 2010 edition of Sustain magazine by the World Business Council for Sustainable Development.
Dust, NOx and SO2 emissions have been cut by 90%, 49% and 78% respectively per metric ton of clinker produced in the cement plants, and CO2 emissions have been reduced by 29% per metric ton of cement produced between 1990 and 2009. Lafarge Shui On Cement is continuing to explore further low-carbon energy solutions, including projects focusing on sludge usage, soil remediation and quarry rehabilitation.
In local communities throughout China, Lafarge Shui On Cement is actively engaging its stakeholders, sharing its experiences and providing the general public with a safe, comfortable and high-quality living environment. During a June 2009 CEO roundtable for the country’s leading cement companies organized by Lafarge Group and the China Cement Association, all participating cement companies signed a sustainable development declaration, the first common plan and commitment to sustainable development shared by China’s top cement enterprises.
As another major achievement of this meeting, five top Chinese cement companies joined the Cement Sustainable Initiative (CSI). It has been regarded as a milestone in China’s cement history as they are the first Chinese cement companies to join.
In September 2009, Lafarge Shui On Cement signed a strategic cooperation agreement with the Chongqing Municipal People’s Government to accelerate the city’s sustainable development. This strategic partnership covers all of Lafarge’s business operations in China, from cement to ready-mixed concrete to aggregates and plasterboard. Lafarge has already operated several successful modules in the city, including a waste heat recovery project, a sludge usage project, soil remediation via sustainable cement kiln practices, and a project centered on the use of flue gas desulfurization gypsum (a waste material produced through the desulfurization of flue gases in power stations and heating plants in high amounts that has a good potential for application in building structures).
These projects explore new solutions for the harmless treatment and use of local waste and have presented good results. For example, the sludge usage project in Chongqing could help the city treat over 30,000 metric tons of sludge per year, which not only reduces the amounts of sludge occupying land, but also precludes the need for investment in incineration, and significantly reduces coal consumption, dioxin pollution and CO2 emissions.
This article was first published in the November 2010 edition of Sustain magazine by the World Business Council for Sustainable Development.
Saturday, January 22, 2011
One Woman against the Odds in Somalia
Although gunmen raided her hospital in Somalia destroying equipment and records, Dr. Hawa Abdi's compound continues to offer a refuge to thousands. The clinic, school and feeding program she built on her property over three decades help an estimated 100,000 people find relative safety from the fighting and poverty in Somalia, not far from Mogadishu. Today Dr. Adbi's persistence and humanitarianism has resulted in a two-story 400-bed hospital with free medical care, 3 operating theaters, 6 doctors, 43 nurses, a school with 800 students and a center for women where they learn nutrition and sewing. What's more, Dr. Abdi's work will continue despite her 63 years of age and an operation to remove a tumor in her brain; her two daughters will ensure the haven of healing she built continues. Read more about this amazing woman in an IHT article.
Tuesday, January 18, 2011
Microbes that Might Cure Us
A huge number of microbes live in and on us. They're in our lungs, mouths and intestines, and on our skin. Scientists know they help us digest, breaking down what we eat, but they are discovering that each individual's microbiome, the collection of microbes in their body, helps protect them. For example, bacteria in the nose produce antibiotics that attack viruses we breathe in. They have also been found to cure infections in the digestive tract and elsewhere and to help the immune system. Yet researchers still don't know exactly how microbes operate on our health, or why studies disclose that diseases are often associated with major changes in our bacterial ecosystems. For example, people who suffer from asthma have a different set of microbes from people without the condition. And obese people have species not found in normal-weight people. So scientists are investigating the huge number of microbes in our bodies and their DNA to find out more about how they help keep us healthy. That knowledge will help discover how the microbiome can be used to fight disease. Read Carl Zimmer's article How Microbes Defend and Define Us for more details.
Saturday, January 15, 2011
Driving Sustainable Development in China
ITT, a high-technology engineering and manufacturing company, operates on all seven continents, but is currently seeing its fastest and largest growth in China – where ITT’s water and wastewater pump systems play an increasingly prominent role in that country's expanding infrastructure development. By investing and establishing a presence in China over the past century, ITT has built credibility and a reputation for reliability among the Chinese people and government officials.
ITT has demonstrated its commitment to promoting sustainable development in China through the installation of energy- and water-efficient products and technologies in small- and large-scale projects, thus tackling China’s water access and quality issues.
Frequently, ITT’s customers in China are cities and project-based corporations working on major government infrastructure projects such as Three Gorges Dam, the South-North Water Diversion Project, the Suzhou Subway and the country’s numerous wastewater initiatives in Beijing, Shenyang and Kunming. Most recently, ITT committed to helping China’s Chongqing Water Group construct the sustainable water transport networks that are necessary to improve the quality and supply of freshwater in Chongqing, the largest city in Western China.
Internally, ITT’s manufacturing plants in Shenyang and Nanjing incorporate "green" practices, such as water treatment technologies that enable almost total water reuse and zero wastewater discharge – with the Nanjing plant conserving over 18,000 liters of water and wastewater each day.
To address the country’s water access and quality issues, ITT collaborated with the Center for Rural Drinking Water Safety, part of China’s Ministry of Water Resources, to complete two water treatment plants in China as part of a pilot project to find sustainable solutions for rural drinking water issues. The two plants supply more than 15,000 local residents with purified water that meets or surpasses national standards.
ITT also promotes sustainable development in China through its philanthropic efforts in the region. ITT Watermark, ITT’s signature corporate citizenship program, partnered with the China Women’s Development Foundation, a non-profit organization dedicated to improving the lives of women and children, to provide eight rural schools with safe drinking water, new sanitation facilities, and education on water safety and hygiene. ITT also deployed its technology to address water distress following the 2008 Sichuan earthquake, providing safe drinking water to more than 200,000 earthquake survivors.
ITT has demonstrated its commitment to promoting sustainable development in China through the installation of energy- and water-efficient products and technologies in small- and large-scale projects, thus tackling China’s water access and quality issues.
Frequently, ITT’s customers in China are cities and project-based corporations working on major government infrastructure projects such as Three Gorges Dam, the South-North Water Diversion Project, the Suzhou Subway and the country’s numerous wastewater initiatives in Beijing, Shenyang and Kunming. Most recently, ITT committed to helping China’s Chongqing Water Group construct the sustainable water transport networks that are necessary to improve the quality and supply of freshwater in Chongqing, the largest city in Western China.
Internally, ITT’s manufacturing plants in Shenyang and Nanjing incorporate "green" practices, such as water treatment technologies that enable almost total water reuse and zero wastewater discharge – with the Nanjing plant conserving over 18,000 liters of water and wastewater each day.
To address the country’s water access and quality issues, ITT collaborated with the Center for Rural Drinking Water Safety, part of China’s Ministry of Water Resources, to complete two water treatment plants in China as part of a pilot project to find sustainable solutions for rural drinking water issues. The two plants supply more than 15,000 local residents with purified water that meets or surpasses national standards.
ITT also promotes sustainable development in China through its philanthropic efforts in the region. ITT Watermark, ITT’s signature corporate citizenship program, partnered with the China Women’s Development Foundation, a non-profit organization dedicated to improving the lives of women and children, to provide eight rural schools with safe drinking water, new sanitation facilities, and education on water safety and hygiene. ITT also deployed its technology to address water distress following the 2008 Sichuan earthquake, providing safe drinking water to more than 200,000 earthquake survivors.
Tuesday, January 11, 2011
200 Countries, 200 Years, 4 Minutes of Your Time to View Progress
Watch this short video to see Swedish medical doctor and statistician Hans Rosling point out the amazing reality of global development since 1810. The visualization really brings the data to life and shows the great progress made.
Friday, January 7, 2011
Offering a Jumpstart in Life
The Leapfrog Scholarship was established in 2010 by Maya Grodman and her family, as an extension of the Maya Library project started in 2004. Only 13 years old at the time, Maya wanted to make a difference in the world. So she collected used books she donated monthly
to the Charis Center, an orphanage and primary school in Uganda. Her idea was to promote reading for the orphans aged 4 to 14. Since that first book project, the initiative has grown to include the Leapfrog Scholarship, which provides funds for Charis graduates to continue their studies in secondary school. The Charis Center is an orphanage sponsored by Children's Hunger Relief Fund. The first Leapfrog Scholarship winner is 14-year old Lovisa, pictured here. Lovisa's father died of AIDS and her mother is suffering from the disease, but Lovisa is AIDS free.
to the Charis Center, an orphanage and primary school in Uganda. Her idea was to promote reading for the orphans aged 4 to 14. Since that first book project, the initiative has grown to include the Leapfrog Scholarship, which provides funds for Charis graduates to continue their studies in secondary school. The Charis Center is an orphanage sponsored by Children's Hunger Relief Fund. The first Leapfrog Scholarship winner is 14-year old Lovisa, pictured here. Lovisa's father died of AIDS and her mother is suffering from the disease, but Lovisa is AIDS free.The Leapfrog Scholarship will allow her to attend high school for the 3 years of secondary education in Uganda.
More information on the scholarship is available at the Leapfrog Scholarship website. Or, if you wish to contribute pocket change (every little bit helps) or donate a fixed amount of money each month (even just a few dollars), write to
Monday, January 3, 2011
Sustainability through Collaboration
Environmental protection and sustainable development are high on the agenda and the world is seeing initiatives at all levels by international and national bodies, governments and businesses to address the challenges ahead.
For many years, Alstom Power has recognized the importance of the environment in the power generation business and has positioned itself as a clean power provider. Alstom Power is pursuing a global sustainability strategy based on three pillars: management of the ecological, social and economic impact of offices and sites the company owns and operates; Alstom Power’s product footprint and the management of the ecological, social and economic impact of its products from “cradle to grave” (use of raw material, transport, erection, services and end of life of products); and customers’ efforts to produce clean power.
Providing clean power solutions to China
Alstom Power’s global strategy is then applied locally in line with individual national requirements. For instance, in planning the country’s economic and social development, the Chinese government has prioritized cutting carbon dioxide emissions per unit of GDP by 40-45% by 2020 (from 2005 levels).
Alstom Power is contributing to this goal by providing clean solutions in power generation and bringing the most advanced technologies to China. In the area of hydro, the company has fully localized its engineering and manufacturing capabilities over the last 15 years and transferred knowledge and technology to China. Around 28% of the hydro plants in China are now equipped with their technology. In nuclear, Alstom Power is working with partner Dongfang in that direction. With regard to coal, the company is developing Wuhan Boiler Company Ltd., one of the largest and most modern manufacturing sites in the world for efficient utility boilers. And Alstom Power is currently implementing a cooperation agreement with Huazhong University of Science and Technology (HUST), the leading university in China on R&D in carbon capture and storage (CCS), for one of the most promising “new” technologies in the area of CCS. This new agreement builds upon already established agreements with HUST, to provide financial support to outstanding students and teachers.
Fighting climate change through energy efficiency
Energy efficiency in buildings is another means of reaching the Chinese government’s ambitious target. Amongst Alstom Power’s various industrial sites in China, Wuhan Boiler Company Ltd. stands out on a global level in terms of energy efficiency. The decision to construct a new manufacturing facility (210,000 m2) and a five-floor office building (15,000 m2) at Wuhan, allowing more than 1,100 persons on site at any time, provided a perfect opportunity for Alstom Power to reduce its environmental footprint. Various technical initiatives were taken to reduce the environmental impact of the site: detectors, solar-powered water heaters, etc.; system, recyclable wooden insulation panels, recyclable flooring and geothermal heat exchangers that use the earth’s constant subterranean temperature to warm or cool the air, etc.
It is expected that 6,000 tons of CO2 per year will be avoided as a direct result of these innovations.
Acting as a good corporate citizen
Naturally, Alstom Power is also emphasizing its service to the local communities. In support of the Chinese government’s decision to ban the distribution of free plastic bags, employees are actively involved in a project sponsored by the Alstom Foundation to raise environmental awareness by encouraging people to use eco-friendly green bags. The project has supported the manufacture of more than 43,000 durable cloth shopping bags. The Foundation also supports the Meili Mountains National Park Project to preserve the biodiversity of mountains at Yunnan Province. In addition, Alstom Power encourages employees to launch individual initiatives.
Alstom Power is proud of its achievements so far and is committed to continue supporting its customers, employees and the local communities in their sustainable development ambitions.
First published in the November 2010 edition of Sustain magazine by the World Business Council for Sustainable Development.
For many years, Alstom Power has recognized the importance of the environment in the power generation business and has positioned itself as a clean power provider. Alstom Power is pursuing a global sustainability strategy based on three pillars: management of the ecological, social and economic impact of offices and sites the company owns and operates; Alstom Power’s product footprint and the management of the ecological, social and economic impact of its products from “cradle to grave” (use of raw material, transport, erection, services and end of life of products); and customers’ efforts to produce clean power.
Providing clean power solutions to China
Alstom Power’s global strategy is then applied locally in line with individual national requirements. For instance, in planning the country’s economic and social development, the Chinese government has prioritized cutting carbon dioxide emissions per unit of GDP by 40-45% by 2020 (from 2005 levels).
Alstom Power is contributing to this goal by providing clean solutions in power generation and bringing the most advanced technologies to China. In the area of hydro, the company has fully localized its engineering and manufacturing capabilities over the last 15 years and transferred knowledge and technology to China. Around 28% of the hydro plants in China are now equipped with their technology. In nuclear, Alstom Power is working with partner Dongfang in that direction. With regard to coal, the company is developing Wuhan Boiler Company Ltd., one of the largest and most modern manufacturing sites in the world for efficient utility boilers. And Alstom Power is currently implementing a cooperation agreement with Huazhong University of Science and Technology (HUST), the leading university in China on R&D in carbon capture and storage (CCS), for one of the most promising “new” technologies in the area of CCS. This new agreement builds upon already established agreements with HUST, to provide financial support to outstanding students and teachers.
Fighting climate change through energy efficiency
Energy efficiency in buildings is another means of reaching the Chinese government’s ambitious target. Amongst Alstom Power’s various industrial sites in China, Wuhan Boiler Company Ltd. stands out on a global level in terms of energy efficiency. The decision to construct a new manufacturing facility (210,000 m2) and a five-floor office building (15,000 m2) at Wuhan, allowing more than 1,100 persons on site at any time, provided a perfect opportunity for Alstom Power to reduce its environmental footprint. Various technical initiatives were taken to reduce the environmental impact of the site: detectors, solar-powered water heaters, etc.; system, recyclable wooden insulation panels, recyclable flooring and geothermal heat exchangers that use the earth’s constant subterranean temperature to warm or cool the air, etc.
It is expected that 6,000 tons of CO2 per year will be avoided as a direct result of these innovations.
Acting as a good corporate citizen
Naturally, Alstom Power is also emphasizing its service to the local communities. In support of the Chinese government’s decision to ban the distribution of free plastic bags, employees are actively involved in a project sponsored by the Alstom Foundation to raise environmental awareness by encouraging people to use eco-friendly green bags. The project has supported the manufacture of more than 43,000 durable cloth shopping bags. The Foundation also supports the Meili Mountains National Park Project to preserve the biodiversity of mountains at Yunnan Province. In addition, Alstom Power encourages employees to launch individual initiatives.
Alstom Power is proud of its achievements so far and is committed to continue supporting its customers, employees and the local communities in their sustainable development ambitions.
First published in the November 2010 edition of Sustain magazine by the World Business Council for Sustainable Development.
Saturday, January 1, 2011
Health and Happiness in 2011
May you be blessed with good health in 2011, and not take all that is positive in life for granted. There is much in the world to be happy about, there is much goodness that must be recognized. So share your achievements and positive stories with us all! Happy New Year.
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