Recently our campaign Climate Project Connectors started a new voluntary initiative “We Ecopreneurs” to empower local village women in the sub division Balakot (Pakistan) by exploiting opportunities for income generation through organic farming. There are reasons that we started this initiative. The first thing is the conservative rural society that always obstructs women to access income-generating opportunities as compared to men. This makes them dependent and excluded from decision making. Women usually work in fields to help their male family members, but their work is often unrewarded. Another reason is that inorganic methods of farming and other interrelated factors have negative impact on local environment and natural resources. The solution we opted for was a competition among three selected village women. Ms. Rashda, one of our female volunteers (we call them connectors in our campaign) selected three potential village women through a women’s organization (WO). The connector voluntarily trained these women in preparation of plot, selection of indigenous vegetable seeds, use of organic fertilizer and organic pest management. In the next step the selected women also received orientation on sale and marketing of produce to earn income as well as to make them aware of food insecurity due to the impacts of climate change. Introducing these village women as ecopreneurs through regular mentorship is also one of the objectives of this initiative. This is a pilot initiative of the Climate Project Connectors to link the environment and income generation in sustainable manner. The competition in this initiative is also an innovation for local women. The woman who will get more profit from the sale of produce will get the first cash prize and so the 2 nd and 3 rd position as well. This will be an encouragement for these ecopreneurs to increase the culture of organic kitchen gardening in the future and to be self-sustained. It is a noteworthy observation that due to the heavy monsoon rains and massive flooding in Pakistan, the families of those three women also shifted to surrounding areas and Mansehra city along with other affected households, however after the flood water went down and families returned to their village in Balakot, the plots fortunately remained safe from the landslide and the turnip seeds have also started germination. Our voluntary campaign is very optimistic for the success of this pilot initiative of organic competition that will start giving results in the coming three to four weeks. We look forward to engagong more women to seek environmently friendly income-generating opportunities for their livelihoods by promoting the “We Ecopreneurs” idea. Visit our  blog on climate change campaign in Pakistan: http://asifoghi.blogspot.com Photo Credit: Ms. Rashda,  one of the Climate Project Connectors in Pakistan Related Post: Ecopreneurship: The Best Option To Rehabilitate Flood Affectees in Pakistan

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We Ecopreneurs- empowering local village women for sustainable income generation

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

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

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

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EPA Unveils New Grading System for Fuel Efficient Vehicles

We love the idea of the Swedish TreeHotel, with its Almost Invisible Mirrored Tree House and its The Bird’s Nest Tree House that Hides Among The Branches . The bird house designer, Bertil HarstrAm of Inredningsgruppen , has another in the works: a UFO…. Read the full story on TreeHugger

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UFO Lands In Swedish Tree House Hotel

Editor’s note: This is a guest post by Emily Smith, Manager of Marketing and Business Development at BloomSpot , sharing her experience in using social media to help build a mission-based business initiative. BloomSpot is an online lifestyle magazine featuring the best restaurants, hotels, spas and more in SF, NY and LA. BloomSpot’s Community Circles program is a social buying program, enabling members to contribute to a cause of their choice, while shopping online . In a space where competition is strong and barriers to entry are relatively low, it’s important as an entrepreneur to always be testing new ideas. Although your business may offer a particular service, there are many creative ways to appeal to your customers. When launching a new initiative it’s important to be open to all avenues that a certain program can take and let the direction ultimately be guided by your users. With Community Circles, any organization can easily create a Community Circle on BloomSpot, and anyone can join to support their cause. From that point on every time a Circle member makes a purchase, BloomSpot will donate a percentage back to the organization. Like any new initiative, dedicated outreach is critical to getting started. However, organic growth plays a huge part in sustaining expansion. By leveraging social media channels and promoting success stories, Circles has grown significantly since its launch in June. We encourage all of our partners to utilize a variety of channels to share their Circle, as each channel reaches and affects people differently. We encourage the use of Facebook and Twitter, but also emphasize the value of personal email and super-users who can help drive the message.  In addition, we make it very easy for a user to share their Circle with others on the site. Designing a user interface that facilitates viral growth is critical. We’ve also set up our own Circle specific Twitter account (@BloomSpotCircle) to share stories with other nonprofits and interested users. While sharing our story is important, we also emphasize participation in the overall dialogue around social business online. In tough economic times, this extra and low-effort stream of fundraising has been a huge benefit for nonprofit organizations. Organizations of all sizes are taking advantage of Circles as a source of online fundraising. Kiva , an international nonprofit that empowers individuals to lend to entrepreneurs across the globe, is launching Community Circles for their supporters to join in cities across the U.S.  At the same time, more local organizations such as the Voices of New York are also getting great results. To find the right solution, in any industry, it’s important to keep an open channel of communication with your users. Encourage open feedback in the design process and truly listen to what it is your users need. “Working with Circles at BloomSpot has been a delight”, says the Executive Director of a participating Circle “it’s the easiest fundraising we’ve ever done. You can easily join or start a Circle to contribute to a cause of your choice by visiting the BloomSpot Community Circles page or contact circelsupport@bloomspot.com for more information! As consumers become more socially and environmentally conscious there are huge opportunities to sustainably integrate “doing good” into your business model. This will not only result in a socially responsible business that you can be proud of, but also help differentiate from competitors in a way that builds loyalty with your users. Related Posts: Ecopreneur Interview Series: DoGood Headquarters Inc. How to Do Cause Marketing Without Causing Chaos The Rise of Cause Marketing How to Do Cause-Related Marketing Well

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Connecting Consumers to Causes on BloomSpot

This is a guest post by Julie E. Gabrielli, NCARB LEED, a green business advisor, founder of GOforChange.com and author of the greening business action list with a twist! . Keith Lasoya, founder of  Waste Neutral , owns an organics waste hauling company that collects source-separated “all food” scraps (pre- and post-consumer) waste in the Baltimore, MD metro area. Simply put, Waste Neutral turns smelly food scraps into rich compost. Founded in January 2008, the company has a simple mission. As articulated by Lasoya, “Most people, when they think about recycling, they think about paper, plastic, glass and metals. We want to remind everyone that food waste is the forgotten recyclable resource and ironically was being recycled way before the other man-made materials.” Their customers primarily consist of restaurants, large educational institutions and commercial properties with outsourced food service vendors, but they also service large food production companies such as McCormick Spice in Hunt Valley. Mr. Losoya attributes part of their success to their flexible approach that minimizes their customers’ effort and costs.  “If it is organic and compostable, we will take it. This includes meat, fish, poultry, soiled napkins etc., to simplify the customers’ separation requirements.” This is important to note, since in the early days of composting, the facilities only accepted “clean,” un-bagged vegetable scrap waste. From a practical standpoint, it is difficult for food service operations to sub-separate, so composting was not an option. Size and volume of business Mr. Lasoya has a couple of business partners. They outsource most of their staff, both drivers and sorters. The total is about six people, including the outsourced folks, who are paid as 1099 contractors. The sorters do waste audits for LEED-EB buildings. Waste Neutral also services a lot of events, for which they bring on extra people. It’s difficult in this start-up phase to take on more full-time employees. However, Mr. Lasoya notes that working on a contingent basis can be the best of both worlds for both business owners and workers. Currently, Waste Neutral hauls 50 tons per week, which will increase as they expand with routes to Annapolis and Frederick. They operate six trucks, powered by biodiesel when it is available. Selling point to potential clients Every account is different, but they generally find that within three to six months, costs either are either neutral or a savings to the client. For starters, Waste Neutral’s tipping fees are lower: $45/ton, as compared with between $55 to $65 per ton to landfill or incinerate unsorted waste. Separating organic materials (food scraps) for composting benefits the customer, because this diverts the wettest, densest, smelliest stuff from their other trash. This reduces both the amount and size of containers to their current hauler, resulting in further cost savings. Biggest challenge Route logistics is the biggest challenge. As Lasoya has learned, in the hauling world, the path to profit is through density of the route. The more stops along one route, the better. It’s simply not profitable to be too strung out, which means they can’t say yes to everyone. Advice for would-be green entrepreneurs Lasoya’s advice is: “Do something you are passionate about. Partner with someone who knows the industry sector. Don’t try to do everything yourself, especially if you don’t have a working background in the industry. Partnering will avoid a lot of costly mistakes.” Choosing a profitable business model is key to success. Coming from the volatile retail sector, he is very happy with the recurring-income business model of waste hauling. Waste Neutral has ongoing monthly contracts with their customers, so they can easily do cash-flow and profit projections. Best thing about the business In every successful business, Mr. Lasoya notes, there’s always a labor of love aspect. For Waste Neutral, it’s the educational component. He just loves seeing the students separating the waste into the composting bin. They always make it a point to have big bins for composting and for other recycling and a tiny bin for landfill waste. Mr. Lasoya is amazed at how quickly people adapt to this new way of doing things. When they first got into it, they thought customers would require multiple trainings for dining staff, maintenance people, students, everyone. Instead, people just forget about the old way of doing things and they do not slip back. It’s a transparent transition, so it’s not nearly as cost-prohibitive as some clients might have thought. Through a program called “compost credits,” their clients can enjoy the fruits of their labor by receiving compost made from their food waste. It can be used on their property or donated to a community garden. In many cases, this compost becomes part of an educational program with students at the school. This completes the cycle and lets them see firsthand that food scraps are indeed a valuable, recyclable resource. Photo: Waste Neutral .

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Turning Smelly Food Scraps Into Gold

If the world does indeed go on past 2012, the U.S. should see major stimulus money improve renewable energy efforts.  Vice President Joe Biden said on Tuesday , “Government stimulus spending has put the country on track to double renewable energy production capacity by 2012 and halve solar power costs by 2015.” “The report outlined a goal of doubling renewable energy capacity from the 28.8 gigawatts of solar, wind and geothermal sources installed as of the end of 2008 to 57.6 GW by the end of 2011, which would be enough to power 16.7 million homes, or 55 million electric cars, for a year,” reports Reuters . This sounds great on paper, but the Associated Press seems to believe we didn’t get all the facts in the report Biden presented on Tuesday.  One such fact check is below, to see all of them go here . “The claim: Government stimulus money will lead to “cutting the cost of solar power in half by 2015, putting it on par with the cost of retail electricity from the grid.” The facts: That projection assumes a huge payoff from stimulus spending on technology improvements in solar energy. [Robert L ]Nelson, who has worked in renewable energy for 25 years, called the prediction “highly unlikely,” unless there is a big increase in utility-scale solar power projects.” Many states seem to be putting more efforts into renewable energy, but some aren’t stepping up to bat. The SunSentinel is reporting that , “Florida taxpayers spent $135,000 on a study that concluded that the Sunshine State has sufficient sunshine to power 20 million homes. There’s zero support to the mass production of a zero-energy house standard by Florida officials, politicians, even the “people’s governor.” This level of efficiency is mandated in the 27-nation EU and in California by 2020.” Hopefully this report will jumpstart states like Florida to take note and do their part.  For now most of us need to research what we can do to keep up with renewable energy.  There are many options (and usually tax write-offs) available to all of us. Photo credit: www.badidea.co.uk Shannon Suetos is an expert writer on payroll processing based in San Diego, California.  She writes extensively for an online resource that provides expert advice on purchasing and outsourcing decisions for small business owners and entrepreneurs such as small business payroll services at Resource Nation .

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Stimulus Money to Help Renewable Energy

If you’re like most business owners, you want to provide value to your customers in a way that gives you an edge over the competition. That means seizing opportunities to provide offerings that deliver more value to your customers than your competitors deliver. Remember, your commitment to the environment is a competitive advantage. By being green, you can attract customers who value your environmental offerings. If you’re looking for ways to enhance your competitive advantage with sustainable business practices ask yourself a few key questions that can help you identify additional green opportunities: Are there new customer segments that you can attract? Which customers will have a greater interest in your offerings? Consider how your green-ness will be attractive to customers you don’t currently serve. Can you now market to health-conscious consumers? Thrifty consumers? Practical consumers? How can you expand your products or services to meet the needs of new consumers or businesses that care about sustainability? Can you add a greater selection of green and Fair Trade products? Can you offer one-stop-shopping for green products such as office supplies or gardening supplies? How much do you need or want to shift your focus in order to attract each consumer segment? Can you increase your market share? Will your green efforts allow you to attract the competition’s customers? What new markets will open to you? If you are a B2B business, is there a consumer market you can now tap into? If you are a B2C business, is there a business market you might now be able to attract? Are there new product lines you can now offer? Can you release green line extensions of existing offerings? What about green services that are not available in your area? Is you business in a position to provide these services? Will going green improve your bottom line? Will it reduce your expenses? Allow you to take advantage of new tax conditions? Free up capital for other investments? Generate new profit centers or improve existing profit margins? Reduce governmental oversight or paperwork requirements? Are there new opportunities to influence your customers or your industry? Can you reduce demand for resources by steering your clients toward sustainable behavior? Think about how going green creates value and think of all the opportunities it opens up. These are your new green opportunities. Photo: Sxc.hu

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7 Questions For A Greener Competitive Advantage

Photo via Plinkk This year’s coffee prices area already at a 12-year high due to low crop yields in South America, but it looks like prices could tighten again in the future if a particular beetle continues to bask in warming weather. Arabica coffee, a climate-sensitive plant, is grown in Ethiopia and Latin America. However, Ethiopia and other regions have seen a slow but steady rise in average temperatures, more variable rain fall, and what could be most devastating, the spread of the coffee berry borer beetle which enjoys just such a temperature rise to be able to move into new locations. Non-existent in the late 1960s, the beetle is now widespread, and could become a major problem in future coffee crops. … Read the full story on TreeHugger

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Global Warming-Loving Beetle Threatens World’s Coffee Supply

The East Kensington neighborhood of Philadelphia, Pa. has something to be proud about, and this time it’s not the historical appeal of the Liberty Bell. Postgreen , a real estate development company focusing on modern and eco-friendly development in Philadelphia’s urban neighborhoods, recently completed an undertaking called the “ 100K Project ,” two houses that prove that green construction can be affordable if properly designed and executed. The project’s name came from Postgreen’s target construction cost, consisting of labor and materials only, for the smaller of the two loft townhomes. The larger was actually allotted a $120K target. According to the project website, the concept behind the 100K house is to offer an affordable home that prioritizes quality, design, energy efficiency, health and sustainability all rolled into one, where cost-effective design translates into the greatest value at the lowest price. “[The 100K Project] was our very first new construction project and we were trying to do something pretty ambitious, so there was an exceptional amount of pre-construction research and design,” says Nic Darling, Postgreen marketing and public relations. Instead of focusing on flashy “green” materials, the company spent its money and effort on energy efficiency: insulation, air sealing, windows and thermal bridging reduction. Recycled-content materials and local production were secondary due to their often-prohibitive costs. Regardless, the final result is certainly an accomplishment, as both homes use half the energy of a new construction code-built home and about a third of the energy of an existing Philly row home. “[They] took almost 8 months to build total, which felt like quite a long time to us. We have since built homes in half the time,” Darling says. The 100K blog chronicled the houses’ construction, which evolved into a larger conversation about the way we build and live. The three main contributors are Darling, Postgreen President Chad Ludeman and Postgreen Chief Financial Officer Courtney Ludeman. During the intensive research and design process, the team was stunned by the U.S.’ limited accessibility of materials and techniques. “Many of the homes we admire were built in Europe and their performance is greatly aided by available products that we couldn’t get affordably,” Darling remarks. “However, we were also surprised how much we could accomplish with fairly standard, cost-competitive measures after doing the legwork.” Both finished two-level houses – which are sold, though more are promised – are LEED-certified Platinum and Energy Star-certified. They also feature solar thermal hot water, radiant in-floor heating, rainwater collection, low-flow water appliances and low or no VOC finishes. Currently, Postgreen is working hard to establish the brand in Philadelphia while actively seeking investment partners to reach a national level of affordable home development. Darling says that, due to countrywide inquiries, the company would love to find a way to deliver the homes to a wider audience and is open to reader ideas on this topic. Postgreen also has two more projects in the works, called the Passive Project and the Skinny Project . Related articles DIY vs. Splurge: Home Décor Where Your Home Is Losing Money The Hottest Trend in Eco Housing

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New Eco-friendly Home With a Feasible $100K Price Tag