Four Steps to Becoming a Sustainable 21st Century Organization

Companies want to ensure the greatest environmental and economic return on each dollar (and hour) spent on sustainability. So which individuals or groups can you influence to support your sustainability efforts? Which individuals or groups pose the greatest business risk with respect to your environmental performance? Where do you start? And what do you do? Read More

My search for the Woodstock baby

The Woodstock Music and Art Fair of August 1969 gave birth to lots of things, but no babies. Read More

Cosentino's ECO Countertops Earn Cradle to Cradle Certification

ECO by Cosentino, a line of countertops and surfaces made from 75 percent recycled material, has received Cradle to Cradle Silver certification from McDonough Braungart Design Chemistry. Read More

Counting Carbon at Madison Square Garden

Deutsche Bank and MIT unveiled the world's first scientifically valid, real-time display of greenhouse gas emissions in the atmosphere. Read More

AAC: A Concrete Reason Why You Can't Have a Bullet-Proof Home in California

We all know how important it is to live in a green -- not to mention bullet-proof -- structure, so one would think that a progressive state like California would allow for the use of autoclaved aerated concrete. Not so. The situation is illustrative of the issues that accompany incorporating new materials into traditional building codes. Read More

Footprint. Handprint. Blueprint: How Business Can Tackle Climate Change

To tackle a problem like climate change, we will need new partnerships among business, government and civil society -- a "Triangle of Sustainability" -- to achieve the scale and the speed that climate change requires. Read More

Beyond Metaphor: Biomimicry and the Case of the Gecko

Designers of tomorrow's buildings have to go beyond metaphors in order to apply truly useful biomimetic innovation to the problems of our built world. For years researchers have been studying how geckos adhere to walls, and how humans can harness that ability. Read More

U.K. Retailers Tesco, Marks & Spencer Report Progress in Reducing Carbon Emissions

Tesco, the largest retailer in the United Kingdom, has been awarded the Carbon Trust Standard for its efforts to reduce its carbon footprint, and Marks & Spencer’s latest sustainability report says the chain cut its carbon emissions by 18 percent. Read More

IBM: CSR is Good for Business

IBM has some advice for companies that are tempted to ease up on their commitment to corporate social responsibility during the recession: Don’t. Read More

It's the Structure, Stupid: Why Nature is a Better Builder

Nature has been practicing feedback loops for billions of years, and builders are now implementing feedback loops (through advanced programming and sensors) in structures to optimize their performance. While humans have created bigger and longer structures than nature, we still have a lot to learn from nature about optimization. Read More