The Future Business Leaders of America
The Green Conversation
Catchin’ Up on the Green Conversation!
Sep 28th
Conversation took a short breather as we began the new school year! Let’s catch up!!!
#4: Not to be outdone in the freight game, Wal-Mart is providing funding to the biggest truck manufacturers — ArvinMeritor, Eaton, International, and Peterbilt — to develop the first heavy-duty diesel-hybrid 18-wheeler. Wal-Mart, which operates the second-largest truck fleet in the country, will test the prototypes next year.
#5: Austin-based concert promoter C3 Presents made news when it banned Styrofoam cups from the sixth annual Austin City Limits Music Festival this year. Beneath the quick-hit media pop was a deeper story: Following the model the company created for Lollapalooza, C3 took a holistic approach to greening nearly every aspect of ACL, from bamboo-based concert T-shirts to gel sanitizer in the bathrooms to bio-diesel power generators.
#6: It’s not just hippies making the special-events world eco-friendly. The Philadelphia Eagles claim to be the greenest team in the NFL–and not just because of the color of its jerseys. Starting this season, the team’s “Go Green” environmental campaign has its stadium cleaning crew making two full sweeps after each game–one to pick up recyclables and another for trash.
I probably said this before…but it takes small steps like the three listed above to help make a huge impact on this planet. All we have to do is change our habits just slightly to do our part on helping the environment. We’re not asking you to go extreme and get all hippie on us…but let’s just do our part. No more styrofoam products at chapter events!!! Carpooling as much as we possibly can!!! Recycling everything from paper to e-waste. And help make our friends and family aware of the small things we can do to make a difference. And hey, if you DO want to get big with this, get involved with the chapter’s upcoming E-Waste project. Or give us more ideas on how we can contribute like getting the campus to also get rid of styrofoam at any of the food places on campus and more! Someone has to speak up and if we do it together, we can make it happen!
What are your thoughts and opinions? Keep the conversation going!
- Michelle Nakaji
Co-Internal Director of Leadership Development
michellenakaji@csufpbl.org
[from Fast Company: 50 Ways to Green Your Business http://www.fastcompany.com/multimedia/slideshows/content/50-ways-to-green.html?page=1 ]
The Green Conversation: #3 Green Locomotives!
Aug 25th
WELCOME BACK, TITANS!
Eek, we’re at week 1 of the Fall 2008 semester! I cannot believe that our summer has finally ended. It was an amazing PBL-filled summer starting off with the National Leadership Conference in Atlanta, GA, satisfying our palates mid-summer with our Executive Retreat in Big Bear Lakes, CA, and ending with a nice, professional touch at the Summer Training Institute – South right down the street at Fullerton College! Even though I’d rather stay in bed tomorrow morning…it’s really exciting to finally put all of our plans in motion –just like the topic of our green conversation today: locomotives!
Company #3: General Electric: Green Locomotives
Trains were already the cleanest way to move freight long distances, but in 2005 General Electric raised the game with its Evolution diesel locomotives, which cut fuel consumption by 5% and emissions by 40%. Up next: a hybrid diesel-electric locomotive that, just like your Prius, captures energy from braking and will improve mileage another 10%. According to GE, the energy dissipated in braking a 207-ton locomotive during the course of a year is enough to power 160 homes.
General Electric just shipped 300 Evolution locomotives to Beijing, China! Check it out! Check out how General Electric maintains its position as a leader in it’s industry, branding themselves of innovation with their motto: imagination at work, in their innovation = imagination section of the website! See how they’re becoming a water explorer for Google Earth, how they’ve helped China to harvest wind power, and how they provided over 2200 hours of live footage of the legendary 2008 summer Olympics! One more thing!!! Check out their whole entire website devoted to innovative, green technology and ideas called “ecomagination“.
What are your thoughts and opinions? Keep the conversation going!
- Michelle Nakaji
Co-Internal Director of Leadership Development
michellenakaji@csufpbl.org
[from Fast Company: 50 Ways to Green Your Business http://www.fastcompany.com/multimedia/slideshows/content/50-ways-to-green.html?page=1 ]
The Green Conversation: #2 E-Waste
Aug 3rd
Back again with segment # 2 of “the Green Conversation“. Today’s green content?
#2 E-Waste 
Moore’s Law is great for producing speedier devices, but it’s hell on the environment. According to Greenpeace, demand for new technology creates 4,000 tons of e-waste an hour, which often ends up on dead-hardware mountains in India, Africa, and China. Enter take-back programs, in which customers return spent technology to manufacturers, who recycle the parts for new gadgets. The United States has long lagged behind many European nations, which mandate the programs, but that’s finally changing. Dell is leading the way. Last year, the PC maker recovered 40,000 tons of unwanted equipment for recycling, up 93% from 2005.
Moore’s Law is great for producing speedier devices, but it’s hell on the environment. According to Greenpeace, demand for new technology creates 4,000 tons of e-waste an hour, which often ends up on dead-hardware mountains in India, Africa, and China. Enter take-back programs, in which customers return spent technology to manufacturers, who recycle the parts for new gadgets. The United States has long lagged behind many European nations, which mandate the programs, but that’s finally changing. Dell is leading the way. Last year, the PC maker recovered 40,000 tons of unwanted equipment for recycling, up 93% from 2005.
For more information on Dell’s “environmental responsibility” check out their All About Dell section of dell.com: http://www.dell.com/content/topics/global.aspx/about_dell/values/sustainability/environment/env_resp?~ck=ln&c=us&l=en&lnki=0&s=corp
Check it out…on Saturday, August 23rd, Ease E-Waste is having a FREE PUBLIC DROP OFF DAY! If anyone goes, let us know…we can make a trip out together! We’ll be looking into their non-profit partnership program which has a possible fundraising program for us! So making money AND helping to improve the environment. Now THAT is what I call a partnership! :]
Questions, comments, concerns…let us know! How do you recycle your e-waste? Share! Join the Conversation!
Until next time….
- Michelle Nakaji
michellenakaji@csufpbl.org
[[from Fast Company: 50 Ways to Green Your Business http://www.fastcompany.com/multimedia/slideshows/content/50-ways-to-green.html?page=1 ]
Join the Green Conversation!
Aug 1st
Greetings Titans and Friends!
Michelle Nakaji here! Your 2008-2009 Co-Internal Director of Leadership Development! 
I can’t wait to get this year started! We’ve got an amazing, talented, and passionate team of leaders that will guide you this year and a solid program of work that will surely help us to achieve all of our goals! One of the key issues we will be promoting is “the power of Green” and “sustainability”. After all, we are the future business leaders of America and as such, we must be knowledgeable about key issues and concerns that are effecting the business world! We are a part of the answer – so let’s get it right! I encourage you to join “the Green Conversation” every couple of days here on our blog! We’ll be bringing this information to you in several formats through our blog, our future website, meetings, Twitter, and more!
We’re pulling out all the stops as far as communication tools so stay connected!!! Every couple of days, I will be sharing with you pieces of Fast Company’s “50 Ways to Green Your Business” – short, but awesome, little tidbits on how major companies are greening their business and even saving tons of money! Furthermore, check out my absolute favorite business magazine, Fast Company! You can check more of their Green Content - they’ve got some majorly innovative stuff that you NEED to know about! Let’s check out today’s company!
At $100 a ton, feeding a landfill is pricey. But in the past two years, General Mills has turned its solid waste into profits. Take its oat hulls, a Cheerios by-product. The company used to pay to have them hauled off, but realized they could be burned as fuel. Now customers compete to buy the stuff. In 2006, General Mills recycled 86% of its solid waste, earning more from that than it spent on disposal.
For more on General Mills and their corporate social responsibility, browse their website and/or Social Responsibility Report at: http://www.generalmills.com/corporate/commitment/corp.aspx.
Until next time….share your green knowledge, links, and tips! Leave a comment! Join the Green Conversation! Have a wonderful weekend!
- Michelle Nakaji
michellenakaji@csufpbl.org
[from Fast Company: 50 Ways to Green Your Business http://www.fastcompany.com/multimedia/slideshows/content/50-ways-to-green.html?page=1 ]
