ecofrenzy: what’s good in green

With all this talk about the “triple bottom line,” I have found very few companies who have actually achieved such a thing. Better World Books is one of the few. And I had the privilege of interviewing co-founder Xavier Helgesen to get the scoop. Triple bottom line refers to an organization which considers its impact in terms of people, planet, and profit – or social, environmental, and financial returns.

Better World Books is a for-profit online bookstore founded in 2002 by college students looking to support themselves upon graduation. Better World Books is a B Corporation, meaning it is responsible to not only shareholders but to stakeholders for creating social and environmental as well as economic value. The company gathers inventory through library and school book drives and shares its revenues with hand-selected literacy and education programs as well as libraries world-wide.

People: Supporting Literacy Initiatives Around the World
To date, Better World Books raised over $5 million for its non-profit partners and libraries. About 7% of revenues are channeled directly back to these programs, which include Room To Read and Books For Africa. Xavier Helgesen explained: “People will buy about $20 billion worth of books in the US alone this year. And if we can channel just part of that money to funding literacy programs, we can make a huge dent in the fact that 1 out of 7 people in the world cannot read.”

Not only do these programs receive a portion of revenues, but a new program will provide stock options for Better World Books’ partners, “so they are actually going to begin…to receive an equity stake in the company…so not only are they getting checks from us in the short term based on funds raised, but in the long term, they will actually own a part of the company,” Helgesen told me.
Why the focus on reading education? “Literacy can be a very abstract thing. It can actually be somewhat hard to raise money around but it is the foundation of anything else; it is foundation of self-sufficiency, it is the foundation of entrepreneurship, it is the foundation of education, so that is why we focus on it and it makes a lot of sense too that a book company would fund literacy,” Helgesen said.

Each book drive funds a certain literacy program, “and when [books] are sold to a customer, we then channel part of the sale price back to Books for Africa or whatever the organization was that we collected the books for in the first place.” Helgesen explains, “The idea we came up with was that you could organize book drives for causes because we thought people would give their books if the cause was compelling and if we were transparent about how much of the money was shared back to the cause when we sold the books.”

Planet: Saving Used Books From the Landfill
Better World Books’ methods create environmental value as well as social, saving over 8,200 tons of books from the landfill to date. “Environmentally, we are a company based upon reuse… So we do sell new books but our business model is really based around collecting books that someone does not want and finding someone who does want them, [and] using the profit generated through that to help fund literacy programs,” Helgesen said.

Better World Books’ operations shade green as well. Thanks to a sustainability coordinator, the central warehouse in Indiana is equipped with a garden and soon to be shuttle service for employees. Shipping is a costly and carbon intensive part of the business, so Helgesen explained that they focus on reducing that impact. As books are collected and shipped to Indiana, there are 20 consolidation points around the country where books are gathered for more efficient shipping in trucks or freight-trains. “On our outbound shipping we work with local postal services rather than a UPS or a FedEx because there is a lot less intensity to it and a lower cost…[from] a postal worker walking door to door everyday as opposed to a UPS truck double parking outside the place and running in, dropping off a package and then driving to the next location.”

Profit: A Self-Sustaining Business Model
Not only does Better World provide outstanding social and environmental value, they do so sustainably, brining in $21 million in revenue in 2007. In 2008, pre-Christmas December revenue was up 194% from 2007. Most importantly for the business’ viability, Better World Books delivers more value at a lower price than competitors. As far as I’m concerned, there is absolutely no reason not to use Better World Books instead of Amazon or another competitor, except if for some reason you can’t find what you want there.

“You get cheap books and then on top of that it is like icing on the cake that you have the social and environmental piece.” Customers are treated to the following: A deep discount as the books are mostly used, a complementary chocolate bar with each book order, free shipping in the US, and a hilarious delivery confirmation email. Marketing has been mainly word of mouth for the company and Helgesen told me. “We are fortunate because the vast majority of people say absolutely 10 out of 10 ‘I would recommend you to a friend,’ and a lot of people even tell us they already have, so that is a big part of getting the Better World message out.”

Listen to the full interview on Green Business Innovators.

Originally published to TriplePundit.

Just found out about the following opportunity to win a $15,000 donation in your name to honor an organization for their noteworthy environmental efforts:

The North Face and Polartec have just launched the first round of their two-round ‘Eco Champion’ campaign.  The campaign, powered by social media marketing solution Brickfish, invites entrants to submit videos or blogs showcasing people, organizations or charities that deserve special recognition for their efforts to improve the environment. Twenty-five finalists, selected by The North Face and Polartec from round one, will advance to round two. Of the twenty-five finalists, one grand prize winner will be selected from the top ten entries in round two, to receive a $15,000 donation made in their name to a green cause of their choice! It’s easy to enter; your readers can simply follow a few easy steps.

· Submit videos or blogs showcasing people, organizations or charities that deserve special recognition for their efforts to improve the environment.

· Share their entries with each other via social media to get votes and reviews

• Make their entries go viral by sharing them across the Internet with friends and peers via their social networks

Rewards:

Round 1 Prizes:

• Grand Prize: Twenty-five finalists, selected by The North Face® and Polartec® from all entries, will win a warm and stylish 2009 Denali Jacket made from 87% recycled-content Polartec® fleece and advance to Round 2. Only the nominee of each of the 25 entries will win a 2009 Denali Jacket. The entrant will not win a prize unless he or she is nominating himself or herself as the “Eco-Champion.”

Round 2 Prizes:

• Grand Prize: One winner, selected by The North Face® and Polartec® from the top 10 highest scoring finalists who advanced from Round 1, will win a $15,000 donation made in their name to a “green” cause of their choice plus a $1,000 The North Face® online shopping spree.
• Second Place: One winner, selected by The North Face® and Polartec® from the top 10 highest scoring finalists who advanced from Round 1, will win a $2,500 donation made in their name to a “green” cause of their choice.
• Third Place: One winner, selected by The North Face® and Polartec® from the top 10 highest scoring finalists who advanced from Round 1, will win a $1,500 donation made in their name to a “green” cause of their choice.

Here is an example of an entrant that took part in a reforestation effort: http://www.brickfish.com/Pages/Blogs/BlogView.aspx?bid=37338&scid=408&

You can see all the campaign details here: http://www.brickfish.com/Lifestyles/EcoChampion

With all this talk of the emerging social capital markets, doing well by doing good, impact investing, and triple bottom line considerations, I’ve recently been taking a harder look at my modest portfolio. More specifically, I’ve been looking at how my liquid cash is invested. (Long term investments in IRA, 401k, stocks, bonds, etc are a whole other story that I won’t address here.) Let me preface this all with – I am no expert, just looking for good places to put my money, and wanting to both share what I’ve found and open up the discussion to the community. I currently have my liquid reserves (the 3-6 months worth of living expenses I’ve been advised to keep accessible) divided amongst my Bank of America checking account, my ING account, which earns ~2.17% interest, and an ING CD which recently matured. In other words, I am doing little to no explicit “good” with my cash. Neither Bank of America nor ING make claims about the social and environmental value of their investments, nor have I examined them too closely. What I do know is that there are many ways I can invest my money for improved social and environmental benefit. But what about financial returns?

Paul Herman, CEO of HIP Investor, outlined 10 HIP Places to Park Your Cash, which are places to “make money and do good at the same time.” These are financial institutions that offer savings and/or money market accounts that will invest your money in manners that create both human impact and profit. My ING account once delivered rates of 5% and up, but in today’s economy 2% is nearly as good as it gets for comparable accounts. So I thought I would use this low moment in investment history as an opportunity to reinvest in an institution which will use my money in ways that I can feel good about. Of course, I still want my money to be earning the highest possible returns regardless of institution. So I researched the 10 banks HIP Investor outlined as well as a few others to compare interest rates. You can download the PDF to learn more about each of them here, or click on the links below. Please note that interest rates are subject to change – these represent rates listed or communicated to me by bank representatives in the end of January and February 2009. Rates increase for larger deposits in many cases.

Interest Rates for HIP Places to Park Your Cash:

• Old Hickory Credit Union: 0.00-0.3% (for deposits under $2000)
• New Resource Bank:  0.1%
• Chittenden Socially Responsible Banking: 0.1%
• Charter Oak Bank: 0.2% (savings account)
• Shorebank Pacific: 0.05-0.25%
• Wainwright Bank: 0.25% (savings account)
• Zopa: 0.4%
• Home Savings Bank (available for Wisconsin residents only): 0.26% (savings account); 0.45%( money market with $2000 minimum); 0.75% (house account/money market with no minimum balance); 1.31% (money market with $10,000 minimum)
• Green Bank: 0.5% (under $10k money market)
• Center for Community Self-Help: 1.46% ($500 minimum for money market account)

A few less liquid options (these accounts do not allow checking, and deposits are subject to certain length terms)

• RSF Social Finance Social Investment Fund: 0.71% (for minimum of 3 months and $1000)
• -  Leverage your money to support a portfolio of “socially constructive organizations”
• Microplace: up to 3% (Repayment ranges from 3 months to 5 years after investment)
• -    Select from a portfolio of microfinance loans around the world

As you are comparing these various options, keep in mind that other things to look into include fees, free checking and other features and restrictions. Also, each bank has a different intended impact – for example: whereas New Resource Bank focuses on clean energy, Zopa focuses on microfinance, and Self Help focuses on job creation.

It looks like Self-Help is the clear winner for liquid cash, and Mircoplace for less liquidity. RSF Social Investment Fund is an intriguing option as well. But, if I am willing to give up the allure of explicit positive impact, my ING account still wins out with 2.17% interest rate, and there is even more to be had at traditional institutions:

• a Citibank Ultimate Savings Account offers 2.3% (and along with Wells Fargo scored highest using HIP’s framework for human impact and profit)
• Emigrant Direct offers 2.4% interest
• an ADB Money Market Account offers a 3.15% return

So if you want access to your cash, as it earns a high rate of return and achieves positive impact in the community, you may be asking for too much. But Tom Willis of HIP Investor explains that you can have your cake and eat it too by “creating a “portfolio” of accounts based on the rate of return that you want.” So if you are targeting 2% return, place 32% of your money in the 3.15% ADB account, and 68% in a Self-Help account (or any other mix) such that you achieve your desired return as well as support your intended impact areas. (Read this for an explanation of how to weight a portfolio for desired return.)

If you are interested in learning more, I recommend Community Investing Center, a website created by the Social Investment Forum Foundation and Green America. I also recommend taking a look at HIP Investor and the websites of the banks listed above.

Before I make my decision of where to place my liquid reserves, I’m curious what you all think/do in your portfolios? Are you investing for impact? Why or why not? If so, where do you put your money? What are your recommendations?

Thanks to Paul Herman, Tom Willis, and the HIP Investor Team for their input on this piece and for laying the foundation for my research.

Originally published on JustMeans.

Buying Books with Heart and Soul

Next time you’re buying a book online – you may be able to help people around the world learn to read.

Better World Books is an online bookstore that supports nonprofit organizations with literacy programs such as Room To Read and Books For Africa ($3.1 million contributed so far) by donating a percentage of its revenues. In the process, Better World Books has saved 8,170 tons of books (millions of books) from landfills.

Co-Founder Xavier Helgesen explains how a business started by college students has thrived in the online marketplace ($21 million in revenue in 2007) while staying true to its triple bottom line mission of creating positive social and environmental impact in addition to financial value.

INTERVIEW HIGHLIGHTS

• Why Better World Books targets the mainstream audience, not just the “green” consumer
• How to decide whether your mission-led venture should be a for-profit or nonprofit
• An innovative strategy for offering books on numerous e-commerce web sites at the same time
• How Better World Books overcomes the challenges of a rapidly growing business

Listen to full interview and/or read the transcript at Green Business Innovators.

Last year, when Henry Waxman defeated John Dingell for an obscure* Congressional chairmanship, I crowed that it was ”like the green movement just won the lottery.”

True… that may have been an overstatement. If it was really just like the green movement had won the lottery,  then alternative energy people would have received life-changing amounts of money, of course! In other words, it would be more like the final version of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, which is going to pass this week. Grist has a rundown of its green provisions–which are truly substantial:

The bill contains at least $62.2 billion in direct spending on green initiatives and $20 billion in green tax incentives, while funding for nuclear and coal projects was dropped from the final version. Here’s the breakdown:

Energy transmission and alternative energy research:

• $11 billion for smart grid
• $7.5 billion for renewable energy and transmission-line construction
• $400 million for the Department of Energy’s Advanced Research Project Agency for Energy for the development of alternative energy sources and efficiency

Efficiency:

• $4.5 billion for energy-efficiency improvements to federal buildings
• $6.3 billion for local government energy-efficiency grants
• $2.25 billion for energy-efficiency retrofits for low-income housing
• $2.25 billion for the HOME Investment Partners Program to retrofit community low-income housing
• $5 billion for the Weatherization Assistance Program for efficiency in low-income households
• $510 million for energy-efficiency retrofits for Native American housing programs
• $420 million for energy-efficiency improvements at the Department of Defense
• $300 million for Department of Defense research on energy efficiency at military installations
• $300 million for the appliance rebate program for Energy Star products

Mass transit and advanced automobiles:

• $8.4 billion for transit capital assistance programs
• $8 billion for Amtrak and intercity passenger rail
• $300 million for the purchase of more alternative-fuel and hybrid vehicles for the federal fleet
• $300 million in grants and loans for technologies that reduce diesel emissions

Green jobs training:

• $500 million for green jobs programs through the Workforce Investment Act

The Senate version of the bill had contained $4.6 billion for the research and development of carbon-capture-and-sequestration technologies for coal-fired power plants and $50 billion in loan guarantees for the nuclear industry, but that funding appears to have been dropped entirely, to the delight of enviros.

Looks like all that time spent bashing Republican candidates was worth it after all. Next up: convincing China to cut its emissions…

–Barron YoungSmith

*(Okay, it wasn’t that obscure, but I’m over-correcting for my D.C. goggles.)

Phil Angelides, Board Chairman of the Apollo Alliance and Former California Treasurer, spoke at Full Circle Fund’s recent Environment circle meeting. Founded in 2003, the Apollo Alliance is a “coalition of business, labor, environmental, and community leaders working to catalyze a clean energy revolution in America to reduce our nation’s dependence on foreign oil, cut the carbon emissions that are destabilizing our climate, and expand opportunities for American businesses and workers.” Angelides addressed a full and attentive room at the Morrison & Foerster offices in downtown San Francisco. His message was one of cautious optimism and “we’ve got a lot of work to do.”

What struck me as unique about the Apollo Alliance is the broad coalition of labor, business, policy and non-profit interests and minds working together for a greener, cleaner future. These diverse interests rarely speak and organize as one. But we need all of their input and insight to move forward into the new economy. Angelides remarked that he is often asked “Isn’t this space too crowded? There are all these fragmented groups working different angles; aren’t there enough of you already?” To which, Angelides responds that the problem has not been solved, so it must not be enough. The way he sees it, his organization and his peers are all figuring out which issue area they’ll address, and together they will each solve a piece of the complex puzzle.

Angelides noted that for the past thirty years the progressive movement has been “playing defense.” Be it defending womens’ rights or gay marriage, progressives have been forced to defend themselves from attackers and haven’t had a single message to get behind. At last the movement is seeming to coalesce and together aim towards real progress. With the burgeoning clean energy revolution we are seeing a shift from reactive to proactive organizing.

The Apollo Alliance chose to headquarter in San Francisco rather than Washington DC so that they can be in the heart of the action, rather than in the center of the lobbies, Angelides pointed out. The Apollo Alliance is working with Green For All and other organizations to create, train, nurture and promote green collar jobs. They are using Oakland as a testing groups and blueprint for the rest of the country to learn from. Not only must the workforce be trained in green collar work, but green collar jobs must be created, and they must be good jobs.

On several occasions, Angelides stressed the importance of establishing the US as an environmental leader. We must step up to the plate before we get to Copenhagen at the end of the year. He harped on cap and trade as forthcoming and critical. He also advised that we bring the manufacturing of the clean energy economy back home. A good portion of our renewable energy component parts are currently produced abroad and imported. This needs to be reversed.

It is great to hear such optimism, but we will all need to work together. What can you do? Angelides encouraged all to get involved in whatever way we can, be it through Full Circle Fund, the Apollo Alliance or the many other organizations working to reverse climate change. Additionally, a good first step is increasing awareness, to which he suggests we all sign up for the Apollo Alliance’s daily and weekly news and blog updates, which cover breaking news and relevant developments in and outside the Apollo Alliance.

Not only is Chipotle’s food tasty and affordable, but the company is a leader in sustainability – from local, organic food purchasing to green building practices coupled with healthy sales and margins, Chipotle caught my eye. How do they do it? What is Chipotle doing that others in the food industry should learn from? I spoke with Chris Arnold, company spokesman, to find out.

I am always hearing of Chipotle’s advances in sustainability practices. But the first thing Arnold told me was, “We don’t have a sustainability initiative. All we do is ingrained in the way we run the business.” What? A leader without trying. Nine years ago a menu item wasn’t selling so well, so they switched to Niman Ranch naturally raised pork simply to help it sell better. Steve Ells, founder, CEO and head chef, visited some of Niman’s farms and loved what he saw; plus pigs raised well taste better. “When we switched to Niman we had to increase the price by $1, which changed carnitas from the cheapest to most expensive item on the menu at the time… our sales doubled,” Arnold told me. “We learned that people are willing to pay more for better food.”

“We had an epiphany that if you’re going to serve the best food, fresh is not enough, just a starting point.” This is how Food With Integrity came about – “a philosophy that we can always do better in terms of the food we buy. And when we say better, we mean better in every sense of the word- better tasting, coming from better sources, better for the environment, better for the animals, and better for the farmers who raise the animals and grow the produce.”

Nine years after the first Niman Ranch purchase, all Chipotle pork, chicken (served in US restaurants), and 60% of beef is naturally raised; 35% of beans are from organic farms; dairy comes from cows free of added hormones; and produce is sourced locally when seasonally available.

Additionally, Chipotle has a sustainable building program, which began in 2003 when they opened their first green certified restaurant in Austin, Texas (certified by the city). All buildings built since then incorporate elements of sustainable building, including low VOC paints, Energy-Star kitchen equipment, light controls that adjust based on natural light levels, and more. Chipotle is seeking LEED certification for the three restaurants they opened in 2008. Furthermore, Chipotle purchases environmentally friendly products (bowls made of recycled newsprint, gift cards made with corn-based plastic, napkins made from unbleached paper) and they are always striving for improvement, an inherent part of the Food With Integrity program. Upcoming improvements include increasing supply of naturally raised meat, organically grown beans, and locally sourced produce, and a movement to pasture raised dairy.

“It’s a journey, not a destination – we are never going to be there. When we get to 100% naturally raised beef, then maybe we want to look at grass fed beef, and free range chicken. There will always be improvements to be made,” Arnold told me.

Stepping back a bit, what does this all mean for the bottom line? Arnold reported that business has grown at a robust pace since Chipotle’s founding. In 2007, Chipotle celebrated 10 consecutive years of same store sales growth, and revenue has grown exponentially. Chipotle’s food is priced competitively with comparable fast food items but provides the quality of higher end restaurants. Chipotle makes good food accessible. Chipotle invests in its food – Arnold told me they spend more money on food as a percent of revenue than competitors in the fast casual segment and across restaurant categories.

But Chipotle is profitable, maintaining margins near 20% even in 2008 which was a terrible year for restaurants. The key is efficiency gained in other areas – while Chipotle over-invests in tasty ingredients, they cut costs by running small restaurants with lower rent and utility bills, providing a streamlined menu (a result of a CEO/head chef who believes when you do fewer things, you do them better) and streamlined operational hours (open for lunch and dinner, so only two shifts).

What’s more shocking to me is that Chipotle has no VP of Sustainability or equivalent post. This is everybody’s charge. Sustainability is ingrained in the culture. But if you’ve ever eaten at Chipotle, you’ll notice their sustainability strategy is not overstated. “A minority of our customers know what we do– they come because they like the food…when people learn about our high quality ingredients, they find it is just one more reason to eat at Chipotle. We care about ingredients and that deepens the trust of our customers,” Arnold explained. On a recent visit to Chipotle in San Francisco, I inquired about where the pork came from (undoubtedly Niman Ranch, which is brag-worthy as far as I’m concerned). Not a single employee could answer my question.

What do you think? Should Chipotle do more to emphasize its sustainability in-store? Have you noticed other restaurants making similar efforts?

[Originally published to TriplePundit]

State of Green Business Forum

Joel Makower, co-founder and executive editor of Greener World Media, kicked off today’s State of Green Business Forum which coincided with a release of GreenBiz.com’s second annual State of Green Business report. Nearly 500 attendees filled the PG&E Auditorium in San Francisco, representing 20 states, Fortune 500 companies, NGO’s, government entities, consulting firms, the media and more. I was lucky enough to attend and cover the piece for the GreenBiz.com blog where you can see my in-depth coverage of the event. This piece contains excerpts from that coverage.

The State of Green Business report cites 10 trends in green business, and ranks 20 indicators ranked on a swim (green), tread (yellow), or sink (red) basis. Five indicators are “swimming” (cleantech investments, clean-energy patents, energy efficiency, paper use and recycling, and water intensity); twelve are “treading water”, neither here nor there (including green jobs, green office space, carbon transparency, corporate reporting and toxic emissions), and three are reported as “sinking” (carbon intensity, employee telecommuting, and e-waste). The objective results indicate a mixed bag – we clearly have lots of work to do.

But the five panels that followed told a more optimistic story. Not surprisingly, corporate leaders touted their employer’s efforts and avoided negative impacts, while non-profit and policy leaders gave more wary status reports. But all were hopeful that we can overcome the obstacles before us.

In a panel on green innovation, leaders from IBM’s Big Green Innovations and Autodesk announced boldly that green strategies involved simply following the money, while Valerie Casey, Global Practices Head at IDEO noted cautiously that some firms can’t afford to wait the necessary time to see a payback on sustainability investments. Panelists agreed that tasks related to greening signal greatest firm commitment when held not in the CSR department, but rather in the meat of the day to day business operations.

The second panel addressed water issues and how corporations are addressing the impending crisis. Environmental leaders from Frito-Lay and Levi Strauss went to great lengths to describe impressive firm efforts to improve and reduce water use. But Jason Morrison, Director of Economic Globalization and the Environment Program at the Pacific Institute drew applause with a more realistic statement: “You can’t think about just the cost for business of water, you need to think more holistically about the implications.” We’ll need to align our use of water with the reality of the situation, bringing our lifestyles into balance with the availability of water.

The third panel discussion of the day tackled the renewed interest in energy efficiency amongst manufacturers, building owners and managers. The panelists took an honest look at an area that GreenBiz diagnosed as merely treading water. Smart technology is here but practices are lagging. What’s keeping us from success here? What needs to happen to overcome these hurdles? Panelists cited fear, uncertain payback periods, and shaky financials as holding us back and advocated ambitious goal setting as a potential antidote – stating a limit on carbon emissions or aiming for zero-energy buildings. And the federal stimulus is a definite bright spot for energy efficiency.

The fourth panel looked at the role of companies and local governments in promoting green jobs. What is a green job? How can we promote green jobs and who should we look to for leadership? Ian Kim, Director of the Green-Collar Jobs Campaign at the Ella Baker Center for Human Rights quoted Van Jones, founder of the Ella Baker Center and outspoken advocate for green jobs, “When it comes to green job rhetoric there is a bubble, and when it comes to implementation, there is a hole.” While they did not agree on a precise definition, panelists suggested a green job is good for the environment, business, and the employee. All panelists were hopeful for the future of the green job economy.

The fifth and final panel of today’s State of Green Business Forum featured three of the minds behind the successful Cleantech and Green Business for Obama (CT4-O) project on the new administration and its trajectory. Despite provocative audience questions, panelists seemed unwaveringly confident in Obama’s environmental policy goals and faith in science. Holly Kaufman, CEO of Environment & Enterprise Strategies cited Nancy Pelosi, who instructed democrats gathered at a post-election celebration to “get used to success.” More importantly, Kaufman said “We all have to get used to working in a different environment…Pick your battles – don’t knit pick…We won’t get everything we want.” And at the end of the day, what keeps Jeff Anderson, National Co-chair and Campaign Manger of Cleantech and Green Business for Obama up at night is not fear of the administration dropping the ball, but fear that we will drop the ball – “We need to stand on each other’s shoulders to get through this.”

[Originally published on TriplePundit]

See my in depth panel by panel coverage of the State of Green Business Forum on GreenBiz.com

Something to keep an eye on: Masdar City in Abu Dhabi strives to be the world’s first zero-carbon, zero-waste, car-free city powered 100% by renewable energy.  (Masdar website and PR)

Eco-friendly resorts seem to be all the rage – developers plan to turn Star Island in the Bahamas into a carbon-neutral resort.  (New York Times)

Burt’s Bees and other companies are making money by examining and minimizing their trash.  (GreenBiz)

Landsharing gains popularity – organizations created to connect landowners with people who wish to cultivate their land. (TreeHugger)

Incredible Edible Todmorden in Yorkshire, UK aims to increase the amount of foods eaten from local gardens, with a goal of food self-sufficiency by 2018.  (TreeHugger)

Another example of sharing: Library use is up!  (TreeHugger/Boston Globe)

A new project called Climate Central aims to provide unbiased environmental journalism coverage. (Grist)

Community investment banks, such as ShoreBank Pacific, are on the rise.  (Sustainable Industries)

CleanTech blogger Willie Brent predicts 2009 media trends based on Facebook survey. (Mr CleanTech.com)

Preserve launches Gimme 5 program which collects and recycles #5 plastics, which are not recyclable in all communities, at select Whole Foods for use in creating new Preserve products. (Recycline Press Release)

Green America offers six green-economy solutions to the current mess of an economy, which include community investing and local foods.

Gavin Newsom, inspired by Paris’ successful program, announced a bike sharing pilot program to launch in San Francisco in 2009.  The pilot will involve 50 bikes in 5 locations.  (San Francisco Press Room)

Tesla Motors to make batteries for electric version of Smart Car. (SF Business Times)

Columbia scientist is developing fake plastic tree that can sequester CO2.  (Ecolocalizer.com)

California saw doubling of solar power installations in 2008.

Engineering professor uses bio-mimicry to develop small boats and robots which move through the water like wiggling baby beetles. (GreenerDesign.com)

Alarming study finds that as farm yields have risen, nutritional content of vegetables and fruits have declined along with taste.  (Grist)

New York’s MTA may offer Green MetroCard, which would cost extra and allow consumers to make contributions towards sustainability efforts. (Environmental Leader)

Clorox’s GreenWorks line brings in an estimated $200M annually, and takes 42% of natural cleaners market, after launching recently in Dec 2007. (Environmental Leader)

Coca-Cola opens world’s largest PET plastic bottle to bottle recycling plant in South Carolina. (GreenBiz)  I see this as am improvement on a fundamentally flawed system (i.e why are we drinking out of single use plastic bottles?)

Financial Times wonders if Silicon Valley is up to the task of solving our climate crisis through cleantech innovation.

Hotwire teams up with TerraPass to pay for half of customers’ carbon offsets (if they choose to offset).  (MSN Money)