Leonardo DiCaprio Joins Divestment Call as Fossil Fuels Could Lose Billions in Investment

Divest from Fossil Fuels

A new report finds that over the past year, the amount of money committed to be pulled from companies that produce coal, oil, and natural gas has grown fifty-fold. Over the past year, investors holding $2.6 trillion in assets have pledged to divest from companies that produce coal, oil, and natural gas, according to a report issued Tuesday. The study was issued by the group Divest-Invest, which calls on institutional and private investors to hold themselves accountable for the environmental impacts of their investments. “One year ago today, exactly, we announced that the total [divestment] at that point was $52 billion, and committed to tripling that amount before the U.N. Climate Conference in Paris in December of this year,” said Ellen Dorsey, executive director of the Wallace Global Fund, at a press conference Tuesday in New York. “That means we’ve seen a fiftyfold increase in the total combined assets of those committed to divestment from fossil fuels, and with it, we’ve seen a growing number of commitments to invest in climate solutions,” Dorsey said. The report comes as Pope Francis landed in the United States, where he is expected to press again for immediate and decisive action on climate change. […]

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Your Next United Flight Might Be Powered By Farm Waste

United Airlines Eco-Skies

Travelers from Los Angeles to San Francisco will have a lower carbon footprint this fall. Many other flights could soon follow. If you happen to get on a United flight from Los Angeles to San Francisco this fall, you might be traveling on leftovers from the farm. The airline will be the first in the country to start flying regular passenger flights on alternative jet fuel—in the case, made from a mix of non-edible oils and agricultural waste blended with traditional fuel. “We believe that one of our greatest opportunities to reduce the aviation industry’s environmental footprint is through sustainable alternative fuels,” says Angela Foster-Rice, United’s managing director for environmental affairs and sustainability. United flew the first biofuel test flight in the U.S. in 2009 (using algae), and the first commercial flight in 2011. The company signed an agreement with AltAir Fuels—the company supplying the new fuel to LAX—six years ago. But it’s only now that the biofuel industry is beginning to get to the point to supply regular flights. The challenges of scaling up have involved the cost alternative fuel feedstock and raising sufficient capital investments, Foster-Rice says. Over the next three years, United plans to buy 15 million […]

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Green is Not Just for Green Business Anymore

Green Is For Every Business

Oh Marketing Whiz Who is Always Hungry to Learn More! Back in 2013, The Santa Fe Reporter interviewed me and at the very end I was asked: “any final wisdom?” My last words were, “My hope is that someday we don’t even have to use the word ‘green’—it’s just the way it is.” It’s been 12 years now that my company, Mind Over Markets, has been dedicated to helping green and socially-focused companies, organizations, and entrepreneurs take their products and services to the next level. It’s what we believe in, what we are passionate about. When we put that stake in the ground, we never looked back (even though back then “green” was used with caution in marketing because of its tree-hugger status and political connotations). Well, those days are gone. This week, the Shelton Group released a study on the effectiveness of eco buzzwords like “green,” “eco-friendly,” “sustainable,” “recyclable,” “renewable,” “low carbon footprint,” and more. The results happily report that green has gone from “niche appeal” to “baseline expectation.” For instance, 65% of the 2,000 plus respondents said that “green was considered desirable.” And it really doesn’t matter what side of the fence you are on because 67% of them were Democrats and 62% […]

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Our Founder, Carolyn Parrs, is Featured This Month In “THE Magazine” in Santa Fe, NM

Carolyn Parrs featured in THE Magazine

Women Of Green community is all about celebrating the many women who are leading the way in green, sustainability and social justice — from authors and artists, chefs and lawyers, activists, journalists, mommies, policy makers and social entrepreneurs. These women are here to make a difference and use their voices and talents to create meaningful change on behalf of the planet and future generations.

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Big Head Farm: Big Ideas To Revolutionize Farmer Support

Karen Warner, Big Head Farm

Karen Warner founded Big Head Farm in 2009, located in southwest Michigan. After experiencing the challenges of starting a farm and creating a viable business, Warner began thinking through ways to support new farmers and to protect small to mid-sized farms from going out of production. Warner is currently working to advance a farm accelerator model that would give farmers the resources and support they need to succeed from start-up to retirement.

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10 Food Documentaries: Re-Thinking What and How We Eat

10 Must Watch Food Documentaries

Many food items that are produced in the United States are full of additives and chemicals. Unfortunately, Americans are eating lab-created and nutrient-stripped food that somehow got twisted around into being called healthy or normal. Because the food industry is a big business, many probably don’t know the facts about how their food is produced, and what ingredients in that food can do to our bodies.

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Women Of Green Partners with Women In Green Forum

Women In Green Forum 2015

Women Of Green is proud to be a media partner in the 6th Annual Women In Green Forum to be held August 26th in Los Angeles, California. Promoted as a unique conference experience set in the hills of Los Angeles, the Women In Green Forum has emerged as the premier conference series highlighting women’s impact on the environmental industry.

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Zero Waste: Fashion’s Ethical Future

To make fashion more sustainable, the industry’s underlying structure and supply lines need a major makeover. Yet, despite these obstacles, a few designers–alongside fashion muses like zero waste hero Lauren Singer–are taking zero waste fashion from fiction into the real world.

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5 Steps to Safer Chemicals in Products

safety in our cleaning supplies

Consumers want safer chemicals and ingredients in their products, and they want companies to be transparent about what’s in their products. meet this demand and achieve a competitive advantage, retailers and manufacturers including Target, Walmart and SC Johnson have taken steps to phase out hazardous chemicals in their products and encourage product transparency.

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Designer Curates Luxury Eco-fashion Boutique

Fiercely Green - Non-toxic Apparel

“Eco-fashion is slowly increasing its footprint and influence. As more people become aware of the harsh cost of current manufacturing practices, as well as, availability of more positive options, the switch toward greener processes will hopefully become inevitable. The smaller designers, such as those on FiercelyGreen are able to pivot their supply chain much faster than the big established brands, at the same time their influence is very limited by their size, which is why it is so important to give them visibility because of the green ripple effect they will help to perpetuate in the industry in the future.”

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