Facing contradictory demands? Use them to launch exponential progress on climate change

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Facing contradictory demands? Use them to launch exponential progress on climate change

How many hours-of-safety do our homes have in extreme weather?

How long homes can maintain the last comfortable temperature during extreme weather can make the difference between life and death.

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How many hours-of-safety do our homes have in extreme weather?

How to create a ripple effect from your sustainability team

Looking to get your company to embed sustainability across its operations? Here’s how to get buy-in.

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How to create a ripple effect from your sustainability team

Holiday Inn hotels will phase out mini shampoo bottles

The owner of Holiday Inn, InterContinental Hotels Group (IHG), has pledged to do away with the convenient but wasteful mini shampoo and soap bottles that are a staple in its 843,000 guest rooms. IHG owns more than 5,600 hotels around the world and announced that it will phase out the small plastic bottles and opt for bulk-sized containers for all its hotels by the end of 2021. According to the corporation, it uses over 200 million mini plastic bottles every year. Keith Barr, CEO of IHG, said, “Switching to larger-size amenities across more than 5,600 hotels around the world is a big step in the right direction and will allow us to significantly reduce our waste footprint and environmental impact as we make the change.” Related: Companies pledge $1.5 billion to reduce plastic waste IHG is the first global hotel corporation of its size to make this promise. According to Barr, the announcement is also related to the national and local governments’ inability to pass stricter sustainability regulations. “We collectively as an industry have to lead where governments are not necessarily giving the leadership to make a difference.” In addition to its interest in sustainability, the corporation’s board is also looking to attract more customers who are increasingly concerned about the environment. According to a survey sponsored by Hilton, a third of customers researched the company’s sustainability policies before booking a room. As a result, Hilton announced a pledge to cut its carbon footprint in half and double its investments in social good. In addition to eliminating the small plastic bottles, IHG is working to phase out plastic straws by the end of 2019. A similar pledge was also made by the company’s competitor, Marriott International. At least a third of IHG’s properties have already started using the bulk-sized toiletry dispensers, and the rest are working on the transition. The full phase-out will be completed by 2021. + IHG Via NPR Image via Melanie

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Holiday Inn hotels will phase out mini shampoo bottles

Award-winning Geographies of Urban Filth rethinks waste in cities

Developed cities around the world go to great lengths to hide their waste and sewage systems from view by hiding treatment plants in the urban periphery. In a bid to break down boundaries between “clean” and “dirty” spaces, New York City-based Canadian designer Liyang Zhang created Geographies of Urban Filth, a thesis project that proposes the transformation of the North Toronto Wastewater Treatment Plant into an unconventional urban destination with public baths. Winner of Azure Magazine’s 2019 A+ Student Award, the Geographies of Urban Filth is the thesis project Zhang worked on while pursuing a Master of Architecture at Ontario’s University of Waterloo. Related: This LEED Gold wastewater treatment center is helping a community rethink poo “The thesis studies how our cultural understanding of dirt and cleanliness are bound to issues of class and race and how they are manifested within urban and spatial design,” Zhang said in a project statement. “Boundaries are formed between clean and dirty, familiar and foreign, us and them, through the rejection of matter that is disturbing or threatening to us. The design proposes the breaking down of boundaries between perceived ‘clean’ and ‘dirty’ spatial and social constructs with the insertion of a public space and bath within the wastewater treatment facility.” Located near three physically and socially disconnected neighborhoods of mixed income levels and ethnic groups, the North Toronto Wastewater treatment plant served as the perfect vehicle for Zhang’s thesis. The treatment plant’s hidden location within the Don Valley ravine and connection to the sewers evoke a “dirty” image that seems at odds with Toronto’s “clean” image. The unusual insertion of a public bath inside the treatment plant would help bring “us in touch with the rejected ‘other’ within the city and within ourselves,” Zhang said. Zhang envisioned the wastewater treatment plant as a multifunctional venue with space not only for bathing but for swimming and events as well. The designer embraced the existing brutalist architecture and proposed few modifications, from the adaptive reuse of decommissioned digester tanks into an arts and performance venue to the concrete volumes that house the changing rooms and showering facilities. Filtered wastewater would be used for showering and cycled back into the treatment plant for re-filtering before entering the wetland swimming pools and a subterranean pool. + Liyang Zhang Images via Liyang Zhang

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Award-winning Geographies of Urban Filth rethinks waste in cities

The call to business and capital, from business and capital

While business has contributed to the mass destruction of our resources, it also holds the key to the solutions.

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The call to business and capital, from business and capital

Inclusion could be key to mainstreaming the climate emergency

The sustainability movement has a language barrier: Spanish.

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Inclusion could be key to mainstreaming the climate emergency

Inclusion could be key to mainstreaming the climate emergency

The sustainability movement has a language barrier: Spanish.

See the rest here:
Inclusion could be key to mainstreaming the climate emergency

How to cultivate employee fulfillment on your team

Driving more organization-wide support for sustainability starts with building self-awareness about your team’s purpose and the impact of the work they do.

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How to cultivate employee fulfillment on your team

While you were grilling, the world moved forward

While Americans were doing cookouts and lazing by the lake, the rest of the civilized world was moving forward on climate and other issues.

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While you were grilling, the world moved forward

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