World Watch "Vital Signs" Report Now Available

Sample Findings from the Report

• Global energy intensity rose 1.35 percent in 2010—a rare exception to a long-term positive trend that saw energy intensity drop by just over 20 percent from 1981 to 2010.

• In 2010, global oil consumption reached an all-time high of 87.4 million barrels. At 37 percent of primary energy use, it remains the largest single source of energy, though its share has declined for 11 consecutive years.

• Fossil fuel consumption subsidies fell 44 percent in 2009, to $312 billion—reflecting changes in international energy prices rather than a change in policies.

• Continuing its rapid ascent, installed global wind power capacity increased 24 percent to 197,000 megawattsin 2010—nine times as much as a decade ago.

• Solar photovoltaic generating capacity grew even faster.  The 16,700 megawatts that were newly installed in 2010 surpasses the total PV capacity that was in place in 2008.

• The production of passenger cars and light trucks reached a new peak in 2010, surging from 60 million to 74.7 million.

• High-speed rail lines expanded from 10,700 kilometers in 2009 to almost 17,000 kilometers in 2011. High-speed trips accounted for 7 percent of all rail passenger travel in 2010.

• Global biofuel production increased by 17 percent in 2010 to reach an all-time high of 105 billion liters. Rising portions of the U.S. corn harvest and Brazil’s sugarcane production are turned into ethanol—giving rise to fears of increasing  food and fuel trade-offs.

• Organic farming methods were used on 37.2 million hectares worldwide in 2009. This represents a 150 percent increase since 2000, yet the organic area amounts to just 0.85 percent of global agricultural land.

• Per capita meat consumption in the developing world doubled to 32 kilograms over the past quarter-century, but this is still far below consumption levels in the industrial world.

• Fish farming has increased some 50-fold since the 1950s and now accounts for 40 percent of total fish catch.

• The number of overweight people age 15 or older worldwide jumped 25 percent since 2002, to 1.93 billion.

Purchase Report Here

US Consumers Not So Hot On Sustainable Behavior... Hey, At Least We Are Talking About It

National and Global Issues (From the Report, "Greendex 2012: Consumer Choice and the Environment - A Worldwide Tracking Survey") Full Report 

Top of Mind Issues:

• Economic problems continue to be the top-of-mind concern for consumers in most countries, 

especially in the USA, Hungary, Britain, and France. Compared to 2010, consumers in more 

countries now cite economic issues as their top national problem.

• Political problems, including greed and corruption, are mentioned most among consumers in 

the emerging economies of Brazil, Russia, India, and China. 

• The environment remains low on the list of unprompted concerns, and Chinese, Indian, and 

Russian consumers are now less likely to cite this as a top national issue than in 2010. Still, 

Chinese and Canadian consumers are the most likely to report that the environment is a 

nationwide problem.

• When prompted about global issues, consumers in emerging economies tend to be 

concerned about environmental problems such as climate change, water pollution, air 

pollution, shortages of fresh water, and loss of species and habitat; concern about these 

environmental issues, however, has generally decreased since 2010. In contrast, consumers 

in industrialized countries tend to be less concerned about the environment and more 

concerned about the economy and the cost of energy and fuel. Concern about the economy 

has increased since 2010 among consumers in France especially. 

• Food safety and the cost of food tend to be greater concerns for consumers  in emerging 

markets, especially among the Chinese.

Recycled beer bottles used to construct Las Vegas building

Nifty

Arbor Brewing’s Solar Panels to Offset Gas Use up to 50%

Keep reading...

Excelsior brewery seeks to halt invasive species

Brewery seeks to halt invasive species

Drink a beer, save a lake.

That's the catchy concept behind a new company started by three longtime friends and Lake Minnetonka residents, tapping into their passion for beer and for keeping Minnesota's lakes free of invasive species.

Jason Landstrom, Ryan Johnson and Chad Mayes launched the Tonka Beer Co. in Excelsior in May, and hope to brew up $10,000 this year to aid efforts slowing the spread of zebra mussels and other species.

As avid anglers, boaters and wilderness canoeists, the partners have had invasive species "on the forefront of our minds," Mayes said. Their new enterprise, he said, is a way of "pairing our interests with the beer industry and the lakes."

He said they'll funnel all of their profits into a nonprofit arm, Save Our Lakes. No benefactor has yet been named, but they hope to fund invasive species prevention efforts by partnering with an agency or conservation district.

Brewed in Wisconsin, the company's Big Island Shandy already has been distributed to 150 stores and restaurants statewide. A second beer, Preservation IPA, is slated to roll out in August.

Give the Olympics Good Beer

"Beer is the UK's national drink, and the country has a strong and ancient tradition of brewing," Mulholland said, according to his website, which reported the motion he filed in Parliament. "By choosing a mass-produced, bland foreign lager, the committee has ignored all the wonderful, traditional beers that the UK has to offer and instead gone for the company with the biggest [checkbook]."

Fashion label recycles beer bottles into stylish jeans

"A couple of facts,” Heron says on the company website. “It takes 1 million years for a single glass bottle to break down in landfill and if all jeans sold in the US alone were produced using our green technology, approximately 1,200,000 barrels of oil could be saved yearly.”

Missoula brewery begins bottle-recycling service with help of $250K washer

Multitasking

Making Better Biofuels, from Beer Broth

Great Video here

Beer Canning Goes Mobile

Interesting Business Plan