April 2009 Archives
April 03, 2009 |
Hospital Rooms Scrubbed To Become Green
Making hospital rooms more serene, construction company Skanska is developing green rooms all over the country. Having built the first Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) rated Gold hospital in Newberg, Oregon, the Swedish builder is taking that know-how to hospitals and improving patient care.
Energy and water efficient fixtures, renewable wood flooring, non-toxic room products like the ceiling and wall material, and a window allowing natural light and an outdoor view, make hospital rooms serene and green.
Research suggests that connecting with nature by living, or rather healing, in green facilities is lending a helping hand to patient recovery.
To answer why, let’s dissect the room. The materials used in the room can contribute to a healthy or unhealthy environment. For example, using a paint that is not low volatile organic compound (VOC) emitting in a hospital room can reduce air quality and for someone will a suppressed immune system, poor air quality will only make their body have to fight harder. On the other hand, adding a window that allows natural light, requires less electricity, and provides a view can be calming to one’s heart rate and to the hospital’s energy bill.
Skanska can take greening hospital rooms beyond energy and water efficiency to the next level by continuing to incorporate green materials like denim insulation, organic cotton bed linens, and incorporated recycled plastics into bed materials or room fixtures. Finding green substitutions for the chemicals and bio-hazardous materials used in hospital rooms for patient care will be challenging, but solving that challenge will result in ultimate green serenity.
Nations Must Unite in Reducing Mercury
In late February, the United Nations Environment Program Governing Council (UNEP) and environmental leaders from more than 140 nations met to commit to a plan to stop mercury pollution across the globe.
In the closing days of the Bush Administration, the FDA issued a draft ruling stating that the benefits to pregnant women of eating fish outweighs the risk, which has one physician deeply concerned.
This is issue is so important in America that the Obama administration quickly overturned the Bush administration’s denial of the mercury plan by signing the UNEP treaty. Interestingly enough, allies like Australia and Canada also opposed the treaty initially prior to the US approval of the plan.
Now that the treaty has been signed, UNEP is hosting educational workshops advising nations on how they can limit mercury emissions as well as publishing literature to the same effect. UNEP is forming partnerships and working to continue dialog across nations solving a human health issue with less focus as an environmental issue. Either way, reducing mercury in the environment results in a healthier environment for all.
One of the most significant methods of reducing mercury is through shutting down coal-fired power plants that emit mercury into the atmosphere, which then disperses and is deposited into the environment via air currents and bioaccumulation in the food chain.
Additional targets for reduction are cement manufacturing, and metal and gold mining. Shutting down and controlling these industries goes beyond cleaning up mercury; it cleans up air quality and climate change contributions. Now that the international community is committed to this, maybe we can also commit to reducing air pollution, climate change and habitat destruction, although, probably one step at a time.
Hawaii Greens Transportation With Biofuels and EVs
Soon Hawaii might be known as much for its energy independence as for its luaus and pineapple farms. Hawaii is revving up its highway system for electric cars and plantations are being primed for biofuel production to reduce the state’s carbon footprint and eliminating their fossil fuel use, starting with the transportation industry. In coordination with Better Place (an organization providing battery charging and swapping stations), Hawaii and the Hawaiian Electric Company are planning to build an electric recharging grid along Hawaii highways where drivers can subscribe to Internet services to locate and charge their vehicles.
Additionally, the state will convert unused plantations to biofuel cropland boosting the state’s job market, and restoring the agriculture system to a productive, marketable system. Researchers at the University of Hawaii are exploring using tropical grasses like banana grass, as well as other crops like jatropha and algae.
Hawaii faces many challenges during the current economic crisis as two of its major revenue sources is from travel, which Americans are doing less of, and agriculture, which with the added costs of transportation over the last few years, has increased the cost of doing business and decreased profit.
An effective method of countering these challenges is to respond to the shifting demand to new markets, and to reduce costs with a smarter transportation system. Because of its middle Pacific island location, Hawaii's fossil fuel imports for fuel and power generation (diesel) must travel great distances at higher costs.
Establishing a functional electric and biofuel transportation system also continues sustainability goals of the state. The Hawaiian islands include a diverse and unique ecosystem in constant danger of destruction as population increases, construction and pollution builds, and invasive species lurk.
Adjusting the state’s transportation system can lead to ecosystem restoration. Moving from a fossil fuel transportation system prevents transport of fuel and reduces the likelihood of oil spills. The reduced air pollution cuts the transplanting of pollutant particles onto plants and in sensitive environments, as well as the greenhouse gas contribution to climate change.
For native Hawaiians who share a heritage with the land, reinventing the transportation system, and saving the ecosystem means reinventing and saving the Hawaiian culture from a future that like fossil fuels, may dry up. A new transportation system in Hawaii is vital because it can bring new life economically, environmentally and culturally to the state.
Social 'Message Placement' Targets TV Viewers
By Maryanne Conlin Milker
I didn’t get much past the headline, "Messages With a Mission, Embedded in TV Shows" before getting that eerie feeling that I was reading something momentous. OK- not momentous like in the general sense, but rather in the way this changes a time-honored tradition in marketing.
"…the Gates Foundation is set to expand its involvement and spend more money on influencing popular culture through a deal with Viacom, the parent company of MTV and its sister networks VH1, Nickelodeon and BET. It could be called “message placement”: the social or philanthropic corollary to product placement deals in which marketers pay to feature products in shows and movies. Instead of selling Coca-Cola or G.M. cars, they promote education and healthy living."
For years, those of us involved with cause marketing have relied on inking deals with manufacturers to support our causes and relying on government funding, public service announcements, paid advertising and public relations efforts to get our message to the people. Now a whole new era of personal responsibility has opened up new doors to new ways of getting the word out.
James Steyer, chief executive of Common Sense Media, which promotes family-oriented entertainment, said foundations typically seek to mold television programs with just advice and prodding.
“The difference here is the Gates Foundation is paying for this, that they are actually willing to pay for programming,” Mr. Steyer said.
While cheering about the opportunities to PAY to get a non-profit message out may be a non-starter in this recessionary environment, the fact that the Gates Foundation has raised the awareness level signals a shift in how Hollywood develops and manages the messages shows promote. Show producers desperate for funding to produce new shows will be hopping on the new “positive message” bandwagon – which leaves the door open for more charities and non-profits to get involved – paid or non-paid.
Photo Credit: Striatic at Flickr Under Creative Commons License
Reprinted with permission from the Ecopreneurist.