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The World Health Organization’s (WHO) cancer research division has issued a report suggesting that the chemicals in one of Monsanto’s most popular products, Roundup, is probably carcinogenic to humans. As a result, the agrochemical and biotech company has launched an attack against the international organization, accusing it of selective science and bias.

The ruckus stems from a study conducted by the International Agency for Research (IARC), which is tasked with researching the causes of cancer, suggesting policies for cancer screening and compiling statistics related to cancer. Along with glyphosate, the weed-killing ingredient used in Roundup, the IARC also suggested four other insecticides could probably cause cancer. One of the other chemicals is malathion, which was sprayed all over California during the early 1980s to stop the spread of the Mediterranean fruit fly — and that controversy was in part why Jerry Brown lost his bid for a U.S. Senate seat after his first run as the state’s governor ended.

Now, Monsanto is accusing the WHO and IARC of sparking another controversy and is demanding that the study be retracted.

According to Monsanto, the IARC study suffers from a bevy of flaws: analysis of data that already exists; the exclusion of data that suggests glyphosate is not a health risk; a conclusion not supported by scientific data; and no firm, established link between the chemical and cancer.

Glyphosate has become increasingly popular the past 20 years since Monsanto introduced crops that were genetically modified to resist its Roundup product. In recent years, however, more weeds have become resistant to glyphosate, and as a result farmers have been using the herbicide with more frequency and in larger amounts. In fact, the U.S. Geological Survey found the use of glyphosate has surged since the early 1990s — from about 20 million pounds in 1992 to almost 300 million pounds in 2012. The results have been particularly worrisome in the Midwest, where much of the nation’s soy, wheat and corn are grown. Glyphosate has been found in streams across the region, though at a level the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency says is well below a maximum contaminant level (MCL) for drinking water.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture regularly reports on pesticide residues in various foods. And, as it announced last December, the department concluded that while pesticides are detectable in many foods, they are within levels that the agency determines to be safe. But as a USDA spokesman explained to Reuters, the agency does not test for glyphosate because the tests are “extremely expensive.” And, as is the case with many pesticides used on commodity crops, such foods are so heavily processed by the time they are on store shelves that any residues are usually eliminated. As with much of this research, the devil is in the details — or in reality, how transparent (or opaque) the studies are, a complaint often hurled at Monsanto.

Some scientists, and of course consumers, are not buying the assumption that glyphosate is safe. Other studies suggesting a link between the herbicide and cancer exist within scientific literature. Researchers including David Schubert, a professor at the Salk Institute for Biological Studies, insist the accumulation of glyphosate in the environment poses too many health risks. Schubert was quoted by Reuters as saying that glyphosate should be banned for the risks it poses to cancer and tumor growth.

Watch for the battle to become more heated in the coming months. The EPA, which can set limits on the use of glyphosate or even ban it, assesses IARC reports when making final regulatory decisions. Monsanto, and its allies in Congress, will be more than ready for any fight.

Image credit: Benjah-bmm27

A Guardian petition calls on the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation and the Wellcome Trust to divest from fossil fuels.

More than 140,000 people have signed the petition since the Guardian's editor-in-chief, Alan Rusbridger, launched it on Monday with 350.org.

The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation --the largest private foundation in the world -- is well known to most Americans, but some of us have never heard of the Wellcome Trust.

On its website, the organization describes itself a "global charitable foundation dedicated to improving health." It is also one of the largest funders of medical research, according to the Guardian.

In other words, two large charitable foundations with global reach are being asked to stop funding the dirty fuels that contribute to climate change. Specifically, they are being asked to divest from the top 200 fossil fuel companies within five years.

“We’re at a tipping point and it’s become clear that people and institutions of good conscience have to cut these ties,” said Bill McKibben, founder of 350.org. “Now 100,000 people from around the world have combined to say that these giant philanthropies need to walk their talk.”

The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation held more than $1.4 billion of investments in fossil fuel companies as of its 2013 tax filing, a Guardian analysis found. The Wellcome Trust had a minimum of $520.8 million invested in fossil fuel companies last year, according to the Guardian.

So far, neither company has responded favorably to the petition, which is a shame. Climate change is all too real. The Earth’s average temperature has risen by 1.4 degrees Fahrenheit over the last century, as the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency states. The average temperature is projected to increase by another 2 degrees to 11.5 degrees Fahrenheit over the next 100 years.

The impacts of climate change are already being felt. The Third National Climate Assessment report, released by the U.S. Global Change Research Program, lists various impacts that are presently visible in the U.S. The impacts include increased wildfires in the Southwest caused by increased heat and drought. California is currently experiencing its fourth year of one of its worst droughts in recent history. Last fall, a Stanford University study linked California’s drought to climate change.

Last year was the hottest year on record. Scientists at NASA and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) ranked 2014 as the warmest year since records were first kept in 1880. The Japan Meteorological Agency also ranked 2014 as the warmest year on record.

It is clear that the Earth’s temperatures are increasing and that is causing havoc for the planet’s residents, both human and animal alike. It is time for charitable organizations like the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation and the Wellcome Trust to divest from climate change. Funding the fossil fuel companies that cause a big portion of the greenhouse gas emissions that are heating up the planet is not charitable.

Image credit: Ken Hodge

By Bethany Tran

Imagine a mile-wide ravine in the middle of a city. Concrete homes are stacked one on top of another, each covered by corrugated metal roofs. Up to 100,000 people live here. There are 10 barrios, or neighborhoods, and the gang presence is undeniable and strong.

This is the slum of La Limonada in Guatemala City, Guatemala. And it is a violent place. Now, imagine you live here.

As much as poverty is discussed in mainstream media, the violence behind it rarely is. In many impoverished areas, violence is in plain sight. It is complicated and intense. Upheaval is caused by so many factors and takes many faces: sexual violence, forced labor, gang activity, gender-based aggression. In places like La Limonada, many faces of violence exist, but perhaps the most obvious here is the gang violence. Gangs relocated south from Los Angeles during the last years of the 36-year Guatemalan civil war during the 1990s, when the instability of the country made it fertile for the gangs to take root and prosper.

Now imagine, as a 10-year old, you were left alone for hours each day and an easy target for the gangs. Your father is gone, and your mother is working two jobs to get food on the table. She has to lie about where you live in order to even find a place to work. She’s never around, and it’s not really her fault.

In the years since the war, gangs have been growing their number, often in the marginalized communities like La Limonada. The lack of a family structure leaves many children vulnerable, and the stigmas abound. People here often have little options. The culture outside views them as second-class citizens, and people who live within the confines of the slum often have to lie about their address to even get a job. Many youth join the gangs, because of the lack of opportunity for education past the sixth grade. (School is not free in the higher grades.)

This has become a cycle for several generations, each following in the footsteps of the prior. Gangs operate under a structure of violence: theft, murder and territory wars. Members are branded with gang tattoos in visible places to prevent them from getting a job outside the gangs.

Imagine now, your 10-year-old self, picked up off the street, pulled into the semblance of a family, tattooed on your face, and forced to perform unspeakable acts. You do it, because you just want to belong to someone. You get sucked deeper. And why not? So many others have, too.

Violence is a cycle, and a difficult one to break. As an outsider, it seems like such a simple option to leave the gangs. But the utter lack of opportunity outside gang life leaves most without options. Imagine yourself a little older. You want to leave, but what are your alternatives? With your history, your tattoos, your lack of education and skills, you may be more than a little trapped.

But what if change came from within the community? From someone who knew and understood? What if your 10-year-old self grew up and decided to be the one to stop that cycle of violence in your family.

Opportunity is key in communities like La Limonada: opportunity without judgment and assumptions; opportunity that allows for choices in a place where not many exist. Within these violent communities, people who truly understand the culture are critical to true change. If finding a job can take someone out of the gang life, and as a result, reduce the violence in the community, economic empowerment has a tremendous role to play. If a social entrepreneur, perhaps one with the same gang tattoos, can provide options, then economic development can have a direct correlation to the reduction of violence.

The more recent shift in development from charity to investment is an important one in the conversations of poverty alleviation and, in turn, the reduction of violence. Investing in local business owners who are empowering their community through job opportunities is critical to the improvement of the overall safety of people living in slums. It can also prevent the 10-year olds who feel like there may be no other option from joining the gangs in the first place. If they’re able to see that options exist, if parents can earn enough from one job to be home as a caretaker, if those kids aren’t forced to spend their days on the streets, then just maybe that cycle can be broken. The injection of opportunity in the form of business training, micro loans, and the simplicity of linking arms with people in poverty can bring about the change that’s needed. This is the hard part though. In a society where the expectation of the speed of a drive through in basically everything, the patience required for investment development strategies is one that is possibly the hardest.

Maybe poverty and violence, so inextricably linked, can be fought against through the dignity of a job. And then, one after another, the system that keeps people in poverty will begin to crumble from within.

Image credit: Em Grey

Bethany Tran is the founder and designer-in-chief at The Root Collective, a certified B Corporation that partners with small-scale artisans in rural and urban slum communities. Bethany is dedicated to attacking social issues through economic development and empowerment by uplifting communities from within. She is passionate about starting conversations that matter and the influence that each of us holds in the everyday decisions we make.

If you’re looking for a place to stay on your next trip to New York City, Airbnb user Jamie has a posting that sounds promising: a “Hot Bedroom w/ Semi-Private Terrace” for only $11. But on closer inspection of the post and accompanying photo, it appears Jamie’s “hot bedroom” is actually the sidewalk under the awning of a Manhattan office building, and Jamie is holding a cardboard sign that reads, “Homeless. Need Money.”

Is this a cruel joke? No, the listing says; these living conditions are the sad reality for New York City’s 60,000 homeless. The fake Airbnb posting is part of an innovative campaign to raise awareness about the Big Apple’s growing homeless population on the popular house-sharing platform.

Homeless Airbnb was dreamed up by New York City-based artist-activists Jamie Shin and Vito Catalani, the creative team behind “TipBombing,” which gathered large audiences to shower unsuspecting New York street musicians with tips. The pair wanted to shed light on the places the city’s homeless live and sleep, Shin and Catalani said in a press release, using the travel site that lets members rent out their homes to strangers.

“In the spirit of Airbnb, we reminded people that anywhere can be home,” a narrator said in a YouTube video about the campaign.

Other socially-minded mock Airbnb postings include “Amazing NYC 1BR w/bike service” (a homeless man’s bike and bike trailer) and “Modern Boho Open Space” (a man pushing a shopping cart down a sidewalk). And if an individual chooses to book one of these listings, the money – usually around $10 to $14 – goes to a New York City homeless shelter, Shin and Catalani said.

On any given night in the United States, there are 578,424 people without homes, according to a homeless population count conducted by cities in January 2014 and reported to the Department of Housing and Urban Development. About 15 percent of the homeless population – 84,291 people – are considered “chronically homeless.” Over 200,000 homeless people are in families, including children.

A lack of affordable housing is one of the main reasons people become homeless, and, coincidentally enough, one criticism of Airbnb has been that it exacerbates apartment scarcity in cities like New York and San Francisco. Detractors of the house-sharing site say that Airbnb incentivizes landlords to essentially turn their apartments into private hotels -- booking the space to one Airbnb guest after another, rather than renting it out long-term to a community member.

But a 2013 economic impact study, conducted by Airbnb and HR&A, revealed that 46 percent of the Airbnb hosts in San Francisco were renting out their entire home while they were out of town, and 44 percent were renting out a portion of their home (like a spare room) while they continued to live there. Only 10 percent of Airbnb hosts were property owners who don’t occupy the apartment at all and run it as a full-time Airbnb property. So, while the travel platform may have a small impact on the availability of housing, it’s likely not a significant contributor to the homeless problem in major U.S. cities.

Yet Shin and Catalani’s decision to use Airbnb as the avenue for their social-awareness campaign is still an interesting one. The people browsing through Airbnb listings in Manhattan are typically tourists – people with homes themselves and with the money and resources to vacation in one of the most expensive cities in the world. They’re visiting New York City to see the lights and bustle of Times Square, perhaps a show on Broadway, and maybe the Statue of Liberty or Empire State Building. They’re not coming to the Big Apple to think about where and how the city’s homeless population lives. But then a Homeless Airbnb listing pops up, and they’re forced to confront another side of New York and America.

Shin and Catalani are posting Homeless Airbnb sporadically, they said in a statement. If you can’t find one on Airbnb, the team encourages you to support their cause by donating directly to one of New York City’s homeless shelters, including New York Rescue Mission, Goddard Riverside, Common Ground and Jericho Project.

Image credit: Homeless Airbnb

BP is the latest company to leave the  American Legislative Exchange Council, the conservative organization better known as ALEC. The organization bills itself as working to “advance limited government, free markets and federalism at the state level.” It does its work through a “nonpartisan public-private partnership” with state legislators and companies, the organization says.

The oil and gas company chose not to renew its ALEC membership, a BP spokesperson told the National Journal, which first reported on the company’s departure. BP told ALEC it was leaving the organization back in December.

"We continually assess our engagements with policy and advocacy organizations, and based on our most recent assessment, we have determined that we can effectively pursue policy matters of current interest to BP without renewing our membership in ALEC," the BP spokesperson said.

Over 100 companies have left ALEC in recent years

BP is among over 100 companies to leave ALEC in recent years. The companies that have left ALEC include Yahoo, Yelp, Facebook and eBay. Fellow oil-and-gas company Occidental Petroleum also left ALEC, as did defense technology company Northrop Grumman.

Google was perhaps the most dramatic and explicit about why it was leaving the organization. Back in September, over 50 organizations sent Google a letter asking the company to leave ALEC. Google didn’t respond to the letter, which asked the company to live up to its motto, “Don’t Be Evil,” by divesting from ALEC. However, about a week later Google chairman Eric Schmidt said during an NPR interview that the tech company’s ALEC membership "was some sort of mistake." He accused ALEC of "literally lying" about climate change.

Environmental groups are happy with BP's decision

Environmental groups have urged BP and other companies to leave ALEC, so they are rightfully excited by the news. That includes the Union of Concerned Scientists (UCS). Peter Frumhoff, director of science and policy for UCS, stated that he, along with the organization's president, Ken Kimmell, “asked senior BP officials to take this step last fall.”

Frumhoff added that the UCS is “gratified that they have listened and that a growing number of people and groups are calling on fossil fuel companies to end their support for ALEC.”

A database by Climate Accountability Institute shows that BP is among 90 companies responsible for extracting the fossil fuels that have caused about two-thirds of all industrial carbon emissions. More than 2.3 percent of all industrial carbon emissions come from BP’s products.

Greenpeace is another environmental organization happy about BP’s departure from ALEC: A blog post from the organization states that the departure of fossil fuel companies like BP and Occidental Petroleum “is a big blow to ALEC.”

Indeed it is a big blow to ALEC and makes one wonder what company will be next to leave the organization.

Image credit: Mike Mozart

Wildlife and nature reserves are major revenue-generating assets in South Africa and numerous other countries. Despite setbacks and an ongoing parade of problems, South Africa continues to be an innovator when it comes to wildlife and nature conservation. The nation is known for pioneering the application of new methods and use of new technology that is often adopted across the African continent and around the world.

Kruger National Park is the “crown jewel” in South Africa's 20-strong constellation of national parks, which are managed by SANParks (South Africa National Parks). The park spans over 1.9 million hectares (~4.7 million acres) and accommodates more than 1.4 million visitors annually. Kruger is also home to two of the largest wild populations of “big five” mammals -- the African elephant and the white and black rhinos -- which face particularly serious threats from poachers.

SANParks on March 19 announced it is evaluating the use of unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs), aka drones, for anti-poaching efforts. UAVs are being tested in the field as one of “a suite of anti-poaching initiatives supported by the Rhino Protection Programme (RPP)” and made possible by funding from the Dutch and Swedish postcode lotteries and other donors, SANParks explains in a news release.

UAVs and night-flying helicopters enlisted to stamp out poaching

Testing of UAVs as part of SANParks' efforts to thwart rhino poaching in Kruger National Park is expected to last a full year. The project coincides with SANParks taking delivery of a new Airbus AS-350 B3e helicopter, its second, and this one with night-flying capability.

Both the Airbus night-flying helicopter purchase and the UAV anti-poaching test project were made possible by a grant from the Howard G. Buffett Foundation, totaling $37.7 million South African rand (~US$3.18 million). Howard G. is the middle son of famed investor and billionaire Warren Buffet.

The grant from the Howard G. Buffet Foundation follows on an initial US$21.5 million grant made last year by the Dutch and Swedish postcode lotteries for SANParks to establish “air mobility capability” in Kruger. That grant enabled SANParks to purchase its first Airbus helicopter.

“In addition to increasing our current flight crew capability of flying at night, the helicopter is expected to improve our response time in dealing with contacts and other incidents in the Park,” SANParks' Board Chair Kuseni Dlamini commented. “We have just taken delivery of this second helicopter and we are commissioning it today (19 March 2015) to go into action in the fight against rhino poaching.

“In accordance with the much needed aerial support to the anti-poaching teams around the clock, this helicopter will further assist in quick tactical response particularly at night where we have been lacking due to limited resources, therefore it is only proper to thank HGBF for bringing this much needed resource in our fight to curb poaching.”

Shining a light on South Africa's wild rhinos and anti-poaching efforts

In the foreword to SANParks' 2013/2014 annual report, South African minister of environmental affairs, Ms. B.E.E. Molewa, highlighted the persistent problems poaching poses for South African and world wildlife heritage. She also gave SANParks some much needed public recognition for its success in stamping out poaching in South Africa's national parks.

“SANParks and the country have been under tremendous pressure in the last six years through the on-going onslaught spearheaded by international syndicates against our rhino populations,” she stated.

“I want to commend SANParks for the sterling work in attempts to combat poaching, in especially the Kruger National Park, under seriously trying conditions. The anti-poaching activities have ensured that in real terms the growth of poaching year on year continues to decline with the difference between 2012 and 2013 sitting at 42.6 percent while the previous year’s difference was at 68.7 percent.

“Though the numbers of poaching continue to grow even this reduction gives us hope that a better day is yet to come. Growth in arrests of suspected poachers and the ever increasingly stiffer sentences meted against convicted poachers are some of the measures which are hoped will pay dividends in the not so distant future.”

Minister Molewa also highlighted the crucial role poverty alleviation and education play in helping stamp out wildlife poaching. “Linked to the issue of challenges like rhino poaching amongst the myriad of social ills our country has to battle with is our work with communities, to bring hope, to educate and to build active constituencies,” she wrote. “I am proud to note that SANParks continues to improve its efforts to reach out to communities through its extensive list of initiatives.”

*Image credits: 1), 2) SANParks; 3) Prad's Press

On this side of the pond, the Volvo Group's vehicles have long had appealed to  suburbanites for their safety and durability cars. But the company also is a formidable manufacturer of trucks, buses and construction equipment. Volvo hit a rough patch in recent years, but is on the rebound, with sales approximately US$33 billion last year. And on the sustainability front, the company had a year of growth as well, especially when it came to efficiency—Volvo’s mantra for how it performed in 2014.

The company has long been forward thinking on alternative fuels, especially when it comes to methane and dimethyl ether (DME), the latter of which is a common pulp and paper byproduct in its home country of Sweden. But along with advancements in more efficient vehicles, the company itself has also become leaner and greener while launching new programs in its quest to become more of an engaged corporate citizen. To that end, the company just released its most recent sustainability report covering its performance for 2014.

First, let’s start with the company’s products, which have become more fuel efficient and innovative. Volvo launched a hybrid bus last fall, which has the potential to transform bus fleets in the long run. While hybrid and electric cars are sexier and score more press, more efficient buses could really make a difference environmentally and for municipalities, fiscally. The Volvo 7900 Electric Hybrid bus packs a punch and was a standout within the transportation sector: with 75 percent fuel savings, 75 percent less carbon emissions, running in electric mode 70 percent of the time and boasting a recharge that only takes six minutes, this bus could be a game changer. Well, if these buses enter more fleets beyond Stockholm, Edinburgh and Hamburg, Germany.

The company has also made improvements in its overall environmental performance. A member of the WWF’s Climate Savers Program since 2009, Volvo claims participation in the program was behind reducing its total carbon emissions by 40 million tons—or by 20 percent since 2009. A reporting company to CDP, the company also boosted its carbon disclosure score—up from 73 to 100. There is still room for improvement, but it nonetheless represents an ambitious year.

Capping off that year, what stakeholders should keenly observe this year is Volvo’s plan for more social engagement. The company’s professionals spent 2014 developing its “Moving Society Forward” program, which will focus on where its business interacts with society. The company will run a global traffic and workplace safety program, increase efforts on environmental sustainability and also develop an education and skills development agenda. The automaker’s work has taken Volvo employees everywhere from teaching traffic etiquette at schools in South Korea, India, Singapore and China—to launching vocational education programs in Africa and even in Sweden to combat local unemployment. The company continues to clean up its supply chain as well, with 94 percent of its suppliers ISO 14001 compliant and vendors assessed by their social performance, compliance with labor and human rights laws and workplace safety.

From the perspective of an automaker, being socially, environmentally and ethically responsible combine for a massive challenge, especially considering the climate impact cars, trucks and buses have on the planet. Volvo, however, is on the right path, and hopefully can surprise us more with even better and cleaner vehicles in the next several years.

Image credit: Volvo

New York's Skidmore College is one of three universities in the state to earn Marine Stewardship Council (MSC) Chain of Custody Certification. Spanning the entire supply chain from fishery or fish farm to final sale, MSC's wild-caught seafood standard assures consumers that the seafood they are buying “comes from an independently-assessed and certified as environmentally sustainable fishery with full traceability.”

Students, faculty and staff at Skidmore College's bucolic campus in Saratoga Springs are now being served a variety of fresh, wild-caught seafood certified to have been sustainably caught, processed and distributed. At present, this includes MSC-certified haddock, pollock and cod. Skidmore's Dining Services intends to add other MSC-certified seafood to the dining hall's menu cycle.

Earning MSC chain of custody certification is the latest in Skidmore College's efforts to enhance overall sustainability, both on-campus and off. Based in upstate New York, the liberal arts college has installed an array of solar photovoltaic (PV) panels. No fewer than 29 buildings on Skidmore's campus are equipped with geothermal heating and cooling systems. And Skidmore's sustainability initiatives don't stop there.

Assuring sustainability across the seafood supply chain

MSC's Chain of Custody certification is a global, science-based assurance that seafood packaged with the blue MSC eco-label “can be traced back to a fishery that has been certified and well-managed,” the organization explains on its website. That assurance extends across the seafood supply chain to include processors and distributors.

Five core principles define the MSC sustainable seafood chain of custody standard:

1. Purchasing from a certified supplier;


2. Certified products are identifiable;


3. Certified products are segregated;


4. Traceable and volumes are recorded: and


5. The organization has a management system.

Sustainability at Skidmore

Skidmore Dining Services introduced MSC-certified seafood at the college's fourth annual American Culinary Federation (ACF) Conference and Competition in January. Skidmore's culinary team won an ACF gold medal for a dish based on MSC-certified sea scallops.

Earning the MSC certification for wild-caught seafood is the latest accomplishment for Skidmore as it ramps up its efforts to enhance social and environmental sustainability. “Sustainability is a key theme in our dining facilities and we’re committed to reducing impact on the environment and increasing sustainable initiatives,” Mark Miller, director of Dining Services, was quoted in an MSC news release.

“MSC Chain of Custody certification is a sign of our commitment to sustainability. Skidmore’s Dining Services believes that by obtaining MSC certification, college students and staff are able to contribute to the health of the world’s oceans by choosing seafood that can be traced back to fisheries that have achieved the MSC standard for sustainable fishing.”

Skidmore Dining Services includes composting coffee-grounds, zero-sort recycling, efforts to repurpose fryer oil product as fuel, eliminating trays from the dining hall, and providing refillable water-bottle stations that have saved the equivalent of 171,816 bottles to date.

“We congratulate Skidmore College for their leadership and efforts to recognize and reward sustainable fishing practices through the achievement of MSC Chain of Custody certification,” said Geoff Bolan, U.S. program director for MSC. “Skidmore Dining’s commitment to offer seafood that has been certified to the global, science-based MSC standard, will help to ensure sustainable seafood for this and future generations.”

*Image credits: 1), MSC; 2) Accenutre, MSC; 3) Skidmore College

 

Tonight, we hosted our monthly "Stories & Beer" Fireside Chat at the HUB Bay Area. This month, TriplePundit Founder and Moderator Nick Aster conducted a brief conversation with our special guests about a topic of importance to the sustainable business community: cannabis.

As a newly legal industry, cannabis cultivation has been getting a lot of attention. With a myriad of legal challenges and lack of supply chain clarity, our current way of producing cannabis isn’t healthy for our planet, or us. Indoor cultivation accounts for an astonishing 5 to 8 percent of the electricity consumption in California, and no one knows the kinds of chemicals and pesticides that are being used.

Tonight's Fireside Chat at the Impact HUB San Francisco was a fascinating conversation on the cannabis industry through the lens of sustainability. Nick Aster moderated the talk between the audience, Flow Kana’s Michael Steinmetz and Emerald Growers’ Hezekiah Allen.

[REGISTER HERE]

Schedule

6:30 – 7:00 – beers and networking
7:00 – 8:00 – fireside chat and Q&A
8:00 – 8:30 – networking

Michael Steinmetz, Flow Kana

Is a graduate from Carnegie Mellon University, former NASA engineer and investment banker turned social entrepreneur. He grew his last company Le Zuc, and its non-profit arm, to more than 50 people across two countries. He’s the founder of Flow Kana, an SF based startup that aims to shift the conversation around cannabis and play an active role in creating the clean cannabis movement.

Hezekiah Allen, Emerald Growers

Hezekiah Allen was born and raised in Humboldt County. He studied Politics and Government at Pacific University. After university he returned to the North Coast to work as a consultant helping local residents increase water storage, implement conservation irrigation practices, and assisting local organizations with fundraising and strategic planning. In 2010 he was hired as the Executive Director of the Mattole Restoration Council. While with the MRC Allen was one of the first community leaders to call attention to the increasingly severe environmental impacts associated with illegal and unregulated marijuana cultivation.

Iglo Group, Europe’s largest frozen food company, has launched a coalition with leading waste reduction charity WRAP with the objective of reducing food waste across Europe.

The campaign called iFreeze will highlight the problem of European households wasting an average of €2602 of food every year, and then provide advice and tips on how increased use of both freezing and frozen food can help to reduce this waste and save money. The campaign is part of Iglo Group’s Forever Food Together (FFT) programme, launched in October 2014.

Birds Eye, Iglo Group’s UK brand, will be the first market to launch the campaign next month, supported by WRAP, Hotpoint, a leading brand of large home appliances, and the British Frozen Food Federation (BFFF). The Group’s other leading food brands Findus (in Italy) and Iglo (elsewhere in Europe) will launch education campaigns across 2015.

The Group will provide information through TV and print advertising, online tips and on-pack advice. Across 2015, the company plans to invest over €5m in iFreeze and will contribute to the Forever Food Together goal to inform consumers on at least one billion occasions by the end of 2020.

 Andy Weston-Webb, UK MD, Iglo Group, commented: “Freezing, as a means of preservation, and frozen food both have the potential to play a key role in the fight against food waste and save consumers money.”

Alongside Iglo Group and WRAP, Hotpoint (owned by the Whirlpool Corporation), one of Europe’s leading manufacturers and distributors of large home appliances, will promote iFreeze in both the UK and other European markets at consumer events such as Ideal Home Show and Good Food Show.

 

Picture credit: © Yoyopiticutz | Dreamstime.com - Frozen Raspberrys Photo