Search

As oil-rich Azerbaijan prepares to host next year's inaugural 'European Games,' the Azerbaijani government has stepped up its crackdown on activists speaking out against its abysmal human rights record.  As of this writing, more than 20 human rights defenders have been detained by the government, including four of the country’s most prominent activists.

Meanwhile, the European Games' lead organizer has claimed that it is not his job to criticize the host country; denied any knowledge of the government's oppressive habits; and declared Azerbaijan an "incredibly free society." Current and future corporate sponsors of the games should take notice and carefully consider their decision to be affiliated with the event.

Azerbaijan and the 2012 Eurovision Song Contest

The last major world event Azerbaijan hosted was the 2012 Eurovision Song Contest, which was also the post-Soviet Republic’s real debut on the world stage.  Prior to the singing competition, the Azerbaijani government took the usual steps taken by an authoritarian state before it invites international attention -- it “beautified” the city and created a land seemingly devoid of dissent or criticism.

In the eyes of Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev, “beautification” meant the forcible eviction of homeowners and the demolition of partially-occupied buildings in order to make room for Eurovision-related development projects in Baku, Azerbaijan’s capital.  Prior to the contest, dozens of families were evicted from the neighborhood that would eventually be home to the main Eurovision arena. At times, these evictions came without warning or took place in the middle of the night.

The run-up to Eurovision was also marked by a crackdown on civil society and the attempted creation of a “criticism-free” zone, a tactic not unique to the Aliyev government (and frighteningly reminiscent of a Nazi propaganda campaign before the 1936 Olympics in Berlin).  In Baku in 2012, journalists critical of the regime were prosecuted and detained, human rights activists were imprisoned, and protests were quelled.

The Aliyev regime’s brutal tactics continued into 2013.  In order to facilitate the creation of the controversial Winter Garden development in Baku, the Azerbaijani government waged a similar campaign of displacement and destruction, effectively rendering homeless anyone in the planned footprint of the park-cum-shopping mall.  Likewise, the weeks and months preceding the (not even remotely free and fair) October presidential elections were marred by a familiar war against dissenting voices, including the enactment of numerous draconian laws meant to curtail Azerbaijani rights to freedom of assembly, association and expression.

The 2015 European Games and the persecution of human rights activists

Which brings us to present day and Azerbaijan’s role as host of the European Games.*

Given the rosy picture painted by the Azerbaijani government’s house-cleaning projects prior to Eurovision, as well as ongoing threats by President Aliyev to wage war against Armenia, human rights activists were justifiably afraid of what the European Games might bring, and they sought to use the prospect of international attention to raise awareness of the regime’s human rights record.  Unfortunately, the government’s response was swift, unlawful and wholly in keeping with past practice.

In the first two weeks of August, the government escalated its crackdown on civil society, rounding up and detaining Leyla Yunus, one of the country’s leading human rights defenders; Yunus’ husband, historian Arif Yunus; Rasul Jafarov, an outspoken critic of politically-motivated prosecutions in Azerbaijan; and long-time activist and lawyer Intigam Aliyev. All were charged with trumped-up violations of Azerbaijani law -- including drug-possession, treason and tax-evasion -- and will likely be held indefinitely (and without due process) unless international pressure is brought to bear.

The responsibility of business and the European Games’ organizers

So here we are preparing for another international sporting event, and it feels like Sochi all over again.  As I wrote before the kickoff of the 2014 Winter Olympics, the International Olympic Committee, as organizer of the Sochi Games, had a duty under the U.N. Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights to ensure that Russia’s Olympics-related activities did not contribute to or cause human rights violations.  Russia’s reprehensible behavior in preparation for Sochi is well documented, as is the failure of the IOC to do anything about it; yet, there is still time for the European Games’ Organizing Committee to take a stand.  Unfortunately, the committee has thus far attempted to ignore the situation in Azerbaijan and has claimed that “politics” are not within the committee’s purview.

International sporting events like the Olympics or the European Games also raise questions about the roles and responsibilities of corporate sponsors, as Christine Bader and others, including Susan McPherson and Laura Clise in an article on Triple Pundit, pointed outduring Sochi.  As pressure mounted, a few Sochi sponsors spoke out against Russia’s anti-LGBT laws and actions, but none pulled their sponsorship.  The European Games already count massive corporations like BP among the official corporate sponsors.  Hopefully, BP and others will re-think their business relationships the games -- and with the Aliyev government.  Until then, their sponsorship implies tacit approval of the Azerbaijani government and its tactics as it prepares for the 2015 games.

The UN’s trip

Coincidentally, this past Monday also marked the first day of a timely United Nations' Business and Human Rights Working Group visit to Azerbaijan.  According to the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights, the Working Group will examine “current initiatives, opportunities and challenges to implement [sic] the U.N. Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights in Azerbaijan.”  In addition to meeting with government authorities and companies, the Working Group will speak to civil society organizations, trade unions and other stakeholders.

Of course, the Working Group is visiting Azerbaijan at the behest of President Aliyev, so it is unlikely that the government will boast about its recent crackdown and/or what role (if any) business has played in allowing that to happen.  However, the week-long visit should at least provide a brief respite for activists in the country, and one hopes that the Working Group gets a clear picture of the human rights challenges facing the country at this crucial time.  Thus far, however, the Group has been silent on recent events in Baku.

__________

* One would be forgiven for not knowing much (if anything) about the European Games.  Announced in 2012, the 2015 games in Baku will be the first ever.  Ten of the 19 sports held at the games will serve as qualifying events for European athletes hoping to compete in the 2016 Summer Games in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, including such classic Olympic draws as table tennis, archery and taekwondo.  In order to become the European Games’ first host country, Azerbaijan won a competition against ... no other country in the world, actually, as Baku was the only city on the planet to bid for the honor.

Image courtesy of Baku 2015 European Games

Uber and Lyft’s bitter battle for ridesharing supremacy has long been overshadowed by the political battle for ridesharing legitimacy. Taxi companies have led the charge against ridesharing, arguing that services such as Uber and Lyft do not have the oversight of local regulatory bodies while unfairly competing with existing locally-regulated taxi services.

Despite heavy lobbying by taxicab drivers associations and other groups, ridesharing won a decisive victory in September 2013 when the California Public Utilities Commission’s (CPUC) decided to establish a new business category called a Transportation Network Company (TNC) to describe companies such as Uber and Lyft. In creating this new category, along with a series of rules and regulations, CPUC effectively legitimized Lyft and Uber in the country’s most populous state.

Uber recently stepped up its public affairs game by directly encouraging its users to lobby the California legislature to vote against AB 2293, which could kill ridesharing altogether. In an email to users, Uber wrote:

Who would have thought California, the cradle for American innovation, would take the lead in killing it. Governor Brown is committed to leading California into the future, but some in the legislature are anonymously doing the bidding of trial lawyers, big taxi and insurance lobbyists. Their bill, AB 2293, will be voted on THIS WEEK and would kill ridesharing in the Golden State.

If you want to keep uberX in California, now is the time to act. You are voting with your wallets every day - choosing Uber for a safe, reliable ride. Call your senators and tell them to stand up for Uber, your transportation options and the state’s future – not special interests.#CAlovesUber

Uber users responded in force online, taking to Twitter and other social media outlets to express their support for the company -- and ridesharing overall.

Earlier this week, a contingent of Uber drivers pulled up to the state capitol and delivered more than 17,000 signatures to the bill’s prime proponent, Susan Bonilla (D) of the 14th District. The assemblywoman maintains her bill is meant only to protect consumers.

Uber doubled down on its quest to be the leader in ridesharing public policy by announcing that it had hired the political strategist David Plouffe to be its senior vice president of policy and strategy. Plouffe, who ran President Barack Obama’s 2008 campaign, said he planned to run Uber’s communication efforts much like a political race, pushing to win over both consumers and regulators as the company expands worldwide.

While Uber seems content to go it alone, it seems Uber and Lyft, along with other ridesharing companies such as Sidecar, would benefit from pooling resources to take on regulators that would like nothing but to see them all destroyed. For now, the companies have been left to use their own resources to fight individual battles in various markets nationwide. Though it seems unlikely that Uber and Lyft will ever partner in such a way, perhaps a third-party ridesharing lobby could arise to fight for the burgeoning industry in statehouses across the country, as well as on Capitol Hill.

Image credit: Flickr Photo Cindy

Based in Washington, D.C., Mike Hower is a writer, thinker and strategic communicator that revels in driving the conversation at the intersection of sustainable business and policy. He has cultivated diverse experience working for the United States Congress in Washington, D.C., helping Silicon Valley startups with strategic communications and teaching in South America. Connect with him on LinkedIn or follow him on Twitter (@mikehower)

And then were two. Oregon’s Department of State Lands on Monday denied an Ambre Energy proposal to transport coal by rail to a Port of Morrow, Oregon terminal for eventual export to China and other Asian markets.

This is the latest in a series of wins for opponents of coal company plans to move coal through the Pacific Northwest on the way to Asian markets. But two major plans in Washington state, out of six original proposals, are still pending. The two proposals that remain on the table are the Gateway Pacific Terminal at Cherry Point north of Bellingham, and the Millennium Bulk Terminal at Longview on the Columbia River.

“We’ve gone from six down to two, with the two biggest and baddest remaining,” said Eric de Place, research director at The Sightline Institute and a critic of environmental and economic impacts of the proposed terminals. He was quoted in a Seattle Post-Intelligencer online article. The Gateway Pacific project would have the capacity to export up to 48 million tons of coal annually, translating to 17 trains a day through Puget Sound population centers. The Longview port would have a capacity of 44 million tons each day.

Australia’s Ambre Energy plan — on a much smaller scale than the Gateway and Millennium projects, would move coal by rail to the Coyote Island Terminal at the Port of Morrow near Boardman. From there it would be barged downstream on the Columbia River to Clatskanie, and from there shipped to China.

“As many people know, this permit application has taken hundreds of staff hours to review,” Mary Abrams, Department of State Lands director, said in a press release. “From reading more than 20,000 public comments to carefully analyzing technical documents and plans, this application has been scrutinized for months. We believe our decision is the right one, considering our regulatory parameters laid out in Oregon law, and the wealth of information we have received from the applicant and the public.”

The department regulates filling and removing of material from “waters of the state” which include wetlands, rivers and streams. The Coyote Island Terminal removal-fill permit application proposed 572 cubic yards of permanent fill (in the form of pilings) in the Columbia River on submerged land owned by the Port of Morrow.

The department determined that the Ambre’s permit application “is not consistent with the protection, conservation and best use of the state’s water resources, and that the applicant did not provide sufficient analysis of alternatives that would avoid construction of a new dock and impacts on tribal fisheries.”

“We used data provided by a wide array of parties, and weighed this information against what Oregon law says we must take into consideration in making removal-fill permit decisions,” Abrams said. “We fully believe that our conclusion to deny the Coyote Island Terminal permit is the right one.”

The department noted that Ambre can appeal the decision, which would involve a hearing before an administrative law judge through the contested case process. There was no immediate word from Ambre on whether it will appeal. (Triple Pundit reported on the financial problems facing Ambre’s coal plans last year.)

But the nonprofit Alliance for Northwest Jobs and Exports said the the department's decision "hurts all trade-related industries and workers in our region," according to a written statement from Alliance spokeswoman Kathryn Stenger. The state's ports are "one of the few bright spots in Oregon's economy," she said.

Although Ambre Energy needs the rejected permit to build a dock, the Alliance suggested in its statement that Coyote Island and the other two coal terminal proposals would still be built.

So, the battleground shifts to the remaining two proposals even as China’s demand for U.S. coal recedes. Things are looking up for derailing PNW coal exports.

Image credit: Banner Protest by Greenpeace USA via Flickr

None of us likes to admit that our emotional and intuitive reactions can be manipulated by what we see online. Nor do we like to discover offhandedly that our independent thoughts are often molded by what our friends and neighbors think. Cornell University researchers recently demonstrated this to us in their infamous Facebook study, in which users were duped into revealing their impressionable thoughts without knowing it. In the process, they also revealed that what we see online can be tailored to match what we say we like and don’t like.

Study subjects weren’t the only ones who sat up and took notice of this information and the study results. The U.S. State Department did too.

It seems that the agency has already extrapolated that what we ‘like’ on social media sites can influence what we see online in general. So if you happen to follow progressive organizations on FB and are often ‘liking’ their posts, the ads and the other promotional material you see is probably going to be of the same ilk. Conversely, if your leanings are a bit more toward the Tea Party, let’s say, what you are going to find coming across your screen will most often mirror that ‘bubble’ of perspectives.

The State Department says the problem with this type of reinforced grouping (what the Facebook study referred to as “emotional contagion”), is it can foment and reinforce social unrest.

The example that Bureau of International Information Programs Coordinator Macon Phillips used in a recent interview with Motherboard is the juxtaposition between viewpoints in the Middle East.

“You start to understand why people in Iraq may see things very differently than people in Tel Aviv,” Phillips said. He blames it on the robots in the background responding to the ‘likes’ and ‘favs’ we use on our social media.

But while international politics in faraway countries may serve as a good example, I find I don’t have to go to that extreme see his point. I’ve lost count of the number of times I see “Impeach Obama?” across my screen each day when I am living in Idaho, and ironically, how often I am being asked for a thumbs-up for Obama when I am in the next province over in Obama-positive Canada.

But I suspect that isn’t really what’s at the heart of the State Department’s thinking. Facebook and Twitter aren’t, after all, the only places we see these influential bots doing their handiwork. The news adverts that splash across the bottom of the screen are often tailored to where we live as well as what we’ve clicked on. They may not all be reflective of what we believe, but the pesky automatons seem to know well enough where we’re residing and what the latest assumptions are about the perspectives of that area. Guns, doing away with healthcare, and whether to ‘send illegal immigrant children’ back to Mexico seem to be top issues for Idaho computer users -- apparently. And no, the bots don’t seem to care whether they are offending anyone, least of all the reader. Even more telling is that the adverts rarely seem to reflect issues related to organic or sustainable living. I guess that's not in the perameters of the "likes" that are expected for my geographic rural area.

Tech experts call this kind of thing ‘siloing.’ The definition is disturbing enough. Per businessdictionary.com,  an information silo is “an information management system that is unable to communicate with other information management systems.” While we’re depending on this system for informative material, it’s tailoring its answers to what it thinks we want to know (or it wants us to know, as was proven possible in the Facebook experiment above).

“In a way, social networking has taken fringe groups and given them power they never had before,” Motherboard writer Jason Koebler says. It makes it easier for people to reinforce and justify their beliefs by what they see on their screen – as well as what their friends see. And it removes the need to ask whether the news at the bottom of the screen, the promotional adverts or the hearsay in the chat room is really telling the whole story.

The State Department may be right: Hate groups or political factions like ISIS that draw strength by word-of-mouth can grow with the help of the Internet. But so can more local concerns, like intolerance and the misconception that we needn’t look beyond the borders of our city, the color of our skin or the hearsay on the street. The belief that climate change isn’t real, that sustainable farming can’t succeed globally or that the middle ground can’t be reached between two sides seems more at the heart of what we stand to lose from automated siloing of our news. And that, no matter how smart a bot may be, we can only be inspired by practical inquisitiveness and down-home, good ol’ human nature.

Image credit: Webtreats

TOMS Shoes, the company often credited for making the one-for-one socially conscious business model take off, decided earlier this summer it wanted to expand even faster since its founding in 2006. Such ambitious goals, of course, require money, so the company’s founder, Blake Mycoskie, started shopping the company around. This week he found a partner in Bain Capital, which has agreed to purchase a 50 percent ownership stake of TOMS. Mykoskie will continue to own the other half of the company; financial terms of the transaction were not disclosed.

The news elicits mixed emotions across the board: The socially responsible business crowd will shudder, no doubt in part because of how Bain Capital was eviscerated by the Democrats during Mitt Romney’s 2012 presidential campaign. Much of that criticism was exaggerated and unfair, but employees of some companies that became part of Bain’s portfolio, such as Ampad, have had plenty to say about the company’s approach to investment. Then again, Bain Capital found success with other firms such as Staples and Gartner. So could this help TOMS in the long run, expand the one-for-one business model, and benefit more people across the globe?

Why not? This story is analogous to the 2001 purchase of Ben & Jerry’s by Unilever. Critics of the deal howled at the thought of the Anglo-Dutch consumer packaged goods giant taking over the quirky and irreverent ice cream outfit with a social conscious, but for the most part, the deal has benefited both parent company and its now 13-year-old division. The same goes for Bain and TOMS: The Boston-based investment firm has no reason to alter the company’s mission, unless it wants to completely destroy the brand. The MBA types will bristle at the thought of the company giving so many shoes and other products away, which would eat away at profits. But that is exactly why TOMS has taken off and its shoes are now easily found just about everywhere.

TOMS has taken its share of lumps and criticisms, but overall has had a net positive effect. Responding to critics that the company really was not addressing poverty (as if conventional international aid organizations were successful), TOMS launched initiatives with the aim to spur more job creation in the countries desperate for it most. The company claims it has given away over 25 million pairs of shoes, has moved into eyewear, opened up an online marketplace that gives opportunities to other socially conscious brands and if imitation is the sincerest form of flattery — has inspired other social entrepreneurs to open similar businesses.

The fact is, companies such as TOMS, and their cousins that have made up the “B Corporation” movement, are here to stay. The way to conduct business is no longer the aims pinstripes versus do-gooders. A company can be a blend of both, have a social mission and be profitable — benefiting everyone in the process.

Image credit: TOMS Shoes Google+ Page

Leon Kaye has lived in Abu Dhabi for the past year and is currently spending some time in Uruguay. Follow him on Instagram and Twitter. Other thoughts of his are on his site, greengopost.com.

Intelligent energy storage is emerging as a commercially-viable alternative to adding electricity generation capacity or constructing new power plants.

Equipped with energy management software that's responsive to electricity demand and supply conditions, smart energy storage systems are also cropping up among commercial and industrial companies, municipalities and college campuses, helping boost energy efficiency, renewable energy-grid interconnections and reduce utility bills, as well as strains on the power grid.

Heightened interest and investment in intelligent energy storage is prompting industry participants to band together in more organized fashion. Bringing together energy storage policy, technology and market leaders, Energy Storage North America (ESNA) on August 18 announced finalists for its annual 2014 Innovation Award.

“This year’s ESNA Award finalists represent a rich diversity of players and business models in rapidly developing energy storage ecosystems across the U.S. and Canada,” Janice Lin, managing partner of Strategen Consulting and co-founder of the California Energy Storage Alliance, was quoted in a news release. “Energy storage as an asset class is a welcome addition to electric system planning toolkits in California, Hawaii, New York, Ontario and other markets.

Recognizing excellence in energy storage innovation

Nine project developers were chosen as representatives of excellence in installed energy storage projects spanning utility-scale, customer-sited commercial, industrial or residential, and mobility – electric vehicle (EV) and supporting infrastructure. “The strength of this year’s nominees demonstrates that we are past the early technology tipping point and moving toward the mainstream,” Lin commented.

Market-driven criteria and the ability to advance progress in the development and commercialization of energy storage systems served as the basis for selecting ESNA Innovation Award finalists.

“The 2014 Award criteria align with the most critical aspects of market development for energy storage, such as safety, reliability, and security, which are also reflected in the event’s programming this year,” said Jeff Gates, ESNA Advisory Board member and managing director of Duke Energy.

Following is the list of ESNA 2014 Innovation Award finalists. More complete descriptions are available at the ESNA awards website.

• Utility-scale: 2500 R Midtown (Sacramento, California); Abengoa Solana CSP Plant (Gila Bend, Arizona); and SCE Tehachapi Wind Energy Storage Project (Tehachapi, California).


• Customer-sited: EaglePicher PowerPyramid BESS (Promontory, Utah); Green Charge Networks GreenStation 2.0 (various locations, California); and UC San Diego/BMW 2nd Life EV Energy Storage System (San Diego, California).


• Mobility: Benecia City Hall Solar EV Fast Charger with Storage (Benecia, California); Powertree San Francisco One (San Francisco, California); and SEPTA Energy Optimization Project (Philadelphia, Pennsylvania).

ESNA this year is also introducing an ESNA Champion Award to honor “an individual who has shown leadership and dedication in the advancement of energy storage in North America.

ESNA is turning to social media to help choose this year's ESNA Innovation Award winners. Public votes via Twitter (which must include the #ESNAAwards2014 hashtag) or the ESNA awards website will account for 50 percent of the final results, with the ESNA Advisory Board making up the other half.

The winners of this year's ESNA awards will be announced at the Energy Storage North America conference and exhibition, which is to take place at the San Jose Convention Center Sept. 30-Oct. 2.

*Image credits: 1) EaglePicher PowerPyramid BESS; 2) 2500 R Midtown, Sacramento, CA

Pinchot’s 2014 Summer Study Tour took Pinchot students, alumni and faculty to America’s “Rust Belt." The group visited Pittsburgh, Cleveland and Detroit to explore sustainable business opportunities at these significant sites of industrial success, decline and rebirth. In this series of blogs, participants share revelations and reactions along their journey.

By James Coburn

Detroit is a dichotomy.

The city’s innovative spirit that brought us the assembly line and the modern auto industry lives on in wildly successful new enterprises like Quicken Loans. Yet Detroit’s much-publicized poverty has spawned a depressed yet resilient culture that continues to struggle to pull itself out of the gutter.

Big ideas, modest progress

The macro thinkers of Detroit’s Economic Growth Corp. are focused on job creation. Their mantra is “one job creates many,” expressing their belief that jobs are an important way to get the city back on its feet. Yet the sheer scale of the municipality – 170 square miles – makes the pace of progress seem slow.

Place-making and art are happening all over the city: On the many abandoned properties, as well as downtown, through the efforts of Ford, Quicken Loans, and business moguls like Dan Gilbert and Mike Ilitch. These efforts are attracting young talent into a city center with many buildings that only five years ago were mere skeletons of themselves. Driven leaders like Mayor Mike Duggan are tirelessly pushing ahead to create innovation areas in the city to encourage new industry and create sustainable jobs. The city is also acting as fast as resources will allow to remove the remainder of the nearly 78,000 abandoned homes and putting in up to 800 street lights a week to create a safer city.

Neighborhoods taking charge

While these efforts are making strides in Detroit’s recovery, some of the city’s most blighted neighborhoods aren’t waiting on the system – or the moguls – to help them. The residents of Brightmoor, an area of abandoned homes, drugs and homicide, are taking back their neighborhood through planned community efforts.

Members of Neighbors Building Brightmoor have planted numerous community gardens – often near houses known for illicit behavior as a way to keep an eye on them. They also spearhead art, youth and housing revitalization programs, and have recently partnered with the Wayne County Sheriff to pair residents and deputies in regular neighborhood patrols that focus on quality of life as much as criminal activity.

Such locally-grown efforts seem to be a trend in many of Detroit’s poorest and most violent neighborhoods, building hope for the “Paris of the Midwest.”

James Coburn has spent the last 8 years working in Marketing and Advertising while living in his home state of Utah. James is working to earn his MBA in Sustainable Systems and when he’s not concentrating on school you can find him developing youngsters coaching youth lacrosse, as well as having adventures in the mountains around his home.

Wetland restoration is an excellent means of water resource management and stewardship, due to its cost-effectiveness and sustainability. An April report from the Center for American Progress and Oxfam America revealed the remarkable economic value and benefits resulting from coastal ecosystem restoration projects around the U.S.

“We learned in a nutshell that there’s a win-win, if not a win-win-win, opportunity that presents itself when you invest in conservation. The economic benefits are remarkable … There’s a direct connection between what we’re doing to enhance the environment and what we’re doing to enhance economic opportunity,” summarized Mark Schaefer, National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration assistant secretary of commerce for conservation and management.

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and partner organizations have been promoting use of “green infrastructure” for years “as part of a comprehensive approach to achieving healthier waters.” Recognizing excellence in such initiatives for the first time, EPA on August 19 awarded Volkswagen Group of America (VW) with the EPA Region 4 Rain-Catcher Award, Commercial Category during an awards ceremony at the EPA Region 4 International Erosion Control Association Municipal Wet Weather Stormwater Conference in Charlotte, North Carolina.

The multiple benefits of "green infrastructure"

Green infrastructure, as the EPA explains, “uses natural systems and/or engineered systems designed to mimic natural processes to more effectively manage urban stormwater and reduce receiving water impacts.”

The first automobile manufacturing facility to earn the U.S. Green Building Council's LEED Platinum certification, Volkswagen's Chattanooga, Tennessee plant voluntarily set aside at least 20 percent of the facility as open space. It has also implemented a host of conservation practices, including measures to better cope with stormwater and runoff.

These include using bioswales in parking lots, and the construction of 3.3 miles of stream and 2.8 miles of green space. In addition, VW is collecting stormwater from the facility's roof for use in a cooling tower and toilets.

Along with offering employees and locals nature recreation activities, these ecologically-based stormwater management measures are also helping protect wildlife. Two wetland areas help assure the survival of several species, including the red-headed woodpecker and the rusty blackbird, the EPA highlights.

Making use of clean, renewable energy is another facet of VW's efforts to assure the overall sustainability of its Chattanooga manufacturing plant. In January 2013, VW flipped the switch on Tennessee's largest solar photovoltaic (PV) installation. Installing 33,600 PV panels over 33 acres, the solar power field produces enough clean, renewable electricity to power the equivalent of some 1,200 homes.

*Image credits: 1), 3) VW of America; 2) Wardsauto.com

Plastic is a part of our lives. It packages many of the food products we buy, encases our electronics and is even found in our cars. Plastic waste causes numerous environmental problems, particularly in the world’s oceans where it makes up about 90 percent of all trash floating around. The biggest plastic waste ocean site is in the North Pacific Gyre. Called the Great Pacific Garbage Patch, it is twice the size of Texas. Since plastic takes a very long time to degrade, some 500 to 1,000 years, it is impossible to completely clean up.

There are two companies that have created a way to reduce plastic waste by eliminating packaging. Stonyfield Farm and WikiFoods have collaborated to provide frozen yogurt encased in edible packaging made from fruit skin. The product is called Stonyfield Frozen Yogurt Pearls, and an edible packaging called WikiPearl packages the less than 30-calorie frozen treat. The companies started a test market in March at four Whole Foods stores in the Boston area with six flavors.

WikiPearl technology protects the food or beverage wrapped inside without exposing it to chemicals or unnatural ingredients. It is made up of two parts: the food or beverage (frozen yogurt in this case) and the skin, an edible, biodegradable food made with organic fruit. WikiFoods describes the skin as a “protective electrostatic gel formed by harnessing interactions between natural food particles, nutritive ions and a polysaccharide.” The skin creates a layer that is not as permeable to air which allows them to be washed, carried and handled without damaging the food or beverage inside.

At the present time, consumers outside of the four test market areas will not be able to find Stonyfield Frozen Yogurt Pearls. However, Stonyfield and WikiFoods are working with retailers to create ways to sell them in the “near future,” as WikiFoods states on its website. The trouble is that stores are not yet equipped to sell them totally package-free. WikiFoods has created two Wikibars where they are sold to consumers who then put them into their shopping bags or containers. Wikibars are only in two locations: in Paris, France and Cambridge, Massachusetts.

The collaboration between Stonyfield and WikiFoods received recognition earlier this summer at the 2014 World Dairy Innovation Awards in Istanbul, Turkey. The two companies won three awards for Best Ice Cream or Frozen Yogurt, Best Dairy Packaging Innovation and Best Overall Concept.

The collaboration allows Stonyfield to fulfill a long-held dream to provide its products without packaging, as co-founder and chairman, Gary Hirshberg explained. “We’ve long dreamed of the day that after you eat the yogurt, you eat the cup too. Stonyfield Frozen Yogurt Pearls are the next step in our evolution,” Hirshberg said. “No spoon needed, just a delicious bite of beautifully crafted organic frozen yogurt served without any container.  Re-imagine all the ways you can eat your favorite organic dessert – in the car, on the beach, with the kids at the park – no spoon, no waste, no limits.”

WikiFoods envisions a time when many different food and beverage products are packaged with WikiPearl. WikiFoods already has a number of Wikipearl products, including frozen yogurt, ice cream, cheese, fruits, vegetables, water, cocktails and soups. The founder of WikiFoods, David Edwards described the company in a video as “a vision of a totally new way in which we package food and beverage so we eliminate the wasteful packaging that is so present in food and beverage today.”

Image credit: WikiFoods

Deep in the interior of British Columbia, Canada, in ranching country known for its short bursts of intense summer weather and dry, temperate winters, the makings of a quiet rebellion are taking root. It’s not the kind of thing that tech companies are prone to talk about here, except when it comes to lauding the growing success of Canada’s data services industry. Building a Canada-strong network in a market once ruled by U.S. expertise can be a political hot potato.

But check the register of IT companies for British Columbia’s popular recreational tourism corridor and the trend becomes clear. Kamloops, once dubbed the “Tournament Capital of Canada,” has a new marketplace taking shape, one that has less to do with hockey and yearly rodeos, and more to do with safeguarding proprietary rights.

Canada’s data security conundrum

Kamloops’ data services industry was already in the making when whistleblower Edward Snowden made his landmark announcement last year that the National Security Agency was accessing customer data. The revelations haven’t hurt Canadian companies like Telus, Rogers and Canada Bell, who have been working steadily to woo data customers.

But it has hurt relations between American telecommunications companies and international clients who anticipated that their data would remain a private matter under U.S. law.

Big Data, big sales

Data management represents a huge portion of the global IT market. In 2013, cloud computing represented $130.7 billion, says the research portal Statista.  And the stats suggest the industry is poised to grow: Projections suggest that number will grow to $154.69 billion by the end of 2014, and another $26.61 billion in 2015.

But in the U.S., where more than half of companies used cloud-based services in 2013, the projections aren’t as optimistic. By December 2013, experts were already anticipating significant losses for large data companies like Hewlett-Packard, Oracle and IBM. According to research published by the Information Technology and Innovation Foundation,  losses to U.S. cloud-computing services will start slow, with an estimated drop in services from U.S. and non-U.S. sources of $3.8 billion. That loss will grow in the next two years, however, and is estimated to be as much as $35 billion by the end of 2016 (see page 6).

Forrester Research places the loss much higher, at as much as $180 billion, as evidenced by Microsoft’s recent loss of business with Brazil, which cancelled contracts after it learned of the NSA spying program. Since that time, Brazil and the European Union have announced a partnership to build new undersea cables between the two continents in lieu of using infrastructure provided by the United States.

The gold standard

U.S. leadership in data services isn’t just defined by investment, says Elliot Goldberg, director of professional services for the telecommunications, cloud-broker and professional services company Osstelco. It’s also defined by reputation.

“It used to be the USA data services were among the gold standard. Now foreign companies don’t trust it that much,” said Goldberg in a recent interview. “Data centers have to be secure. That is the whole point to them. If they are not secure, why move the data off of the company’s premises?”

Goldberg said many companies may encrypt their data when it’s being sent or received, but the real measure of security is its status “at rest.” That is, is it being encrypted while it is being stored?

“Some people want it, some don’t. Some companies are still thinking that it’s okay [if the data is] not encrypted once it is in the data center because if it is encrypted, it takes more time to do the processing. My recommendation to people has always been buy a bigger processor and leave it encrypted,” said Goldberg.

That’s because it isn’t just whether the data may be vulnerable to government security procedures, but also to hackers.

Last year when hackers broke into Target Stores’ data, it put 40 million shoppers at risk for stolen data. The cost for financial institutions that were forced to replace debit and credit cards topped $200 million, but the entire bill for the incident, analysts concluded, was an easy $100 billion.  Again, that’s a cost that doesn’t just hit the bottom line of merchants and financial institutions, but also the confidence and fidelity of consumers who may or may not do business with that company again.

“It takes very little time to destroy [trust],” said Goldberg, “but a long time to rebuild it."

 Moving overseas doesn't assure data security

And data companies that elect to move their storage facilities abroad may be overly optimistic, said Goldberg, who noted that U.S. companies aren’t the only ones that get hacked. He said for his own peace of mind, he would probably trust a U.S. data center before he would move his data overseas.

“But I would encrypt everything with the best encryption policy I could put in my system.” In the long run, he felt a hybrid system that utilized in-house storage as well as the cloud offered the most security. “Depending on the corporate policy, you have to take a hard look at what you put out there, given the risk involved. Data is the life blood of a company,” said Goldberg.

Still, those who expect that U.S. companies that store their data overseas will be safe from prying eyes may be surprised. In July, a New York magistrate judge ruled that Microsoft was still responsible for turning over customer data stored at its facility in Ireland. Data services companies have spoken out in the fray, noting that such a ruling could mean that U.S. data companies like IBM, which has been building a data center in Europe, would still be subject to data review policies of the U.S. government. Although the judge agreed to stay her order while Microsoft files its appeal, such a finding could further erode global confidence in U.S. data companies.

Meanwhile, Canadian companies in western British Columbia’s temperate ranching country, where operational costs of cooling a data center can be markedly less than in climate change capitals like San Diego, Denver or Houston, business is heating up. Telus, which opened its new LEED facility in March, has benefited from years of careful planning, taking into consideration the many benefits of British Columbia’s interior arid climate. The result is a projected $190,000 of annual savings in electricity and the bonus of being able to compete for local Canadian business.

Three other companies own centers in Kamloops as well. While the Tournament Capital of Canada still benefits from American tourism and a healthy rodeo circuit, data companies like Telus, Q9, Perigee and Bell Canada,  which are expected to adhere to Canada’s stringent privacy laws, have observed a valuable lesson: Consumer faith is everything when it comes to data security and a sound economic forecast.

Image credit: Facebook server - Intel Free Press