Environment

This week the White House hosted its first ever Water Summit to promote the importance of water stewardship in the US, and to highlight new commitments and announcements that the Administration and other organizations have made regarding water stewardship. The Beverage Industry Environmental Roundtable (BIER)--a technical coalition of leading beverage brands, facilitated by Antea Group--is honored to be included as the initiator of two of these commitments.

If you think technology is going to be the big fix for issues and problems associated with the availability, use, and conservation of water, especially in the context of global warming, you might want to balance that view with a better understanding of how important is the ethic of water by listening to seven thoughtful leaders from the Center for Humans and Nature as part of their project, Fostering a Water Ethic.

Global outdoor lifestyle brand Timberland, Impact Farming and Haiti-based Smallholder Farmers Alliance (SFA) today announced the launch of a new feasibility study exploring the possibility of reintroducing cotton as an export crop for Haitian smallholder farmers. If the study proves successful, the opportunities for organic cotton farming in Haiti are extensive, and companies like Timberland can one day transition from being early supporters of the SFA agroforestry enterprise to being its customers.

If a business wanted to cut its energy use in a significant and impactful way, it easily could by tapping into a vast array of energy-efficient technologies currently available in the market. But reduce its water use? That might prove a bit more challenging.

In honor of Earth Hour, MGM Resorts International dimmed the exterior lights at several of its resorts, joining the global effort to raise awareness of climate change.

Today is World Water Day, a day when people, places, and organizations around the globe come together to recognize the challenges we face in protecting and preserving this most important of natural resources. Water scarcity, resiliency, and community stakeholder engagement—these are but a few of the challenges, and opportunities, wherein business, government, not for profits and communities need to work together to ensure effective water stewardship and to improve the quality of life in the face of natural disasters, pollution, and increasing demands on water sources.

Even a modest 8-ounce steak represents 3.5 pounds of consumed grain. That’s a lot of plants, and therefore a lot of farm land, dedicated to our collective love of red meat.

Ceres’ Connect the Drops campaign in California and its climate-resilient water bonds initiative were both recognized at a White House ceremony today commemorating World Water Day.

Today on World Water Day, conservation organization WWF and fashion retailer H&M are proud to announce a five year global partnership. The new agreement expands the successful partnership from 2013, focusing on water stewardship, to also include climate action and a strategic dialogue related to H&M’s and the fashion industry’s broader sustainability challenges. This marks one more step towards a truly sustainable fashion industry.

Leading sustainability solutions provider South Pole Group will guarantee that a series of live events in the Sustainable Brands® Global Conference Network will be fully powered by renewable energy. This will entail taking stock of the power usage of select Sustainable Brands events and ensuring that the corresponding amount of renewable energy is being produced and sourced from a connected power grid.