2Sustain

Oil prices were volatile again last week, topping off at about $100 a barrel, and now there’s another new wrinkle that has traders and analysts scratching their heads: futures contracts for light, sweet crude and Brent crude differ by nearly $20 –an unprecedented gap for these contracts, which typically trade within $1 of each other.

Naturally, as consumers, we’re all feeling the pinch of rising gas prices every time we fill up at the pump.

But, what about the ripple effect of $100/barrel gasoline? How much do rising gas prices—and the tremendous volatility in the oil markets –affect everything else we buy?

As Michael Koploy rightly points out at his recent blog post, Gas Stats: How Rising Fuel Prices Affect Logistics, soaring energy prices impact other commodities, such as minerals, food, and consumer goods –even though this effect doesn’t typically get the press it deserves.

Koploy illustrates the direct correlation between the rise in energy prices and the (sometimes dramatic) increases in commodity prices with this infographic, revealing the trickle-down effect of rising gas prices, January 2010 vs. January 2011: (more…)

The US Postal Service is starting to see significant cost savings from its green initiatives.

For example, the Postal Service says its “Lean Green Teams” reduced energy, water, solid waste to landfills and petroleum fuel use last year, saving the agency more than $5 million in 2010 alone. These teams also helped recycle more than 222,000 tons of material — an increase of nearly 8,000 tons over the prior year — which generated $13 million in revenue, and saved an additional $9.1 million in landfill fees.

According to the Postal Service, these employee green teams are helping mesh low-cost and no-cost sustainable practices with performance management systems to help the agency meet its specific sustainability goals by the target date in 2015. These goals include reducing

• facility energy use 30 percent,
• water use 10 percent,
• petroleum fuel use 20 percent, and
• landfill waste 50 percent. (more…)

PepsiCo UK and Ireland has released its second environmental sustainability report and announced several ambitious goals aimed at minimizing the company’s environmental impact. It’s obvious that PepsiCo UK recognizes the business impact of sustainability initiatives, and over the next few years, the company will be working towards furthering its commitment to sustainability in significant ways.

For example, PepsiCo UK says it plans to be completely fossil fuel-free by 2023.

As it stands now, one fifth of the company’s electricity is sourced from renewable sources. But PepsiCo UK wants to do even better. According to the report: (more…)

Picking up where we left off Tuesday…

So the problem here as I see it is both that we face a crisis of leadership, and that most people are too busy in their daily lives to raise much fuss about it. In my post a few weeks ago I spoke about how the next generation of environmental leaders is being developed and mentored…and this “2025 Goals” announcement by Bush only underscores the need for such strong leadership. What would a strong leader do differently? Well, as I see it, a lot – but here are the big three.

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