Today's Kansas City Star reported on the broad contours of our upcoming electronic waste household collection pilot program.  

Two slight corrections: though Missouri is on the short list of states where the pilot project may take place, the program will be managed from our Missouri office.   The pilot is less traditional mail-in program, with more  focus on on-the-ground consolidation, thereby reducing overall carbon footprint.

Read the full story here.

In November, I visited Ethiopia for the first time to make this presentation at the  Ethiopian National Agricultural Learning Event, with our partner, Addis Ababa-based FarmOrganic International:

 Day one of the conference featured research and best practices presented by international non-governmentlal organizations like Oxfam and CARE that have worked in the region for decades, to the federal government,  Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development, Ministry of Women's Affairs, to multi-lateral, international organizations like the World Bank, to multiple regional agricultural centres and Farmers Unions which live the subject.

A straw poll of 30+ Americans and Europeans, and a handful of Middle Easterners, reveals that the prevailing perception of Ethiopia (for decades) has been the starving child.  

The quote from (former Wisconsin senator and environmental advocate) Gaylord Nelson, 'the economy is a wholly-owned subsidiary of the environment,' was a wake-up call for me as a business person," says Willow Lundgren, founder of Small Planet Partners. "Look around the home or office right now. Consider that everything man-made originates from materials that were once grown or mined. That shines a new light on environmental protection.  It's a strategic business issue."

See this Missouri Environmental Assistance Center article about Small Planet Partners and our perspective on sustainable innovation.

From the entrepreneur whose first venture was to "condomize the iPod," Ben Kaufman's Quirky "brings one product from sketch to store"  every few days.  This collaborative decision-making platform for product development from the kluster laboratory, invites anyone (registered) to submit a product idea -- or shape others'.

The heaviest users of Web 2.0 applications  see measurable business benefits, including increased knowledge sharing, more innovative products and services, more effective marketing, better access to knowledge, lower cost of doing business, and higher revenues.  See McKinsey Quarterly for the full story.

Extra Virgin Olive Oil from California?  You betcha.   Romance and heritage  associated with Italian olive oil brands isn't the only story.  California olive oils have fewer passport stamps -- and are fresh, local and  beginning to land on  grocery shelves across the U.S.

Cook's magazine ranked our client California Olive Ranch Extra Virgin Olive Oil the best of 10 California oils.  Check out this Extra Virgin Olive Oil 101 piece from NBC's TODAY Show.

Two-thirds (67%) of global marketing executives say they already are running digital cross-channel ad campaigns, but only 12% are integrating their cross-channel performance data - across TV, outdoor, mobile, print and online - when they plan, execute and measure these campaigns, according to a survey of worldwide marketing executives by Eyeblaster and TNS.

For all the national attention that Kansas City’s proposed Green Impact Zone has received, it’s still too early to tell much about what it will look like.

Organizers know what they want to do — make the 150-block zone in the urban core more energy efficient — but they’re still hammering out the details of a plan that would spend about $200 million in federal stimulus money on green projects and job training. 

Reasons for the lack of specifics:

•There’s no money to administer the zone yet.

•At the same time, funding will be coming from all levels of government and across many organizations that normally don’t work together.

“It’s like drinking from a thousand garden hoses,” said Dean Katerndahl, who is heading up the project at the Mid-America Regional Council. “You have to figure out where they’re all coming from, what their rules are and how to bend them around.”

Pictura Graphics was almost two decades in the graphics and printing business when Paul Lilienthal bought the company in 2003 and began diversifying the client base. After expanding the business into markets that had been untapped by the company, he found in 2007 that more customers were asking for green products and began looking at sustainable materials.

 Over 5 years, Pictura Graphics, under new leadership, increased revenue by 70% and infused sustainable principles into the business.

The
ecoImages signage line resulting from that inquiry is made from materials that are either recyclable or made of recycled material or natural fibers. It is eco-friendly in construction, and uses only water-based or UV inks with minimal volatile organic compounds. 

This Fall, San Franciscans could be slapped with a fine for co-mingling cucumber ends, melon rinds and assorted organic waste with other refuse.

On Tuesday, Mayor  Gavin Newsom's proposal for "the most comprehensive mandatory composting and recycling law in the country" passed.  This mandate is one step closer to realizing the city's goal of cutting  greenhouse gas emissions and sending no waste to landfills or incinerators by 2020.

San Francisco currently diverts 72 percent of its waste.  Diverting recyclables and compostables from landfills would boost the city's rate to 90 percent.

The San Francisco Chronicle reports, "The rationale behind the move is clear. Material like food scraps and plant clippings that go into landfills take up costly space and decompose to form methane, a greenhouse gas 20 times more potent than carbon dioxide."