Did You Know?

Did you know that Net Impact Central sends out a weekly e-newsletter listing career development and other professional opportunities?

This week's edition provides information on upcoming case competitions, the 2010 NI conference, fellowships and podcasts on interesting, relevant subjects.

Visit the NI website for additional archived e-newsletters.

London Calling

A brilliant idea out of London... this grocery store, Unpackaged. The concept started as a stall in various markets throughout London and now has helped foster a refillable culture throughout the city.

"Within the beautifully designed shop, organic whole foods, dried fruit, nuts and seeds, herbs and spices, even refillable oils, vinegars and wines are all available to place straight into your own containers, that you will have brought along with you… if you haven’t then reusable bags are available."

From GOOD: "London's Unpackaged Grocery Shop: No Packaging Whatsoever"

Green Training Program in Philadelphia

A new pilot program has recently launched in South Philadelphia. The Adult Green Jobs Training Program is aimed at invigorating the jobless of Philadelphia with knowledge that will make them more marketable for a career in the new marketplace.

The program is funded by $225,000 in federal stimulus money. The goal is to recruit, train and place 100 unemployed individuals in green jobs - such as weatherizing homes, installing solar panels and constructing green buildings.

"Program trains unemployed for green jobs" from Philly.com

New Initiative from the Tyler School of Art

From the Temple University Office of Sustainability:

"Temple University’s Tyler School of Art has teamed up with New Age Blast Media® in providing their recycled glass as a raw material to reuse in the manufacturing process of New Age Blast Media®- a 100% recycled crushed glass abrasive.

Under the guidance of Temple’s recycling coordinator, Marshal Budin, NABM’s NJ Facility has recently begun accepting shipments of recycled glass, and plan to continue their eco-friendly relationship in the future. “Efforts by Temple University not only help save landfill space, but they also aid in additional resources for NABM basic materials. We are proud to be affiliated with Temple, and appreciate their go green initiative,” says Stephen Mellon, sales manager of NABM."

For more information:
New Age Blast Media
TU Tyler School of Art
TU Office of Sustainability

Impact at Copenhagen

The winter break is the perfect time to catch up on all of the news from the COP15 United Nations Climate Change Conference held in Copenhagen in mid-December.

Take a look at the official conference site for news, pictures and other information. Or, visit the blog of Conrad Young, long time Net Impact member and current London chapter chair: Impact At Copenhagen to get a perspective from a NI member.

Green Your IT

As outlined in the article, "Nine ways IT can help organizations 'go green' and reduce paper consumption," from ZDNet, there are simple ways organizations can modify their existing IT practices to decrease waste and increase their "green" commitment.

In short, the recommendations are:

1) Use business analytics software

2) Re-align business processes

3) Move business tasks to an electronic format

4) Monitor and regulate printing

5) Eliminate unnecessary printing of documents

6) Review software code - online

7) Increase Data Center capacity

8) Introduce collaboration tools

9) Use mobile devices

For more, be sure to check out the article here. Thanks to Rumneek for passing along!

Financial Recovery & Climate Change

Passed on by Christy, the December issue of the IMF's newsletter Finance & Development, features a few pieces on the stimulation of a green recovery and on climate policy in hard economic times. An important take-away: actions must be balanced to both mitigate climate change and encourage growth and future prosperity.

It is certainly worth a read: December 2009 IMF F&D Issue

Green Building Code in the Works

The development of a national green building code to guide the planning and construction of green commercial buildings in the U.S. is underway. Building codes typically cover a host of issues as related to a structure's reliability. A green building code would do the same, but from a more global perspective - considering "the health, safety and welfare of the planet."

Pennsylvania is one of only two states with a government representative on the 28-member drafting body. A final version of the code is expected to be adopted in late 2011.

Fox Net Impact in Lancaster News

Fox Net Impact's work in Lancaster is documented in Lancaster News