NewWays for Environmental and Social Change

Change doesn’t occur without informed leadership. Thus, 16 green initiatives NewWays recommends to the incoming administration.

Create an American Carbon Trading Exchange.
Create a Green industry Stock Exchange. A changing economy requires broad investment into new organizations. (startups:greensx ; (Britian’s thoughts)
Translate Green technological innovation for specific business sectors. We now wade in hundreds of new Green innovations for businesses. A sector by sector account for how these energy and resource saving technologies can upgrade different industries is greatly needed. Here’s a low-grade example of this type of analysis for the Hospitality Industry. Carrot Mob is another form of this consultation: they went to businesses promising to deliver customers in exchange for Greening their stores.
CO2 sequestering; Incentivies the adoption of limited CO2 producing concrete production to decrease the high levels of CO2 release in the production of concrete.
Design an American VW BUG for the 21st century. Fund the design and manufacturing of a single car that can be plugged in, run on solar power or run on bio-fuels, which the government uses and which is available to purchase to the general public -or- Fund a government owned car manufacturer that will pull together Green technology to produce hibride vehicles that run of multiple renewable energy sources.
Make public transportation free to all. Today, transit riders only pay 10% of the total operational costs of public transportation organizations. Increasing the use of mass transit promotes Green commutes and brings community members closer together.
Revisit trade policy and address large-distance (3,000+ mile) perishable food transportation.
Ban the use of genetically modified food products entirely and restrict the mass use of antibiotics on livestock (and restrict the corporate trademark of food DNA).
Limit the use of food-based bio-fuels until suppliers have enough resources so that developing nations food costs wont be subject to large rates of inflation.
Restrict the reliance on food-source bio-fuels until developing nations are safe from inflated food costs.
Ban the use of archaic forms of shipping and packing materials such as Styrofoam, un-recycled plastics and cellophane.
Ban the use of Mountaintop Removal Coal acquisition methods and the use of the term “clean coal”.
Create a Federal Clean Water fund which minimally taxes all bottle water companies and uses these funds to help redesign and improve the drinking water of cities and towns across the nation.
Undue the Bush’s administrations wide-spread attack on environmental issues including reducing standards for arsenic in drinking water, pulled out of the Kyoto treaty on global warming, the “roadless rule” for logging, to name a few.
Build a consolidated national Solar Power plant plan in which state and federal funds work to build a 100 mile solar power plant, which will fulfil the nations power needs while utilizing overdue renewable energy technologies. Initially, a mile long solar power plant should be constructed, and the option to renew and factorially upgrade the capacity of the plant should be given each year.
Nominate Hank Green of EcoGeek head of the Department of Transportation or Department of Energy. His leadership in promoting and highlighting new energy and transportation technology and innovation makes him a leading candidate to facilitate the kind of infrastructural change that the US economy and country deserves.

Designers begin by asking questions
Stay focused on the larger picture and have some fun at the same time.  Download a TED inspired desktop wigit that asks you daily questions about big ideas.
Created in conjunction with the 2008 TED conference, this widget supports questions that are important to IDEO and to the extended TED community.  This [...]

We strongly believe that environmentally responsible design is not a gimmick, and therefore, we did not want to focus on the environmental aspects of alternative lighting alone and risk appealing only to a narrow audience. The problem was more complicated than how to build a green bulb. It was also about the psychology of light quality and how that impacts the acceptance of current offerings. We researched how light quality differed in several environments, including work, home and retail. Ultimately, we wanted to appeal to those consumers wanting a less harsh alternative to compact fluorescent lights (CFL), but who also want to save money and be more environmentally responsible.

We throw away a lot of packaging FOOD TRASH (FT). We throw away almost four pounds of trash every day one pound of which is packaging. In the dump Styrofoam and plastic containers take one million years to fully decompose. At word the average office worker uses up to 500 disposable coffee cups each year. 70% of packaging is used for food and drink products. How did this come about?

Almost a year ago Billy Shih at ecogeek posted an interesting article saying that the U.S. could be powered alone by only 100 miles of solar panels. This idea is so simple and so direct it stuck with me for a while. Can you believe that we can rid our dependance on polluting power source (coal and neuclear), fight global warming, lower the toxicity of our communities, transition to a electric car based commuter system, and increase usable levels of drinking water all in a single push?

Why: because they require so much energy to use; they read as ugly blighted signs from the 70’s.
Benefit: Lower Electric Bill. Better storefront aesthetic. Organization linked with Eco movement (and thus Eco consumers).

Low Voltage equates to safer operation and reduced fire hazard: LEDS run cooler and at a lower voltage than [...]

Most who live in a residential neighborhood in the city, or the burbs, have the island out front. You know, the one grassy null between sidewalk and street. Why have just a plain strip of grass when you can have a bountiful garden?
Why not add more plant diversity to our neighborhood and planet? Why not [...]

What:

Have lawyers draw up contracts and legal documents to allow individuals and companies accomplish socially minded activities correlative to tort regulations and insurance limitations.

The Idea:

Many easy activities like donating food, shelter, and services are limited because organizations are afraid to get sued for their activities.
Many States and cities have passed laws helping this (like good [...]

Project Code Name: Free Ride

Who: Lobbying Firm or non-profit.
What: Lobby local or national representatives to enact legislation giving free transit to all transients. No cards, no addresses, no hassle.
The Numbers: 10% of the cost of ground transportation comes from the fare. Charging the poorest of the poor is criminal.
Benefit: Easier mobility within a [...]

Who:
Furniture companies, recycling companies, or entrepreneurial people looking for a prospective sustainable business
What:
Contract an agreement with your local municipality, recycling organization, or neighbors to collect plastics. Plastics can be shredded up to about pellet size and used as a filling for couches, futons, mattresses, recliners, chairs, and other furniture. Furniture can then be sold as [...]

Start a nationwide campaign to ban the distribution of Styrofoam by companies like Cisco.
How:
Organize a non-profit that collects donations from people willing to subsidize the cost difference of buying Styrofoam vs. green, ecologically friendly packaging.
Why:
Cut down on the toxic product and use of Styrofoam.
Allow Cisco to gain cultural cache and advertising from green-activities.
Demonstrate the simple [...]

What: There are tens of thousands of computer labs around the U.S. A majority of these rooms leave their computers on during off hours. This uses up a lot of energy resources.
How: Calling all engineers. Develop a system switch port that can safely trigger all computers to power down and up with the click of [...]

Who: product designer, entrepreneur.
What: Design a physical product that can be lit, inhaled and which smokes which is environmentally friendly and which is not chemically harmful or addictive.
Why: Provide a product alternative to addictive, harmful smoking products today.
Where: Global
Effect: Will allow consumers the ability to use a product that illustrates many of the qualities of [...]

Who: Any web designer, entrepreneur.
What: Design a Scoop Wiki website called Corporate Incentives Map which illustrates all state and national legislation which offers incentives to corporations.
Why: Incentives are one of the main ways in which traditional economic practices are preserved even after market forces have shifted. For example the auto industry is using governmental handouts [...]

Idea type: Non-Profit, business, or advertising organization.
Green packaging promotes “green” eco-friendly packaging that can quickly grow to become a standard for packaging around the world.Cultivate a multi-brand multi-corporation campaign that creates cultural cache for the packaging of products in eco-friendly, minimal packaging.
Research what products in packaging are currently in the marketplace that are more [...]