In the News: 20th March

The latest news this week, compiled by Nia.

Energy and Travel

England’s lights ‘would go out without Scotland’s renewable energy’

Scotland’s energy minister claims that without Scotland’s large and growing supply of renewable energy, England’s lights would go out.

London goes Dutch: Boris Johnson announces ‘cycling showcase’ boroughs

Boris Johnson announces that three London boroughs, Kingston, Waltham Forest and Enfield will receive up to £30 million each to become ‘mini-Holland’s’.

Social Responsibility

Mind the gap: closing gender divide in African agriculture could reduce hunger

World Banks has published a report that found that investing in childcare and giving women farmers the same access as men to fertiliser and training, could significantly increase food production and improve the lives of women and their families.

Fairtrade can be cheaper

“It turns out that still only one in four bananas sold in our shops are Fairtrade. And even then, it’s hard for banana farmers to make a living. Overall the cost of bananas has halved in this country over the last ten years. The cost to produce them has doubled. This is clearly not fair.”

The Environment and Sustainable Living

Ten eco-friendly funeral ideas

How can you be both sustainable in life, and sustainable in death? Here are some interesting ideas on how to cut the carbon footprint and benefit the environment, in death.

How sustainable is your smartphone? – Interactive

Check out this interactive page below to explore just how sustainable (or not) your phone may be.

Morally questionable – is anaerobic digestion really working?

We throw 4.2 million tonnes of food away each year, but regardless of whether we throw it straight into the bin, or into a food recycling caddy, we are still wasting food. With many in the UK facing a food crisis, is this really the way?

Sustainable Business

Construction industry needs circular economy for sustainable future

‘We’re playing a game of monopoly where everyone is losing…”. Industry needs to shift from recycling to making materials and technologies that can be taken apart and reassembled for reuse.

Pepsi’s biodegradable backlash: The snack bag that was too noisy

As unbelievable as this sounds, PepsiCo’s attempt at making a biodegradable bag in the US has failed, because customers found the bag ‘too noisy’…

McDonalds’ Definition of “Sustainable:” Brought to You by the Beef Industry

McDonald’s is taking on the task of setting guidelines for sustainable beef, but the sustainability guidelines they produced are intentionally vague with no targets or measurements…

Stylish and Sustainable: How Brands Are Getting It Right

There is a growing movement in retail that involves baking corporate social responsibility, and some brands are getting it right. They have ditched the counterproductive use of the word ‘sustainability’ on their products, in favour of statements such as “we can take pride in the style and integrity of each and every piece we own,”.

The Halo Group Helps U.K. University Put Social Responsibility on U.S. C-Suite Agenda

Glasgow Caledonian University gains the support of The Halo Group for launching their new satellite campus in New York. GCU NY will be an incubator for forward-thinking socially responsible business education not just for New York, but the world.