Those who know me are aware that few things scare me as much as snakes. I hate those squirmy little death-vermin, and I refuse to acknowledge (rational) arguments of their merits…or the complete inability of some species to kill me. The point is, they freak me out.
So imagine my inadvertent bowel movement surprise when I stumbled upon this story in my Google Reader. Let me save you the suspense of clicking through by highlighting the basics (emphasis mine):
The US Geological Survey has published maps predicting that burmese pythons currently breeding in the wild in the USA could spread across all of the lower USA.
[...] The snakes, which can grow to 20 feet and 250 pounds, [...] are another example of the dangers of trade in exotic species. Originally sold as pets, many owners release the snakes into the wild when they tire of caring [for] them. Amazingly, this is occurring often enough that the snakes have established breeding colonies, the first step towards spreading out into their new environment.
Oh my God.
Continue reading ‘Get These Mother-Effing Snakes Out of This Mother-Effing Habitat’
TreeHugger and SMITH magazine (I’d never heard of it either…) are hosting a contest called “Six Word Memoirs: The Green Life.” Basically, the challenge is to summarize your philosophy on environmental issues in 6 words or less:
“Got a swell philosophy? Traveled a strange path? Fall off the eco-wagon often? Lay your tiny tale on us [...] Everyone on this big blue marble has a green story. So, what’s yours?”
Let me warn you, it’s a challenge. Maybe you, dear reader, are less verbose than I am, but six words is a limited canvass for anyone. The contest hosts are offering great prizes (my fingers are crossed for the Planet Earth DVDs), so you should give it a shot. And be sure to add your submission to the comments here as well. In a few days, I’ll share my submission–though if you’re clever you can probably find it on the contest site. Good luck!
Lesson 1: Share. In this case, 31 patents that electronics manufacturers Sony, IBM, Nokia, and Pitney Bowles have released free-commons style through the World Business Council for Sustainable Development’s Eco Patent Commons. The patents cover a wide variety of sustainable industry practices from packaging without stryofoam (using recycled cardboard instead) to recycling old cell phone parts and a bunch of other processes I can’t even begin to explain (but that I’m sure are great).
I’m intrigued by this collaboration, but it calls to mind another model for innovation in corporate environmental sustainability; the second model, I believe, holds more potential for large shared gains across sectors. In the fantastic new book Forces for Good: The Six Practices of High Impact Nonprofits, the authors describe Environmental Defense’s work alongside corporate behemoths like McDonald’s and FedEx to eliminate styrofoam packaging on Big Macs and replace 30,000 trucks in FedEx’s shipping fleet with hybrids within the next ten years. The trick? Environmental Defense retains rights (in lieu of consulting fees) to the patents they create with their corporate partners.
Continue reading ‘All I Need To Know [To Run My Company] I Learned In Kindergarden (?)’
