Some Things Green

Green Planes from Bombardier:

Of course if you use the term "green" to mean "better than the profligate use of energy that our previous product used," these new aircraft are indeed green:

In announcing the launch of the 110- to 130-seat airliners that will seat five abreast, signaled that it is positioning its new jets as challengers to the smallest aircraft in the 737 and A320 lines built by Boeing and Airbus.

"The CSeries family offers the greenest single-aisle aircraft in its class," said Gary Scott, president of Bombardier Commercial Aircraft. "These game-changing aircraft emit up to 20 percent less CO2 and up to 50 percent less NOx, fly four times quieter, and deliver dramatic energy savings – up to 20 percent fuel burn advantage as well as up to 15 percent improved cash operating costs versus current in-production aircraft of similar size. The CSeries aircraft will set a new benchmark in the industry, consuming as little as two liters of fuel per passenger per 100 kilometers in its more dense seating layouts."

Now maybe the cost of airline tickets will drop in 2015.

Greener Seafood from Whole Foods:

Whole Foods Market is now requiring farmed seafood suppliers to track fish from hatchery to processing plant, protect sensitive habitats, monitor water quality and discontinue using a number of chemicals.

The new rules are part of updated standards released this week that farmed seafood vendors must comply with. The first set of standards for farmed salmon was enacted in June 2007, and the company released standards for shrimp and other finfish last month.

Whole Foods already prohibited antibiotics, growth hormones, preservatives such as sulfites, poultry and mammalian by-products in feed and genetically modified or cloned seafood, so this is beyond the call of organic duty. Kudos.

Green MBAs

While getting a Master's in Business and being environmentally conscious may have seemed an unlikely combination even a few years ago, business has been playing catchup to environmental issues as it noticed that you can be green and grow at the same time. So, this from GreenBiz (primary source for other two stories as well):

While the corporate world is scrambling to devise strategies to address sustainability, business schools across the country have been incorporating it into their curriculum for the past several years, both in response to student demand and in line with industry trends.

Some schools, like San Francisco's Presidio School of Management (which contributes a for GreenBiz.com), the Dominican University in San Rafael, Calif. and the Bainbridge Graduate Institute in Wash. were founded with the idea of integrating the concept of sustainability with business education, but mainstream business schools are also making this shift.

MBA students graduating from these progressive schools will receive a solid grounding in environmental issues. These futuristic programs will prepare them for the reality of tomorrow's markets by equipping them with the social, environmental and economic perspectives required for business success in a competitive and fast changing world.