Coca-Cola and PepsiCo Ban Animal Testing

I guess the use of animal testing is even more widespread than I even thought. Apparently, Coca-Cola and PepsiCo were using animals to test things such as taste perception. They now become the two largest manufacturers to ban the use of animals in testing their products. This also means they will no longer give money to others to conduct research on animals.

Restaurants Starting to Nix Bottled Water

Here's an interesting article about how some restaurants are acknowledging that serving bottled water that has to be shipped to them, not to mention all of the plastic bottles they are served in, is not a very wise thing to do environmentally. As a result, they are simply serving tap water, or in the case of Chez Panisse, Alice Waters' restaurant in Berkeley, CA, making their own sparkling water from tap water. It will be interesting to see if this is something that catches on throughout the country.

The article also points out how we've effectively been marketed the message that tap water is not so good for us and that we should be drinking bottled water.

Ray Anderson Featured in NY Times

I'm a few days late on this - that is what a long post-graduation vacation will do - but I feel it is still worth posting. Anyone who has been following the sustainability or corporate social responsibility or whatever you want to call the movement for the past few years undoubtedly knows who Ray Anderson is, but for those who don't, this article is worth reading.

Mr. Anderson, the founder and former CEO of Interface, a carpet company, was one of the first business persons to realize the importance of sustainability and reducing the footprint of one's company. He wrote a book back in 1999 called "Mid-Course Correction: Toward a Sustainable Enterprise: The Interface Model" that highlighted how he came to feel so passionately about the subject and what he and Interface set out to do as a result.

In the Times article, Anderson makes an interesting point that we, as a nation, are taxed "on good things, like income and capital", yet not as much on "bad things, like energy use".

Murdoch on the 'Green' Bandwagon?

Rupert Murdoch's recent transition to someone who not only believes in global warming, but someone pushing the various companies in his business empire to become 'greener', came as a surprise to me. That information, found in this article from The Independent, is great news for the movement if, indeed, Murdoch is being genuine and not just looking for positive public relations. I certainly am not convinced at this point, but look forward to learning more about what Murdoch and his companies do as a result.

One ambitious goal is for News Corp. to attain carbon neutrality by 2010. Another move by Murdoch is to educate MySpace members about climate change.

Murdoch can have a great deal of positive influence in this movement, not only because of his empire's sheer size and the fact that he holds a great deal of media companies, but because his influence is global. His reach, besides holdings in the United States, spans into China and India. The three countries, as the article points out, are "the three most critical countries for tackling global warming."

Ethisphere Magazine's Ranking of 'World's Most Ethical Companies'

There are a great deal of these types of lists, all with unique criteria for ranking companies the way they do. If you are interested in this type of ranking, check out Ethisphere Magazine's "2007 World's Most Ethical Companies Ranking".

Starbucks Expands Reduction of Artificial Trans Fats

Earlier this year, Starbucks announced their intention to eliminate artificial trans fats from the food products from a selection of their stores. On Monday, they announced that they are expanding this to cover all continental United States stores, as well as stores in Alaska and Canada. Their announcement comes on the heels of similar announcements made by Taco Bell and Kentucky Fried Chicken, both of which promised to elimate trans fats, and Wendy's, which has reduced the level of trans fats in their foods.

PepsiCo Tops EPA's List of Greenest Energy Users

PepsiCo has announced their intention to buy enough renewable energy credits to cover all of the electricity used in all of their U.S. facilities (or enough to power 90,000 homes in the U.S.) for a year. This move helped move PepsiCo to the top of the EPA's list of greenest energy users.

Video about Healthy Home Products

This video, from TheStreet.com TV, is about Healthy Home Products, a new small business that has a line of all-natural, organic cleaning products. The founder started the company because a visit to a doctor with his pregnant wife brought attention to how unhealthy traditional cleaning products are for people to use (and unborn children!).

Click on "Going Green Pays" on the right side.