Day: May 19, 2014

Job announcement: Sustainability Manager, American University

Description

The incumbent coordinates the university’s sustainability efforts using STARS (Sustainability Tracking, Assessment, and Rating System), LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design), and ACUPCC (American College and University Presidents’ Climate Commitment) and tracks, benchmarks, and analyzes a wide range of sustainability metrics related to sustainability in facilities and operations.

Educational Requirements

Bachelor’s degree in Environmental Studies or related area. Master’s degree preferred.

Minimum Requirements

Experience

  • LEED Accredited Professional O+M credential
  • 5 years of experience with sustainability and/or LEED managing, implementation, tracking, and assessment.
  • Experience related to the practical application of sustainability principles

Special Skills and Abilities

  • Project management
  • Advanced proficiency with Microsoft (Excel, Project, & Powerpoint)
  • Understanding of and experience with metrics tracking across sustainability topic areas such as climate, energy, water, waste, transportation, and purchasing. Strong grasp of energy a plus.
  • Knowledge of or ability to learn about building management, systems, operations, maintenance, and controls.
  • Must have interpersonal, communication, public speaking skills.
  • Ability to work in a diverse environment with all organizational levels.
  • The ability to effectively plan and coordinate multi-task requirements and meet self and imposed objectives and deadlines
  • Ability to work effectively in a service oriented environment subject to changing priorities
  • Ability to learn and grasp new software applications as necessary to proficiently manage the area of responsibility

Preferred Requirements

  • Higher Education work experience
  • Experience working with students and student organizations

For more information or to apply, visit https://jobs.american.edu/JobPosting.aspx?JPID=3865

A Radical Strategy For A Hotter, Scarcer World: Tell Customers To Use Less Of Your Product

Read the full story at Fast Company.

It’s one of 10 strategies that make up a new way of doing business, given the coming realities of a hotter, scarcer, and more transparent world.

 

A Site That Tracks Your Carbon Footprint And Rewards You For Beating Your Neighbors

Read the full story at Fast Company.

If you care about climate change and want to check your carbon footprint, there are plenty of calculators on the internet. Oroeco isn’t like those other sites. For one, it’s more comprehensive. It tracks the impact of almost everything you buy, including the small things, and does it automatically. It also compares your footprint with those of your friends and neighbors, and rewards you for doing better.

EDF and AT&T Develop a Water Efficiency Tool Kit for Buildings

The Environmental Defense Fund (EDF) and AT&T have developed a set of tools and resources that can help organizations build their own program to reduce water and energy use in buildings— and save money in the process. The full suite of water efficiency tools and resources includes: 1) Water Management Application (WaterMAPP), an Excel-based, multi-tabbed spreadsheet with two primary components, a water scorecard and a water efficiency calculator; 2) Cooling System Efficiency Guide & Videos, a guide and 12-video You Tube series; and 3) Sample Water Audit Forms to help define the unique water profile of a building.

H/T to Rick Yoder of P2RIC for the link.

Military experts are worried about climate change, and you should be too

Read the full story at Grist.

America is coming under attack, say 16 retired generals and admirals, and the attacker is climate change.

In 2007, the Center for Naval Analyses Military Advisory Board sounded an unprecedented alarm over national security threats posed by global warming. Now the group has been asked again to advise the U.S. government on climate-change risks, and again it says there’s lots to be concerned about. In a new report released on Tuesday, the retired military leaders say, “we validate the findings of our first report” and, in many cases, “the risks we identified are advancing noticeably faster than we anticipated.”

Enviros bash industry-backed “green” building program

Read the full story at Grist.

Corporations that stand to lose the most from a widespread shift toward genuine green building practices are doing what they can to preserve the status quo. For years they’ve been smearing LEED, or Leadership in Energy & Environmental Design, the nation’s preeminent green building certification program. They have lobbied lawmakers to ban the use of LEED certifications for government buildings — and they have succeeded in some states, such as in Maine. And they’ve cooked up their own green-building certification program: Green Globes.

The Cigarette Litter Menace: Is It Time To Ban Cigarette Butts?

Read the full story at Fast Company.

Cigarette butts are no ordinary litter menace. First, there are so many of them; they’re always the most numerous in litter counts. In one audit in San Francisco, “tobacco product wastes” (which includes butts, wrappers and packaging) made up 24.6% of the total litter count.

Butts also contain several toxins that accumulate after smoking, including chemicals from preparing tobacco, and additives that flavor cigarettes and let them to burn longer. That includes the flavoring ethyl phenol, which is harmful at higher concentrations.

In a new paper in Current Environmental Health Reports, Thomas Novotny and Elli Slaughter of San Diego State University argue that “tobacco product wastes” (TPW) are an under-appreciated problem, and that current strategies like anti-littering laws aren’t addressing it enough.

5 Things You May Not Know About Fair Trade Apparel

Read the full story at Triple Pundit.

Transforming the apparel industry is within our reach. By engaging in responsible sourcing practices that protect people and planet, a brand can communicate their values. This is an evolving conversation, accompanied by increasingly conscious consumers that are demanding to know how their clothing, footwear and accessories are produced.

So how does Fair Trade fit into the sustainable apparel dialogue, and what distinguishes it?

Climate report sheds light on Great Lakes shipping challenges

Read the full story at Great Lakes Echo.

A changing climate in the Great Lakes region should worry the shipping industry if it leads to lower water levels that reduce how much cargo can be shipped, according to a recent federal report.

The National Climate Assessment released in early May reports that the winter of 2012 – 2013 had the least ice coverage on the Great Lakes since 1963. Lower ice leads to more evaporation and that means water levels decline, said Anne Clites, a physical scientist at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s (NOAA) Great Lakes Environmental Research Laboratory.

The 10 Smartest Cities In The World

Read the full story in Fast Company.

We all have our favorite cities, and our subjective reasons for choosing them. They make us happy, keep us entertained, look beautiful at night. Whatever it is. The Cities In Motion Index doesn’t care about that. It has objective data: 50 sets of it in all, covering every facet of urban life, from the economy and governance to technology and urban planning.