In fact, according to Audi’s Urban Future Initiative Project, Medellin’s crime rate has dropped by 90% since Mayor Fajardo took over.

Alongside San Francisco, Medellin was awarded the 2012 Sustainable Transport Award by the Institute of Transportation and Development Policy. Of the innovative transportation initiatives Medellin has taken, the most innovate is perhaps the multi-unit escalator that was installed to connect Comuna 13, formerly its poorest neighborhood, to its city center--which offered a sense of unification and ease-of-access to its residents.

Additionally, the city invested in 160 bikes for a bikeshare program, allowing residents to use them for 30-minute increments. 

Medellin also implemented a rideshare program. “Medellin pioneered the use of cable cars as a transit alternative in low-income informal settlements in hilly areas, moving 3,000 passengers per hour per direction; a real breakthrough now being replicated in Caracas and Rio de Janeiro,” said EMBARQ Director Holger Dalkmann.

Altogether, Medellin serves as a huge inspiration to cities the world over. Having implemented transit modifications and environmental efforts that have done more than cleaned its streets of waste--it also serves as a reminder that from a social perspective, these efforts affect more than the physical environment. 

[Guest blogger Ashley Halligan is an analyst at Software Advice and author of 4 Urban Sustainability Projects You've Never Heard Of.]

Supply: Talk to the person in your company that is in charge or ordering supplies. Consider discussing with your company better options the company can take when ordering supplies. Offering ecofriendly supplies will be the tool your coworkers and employees can use to succeed in going green. Be sure to show how much money your company can save in the long run when they decide to go green.

Win Big: Most likely your company has some sort of prize or incentive system if something goes well in your company. Whether you hit a sales goal or acquire new business, there are some sort incentives. Set up a small incentive program and contest for the office. Think along the lines of the most recycling wins a ecofriendly prize.

No Pressure: When you have a passion you tend to be very motivated and excited about it. Sometimes this can really frustrate those around you who do not understand. So be careful not to pressure and harp on your coworkers and employees about going green. Remain positive and have fun with it.

Teach: The best way to inform those of something is to educate them on it. Being more ecofriendly is not a new concept and most people get the idea of what it means. In order for others to join you in your crusade, teach them. Send news articles, hold short and fun monthly informational meetings, post posters and leave brochures out for them to read. The more they know, the better they understand and bigger the end result.

You have chosen the greener lifestyle and the planet thank you. Getting your work life on board can be tough but with these four helpful tips it can be easier. Remember to educate, provide supplies, offer prizes and gently introduce the ecofriendly concept to your coworkers and employees. Good luck!

[Guest blogger Laura Backes enjoys writing about all kinds of subjects and also topics related to internet service providers in her area.  You can reach her at: laurabackes8 @ gmail.com.]

“My goal when I founded Triangle Tree was to create products that are both eco-friendly and innovative,” says owner, Anatoliy Omelchenko, on the company website.

As for the spoon, “It’s 100% biodegradable,“ says the company. It had better be if you’re going to eat it!

Packs of Edible Spoons are available in supermarkets, and may start appearing soon in restaurants near you. Just check with your server first to make sure you’ve got the edible kind.

St. Louis University in the Philippines has started a Plastic-Free Wednesdays program in which campus vendors will use no plastic “to go” containers.

“Every student, faculty member, non-teaching personnel or any canteen customers who wish to buy packed foods will have bring his own food container,” said Albert Francis Abad, president of the university’s Supreme Student Council. Customers can borrow utensils on the condition that they leave a valid ID as collateral.

As residents of an island nation, it’s not surprising that the students are particularly aware of the environmental damage done by plastic. A new report, Marine Debris as a Global Environmental Problem, clearly identifies plastic debris as a rapidly growing global problem:

“Man-made debris in the oceans is now found from the poles to the equator and from shorelines, estuaries and the sea surface to ocean floor. While the types and absolute quantities vary, it is clear that plastic materials represent the major constituents of this debris, and there is no doubt about the ubiquity of such debris on a truly global scale.”

But the students at St. Louis University, the report also offers solutions, including an overhaul of the design and marketing of plastic products and waste management infrastructure.

Well, first of all, China got into the solar energy game. As always, they undercut production prices of solar panels, forcing some U.S. and German solar panel manufacturers into bankruptcy. Those companies particularly reliant on government grants and incentives were hardest hit. While the plunging prices are not so good for the economy, it is great news for those interested in creating their own eco-friendly power sources.

“Everyone's missing the real story and it's amazing how brain dead some people are," said Jeremy Rifkin, an adviser to the German government and European Union on climate change and energy security. "It's absolutely a positive thing that solar prices are dropping faster than anyone thought they could.

"It's actually a great success," the U.S. economist told Reuters. "Those criticizing solar for that are being ignorant or disingenuous. It's a winnowing out process similar to what the computer and communications sectors went through. More companies that can't stay ahead of the curve will go belly up."

People in the U.S. have taken advantage of the falling prices. According to the Solar Energy Industries Association (SEIA), solar power installations in the United States increased 67% in the 4th quarter of 2011. Part of that growth is due to more than just falling prices. Government incentives based on the U.S. Treasury Department’s 1603 program, due to be renewed this year, also give homeowners and businesses an incentive to go green with solar energy.

“Extension of this worthwhile program will allow taxpayers to reap the significant economic and energy policy benefits associated with the expanded deployment and use of solar energy,” SEIA writes.

“The 1603 program has helped leverage over $24 billion in private sector investment in for a wide range of clean energy projects, and extending the 1603 program will create an additional 37,000 jobs in the American solar industry in this year alone,” President and CEO Rhone Resch states.

About the author:

This Guest post is by Christine Kane from internet service providers, she is a graduate of Communication and Journalism. She enjoys writing about a wide-variety of subjects for different blogs. She can be reached via email at: Christi.Kane00@gmail.com.

As the new generation of college hopefuls quickly approaches high school graduation day, students are beginning to narrow their college choices. As a high school senior, one of the most daunting and difficult selections to make is the place you will spend the next four years of your life, discovering your passion, developing your career goals, and making the friends that will last you the rest of your life. While this decision can no doubt be a difficult one, responsible college hopefuls in today's global economy and ecological environment are using new guidelines to select the institution that will harbor their futures. Many students are using a school's green consciousness and sustainability as a perimeter for judging what university is the best fit for them. Use these tips and tricks to help determine how environmentally conscious a school is its policies, practices, and academics.

Check the School's Sustainability Report Card

 The College Sustainability Report Card is a wonderful tool that grades universities throughout the U.S. on various criteria pertaining to sustainability. The report evaluates schools on nine different criteria, including administration, climate change and energy, food and recycling, green building, student involvement, transportation, endowment transparency, investment priorities, and shareholder engagement. Each of these categories is ranked from A+ to F for the schools that participate and the Report Card provides a brief explanation as to why the school received the grade that was awarded. Students trying to choose a college can go at this report card from two directions. You can look for a school with only the highest rankings, demonstrating that that school is extremely environmentally conscious and a wonderful choice for a forward-minded young student, or you can choose a school that you are interested in that has a lower grade in a specific area of sustainability and dedicate yourself to improving that grade during your four years as a student.

Look into Green Academic Programs

Another great thing to look into as a green-minded future college student is what types of green academic programs are offered. As sustainable careers continue to gain momentum in the ever challenging job market, academic departments continue to develop new and more thorough green degree concentrations. Majors such as bioethics, environmental design/architecture, food science, sustainable urban planning, the sustainable MBA, and many more are just a few of the green major possibilities at various schools throughout the country. Visit the college's website and browse through their academic programs to discover what types of sustainable degree programs they might offer. Sustainability is very much an industry of the future and an area of the job market that is expected to continue to grow and prosper.

Green Extracurricular Opportunities

As green initiatives and sustainability become more and more prominent aspects of our everyday lives, more college campuses are picking up on the idea of "green extracurriculars". Many schools hold campus wide recycling drives and participate in local green campaigns to clean up local parks. However, today many schools are taking it one step further and incorporating student led groups for sustainability. Many schools have student programs that are dedicated to sustainability. These programs are run by students who are passionate and proactive about sustainability and green initiative. Things like recycling campaigns, waste reducing campaigns, food sustainability efforts, campus vegetable gardens and compost, and much more provide wonderful ways for college students to participate in sustainable activism and contribute to their sustainability resume. In 2009, these Green Mountain College, Northland College, and the University of Prince Edward Island were awarded the Sustainability Innovator Award for excellent student participation in sustainable extracurricular efforts. This provides a wonderful way for college hopefuls to determine what schools offer the best of the best sustainable extracurricular opportunities.

This guest post is contributed by Lauren Bailey, who regularly writes for accredited online colleges. She welcomes your comments at her email Id: blauren99 @gmail.com. 

GTF: Ashley, in your article, you mention LEED and Energy Star. What are some of the other systems available for green building certification in the US?

Ashley Halligan: There are a handful of other certifications out there, and more are being created. That said, many are being created in both the UK and Canada, and are starting to seep into the U.S. as well -- though LEED & ENERGY STAR continue to be the most recognized in the industry.

Green Globe is a certification system based upon the United Nation’s Agenda 21, an action plan for sustainable development in the travel and tourism industries in the 21st century. Agenda 21 was adopted by 178 governments after being disclosed at the 1992 UN Conference on Environment and Development. The Green Globe rating system evaluates the sustainability performance of travel and tourism businesses, as well as their supply chain partners, using 337 compliance indicators and 41 individual sustainability criteria that fall under the following areas:

• Sustainable Management – Includes criteria such as legal compliance, employee training, customer satisfaction, accuracy of promotional materials and health & safety
• Social/Economic – Includes criteria such as community development, local employment, fair trade, supporting local businesses and equitable hiring
• Cultural Heritage – Includes criteria such as code of behavior, historical artifacts, protection of sites and incorporation of culture.
• Environmental -- Includes criteria such as conserving resources, reducing pollution and conserving biodiversity, ecosystems & landscapes.

Another rating system is Passivhaus, also known as "Passive House," is an international rating system currently earned by 300,000 buildings. Perhaps the most unique thing about this system is that it's applicable to all world climates, and focuses on criteria that is equally as valuable in all geographies. The primary focus of Passivhaus is that of heating minimization, ultimately leading to a lower dependency on fossil fuels. 

Another trend that is growing is Net Zero certification. Net Zero is a certification program by the International Living Future Institute that is structured after the Institute’s Living Building Challenge, a rigorous green building program. The primary focus for certification is that 100% of the building’s annual energy needs must be supplied by on-site renewable energy, but additional criteria factors are also considered:

• Net Zero Energy – Refers to a building’s annual net usage of zero energy (meaning that 100% of the energy use is supplied by renewable sources).
• Limits to Growth – Curbs the building’s contribution to the effects of sprawled development (which undermines the underlying aim of energy efficiency).
• Rights to Nature – Ensures the building does not preclude other buildings from also achieving net zero energy (due to excessive shading or other impediments).
• Beauty & Spirit and Inspiration & Education – Reinforces the idea that renewable energy systems can be incorporated in ways that are inspiring and attractive.

GTF: What if a building doesn't maintain its environmental or energy performance over time? How do these different systems handle recertification? 

Ashley Halligan: The processes vary significantly because the certifications are still so new, regularly developing and shifting to meet current environmental needs. Some will revisit the original criteria in incremental periods of times to reassess performance in graded areas. 

GTF: Any other insights from your interviewees that didn't make it into your article that you'd like to share with Green Technology Forum readers?

Ashley Halligan: Steven Schillinger, President GRC-Pirk Management, says, “You have to be able to prove why you say you’re green. You have to identify. Under Energy Star, it’s a 10-percent commitment, meaning you’ll reduce your pollution to the environment, your climate and energy by at least ten percent--which can easily be done. It’s a commitment to the community by the employees and owners that you’ll save at least ten percent.”  

Peter Kelly-Detwiler, Senior VP of Demand Response at Constellation Energy, says, “If you optimize a building’s performance and you don’t stay on top of it, it tends to wander over time. What you want to do with a certification is not just the performance of the building. It’s an environment, an ecosystem--everything from the bike rack to the performance of the technology to the behavior. If someone on staff can understand that and can hold true to that, it keeps the initial investment and achievement from wandering out of compliance over time.”

The United States Armed Forces, the largest U.S. consumer of petroleum-based fuel, has announced plans to be petroleum-free by 2040.

The Armed Forces currently run 77 percent of their machinery on petroleum-based fuel, using about as much as the entire nation of Australia.

And while 2040 may seem a long way off, the Armed Forces are already subject to Executive Order 13423, which mandates that the Department of Defense achieve a 30 percent reduction in non-tactical fleet fossil fuel use by 2020.

And the ball is already rolling. Last year, for example, the Navy reportedly spent $12 million on biofuel. That’s a drop in the bucket compared to the Armed Forces total fuel consumption, but the commitment to go oil-free by 2040 will surely boost biofuel development.