Blood Diamond exposed to the movie-going masses the horrors of the diamond industry's operation in the West African country of Sierra Leone. Four West African countries, Angola, The Congo, Guinea and Sierra Leone, where the diamond trade is bloodiest, produce about 20% (PDF) of the world's rough diamonds. The growing global market for diamonds reached nearly $70 billion dollars in 2005 fueled largely by the insatiable appetite of US consumers who purchased $33 billion dollars in diamonds that year.

The movie has helped to bring energy and attention to reforming diamond operations with the goal of reinvesting more diamond money into the infrastructure and economies of these ruined nations. At the New York International Diamond Conference in February earlier this year an idea emerged to apply Fair Trade standards to the diamond industry in Africa as a first step toward reformation. During the conference Ed Zwick, producer of Blood Diamond, issued a passionate calling out of the diamond industry that inspired quick action.

The Rapaport Report, a leading diamond industry publication, wasted no time in working with the government of South Africa, the Fair Trade Labelling Organizations International and private diamond companies in bringing to market the first Fair Trade diamonds. The diamonds were on display last weekend at the Rapaport Fair Trade Conference held in Las Vegas.

"Mr. Green" poster design by Von Glitschka

Sustainability is becoming a pressing concern to the graphic design community. Designers are buzzing about it as they try to green their own practices and make sense of it all. In order to tap into this buzz, I organized a round table virtual discussion with several people involved in the design industry to chat about green design and the growing sensibilities of sustainability in our field.

"Green Design Dialogues" was born as a way to build the green design community and learn from each other. Our first discussion, via instant messaging, was May 25th. We touched on a broad range of topics relating to green design, which I will report on in a series of "Green Design Dialogues" posts in coming weeks. This week, I'll introduce the crew involved with our first Green Design Dialogue and relay each designer's experience with green design before summarizing our discussion.

Involved in the chat were designers from various backgrounds. Bryn Mooth joined us from HOW magazine, a wonderful graphic design magazine that has recently started covering more green topics. Dani Nordin, founder and principal designer at The Zen Kitchen, brought to the discussion her experience with running a small design studio that focuses on green design. Eric Benson is a Professor at the University of Illinois and the creator of the wonderful green design resource renourish. Eric Karjaluoto works at the interactive services firm smashLAB in Vancouver, and was involved in creating Design Can Change, an excellent call to action for the design community. Jess Sand is an independent designer and writer at her communications studio Roughstock Studios, who also writes a great blog on "sustainability for the rest of us," Small Failures. And of course, your humble Green Options design writer, Megan Prusynski, brought everyone together for the chat.

Today's tip is pulled from an amazing organization across the pond called We Are What We Do. In the land of the tea-drinkers, kettles are electric, and they say: "Only fill your kettle with the water you need. If everybody did we could save enough electricity to run all the street lighting in the whole country."

It's true. And it relates to more than just tea! Boiling water for pasta or potatoes? Why fill that pot all the way up? It's only going to take longer to boil, and you'll probably have your bowties floating around in way too much water. The longer it takes, the more energy you use!

Image credit: Tena Engelman/National Park ServiceToday we talk about Environmental Alliance for Senior Involvement (EASI) programs around the country. It all started in Pennsylvania ten years ago; now, EASI senior volunteers are involved in a wide range of projects, including trying to save a lake in Mexico.

Today's podcast is available here.

Going on a Diet, Working at Krispy Kreme Newsflash! Sprawl drowns polar bears! More concretely, sprawl makes it hard to hit climate targets, as Eric de Place notes: Building new road capacity in lightly developed areas is like begging for sprawl — and that directly undermines our attempts to put the brakes on greenhouse gases. It’s a bit like promising to go on a diet and then taking a job at Krispy Kreme. We’ve known for quite some time that land use planning has a profound impact on transportation, energy use and other aspects of our ecological footprints. Mixed-use density is one of the best levers for creating urban sustainability. What will that density look like? Well, it can come in many different forms: check out this awesome Lincoln Institute field guide to density (free reg required), which shows that there are a multitude of lifestyles which good planning can accommodate. Just because we’re not living in McMansions doesn’t mean we’re crammed like rats in a cage. Dense urban living and the good life rhyme. Your body is a Temple When we think of the horrific ecological legacies the 20th Century left behind it, we tend to focus on the… (more)

(Posted by Alex Steffen in Media at 2:53 PM)

Lately, I???ve been hearing about a lot of investment going into green companies and technology, which has me wondering: Is ???green??? the new tech boom? GE is ???doubling down??? on clean tech investments. According to Cleantech Network, last year???s 4th quarter saw $600 million in venture capital investments. So, if the opportunities are ripe for budding entrepreneurs and you have a great idea, how do you get started? The 2nd annual California Clean Tech Open might just be your ticket to success.

Sponsored by Acterra: Action for a Sustainable Earth, a non-profit based in Palo Alto, the competition seeks to solicit business plans from new clean tech companies. According to Acterra, the competition serves to, ??????create economic growth and environmental sustainability by sparking a clean technology cluster in California. By giving winners early-stage capital and expertise, the competition speeds clean technologies from lab to market. The goal is to foster innovative new businesses.???

At the G8 Summit, six of the G8 countries agreed to “at least halve global carbon dioxide emissions by 2050” and to achieve this goal together “as part of a United Nations process.” The US and Russia were holdouts on halving. Together, all eight nations agreed to “substantial” emissions cuts, without setting any target. The agreement paves the way for talks beginning in Bali, Indonesia in December to find a successor to the UN-backed Kyoto Protocol. An unusual and intense tropical cyclone—Gonu—formed and headed into the Gulf of Oman, striking Oman and Iran. More… Hundreds of glaciers on the Antarctic Peninsula (AP) are flowing faster, further adding to sea level rise according to new research published this week in the Journal of Geophysical Research. Climate warming, which is already causing increased summer snow melt and ice shelf retreat of the Antarctic Peninsula, is the most likely cause. More… Demand for electricity in Beijing hit 10.51 million kilowatts—the highest so far this year—as more families and businesses switch on the air conditioners in the early summer heat, according to Beijing Electric Power Corporation. More… Current fuel economy bills in the US Congress are proposing targets that are further away and less… (more)

(Posted by Mike Millikin in Transportation at 9:17 AM)

What the World Eats
First 100% Solar Powered Community In California Opens
$60 Billion to Fight African Diseases
Gates Funds Global Health Monitor
Corn Ethanol Unprofitable By 2008, Says Iowa State

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(Posted by David Zaks in News and Views at 8:07 PM)

by Worldchanging Chicago local blogger, Patrick Rollens: True affordable housing — modest units that rent for less than $750 — are few and far between in Chicago. According to the Urban Land Institute (ULI), just 353,000 of the city’s 2 million residences fell into the category at the end of 2005. And a new report from the firm suggests that the city’s affordable housing portfolio will continue to drop by about 38,000 units by 2020 — while demand increases steadily. In light of this, the ULI collaborated with the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation and more than 100 civic groups to produce The Preservation Compact: A Rental Housing Strategy for Cook County. The ultimate aim of the plan is to preserve and strengthen 75,000 residential units “that might otherwise be lost to condominium conversion, demolition, or rising costs,” as well as encourage sustainable development of more affordable housing units. The Preservation Compact comes at a time when foreclosures are increasing sharply as the subprime mortgage market implodes, which affects many low-income Chicagoans who became homeowners in the last five years. From a supplemental report entitled The State of Rental Housing in Cook County (1.3 MB PDF download): If… (more)

(Posted by WorldChanging Team in Community at 11:12 AM)

by Worldchanging NYC local blogger, Bonnie Hulkower: Memorial Day weekend launched swimming season in New York City; not in the city’s pools, which don’t open until June 29, but swimming at ocean beaches and some of the rivers around New York. The Parks Department maintains 14 miles of beaches, all of which are open from Memorial Day through Labor Day. This past Sunday, while many New Yorkers headed to Orchard Beach and Coney Island, some brave souls headed to Battery Park City for Lady Liberty’s 3rd annual swim from the South to North Coves. The Manhattan Island Foundation (MIF) organizes swimming events around Manhattan waters with the goal of raising public awareness about the waters that surround New York. There is even a Manhattan Island Marathon Swim (28.5 miles around!) with international participants. These events are the only time that the public is allowed to swim in the lower Hudson, where currents and boat traffic can be too much for even the strongest swimmers, with the Foundation getting clearance from the U.S. Coast Guard and N.Y.P.D. The Lady Liberty race reminded me of Mayor Bloomberg’s plaNYC to open 90 percent of New York’s waterways to recreation by 2030. The… (more)

(Posted by WorldChanging Team in Water at 11:10 AM)