Carl Boyd graduated from UIC’s Industrial Design program and has worked professionally in exhibit and product design. He interned at Prairie Fish, one of the nation’s first retail design firms committed to green design. As an initial member of the Foresight Design Initiative, he launched Chicago Green Drinks, organized Chicago’s first Eco-Transportation Show, and designed exhibits for the Chicago Department of Environment.
He’s served as a judge of green design for the 2008 International Housewares Show, and Chicago’s Greenworks Awards.
Carl Boyd co-pilots an ongoing project called Normal - started in 2003 - designing modern, practical products that are locally-made using sustainably-preferable materials and processes. Normal products are sold across North America, have been featured in Wallpaper, TIME, New City, Chicago Tribune, Time Out and in several TV spots. They have been selected for Museum exhibits nationwide and abroad.
Carl currently teaches product design, focusing on sustainability issues, at Columbia College, as well as at the Art Institute this coming Spring.
Ted is always looking for ways to minimize his ecological footprint. Professionally, Ted is working to gain the skills necessary to turn his passion for sustainable development into action, as an entrepreneur or financing sustainable businesses.
Ted studied economics and international business at Saint Louis University’s campus in Madrid, where he graduated Magna Cum Laude and was honored as the Distinguished Student in International Business for his class. As the founder and president of the SLU Madrid Business Club, Ted focused the club’s activities on sustainability.
While working for commercial real estate multi-national Jones Lang LaSalle’s Madrid office, Ted strove to implement sustainable practices both within the firm and for its clients. He proposed and designed an Environmental Sustainability Action Plan for JLL Spain. Green Building and Environmentally Sustainable Development remain a passion for Ted: he believes that the intersection of sustainable infrastructure and sustainable attitude is where we’ll find a sustainable society.
Ted currently works for a private equity firm in Madrid, learning skills that he hopes to apply to finance Environmentally Sustainable Development in the United States and around the world.
Cherl Petso is the Associate Editor at Disaboom.com, an online magazine for people with disabilities. Her writing expertise includes articles about the environment and sustainable living, and vegan/vegetarian issues. A vegetarian for 16 years and a recent vegan, Cherl is passionate about animal rights and issues. She enjoys writing about simple ways to lessen the impact on the Earth.
Cherl recently moved to Denver, Colorado from Bellingham, Washington. She enjoys hiking and hanging out with her puppy.
A freelance writer specializing in environmental and health topics, Linda recently was part of a core team of writers who developed content for GreenYour, a website devoted to greener living.
She wrote an environmental column for five years for Good Housekeeping magazine called Green Watch. You can find her articles in Plenty Magazine’s online newsletter, Fit Pregnancy, Good Housekeeping, Arthritis Today, Profiles (Continental Airline’s in-flight magazine), and Microsoft’s Encarta.
She served on her town’s environmental commission for 15 years and remains an active volunteer. Her personal essay column for the local newspaper offers her take on the natural world and on environmental topics in her neck of the woods.
Dayanti Karunaratne is a freelance journalist based in Canada's capital city, Ottawa.
Since graduating from Carleton University's journalism program in 2006, Karunaratne has worked on the news desk at the Port Hope Evening Guide, the Ottawa Citizen, and the Molokai Times. Karunaratne's writing appears in the Ottawa Citizen, Ottawa Magazine, the Globe and Mail, and other lifestyle publications.
Christie Nash is currently a Projects Coordinator at the Trent Centre for Community-Based Education whose mandate is to bring local organizations and academic resources together to create community- inspired research projects. She has recently completed her M.Ed in Education and Community Development and Comparative International Development Education at OISE/UT. Her professional experience has taken her around the world, including Thailand, India, Nunavut, and other parts of Canada.
She currently resides in Omemee, Ontario (where Neil Young spent his formative years!) in an 1861 log cabin with her boyfriend, Mark, and cat, Fergus.
Marie Oser is a best-selling author, columnist, and host/producer of VEG TV. A vegan lifestyle expert, and environmental advocate with a focus on nutrition and its role in disease prevention, Oser specializes in creating original gourmet recipes with a solid nutritional bottom line.
Many prominent medical and nutrition professionals endorse her work, including Dr. Colin Campbell, Professor Emeritus, Cornell University and principal researcher of the groundbreaking CHINA STUDY, and Neal Barnard, M.D. founder and president of Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine in Washington, DC.
Marie is president of VEGTV, Inc., a video production company producing content for TV and new media. VEGTV streams hundreds of lifestyle videos to more than 1,000 sites globally. In her role as Director of Product Development at Smart Planet Kitchen, she has created, Marie Oser’s Lean & Green, a new line of vegan and Fair Trade Certified products. Marie has appeared on CNN, ABC, National Public Radio, QVC, WUSA, WNBC, KCAL, KOVR, Home & Garden Television (HGTV), FINE LIVING, TECH TV, and Discovery Channel.
Vegetarian since 1971; vegan since 1990, Marie left a career in TV advertising to pursue her interest in food, health, and nutrition. Born and raised in Philadelphia, PA, she studied psychology at St. Joseph’s University. Marie is a gourmet cook and organic gardener living in California, writing her 5th book and hiking every day with Travis, her Yellow Lab companion.
The energy department has begun to dole out $25 billion in loans designated for the development of fuel-efficient vehicles. The program is designed to grease the wheels for technological innovation that will drive the auto industry of tomorrow to occur here in the United States.
After decades of job cuts in the US auto industry, the federal government is hoping that innovation can revitalize the sector and create employment.
The first $8 billion was handed out back in July, with Fisker being announced as a loan recipient just this week. GM and Chrysler have been excluded from this program to date, since they do not meet the economic viability standard for loan recipients. …read more of Energy Department Money Going To Big And Small Carmakers here
“This is the single biggest step the American government has ever taken to cut greenhouse-gas emissions.”
That’s what Daniel Becker of the Safe Climate Campaign said back in May about the Obama administration’s plans to raise fuel efficiency requirements for motor vehicles progressively over the next several years.
You could, of course, call this damning with faint praise. However, this is a strong step in the right direction that will hopefully be followed up with further environmental sustainability legislation and a strong international agreement in Copenhagen.
Electric vehicles (EVs) have been anointed as the green cars of the future, gaining support from the federal government, auto industry, and Silicon Valley. Some EV and PHEV (plug-in hybrid electric vehicle) models are already available, with many more set to launch in the coming years.
However, EVs and PHEVs are not expected to overtake the internal combustion engine in the short-term. Part of this is due to the fact that it’s hard to change the status quo. Part of it, though, is related to price and manufacturing costs. And around half of an EVs manufacturing cost comes from its lithium ion battery. Mass adoption of EVs depends largely on improving the competitiveness of their batteries.
The demand for lithium is rising as the number of battery applications for the material rises. It is used in cell phone batteries and other electronics, and now increasingly in vehicles. As demand rises faster than supply, price increases. …read more of The Sticking Point for EVs… Lithium here
The “Cash-for-Clunkers” program–officially the Car Allowance Rebate System (CARS)–was not designed by the US Department of Transportation (DOT) only as an environmental program.
Some environmental impact was certain given the requirement that newly purchased vehicles be more fuel efficient than trade-ins, but the program is primarily a way to boost auto sales. CARS has met or surpassed expectations on both accounts.
After a decades long fight to regain its balance and stand tall once again, the auto giant has finally been brought all the way to its knees.
The news hardly came as a surprise, with government loans propping up the company for months. After failing to convince its creditors to trade $27 billion in debt for a 10% stake in the company GM had no choice but to file for bankruptcy, joining its competitor Chrysler.
The question now is what will become of GM if and when it gets back on its feet. For starters, the giant is likely to lose a few pounds in the operating room. …read more of GM Bankrupt here
Discover the latest developments in improving technologies, tightening auto standards, fuel alternatives and how to make your current car eco-friendly. Find out which companies are investing in energy efficient vehicles.
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