Highlights from the 177th AAAS Annual Meeting

The 2011 Annual Meeting of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) just wrapped up in Washington, DC.  Thousands of scientists, engineers, policymakers, educators, and journalists from close to 50 countries met for the 177th annual meeting to explore a broad range of recent discoveries and looming global challenges.

If you didn't make it to the meeting in person, you can watch, listen to, and read content from the 2011 Annual Meeting on the AAAS website. 

Topics covered include the advancement of women in science, scientists as politicians, the use of photographs to engage and instruct, the regulation and security of DNA sequencing, the decline in oceanic biomass, and a case study on one woman's exposure to environmental toxins.

There was an interesting lecture last year on the history of dealing with experimental error. Modern scientists try to account for variation and error by running an experiment or making a measurement multiple times. Often, the results will all be slightly different, and scientists deal with that by taking an average.  But they didn't always do it that way. The first scientist to use averages to address error was Isaac Newton, who privately started taking averages in his notebooks in 1671.  According to historian Jed Z. Buchwald, scientists viewed themselves as craftsmen: if one built a piece of fine furniture, one wouldn't pick the average to display, but would choose the finished version that was the best, and best displayed your woodworking skill. (Read more at Boing Boing and on the AAAS website.)

The 2012 meeting will be held at the Vancouver Convention Center, in Vancouver, British Columbia.  The focus of the 2012 meeting is on using the power of electronic communications and information resources to tackle the complex problems of the 21st century on a global scale through international, multidisciplinary efforts.  The call for symposium proposals is now open.  The deadline for submission is Tuesday, April 26, 2011, 11:59 pm PST.

Sustainability as a “Fiduciary Duty”

Intel has amended its corporate charter to include mandatory reporting on "corporate responsibility and sustainability performance."

Intel has changed their corporate charter to require their Governance and Nominating Committee to:

"review(s) and report(s) to the Board on a periodic basis with regards to matters of corporate responsibility and sustainability performance, including potential long and short term trends and impacts to our business of environmental, social and governance issues, including the company's public reporting on these topics."

For two years, Harrington Investments Inc. introduced a shareholder resolution to amend Intel's bylaws to create a Board Committee on Sustainability. With this change, Harrington agreed to withdraw its bylaw amendment resolution.

Intel's decision was influenced by an opinion from its corporate counsel, Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher LLP, which stated that under Delaware law directors have a fiduciary duty to address corporate responsibility and sustainability performance.

(via TriplePundit)

Sustainability Survey (And Chance to Win $200)

Brighter Planet, a company that helps people manage and mitigate their environmental footprint, is offering folks a chance at winning $200 for completing a short survey.

The survey asks approximately 30 easy questions about your company's environmental commitments.

Corporate America Moving Sustainability Initiatives Forward

A 2009 study commissioned by Siemens Building Technologies and conducted by McGraw-Hill shows that three out of four executives view sustainability as consistent with their company’s profit mission and engage in sustainability activities, double the amount in 2006. Over half (58%) believe sustainability will serve the financial performance of their company, up from 31% in 2006.

The economic crisis has supported and not deterred sustainability activity in the firms represented in the study. Over half (57%) believe sustainability practices are either unaffected or aided by a down economy. Only 32% view an economic crisis as an obstacle.

Energy savings is the most important driver toward sustainability, with 75% citing it this year, and 73% in 2006. Government regulations decreased as a driver with only 29% citing it, down from 40% in 2006. However, 72% expect it to become a requirement.

Over 80% of larger firms believe sustainability provides market differentiation, and over 70% expect sustainability efforts to retain and attract customers and reduce the costs of doing business. Almost a third reported dedicated funding for sustainability.

Sixty-nine percent reported that their firm employs three or more sustainability practices. The most common sustainability practices are:

• Recycling
• Employee engagement/activities
• Green building
• Initiatives with NGOs/voluntary government programs
• Publication of annual sustainability reports

Read the Executive Summary of the study here, and click here to download the complete report.

Federal Agencies Must Set GHG Emissions Reduction Goals

President Barack Obama signed an Executive Order today that sets sustainability goals for federal agencies and focuses on making improvements in their environmental, energy, and economic performance. The Executive Order requires federal agencies to set 2020 greenhouse gas emissions reduction targets within 90 days.

The new executive order mandates agencies across the federal government to "measure, manage, and reduce greenhouse gas emissions toward agency-defined targets," the White House said in a statement.

The Executive Order also agencies to meet a number of energy, water, and waste reduction targets, including:

• 30% reduction in vehicle fleet petroleum use by 2020;
• 26% improvement in water efficiency by 2020;
• 50% recycling and waste diversion by 2015;
• 95% of all applicable contracts will meet sustainability requirements;
• Implementation of the 2030 net-zero-energy building requirement;
• Implementation of the stormwater provisions of the Energy Independence and Security Act of 2007, section 438; and
• Development of guidance for sustainable Federal building locations.

The federal government is the largest consumer of energy in the US economy. It occupies nearly 500,000 buildings, operates more than 600,000 vehicles, employs more than 1.8 million civilians, and purchases more than $500 billion per year in goods and services.

The Executive Order builds on and expands the energy reduction and environmental requirements of Executive Order 13423 by making reductions of greenhouse gas emissions a priority of the federal government, and by requiring agencies to develop sustainability plans focused on cost-effective projects and programs.