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This September, Green Roof Safari will run North America’s first guided ‘green roof study tour’ of Germany and Switzerland.  Organized by green roof specialists, the tours will visit a variety of projects, meet and converse with local experts, and experience urban sustainable design from the rooftop vantage.  VANCOUVER, B.C. CANADA – June 2, 2008

Green Roof Safari, a collaborative venture between Jörg Breuning (Green Roof Service LLC) and Christine Thüring (Chlorophyllocity), has begun accepting registrations for two 6-day tours (Sept 8 – 13; Sept 21 – 27, 2008) focused on green roofs. With a maximum of 30 seats per tour, Green Roof Safari provides on-hand translation and expertise, comfortable travel, and guarantees experiential learning, networking opportunities, and cultural jaunts.

Extensive green roofs evolved in Germany as lightweight adaptations from the medieval sod roofs of Scandinavia. Since 2003, one in four flat roofs in Germany has been vegetated, with over 250 municipalities offering promotions, subsidies and/ or incentives for green roof implementation.

Green Roof Safari will spend 3 days and 2 nights in Stuttgart. An original Stuttgarter, Breuning comments: “Having worked in the German green roof industry from apprenticeship through independent business for +25 years, I look forward to re-visiting some of these projects with guests from North America.”  In 2003, Breuning came to the U.S. to start Green Roof Service LLC with Peter Philippi.

It is no coincidence that the study tours sandwich the World Green Roof Congress in London UK (Sept. 17-18). Thüring, who is Swiss-Canadian, helped to organize the 2005 World Green Roof Congress in Basel (Switzerland). Thüring comments: “I was deeply impressed by the positive impact the 2-day excursions from the Congress had on participants. Green Roof Safari will foster the same spirit for sharing and community.” Following 2 nights in Basel, Green Roof Safari will pass one night in the Swiss Alps and close its itinerary in Zurich.

Private and public professionals engaged in the North American green roof industry will take home broadened horizons, practical lessons, detailed documentation and valuable contacts. Steven Peck, Founder and President of Green Roofs for Healthy Cities, the North American green roof industry association, comments that “tours are an excellent, perhaps the best, way to network and learn firsthand about green roof designs and programs in other countries.”

Green Roof Safari moved from Breuning and Thüring’s collective backburners in January 2008.  Both are committed to the advancement of green roof technology in North America.

Find out more about Green Roof Safari click here.

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Rye Bay Beach House is a newly built 3 storey house and is part of a unique development that combines quality and contemporary design with environmental sustainability. The developments eco credentials include two wind turbines generating power for reintroduction back to the National Grid.  Solar energy is captured using solar tubes.  Geo thermal space heating is also used as well as green roof system that blends with the landscape and retains rain water for further use.  The house sleeps 4/6 and is situated behind Camber’s stunning sand dunes - a stones throw away from one of the most beautiful sandy beaches on the South East Coat.

Something a little bit different from McDonalds an advertising billboard which actually grows salad!

English Heritage will be launching their ‘Heritage at Risk’ project in July 2008.  The project will create the first comprehensive register of the country’s neglected or decaying historic properties and sites.

The Times has an interesting article on ‘human power’, where the footfall of people could be harnessed to produce emission free energy.  People’s feet would compress pads underneath flooring which would generate electricity by pushing a fluid through a mini – turbine.    The Spinnaker Tower, a popular visitor attraction in Portsmouth, could be one of the first destinations which could install the technology.

Spinnaker Tower, Portsmouth - from Pompey Shoes, Flickr

Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall, the UK chef famous for his River Cottage television series, launched a shareholders’ resolution for Tescos to improve the welfare standards of the chickens which they sell.  However, the BBC reports that he received under 10% of the votes at the annual general meeting (he needed 75% of the votes).

Ethical Trading Manager needed for high-profile textile-based fashion-brand.  This high-street fashion brand has a growing commitment to CSR. The company recognises the growing imperative of carefully measuring and managing its impact across all of its activities and is now recruiting a compliance office to take over the management of CSR and Intellectual Property (IP) issues within its supply chain across the EMEA (Europe, Middle East and Africa) region. This is an exciting opportunity to gain an insight into the fashion industry’s factories and an understanding of the balance of commercial pressures within a CSR context. You can expect regular international travel across the EMEA region.

The job:

• Taking ownership of the company’s CR programme in the EMEA region, by managing its supply chain and assessing and reporting on relevant CSR risks
• Engaging with suppliers and driving compliance improvements throughout EMEA
• Tracking and reporting the CR status of vendors/manufacturers.
• Managing new factory / labour assessments and auditing programmes
• Establishing relationships and engaging with other brands and where applicable broader stakeholders.
• Helping to drive buy-in and impact of CR issues throughout the organisation.
• Training factories in the region on the company’s Ethical Trading Policy
• Assisting with intellectual property (IP) management at the factory level and providing general support to the IP team
• Establish a network of service providers who can help factories achieve compliance and improve their businesses.  These providers should be able to identify root causes of ethical trading issues and provide relevant business solutions to these, such as productivity training, etc

You:

• Are a qualified social auditor or have similar experience of devising an ethical trading approach
• Have worked in a similar role for 3+ years.
• Preferably have languages including any of the following: French, Arabic, Portuguese, Italian and/or Spanish.
• Have worked with textiles/accessories brands and are aware of the key sustainability issues facing the industry.
• Are driven, enthusiastic and enjoy travel, with a passion for ethics
• Are autonomous, but also function well within a team

Location: London
Deadline: urgent
If you’d like to be considered for this position, please send us your details here, with the following job reference included in the subject: 10276 – EMEA CR Mgr

Previously we have written a post on Natural Retreats, a provider of luxury self catering breaks in the Yorkshire Dales.  Their ethos centres on providing environmentally friendly breaks.  Natural Retreats have recently announced that they will be introducing new sites in the UK in the near future.   Click here to find out more.

A new report from management consultants Arthur D. Little looks at the notion that opportunities are being missed by companies which do not embrace sustainability. “Scratch the surface of many companies’ claims on sustainable performance and what lies beneath leaves much to be desired. Research by Arthur D. Little, for example, shows that even among Nordic companies, widely regarded as among the most environmentally responsible of corporate citizens, the response to the challenge of sustainability lacks rigour.”  You can download the report from their website.

Something a little bit different the Orange Wind Charger - find out more about GotWind here.