We are very excited at Saatchi & Saatchi S to introduce our new non-profit partner, Alliance for Climate Education, ACE.  ACE specializes in bringing the science of climate change to high school students across the country.  They are an organization that is sharp, quick and on the rise.  Below is a post from them illustrating their experience at the X-Games this past weekend in Aspen Colorado  Read more...

We’ve all been writing and talking a lot about the devastation in Haiti and it’s been heartwarming to see the collective response.  But here’s a different, non-earthquaked view of Haiti.

Harte Recordings, together with the estate of Alan Lomax, and in collaboration with The Library Of Congress and the The Association for Cultural Equity has just released a new box set of Lomax’s original recordings of Haitian music in the 1930′s.   You can learn more about the project on their blog.   This is a wonderful example of a cultural sustainability project.  While so much in Haiti has been destroyed, these recordings will live on.  Read more...

Sabre Holdings/Travelocity, the first major online travel agency to introduce a carbon offset purchase option, is one of the first corporations to pilot the Saatchi S/AngelPoints Personal Sustainability Web Platform.  Through its ”Travel for Good” program, Travelocity helps its customers be agents of positive change through sustainable travel and voluntourism.  With the launch of the employee-facing PSP web platform, Sabre has taken sustainable travel to new heights by putting its people at the center of efforts to reduce the environmental impact of its global operations, comprised of 9,000 employees in 59 countries.  Read more...

Wind turbines, formerly the “eyesores” of real estate developer chagrin, are coming into their own in the innovative new world of design and urban planning. The idea of an off-the-grid renewable power source for your home or city, along with the inspiring, simple elegance of the machines themselves, have recently prompted some cool new ideas that promote a sure feeling of restored hope. I’ve cataloged two of them below.  Read more...

A Brief History of Haiti

by Obafemi Origunwa,  Saatchi & Saatchi S strategist

Stigmatized by the tagline “poorest nation in the Western hemisphere,” Haiti was, once upon a time, the paragon of international trade. All that changed on August 14, 1791 at Bwá Kayimán, the site of the Vodou ceremony presided over by Dutty Boukman. For 12 consecutive years, Haitian farmers faced and defeated Europe’s greatest military powers, most notably Napoleon Bonaparte, becoming the first successful slave revolt in history. For a complete exploration of Bwá Kayimán and its significance in world history check out The L’ouverture Project:  Read more...

It all started with a movie about Hilary Clinton.   In 2008  a conservative group called Citizens United created a movie entitled “Hillary: The Movie,” as part of an effort to damage the prospects of Hilary Clinton’s election to the Presidency.  They had planned a major rollout of the film during the Democratic Primaries of 2008, but the Federal Election Commission sued to stop them, relying on the guidance against corporate-funded communications during the election cycle that was passed by Congress in the McCain-Feingold bill.  Read more...

Scott Brown, the new Senator from Massachusetts who was elected last night, made the greenhouse gas cap and trade bill a key plank in his campaign.   As Democrats in the US try to figure out what happened, a number of people are asking whether the push for a cap and trade bill (which was positioned as a giant tax by Brown) is a strategic mistake by Democrats.

Here’s a short video of Scott Brown talking about the cap and trade bill forwarded to me by Jesse Jenkins.  Read more...

It’s 2010, and you know what that means! That’s right – it’s sustainability trend prediction time! One word: Plastics. Or, to be more specific, Green Chemistry.

There are tens of thousands of chemicals floating around in the products that we use every day and the overwhelming majority of them have never actually been tested for harmful effects on human health or the environment. Here are five indicators that show we’re about to hit a tipping point:

1. BPA Breakthrough. Every trend needs a breakthrough celebrity, and Bisphenol-A is the clear front runner. BPA packs a one-two punch: not only does this estrogen-mimicking  chemical have measurably nasty impacts on health, it’s in EVERYTHING.  As a result BPA bans are on the rise by both governments and manufacturers, bringing big visibility to the fact that products we use every day without thinking twice are full of chemicals that are hazardous to our health. Which brings me to my second point: won’t someone please think about our men?

2. Threats to manliness. Let’s face it: most folks are prepared to brush off scary news about health threats with a dismissive “everything causes cancer anyway, so oh well” attitude.  It’s BPA to the rescue again:  exposure to BPA impacts adult male sexual performance! Well why didn’t you say so! That’s the kind of issue you can build some real buzz on, which is important because public concern makes it much easier for governments and corporations to move aggressively to make changes.

Three more indicators that green chemistry is going big after the jump.  Read more...

There’s a nice piece in the NYT by Sean Carroll that summarizes recent research on the anti-freeze strategies of bugs and fish.   Here’s a short snippet:

“The first animal antifreezes were identified several decades ago in the blood plasma of Antarctic fish by Arthur DeVries, now at the University of Illinois, and his colleagues. The ocean around Antarctica is very cold, about 29 degrees Fahrenheit. It is salty enough to stay liquid several degrees below the freezing temperature of fresh water. The abundant ice particles floating in these waters are a hazard to fish because, if ingested, they can initiate ice formation in the gut and then — bang, you have frozen fish sticks. Unless something prevents the ice crystals from growing.  Read more...

Make an emergency donation for Haiti  http://apps.facebook.com/causes/birthdays/255515

or directly to their website.

http://doctorswithoutborders.org/

Thank you!