Sustainability Archives - Page 4 of 10

PARIS CLIMATE CHANGE CONFERENCE

In the aftermath of the terrorist attacks in Paris, the U.N.’s global conference on climate change has become more important than ever. This week, the governments of 190 nations will gather in the capital of France to discuss a possible new global agreement on climate change, and to re-affirm a shared commitment to addressing common threats.

Too often the risks associated with climate change are unknown or opaque. Only in the past few decades have scientists begun the measurements necessary to establish a relationship between current carbon levels and temperatures, and the science conducted since then has consistently pointed in one direction: that the rising greenhouse gas emissions, arising from our use of fossil fuels and our industries, had led to higher temperatures. The good news in all of this is that we are making progress and the Paris Climate Change Conference can only be even more beneficial.

Reducing carbon pollution has been proven to promote economic growth by attracting not only people, but also capital. The new generation wants to change what has been done wrong in the past and business owners are starting to get on track. Organizations are making it easier for companies to adapt and reduce the production of greenhouse gas emissions.

We are super excited to see the results after the Paris Climate Change Conference. What will agreement will governments produce for the decade after 2020, and potentially beyond? Follow the hashtag #COP21 on twitter to see what’s going on live. We sure will!

DROP 100 CAMPAIGN

On November 10, Mayor Eric Garcetti announced the Los Angeles Better Buildings Challenge (LABBC) Drop 100 campaign, an initiative developed to save 100 million gallons of water per year by increasing water efficiency in commercial buildings across the City of Los Angeles. Drop 100 promotes high-impact water saving technologies, some of which are unique to commercial buildings.

“I’m proud to partner with the L.A. Better Buildings Challenge, and our city’s business community, to help our commercial buildings get even smarter about water conservation,” said Mayor Garcetti.

Drop 100 is an expansion of the Save the Drop campaign for residential property owners. The LABBC has partnered with the Mayor’s Office, the U.S. Department of Energy, the Los Angeles Cleantech Incubator, an the Los Angeles Chamber of Commerce to develop a focus on large commercial buildings, which account for 19 percent of water use within the City – that’s how Drop 100 came together. We are thrilled about it and can’t wait to work towards and promote all the amazing things that will come out of it.

Read the full press release from the mayor’s office here.

LEED BUILDINGS

To wrap up our Green Building Week, we rounded up a few of the LEED certified buildings that have invested in the sustainable bathroom solution with our waterfree technology. Each of these buildings have applied policies and procedures to promote environmental stewardship and create healthy work environments for employees.

The USGBC headquarters in Washington, DC was the first to achieve LEED certification. Now they have developed a living lab for people to experience and learn the ins out outs of how green buildings work. If you’re still in D.C for the GreenBuild Expo, it is worth taking a look.

Santa Clara University’s Student Activities Center in Silicone Valley, was rewarded the Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design in 2010. With energy efficient features, water saving practices and sustainable design, the University has earned the Gold certification.

Last but not least, in 2013 the M&T Stadium in Baltimore, became the first existing outdoor professional sports facility in the United States – including all NFL and Major League Baseball stadiums – to receive USGBC’s Gold LEED rating.

Hope you had a great week in Washington, D.C. Did you hear that our Hybrid was rewarded Top Ten product of 2016? Very exciting!!!

WE SIGNED THE CLIMATE DECLARATION – AND YOU SHOULD TOO

We are excited to have signed the Building and Real Estate Climate Declaration! Ceres, the U.S. Green Building Council, and the Carbon Leadership Forum, has launched the campaign of the Climate Declaration.

More than 1,500 U.S. businesses have signed on to the Climate Declaration – but the buildings and real estate sector is underrepresented. Becoming a signatory is more than just words — it underscores our view that climate change is a serious global challenge that represents a major economic opportunity in terms of energy savings. And we are happy to be a part of it!

The Building and Real Estate Climate Declaration provides an opportunity for the entire sector –architects and engineers, building product manufacturers, contractors, developers and real estate investors – to take a stand on climate in an impactful way. The Climate Declaration will demonstrate strong business support from building-sector companies for taking action on climate change and energy policy at all levels. And it will spotlight the critical role that companies in the buildings and real estate sector play in advancing energy efficiency and distributed renewable energy, reducing embodied carbon in materials, and developing other innovations that reduce carbon emissions throughout building life cycles.

Spread the word and sign the declaration!

SPOTLIGHT: GREEN BAY PACKAGING

Welcome back! It is time for our Spotlight series. This space is reserved for highlighting all the great things our partners and customers are accomplishing worldwide. These companies, institutions and venues are as much a part of Falcon’s journey to conserve, as our employees. Let’s get right to it, shall we?

Since 1933, Green Bay Packaging has been integrating sustainable practices to optimize resources without compromising the world around them. From the initial idea of building a better box, whatever it took, Green Bay Packaging has integrated innovation, hard work, and an unwavering commitment to customer service as a part of the foundation of the company.

On our journey as a sustainable company, we strive on more than just saving water with our products. We believe that doing goodmust be embedded in our daily operational practices as well as our involvement with the broader community.

Not only does Green Bay Co. produces most recycled form of packaging that meets market criteria for performance and cost, but they also maintain forest lands and assists private landowners in planting more than five million trees annually. In total they have planted more than 110 million trees planted since 1971 – basically a whole forest!

Make sure to read all of their sustainability initiatives on their website. You will see that it ranges from environmental to social, and everywhere in between.

GUEST POST: GENERATION DROUGHT

Post by Kayla Imhoff from TreePeople LA

Even after 42 years, TreePeople’s message has remained the same. We exist to help nature heal our cities.

However, we’ve shifted our methods to carry out our mission as we strive to ebb and flow with ever changing environmental challenges in Los Angeles. Our education program is a prime example. TreePeople has always been a force for effective environmental education. The original Eco-tour program, which started in the late 70’s, still exists today. Every day, students visit Coldwater Canyon Park to experience the wonder of nature firsthand. Today, TreePeople is proudly recognized as the largest environmental education provider in the state, seeing well over 10,000 school kids each year.

In 1985, when the City of Los Angeles struggled to motivate residents to adopt a curbside recycling program, who did they turn to? TreePeople. Using a combination of school assembly presentations, as well as the Eco-tour program, we were able to influence students on the importance of reducing, reusing and recycling. Furthermore, children walked away inspired to implement these skills in their homes. As a result, the city saw the recycling movement soar.

Amidst a four year drought, our concerns have shifted from waste to water. As busy parents struggle to understand the implications of drought and new water restrictions, TreePeople is raising up a generation passionate about conservation. Kids get it. In fact, educating kids about LA’s urban watershed has been our focus since the early 90’s—years before the drought began.

What started as a simple, tangible model of our water cycle using paper cups has become a much more sophisticated operation. We now have an entire urban watershed garden, complete with live models, allowing students to watch rain journey from the sky to storm drains, carrying pollutants to the ocean. Their faces often express their shock. How could “grown ups” build such a problematic system? On the flip side, our “sustainable solutions house” lets students see the potential for stormwater capture. That same rainfall can be collected in rain-barrels and used into mulched climate-appropriate landscaping.

I love seeing kids leave, feeling empowered to make a difference in their households. We even get fan mail. Children send us thank you letters, and update us on how they’re employing their new skills. We hope they’ll inspire their parents. And they often do.

As an organization, we aim to solve urban environmental issues. This work has several branches. We work on the policy level with city agencies, facilitate a hands-on forestry restoration program, offer community workshops, and maintain our commitment to our K-12 education program. We know kids are they key to change. They are our future. When you invite them to make a difference they don’t just listen. They act. Let’s learn from them!

TreePeople just launched a campaign for the LA2050 competition and they need support in the form of votes. Click here and see what it’s all about.

If you want to know more about the organization and how you can help head on over to their website. We also love connecting with them through social media – Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.

STORY OF A RETROFIT: LA CONVENTION CENTER

With California approaching its fourth year of extreme drought, the Los Angeles Convention Center recently launched a massive retrofit project for its over 700 toilets and 30 urinals in a step to achieve greater water conservation. As more than 2 million visitors and 350 events are hosted by the center each year, the project is expected to save the building, as well as the city, millions in gallons annually.

The LA Convention Center worked in conjunction with us and our partner Sloan to outfit its restrooms with the latest in high-efficiency toilets and waterless urinals. The project took place on the week of September 14th.

As mandated by Governor Jerry Brown and the State Water Resources Control Board (SWRCB), the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power (LADWP) must reduce its overall water consumption by 16% lest it be subject to fines by the state of up to $10,000 per day. Most recent data by the SWRCB shows that in last August alone the LADWP consumed over 14 billion gallons of potable water with 28% of that water originating from the commercial sector.

Significant efforts then have been made by the LADWP to encourage more businesses and commercial buildings like the LA Convention Center to reduce water use. And knowing that 15% of the water consumed in the commercial sector comes from restroom use, it opens up a huge opportunity for retrofitting.

Way to go LA Convention Center! This is one more venue we are proud to be a part of.

#4LITERS CHALLENGE

by Mariana Hodges, Communications Manager

Hi guys! You might have caught a glimpse of me on our social media channels talking about the #4Liters Challenge last week. After my 24 hours consuming only 4 liters of water, I decided to write a blog post about the experience.

First I want to start with the WHY in this challenge, since that was the first question I would get from people.

WHY? Americans use more than 100 gallons of water a day, and most of us take it for granted. We assume that when we turn the tap, water will show up. However, for hundreds of millions of people worldwide water is scarce– and they have to survive with as little as four liters (about a gallon) a day. It’s incredibly hard to shift your perspective unless you actually experience it for yourself.

HOW? For 24 hours, you are only able to use 4 liters of water for everything you do. During the day it’s fun to documenting your experience with pictures showing your progress. At 4 pm, you need to record a short video where you show how much water you have left and challenge two friends to take over. This challenge is a way to change the way we think about water forever – and oh boy, it does!

MY BIGGEST CHALLENGES? I have to be honest with you, the biggest challenge I had was reminding myself NOT to use the tap. It’s almost an instinct for you to turn on the tap whenever you need water. Having to use a bottle every time I wanted to wash my hands, clean a cup, and brush my teeth had me re-educating my mind for sure. Also, I am in awe with how people can maintain a standard of personal hygiene with that little water. It made me value my hot shower even more.

As a result, the challenge made me think how blessed I am to be able to have access to running water. One that is safe, clean and at my finger tips at a twist of the tap.

To continue the chain and create more buzz, I have nominated the whole team at Falcon. I know it’s not usual to do so, but I thought we could twist the plot a little and have fun observing a whole team doing it together. We love organizing team building events around the office, and what better way to engage than taking the challenge together? So tune in on October 21st, to see what happens when a whole team has to carry around a gallon of water. I will be observing and giving the team my support! Maybe I’ll even throw in a few tips I acquired along the way.

IMAGINE A DAY WITHOUT WATER

If you read something about “our infrastructure is falling apart,” you probably picture the usual potholes in the road and rusted bridges that need replacing. But that is just the infrastructure you can see on a daily basis. What about the one that is under your feet and you rely on constantly? According to National Geographic, the U.S. has 1.2 million miles of water mains and many of those pipes were built way back in the 1800s or early 1900s. Many that were built based on how cities were structured back then, not for modern metropolises.

We see broken pipes all around our city and the water waste related to it is huge – a scenario that definitely shouldn’t be occurring when we are so focused on decreasing water usage due to the drought – and if those systems failed us one day, Los Angeles would wake up to a very unpleasant morning. Imagine a day without water. You wouldn’t be able to brush your teeth, flush the toilet or take your usual morning shower. And that is just the residential use. Commercial use is a huge component of water consumption as well. Water keeps our economy growing – and we need to use it wisely!

At Falcon, we focus our work on preserving the most important natural resource, and that includes bringing awareness to the infrastructures related to water as well. That is why we are part of a nationwide educational effort called “Imagine a Day Without Water.” Dozens of other business leaders, engineers, contractors, water agencies, and community members are joining the effort, because not only do we have to use water wisely, but the underlying infrastructure of it is often forgotten. Water is essential, invaluable, and needs investment. Not only in technology to preserve it, but in what brings safe, reliable, and affordable water to customers – the underlying infrastructure.

Let’s bring the conversation to sight and talk about the importance of water for our livelihood! Join the hashtag #ImagineADayWithoutWater through October 8th, and share your thoughts.

WATER USE IN CITIES IS CHANGING

The water system that supplies California’s household, businesses, and industries is vast and complex. Nearly 400 large utilities supply more than 90 percent of the state. Most are public agencies with locally elected governing boards, however there are some privately owned utilities as well. Both large and small face similar water supply and quality challenges.

With the dry spell California has been facing the past year, it is clear to see changes being made to urban water consumption, however the total water use began to flatten in the mid-1990s, based on per-capita use. Cities now consume about 10 percent of California’s available water compared with 40 percent for farming.

Let’s take a look at a few things that have changed in the past few years:

Per capita use is declining due to the adoption of low-flow plumbing fixtures and water saving appliances. The average restroom uses a ton of water daily and when regular toilets, urinals and faucets are being substituted by waterfree and water efficient fixtures, major savings become a factor.
Outdoor watering also accounts for most of the urban water usage especially in inland areas. Despite that, public utilities have started enforcing watering schedule, more efficient irrigation systems, and replacement of thirsty lawns with more drought-tolerant plants.
In January 2014, Governor Jerry Brown called on Californians to reduce water use by 20 percent. With that mandate in state, local government are having to adopt water restrictions – some more than others. We are seeing local utilities unite and try to modify their water consumption patterns.

To help cities get to where they need to be with water savings, utilities have made rebates available for residential and commercial buildings. From landscape to plumbing fixtures, they are offering a multitude of ways for you to help save water!!