European Parliament votes to require car ads include warnings on CO2 emissions-repost from Grist
The European Parliament recently voted that car ads must include warnings on vehicle CO2 emissions. If the rule successfully negotiates the rest of the European Union legislative process, 20 percent of a car ad would have to warn or educate consumers about the CO2 emitted from the vehicles advertised, as well as their fuel consumption. The 20 percent rule would apply to overall space in a print or internet ad and overall ad time for TV and radio commercials. "As you can imagine, it is not something that we would be particularly happy about," says a spokesperson for an auto industry trade group. Ad companies are also not thrilled since the rule could cut into the $8.6 billion a year that automakers in Western Europe spend on car ads.
There is some justice in the world after all. Today the courts ruled against big auto and will allow individual states to make their own judgments about greenhouse gas emissions levels. Grist puts it so well, so here is their commentary:
States should be allowed to restrict greenhouse-gas emissions from cars, and Big Auto should just deal, a federal judge ruled on Wednesday. Right now, the only real way to curb those emissions is to improve gas mileage; when Vermont decided to adopt California's strict emissions standards, automakers sued, claiming that the state was illegally regulating fuel economy -- and that making cleaner cars was unachievable and unsafe, to boot. U.S. District Judge William Sessions didn't see it that way: "The court does not find convincing the claims that consumers will be deprived of their choice of vehicles, or that manufacturers will be forced to restrict or abandon their product lines," he wrote. "History suggests that the ingenuity of the industry, once put in gear, responds admirably to most technological challenges." The ruling, while significant, doesn't mean the fight is over: Automakers have a similar suit awaiting verdict in California, and the U.S. EPA also has yet to rule on whether California can implement its stricter standards.
This segment is totally awesome. I think it does a really great job of explaining all the indirect emissions that result from our use of electricity. It comes from the Sustainability Victoria, an awesome agency located in Melbourne, Australia. I visited them last year when I was in Australia. They have a beautiful informational space and bookstore in their lobby which has lots of cool kiosks with helpful information. Check them out
The Wall Street Journal has an interesting article on big name companies, including HP, Microsoft, and Verizon, that used Second Life to take part in a virtual job fair.
It takes some getting used to at a Second Life recruiting event this spring hosted by Bain & Co., the global management consultancy, a partner’s avatar slumped over by accident and looked as if it were asleep, the Journal writes.
But the payoff can be big, according to the article. It is cheaper than holding an actual job fair, where companies have to pay travel costs for recruiters. Hewlett-Packard, for example, says the cost of participating in the job fair - which includes buying land in Second Life - was less than the price of paying a third-party recruiter to hire one experienced candidate.
It also seems that interviewing in Second Life could reduce emissions, using the same arguments video conferencing companies have started using to tout their greenness.
British Telecom claims to have reduced its carbon footprint by 97,000 tons of CO2 per year, that is 15 percent of its CO2 use, by using phone conferences and videoconferencing to cut back on staff travel for meetings.
The Wall Street Journal has an interesting article on big name companies, including HP, Microsoft, and Verizon, that used Second Life to take part in a virtual job fair.
