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Today’s Stories:
Target Misses the Mark with Organic Food
San Franciscans Forced to Compost and Not Bothered By It
Coal Plants Not Smoking, But Pollution Still Exists
Blue Earth, an environmentally friendly mobile phone
2009 Solar Decathlon Winners Announced

Target Misses the Mark with Organic Food
Original Story

The Huffington Post says if you like shopping at Target, the store like Wal-mart without the sweat shops, you’ve no doubt had a meander through their grocery section. But if you’re trying to use the store to get your organic on, you might wanna shop somewhere else.

A food watchdog group called the Cornucopia Institute has filed a formal complaint with the USDA’s organic program accusing Target Corporation of organic food fraud. There is a legal difference between “natural” food and “organic” food, and apparently Target and their food suppliers have been blurring the line.

One such instance was when Target advertised Silk soyproducts as organic when Silk’s manufacturer Dean Foods had shifted away from organic ingredients. This is their second milk-related organic snafu. In 2007 one of Target’s milk suppliers, Aurora Organic Dairy, nearly lost their organic title. Let’s hope Target gets back on track.

San Franciscans Forced to Compost and Not Bothered By It

Original Story

Just when you think San Franciscans can’t get any more laid back, a new law that took effect last week mandating recycling and composting was not only started with participation, it was already being practiced before it even took effect!

From Treehugger.com we learned that since the announcement of the law earlier this year, the amount of waste collected for composting has risen from 400 to 500 tons a day. In anticipation of the law, many companies and landlords made advance arrangements, and were obeying the law before it even came to exist. The standard of living in San Fran has already gone up especially for apartment-dwellers who no longer have to smell their thrown-out food anymore.

Initially the law was passed with mixed reviews as some were worried it would infringe upon the freedom of citizens. But apparently the rights of noses not to have to smell stinky, rotting food, won out.

Coal Plants Not Smoking, But Pollution Still Exists

Original Story

The New York Times reports that Allegheny Energy, a coal company, came under fire a few years ago for spewing air pollution from their plants causing respiratory problems for people living nearby and acid rain and yellow powdery gunk that floated in the air and covered everything.

So what did they do? Well they installed special scrubbers to clean the air the plant emitted. Water and chemicals were sprayed through the air, grabbing harmful pollutants before they could escape into the outside world. Over 150,000 tons of pollutants a year were caught before they could hurt anybody.

But the cleaner air has come at a cost. Each day since the equipment was switched on in June, the company has dumped tens of thousands of gallons of wastewater containing chemicals from the scrubbing process into the Monongahela River, which provides drinking water to 350,000 people and flows into Pittsburgh, 40 miles to the north. So now instead of breathing in the toxins, citizens near the plant get to drink them.

This problem is not only being caused by Allegheny Energy. Many coal power plants are doing the same thing. Power plants are the nation’s biggest producer of toxic waste, surpassing industries like plastic and paint manufacturing and chemical plants. The Environmental Protection Agency projects that by next year, roughly 50 percent of coal-generated electricity in the United States will come from plants that use scrubbers or similar technologies, creating vast new sources of wastewater.

There’s no federal regulation on power plant waterway discharges right now. No jokes here I’m afraid. Coal power plants have swung and missed.

Samsung Launches “Blue Earth” – the First Full-Touch Eco-Friendly Mobile Phone

Seoul, Korea, October 14, 2009 – Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd. announced this month the launch of Samsung Blue Earth, an environmentally friendly mobile phone with a full touch screen.

Previously, eco-friendly mobiles meant lower-energy consuming mobile phones with very limited feature sets. However, Samsung Blue Earth combines the latest multimedia features and design, while achieving lower energy consumption and incorporating eco-friendly materials.

Blue Earth is made from Post Consumer Material (PCM), which is extracted from water bottles, helping to reduce fuel consumption and carbon emissions during the manufacturing process. The device, including the charger, is free from harmful substances such as Brominated Flame Retardants (BFR), Polyvinyl Chloride (PVC) and Phthalate.

2009 Solar Decathlon Winners Announced

The 2009 Solar Decathlon had taken over the National Mall in Washington, D.C. earlier this month as 20 university teams put
their solar sufficient homes on display.

As part of the decathlon, teams ship their partially constructed homes to the National Mall,
assemble them, and compete in ten contests. The challenges include architecture, engineering,
market viability, comfort, appliances, heating, lighting and home entertainment.

Team Germany took top honors, followed by the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign in second place, and Team California in third. more here