Author Archives: RoseCableflsy

WeWork kicks meat to the curb in the name of climate change

by RoseCableflsy Posted on July 13, 2018

WeWork announced a company-wide meat ban on Thursday: Poultry, pork, and red meat are officially no longer on the menu at WeWork events. And employees can’t charge meals that contain meat to the company card, either. That’s because the coworking Goliath seems to be moderately concerned that the human race is hurtling toward ecological collapse.

Like it or not, eliminating meat and dairy from your diet is probably the No. 1 thing you can do for the planet. Cutting out plastic straws? Sea turtles the world ’round appreciate it, but in terms of addressing climate change on a planetary scale, it doesn’t cut the mustard. That’s why the folks here at Grist dot org didn’t throw a party when Starbucks made plans to ditch straws and replace them with … plastic sippy cup lids. Perhaps it should take some inspiration from WeWork?

The company’s cofounder dropped the meat ban announcement on his employees in a memo. WeWork, valued at $20 billion, serves 253,000 members across the globe, and none of them will be nibbling on pigs-in-a-blanket on company premises anymore — unless they bring them from home, I guess.

The new meat ban will do the following by 2023, according to the company’s estimates:

Save 16.6 billion gallons of water
Prevent 445.1 million pounds of CO2 from entering the atmosphere
Spare the lives of more than 15,000,000 animals

While WeWork’s meat-free commitment is no doubt the most environmentally impactful step it’s taking, the company is also working to reduce its energy consumption by installing LED lights, automatic light switches, and a “global energy consumption dashboard,” something it hopes will help employees keep track of energy usage. It’s also working to reduce construction waste, increase the density of its real estate, and minimize additional construction. The company says its spaces are already 2.5 times more efficient than a typical office.

That’s pretty impressive! And to those of you who say you can’t give up meat, I ask you: Would you rather drink from a plastic sippy cup like a giant baby, or forgo the chicken skewers at your next company picnic like a well-adjusted grownup? The choice is yours. Unless you’re at WeWork, because your bosses already decided for you.

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WeWork kicks meat to the curb in the name of climate change

Posted in alo, Anchor, Citizen, FF, GE, ONA, Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , | Comments Off on WeWork kicks meat to the curb in the name of climate change

China’s coal use is actually dropping for the first time this century

by RoseCableflsy Posted on October 22, 2014

China’s coal use is actually dropping for the first time this century

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22 Oct 2014 4:27 PM

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We told you last week that the Chinese people are concerned about pollution — according to Pew, they care about it more than we Americans do. And their leaders have been saying, somewhat vaguely, that the country is going to take action and do something about it.

Now, an analysis by Greenpeace suggests that China’s coal use may actually be falling — for the first time this century.

Any kind of decrease in China’s use of coal is a big deal. In large part because of coal, the country’s CO2 emissions have grown rapidly since the beginning of the last decade. In 2007, China surpassed the U.S. to become the world’s biggest emitter. In fact, over the last 15 years, China’s emissions were in large part responsible for the increase in emissions globally. So today’s news is a nice surprise.

Greenpeace’s Lauri Myllyvirta writes:

The data suggests the world’s largest economy is finally starting to radically slow down its emission growth, and it comes ahead of key talks next year on a new global climate and energy deal.

The latest 3rd quarter data reinforces a trend towards falling coal use which started in the second quarter of 2014 and suggests China’s annual coal use may end up down on the previous year.

Significantly the latest data showed that even as power consumption grew by 4% (based on government data) coal demand for power generation actually fell by 1%.

Myllyvirta does note that these data are volatile. And China has plans to bring more than 60 coal-to-gas plants online, which, according to a separate Greenpeace analysis, would spew a huge amount of greenhouse gas emissions into the atmosphere.

Still, China’s economy isn’t shrinking, and neither is its energy consumption. So this data showing that coal use is declining is a hopeful reminder that a growing China does not have to come hand-in-hand with growing emissions.

That should be happy news for climate hawks in the U.S. — particularly those seeking to block coal exports from North America’s west coast to Asia.

But, it’s a win-some, lose-some kind of news day: The U.S. Energy Information Administration just released data today showing that our energy-related emissions grew by 2.5 percent last year — that’s a fairly significant increase. And U.S. power plants upped their use of coal by 4.8 percent. Ironically, you can blame increased demand for heating during the polar vortex — which was itself likely the result of climate change — for the uptick in our emissions.

Source:
China’s coal use actually falling now (for the first time this century)

, Greenpeace.

China’s coal use falls for first time this century, analysis suggests

, The Guardian.

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China’s coal use is actually dropping for the first time this century

Posted in Anchor, Everyone, FF, G & F, GE, LAI, LG, ONA, The Atlantic, Uncategorized | Tagged , , , , , , , , , | Comments Off on China’s coal use is actually dropping for the first time this century