MicroHawk's NewsScan

America Beyond Capitalism: Is It Possible? | | AlterNet

Thousands of co-ops, worker-owned businesses, land trusts, and municipal enterprises are quietly beginning to democratize the deep substructure of the American economic system.

via www.alternet.org

Austerity Plans Are Based on the Wrong Diagnosis of the Wrong Problem -- And May Plunge Europe into Depression | | AlterNet

Private investment spending is cyclical in nature -- too much during up-boom periods and too little during down periods. That’s why government spending must act as a counter-balance. Instead, what we have seen is government actions fueling private sector spending (with lower interest rates and lower taxes) in boom periods (like the 1990s), and now withdrawing spending during the recessionary period when there is not enough private investment.

This is exactly the opposite of what should happen.

via www.alternet.org

Go Away, Daddy! The Revolting Bob Parsons and His Toxic Internet Empire | | AlterNet

If unbridled capitalism is the plague, Go Daddy Founder Bob Parsons and his horrible company are the infected boils on the body politic.

via www.alternet.org

COLOMBIA: Microcredit Growing Steadily at 15 Percent a Year - IPS ipsnews.net

The more than 1.2 million microenterprises operating in Colombia are responsible for around 50 percent of all employment. And many of these small businesses owe their existence to the microfinance system, according to a report by Visión Económica, a local business research group.

via ipsnews.net

US to double renewable energy capacity by 2012 | BrighterEnergy.org

The White House said yesterday that the US is on track to double its renewable energy generating capacity – as well as its renewable energy manufacturing capacity – by 2012.

Releasing a new report summing up progress under the Recovery Act, Vice President Joe Biden predicted that the cost of solar power would be cut in half by 2015, putting it “on par” with the cost of retail electricity from the grid.

via www.brighterenergy.org

TVA shutters old coal units | Chattanooga Times Free Press

Four days after TVA decided to revive work on its unfinished Bellefonte Nuclear Plant, the federal utility announced Tuesday it will begin next year to idle its oldest coal units at the nearby Widows Creek Fossil Plant.

“It’s bad news, but last week was great news,” said James Rickey Steele, the mayor of Stevenson, Ala., who lives in the shadow of the Widows Creek plant and only 15 miles from Bellefonte.

TVA announced Tuesday it will shutter nine of its 59 coal-fired units by 2015, including six at Widows Creek, two at the John Sevier plant near Rogersville, Tenn., and one at the Shawnee plant near Paducah, Ky.

via www.timesfreepress.com

Solar energy is a major economic driver for the US - REVE

The renewable energy (RE) and energy efficiency (EE) industries generated more than 9 million jobs, more than $1 trillion in revenue, and nearly $160 billion in federal, state, and local tax revenue in 2007.

Solar energy is a major economic driver for the United States, creating green jobs and vigorous revenue growth for participating companies. Despite a downturn in the U.S. economy, the American solar industry posted spectacular growth numbers in solar deployment during 2009. Photovoltaic (PV) installations increased 40 percent from 2008 to 2009. ASES predicts a 50 to 100 percent increase in solar deployment in 2010.

via www.evwind.es

Ford Saves $1.2M by Shutting Down PCs · Environmental Leader

Ford Motor Company’s new PC Power Management program is expected to save the automaker $1.2 million and reduce its carbon dioxide emissions by 16,000 to 25,000 metric tons annually.

Under the program, the power settings on Windows laptops and desktop computers will be centrally controlled to reduce energy waste and optimize software updates. In addition, by shutting down its computer systems when not in use, especially overnight and on weekends, it will further reduce energy use, says Ford.

via www.environmentalleader.com

World's top firms cause $2.2tn of environmental damage, report estimates | Environment | The Guardian

The cost of pollution and other damage to the natural environment caused by the world's biggest companies would wipe out more than one-third of their profits if they were held financially accountable, a major unpublished study for the United Nations has found.

The report comes amid growing concern that no one is made to pay for most of the use, loss and damage of the environment, which is reaching crisis proportions in the form of pollution and the rapid loss of freshwater, fisheries and fertile soils.

via www.guardian.co.uk

Cathie's notes: This figure does not include air and water pollution damage from power companies. According to the article, neither does it include damage from household and government use of goods and services, or the costs of forced migrations or other impacts of climate change.

Read the whole article at The Guardian here.

Four Strategies to Achieve World-Class Carbon Management · Environmental Leader

World-class carbon management requires a chief sustainability officer, a cross-functional strategy for reductions with a 2020 target, coordinated business process changes and an integrated carbon management technology platform, according to a new study from research firm Verdantix.

Firms will fail to meet absolute reductions in CO2 emissions until CEOs look at carbon management as a business transformation challenge, rather than a corporate responsibility issue, says the researcher.

via www.environmentalleader.com

Cathie's notes: The Verdantix report is called Best Practices Carbon Management. I'd love to see the whole thing, but I don't have a spare £ 300.00. If you do, you can order the report here.

The Environmental Leader article has a summary of some of the main findings. You can use the link under the excerpt or click here.