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KEY CONCEPTS IN ENVIRONMENTAL CONSERVATION



GREEN ECONOMY
The green economy is one that results in improved human well-being and social equity, while significantly reducing environmental risks and ecological scarcities. Green economy is an economy or economic development model based on sustainable development and a knowledge of ecological economics.[1]
A feature distinguishing it from prior economic regimes is the direct valuation of natural capital and ecological services as having economic value (see The Economics of Ecosystems and Biodiversity and Bank of Natural Capital) and a full cost accounting regime in which costs externalized onto society via ecosystems are reliably traced back to, and accounted for as liabilities of, the entity that does the harm or neglects an asset.[citation needed]
What is a Green Economy?
A Green Economy can be thought of as an alternative vision for growth and development; one that can generate growth and improvements in people’s lives in ways consistent with sustainable development. A Green Economy promotes a triple bottom line: sustaining and advancing economic, environmental and social well-being.
The prevailing economic growth model is focused on increasing GDP above all other goals. While this system has improved incomes and reduced poverty for hundreds of millions, it comes with significant and potentially irreversible social, environmental and economic costs. Poverty persists for as many as two and a half billion people, and the natural wealth of the planet is rapidly being drawn down. In a recent global assessment, approximately 60 percent of the world’s ecosystem services were found to be degraded or used unsustainably. The gap between the rich and poor is also increasing – between 1990 and 2005, income inequality (measured by the gap between the highest and lowest income earners) rose in more than two thirds of countries.
While the prevailing economic growth model focuses on increasing GDP above all other goals, a Green Economy promotes a triple bottom line: sustaining and advancing economic, environmental and social well-being. Photo credit: flickr/Yodel Anecdotal.
The persistence of poverty and degradation of the environment can be traced to a series of market and institutional failures that make the prevailing economic model far less effective than it otherwise would be in advancing sustainable development goals. These market and institutional failures are well known to economists, but little progress has been made to address them. For example, there are not sufficient mechanisms to ensure that polluters pay the full cost of their pollution. There are “missing markets” – meaning that markets do not systematically account for the inherent value of services provided by nature, like water filtration or coastal protection. A “market economy” alone cannot provide public goods, like efficient electricity grids, sanitation or public transportation. And economic policy is often shaped by those who wield power, with strong vested interests, and rarely captures the voice and perspectives of those most at risk.
A Green Economy attempts to remedy these problems through a variety of institutional reforms and regulatory, tax, and expenditure-based economic policies and tools.
Definition of a green economy
Karl Burkart defines a green economy as based on six main sectors:[4]
GREEN TECHNOLOGY
The term "technology" refers to the application of knowledge for practical purposes.
The field of "green technology" encompasses a continuously evolving group of methods and materials, from techniques for generating energy to non-toxic cleaning products.
The present expectation is that this field will bring innovation and changes in daily life of similar magnitude to the "information technology" explosion over the last two decades. In these early stages, it is impossible to predict what "green technology" may eventually encompass.
The goals that inform developments in this rapidly growing field include:
Sustainability - meeting the needs of society in ways that can continue indefinitely into the future without damaging or depleting natural resources. In short, meeting present needs without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs.
"Cradle to cradle" design - ending the "cradle to grave" cycle of manufactured products, by creating products that can be fully reclaimed or re-used.
Source reduction - reducing waste and pollution by changing patterns of production and consumption.
Innovation - developing alternatives to technologies - whether fossil fuel or chemical intensive agriculture - that have been demonstrated to damage health and the environment.
Viability - creating a center of economic activity around technologies and products that benefit the environment, speeding their implementation and creating new careers that truly protect the planet.
Examples of green technology subject areas
Energy
Perhaps the most urgent issue for green technology, this includes the development of alternative fuels, new means of generating energy and energy efficiency.
Green building
Green building encompasses everything from the choice of building materials to where a building is located.
Environmentally preferred purchasing
This government innovation involves the search for products whose contents and methods of production have the smallest possible impact on the environment, and mandates that these be the preferred products for government purchasing.
Green chemistry
The invention, design and application of chemical products and processes to reduce or to eliminate the use and generation of hazardous substances.
Green nanotechnology
Nanotechnology involves the manipulation of materials at the scale of the nanometer, one billionth of a meter. Some scientists believe that mastery of this subject is forthcoming that will transform the way that everything in the world is manufactured. "Green nanotechnology" is the application of green chemistry and green engineering principles to this field.

GREEN MARKETING
What is green marketing? Green marketing refers to the process of selling products and/or services based on their environmental benefits. Such a product or service may be environmentally friendly in itself or produced and/or packaged in an environmentally friendly way.
The obvious assumption of green marketing is that potential consumers will view a product or service's "greenness" as a benefit and base their buying decision accordingly. The not-so-obvious assumption of green marketing is that consumers will be willing to pay more for green products than they would for a less-green comparable alternative product - an assumption that, in my opinion, has not been proven conclusively.
While green marketing is growing greatly as increasing numbers of consumers are willing to back their environmental consciousnesses with their dollars, it can be dangerous. The public tends to be skeptical of green claims to begin with and companies can seriously damage their brands and their sales if a green claim is discovered to be false or contradicted by a company's other products or practices. Presenting a product or service as green when it's not is called greenwashing.
Green marketing can be a very powerful marketing strategy though when it's done right. See Three Keys to Successful Green Marketing.
Promotion of environmentally safe or beneficial products. Green marketing began in Europe in the early 1980s when certain products were found to be harmful to the earth's atmosphere. Consequently new types of products were created, called "green" products, that would cause less damage to the environment. The movement quickly caught on in the United States and has been growing steadily ever since. The development of ecologically safer products, recyclable and biodegradable packaging, energy-efficient operations, and better pollution controls are all aspects of green marketing. Green marketing has produced advances such as packages using recycled paper, phosphate-free detergents, refill containers for cleaning products, and bottles using less plastic.

According to the American Marketing Association, green marketing is the marketing of products that are presumed to be environmentally safe.[1] Thus green marketing incorporates a broad range of activities, including product modification, changes to the production process, packaging changes, as well as modifying advertising. Yet defining green marketing is not a simple task where several meanings intersect and contradict each other; an example of this will be the existence of varying social, environmental and retail definitions attached to this term.[1] Other similar terms used are Environmental Marketing and Ecological Marketing.
Green, environmental and eco-marketing are part of the new marketing approaches which do not just refocus, adjust or enhance existing marketing thinking and practice, but seek to challenge those approaches and provide a substantially different perspective. In more detail green, environmental and eco-marketing belong to the group of approaches which seek to address the lack of fit between marketing as it is currently practiced and the ecological and social realities of the wider marketing environment.[2]
The legal implications of marketing claims call for caution. Misleading or overstated claims can lead to regulatory or civil challenges. In the USA, the [Federal Trade Commission] provides some guidance on environmental marketing claims.[3] This Commission is expected to do an overall review of this guidance, and the legal standards it contains, in 2011.[4]

History
The term Green Marketing came into prominence in the late 1980s and early 1990s.[5] The American Marketing Association (AMA) held the first workshop on "Ecological Marketing" in 1975.[6] The proceedings of this workshop resulted in one of the first books on green marketing entitled "Ecological Marketing".[7]
The Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) Reports started with the ice cream seller Ben & Jerry's where the financial report was supplemented by a greater view on the company's environmental impact. In 1987 a document prepared by the World Commission on Environment and Development defined sustainable development as meeting “the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own need”, this became known as the Brundtland Report and was another step towards widespread thinking on sustainability in everyday activity. Two tangible milestones for wave 1 of green marketing came in the form of published books, both of which were called Green Marketing. They were by Ken Peattie (1992) in the United Kingdom and by Jacquelyn Ottman (1993) in the United States of America.[8]
According to Jacquelyn Ottman, (author of "The New Rules of Green Marketing: Strategies, Tools, and Inspiration for Sustainable Branding" (Greenleaf Publishing[9] and Berrett-Koehler Publishers, February 2011)) from an organizational standpoint, environmental considerations should be integrated into all aspects of marketing — new product development and communications and all points in between.[10] The holistic nature of green also suggests that besides suppliers and retailers new stakeholders be enlisted, including educators, members of the community, regulators, and NGOs. Environmental issues should be balanced with primary customer needs.[citation needed]
The past decade has shown that harnessing consumer power to effect positive environmental change is far easier said than done. The so-called "green consumer" movements in the U.S. and other countries have struggled to reach critical mass and to remain in the forefront of shoppers' minds.[11] While public opinion polls taken since the late 1980s have shown consistently that a significant percentage of consumers in the U.S. and elsewhere profess a strong willingness to favor environmentally conscious products and companies, consumers' efforts to do so in real life have remained sketchy at best.[1] One of green marketing's challenges is the lack of standards or public consensus about what constitutes "green," according to Joel Makower, a writer on green marketing.[citation needed] In essence, there is no definition of "how good is good enough" when it comes to a product or company making green marketing claims. This lack of consensus—by consumers, marketers, activists, regulators, and influential people—has slowed the growth of green products, says Makower, because companies are often reluctant to promote their green attributes, and consumers are often skeptical about claims.[citation needed]
Despite these challenges, green marketing has continued to gain adherents, particularly in light of growing global concern about climate change. This concern has led more companies to advertise their commitment to reduce their climate impacts, and the effect this is having on their products and services.[12][13]
Greenhouse gas reduction market
The emerging greenhouse gas reduction market can potentially catalyze projects with important local environmental, economic, and quality-of-life benefits. The Kyoto Protocol’s Clean Development Mechanism (CDM), for example, enables trading between industrial and developing nations, providing a framework that can result in capital flows to environmentally beneficial development activities. Although the United States is not participating in the Kyoto Protocol, several US programs enable similar transactions on a voluntary and regulatory basis.[1]
While international trade in greenhouse gas[14] reductions holds substantial promise as a source of new funding for sustainable development, this market can be largely inaccessible to many smaller-scale projects, remote communities, and least developed localities. To facilitate participation and broaden the benefits, several barriers must be overcome, including: a lack of market awareness among stakeholders and prospective participants; specialized, somewhat complicated participation rules; and the need for simplified participation mechanisms for small projects, without which transaction costs can overwhelm the financial benefits of participation. If the barriers are adequately addressed, greenhouse gas trading can play an important role supporting activities that benefit people’s lives and the environment.[1]
GREEN AGENDA
Green Agenda is a participatory method for developing and implementing local sustainable development strategies and plans with active involvement of the different sectors in the local community where the process is conducted. The method is special, compared to other processes with similar aims, in at least 3 main aspects: the process starts out by identifying local values rather than problems; participation in the process is not limited to experts or certain stakeholder groups but is wide and open to all; and as a result the process and its results are genuinely owned by the local people.
values
At the start of the work in the community local stakeholders identify the values of their community. The main idea is to focus on things local people are proud of, instead of focusing on problems. Examples of values are local water resources (lake, river, drinking water supply) and cultural heritage (ruins from the Roman times, museums, local food and songs). Of course the values can be in bad shape, which could be remedied in the frame of further Green Agenda steps.
wide participation
The Green Agenda process is open for all those who are interested, whether they are recognized experts or not. We believe that everyone who is committed to their community can contribute to the success of the process and its outcome, and should be enabled to do so. This implies that we pay special attention to local capacity building with a view to providing the local population with the tools to effectively take part in the process and in the implementation of actions.
Green agenda is a political ideology that aims for the creation of an ecologically sustainable society rooted in environmentalism, social liberalism, and grassroots democracy.[1] It began taking shape in the western world in the 1970s; since then Green parties have developed and established themselves in many countries across the globe, and have achieved some electoral success.
The political term Green, a translation of the German Grün, was coined by die Grünen, a Green party formed in the late 1970s. The term political ecology is sometimes used in Europe and in academic circles, but in the latter has come to represent an interdisciplinary field of study.
Supporters of Green agenda, called Greens, share many ideas with the ecology, conservation, environmentalism, feminism, and peace movements. In addition to democracy and ecological issues, green agenda is concerned with civil liberties, social justice, nonviolence and tends to support social progressivism. The party's platform is largely considered left in the political spectrum. However, as the 'Green' ideology expanded, there also came into separate existence green movements on the political right in the form of green conservatism and eco-capitalism.
The Green ideology has connections with various other ecocentric political ideologies, including ecosocialism, ecoanarchism, ecofeminism and ecofascism, but to what extent these can be seen as forms of Green agenda is a matter of debate.[
GREEN EVOLUTION
Green Evolution was created in the midst of the climate change era to promote and strengthen our sustainable development. Through innovative technical & financial services, Green Evolution’s vision is to help in the creation of a sustainable and secure future based on a carbon-neutral model where individuals and firms make their own contribution.
Great increase in production of food grains (especially wheat and rice) that resulted in large part from the introduction into developing countries of new, high-yielding varieties, beginning in the mid-20th century. Its early dramatic successes were in Mexico and the Indian subcontinent. The new varieties require large amounts of chemical fertilizers and pesticides to produce their high yields, raising concerns about cost and potentially harmful environmental effects. Poor farmers, unable to afford the fertilizers and pesticides, have often reaped even lower yields with these grains than with the older strains, which were better adapted to local conditions and had some resistance to pests and diseases. We believe that this will be based on innovation, co-operation and knowledge transfer from the research community to the fast-changing-economy industries engaged in low-carbon technologies and innovative transactions. Our mission is to facilitate and advise all levels of government and private sector companies (from small start-ups to transnational corporations) in their efforts to effectively reduce greenhouse gas emissions (ghg) and mitigate climate change. We welcome the challenge of reducing GHG emissions and see it as an opportunity for innovation and sustainable development. We provide solutions with insight for minimal risk and know-how to develop and maximize opportunities.
GREEN BUILDING
Green building (also known as green construction or sustainable building) refers to a structure and using process that is environmentally responsible and resource-efficient throughout a building's life-cycle: from siting to design, construction, operation, maintenance, renovation, and demolition. This requires close cooperation of the design team, the architects, the engineers, and the client at all project stages.[1] The Green Building practice expands and complements the classical building design concerns of economy, utility, durability, and comfort.[2]
Although new technologies are constantly being developed to complement current practices in creating greener structures, the common objective is that green buildings are designed to reduce the overall impact of the built environment on human health and the natural environment by:
  • Efficiently using energy, water, and other resources
  • Protecting occupant health and improving employee productivity
  • Reducing waste, pollution and environmental degradation[2]
A similar concept is natural building, which is usually on a smaller scale and tends to focus on the use of natural materials that are available locally.[3] Other related topics include sustainable design and green architecture. Sustainability may be defined as meeting the needs of present generations without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their needs.[4] Green building does not specifically address the issue of the retrofitting existing homes.
A 2009 report by the U.S. General Services Administration found 12 sustainably designed buildings cost less to operate and have excellent energy performance. In addition, occupants were more satisfied with the overall building than those in typical commercial buildings.[5]
Green building practices aim to reduce the environmental impact of buildings, and the very first rule is, do not build in sprawl (spreading in disordered fashion). No matter how much grass you put on your roof, no matter how many energy-efficient windows, etc., you use, if you build in sprawl, you've just defeated your purpose. Buildings account for a large amount of land. According to the National Resources Inventory, approximately 107 million acres (430,000 km2) of land in the United States are developed. The International Energy Agency released a publication that estimated that existing buildings are responsible for more than 40% of the world’s total primary energy consumption and for 24% of global carbon dioxide emissions.[6]
The concept of sustainable development can be traced to the energy (especially fossil oil) crisis and the environment pollution concern in the 1970s.[7] The green building movement in the U.S. originated from the need and desire for more energy efficient and environmentally friendly construction practices. There are a number of motives for building green, including environmental, economic, and social benefits. However, modern sustainability initiatives call for an integrated and synergistic design to both new construction and in the retrofitting of existing structures. Also known as sustainable design, this approach integrates the building life-cycle with each green practice employed with a design-purpose to create a synergy among the practices used.
Green building brings together a vast array of practices, techniques, and skills to reduce and ultimately eliminate the impacts of buildings on the environment and human health. It often emphasizes taking advantage of renewable resources, e.g., using sunlight through passive solar, active solar, and photovoltaic techniques and using plants and trees through green roofs, rain gardens, and reduction of rainwater run-off. Many other techniques are used, such as using wood as a building material, or using packed gravel or permeable concrete instead of conventional concrete or asphalt to enhance replenishment of ground water.
While the practices, or technologies, employed in green building are constantly evolving and may differ from region to region, fundamental principles persist from which the method is derived: Siting and Structure Design Efficiency, Energy Efficiency, Water Efficiency, Materials Efficiency, Indoor Environmental Quality Enhancement, Operations and Maintenance Optimization, and Waste and Toxics Reduction.[8][9] The essence of green building is an optimization of one or more of these principles. Also, with the proper synergistic design, individual green building technologies may work together to produce a greater cumulative effect.
On the aesthetic side of green architecture or sustainable design is the philosophy of designing a building that is in harmony with the natural features and resources surrounding the site. There are several key steps in designing sustainable buildings: specify 'green' building materials from local sources, reduce loads, optimize systems, and generate on-site renewable energy.

REFERENCES
·  ^ Yan Ji and Stellios Plainiotis (2006): Design for Sustainability. Beijing: China Architecture and Building Press. ISBN 7-112-08390-7
·  ^ a b U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. (October 28, 2009). Green Building Basic Information. Retrieved Decem\ ber 10, 2009, from http://www.epa.gov/greenbuilding/pubs/about.htm
·  ^ Hopkins, R. 2002. A Natural Way of Building. Transition Culture. Retrieved: 2007-03-30.
·  ^ Allen & Iano, 2008[Allen, E, & Iano, J. (2008). Fundamentals of building construction: materials and methods. Hoboken, New Jersey: John Wiley & Sons Inc.
·  ^ Mao, X., Lu, H., & Li, Q. (2009). International Conference on Management and Service Science, 2009. MASS '09., 1-5. doi:10.1109/ICMSS.2009.5303546
·  ^ U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. (October 28, 2010). Green Building Home. Retrieved November 28, 2009, from http://www.epa.gov/greenbuilding/pubs/components.htm
·  ^ WBDG Sustainable Committee. (August 18, 2009). Sustainable. Retrieved November 28, 2009, from http://www.wbdg.org/designsustainable.php
·  ^ Hegazy, T. (2002). Life-cycle stages of projects. Computer-Based Construction Project Management, 8.
·  ^ Pushkar, S., Becker, R., & Katz, A.(2005). A methodology for design of environmentally optimal buildings by variable grouping. Building and Environment, 40. doi:10.1016/j.buildenv.2004.09.004

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