The Barilla Center for Food and Nutrition introduces a new “double” food pyramid designed to aid consumers with selecting foods that contribute to a balanced diet and are sustainable for the environment.

The Double Food Pyramid was released more than fifteen years after the US Department of Agriculture developed and released the first Food Pyramid to illustrate how to achieve a nutritionally balanced diet.

As seen in the infographic above, the left diagram illustrates the suggested intake for each respective food group in increasing order as the reader moves down the pyramid, while the right diagram shows the corresponding ecological impact.

According to the Barilla Center,

From “Double Pyramid” can be observed that the food which is recommended more frequent consumption, are also those with minor environmental impacts. Conversely, foods for which consumption is recommended less frequent, are also those that have most impact. In other words, this developing new food pyramid shows the coincidence, in one model, two different but equally important goals:health and environmental protection.

View the full interactive infographic here.

Barilla Center

Quandary: You live in a place so beautifully sunny that you could probably power your home with solar-energy, but it is so beautifully sunny that you spend the whole day lazing in a hammock sipping iced-tea. The answer, my idle friend, is the Sunfish, solar-power that is literally plug-and-play. It’s so easy to install that even you could do it.

Sunfish works like this: You lay out a solar-panel and hook it up to the power-module. Plug this into any power-socket in your house. Then, plug in the accompanying circuit-monitor, a controller box which connects to the power-module via Wi-Fi and lets you keep an eye on things (via any web-connected device). That’s it. As long as the sun is shining, the setup pumps electricity into you mains circuit.

There are two models. The 200-watt version will power your lights (although why you would run lights with the sun shining outside is a mystery). The 1kW version will take care of washing machines and the like. If you need more power, you can just plug in more boxes.

It’s ingenious, and because its so easy to install it is pretty much portable: a boon for those in rented accommodation. The Sunfish will be available next year, at planned prices of $600 to $900 for the smaller model and $3,000 to $4,500 for the bigger one. Clarian, the company behind the device, says that a unit will pay for itself in a couple years.

I’m sold. I have been considering solar power ever since moving to Spain, but it has always seemed so complicated to set up. This plug-and-go option isn’t exactly cheap, but it sure is easy.

Sunfish: Revolutionizing Renewable Energy

We've all heard of green roofs, but a company named Green Living Technologies even makes green walls. Their proprietary system of panels, made from recyclable aluminum or stainless steel, can go completely vertical yet are designed to be deep enough to support grass and even vegetables, while still allowing airflow and waterflow between it and the building.

Their wall on Pittsburgh's PNC building--the largest green wall in North America--supports some 15,000 "ferns, sedums, brass buttons and other plants" over its 2,400-square-foot surface. And while Gary Saulson, PNC's Head of Corporate Real Estate says "We really view the green wall as public art," it's art with benefits: They estimate the office space behind the wall will be about 25% cooler in the summertime.

Your local freezer aisle just got a lot cooler. Cool Hunting reports that Stahlbush Island Farms has introduced BioBags, biodegradable packaging for its line of frozen vegetables, and fruits. The company’s new bag does away with the widely used polyethylene-based material in favor of brown craft paper, and water-based ink. In turn, that substitution cuts down the breaking-down process from several centuries to just a few short months.

Cool Hunting has more about the long-time sustainable farming efforts of the company, whose products can be found at Whole Foods, Sunflower Farmers Market, and New Seasons Market. 

Located in Oregon's Willamette Valley, Stahlbush Island Farms has an outstanding reputation for sustainable agriculture, producing enough electricity from fruit and vegetable byproducts to power around 1,100 homes. The recent BioBags endeavor is the upshot of a collaboration with Michigan-based Cadillac Products Packaging Company, who helped design and manufacture the eco-friendly bags.

The BioBags follow a wave of efforts toward more sustainable food packaging, including the release of Frito-Lay Brand’s new 100-percent compostable SunChip bag.  [full disclosure: Frito-Lay Brand is a business unit of PepsiCo. GOOD is a partner on Pepsi's Refresh Everything project.] The bags—the first full packaging to be completely compostable—are made from corn-based polymer, and canbiodegrade in a backyard compost pile in a mere 14 weeks. 

 

Here's a look at the various ways in which we subsidize energy (the chart is based on this paper from the Environmental Law Institute). As you can see, the tax breaks for traditional fossil fuels, in the bottom left quadrant, are just massive. The result? The cost of coal and oil are artificially cheap, meaning we use them more, and the companies that extract and sell them reap absurd profits. Is there any neoliberal economic defense for this or is it simply an unfair product of industry lobbying? Anyone know?

As far as the graph goes, I would like to see an animated version that shows how these subsidies have changed over time. The renewable energy subsidies have certainly grown, but how quickly? Have the tax breaks for traditional fossil fuels declined at all?

AS OF THIS WRITING, THERE ARE 793 BILLIONAIRES IN THE WORLD. While most are engaged in giving, a select few focus their philanthropy on environmental issues—climate change, renewable energy, the creation of green cities and species conservation. Here’s Worth’s ranking of the top 10 green billionaires, based on their impact.

 

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1 RICHARD BRANSON

(worth $2.5 billion)

THE VISIONARY

Billionaire CEO of the Virgin Group, Richard Branson devotes much of his time to his philanthropic arm, Virgin Unite, which includes an initiative dedicated to fighting CO2 emissions. In February Branson announced the Green Capital Global Challenge—a one-year, 10-city program to increase energy efficiency in the built environment.

RENEWABLE ENERGY

In 2006 Branson pledged all profits from Virgin Transportation for the next 10 years to developing green energy. In 2007 he launched the Virgin Green Fund to support renewable energy investments, and announced his $25 million prize for any technology that can safely remove carbon from the atmosphere.

LEGACY

Pledge from Virgin Transportation estimated at $3 billion

2 TED TURNER

(worth $1.9 billion)

THE CABLE MAN

Erstwhile media mogul Ted Turner first displayed his passion for environmental philanthropy with the establishment of his Turner Foundation in 1990, an organization committed to maintaining the planet’s natural resources.

CLEAN ENERGY & CONSERVATION

Turner has given to the UN Foundation, an advocate of clean energy, created a Nuclear Threat Initiative to reduce the global threat from nuclear, chemical and biological weapons, launched the Turner Endangered Species Fund to promote biodiversity and conservation, and created the Captain Planet Foundation— which includes the hit TBS show Captain Planet—to encourage children to become environmental stewards.

LEGACY

More than $1 billion to the UN Foundation

3 GEORGE SOROS

(worth $11 billion)

THE FINANCIER

Since the ’70s, Soros, the Hungarian-born hedge fund manager, has donated more than $7 billion to various philanthropic endeavors, and in recent years his attention has turned to environmentalism.

CLIMATE CHANGE

In 2009 Soros announced the foundation of his new global climate watchdog group, the Climate Policy Initiative, which he’ll fund to the tune of $100 million over the next 10 years. The San Francisco-based foundation will focus on policy "to protect the public interest against special interests.”

LEGACY

Pledged $1 billion at Copenhagen last year to develop clean energy sources

4 JEFF SKOLL

(worth $1.8 billion)

THE FILMMAKER

Former eBay president Jeff Skoll founded Participant Media, which produces socially conscious films and documentaries, often paired with social actions to encourage audiences to participate and make a difference. Credits include Al Gore’s An Inconvenient Truth, as well as Syriana, Food Inc. and The Cove, winner of this year’s Academy Award for best documentary.

SUSTAINABLE BUSINESS

Skoll has also handed out grants to 72 social entrepreneurs. Headquartered in Silicon Valley, the Skoll Foundation seeks to create a sustainable future through social entrepreneurship, with particular emphasis on climate change, water scarcity, pandemics and nuclear proliferation.

LEGACY

Grants to various social entrepreneurs totaling more than $40 million

5 ZHENGRONG SHI

(worth $1.1 billion)

THE SUN KING

Shi earned his PhD in Australia at the University of New South Wales’ School of Photovoltaic and Renewable Energy Engineering. Shi returned to China in 2001 to found Suntech Power, the largest manufacturer of photovoltaic cells for solar technology in the world.

SOLAR POWER

One of the richest men in China, Shi has donated considerable funds for renewable energy research to his alma mater. He also gifted a Suntech solar array to the Sydney Theatre Company’s new Wharf Theatre, led by creative directors Cate Blanchett and Andrew Upton. Using advanced crystalline silicon solar technologies, the project recently broke the world record for the highest conversion efficiency.

LEGACY

$2 million from the family foundation of Dr. Zhengrong and Vivienne Shi to help fund the “Greening the Wharf” project in Sydney

6 GORDON MOORE

(worth $2.6 billion)

THE INSIDE MAN

Silicon Valley billionaire and Intel co-founder Gordon Moore has given generously to the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation, which has invested in environmental initiatives ranging from marine conservation to maintaining wild salmon ecosystems to preserving Andes- Amazon biodiversity.

BIODIVERSITY

In 2000 Moore donated half his Intel stock to the Moore Foundation to underwrite scientific research, environmental protection and promote the San Francisco Bay Area. The long-time environmentalist also donated $35 million to Conservation International to create the Center for Applied Biodiversity Science, a Washington-based think tank.

LEGACY

Estimated $5 billion worth of stock to the Moore Foundation

7 SERGEY BRIN & LARRY PAGE

(worth $12 billion)

DO-GOODERS

Google co-founders Page and Brin like to say that sustainability is good for people, profit and planet. Their corporate headquarters in Mountain View, Calif., is decked out with solar panels and the much-hyped Bloom Energy servers, providing up to 30 percent of peak energy demand.

RENEWABLE ENERGY

Google’s for-profit philanthropic arm, Google.org, promotes several sustainability initiatives. One of them, Recharge IT, aims to accelerate the commercialization of plug-in vehicles, while another, RE

LEGACY

Setting aside one percent of Google’s equity and yearly profits to philanthropy

8 MICHAEL DELL

(worth $12.3 billion)

COMPUTER CLEANER

Under the stewardship of Dell the entrepreneur, Dell the company overtook HP to become the number one green technology brand last year. With its recycling programs, energy efficient buildings, downsized packaging and publications printed on 50 percent recycled paper, Dell is raising the bar on corporate sustainability.

CARBON OFFSETTING

Chair of an in-house sustainability committee, Michael Dell has also made a personal commitment to the environment, matching donations to the company’s European “Plant a Tree for Me” program.

LEGACY

Conation matching for three months for Plant a Tree for Me carbon offsetting and more than $1 billion through the Michael & Susan Dell Foundation to support children living in urban poverty

9 MICHAEL BLOOMBERG

(worth $16 billion)

THE BILLIO-MAYOR

Media magnate and New York City mayor Bloomberg is renowned for his largesse. Bloomberg the politician parallels Bloomberg the philanthropist: In 2007 he vowed to make NYC environmentally sustainable by 2025. As buildings account for 80 percent of the city’s carbon emissions, greening them is top priority.

SUSTAINABILITY

In 2009 Bloomberg greenlit a $20million environmental efficiency makeover of the Empire State Building—all 6,500 windows of the iconic 102-story tower will be replaced with triple-glazed glass produced on site, which will result in energy savings of approximately 38 percent.

LEGACY

$235million in personal contributions to over 1,000 organizations promoting public health, education and the environment

10 BILL GATES

(worth $40 billion)

THE PROGRAMMER

Gates’ philanthropic focus can be measured by the kinds of insects he releases at the annual TED conference: Last year it was mosquitoes (to raise awareness about malaria); this year, fireflies, to demonstrate the need for “energy miracles” to combat climate change.

ENERGY & CLIMATE CHANGE

Gates is officially switching gears “from vaccines and seeds to energy and climate” to realize his goal of a fossil-fuel-free 2050.

LEGACY

$28 billion, much of it for global health and development, from The Bill &Melinda Gates Foundation

Wildlife and wetlands just got a big boost from Uncle Sam. Recently, Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar announced that the Migratory Bird Conservation Commission has approved a total of $35.7 million for refuge acquisitions and wetlands grants for migratory birds. This is a big boon for wildlife and wetlands, which has lately taken a notoriously huge hit from British Petroleum in the Gulf of Mexico. The funds will cover over six million acres of wetlands and bird refuges across the United States and Canada.

Further, the grants will allocate $30.4 million in federal funding to assist more habitats in the United States and Canada under the North American Wetlands Conservation Act. And the other $5.3 million will go towards Federal Duck Stamp funds. According to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, this will add more than 1,849 wetland acres to the National Wildlife Refuge System.

Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar is enthusiastic about the conservation effort. As he stated in a press release, “Besides providing habitat for fish, wildlife and plants, our nation’s wetlands provide vital storm protection for coastal areas, hold and slowly release flood waters, act as filters to cleanse water of impurities and provide recreation and wildlife viewing opportunities for millions of people.” Obviously, the need for “cleansing” has never been more necessary for wetlands in the Gulf Coast [than] now. But the money will also go towards acreage in 24 states from Maine to California.

The commission that approved this move includes Senators Thad Cochran of Mississippi and Blanche Lincoln of Arkansas, Representatives John Dingell of Michigan and Robert Wittman of Virginia, Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack and Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Lisa P. Jackson. This commission also approved the acquisition of more wetlands to be placed under protection. The acquisition of these lands also came from monies raised by the sales of the Migratory Bird Hunting and Conservation Stamp, or the Federal Duck Stamp. 

Ninety-eight percent of the money spent on the Federal Duck Stamps goes towards purchasing habitat for protection in the National Wildlife Refuge System.

Areas procured include the Cache River National Wildlife Refuge in Arkansas, the Stone Lakes National Wildlife Refuge in California, the Edwin B. Forsythe National Wildlife Refuge in New Jersey, the Silvio O. Conte National Fish and Wildlife Refuge in New Hampshire, the Lower Hatchie National Wildlife Refuge in Tennessee, and the San Bernard National Wildlife Refuge in Texas. To date, the Federal Duck Stamp has purchased more than 5.3 million acres of wetlands from the more than $750 million raised.

Eduardo Gold is one of 26 people around the world to win the World Bank’s “100 Ideas to Save the Planet” contest and his dream is to bring back Peru’s glaciers from the effects of global warming. Mr. Gold is not a scientist — though some might think he’s a genius, others that he’s got a couple of screws loose — but he’s using the cash prize from the contest to whitewash three mountains just west of Ayacucho, Peru in hopes of bringing back melted glaciers that once hung there, high above the village of Licapa. In the past two weeks he and his team of four men have used a mixture of lime, egg whites and water to turn the Chalon Sombrero peak white. They’ve successfully whitewashed two hectares in the past two weeks and they’ve only got 68 more to go.

“Cold generates more cold, just as heat generates more heat,” Mr. Gold told the BBC, “I am hopeful that we could re-grow a glacier here because we would be recreating all the climatic conditions necessary for a glacier to form.” Before he entered the World Bank contest, Mr. Gold read up on glaciology and found that white surfaces actually reflect the sun’s rays back into the atmosphere instead of internalizing heat. He’s hoping that the whitewashed mountains will create a cold micro-climate which will entice snow to fall, causing glaciers to form. US Energy Secretary Steven Chu has given merit to a similar idea to counteract global warming — though on a much smaller scale — of whitewashed roofs. Mr. Gold hasn’t recieved his $200,000 prize from the World Bank yet, but he didn’t wait for the cash to get his project going and it seems he and his team will just power through until the money comes.

According to a World Bank report in 2009, Peru holds over 70% of the Earth’s glaciers and 22% of them have already melted due to climate change in the last 30 years. The glaciers that are left have a mere 20 year time line for disappearance if nothing is done to save them. Peruvian communities depend on the glaciers for fresh water and hydropower and without them would be in peril. Glaciologists who have heard about Mr. Gold’s plan say that it’s possible that it might work on a small scale, but making it work for a whole region — like the entire Andes range — would be near impossible. For now Mr. Gold is ignoring the world, trudging through the skeptics and it seems only time will tell if his egg white solution can help.

Our friends at Column Five Media have made this excellent chart explaining how wind power works, what the economic benefits could be, and really anything else you could possibly want to know about wind power. Click here to see the larger version.

Green roofs are a good idea. Here's an abridged list of their benefits: lowering heating and cooling costs; mitigating the urban heat island effect; extending the life of a roof; storm water management; and turning carbon dioxide into good, old oxygen.

And for new buildings in Copenhagen, they're mandatory as of last month.

Copenhagen has become the first Scandanavian city to adopt a policy that requires green roofs for all new buildings with roof slopes of less than 30 degrees. Copenhagen presently has 20,000 square meters (over 215,000 square feet) of flat roofs. It is hoped that as much as 5,000 square meters of new development each year will be covered with vegetation.

This is part of Copenhagen's effort to become "the world's first carbon neurtral capital by 2025," and unlike a lot of similar targets and visions, it seems like it's being taken seriously.