Whole Travel Blog

Starting next week, the US Green Building Council’s Leadership in Environment and Environmental Design (LEED) certification standards will be revised and require building owners to submit data about how much energy and water they use on an annual basis, and seek re-certification every two years. The USGBC says the data collected by annual reporting will help improve future revisions to the LEED standards. Senior Vice President of LEED, Scot Horst, said in a press release Thursday, “[this information] will bring to light external issues such as occupant behavior or unanticipated building usage patterns, all key factors that influence performance.”

Shrinking beaches worldwide are not a result of global warming or pollution, but rather the disappearing beaches are due to theft for construction sites.

The sand, used in the construction process for plastering and finishing, is being stolen by the truckload in the middle of night.

As a result, not only are resort towns losing their “sandy beach” qualities, but more importantly, the dearth of sand is exposing towns and once-sheltered wildlife to harsh winds, seas, and flooding.

MSNBC gives the full report here.

According to Reuters, Argentina will soon become the first country to require an environmental insurance, meaning that companies engaging in projects that are potentially harmful to the environment will have to purchase insurance to cover any such environmental damage.

Argentinean officials report that an estimated 35,000 companies will have to pay an annual policy costing between $36k to $15M.

Besides wondering if other countries will follow Argentina’s lead, an entirely different question to think about is whether companies will now build the cost of environmental damage into their budgets or whether they will consider their possibly detrimental footprint before taking a step.