Some times we are equally fond of old news.


Shell Establishes Center for Sustainability at Rice University
HOUSTON (July 25, 2002)— The Shell Oil Company Foundation today announced the establishment of the Shell Center for Sustainability at Houston's Rice University with a $3.5 million endowment. The Center will be a hub for collaboration by experts dealing with societal and environmental issues arising as a result of economic activities. The Center will foster opportunities for improvement through new technologies, market-based incentives, and other initiatives.

"We share with Rice University a commitment to finding innovative ways to meet the world's present and future needs," said Philip Watts, chairman of the committee of managing directors of Royal Dutch/Shell. "Shell believes it has a role to play in helping address the fundamental challenges facing society today."

"We would like Shell to play its part toward solutions for today's challenges," Watts said. "We believe corporate decision-making should be a critical component of the world's journey toward a sustainable future, and the foundation of this center demonstrates Shell's commitment to play a meaningful role in promoting understanding and employment of sustainable development principles in corporate decisions."

"We are immensely grateful to the Shell Oil Company Foundation for its generous grant to establish the Shell Center for Sustainability at Rice," said Rice President Malcolm Gillis. "Rice has long been committed to interdisciplinary research and practice as a strategy for improving social, environmental and economic welfare. Shell's commitment to exploring sustainability strategies across many academic and business disciplines together with its consistent support for sustainable development worldwide provides this new center with a foundation of creative and credible leadership in the field."

This Center will be characterized by its focus on encouraging:

Collaboration across disciplines because by its nature sustainable development requires integrated solutions;

Collaboration among business leaders, academia, non-government organizations, and senior policy advisors to move constructively from conflict to consensus on a variety of social, economic, and environmental issues facing the world.
The specific objectives of the Shell Center aim to:

Create new technologies, processes, products, and market mechanisms that will advance sustainable economic growth and a sound public infrastructure;

Develop new tools in engineering, the social sciences, and the natural sciences that enhance the understanding of requirements for sustainability, help remove institutional barriers to sensible environmental and social practices, and contribute to new policy instruments for achieving sustainability;

Provide society with broadly educated environmental, technical, and natural resource experts to mold future decision-making in the private and public sectors to help assure a more sustainable future in both developed and developing nations;

Enhance the exchange of information in the public and private sectors by serving as an independent forum for open discussion and constructive dialogue on sustainable development issues and policies across a broad spectrum of stakeholders, including U.S. and international business leaders, academia, NGOs, and senior policy makers;

Research issues posed by environmental and societal impacts arising from economic activities;

Develop new engineering and scientific curricula to educate a new generation of scientists who will incorporate sustainability concepts into business plans, designs, and processes;

Advance thinking around market-based mechanisms that can be deployed to enhance sustainability;

Develop linkages with other institutions and non-government organizations at a local, regional, national, and international level.
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About Shell Oil Company Foundation
Founded in New York in 1953, the Shell Oil Company Foundation is a not-for-profit corporation that is funded by donations from Shell Oil Company. Its mission is to help foster the general well being of communities where Shell people live and work, and to provide educational opportunities that prepare students and faculty to meet the needs of the workplace.

Thank You Shell US

we here at the greenspieler dont usually source news from the christian science monitor.. because as a general rule... we dont understand the 'science' the christians monitor. of course that being said... we are all on the same page with the following story.

ANGLERS NOT OBTUSE
Dismayed by Enviro Policies, Some Anglers and Fishers Turn Against Bush

Put President Bush in waders or camouflage and, what with his cowboy
hat and rugged Western looks, he could easily grace the cover of
Field & Stream. Yet the hunt-and-fish crowd, normally a loyal
constituency of the Republican Party, is increasingly unhappy with
the commander in chief. The president's efforts to roll back
protections for clean water and open wild areas to industrial uses
are drawing fire from hunters and anglers, who rely on protected
areas to enjoy their chosen pastimes. Their displeasure could be a
problem for the prez in '04, given that some 34 million Americans
fish and 13 million hunt. In a startling example of their
discontentment, hundreds of gun clubs recently signed a petition
asking the Bush administration to keep Clinton-era old-growth-forest
protections in place.

Get to the whole text Christian Science Monitor, Todd Wilkinson, 04 Dec 2003
Thank you Christian Science Monitor

STARLINK TREK: THE NEXT GENERATION
Banned Biotech Corn Variety Still Showing Up in U.S. Food Supplies

Genetically engineered StarLink corn is still contaminating U.S. food
supplies, three years after it was pulled from the market. StarLink,
which produces its own pesticide, was approved in 1998 -- but only
for use in animal feed or industrial processes because of concerns
that it might cause severe allergic reactions in humans. In 2000,
though, it was found to have made its way into numerous consumer
products, ranging from taco shells to muffin mixes, so the U.S.
government rescinded its approval. Unfortunately, that didn't quite
do the trick. The feds continue to find traces of StarLink in corn
supplies; more than 1 percent of samples tested in the past 12 months
revealed StarLink contamination. The lingering modified genes are
bolstering fears that the U.S. government is simply not equipped to
effectively regulate and control the spread of genetically engineered
crops -- a particularly worrisome notion now that field tests are
being conducted on crops that produce vaccines, medicines, and
industrial chemicals.

Thank you Daily Grist!
full text here