EKOS Communications, Inc.

The wettest April in more than a century has caused problems for many UK butterflies, bees and other bugs, say conservationists.

Japan completes its first successful commercial launch of a foreign-made satellite early on Friday, marking its entry into the launch business.

AGRION presents the Smart Cities Executive Evening, sponsored by JETRO and Schneider Electric.

Join us for an evening of dinner and networking, while we discuss opportunities for creating smarter urban infrastructure in a world challenged by resource constraints.

Panelists will explore financing distributed generation in urban areas, integrating energy efficiency and renewable energy into existing buildings, and modernizing transportation and the grid. Speakers Include:

• CBS EcoMedia, Paul Polizzotto, President
• Bloomberg New Energy Finance, Michel Di Capua Head of US Analysis
• NRG Energy, Eric Curry Director, Strategic Partnerships
• Alliances IBM, Joe Phillips Director of Smarter Cities/ Smart Buildings
• McKinsey, Dr. Nikhil Krishnan Associate Principal
• Schneider Electric, Mike Calise, Director of Electric Vehicle Business
• Zipcar, Jon Zeitler, Executive Vice President of Corporate Development
• GE Energy, Michael Mahan, Product Manager, Electric Vehicle Infrastructure

This event is open to both members and non-members of the AGRION network. Please visit our site for more information. www.agrion.org #SmartCitiesEE @AGRION

Corporations today are obliged to go beyond delivering business results. They should also improve the quality of life of their employees, their communities and society at large – and report out on this progress. This month Humana released its 2010-2011 corporate social responsibility (CSR) report. For the first time, Humana’s report follows the Global Reporting Initiative framework. And we became the only major health care insurer to do so. Here’s why disclosing environmental, social and governance data is important, now more than ever:

1. Trust in business remains low. The 2012 Trust Barometer that Edelman, the communications firm, develops annually revealed that public trust in business, government and NGOs shrank in 2011. What struck me, in particular, is that the 47 percent of the public who think business is doing what’s right tie their belief largely to “business competence, like delivering consistent financial returns.” However, societal behaviors – listening to customer needs, treating employees well, putting customers ahead of profits, and having ethical business practices – are ranked higher in importance for building future trust.

With that understanding, corporations have an opportunity to build future trust through demonstrating that social responsibility is a priority and business takes it as seriously as reporting financial results.

2. Business must be profoundly transparent. Voluntary reporting allows us in particular to put a stake in the ground and be accountable for targets such as those we’ve outlined in Humana’s report: to reduce our energy consumption, greenhouse-gas emissions and energy expenses by 10 percent by the end of 2012 from 2009’s baseline, and hire 1,000 military veterans and/or their spouses across the company, to name a few examples.

Of course, business doesn’t always succeed at hitting such targets – and it must be transparent about that, too. Starbucks took such a stance, admitting publicly that it didn’t achieve energy reduction goals for 2010.  Stakeholders appreciate such candor and can then better understand such situations when they arise.

3. Companies cannot afford to slide in their efforts to improve the environmental performance of their operations. Why? In addition to the long-term environmental implications, investing in sustainability is a financial investment. In a study, McKinsey & Company, the management consultancy, projected the U.S. could save $1.2 trillion through 2020 by investing $520 billion in such improvements as sealing leaky building ducts and replacing inefficient appliances with new, energy-saving models. Evidence also exists that companies that demonstrate responsibility reap increased employee engagement and morale, higher employee-retention rates and better performance.

We’ve all heard: What gets measured gets managed. At Humana, we firmly believe the long-term investments we make in our CSR initiatives help us build trust, increase transparency, save money and earn the license not only to exist but to lead. We’re proud to share this progress through our industry-leading CSR report.

Marking the 100th year since the organizations founding, Girl Scouts has declared 2012 the Year of the Girl. In an initiative that focuses on the future for girls, Texas Instruments recently partnered with Girl Scouts of Northeast Texas (GSNETX) to promote science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) skills to local Girl Scouts.

This year, Texas Instruments sponsored and helped launch the first ever “engineering patch” for girls in kindergarten through 12th grade.  The patch curriculum focuses on exciting, engaging and encouraging girls at every grade level to explore STEM education and careers. The patch will be available to all 35,000 Girl Scouts in Northeast Texas and will be a part of the program for the 4,400 underserved girls who experience Girl Scouts through the “Gift of Girl Scouting.”

“A Girl Scouts’ study found that girls’ interest in STEM is higher when they have exposure to those fields and only 46 percent of those surveyed knew a woman in a STEM career,” said Trisha Cunningham, Texas Instruments chief citizenship officer. “That’s why we partnered with Girl Scouts to develop a program where girls can have fun learning more about STEM and we can encourage area women engineers to get involved as role models.”

Through this programming, younger Girl Scouts will experience STEM through hands-on projects, and older Girl Scouts will be introduced to career choices and, most importantly, mentors in STEM careers. Texas Instruments is eager to generate excitement about the possibilities offered by STEM in hope that these girls will someday choose engineering as a career, a field that continues to be underrepresented by women.

Cunningham answered a few questions about the program. You can read more about this program on Texas Instruments’ Citizenship website.

What departments at Texas Instruments were involved in establishing the partnership with the Girl Scouts of Northeast Texas?

“This initiative was initiated through our Corporate Citizenship group. We tightened our philanthropic focus around science and math education and began meeting with organizations such as the Girl Scouts of Northeast Texas a few years ago to see if there were ways we could work together. They were very receptive as they were in the process of developing their own strategy in this area.”

How was senior management “buy-in” procured to promote STEM skills to local Girl Scouts?  

“From the top of our company on down, TI’s management knows that strong science and math education of our youth will be important not only to our company’s future U.S. workforce, but also America’s competitiveness in this age of technology. We are particularly interested in developing girls and underrepresented minorities in engineering. Today, only one in five engineers is female — below parity with other prestigious professions.”

Are Texas Instruments employees involved in any aspect of this initiative? With the “engineering patch” program? 

“We asked some of our passionate women leaders and engineers to help. When we started to explore our focus on STEM with Girl Scouts, they helped serve on their strategy committee for the program. This resulted in TI sponsoring a STEM strategy workshop that included many in our area who were interested in advancing STEM education with girls and that was also attended by Girl Scouts USA. One of the outcomes of this strategy session was the development of this patch and curriculum, which our employees helped create.”

What have been some of Texas Instrument’s best practices or lessons learned in pursuing this initiative? 

“First, we learned that when you focus on a strategic area, it is important to talk with your community partners and listen to their ideas. We transitioned to our philanthropic focus on STEM over a period of a few years so that it did not come as a surprise to our community partners. We’ve continued to work with those where we could align our interests, like Girl Scouts, to develop programs that are even stronger than our past investments. Secondly, we learned to never underestimate the results you can obtain with passionate employee volunteers — ask, give them a challenge and let them work their magic. We love our employee volunteers! Many of the skills they use on the job everyday are of great value to the community partners we work with. When you combine that skill with their passion around a cause, you have a winning combination. Thirdly, you must be willing to adapt along the way. Since this is a new program, it won’t be perfect so we are willing to adapt. Our goal is that other Girl Scout Councils would want to offer the badge to their girls as well.”

Is the success of this initiative measurable? 

“Yes. We will know how many girls have completed the requirements to receive the patch. One of the great things is that no matter what level Girl Scout you are, there is age-level curriculum and activities so that interest can be maintained throughout all years of the scouting experience. As an incentive, Girl Scouts is giving the patch for free in return for a copy of their completed ‘workbook’ and feedback. This is a great way to continually improve the program.”

What kinds of feedback have you received from employees?

“Kim Smith (at left with Scouts), operations manager for Internet marketing for TI and head of the TI Women’s Network who was one of the key TI employee volunteers for this program, said: ‘Math and science is in everything you do.  I don’t think that you even know what is possible out there as a young woman growing up. It’s important to show girls that they can be anything they want. And when girls succeed, so does society.  We need more girls in these areas. We want girls to have fun learning STEM, and it is fun changing the world and people’s lives and their mindset.’”

A Shetland trawler catches what experts believe could be the largest oyster ever found in the UK.

Thousands of parents are facing an uneasy transition as the National Children's Study grapples with its budget woes and undertakes a wholesale restructuring. The affair has unleashed acrimony at all levels, starting with the first seven pilot sites, which are slated to shut down this summer. Scores of fieldworkers will lose their jobs.

It's pretty well-known that power plants that burn coal pump out far more greenhouse gases than power plants that run on natural gas. But there's a hitch: We don't really know how much air pollution is created when companies drill for natural gas.

For centuries the Chemehuevi tribe has depended on the Colorado River for drinking water, fishing and crop irrigation, as well as for the spiritual connection it provides between heaven and Earth. Now the tribe is bracing to fight a nuclear power plant being planned for the banks of the river's largest tributary.

Heavy rainfall is falling more often in the Midwest and severe flooding has doubled in the last half-century, according to a report by two environmental groups. With human-caused climate change driving more extreme storms, the groups said major Midwest floods can no longer be considered purely natural disasters.

The winds blowing through Canada's broad St. Lawrence Valley and across Vermont's hilltops are stirring up an international tempest over which country's laws should govern how those breezes are harnessed for electricity.

Warmer New York winters have a sting in the tail. The mosquito that carries chikungunya, a virus that causes joint pain, but isn't fatal, is flocking to the city in increasing numbers.

Breast milk aided the evolution of the large human brain — but it can contain toxicants. Florence Williams, a U.S. science journalist, uses her own body as a research tool.

Scientists have found evidence in the past of genetic problems with hatched salmon, including lowered genetic diversity and a diminished ability to thrive in the wild. But a collection of 23 studies published this week presents significant evidence of ecological problems posed by the hatched variety.

A state coastal authority will study whether all of the state-mandated 15-foot buffer zone is needed along levees and floodwalls along drainage canals in New Orleans. The study will assess questions about damage caused by Hurricane Katrina in 2005.

Renewable energy companies around the world are awaiting a decision Thursday by the U.S. Commerce Department on whether to impose anti-dumping tariffs on solar panels imported from China, as a little-noticed policy shift by the department last year has made the outcome of the case unusually hard to predict.

Understanding what changed at a million years ago could help climate scientists better understand the climate system overall. That in turn will help climatologists to gauge the coming impacts of human-generated greenhouse gases more accurately. The better the information they have to feed into their models, the more we can trust the projections that come out — and plan for what’s on the way.

Starting later this year, California's cap-and-trade system to fight global warming will generate billions of dollars in revenue, as companies buy and sell permits to produce greenhouse gases. How should the money be used?

Urban areas need to build in additional capacity to adapt to the range of threats posed by climate change, research has shown. Risks such as flooding and excessive temperatures are among the risks facing towns and cities, experts conclude.

Soot may be responsible for the tropics expanding north, according to an analysis involving multiple computer models of the climate.