Articles by Sarah K. Burkhalter

Cycling team is first carbon-neutral pro sports team in U.S.

Congratulations to the Kodak Gallery Pro Cycling Team presented by Sierra Nevada Brewing Co. for having a ridiculously corporatastic name becoming the first carbon-neutral U.S. professional sports team. The KGPCTpbSNBC will offset 100 percent of team-produced carbon emissions in 2007, including travel, support crew, and team members' home electricity use. Team marketing director Rob O'Dea has the sound bite:

This program allows our team to take a leadership position in raising the bar of personal responsibility, and in creating awareness of the new tools that exist for individuals and organizations to take tangible steps to improve the air we breathe. We're glad to have a chance to offset the pollution we create by supporting the development of clean, renewable wind power.

Thanks for that, Rob.

Arizona State and other universities plug sustainability

The Christian Science Monitor brings word that Arizona State University will launch a School of Sustainability in January -- the first of its kind in the U.S. ASU leads a pack of similarly green-minded schools, some of which have begun to spend in the millions wooing specialists, building green, and offering sustainable curricula.

Or, how to stick a lot of information in a very short post

Following up on this airline news, Planet Ark reports:

The European Union's executive arm approved plans on Wednesday to include aviation in its emissions trading system, giving international flights in and out of the EU a one-year reprieve before they have to join.

Intra-EU flights will join the scheme, aimed at cutting global air pollution, in 2011. Flights into and out of the bloc will be included the following year, giving non-EU carriers time to prepare and see how the scheme works.

More articles here and here and here. Airlines' "cautious welcome" here. Greens' skeptical reactions here and here and here.

A guest blogger weighs in on the impact of sports balls

The following post is from guest sports blogger Scott James, founder of Fair Trade Sports.

Here's a quick primer on sports balls, the materials of which they are made, and their environmental impact.

Sports balls consist of three main components:

• the outer shell (synthetic leather -- about 30 percent of the total ball);
• the inner air bladder (rubber -- about 70 percent of the total ball); and
• the dyes (less than 1 percent of the total ball).