Bottled water sales have dropped for the first time in at least five years as a result of  vocal environmentalists sparing the landfill and a recession that has consumers giving tap water a shot.

Americans drank 8.7 billion gallons of bottled water last year, compared with 8.8 billion in 2007, according to consulting firm Beverage Marketing Corp. This is the first decline this decade, signs the Siggs and advocacy groups are making a dent. (Here at EcoSalon, we’ve encouraged readers to Stop the Bottle in 2009.)

According to a …

Tags: bottle , business , Conserve , consumers , global , profits , reuse , sales , tap water , water

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Here is another good argument for prefab versus towers.

In southwest Florida, a 32-story, 200-unit condo building has a single tenant, the Vangelakos family of New Jersey, which purchased their $430,000 unit four years ago in the midst of the Fort Myers housing explosion.

According to a report by the Associated Press, the recession has made it tough to be neighborly at the building when there are no neighbors. The family of five is the sole occupier of the Oasis Tower One. When they visit to escape the …

Tags: business , deserted buildings , Florida , foreclosures , Fort Myers , homes , recession , unemployment

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As the recession cuts deeper into the profits of big food companies, many brands are downsizing their portions in a bid to cut costs. In some cases, they are also downgrading their ingredients. But as chocolate giant Cadbury is discovering – you mess with your iconic brands at your peril.

Cadbury’s current advertising campaign involves eyebrow gymnastics from two children. Meanwhile, it has made some eyebrow-raising changes to the formulation of its popular Dairy Milk block in Australia and New Zealand. The new chocolate block is smaller, contains fewer cocoa solids …

Tags: agriculture , business , Cadbury , chocolate , food , greenwash , palm oil

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Some people have an incredibly creative ability to make a pretty sweet lemonade out of very, very rotten lemons. What I mean is this: I live in northern Arizona, and much of our electricity comes from coal power plants on Navajo and Hopi land. Not cool. Not a sustainable industry or healthy for the residents. But that’s another story. This story is about turning coal burning’s poisonous by-product into homes.

Navajo Flexcrete is a small, innovative company, based out of the tiny town of Page, Ariz. Using …

Tags: business , design innovation , energy , home , housing , innovation , pollution , sustainable construction

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Soy: It’s everywhere. It’s eaten in copious amounts by bodybuilders, as a meat substitute by vegans and vegetarians, and unwittingly in a wide variety of processed foods by most people.

We’ve been told that soy is good for us and the fact of lower incidences of cancer and heart disease in Asian populations is cited as proof. The truth is there is no historical precedent for the amount of soy we consume in modern processed foods. Though soy did originate in Asia, it is used sparingly in Asian cuisines and more often …

Tags: agriculture , business , food , health , processed food , protein , soy , vegetarian

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Governments let companies pay to pollute. Imagine if you could pay companies not to pollute?

Actually, you can. All you need is a web connection and a credit card.

Carbon trading is a big part of how rich countries are attempting to meet their targets under the Kyoto Protocol. The basic idea is that governments allocate or sell a limited number of permits to pollute. Companies can sell the permits, so although they can pay to pollute, they have a financial incentive to innovate and cut their emissions.

Ideas like this …

Tags: business , carbon credit , environment , pollution , Sandbag

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Over at the Dancing Rabbit eco-village, the Milkweed Mercantile is showing how to turn a healthy profit without taking liberties with your environmental principles (as we recently reported). We’ve been lucky enough to chat to founder Alline Anderson – and here’s what she had to say about her business model, her seasonal routines and the concepts of “ecoluxe” and sustainability.

Ecosalon: What do you think are the dangers for anyone setting up an eco-friendly business using the traditional

…

Tags: architecture , business , eco friendly , interview , lifestyle , milkweed mercantile , sustainability , wellness

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