Joshua Saunders

The Green Sports Alliance, with six major league teams, was recently announced.  The alliance is a non-profit is “working with professional sports teams, sponsors and other stakeholders to identify the necessary tools to make informed sustainable choices that benefit their fans, their venues, their bottom lines and the environment.”

The founding members include:

• Seattle Mariners (baseball)
• Seattle Seahawks (football)
• Portland Trail Blazers (basketball)
• Vancouver Canucks (hockey)
• Seattle Storm (women’s basketball)
• Seattle Sounders (soccer)

Does the list of inaugural members surprise you?  For from Seattle, one from Portland and one from Vancouver.  Well, I think we have the progressive green cities in the Pacific Northwest covered.  Now come on rest of the U.S. and Canada!

Read more: http://www.greenbiz.com/blog/2011/03/23/teams-six-major-leagues-form-green-sports-alliance#ixzz1HvNGpVIs

Sustainable Brands has just put up information for the 2011 business plan competition.  Sustainable Brands is an annual conference held in beautiful Monterrey, CA, with many of the leading brands and thinkers in sustainability attending.

The Sustainable Brands Innovation Open (according to GreenMBA.com) ” is a showcase of creativity, innovative thinking and solution based approaches that seek to make a significant environmental and social impact within the business world. In addition, it fosters collaboration between early stage eco-entrepreneurs and executives from some of the most influential brands in the industry, as well as socially responsible investors who can help take their ideas to the next level.”

Submissions are due by April 11.  You can submit online here:  http://www.sustainablelifemedia.com/events/sb11/innovation-open/enter

Two great innovations have come out of green products pioneer Seventh Generation this past week.  Announced at Expo West, a new laundry detergent that will bring us closer to reduced waste and a lower total environmental footprint.

First, the bottle itself is made of cardboard.  Seventh Gen was able to reduce total use of plastic to just 1/3 of what competitor’s use, by using a cardboard bottle with a plastic bag inside to hold the detergent.  The entire thing is technically recyclable, although most consumers won’t be able to throw it in their bin in their communities.

The second great feat was becoming the first manufacturer to move to a 4x concentrated laundry detergent!  Seventh Generation unveiled the new product last week to great fanfare.  The new product will reduce waste, reduce GHG emissions, reduce energy, and for the consumer, make it less of a hassle to drag detergent home from the grocery store.

Kudos to my friends at Seventh Generation!