The National Land Trust Census just released its latest findings and the amount of private land now under protective trusts has jumped 54% since the last study five years ago. Land placed into trusts over the past five years has averaged about 2.6 million acres annually, just more that the average of 2.2 million acres lost to development each year.

Much of the praise for the increase in conservation can go to the local and state organizations run by volunteers. Thank you.

Complete story from the USA Today.

The Six Degrees of Energy Efficiency Challenge is a campaign to educate people about the importance of smart energy use and the relationship between the decisions we make and our local and world communities. The site contains numerous tips on how to make simple lifestyle adjustments that will lead to meaningful environmental and financial benefits.

For instance, if every houshold in the U.S. replaced one standard light bulb with an energy efficient model, consumers would save more than $600 million in utility bills.

Six Degree Challenge web site.

In the last ten years, the number of companies producing sustainability reports has grown from zero to 1,000. These reports reflect both a greater emphasis being placed on social responsibility by the organizations themselves, and a demand for greater operational transparency from consumers. People realize that there are economic, social, and environmental costs associated with all business activities, we just want to know how the companies we do business with choose to run their businesses.

The list of companies participating in significant social programs is much deeper than the standard Ben & Jerry’s, The Body Shop, and Tom’s of Maine. You may be surprised to see such names as Hasbro, Mattel, and Glaxo SmithKlein on the roster of companies donating massive amounts of money and human capital to projects that range from mobile medical clinics to the education of migrant Chinese women.

Complete article from Forbes.

In a 5-3 vote along party lines, the San Diego city council passed a law banning the construction of stores larger than 90,000 square feet and using less than 10% of the space to sell groceries. Supporters of the new law cite blight, the impact on local small business, and lack of open space as primary motivators for their position. Opponents claim that the law will reduce consumer choice, positions the city as unfriendly to business, and potentially opens up the city to legal action from Wal-Mart, the company impacted by such a ban.

Complete story from the San Diego Union-Tribune.

Flat panel television sales are exploding and that means one thing, old televisions are going to be filling up landfills in no time. Helping to eliminate the impact of this massive turnover in TVs, Panasonic is eliminating lead from the production of its new line of televisions. This new production method means that .15 pounds of lead per television will NOT be used in production. Multiply that by the millions of units sold, and the total reduction in lead use is substantial.

As an additional benefit, the elimination of lead has led to performance improvements in display quality. If you are looking for a new TV this holiday season, it’s worth checking out the Panasonic line.

Complete story from TWICE.

The oft-touted paperless office has never come to fruition, but the team at Xerox has come up with a solution that may significantly reduce the amount of paper wasted around the office. The research team has devised a new paper and printing process that lasts for just one day.

This is particularly handy when you want to read a long document, but don’t necessarily want to archive it, or when using handouts for a meeting. According to company research, this new solution could eliminate up to 80% wasted paper in an office.

Complete story from DailyTech.