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Imagine trying to relax in your home while being bombarded with the explosive sounds of shotgun blasts as well as freight trains rumbling by. For many whales, dolphins and other marine life that depend on their hearing to survive, there is no way to escape the loud, human-made noises in their ocean home. The main culprits are vessels like cargo ships, along with sonar guns used by the U.S. Navy and air guns used in seismic oil and gas exploration. Their blasts are so loud that they are known to change the behavior of blue whales. But now, in what Michael Jasny, director of the Natural Resources Defense Council’s Marine Mammal Protection Project, Land & Wildlife Program, referred to as “a sea change in the way we manage ocean noise off our shores,” NOAA has announced it plans to take action to reduce the noise in entire marine ecosystems.

En estos momentos, se menciona cada vez más que la posición de una empresa en cuestiones sociales y ambientales desempeña un papel importante en la satisfacción del empleado para trabajar en la organización. Una encuesta reciente encontró que más del 50% de los trabajadores comentan haber decidido trabajar para empresas “verdes” si hubieran tenido la oportunidad, por lo que esto es un elemento importante para atraer a los mejores. Las mujeres y Generación Y, en particular, trabajan en una empresa por la misión de ella misma y así ir más allá de la rentabilidad, que abarca beneficios para la comunidad en general (sociales, ambientales y económicos). Ellos están dispuestos a trabajar con empresas en las que sienten que pueden hacer la diferencia.

Estos “nuevos individuos” impulsados por el valor llegan a trabajar para una organización y están completamente involucrarlos de una manera significativa, pero ¿cómo asegurar que participen la mayoría de sus empleados incluso los que están sentados en el Status quo?

1. Definir lo que la organización entiende como Sustentabilidad

En primer lugar, es necesario medir cómo los empleados y los diversos niveles de la organización ven el compromiso de la organización con la sustentabilidad. Esta información le ayudará a construir su estrategia y definir muchas ideas para dar luz al camino a emprender.

Streets lined with gold? Not exactly, but a new report from the U.S. Forest Service's Pacific Southwest Research Station estimates trees lining Californian streets and boulevards provide benefits to municipalities and residents worth $1 billion.

The wildfire that roared through Fort McMurray, Alberta, Canada, last May has been called the worst fire in Canadian history. Its devastation is staggering: More than 100,000 residents and nearby workers were evacuated at different stages of the fire, and more than 2,200 square miles of land and 2,400 structures burned in two provinces: Alberta and its eastern neighbor, Saskatchewan. With the fire only 70 percent contained to date, its economic impact is yet to be tallied.

More than 167,000 hectares of coastland -- about 0.6% of the country's total area -- are projected to go underwater in the Philippines, especially in low-lying island communities, according to research by the University of the Philippines.

Low-lying countries with an abundance of coastlines are at significant risk from rising sea levels resulting from global warming. According to data by the World Meteorological Organisation, the water levels around the Philippines are rising at a rate almost three times the global average due partly to the influence of the trade winds pushing ocean currents.

On average, sea levels around the world rise 3.1 centimetres every ten years. Water levels in the Philippines are projected to rise between 7.6 and 10.2 centimetres each decade.