by Jbs090908a3 — September 12, 2008—PLENTY, the magazine that covers breaking environmental trends and green news, has released its second annual PLENTY 20 list recognizing the 20 most dynamic individuals and the 20 most pioneering companies that are facing adverse environmental circumstances head on and bettering the planet, as well as the top ten ideas that will propel the tide of environmental change into 2009. Awardees range from Internet giants that are making renewable energy cheaper than coal to a sea captain monitoring the ocean’s plastic gyre.
The 20 most dynamic individuals PLENTY chose are: venture capitalist Vinod Khosla; Kansas Governor Kathleen Sebelius; sustainable food advocate and author Michael Pollan; green collar jobs activist Van Jones; Forecast Earth presenter Heidi Cullen; New York Times environmental correspondent and Dot Earth blogger Andrew Revkin; Live Earth producer Kevin Wall; sustainable design gurus William McDonough and Michael Braungart; explorer David De Rothschild; environmental champion Al Gore; author, entrepreneur, and MIT scholar Nicholas Negroponte; water activist Maude Barlow; Worldwatch Institute founder Lester Brown; Ceres president Mindy Lubber; X Prize Foundation CEO Peter Diamandis; ocean garbage tracker Charles Moore; Environmental Defense Fund president Fred Krupp; mining industry activist Joe Lovett; NASA climate scientist James Hansen; and farmer, philosopher, and organic certifier Frederick Kirschenmann.
The 20 pioneering businesses obtaining recognition are: thin-film solar cell creator Applied Materials, renewable energy operator Iberdola, socially responsible investor Innovest Strategic Value Advisors, fair-trade certifier Transfair USA, energy efficiency innovator IBM, cutting-edge sustainability architecture firm Arup, biofuel pioneer Coskata, nanotech start-up A123 Systems, recycling company Recyclebank, sustainable furniture manufacturer Mitchell Gold and Bob Williams, safe cosmetics advocate Environmental Working Group, fast food delivery innovator Pizza Fusion, local-food catering and food service company Bon Apptit Management Company, protector of forest woods Forest Stewardship Council, Nobel Prize-winning Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, and large businesses being recognized for huge steps in the right direction: Home Depot, Google, Nike, Patagonia and Swiss Re.
The 10 ideas that PLENTY says are taking the environmental movement to a new level in 2009 are: green affordable housing, green-collar jobs, carbon labeling, green media, closing the loop, nature education, skyscraper farms, intentional communities, economic energy efficiency and living catalogs.
More information on these honorees is available in the October/November issue of PLENTY, for sale at magazine retailers or available online.
