In addition to the products themselves, the manufacturing process of Nikon products is extremely rigorous.  According to some of Nikon’s action guidelines, the process in which the products are created, "use materials and equipment that are effective in protecting the environment, strive to develop and improve technologies in this area, and work to minimize environmental burdens."  Green conscious consumers should have no doubt or worry if they are considering purchasing a Nikon brand device, as the company has already gone to extreme measures to minimize any future environmental footprints for their products.

Adobe also features major environmental practices, primarily focused on their product packaging, but also in other areas of business as well.  Adobe recycles as much scrap materials as they can, and have even worked with their suppliers to create recycling programs wherever it is possible to maintain.  Recycled products are broken down into material categories, and then properly taken care of.  In addition to recycling products, Adobe also works to reduce the amount of excess waste from the actual production of finished-goods.  According to their corporate social responsibility website, "Adobe’s overall scrap rate is less than 1% of total packaged product revenue, well below the industry norm of 1% to 5%."

Adobe has many different partnerships, including: WhatTheyThink.com, the Chlorine Free Products Association, the Sustainable Packaging Coalition, Forest Stewardship Council-U.S., and the Institute for Sustainable Communication.  Outside organizations and information sharing aside, Adobe is also extremely focused on green initiatives within their own community.   There have been major reductions within their community to improve environmental sustainability within the workplace.

The animals themselves are miniature versions of their real-life counterparts, but they do serve a purpose.  It is possible for children to understand and realize just what these animals are, and how important it is for us to conserve their habitat and to maintain the existence of their species.  While most of the animals mostly swim "freely" in their habitat, displaying their ability to move, and in some cases, eat "prey," there are cases where the robotic animals can interact with their audience.

The other catch to the latest exhibit at kyg-lab is the material in which these aquatic robots are created from.   These robots are not made up of what people usually assume to make up robots: it is not hard to find materials, or even new materials.  Instead, these animals are made up of recycled materials that Hayashi found.  Orca whales, great white sharks - these creatures are made up of nothing more ordinary than recycled trash: "plastic bottles, food containers, Styrofoam, raincoats, and motors removed from windshield wipers," according to Inhabitat.com.

Species are becoming extinct at an alarmingly increased rate, which leaves the question of: what animals are going to be around for the future children of the world to see and learn about?  Also, at the rate that trash and other waste products are finding their way to places that they should not – filling up landfills and creating trash islands in our oceans, something needs to be done about both of these issues.  While we are beginning to gradually address both concerns, something is not being done quickly enough to fix both of these problems. Trash continues to collect in places that it should not, and animals continue to become extinct.  One scientist in Japan has come up with a potential solution to at least a few problems – what to do with excess trash, and how to teach children about endangered sea life.

The IEEE Green Technologies Conference creates an outlet and "forum for engineers, technologies, and enthusiasts alike to consider all aspects of alternative energy solutions, from solar to nuclear to bio to wind, from generation to distribution to efficient use at the home and business."  By widening the amount of information that can be discussed at this conference, it is able to draw in a wider audience, all of whom will hopefully be affected by what it is that they take in.   While this is only the second time that this conference is being held, hopefully it will be able to grow in size and prominence over the next few years.  Already, it seems as though it is going to be quite a successful conference, and will hopefully generate both inspiring conversation, and potential solutions to problems. 

The 2nd annual IEEE Green Technologies Conference being held in April has several main focuses for their conference.  Mostly it focuses around development, but it also has an emphasis of the proper use of different technologies.  The conference is also not just focusing on larger scale development and use of green technologies, but also smaller, more personal usages and applications. 

Are you interested in attending a green conference?  There are a wide variety of conferences that are currently being offered throughout the nation for the rest of 2010, and green conferences are rapidly growing in number and availability.  Green conferences all address the same general topic – environmentally friendly initiatives, sustainable living, etcetera; but they typically all focus on different, more specified aspects of what being green is about.  Yet another green conference is being offered in April, but instead of the Fortune 500 Brainstorm: GREEN in California, this one is the IEEE Green Technologies Conference, in Dallas/Fort Worth, Texas, on April 15 and 16, 2010.

Brainstorm: GREEN is taking place between April 12th and 14th, and has an agenda completely dedicated to green initiatives and corporate sustainability.  Their slated agenda is full of a variety of conversation starters, all of which are applicable to businesses – Fortune 500 companies, or not.   Some panel and roundtable discussion topics featured at Brainstorm: GREEN this year include: The Economy and the Business Climate for Sustainability, Government and the State of Play, The Green Consumer, and Sustainability and Innovation.  Another panel that might be of interest is one that discusses whether or not the concept of renewable energy is actually over-hyped. 

The Brainstorm: GREEN conference is partially derived from consumer demand to know what the companies that they are purchasing from are doing to help the planet.  It is an important question that can ultimately affect a company's profits. If enough consumers are unwilling to buy a product because of the environmental footprint a company is leaving, sales and profit can rapidly decline.  It makes much more sense for a company to turn to greener initiatives, helping the environment and at the same time helping themselves as well.

Looking for a green conference being held near you?  If you cannot make the one in Washington, D.C., being held at the end of January, or you cannot make the one being held in New York City on February 25, do not worry, there are plenty of other green conferences available!  Most of the green conferences being held address a wider variety of subjects within major green issues - some focus on green initiatives in architectural design, while others focus on what major corporations can do to make their company greener, more efficient, and environmentally friendly. Between April 12th and 14th 2010, Brainstorm: GREEN will take place in Laguna Niguel, California.

Currently, the Solar Ear is only available in Brazil, Botswana, and Palestine’s West Bank.  Hopefully this product will soon expand to other areas around the world – according to PlanetGreen, it is slated to expand to Mexico, China, India, and Canada later this year.  Considering the fact that the product is not patented at the moment, hopefully other medical companies will take a look into this new technology and develop a low-cost, highly efficient and solar-powered hearing aid for all people, regardless of what area they are in. 

The Solar Ear is the first rechargeable hearing aid that has been offered.  However, its environmentally friendly status does not end at just being a rechargeable device.  It also features a solar powered battery charger to recharge the batteries with.  The price of the rechargeable battery is the same as that of a regular battery, with the benefit of only have to replace it every 2 – 3 years, instead of every week.   The batteries can hold a charge for about a week (standard with traditional hearing aids), but all they need is a boost of power from the sun, and they are ready to go again.

However, even though Adobe now uses recycled materials and has cut down on the amount of packaging that it uses, it still does leave somewhat of an environmental footprint.  Even though the more recycled material used (and the less material in general used) is better for the environment, it still produces a certain amount of physical waste.  Adobe is working to solve that problem – by offering its software online.