Reuters - India’s prime minister and U.S. President Barack Obama meet next week to strengthen ties, with the emerging Asian power increasingly playing a bigger role on global issues such as climate change and trade.

AFP - India, a stronghold of vegetarianism where the cow is a sacred animal for the majority Hindu population, has urged the rest of the world to give up eating beef to help reduce global warming.

AP - The Obama administration has delayed a decision on a request by Shell Oil Co. to drill for oil and gas in Alaska’s rugged Chukchi Sea. The delay came after the oil company asked for time to respond to criticism of its plan to drill in the icy sea, a prime habitat for threatened polar bears.

LiveScience.com - That tuna in your sushi might be an endangered species, a new study finds.

While environmentalists, and the public, have many reasons to remain wary about big corporations, it’s also true that big business’s tremendous wealth and power can be harnessed for good. While no company is perfect, particularly when it operates on an international scale and has a long history, it is worth noting the ways in which companies are going green today.

The following are not necessarily the greenest companies around, but they also aren’t niche players. Let’s see what lessons in sustainability we can learn from:

Kimberly-Clark

Paper giant Kimberly-Clark has been trying to reverse years of bad environmental press, and earlier this year was recognized by the EPA for being one of the top buyers of green power. After a long conflict with Greenpeace over clear-cutting in Canada’s Boreal forest, the company has agreed to source all it’s fiber from “eco-friendly sources.”

Kimberly-Clark said it wouldn’t buy material from the Boreal unless it had been certified by the third-party Forest Stewardship Council as sustainable. It’s a major win for conservationists, who point to the Boreal as a major bulkhead against climate change and a sanctuary of biodiversity.

The company that makes Kleenex, Scott, and Cottonelle brands, among others, says that by the end of 2011, 40% of its North American tissue fiber will be either recycled or certified, an increase of more than 70% over 2007.

Staples

The office giant Staples has been heading in a greener direction for some time. The company’s finance chief, John Mahoney, recently told Environmental Leader that sustainable initiatives are saving Staples serious money. (For example, switching from three-amp to two-amp light bulbs has saved the company $4.2 million after expenses).

Staples has also slashed diesel fuel use by 540,000 gallons per year, saving $1.5 million, by modifying its trucks so that they can’t go more than 60 miles per hour. Staples also boasts an impressive commitment to solar power and has also beefed up recycling for shoppers of cartridges and even printers.

The office superstore also announced LEED Gold certification for a branch in Boston, with energy savings of 34% over a standard store. Staples is also joining with one-time foe Dogwood Alliance and other conservation groups, wood products companies and landowners on a new, multi-faceted initiative (”Carbon Canopy“) aimed at protecting forests and combating climate change.

The pilot program is working with managers of Southern U.S. forests to achieve rigorous Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) certification and to develop a transparent, effective carbon market. Finally, Staples has also entered Rainforest Alliance’s SmartSource program, with the goal of further greening its supply chain.

Starbucks

As we recently reported, coffee kingpin Starbucks has pledged to upgrade 8,000 of its iconic, sometimes controversial stores with super-efficient LED lighting. Overall Starbucks has a goal of reducing energy use by 25% by the end of next year, and will be trying out other green building elements in select stores.

Starbucks continues to support Fair Trade coffee (though still not as much as some activists would like), and did you know that anyone can request their coffee grind waste to use for compost? The company has been innovating when it comes to listening to customers and critics.

Timberland

Trek over to Timberland’s Website right now and see how the hip footwear maker has made green it’s central call to action. Check out the Earthkeepers Collection of rugged boots. They are designed to be highly recyclable, and are made with recycled content and greener leather.

Some of the soles come from recycled tires, and for every pair of Yele Haiti boots sold, Timberland will donate $2 to Wyclef Jean’s Yele Haiti Foundation, which is working to reforest the denuded and troubled island nation.

Instead of skirting around the impending global warming debate, as some companies are doing to play it safe, Timberland has taken the challenge head on, pushing a petition to convince world leaders to get a real deal at the upcoming Copenhagen summit. Backing up the “Don’t Tell Us it Can’t be Done” campaign with action, the company has pledged to half its emissions of greenhouse gases based on 2006 levels, and has made solid strides in that direction.

Nissan

As veteran green car journalist Jim Motavalli recently reported for us, Nissan-Renault hopes to break ahead of the surging pack in electric cars. Motavalli tested the working “mule” version of the Nissan Leaf for TDG, and found it exciting and promising. The electric car is expected to go 100 miles on a charge from its lithium-ion batteries.

But perhaps what’s most exciting is the broad coalition that Nissan is building in America and abroad, partnering with nonprofit, utility, and government groups to bring accessible, affordable, convenient electric vehicle charging to many more markets.

It’s an exciting time for innovation in clean vehicles, perhaps unparalleled since the early years of the 1900s, and Nissan is poised to make major waves in the much-heralded space.

Regardless of the specific field one is in, innovating by going green is a powerful way for companies to show true leadership, and improve their “triple bottom line.”

Photos: Staples, Brian Clark Howard, Timberland, Nissan

More from The Daily Green

• Seven Easy Ways to Save Energy
• The Dirty Dozen: Top 12 Foods to Buy Organic
• Top 10 Idiot-Proof Eco Tips
• 21 Green Gifts Under $21
• Gifts Outside the Box, So You Don’t Have to Give “Stuff”

Reprinted with permission of Hearst Communications, Inc

Want to save money on heating this winter? Here are five steps you can take to keep the heat in.

The previous post in the Simple Ways to Save Money This Winter series focused on with exterior walls.  Here we discover five other insulation solutions that are not only inexpensive but can be done in a short amount of time and don’t require you to tear down walls to accomplish.

Save money and heat with these easy insulation tips:

To determine the best place to start in your home, take an energy audit.  You can either find a local energy auditor, or take your own free energy audit.  Once you’re ready, here are some of the quickest, easiest, and least expensive places to insulate.

1. Plumbing: Inadequate insulation can create substantial heat loss, in and around your plumbing.

• Stuff steel wool in gaps around the pipes using gloves and a chop stick or fondue fork to push in. Then fill with fiberglass or foam insulation
• Caulking afterwards will give the project that “finished” look.
• Add foam covers to hot water pipes. This will save on the loss of heat as the water travels to its destination. Of course, tank-less water heaters are the greenest way to go, and most luxurious!
• Gas pipes should be checked as well.
  Tip: Look under sinks, in the laundry room, in cellars, and around anywhere else that plumbing comes out from the wall.

2. Duct work: Seal around heat ducts and AC vents. The cellar is a good place to start here.

• Stuff steel wool in gaps around the pipes using gloves and a chop stick or fondue fork, then fill with natural fiber, fiberglass or foam insulation.
• Caulking afterwards gives the project a “finished” look.

3. Sill: This is the area where the ceiling meets the floor of your first floor.

• Go around the sill plate and fill in gaps with natural fiber or foam.

4. Seal foundation with moisture block: Foundation repair can be very expensive if left untreated.

• Consider using liquid rubber waterproofing to keep moisture from damaging your foundation.

5. Attic door or hatch

• Place a blanket on fold-down stairs, making sure the blanket is touching the edges. When closing the stairs, you create a insulated seal.
• Bead or squirt caulking or use spray foam around the gaps in the hatch.
• Use fiberglass to insulate around the hatch.

Remember: Choose natural insulation whenever you can. As you can see, there are many options to fix these areas.  If you have other ideas, please add them in a comment. We’d love to hear your heat saving solutions.

About the author:  Loretta White is a respected member of the global manufacturing industry and brings over 20 years experience in consulting. Loretta lectures on: Sales, Business Development and Green Business practices and is a published author on sustainability techniques.

More from ecomii:

• Catch energy vampires
• Breaking down the five big energy hogs in your home
• Save money by going solar
• What is your carbon footprint?
• Choose Energy Star appliances for your home

AP - AES Corp., which operates several coal-fired power plants in the U.S., has agreed to put more information about global warming in its public financial disclosures.

AP - The Maryland Public Service Commission has approved an application to build a 50-megawatt wind energy farm atop Backbone Mountain near Oakland in Garrett County.

AP - German Chancellor Angela Merkel called Thursday for all countries to fix binding climate change targets next year at the latest, acknowledging that no such deal is likely at global talks in Copenhagen next month.

Reuters - Melting of the Arctic sea ice due to global warming is diluting surface waters and this is endangering some species of shellfish which need minerals in the water to form their shells and skeletons, scientists have found.