Loss of species hits economy; new U.N. goals needed.—reliability high.
"Losses of animal and plant species are an increasing economic threat and the world needs new goals for protecting nature after failing to achieve a 2010 U.N. target of slowing extinctions, experts said Friday. Losses of biodiversity "have increasingly dangerous consequences for human well-being, even survival for some societies," according to a summary of a 90-nation U.N. backed conference in Norway from February 1-5." "Apart from food production, less obvious sectors such as tourism, medicines or energy production with biofuels all depended upon nature and diversity of species." From Reuters. [Can loss of biodiversity be an issue for businesses? Maybe so, even if your business doesn't depend on the vanishing Atlantic Bluefin Tuna (see item below).]

Study: access to good public transportation can make foreclosures less likely.—reliability medium.
A study found that in San Francisco, CA, Chicago, IL and Jacksonville, FL neighborhoods with better "Location-efficiency" had lower rates of foreclosure. "Location-efficiency is "a measure of the transportation costs in a given area," and it includes not just car ownership, but also if the area has reasonable public transportation." See Autoblog Green. PDF of study here. [HaraBara hasn't analyzed the study, but notes that housing is often more expensive when closer to public transportation. Maybe homeowners in transportation-rich (mainly downtown) neighborhoods can afford more expensive houses and can afford to keep up their mortgages. But if they get in trouble they can sell one or all of their vehicles and keep paying the mortgage with the savings, since driving costs more than public transport. People in the suburbs can't sell their cars.]

Companies, Industries, Markets and Supply Chains

FTC warns Wal-Mart, Target, others on bamboo labeling.—reliability high.
The U.S. Federal Trade Commission "sent letters to Wal-Mart, Target, Kmart, Amazon and 74 other companies warning them that rayon clothing and other products cannot be labeled as bamboo . . . . 'While we have seen action by some retailers to correct mislabeled clothing and textile products, our hope is that these warning letters will serve as a wake-up call to all companies, regardless of their size,' said David Vladeck, director of the agency's Bureau of Consumer Protection." From Reuters. [This is an old story (see Daily Brief last October and our blog posts Bamboozled and It's Easy Being Green--If You Lie) and it is hard to believe any responsible company hasn't come down hard on its suppliers to end this misleading labeling.]