This eye-opening infographic by GOOD Magazine discusses little ways you can practice sustainability during the holidays. For example, just one local dish will help your wallet, your health and the planet; using real plates instead of paper plates saves trees; or (if you really want to save the planet — and your sanity from visiting relatives) celebrate the holidays via Skype. And it doesn’t stop at dessert! America wastes 40% of its total food. Don’t be the majority. GOOD explains how to handle your leftovers so they don’t wind up in the trash.

Are you ready to take the 100-mile challenge this holiday season?

Engineering

If you studied engineering — whether civil, mechanical or chemical — your chances of landing a job in a sustainable field are about as high as they can get. Electrical/design engineer, wind energy engineer and solar process engineer all made Sustainable Business’ top 20 green job titles list. In particular, the U.S. government’s Leadership in Energy & Environmental Design is in need of engineers as it works to construct green buildings, homes and spaces. And it’s no wonder, as new green technology develops, there will be higher demand for workers with the smarts to build them.

Construction

As demand for clean energy grows, skilled construction workers are needed to build and install the technology. According to Fast Company, installing rooftop photovoltaic cells and other solar equipment, for example, can earn skilled workers up to $35 an hour. Wind energy is another area in need of construction workers. According to a 2010 report by Vice President Joe Biden, millions of dollars have already been invested in this field. For example, $24.7 million was granted to the Massachusetts Clean Energy to construct a wind blade testing facility.

Automotive technology

Seeking more energy independence has led to increased U.S. investment in alternatives to fossil fuel. Under the Recovery Act, the United States has allocated $2 billion for grants for the manufacturing of advanced battery systems and vehicle batteries, including hybrid electrical systems. For example, Johnson Controls won a $299 million grant to build a battery manufacturing facility in Holland, Mich. According to Biden’s report, the project has created or saved at least 500 jobs.

Top management

If you have an advanced degree like a Master of Business Administration or law degree, you have your pick of the sustainable job litter, as many companies — both in the profit and nonprofit sectors — are looking for skilled leaders with the business savvy to help them make a difference. Among Sustainable Business’ top 20 green job titles are executive director of a nonprofit, sustainability manager and business development manager. Citing a report by the U.S. Conference of Mayors’ Mayors Climate Protection Center, Fast Company noted that legal, research and consulting account for more than 400,000 green jobs.

Urban planning

Getting our cities and towns running more sustainably takes people with the skills and insight to get the job done. One area where this is needed is in developing clean, affordable travel options for all. To this end, the Recovery Act has invested heavily. For example, approximately $61 million was awarded to the city of Dallas to fund the 14-mile Orange Line rail construction project, which has helped add more than 200 businesses to the area.

1. Ditch the charcoal. While avid grillers may love charcoal, natural gas and propane are the most environmentally friendly ways to fuel your fire. According to Grist.org, charcoal (and wood) burn dirty and release soot particles in the air that can worsen chronic heart and lung problems. If you must use charcoal, Grist.org suggests the Rainforest Alliance Smartwood program’s certified Char-Broil products, including the mesquite and hickory wood chips. And when you are done using the charcoal, be sure to dispose of it carefully, as charcoal ash can be harmful to plants. You also may want to consider using hardwood lump charcoal that is started with a chimney device instead of commercial charcoal briquettes.
2. Serve up sustainability. Cookouts usually are the time when we break out the disposable plates and utensils. Class it up a bit and use the metal utensils and ceramic plates you would normally use at an indoor dinner party. When it comes time to do the dishes, put your guests to work. It’s the least they can do for getting free grub. If you must use disposable products, Kitchen Daily suggests trying those made of bamboo and corn that are biodegradable. And don’t forget about the beverages! Designate clear bags or bins for recycling cans or bottles.
3. Compost your veggies. Instead of throwing out the scraps from your grilled corn or other veggie dishes, try composting them! The EPA has tips on how to do it at home, and many communities offer places to drop off your scraps for composting.
4. Be kind to your grill. Harsh cleaners have lots of chemicals, and who wants that in their food? Kitchen Daily suggests using a baking soda paste and a wire brush to clean the grate before grilling. During the cookout, scrape the grill while it’s still hot to keep it clean for your next grill fest.
5. Get a ‘green’ grill. No, we don’t mean you should run out and find yourself a green-colored grill. If you’re already practicing the above tips, you can take your cookout to the next level with an eco-friendly grill.  Check out these suggestions from Ecoble.com here.

In China, shark fin soup is a delicacy and is served for special occasions such as weddings. It has almost zero flavor but is valued for its chewy texture. Animal activists want the specialty food banned because of a cruel practice known as “live finning,” or “shark finning,” in which fishermen chop off a shark’s fin and throw the shark back in the water, bloody and injured, and unable to properly swim or hunt.

Additionally, many types of sharks are either endangered or at risk of becoming endangered due to overfishing and bycatch, the term used for animals accidentally caught by humans attempting to catch other species. The sale and possession of shark fins is illegal in Hawaii, Washington, Oregon and California.

The study — conducted by Stony Brook University’s Institute for Ocean Conservation Science and supported by the Pew Environment Group — tested shark fin soup in 14 U.S. cities and found eight different types of at-risk species, including the scalloped hammerhead, which is labeled “globally endangered” by the International Union for Conservation of Nature.

“This is further proof that shark fin soup here in the United States — not just in Asia — is contributing to the global decline of sharks,” said Liz Karan, who is the manager of global shark conservation at the Pew Environment Group.

The cities involved in the study comprised of Albuquerque, N.M.; Atlanta; Boston; Chicago; Denver; Fort Lauderdale, Fla.; Houston; Las Vegas; Los Angeles; New York; Orlando, Fla.; San Francisco; Seattle; and Washington, D.C. The soup study will be featured on the Discovery Channel’s show “Shark Fight” at 9 p.m. on Wednesday, Aug. 15.

Image: Pew Environment Group

Check out the following slideshow to learn about the at-risk sharks that researchers discovered in shark fin soup across the United States:

Scalloped Hammerhead Shark

IUCN status: Endangered
Population trend: Unknown
Found in soup in: Boston
Reasons for IUCN status:

• Overfished for oil, meat and skin
• Easy targets for fishermen targeting large catches because they often swim in groups of several hundred sharks
• Accidentally caught by fishing lines used to catch swordfish and tuna

Smooth Hammerhead

IUCN status: Vulnerable
Population: Decreasing
Found in soup in: Los Angeles
Photo description:The scalloped hammerhead (left) and the smooth hammerhead (right) differ in hammer shape.
Reasons for IUCN status:

• Overfishing, finning and bycatch
• Highly valued for fins - increasingly targeted in some areas due to increased demand for fin trade

Shortfin Mako

IUCN status: Vulnerable
Population: Decreasing
Found in soup in: Albuquerque, N.M.
Reasons for IUCN status:

• Bycatch in tuna and billfish fishing nets
• Poor management and recording of catches; landings data do not reflect the sharks finned and discarded at sea

Spiny Dogfish

IUCN status: Vulnerable
Population: Decreasing
Found in soup in: Los Angeles
Reasons for IUCN status:

• Vulnerable to overfishing because of its late maturity, low reproductive capacity and longevity
• Fishing of the species goes greatly unmanaged

School Shark

IUCN status: Vulnerable
Population: Decreasing
Found in soup in: Las Vegas, Orlando, San Francisco and Seattle
Reasons for IUCN status:

• Vulnerable to overfishing because of low reproductive capacity and slow maturation
• Overfished - highly prized for meat and fins

Blue Shark

IUCN status: Near threatened
Population trend: Unknown
Found in soup in: Atlanta, Chicago, Houston, Las Vegas, Los Angeles, New York, Orlando, San Francisco and Washington, D.C.
Reasons for IUCN status:

• Poor management of fishing - no population estimates and many catches are unreported
• Taken in large numbers (an estimated 20 million annually); there is concern over the removal of such large numbers of species because of its influence on the oceanic ecosystem.

Copper Shark

IUCN status: Near threatened
Population trend: Unknown
Found in soup in: Las Vegas
Reasons for IUCN status:

• Vulnerable to overfishing, partly because of low reproductivity
• Coastal fisheries in East Asia threaten to depress the population by taking pregnant females and juveniles; coastal nursery areas in this region are also at risk from development and pollution.

Bull Shark

IUCN status: Near threatened
Population trend: Unknown
Found in soup in: Boston and Orlando
Reasons for IUCN status:

• Vulnerable to human impacts and habitat modification because of its populations in estuarine and freshwater areas

Less corn, soy crops mean higher food prices

The United States is the largest producer of soy and corn in the world. Corn and soy is a key ingredient in nearly 100% of the processed food available in any neighborhood supermarket, which means in a bad year it’s not just corn on the cob that gets more expensive. Agriculture secretary Tom Vilsack said that since June 1, the price of corn has risen 38%. Such food companies as McDonald’s, Coca-Cola, Archer Daniels Midland and Smithfield Foods are already seeing food costs rise.

It’s not just processed food that could see a spike in food prices but also meat and milk. Farmers often feed animals using food made from corn. The U.S. Department of Agriculture said the results of the drought could mean food prices will rise by as much as 4% in 2013.

Eating local can offset impact of drought

Short of a rain dance working there’s no easy solution to the drought, but there are things that can offset your own food costs. The local food trend is already popular among a certain group of individuals, but according to Jonathan White of the German Marshall Fund’s International Development Project, buying local is a short-term solution to rising food prices. White told the Global Post that buying local and regional food reduces the cost of food as it cuts down on shipping food and also helps to generate a local market by allowing farmers to produce and sell food locally. There has never been a better time to fall in love with a farmers market.

Eating local will only go so far. The harsh reality that many locavores won’t admit is that local farms are not producing enough food to feed the U.S. population, and most people aren’t willing to make the trade-offs. Take pasture-raised pigs for instance. There aren’t enough slaughterhouses for small farmers, which means farmers have to drive hundreds of miles to other slaughterhouses, adding costs, stress to the animals and a greater environmental impact coming from that food. Then there’s the whole “want what we want when we want it” attitude. Tomatoes aren’t ripe all year round, but that doesn’t mean people are willing to give them up for part of the year.

Drought offers opportunity to rethink food sustainability

The current drought is an opportunity for local farmers to produce sustainable food and for people to actually buy it. It’s also a chance to think about how to revamp the U.S. food system to make buying local, sustainable food a viable option for feeding the country’s population.

In the past year, several chains have announced changes to their menus, their carbon footprints and the treatment of the animals supplying their food products. In the broad scope of things, many of these restaurants are still far from green and healthy — we’re looking at you, Burger King, with your bacon sundae, and you, Wendy’s, with your triple-decker bacon burger — but we applaud even the smallest efforts toward positive change.

BURGER KING
The home of the Whopper might have failed in its attempts this year to give its menu a healthy makeover (read about it here), but it deserves some credit for being one of the first major fast-food chains to announce a transition to cage-free eggs and an end to working with suppliers that use gestation crates. Gestation crates confine female breeding pigs to a 6.6-ft.-by-2-ft. space in which they can barely move; this practice is already banned in Sweden and the United Kingdom, as well as a handful of U.S. states.

Although it’s been incorporating more cage-free eggs and has been purchasing gestation-crate-free pork since 2007, BK announced in April that its U.S. supply chain will provide 100% cage-free eggs by 2017 and that the restaurant chain will only buy pork from suppliers that prove they’re putting an end to the use of gestation crates.

This attitude appears to be contagious: Red Robin, Sonic, Quiznos, Hardee’s and Cracker Barrel have made similar announcements in the past year.

McDONALD’S
Hamburger giant McDonald’s made headlines last summer when it gave into pressure from health advocates and revamped its popular children’s Happy Meal. The healthier kids’ meal added fruit and cut back on the french fries, reducing the calories, fat and sodium by 110, 7 grams and 130 milligrams, respectively. The fast-food chain also announced its plan to reduce salt in a variety of menu options over the next three years, as well as reduce calories, saturated fats and sugars over the next 10 years.

In May, Mickey D’s backed up its February announcement of phasing out pork gestation crates with a time frame; 10 years from now, the company said, it will no longer buy from suppliers that still use the practice.

WENDY’S
The fast-food chain famous for its square burgers has taken steps toward nutrition awareness and humane animal welfare practices in the past year. In March, Wendy’s announced that one of its chicken suppliers, O.K. Foods, started using a low-atmospheric pressure system that renders chickens unconscious before they are handled by plant workers. This replaces the standard practice of stunning the animals with electricity.

Like McDonald’s and Burger King, Wendy’s has also made plans to eliminate the use of sow gestation stalls among its U.S. and Canadian pork suppliers over time, although it hasn’t set a deadline like its two burger rivals have.

In an effort to promote awareness among its customers, Wendy’s released a mobile nutrition app this month that allows users to customize meals based on calorie content. The app lets customers select their calorie range and then view a list of meal options, or build a meal by choosing individual items that add up to the number of calories they want to consume in a meal.

Users can view how many calories are eliminated by removing the creamy red jalapeno dressing on the Baja Chicken Salad or find out how many more calories they’ll be consuming if they choose to add extra pickles on their cheeseburger. In our opinion, if you’re eating at Wendy’s frequently enough to download the app, we doubt you’re extremely concerned with what’s in the food you’re eating, but we give Wendy’s an A for effort.

ARBY’S
Just this past month, Arby’s joined the Kids LiveWell initiative, a program in which restaurants agree to offer meals for children that meet such nutrition criteria as the 2010 U.S. Department of Agriculture Dietary Guidelines. The announcement comes a year after the curly-fry king followed in McDonald’s footsteps and made healthy changes to its kids’ meals, replacing the fries with apple slices and strawberry yogurt dipping sauce. The menu makeover cut back on calories by 40%, fat by 70% and sodium by 50% compared with what it was previously dishing out.

SUBWAY
“Eat Fresh,” indeed. The world’s largest submarine sandwich franchise started using locally grown tomatoes — purchased from sustainable family-owned farms — for the subs served at its California locations last summer. Considering we don’t usually hear about fast-food giants using locally sourced products — Chipotle being the exception — we’re impressed with Subway, even if the local focus currently only exists in California locations. Baby steps!

This past April, Subway showed its eco-friendly side with the announcement that it was now using salad bowls and lids made from 95% post-consumer recycled materials, mostly from plastic soda and water bottles. This packaging change prevents 2.62 million pounds of plastic from ending up in landfills, which represents about 500,000 gallons of petroleum needed to make the plastic bowls and lids, according to the company.

Subway made headlines again last month when it stated that the American Heart Association’s heart-check mark — which you’ve probably seen in the grocery on items like whole-wheat bread and Campbell’s Healthy Request soups — would now be displayed on the Subway menu next to items that meet the required nutritional criteria. The restaurant chain was the first to participate in the two-year pilot program.

Believe it or not, Subway’s good news doesn’t end there. This month, the chain joined a handful of others in a commitment to slowly transition to using 100% cage-free eggs, beginning with 4%. The company explained to QSR magazine that it wouldn’t be possible to make the 100% switch immediately because of the chain’s many locations; the egg suppliers need time to catch up to the demand.

APPLEBEE’S
Applebee’s, the world’s largest casual dining chain, joined the Kids LiveWell program this year, endorsing its grilled chicken sandwich entrée that comes with steamed broccoli and 1% milk or apple juice as one of its healthy kids’ options.

CHICK-FIL-A
Chick-fil-A’s recent disclosure that it is, in fact, against gay marriage, might have been a poor business decision — we don’t doubt that it lost customers with that admission — but it’s also made some good choices this year. Due to its success at a LEED-certified Fort Worth, Texas, location, Chick-fil-A announced in February that it planned on opening four more restaurants certified by the U.S. Green Building Council’s Leadership in Environmental Design program this year.

As for its food, the chain introduced grilled chicken nuggets as an alternative to fried nuggets for kids; it also added applesauce to its variety of side options and now only offers 1% milk, 100% apple juice, freshly squeezed lemonade or water as drink choices for kids’ meals. With only 210 calories and 3 grams of fat, Chick-fil-A’s kids’ meal of grilled nuggets, a fruit cup and 1% milk might actually offer the healthiest option for children compared with other options from major fast-food chains.

Chick-fil-A also joined Applebee’s in May in participating in the Kids LiveWell program, promoting its healthy menu items for kids that meet certain nutritional standards.

CHIPOTLE
We don’t consider Chipotle “diet food” by any means — a burrito can total 1,265 calories and 54.5 grams of fat — but there’s no other major fast-food restaurant chain more committed to sustainability and local ingredients than this popular Mexican grill.

The company works with sustainable family farms and claims to serve more naturally raised meat and local produce than any other restaurant company in the United States. The dairy used in Chipotle restaurants comes from cows raised without the use of synthetic hormones, and the company has contributed more than $2 million in the past several years to initiatives that support sustainable agriculture, family farming and culinary education.

Chipotle captured everyone’s attention at the beginning of the year when it aired its mesmerizing and moving two-minute “Back to the Start” commercial — which promoted its commitment to sustainable agriculture — during the Grammys. The chain continued to steal our hearts by giving out free burritos (sort of) on Earth Day. The catch: Buy an $18 limited-edition reusable lunch bag made of old Chipotle billboards. Considering a burrito will cost you around $11 — and considering the deal’s green objective — it wasn’t a bad bargain.

And just when you think Chipotle can’t make its food any more eco-friendly or humane, the company announced last month that 100% of its sour cream is now made with milk from pasture-raised dairy cows. The cows that supply the dairy have daily access to outdoor pastures, are never given added hormones and are fed an all-vegetarian, plant-based diet.

RED LOBSTER, OLIVE GARDEN & LONGHORN STEAKHOUSE
Darden Restaurants — parent company of such restaurant chains as Red Lobster, Olive Garden and LongHorn Steakhouse — announced in September of last year that it would be overhauling its restaurants’ menus, reducing the calories and sodium in its dishes by 10% over the next five years and 20% over 10 years. A serving of fruits or vegetables, plus 8 ounces of 1% milk, was added to kids’ meals, unless a parent requests otherwise.

CARL’S JR. & HARDEE’S
CKE Restaurants — parent company of restaurant chains Carl’s Jr. and Hardee’s — this month jumped on the bandwagon moving toward the elimination of pig gestation stalls. The company stated that it would be working with its suppliers to develop practical and sustainable alternatives to the crates and aimed to only use animals raised in group housing situations by 2022.

WHATABURGER
Southern fast-food chain Whataburger instituted two significant menu changes in the past year, the first following last year’s trend of giving kids’ meals a healthy makeover. Last November, Whataburger started offering apple slices as a substitute for french fries with any kids’ meal; a new whole-grain wheat bun that comes standard with its Grilled Chicken Sandwich or can be requested for any other Whataburger sandwich with no extra charge; and a 90-calorie side salad that can be substituted for fries.

Beginning this month, the chain also introduced its 550 Calories or Less menu, which includes two salads and six other dishes for lunch and dinner, plus six low-calorie breakfast options.

Venues

Understanding that sustainability often begins by making use of what’s already there, the city of London is incorporating its iconic venues of Wimbledon, ExCeL, Lord’s and Earls Court into the 2012 summer games. However, for such an event as the Olympics, the city understandably had to do more, so it built three new venues — the Olympic Stadium, Aquatics Center and Velodrome — which are designed to serve the city for many years to come.

Though building a new stadium poses many environmental challenges, London met them with its Olympic Park. According to the games’ official website, the Olympic Stadium was completed on time and on budget and is the most sustainable Olympic stadium ever built.

Transportation

Already well-known for its “tube,” or subway system, London has long been an excellent city for public transportation. Still, with the influx of people expected to descend upon the city during the games, the system will be tested. To that end, London has ensured visitors and citizens alike that its public transport will be ready. In addition, London is using this opportunity to draw attention to walking and cycling and working with organizations to improve access to walking and cycling routes during the games.

Waste management

Perhaps the biggest sustainability challenge of the Olympic Games will be in the area of waste reduction. To that end, London has set the lofty goal of delivering zero-waste-to-landfill games. While it will prove more difficult to achieve once the games begin, London can be proud that it has achieved 98.5% reuse and 99% recycling of materials in demolition and construction leading up to the event.

Food

From the athletes to the spectators, thousands of people will need to be fed during the Olympic Games, and doing so with the environment in mind won’t be easy. London is committed to delivering sustainably sourced meals that are produced under high ethical standards. To help cut down on waste, less packaging and more reusable materials have been incorporated into the food service.

Accountability

An event such as the Olympics can leave a huge carbon footprint. In order to bring that down, London has pledged to measure its carbon footprint over the entire games. Leading up to the Olympics, the city has used the outcomes of the footprinting assessment to improve its ability to avoid, reduce and substitute carbon emissions associated with delivering the games.

To learn more about sustainability at the 2012 Summer Olympics, click here.

And being green isn’t just for the Olympics. Here in the states, many popular sports teams and venues have made the commitment to sustainability.

Among the positive news from the event was an increased number of commitments to the United Nation’s global sustainable energy initiative (launched September 2011). According to the U.N., Ghana, Bangladesh, Kenya and Vietnam were among nations to develop a national energy action plan, and Microsoft, Italian energy company Eni and the Renault-Nissan Alliance have all made pledges to take more steps toward reducing emissions.

In addition, the eight largest multilateral development banks pledged to invest $175 billion in sustainable transportation systems over the coming decade.

Secretary-general Ban Ki-moon further challenged nations by launching the “Zero Hunger Challenge” to encourage countries to find ways to sustainably feed the world’s growing population.

Do you feel the warm fuzzies?

If you’re somewhat doubtful of how much real change can come out of these policies, you are not alone. National Public Radio, for example, said the event may have been “one of the biggest duds” and derided the conference for producing no major agreements.

Well, to be factual, the conference did produce an agreement: a 50-plus page document that was a bunch of long-winded rhetoric without a defined list of ways to actually help the environment. According to the San Francisco Chronicle, activists in particular were hoping the document would include, among other things, a call to end fossil fuel subsidies, how nations could protect high seas and ways to protect women’s reproductive rights.

All in all, the event did get influential talking about such key issues as poverty and the environment, and just drawing attention to these areas is a good start. Let’s see what happens from here.

Animal Welfare Approved: Available only to family farms, this certification requires that animals be hormone-free and given continuous access to the outdoors. Cattle must be at least 70% grass-fed, and chickens must be cage-free.

Cage-Free: Chickens with this label do not live in cages and have enough space to walk and spread their wings, but don’t generally have access to the outdoors. They may still be put through processes like beak cutting, which is done so chickens in tight quarters don’t violently peck at each other.

Certified Organic: Products deemed “organic” have been given the label by a certification body of the U.S. Department of Agriculture. To get it, farms must provide a production plan that the USDA inspects for sustainability. Meat labeled organic comes from animals that were given organic food and access to the outdoors, and organic produce is farmed without synthetic pesticides or chemicals.

Certified Naturally Grown: Some smaller farms choose not to go through the process of becoming certified organic because it can be expensive, opting instead for this label, which has similar guidelines to the USDA organic label. The certification is offered by a grassroots organization formed to help small farms.

Conventional: A farm with this label doesn’t have any special certifications but may have introduced some sustainable practices. Ask the farmer.

Free-Range: This term is regulated by the USDA and means that the farmer must prove that poultry have access to the outdoors, though for an unregulated amount of time. The term does not regulate eggs.

Grass-Fed: To get this label, the majority of an animal’s feed must be from grass or forage. In addition to giving meat a different taste, a “grass-fed” label means that the farm did not have to ship in soy or corn feed, reducing the farm’s carbon footprint. However, the label does not mean that the animals were given the chance to graze outside.

Heirloom and Heritage: These labels, often seen on foods like multicolored tomatoes and twisty squash, refer to varieties of plants and animals that have been passed through the generations to preserve unique colors, textures and tastes. These lines are not mass-produced because they tend to me more delicate.

Locally Grown: Refers to products that come from the surrounding area. There is not a standard for how far away “local” food comes from.

Natural: This refers to a product containing no artificial ingredients or added color that’s only minimally processed, according to the USDA. This claim doesn’t need to be certified, however, and only applies to meat and poultry.

The Association of Home Appliance Manufacturers, CSA Group and UL Environment have announced the release of AHAM 7001-2012/CSA SPE- 7001-12/UL 7001, Sustainability Standard for Household Refrigeration Appliances, the first voluntary sustainability standard for home appliances. This new standard is the first in a family of product sustainability standards under development.

The standard is based on a lifecycle approach for identifying the environmental impacts of refrigeration products in five key areas: energy, materials, end-of-life, performance and manufacturing.

This standard will help refrigeration manufacturers evaluate the environmental sustainability of home appliances. The three organizations will next form consensus committees to move the standard through the United States and Canadian accredited standards process.

“The AHAM-CSA-UL collaboration represents vast experience in appliance design, manufacture and use, standards development and product lifecycle analysis. Coupled with the critical stakeholder input, we believe this standard and others that will follow represent a strong commitment to sustainability and provide workable tools for appliance purchasers to compare the environmental attributes of appliances,” explained Joseph McGuire, president of the AHAM.

And here’s some extra good news: UL Environment just announced that Whirlpool has become the first company to achieve certification of its products to the Sustainability Standard for Household Refrigeration Appliances. The first products to receive certification are the company’s French Door-style, bottom-mount household refrigerators. The following Whirlpool refrigerator models have achieved certification:

2-door models:
GB9FHDXV
GB9FHDXW
GB2FHDXW
MBF2258WE
MBF2258XE
MBF1958XE
MBL2258XE
MBR2258XE

3-door models:
GI6FDRXX
GI6SDRXX
MFI2670XE

4-door models:
KFXL25RY
KFXL25RYMS
KFXS25RY
KFXS25RYMS