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Environmental Forum readers, here is the latest version of our ESG (Environmental, Social, Governance) Notes compiled each week. If you have any questions or comments about Nelson Capital's ESG notes, please visit our website.

Carbon levels hit record high.

For the first time in human history, the concentration of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere has reached 400 parts per million (ppm). Climate scientists say this threshold represents a powerful symbol of the growing human influence on the Earth's climate. Manmade emissions of carbon dioxide have increased the atmospheric concentration of CO2 from around 270 to 280 ppm in the late 1700s to today's record high level - a 43 percent increase. Measurements of CO2 trapped in air bubbles from ice cores in Antarctica indicate today's levels are unsurpassed in at least 800,000 years. "[The] increase is not a surprise to scientists," said NOAA senior scientist Pieter Tans. "The evidence is conclusive that the strong growth of global CO2 emissions from the burning of coal, oil, and natural gas is driving the acceleration." Global CO2 emissions soared to a record high of 35.6 billion tons in 2012, up 2.6 percent from 2011 according to Climate Central's Andrew Freedman. It's possible the current CO2 levels haven't been matched in millions of years.  Scripps Institution of Oceanography estimates the last time the concentration was at least 400 ppm occurred 5 to 3 million years ago, during the Pliocene Epoch.

READ MORE: http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/capital-weather-gang/wp/2013/05/10/atmospheric-carbon-dioxide-concentration-400-parts-per-million/

Coca-Cola's safe drinking water mission.

WaterAid, a leading international non-profit dedicated to making clean water and toilets accessible for the world's poorest people, announced today that it is joining forces with The Coca-Cola Africa Foundation to make safe drinking water a reality for people living in one of the poorest suburbs of Burkina Faso's capital city, Ouagadougou, and in two rural communities in southern Ethiopia. WaterAid and Coca-Cola will work with the local community and water utility in Burkina Faso to extend existing water pipelines and install new water points that provide residents with clean, treated drinking water. This will help residents reduce the risk of contracting waterborne diseases that are highly prevalent in the area, such as bacterial diarrhea, Hepatitis A and Typhoid fever.  In Ethiopia, Coca Cola and WaterAid will help provide safe drinking water, sanitation and hygiene services to the Dita and Kemba Districts of the vast, impoverished Gamo-Gofa zone in the southern part of the country. Water and sanitation-related diseases are rampant in these two districts due to severe seasonal water shortages. Greg Koch, director, global water stewardship, The Coca-Cola Company said in a statement, "At Coca-Cola, water stewardship is a strategic sustainability priority as so much of our business depends on water. It is the main ingredient in our products and it sustains the communities that form our markets. A key element of our strategy is helping communities gain access to safe water, sanitation and hygiene".

READ MORE:  http://www.csrwire.com/press_releases/35551-WaterAid-Joins-Forces-with-The-Coca-Cola-Africa-Foundation-to-Bring-Safe-Drinking-Water-to-Burkina-Faso-and-Ethiopia-

From up above to down under.

Australia has reached a milestone for solar - there are now over a million homes with solar on the roof! That means solar is providing power to about 2.5 million people in the country - about 10% of the 23 million populace - and it's saving them about $500 million on energy bills, according to the country's Clean Energy Regulator. The total is about 2.5 gigawatts (GW) of solar across 1,011,478 systems. Growth in consumer Solar home systems has risen quickly. In 2008, there were only 20,000 solar systems in Australia. It costs about $1,500 to $2,000 for 1500 kilowatts, a payback period of about four years.  Over 8,000 Australians are employed by the solar industry. Australia has set targets National targets (and incentives) to get 20% of energy from renewables by 2020.

READ MORE:  http://www.sustainablebusiness.com/index.cfm/go/news.display/id/24851

Did you know?

According to says the Nation Asphalt Pavement Association 99% of all asphalt is recycled and used to fix and build roads over and over again. A variety of recycled materials are in that pavement - recycled roof shingles, ground rubber from tires, glass, foundry sand, slag and even pig manure. In 2011, US taxpayers saved $2.2 billion by using recycled materials to pave roads. 66.7 million tons of reclaimed asphalt pavement and 1.2 million tons of reclaimed asphalt shingles went into paving projects.  

READ MORE: http://www.sustainablebusiness.com/index.cfm/go/news.display/id/24858

Amy Harcourt is back for her final post in our bike commute series and she's just in time to prepare us for Bike to Work Month (typically held in May for most locations). Amy is co-founder of Bikes Make Life Better, a consulting firm that helps leading organizations to develop impactful sustainability initiatives through the use of well-planned and executed bicycle and transportation programs. 

 This week Amy's discussing safe biking tips. (--kvt)

Environmental Forum Readers if you read my earlier post, here's the follow up report:  The babies have arrived!

The first falcon chick hatched - rather appropriately - on Mother's Day, May 12. The second chick arrived sometime within the last day or so.

Between naps, both Mom and Dad have been bringing plenty of food to their new little ones, and they're already growing fast - Chick No. 1 looks as though it's doubled in size since Sunday!

For an expert's perspective on our Peregrine friends, check out this blog by Jeff Thomas, ornithologist and Associate Professor of Biology at Queens University in Charlotte, who's asking folks to do a little "citizen science" to help monitor the birds' hunting and feeding habits.

You also can visit the website of our partners at the Carolina Raptor Center to follow the action with "Aragorn", the Center's resident Peregrine falcon - just click on the "FalCam" tab to see his Twitter feed and the live webcam. Welcome to the world, little falcons!

Take the situation at the Boise River, where the habitat faces a challenge brought by invasive plants, especially false indigo. Thankfully, the Land Trust of the Treasure Valley has stepped in to run a conservation and preservation project. Wells Fargo supported this project in 2012 with a $25,000 Environmental Solutions for Communities grant. A major part of the plan includes removing the false indigo, which will benefit the area's fisheries and improve downstream water quantity and quality.

Recently, the Wells Fargo Boise Green Team volunteered to help cut and remove the false indigo. It's no trivial task. Invasive species tend to spread extremely quickly and can produce devastating results, including shifting how a river flows. Removing the false indigo also helps to reintroduce native species, which in turn reduces erosion and creates better wildlife habitat. 

The folks at the Land Trust of the Treasure Valley aren't just great environmentalists - they have a knack for creating compelling video through time lapse photography. See how they captured a day's work in about 2 minutes.

And if you just can't get enough of the Green Team, see them going at it in the video below:

In 2010, we introduced an unusual recognition program for our Wells Fargo Green Teams. As a way to thank our teams for their accomplishments and encourage them to continue to support our environmental efforts, we commissioned a collection of recycled art pieces through Women's Environmental Artists Directory (WEAD), an artist organization dedicated to supporting environmental art and the people who create it, to distribute among select Green Teams making significant progress in our environmental work.

Amy Harcourt, guest blogger and expert on bike commuting is back for her third post in a series on bike commuting. Amy is co-founder of Bikes Make Life Better, a consulting firm that helps leading organizations to develop impactful sustainability initiatives through the use of well-planned and executed bicycle and transportation programs.

This week Amy's taking us on a trial bike commute. (--kvt)