CARROT & STICK.

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VALUES

Norsk Hydro, Norway's second-largest energy company, for developing floating wind turbines that could be used in deep-water wind farms. Now building a demo, the company predicts that floating, out-of-sight wind farms could provide renewable electric power within 10-15 years. Tethered to the seabed, the turbines will also pose fewer risks to birds than land-based ones. The floating turbines will be more efficient because wind speeds at sea are higher than on land.

Glenn Evers, a former DuPont Co. chemical engineer, for revealing that the company concealed studies that a chemical used in grease-resistant packaging for popcorn, pizza and other items actually leaches into foods--and at levels three times higher than the US Food and Drug Administration allows. The chemical, called Zonyl RP, breaks down into perfluoro-octanoic acid (PFOA), which accumulates in our bloodstreams. In November 2005, the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) released DuPont documents showing PFOA's potential to damage the kidneys and liver. In December 2005, the EPA fined DuPont $16.5 million for concealing the data.

Google Labs for its new energy-friendly online Transit Trip Planner. Different from Mapquest, the Google service allows travelers to select alternative routes to destinations using public transportation. With Google Transit, travelers can learn about schedules and fares and compare the cost of travel by light rail or bus to the cost of driving. The service launched in Portland, OR, but Google plans to make it available throughout the United States and, eventually, worldwide. How soon, Google doesn't say, but this is not a company that moves slowly.

McDonald's for belatedly deciding to publish nutritional information on the packaging of its foods--but not on menus where customers can read it before ordering. McDonald's calls this decision the latest initiative in its "30-year record" of helping customers "make informed choices," forgetting that three decades ago, it fought a federal proposal to require that such information appear on packages. In 1975, the company told the US Food and Drug Administration that publishing nutritional data on packaging "would result only in post-purchase communication to the customer." Can anyone say McDuh?

The US Department of the Interior for its efforts to remove Yellowstone National Park's grizzly bears from the endangered species list. Although the bears' population has increased from about 200 in 1982 to more than 600 at the end of 2005, stripping them of their "threatened" status could open up nearly one-third of their 9-million-acre habitat to drilling, logging and commercial development. "If you want to protect bears for future generations, you have to protect the habitat they need," says Louisa Wilcox of the National Resources Defense Council's wild bear project. "This plan doesn't do it."

Continental Airlines, for leading all air carriers in the number of pets that have died in flight during a six-month period beginning in May 2005, when the US Department of Transportation ordered airlines to report such deaths. Seven animals died on Continental flights. American Airlines came in second with five deaths, then United Airlines with three.