ecofrenzy: what’s good in green

Amidst the economic turmoil, I encountered this heartening, groundbreaking and somewhat quizzical piece of news.  On Sunday, Oct 28th, Ecuador voted in a new Constitution, which among other things, grants inalienable rights to nature. According to New  York Times Dot Earth blogger, Andrew Revkin, the new Constitution is “mainly focused on on how its terms could help the country’s leftist leader, Rafael Correa, an American-educated economist, gain and hold more power.”  However, a series of articles protecting nature are included as well.  Ecuador is host to brilliant and diverse ecosystems as well as pillaging multi-national corporations who have gone stripping the land of natural resources.  Chevron (formerly Texaco), for example, is currently under fire for dumping absurd amounts of crude oil and toxic waste into the Amazon over the past 20 years.  No wonder Ecuador is seeking to protect its lands.  Claire Kendall writes a great piece about this in the Guardian, in which she highlights this phrase from the bill: “Natural communities and ecosystems possess the unalienable right to exist, flourish and evolve within Ecuador. Those rights shall be self-executing, and it shall be the duty and right of all Ecuadorian governments, communities, and individuals to enforce those rights.”  My reaction is “well of course!” but we are clearly not protecting nature to this extent, or to any extent in many situations.  I’ll be anxious to see how this bill is enforced and if the concept spreads!

Thanks to Shane for tipping me off on this story!

Rethinking San Francisco Civic Center

While I don’t mean to join Mayor Newsom’s PR brigade, I just received word of an interesting development in San Francisco’s sustainability efforts that I thought worth mentioning.

From the Sept 25, 2008 Press Release:

Newsom joins Former President Bill Clinton during his Clinton Global
Initiative to announce 3-year commitment to maximize energy and water
efficiency, reduce waste, and increase the use of wastewater

“San Francisco’s Civic Center sits at the core of one of the most visited
cities in the world,” said Mayor Newsom.  “What better way to educate the
world on sustainability than by transforming that core to showcase how we
can use water more efficiently, promote food security, and reduce our
dependence on fossil fuels.  San Francisco has always been a leader –
willing to think differently and act boldly.  And now, our Civic Center
will stand as a global model for how we achieve a more sustainable future.”

The goals of the sustainable resource district are:

• 80% potable water use reduction
• 45% wastewater discharge reduction
• 35% peak power demand met by renewables
• 33% annual energy reduction
• Reduction of the community carbon footprint by 2,225 tons annually; the equivalent of the annual greenhouse gas emissions of 1,286 San Francisco households

~~~~~~~

Launch of the project with a formal partnership with the Clinton Climate Initiative is scheduled for Oct 20, 08, though we’ll have to wait until late 2009 to see public installations.  Among the first projects, you can expect to see solar and living roofs, free public wifi, water convervation efforts, and more.

I received a link to this video from Brian Purchia, Deputy Director of Communications for Gavin Newsom.  While I haven’t had a chance to watch the whole conference (that would take a few days!), I’m delighted to see there is online access to any of the sessions here, and they look quite impressive.  Click on above image to view an opening plenary session from the Clinton Global Initiative, which includes a panel of Gavin Newsom, T. Boone Pickens, Shimon Peres, Helle Thorning-Schmidt (leader of Danish Social Democratic Party), Robert Zoellick (President of the World Bank), moderated by Tom Brokaw as well as speeches by both McCain and Obama on the topic of integrated solutions to water, food and energy.

I’m a Newsom fan, and seeing as the video linked above is nearly 2 hours (1 hr 50 minutes longer than the average attention span), I’d like to point out that around minute 57 Newsom gives a terrific explanation of what he thinks needs to happen to solve our climate catastrophe, advocating for both cap and trade as well as a carbon tax.

One other interesting point is that the forum is decisively not political, and I was impressed that Clinton welcomed both McCain and Obama to speak.  However, I was pleased to notice how overtly more excited Clinton was at the conclusion of Obama’s masterful, well-articulated and strategic speech (seen towards  the end of the video) than after McCain spoke.  Clinton shows a clear preferene for Obama and his commitments to global health, a preference I strongly share.

GreenVolts concentrating photovoltaic

$30 million Series B investment by clean tech VC, Oak Investment Partners, pushed the amount of money raised by California Clean Tech Open start-ups passed the $100M mark.  The Clean Tech open is “an innovation catalyst, providing the infrastructure and processes to develop and motivate entrepreneurs and early stage companies creating clean, environmentally sustainable technologies” in its third year.  In two full years of operations, CTO has 83 alumni companies who have raised $115M together in 2006 and 2007.  GreenVolts focuses on concentrated photovoltaic (CPV) technology.   Aurora Biofuels is another CTO alumni that has received Series B funding.

Bright Built Barn is an eco-savvy, net-zero usage, ultra-green pre-fab studio

BrightBuiltBarn, an “eco-smart project on Spruce Mountain Rockland, Maine” is a net-zero, greener than though, pre-fabricated studio with vast potential for reducing our housing-related energy consumption. (Found on Treehugger)

LA to dedicate 20 acres in downtown to become Cleantech Manufacturing Center complete with cleantech incubator to attract greentech companies. (Greentech Media)

France’s picnic tax a no-go, as opposition argued it would tax the average citizen. (Reuters)

Al Gore in talks with Plenty magazine; potential for purchase. (CondeNast Portfolio.com)

Solar panel robbery on the rise, especially in California. (New York Times)

San Francisco teams us with Clinton Global Initiative to green the Civic Center.  (SF Business Times)

Percentage of consumers on diets at lowest levels since 1985, with 26% of women and 16% of men according to NPD Group, farmer’s markets have doubled since the 1990s, and people more likely to shift to “positive eating” which involves adding seasonal and healthy foods to one’s diets and has been shown to be 20% more effective than just avoiding fat for weight loss.  (New York Times)

Web-based carpooling start-ups finding ways to help commuters join forces to ease gas burdens with a variety of techniques including mobile applications.  (GIgaOm, BusinessWeek)

GreenPeace compares electronics makers, Nokia comes out on top.  (Environmental Leader)

House passes No Child Left Inside Act which would improve and expand environmental education in US. (Speaker.gov)

Cell phone trade group launches Green Power for Mobile movement which aims to power 118K base stations with renewable power by 2012.  This could save ~660M gallons of diesel annually. (GreenBiz.com)

San Francisco pushes for state-level Extended Producer Responsibility which would make producers responsible for disposing or otherwise handling products at the end of their lifecycles.  (GreenBiz.com)

Oregon 12-year-old invents solar cell that absorbs 500 times more light than today’s cells! (Treehugger)

These are the four items I take with me every day.  I haven’t always done this, but now that I have gotten into the habit of packing reusable goods I’m realizing how much money and more importantly resources I’m conserving.  I used to think carrying these things with me was too much of a hassle or took up too much space, but the two bags I recommend take up next to no space and weigh very little, while the mug and water bottle can both fit in a medium sized purse.  This post may be a little more on the basic side, so all you who consider yourself dark green already will probably have loads more to teach me on this front (and I welcome all comments).  But I know a lot of people who don’t use all of these items, including myself a few months ago.

1) The reusable “plastic” bag

Details: We’ve all heard how important it is to bring your own bags when grocery shopping etc.  I’m advocating bringing your own bag everywhere.  A few brands, including Chico Bags, have made reusable bags which fold up into a tiny stuff sack and weigh next to nothing…this means you have no excuse not to pack it on your person at all times.  On top of that, many companies, like Stonyfield Farm, hand these out for free at events. If you want to buy one at a store, you’ll have to shell out no more than $5.

Planet Savings: 500 bags/year. An average American uses 300-700 plastic bags a year (according to ChicoBags).  Let’s say 500 bags on average. 97% of these bags do not get recycled and end up in landfills or littering the landscape.  Carrying 1 or 2 reusable bags at all times will therefore save 500 plastic bags from the landfill!

Financial Savings: $15/year. Many retailers will give you a 10 cent credit for bringing your own bag.  Assuming only 150 of the 500 times you use a bag each year gives a credit, you’ll be saving $15 over the course of a year!

2) The reusable “brown paper” bag

Details: This is the newest addition to my fleet of reusable staples.  I got mine for free at the Food Inc film preview.  And I’ve seen them for sale for ~$2.  It’s perfect for pastries, fruit and veggie purchases and other small edibles and other delicate small objects.  It basically replaces the brown paper bag.  And as Barron noted, paper bags may not be any better than plastic bags, so best to conserve.

Planet Savings: 180 bags/year. I eat out a lot, so I may be unusual.  But I use my replacement brown paper bag about twice a day.  Let’s say the average American uses one every other day.  Going reusable will save 180 brown paper bags per year per person.

Financial Savings: Maybe none currently, as I’ve yet to get a credit for bringing my own small bag, but hopefully incentives will be put in place for this sort of bring your own bag as well.

3) Travel coffee mug

Details: A travel mug goes for $10-$20 depending on the brand. I’ve been happy with my OXO GoodGrips Liquiseal Travel Mug, but I know there are many great ones out there.  I carry it with me everywhere for all my hot and cold daily beverage needs.

Planet Savings: 300 cups/year.  Americans love coffee.  Among coffee drinkers, average consumption is 3.1 cups per day.  Overall, average daily consumption ranges from 1.4 cups for women to 1.9 cups for men.   This equates to about 500 to 700 cups of coffee per year.  Let’s assume that half of these cups are imbibed at home with reusable kitchen mugs.  So without a travel coffee mug, the average American will use ~300 paper or styrofoam coffee cups per year.  Ouch.

Financial savings: $30/year. Many coffee shops offer a discount for bringing your own mug.  And this is something that will increase over time.  For now, since not all shops do this, let’s assume a 10 cent savings for each time you bring a mug.  That brings you to $30 in savings after a year.  Meaning your mug will pay for itseld after 4 to 8 months!

4) Reusable water bottle

Details: I am partial to my Sigg (which start at ~$22 and come in many shapes and patterns) while others swear by their Kleen Kanteen.  Regardless, carrying your own water bottle not only ensures you stay hydrated, and protect the environment, it also keeps toxic plastics out of your body.

Planet Savings: 100 bottles+/year. Americans drink an average of 99 liters of bottled water per year.  Green Options notes in a piece about why not to drink bottled water that:

Bottled water produces up to 1.5 million tons of plastic waste per year. According to Food and Water Watch, that plastic requires up to 47 million gallons of oil per year to produce. And while the plastic used to bottle beverages is of high quality and in demand by recyclers, over 80 percent of plastic bottles are simply thrown away.

Financial Savings: $100+/year. Americans spent $15 billion on bottled water.  Bottled water is often from the tap (which should be near free) and costs more than gasoline, according to Green Options.   So depending on how often you buy bottled water, switching to a water bottle and drinking from your too-often-taken-for-granted tap could save you a bundle.  If you’re buying bottled water at $1 per bottle, twice a week, you could stand to save $100 a year!

So to sum it all up, investing ~$40 in these four reusable items can save you $150+ per year (and much more if you depend on bottled water).  You will also be saving 500 plastic bags, 180 paper bags, 300 coffee cups and 100 plastic bottles from the landfill or other receptacle.

For more about reusable products, see this blog.

To buy these products and more online check out GreenHome.

If you are a business and looking to buy sustianable swag, check out ecoimprints

[Note:  I am sure some of my assumptions aren't as accurate as they could be, but I think you get the picture.]

Sainsbury’s grocery launches trial of compostable packaging for wet food products in 40 stores; packaging took 18 months to develop with Amcor Flexibles. (Environmental Leader)

France’s Environment Minister creates “picnic-tax” which will tax distributors and importers of non-recyclable cardboard. (Environmental Leader)

Google and GE join forces to create electric grid technologies that will facilitate the use of renewable energy and hybrid-electric vehicles. (San Francisco Business Times)

The Rochester, NY transit authority lowered the local bus fare 25 cents to $1 while cutting low-use routes and raising local business subsidies; ridership has risen 7.4% in last two years with continued growth expected. (New York Times)

Marketers deemed to have control over 75% of a product’s environmental impact. (Environmental Leader)

The Wall Street Journal features a special report addressing energy from many angles. (WSJ)

It is becoming more mainstream and more profitable for companies to go green. (Environmental Leader)

Apparently the US and EPA have done a terrible job dealing with and even keeping track of our e-waste; even recycled e-waste often ends up in the developing world where its toxic components will can wreak havoc and “the EPA doesn’t know where 80 percent of U.S. e-waste is headed.” (Grist)

Research reveals that corporate sustainability reporting is still used more to improve PR than to hold companies accountable for environmental impact and performance. (Environmental Leader)

In other news, San Francisco is not one of America’s hottest job markets, ranking #75 out of 100 metros. Top 3 are all in Texas.  (BizJournals)

Sunflower at Civic Center, San Francisco Slow Food Nation 2008

Before Slow Food Nation came to town I saw Alice Waters speak amongst a panel of respected and famed foodies.  The thing she said that stuck with me was that today we spend an average of about 8 or 9% of our incomes on food.  Back in the 1940’s Americans spent an average of 30 to 40% of their incomes on food.  What happened?  Cheap food, subsidized by the government.  Which caused us to grow a distaste for actually investing in our sustenance.  But if we are what we eat, this is a huge mistake.  Since that night with Alice, I’ve probably doubled what I spend on food.  I feel a whole lot less guilty spending $6 on fruit every morning (just ask my coworkers) or shelling out for a local, organic meal out.   Buying lunch with a friend one day, he posed the question “what else do you spend your money on?” – might as well buy good food.

For those of you who weren’t at the event, you can watch Slow Food Nations’ opening session – The World Food Crisis.  Moderated by Michael Pollan, author, In Defense of Food and The Omnivore’s Dilemma and featuring Vandana Shiva, physicist, environmental activist and author; Carlo Petrini, founder of the International Slow Food Movement; Raj Patel, author of Stuffed and Starved; and Corby Kummer, journalist and author of The Pleasures of Slow Food, this is a great excerpt from the event.

Post-Slow Food Nation, I’ve been wondering about the results and impact of the festival.  Aside from the standard elitist critique, I’ve found the following positive reulsts in the New York Times’s Sept 2nd review:

• Farmers featured at Slow Food Nation’s marketplace were overwhelmed with business over the course of the weekend, so much so that executive director, Anya Fernald, commented that “Farmers were thanking us for helping them get out of debt”
• Over 60,000 people were in attendance – most of whom I can assume were nearly as delighted as I was by the flavors and festivities.
• 20% of attendees were from outside San Francisco
• The event was hugely popular – 98% of Slow Food Nation events sold out

In regards to long term impact, I think most everyone who had the good fortune to attend SFN and sample the Slow Food delights will carry with them an appreciation of good, clean and fair food.  The real question remains how this event will impact the rest of the country going forward.  San Francisco has a terrific climate for farming and progressive citizens, which makes it the perfect city to spark the Slow Food fire.  As the Economist notes, “The country at large may still be obese and recovering from its latest food scare, a salmonella outbreak that was never properly traced. But the Bay Area considers itself a mecca of farmers’ markets, organic growers and discriminating eaters.” If SFN had not succeeded here, it would have a grim chance at catching elsewhere.  While the momentum coming out of SFN ‘08 is in Slow Food’s favor, there’s still a lot of work to be done to wean an entire country off processed foods, encourage consumers to invest in local and organic alternatives, and adopt a more discerning, critical eye towards food.

[Also published on SustainLane]

Why do so many people think wind farms are ugly? The idea is persistent enough that eco- and regular journalists often write about it as a given—any plan to build “eyesore wind farms” will inevitably prove unacceptable to locals, whether in Atlanta or Cape Cod.

But perhaps it’s just that—the idea of wind farms, made to sound all the more awful by a press that insults them—which makes people wary. Consider the New York Times Magazine’s fantastic piece about the development of America’s first offshore wind farm. One section explains how Delaware residents were initially horrified about the plan, until the wind company hired consultants to develop a lifelike computer simulation of the proposed project. When residents could actually see what it would look like, they didn’t mind so much. (The simulation wasn’t a decisive factor in the project’s passage. Politics and money were—what do you know—but it got the farm over a hurdle.)

Another complaint often leveled at wind power is that it kills birds. As treehugger.com explains, though, that’s largely a myth—cemented in the public’s mind by the state of wind power technology circa 2000.

Both of these points underscore the huge role public relations play in green energy development. Energy projects, clean or dirty, inevitably involve government and regulatory approval—and it’s very difficult to get government approval if you’re swimming upstream against public opinion. (Bonus slide-show: Are wind farms ugly… or magnificent?)

–Barron YoungSmith

Vote for Co-op America’s People’ Choice Award for Green Business of the Year.  Check out the top ten most popular green business nominations. (Co-op America)

Preview of Chevy Volt on GM’s 100th birthday – final car slated for 2010. (New York Times, autobloggreen)

LA Times highlights that green products and green chemistry have become mainstream. (LA Times)

Bottled water sales slow in US and Europe due to tightening belts and heightened environmental awareness and using reusable water bottles gains popularity -Sigg’s sales will double this year. (Financial Times)

American Chemistry Council throws down ~$181K to fight Seattle’s City Council which proposed placing a 20-cent-per-bag “green fee” on consumers’ use of plastics bags at stores. (seattlepi.com)

MTV launches climate change campaign which includes 1 minute anti-greenwashing TV ad. (Guardian)

Six young environmental leaders honored for their efforts to protect the planet with prestigious award. (AScribe)

Scientists may have found cow diet with will cut methane emissions by 20%; UK farmers already trying it out. (TreeHugger)

Research on corporate sustainability initiatives reveals best-in-class tactics involve organization-wide cultural transformation is central factor to success. (Environmental Leader)