Lorna Li | Green Marketing 2.0

In California we do.

As geeks and new tech enthusiasts, we depend on computer infrastructure and use a lot of greenhouse gas-emitting electricity to grok our world. Deep down inside, we hope the same breakthroughs in science, technology and innovation that make us Twitter with excitement can also help us restore our balance with Nature.

In and around the SF Bay Area, Internet companies are tackling climate change with what they know best - technology innovation and the crowdsourcing powers of the social web.

Google is probably the company with the most ambitious global warming corporate action plan on Earth. Fortunately, it has the budget to do so. Google has long indicated a commitment to addressing climate change, from both the Foundation perspective and from the standpoint of business operations. Google’s commitment to lightening its ecological footprint can result in some pretty nice employee perks such as free, mostly organic food for its 10,000 employees, and utensils made out of biodegradable corn-based plastic that can be turned into dirt in its very own composting facilities.

Google currently partially powers their huge data centers with solar power, installing 1.6 megawatts of solar photovoltaic panels at their headquarters in Mountain View. The search engine not only invests in renewable energy and greener technologies, it has made a commitment to reducing its behemoth carbon footprint to zero. That’s a lot of clicks to make carbon neutral.

Not to be outdone, Yahoo! launched Yahoo! Green an excellent Green information portal that aggregates top climate change and environmental news, in addition to a section dedicated to Y! Answers about the Environment. Other Yahoo! Green sections include Global Warming, tips on how to live a Green Lifestyle, a Carbon Footprint Calculator, a Green Gift Guide, and a section where users can pledge to Take Action. Two search engines, two different approaches to being Green. As Michael Arrington pondered, Google vs. Yahoo, who cares most about the environment?

Green websites are hot, with TreeHugger snapped up by the Discovery Channel, and Zaadz, a LOHAS social networking site, purchased by Gaiam earlier this year. Even TechCrunch’s arch-rival, GigaOm launched Earth2Tech this year, a site devoted to the business of clean technologies, its innovations and everything else.

WiserEarth, a nonprofit venture launched by Paul Hawken, founder of the Natural Capital Institute, is compelling community directory and networking forum created on a structured wiki platform. The site maps and connects non-governmental organizations and individuals addressing the central issues of our day: climate change, poverty, the environment, peace, water, hunger, social justice, conservation, human rights and more.

Whether for profit or nonprofit, California clearly likes to fight global warming with technology. The state has become the nation’s biggest hub for green tech companies, attracting hundreds of $ millions in investment. In 2006, California’s green tech businesses soaked up $884 million, 36 percent of all the money venture capitalists spent on the industry within the United States.

For decades, California has led the nation with its clean and green policies. But population growth and increasing energy consumption, coupled with aggressive greenhouse-gas reduction laws mean the next stage of environmental progress will need to be stronger, faster and more innovative than in the past.

Can a handful of pioneering, VC-funded, bleeding-edge tech companies come up with solutions that will help turn the tide of global warming? I hope so.

Technorati Tags: google, yahoo green, earth2tech, treehugger, zaadz, gaiam, green tech, california green tech, greentech, wiser earth, paul hawken, natural capital institute

At the urging of the nuclear power industry, a one-sentence provision buried deep in the Senate’s recently passed energy bill can essentially make builders of new nuclear plants eligible for tens of billions of dollars in government loan guarantees.

Under current law, the government is only allowed to guarantee a volume of loans authorized each year by Congress, which amounted to $4 billion in loan guarantees for clean energy projects in 2007. This new provision is a huge change that could significantly expand the nuclear industry (considered to be a clean energy industry), which already plans to build 28 new reactors at a cost of approximately $4-5 billion each.

Opponents of the provision say that the loan guarantees that could serve as a “virtual blank check from taxpayers” to help build more nuclear plants. A nuclear power provision of this magnitude mars an otherwise attractive bill that supports renewable energy and improved fuel efficiency. Should Congress even adopt the 35 mpg Corporate Average Fuel Economy standard and 15% Renewable Energy Standard, the nuclear provision would obliterate any environmental gains made by CAFE and RES.

Bonnie Raitt, Jackson Browne and Graham Nash have launched a nuke-free petition drive and YouTube music video urging Congress not to approve federal loan guarantees for new nuclear power plants. Nearly thirty years ago, these three musicians were prominent in the anti-nuke movement, helping organize the “No Nukes” concerts at Madison Square Garden that stirred public opposition to nuclear power.So far, numerous environmental groups and dozens of artists, such as R.E.M., Ben Harper, Maroon 5, Pearl Jam, Patti Smith and Wynton Marsalis, have rallied alongside the trio. The rockers say they have collected more than 120,000 signatures to present to Congress.

Nuclear Power is Not A Solution for Global Warming

After decades of opposition from environmental groups and other organizations, the nuclear industry is enjoying growing political support as society has grown increasingly concerned about global warming and foreign oil dependence. Nuclear power is being touted as a viable energy alternative to greenhouse gas emitting fossil fuels. Under legislation enacted in 2005, nuclear power qualifies as a “clean technology” because it does not emit carbon gases that contribute to global warming.However, nuclear power is far from clean.

According to Michele Boyd, legislative director of the consumer advocacy group Public Citizen:

“None of these so-called ‘advanced’ nuclear reactors deal with the fundamental flaws of nuclear power, such as dangerous radioactive waste, vulnerabilities to air attack and excessive cost,” said Ms. Boyd, whose staff began investigating the provision shortly after the Senate passed the bill last month.

Support a Strong, Clean, Nuke-Free Energy Bill

Nuclear power generates a lot of bang for the buck now, but its byproduct, radioactive waste, creates huge environmental risks that future generations will be forced to face.

Here’s what you can do to let Congress know you favor an energy bill that truly supports environmental sustainability.

• Lobby Congress by signing the 2007 Energy Bill Petition for Strong Fuel Efficiency and Renewable Energy
• Sign the Nuke Free Energy Bill Petition

Technorati Tags: new energy bill, 2007 energy bill, nuclear provision, nuclear subsidy, nuclear loan gaurantee, CAFE, corporate average fuel economy, renewable electricity standard, renewable energy, Bonnie Raitt, Jackson Browne, Graham Nash, YouTube

Currently, Congress is debating, behind closed doors, the adoption of 2 provisions to the 2007 Energy Bill that can greatly impact our ability to make America more energy independent, reduce greenhouse gas emissions, reduce pollution, save consumers money, create jobs and spark economic growth.

The first is the Corporate Average Fuel Efficiency (CAFE) Standard of 35 mpg for cars and trucks by 2020. The second is the Renewable Electricity Standard (RES), which calls for 15% of the nation’s electricity to be generated by renewable resources by 2020.

Why support the Renewable Electricity Standard?According to a study by the Union of Concerned Scientists, renewable energy solutions are both sustainable environmentally and economically. The RES provision has the potential to jump-start new clean energy economy and create tens of thousands of new, good-paying jobs in things like wind and solar manufacturing and installation. For this reason, it has the strong support of the United Steelworkers.

RES will create thousands of megawatts of new clean renewable electricity generation, decreasing the amount of natural gas we use—lowering prices for consumers on their home heating bills and also benefiting industrial users.

Furthermore, RES is doable - two dozen states that have already put their own Renewable Electricity Standard into place. In fact, many states have moved to establish standards of 30 percent or more—demonstrating that the 15 percent plan proposed in this bill is an achievable compromise that all states can meet.

Why is supporting the 35 mpg CAFE standard important?

Supporting the 35 mpg CAFE standard will help us curb our addition to a fossil-fuel based source that is increasingly expensive, causes pollution, and is also from highly volatile areas such as the Persian Gulf. This dependence is both unstable and unsustainable.

Furthermore, improving CAFE standards to 35 mpg by 2020 - 13 years from now - will give us better gas mileage, thus, more bang for the buck. This way we can keep more money in our wallets, drive cleaner cars, and thus become less dependent on war and pollution causing oil.

According to the UCS study on Clean Vehicles and Fuel Economy, far from destroying auto jobs, CAFE would create 22,300 jobs in the auto industry alone by 2020—and a total of 170,800 jobs by 2020. The CAFE provision would also save consumers nearly $25 billion at the pump in 2020, according to UCS.

Auto-Industry Lies - Et Tu Toyota?

The Big Three automakers and Toyota are lobbying to kill the Senate version and replace it with a loophole-laden compromise called the Hill-Terry bill that calls for 32 to 35 m.p.g. by 2022. Rather than innovate their fleets to become more fuel efficient, they would rather spend $ millions in advertising to convince the public that attaining the 35 mpg standard is bad for consumers and the environment, and that CAFE kills.

While the auto industry has argued for years that fuel-efficiency would compromise public safety due to the need to build smaller, lighter vehicles, according to an October 2007 article in Scientific American, new engine and transmission technologies could enable manufacturers to improve fuel efficiency without significantly cutting vehicle weights.

In spite of the fact that Toyota currently has the technology to make cars that achieve 55 mpg, Toyota’s refusal to step up to the plate and support the 35 mpg CAFE standard has evoked the wrath of environmentalist groups like the NRDC who now question “How Green is Toyota?” That the maker of the Prius could support the Hill-Terry compromise, which according to UCS, would actually cause us to use 700,000 more barrels each day, feels like sheer betrayal.

Is the auto industry genuinely concerned about the economic well-being of American consumers and our ability to get around as cheaply as possible? Hmmm.

In 1922, General Motors dismantled mass transit across the U.S., bought up trolley systems through its subsidiary National City lines, gutted them and tore up all the tracks. GM joined tire manufacturers, construction companies, and oil companies to lobby for Congress for development of a national highway system, which has defined urban development over the last 90 years. It helped that GM’s president Charles Wilson became secretary of defense and Frances DuPont became the federal highway administrator. Thus America became a oil-addicted, nation of drivers.

With Bush and his Big Oil cohorts in power threatening veto, ordinary Americans may be up for another round of seriously getting screwed. Therefore, it’s up to us to take action and DEMAND a clean, energy future NOW.

Take Action and Support a Strong, Clean Energy Bill for 2007

Instead of making the richest companies in the world richer, this energy bill will benefit consumers and working Americans, make us less dependent on foreign oil and better global citizens. Here are simple actions you can take to lobby Congress for a cleaner, greener future:

1. THIS IS IMPORTANT! Sign this petition and pass it on: Energy Bill 2007
2. Meet other clean energy activists online: Energy Bill 2007 Group on Facebook
3. Tell Toyota, “Shame On You” and get your friends to tell Toyota to support 35 mpg now.

By lobbying Congress to adopt strong energy efficiency measures in the 2007 Energy Bill, we can lower emissions and use less energy in the years to come —saving governments, businesses, schools, and consumers money. Energy efficiency is an energy resource just like anything else and is much cheaper than even coal-fired power generation. We must look to energy efficiency as another solution for our energy needs, while at the same time ramping up the amount of electricity we get from renewables. This is our only way we can guarantee a clean, green future for ourselves and future generations.

Technorati Tags: new energy bill, energy bill 2007, cafe, cafe standard, corporate average fuel economy, renewable electricity standard, res, hill-terry, clean tech, fuel efficiency, fuel economy, global warming

Burning Man’s Green Man theme for 2007 inspired environmental art that was far more symbolic than sustainable. For example, the Crude Awaking installation was blown up in a giant mushroom cloud in order to ‘dramatize the worshipful relationship and dependence modern man has toward oil’. I can only imagine the amount of fuel it took to haul, install, and blow up a 99 foot oil derrick.

A favorite installation of mine was the wondrous Big Rig Jig by Mike Ross, which featured 2 oil tanker trucks in perfect acro-yogic balance.

The highly interactive swinging monkeys installation was another favorite of mine.

A troupe of child-sized monkeys were suspended from a merry-go-round wheel, at the base of which a set of congo drums was placed, inviting visitors to beat upon them in reckless abandon. Surrounding the merry-go-round was a ring of bikes. With several people rapidly peddling, the wheel begins to spin, and rapidly flashing strobe lights create the illusion that the monkeys are swinging overhead from bar to bar.

Of the art cars I saw this year, 2 are dear to my heart.

Photo courtesy of Duane Flatmo

Duane Flatmo’s latest Kinetic Sculpture, the pedal-powered Armored Carp, is made entirely of welded baking pans and other pieces of scrap metal also shoots flames.

The solar-powered Daisy (owned by the Cunninhams and friends) was an oversized tricycle with sails and a horn that sounded like a loud, drawn-out cow-fart provided an afternoon of entertainment and photo opps.

Elena Cunningham

John Cunningham

To see more Burning Man photography, visit my Green Man 2007 Set on Flickr.

Technorati Tags: burning man 2007, green man 2007, eco-art, crude awakening, big rig jig, mike ross, daisy, elena cunningham, john cunningham, duane flatmo, armored carp, kinetic sculpture, lorna li

Burning Man, the annual arts festival that takes place in the remote Black Rock Desert, attracts approximately 40,000 participants, and is Nevada’s tenth largest city, for one week. As a 4th year Burner, I returned to Burning Man after a hiatus of 3 years, with high hopes that Burning Man was finally evolving out of its flamboyant and hedonistic paradigm into a model of eco-conscious social engagement, embodied by its 2007 theme “Green Man.”

I must say that, while I had a blast, I was disappointed by the Green-ness of Green Man. But, having arrived at Black Rock Desert in a gas guzzling RV with 4 other friends, I will be the first to admit it ain’t easy making Burning Man Green.

Comparing notes with other eco-conscious Burners, it seemed that the Green element seemed to be somewhat weak.

The 30,000 square foot Green Pavilion showcased emerging Green technologies in a manner much like a high school science project, rather than a “World Fair” of clean technologies. Artistic models and interactive displays were explained by billboards that most were too hung-over or ADD in the highly distracting Burning Man environment to read.

An alternative solution to greenhouse gases - use bags of bubbling CO2 absorbing liquid algae.

Gas guzzling art cars tore around the Playa much like any year. Art installations that required enormous resources to haul out to Black Rock Desert and assemble were symbolically torched, emitting clouds of toxins into the atmosphere.

Eco-camps were few and far between - it appeared that most camps consumed and threw away mounds of plastic bottles, cups, utensils, and other refuse much like any other year. Camp art, sofas, carpets, dome cushions and junk costumes received their final applause on the Playa before making their inevitable journey to eternal rest in landfills. Face it, who wants to spend hours washing Playa dust off junk or pay to store it for next year?

Battery-operated lights on your bike are cool and create less garbage.

Environmentally unsustainable, single-use, disposable glow sticks were as de rigeur as ever. I found myself using plenty of these, as it was important to me to find my bike in the dark and not be run over by art cars at night.

Overall, the carbon footprint of Burning Man seemed to be no different than any other year. According to Cooling Man, the event is estimated to give off 28,000 tons of carbon emissions.

Leave No Trace

Burning Man’s motto, for years, has been to “Leave No Trace“. Burners are told to pack all out all their waste and refrain from wearing feather boas and glittery things that easily shed. Camps that use large quantities of water, such as Astral Headwash, are asked to evaporate their runoff in large, shallow, evaporation pans lined with sheets of black plastic rather than forcing the arid Playa to absorb unnaturally large quantities of water. For weeks after the Burn, the Black Rock City clean up crew comb the desert for detritus that might have blown away.

I’ve often thought that “Leave No Trace”, while truly commendable, still falls short of minimal environmental impact to the desert. Face it, burning giant structures of metal, plastic, and fluorescent lights can’t possibly be good for the environment.

2007 Green Initiatives at Burning Man

In 2006, Burning Man took a Green step forward by issuing an official environmental statement.

In 2007, that intention evolved into the following initiatives, such as:
From www.worldchanging.com:

A festival-wide composting program will manage food waste from the Café, Commissary and 50-100 theme camps. The organizers have also instituted composing in the San Francisco Burning Man office. All plastic utensils are also being replaced by corn-based products.

A comprehensive recycling program including drive-thru recycling in neighboring cities for burners to dispose of recyclables on the ride home. Proceeds raised from the recyclables will be donated to support environmental initiatives and education through the Gerlach High School.

87% of the main festival generators will be run on B100 biodiesel (11,000 gallons) and the remaining generators (not including festival participants) will run on B10.

Over 50 theme camps are using biodiesel because Burning Man negotiated with local vendors to lower entry barriers for biodiesel use.

A Burning Man sponsored installation of a 120 kW solar array in Gerlach, Nevada and a 60 kW solar array in Lovelock, Nevada. A 30 kW solar array will be used to help power the festival and will be gifted to Gerlach after the event. This project will generate $3 million of electricity over the next 20 years at no cost to Gerlach/Lovelock residents.

A Burning Man sponsored a CFL project in Gerlach (the closest town to the festival, population 500) updating all town light bulbs from incandescent to compact fluorescents.

1000 shared yellow bikes (funded by a generous burner) painted green with red flames. This gift will help create the highest per capita municipal bike use in the United States (1 bike per 35 people).

Burning Man 2007’s Green Footprint Baby Step

While efforts to reduce Burning Man’s environmental impact has been steadily growing, in 2007, Burning Man broke new records in its Green initiatives:
From www.burningman.com:

The wood recycling set a new record: 56 units of lumber loaded down 4 flatbeds, all donated to Habitat For Humanity in Reno.

The composting project with the City of San Francisco loaning out their curbside green bins was a huge hit–we loaded out an entire 30 yard dumpster of gooey wet green waste, and sent it off to Full Circle Compost down in Minden.

Also Cooling Man set a new record - 600 tons of carbon emissions offset in 2007

Finally, according to the Burn Clean Project, Burning Man 2007 collectively replaced 8,000 gallons of petroleum with biodiesel.

How Can Burning Man Get Greener

According to Dr. Jonathan L. Gelbard, Ph.D. conservation biologist, sustainability expert, and Burner, Burning Man has a long way to go before it can be considered a “bright green event.” His recommendations are:

Improve Greener Transport and Power

1. Energize Black Rock City via the power of sun and wind! If a few pilot solar and wind-power stations can be set up to help start powering RV’s and sound systems so they don’t need to burn gas for generators, it would be a huge coup.

2. Or, use biofuel-powered vehicles and generators.

Reduce, Re-Use and Recycle More

Burning Man’s organizers can more actively discourage waste, and encourage the use of re-usable water jugs, bottles, cups, and cutlery, as well as biodegradable plastics. Paper used by the festival should be a high percentage of post-consumer recycled content, including toilet paper in the porta-potties.

Use Sustainably Harvested Wood

A lot of wood is used at Burning Man, including to build The Man, himself. Burning Man (1) should absolutely set a good example by using sustainably-harvested FSC certified wood, and (2) can provide resources on its web site to help connect burners with sources of sustainably harvested wood - as well as sustainable products in general.

Keep Building Awareness About Sustainability

Burning Man can and should maintain and improve upon 2007’s Green Man-type sustainability component. Perhaps fun contests can reward the greenest burners, creating financial incentives that encourage sustainability. Burning Man has been the seed for many a good idea, and the event’s coordinators can and should continue to do their part to actively lead the way towards a more sustainable future.

Technorati Tags: burning man 2007, green man 2007, burning man green initiatives, leave no trace, Jonathan L. Gelbard, lorna li