Maldives Underwater

Maldives leaders prepare for climate change negotiations:

Blog Action Day 09

Seeing as I always blog about sustainability and a lot about climate change… and the theme of this year’s Blog Action Day is climate change, I thought it would be good to write a post about hypocrisy. Also, I’m flying on a plane as I write this. Hard not to think about hypocrisy.

It’s easy to be hypocritical when it comes to climate change and climate action. Even when you really know about it, and truly internalize the scope, scale, magnitude, and urgency of the crisis.

It’s easy to walk outside on a beautiful peaceful day and forget all about the folks in Africa (and Atlanta) who are suffering from extended droughts and flash floods.

It’s easy to think “2100 is so far away… so is 2050, 2020, and 2012 for that matter.” (ok, it’s hard to still think that about 2012).

And so it’s easy to get in the car and drive, or forget to call the insulation guy again, and fly to California for Bioneers and some meetings and a visit.

So let’s use Blog Action Day 2009 – thousands of bloggers on all types of topics blogging about climate change for the day – as a reminder and a rally cry and an energy boost to acknowledge the hypocrisy all of us in the US live with to one degree or another, and not let it get us down, but drive us to do everything we can to spark meaningful action.

Here are a few immediate things you can do:

1. Find a 350 event near you and participate on Sat. 10/24 – go to www.350.org to find an event
2. Find a contractor who does energy audits in your area and have them come do an analysis on your house or apartment – they’ll break it down by payback periods and in most cases find energy savings that will save more than enough money to cover the cost of the audit.
3. Call your Senators and tell them (again if necessary) you support a strong climate bill and they better be doing all they can to stand up against heavily backed vested interests.
4. See if your college president has signed the Presidents’ Climate Commitment, and if not send him or her a friendly email encouraging them to do so.
5. Add your name to the www.tcktcktck.org petition to support a strong international climate agreement.

All super easy ways you can make a huge difference – keep it up and we can all move through our hypocrisy faster, and in time to avoid the worst impacts of climate disruption.

Happy Blog Action Day, and stay going!

Interface - pausing to take in the view

The Interface story never gets old. Check out this 8 minute video that gives a bit of a check-in on where they are in their great trek up Mount Sustainability:

http://www.interfaceflor.eu/internet/web.nsf/webpages/58150_EN.html

Ray Anderson just released his new book, Confessions of a Radical Industrialist: Profits, People, Purpose - Doing Business by Respecting the Earth. I haven't started it yet, but I have a copy and can't wait to dig in.

In the meantime the stats since they've embarked on this journey speak for themselves, these come from a recent interview with Gallup Management Journal:

"Between 1996 and 2008, Interface cut its net greenhouse gas emissions by 71% in absolute tons (the Kyoto Protocol, in contrast, called for 7% reductions by 2012, which many said was impossible). Yet over the same time frame, Interface increased sales by 66% and doubled its earnings, expanding its profit margins and propelling innovation. Interface also reduced greenhouse gas intensity (relative to sales) by 82%, wastewater stream by 72%, landfill-bound scrap waste by 78%, total energy usage by 44%, smokestacks by 33%, and effluent pipes by 71%. Interface also reached the top of GlobeScan's Survey of Sustainability Experts -- all while saving the company $405 million. And, since 2003, Interface has sold 83 million square yards of carpet with zero net global warming effect."

These kinds of success stories show what is possible with leadership, dedication, and strong sense of purpose.

Stay going.

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Beds are Burning

A decent remake of a classic for our new climate reality from TckTckTck (sign-up if you haven't yet):

Stay going.

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350 on 133

Without regard for the fact that we risk looking like bible-thumping crazies with "the end is near" signage in our front yard, we're using our house's perch on a busy road to raise a little awareness about 350.org:

I painted up these signs for our big picture on Sat. Oct 24th in Gloucester (details: www.350.org/capeann) as part of the International Day of Climate Action, and figured I'd put them to good use in the meantime. Give a honk if you drive by! (actually, please don't do that, it could get really annoying).

Stay going.

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Good Morning Gloucester

Cape Ann's most popular blog just ran a nice post about the 350.org event happening in Gloucester on Sat. Oct. 24 at 1pm at the Fishermen's Memorial statue.

Check it out and browse around the site a bit, Good Morning Gloucester.... they've got a ton of awesome stuff, including plenty of seagull hilarity.

Stay going.

The Natural Edge Project - huge emissions cuts, positive economic impact

My partner sent out the list (below) of reports demonstrating how we can achieve huge cuts in GHG emissions while not only avoiding costs, but driving economic prosperity in preparation for a roundtable discussion this afternoon with Michael Smith of The Natural Edge Project, an Australian think-tank that does an excellent job showing the benefits of whole-system thinking and design in pursuing sustainability. I couldn't help by share it:

Studies demonstrating that OECD Nations Can Achieve 60-80 per cent Emission Cuts Whilst Boosting the Economy and Jobs.

Hanemann, W., Farrell, A. et al (2006) Managing Greenhouse Gas Emissions in California. The California Climate Change Center at UC Berkeley at http://calclimate.berkeley.edu/research/ghg/assets/Cover_and_Executive_Summary.pdf

Interlaboratory Working Group (2000) Scenarios for a Clean Energy Future, Oak Ridge National Laboratory, Berkeley, CA, Lawrence Berkeley Laboratory, and National Renewable Energy Laboratory, CO. Available at www.nrel.gov/docs/fy01osti/29379.pdf.

Torrie, R., Parfett, R. and Steenhof, P. (2002) Kyoto and Beyond: the low emission path to innovation and efficiency, Report for David Suzuki Foundation and Canadian Climate Action Network, Canada. http://www.davidsuzuki.org/files/Kyoto_72.pdf

Lovins, A., Datta, K., Feiler, T., Rábago, K., Swisher, J., Lehmann, A. and Wicker, K. (2002) Small Is Profitable: The Hidden Economic Benefits of Making Electrical Resources the Right Size, Rocky Mountain Institute, Colorado. www.smallisprofitable.org

Turton, H., Ma, J., Saddler, H. and Hamilton, C. (2002) Long-Term Greenhouse Gas Scenarios: a pilot study of how Australia can achieve deep cuts in emissions, Australia Institute Paper No 48, http://www.tai.org.au/documents/dp_fulltext/DP48.pdf

Mintzer, I., Leonard, J.A. and Schwartz, P. (2003) US Energy Scenarios for the 21st Century, Pew Center on Global Climate Change.

Department of Trade and Industry (2003) Our Energy Future – Creating a Low Carbon Economy, Energy White Paper, UK Department of Trade and Industry, Version 11. http://www.dti.gov.uk/energy/energy-policy/energy-white-paper/page21223.html

Bailie, A., Bernow, S., Castelli, B., O’Connor, P. and Romm, J. (2003) The Path to Carbon Dioxide-Free Power: Switching to Clean Energy in the Utility Sector, Tellus Institute and Center for Energy and Climate Solutions for the World Wildlife Fund, USA. http://www.foe.org.au/climate-justice/learning-resources/solutions-to-climate-chnage/clean-energy/

Jochem, E (eds) (2004) Steps Towards A Sustainable Development: A White Book of R&D for Energy Efficient Technologies. Fraunhofer Institute for Systems and Innovation Research (ISI) http://www.isi.fhg.de/e/publikation/pdf/white_book_energy-efficient_technologies.pdf

Saddler, H., Diesendorf, M. and Denniss, R. (2004) A Clean Energy Future for Australia Energy Strategies, WWF, Canberra. http://wwf.org.au/ourwork/climatechange/cleanenergyfuture/

Lovins, A.B., Datta, E.K., Bustnes, O.E., Koomey, J.G. and Glasgow, N.J. (2004) Winning the Oil Endgame: Innovation for Profits, Jobs and Security, Rocky Mountain Institute, Colorado. http://www.oilendgame.com/

National Institute for Environmental Studies (2005) Japan: Low Carbon Society Scenarios toward 2050, National Institute for Environmental Studies. Japan. http://2050.nies.go.jp/

Stern, N. (2006) The Stern Review: The Economics of Climate Change, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge.

Makhijani, A. (2007) Carbon-Free and Nuclear-Free: A Roadmap for U.S. Energy Policy, Nuclear Policy Research Institute and the Institute for Energy and Environmental Research. http://www.ieer.org/carbonfree/

Smith, M. and Hargroves, K. (2007) ‘Analysis of the Costs of Inaction versus the Costs of Action on Climate Change for Australia’, a submission by TNEP to the Garnaut Review, The Natural Edge Project, Australia. www.naturaledgeproject.net/Documents/TNEPSubmission.pdf

Diesendorf, M. (2007) Paths to a Low Carbon Future Reducing Australia’s Greenhouse Gas Emissions by 30 percent by 2020, Sustainability Centre. http://www.greenpeace.org/raw/content/australia/resources/reports/climate-change/paths-to-a-low-carbon-future.pdf

Hatfield Dodds, S., Jackson, E.K., Adams, P.D. and Gerardi, W. (2007) Leader, follower or free rider? The economic impacts of different Australian emission targets by 2050, The Climate Institute, Sydney, Australia. http://www.climateinstitute.org.au/images/stories/CI058_ER_FullReport_NEW.PDF

IPCC (2007) Climate Change 2007: Mitigation. Contribution of Working Group III to the Fourth Assessment Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change [B. Metz, O.R. Davidson, P.R. Bosch, R. Dave, L.A. Meyer (eds)], Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, United Kingdom and New York, NY, USA.

National Institute for Environmental Studies (2007) Japan Scenarios towards a Low Carbon Society – Feasibility study for 70% CO2 emission reduction by 2050 below 1990 level, National Institute for Environmental Studies. Japan. http://2050.nies.go.jp/

Smith, M., Hargroves, K., Stasinopoulos, P., Stephens, R., Desha, C. and Hargroves, S. (2007) Energy Transformed: Sustainable Energy Solutions for Climate Change Mitigation, The Natural Edge Project, Griffith University, and CSIRO, Australia. http://www.naturaledgeproject.net/Sustainable_Energy_Solutions_Portfolio.aspx

Department of Trade and Industry (2007) Meeting the Energy Challenge: A White Paper on Energy, Department of Trade and Industry, UK. http://www.berr.gov.uk/files/file39387.pdf

Institute of Public Policy Research, WWF and RSPB (2007) 80 per cent challenge: Delivering a Low Carbon Britain. Institute of Public Policy Research, WWF and RSPB. UK. http://www.ippr.org.uk/pressreleases/?id=2922

Pembina Institute and David Suzuki Foundation (2008) Deep Reductions, Strong Growth: An economic analysis showing that Canada can prosper economically while doing its share to prevent dangerous climate change. Pembina Institute and David Suzuki Foundation. http://www.davidsuzuki.org/latestnews/dsfnews12040801.asp

Von Weizsäcker, E., Hargroves, K., Smith, M., Desha, C. and Stasinopoulos, P. (2009) Factor 5: Transforming the Global Economy through 80% Improvements in Resource Productivity, Earthscan, London. (Pre publication Hardcopy bound copy given to LBNLs)

Stay going.

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