It's been a crazy couple of weeks - the 4th Annual Climate Leadership Summit of the ACUPCC was a great success a couple of weeks ago in Denver, and last week we had the opportunity to participate in an exciting milestone of Penn State's strategic sustainability planning process. In both cases, high-level decision makers from our country's institutions of higher learning were coming together to essentially imagine themselves and their institutions in a sustainable future, and look back to 2010 to see what we had done to get there.
Bill McKibben performs a similar backcasting exercise in his latest piece in the Solutions journal - looking back from 2100 and recounting how the events of 2010 and 2011 started a real concerted push towards 350 ppm. The Global Work Parties last month were a big help and inspiring - see the video below.
I think it's particularly important to share this video ahead of Tuesdays elections. Here in the US we get a very slim and distorted slice of the real news - we forget the rest of the world is out there - and the discourse on climate disruption and solutions is very different than what's coming across in our political arena (like this campaign ad for West Virginia Democrat Joe Manchin where he literally shoots the cap & trade bill with a rifle (and not because it's a free-market solution based on Republican principles) - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xIJORBRpOPM)
China, India, Europe, and the rest of the world are moving ahead with solutions, and we're risking missing the greatest economic opportunity, certainly since the Industrial Revolution, and possibly ever, by bowing to vested interests. We've got to wake up and get moving towards a visions of a sustainable future.
Stay going.
Friday, October 29, 2010
Friday, October 15, 2010
Water & Waste
It's Blog Action Day again - and 2010 has a timely theme: water.
It's a theme that was prominent at the 2010 Climate Leadership Summit of the American College & University Presidents' Climate Commitment (ACUPCC), which took place this week in Denver.
Keynote speaker James Woolsey, former CIA director, focused his talk on the national security implications of our energy use (as well as the social and environmental implications). Of course you can't have that conversation without talking about climate disruption and water.
During the business roundtable, moderated by ASU President Michael Crow, water was again a focal point. Jonathan Lanciani, COO of Organica Water spoke about the need that companies like his have for sustainability-literate graduates. He also spoke about the serious water challenges our world faces - 2.5 billion people live in "water stressed" areas, global demand continues to grow, and large parts of our energy system (including some clear renewables) are water-intensive.
Organica has an exciting approach - essentially taking the "living machine" concept and creating systems that are small, efficient, and suitable for urban and institutional use. Waste water goes in the system, and comes out the other end clean, and ready for re-use as grey water (for toilets, irrigation, etc.)
Living organisms do the work - bacteria, microbes, plants, and animals eliminate the need for toxic chemicals and energy-instensive systems. The systems are aesthetically pleasing, reminiscent of botanical gardens. And they're odor-free, with upfront costs comparable to traditional systems, and lower operational costs for the life of the system.
Organica's system is just one example of how sustainability constraints can drive innovation - and how we can create economic opportunity and improve the quality of life for everyone by taking a proactive approach to moving towards sustainability.
Stay going.
It's a theme that was prominent at the 2010 Climate Leadership Summit of the American College & University Presidents' Climate Commitment (ACUPCC), which took place this week in Denver.
Keynote speaker James Woolsey, former CIA director, focused his talk on the national security implications of our energy use (as well as the social and environmental implications). Of course you can't have that conversation without talking about climate disruption and water.
During the business roundtable, moderated by ASU President Michael Crow, water was again a focal point. Jonathan Lanciani, COO of Organica Water spoke about the need that companies like his have for sustainability-literate graduates. He also spoke about the serious water challenges our world faces - 2.5 billion people live in "water stressed" areas, global demand continues to grow, and large parts of our energy system (including some clear renewables) are water-intensive.
Organica has an exciting approach - essentially taking the "living machine" concept and creating systems that are small, efficient, and suitable for urban and institutional use. Waste water goes in the system, and comes out the other end clean, and ready for re-use as grey water (for toilets, irrigation, etc.)Living organisms do the work - bacteria, microbes, plants, and animals eliminate the need for toxic chemicals and energy-instensive systems. The systems are aesthetically pleasing, reminiscent of botanical gardens. And they're odor-free, with upfront costs comparable to traditional systems, and lower operational costs for the life of the system.
Organica's system is just one example of how sustainability constraints can drive innovation - and how we can create economic opportunity and improve the quality of life for everyone by taking a proactive approach to moving towards sustainability.
Stay going.
Monday, October 04, 2010
Breathe Into Us A Spirit
by Emilie Oyen
Many years ago in New York City, I attended
a peculiar Sunday service at The Cathedral Church of Saint John the Divine, the Episcopal Diocese of New York. The "largest church in Christendom," St. John the Divine is breathtaking even among New York City's towering skyscrapers. Peacocks wander around the sculptures of its yard; deceased artists and writers are buried in its crypts; famous tightrope walkers pay for residency there by plying their trade to change the high-up lightbulbs. It is a gorgeous, strange, ethereal and spiritual place.
The morning I attended, thousands of people were crammed into the pews. Hundreds of dogs, cats, parrots, iguanas, fish, chickens, snakes, sheep and geese were also crammed into the pews. It was 1994, and the feast of St. Francis of Assisi (celebrated yesterday), a day when animals are blessed in the spirit of this patron saint of animals and ecology.
Incense burned in pagan-esque clouds at the altar as the procession entered; hymns were sung; the lessons were read. And here we were, with God's creations commingling among the ritual of worship. Carl Sagan spoke that day too, though I don't remember his message. Once suspicious of religion due to its historical role in war, Sagan eventually realized that religious communities were allies on the subject of ecology. He is now buried at St James.
Despite the controlled chaos, the smell of the animals and the enormity of the gathering, peace and harmony held the congregation together. And so when the priest asked for quiet and calm, the great cathedral went silent. I held my breath as an elephant was led into the cathedral and swayed down the central aisle for his blessing.
This blew off the boundaries of church as I had experienced it growing up in a small New England town. I could see, for the first time, the true connection between earth and worship and God, and how it is all One.
Years later, I returned to St. John the Divine for An Interfaith Evening for the Climate with Bill McKibben. The speakers made it again clear: When we worship God, we worship creation; and people of all faiths have an obligation to this earth to protect it. The earth is God's creation, and we are God's stewards.
McKibben was concrete in how to act: Legislation is the answer and a campaign of civil disobedience from our religious tranditions is required. High officials of various traditions can use the value of language to have an immediate impact. The can use their sermons as a tool; congregations as a receptive audience.
Religion can also be a source for faith during the darker hours of fear and anger when working to protect the environment----to breathe into us again a spirit. "God's design is being abused," McKibben began. "But we can turn to the deepest part of our traditions to sustain ourselves."
To read more on subjects of Faith and the environment:
Monday, September 27, 2010
Friday, September 17, 2010
Stories of Meaning
When talking about taking a strategic approach to sustainability, among the most powerful tools we have are stories. That may sound weird for a lot of people "strategic" brings to mind action plans, hard-nosed business decisions, grand plans in theaters of war - but really it just means you've started with the end in mind and you're being smart about moving towards your goal. In our case, that goal is a sustainable society.
As we know, sustainability can be defined scientifically with four sustainability principles - three ecological principles to ensure we're not systematically undermining the very life-support system of which we are a part, and one social principle to ensure we're not systematically undermining people's capacity to meet their needs. Right now our society is unsustainable, and with regard to social sustainability, that is evidenced through a deterioration in the social fabric globally. (This piece talks about Gallup data showing America's declining trust in our institutions, and this graph shows it visually).
Stories of meaning are one of the most effective ways we can rebuild and strengthen the social fabric, and to remind ourselves that we're all in this together. I often intend to use this blog as a venue for stories of meaning, and I usually fail to - spending more time on SSD theory or news or actions we can take.
Luckily there is Subhankar Banerjee who recently launched ClimateStoryTellers.org. I've only read a little bit so far, but the stories and writing are great, and the concept is phenomenal. I highly recommend checking it out.
Stories of meaning and building the social fabric are so key because at the end of the day sustainability is about people and working to ensure a high quality of life for as many of the people on the planet as possible and for as many future generations as possible. To do this requires that we respect and live in harmony with all other living systems. This point was brought home again to me today by a friend who sent me this article in Newsweek by George Will. It references an piece by Robert Laughlin that has a correct (if obvious) thesis - the earth system has changed dramatically over geological time and will continue to do so, irregardless of if humans cause any big changes or not.
But Will's article interprets Laughlin's piece in an incredibly misleading way - insinuating that as a result of this fact, we shouldn't do anything about correcting our unsustainable path. It takes advantage of the fact that the human brain has a tough time dealing with time - often one of the trickiest components of systems thinking for most people - and neglects to point out that all of human civilization has happened in the past 10,000 years - a time of relatively stable climate and a unique balance of ecosystem conditions with which humans have co-evolved. Changing those conditions radically (by continuing to violate the first 3 sustainability principles) will not "hurt" the planet - but it will make the planet unlivable for human civilization.
Will's piece is the opposite of a story of meaning - it's a twisted story that sows doubt, breeds passivity, and encourages people not to think too much, worry to much, or act at all. (It also includes this ridiculous statement as if it's a fact and a foregone conclusion: "Someday, all the fossil fuels that used to be in the ground will be burned.")
So don't spend much time on it - instead, cruise over to ClimateStoryTellers.org and get involved with strengthening the social fabric around the world.
Stay going.
Stories of meaning are one of the most effective ways we can rebuild and strengthen the social fabric, and to remind ourselves that we're all in this together. I often intend to use this blog as a venue for stories of meaning, and I usually fail to - spending more time on SSD theory or news or actions we can take.
Luckily there is Subhankar Banerjee who recently launched ClimateStoryTellers.org. I've only read a little bit so far, but the stories and writing are great, and the concept is phenomenal. I highly recommend checking it out.
Stories of meaning and building the social fabric are so key because at the end of the day sustainability is about people and working to ensure a high quality of life for as many of the people on the planet as possible and for as many future generations as possible. To do this requires that we respect and live in harmony with all other living systems. This point was brought home again to me today by a friend who sent me this article in Newsweek by George Will. It references an piece by Robert Laughlin that has a correct (if obvious) thesis - the earth system has changed dramatically over geological time and will continue to do so, irregardless of if humans cause any big changes or not.
But Will's article interprets Laughlin's piece in an incredibly misleading way - insinuating that as a result of this fact, we shouldn't do anything about correcting our unsustainable path. It takes advantage of the fact that the human brain has a tough time dealing with time - often one of the trickiest components of systems thinking for most people - and neglects to point out that all of human civilization has happened in the past 10,000 years - a time of relatively stable climate and a unique balance of ecosystem conditions with which humans have co-evolved. Changing those conditions radically (by continuing to violate the first 3 sustainability principles) will not "hurt" the planet - but it will make the planet unlivable for human civilization.
Will's piece is the opposite of a story of meaning - it's a twisted story that sows doubt, breeds passivity, and encourages people not to think too much, worry to much, or act at all. (It also includes this ridiculous statement as if it's a fact and a foregone conclusion: "Someday, all the fossil fuels that used to be in the ground will be burned.")
So don't spend much time on it - instead, cruise over to ClimateStoryTellers.org and get involved with strengthening the social fabric around the world.
Stay going.
Sunday, September 05, 2010
Solar Road Trip
On this Tuesday night (Sept. 7, 2010), the Solar Road Trip will stop in Boston. Second Nature has teamed up with Unity College, 350.org, Students for a Just and Stable Future, and others to help promote this exciting trip.
Author Bill McKibben and a team of students from Unity College in Maine travel to Washington D.C. to deliver one of the original Carter panels to President Obama, asking him to reinstall solar on the White House, and to follow this symbolic gesture with substantial legislative action.
Second Nature President Tony Cortese will speak, along with Bill McKibben and other leaders, about the importance of taking action on climate and energy. This should be a major press event, and a strong showing of supporters will go along way to raise the profile of these efforts – please join us on Tuesday night!
Here are the details of the event:
And if you didn’t catch Bill McKibben on Letterman Tuesday night, watch the clip here.
 |
| Carter solar panels on the cafeteria of Unity College (image source: huff-po) |
Author Bill McKibben and a team of students from Unity College in Maine travel to Washington D.C. to deliver one of the original Carter panels to President Obama, asking him to reinstall solar on the White House, and to follow this symbolic gesture with substantial legislative action.
Second Nature President Tony Cortese will speak, along with Bill McKibben and other leaders, about the importance of taking action on climate and energy. This should be a major press event, and a strong showing of supporters will go along way to raise the profile of these efforts – please join us on Tuesday night!
Here are the details of the event:
- Date: Tuesday, September 7
- Location: Old South Church, Copley Square, Boston
- Schedule:
- 5:30pm - Bicycle pedal-powered climate rock band, Melodeego
- 6:00pm - Guest Speakers, including Bill McKibben (of http://www.350.org), Tony Cortese (of http://www.secondnature.org), representatives from Students for a Just and Stable Future and Interfaith Power and Light
- 7:00pm - Screening of "A Road Not Taken," new documentary that tells the story of the original Carter White House solar panel installation.
And if you didn’t catch Bill McKibben on Letterman Tuesday night, watch the clip here.
Stay going.
Monday, August 02, 2010
The Glorious Mess
In this recent piece for Yale e360, Eric Pooley, deputy editor of Bloomberg BusinessWeek and author of The Climate War gives a great analysis of the current status of a national climate bill this year (near dead).
While the disastrous downsides of this failure to act are many, this quote sums up pretty well what we're looking at for next steps, and why it is about as far from a strategic and effective approach as we can get:
I remain hopeful that good sense will prevail, that we will be able to remove poisonous partisan politics from this issue and realize that this is one we're all in together, and we're way overdue in responding to. My optimism also leads me to believe (or at least hope) that maybe the glorious mess won't be quite as messy as suggested above - the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative (RGGI), the Midwestern Greenhouse Gas Reduction Accord, and the Western Climate Initiative (WCI) are getting more and more established, and looking into linking. These states and provinces account for nearly 40% of US GHG emissions, and are taking important steps in internalizing more of the true costs of carbon emissions and driving the investments in better design, efficiency upgrades, and product innovation that will not only reduce emissions but also spark economic activity and create jobs.
State and regional precedent is important for federal policy, and now I expect NGOs, businesses, and local and state government to refocus energy on effective programs that will set that precedent while reducing emissions and creating jobs at the same time.
Sector-wide approaches continue to lay the ground work. Hundreds of colleges and universities are demonstrating real leadership, educating students, driving research, eliminating their own emissions, and engaging with communities to create solutions. Through the ACUPCC hundreds have publicly reported comprehensive climate action plans on how they will do this. ICLEI continues to help municipalities ramp up progress, and the C40 Cities initiative has the world's most influential cities stepping up and trying to out-do each other in the most productive ways possible.
It's painful to dwell on the missed opportunity the Senate's inaction represents, but it's possible it will open up more unexpected opportunities that will enable us to avoid the worst impacts of climate disruption.
Stay going.
While the disastrous downsides of this failure to act are many, this quote sums up pretty well what we're looking at for next steps, and why it is about as far from a strategic and effective approach as we can get:
Welcome to the “glorious mess” — Michigan Rep. John Dingell’s phrase for the tangle of regulation and litigation that will follow when Congress fails to act. We are about to experience precisely the sort of costly, protracted, plant-by-plant trench warfare the cap was intended to avoid. Since the utilities and the manufacturers weren’t willing to cut a deal, this is what they get. The fragile period of compromise and cooperation between environmentalists and big business may now be coming to an end. Green groups that have invested time and money into the legislative process are now putting on their war paint and returning to the courts, with a renewed focus on stopping new coal-fired power plants and shutting down the oldest and dirtiest ones.
I remain hopeful that good sense will prevail, that we will be able to remove poisonous partisan politics from this issue and realize that this is one we're all in together, and we're way overdue in responding to. My optimism also leads me to believe (or at least hope) that maybe the glorious mess won't be quite as messy as suggested above - the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative (RGGI), the Midwestern Greenhouse Gas Reduction Accord, and the Western Climate Initiative (WCI) are getting more and more established, and looking into linking. These states and provinces account for nearly 40% of US GHG emissions, and are taking important steps in internalizing more of the true costs of carbon emissions and driving the investments in better design, efficiency upgrades, and product innovation that will not only reduce emissions but also spark economic activity and create jobs.
State and regional precedent is important for federal policy, and now I expect NGOs, businesses, and local and state government to refocus energy on effective programs that will set that precedent while reducing emissions and creating jobs at the same time.
Sector-wide approaches continue to lay the ground work. Hundreds of colleges and universities are demonstrating real leadership, educating students, driving research, eliminating their own emissions, and engaging with communities to create solutions. Through the ACUPCC hundreds have publicly reported comprehensive climate action plans on how they will do this. ICLEI continues to help municipalities ramp up progress, and the C40 Cities initiative has the world's most influential cities stepping up and trying to out-do each other in the most productive ways possible.
It's painful to dwell on the missed opportunity the Senate's inaction represents, but it's possible it will open up more unexpected opportunities that will enable us to avoid the worst impacts of climate disruption.
Stay going.
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