Greening our lifestyle and activities can be a daunting enterprise, especially when we start with a strong will to go green, little time and a vague idea about what is the problem, what’s causing it and how to fix it. So the idea of providing consumers and businesses some indicators in the form of third-party ratings, labels and certifications about one product and/or organization environmental performance seemed at first a good one. That was until the stakes became to high. Continue Reading »

Not surprisingly Green Age’s 2009 top 3 personalities have made the headlines for the right reasons. The months preceding Copenhagen have brought the spotlights on many individuals and organizations, but no one had been more expected than President Barack Obama. Some have been disappointed by his position, more by the lack of concrete results, and to sum up this year’s climate talk “We do not have the fair, ambitious and legally binding agreement that millions around the world hoped the world leaders gathered in Copenhagen would deliver. They are not done yet, and neither are we.” posts 350.org on their web site. As important this event was, let’s not forget there is a life outside climate change negotiations; organizations and individuals that have made a real difference in advancing the cause of a cleaner and a safer world, conservationists, scientists and activists alike have helped push environmental and health issues one (at least) step further. So without any delays, here is our top 3:

#3: The Climate Change Activists. Copenhagen and environmental talks could not have been the same without them, they are at the heart and soul of the contestation movement, and although they some times have made the headlines for the wrong reasons, it would be silly to ignore their roles in telling the world what was really happening in Copenhagen: tcktcktck, 350.org, avaaz.org, Union of Concerned Scientists and so many more that have rallied millions of people under the banner “A Fair, ambitious and bidding agreement now”. Keep the beat up, people! and so many more that have rallied millions of people under the banner “A Fair, ambitious and bidding agreement now”. Keep the beat up, people!

#2: Ken Cook, without a moment of hesitation is the environmentalist who, in our humble opinion, can contribute the most to environmental and health protective reforms. His non-profit, Environmental Working Group that he started with Richard Wiles in 1993, has raised to become one of the most respected voice in the green community through acute analyses. This year alone, EWG’s work in toxic chemicals in umbilical cord and many children products, school clening supplies, farm subsidies and water pollutions have helped change the conversation and speed the ban of some of the most harmful chemicals. He was also named ultimate green game changer by Huffington Post.

#1: And the winner is … President Barack Obama. We can’t think of anyone who has had more impact on the green and sustainable scene since Al Gore and the release of the Inconvenient Truth in 2006. President Obama did not wait long before pushing green initiatives. Even before taking office, he and his staff met with hundreds of NGOs, green and cleantech professionals. Immediately after moving to the White House, (and we’re going to cite our friends from Grist.com) “he appointed the greenest Cabinet ever, chock-full of top-notch scientists and long-time climate advocates. His administration has made massive green stimulus investments, set EPA moving forward to regulate CO2 and chemical policy reform, pushed green jobs, promoted eco-friendly retrofits, established new fuel-economy rules and efficiency standards, launched national retrofit programs, delayed mining and drilling permits, set new energy standards and goals for all federal departments, created a White House garden and farmers market, and oh so much more”. Unfortunately he has deliver more mountaintop-removal permits than his predecessor – although he plans to make it more constraining; we’re still waiting for him to take a position in regards to GMOs and conventional biofuels; and – but that is not very fair to charge him for this – he has not been able to impose (or convince) the Houses and the world of the necessity to adopt and implement drastic measures to curb the world’s CO2 emissions. But hey, in less than a year, he has done more than the last 3 presidents combined.

Otis Elementary School, Alameda California. Inside the multipurpose building kids have painted on two contiguous walls. The mural represents Alameda (the island city) but it could represent any other city, instead of the San Francisco Bay, it could be any bay or any lake. What’s striking about this mural is the overall theme, what everyone can or should do to keep their surrounding clean and sustainable. How did these kids picture their environment? Green and blue. Continue Reading »

It is not “that” difficult to create a useful and accessible online tool when the will is there. Trust me, I have experienced it first hand. Imagine getting 10 of the largest cities in California to collaborate on making available to other cities across the world their best green practices and actually to make it happen in a record 9 months time … Of course, some of the cities started to feel the increasingly heavy burden of answering requests from other cities and consultants interested in learning from them the how’s, the what’s and the why’s of say waste reduction policy and practices in Oakland or San Francisco, San Jose or Santa Monica. But that was not the only hurdle. In time of financial crisis, allocating a budget of roughly $100,000 to eventually save money and promote sustainability practices is a hard sell, even though everyone understands it has to happen: By switching to 100% recycled paper, GCC members annually have saved since 2008: 8,600,000 pounds of CO2 emissions, 19,600,000 gallons of water, 11,500,000 kilowatt hours of electricity, and 67,000 trees. The list of achievements goes on covering energy, waste reduction, urban design, transportation, environmental health and water. Continue Reading »

Really, who would have imagined the Obama administration would have used the presidential communications privilege to hide the identity of the people Obama’s team is meeting behind close doors to shape the country’s energy policy? I am baffled, I must admit. Call me naive, but I do recall then candidate Obama openly and vehemently criticizing the Bush administration for keeping everyone in the dark and pushing his agenda without any dialogue and promising an unprecedented level of openness.
I can’t help but feeling awkward that such strategy is used to hide whom the energy team is meeting and at which frequency these meetings are taking place.
The release of 42 mountain top removal permits and the administration’s plans to continue mountaintop coal mining (even though it gives the EPA greater oversight), along with the recent decision by the supreme court to allow dumping debris in lakes send a chilling signal to environmentalists and the communities affected by these destructive practices.
“The real questions for the administration are these: will they stop the destruction caused by mountaintop removal or not? Will they follow the Bush administration’s policies of allowing enormous piles of waste to be dumped into streams, forever burying them, or not?” Joan Mulhern, Senior Legislative Counsel at Earthjustice, said in a release.
With a near 100% score amongst environmental and social activists during the last election, I believe we deserve the right to know.

We seem to all agree achieving sustainability whether at home or at work entails three types of practices: reuse, reduce and recycle. They all make perfect sense. Think of plastic bags and bottles, office paper and cartons, energy and water. In the three months following a rethinking of our energy and water consumption as well as our waste management practices, although we made significant milestones, we felt we could have achieved better results if we’d also replaced some items and if we could reinvent the way we live. Continue Reading »

With 17 million inhabitants, Beijing is China’s second largest urban area. In less than a month, the Imperial City will host the XXIX Summer Olympic Games, and both the People’s Republic of China and the City’s government are making sure the most viewed planetary event will be a success. Even the air pollution that has been plaguing the city will be taken care of ($17 billion has been spent to this effect), even if it means forbidding car access for a full month. Athletes with asthma will be able to compete. China’s efforts to organize a green event have become incompatible with the resources required for a smooth event of this magnitude. Actually, Beijing Summer Olympic Games may enter history as the most environmentally unfriendly event in Olympic history. But this is only a “historical detail” in comparison to what the future may hold for this megalopolis. Continue Reading »

Mark your calendar: Earth Day is on Tuesday April 22. So, what are you going to do? Earthday.net gives you plenty of tips, events you can join to make this day enjoyable and memorable. Professional organizations are also on the deck. Tips from green cleaning guru Steve Ashkin: how about informing your clients? I agree: how about sharing three green/ environmental tips with each one of your friends and learning three from them?

AFTER BALI: THE ROAD AHEAD ON CLIMATE CHANGE

Hosted by the Commonwealth Club in San Francisco on February 7th, 2008.

I thought it would be interesting to hear what three distinctive voices representing the political, business and scientific spheres had to say about the Bali talks. I was particularly curious to see how the policy maker (in charge amongst other to define, coordinate, implement US environmental policy) would answer when facing the hard reality as exposed by a renown and respected scientist.
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Congratulations to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change and former US VP. Al Gore, winners of the 2007 Peace Nobel Prize … “for their efforts to build up and disseminate greater knowledge about man-made climate change, and to lay the foundations for the measures that are needed to counteract such change”.
But it is the Nobel Peace Prize that was awarded, and truly so, the Norwegian committee recognized that the effect of climate change increases the chance of conflicts as natural resources are becoming scarce and countries or ethnics will fight to access these resources. Looking at the list of Nobel Prize Winners, I believe this is the first time that this prestigious – although sometimes controversial – distinction has been awarded for the sake of conflict prevention. Continue Reading »

The CleanTech Crossroads had its premier conference on the new UCSF Mission Bay Campus. A perfect location as UCSF has been one of the strongest adopters of green building, adopting LEED standards and exceeding State’s mandated energy code requirements, so when my friend Rachel Sheinbein of the Keiretsu CleanTech Committee asked me to come along it sounded like the perfect environment to look at the ground covered in the CleanTech space since my last experience with renewable energy in 2003/4. Continue Reading »