NatGeo's Greendex Indicates Americans Less Green Than Consumers in India, China, Brazil

Americans are less green than consumers in India, China, and Brazil, according to a new study by National Geographic and the international polling firm GlobeScan, measuring and monitoring consumer progress toward environmentally sustainable consumption in 14 countries around the world.

Check it out here: Greendex

According to NatGeo, it's a "quantitative consumer study of 14,000 consumers in a total of 14 countries asked about such behavior as energy use and conservation, transportation choices, food sources, the relative use of green products versus traditional products, attitudes towards the environment and sustainability, and knowledge of environmental issues. A group of international experts helped us determine the behaviors that were most critical to investigate."

The National Geographic/GlobeScan "Consumer Greendex," a scientifically derived sustainable consumption index of actual consumer behavior and material lifestyles across 14 countries, will be tracked over time and will be comparable across the selection of countries representing both the developed and developing world.

"To provide context for the Greendex results," NatGeo says, "we developed a 'Market Basket,' an index of actual consumption in four areas important to environmentally sustainable behavior—energy, transportation, travel, and consumer goods. A Market Basket for each country was assembled using a set of independently collected macroeconomic indicators, gathered by the Economist Intelligence Unit, which mirror, in part, the consumer behavior measured by the Greendex survey.

"The purpose of the Market Basket is to provide an external estimate of the results of changes in consumer behavior over time. The Greendex, for example, measures things consumers are doing to save energy in a country; the Market Basket measures whether total energy consumption in the country is actually going up or down. The Market Basket will also establish a framework for comparing the relative environmental impact of each country's size and rate of growth, over time."

Poke around on the site and check out the Greendex survey results, calculate your personal Greendex score, measure your knowledge of some basic issues against what your fellow citizens know, at home and around the world, and learn how to take steps to change your behavior so you ARE making a difference.

Visit the Greendex

Innovation: Printing Green from Blogs and Docs

Fred Wilson pointed me to this new widget I've just added to my blog (see bottom of right sidebar) that will help you print or email pages from The Green Skeptic in a way that will save paper. Of course, not printing it at all will save even more.

As Fred described it in his post today: "It's called the ECO-SAFE merit badge. But I call it my blog printing widget. From it, you can email this page, email a pdf of this page, or download a pdf of this page. It's goal is to reduce the amount of paper that is wasted printing blogs."

Find out more at: ECO-SAFE.com

For the past few months I've also been beta-testing a program called GreenPrint World that allows you to reduce the number of pages you print when printing documents. It scans the pages before sending them to your printer and highlights extraneous pages or pages with very little print suggesting you may want to remove them from the print job. It also creates PDFs with one click.

The extra step is a bit annoying when trying to print that document on the fly between meetings, but I've already saved 103 pages or $10.40 since installing the program. And having a few extra clicks to make before printing has definitely made me more conscious of what I am printing.

(I do wish GreenPrint World allowed you to reduce the size of the document with one click like you can in Microsoft Word's "Print Preview" function. That would help save that widow on the last page so she doesn't take up an entire sheet of paper!)

Find out more about GreenPrint World and download the latest version of the program at: printgreener.com

Green Day: New York Observer Launches Green Channel

On Monday, Observer.com introduced The Green Channel, a collaboration of Observer.com staff and Columbia University. Here is how they put it:

"More and more these days, you're hearing the word Green. Whether it's Nike introducing a new line of "green" Air Jordans, a band of celebrities and socialites partying to celebrate the opening of a new park on the reclaimed elevated train line known as The High Line, the City Council duking it out over the control of the city's economic waste problem, or Mayor Bloomberg's ambitious initiatives to turn New York into a Green city (congestion pricing!), we've found here at The Observer that on every beat, there is something to say about the new drive to make the city friendlier to the environment.

"Here you'll find in one place all of our reporting on Green New York.

"You'll also find a new online colum by Steve Cohen, who will be writing about the new Green New York that's struggling to emerge in the city's social, political, corporate and cultural scenes.

Over the coming weeks and months, we'll be expanding this channel to incorporate new material, the product of work going on in our newsroom and in Columbia's dozens of programs and research institutes devoted to the study of the environment and our impact on it."

Worth checking out:

http://www.observer.com/green

Clean Tech: Greener Gadgets Design Competition

From GreenBiz.com

The promoters behind the upcoming Greener Gadgets Conference kicked off a design competition last week seeking innovations in greener electronics.

Design firms, up-and-coming designers and students are encouraged to explore gadgets that address energy, carbon footprint, health and toxicity, lifecycle, social development and new materials.

The main thrust of the contest is the minimization of the environmental impact of consumer electronics in areas such as materials, labor, assembly, packaging, transportation, retailing, use and disposal, among others. Entrants will be judged on innovation, clarity of design, originality, form and presentation by representatives of Greener Gadgets and partner Core77, an industrial design website.

Inhabitat and Marc Alt + Partners will present the Greener Gadgets Conference being held Feb. 1 in New York City. The deadline to enter the contest is Jan. 27. One grand prize entry, earning $2,500 in cash, and two runner-ups, each earning $1,000, will be showcased at the conference.

To enter the design competition, visit http://www.core77.com/competitions/greener_gadgets.asp.

Blogging & Media: Discovery Hugs TreeHugger

Discovery Communications acquired TreeHugger.com last week in an attempt to build its green new media offerings on the cusp of launching its Planet Green channel.

Discovery paid an estimated US$10M for the site, which "claims 1.4 million unique visitors a month and more than 50 writers around the world blogging about green news and products," according to the Washington Post.

TreeHugger is Discovery's first acquisition under chief executive David Zaslav, who began in January and is shifting resources into new-media products as part of "a housecleaning and reorganization that will end up cutting at least 25 percent of the company's workforce and closing the Discovery stores."

Nick Aster, one of the founders of TreeHugger, who now produces the Triple Pundit blog, wrote that the acquisition helps TreeHugger meet its goal of becoming "a real media presence and actually play a real role in 'mainstreaming' the basic principals of an ecologically conscious lifestyle."

Some of the principals, including Founder Graham Hill and COO Ken Rother, will continue to be involved. Certainly it will extend the reach of TreeHugger's audience (read more from Graham Hill.)

Personally, I've always found TreeHugger a bit cloying and precious, in spite or because of its award-winning design, my "booster alarm" sounds too often when reading its posts. (For more a more insightful critique of TreeHugger, see Bottleman's review.)

Still, it's a remarkable turn for the site, which started only three years ago. It certainly points to the growth in this space. What will this mean for green blogging and green lifestyle reporting? Only time will tell.

Innovation: Design for the Other 90 Percent

I'm looking forward to getting to New York to see the Cooper-Hewitt's "Design for the Other 90%" show, which runs through September 2007. The show features many of the design solutions, such as the Life Straw and others, that we've featured in the past in The Green Skeptic.

The brainchild of curator Cynthia E. Smith, Design for the Other 90% opened in May and will close on 23 September.

Here are some excerpts from the exhibition web site:

Of the world’s total population of 6.5 billion, 5.8 billion people, or 90%, have little or no access to most of the products and services many of us take for granted...Design for the Other 90% explores a growing movement among designers to design low-cost solutions for this “other 90%.”

...Designers, engineers, students and professors, architects, and social entrepreneurs from all over the globe are devising cost-effective ways to increase access to food and water, energy, education, healthcare, revenue-generating activities, and affordable transportation for those who most need them...

...More recently, designers are working directly with end users of their products, emphasizing co-creation to respond to their needs. Many of these projects employ market principles for income generation as a way out of poverty. Poor rural farmers become micro-entrepreneurs, while cottage industries emerge in more urban areas...

Some designs are patented to control the quality of their important breakthroughs, while others are open source in nature to allow for easier dissemination and adaptation, locally and internationally.

Encompassing a broad set of modern social and economic concerns, these design innovations often support responsible, sustainable economic policy. They help, rather than exploit, poorer economies; minimize environmental impact; increase social inclusion; improve healthcare at all levels; and advance the quality and accessibility of education.

...Design for the Other 90% demonstrates how design can be a dynamic force in saving and transforming lives, at home and around the world.

For more information, visit the Cooper-Hewitt web site: Design

Global Climate Change: John Doerr on Climate Change

A friend of mine sent the following link to a video of John Doerr's absolutely moving talk about climate change from the TED conference.

Doerr and his colleagues at Kleiner Perkins expended a lot of CO2 investigating the climate change issue after his 15 year old daughter challenged him to do something about this problem our generation created. But what Doerr found in his travels gives him hope, despite the fact that he is afraid we can't make it. If you are not moved to action by this video, then you are not human.

A must see: Doerr on Climate Change

Innovation: GE Ecomagination Turning Green Into Green

Mary Milliken reports in Reuters/Planet Ark that GE's Ecomagination unit is beginning to pay off, proving that green can generate green:

General Electric Co. Chairman and Chief Executive Jeffrey Immelt said his "green" ecomagination unit was gaining steam and it launched 11 new products and services Thursday, including a hybrid locomotive and a carbon offset company.


Arguing that "green is green" -- environmental technology can generate serious money for GE -- Immelt said demand for green products and services exceeded expectations as awareness about global warming and energy conservation snowballed.
"Green is now becoming pervasive. It is becoming universal," Immelt said at a event at his group's Universal Studios.

"Work on energy efficiency, working on emissions reductions, conservation, clean water is simply good business. In our case, it has always been about growing the company."

Ecomagination has backlog of orders worth over US$50 billion and chalked up US$12 billion in sales last year. Despite the expanding market, Immelt has stuck with his sales target of US$20 billion in 2010.

"We are on our way to US$20 billion and I am convinced we can exceed that number and expand as time goes on," he said.

Among the ventures launched Thursday was the carbon emissions offset partnership with energy company AES Corp. to produce offsets for 10 million metric tons of greenhouse gases a year by 2010.

With Union Pacific, GE unveiled hybrid locomotive that recycles energy and stores in in on-board batteries.

In the automotive sector, GE has also invested in the battery company, A123, which is working on the next generation of battery technology for hybrid and plug-in hubrid electric vehicles.

Wal-Mart Stores Inc., which says it is the largest private consumer of electricity in the world, has announced that more than 500 stores will use GE light emitting diodes (LEDs) to slash energy consumption in its refrigerated display cases.

And oil company BP Plc said it is forming a global alliance with GE to develop 10 to 15 hydrogen power projects that will cut greenhouse gas emissions from electricity generation.

"This is no longer a fringe topic. This is a niche topic. This is a mainstream topic that is being driven across the broad economy," Immelt added.

Global Climate Change: More is the New Less

Seth Godin has a post this morning about the marketing behind global warming and reducing carbon emissions. We've had a dialogue on the subject before (see Global Warming & Other Misnomers...) and our opinion hasn't wavered.

"'Fight global warming' is a fine slogan," Seth writes. "Except it's meaningless. That's like dieters everywhere shouting, 'eat less' while they stand in line to get bleu cheese dressing from the salad bar."

I tend to agree with Seth on the point that we will always struggle if we try to convince Americans (and those who desire an American lifestyle) to do with less ("Reduce, Reuse, Recycle") or to limit themsleves. We just don't have such restraint. And, as I've argued before here, it's not about limiting growth, but encouraging a better kind of growth.

Seth uses as an example car dealerships, which list their wares according to decreasing horsepower. Or restaurants that offer increasingly huge portions for the expanding waistlines of Americans. (How about the practice of offering free dessert for every kids meal. No free lunch? Maybe not, but there's free ice cream!)

We crave more. That's why hotels are in competition now to see who can offer you the most free food: Hot all-you-can-eat breakfasts, free cookies with check-in, how about "lunch on us?" Even fast food chicken chain Chik-fil-a doesn't feature chickens telling you to eat less beef; they have cows exhorting you to "Eat More Chicken!"

So, if Americans crave more and environmentalists continue to ask us to want less and use less, what's the disconnect there? Everyone knows how hard it is to get people to change their lifestyle. How do we expect to be successful getting the herd to reduce its carbon footprint when its been supersized?

Better, Seth argues, to make it about doing MORE. "Let's figure out how to turn this into a battle to do more, not less," he writes, suggesting we "require all new cars to have, right next to the speedometer, a mileage meter. And put the same number on an LCD display on the rear bumper. Once there's an arms race to see who can have the highest number, we're on the right track."

Let's make this a campaign about more and maybe we'll get somewhere.

Global Climate Change: Clinton Unveils US$5 bn City Retrofit Plan

For years when I lived in New York City, I often marvelled at the fact that my apartment and office windows had to be opened all winter long. It was just too damned hot in the buildings and the heat couldn't be regulated (at least not by tenants) to maintain a comfortable level. It's been over a decade since I lived in the city, but when I was there for a climate change meeting in February, I found that not much had changed.

The heat was oppressive in the conference room where we sat in a Midtown office building. First one participant opened a window, then another, and another. I don't think any of us thought about the irony of what we were doing. But after the meeting, I kept thinking, how much energy was being wasted all over the city? It must be staggering if you calculate offices and housing stock in Manhattan alone. What would it take to retrofit a city like New York?

Now former president Bill Clinton is proposing to answer that question. Yesterday, Clinton announced the creation of a global energy efficiency building retrofit program, bringing together four of the world’s largest energy service companies, five of the world’s largest banks, and fifteen of the world’s largest cities in a landmark program designed to reduce energy consumption in existing buildings.

"Climate change is a global problem that requires local action," said President Clinton in a press release. "The businesses, banks and cities partnering with my foundation are addressing the issue of global warming because it's the right thing to do, but also because it's good for their bottom line. They're going to save money, make money, create jobs and have a tremendous collective impact on climate change all at once."

According to the press release generated by the Clinton Foundation, "Urban areas are responsible for approximately 75 percent of all energy use and greenhouse gas emissions in the world. Buildings account for nearly 40 percent of global greenhouse gas emissions, and in cities such as New York and London this figure is close to 70 percent."

Under the Clinton program cities and their private building owners access to the necessary funds to retrofit existing buildings with more energy efficient products, typically leading to energy savings between 20 to 50 percent.

According to the Clinton Foundation, companies Honeywell, Johnson Controls, Inc, Siemens and Trane will conduct energy audits, perform building retrofits, and guarantee the energy savings of the retrofit projects.

ABN AMRO, Citi, Deutsche Bank, JPMorgan Chase, and UBS have committed to arrange $1 billion each to finance cities and private building owners to undertake these retrofits at no net cost, doubling the global market for energy retrofit in buildings.

These banks will work alongside energy efficiency finance specialist Hannon Armstrong and the Clinton Climate Initiative (CCI) to develop effective mechanisms to deploy this capital globally, reports the release. Cities and building owners will pay back the loans plus interest with the energy savings generated by the reduced energy costs generated by the building retrofits.

An initial group of fifteen of the world’s largest cities has agreed to participate in the retrofit program, and offer their municipal buildings for the first round of energy retrofits: Bangkok, Berlin, Chicago, Houston, Johannesburg, Karachi, London, Melbourne, Mexico City, New York, Rome, Sao Paulo, Seoul, Tokyo, and Toronto.

As part of the Energy Efficiency Building Retrofit Program, the cities have agreed to make their municipal buildings more energy efficient and provide incentives for private building owners to retrofit their buildings with energy saving technologies.

"Mayors are responsible for coming up with pragmatic solutions and implementing them effectively – and this program will allow us to do that," said New York City Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg. "We've laid out an ambitious agenda to reduce our carbon emissions, 80 percent of which come from buildings, while being economically competitive and continuing to grow."

Mayor of London Ken Livingstone, Chair of the C40, said, "Fifteen cities have already signed up to take advantage of this initiative and I am confident many more will follow."

CCI and its partners will also assist participating cities with their initiation and development of programs to train local workers on the installation and maintenance of energy saving and clean energy products. The U.S. Green Building Council and the American Society of Heating, Refrigerating and Air Conditioning Engineers have agreed to help coordinate these programs.

Social Entrepreneurs: Penn's Microfinance Conference

Last month, I joined my friends at Green Microfinance at the University of Pennsylvania's Microfinance Club's first conference, "Microfinance: Poverty's Macro Solution?" (A microfinance club? What a cool idea). Elizabeth Israel, co-founder and President of Green Microfinance, and Abhishek Lal were part of a panel on the environmental impacts of microfinance. GMf has been developing a set of Guiding Principles for
Microenterprise and Environment. (More on that later.)

Keynote speakers at the Penn conference included Mary Ellen Iskenderian, the CEO and President of Women's World Banking, and Alex Counts, CEO and President of the Grameen Foundation. Here's a link to an account of the conference, including main points: Microfinance 2.0

Penn's Microfinance Club also promises to provide updated materials on its website, but we know how the best laid plans of mice and men often turn out...here is the link: Microfinance Club

A Poem for Earth Day

What a glorious day, weather was absolutely gorgeous. I got to work in the garden with my kids and help a Temple University complete her project in broadcast journalism (more on that later). Then a wonderful walk in our neighborhood and more family time, before dinner with my wife in an intimate restaurant. (Not to mention the 4-in-a-row homers by my Red Sox against Yanks.) And tomorrow, I'm off to Boulder, Colorado.

Consequently, I won't have an opportunity to do my usual 10 thoughts for Earth Day. Instead, I'll leave you with a poem of mine, "Healing," which recently appeared in The Elegant Thorn Review:


Healing

"Healing, not saving." ~ Gary Snyder


"Healing, not saving," for healing
indicates corrective, reclaiming

restoring the earth to its bounty,
to right placement and meaning--

Forward thinking, making things new
or better or, at least, bringing back

from the edge. The way
bulbs are nestled in earth,

starting to heal again--
the way a wound heals.

Keep warm. Sun following
rain; rain following drought.

Perhaps we have come far enough
along in this world to start

healing, protecting from harm,
from our disjunctive lives.

The way the skin repairs with a scab,
injury mediated by mindfulness.

The bark of the "tree of blood"
heals wounds we cannot see.

Deliver us from the time of trial
and save us from ourselves.

--Scott Edward Anderson


Another of my poems was posted today on poet Deborah Fries' new Good at Last blog: "Dead Red Wing."

Every Day is Earth Day...

Innovation: "Zero is the New Black," Godin Says

Seth Godin notices when things are changing. Today, he's picking up on the buzz going around New York and "No Impact Man":

"The richest and best-educated people in our economy are shifting, and pretty quickly. They're just as willing to spend money as they always were, but now it's not focused on fancy organic stuff at the Whole Foods Market or giant bulletproof cars from Germany or private jet travel. Instead, the market is trying as hard as it can to spend time and money without leaving much of a trace," Seth writes. "I think this story has legs and is going to be around for a long time. Zero is the new black."

Read Seth's complete post: Seth Godin

Check out No Impact Man's blog

Blogging: Green Skeptic Included in Green Gamma Search Engine

I received word last night that The Green Skeptic is now featured in Green Gamma Search Engine. Here is a bit about them from their web site:

Green Gamma is a search engine for green products and information. It is also a sustainable community for green minded people. Welcome!

If you search "Gamma" wave on Wikipedia here's what you'll see:

"A gamma wave is a pattern of brain waves, associated with perception and consciousness" and " Gamma waves are involved in higher mental activity."

There you have the genesis of Green Gamma. Green thinking is perceptive and involves a higher mental activity.

This isn't pompous thinking, it's simply a statement that if you are in Gamma mode, then you are not thinking of self and are conscious of the world around you. That's a good thing!

You can check it out at: Green Gamma