The World Cup kicks off in just over three months. For those of us who care- and, by the way, of the top ten most watched sporting events on the planet, the World Cup is #1 by a considerable margin, with the Super Bowl squeaking in at #10- the four year wait for South Africa 2010 is nearly up. Adding some eco-consciousness to the Cup’s drama, Nike has unveiled its 2010 World Cup uniforms which are made from discarded plastic bottles, plucked from landfills in Japan and Taiwan, melted down into yarn and then spun into fabric.
As Brit Liggett writes for Ecouterre, all of Nike’s national teams, which includes England, Brazil, Portugal, and the Netherlands, “will be wearing jerseys made from recycled polyester, which the sports-apparel giant is hailing as the most environmentally friendly and technologically advanced kits in football history.”
Each shirt is made from up to eight recycled plastic bottles. Additionally, Nike claims to have diverted nearly 13 million plastic bottles from the landfill—enough to cover more than 29 football pitches.
Liggett explains, “if the recycled bottles used to produce the jerseys were laid end to end, according to Nike, they would span more than 3,000 kilometers (roughly 1,860 miles), a distance that exceeds the entire South African coastline. How do you say “amazing” in all the players’ languages?”
This comes via Core77, and we’ll chalk this up as another reason Nike gets it. Since 1990, Nike has been innovating new ways to recycle old sneakers, repurposing over 25 million pairs in that time. Nike Grind, the material that is derived from the recycling of the various parts of the shoes, has been used to create gym floors, running tracks, playground surfaces, courts, synthetic turf and more.
The above video shows how the city of Tempe, AZ has partnered with Nike to create new tennis courts. The city collects pallets of used shoes, sends them to Nike’s recycling facility in Oregon, and, in return, receives the materials to resurface the municipal tennis courts.
Green Mountain Coffee is one our favorite examples of a company who’s success is shaped by a commitment to responsible choices. Free trade is just the beginning, as the company works to “brew a better world,” with a range of initiatives such as its “Changing Climate Change” competition- four grants of $200K each to support work that reduces climate change- and the state’s largest solar array. The latest project is an online competition to find and help fund creative solutions for motivating local citizens to strengthen communities across New England and New York.
Green Mountain Coffee has teamed with Ashoka’s Changemakers, an organization with over three decades of finding, funding, and expanding the work of social entrepreneurs across the globe, to launch Revelation to Action. GMC explains the partnership on its site: “With its long history of supporting the work of social entrepreneurs, Ashoka is the perfect partner for Green Mountain Coffee as we explore and celebrate ways to strengthen communities across the Northeastern U.S.”
The “Revelation to Action Your Place. Your Idea. Your Change.” competition will “discover promising initiatives, explore fresh ideas, and encourage collaboration on the best ways to inspire community action. Ideas could include rallying a regional group to support a local food bank, helping a community address its carbon footprint, establishing a program to incentivize recycling, or mobilizing a neighborhood to do an annual river clean-up.”
Community members are invited to nominate individuals and organizations with community solutions, discuss and share ideas and success stories, comment on proposals, and vote for finalists. Winners will be judged on innovation, social impact, and long-term sustainability. The best innovations will be awarded prizes totaling $50,000.
The medal winners in Vancouver are being presented upcycled medals. Coined by authors of Cradle To Cradle, ‘upcycling’- though it does sound a little like an Olympic sport- refers to the practice of taking something that is disposable and transforming it into something of greater use and value.
Cast out of materials salvaged from old circuit boards, the medals are designed by Canadian artists Corrine Hunt and Omer Arbel. The medals have been etched with a design that evokes the undulating shape of Vancouver’s landscape.
Here in Vermont, we’re proud of our athletes at the Winter Games. So is Ben & Jerry’s, announcing yesterday that Gold Medalist (and Vermonter) Hannah Kearney will have her own flavor (following the likes of Jerry Garcia and Stephen Colbert). A spokesman for the company suggested it might be called “Kearney’s Java Jolt Bolt & Cookies.”
American Apparel has become a leader in its industry, offering made-in-America product and an impressive array of trend-setting organic cotton clothes. But as Cara Smusiak writes for Naturally Savvy, “aside from their locally-made goods, their green side is a little lack-luster. But last month, American Apparel made an unusual move into the green space by launching American Apparel Nail Lacquer, a line of 18 high-quality nail colors that are greener than the average polish.
Many of today’s nail polishes contain DBP, toluene, and/or formaldehyde, “three toxic chemicals that aren’t good for people or the environment,” says Smusiak. The European Union considers DBP , or Di-n-butyl phthalate, a health danger, with researchers suggesting “exposure to the chemical results in smaller penis sizes and undescended or incompletely descended testicles.” Toluene and Formaldehyde can effect breathing and the central nervous system, cause eye, nose, and throat irritation and are to blame for that toxic nail polish smell.
American Apparel Nail Lacquer, in contrast, is made without all three, and, like the rest of its products, the line is made in the USA, produced in a family-owned and operated nail polish manufacturer in New York City. “So,” Smusiak suggests, “not only are the polishes healthier, the carbon footprint is minimal.”
Timberland’s Earthkeepers initiative is one of our favorite examples of corporate social responsibility. The NH-based boot maker begins with a simple premise; they love the outdoors, but they also make their living catering to those who share that active lifestyle. As the environment is threatened- by climate change, pollution, waste…- their way of life as well as their business model is threatened. As their site explains, “we realize that by making our products we’re part of the problem. We believe it’s time for companies like ours to take a look at how the way they do business affects the environment and do something about it. Earthkeepers is one way we’re trying to do exactly that – with the mission to inform, inspire and engage one million Earthkeepers.”
As part of the Earthkeepers mission, Timberland has launched Voices of Challenge, which puts thought leaders, issue experts, practitioners and everyday consumers at the heart of an online dialogue designed to present ideas for future innovation. In seeking to provoke (and moderate) an open conversation, the company has begun by asking a question that corresponds with one of its four CSR pillars: energy, product, workplace, and service. Below are some examples, along with links to join the conversation.
Seventh Generation, maker of household and personal-care products and a leader in corporate responsibility and sustainable business practices, has partnered with a leading global provider of educational services to individuals, schools and businesses, Kaplan EduNeering, to launch their new Sustainability Institute. The Kaplan EduNeering/Seventh Generation Sustainability Institute will provide business and governmental managers, employees, subcontractors and supply chain partners with best practices and specialized training in the development and implementation of sustainability initiatives.
“There is now compelling evidence that sustainable companies enjoy a competitive advantage over organizations that continue to embrace an exclusive focus on short term profits,” said Jeffrey Hollender, Executive Chairman of Seventh Generation. “That business paradigm is now seen as counterproductive, not only for society and the natural world but also for company stakeholders. Organizations are beginning to understand that responsible corporate behavior has become a business imperative and that it will only become increasingly more important in the future.”
Although recent studies confirm the belief among business professionals that environmental, social and governance activities create shareholder value and increase consumer loyalty, a study by MIT Sloan Management Review and Boston Consulting Group reports that only 30% of firms are implementing sustainability practices.
The Kaplan EduNeering/Seventh Generation Sustainability Institute provides:
• An online library of courses, including Sustainability 101, Sustainable Supply Chain and Greenhouse Gas Management. Each of these modules addresses one of the essential business practices in an effective sustainability program. The Sustainability Institute courses are also a good primer for companies seeking distribution with Wal-Mart and that must adhere to Wal-Mart’s Sustainability Index. Kaplan EduNeering is a pioneer in online learning and has developed more than 4,000 custom courses and learning exercises for its clients and a library of 550 standardized compliance and regulatory courses.
• Ten video modules for ongoing sustainability learning, with topics ranging from “Developing a Sustainability Mindset” to “Be Transparent.” The video series includes five modules centered on sustainable business practices. Each of these modules addresses one of the essential business practices in an effective sustainability program. The videos feature Jeffrey Hollender, Seventh Generation’s co-founder and current Executive Chairman. As the company’s Inspired Protagonist, Jeffrey has advised Fortune 500 companies and authored best-selling books including How to Make the World a Better Place: A Guide for Doing Good and What Matters Most - How a small group of pioneers are teaching social responsibility to big business - and why big business is listening. Jeffrey’s newest book, The Responsibility Revolution, is scheduled for publication in March 2010.
• An online toolkit called the Sustainability Communication CoachSM (SCC), which includes articles, brochures, mini-training modules, case studies and other resources to develop and sustain an ongoing, enterprise-wide sustainability communications program. The SCC is modeled after Kaplan EduNeering’s widely used Ethics Communication CoachSM, which now includes 2,000 tools and celebrates its ten-year anniversary in 2009.
• Optional services, including sustainability consulting, through Seventh Generation’s professional staff and an exam prep package for the LEEDv3 (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design). A Green Associate certificate awarded by the Green Building Council can be provided by Kaplan AE Education.
Copenhagen is dreaming of a green Christmas this year. As it prepares to host the highly anticipated international climate change conference (some have called it the most important meeting in the planet’s history), the city is relying on volunteers to pedal-power the traditional Christmas tree in City Hall Square.
Fifteen bicycles encircle the large tree, and, when pedaled, will provide the power for the 700 LED light bulbs on the tree.
During the lighting ceremony this past weekend, a group of children, the city’s mayor, and a handful of international VIPs pedaled together to power the Christmas lights.
For more on the conference- and the host city- read some of our previous posts.
Over the summer, New York City’s Mayor Bloomberg outlined a 33-point plan to improve the MTA’s efficiency (making crosstown buses free, installing “countdown clocks” on subway platforms, creating integrated and contactless “smart cards” for transit riders…). The MTA has now announced plans for more improvements to its bus system.
The MTA will purchase super-stretch buses and will create dedicated bus lanes on First and Second Avenues. Borrowing some bright ideas from the successful TransMilenio bus system of Bogotá- read our profile of TransMilenio from July- the MTA will install curbside MetroCard readers, allowing riders to swipe their cards at bus stops, helping to speed up the boarding process. The city also plans to revamp streets to be “generally more friendly towards pedestrians, buses and bikers.” Included in the proposal is mention of a wireless technology to change red traffic signals green when the bus approaches an intersection.
Time again to give thanks- should there really only be one day set aside for that?- and we’re certainly grateful for the tremendous feedback we’ve received since launching Love Tomorrow Today. As always, we invite you to let us know about programs and people making a difference or tips to incorporating simple change into our daily lives.
Have a safe and happy Thanksgiving! This weekend, remember to reduce, recycle, reuse and…relax! Don’t forget, eating leftovers (delicious, food coma-inducing leftovers) is good for the planet!
Can a green technology co-op with powers to direct a global transition away from carbon-heavy technology be successful? That’s one of the questions participating countries will wrestle with at next month’s climate conference in Copenhagen. Much of the focus in Copenhagen, and beyond, will center on the need to slash CO2 emissions, but the path to achieving those goals must eventually lead through this complex gateway, a worldwide transition to green technology (such as wind power, solar, energy efficiency/waste prevention measures).
How does such a transition take place? Some are suggesting a new central executive, political body, within the existing UN Framework Convention on Climate Change, should have powers to command a coordinated clean tech roll out.
Not surprisingly, the United States and many European countries want any such body to be an advisory committee. As Alok Jha explains in The Guardian, “their main concern is that a strong political body may end up channeling funds into state enterprises rather than keeping a level playing field for all businesses.” Meanwhile, Jha writes, “developing countries say an advisory body would have little power to drive the dramatic changes needed.”
The momentum (at least rhetorical momentum) for battling climate change has gone global. What remains, however, is for the world to formulate a coordinated plan for phasing out high-carbon economies and transitioning towards greener ones. Expectations are low, but we’ll be watching closely to see if any progress is made in Copenhagen.
President Obama threw in the towel over the weekend. He (and, to be fair, other world leaders) acknowledged that securing a legally binding climate deal at next month’s Copenhagen summit wasn’t likely, favoring plans to delay until next year at the earliest.
After months of politcal wrangling had watered down the ultimate goals of the summit, the announcement is hardly a surprise. Back in July, we attended the Gund Institute’s Solutions conference, a gathering of some of the country’s leading climate change experts (Bill Becker of the Presidential Climate Action Project, Jon Isham of Middlebury College, Hunter Lovins of Natural Capital Solutions and others), many of whom spoke skeptically about the likelihood of achieving a meaningful pact in Denmark.
Instead, we can expect lots of strongly worded proclamations about the importance of curbing emissions, the dangers of ignoring climate change, while diplomats aim for a “politically binding” agreement.
Michael Froman, US deputy national security adviser for economic affairs, explained, “there was a realistic assessment … by the leaders that it was unrealistic to expect a full internationally legally binding agreement to be negotiated between now and when Copenhagen starts in 22 days.”
As Bryan Walsh writes in his piece for Time, “the reason is simple: the deadlock between developed nations and developing ones. Developing nations refuse most responsibility for climate change, arguing that warming is primarily the fault of rich industrialized countries, and want the developed world to take on strict short-term emissions reduction targets. Developed nations, led by the U.S., argue that fast-growing developing nations like China and India will emit the vast majority of future carbon emissions, and that any deal that exempts them from action — as the Kyoto Protocol did — is a farce. Despite months of negotiations in Barcelona, Bangkok and other world cities, that gap remains vast.”
[From The Guardian, Obama says no deal at Copenhagen: 'What's needed is a strong political signal']
Denmark’s prime minister, Lars Lokke Rasmussen, the host and chairman of the climate talks, flew to Singapore to meet with leaders at the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit (APEC) and urge them to consider Copenhagen as an important stepping stone towards firmer action.
Froman said Obama supports Rasmussen’s proposal to delay and cautioned the group not to let the “perfect be the enemy of the good.”
While some have suggested Copenhagen comes one year too soon for Obama, it’s hard not to see the summit as another occasion in which we’ll talk the talk and not walk the walk.
We’ve written a number of pieces on the growing range of green initiatives within the U.S. military, from Air Force Academy cadets developing fuel efficient wings to the Army building a massive solar installation in the Mojave Desert. The latest green move comes again from the Army, who has awarded Axion International Holdings a $957,000 contract to provide two bridges made from a thermoplastic composite and recycled plastic.
The two bridges, 40 and 80 feet long respectively, are replacing old wooden ones at Fort Eustis in Virginia and will be made entirely of a plastic composite of recycled materials from consumer and industrial plastic waste.
As Candace Lombardi writes in her piece on CNET, “the location is significant. Fort Eustis is home to the U.S. Army Transportation Corps, the branch of the Army responsible for coordinating the movement of personnel and cargo. The Fort Eustis motto is Einstein’s famous quote “Nothing happens, until something moves.” It’s also the location of the U.S. Army Transportation Museum.”
Axion had previously built plastic bridges for Fort Bragg and Camp Mackall in North Carolina.
Our friends at Brighter Planet, a leading carbon offset firm, have launched a new “Sustainability In The Workplace” survey to gather reliable data about what companies are doing to encourage and support greener habits.
As Brighter Planet’s Outreach & Parternship Manager, Robbie Adler, explains, “we are trying to get a better feel for how successful employers and employees are interacting around the issue of sustainability. It is increasingly common for corporations to talk about sustainability initiatives, but how many of them are engaging their employees on the subject, listening for feedback, etc?” Adler continues, “it is our belief that in order for sustainability to be part of a company’s DNA, it must be a principle supported by all levels of employees. Employees are the front-line of any company. If they are not involved in a company’s sustainability initiatives, chances are those initiatives are not having much impact on directing the company’s growth.”
We encourage you to fill out the survey, where, incidentally, you’ll be automatically entered to win $200 cash.
Last year, we wrote about the Brazilian city of Curibita, sometimes called the “greenest city in the world.” Curitiba is often viewed by environmentalists and urban planners alike as a world model of sustainability. Thirty years ago (30!!!), the town implemented the ’Curitiba Master Plan’ to address the problems of urban living through progressive transportation systems and enviro-friendly social programs that address recycling creatively, expand green space and develop industry. Check out Frontline’s great coverage here.
“You have to keep things simple, and just start working … You have a lot of complexity-sellers in this life. We should beat them, beat them with a slipper,” explains Lerner.
His first major coup was pedestrianising the main central shopping street in 1972 – in a weekend.
“We started one Friday night, and finished on Monday morning. If we’d had to stop and do things regularly, I wouldn’t have made it, and I could have been fired. So we took the risk. By the Monday night, business was so good, the head of the local businessmen came to me and he gave me a petition and said: ‘We want the whole street pedestrianised.’”
Lerner heard about a possible protest by drivers who planned to drive through the newly pedestrianised thoroughfare. So, he enlisted hundreds of children, armed them with paintbrushes and paper, and set them to play in the street. The protest never materialised.
Using three-section bendy buses in dedicated bus lanes, the city’s transport system carries passenger numbers comparable to an underground – 2 million a day – but at a cost of $1m per kilometre rather than $100m. Fares are flat, and the city was encouraged to grow along the bus routes, so any Curitiba resident is never more than 400m from a bus stop. Only the cars get stuck in traffic jams
Recycling in Curitiba is perhaps the most radical reform of all. In 1989, residents in a nearby favela were dumping their trash in surrounding rivers and fields, as there were no collections from their narrow streets. Lerner arranged for a truck to visit the favela at fixed times each week, and residents’ rubbish was exchanged for bus tickets, football tickets and shows. Soon, the locals were cleaning the rivers and fields of old rubbish to sell. Schoolchildren were given new plastic toys for old bottles and bags in a scheme called “Garbage that’s not garbage”.
Separation of organic and non-organic waste improved efficiencies further. Local homeless people and alcoholics were employed at the recycling plant, where they also retrained on computers they rescued from the city’s bins. Curitiba’s fishermen were paid to fish for rubbish.
Floodplains surrounding the city were bought up and converted to parks with boating lakes acting as overspill areas. This solution, far cheaper and more effective than culvetting rivers with concrete, increased the green space available for residents from 0.5 square metres each in the 1960s to over 50 square metres per resident today.
Housing was tackled in a similarly simple, revolutionary way. Land next to the electricity company’s lot was converted into housing estates, and residents were encouraged to redesign their interiors, so they felt more pride and ownership over their properties.
Lerners’ reforms have been widely popular and they appear to have improved the peoples’ lot. GDP per capita in Curitiba is 60% higher than the average in Brazil. “Those that were most against us transformed into our greatest supporters – they just needed to see the results. Now they are proud of their city.”
A Finnish diver has designed a ocean power conversion device that could lead to make “wave power” a cost-effective renewable energy alternative. Rauno Koivusaari’s WaveRoller is a door-shaped device that can generate up to 300KW of power.
We’ve covered a few breakthroughs in wave power technology (from rolling cylinders that float in the waves, to underwater fans and wheels that turn like windmills on the sea floor). We’re fascinated by its potential, and Koivusaari’s device, in particular, seems compelling.
With grants from the European Union, Koivusaari’s company, AW-Energy, is building the first full scale demo of the device, which he has been perfecting for the last fifteen years. The full scale device will weigh 20 tons, can be linked in threes to make up about a 1MW unit. It would be positioned on the sea-floor 21 feet to 75 feet below sea level so as not to interfere with shipping traffic.
The WaveRoller uses the roiling currents under the sea to make energy from the repetitive surge motion at the sea floor in what Koivusaari calls the surge zone. That kinetic energy is collected by a piston pump and can be converted to electricity by a closed hydraulic system in combination with a hydraulic motor/generator system.
Earlier this month, we wrote about Whirlpool’s plans to make all of its appliances “smart-grid” compatible by the year 2015. Yesterday, the company announced that it had received $19.3 million in U.S. Department of Energy funding as part of the Smart Grid Investment Grant Program. Whirlpool, which owns a broad range of home appliance brands including Maytag, KitchenAid, Jenn-Air, Amana, Brastemp, Consul and Bauknecht, will use the government funds to help it reach its goal of making a million smart-grid compliant dryers ready for market in 2011. The company will match the DOE’s grant over the next two years. And by 2015, the company says, it will no longer make “dumb” appliances at all.
Whirlpool’s announcement comes on the heels of President Obama’s announcement that $8.1 billion will be spent on 100 smart-grid projects in 49 states, $4.7 billion from utilities, while the remaining $3.4 billion will come from the U.S. government as stimulus money.
There’s been a lot going on this week- the World Series kicked off last night, the debate on health care reform is kicking into high gear, The Donald married off his only daughter- so you’d be forgiven for not remembering that this is the week of the South Australian Tourism Commission’s tenth annual Global Green Challenge solar car race. The gruelling 1,864 mile race across Australia’s desert, from Darwin to Adelaide, aims to “highlight the latest advances in hybrid, electric, solar and alternative energy vehicles.”
Enduring temperatures in excess of 122F, more than 30 teams from a dozen countries set out last Saturday. A solar powered car from Japan, the Tokai Challenger, pictured below, was the first to arrive in Adelaide. The car can reach a maximum speed of 90 miles an hour.
If you’re anything like me, you can’t get the “five…five dollar foot long” tune out of your head. I only just managed to stop singing Jared’s song- you know the one, “got real big on burgers and fries, not he’s down to a smaller size…,” oh god, I’ll be singing that for months. Anyway, the good news is that if it’s got you craving a Subway sandwich, it’s a craving you can feel good about. The SUBWAY restaurant chain is making good on its pledge to make its restaurants and operations more environmentally accountable, with the opening of a handful of energy efficient “Eco-stores.”
Last winter, Subway announced that the brand’s first Eco-Store in Kissimmee, Florida, had received LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) silver certification. There are currently five SUBWAY Eco-stores open and operating, three others of which are currently pending LEED certification.
The Kissimmee Eco-Store boasts an impressive range of green features, including: high efficiency heating, ventilation and air conditioning systems, remote condensing units for refrigeration and ice making equipment, day lighting and controls for high efficiency lighting, LED interior and exterior signs, low flow water fixtures, and building and decor materials from sustainable sources. Repurposed/recycled materials were used in construction and furnishing, and there is an increased emphasis on recycling in customer areas.
“SUBWAY Eco-Stores are designed to reduce energy, and water consumption and waste by using more efficient equipment and practices,” said Bill Schettini, Chief Marketing Officer for SUBWAY. “They are built by using cost effective, eco-friendly material in the interior and exterior design and decor, as well as products and treatments that extend the life of the elements and equipment. Our Eco-Store program is just one area where we are trying to make our restaurants and operations more environmentally accountable. As a worldwide chain, we have also taken steps to reduce packaging and develop more energy efficient distribution practices. We are proud of the efforts we have made, but we also recognize that there is much more to do.”
Subway is the world’s largest sandwich franchise, with close to 40,000 locations in 91 countries, so it has a lot of ‘greening’ to do, but the company has the potential to drive the industry in this direction. We’ll follow this trend, as it rolls out more Eco-Store locations.
CNET’s Martin LaMonica posted a fascinating account of his recent green barn raising. Last month, he joined about 40 other volunteers to help weatherize a two-family home. Modeled after barn raisings of yesteryear- when a community would gather for a day to help a family…well, raise a barn- the event was organized by Cambridge, MA-based HEET, or Home Energy Efficiency Team. HEET is a volunteer group aimed at bringing neighbors together to weatherize homes in Cambridge and works to reduce the carbon footprint of specific houses, teach participants skills that they can use to make their own homes more energy efficient, and build a sense of community. All work is done on a volunteer basis.
On a rain-soaked day, LaMonica joined what he called the “caulk gun militia,” and, he says, “for less than $500 in material, a good amount of planning, and a bit of sweat equity, we did pretty well.” As he explains,
Weatherizing homes won’t solve all our energy and climate challenges. But while many folks are intent on high-tech (and high-priced) solutions to our energy problems, weatherization is a sensible, low-cost place to start. About 40 percent of the energy in the U.S. goes to commercial and residential buildings and investments in efficiency typically have the fastest payback. Weatherizing a home could cut energy use by as much as 30 percent, according to the Department of Energy, and many steps at are relatively inexpensive.
Even at an event devoted to the potential of solar power–the Solar Decathlon–U.S. Secretary of Energy Steven Chu last week underscored how important energy efficiency is to the country’s energy policy and people’s pocketbooks. In every place they’ve lived, Chu said he and his wife have made a game of trying to cut energy bills in half from the previous owner.
He suggests people get an energy audit to help them form a home efficiency game plan. “Many of them are free, sponsored by states or utilities, while others can cost about $500 for more extensive work (Go to EfficiencyFirst to find an auditor in your location).” For more, check out LaMonica’s post on CNET.
It’s been a week or so since Thomas Friedman’s op-ed column (The New Sputnik) sent shivers down our spine. In the piece, Friedman predicts the defining summary of 2008/2009 may well be the story of how we let China leap ahead of us in green tech.
Friedman writes,
Most people would assume that 20 years from now when historians look back at 2008-09, they will conclude that the most important thing to happen in this period was the Great Recession. I’d hold off on that. If we can continue stumbling out of this economic crisis, I believe future historians may well conclude that the most important thing to happen in the last 18 months was that Red China decided to become Green China.
Friedman suggests China’s decision to go green is one of necessity.”What do we know about necessity?” he writes, “It is the mother of invention,…[and] unless China powers its development with cleaner energy systems, and more knowledge-intensive businesses without smokestacks, China will die of its own development.” The “greening of China” is, he argues, the 21st century equivalent of the Soviet’s launching Sputnik, an event that stunned the U.S. and “spurred America to make massive investments in science, education, infrastructure and networking — one eventual byproduct of which was the Internet.”
Glimmer of Hope:
In these pages, we’ve argued many times that America (the government, public and private companies, individuals) should welcome the opportunity to be a leader in green innovation, because, someday soon, we’ll either be buying it or selling it. So, it’s with a tempered sense of relief to read about construction projects like the Russia Wharf Tower, the 31-story building that is taking sustainable construction to new heights with a state of the art “rain harvesting” system.
The developer, Boston Properties, estimates that the green building will harvest nearly every drop of water that lands on its expansive roof. Rather than releasing the water into storm drains, the water will be used for air conditioning and landscaping. The system is designed to conserve more than 12.5 million gallons of water a year.
“Capturing this level of storm water prevents it from flowing into our waterways as runoff,’’ said Jim Hunt, Boston’s chief of energy and environment. “That’s critically important to preventing pollution after we invested billions of dollars to restore Boston Harbor.’’
As people like Thomas Friedman (appropriately) chastise the U.S. for its complacency in all things green, perhaps its only fitting that we see the Russia Wharf Tower as a hopeful sign of a new chapter in our history. A short walk from the new development brings you to the site of the Boston Tea Party- no, not the confused and rag-tag gatherings sponsored by hysterical radio personalities, but that original act of American defiance, one that set the country on a path to independence.
Is this development (750,000-square-foot office tower, 70 residential units, several restaurants, and a waterfront plaza) a sign of good things to come? Stay tuned.
We’ve highlighted a number of Pepsi’s impressive sustainability initiatives, but it’s time to tip the cap to Coca-Cola for an innovative program to both improve the company’s footprint and its image: Coke has announced plans to sponsor a new recycling program in the UK.
Coke will partner with the Southhampton city council, with the beverage giants providing branded recycling bins in the “Recycle Zone,” areas with heavy pedestrian traffic.
As Carly Smolak explains in her piece for Triple Pundit,
“What is unique about Coca Cola’s recycling program is that it’s geared towards serving a municipality. The Coca Cola branded bins are a repository for all bottles and cans– even those from competitors. All cynicism aside for the multi-national corporation, Coca Cola’s effort in Southampton is a great example of corporate stewardship that creates a winning situation for both the company and the community at large…
…The impetus for Coca Cola’s pilot program in South Hampton is to curb its carbon emissions. A Carbon Trust study found that the beverage giant could effectively slash carbon emissions by up to 40% by recycling their own bottles and cans. The prospect of Coca Cola recycling every last Coca Cola branded bottle and can in the world is beyond impractical- currently most countries have no recycling infrastructure. By setting up recycling programs in certain locations that accept all beverage containers, Coca Cola can begin to offset the bottles and cans discarded in places that lack recycling programs.”
Our friends at TruexCullins, a Burlington, VT-based architecture and design firm, provided this bit of interesting blog fodder; LEED is going international. LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) is a credit-based rating system developed by the U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC), that addresses five categories: sustainable sites, water efficiency, energy and atmosphere, materials and resources, and indoor environmental quality. LEED certification has become the green building standard in the U.S. and, perhaps predictably, its value-add is now recognized by developers abroad.
TruexCullins (you may remember our video about their designs for ‘net zero homes’) has seen a growing interest in the LEED system. As David Epstein writes on the firm’s blog, “more and more clients are requiring LEED certification for their new projects,….virtually every RFP (Request for Proposal) we see these days includes LEED certification as part of the project.”
Epstein continues,
Despite its U.S. roots and U.S. based standards, LEED is now growing rapidly overseas. According to Alex Palmer of Nielsen Business Media, international projects now account for “…27 percent of all square footage registered for LEED qualification. The number of registered projects outside of the United States went from only 8 in 2004…to 1,120 in 2008…There are currently LEED projects in 114 of the world’s 195 nations.” The highest concentration is in Scandinavia, where 43 LEED projects are underway.
Foreign interest in the LEED rating system isn’t exactly new- the first one based outside the U.S. was officially launched in Vancouver, BC in April of 2004 by Canada’s equivalent of the USGBC, Canada Green Building Council- but, clearly, LEED certification is increasingly the most recognized and relevant rating not just here but in a growing number of countries.
Concerned about global climate change? Of course. Feel like world leaders need to be more courageous in how they respond to the growing set of environmental challenges? Definitely. Time to go swim up Mount Everest!
This is Lewis Gordon Pugh’s response, anyway, as the British endurance swimmer plans to swim across a glacial lake more than 17,000ft up Mount Everest. Mr Pugh, nicknamed “the human polar bear” after swimming across the polar ice-cap, will attempt the feat in April 2010.
He hopes his swim will draw attention to the impact of global warming. Pugh, 39, points to the fact that this swim is possible at that altitude as evidence that glaciers are receding at an alarming rate.
As he explains in the video above, from ITN/Telegraph, Mr Pugh will swim in just a speedo, swimming cap and goggles and expects to spend about 20 minutes in the waters of the Khumbu Glacier.
Two years ago Mr Pugh swam for almost 20 minutes across a patch of open sea at the North Pole to raise awareness of the effects of rising temperatures on the Arctic.
We’ve already gushed about Zipcar, the world’s largest provider of cars on demand by the hour or day. Earlier this year, we wrote about a partnership with the City of Seattle, providing all 10,500 employees of the City access to its car sharing service. Zipcar’s latest feat is to release a new iPhone and iPod Touch app that will make the service even more convenient.
The app features a map- based on your location- with green pins indicating where the cars are (as shown left). The app allows you to search by zip code, address, but also by time and model (which cars will be available when). Once you’ve figured all that out, you’ll be able to book the car using the iPhone app- you’ll even be able to unlock the car remotely and make it honk (if you’re having trouble finding it).
Love Tomorrow Today focuses on inspired ideas, meaningful trends and products that improve our lives. Through the blog and the products we create, our goal is to inspire our readers, our clients and the LTT community to expect better, to be better and to do better.
Blog
Highlighting innovative ideas, profiling difference makers and reflecting on the issues that will shape our tomorrow, we provide daily fodder for creative minds. We seek to aggregate inspiration and fuel a lively conversation.
Design
We work with our clients to create products and services that inspire, considering each phase of development (design, sourcing, production, distribution and consumption).
The World Cup kicks off in just over three months. For those of us who care- and, by the way, of the top ten most watched sporting events on the planet, the World Cup is #1 by a considerable margin, with the Super Bowl squeaking in at #10- the four year wait for South Africa 2010 is nearly up. Adding some eco-consciousness to the Cup’s drama, Nike has unveiled its 2010 World Cup uniforms which are made from discarded plastic bottles, plucked from landfills in Japan and Taiwan, melted down into yarn and then spun into fabric.
