Category: Energy & Sustainability

By Posted on Posted in Energy & Sustainability Tagged with , ,

Some good news on page one of my morning paper: In Vermont, the only state that gives the legislature a voice in nuclear plant licensing, the state Senate has rebuffed an attempt by Vermont Yankee to relicense the aging and long-troubled N-plant for another 20 years, after its license expires in 2012.

The vote was 26 to 4—not exactly close, and to me, living less than 40 miles from the plant, that big margin provides substantial comfort. The plant’s owner, Entergy, would have to work pretty hard to get a majority.

All the way back to the 1970s when it was new, Vermont Yankee was named “one of the 10 worst nukes in the country” in No Nukes, by Anna Gyorgy et al (South End Press, p. 106)—a book that I used heavily in researching my own 1980 book on nuclear power and still consider the definitive work on the subject. According to Gyorgy, Vermont Yankee reported 39 “abnormal occurrences” in 1973 alone, and was shut down 17 times during a 19-month period.

Vermont Yankee was only a year old when it had those 39 incidents. Consider this: Nuclear plants do not age gracefully. The corrosive effects of high-level radiation and a toxic chemical stew, on top of normal aging and fatigue, inevitably lead to severe problems. Parts crack, pipes leak, systems fail—and the public’s health and safety are put at risk.

And like so many nuclear plants around the world, the plant is located near a border, so that other states share any potential catastrophe. In the far southeast corner of the state, the plant sits on the Connecticut River directly across from New Hampshire, is about three miles north of Massachusetts (a ten-minute bike ride). Activists in these adjoining states have used the slogan, “Radiation without Representation.” (Ask the citizens of Denmark how they feel about the Swedish nuclear power plant directly across the Orsund that threatens their nuclear-free country.)

Vermont Yankee has continued to be plagued with problems. Recently, to name one among many examples, it’s been spewing huge levels of radioactive tritium into the water—at 130 times the safety standard :

Since then, the levels of contamination found in some wells has risen dramatically. The federal safety standard for tritium in drinking water is 20,000 picocuries per liter, but water from one monitoring well measured nearly 2.6 million picocuries per liter.

Dr. William E. Irwin, the radiological health chief for the Vermont Department of Health, said Thursday that tritium has not yet been detected in the nearby Connecticut River, but it probably has reached it.

Not extending the license is indeed a people’s victory. Closing, once and for all, this dangerous plant that should have been shuttered decades ago is long overdue. And President Obama would do well to reconsider his ill-advised push for nukes.

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By Posted on Posted in Democracy, Energy & Sustainability, poverty Tagged with , , ,

You’d think, by 2010, with some 50 years of bad experience, that the question of nuclear power’s suitability would have been settled long ago. You’d think that anyone with a lick of sense would have figured out that nuclear power brings with it enormous risks to…

  • Health
  • Safety
  • Environmental contamination
  • Vulnerability to terrorism (and in order to protect against that, major threats to our civil liberties
  • Unreliability
  • Economic disaster (including significant danger of default by utilities on our US government investment)
  • Vast power losses in the course of mining, milling, fuel rod production, transmission, and waste processing (including transportation)–turning the industry, by some accounts, into a net consumer of energy

    Yet President Barack Obama announced $8.33 billion in loan guarantees to build two new nuclear power plants in Georgia, and projects another $36 billion in the 2011 budget, or enough for seven to 10 reactors.

    Nuclear power is something I know something about. I did a major research project on it in college, and several years later, wrote first a monthly column, and then my first book on it. Yes, the new plants would be a new and better design—but not better enough!

    You cannot convince me that the waste products can be safely isolated from the environment for a quarter of a million years (think—pretty much the oldest human artifacts in existence are only 1/10 as old)…that centralizing so much energy, and the powerful, highly toxic fuels that power these plants, does not present unacceptable risk at the hands of our enemies, who could create a disaster that made 9/11 look like a fender bender…that driving these toxic stews around the country doesn’t present grave risks just from normal everyday road behavior…that these plants with their terrible reliability record, frequent outages, gross safety violations, and multiple complexities of power generation, plumbing, electricity, and computer systems can be expected to solve our energy problem…that the nuclear power system as a whole, with its dirty mining and milling, its very imperfect waste processing, its reliance on transportation of dangerous substances over very long distances is going to significantly lower either our carbon footprint, our emissions, or our power needs.

    Nuclear power is not necessary. It is not sensible. It opens great risks for small returns that can be much more easily achieved in other ways. It is a gift to the terrorists, a robbery from the taxpayers, a diversion of resources away from better and far more proven technologies that could meet all of our energy needs safely, and a serious threat to the well-being of future generations.

    This “plan” must be stopped.

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    By Posted on Posted in Advertising, Energy & Sustainability, Marketing Techniques and Philosophies Tagged with , ,

    Tonight I was reviewing the PowerPoint for the talk on Green Marketing I’m giving next week in Davos, Switzerland. And I was struck yet again by the big case study in my talk: a company that has been producing products from recycled paper for 60 years, but only bothered to tell anyone within the last decade.

    What a marketing advantage they would have had, if they had made this commitment the centerpiece of their marketing–especially in the old days, when it was hard to find recycled paper goods at any price, and their pricepoint was competitive with non-recycled brands.

    Instead, they actually went bankrupt before the turnaround management team rebranded the company and emphasized saving a million trees.

    The lesson: if you’re gong to do the right thing, harness the marketing leverage it gives you! This is something I discuss extensively in my eighth book, Guerrilla Marketing Goes Green: Winning Strategies to Improve Your Profits and Your Planet (co-authored with Jay Conrad Levinson), BTW.

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    By Posted on Posted in Abundance and Prosperity, Energy & Sustainability, People Helping People, Uncategorized Tagged with , , , ,

    It must have been somewhere around 1986, in the early days of my business, that I first encountered the work of Paul and Sarah Edwards, gurus to the home-based business sector that was just beginning to take off back then. I’ve been home-based since I founded my company in 1981, so their message resonated.

    I’ve been corresponding with Paul recently, and am very excited by something they’re into now: Offering the “Elm Street” economy as an alternative to both Wall Street and Main Street.

    Elm Street, in most communities, is typically in a residential neighborhood. In Northampton, Massachusetts (the closest Elm Street to my house), it’s a graceful, tree-lined boulevard of large Victorian-era homes.

    As Paul and Sarah Edwards describe it, an Elm Street economy is also firmly rooted in sustainability, at multiple levels:

    It’s a local economy, composed of locally-owned and locally-financed enterprises, industries, and independent practitioners who are invested in bringing long-term well-being to all living there, including nature. It’s focus is on working together to create dependable, environmentally sustainable way of life that bring basic services, products, and resilience back to our local communities.

    Local Economy
    Be it in a city neighborhood, a suburban sub-division, a small town or rural community, the Elm Street Economy is coming to life. It may look a little different from locale to locale, with urban Elm Street communities growing food on rooftops instead of backyards, for example, but wherever they might be located, they can flourish due to values and characteristics symbolized in this logo.

    • Local production of food, renewable energy and goods.

    • Local development of commerce, government and culture.

    • Reduction of consumption while improving environmental and social
    concerns.

    • Being an exemplary working model for other communities when the effects
    of decline of the existing economy and our natural resources becomes more
    intense.

    In short, very much aligned with the values I’ve been espousing for years, in this blog, in my books, in my speeches, and elsewhere.
    The Edwards’ vision of the Elm Street economy, and their analysis, go far deeper than what I’ve quoted here. Go and read it.

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    By Posted on Posted in Energy & Sustainability, Entrepreneurship Tagged with ,

    I love the concept of EcoStiletto.com that you can be super-Green and also super-fashionable. The site name, of course, is taken from stiletto heels.

    I will not win any prizes from the fashionistas myself (and it’s really ironic that I’m writing about fashion today), but I’m delighted to see sites springing up that reinforce this duality: Green doesn’t have to be ugly. Of course, it’s really not new; I live just outside a town that has for several years had a hemp clothing store as well as an Eileen Fisher natural cotton boutique. You could even make a case that Gandhi started the trend when he refused to wear anything but homespun cloth from local natural fibers, even when meeting with heads of state.

    Looking at the EcoStiletto site, I’m not sure the reality has quite caught up with the concept–but give it a year or two. I can remember when recycled paper looked like it had been used to wipe up a spill and felt like sandpaper. I’m sure the day will come when truly fashionable clothing is widely available form organic and fairly-traded ingredients and processed naturally.

    Anyway, it reinforces the idea that my forthcoming book, Guerrilla Marketing Goes Green: Winning Strategies to Improve Your Profits and Your Planet (co-authored with Jay Conrad Levinson), is appearing at the right time. 😉

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    By Posted on Posted in Energy & Sustainability, Publishing Tagged with , ,

    Some good news for a change, although their statistic is somewhat misleading: 50% of market share is a looooong way from 50% of publishers. Which is why I changed it in the headline.

    Anyway, here’s the press release, in full:

    Book Industry Reaches Significant Environmental Milestone

    Nov 30, 2009: New York Today, the U.S. book industry passed a meaningful environmental threshold – approximately 50% of publishers (market share) now have environmental commitments in place – most with goals and timelines for vastly improving their environmental and climate performance. This is significant due to the fact that as recent as 2001, virtually no publishers had environmental commitments on record within this $40 billion/yr industry. This milestone was hit with the release of Hachette Book Group’s new environmental policy. Hachette is one of the top five publishers in the U.S. and the new policy commits them to a tenfold increase in recycled fiber by 2012, a 20% reduction in greenhouse gas emissions, sourcing 20% of paper certified from the Forest Stewardship Council (FSC), ending the use of paper that may impact Endangered Forests, and a wide range of other initiatives.

    “In these challenging economic times, it is wonderful to see a company as large as Hachette making environmental stewardship a core value and coming out with an industry leading policy. This helps the industry to pass an important threshold and hopefully will motivate those larger and smaller players that are lagging to do more.” said Tyson Miller, director of the Green Press Initiative.

    When Hachette Book Group achieves the commitments laid out in its new policy, the company will save approximately 267,537 trees and up to 86,000 tons of greenhouse gases each year – equivalent to removing nearly 16,000 cars.

    Relevant Industry Environmental Facts and Figures:

    ‚ The Book Industry Environmental Council (BIEC –more at bookcouncil.org) recently committed to reducing greenhouse gas emissions by 20% by 2020 – a global first in publishing and equivalent to 2.5 million tons of C02/yr or the annual emissions of 450,000 cars.

    ‚ A report co-published by Green Press in 2008 found that the industry consumes the equivalent of 30 million trees per year

    ‚ The U.S. book industry has increased its use of recycled fiber sixfold from 2004 to 2007 – equivalent to eliminating the annual emissions of over 200,000 cars.

    ‚ Over two hundred publishers now have commitments in place to increase recycled and FSC certified fiber, eliminate impacts on Endangered Forests, and a range of other initiatives (including Random House, Simon & Schuster, Scholastic, Chronicle Books, New World Library, Baker Publishing Group, Lantern Books, Thomas-Nelson, Chelsea Green, and a variety of others)

    New Industry Progress

    ‚ The BIEC is finalizing a green publisher certification program and logo that will be launched in Spring of 2010. It is a points-based system similar to LEED that awards environmental leadership across 22 environmental performance areas and will be identifiable on books

    ‚ This national eco-label will set a rigorous environmental performance standard and qualifying publishers will be audited

    Contact: Kelly Spitzner, Communications Coordinator, 952-223-3364, kelly@greenpressinitiative.org

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    By Posted on Posted in Energy & Sustainability Tagged with , , ,

    I received the following letter to the editor about the good work 22 corporations are doing, partnering with WWF on climate change and offering a teleseminar November 18. I haven’t checked into it other than to visit the link. Not the sort of thing I usually run, but something about this just felt very sincere.

    Thanks for your blog. I’m writing to you today to let you know that JohnsonDiversey is one of 22 leading corporations partnering with the World Wildlife Fund to establish ambitious targets to voluntarily reduce their greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. I’m thrilled to share with you that during a recent webinar on their commitment to LEED certified buildings JohnsonDiversey President and CEO Ed Lonergan announced that the company has tripled their initial goal of an 8% GHG emission reduction over 2003 to 2013 – to a 25% GHG emission reduction target for this same time period! The company announced it will invest $12 million to achieve the changes, but anticipate operational savings of $32 million, demonstrating that sustainability is the right approach for both the environment and the bottom line.

    President and CEO Ed Lonergan stated that it is thanks to the individual commitments of JohnsonDiversey employees, who went above and beyond the proposed changes, that the company can triple their target goal. He also emphasized the company’s integrated bottom line ‘ clarifying that JohnsonDiversey sees no separation between People, Planet, and Profit.

    Join this webinar on November 18th at 1:30 ET to discover how WWF Climate Saver companies JohnsonDiversey, Nokia, Johnson and Johnson, and IBM are finding innovative solutions to combat climate change and secure our energy future while increasing their bottom lines: www.bit.ly/WWFthrive_nov18

    We cannot rely upon government alone to make the changes we need to save our planet. Voluntary commitments by major corporations such as JohnsonDiversey show us that the private sector has a big difference to make. And so I am inviting you to triple your own commitment to the environment on both a corporate and a personal level. If a multinational corporation operating in 175 countries can do it, so can we! Here’s an EPK to help start you out: https://www.bit.ly/JDaction

    Among the many digital assets are Take Action Banners that lead to the World Wildlife Fund’s Take Action page where you’ll learn new ways to help slow climate change. Please feel free to add any of these assets to your blog or page.

    I’m trying to get this inspiring message of corporate environmental commitment to as many people as possible, so I would be very grateful if you could forward this letter to your readers and anyone else you think might be interested. If you have any questions please message me!

    Thanks,
    Jacob

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    By Posted on Posted in Business Ethics, Energy & Sustainability Tagged with , , , ,

    What motivated you to organize this conference?

    You could say this was an alignment of some stars that had been orbiting for quite awhile. First, social responsibility (or sustainability, corporate citizenship and green) is a topic I’m very interested in, going back to when I was Manager of Environmental & Safety Communication at John Deere about 10 years ago. Next, I credit Rick Sauter, Communitelligence Vice President, who had initiated talks with Cisco about partnering on a conference. When the topic of social responsibility came up, there was an mutual a ha moment. Six months of planning later, we’re on the eve of New Models of Social Responsibility: A Virtual Global Summit with Cisco as our technology partner.


    What do you hope people will come away with?

    This may sound idealistic, but I would like this summit toRead more »

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    By Posted on Posted in Energy & Sustainability

    Great article, “100% Renewables by 2030 for Less Than Fossil Power: A Case is Made,” by Stacy Feldman on SolveClimate.com (a site new to me). Go read it, then come back here!

    Stacy is absolutely correct that we have the keys to solving both the carbon and energy crises, with safe, sustainable renewable technology–and that neither renewable but unsustainable and highly polluting biomass, nor non-renewable, highly dangerous, highly centralized nuclear are NOT viable long-term solutions.

    One key is decentralizing energy generation. When power is generated at or near the place where it’s used, transmission costs and transmission losses are minimized or even eliminated. Another key is to design systemically, holistically, to slash energy needs–for instance, if you eliminate the need for a furnace or air conditioner, you eliminate that capital cost, and the building is economically competitive with traditional designs (Amory Lovins is a master at this). When conservation is incorporated at that kind of deep, structural level, the savings are enormous.

    Shel Horowitz, co-author of the forthcoming book, Guerrilla Marketing Goes Green: Winning Strategies to Improve Your Profits and Your Planet
    Blogging on the intersections of sustainability, ethics, marketing, media, and politics: https://www.principledprofit.com/good-business-blog/

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    By Posted on Posted in Energy & Sustainability, People Helping People, Web 2.0/Social Media Tagged with , , ,

    Organizers of Blog Action Day are pleased indeed, calling it “one of largest social action events ever held on the web.”

    32,000 posts, including three world leaders: UK Prime Minister Gordon Brown, who got the very first UK post in just as the clock turned midnight–and staffers from President Obama and the ruling party of Spain.

    CNN covered it here.

    What’s fascinating to me is that organizer Robin Beck thinks 99% of the participating blogs have never written about climate change. I suspect that figure is high. I know that I cover climate change frequently in this space, although it’s certainly not the main focus.

    Anyway, a rip-roaring success and hats off to the organizers. I’m glad to have participated. Now the real question is…while those 32,000 bloggers an their hundreds of thousands of readers put some actions into place in their daily lives?

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