Best of Earth Day - 2008

Since I spent most of yesterday home with an ailing 17 month old who sounded more Tom Waits than Yo Gabba Gabba, it looks like I'm playing Earth Day catch-up. As a result, I decided to take a look to see what transpired in my absence.

I was a little surprised.

Times are shifting and attitudes are changing; specifically, mine. As I sat at home covered in baby grime, I couldn't help but watch the boobtube and think, "If I hear the word "green" one more time, I'm going to dump my television in a lake!"

Not very environmentally friendly, I know.

So I sampled various areas of the interweb to see if their green-washing was as bad as their Hollywood brethren and came back with a little more than I bargained for. Apparently, you can have waaaaaaaaaaaay too much of a good thing....especially if the good things are intentions.

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The Candidates
Both of the Democratic candidates for president addressed Earth Day in formal statements, while it appears as though John McCain sat idly by on a sweaty turnbuckle.

Barack Obama: ...we can choose a different future – a future where America is energy independent, and no longer funding both sides in the war on terror; a future where we’re leading rather than undermining the global effort to combat climate change; and investing in green energy technology, and creating the jobs of the future.
Hillary Clinton: When I am president, our nation will lead the world to tackle the climate crisis - and lead the global economy in new clean energy industries.
John McCain: Tonight John McCain will show why he will "drop kick" the competition in the upcoming election with his appearance on the WWE's Monday Night Raw.

Full "Sports Entertainment" Disclosure: While all three candidates did, in fact, appear on WWE's wrestling program, it looks as though John McCain was the only to suffer from Hulkamania, seeing as his WWE appearance post was the last one published on his blog. There was no mention of Earth Day or Earth Day-related activities on his blogroll. We hope he gets well soon.

While you're here, why not check your candidate to see how they formally address the issue of global warming?

Obama on Energy & Environment
Clinton on Powering America's Future: New Energy, New Jobs
McCain on Stewards of Our Nation's Rich Natural Heritage

Not much to comment on here...just your typical political hoop-jumping. I never give political accolades on policy, they're an eight year commitment.

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The Search Engines
In the spirit of another holiday, Yahoo and Google continued their battle to out-logo one another on their front pages. No offense to Yahoo, but somebody in their graphics department really phoned this one in. In their defense, the still shot shown below is not how it appears. It's actually a nice Flash transition, going from their old red logo to the one shown...that is, if anybody actually enjoyed flash images bogging down their webpages. But does this actually do anything? Sadly, AOL and Ask.com users were unable to ever see the logos, considering they were all unable to turn on their computers.
Really? That's the best of the best on the front pages of the world's top search engines? Where's the creativity? While I understand that my posts are never world-changing, I do it because I'm my own audience. The information I learn here carries over to my work. But when your company name is, in itself, a noun and a verb, you can afford to move a mountain or two with your audience.

Meh.

Google did, however, have an interactive pop-up thingy where you could see what the rest of the world was doing to support Mother Earth, but that was about it. Looks like some employees need to stop hackey-sacking in the nap room with their Jamba Juice after their in-house yoga class and start working.

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The Tech Industry Big Guns
I'm beginning to understand that the best events/releases seem to be the most somber, not to mention that the process is made that much easier when you make a bazillion dollars per year. So here's the big whigs.

If you can learn anything from these guys, it's that understating your achievements will make them appear to shine a little brighter - something I never really noticed before until now. Let your work prove itself and let others extol the virtues therein.

See for yourself...you can really tell who's earnestly making an effort and who's got their drinking bird working the keyboard.

IBM: They took the SIMS and made it 50 times more boring by making their earth-saving video game, PowerUp, free to users online. Check out the game here. They also participated in events hosted by the Earth Day Network. Check out their corporate environmental policy here.

Microsoft: Bill and the gang took the creative step of turning the front page of MSN.com green. Yep, that's about it. Don't hate too much, though...the B&M Gates Foundation is still one of the most amazing and effective charities in the world. I'll support an annual approach to global issues than a one day bash any day.

Intel: They kept it simple with a front page sign that said Earth Day, Every Day. You could then click on a sign directing you to learn why Intel is the largest purchaser of renewable energy certificates. I was actually quite impressed with their work. Read more about it here. They're proof that if you are doing good things, you don't need to shout.

Dell: Dell hosted a computer recycling event in Washington DC in conjunction with the EPA, TechTurn and the National Recycling Coalition. They also accepted monitors, printers, cell phones and PDAs, as well as any other crappy Dell items you might have purchased that finally crapped out.

Sun Microsystems: Sun passed on the party hats (like Intel) and kept their Earth Day activities low-key, focusing instead on their core participation year-round. This concept probably has PR traditionalists up in arms, but will undoubtedly surpass the current model for horn-tooting (read: green washing). Check out their feature Earth Day story here and anticipate awesomeness.

Sidenote: And as much as the corporate big boys and mainstream search engines would (apparently) like to tout their environmental stewardship, there's a severely diseased branch of their tree that's extending from all of their trunks: the data centers. The google's and Yahoo's and Intel's of the world are nothing without their data centers, which are growing in size and need year after year. So while these mainstream corporations continue to steam forward (pun intended) with plans to save the planet, studies show that they're leaving their energy hogging data centers behind:

-Fifty-one percent of companies have a solid plan to green their IT operations, down from 55 percent in 2007.

-60 percent said they turn instead to green building standards from the Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) from the nonprofit U.S. Green Building Council.

-Fewer company representatives expressed plans to pursue carbon credits to make up for their operations' emissions: 18 percent in the recent survey, showing a drop from one-quarter in 2007.

-Power demand by data centers doubled between 2000 and 2005.

-65 percent said they lacked precise plans for improvement.

It was interesting to note that the companies doing the most were often the companies publicizing the least. And while it's safe to say that the Intel's, Sun Systems and B&M Gates Foundations are making tremendous headway, I'm interested to see how they move forward and adjust to new market developments, specifically in the area of data storage. It won't be long before such important parts of their companies will be required by LEED and BREEAM to comply with self-sustainability standards. So if 90% of your building is environmentally friendly but the other 10% is using the same amount of energy as the 90%, what kind of impact are you really making?

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The Environmental Protection Agency
In honor of Earth Day, the nexus of environmental protection known as the EPA, formally announced a winner to their 2008 photo contest. Out of over 750 entrants, a picture from Richard Burkhart of Battlecreek , MI (below) was chose as the winner of the Enjoying the Environment catagory. Two other categories, Protecting the Wildlife and Nature & Wildlife were also up for grabs.

On this spring day my wife and I were enjoying the environment and beauty of Battle Creek River. I find it extremely interesting that this photo was taken within four blocks from the heart of Battle Creek, MI. Sometimes we can find true beauty and enjoy nature real close to home or in our own back yard. The reason I chose this scene was of the reflections of the trees and natural framing of the picture in this location.

Granted, this isn't the extent of their actions. The EPA, in fact, joined up with many other businesses and corporations to sponsor and participate in much smaller events. But isn't it a little surprising that a Photo Contest was one of the only features on their front page.

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Non-Profits
Just a small sampling of Earth Day events from some of the major environmental non-profits. I know this isn't much in terms of relevancy and scale, but I had to at least make a mention of their efforts.

National Wildlife Federation: Asked you to make your own Earth Day checklist [here].
World Wildlife Fund: Asked readers to make every day Earth Day and share their Earth Day experiences [here].
Greenpeace: Nothing unusual.
Earthcorps: They're celebrating the entire month of April as Earth month with various activites [here].
Arbor Day Foundation: Surprisingly, they're more in to Arbor Day than Earth Day. Who knew?
The Nature Conservancy: They're not doing much...just trying to plant a billion trees by Arbor Day [here].
Sierra Club: They helped recruit for Earth Day events [here].

More proof that if you're celebrating the Earth year-round, why need a special day? Notice that all the sites made the information available to the reader without forcing it down their throat. 5-10 years ago these sites would have been just as saturated with green backwash as green peakcock of NBC or the ironically sponsored Caterpillar Green Spot on the Discovery Channel website.

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The Interweb
I also took a small moment to summarize the Earth Day happenings of various websites, but wasn't really sure where to begin. There is such a large pond to fish from, so where a good place to start?

Many, myself included, would agree that Time Magazine's Top 15 Greenest Websites isn't the best place to start, but it'll have to do. While I don't agree with the way the sites were ranked, what can it hurt?

The daunting task of sorting through the web, however, was all the more proof that environmental information is now readily available on the net, so much so that it loses credibility. The reader is becoming more and more savvy to empty facts and graphic persuasion that websites that can simply offer an arena in which to learn are rewarded with the largest audience. Basically, give us the facts in a timely manner and let us decide. Feed us compost and get called on it immediately.

I'd like to see a corporate website with an unmoderated comment section :)

1. Grist
A whole heck of a lot of articles. They also asked you to stop recycling...annoying green cliches [here].
2. Treehugger
Asked its readers what they were doing for Earth Day [here].
3. Dot Earth on the NYT
Looks like they also rest on the hippie Sabbath. No blog update yesterday.
4. Climate Change on the Guardian UK
Just the usual articles [here].
5. Real Climate
A simple wrap-up about the Eauropean Geophysical Conference [here].
6. Environmental Capital on the WSJ
Wondered aloud if Earth Day was actually good for the Earth [here].
7. No Impact Man
Colin Beaven asks how he can be the kind of person who wants to try? Can the way you live really make a difference [here]?
8. EcoGeek
Just the usual articles [here].
9. Ecorazzi
Covered the Green Apple Earth Day and it's usual celebrity-related events [here].
10. Switchboard
Covered a story about the Sox and a family in the Bronx trying to live green [here].
11. Mongabay
Featured an interesting, non-Earth Day article on the nomads of northern Kenya, the Turkana [here].
12. Climate Ethics
No update since 4/21.
13. Climate Progress
Asks you to intellectually dump Earth Day [here].
14. World Changing
(First, can somebody tell me how WC is #14? Top three, at least!). Anywhoo, WC covered some of the top Earth Day stories of 2008 [here].
15. Planet Ark
Nothing out of the ordinary.

Once again nobody is really celebrating or actively participating in Earth Day per se, other than the fact that most are going about their business as environmentally friendly way.

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If the above sampling is any indication how future Earth Days will come to pass, I give the planet only a couple more years before the celebration is not only commonplace in every household, it will last year-round.From what I can tell it's a banner year for Earth Day, insomuch as it might be facing an enthusiastic death on its own accord. And I think corporate America is starting to fear the fact that we might find the other two r's: Reduce and Reuse.

No longer will shoppers grudgingly accept a petroleum-based bag at the grocery on days when they forgot their cloth, but rather reduce their trip to only what they can carry. No longer will the SUVs be accepted as status symbols on suburban streets simply because Oh, the Midwest is just a car-oriented community, but rather ridiculed with the same absurdity they merit on their 7-mile per gallon trips to the soccer field. And no longer consumers consume for the sake of consuming, but rather necessity.

The notion and need for April 22nd as an individual day of awareness is naive. Such celebrations used to be necessary, but have expired under the weight and saturation of information. The public is ready and able.

And I know my words --particularly the previous paragraph-- have been said time and time again, but the culture has shifted (i.e. yes, dagnabit...and this time we mean it!). There's an EV hybrid mass transportation unit purring quietly off in to the future. If you're a corporation, a television company, a search engine, industrial magnate, celebrity, or even (have you checked the stock prices lately?) a commodity, your position of history on the totem pole no longer matters. If you don't jump on board, you could easily be left behind.

That's Ecofantastic!!! Day 6...

Ecofantastic: A product/method/ideology so absurdly priced/developed/formulated that its irrationality transcends any purposeful usage and/or implementation into the present-day green movement, to the point of almost becoming fantasy.

Ecofantastic: Your platinum, diamond-encrusted small wind ecobling...

[Thanks, Deena]

Neighbors fight, states scramble over clean power

By Thom Patterson
CNN

Curt Mann's neighbors are livid, accusing him of erecting an ugly wind turbine among their historic homes for no other reason than to show off his environmental "bling."

The 49-year-old residential developer is remodeling his 1920s house to be more environmentally friendly, including installation of a 45-foot-tall wind turbine in his front yard. "It's really none of their business how I spend my money," Mann said.

The towering turbine, which overlooks majestic trees and Victorian rooftops, pits preservationists in Atlanta's Grant Park Historic District against a property owner and his individual rights.

"It's unattractive and it's a nuisance," said Scott Herzinger, whose home is three doors down. Mann "invaded the public view ... when he put that tower up."

In blustery regions, home turbines can cut power bills by up to 80 percent. But opponents claim Mann's wind turbine needlessly threatens neighborhood property values because Atlanta's low winds don't produce enough speed to make the device worthwhile.

At a cost of $15,000, Mann said the turbine will shave at least $20 per month off his power bill -- hardly a windfall. A proposed federal tax credit would bring Mann $3,000. Acknowledging it could be decades before his investment pays off, Mann said, "even if it was a 50-year payback, at least we've done something to reduce our dependency on fossil fuels."

That's Ecofantastic!!! Day 3...

This whole week I will be honoring ecofantastic items...

Ecofantastic: A product/method/ideology so absurdly priced/developed/formulated that its irrationality transcends any purposeful usage and/or implementation into the present-day green movement, to the point of almost becoming fantasy.

Ecofantastic: Companies cleansing their bodies with green showers...

I'm sure if you had a chance to travel back in time and talk with Joey Stalin, maybe in a casual face-to-face at a Russian bar or something, if asked, he would probably consider himself to be a "nice guy." Similarly, if you asked two coal executives to produce a video extolling the virtues of their company, it might turn out like this parody ad [via The Sietch]:



The global market's edges are stressed at the welds with marketing manure, to the point that we no longer know what to believe. Picture a dump truck (like Mack's new hyrbid) stacked to the brim with a hay-like substance. In this "hay" you'll need to find some "needles," with said "needles" representing truly green companies (it's a difficult metaphor, so I hope you're able to follow). Basically, to put it lightly, the social atmosphere representing the green movement has been compromised, and among these needles are a bunch of pricks.

The movement has been flooded with media spin, lobbied officials, government cover-ups, corporate manipulation, and faux environmental groups. Heartening, I know.

Let's give some examples...

The press is always the most interesting, with their reporters vulnerable to every aspect of the CEO puppet shows. We are fair and balanced no more. Take Guardian reporter Terry Macalister and his obvious empathy for the sheepishly disguised wolf, Jeroen van der Veer, lead mafioso of Royal Dutch Shell [link]:

There is no stylish new shirt or contrasting tie...just a barely ironed shirt with frayed cuffs and a well-worn tie.

Van der Veer, a cost-conscious Calvinist who cycles to work at weekends "because petrol is expensive", is unwilling to discuss pay in any detail [Ed: $10.4 mil/year], saying only that he is focused on what he can do for the company, not on pay.

Right now I'm picturing Wavy Gravy on a wind-powered yacht saying, "Man, gas is righteously expensive!"

With this picture painted, you'd almost forget that the CEO's are the only swimmers in a sea of immediate change. Simply put: if they pull the plug, the power is out. Without nervous sweat, the kind of sweat reporters are empowered to create, what good does this article do? Why not focus on the big(gest) picture, the controversies surrounding Royal Dutch Shell? [Ed note: can you imagine fudging up so much stuff, that your fudges get their own Wikipedia page?]

Oil companies notwithstanding, take any field rife with pollution and look at what they've done. Most companies have simply washed their websites. Take Michelin's stunning interweb home, A Greener World, that gives conservation tips.

Unfortunately, 99.8% of those tips have abosultely nothing to do with the tire industry. While they do take a small portion of time and devote it to a newly developed "eco-tire," they don't even bother to quantify its purported environmental impact. Nevertheless the voluptuous white tire character is quite adorable, though. He makes me want to hug something.

And no, green-washing doesn't need to be complicated. It can be basic, well below the realm and reach of corporate behemoths. Take smaller companies like Chipotle (small in the sense that McDonald's divested their interest). They're odd marketing campaign, ripely brave in the face of American eating stigmas, distributes pictures of farm-raised animals to prove to you that the animals cooked up are, in fact, vegetarian fed and small farmed.

While research shows that this campaign does contain some green merit, only 50% of their beef is vegetarian fed. Additionally, only 66% of their chicken is naturally raised and only 25% of their beans are organic (don't worry, the sour cream is good). Keep in mind that vegetarian fed is not the same as naturally raised, with the former referring to a corn-only diet, a diet unnatural to cows.

So in all earnestness, if Chipotle wants to distribute pictures such as these, their pictures should also include A) 50% of the beef being injected and slaughtered in inhumane conditions B) 33% of the chickens pictured should be sucked up through vacuum tubes on their way to the kill foloor, and C) 75% of the bean fields need to be photographed next to acidic soil caused by inorganic fertilizers.

Let's just get the ball rolling. Here are some prime examples of major corporate green washing/showering/bathing/anointing:

Conoco's plans to buy carbon offsets so they can go ahead with a $600 million expansion project in the Bay Area. That project alone is expected to increase carbon dioxide emissions by 500,000 metric tons EACH year. Their offsets include spending $10 million to fund a $7-million offset program under the Bay Area Air Quality Management District, a $2.8-million reforestation effort and a $200,000 wetlands restoration project. (In addition to their Maryland town hall meetings)

The Blue Planet Run by Dow, an ironic $10 million sponsorship, considering they could have spent the money cleaning up its human rights violations in Bhopal, India, where one of its Union Carbide companies leaked poisonous gases 22 years ago, claiming tens of thousands of lives. Oddly enough, the run is for cleaner water.


BP's Whiting Turner Refinery's glorious environmental Fact Sheet in relation to their earlier plans to dump an average of 1,584 pounds of ammonia and 4,925 pounds of sludge mixed with 21 million gallons of contaminated wastewater into Lake Michigan.

The Bush Administration's silencing of critics, including leading government climate scientists who warn of consequences from global warming.

Exxon Mobil and their cues from the tobacco companies. Oil is good for you!

So if you wanted to really break it down, who are the notorious violators? How do you judge?

Officially, (according to corpwatch.org), you follow the UN Global Compact, a partnership that asks businesses to adhere to nine principles derived from key UN agreements. It's about time we start defining and analyzing what is and isn't proper practice.

But what I really want to know: how does all of this begin?

How do corporations known decades prior as polluters wiggle their way back into our good graces?

How are we now numb to their marketing spells?

Global Issues has simplified the process as follows, and states that the process also works when applied to both green washers and lobby climate change discussions (see: Kyoto). The movement flows as follows:

Step 1: Deny it
With this step, we saw a lot of skepticism initially coming from US-based scientists, many accused of reporting for big business interests, such as oil and automobile industries.

Step 2: Fight it
With step 2, and with climate change, WRI notes that step 2 has become “blame someone else for it”, referring to Bush’s attempts to criticize the Protocol for not imposing reductions on developing countries.

Step 3: Dilute it
With step 3, it is interesting to note that the climate change negotiations that led to the Kyoto Protocol involved extremely heavy concessions on steps and measures to take, in order to get the United States in on the agreement. To criticize later the Kyoto Protocol for being a political document (see below) is a cruel irony.

Step 4: Delay it
With step 4, many have criticized the US and others of delaying effective action or in other ways attempting to derail effective action.

Steps 5 and 6: Do it and Market it
Steps 5 and 6 still have to unfold for the climate change issue. At the same time, while the Bush Administration has at least admitted it is not against action on climate change (just that it opposes the Kyoto Protocol), it is spending money on research and technology.

Yet, combined with delay tactics, this may be a way to ensure the US doesn’t lose its position of power by implementing climate change measures. If its companies can find ways to be more efficient and clean, then it can gain clout and prestige and recognition of help save the world.

By going its own way, it is ignoring international issues and concerns, and so this can be seen as a political move to ensure economic and geopolitical success on this major environmental issue without consideration of the rest of the world. Unfortunately it is often this “go it alone” approach that also creates a lot of resentment against the US in the eyes of many around the world.

I don't really know how to end this post. Part of me feels dead to the world, part of me is overwhelmed with corporate critisisms and criticism's corporate, part of me wants to continue the post, part of me can't tackle the (mis)information, and part of me just wants some lunch.

I'm off to Chipotle.

That's Ecofantastic!!! Day 1...

This whole week I will be honoring ecofantastic items...

It's time.

I've grown so overwhelmed with green-washing that I'm now coining a word:

Ecofantastic: A product/method/ideology so absurdly priced/developed/formulated that its irrationality transcends any purposeful usage and/or implementation into the present-day green movement, to the point of almost becoming fantasy.

That's my word. Mine.

It was not inspired by Nader or Webster's, but by this paragraph:

Hitting a consumer wave at the right time has made many people rich, but, unfortunately, the green market has claimed many victims in the past. Too many well meaning products end up in what US green marketing guru Jacquelyn Ottman calls the "Green Graveyard", making the fatal assumption that Green credentials can overcome mediocre performance, poor design and, frankly, soppy branding.

This whole week I will be honoring those ecofantastic items (pre and post mortem) in an attempt to give them the recognition they deserve, long before their first generation, virgin, organic, sustainable, unbleached, recycled bits are buried in the over-hyped green graveyard.

So today let's wipe with it, before it's wiped off the face of the earth:

Ecofantastic: Renova Green Toilet Paper

This brightly coloured green toilet paper will add an instant designer touch to your bathroom...it's made from 100% bio-degradable materials so you can be sure your doing your bit for the environment.

$17.70 for *cough* 3 rolls