Gaylord Nelson, Senator for Wisconsin, was known as the ‘Conservation Governor’ because of “his efforts to expand recreation land and preserve the state’s natural resources”. As soon as he got to Congress, he started trying to get politicians to give the environment more attention. That proved to be an extremely tough job.

On the other hand, during the 60s, teach-ins were much used as a way of protesting, in college campuses. Nelson thought organizing many simultaneous teach-ins related to the environment would help generate awareness about our Earth’s problems, and press the government to act.

Nelson traveled to Santa Monica in 1969, and witnessed the devastating effects of a huge oil-spill. This was the extra push he needed to make up his mind. He was now determined to organize the first ever Earth Day.

According to Denis Hayes, who coordinated the first Earth Day, one of the 1970 event’s strengths was that it was bipartisan. It was co-chaired by Nelson (Democrat), and Congressman Pete McCloskey (Republican).

Hayes also argues that “Earth Day is, by its very nature, a Mississippi River phenomenon. It generates support that is a mile wide but only a few inches deep.” Its mission being to gather people around the environment, sometimes concrete results seem hard to get. Millions of people get to find out about climate change, pollution, extinction and other pressing issues. Yet, even if this increased awareness is interesting, where is it leading us? What will we get? How will we direct all those one-day environmentalists into demanding changes?

The first Earth Day did manage to generate specific results: the Clean Air Act, the Clean Water Act, and the Endangered Species Act. That same year, the Environmental Protection Agency was created. Much has happened since that first campaign. Today, environmental problems are even more urgent. Will we demand for the necessary action? Will we profit from this unique opportunity to show our concern?

The event’s organizers have been changing during these 40 years. There is no and has never been a centralized leadership. However, currently, the Earth Day Network tries to group and connect the people and organizations that celebrate Earth Day around the world. The EDN has 20,000 partners and reaches organizations in 190 countries. EDN calls Earth Day “the largest secular civic event in the world”

The ‘other’ Earth Day

The United Nations has a different date to celebrate Earth Day; it’s on the spring equinox, which generally is on March 20^th. The tradition was founded by John McConnell in 1969.

Europe will be the first area to meet this ambitious goal, by the end of 2011. This year, in May, 60% of the company’s flavours in Europe will be fair-trade. And next year, the whole of the flavours will be fair-trade certified.

Ben & Jerry’s was founded by childhood friends Ben Cohen and Jerry Greenfield, back in 1978, in Burlington, Vermont, USA. Since 2005, Ben & Jerry’s has started using ingredients that come from fair-trade sources, adding one fair-trade certified flavour each year, which made it the first ice cream company to certify its ingredients fair-trade.

Turning 121 flavours around the world into fair-trade certified ones will definitely not be an easy job. Further, Ben & Jerry’s will have to work with fair-trade co-operatives, which have more than 27,000 member farmers.

Jerry Greenfield defined fair-trade as “making sure people get their fair share of the pie… Nobody wants to buy something that was made by exploiting somebody else”. Fair-trade helps farmers earn better incomes than other farmers. This income improvement allows them to reinvest, and opens them a whole set of development possibilities. Besides, their farming practices become more environmentally friendly.

Ben & Jerry’s has also been working to lower its environmental impact regarding energy consumption, greenhouse gas emissions, and waste generation. They’ve been trying out hydrocarbon (HC) freezers, which use alternative refrigerants, they are 10% more energy efficient than regular freezers, and don’t emit GHG. They are now waiting for EPA (Environmental Protection Agency) approval, so as to use these freezers in as many shops as possible.

Most waste generated by Ben & Jerry’s is now being sent to a methane bio-digester, which produces energy for farmers. The left-over solids are turned into bedding for the cows.

VIA: Unilever

Ben & Jerry’s

Meanwhile ‘Operation Free’ is also working across the nation, its mission: to ‘Secure America with Clean Energy’. This coalition is made up of US army veterans and national security groups that promote the link between dependence on foreign energy and national security. They argue that by becoming more energy independent they will reduce dangerous involvement abroad.

Now, you might not like Hip-Hop and not everyone is a fan of the US Army but the point is that the message cuts across traditional demographics. On an international level the US is not leading the move towards clean energy but the fact that Americans themselves are trying to get organized across the board to push for this shift is a positive sign.

With information technology (IT) growing as much as it is nowadays, data centers are all over the place, and consume impressive amounts of energy. That’s why the EPA’s initiative is most necessary. Data centers will have a way to measure their energy efficiency and show it to others. Besides, the environment is becoming an increasingly important concern for society, so this could work as a marketing strategy for companies.

First, data centers will have to enter specific information online. According to this data, they will be scored on a scale of 1-100. What will be evaluated is the power unit efficiency (PUE), which represents the total power used by the data center, divided by the amount of power that reaches the IT equipment.

A higher score means a more efficient operation. Data centers need to achieve over 75 points to be eligible for obtaining Energy Star. Those who do get the necessary score, are then audited by the EPA, and may get the sought certification.

VIA: Ecogeek

PC World

As my plane was leaving LA  after TED2010 and I watched the curious man-made landscape of circling streets and repetitive housing, I thought of the provoking book by Stewart Brand called Whole Earth Discipline: An Ecopragmatist Manifesto which stated some environmental heresies. The first one, and the one I will examine here, was that cities are green. It is hard to think about New York City, for instance, as a model for sustainability but let’s examine the lifestyle of organic eating, juice sucking, prius driving  southern Californians for a minute. They all live 30 to 90 minutes away from their jobs, so each family has at least one car, usually two, with a big commute twice a day. If we do some math with this calculator from the EPA we’ll see that a typical Californian household emits between 20,000 to 35,000 Kg of CO2 a year.

Each house has to receive (at least) water, electricity and some bandwidth so pipes, copper cables and fiber optics have to be deployed to cover miles and miles of land. Furthermore, all those lawns require massive amounts of water and fertilizers, let’s not forget we are actually on a desert with almost no rain. Each time they need groceries they go to a supermarket, you need quite a bit of them to cover such big areas, and they all need truckloads (literally) of food and supplies. The amount of energy and other resources consumed by this design is monstrous.

The contrast of this way of living with Californian’s love for anything green is startling. At the TED conference we received an aluminum bottle to refill from filtered water dispensers instead of the typical and stupid water bottle. If 1500 persons consume 3 bottles of water a day for 5 days we would have fabricated a mountain of 22500 plastic bottles. Although you could argue that they can be recycled if properly disposed, it takes quite a bit of energy and carbon emissions to turn that amount of slightly used plastic into usable bottles. I personally think that it is a catastrophe that after installing all those water pipes, people everywhere in the world still consume bottled water. The plastic has to be fabricated from oil using energy to melt and take its shape, then sent to a spring, if you are lucky, and then back to supermarkets all over the world. Then you grab those waters, haul them to your trunk, take them home, drink them, throw them away and probably end in a landfill nearby.

TED had also on display Hybrid Cars by Lexus, and although I applaud Hybrid’s oil efficiency I hardly think that they constitute a solution for a zero-emissions, green way of transportation. There were a few Segways and a few bicycles but most people there had arrived either by car (bad) or by plane (the worst), including myself. I took a flight from Buenos Aires, to Dallas and then to LA. The carbon emissions of that flight were roughly 2,825 Kg of CO2. You can calculate them here.  As one TED U session said, if you wanted to be green going to TED you would have to go walking.

I’d better start walking now to reach TED2011 on time.

The video has to address one of the following topics: reducing, reusing, recycling, composting, and consuming. It has to be between 30 and 60 seconds long. There are four categories of prizes. The first one consists of $2500. The second one, $1500. The third prize, $1000. And lastly if two students (aged 15 to 18) participate together, they can win $500 each.

EPA calls for competitors’ help to create videos that will make people get involved, communicate information, and lead to action.

When addressing the topics, consider the following information. Reducing and reusing has to do with reducing consumption, designing products that last longer, reducing and repairing products. Why is reducing and recycling important? Trash that goes to landfills is a great contaminant. When you reduce, not only are you generating less trash, but by reducing your consumption of new products, you avoid unnecessary production, and avoidable energy usage.

EPA mentions in its website that from 1960 until now, each person has doubled the amount of waste he or she generates per day, from 2.7 to 4.5 pounds.

Recycling consists of turning materials that are likely to become waste into useful resources. By recycling you avoid the need for elaborating new products, you reduce waste generation, and energy usage. Last year, in the US, of the total 250 millions tons of trash generated, 83 million tons were recycled, a recycling rate of 33%.

Composting is a process by which organic waste is transformed into a natural fertilizer. It is a fantastic phenomenon, because if all of your food waste goes to a landfill it decomposes and emits methane. Instead if you compost it, you create a useful fertilizer.

And lastly, consuming is one of the most powerful tools individuals have to act positively on the environment, either by buying green products, green services, or trying to consume less, choosing not to consume contaminating stuff, and so on.

To participate you need to be either a US citizen or legal resident. Music and images included in the video need to be original, that is, of your own creation.

For more information click here

Below we present some of the selected main news of these past two days’ progress.

• UN Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon has shown his optimism that a strong agreement to fight climate change can be reached in Copenhagen. “From all corners of the globe we see unprecedented momentum for a deal… I’m encouraged and I’m optimistic.”
• An alleged Danish draft proposal for climate initiatives was published by British newspaper The Guardian. Apparently, developing nations are not exactly thrilled with the draft’s content.
• A study released yesterday claims that between 25 million and one billion people might have to leave their homes in the next four decades, due to natural disasters. However, few of them might be able to do so, because of a lack of the necessary means to move to more secure places. The study is from the International Organization for Migration. It adds that in recent years, the “number of people affected by natural disasters has more than doubled”.

• The UN weather agency announced yesterday that this decade has almost certainly been the warmest one ever recorded. 2009 might be one of the warmest years.
• The US E.P.A. (Environmental Protection Agency) officially declared that greenhouse gases are threatening to human health and the environment. This announcement can be of help for showing US will to achieve an agreement. It also adds pressure to the US in a way.

This first week will mainly be dedicated to elaborating a text for a draft treaty. Decisions will be taken by the end of the conference by environment ministers and heads of state.

Let’s hope all those in charge of drafting proposals and making decisions are aware of the responsibility they have. They have the chance of solving the climate crisis and the dangerous and also unforeseeable consequences it may bring.

VIA: COP15

Some of the initiatives they have agreed on are the following:

The US and India will foster development and deployment of clean energy technologies. An Indo-US Clean Energy Research and Deployment Initiative has been launched. This includes a Joint Research Center. Some of the priorities of this initiative include energy efficiency, smart grid, second-generation biofuels, and clean coal technologies such as carbon capture and storage. Also solar energy, sustainable transportation, and wind energy development.

Specifically, concerning solar energy, the U.S. National Renewable Energy Lab (NREL) will work with Indian Solar Energy Centre so as to create a nation-wide map of solar energy potential.

On the other hand, both Singh and Obama will try to encourage investment in clean energy projects in India.

They will also help each other regarding adaptation to climate change, looking for ways to reduce greenhouse gas emissions from forests and land use.

Both leaders said that Copenhagen must result in a treaty that covers mitigation, adaptation, finance, and technology. Further, they both claimed to be determined to reduce emissions and said they are most willing to accomplish these pledges.

Another interesting project is the idea India has of creating a National Environmental Protection Authority, which will receive help and guidance from US Environmental Protection Agency. India’s project has the objective of establishing a more effective system of environmental governance, regulation and enforcement.

And lastly, the US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration will work with India’s Ministry of Earth Sciences to help forecast monsoons and prevent risks related to climate change, which could harm both people and crops.

Let’s hope all these fantastic initiatives and ideas are put into practice and inspire other nations to get together to fight climate change, and develop renewable energies.

Via: America.gov

Climate Progress

This task is an important one. Why? Because methane accounts for 16% of all greenhouse gas emissions that come from human activities. Also, methane, though rarer than carbon dioxide, captures 25 times as much heat. Having a shorter life in the atmosphere, if it is effectively reduced, the impact on climate change could be rather quick and significant.

The M2M Partnership unites the public and private sector. It is organized and works in four main areas: agriculture, coal mines, landfills and oil and gas systems. The different teams work to reduce methane emissions in each of these sectors.

Potentially, the Partnership can bring annual reductions in methane emissions of up to 50 million metric tons of carbon equivalent. If this was achieved, global atmospheric concentrations of methane would be stabilized or even lowered. This would equal removing 33 million cars from roadways for a year.

The M2M was established in 2004 by 14 gathering countries. So far, it has helped deploy methane emission-reducing technologies and practices. These help better energy security, improve environmental quality, and contribute to fight global warming. They can also provide a clean source of energy, by using methane.

Last September, the Environmental Protection Agency announced that from 2011 on, reporting on greenhouse gas emissions will start to be mandatory for industries. There is still a general resistance to this; however, companies that are already enforcing methods to reduce methane leaks say this practice pays for itself.

Let’s hope the M2M continues to deploy methods that help avoid unnecessary pollution, and that companies become more and more willing to invest in cleaner technology.

Via: NYTimes

Methane to Markets

As Al Gore says, this climate crisis represents both a risk and an opportunity. Most politicians, I think, are not only not seeing the opportunity for growth this situation represents, but also ignoring the seriousness of the risks we face. There is a general lack of will to take the lead and work on a solution.

Being the US a world leader as it is, many point to it as one of the main responsible actors in convincing others and transmitting a proactive attitude to other countries. US President Barack Obama seems to have a relatively good will to seek for solutions. However, unless he gets support from the Senate, his words will remain in the world of ideas. If the Senate does not enact the Boxer-Kerry bill, it is doubtful that in Copenhagen world leaders will be able to accomplish a significant treaty.

What is going on in the Senate?

As always, Democrats and Republicans do not agree, and are not quite willing to do so. Within the Senate, there is the Environmental and Public Works Committee, which is in charge of environmental issues.

Democrats are trying to pass the Boxer-Kerry Bill. However, Republicans claim to lack an economic analysis of the bill; they say reducing emissions 20% by 2020, and implementing a national cap-and-trade system will negatively affect US economy. A study done by EPA (Environmental Protection Agency) shows that these fears are unfounded, because among the Bill’s proposals is the idea of helping carbon-intensive industries, and poor families in the transition process. Carbon-intensive industries would receive a share of free carbon allowances to prevent the rising of prices, and the risk of migrating companies.

On the other hand, not even Democrats as a whole agree on the cap-and-trade system. Some strongly believe in it and consider it a key to the solution, while others want it off the bill.

Copenhagen is a month away. US Senate needs to realize their decisions have the whole world on hold. I hope politicians are doing their job aware that whatever they decide will have huge and unexpected impacts on every one of us, and future generations.

This is an extremely simplified explanation of a highly complicated topic. We will continue to deepen our analysis in the coming posts.