All Posts Tagged With: "green business"

Energy is arguably the most important issue facing our economy, our society and the future of our democracy over the next 50 years. Don’t we want to be prepared?

Recently, I’ve been rethinking some of my assumptions about energy and all the buzzwords, trends, crises and controversies that tag along with that word. Pardon me while I clear my mind of a few strays so I can write coherently. Peak Oil, anthropogenic climate change, Marcellus shale gas, Amory Lovins, renewable energy, cleantech, ARPA-E, energy audits, Dick Cheney, efficiency, IPCC, ANWR, commissioning, biomass, Elon Musk, trash to energy, algae, energy independence, Shai Agassi, greenhouse gases, carbon emissions, whew! That feels better.

Now for the questions that are rolling around in my head . . .

Does it matter if climate change is or isn’t caused by human activity?

Is it even truly possible to accurately predict effects of climate change, given the computer models we have, the chaotic nature of the earth’s climate, and the number of assumptions that must be made?

Does accepting the impossibility of certainty about our future climate make any difference?

Can we power the vast churn of materials through our hyper-consumerist society with renewable energy alone?

And what about the fact that we currently (that’s, TODAY) have all the technology and know-how to make our buildings 75% more efficient – or more?

Did you know that buildings use 75% of the electricity in this country and half the energy in general?

And that about 60% of all electricity is generated by burning coal? (I know that’s true for Maryland; maybe it’s higher nationwide.)

And that whole swaths of the Appalachian Mountains are being leveled to get at the coal more easily? (Byproduct of this: streams in the valleys get filled in with all the gunk, as in, killed.)

And that the Marcellus shale formation is now in the crosshairs of an uncountable number of natural gas prospecting companies? (The track record of whose activities in the West would make your hair stand on end. And don’t even get me started on all the exemptions from our nation’s most sacred environmental – and human health – protection laws that these same industries enjoy in Cheney et al’s 2005 Energy Bill, still in effect.)

How motivating is it to be told that you have to sacrifice in order to be more efficient and harmonious with the earth?

Do you believe it when experts say that overhauling our industrial economy to become radically cleaner and more efficient is the biggest opportunity for innovation and economic development in our nation’s history? That it’s a strategic imperative, a key to national security, and a way to regain our stature as an economic superpower?

In the absence of any coherent national policy, what is there to do?

Fortunately, that last one has an easy answer: plenty. All across the nation, at the local level, states, counties and cities are crafting their own energy policies. They are taking action locally to reduce carbon emissions, retrofit buildings to be more efficient, encourage bicycling, public transit, walking, car sharing and other transportation alternatives, develop food locally, support and promote local businesses, and hold eco-festivals to build awareness and showcase alternatives, among many other activities.

And, personally — whether at home or in your business — here are a few articles to get ideas and inspiration from:

Shift Your Mindset from Hell to Heaven — includes three tips on how to do this

Practical Tips to Save Energy at Home — our most commented-on article. Be sure to read the comments; they push the tips up to over 20 at least.

How Low Can You Go? — about saving energy and money (while also reducing carbon emissions) in business

Nationally, websites abound to help individuals, communities, and companies to become more environmentally friendly and, possibly more broadly appealing, to use resources more efficiently, thereby saving money. A small sampling of those sites:

350.org

Writer / activist Bill McKibben is a co-founder of this site which is dedicated to raising the world’s awareness of the number (350 parts per million) that indicates a safe level of CO2 in our atmosphere. Has enjoyed phenomenal success and attracted wonderfully creative projects that move and inspire.

LowImpact Living

Rate your impact, find local services and products to help go green. Geared to lifestyle and home, but the categories and topics are educational.

Greenbiz.com

A suite of sites including blogs, newsletters, videos, and reports. Includes ClimateBiz.com, GreenerDesign.com, and GreenerBuildings.com. Very high-quality, trustworthy source of news, analysis, and information. Now tracking consumer trends with the “Green Confidence Index.”

Stand for Green

A fun do-it-yourself site for businesses to create a green mission statement and begin to get the word out, so your clients and prospects know you are green.

The U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC), Architecture 2030, and Building Green

While very different organizations with different missions, what these have in common is their leadership in this conservation part of the cycle. Architecture 2030 has wonderful graphic design, making complex concepts easily understood. Their material is meticulously researched and cited. For the past 10 years, the USGBC has been transforming the design and construction industry with its LEED Green Building Rating System. The Building Green website has impeccable standards, deep research, and lively writing. Independently-researched articles on materials, technologies, systems, policy, and trends are presented both in the journal and in a blog.

Just to Recap

Energy in this country is Job One. How we use it, how we save it, and how we develop new, less wasteful forms of it. In fact, I feel so strongly about this that I’ll just say this: “It’s the energy, stupid.”

Recently, I’ve spoken with several organizations that want to green their operations. There are many good reasons for pursuing this. Of course, efficiency in energy and material use is financially beneficial. A green perspective also unleashes hidden cultural potential. Shared meaning, care for the earth and future generations, and re-connecting with nature are just a few of the sometimes-overlooked benefits. Not to mention increased media exposure, since walking your talk gives you a standout position in your market.

While all this possibility swirls around, it can be a daunting to bring it to a landing and find what truly fits your organization and culture. I have helped several organizations make this transition from a wide, sometimes vague, field of possibility to a clear vision and specific plan of action. Along the way, we engaged interested parties, transforming them from onlookers – even naysayers – to active participants.

Powerful questions are an important tool in this work. There’s a wonderful story on the Towards2060 website that reveals this truth:

An answer is always the part of the road that is behind you. Only questions point to the future.

What do I mean by “powerful questions?” Consider three types of questions that correspond to three purposes of inquiry:

• To focus attention
• To connect ideas and find deeper insight
• To create forward movement

When the purpose is more accurately identified, the questions can be crafted intentionally. This is both more efficient and much more likely to engage people in a lively and productive conversation. Open questions and well-structured brainstorming allows the group to:

• Create a climate of discovery
• Suspend premature judgment and premature action
• Check underlying assumptions and explore beliefs
• Listen for connections between ideas
• Encourage diverse perspectives

Here are some examples of powerful questions, related to a project that involves not only extensive building renovations, but also a look at mission and operations.

• What’s important to us about green building; why do we care?

• What opportunities can we see in doing a green renovation?

• What do we know so far and what do we still need to learn about it?

• What assumptions do we need to test or challenge here in thinking about a green renovation?

• If success was completely guaranteed, what bold steps might we choose?

• What challenges might come our way and how might we meet them?

[Note: resource for powerful questions]

It gives us great joy to craft questions like this and to lead discussions that help organizations move forward powerfully on a green mission. Let us know how we can help you.

Week 22

We are called to be architects of the future, not its victims. ~ R. Buckminster Fuller

How refreshing! The future is not something we passively live into, based on past patterns or trends. The future is something we create. If we aren’t happy with the current state of things, we can choose to examine our underlying assumptions and beliefs. Every single human system on earth is created out of nothing but the stories we tell ourselves about the meaning of life, our relationships with each other and the planet, and our capacities for good or evil. This week: can you identify a limiting belief that keeps you from designing a future that you are fully excited about?

Related quote: “The best way to predict the future is to create it” ~ Peter F. Drucker

More:The Awakening the Dreamer symposium provides excellent background and lays the foundation for this work.

Read the Weekly Green from Week 21 here.

We always love to hear from you! How juicy is this quote for you?

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FOUR YEARS. GO. is a campaign to catalyze and empower a fundamental shift in the direction of humanity, inspiring collaborative action, connecting individuals and organizations, and amplifying best practices and successes.

This campaign is inspiring an awareness of the urgency to shift humanity’s trajectory by 2014, before our destructive trends make that shift impossible. They are empowering individuals and organizations to set and reach goals that will cause a positive global tipping point by 2014, setting humanity on a new path toward a socially just, environmentally sustainable, and spiritually fulfilling future.

This may sound like pie-in-the-sky, but — IT’S NOT. It’s entirely possible — as long as we think in terms of possibilities, rather than probabilities. (To paraphrase Rob Hopkins, founder of the Transition Movement.)

Take a look at this site. Get connected. Join a campaign. Become an allied organization. We just did.

Week 21

Tell me and I will forget. Show me and I may remember. Involve me and I will understand. ~ Confucius

As a teacher, I find this humbling. Given my own education and experience, these three actions and results are listed in order of difficulty. Telling and showing come naturally, but are not very effective to catalyze lasting change. This week, what are some ways you can involve people or at least show them, rather than just tell them what you see?

More: “Switch” is a fantastic book about the power of experience to shape change.

Read the Weekly Green from Week 20 here.

We always love to hear from you! How juicy is this quote for you?

Guest post by Hunter Richards, Accounting Market Analyst at Software Advice.

Greenwash (verb, \ˈgrēn-wȯsh\) – to market a product or service by promoting a deceptive or misleading perception of environmental responsibility.

Businesses have been launching major marketing campaigns to promote eco-friendly products, but many of their environmental claims end up being questionable at best. Green products are beginning to lose their credibility as consumers become more suspicious of greenwashing. To restore the reliability of environmental marketing and prevent greenwashing from getting out of control, we need to increase corporate transparency and adopt a clearly measurable method for determining the environmental record of a business. It turns out that new accounting technology could be a major part of the solution.

The U.S. is a leader in financial accounting, but we need similar strength in environmental accounting to prevent misleading green marketing campaigns.  The recent development of Enterprise Carbon Accounting (ECA) software enables companies to track their carbon emissions and identify opportunities for waste reduction. The full development and mandatory adoption of ECA software will make it much more difficult for businesses to cover up their environmental records. As carbon footprint transparency becomes more widespread, carbon accounting could become the new measure of a company’s environmental impact. When the information is released to the public, green marketing campaigns can cite concrete evidence to regain consumer trust.

But for ECA software and environmental accounting adoption to effectively make greenwashing obsolete, we need constructive action in five main categories:

• Clear government action on regulations – like increased coverage of the EPA’s Mandatory Greenhouse Gas Reporting Rule, which requires companies that emit 25,000 metric tons or more of greenhouse gases annually to disclose their emissions figures to the EPA;
• Adoption of carbon accounting principles – stricter requirements for disclosure of standardized corporate emissions for a precise way to examine a company’s environmental record;
• Expansion of Scope 3 emissions accounting – mandatory inclusion of suppliers’ emissions and other indirect sources (Scope 3) in environmental reports would prevent under-reporting <http://gizmodo.com/5120854/dells-carbon-neutrality-is-really-a-bunch-of-cow-poop>  of emissions and more quickly spread general adoption of carbon accounting throughout the supply chain;
• Better green business incentives – using ECA software to identify more eco-friendly savings opportunities – like tax incentives – can make it cheaper to truly go green, making greenwashing less tempting and putting real sustainability initiatives in the best economic interests of a business;
• Demanding, informed consumers – demanding the numbers, while boycotting the greenwashers, forces businesses with green marketing campaigns to prove their sincerity. Greenwashers won’t be able to hide any longer when consumers take this final step.

To learn more about ECA software and greenwashing prevention, read the full article, Software to Hold “Greenwashers” Accountable

Week 20

The intuitive mind is a sacred gift and the rational mind is a faithful servant. We have created a society that honors the servant and has forgotten the gift. ~ Albert Einstein

I am more convinced than ever of the power of creative expression – images, story, movement, song – to catalyze creative problem-solving. Brain science confirms this: we have two hemispheres, right and left. By holding only to the rational, linear, and analytical, we treat the right brain as a poor step-child. We need to get over thinking of right-brain pursuits like art, poetry, music, and storytelling as mere “entertainment.” How can you open to new possibilities by honoring the gift of intuition this week?

More: View the fascinating and exciting TED talk by Jill Bolte Taylor.

Read the Weekly Green from Week 19 here.

We always love to hear from you! How juicy is this quote for you?