Archive for September, 2008

Carbon trading has gotten its fare share of skepticism, but it seems that the U.S. market just got a little more.

A report by the Government Accountability Office found that the $100 million voluntary U.S. carbon offsets market offers consumers “limited assurance of credibility.” The government organization based these findings on the information provided by their offset purchases from 33 retail providers.

Offset projects become credible when they are transparent, detailing what the consumer — whether individual or corporate — is buying, when they create measurable reductions in emissions, and, when a system is in place to assure that projects are only counted once.

The report states, “It is difficult for consumers to determine the quality of the offsets they purchased” without an independent third party registry to monitor and track projects to stop the projects from being counted multiple times.

Without an organization giving projects stamps of approval, consumers cannot trust how much their purchases affect the planet. They cannot be sure whether their carbon offset credit card affects their plane tickets, nor can they trust the advertisements of carbon projects. A registry would encourage the offset marketplace and give credence to their green marketing.

As is, the current U.S. market is not completely unmonitored. The Gold Standard Foundation and the Voluntary Carbon Standard set clear standards for the projects they review. Though these organizations are making strides in making U.S. carbon trading more legitimate, without a unified registry, the market will continue to lack credibility.

The field is growing fast. Individuals are looking to green their daily lives by minimizing their carbon footprint. Corporations are including carbon offset programs as part of their green initiatives. Regional marketplaces are forming, with the northeast having its first regional carbon trading auction last week. Some experts foresee the industry growing to $1 billion over the next several years. Such rapid growth begs the question, if the marketplace is only set to get bigger, why not make efforts to encourage stability and accountability now?

Though industry members have long proclaimed similar concerns and have long urged for the creation of a central registry, because the GAO is an investigative arm of Congress, as the Wall Street Journal asserts, its findings could possibly have lasting impacts on Washington.

By Teresa Herrmann, at The Element Agency in New York .

Several years ago i had the good fortune of meeting and getting to know environmentalist and author Bill McKibben.

His writing and passion for finding home grown solutions to the climate crisis have long been a source of inspiration.

His first books, The End of Nature, was ahead of its time alerting us to the dangers of global warming.  In his subsequent books McKibbon has explored the often unintended and intertwined consequences of our fossil fuel dependenc and economic globalization.

In his new book, American Earth: Environmental Writing Since Thoreau, McKibbon uses an anthology format to explore the notion that humans are impacting the earth in unprecedented ways.  He advocates that we as world citizens must embrace a philosophy of self-government and empowerment to implement locally-based solutions to global warming.

If you’re interested in learning more, take a minute to visit McKibbon’s companion American Earth website at www.americanearth.org

By Grant Draper, at The Element Agency in New York .

White.  The color of the rapidly melting ice caps, which are ceasing to be polar bear habitat and becoming…

Blue.  The color of rising water tables which threaten the existence of entire cities, which are full of people who would like to do something about this except for the color…

Red.  The color of the figurative tape, blocking meaningful progress on all of these issues.  And then there’s…

Brown.  The color of the muddy water created by hurricanes, floods and tsunamis around the world, reminding us all of the fact that the Earth is alive, and we are alive only at its mercy.  A reminder that the consequence-free industrial frat party is over, and it’s time to clean up, sober up, and grow up.

After all, when a giant floating orb provides you with clean air, water, food and handy little luxuries like gravity, an ozone layer and the only known habitable conditions for the existence of your species in the universe, it seems only fair to treat such a generous orb with a little respect.

It seems rather obvious that when a species possesses self-awareness, scientists and the power of observation that such a species would want to do something when all of the above rather profoundly point to the imminent destruction of the delicate conditions which allow us to survive. Or, to be less verbose: Living good, dying… not quite as good.

“That’s the whole secret to life… not dying.” – The late George Carlin

So when you find yourself overwhelmed with green rhetoric.  Green this, green that, green-shift, green-tax, green-energy, green technology.  Remember, that there’s a lot more colors involved, and a lot more at stake then any election, or poll, or blog post, could ever tell you.

By Danny Mendlow at The Element Agency in Vancouver

The US House of Representatives allows offshore drilling, but as many experts keep saying, it doesn’t help the US in the long run.  According to Gore, the US should relish the oil crisis as investment in alternatives can create jobs and even turn a profit.

Russia seeks profit with the latest “Death Spiral” of arctic ice, as the ice loss makes 90 billion barrels of oil within reach.

Plants both suffer under global warming and possibly unlock the key to halting the climate crisis as chemists look to photosynthesis for a global warming cure and Gates invests in algae biofuel.

Chicago forges ahead with its recent GHG emissions cap while California regulators reassure themselves that they did the right thing.

Christian Science Monitor argues that gas, no matter how natural, should not be ingested.

Sarah Palin nearly admits that global warming is man-made, meanwhile GM’s Vice Chairman doesn’t believe in the “CO2 theory”.

At the Venice Biennale, recycling is the building block of the future.

And Guardian creates a top 100 hottest Europe Cleantech list.

By Teresa Herrmann, The Element Agency

SMA America, Inc., part of a solar technology giant, has just launched an interactive educational website that teaches users how solar energy works. The site uses animation, illustration and easy to understand descriptions including a glossary of the most commonly used terms in the industry to educate its visitors.

Although the practicality for consumers to own and benefit from solar energy units in their own homes is still a far reach, it is a huge step to begin educating the general public on all there is to know about solar energy.

Now, hopefully when home solar units become available for practical use to a broader population, consumers will already be ready and willing to catch some rays.

By Brian Geraghty at The Element Agency in New York

For many of us, as our lease on summer begins to run out and hot humid days cool into fall, we will soon find ourselves shifting gears to settle into a different climate.

Many of us adopt a more earth friendly lifestyle in the warmer months; walking or biking for transportation rather than driving or taking public transportation. Soon enough, though, Mother Nature’s colder side will be upon us with temperatures too adverse to muster up the courage to jump on a bike or spend forty five minutes walking to work.

Last weekend the NYC Century bike tour celebrated the growth of the city’s cycling community and the “unprecedented expansion of bike lanes across the city,” according to Transportation Alternatives, an organization committed to making the city’s streets more bike friendly. However, even with such advocacy paired with municipal cooperation we will certainly see a seasonal shift as our subways will become more crowded and our roads more congested while our parks and greenways empty out.

It is inevitable that even with the few die hard long distance pedestrians and even fewer cyclists, that such transportation alternatives are seasonal. Organizations like TA should be championed for their goals and accomplishments but in the coming months as the option to peddle dwindles, the glaring truth that energy alternatives are a year round concern will become clearer. Governments and corporations must continue to pioneer practical means of eco-friendly energy alternatives.

By Brian Geraghty at The Element Agency in New York

A proposed ‘high tech’ recycling facility in Buffalo, NY is said to increase recycling rates significantly

Mary Ellen Burris talks about new packaging made from recycled material at Wegman’s food stores

New York State gets help from T. Boone Pickens with their new long term energy plan

Google has plans to build a new completely sustainable floating off shore data storage center

Starbucks, Dell, HP and Timberland are all leading the way to develop ways of communicating their efforts on sustainabinity to stakeholders

By Brian Geraghty at The Element Agency in New York

Communicating sustainability initiatives makes some companies shine brighter than the rest.

Venerable brands such as Starbucks (SBUX), Dell (DELL) , HP (HPQ) and Timberland (TBL) are leading the way with innovative online communications tools to engage their stakeholders.Starbucks and Dell have dedicated stakeholder engagement sections with comment cards, interactive forums, voting, and a way to see which ideas or suggestions are being implemented. Starbucks’ micro site provides a great example for how to share a CSR report with your stakeholders.

HP has developed an online interactive diagram to show consumers how they have engineered every facet of their business to be more eco-friendly.

Despite ongoing feuds with their marketers, Timberland is greening its brand image by communicating their sustainability initiatives in a micro site that shares their pledge to become more eco-friendly with their stakeholders from Wall Street to Main Street.

We want to hear what you think. Tell us which companies are getting it right when it comes to using creative communications tools to talk about their sustainability initiatives.

By Grant Draper, The Element Agency

A little known fact about renewable sources of energy is that while it can be produced easily enough, using it is another thing.

Wind energy farms like one in Upstate New York have invested hundreds of millions of dollars to build turbines that they are forced to shut down, sometimes on windy days, because they are simply producing too much electricity for the power grid to distribute it.

In spite of this realization, energy companies are chomping at the bit to develop more wind energy. Iberdrola, a Spanish energy conglomerate has just been approved to acquire a large utility with operations in New York. Iberdrola promises to invest $2 billion in wind energy throughout the northeast, a region that like many, that struggles to accommodate the existing production.

Right now, New York has about 1,500 megawatts of wind capacity and with support from Sen. Charles E. Schumer and Gov. David A. Paterson, there are plans to add 1,000 megawatts by the end of the year and 1,000 more within the next few years. It will be interesting to see whether that is even enough and furthermore, how much support there continues to be for expanding the grid’s capacity nationwide.

In the months before the presidential election, environmental organizations have generally offered their endorsement to the Obama campaign, but both candidates promise to develop renewable sources of energy.

By Brian Geraghty at The Element Agency in New York