Faster Horses

Transportation.  This is the part of my personal carbon footprint that haunts me every day.  I grew up in smallish towns with little-to-no public transit options but enough sprawl and extreme weather to make walking or biking everywhere unfeasible, so I’ve been reliant on four-wheeled gas guzzlers for as long as I can remember.  And it’s a hard habit to break.  As I read through Roseland’s suggestions for tools and initiatives, including programs to promote cycling and carpooling, pedestrian-only areas, bike-sharing programs, road pricing, and charges for parking, my first thought was “good ideas”, immediately followed by “but I wouldn’t want that to make driving for me more expensive or difficult”, and shortly thereafter “I’m exactly the reason Americans are consuming 134 billion gallons of fuel each year”.  In fact, each time I visit my parents armed with new information about something they should be doing differently to reduce their impact, the immediate retort is “we’ll do that when you start taking the bus to school.”  Point taken.  But if someone like me who has a strong desire to make the right choices for a more sustainable future is having trouble putting down the keys and picking up the walking shoes, what are the chances that disbelievers are going to be swayed by a few extra speed bumps or a few less parking spaces?

While I don’t mean to discount any efforts to change the pattern of fuel over-consumption, I am interested in what other options we might have in the near future.  Sure there are hybrids and electric vehicles, developments in biofuel, and increased fuel efficiency with the roll-out of the industry’s new line of cars each year; but each of these options suffers from trade-offs that make them less than ideal solutions.  When is the next revolution in personal transportation going to start really solving some problems?

Where better to start my search for the sustainable vehicle of the future than with a TED Talk:

I know it’s 15 minutes long, but watch it.  The speaker, Mark Frohnmayer, gives a good overview of our transportation history and where we are today (the first 7 minutes), as well as his view of some solutions for the future (the next 5 minutes), plus Google’s self-driving car (the following 1.5 minutes).  He wraps up his presentation by combining the most promising technologies to create a sustainable vehicle vision for the future:  “a fleet of ultra-efficient, electric, self-driving vehicles cruising around the city, available at the touch of a button on your phone”.  Pretty cool.

Of course, I had to delve deeper into Google’s technology.  According to a Wall Street Journal blog, a spinning laser device is mounted to the top of the car (either a Prius or a Lexus RX450h hybrid) and shoots 1.5 million beams per second up to 230 feet in all directions.  “’Adaptive cruise control’ radar, which senses movement more than 650 feet around the car, sits on the front grille.  A camera on the windshield looks for traffic lights, signs, and traffic cones.”  All of that data is collected and combined with information from external sources, including GPS and Google Maps, to autonomously control the vehicle.  Sound super-cool but super-scary?  I thought so too.  Check out this video to see what it’s like from the driver’s seat:

Self-driving electric autos sound like a good start to the next vehicle revolution.  And with “10.8 million motor vehicle accidents in 2009 resulting in 36,000 deaths,” I might be willing to take the chance that a computer could do a better job than a lot of drivers out there on the roads today.  Read more on this and Google’s 300,000 mile self-driving milestone here.

Frohnmayer’s holistic vision for the future of personal transportation also reminded me of another holistic sustainability initiative, Masdar City.  Located in Abu Dhabi, Masdar City is designed to be a sustainable, zero-carbon, zero-waste community and a hub for cleantech companies.  (For a video overview, click here.)  And while I could go on about a lot of the innovative technologies the World’s Sustainable City is implementing, I’ll stick to the transportation theme for the time being.  The city’s original plans included the development of a Personal Rapid Transit system that would eliminate the use of fossil-fueled vehicles.  The driver-less pods would carry 2 to 6 passengers, run along tracks connecting between 85 and 100 stations, and be powered by electricity generated by solar power arrays.  Unfortunately, Masdar City planners abandoned these plans due to budget constraints, but the prototypes are still in place.

My search for the future of sustainable personal transportation resulted in some interesting and exciting new technology that is clearly not going to be available for widespread use anytime in the very near future.  So until then, I’m stuck with either the guilt of driving my Volkswagen or the option to get out of the driver’s seat and onto a bicycle seat.  But the race for the next personal transportation revolution is on, and I can’t wait to see who wins.

The War on Plastic Bags

This week, I had the opportunity to serve as a judge for undergraduate students in Meriem Chida’s Product Development class.  A lecturer from the College of Arts and Sciences, Chida has researched sustainability and continues to incorporate it in the classroom experience.  Last Spring, her class focused on upcycled sustainable merchandise.  This year, they were given the task of rethinking the plastic bag used at checkout by vendors and retailers to come up with innovative, more sustainable alternatives.

In a landfill, plastic bags take up to 1,000 years to degrade.

Between my two student groups, there were many different and interesting ideas:

• A recycling center where consumers can deposit plastic bags they have accumulated in order to be recycled.  As an incentive for using the service, a loyalty card would be used to track bag deposits and accrue credits which could then be used to make purchases or receive discounts at participating retail or grocery stores.  Although this solution doesn’t eliminate the evil bags, it does provide a relatively simple method of safer disposal while incenting the public to make the effort to do so in a more sustainable way.
• Reusable shopping bags made from old clothing.  The students even had a prototype – a tank top they converted to a bag using a shoe string.  While I doubt that this idea would scale up in the retail market, I think it would be a great item to add to Pinterest and has the potential to generate a trend following.  Plus, it serves the dual purpose of recycling clothing that is no longer wanted or wearable.
• Ingeo Plastic shopping baskets.  Developed by NatureWorks LLC, this bio-based plastic is a more sustainable option than the types of plastic widely used today, both in its production and its end-of-life options.
• Biodegradable bags attached to shopping carts.  This idea was derived from the biodegradable dog waste bags already available.  In conjunction with this option, RFID (Radio Frequency Identification) technology would be used so that shoppers could scan and bag their items as they shop.  The personal scanner is an idea that has been around for a while and, as far as I can tell, is not currently in use because of a variety of foreseen complications (including a higher frequency of theft and a belief that if shoppers watch their total dollars increase as they shop, they may buy less).  However, I imagine as the technology improves, this could become a shopping option in the future.
• Roll-up and elastic-band bags for customizable bag sizing.  One complaint the students found in regards to current bagging options, especially in the context of reusable bags, is that they come in one generic size which doesn’t always fit the customer's needs.  This solution allows the customer to adjust the bag size to accommodate different items.
• Divided crates that move from trunk to shopping cart and back again.  Customers place items in compartments according to food type and can then easily transport them to the register, to the car, and ultimately into the kitchen (the compartments can be removed one at a time or as an entire unit).
• Fold-up weatherproof keychain bags.  This option is intended to be affixed to a customer’s keychain and used for quick trips when only a few items are needed.

While there are still some project iterations to complete, it was incredibly interesting to be involved in the design process with these students as they searched for a more sustainable way to shop.  The project also reminded me of one of my new favorite terms – slacktivism.  A combination of the words ‘slacker’ and ‘activism’, this refers to a generation of consumers who have a desire to “do good” but only if it is easy and convenient for them.  A recurring theme among all of the new ideas was that there needed to be a simple solution to the plastic bag problem that would not require consumers to significantly change their current shopping habits.

Above all, this experience motivated me to think critically about possible solutions to some of the unsustainable practices that are commonplace today…and to find the reusable bags I have strewn throughout my apartment and put them in my trunk for my next trip to the grocery store!

The Majestic Plastic Bag - A Mockumentary

In Pursuit of Green Flight

The modern airplane creates a new geographical dimension.  A navigable ocean of air blankets the whole surface of the globe.  There are no distant places any longer:  the world is small and the world is one.

-Wendell Willkie

Flight is a magical thing, but it also has arguably the single largest impact of any international travel-related activity on the environment via greenhouse gas emissions.  Finding a flight is also the first unavoidable step in preparing for my study abroad trip to India.  And so Googling various combinations of the words “airline”, “emissions”, and “sustainability” has consumed my Personal Project time for the past few weeks.  After all of that research, I am finally prepared to book this day-long flight in the most eco-friendly way possible (read:  this is a “least bad” endeavor as there are currently no “good” options).

Step 1:  Choose an Airline

While the lowest price listed on Travelocity is usually my go-to flight plan, my flight-booking activities this time around have been anything but quick and one-dimensional.  There is a plethora of information available regarding advances in the aviation industry and particular activities and endeavors being undertaken by specific airlines.  All of this research, along with some input from a few friends, has led me to choose Etihad Airways for my transportation needs. 

Based in Abu Dhabi, Etihad has played an important role in the advancement of fuel efficiency and the search for an alternative to oil-based fuel.  On January 25^th of this year, Etihad became the first airline to fly on biofuel.  A new Boeing 777-300ER flew from Seattle to Abu Dhabi International Airport on a mix of traditional fuel and plant-based biofuel that was created using recycled vegetable cooking oil.  The airline has also formed a partnership with Masdar, Abu Dhabi’s multi-faceted future energy initiative, to develop carbon and waste reduction initiatives and establish a carbon credit purchasing for offset program.  You can also read some of President and CEO James Hogan’s thoughts on Etihad’s role in sustainability in Green Growth and Travelism.  But what it all boils down to for decision-making purposes is that Etihad seems to be doing its part to contribute to the sustainability movement and to create a future where green flight is possible.

Step 2:  Purchase Carbon Offsets

Having chosen an airline based on involvement in sustainability initiatives as opposed to price, I still felt that I wasn’t doing enough to combat the environmental impact of my flight, and thus began my search to learn more about carbon offsets.  The basic gist is summed up pretty well in Carbonfund.org’s tag line:  Reduce what you can, offset what you can’t.  As society exists today, there are some activities that produce unavoidable GHG emissions, air travel being one of them.  So a marketplace has formed for the environmentally-conscious to purchase carbon offsets to “counteract” the effect of the emissions their activities are producing in an attempt to reduce carbon footprints and further the development of alternatives.  Watch the video posted below for more detail about how carbon offsets work.

Of course, this practice does not get by without some harsh criticism.  An article in the Associated Press sums up many of the issues, including the concern that, by purchasing carbon offsets, consumers assuage their guilt and don’t feel pressure to reduce their impact to begin with.  There is also debate over the calculations used to determine the amount of emissions to offset for a given activity and over the price of carbon offsets (how do you put a price on environmentally damaging actions?).  An issue of New Internationalist magazine entitled “CO2nned:  Carbon offsets stripped bare” poses some serious accusations of programs that claim carbon neutrality.  A response posted on Treehugger counters many of the claims made and offers regulation as a possible suggestion for getting a better handle on the offset marketplace.

After all that I’ve read, I still have mixed feelings regarding carbon offsets.  I don’t think that by purchasing them I am making up for the impact of my carbon-fueled flight; however, if by purchasing offsets I can contribute to the renewable energy revolution, then I could get on board.  And so I went to Carbonfund.org’s flight calculator to find out how many carbon emissions I was responsible for and to contribute to renewable energy projects to counterbalance that amount.  A round trip flight for one from Nashville, TN to Hyderabad, India covers 17,320 miles, producing 3.20 tons of CO2, and costing $32.04 to offset.  The site also gives you the option to choose the type of offset you would like:  renewable energy and methane, energy efficiency and carbon credits, or reforestation and avoided deforestation (I went with option one).  A trivial amount to contribute to renewable energy?  Absolutely.  The path to carbon neutral flight has a long way to go.

Step 3:  Consider the Alternatives…and Get Psyched to Go to India!

A promising alternative to international travel?:

While I could eliminate the impact of this trip by not taking it, I somehow don’t feel that Sharing the Air (see video above) would have quite the same experiential effect on my life.  And despite all the criticisms and my own reservations regarding the less bad options I’ve listed, I hope that by taking the time to select an airline that is involved in making the industry more sustainable and by investing in renewable energy research and production via carbon offsets (however trivial the amount may be), taking this trip will in some small way help us move further down the path towards sustainable air travel and will reduce, or at the very least partially counteract, my own personal emissions impact.

Rethinking the 3 R's

If your childhood was anything like mine, you've had the 3 R's - Reduce, Reuse, and Recycle - imprinted on your brain (along with the names of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles and the lyrics to the Fresh Prince of Bel-Air intro) for as long as you can remember.  But today, there's another R in town that's even more important and impactful:  Rethink.  

According to Roseland, "waste shouldn't and doesn't have to be a part of the consumption cycle."  And if we start thinking about waste as an unnecessary byproduct and a human invention that can ultimately be eliminated, the inefficiencies of our current standard of living become vividly apparent and opportunities for effecting change appear in all manner of places.

Striving for a zero-waste society is an admirable goal and one that should be on everyone's agenda.  There is, however, a lot of damage that has already been done and that should be considered in addition to rethinking the way we make things in the first place.  Three ideas and interesting areas of development come to mind, all of which address slightly different stages of the rethinking process.

1.  Rethinking Mushrooms

One thing that should never be underestimated is the power of Mother Nature to restore balance.  While we pride ourselves on finding new and better ways to create and invent products and processes, we often overlook the astounding ideas that nature has had in place for millions of years.  Biomimicry seeks to study and learn from these time-tested strategies and incorporate them into more sustainable methods of advancing our society.  Following this method of thought, what other ways can natural processes be utilized to solve some of our self-inflicted waste problems?

One fascinating discovery may provide a natural solution to the problem of non-biodegradable discarded plastic which could potentially be sitting in landfills for centuries.  A group of students from Yale brought a fungus back from a trip to the Amazon that thrives on a diet of polyurethane in an oxygen-free environment.  In a global economy that produces 300 million tons of plastic each year, a fungus that can survive in the conditions at the bottom of a landfill and that feeds off of the landfill's contents is a very promising idea indeed.

Additionally, a company called Ecovative has combined mycelium, the sticky substance on the bottom of mushrooms, with corn husks and other food byproducts to create a product similar to polystyrene foam.  This is the nasty stuff we see in packing materials, some takeout food packaging, and insulation.  Eliminating this product from our environment poses major benefits not only for our landfills but for our oceans as well as it is a major component of plastic debris threatening marine wildlife.

Read and hear more about these miraculous mushrooms here.

2.  Rethinking Consumerism

"Armaments, universal debt, and planned obsolescence - those are the three pillars of Western prosperity.  If war, waste, and moneylenders were abolished, you'd collapse.  And while you people are overconsuming the rest of the world sinks more and more deeply into chronic disaster."

-Aldous Huxley, Island

"Advertising has us chasing cars and clothes, working jobs we hate so we can buy shit we don't need."

-Tyler Durden, Fight Club

The first time I read about the Cradle to Cradle design concept, I thought it was the answer to all of our problems.  And while I question whether or not McDonough Braungart Design Chemistry (MBDC) has succumbed to some of the "less bad" principles they warn against in the implementation of their product certifications, the theory behind their ideas can still provide a useful framework for redefining the way we approach consumerism.

In particular, I am intrigued by the concept of a 'product of service'.  Essentially, McDonough and Braungart perceive a  system in which, "instead of assuming that all products are to be bought, owned, and disposed of by 'consumers,' products containing valuable technical nutrients . . . would be reconceived as services people want to enjoy . . . .  When they finish with the product, . . . the manufacturer replaces it, taking the old model back, breaking it down, and using its complex materials as food for new products."  This type of economy is quite different from our current ownership-based economic model, but the implications and benefits for a society with an ever-increasing hunger for newer and better products and technology shouldn't be ignored.  If we can get past the norm that what we own defines what we're worth, we have the opportunity to revolutionize the way products are made and disposed of.

3.  Rethinking the Circle of Life

I couldn't resist...

Even in death, the most natural of processes, we have found ways to damage the environment.  The current standard involves two main options - burial or cremation.  But between non-biodegradable coffins, embalming liquid seeping into the ground, greenhouse gas emissions from the burning of corpses, and the inefficiencies of large plots of land left unusable for other endeavors, end-of-life decisions have lasting impacts long after our loved ones have left us.

A greener alternative to these traditional methods is aquamation.  This involves a process called alkaline hydrolysis in which "a body is placed in a stainless-steel vat containing a 200°F potassium-hydroxide-and-water solution for four hours until all that remains is the skeleton."  The bones are crushed and given to the family while the remaining solution, which contains no DNA, can be diluted by adding vinegar or citric acid and then recycled.  It's even safe enough to use to water plants!  And the entire process uses only 5 to 10% of the energy required for cremation.  If you can get past the logistics, I think going back into the earth to create new life sounds like a pretty nice way to leave one last positive mark on the world.

Reduce, Reuse, Recycle, Rethink

Plastic-eating fungi, a rental-based society, and aquamation are just a few intriguing ways to rethink the way we reduce, reuse, and recycle.  But we have a lot more rethinking to do if we're to start living within the means of our planet and to become a more natural, zero-waste society.  Share your Rethinking ideas below!

...and at once I knew I was not magnificent

"Adventure is a path.  Real adventure - self-determined, self-motivated, often risky - forces you to have firsthand encounters with the world.  The world the way it is, not the way you imagine it.  Your body will collide with the earth and you will bear witness.  In this way you will be compelled to grapple with the limitless kindness and bottomless cruelty of humankind - and perhaps realize that you yourself are capable of both.  This will change you.  Nothing will ever again be black-and-white." -Mark Jenkins

Bon Iver - Holocene (for your listening pleasure)

Both of the above capture some of my feelings about adventure and the earth.  One line in particular from Holocene states "...and at once I knew I was not magnificent."  Anyone who has stood atop the Mayan ruins in Guatemala, swam with the fishes in the Indian Ocean, or drank a pint of Guinness at a small Irish pub can appreciate how experiencing the world can put things in perspective.

As you can tell and like many others who have been fortunate enough to have the opportunity to do so, I absolutely love to travel.  At the risk of including too many quotes in one small post, Susan Sontag once said "I haven't been everywhere, but it's on my list."  And that is exactly how I feel.  With unlimited time and money, there isn't a place on earth I wouldn't want to go.  But in addition to those two limitations, traveling the world can also have a huge impact from a sustainability perspective.  Between GHG emissions from airplanes and other modes of transportation, impacts on wildlife, impacts on the aesthetics and culture of tourist destinations, and the generation of additional pollution and waste outputs, a seemingly simple trip across the ocean can leave in its wake a lot more than was bargained for.

On the other hand, the economic impacts of travel and tourism on some countries are often important or even essential to their livelihoods.  And as an MBA student entering an increasingly global business world, even if I could minimize my personal impact by reducing or eliminating my own travel plans (what a sad thought), Corporate America will likely make that option unfeasible.  So what options are there for more sustainable travel?

The Indian School of Business - Hyderabad

For my personal project this semester, I am going to explore the options for sustainable travel in preparation for my study abroad trip to India in January of 2013.  Aside from the 5 weeks I will spend taking classes, I will also have several weeks to myself before I head back to Indiana to wrap up the school year, and I plan to spend this time seeing as much of the country (and possibly some others nearby) as possible.  Planning this trip all on my own is a daunting task to begin with, but I think that finding ways to reduce my impact while supporting the local communities will actually help give me some direction and serve as a great learning experience.  And in the end, I hope I'll be able to see the world without jeopardizing any of its magnificence.

Local Eats & Tasty Treats

 

 

 

 

Today marked the Big Red Eats Green event on IU's campus where B-town restaurants serving locally sourced or seasonal food set up camp to increase awareness of the benefits and availability of local eats.  Not only did I personally enjoy several of the food offerings, but I was also struck by the number of restaurants there are in Bloomington who use locally sourced foods in their menu items.  I knew the town was ahead of the game in this arena, comparatively speaking anyhow, but it's eye-opening to see all in one place just how true that is.



Naomi & me enjoying Soma smoothies & a Dunn Meadows wrap
(note our complimentary "I Ate Local" bracelets)

To give you some insight into my perspective, before coming back to grad school I was living in Bowling Green, Kentucky which boasts the second most restaurants per capita in the nation.  Yes, I said boasts.  If you follow that link above, you can see from the short book description that BG is proud of this fact, although I for one find it fairly disturbing.  True, Bowling Green does have a handful of local eateries, but by and large the establishments that make up this statistic are your run-of-the-mill chains:  Olive Garden, Outback Steakhouse, Red Lobster, Applebees, Ruby Tuesday, Denny's, Cracker Barrel, Burger King, KFC, Taco Bell, Wendy's, you name it and they probably have it.  Last time I counted, there were a whopping 7 McDonalds serving a town of less than 60,000.  And even with all of those options, it's impossible to go out to dinner on a Friday night without waiting for a table for at least an hour and often much longer.  No wonder Kentucky is ranked one of the Top 10 Most Obese States on a regular basis.

 

Grow your own!

Following those facts, I can only express how happy I am to have such a better range of options here in Bloomington.  Sure, this is America and those bad choices will always be out there.  But today I have a new appreciation for all the good options that do exist for those who want to make the healthier choice, and one that benefits the local economy.  So thanks Big Red for helping me Eat Green!

Policy, Greenwash, & Eco-Labeling

Much of the compelling literature out there talks about why we need to make a change and stresses the devastation that will become of our planet if we don't alter our thoughtless, consumer-driven ways.  Everyone has heard about the terrors of global warming, the melting ice caps, the ozone depletion.  Even so, there are still plenty of non-believers out there.  But for the rest of us, at some point you've heard enough of the horrifying statistics and you just want to know if you can do something about it.

It was for this reason that I was (and am) looking forward to Roseland's take on developing sustainable communities.  This week, the focus was on Making Community Policy.  I think we can all agree that, generally speaking, people want to do the right thing.  Issues arise, however, when people aren't particularly clear about what the "right thing" is or when doing so is particularly inconvenient or expensive.  And in the process of making sustainable choices, this is often the case.  As such, policy can help fill the gaps and create alignment so that sustainable options outweigh the alternatives.  But as with almost everything, there are some holes in the armor and some problems born of policy, especially as they relate to business and a concern with the economic bottom line.

There are lots of buzz words floating around out there, and as the satirical video posted here depicts, many companies are using consumers' lack of knowledge to portray themselves as environmentally conscious.  While policy development has taken steps in the right direction and certainly offers some useful tools to enact change, some corporate responses to those policies have diverged from the original intentions.  According to stopgreenwash.org, greenwash is a term "used to describe the act of misleading consumers regarding the environmental practices of a company or the environmental benefits of a product or service."  And while there is arguably a lot of this going on, it is up to consumers to educate themselves about the actual practices of the companies whose products and services they are buying.  But how can you tell which claims are legit and which are full of it?

Of particular interest to me in this regard was Roseland's discussion of Voluntary Initiatives.  I spent my most recent summer in Michigan interning for an office furniture and technology manufacturing company.  The office furniture industry has taken major strides in sustainability practices, which is most clearly evident in the multitudes of voluntary eco-label certifications that are widely used (BIFMA level, Cradle to Cradle, and FSC Chain of Custody certifications to name just a few).  While the intention behind this long list of labels is to provide a standardized, third-party verification of the sustainable practice claims a company makes, problems still arise in their enforcement and in the messages they send to consumers.  In Label Confusion: The Groucho Effect of Uncertain Standards, Harbaugh, Maxwell, and Roussillon discuss the value (or lack thereof) of voluntary labels and the confusion that they can create for consumers.  The authors talk about the "Groucho effect" which occurs "when standards are uncertain [and] if a product is expected to be low quality, then...consumers infer that the labeling standard is probably weak if such a product can meet it."  Just as Groucho Marx joked "I wouldn't want to belong to any club that would have me as a member," a company whose eco-reputation is bad won't necessarily gain much from the addition of eco-labeling.

  

In another article entitled Greenwash: Corporate Environmental Disclosure under Threat of Audit, Lyon and Maxwell dive deeper into the greenwash phenomenon and discuss how NGO audits of environmental claims can actually backfire and cause companies to become even less transparent.  With all of this uncertainty surrounding policy and environmental claims, there is a lot of room for improvement.  And until full environmental disclosure is a required, common practice, it's still up to us to weed out the good, the bad, and the eco-friendly.