Painful goodbye

The business world has lost a true leader and, in many ways, a pioneer. The sustainability world, especially, has lost a cornerstone. Ray Anderson, founder and CEO of Interface--a carpet and flooring innovator--has died today.

In his honor, here's his TED talk from 2009.

R.I.P., Ray.

(Belated) Spring cleaning

Clearing out my inbox and reader, I have a few links I've been meaning to share.

1. Every time someone states the obvious, an angel gets conked over the head by a wiffle bat. This is only relevant if you're stating that across all business, there's no unified view from CEOs of what sustainability's implications are. I start to understand why consultants are seen as so frivolous. It's partly a misunderstanding of what they do (ideas vs. implementation), but partly because they tend to make obvious and/or redundant statements.

2. Like the new plate-based nutrition guidelines, I dig the better presentation of information on the new fuel economy stickers. I'm a fan of the QR-enabled interactivity, and think it does a far better job of helping consumers visualize their choices.

3. A rough roadmap to true sustainability. The emergence of natural/climate capitalism as a philosophy, and what it means to pursue climate capitalism in the near-term and long-term, excerpted from L. Hunter Lovins's latest book. As an aside, I've heard her speak, and she's a truly effervescent thought leader in this area. I've been really pleased by the increasing authority lent to her and Amory Lovins as they work toward impactful change in the business world.

Breaking Wind News

Er, I'm ashamed to say that was intentional.

Still, Spanish wind developer Iberdrola has accomplished what seemed like the impossible: creating a plan for a large-scale wind farm in NC that has yet to draw controversy.

What's that feeling in my heart? Is it heart failure?

"Hope"?

What's that? Is it terminal?

Another link-dumping

This time, on sustainability:

I: Top Ten Cleantech Companies

II: Given the current political things of note (i.e., potential shutdown of the government), it only seems appropriate to post this bit on where the states are going on clean energy. Generally not in a good mood about politics lately.

III: I think without commentary, you can come up with your own conclusions about Del Monte's latest "green" initiative. Maybe you can even come up with clever names for them.

In brighter news:

IV: North Carolina's bright opportunity

V: If you can believe Walmart is in the "in brighter news" section, their efforts have really blown the top off of others' corporate sustainability programs. It may not be perfect, but it's moving things.

VI: In vaguely related news, it seems that shareholders respond to sustainability initiatives, but only when they appear to have real teeth.

VII: Iceland is looking to make a big investment in clean tech infrastructure and transmission.

and just for kicks:

Arty photos of TVs being turned off.

on Saturn and other stuff

Yesterday, friends, was my first anniversary. How did I celebrate it? After team meetings at school, Ian and I grabbed dinner with some friends at Pop's for some delicious cheesesteak action. Yes, so romantic, right? Well, fine, but after that we went to a fire circle in the country where the stars were crazy-bright, bluegrass was playing, and someone had a telescope set up.

Through that telescope, you could see Saturn, rings and all. It appeared ablaze with light. Looking online, I see Saturn is, at its closest, 1.2 billion km away from Earth. That I could so clearly see the thing from a distance my brain can't even comprehend makes one feel deceptively less small than one probably ought feel in the universe.

Still, my anniversary rocked.

In other news, I had the second half of a Saturday short-course today. In it we discussed the business case for sustainability, especially issues facing large companies. There are some things that have bothered me a lot about the sustainability discussion of late:

1. Certifications. One big one recently touted has been the ISO 14000 family. ISO 14001, in particular, simply certifies that you have an environmental management system that you track. The goals and performance metrics are set by the company. In one way this is great, since it allows flexibility across industries and disciplines, but on the other, it doesn't necessarily guarantee much at all.

2. Trade-offs. This is the subject of some of the major "sins of greenwashing"--shielding trade-offs or implying false trade-offs. This has been a major gripe of mine with use of compostable products and "biodegradable" packaging. Turns out, if you do an actual life-cycle analysis, it's terrible to put in landfills. If you're going to have compostable service ware, COMPOST.

3. Businesspeople think sustainability is at its zenith. It's not. It's in its infancy, and there's no dialog on how to realistically advance past mere efficiency in the long term. What happens when everyone is equally efficient and your efforts no longer offer you competitive advantage? What happens when consumption increases and disposal options decrease and/or become more costly? Let's brainstorm on this, folks.

That's all for now. Exhausted.

Retired subway cars given new life

Worth clicking through to the original link: Dramatic Photos of Retired Subway Cars Being Tossed Into Ocean

I wonder what the environmental implications are. It's a cool photo series, though, regardless.

optimistic supply chain nerdery

Is the economy improving? At least for supply chains and manufacturing, signs point to yes.

Oh, did I say for manufacturing? Make that non-manufacturing, too.

It seems health care is finally starting to get the picture on supply management. Turns out better managed hospitals may actually improve patient care. Who'd've thought?!

Increasing public scrutiny of environmental practices means supply chains in the developing world are getting the shakedown. This is a good thing in the long run, though I'm sure business leaders are pretty unhappy with it right now.

On "shared value"

Michael Porter has become one of the greatest, most articulate advocates of business's increasing impetus to create shared value for the community as a means of competitive advantage. It's something that seems intuitive to us CSR/sustainability nerds, but has been thought anathema to good business by many for a long time. Porter also has some great publications on the subject, but I figured I'd link to the recent HBR interview, which sums up the articles nicely.

Rethinking Capitalism - Video - Harvard Business Review

Three on sustainability

They're maybe not as related as I generally like my aggregated links to be, but I need to clear out my backlog of links I've been meaning to share.

First (and oldest), a post on how the prices of PV are falling, but why it still doesn't make much sense despite the falling prices (hint: it largely has to do with the other associated costs).

Second, a piece on Walmart's decision to source with a more local/regional focus. The gist: assuming they stick to their word, we may have a battle on our hands of Homeric proportions.

Third, UNC's Morrison Residence Hall receives top billing in the EPA's first-ever National Building Competition. This link is particularly important to me, since Morrison's energy-efficiency initiatives were made possible by the Renewable Energy Special Projects Committee, a student-run group established to manage the $4/student/semester fee passed by the Green Energy referendum. Full disclosure: I was one of the key people involved with the referendum, and an initial appointee to the committee once it was formed. The time I spent working with a handful of other dedicated students is still one of the most gratifying periods of my life, especially in the success borne of our efforts. This award, then, is the proverbial icing on the cake.

Now, I'll try to stop glowing and get back to you with more links forthwith.

Keep it classy

I'll probably post more sporadically from here on out, as school has started again. This semester will be trial by fire, since I'm taking 100% concentration classes, and will be doing major project work. Still, I'll try to post things as I come across them.

On that note, I thought this report was interesting. Ultimately, it posits that landfilling may have a lower carbon footprint than recycling in some situations. I'm a realist, and I don't necessarily assume this isn't true. Still, I'd be interested to see the actual Life Cycle Analyses and determine what factors were included (or, perhaps more telling, whether any factors were excluded).

Cooking, naturally

Some of the tweeps I follow signed up for this cooking class from Central Carolina Community College, which is how I caught wind of it. It sounds like a pretty neat concept. I wonder how much of the program will be split toward cooking technique versus nutrition versus actual menu planning (generally its own course in culinary school, but still...).

[EDIT: Clearly, I should read more. There's a basic breakdown of the course structure here, though it's not specific about the time commitments for each segment. That'll teach me to post before exploring thoroughly.]

What color is Triple Bottom Line sustainability?

A thought-provoking question from Joel Makower of GreenBiz.com. Just what color is the Triple Bottom Line? "Green" seems inappropriate, but is "blue"--as is suggested at one point--too loaded with political baggage? Is there a better term for folks concerned with the 3 P's (People, Planet, Performance/Profit)?

I'll be interested to see what emerges in the common lexicon.

green apparel supply chain

WSJ recently posted an interesting article on an effort by 100 major apparel manufacturers to track the footprint of your footwear (and other wearables). You should check it out here, and be sure to click the tab for the diagram demonstrating the footprint of a pair of Levi's. It's really eye-opening how much of the environmental footprint actually occurs after purchase, with washing and drying.

As an aside, I was raised to use cold-water wash for everything except a bleach load of whites. Do other people actually use warm or hot for everything? It's not even a good thing to use for preservation of colors, folks. I promise, things get just as clean in cold water.

A few links on sustainability

On the proliferation of green ratings and accreditations, and why they're important despite being confusing. Working for a non-profit that specializes in triple bottom line certifications for small businesses and non-profits, I found this one pretty interesting.

A side-by-side comparison of the Global Reporting Initiative and the Climate Disclosure Project. Sustainability reporting standards can be confusing.

An expose on the waterless urinal, and why it hasn't caught on everywhere.

I often assume other people are familiar with the Life Cycle Analysis, and I'm often quite wrong. Here's 10 thoughts on LCAs.

"I think our problem is going to be: Are six acres enough?"

Fantastic news from out of Cleveland, with land-use management tactics that should be applied in every urban municipality.

In less creepy news...

A discussion on how sustainability and energy efficiency are ultimately at odds. While I disagree that energy efficiency does nothing for the environment (the first goal of an individual or organization should always be to reduce), I do agree that the overarching goal should be a move to clean energy.

On that note, a solar plane just completed a history-making 24-hour flight. While this isn't going to revolutionize air travel tomorrow, it points to pretty awesome future potential.

And now, a final note on how the quality and sustainability movements converge. I've sort of hinted at this territory before with logistics quality, and HBR published a nice article on this in April (it's worth checking out), but it bears repeating.

Paper Life Cycles

CSRwire has published a press release for a new paper life cycle tool. Hopefully, this will be a useful tool for individuals and businesses hoping to go green with their paper, but not necessarily sure how to.

The actual site for The Paper Life Cycle.

This week (or month) in energy

Architecture lust! This drool-inducing new building from the US Department of Energy is to be the largest energy-neutral in the US.

Neat. Forthcoming "nutrition" labels on lighting are pretty useful, informative, and just cool in a totally geeky way.

A quick bit from the place where I'm doing my fellowship on conducting energy audits.

Starting in fall or spring, Durham Tech will be offering cleantech classes. Eventually, this will turn into a certificate program, for people who aren't already electricians. I'm pretty excited; hopefully it's cheaper than the program at NC State.

Learn Chinese

That's what I'm thinking I'll need to do in order to work in cleantech. This isn't meant as a derogatory statement, since I've been incredibly impressed by China's sustainability efforts. Still, cleantech is shaping up to be the Millenials' Cold War.

Case in point, China, who five years ago wasn't even on the figurative map of wind producers, just jumped past Germany to the number two spot. Now at 25.9 gigawatts of installed capacity--DOUBLE its installed capacity in 2008--China stands poised to give the US--at just over 35 gigawatts--a run for its money.

Coupled with this April 2010 article from The Economist on the emergence of developing countries as innovation centers (rather than mere production centers), we could be looking at an impending shakedown and restructuring of the global economy.

...and now, in green news

The webinar mentioned in my previous post, plus a few more from GreenBiz.com

First up, a piece on IBM's fairly aggressive energy and waste reduction efforts. Pretty impressive, on the whole. Once again, business is proving that sustainable practices can be profitable.

Second, a pretty interesting piece on some changes at Ford Motor Co. Namely, that they're using more soy foam in car production, with especial interest in compostable foam. Pretty neat stuff, and it indicates to me they ought to have started in this direction a long dang time ago.

Finally, a piece from Interface, Inc--a really progressive carpet manufacturer whose aim is to go zero-waste over time--on 10 tips for making sustainability a core value in your organization. Much of it has already been said, but I like having things in tidy lists.