In January, the United Nations declared 2012 the International Year of Sustainable Energy for All. The action calls on governments and the private sector to expand energy access, improve efficiency, and increase the use of renewables the world over. One person out of five—1.4 billion people—lack access to modern electricity, and twice that number still rely on wood, coal, charcoal, or animal waste for cooking … More
In his State of the Union on Tuesday, President Obama called for new incentives to encourage innovation: “After all, innovation is what America has always been about.” Investing in new forms of energy production is the key, he declared, because “nowhere is the promise of innovation greater than in American-made energy.” Natural gas, for example, represents a hundred-year supply of fuel and the potential to … More
I spent last week in San Francisco at GreenBiz’s Innovation Forum 2011, organized annually for the past decade by former GreenBlue Board member Joel Makower. One of the few conferences that explores sustainability outside a particular market sector, it’s about ideas and innovation, not specific industries or product types. The diversity of the audience and the interactive format make it a must for businesses reinventing themselves. Right … More
Like many children of the 70s, I first felt the spark of environmental awareness while watching a television commercial. A buckskin-clad Native American paddles downstream in a bark canoe, enters an industrial port ringed by dark factories and belching smokestacks, and disembarks on a bank riddled with litter. Ominous music plays behind an even more ominous voiceover: “Some people have a deep, abiding respect for … More
This weekend, when presidential candidate Michelle Bachmann promised to shut down the “job killing” Environmental Protection Agency if she were elected, she was the latest among several Republicans to attack the agency. Since it was founded in 1970, the EPA has had an extraordinary track record of accomplishments, including, as EPA Administrator Lisa P. Jackson outlined during the agency’s 40th anniversary last year, removing lead … More
“Should design be environmentally responsible?” asks design critic Alice Rawsthorn in the New York Times. “The only sensible answer to that question is ‘yes.’ But if you asked a group of designers to define what that term means, each would be likely to give a different answer. Though there is one thing on which they might agree: that the most successful examples of environmentally responsible … More
Many environmental organizations focus on improving consumer habits, an important approach that can have a tremendous influence. For example, if every American used only the most energy-efficient products currently available on the market, domestic energy consumption could be reduced by 75 percent, according to studies. But what about the products that are not available yet? We can change what people buy, but we also can … More
Next year marks the 50th anniversary of the publication of Silent Spring. With one book, Rachel Carson managed to get the public up in arms about pollution and the chemicals industry, get DDT banned, and, oh yeah, launch the modern environmental movement. The first lesson of Silent Spring concerns the impact of the things we make. Manufactured products—in this case, chemical pesticides—can have dramatic consequences … More