Strategies for Shaping a Sustainable Future: THINK B.I.G. at Brown University

In order to keep the motivation level rolling beyond Earth Week, please turn your attention towards several climate change initiatives that have been going on within the college student community. In one example from Thursday, April 24 to Saturday, April 26, Brown University took their environmental stewardship to the next level by launching their first Brown is Green 2008: Strategies for Shaping a Sustainable Future, with a series of amazing lectures from a range of disciplines. While bringing together a wide range of prominent leaders, from renowned scientists, policymakers, and CEOs, to designers, community leaders, activists, and artists, this approach demonstrated how a community can make an impact on different levels, from both bottom-up to top-down. Their goal was “to bring attention to the connections between seemingly different practices and industries that have all aligned to work on climate change and sustainability issues.” The list of notable attendees included State Treasurer Caprio, Governor Carcieri, Mayor Cicilline, Senator Whitehouse, Ira Magaziner of the Clinton Foundation and the administration of President Clinton, Adam Werbach of Saatchi and Saatichi S, renowned green architect John Picard, and Stephen Schneider, a lead climate scientist of the Nobel laureate UN FCC.

Of particular note, were Adam Werbach, global CEO of the leading sustainable marketing firm Saatchi and Saatchi S (former head of Sierra Club, and a 1995 Brown Alum), and Ira Magaziner, chairman of the Clinton Climate Initiative and the Clinton Foundation HIV/AIDS Initiative. Werbach described his mission as “closing the gap between two bookends.” He believes that one of the challenges is to reduce the polarization between the wealthy nations, and those that are in desperate need of help because of the existential threat that global-scale climate change is. In striving to solve this dilemma, Werbach suggests that sustainability needs to engage people at a consumer level. “Whose environment are we talking about?” he asks, and how do we make sustainability of the market place matter?

This is where PSP (Personal Sustainability Plan) comes in; one of Wal-Mart’s climate initiative schemes asks its staff to commit to a personal resolution. Through the PSP, leadership, respect for oneself, others, and the environment are learned. The incentive to go on a diet or quit smoking in return, are more effective when in a sustainability context, and treats behavioral change in a completely holistic manner. Granted, you would think Werbach wouldn’t engage himself to be a part of the Wal-Mart monopoly, but what was admirable, was his reasoning in taking on this monster. It is a perfect opportunity to make the biggest impact on the greatest number of people. Small changes like this, must occur from the bottom up, but motivation also needs to be inspired from the top down.

In addition to Adam Werbach’s approach, it is important to consider that of Ira Magaziner, who offers a more political perspective on climate change. In the course of his lecture, Magaziner spoke about the many different strategic steps the Clinton Climate Initiative has taken, one rather interesting example being the concept of combining the retrofitting of buildings with energy service companies (by working with building owners), so as to reduce overall energy use. This strategy involves municipal buildings, commercial real estate, public housing, and schools and universities worldwide. What is most impressive is that none of this is funded through government subsidies, and the goal is to jump start the market through new jobs and opportunity. In that the Clinton Climate Initiative has partnered with the 45 largest cities in the world, the potential exists for it to have a major lasting impact.

For those unable to attend, please visit this link to the Conference Agenda.

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Eleonore de Lusignan is an Ecolect guest blogger and a soon-to-graduate Industrial Design student at the Rhode Island School of Design in Providence, RI.

What’s in that Roll?

Mention it to most people, and you’ll probably either get a humorous aside or no response at all, but make no mistake. Toilet paper is serious business. The earliest known use of toilet paper is said to have been in 6th Century China, and since that time, the product has seen some dramatic improvements. It wasn’t until 1883, when Seth Wheeler of Albany, NY got a patent for a roll of paper wrapped around a tube, that what we now think of as modern day toilet paper or “bathroom tissue” was born.

Considering the extent of recycled paper in the final product, toilet paper is a perfect example of wide-scale reuse of waste material. Two of the most well-known recycled paper product manufacturers are Marcal and Seventh Generation, both of whom have made it their business to grow financially while reducing waste and doing good by the environment – their paper household products are made from 100% recycled content. To illustrate how serious Marcal is in this regard, the company has recently developed a co-product called Kaofin® Fiber clay, made from the clay and cellulosic fiber waste that comes at the end of the recycling process for glossy coated paper products such as magazines. This can then be used for a number of applications, including for landfill cover, as a cement additive, and in the manufacture of animal bedding.

How Toilet Paper is Made on You Tube

How Toilet Paper is Made article on www.madehow.com

Skaters Gone Green

Since co-founding the company in 1998 in Oakland, CA, Jason Salfi and partner Don Shaffer, have run Comet Skateboards with an environmentally prudent approach to doing business. From the beginning, they wanted to offer the skater market a less toxic product, through the use of FSC-certified poplar and maple, and water-based finishes, without compromising the high performance requirements of the product (they are actually in the process of developing a soy based resin with the help of Cornell University, as well as beginning to use sustainably grown bamboo). Many users even testify that the boards have more spring or “pop” to them, allowing for higher overall strength and performance.

Similar to furniture made from the same processes, the very components of most skateboards are highly toxic or unsustainable, like the VOC-producing lacquer-based resins and glues, and woods from unsustainable sources. With the development of a skateboard made with their proprietary soy protein polymer and natural fiber and grass core, Salfi notes that Comet is “effectively, creating a board that could grow from sprout in one season and be skated and then bio-degrade when it breaks and grow again and again”, a notion that could surely spread to different industries, as manufacturers realize the benefits of this sort of approach. To top it off, Comet now boasts “green collar” jobs, local material sourcing, and clean energy use, thanks to the opening of their new manufacturing facility in Ithaca, NY last November.

Sustainable Punk, Campus Progress.org

The Eco Advantage, Inc Magazine (November 2006)

Jason Salfi and Comet Skateboards on YouTube

A Shift In Knowledge Sharing

We are starting to see a shift in collaboration around green design. Companies are becoming much more open in their practices, tools, and now, patents. Between the leagues of companies registering with the Designers Accord, firms like ITEM sharing tools such as their GreenCard evaluation, and major corporations like IBM coming together under the Eco-Patents Commons agreement last month, 2008 is shaping up to be the year where we tackle sustainable design as a collective, competing for change rather than against each other.

China Bans Free Plastic Bags!

Come June 2008 all stores in the entire country of China will be no longer be able to give out plastic shopping bags for free. The regulation is a part of Beijing’s effort to reverse the trend of their countries severe air and water pollution. As the country has experienced great economic growth due to the output of more and more low-cost consumer products, they have been met with the dark side of critical environmental conditions. Now its time to cut pollution, and conserve resources. The regulation requires all stores to mark the cost of each plastic bag and prohibits them for incluing the new price in the price of the product. The regulation also calls on all consumers to return to yesterdays cloth and basket methods for shopping.

While “white pollution” (as some call it in reference to the swarms of white plastic “thank you” shopping bags) has started to clutter our streets and pile up in our landfills, other cities are seeing the severity of the situation. San Francisco was the first U.S. state to impose a ban on all petrolium based bags, among other cities are Hong Kong, and Melbourne.

So peers, the race is on, and the wheels are turning us around. Forget about the hopes for switching to compostable plastic bags (although better, they are still made for one-time use experiences), get inspired by change then go out and do it yourself. Write an email to your Mayor or talk to someone in the Department of Environment, and encourage a new policy.

Louisiana depends on it

The wetlands of Louisiana are dissipating at an accelerated rate. Cypress trees are a major component to the wetland ecosystem. They retain sediment, prevent erosion and protect people who live in densely populated areas such as New Orleans when storms come. As the the United States is working to invest billions to restore the wetlands, Home Depot, Lowe’s and Wal-Mart are selling Cypress mulch. Most of coastal Louisiana is privately owned or claimed to be. Landowners have been selling their property to companies who mulch the trees (bark, branches and all). To find out how you can help prevent the deforestation of coastal Louisiana visit saveourcypress.org.