AL GORE'S GENERATIONAL CHALLENGE
On July 17, 2008 Al Gore issued A Generational Challenge to Repower America: “Today I challenge our nation to commit to producing 100 percent of our electricity from renewable energy and truly clean carbon-free sources within 10 years.” This challenge, by far the most aggressive environmental call to action in history, is in his words, “achievable, affordable and transformative.”
Gore has been working vigorously to confront the threat of global warming for over 30 years. I credit my personal eco-awakening to Al Gore and the day that I saw An Inconvenient Truth, the documentary about global warming, based on a powerpoint presentation that he has been giving across the globe for many years. After seeing the film, I felt shell-shocked, afraid and disheartened: my early “post-Truth” period. But the overall theme that stayed with me in the weeks that followed was that we can change the course that we are on and that we already possess the technology that is required. It is just a matter of convincing the world that it is necessary to change the way we all live. And Al Gore is leading the charge.I believe that our nation is up to his challenge. Renewable energy sources and the technology to harness the energy produced exist today in surplus. By producing electricity with solar, wind and geothermal power, we can begin to curb our dangerous global warming emissions and free ourselves from our dependence on unsustainable fossil fuels. And Americans, while sometimes slow to embrace change, have decided that it is indeed time for major change.
I had the pleasure of seeing Mr. Gore speak in person at the Masonic Auditorium in San Francisco in April 2007. As I waited anxiously in my seat, the audience was directed to write out any questions for him and turn them in within the first half hour of the presentation, and that he would answer as many as time allowed. I decided at the last minute to ask something that had been on my mind. I scrambled to write out my question in the darkness of the auditorium and passed it down the row to the usher. And then, at the end of the evening, my question, the third of three, was posed to the former Vice President:
“What are your views on carbon offsets purchased directly by consumers?”
A carbon offset is a monetary contribution to an organization that helps fund carbon-reducing projects such as renewable energy and reforestation, therefore offsetting another measurable amount of carbon emissions. I had recently purchased a Road TerraPass to offset my own vehicle’s emissions, and while I believed that I was doing the right thing, I had read about protests that had been staged at carbon offset organizations worldwide; that purchasing offsets was ‘nothing more than relief of the guilt associated with living a polluting lifestyle.’ I had even passed a few picketers on the way into the Masonic, shouting the same viewpoint. I knew this wasn’t the case for me. I had just recently traded in my gas guzzling pickup truck for a Ford Escape Hybrid and had wanted to do even more. I longed for validation that my decision to offset was sound.
Gore’s answer, simplified, was that carbon offsets are important in the short term. While not a long-term solution, they would begin to flow investment dollars into renewable energy projects, to show that renewable energy production was viable and would eventually help to lead the major energy players in the market in the same direction. His answer led to a disruptive outburst from some protesters in the audience, for which I felt a twinge of guilt. But Gore handled it with dignity and class.
So how can we each contribute to the success of this monumental challenge? As consumers, we can purchase carbon offsets and donate to organizations that promote renewable energy production while at the same time curbing our individual energy consumption. As U.S. citizens, we can communicate with our elected officials and let them know where we stand on increasingly important environmental issues. And as human beings, we can share what we know and learn with our families and friends.
Al Gore’s challenge may seem daunting now, but when we stand together, we can accomplish anything.
Watch and read the full speech
GO BACK TO SCHOOL GREEN!
It’s just about time to send the kids back to school again. And what a great opportunity to make some decisions that will help keep the earth healthy for their future, all while teaching them how to do the same.
I remember myself as a child being overly zealous and excited when it came time for new school clothes and supplies. When we would get home from our big annual excursion, I would spend hours stacking and organizing all of the new pencils, pens, notebooks and all my other treasures. I would spread out my new clothes and spend hours deciding on the perfect outfit for the first day. The mere memory even now brings a smile to my face.Your kids may share a similar experience with me. Wouldn’t it be wonderful if part of this memory for them includes learning about earth-friendly, sustainable practices and how they are helping to make a difference in the health of our planet? There are many ways to go green while shopping for back to school items.
Purchasing the right school supplies are some of the easiest ways to make some environmentally friendly decisions. Many products made from recycled paper and plastics, as well as biodegradable materials, are now readily available at most office supply and retail stores. Buying a reusable PVC-free lunchbox or bag is another excellent choice over using disposable brown paper bags everyday. (I still remember my Snoopy lunch pail from the first grade with enduring fondness.)
While it can be a little more of a challenge to find organic cotton and other sustainable fabric clothing options, more and more retailers are beginning to offer green options. Conventionally grown cotton is responsible for 25% of the world’s insecticides and 10% of the world’s pesticides, dangerous carcinogens that seep into our groundwater and pollute natural wildlife habitats. By choosing to purchase clothing made from organic cotton, wool, hemp, bamboo, silk or ramie you are also choosing to keep dangerous chemicals from polluting our world.When purchasing a new computer, consider a laptop over a desktop. A laptop uses from two to five times less energy than a standard desktop computer, takes up much less space and the amount of materials used in production are also significantly less.
So spend some time with your children planning and shopping for their supplies and clothes this year. Take the opportunity to educate them on how to be good stewards of our planet. Instill being green as part of their own decision making process as future consumers themselves. And be sure to tell them that you are doing it to ensure a healthy, sustainable future for them.
SUMMER VACATION: HOW GREEN CAN IT BE?
Ecotourism is another great green option for a family vacation. For a trip to be classified as an ecotour, it must meet three criteria: it must help sustain the environment, the economy and the culture of the place visited. Ecotravel has grown in popularity over the past few years and many travel agents now offer green travel packages. There is a huge variety of destinations that meet the goals of ecotourism.-Change your vehicles air filter. Changing a dirty air filter can increase your fuel efficiency by up to ten percent.
MANTRA
Reduce, Reuse, Recycle.
Reduce, Reuse, Recycle.
Reduce, Reuse, Recycle.
Ahhhhhh, the mantra of the eco-savvy everywhere. Say it with me now. But what does it mean? It is so much more than a catchy slogan found on hemp t-shirts. This is known as the waste hierarchy, listed in the order of environmental importance. Americans account for about 5% of the world’s population and consume almost 25% of the world’s energy. This is an astounding fact. How can so few impact so many? By beginning to change our personal consumption habits, we will start the increasingly important act of reducing waste. By following the hierarchy, we each begin to become more and more aware of our own environmental impact.
Here is a very simplistic breakdown, listed in order of the level of environmental benefit:
1. REDUCE. Buy less, use less, waste less.
2. REUSE. Use what you already have.
3. RECYCLE. Repurpose or remanufacture waste and give it a new life.
Today why not make a personal commitment to change at least one wasteful habit (we all have them!) Try taking your own mug to your favorite coffee shop and forego the paper cup. Are you itching to redecorate? Try rearranging the furniture that you already have, maybe even move items from one room to another, for a fresh look. And if you must buy a something, try thrift or antique stores. You’ll probably end up with a beautiful, unique piece, often for much cheaper. And it just can’t be stressed enough: ALWAYS, ALWAYS RECYCLE! Think before you toss something in the trash. Most recyclable waste ends up in trash cans.
There are so many ways to make earth-friendly decisions in your life. Be creative! And remember, you can always fall back on the basics for inspiration: Reduce, reuse, recycle.
CFLs: A BRIGHT ENOUGH IDEA?
Compact fluorescent lamps (CFLs) have rightfully become the little darling of energy savings, one easy way to begin to curb carbon emissions thus helping in the battle against global warming. By changing your household bulbs to CFLs you will definitely save on your energy bills. Lighting accounts for close to 20 percent of the average homes electric bill and CFL’s use up to 75 percent less energy than incandescents. Also, the average CFL bulb will last nine times longer. So what’s the catch, you say?
Most people are unaware of the dangers of improperly disposing of these bulbs once they finally do burn out. It is absolutely imperative that old CFLs are properly disposed of and recycled.
An average CFL contains about 5 milligrams of mercury sealed within the glass tubing (about enough to cover the tip of a ballpoint pen.) While this is an extremely small amount, it must be kept out of the landfill and disposed of responsibly. And, for some perspective, the amount of mercury released into the atmosphere by smokestacks at our power plants is exponentially higher. The Environmental Protection Agency reports that U.S. electric utilities released 48 tons of mercury in 1999, the latest year for which data is available. This comprises about 40 percent of manmade mercury emissions in the U.S., 10 percent of total North American emissions, and just 1 percent of total global mercury emissions. So the power required to keep your incandescent bulbs burning will be emitting more mercury than the CFL’s that would replace them contain.
It could be that a more adequate lighting solution is just around the bend. Many companies are currently working on improving the technology of bulbs that use light–emitting diodes (LEDs.) While they are available today, contain no mercury and can last ten times longer that CFLs and 133 times longer than incandescents ,they can be very expensive ($50-100+ per bulb) and many people complain that the light given off is not bright enough. But with future scientific and industrial improvements, quality may be raised and costs brought down. It could be that LEDs will be our next “little darling.”
I do believe that today, changing your household bulbs from incandescents to CFLs is the best choice and the right thing to do, provided that your bulbs are disposed of properly when they need to be replaced. For more information and resources on CFLs, visit:
RecycleWorks of San Mateo County
GO GREEN WITH JAMES
It is with tremendous pleasure that I welcome you to these new green pages, and to this, my personal green blog. I’m a full-time staff member here at KCSM, but committing to writing this is a labor of love that I am undertaking of my own accord. I am by no stretch of any mind an eco-expert, at least not yet, but what I do bring is a steadfast passion for the cause. I’ve decided to be part of the solution instead of continuing to be part of the problem.
My hope is that by sharing my own experience, you may be able to relate, and to realize that making environmentally-friendly changes is not only attainable without disruption to your quality of life, but can actually make you feel good and be beneficial to your health, your self-image and even your wallet.
My own eco-awakening began, as it did for many recent converts, as a direct consequence of seeing “An Inconvenient Truth.” Prior to that, global warming had not been much more to me than a catch phrase heard in passing, much like hearing about the ozone layer of my ingenuous youth and how the girls of my 1980’s high school days were punching holes into it at the rate of millions of square miles with their ceaseless dependency on Aqua Net.
I was no skeptic about global climate change, mind you, but I didn’t truly understand or realize the enormity of the problem. After seeing the film, while my tired eyes were adjusting to the muted lighting of the Embarcadero theater lobby, I felt shell-shocked, afraid and disheartened: my early “post-Truth” period. But the overall theme that stayed with me in the weeks that followed was that we can change the course that we are on and that we already possess the technology that is required. It is just a matter of convincing the world that it is necessary to change the way we all live.
Recently I’ve begun to see a fundamental shift in the public's perception around global warming and other environmental issues, and I think that we can all feel a consensus growing worldwide. More importantly, I am beginning to believe that we really will make the changes that will make the difference. We’ve tackled seemingly insurmountable environmental problems before and risen to the occasion. After all, when did you last hear mention of the ozone layer? (Or Aqua Net for that matter?)
As my journey continues to unfold, I’ll be documenting the experience here. And I’m committed to sharing with you what I know and what I learn. Will you make the commitment to try making a few green changes of your own? Let’s do this together.
James Ball
Please share your comments and questions with me- email me at green@kcsm.net