good article about what to do from different people.
wow, check out this article and the comments. world opinion is changing.
Thursday, July 9, 2009
Tuesday, July 7, 2009
NC Ch 15 : Once Upon a Planet
The concluding chapter talks about political theory, according to biophysicist Donella Meadows, where people are broken up into blues, reds, greens, and whites.
Blues : mainstream free-marketers
Reds : socialists
Greens : environmentalists
Whites : synthesists (the authors)
organizations that address the responsibilities and opportunities of business:
Rocky Mountain Institute
The Natural Step
The Wuppertal Institute
World Resources Institute
SustainAbility (London)
CERES
Redefining Progress
Product-Life Institute
World Business Council for Sustainable Development (Switzerland)
Center for Clean Products and Clean Technologies at the University of Tennessee
United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP)and Development Program (UNDP)
Institute for Sustainable Design and Commerce at the University of Virginia (Charlottesville)
Forum for the Future (London)
International Institute for Sustainable Development (Canada)
Businesses for Social Responsbility
Stockholm Environmental Institute
other organizations addressing a range of environmental issues
Ecotrust
Ashoka
Society for Ecological Restoration
Worldwatch Institute
Friends of the River
Environmental Research Foundation
Development Alternatives (Delhi)
Land Stewardship Council
The Just Transition Consortium
Instituto de Ecologia Politica (Santiago, Chile)
International Society of Ecological Economics
International Institute for Industrial Environmental Economics (Lund)
Earth Island Institute
Congress for the New Urbanism
American Farmland Trust
the Energy Foundation
Southwest Organizing Project
RIVM (Holland)
Center for a New American Dream
One Thousand Friends of Oregon
the Cenozoic Society
Indigenous Environmental Network
World Wildlife Fund
IUCN
Friends of the Earth
Some notable partnerships between businesses and environmental groups are Mitsubishi and OK Petroleum.
OK Petroleum is Sweden's largest refiner and retailer of gasoline, who fought for higher carbon taxes to have an advantage in the new market. (p318)
Also notable is the emergence of the community development finance movement. "From small-scale loan funds to start-up banks, and with private and federal support, a whole set of community institutions provide credit in innovative ways at the community level, rebuilding human and social capital in hundreds of towns and cities" (p320).
Examples: Shorebank Corporation and Ecotrust to create ShoreBank Pacific, a commerical bank dedicated to community development and environmental restoration in the coastal and metropolitan Pacific Northwest.
The end
Blues : mainstream free-marketers
Reds : socialists
Greens : environmentalists
Whites : synthesists (the authors)
organizations that address the responsibilities and opportunities of business:
Rocky Mountain Institute
The Natural Step
The Wuppertal Institute
World Resources Institute
SustainAbility (London)
CERES
Redefining Progress
Product-Life Institute
World Business Council for Sustainable Development (Switzerland)
Center for Clean Products and Clean Technologies at the University of Tennessee
United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP)and Development Program (UNDP)
Institute for Sustainable Design and Commerce at the University of Virginia (Charlottesville)
Forum for the Future (London)
International Institute for Sustainable Development (Canada)
Businesses for Social Responsbility
Stockholm Environmental Institute
other organizations addressing a range of environmental issues
Ecotrust
Ashoka
Society for Ecological Restoration
Worldwatch Institute
Friends of the River
Environmental Research Foundation
Development Alternatives (Delhi)
Land Stewardship Council
The Just Transition Consortium
Instituto de Ecologia Politica (Santiago, Chile)
International Society of Ecological Economics
International Institute for Industrial Environmental Economics (Lund)
Earth Island Institute
Congress for the New Urbanism
American Farmland Trust
the Energy Foundation
Southwest Organizing Project
RIVM (Holland)
Center for a New American Dream
One Thousand Friends of Oregon
the Cenozoic Society
Indigenous Environmental Network
World Wildlife Fund
IUCN
Friends of the Earth
Some notable partnerships between businesses and environmental groups are Mitsubishi and OK Petroleum.
OK Petroleum is Sweden's largest refiner and retailer of gasoline, who fought for higher carbon taxes to have an advantage in the new market. (p318)
Also notable is the emergence of the community development finance movement. "From small-scale loan funds to start-up banks, and with private and federal support, a whole set of community institutions provide credit in innovative ways at the community level, rebuilding human and social capital in hundreds of towns and cities" (p320).
Examples: Shorebank Corporation and Ecotrust to create ShoreBank Pacific, a commerical bank dedicated to community development and environmental restoration in the coastal and metropolitan Pacific Northwest.
The end
bday and july 4
friends on a boat they made in the river getting ready for fireworks later
mikeyp apologizes and smark forgives
we look so pretty
mikeyp apologizes and smark forgives
we look so pretty
Monday, July 6, 2009
makeup videos!
By Michelle Phan - I fell in love after reading her profile. My desire to dress up and play with eye makeup but still be a complete geek is what she is.
Thursday, July 2, 2009
NC Ch 14 : Human Capitalism
This chapter is a case study of social and urban programs that make the best use of people to meet everyone's needs in the city of Curitiba, Brazil.
They implemented hundreds of "multipurpose, cheap, fast, homegrown, people-centered initiatives harnessing market mechanisms, common sense, and local skills" (p288).
In 1971, the governor of "Parana State had chosen as mayor of its capital city a 33 yr old architect, engineer, urban planner, and humanist named Jaime Lerner. He was previously president of the Curitiba Research and Urban Planning Institute.
Some of the projects:
- resurrecting the historic boulevard, the Rua das Flores (Street of Flowers), Brazil's first pedestrian mall.
- kept narrow streets of city center instead of "urban renewal," which is to demolish centrally located building to widen roads.
- zoning specifications for building nearest bus avenues could have up to six times as much floorspace as land area.
- mixed use was encouraged for urban buildings
- city strategically bought nearby land in selected areas and built low-income housing on it so as to ensure affordable access to jobs, shops, and recreation.
- built schools, clinics, daycare centers, parks, food distribution centers, and cultural and sports facilities throughout its suburbs, democratizing amenities previously available only to those who journeyed downtown
- good bus system instead of subway with a specially designed platform so people step right onto the buses. "Each lane of express buses carries 20,000 passengers/hr, comparable to subways. Buses make 17,300 daily trips, on nearly 500 route-miles, covering 230,000 bus-miles/day. Plus, the bus system is entirely self-financing from fares. (p294)" Flat rates, unlimited-transfer fare, is one of the many reasons why a poor person in Curitiba typically enjoys a higher standard of living than a poor person in Sao Paulo, who has to spend over twice as much on transportation. Curitiba has lowest rate of car drivership and cleanest urban air, which saves 7 million gallons of fuel/year and uses 1/4 less fuel per capita than other Brazilian cities.
- to deal with flooding "design with nature" strategy by making parks along water and new lakes. Also put in policies to encourage trees and gardens. 1/6 of city is wooded.
- recruited 500 nonpolluting industries, and zone so that commute is minimal for employees.
- Lighthouses of Knowledge - libraries that have a light and policeman on top to keep neighborhoods safe
- preventative health care starting with children - obligatory free checkups utnil age five.
- "Garbage that isn't garbage" initiative, "led more than 70% of households to sort recyclables for thrice-weekly curbside collection by the green trucks of the private firm that won a public competition for the franchise. Sorting stations hire the homeless, the disabled, and recovering alcoholics. Landfill use has been reduced by 1/6 in weight, and even more in volume" (p301).
- Garbage Purchase Program
- "Green Exchange" - citizens bring garbage in exchange for food tickets or bus tokens.
- Community Orchards Program - to grow and sell food in neighborhood gardens
- Centers for Integrated Education, a supplement to conventional schooling
- affordable daycare centers open 11 hrs/day
- Program for Childhood and Adolescence Integration - jobs for school-age dropouts, employing them in entry level jobs, often environmental skills like forestry, water management, etc
- housing program for migrants - build their own homes instead of providing slum housing
- Citizenship Streets at larger bus stops, clusters of municipal offices to bring government closer to population
- "city's array of telephone and web-based resources and hotlines" - more participation from citizens in local government and communities
Lerner quote "If people feel respected, they will assume responsibility to help solve other problems" (p308).
They implemented hundreds of "multipurpose, cheap, fast, homegrown, people-centered initiatives harnessing market mechanisms, common sense, and local skills" (p288).
In 1971, the governor of "Parana State had chosen as mayor of its capital city a 33 yr old architect, engineer, urban planner, and humanist named Jaime Lerner. He was previously president of the Curitiba Research and Urban Planning Institute.
Some of the projects:
- resurrecting the historic boulevard, the Rua das Flores (Street of Flowers), Brazil's first pedestrian mall.
- kept narrow streets of city center instead of "urban renewal," which is to demolish centrally located building to widen roads.
- zoning specifications for building nearest bus avenues could have up to six times as much floorspace as land area.
- mixed use was encouraged for urban buildings
- city strategically bought nearby land in selected areas and built low-income housing on it so as to ensure affordable access to jobs, shops, and recreation.
- built schools, clinics, daycare centers, parks, food distribution centers, and cultural and sports facilities throughout its suburbs, democratizing amenities previously available only to those who journeyed downtown
- good bus system instead of subway with a specially designed platform so people step right onto the buses. "Each lane of express buses carries 20,000 passengers/hr, comparable to subways. Buses make 17,300 daily trips, on nearly 500 route-miles, covering 230,000 bus-miles/day. Plus, the bus system is entirely self-financing from fares. (p294)" Flat rates, unlimited-transfer fare, is one of the many reasons why a poor person in Curitiba typically enjoys a higher standard of living than a poor person in Sao Paulo, who has to spend over twice as much on transportation. Curitiba has lowest rate of car drivership and cleanest urban air, which saves 7 million gallons of fuel/year and uses 1/4 less fuel per capita than other Brazilian cities.
- to deal with flooding "design with nature" strategy by making parks along water and new lakes. Also put in policies to encourage trees and gardens. 1/6 of city is wooded.
- recruited 500 nonpolluting industries, and zone so that commute is minimal for employees.
- Lighthouses of Knowledge - libraries that have a light and policeman on top to keep neighborhoods safe
- preventative health care starting with children - obligatory free checkups utnil age five.
- "Garbage that isn't garbage" initiative, "led more than 70% of households to sort recyclables for thrice-weekly curbside collection by the green trucks of the private firm that won a public competition for the franchise. Sorting stations hire the homeless, the disabled, and recovering alcoholics. Landfill use has been reduced by 1/6 in weight, and even more in volume" (p301).
- Garbage Purchase Program
- "Green Exchange" - citizens bring garbage in exchange for food tickets or bus tokens.
- Community Orchards Program - to grow and sell food in neighborhood gardens
- Centers for Integrated Education, a supplement to conventional schooling
- affordable daycare centers open 11 hrs/day
- Program for Childhood and Adolescence Integration - jobs for school-age dropouts, employing them in entry level jobs, often environmental skills like forestry, water management, etc
- housing program for migrants - build their own homes instead of providing slum housing
- Citizenship Streets at larger bus stops, clusters of municipal offices to bring government closer to population
- "city's array of telephone and web-based resources and hotlines" - more participation from citizens in local government and communities
Lerner quote "If people feel respected, they will assume responsibility to help solve other problems" (p308).
NC Ch 13 : Making Markets Work
This chapter is about economic theory, and why markets do not work perfectly.
It then describes main sources of market imperfections, which are capital misallocation, organizational failures, regulatory failures, informational failures, value-chain risks, false or absent price signals, incomplete markets and property rights.
Capital misallocation - where short term gains (lower initial capital costs) take priority over longer term savings. "Typically, energy-saving devices are chosen by engineers at the firm's operating level, using a rule-of-thumb procedure called 'simple payback,' which calculates how many years of savings it takes to repay the investment in better efficiency and start earning clear profits" (p267) "One remedy is to teach the energy engineers how to speak financial language. When the engineer goes to the comptroller and says, 'Wow, have I got a deal for you - a risk-free return of 27% after tax,' it sounds better than a 3.4 year payback." Actually, I don't understand what that means. I guess I am one of those engineers who need to learn financial language.
Potential ways for people to invest in energy savings - 1997 creation of the International Performance Measurement and Verification Protocol, "standardizes streams of energy- and water-cost savings (in buildings and industrial processes) so they can be aggregated in securitized, just as FHA rules standardize home mortgages. Also, the Energy Service Company (ESCO) concept, where entrepreneurs charge nothing up front for their services but are paid by sharing the measured savings they achieve. These schemes can encourage people to buy compact fluorescents and for households to install solar panels.
Organizational failures - when the risks of making a decision outweigh the potential rewards because of the organizational structure of the company or group. Managers feel disinclined to fix an obvious inefficiency since they're not directly responsible for it and have other priorities. Columbia University's new energy director Lindsay Audin started saving $2.8 million a year, 60% in lighting alone, won 9 awards and $3 million in grants and rebates, and brought 16 new efficiency products to market. For more information on organizational economics, look to Herbert Simon. In order to avoid systematic suboptimization, create broader alignment between corporate and personal objectives.
Regulatory failures - one big problem is that standards are often interpreted as floors for compliance instead of inspiring people to meet and exceed expectations. For example, electrical wiring for buildings should use fatter wire for more energy efficiency, but thinner wires are cheaper, which is also an example of 'split incentives,' where people choosing technologies aren't the same people who pay the bills. Some ways to entice people to do better are to offer those who are trying to overcomply to jump ahead in the queue for approvals, which costs nothing, but is valuable for companies.
Informational failures - voluntary label programs are helping people make better decisions like EPA's Green Lights by creating competitive advantage.
Value chain risks - companies are hesitant to commit to volume production because they are unsure that there is enough consumer demand. "Hans Nilsson, then an official of Swedish energy-efficiency agency NUTEK, pioneered contests for bringing efficient devices into the mass market. A major public-sector purchasing office, Statskontoret, would issue a request for proposal, which committed to buy a large number of devices, bid at certain prices, if they met certain technical specifications, an explicit expression of market demand" (p277). "In 1988, B.C. Hydro started paying distributors a small, temporary subsidy to stock only efficient models of motors, covering their extra carrying cost, since risk-adverse distributors are disinclined to stock new products that they aren't sure people will buy. In three years, premium efficiency motors' market share soared from 3% to 60%."
False or absent price signals - differences in price levels as well as price structures can help people make better decisions. We want to "get incentives right so that rewards are granted for what we want - lower bills - and not the opposite - higher sales" (p278).
Incomplete markets and property rights - one market that needs to be developed is the one in saved energy or "negawatts." "Use it or lose it" water laws to allow waved water to be sold or leased without penalty, in CA, OR, and Montana.
POLICY to address these major sources of market problems.
"1991, Bush signed Intermodal Surface Transportation Efficiency Act, which mandates least-cost choices for solving local transportation needs, thus allowing federal transport dollars to flow to the best buys, not only to highways."
Resource consultant Dr. Mohamed ElGasseir, and financial adviser Andrew Tobias propose "pay at the pump" car insurance. This is certainly an interesting if seemingly farfetched idea that seems to make sense on the surface.
Need more accountability and transparency in international trade agreements.
Create more information feedback loops. Dr. Jeremy Leggett, introduced senior climate scientists to leaders of the European insurance and reinsurance industry.
Cybernetics - science of communications and control in machines and living things, may be able to help us set better feedback loops and also goals. For example, companies could publish an Alternative Annual Report, to compare what actually happened in the previous year to what could have happened.
It then describes main sources of market imperfections, which are capital misallocation, organizational failures, regulatory failures, informational failures, value-chain risks, false or absent price signals, incomplete markets and property rights.
Capital misallocation - where short term gains (lower initial capital costs) take priority over longer term savings. "Typically, energy-saving devices are chosen by engineers at the firm's operating level, using a rule-of-thumb procedure called 'simple payback,' which calculates how many years of savings it takes to repay the investment in better efficiency and start earning clear profits" (p267) "One remedy is to teach the energy engineers how to speak financial language. When the engineer goes to the comptroller and says, 'Wow, have I got a deal for you - a risk-free return of 27% after tax,' it sounds better than a 3.4 year payback." Actually, I don't understand what that means. I guess I am one of those engineers who need to learn financial language.
Potential ways for people to invest in energy savings - 1997 creation of the International Performance Measurement and Verification Protocol, "standardizes streams of energy- and water-cost savings (in buildings and industrial processes) so they can be aggregated in securitized, just as FHA rules standardize home mortgages. Also, the Energy Service Company (ESCO) concept, where entrepreneurs charge nothing up front for their services but are paid by sharing the measured savings they achieve. These schemes can encourage people to buy compact fluorescents and for households to install solar panels.
Organizational failures - when the risks of making a decision outweigh the potential rewards because of the organizational structure of the company or group. Managers feel disinclined to fix an obvious inefficiency since they're not directly responsible for it and have other priorities. Columbia University's new energy director Lindsay Audin started saving $2.8 million a year, 60% in lighting alone, won 9 awards and $3 million in grants and rebates, and brought 16 new efficiency products to market. For more information on organizational economics, look to Herbert Simon. In order to avoid systematic suboptimization, create broader alignment between corporate and personal objectives.
Regulatory failures - one big problem is that standards are often interpreted as floors for compliance instead of inspiring people to meet and exceed expectations. For example, electrical wiring for buildings should use fatter wire for more energy efficiency, but thinner wires are cheaper, which is also an example of 'split incentives,' where people choosing technologies aren't the same people who pay the bills. Some ways to entice people to do better are to offer those who are trying to overcomply to jump ahead in the queue for approvals, which costs nothing, but is valuable for companies.
Informational failures - voluntary label programs are helping people make better decisions like EPA's Green Lights by creating competitive advantage.
Value chain risks - companies are hesitant to commit to volume production because they are unsure that there is enough consumer demand. "Hans Nilsson, then an official of Swedish energy-efficiency agency NUTEK, pioneered contests for bringing efficient devices into the mass market. A major public-sector purchasing office, Statskontoret, would issue a request for proposal, which committed to buy a large number of devices, bid at certain prices, if they met certain technical specifications, an explicit expression of market demand" (p277). "In 1988, B.C. Hydro started paying distributors a small, temporary subsidy to stock only efficient models of motors, covering their extra carrying cost, since risk-adverse distributors are disinclined to stock new products that they aren't sure people will buy. In three years, premium efficiency motors' market share soared from 3% to 60%."
False or absent price signals - differences in price levels as well as price structures can help people make better decisions. We want to "get incentives right so that rewards are granted for what we want - lower bills - and not the opposite - higher sales" (p278).
Incomplete markets and property rights - one market that needs to be developed is the one in saved energy or "negawatts." "Use it or lose it" water laws to allow waved water to be sold or leased without penalty, in CA, OR, and Montana.
POLICY to address these major sources of market problems.
"1991, Bush signed Intermodal Surface Transportation Efficiency Act, which mandates least-cost choices for solving local transportation needs, thus allowing federal transport dollars to flow to the best buys, not only to highways."
Resource consultant Dr. Mohamed ElGasseir, and financial adviser Andrew Tobias propose "pay at the pump" car insurance. This is certainly an interesting if seemingly farfetched idea that seems to make sense on the surface.
Need more accountability and transparency in international trade agreements.
Create more information feedback loops. Dr. Jeremy Leggett, introduced senior climate scientists to leaders of the European insurance and reinsurance industry.
Cybernetics - science of communications and control in machines and living things, may be able to help us set better feedback loops and also goals. For example, companies could publish an Alternative Annual Report, to compare what actually happened in the previous year to what could have happened.
Long Live the King
I want you back!
man, i grew up to hits like
smooth criminal
bad
beat it
thriller
remember the time
man in the mirror
rock with you
black or white
and more recently
rock my world
plus old stuff from jackson 5 days were awesome
the love you save
whoa, random video that is awesome
his movie moonwalker
man, i grew up to hits like
smooth criminal
bad
beat it
thriller
remember the time
man in the mirror
rock with you
black or white
and more recently
rock my world
plus old stuff from jackson 5 days were awesome
the love you save
whoa, random video that is awesome
his movie moonwalker
Wednesday, July 1, 2009
Learn more from the Infinite Connection
Sustainability and clean energy resources page at the MIT alumni site.
NC Ch 12 : Climate
Sir John Browne, chief executive of BP, announced in 1997, 'there is now an effective consensus among the world's leading scientists and serious and well informed people outside the scientific community that there is a discernible human influence on the climate, and the link between the concentration of carbon dioxide and the increase in temperature' (p241).
Mainly, this chapter is about how saving energy and reducing CO2 emissions is good for business.
Examples
cogeneration and trigeneration power plants - in Denmark and Tulsa, Oklahoma.
reselling waste heat of industrial processes
There were probably a few more notable projects that I'll go back to later. This chapter was mostly a rehashing of the science of climate change, and giving examples of businesses that reduce emissions while making money.
Mainly, this chapter is about how saving energy and reducing CO2 emissions is good for business.
Examples
cogeneration and trigeneration power plants - in Denmark and Tulsa, Oklahoma.
reselling waste heat of industrial processes
There were probably a few more notable projects that I'll go back to later. This chapter was mostly a rehashing of the science of climate change, and giving examples of businesses that reduce emissions while making money.
NC Ch 11 : Aqueous Solutions
Agriculture accounts for 81% of consumptive use of freshwater in 1995.
Housing and commercial buildings use 12% of freshwater.
innovations:
Drip irrigation can make water use more efficient.
Charge extra for excess water use.
Arava R&D, "enriches its agricultural water by growing edible fish in it under evaporation-blocking and temperature-controlling giant plastic 'Aqua-Bubbles'"
Grow crops that prefer brackish water 'halophytes'
Xeriscape movement - "design practice that creates elegant and water-efficient landscapes" (p219)
Grow native plants for landscaping
Use greywater for toilets, and make them less leaky. California Plumbing Code now defines how graywater should be controlled to protect public health, keeping it underground and off food crops.
New kind of toilet by Swedish toilets, where urine is separate from feces. Urine is collected and sold as fertilizer. Feces can be composted/dried.
Use better showerheads
use better sinks
horizontal-axis dishwashing and clothes-washing ues less water.
Living Technologies Inc, designs, builds, and operates innovative wastewater treatment systems called Living Machines, eliminate use of chlorine, polymers, aluminum salts, etc. Invented by Dr. John Todd.
Housing and commercial buildings use 12% of freshwater.
innovations:
Drip irrigation can make water use more efficient.
Charge extra for excess water use.
Arava R&D, "enriches its agricultural water by growing edible fish in it under evaporation-blocking and temperature-controlling giant plastic 'Aqua-Bubbles'"
Grow crops that prefer brackish water 'halophytes'
Xeriscape movement - "design practice that creates elegant and water-efficient landscapes" (p219)
Grow native plants for landscaping
Use greywater for toilets, and make them less leaky. California Plumbing Code now defines how graywater should be controlled to protect public health, keeping it underground and off food crops.
New kind of toilet by Swedish toilets, where urine is separate from feces. Urine is collected and sold as fertilizer. Feces can be composted/dried.
Use better showerheads
use better sinks
horizontal-axis dishwashing and clothes-washing ues less water.
Living Technologies Inc, designs, builds, and operates innovative wastewater treatment systems called Living Machines, eliminate use of chlorine, polymers, aluminum salts, etc. Invented by Dr. John Todd.
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