WorldChanging San Francisco

Lights Out SF Promotes Energy Conservation

2007-10-16T21:34:20Z

What better a time to brush up on our energy conservation skills than when we are heading fast into winter. In the spirit of conservation, Light's Out SF is inviting everyone in San Francisco to turn out all their lights between 8 pm and 9 pm next Saturday, October 20. The organization estimates that this action could save 15% of the energy that is used in San Francisco on an average Saturday night.

The upcoming event was inspired by Earth Hour in Sydney Australia in which 2.2 million people participated. San Francisco Lights Out organizers are hoping for similar success. Thus far, the Bay Bridge, the Golden Gate Bridge and the TransAmerica Building have jumped on board. Lights Out SF will be hosting a party featuring live music in Dolores Park on the evening of the event between 5:30 and 9:30.

Worldchanging Party Friday Night!

2007-09-20T05:46:09Z

Come to the West Coast Green party in honor of Worldchanging this Friday night!

The Details:
Friday, September 21
7-11pm
Hotel Whitcomb-1231 Market St, San Francisco
One block from West Coast Green

Hope to see you there!

Gabe Dominguez's Quest for Sustainable Rock & Roll

2007-08-29T17:39:17Z

I walked up to the corner house on Florida St. and Ceser Chavez in San Francisco’s Mission District, opened the wooden gate as instructed, and yelled “Hello, Gabe Dominguez” as loudly as I could toward the blue tent on the house’s roof.

“Hey Josh, Come on up”, he yelled back.

I had met Gabe on the phone earlier that day. He returned my call after inquiring about his project, the Bicycle Music Festival. He said he’d love to talk and that I should meet him at his home, which happened to be a big blue tent on the roof of a Latino Music Cooperative called the Pink Palace.

I walked into the house and up the stairs. “Come through the bathroom,” Gabe yelled as he opened the bathroom window, and invited me onto the roof. Shocked, I climbed through the bathroom window and into his big blue tent, which was fully furnished with a bed, clothing chest, and a desk. He offered me a seat and we started to talk.

Sustainable rock & roll is Gabe’s passion. For a long time he pursued sustainability and rock separately, running a 3/4 acre organic farm with his girlfriend in downtown Salt Lake City, and touring by bicycle with his music project, SHAKE YOUR PEACE.

In 2006, Gabe moved to San Francisco determined to marry his two passions, rock & roll and sustainability. He bought an Xtracycle, which is a bike accessory that adds carrying capacity to his frame, and used the extra space to carry a homemade battery-power P/A system, built using a motorcycle battery, car audio parts, plywood, and a woofer with a hemp cone. Gabe even bought wind credits to offset his 12-volt battery charges. He continued to pedal to his shows, but at this point he was plugged in and fully mobile.

As Gabe refined his battery-powered system, he met the Berkely based inventors Paul Freedman and Nate Byerley, co-founders of Rock The Bike. Paul was hard at work on his own bike music act as the bike rapper Fossil Fool, and putting a lot of time into a nonprofit project called Worldbike. Nate had pioneered a successful pedal-powered juice blender and had a strong grasp on how to mix a bicycle with the right combination of capacitors, diodes, and the voltage regulators needed to produce clean usable electricity. Gabe, Paul, and Nate put their heads together to build the first lightweight, portable, bike powered P/A system loud enough for a rock show, and a more sustainable rock & roll was born.

With Rock The Bike’s sponsorship, Gabe soon became a proud guinea pig in the first ever bike-powered rock tour. Earlier this spring, Shake Your Peace (which is Gabe and anyone playing with him at the time) set off on a 600 mile pedal-powered trip from Logan to St. George, Utah, playing 25 shows along way. He biked from show to show and enlisted volunteers to power his P/A system during sets.

The system itself combines a burly kickstand with a big enough frame to carry speakers and all the musician’s gear (Gabe added space to his mountain bike frame using an Xtracycle, and used a kickstand designed by Nate for his juice blenders). Once the bike is set on the kickstand, a nob is placed against the back tire. As the pedals turn and the tire rubs against the nob, energy moves through Nate’s combination of capacitors, diodes, and voltage regulators, eventually feeding enough juice into a modified 12-volt car amp to power a small show.

When Gabe returned from his Shake Your Peace tour, Paul recruited him to organize a bike-powered music festival in San Francisco’s Mission District. Ten musical acts heeded the call, and the Bicycle Music Festival was born. Cyclists and band members alike, met up on August 11th at Alemany Farmer’s Market. Two bands played pedal-powered sets at the market and the group hopped on their bikes to ride to their next stop, the Alemany Farm. Two more bands played, and as the crowd gathered and grew, the bike caravan proceeded to Precita Park (two bands) then Dolores Park (three more bands), went on a cruiser ride through the Mission, and finished the day with a set by Fossil Fool at the bike friendly bar, Gestalt Haus.

I was at Dolores Park when the caravan pedaled up, and was completely surprised to find out that it was a human powered music festival on wheels. Little did I know that two weeks later, my curiosity would lead me to the big blue tent on the roof of the big pink house that Gabe Dominguez calls home.

Sitting there under the cool canvas-filtered light, Gabe spun his words into a beautiful vision of the Bicycle Music Festival’s future. He hopes to eventually build a huge, modular, pedal-powered system and to lead a massive bike caravan from city to city, spreading the sounds of rock and roll and the message of sustainability. While he’s not there yet, he is holding regular bike-powered concerts in San Francisco this fall. In late October he plans to join fellow bike band The Ginger Ninjas for a pedal powered tour from North San Juan, California all the way to Chiapas Mexico. We can only hope that Gabe Dominguez’ sustainability-rock courtship is a marriage that lasts.

You can watch a video of Nate, Paul and Gabe building the building the pedal powered P/A, here. You can also view photos from the Bicycle Music Festival on Flickr.

Article photo by Dustinj via flickr.

San Francisco Makes Grist List of 15 Green Cities

2007-07-26T17:19:08Z

Last week, Grist released a list of 15 green cities, and San Francisco came in at number eight, just behind London. Up against cities like Reykjavik, Iceland (number one on the list), Portland, Oregon (number two), Malmo, Sweden (number four), and Vancouver, Canada (number five), the city by the bay isn't so shabby when it comes to living the green life. According to Grist, half of all San Franciscans use public transportation, bike, or walk every day. Another notable greenlight is that parks and green space comprise 17 percent of the city. Grist also thinks San Francisco is ahead of the game for banning non-recyclable plastic bags and funding renewable energy to power public facilities.

Film: Manufactured Landscapes Debuts in Bay Area

2007-07-17T20:51:15Z

This upcoming weekend marks the Bay Area debut of the award winning film Manufactured Landscapes, documenting the work of artist, and Worldchanging supporter, Edward Burtynsky (full disclosure: Burtynsky serves on the Worldchanging board). Burtynsky is known throughout the world for his photographs documenting industry and its impact on the environment. The film follows the artist on his journeys through China recording the effects of the country's industrial revolution, and encouraging viewers to reflect upon the global impacts of industry. According to the Village Voice, "Nothing illustrates the monstrosity of globalized commerce more vividly."

The film will screen on Friday, July 20 in San Francisco, Berkeley, and Marin, with a special appearance by Ed Burtynsky at the Lumiere Theatre in San Francisco. The film will also show at Shattuck Cinemas in Berkeley and the Lark Theatre in Larkspur.

Watch the trailer: http://www.zeitgeistfilms.com/landscapes

Green Coworking: Interview with Chris Messina and Ivan Storck of Citizen Space

2007-07-02T19:16:53Z

According to the U.S. Census Bureau, almost half (49 percent) of the nation’s businesses are operated from home. Working from home provides amazing freedom, but with that freedom can come isolation. Community and opportunities for collaboration can be lost when it is just you sitting down to work each day.

Coworking, a group of individual entrepreneurs sharing a work space, can provide that community while also being an environmentally sustainable choice. I talked to Chris Messina of Citizen Agency and Ivan Storck of SustainableMarketing.com about their green coworking space in San Francisco, Citizen Space for the Big Vision Podcast and have posted a transcript of the interview below.

For more information about coworking, read the Coworking Community Blog, check out the Coworking wiki, join the Coworking Google Group, watch this short video , and see photos of coworking spaces in the BusinessWeek article, Where the Coffee Shop Meets the Cubicle.

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Chris Messina: My name is Chris Messina. I co-run a company called Citizen Agency with my partner Tara Hunt. We opened up Citizen Space in San Francisco in November of last year, of 2006.

I guess I got involved in coworking originally because I was working out of cafes and wanted a more collaborative, productive environment to go to and work around other people in. The green part sort of just came naturally, both by being around Ivan and finding out more about what he does, but also holding that value as well, and wanting to figure out a way to change the worklife environment so that you don't have to give up your values when you go to work.

Ivan Storck: I am Ivan Storck from SustainableWebsites.com, and SustainableMarketing.com. I got involved in green coworking, being here in Citizen Space and trying to bring some of the green values that I promote on my Internet sites into actual practice here in the work place.

The first part was realizing that I could go out and freelance and not be involved in a huge corporation anymore. That made me realize that I could bring my environmental values to my work. I think that is a big realization that you get from freelancing. When you find other people that are into the same thing, it's great, because it just helps to reinforce that and gets things moving.

Britt Bravo: What is coworking, and how can you make it green?

CM: The idea of coworking is actually a very old idea. It is simply a matter of getting people together, maybe of similar character and working in the same place. You can work for a big company, you can work for a small company, you can work for yourself. You can even be a student, or anybody who frequents cafes, or you can work from home.

The broad general idea is to no longer work all alone and so that you can be in a much more productive environment around other people. The idea was actually sort of a prototype that a friend of ours, Brad Newburg, had done in The Mission. Essentially, one day a week people would get together and they would work together. I met Brad, and I had previously worked on a project called CivicSpace, which was actually a Drupal site for organizing people.

One of the things that always struck me as being missing from that project were physical spaces where people to get together in. I mean if you are creating this organizing software for any purpose, people need a place to actually meet up, and talk and to connect and to have those face-to-face and one-on-one interactions. So I had always wanted CivicSpace to have that component.

So when I met Brad, a little while after I had left CivicSpace, it seemed like, "Hey here is someone who has already sort of had this idea and has gotten a very small example of this started. With this idea we can actually take this bigger and we can start creating our own space."

So last spring we started a space called -- at the time it was called Teh Space, but then it was renamed, after we left it, to the Hat Factory, that is still running. It's another coworking space in San Francisco. The idea of that space was to make it a much more egalitarian sort of "Kumbaya" place where everyone chipped in for the rent and made it work.

We realized that after four months of running it that you needed a little more structure and you need a little more, I guess, rules, or people to guide the existence of the space, who are really bought in the idea of making the coworking space happen, and then there are those who are clients of the space, or who come in, and are part of the community of the space, but aren't as interested in the day-to-day management of running a space, and that only makes sense.

So anyway, that's kind of where coworking came from. Since then, we've tried to really open source our practices and our processes and the things that make it work openly on a website and a wiki. As a result of that, and as a result of sort of evangelizing the idea, we've seen 50 or 60 different spaces around the world start to crop up where interested independents are seeing this model and are really excited about no longer working from home by themselves, but are actually meeting with other people and saying, "Hey, just two or three or four of us, let's get together and work regularly, even out of a cafe, and then eventually let's move into a regular space that we ourselves run and manage that is the workspace of our dreams."

IS: I can add to that. I think also it's really exciting to be involved in a space like this because since you are designing it from the beginning, you get a chance to bring your values into it and for me, the sustainability part of it is really important.

I strongly believe in the triple bottom line -- which is people, planet, and profit. That for me is a truer definition of sustainability than just being an environmentalist. I don't think you can get to the part where you work on the green stuff if your people aren't happy.

So I think the primary focus is to create a very collaborative, creative environment where people can really get stuff done. Also since we're doing it from scratch, to make sure that the green things are built in as much as possible from the beginning. And that we can share ways of doing green things, even on a budget while you're getting started, because you don't have to spend a lot of extra money to be green. You can even save your money. It has already saved us money on our energy costs.

BB: What are some of the things you've done in the space to green it?

IS: From the beginning Chris and Tara purchased compact flourescent light bulbs, which are CFLs. They're energy saving light bulbs that last forever. We just had a little mini energy audit and we realized that our electricity bill is very low for the space that we have. They are the primary factor for that because we know that the computers use a lot of energy. We have a list of other stuff. Chris can talk about the floors.

CM: So when we moved into our space, it was actually previously a carpenter shop. The guy who was basically using it to make furniture and things like that. So when we first came to the place, we were actually kind of shocked at the condition that it was in.

We were like, "Well, I don't know if this can work, but we see the potential here. It's in a really great location, being close to downtown, and it also is something that we can really fix up and put a lot of effort into and make it our own." So that's what we did, and we worked with the landlord, David, who has been really supportive of us, and worked with him to find and source renewable bamboo flooring -- not only was it super cheap,which was surprising, but it is also sustainable. I mean, bamboo grows like grass, so that was really good.

Then we've done what we can to really just make sure that we're using fewer and fewer throwaway paper supplies, using mugs and things like that, dish ware. Then, as Ivan mentioned, the lighting, but we also have a low flush toilet and various things like that.

So these are all pieces that -- some of which already were here, other things we decided very explicitly, when we had the choice, to make sure that we did the right thing and so on. It's also good because where Tara and I live is just down the street, and so we're saving a lot just in terms of commuting, whereas before Tara worked previously in Redwood City and I had worked in Mountain View and in Palo Alto for a while. Not having to rely on transit to get there and back and forth I think helps as well.

IS: A big part of where we've gotten our inspiration and help has been the Bay Area Green Business Program. We're lucky to have that here in the Bay Area. The cities and counties around the Bay run this program, and they provide you with a checklist. They have this one that is specific for offices, and it's full of ideas that you can implement.

One of the things that we've done is to actually put that checklist up on our wiki, online, so that anyone involved in the space can go in and edit it and write down an idea or check off something that they've done. It makes it more of a collaborative process, and also makes it possible for us to work on it, to pick it up one day of the week and then leave it, to just pick it up when we have time to work on it.

It definitely has been a little bit of a challenge to work on because it's not billable work. But it is one of our long term goals to get Green Business Certified. I believe it will happen this summer, so we are actually making progress on it. A lot of the stuff is really easy to do.

CM: There are some other things that we will be doing that aren't currently done. This is sort of an ongoing greening process. It isn't the kind of thing where you just take three steps and you're done. It's actually something you have to remain vigilant to.

We have back bay windows that go out and, unfortunately, look over the highway. But, as it is, they are single pane, so not only do we lose a lot of heat there, but there's a lot of noise and things like that. What we're going to be doing is replace those with dual pane glass, and that'll provide extra insulation in the winter when it's cold and we have the heaters running, because we don't have central heat, and it'll also dampen the noise and just make the space a little bit more friendly.

We're also going to be installing ceiling fans in the main area of the space, so that, especially during the winter, which we just went through, and it was actually pretty cold, the heat from our heaters, our electric heaters that we use, will actually be kept forced down, where people are, as opposed to just rising to the top and heating the ceiling.

IS: We're also using Energy Star compliant electronic devices. That's actually really easy to do. Almost anything of good quality that you buy now is Energy Star, but it does help with the Green Business Certification here in the Bay Area. There's also the EPA's Energy Star Partner program that you can apply to be a part of and get a recognition from the EPA.

That actually is fairly easy for small businesses to be a part of, so I encourage people to look on the EPA site to check that out. Just being a web-enabled company is a big part of saving resources, like paper. You can actually see our Green Business checklist online if you go to citizenspace.us and then click on the wiki.

You can see that a lot of the office requirements for the Green Business program are about reducing paper, not making copies when it's not necessary, and using things like the wiki and the blog, and stuff that we think of naturally being web companies, actually really makes a big difference in the amount of paper that we use.

Also using two monitors is a great way of saving paper. Almost all of us here are set up with the laptop screen and the main monitor. It allows you to put documentation on one side of the monitor, and also do your work on the main screen. So it is another way of saving paper. There's actually about a hundred different suggestions in this checklist and we've probably done about thirty or forty of them now. We're almost basically certified. We just haven't finished every single area.

CM: This is sort of basic and could fall into some of the logistics, but we have three types of trash that we gather. One is, obviously, just regular trash--stuff that is, unfortunately, not recyclable, or reusable. Another is the recycling itself, which is normal. And then we have compost -- so that is a service that, I think, we have to pay a little extra for, but it's very minimal on a monthly basis.

We are able to make sure that food extras and things like that are done away with in a proper way. I think that you have to check locally to see whether or not your area provides services for that, but it's something that you could do locally as well. For example, we have a few plants, not a lot of plants in here, but we do have coffee grinds or things like that we're able to use as sort of a fertilizer internally.

BB: What are the benefits of green coworking?

IS: The primary one, as I said, is on the people side of people, planet and profit, although in terms of profit, we're definitely saving money every month on our energy bill, but people-wise it has been an incredibly collaborative space.

Everything from being able to hang up the phone and say, "Oh that was such a bad client call," and being able to commiserate with someone, just to have that emotional support, but also to have some really creative ideas, and flow of ideas going back and forth between everyone that's here and all the visitors that come through.

It's been really inspiring and we've had visitors say that being here in the space, interacting with just maybe three or four people, is more inspiring than being at a web conference for the entire week. When someone says something like that about your space, it just really brings a smile to you.

CM: I would agree with Ivan. I think that the personal interactions are really the fundamental benefit of getting involved in any kind of coworking thing, but it also, for me, is a really important piece of my independence from working at another place, or working for someone else. The people of the space really do have a lot of influence and can add a lot of benefit. I mean it is their space as much as it's ours so when someone has an idea, it really is up to them to kind of add that piece to it.

Rather than working out of cafes for as long as I did, being able to come into a coworking environment where I can influence what goes on, I can have events when I want to, we can bring in trainers and things like that, even just suggestions to see what's possible, means that we're getting a lot more out of our work environment, our space, then for example if we were just working out of our living room -- which we did for a long time -- where you just, you can invite people over for dinner, but I wouldn't want to have 40 people there as part of a training or seminar.

So there's that part of it, the local, personal interaction that you get. There is the shared creativity. But I think what we've seen, because of the way that we've gone about organizing the coworking community, is there's a much broader impact and a wider community to actually draw from.

There are people literally all over the world in cities all over the place where we're able to show up. And not only do we get a tour of the local environment, but we have a place to work where we can just meet really interesting people and continue the experience that we've had here.

For example, Tara and I went to Vancouver this past weekend and we spent time at the workspace there. We had a little board room and we had desks to work out of, and it was really productive . It allowed us to sort of escape for the weekend, to be in a new environment, and yet to never really lose a beat.

There are coworking spaces being started up in Europe and even I think in -- I'm not sure if it has hit Africa yet, but I know that, especially all across U.S. and Canada, there are coworking spaces being started up almost every weekend.

That just suggests that there is a real desire for people to get together and work together, people who are finding themselves working from home and are feeling alienated. Or just spending too much time locked in the den or locked in the bedroom or something, when they really could benefit from being out and about with other folks.

BB: Who are the kinds of people who are getting involved with coworking?

CM: You know, I think actually the people who are attracted to coworking varies greatly. I think so far it's similar to the BarCamp event model where it started out as being a lot of geeks and people online, because it spread through online vehicles.

But now, and I think more into the future, we're going to see a lot of other people who maybe don't call the Internet home, but are either familiar with that, or who friends who are into that, and can hook them up, because they want to see a local community emerge of independent workers.

So we've seen a lot of people actually in Berkeley. A number of disparate groups, kind of slowly finding each other and getting together because they want to be able to work out of their homes and neighborhoods. They don't want to have to travel either into the city or an hour away.

Where a lot of people are able to telecommute now, or just work from home generally, rather than doing the work from home -- which is again sort of an alienating, disempowered feeling -- getting together and sharing resources and sharing knowledge and sharing experiences is really I think validating and rewarding. It gives you an incentive to actually show up and go to work and feel good about it.

So while it's starting out again now with people who are online, I think we are starting to see the trend migrate outwards into other communities -- whether it's artists, writers--I've heard about some lawyers actually, and I guess other folks who can do a lot of their work online.

BB: Can you talk about how your space works?

CM: To get into the nuts and bolts a little bit of how the space works, right now we have three different ways of getting involved in Citizen Space in particular. Every coworking space is little bit different, but we are trying to work on bridges between coworking spaces so that if you're a member at one, you can actually show up at another one and sit down and start working. Whether if it's a low fee or no fee or whatever.

As Citizen Space the way that we work it is that we have a monthly subscription rate. If you're a "month-er", you get a desk and you get a key, and that's $350.00 a month. So you essentially can bring in a monitor, you can leave your documentation, you can leave your stuff. You bring in a seat and you've got a little workspace.

We recently created a second model to meet additional demand, and also to extend the size of our coworking community here. It's called "coworking lite," and that allows people to get keys, but without a permanent desk. So it's kind of like a hot desk kind of situation where we have space in the back where people can come in and work.

It's a little less expensive, and a little less of an investment, but you can come in whenever you want to. So if you happen to be someone who works at 6:00 a.m., when most of us don't, you can get a key and basically know that you're going to be able to come in and have a seat.

The third is probably the best way to get involved, and that's the free -- well I won't call them the "free rider", but the idea is that it's both beneficial to the folks who can come in, spend an hour or two, maybe even once a month or once a week or whatever, and just are looking for a random space to sit in, that's an alternative to cafes. It's also a benefit to the renters to have interesting new people coming in, keeping the space fresh, keeping new ideas flowing and so on.

You essentially can come in whenever there is a renter here who has opened up the space. So there's no guarantee that the space is going to be open, which is different than a cafe. But we give a lot of different opportunities for people to contact us whether it's through our website or through Twitter or through anything like that so that if you want to stop by and spend an hour or two, you can do so. You can know with some assurance whether or not someone will be there to let you in.

IS: I think that the "coworking lite" plan really just captures the ethos of what Citizen Space, and other coworking environments are about. I mean it's really heavily influenced by the open source community and the ethos of sharing. That fits in so well with sustainability, because it's making the best use of limited resources -- and actually making better use of limited resources to create something that you wouldn't normally have if you just had resources that were used by just one person or one group.

BB: What are some of the challenges?

CM: I think some of the challenges revolve around some of the business stuff. Personally, my background isn't really business or finance, so that's been an interesting challenge. Tara and I run a consulting company, and either way we'd have to get an office for our business.

What we decided to do was rather than just have an office that is for ourselves, and make limited usage of a scarce resource, we decided we'd have an office, but we'd open it up for other companies and individuals who previously were in our situation of working from home, working out of cafes. And we'd provide this as a resource.

As such we're not really breaking even quite yet on the space. In fact it's costing us some money, but we figure that if we had an office space all our own, we'd be eating the entire cost without the social benefits and without meeting our triple bottom line either.

So the cost, the investment we make in the space, doesn't come back as a money-making venture right now. But as well, we are in a position that we don't have to be making money for it to work. Finding a sustainable business model from a business perspective, and one that is generalizable for other spaces, is something that we like to do and a challenge that is put to the entire coworking community. I'm pretty optimistic that we'll come up with something and some way to actually share in each other's resources and extend the network, maybe along the lines of a Zipcar model or something like that.

I think for the most part it's been a really good experience. You're going to have the occasional setbacks and the occasional questions about how to handle things and what to do, but given that our attitude so far is that we are running this kind of as an experiment - and there are really no wrong answers, the best we can do is to fail lightly and just keep moving on . As such if we can learn from those things and share our experiences with other people, who are also trying to start their spaces, that sets the model for other people to in turn share what they've learned.

As Ivan said, it's very much applying the open source model and principles to a real-life situation, and that's something that I think is really exciting. So far I don't think there's been too many bad challenges.

The one thing that we have done, that's been an interesting challenge -- I mean this is not unexpected -- we run community centered events in our space. We're a little bit judicious about the ones we let in; we don't just allow any events to come in. But there have been occasions where people have--and before we weren't charging anything for hosting events in our space because we felt it was a community resource to be shared--There was one event in particular that sort of left a mess and weren't as respectful of the space, given that it was free, as we had hoped. So we talked with the organizer, who didn't quite understand the ethos of the space. So we had to ask him not to return with his group.

But in other situations where there have been questions about how we run the space, and the cost to us and so on, I think that we've worked it out, and helped people to understand where we are coming from, why we make the space available, what it costs us to do it -- more in terms of effort and attention and stress than in terms of dollars. When that is made known and people understand that we are doing this as independents, I think that there is sort of a mutual understanding.

IS: I think also it's been such a social space it's been really fun, but also we have had to remind ourselves that it is a working space, it's an office first. I don't think we've really crossed that line but maybe we've come close. It's a challenge.

It's not a hard challenge, it's kind of fun, because we do enjoy ourselves here. This is one of the places I really look forward to coming to, and I don't think I've ever really felt that about a work space before. But we definitely have to remind ourselves that this is an office and we want to have times for productivity as well as welcoming the community, too.

BB: What do you think is the future of co-working?

IS: I think what people have realized this time, or this year, finally, is that sustainability is an integral part of running a company. It's not just another marketing effort; it's actually a core part of operations and competitive advantage. We feel the same way here -- that we're always going to have the sustainability element of what we do, whether that's on the people side or on the planet side, and of course the profit side too would be nice.

So, it's continuing to meet the certification requirements of our local green business program, continuing to communicate what we're doing to others, so that they can copy our model, and not have to reinvent the wheel on their own. Even if they don't have local certification, they can take ideas from what we're doing. A lot of what we're doing is equally applicable anywhere else, and easy to adopt and take pieces from, just ones that will apply to any other co-working space.

CM: So I guess I see a couple things. One is that I see more people ending up in the situation of working on their own, working for themselves, and wanting to find an alternative to just cafes. I mean, I love working out of cafes, and I think cafes are great, but they're not great for everything. Eventually what we've found is that they're not really great for the individual who is working out of the cafes, or the cafes themselves.

In fact, I talked to my friend Eileen, who runs Ritual Roasters in The Mission, and she gave me a really interesting figure, that in I think it was on a monthly basis, to operate one power plug in the wall of the cafe was costing her up to four hundred dollars a month. And she had like, you know, five or six different outlets.

So you can imagine how much that's costing the cafes and how much they're trying to figure out, "Well, what do we do about this? Because clearly, these are, our patrons, they're coming and they're buying coffee and so on, but then they're staying for five to six hours, on a three to five dollar drink, and that's not really working for us."

Meanwhile, the web warriors, the web workers, are trying to figure out and are trying to come to grips with, what is their roost; what is their place, you know? Can they keep going to these cafes if it's not working for the cafes, and furthermore, are the cafes providing the kind of environment in which they can thrive?

The more that coworking gets out there and the more we establish models that will work for other people and in fact, establish even alternative forms of this. . . . The folks in New York came up with this idea called Jelly, and the folks in Philly came up with a similar thing called The Cream Cheese Sessions, I think, it's all around food.

The idea is actually instead of just getting a physical space and an office space, to find someone's home, and work there for a day a week. So, they'll say, "Let's go meet up at Amit's house on Wednesday afternoon and we'll spend six hours, just working amongst each other." It's a social thing, and you know, in New York it's really expensive to find spaces, and so that works for them.

What I see happening in Philadelphia, where our friend Alex Hillman is putting these things together, he's able to get people together, even if it's out of Panera or something, for these Cream Cheese Sessions, and drum up interest, to the point where people will say, "Well, why are we going to Panera all the time? You know, this isn't our space, we can't really run it the way that we want to. We can't have events and meetings here. Why don't we take this group and branch off and get our own space?" And so I see that those small efforts run locally to gather interest are really important to what I call, "the life cycle of co-working."

So that's, I guess, how I see this sort of playing out, and really giving people an option, and a choice in the kind of work environment that they find themselves in.

In terms of green coworking, and the greening of the independent, in general, what I'd like to see over the next coming years is more and more knowledge given back to the individual about their green and environmental impact. One of the things that we'd like to do, and that we're working on with coworking is, Ivan and I, and some other folks who have talked about this idea, have talked about a green API.

What we're going to be doing actually, one thing that we didn't mention, is that we're going to be doing carbon offsetting, if not already, for our space. So essentially, for all the power we consume, we're going to be putting back an equal amount of solar, wind, or whatever other types of power, onto the grid, to offset our consumption.

What we'd like to do is to extend that model, into almost anything, into web services in particular, so if we're using applications like Blinksale or Basecamp, that those folks can add an additional charge, which probably is actually pennies per month -- but you know, even a dollar a month would make a huge difference.

To offset our usage of these services, so that essentially not only are we being green locally, but we are being green in the services that we touch online. Over the long term, this kind of idea is such that we'd be able to run statistics on ourselves, to see what our impact is, and to see what more we can do as individuals in our work environments, in our practices, and just the things that we can do to continue to make a local difference.

IS: I think the carbon offsets are definitely a great idea, and they're a very powerful means of having an easy impact on getting your ecological footprint to be smaller - for the individual, and for the space, and for companies. It's going to expand over the next five years, to not only being able to offset your impact, but to actually come up with ways of measuring your ecological footprint, and working on ways of just reducing that off the bat, rather than just being able to offset it.

So, offsets are really the first step. They're the easy step we can do right now; but once we have systematic and web-enabled ways of calculating your ecological footprint, we can offer that to people that are in the spaces, other companies, and I'm really looking forward to seeing more of those methods being available.

CM: I guess, one of the things I do want to see happen as coworking builds itself out--in terms of this generation of coworking, it's only about a year old, or a little bit older than a year--as I've tried to do with BarCamp and making diversity, especially gender diversity at conferences, be a big issue that BarCamp attempts to at least address and to open awareness to, I would like coworking to sort of do the same for the environmental impact of a workspace.

And so, green coworking is that; is our effort to come up with a name and an idea, and a way for people to identify, Well, what kind of space do you want to work in? Do you want to work in a big corporate office with a bunch of cubes, or do you want to work in a green, coworking space?

And, hopefully coworking becomes somewhat synonymous with green working and so on. We are, as Ivan said, somewhat at the beginning stages of that, but I do think that even simple things like the carbon offset program is a way to just get people thinking of those things, first and foremost, almost to have an instinct to ask questions like, "What's the impact of this? Should I really buy this equipment or should I buy something else?" And furthermore, "What resources are the coworking community providing, or showing me, that will help me make better green decisions?" Because other people are invested in this problem as well.

IS: It's kind of like the Heisenberg Uncertainty Principle. Once you start measuring your impact, you really start thinking about it and it has an immediate impact, because all of a sudden you realize all of these things that are really pretty easy that you can be doing to reduce your impact and to lower the price of the carbon offsets that you'll need to purchase.

Britt: If a listener wants to start or join a coworking space, what should they do?

CM: The first thing to do is to check out the blog/wiki, and you can find those things at coworking.info, or wiki.coworking.info. That's essentially where our web resources are, and once you're there, I'd strongly encourage anyone to join our coworking group. It's a Google group. It's very easy to join, and to get involved with, and there are a lot of supportive people on it. A couple of months ago when we checked, it was about 500 people, but there's probably more now on it. These are people around the world who are trying to get places started up.

So, the first step really, is to get on the list, ask other people, "Hey, is there anybody in my area who is trying to start up a coworking space?" Because, you know, more often than not, there oftentimes is.

The second step, if no one is there, or if you do find other people who are interested, but haven't actually put a stake in the ground, is to go to the wiki, and create a page, usually named after your location. So for example, you'd have, "CoworkingBoston," or "CoworkingSanFrancisco," all in what is called CamelCase.

And that becomes your organizing point where you can devote your resources, you can send people to, you can link to it, you use like "CoworkingBoston" as your tag if you're blogging about things, to get people interested and find out about what you're doing, and just become part of the community.

I think that's a really important aspect to it because even if you're in, for example DC, you might find that there's a space being started up in Virginia that's close enough by, or you can cross the border and work there.

If starting a full space is either beyond your budget or beyond your available time resources at the moment, there's no reason why you can't do some of those smaller type of community gatherings or even just organize a local event.

It took us about four to six months to get the original Hat Factory off the ground. It was actually a really passive type thing because Tara and I were mostly working out of our living room. We'd just walk around downtown and I would take digital photos of "For sale" or "For rent" signs in offices and I would post them to Flickr. We'd get together, actually at Ritual Roasters, and have meet ups to talk about starting a space.

We had a very small mailing group to get things started off. So it was really, really basic. You don't start with a full on space and start renting right away, I mean, that's beyond what you need to do, but you can start with just finding other people.

I think that looking at that as being the ultimate goal, and not just getting a space, but getting people together, is what you should look at. As well, BarCamps have been really influential if you want to run your own event, to find people in your area. That's what they did in Philadelphia, and that really spawned a lot of interest, and they are now creating a space that can support the BarCamp community in an everyday sense. So that's where that's coming from. Just let people know -- and I think the easiest way is through the mailing list -- and then they'll find you and you can go from there.

BB: And how can they start making their space green?

IS: Well, the three most basic things are energy, water and waste. If you started thinking about things that way, it is a good way to get started. Energy in an office environment usually means lighting and computers. So compact flourescent light bulbs and Energy Star certified equipment and you're well on your way.

Water usually means in an office environment, the toilet. So if you don't already have a low flow toilet -- which you might, because we discovered that we already had one; it was already in the code for San Francisco, for the city. So you can take advantage of maybe installing a new toilet or any other device that uses a lot of water. Waste is a big one definitely, if you're not doing a recycling program, get that started and think about composting too.

CM: The one last resource that I would point out is to take a look at an organization called Freecycle. We've recently started working with them and they basically provide -- they're sort of an alternative to Craigslist-- it's locally run people getting together and swapping free stuff.

If you're going to start a space, there's no better way of doing that "reuse, recycle" thing than actually to reuse stuff that's already out there. Going to your local business bureau, or any municipal organization that can point you to companies or businesses that are either getting rid of all their old desks, or that are going bankrupt, or whatever it is. There are going to be people out there that have stuff that you don't need to buy new necessarily to get started.

In fact, the Hat Factory was totally furnished by mostly other Valley startups that were upgrading their offices and were going to just get rid of all their stuff. Also don't put the cost of buying new things and great things in your way. I mean people just want a nice place to work, they don't need to have Aeron chairs. We like to say that we furnished our entire space for the cost of two Aeron chairs, or something like that. Both IKEA and Freecycle and Craigslist can go a long way towards helping you just getting started on a threadbare basis.

IS: Really, just do it. Just get people together, get people talking about it. We're not talking about rocket science here; we're talking about just getting people together and working together and sharing.

CM: There's also just a whole community of support that will help you get started. I think that the barriers to getting going are so much less today than they have been. It is a natural evolution, I think, of the workspace environment.

Britt Bravo also blogs at Have Fun * Do Good, NetSquared and BlogHer.

Ten Minute Activist: SF Locals Present New Book at Modern Times

2007-06-14T18:47:51Z

The Ten Minute Activist is a project by The Mission Collective, a group of San Francisco-based writers and activists who wanted to show others that it's not difficult to make small changes that can make a cumulative difference in one's life and on the environment. The outcome of the project is a fascinating book filled with oodles of information and world-saving tips -- everything from how to power your house with greener energy, to greener waste disposal and better gardening tips. The best thing about the book is that it is not just a how-to guide; it is also filled with facts galore, some of which, like the following, you could rattle off at cocktail parties to shock new acquaintances: 170,000 tampon applicators make their way onto the U.S. coastline each year.

On Wednesday, June 13th, the authors of The Ten Minute Activist presented the book at Modern Times bookstore in the heart of The Mission on Valencia Street, an appropriate location for a book reading by a group that calls itself The Mission Collective. The useful and quirky book that includes powerful facts, practical information, and even cartoons was definitely compiled in a creative San Francisco fashion.

Three members of The Mission Collective presented at Modern Times where they talked about their enthusiasm for the project to a very small audience. Each activist involved in the project espoused an interest in building and supporting local communities, because, as they emphasized, it is difficult to make big changes in the world, but easy to start with the smaller changes and infect others to do the same. Deacon Rivers, activist, collective member, and Elvis fanatic, emphasized the need to have a winning strategy for change. Making small, individual changes in behavior is one way to be able to see the change that you enact. Another member of the collective talked about the importance of supporting local communities and the arts. The self-proclaimed punk, illustrated his point by talking about community-based alternatives to going to clubs to hear concerts. In particular, he lauded the efforts of one group that holds concerts on a large white bus and also in their Oakland collective.

The presentation predictably covered the importance of conscious consumption practices, which is a primary focus of the book. The collective may be preaching to the choir with their small volume, but they argue the necessity of inspiration. And the book is intended to inspire individuals to make small, positive changes in their own lives that serve to reduce individual impact on the environment and may have the additional positive side effect of saving money.

Youth Insight and a Digital Earth

2007-06-05T05:49:26Z

Youth Insight?

Emerging from inspiration, imagination, and reality, solutions are youthful in their nature. Born from the assistance of mentorship and our world’s environments, solutions are part of humanity’s quest in problem solving and its collective passion and desire for life.

Youth are -- right now -- building the future and working for the future. Youth are solutions in themselves -- opportunities with ripening potential. As a population of growing learners and listeners, youth have a vital role in addressing the solutions for today and tomorrow, with ears pricked to the past and eyes open to the future.

I spent the past weekend participating in the Youth Insight Young Leaders Collaboratory, a retreat for youth leadership at the 5th International Symposium on Digital Earth. Nestled between coastal hills and the Pacific Ocean, the retreat was held at the Headlands Institute in the Marin Headlands north of San Francisco.

The retreat brought together a diverse and eclectic mix of emerging, young, international leaders. As a participant, I was blown away by everyone’s energy and phenomenal passion and drive for their work, life, and the world. Each of us is building and working for the future. Our weekend together created a meaningful community.

The group was comprised of about thirty-five youth ranging in age from fifteen to thirty-one, as well as intergenerational facilitators from the United States and New Zealand. Over half our group was an amazing collective of Kiwis representing their native New Zealand culture, environment, vision, and passion. North American participants came from Canada and the west and east coast of the United States. Special guests included members of Bioneers, WiserEarth, Yes!, and Urth.TV.

The group of Kiwis organized the retreat in collaboration with the US Partnership of Education for Sustainable Development and Bioneers. The Kiwis had also participated in the Digital Earth 2006 Summit on Sustainability in Auckland, New Zealand, and the SoL Forum on Business Innovation for Sustainability.

In fewer than 48 hours, we breached boundaries, braided visions, shared hopes, dreams, cross-cultural contrasts, compelling life stories, and networked on a deep level. We had a fantastic time sharing ourselves, learning, developing questions, celebrating, and even taking the time to explore the Headlands, and fly kites and climb rocks at Stinson Beach.

The 5th International Symposium on Digital Earth, in the Bay Area

As characterized by retreat organizer Billy Matheson, “How do we hospice what is dying? How do we mid-wife what is being born?” These two questions repeatedly arose over our weekend. How might the sustainability movement and the future of humanity as a whole address these questions? What about our world is changing and requires transition and comfort as it leaves us? How might we give new life and form to our tomorrow and also provide transition and contextualization to those things which have yet to be manifested or matured?

An important component of the retreat was to prepare -– intellectually, physically, spiritually –- for participation in the symposium. Matheson’s questions will likely be addressed, in part, throughout the coming week at the International Symposium on Digital Earth, held at UC Berkeley, and commencing tomorrow, Tuesday, June 5.

In fact, the New Zealand youth will be presenting their culture and vision to the conferences’ participants during the opening sessions tomorrow afternoon.

The Digital Earth concept presents a vision for our changing world; an Earth with new virtual and digital landscapes and resources, yet one also positioned within a context of the real, a landscape of ecological consequence and biological livelihood:

“Digital Earth is a visionary concept, popularized by former US Vice President Al Gore, for the virtual and 3-D representation of the Earth that is spatially referenced and interconnected with digital knowledge archives from around the planet with vast amounts of scientific, natural, and cultural information to describe and understand the Earth, its systems, and human activities.
“The Digital Earth vision embraces a philosophy that any citizen of the planet, linked through the Internet, should be able to freely access a virtual world of information and knowledge resources. This philosophy supports the dream of ubiquitous education for the people of the planet. A rich convergence of technological advances, active visionaries, and recognition of the paramount need for humans to better understand the Earth and its systems comprises the history of this dynamic and exciting enterprise.”

This week’s Symposium is the first to be held in the United States (the first was held in China in 1999; subsequent events were held in Canada, Czech Republic, and Japan). Sponsors include Google, Microsoft Virtual Earth, ESRI, NASA, NOAA, United Nations Environment Programme, UNESCO, UC Berkeley, Stanford, the Buckminster Fuller Institute, and Bioneers.

“The five day gathering will feature world-class representatives from industry, academia, government, NGOs and the private sector who have come from around the globe to highlight a central theme regarding shared interest in the concept of a digital Earth.
“The ISDE5 Program will spotlight international keynote speakers from Norway, China, Japan, New Zealand, and the European Union. Astronauts, Ambassadors, Governors, and Indian Chiefs will also provide keynotes to provoke inspired insight into the functional needs for Digital Earth Technology. Agency leaders from NOAA, NASA, and the United Nations will define the governance aspects of programs that are helping evolve the Digital Earth Vision. Industry pioneers who represent the “green rush” of 3D Earth visualization software will present their unique corporate philosophies and investments. Together these groups will harmonize viable Digital Earth practices and solutions.”

For more information of the Symposium and the Digital Earth, see their website at isde5.org or head directly to the action-packed program.

The website c2020.net will also be used during the Symposium to collect ongoing ideas and reflections. Digital Earth 2006 ideas and reflections are cataloged at TheLongSong.com.

Brower Center Breaks Ground in Berkeley

2007-05-30T18:39:32Z

After seven long years, the David Brower/Oxford Plaza complex finally broke ground in downtown Berkeley, California. This Center will be a place from which our sustainable future is planned and implemented.

A good sign that the project is already on track was the number of young parents with kids who arrived at the groundbreaking ceremony May 23, 2007 on bicycle. I sure was envious of the eco-hip toddlers with cool stickers on their bike helmets. Anyone know where I can get a T-rex sticker?

The groundbreaking was a celebration of a man, and a movement, and the end of a difficult planning process described by one of the main planners as “brain-damaging” in its complexity.

When complete, the Brower Center will serve as a home office for the environmental movement, with retail space on the ground floor, meeting rooms, a theater, and 97 units of permanently affordable, and high-quality rental housing near public transportation and jobs. And of course it will be a state of the art, green building.

A Man on a Mission

The complex is named after the undisputed heavy hitter of the American environmental movement. David Brower’s career spanned decades. He served as the Sierra Club’s first executive director, founded the League of Conservation Voters, Friends of the Earth, and Earth Island Institute. He was often thrown out of the very organizations he started for pushing too hard. Not to worry, Dave would just go start another organization that filled an underserved gap in the movement. Considering the groups Brower launched all play essential roles in today’s movement, his bad behavior can finally be understood as vision.

Everyone who met David has a favorite story of him.

Here is mine.

During his last decade (a manic “retirement” which required staff and a scheduler) David could often be found sipping a strong martini at his favorite restaurant just beneath the Bay Bridge in San Francisco. One afternoon, he invited some young people in the movement to join him. Just as we started feeling relaxed being in the presence of this giant, Dave went around the table, demanding an answer to one question.

“What book are YOU going to write that will help us save the planet?”

He was serious, and nobody dared leave the table until they had a decent answer. That was Dave. Dave wanted your sworn commitment to the cause, and he planned to hold you to it.

Eco Center

So far more than 30 organizations are in line to get office space in the Brower Center. Anchor tenants include Earth Island Institute, International Rivers Network, California League of Conservation Voters and Build It Green.

The builders are pushing for Platinum-LEED certification, and the hope is that this energy efficient, sunny, workplace will allow the environmental movement to do more collaboration. Besides office space, the center will include a theater for public events, a restaurant, and meeting rooms.

Low-income housing

The housing element, which will be known as Oxford Plaza, was coordinated by Resources for Community Development a Berkeley-based affordable housing organization. By locating this housing right in the heart of Berkeley, near numerous transit options and bike lanes, RCD hopes to solve many of the transportation challenges of low-income workers. If they choose, residents will be able to live car-free and save their money for more important things.

A Monument to the Future

“The building of the Brower Center represents a further coming of age of a worldwide movement,” said Paul Hawken of the new buildings. “David was a monument, and hardly needs one. But what he did want was the deepening and strengthening of the institutions that lead the way towards conservation, preservation and restoration.”

The Brower Center will likely help accomplish all those things, and much more.

Greenopia: The Urban Dweller's Guide to Green Living

2007-05-27T22:14:51Z

Would you live a greener life if you knew which coffee shops served fair trade coffee, or where to find environmentally sustainable office supplies, or what farmers' markets and CSAs were in the Bay Area?

You've probably spent some time on the Internet doing searches like, "fair trade" "San Francisco" "coffee" "cafe." Eventually you come up with a site or two that has some suggestions, but you have a feeling that there are more options (we live in the Bay Area for heaven's sake!), but where to find them? Now you can find answers to a lot of your local green consumer questions in San Francisco Bay Area Greenopia: The Urban Dwellers Guide to Green Living. Greenopia is a printed and online guide of environmentally friendly businesses, services and organizations that covers everything from restaurants, to travel agents, to pest control.

According to the inside cover, the guide is not a paid directory, "Companies cannot pay to be included and no sponsorship is accepted. We are not specifically advocating any particular listee; rather we are simply informing you that they performed well in our green filtering process."

I first saw the Los Angeles version of the Greenopia guide in Amoeba Records in Hollywood this past fall, and promptly used it to jot down names of green restaurants and coffee shops to go to while there on vacation. Greenopia guides are also being created for New York, Chicago, Denver/Boulder, Seattle and Portland, as well as a 2nd edition of the Los Angeles guide.

You can browse the online Bay Area guide, order the paper one, or suggest a listing at greenopia.com/sf/.

Britt Bravo also blogs at Have Fun * Do Good, NetSquared and BlogHer.

Ocean Robbins: Hope

2007-05-25T20:38:50Z

Ocean Robbins is a peace and youth organizer based in Santa Cruz, California. He is founder and co-president of the youth leadership organization, YES!, and co-author of Choices For Our Future. He has facilitated "YesJam" events in over sixty nations for youth empowerment and building a sustainable future, and has been selected by "Audubon, Time Magazine, and Utne Reader as among the heroes of the new Millennium." Hope can inspire. Ocean Robbins shares with Worldchanging San Francisco his vision of hope in the world.

Editor's note: Working at a high school, I've had a number of experiences where I'd like to think I've made a significant difference in the life of a student. It's usually something small, like sitting with them and talking about their situation and sharing one's own experiences and lessons learned. The other day I had such an experience. The boy I spoke with wasn't motivated, and I knew exactly what that could be like in high school. Turned out he did like to have fun taking 'miracle' shots on the basketball court. We spoke about the experience of going out on the court and shooting at the hoop -- we've got to at least shoot the ball, if we don't, we'll never know if it goes in or not. That night I was watching a PBS documentary about female suicide in China. When I heard the line, "every four minutes a Chinese woman commits suicide," I sat up and thought for a while. Across all nations and people, a sense of hope and belief in the self is greatly needed. -- MW, Editor

Hope
by Ocean Robbins
Originally published in HopeDance Magazine of San Luis Obispo, courtesy the author

Hope is not a spectator sport, something that comes while sitting on the sidelines, calculating what’s going to happen in the world. Hope must come from the prayers and the dreams and the commitments that move through our lives; we must find a way to live hope, not as a noun, but a verb, something that must move through us, an action. I believe that to live truly in a place of hope means to be open to two things.

We must be open to the painful realities of our times, the tremendous madness in our world today. Every day on our planet we have less ancient forests, every second we lose more than a football-field-sized chunk of tropical rain forest, every day we have more air pollution, water pollution, every day tens of thousands of people die of hunger, every day we have more guns, bombs, madness on this planet.

At the same time, we must be open to something that is precious and sacred and beautiful, worth fighting, loving, living for, the beauty of humanity, of this earth. There is something so precious about this world, about this world’s people. That a child dies of starvation on this planet every two seconds is so numbing and overwhelming, because every child is so precious. As a father of four-year-old twins, I am moved by the preciousness of every life because I know how much I love our little munchkins and that all children deserve to be celebrated, supported, upheld, to be who they are, to give their gifts to this world. Everybody has unique contributions to make to this planet. There are more than 6.5 billion parts to play in the transformation of our world, each a unique path, coming out of our histories, our struggles and devastations, and our dreams for the future. Whatever love, nurturance, opportunities and privileges have been given to us, they’re ours now. In this precious and wild and crazy thing we call our lives, what choices will we make? What will be our impact upon this planet? and upon those with whom we share it?

Ecology tells us that everything we do sends out ripples. We’re merely a strand in the web of life, and whatever we do to the web, we do to ourselves. Ecology is the interconnecting of all the issues we face in the world today. We must keep broadening our definition of the environment: not just the trees, water, air, ozone layer or global warming; it is also people, and the social climate of our times. To be an environmentalist means to cease being a helpless victim of problems we didn’t create and become a participant in the transformation of our world. Each of us has the capacity to become an environmentalist, one who cares for the commons, for that which surrounds and protects us.

There is a myth in our society of the separate self, that we are somehow individual, disconnected from one another, that we can enrich ourselves, become "wealthy" materially or socially or spiritually, at the expense of other humans or other life forms. It is a lie we must challenge at its roots if we are to create a world that our grandchildren deserve.

The truth is that we are far more interconnected than we most realize. Around the world, tropical rain forests are falling and indigenous peoples are loosing their homelands and their entire way of life. In the United States, three out of five African Americans and Latinos live in a community with a toxic waste site; it’s called environmental racism. As long as we create pollution, it has to go somewhere. As long as certain communities are being marginalized or exploited and people don’t have the money or the time to speak out, polluters will have a place to deposit toxins. The issues are all interconnected, and we cannot just solve one problem without recognizing that we must solve "the totality."

Ultimately, for me, it comes back to a vision of humility, that we are but one part in a grand relationship. It is not ours to save the world, but to inspire and awaken and enliven people. What they do from there is up to them. How important it is to do what is ours to do and respect each human being’s own journey! This whole thing we call life on Earth is playing out with forces that are so vast and beyond our control and comprehension. We must be willing to look at it with open eyes, heart and mind to see what is happening and ask from a place of real humility, what is mine to do? How can I be of service in these times? Ultimately, I believe that that which is truly ours to do will nourish us, fill us with beauty, joy, and meaning, because we cannot give what we do not have. I do see a lot of activists trying to create change in the world without being fulfilled and sustained, and I don’t really think we can give something we’re not receiving.

I think all the universe works in circles. If you learn anything from ecology, it is that everything has a life cycle, giving and receiving are one journey. We humans are not too different from that and must find ways to nurture ourselves and thrive, if we are to create the world we dream of. In these times when we are not necessarily being rewarded in the political domain for our actions, not seeing the political renaissance we would like in this country, how do we find deeper roots to sustain us in the times to come?

I’m 31 years old and have been working for social change full-time for about half my life, and I know I’m just beginning. I have been around long enough to realize it may take at least another ten years. I want to be around to see what’s going to happen, and I want to be nourished and fulfilled along the way. I also realize this thing called humanity is going to be around for a long time if we do our job right. We have roots that go way back, and we truly stand on the shoulders of giants as we move along our path, some of them famous, most with names we will never know. Without them, we would not be having this conversation today, and women, people of color or even people who don’t own land would not have the right to vote in this country. We would not have so many freedoms or opportunities to express ourselves, to make a difference. We might not have those eco-systems that still sustain us. We would not have those trees left standing that do provide the air we breathe today. So we must give thanks for all who have gone before us, who have made possible the expression and the lives that we live today, while also realizing that there is much left to be done.

small image by YesJams; large image of Ocean courtesy YES!

Get A Free Energy Audit This Summer

2007-05-23T02:00:20Z

When the global warming blues are getting you down, do you ever walk through your house or apartment and think, I wish someone would come tell me what I can do to make my home more energy efficient? Home greening "to-do" lists are a start, but every house is different. A little expertise can be helpful. That's why this summer I'm going to call Rising Sun Energy Center.

If you live in the Berkeley, Oakland, Emeryville, San Pablo, San Rafael, the Canal Neighborhood, Marin City/Mill Valley or Novato, you can sign up for a free audit. According to their web site, two Youth Energy Specialists will come out and, "check your household's electricity, gas and water use, and then help you reduce your bills by providing free energy-saving devices. The Energy Specialists provide compact fluorescent light bulbs, water-saving faucetheads, and retractable clotheslines at no cost to home renters and owners."

Rising Sun Energy Center is a Berkeley-based nonprofit that provides training and employment for young people ages 15-21 as Energy Specialists through its California Youth Energy Services (CYES) program.

In 2006, CYES:
Provided employment and training to 80 youth, ages 15-24.
Provided over 1748 households energy savings hardware and information.
Saved residents over $821,600 in energy dollars.
Served 740 non-English speaking households; over 42% of their total clients

They also do workshops in the schools and provide free weatherization to low income customers. How cool is that!

Photo Credit: CYES Energy Team with permission from Rising Sun Energy Center.

Britt Bravo also blogs at Have Fun * Do Good, NetSquared and BlogHer.

Bee All You Can Bee!

2007-05-22T20:55:25Z

Most of the world’s population today lives in urban environments where exposure to bees and butterflies – our pollinator friends is rare. People are so accustomed to not seeing bees that the fact that they have gone missing may be almost a non-event. Certainly, biodiversity loss and the mass extinction crisis is something most people have no comprehension of nor anyway to conceptually frame the interconnected value of all life on earth. Pollinators play an uber-critical role in all of our lives helping plants have sex and thus ensuring a healthy supply of food for our tummies. While we may be able to mechanize vast aspects of agriculture, there is no substitute for pollination; we are dependent on the bees for our very life.

"Commercial bee colonies are important to agriculture as pollinators, along with some birds, bats and other insects. A recent report by the National Research Council noted that in order to bear fruit, three-quarters of all flowering plants rely on pollinators for fertilization." (Washington Post)

Alarmingly, there is a massive die off of commercial honey bees that is unprecedented in history. In recent news reports, 60-70% of the commercial bee populations spanning the United States have suddenly died off.

In order to celebrate the magical lives of bees and raise awareness to this sudden loss of our pollinator friends, an innovative event -- The Bee In Social -- is being planned and produced in conjunction with San Francisco-based ArtsFest to happen Friday May 25 at Grace Cathedral. Amira Diamond and Michael Gaio germinated the idea for the Bee In Social barely one month ago. Not only is the landscape of this event absolutely novel and rich, the way in which these two pollinators have created an opportunity for bay area activists to get together, create, collaborate and share a powerful intention drawing only on their intrinsic motivation is outstanding. As a community developer, I am always interested in what can happen even in the absence of money (although I highly support people being paid well for their work!) because then we get the chance to observe the purity of spirit that is necessary to drive the enormous amount of solutioneering required to heal our planet and thus maintain the option of continued living on this bioship.

This is a purpose driven event and one of the most creative aspects of the event is the way they have innovated the cultural offerings in the process of planning and designing the event landscape. Rather than worrying yet again about preaching to the choir, Amira thought why not celebrate the choir and let it hear itself sing. The Social Prophet Choir (inspired by Lynn Twist’s social profit versus not for profit language frame,) will have its debut at this event. The choir is made up of people from throughout the Bay Area social profit scene. They will be sharing an amazing song written by a local musician extraordinaire and Planetwork Program Director, Troy Lush. This performance alone is not worth missing!

If you want to join the Central Hive -- no problem, you too can Bee a pollinator and share the event info with your personal mailing list. If you want to Bee a Commanding Officer you’ll need to recruit choir members and so forth. Throughout the evening you will be treated to poetry, performance art, song and celebration. The house band has members of favorite Bay Area bands including Hamsa Lila.

Architect Daniel Smith: The Strength in Straw

2007-05-18T18:44:47Z

How might energy-efficiency be integrated into architectural design concerned with intriguing human experience? What opportunities and challenges do alternative materials such as straw bale provide the architect? Is straw bale construction appropriate for the earthquake-prone Bay Area?

Daniel Smith & Associates is a green architecture firm in Berkeley, California. A leader in experimental, sustainable design research and development, DSA Architects explores a range of energy-efficient, ecologically-focused building systems and natural materials, most prominently straw bale. With many projects in the Bay Area, DSA’s experience includes homes, churches, monasteries, camps, and business complexes.

I met Daniel Smith, principal of Daniel Smith & Associates, at the recent Moraga Energy Faire in Moraga, California, a community event that showcased energy-efficient solutions for homeowners. Smith came to share his experience with energy-efficient, green architecture with the small, east bay town’s residents.

In our conversation, Smith delved into his expertise in straw bale construction, his philosophy and approach to design, and discussed how green architectural systems can solve problems connected to different global contexts. Smith also described the fascinating energy-efficient architectural elements of his recently completed Presentation Retreat Center, a LEED Gold-rated straw bale building in Los Gatos.

. . .

Matthew Waxman: Could you please introduce yourself and tell me about your approach to architecture in the Bay Area and your philosophy involving architecture, materials, and the building and design process?

Daniel Smith: I’m Dan Smith, and we have a firm in Berkeley. Over the last ten years we have become more and more involved in green architecture. I think getting involved in alternative materials is of interest in itself as it keeps me excited.

For example, straw bale is evolving as a building system that works in Earthquake Country. It is a challenge and has a lot of advantages, but it is three-times as heavy as a stud wall; this means you would have to have three-times more bracing. But if it’s well connected – stronger mesh and plasters – straw bale performs as well or better than a plywood shear wall because it can actually absorb a lot of the force conductively without cracking and breaking traumatically -- it absorbs the energy.

Straw bale is a thick walled, high mass system that works in Earthquake Country much better than adobe or rammed earth, or even cobb (which I like very much). Cobb does have a lot of tensile strength in its straw but it’s very heavy. Straw bale gives you a good mix of insulation and thermal mass on the inside to keep the temperatures even. It’s a much better fit for passive solar in this area, especially in a high seismic area.

When compared to regular stud walls, straw bale has a totally different feeling. When you’re inside a straw bale building, for one it’s radiant and its surfaces are either a warm or a cooler because it doesn’t cool down and heat up as fast as stud walls. Straw bale is also quiet and feels secure mainly because it is much tougher -- it’s like a stone building and you feel that. They’ve actually done some tests in Texas for hurricane loading by shooting guns or firing two-by-fours into the straw bale -- it will stop a 22-caliber bullet. It won’t stop a high caliber, but it’s a lot better in this sense than stud wall. This is not an explicit reason to do straw bale, but it’s part of the feeling of being more secure in the thickness.

MW: So as a material it not only works structurally-well in the Bay Area, but it can also create an interesting experience architecturally?

DS: It is interesting. I’ve found that churches and groups that like to have a space for congregation really appreciate straw bale because it’s more of a container of sound, as well as thermal. And I think it may evoke thick-walled, medieval buildings, stone buildings, or earthen construction -- it does have that character to it.

MW: Could you build a modern day cathedral with straw bale? A very large structure?

DS: Yes, because we’re typically not doing straw bale in a load-bearing manner, which is the traditional way it’s done in Nebraska or the south-west. We’re using a light frame, wood frame typically. But in the Presentation Retreat Center building in Los Gatos the high walls are 25-feet high. So here we have a very light steel frame going up there [to the top]. The bales are really spanning between these framing members so theoretically you could just keep on going higher. That this is 25 feet high and a large space -- it is certainly feasible to do larger. There are questions with exterior weather protection because you still don’t want to have a high-rise unprotected, and you’d have to detail it differently.

MW: In the Bay Area, were there straw bale structures built before the 1989 earthquake that survived and demonstrated the durability?

DS: No, because there were no straw bale buildings at that time. I think there was one in Davis but I think it’s from the 1990s. There was a revival in the early ‘90s, mid ‘90s, started mainly in the south-west, and they went back and looked at Nebraska where there was a round of straw bale buildings in the teens and ‘20s, and a number of those buildings are still existing, and that’s what gave the comfort level to try it. Because there is not much to see on them and they’re 80 years old, you can pull some of the straw out and it looks just like regular straw, it doesn’t look degraded. And those were very sloppily-build. It’s a very dry climate so it worked well.

Straw bale was then started in Tucson and Santa Fe, and it was introduced here [San Francisco Bay Area] around ‘95. Now California has a livelier straw bale community than Arizona or New Mexico. What we’re doing here is typically more expensive and definitely more structurally-together because of the earthquakes. California is more of a building-code-intensive environment.

MW: When you were talking about the structural durability, it was making me think of Todao Ando’s buildings that survived the Kobe earthquake and Shigeru Ban’s paper disaster-response structures built afterwards, and their flexibility for disaster. Do you think straw bale could be a material to use in a case of disaster?

DS: For sure, in fact we’ve got a couple friends working in Pakistan’s earthquake zone. And they’re going back for the second year and they’ve come up with a straw bale minimal house, and very inexpensive to build. It’s ideal to replace what Pakistan has, which is un-reinforced masonry which is a death trap because it doesn’t have the strength to hold itself together, and when it comes down, it comes down on your head. So these are little straw bale buildings using bamboo pins tying it together and earth plaster. No mesh, no concrete in the skins, and they’re building them for a couple thousand dollars in materials costs. The buildings are small, four or five hundred square feet. And that’s about half the cost of the approved concrete buildings that Pakistan is trying to build and are generally too expensive. So it’s a good match because not only can you make it earthquake safe enough but it’s thermally far more efficient that what they’ve got.

We’ve helped with some straw bale housing in Mongolia and now it has spread to China. Kelly Lerner, who has worked in my office as an office assistant and has done a marvelous job, has started working with an aid agency to introduce straw bale construction into parts of China that have been devastated by earthquakes. And there they are replacing brick buildings and then the roof structures have earth on them, and so the UN has gotten involved in supporting it. And there has been quite a bit of straw bale in that area and, like in Mongolia, it can get to 40 below and they haven’t really been building with any insulation, and this gets them through with maybe one-fifth less of the energy needed to heat their houses.

MW: This then makes a great alternative to an HVAC system.

DS: Right, all they have to have are these foil or wood stoves – I’m talking about more out there, not right in the city. But it’s a nice balance because you can relate to contexts where the low-cost of straw bale makes sense, and they really need it because it’s very cold and don’t necessary have the wood. We’re really unique having all this access to wood construction, and it’s not really sustainable in the long-run to be using wood the way we are. Most of the world doesn’t have it, they have to build with earth or other materials, and straw is a rapidly-renewable, abundantly available material, so it makes sense to use it.

It’s very nice to have these projects in other contexts to balance really nice upscale houses in Santa Cruz and Sonoma. Straw bale adapts very well to the upscale Marin, Sonoma houses that are sometimes Mediterranean style, thick wall, sometimes they look like adobe, and the straw bale fits right in. So it’s ironic that the straw bale world here is more upscale while in Arizona it is a lively, counter-cultural, without permit, out in the country, and buildings done very cheaply; and in other countries it's seen as a low-cost housing alternative.

When you mentioned the buildings in Pakistan as being a death trap, it made me think of in squatter cities where the construction is very poorly put together and the electrical infrastructure, for example, is ad-hoc, and in any disaster houses might collapse or fall onto each other. Maybe straw bale would be a solution in those areas?

Well it is, but it’s not for everywhere. Hot, humid climates are much more of a challenge for straw bale. It’s a cellulous material and it can rot. If it gets too wet or too hot – that’s what mold likes. And that’s why they don’t build wood houses in a lot of those areas. But, that said, there is an awful lot of the world that is cold and dry or even temperate, and where it does make a lot of sense. We’ve done it in Tennessee where it’s hot and sometimes humid. But there it gets more critical that you have really good overhangs, so you don’t get a huge amount of rain directly on the wall. And if it gets that way its probably better to use highly permeable plaster, such as an earth plaster. And luckily in Tennessee they don’t have the seismic loading and they don’t need the very strong plasters that we often use here and that tend to have more cement.

In Pakistan the concrete buildings tend to do better because they are reinforced. But it’s really the stone buildings and the ones that are un-reinforced that tend to be death traps. And that’s why un-reinforced masonry has basically been outlawed in the Bay Area. All the old brick buildings -- well not outlawed -- but they have to been reinforced. And you have to go through them and strengthen them, and that’s a huge cost. But there’s a lot of un-reinforced masonry in the rest of the world.

MW: Could you tell me about a current project you recently completed?

DS: This Presentation Retreat Center; it’s a dining hall and welcoming center at this wonderful retreat center down in Los Gatos, and they have facilities for 200 people that go there for retreats and events. This is a LEED certified Gold-rated building where we have photovoltaics integrated into the roofing, and the other half of the building is an earth-sheltered green roof. There is also solar thermal heating for the hot water for dishwashing.

There are straw bale walls that are integrated with a passive cooling system taking the air from outside and through a basement area to cool it down and then to automate night-time cooling, and so it pushes out through the building through the high two-story windows. We’ve been able to do that and get away from using air conditioning.

We have an evaporative cooler that uses far less energy than compressive cooling. We were only able to do that because of the thermal performance of the straw bale walls and because of all the thermal mass inside the insulation allowing the passive heating and cooling to work and lower the loads.

So the purpose of this building – they see it as educational – and they’ve got a display up of all the green features of the building. It’s really a nice place to visit in that regard. The ceilings are all recycled newspaper cellulose and on the exposed surfaces and then back inside on the insulation. And it’s got cotton blue-jeans insulation for cotton insulation. The wood in the trusses and framing is FSC certified, which means it's certified that it's been sustainabily grown. Typically that’s a bit more expensive but it’s verifying that the wood has not been cut down in a wanton manner.

It also has very highly-efficient lighting. We have daylighting consciously and low-energy fluorescent lights throughout. And so that’s a challenge too, to make sure that our fluorescent lighting is doing a good job and looks pleasant. And we’re doing that now in houses. The state requires it in bathrooms and kitchens and we’re trying to use the compact-fluorescents throughout the houses and in ways that people aren’t offended by the fluorescent look. In fact the compact-fluorescents have gotten much better in regard to their light rendering.

MW: Could you please elaborate on the solar thermal heating/ outdoor light-shading elements?

DS: They are the solar thermal collectors; solar heating hot water. And it makes sense in this project because it’s a dining hall for 200 people, so it’s a lot of dishwashing, hot water demands. These are vacuated tube collectors; that’s a four-inch glass cylinder where the air has been vacuated – it’s a vacuum – and inside is a copper pipe attached to a flat copper plate that then can be rotated to face the sun. These things can be placed in a panel of six or more tubes, and they can go in flat and just have the interior baffles facing the roof.

What I like about them is that, for one, they are a lot more efficient than a standard flat-plate collector. High efficency, for what it is. Putting it in for horizontal sun-shade also doesn’t have the clunky, solar-panel on the roof, sticking up in the air look, but it’s integrated into the sun-screen function which I would have to use wood panels or metal to do the same. So we’re actually shading the building with 180 degree water.

It’s doing this nice conjunction of problems, and doing it in a way that you can see it. It’s architecturally expressed and I like the fact that people can walk around and see how it’s happening, and also you get to see the light tinkling through this thing -- an elegant light fixture. That’s what I like to do best about green features, to make them full of delight. Like what Vitruvius said, architecture is firmness, commodity, and delight. It’s nice to get that in there. Because green and energy efficiency can sometimes be all about efficiency and it is not always delightful. It’s a nice conjunction.

MW: In regard to light as a material -- and in relationship to the straw bale material used for the walls -- is there a way you can play with the light coming through the straw bale? Can you break it up or are there minimum widths? Can you fragment the structures and have punctures and holes?

DS: You can but you pay for it more than in regular construction. But on the other hand you can play with the light much more effectively because you have at least eighteen inches on the inside of a wall that you can angle so that it can take the light that’s bouncing from a window, and instead of it being a high glare light to wall – which is black – it is a transition gradient, and this could even curve. It is a much softer light transition to your eye as you look at it. It also allows another surface to bounce the light. In terms to how the light enters the building it is a lot more interesting, I think.

But in terms of construction we like to make bigger, simpler openings on the south, where you want the light, rather than lots of little openings. Even though we have done some of those – for instance here are some little puncture openings on a western wall [points to a separate project], which is where it makes sense to have small openings, that’s a lot of extra detailing for each of those openings. And in terms of bales, you can cut them and re-tie them, and it can be done and we do it all the time in houses, but it’s a bit of a procedure. It’s nice to stay with openings that are on module or are bigger, simpler openings.

MW: When I was in college at UC Santa Cruz, a student in the school’s Education for Sustainable Living Program instructed a class where students built a straw bale shed. What I thought was fascinating about this was that it was both a learning experience and a community building type activity bringing people together. What do you think about straw bale having the ability to connect and structure community and places?

DS: A bale raising. I think in every job that we’ve done there has been a bale raising event. Sometimes it is symbolic in that there are contractors and everything else, but it is a way for people to come in and actually take part. The barn raising and bale raising is an old tradition and is inherently a community-type thing. It’s a terrific way to install community spirit – like with our Shorebird Nature Center in Berkeley. Here we probably had thirty people there for the bale raising and plaster raising, and I think it knit the building into the community much better. We had one project where there was actually a wedding during the bale raising.

What’s nice about it is there are less power tools and hammering involved, so it’s much more accessible to kids. And women really like to get into it; there’s a lot of knitting, stitching that mesh from side to side. There is a range of things for people to do. It is tough with regular construction to find comfortable roles for people to play.

And it gives people the sense they can build their own house. Like Legos stacking up, they think “I could do that!” It gets a lot of people into it and then they have to deal with everything else, because everything else is still a huge job. But it gets people to build their own houses, which is a part of American life that has been lost to a large degree and was a can-do American spirit. In the 19th Century people were coming up with different ways to make things and build things.

I find a lot of interest in Silicon Valley, for example, with a lot of people into computers and electronics, they love this kind of grounding, because it’s literally grounding. And straw bale is literally heavier; you’re not going to pick it up and move it easily. And that’s another fundamentally different thing about this from standard American construction; it’s not lightweight and you can’t build it in a factory and ship it out. It’s going to stay there.

MW: What is your vision for the future of the bay area, architecture, and the world, and how do you see yourself fitting into the vision? With the different things you’ve been doing that make up your career, how does all this create this vision?

DS: It evolves. I think what’s interesting on an architectural level is the warping of what people think is beautiful in architecture is getting changed with green design and the environmental. For example, I recently bought a Prius. Three years ago I couldn’t stand it. I thought it looked too self-conscious and funny-looking. It took me a year to appreciate it, and I think that is what’s happening with green architecture. It has had a lot of funky PV panels up there and crunchy-granola image to it, and it’s evolving and becoming much more architecturally mainstream.

But it’s also changing things. Glasswalls on all four sides is now starting to look ugly to me. It colors what you think looks good. And that, on one level, is very interesting. I’d say in terms of where I am, from what I’ve picked up with my experiences with straw bale construction and plastering, trying to use natural fibers, lowered embodied energy materials such as earthen plasters, plasters in general less energy intensive concrete and more fly ash, everything is going to fit in a lot of ways.

And straw bale is rather crude. I mean, it works nicely but I don’t necessarily think it’s the future. But straw made into straw plywood or composite blocks or panels – there are lots of different ways to do it. Plus the idea that everything doesn’t have to be industrialized. There are a lot of people in the world who are happy to do work to build houses, like the favelas and slums you mentioned, that if they could get the material to build cheap enough, would love to build a better, stronger house. So that’s an interesting challenge. How do you cut energy use by a factor of ten, for example, or cut emissions down? We just don’t think about building and figuring out what’s the embodied energy of fiberglass insulation. It’s going to be interesting. I think all the architects now are starting to get interested in it. And the evolution is going to speed up.

MW: Thank you!

images of Presentation Retreat Center by DSA Architects

Flack Attack: Corporations Prepare to “Target Green”

2007-05-15T22:24:07Z

On May 5, 2007, PR Week (a national trade journal) held an ambitious event "Target Green: Making Sustainability Work." The stated goal of the conference was to highlight how corporations are "making meaningful changes that benefit the company, and the planet, and how PR and marketing play a crucial role." Spokespeople at the conference came from some of the largest corporations on Earth: GE, Dow Chemical, Dell, Sun Microsystems, Siemens, UTC, Phillips, and even, ExxonMobil.

Up on stage left and right, jumbotron screens flashed the names of the sponsors: big media, food companies, and international marketing firms. Next, single words flash in Orwellian repetition in white letters on green background: "Authenticity," "Credibility," "Responsibility," "Sustainability."

On the PA system Bob Marley crooned his classic Coming in from the Cold. Conference attendees, mostly corporate public relations and marketing professionals, eagerly dug into a generous lunch that included a mountain of fresh crab, sans-shells. What a bioregionally appropriate lunch in San Francisco (home of the crab) and perk of this one-day event that cost $895 per ticket. This humble reporter had a press pass, so the lunch was free. Yum.

The timing of such an event was clear. Green marketing has become the 21st century’s version of “Customer Knows Best.” And without a working knowledge of Green marketing, corporate PR teams would fall hopelessly behind the curve. Massive piles of investor cash are headed in the direction of Green products and companies. To catch the wave, every company must find a way to describe what they do as environmental. And to a certain extent, we did that.

How?

By making it profitable.

Welcome to “Green Day”

Jim Cramer, CNBC’s raving stock picker, recently declared that April 2, 2007 was “Green Day.” That was the day the Supreme Court ruled that the EPA should regulate greenhouse gases as pollution, defying a reluctant Bush administration. After Green Day, environmental investments were officially in play and an essential component of every investor’s portfolio.

A session on the future of “green” tech was quite informative. Erica Jacobs, from Sun Microsystems PR team described her company as the “Prius” of the tech industry. Sun has developed an energy-efficient server that is now one of the company’s most successful products. The goal, Jacobs said, is to reduce the carbon footprint of computing. The Internet is a huge energy suck and with millions of new people coming online each week globally, the need for more efficient technology is clear. “Every time you buy on eBay or send an email, you contribute to global warming,” said Jacobs. Going Green has given Sun a market advantage. Jacobs confessed, “We’re green in part, because we are making a lot of money at it.”

Questions that did not get asked, What do to with all the e-waste of discarded computers or toxins produced in silicon chip manufacturing? Or why high tech companies always need to have suburban campuses, rather than headquarters in cities closer to transit and housing. Maybe next conference.

In a discussion of food, Byron Freney of The Hartman Group (a market research firm specializing in health and wellness products) described the evolution of the organics market. He explained that the price barrier once posed by organic labels is no longer a problem. “People will pay for things they think are better, and organics are a symbol of good taste.” The key for food companies is to push the concepts “freshness,” “unpackaged” and “artesian.” Humans who eat, it seems, now prefer “food with a story behind it.” Who knew?

Ted Smyth from Heinz declared the mass marketing of organics a “great thing” as well as “local sourcing.” Customers now feel a great deal of faith in the concept of Organic since it is regulated by the federal government. The panel also agreed that genetically modified food, while a huge issue for consumers in Europe, was not as big a concern for American consumers. To test this theory the panel’s moderator asked the audience to hold up their hands if they worried about GMOs in their foods. The results were nearly split 50-50. In Europe, in a similar crowd, objections to GMOs would runs closer to 90 percent, he explained.

So far so good.

Some corporations out there get it. Deliver quality, environmentally responsible products, and you will win new customers. There even was a warning not to oversell the greenness of your company if you can’t back it up. Peter Warrick of MWW Group (a national PR firm) encouraged businesses to tread lightly in the Green marketing world. “Young companies need to understand nobody IS green. We are working toward sustainability, but it is still a goal.”

The most confessional moment of the day came in a keynote by Paul Zeven, CEO of Phillips North America. Greenpeace India recently declared Phillips a “Climate Villain.” Activists were protesting the fact that Phillips India is still producing incandescent light bulbs and has yet to mass produce energy-sipping, compact fluorescent bulbs.

Phillips, explained Zeven, had made a classic communications mistake by not promoting its environmental credentials enough. Phillips, he claimed, backs government measures to ban incandescent bulbs entirely and the company is ramping up production of CFLs in India. Keeping one’s head down is corporate tradition in Europe, but it doesn’t work on the international stage. If you have a Green story to tell, tell it. Zevan’s three rules of green marketing? Base your communications on proof; be ready to admit and correct mistakes; believe sustainability is the right thing to do for your company and yourself personally.

And now the moment you have all been waiting for, ExxonMobil (the Green company).

“We think that a company’s reputation is based in their concrete actions,” said Suzanne McCarron, manager of communications at ExxonMobil. This statement drew snickers even from this crowd of corporate marketers. Exxon has spent more than $19 million funding climate skeptic lobbies to muddy the science of global warming in the minds of the American people. The audacity of McCarron’s statement was appreciated by these professional flacks trained in spin like the fictional tobacco lobbyist, Nick Naylor, in “Thank You for Smoking.”

“Unflappable!” gushed the auto company publicist sitting behind me.

McCarron is indeed fearless. She soldiered on through her prepared remarks to what should have been a friendly, corporate audience. McCarron explained that Exxon has been making dramatic efforts toward addressing global warming by financing the Global Climate and Energy Project at Stanford University and now is at the forefront of carbon sequestration research.

Then came a pointed question. The host of the panel said, “Thank you for your presentation. I have one question. What exactly is ExxonMobil’s position TODAY on global warming?”

Again, snickers and clapping from the audience.

McCarron recited a well-rehearsed retort. “ExxonMobil believes the evidence the planet is warming is clear. We are taking the issue of greenhouse gases very seriously.” Then she sat down.

General Electric’s team presented their "Ecomagination" initiative as the most successful sustainability PR campaign of its kind. Quite a feat for a company that spent $122 million between 1990 to 2005 on public relations, lobbying and legal efforts to fight against cleaning up its PCB contamination along 200 miles of the Hudson River. Dow Chemical presented their “Human Element” campaign, an effort to green up creator of Agent Orange, Napalm, and most recently, through its acquisition of Union Carbide in 2001, the inheritor of the assets and liabilities of the 1984 gas leak in Bhopal, India - the worst industrial disaster in human history.

The cynicism of these campaigns can be breath taking.

That is why understanding the science of marketing is so important for green consumers. Have you seen that new 'natural' soda called Izze? It is very popular in green circles. This is because the packaging is intended to make you think, “unpackaged.” So simple and unadorned, just like your favorite Yoga teacher. These PR people are smart.

Luckily for green consumers, the more a company claims to be sustainable, the more we can hold them to account, and that is a very good thing. For example, if you hear that Company X donated $10 million to protect a rainforest, make sure they didn’t spend $150 million to tell you about it. Phillip Morris, the tobacco kings, once made this mistake, and it cost them in goodwill for years. Not that their product wasn’t doing them in already.

One the whole, the "Target Green" conference was a hopeful sign that we have created a “market signal.” The Green squeaky wheel is about to get greased.

Will we drive to “Green” WalMarts in “Green” traffic? Or will truly sustainable products be available everywhere, even at the green corner shop/farmers market, just steps from your transit line, and a few bikeable blocks home to your dinner table?