Digging Deeper
San Francisco, September 27 2009
Discount Code: DiggingSF09

A Sustainability Compass- Navigating the Business Frontier
Workshop, reception and book-signing
NBIS, Seattle, September 29 2009

West Coast Green
San Francisco CA
October 1-3 2009
Special discount for "friends of Gil"

Designers Accord Global Summit
Oct 23 2009
San Francisco

Closing Plenary: SRI in The Rockies (with Hunter Lovins)
Tucson AZ
October 25-28 2009

Keynote: Western Sustainability & Pollution Prevention Network
San Diego CA
October 28 2009

EcoTuesday
San Francisco CA
November 17 2009

Keynote: Green America
San Francisco CA
November 11 2009

Green Festival
San Francisco CA
November 15 2009

"€œDon'™t tell me it'€™s impossible,"€ he says, "€œtell me you can't do it."€ "€œTell me it's never been done. Because the only real laws in this world-“the only things we really know-€“are the two postulates of relativity, the three laws of Newton, the four laws of thermodynamics, and Maxwell's equation-€“no, scratch that, the only things we really know are  Maxwell'€™s equations, the three laws of Newton, the two postulates of relativity, and the periodic table. That's all we know that's true. All the rest are man'€™s laws...."

in-depth conversations with people who offer pieces of the puzzle of ?a world that just might work,? provocative approaches to business, health, science, environment, politics, media and culture. Guests have included Ken Burns, Kevin Phillips, Deborah Tannen, Eric Schlosser, Bill Joy, Robert Reich, Andrew Weil, Arianna Huffington, Paul Hawken, Jeremy Rifkin, Ralph Nader, Noam Chomsky, Catherine Crier, Scott Turow, Paul Krugman, Bill Maher, and Norman Lear. His interviews appear in print at AlterNet.org.

IN CONGRESS, JULY 4, 1776 The unanimous Declaration of the thirteen united States of America When in the Course of human events it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another and to assume among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the Laws of Nature and of Nature's God entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation. We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness. — That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, — That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness. Prudence, indeed, will dictate that Governments long established should not be changed for light and transient causes; and accordingly all experience hath shewn that mankind are more disposed to suffer, while evils are sufferable than to right themselves by abolishing the forms to which they are accustomed. But when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same Object evinces a design to reduce them under absolute Despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such Government, and to provide new Guards for their future security. — Such has been the patient sufferance of these Colonies; and such is now the necessity which constrains them to alter their former Systems of Government. The history of the present King of Great Britain is a history of repeated injuries and usurpations, all having in direct object the establishment of an absolute Tyranny over these States. To prove this, let Facts be submitted to a candid world. He has refused his Assent to Laws, the most wholesome and necessary for the public good. He has forbidden his Governors to pass Laws of immediate and pressing importance, unless suspended in their operation till his Assent should be obtained; and when so suspended, he has utterly neglected to attend to them. He has refused to pass other Laws for the accommodation of large districts of people, unless those people would relinquish the right of Representation in the Legislature, a right inestimable to them and formidable to tyrants only. He has called together legislative bodies at places unusual, uncomfortable, and distant from the depository of their Public Records, for the sole purpose of fatiguing them into compliance with his measures. He has dissolved Representative Houses repeatedly, for opposing with manly firmness his invasions on the rights of the people. He has refused for a long time, after such dissolutions, to cause others to be elected, whereby the Legislative Powers, incapable of Annihilation, have returned to the People at large for their exercise; the State remaining in the mean time exposed to all the dangers of invasion from without, and convulsions within. He has endeavoured to prevent the population of these States; for that purpose obstructing the Laws for Naturalization of Foreigners; refusing to pass others to encourage their migrations hither, and raising the conditions of new Appropriations of Lands. He has obstructed the Administration of Justice by refusing his Assent to Laws for establishing Judiciary Powers. He has made Judges dependent on his Will alone for the tenure of their offices, and the amount and payment of their salaries. He has erected a multitude of New Offices, and sent hither swarms of Officers to harass our people and eat out their substance. He has kept among us, in times of peace, Standing Armies without the Consent of our legislatures. He has affected to render the Military independent of and superior to the Civil Power. He has combined with others to subject us to a jurisdiction foreign to our constitution, and unacknowledged by our laws; giving his Assent to their Acts of pretended Legislation: For quartering large bodies of armed troops among us: For protecting them, by a mock Trial from punishment for any Murders which they should commit on the Inhabitants of these States: For cutting off our Trade with all parts of the world: For imposing Taxes on us without our Consent: For depriving us in many cases, of the benefit of Trial by Jury: For transporting us beyond Seas to be tried for pretended offences: For abolishing the free System of English Laws in a neighbouring Province, establishing therein an Arbitrary government, and enlarging its Boundaries so as to render it at once an example and fit instrument for introducing the same absolute rule into these Colonies For taking away our Charters, abolishing our most valuable Laws and altering fundamentally the Forms of our Governments: For suspending our own Legislatures, and declaring themselves invested with power to legislate for us in all cases whatsoever. He has abdicated Government here, by declaring us out of his Protection and waging War against us. He has plundered our seas, ravaged our coasts, burnt our towns, and destroyed the lives of our people. He is at this time transporting large Armies of foreign Mercenaries to compleat the works of death, desolation, and tyranny, already begun with circumstances of Cruelty & Perfidy scarcely paralleled in the most barbarous ages, and totally unworthy the Head of a civilized nation. He has constrained our fellow Citizens taken Captive on the high Seas to bear Arms against their Country, to become the executioners of their friends and Brethren, or to fall themselves by their Hands. He has excited domestic insurrections amongst us, and has endeavoured to bring on the inhabitants of our frontiers, the merciless Indian Savages whose known rule of warfare, is an undistinguished destruction of all ages, sexes and conditions. In every stage of these Oppressions We have Petitioned for Redress in the most humble terms: Our repeated Petitions have been answered only by repeated injury. A Prince, whose character is thus marked by every act which may define a Tyrant, is unfit to be the ruler of a free people. Nor have We been wanting in attentions to our British brethren. We have warned them from time to time of attempts by their legislature to extend an unwarrantable jurisdiction over us. We have reminded them of the circumstances of our emigration and settlement here. We have appealed to their native justice and magnanimity, and we have conjured them by the ties of our common kindred to disavow these usurpations, which would inevitably interrupt our connections and correspondence. They too have been deaf to the voice of justice and of consanguinity. We must, therefore, acquiesce in the necessity, which denounces our Separation, and hold them, as we hold the rest of mankind, Enemies in War, in Peace Friends. We, therefore, the Representatives of the united States of America, in General Congress, Assembled, appealing to the Supreme Judge of the world for the rectitude of our intentions, do, in the Name, and by Authority of the good People of these Colonies, solemnly publish and declare, That these united Colonies are, and of Right ought to be Free and Independent States, that they are Absolved from all Allegiance to the British Crown, and that all political connection between them and the State of Great Britain, is and ought to be totally dissolved; and that as Free and Independent States, they have full Power to levy War, conclude Peace, contract Alliances, establish Commerce, and to do all other Acts and Things which Independent States may of right do. — And for the support of this Declaration, with a firm reliance on the protection of Divine Providence, we mutually pledge to each other our Lives, our Fortunes, and our sacred Honor. — John Hancock New Hampshire: Josiah Bartlett, William Whipple, Matthew Thornton Massachusetts: John Hancock, Samuel Adams, John Adams, Robert Treat Paine, Elbridge Gerry Rhode Island: Stephen Hopkins, William Ellery Connecticut: Roger Sherman, Samuel Huntington, William Williams, Oliver Wolcott New York: William Floyd, Philip Livingston, Francis Lewis, Lewis Morris New Jersey: Richard Stockton, John Witherspoon, Francis Hopkinson, John Hart, Abraham Clark Pennsylvania: Robert Morris, Benjamin Rush, Benjamin Franklin, John Morton, George Clymer, James Smith, George Taylor, James Wilson, George Ross Delaware: Caesar Rodney, George Read, Thomas McKean Maryland: Samuel Chase, William Paca, Thomas Stone, Charles Carroll of Carrollton Virginia: George Wythe, Richard Henry Lee, Thomas Jefferson, Benjamin Harrison, Thomas Nelson, Jr., Francis Lightfoot Lee, Carter Braxton North Carolina: William Hooper, Joseph Hewes, John Penn South Carolina: Edward Rutledge, Thomas Heyward, Jr., Thomas Lynch, Jr., Arthur Middleton Georgia: Button Gwinnett, Lyman Hall, George Walton

When we celebrate the Fourth of July, we are celebrating one of the most important political documents in the history of the world. The Declaration is a statement to the world -- the people of the world was the audience -- about the very nature of government and its relationship to men. Sometimes we appreciate what this document was, but perhaps we need even more to appreciate what it was not. It was not a poll-driven summation of current opinion. The men who gathered in Philadelphia did respect each other's talents and knowledge, but the document they signed was [not] driven by the latest Gallup or Zogby poll results. What was right and true was not dependent upon popular opinion.

I feel both excited and deeply concerned. It's like that old Charles Dickens line, the best of times and the worst of times. There's been a substantial, I would say even profound, increase in both the awareness and the engagement of companies across industries, and the sophistication with these companies are addressing green or sustainable business. And just over the last couple of years there's been a big shift in the seriousness of the understanding and seriousness of the commitment and the scale of challenge that many companies are prepared to take on. That's the good news. The bad news is that we're still in a world of hurt and looking at worse. I don't think there's a single company, and certainly not a single government in the world, that is taking these issues on at the scale and the depth that the challenges require. There's a lot of momentum in the right direction and there's a lot of resistance as well. And I think it's anybody's guess at this point on how it plays out.

We live most of our business lives in the world of economics. But "The economy is a wholly owned subsidiary of the environment," as Herman Daly said decades ago. And the environment depends on fundamental principles of biology and even more fundamental principles of chemistry and physics that you just can't escape no matter what your role in the company or your political inclinations. The laws of thermodynamics apply everywhere in the universe. You can't break those laws; as [Natural Logic director] Jane Byrd reminds me, you can only break yourself against them.

TRUTH 18: Green Marketing Claims A good, clear, green claim should be specific, truthful, verifiable, and meaningful. Some companies have overstated their green claims and have suffered in the market. Consumer watchdog groups and environmental NGOs (nongovernmental organizations) are on the lookout for misleading or even weak green claims. NGOs often have market muscle - sales of bottled water dropped dramatically when NGOs reported that companies touting the clean and healthy attributes of their water were ignoring climate issues, packaging safety, and waste production.... Know the different types of green claims and where to find them. Know how to recognize and avoid “greenwash.” Greenwashing is the act of misleading consumers regarding the environmental practices of a company or the environmental benefits of a product or service - even with the best of intentions. The marketing firm Terrachoice published a report called “The 6 Sins of Greenwashing” based on its analysis of green claims; in order of observed frequency, they are...

TRUTH 23: What Makes a Service Green? As you think about how to make your services greener: -Ask yourself and your customers, “What does the customer need, really?” What’s the function that needs to be fulfilled? “If I want to hang a picture,” Amory Lovins (Chairman and Chief Scientist at Rocky Mountain Institute) pithily observes, “I don’t need a drill; I need a hole.” Are you selling the solution best suited to your customers’ real needs? -Figure out how you can fulfill that need with service instead of product. You’re instantly greener, since you need less stuff to produce the result. Then, determine how your service can be delivered as greenly as possible. -Look at materials used in your service. Are you using high recycled content, recyclable, low carbon alternatives in your office supplies? If you’re using or providing equipment, is it as energy efficient as possible? Create an environmentally preferable purchasing plan. -Optimize your operations. Incorporate lean operating strategies into the delivery of your service. When you control your costs and continually improving your processes, you save money as well as resources, and that's a good thing. -Localize and virtualize. Travel efficiently and try to reduce employee commute by using virtual meetings to replace air travel. Check out WebEx, HP Virtual Meeting Room, Cisco TelePresence or even Second Life.

TRUTH 38: Creating More Efficient Data Centers To reduce that footprint--and the energy spend associated with it--companies are putting a great deal of effort into designing and operating more efficient data centers. These data centers use more efficient chips and fans, better computers, and better arrangements of computers within their buildings. However, there are still many opportunities to optimize those data centers and run them more efficiently. In fact, Amory Lovins, chairman of the Rocky Mountain Institute (an independent nonprofit organization ”fostering the efficient and restorative use of resources”) says data centers can cut power use by 89%. Greening your data center also can save significant money. The average data center has annual energy costs 15 times as much as conventional office buildings on a square foot basis, and some are more than 40 times as expensive. Factor in rising energy costs (IDC estimates that 50 cents is spent on powering and cooling data centers for every dollar spent on new data center hardware) and the monetization of carbon emissions and you might be spending as much to operate IT systems than you paid to buy them.

TRUTH 28: Innovation is at the Heart of Greening Don’t let fear of failure keep you from experimenting--and don’t let success breed complacency. The business world is littered with once-successful companies that stopped innovating because what they were doing worked well. Compare Toyota and GM. It’s clear which one has built innovation into its core practices. It’s a familiar story: a respected leader--a business executive, a politician, a scientist--says something can't be done, or is a bad idea, or is too expensive. Then an arrogant upstart comes along with a modest innovation, or sometimes a world-changing one. The innovation might be met first with dismissal--“it’s impossible”--then with enthusiasm, and finally with “oh, that’s not so innovative, everyone knows that.”

TRUTH 33: LEED standards for green buildings LEED certification doesn’t guarantee a high-performance building. The level of LEED certification doesn’t in itself ensure better performance -- in fact, some LEED Silver buildings have tested more efficient than comparable LEED Gold buildings -- but it’s a great starting point. How a building is operated has a major impact on efficiency. To get the best possible results, you’ll need to integrate your design choices with user needs for building functionality and maximum performance.