The Green Skeptic

Baby You Can Drive My (Electric) Car - EVS26

2012-05-10T07:12:00.000-05:00

Electric vehicles have come a long way since the days for the ~~botched~~ EV-1 experiment of the 1990s.

Fisker Karma

Formerly considered tin cans without much oomph or sex appeal, EVs took a back seat to the more trendy hybrids (Prius) and powerful SUVs.

Yet, if this year's EVS26 at the Los Angeles Convention Center proves one thing to me it's that electric vehicles range from the sexy sports cars (Fisker Karma and Tesla S) to a rather sedate sedan from Coda Automotive.

In between are new arrivals, such as Lexus and Lotus, and major players like the Nissan Leaf and Chevy Volt.

Trucks and motorcycles, too, including the improbable, gorgeous Siemens Smart Chopper, were well represented, along with personal mobility devices such a GM's EN-V and a proliferation of electric bicycles.

There was not much in the way of fleet vehicles at this year's EVS, certainly not compared to when the show was in Shenzen, China, according to some. But we know from talking to several at the show that partnerships with FedEx, UPS, and companies like PepsiCo loom large in the sector.

Charging technologies were heavily represented, including a few wireless options.

The trouble with electric vehicles, however, is their reputation as de-featured, boring, and even unexciting. What gets lost, according to acolytes, is that these cars are fun to drive.

Drive a Nissan Leaf or a Chevy Volt, and I have to agree: they are boring. Why? Because they drive just like a regular car, a little quicker pick up at acceleration perhaps, but essentially you're driving a comparable internal combustion engine vehicle made by Nissan or Chevy.

Siemens Smart Chopper

Okay, there is an on/off button like the one on your computer, but it's not very different from their other offerings.

The Tesla and Fisker and Remy, as well as the Qualcomm-Halo-sponsored racing car, however; now, you're talking something that will give your heart a little race.

A few take-aways from the show:

1.) We've got a loooong way to go before mass adoption of these vehicles will happen.
2.) There are more entrepreneurial charging methods/technologies out there than will likely survive, and
3.) The "cool factor"/fun to drive conundrum must be addressed if we're ever going to get the public to switch to EVs.

Finally, things like range anxiety, cost, and perceived risk are still all very real obstacles to widespread public adoption.

But make them fun to drive and we will drive.

Why Can't Water Get No Respect?

2012-05-04T05:51:00.001-05:00

Matt Damon with Water.org CamelBak Groove bottle

We take it for granted, yet we can't live with out it. We are made of water -- more than 60 percent water.

But so is the clothing we wear and the food and drink we consume.

Think about it. A pair of stonewashed jeans takes roughly 500 gallons of water, including growing, dyeing and processing the cotton. A t-shirt? 700 gallons. The cup of coffee I'm drinking as I write this? 35 gallons. A pint of beer? 20 gallons.

Over 130 gallons of water to make a 2-liter bottle of soda (not sure if that counts making the bottle itself); and that hamburger adds another 630 gallons.

Pretty twisted, huh?

According to water.org, the average American uses 176 gallons of water per day compared to 5 gallons of water the average African family uses each day.

That five-minute shower my teenage son takes uses more water than the average person in a developing country slum uses for an entire day -- if they can get access.

Last night, water.org received the World Social Impact Award from the World Policy Institute at its 50th Anniversary celebration.

Those of us in the audience were grouped by issues and asked to get into dialogue with our table mates. I sat at one of the water tables.

We were led in our discussion by Sanjay Bhatnagar of WaterHealth International and Dr. Upmanu Lall, the Alan and Carol Silberstein Professor of Engineering at Columbia University and director of the Columbia Water Center.

Our table quickly came up with a critical question: Why can't water get no respect?

Water is the Rodney Dangerfield of natural resources. And yet it's critical to our lives and livelihoods; indeed, our very survival depends on it.

We didn't have any answers, other than the usual fact that water isn't priced appropriately and it is relatively abundant. Perhaps we need price signals like we have for oil that tell us how much our water actually costs, one of our group suggested.

Dr. Lall shared with us some research he's privy to concerning a technology that may solve the production of clean drinking water. But our group was pretty clear that access will continue to be an issue that we need to address.

And that's why organizations like water.org -- although they may be just a drop in the bucket of needs -- are so important and deserving of recognition.

Earth Day 2012: Maya Lin's "What Is Missing?"

2012-04-22T09:35:00.002-05:00

Maya Lin and me discussing "What is Missing?" in 2008.

A few years ago, Maya Lin told me about her plans for a "last memorial," an ongoing, multimedia, multi-site project that unfolds every Earth Day.

She calls it "What is Missing?"

I wrote about one component, "Unchopping a Tree," back in 2009.

Another component is a global online memorial that Lin hopes will "connect us personally to what we are witnessing diminish or disappear from nature, in the hope that raising awareness about these poignant stories of loss will help spur action."

Last year, she quietly launched phase one: a Map of Memory. But, as Maya says, "to focus only on loss was too depressing, which is why we waited until this Earth Day to go public."

The second phase is called Conservation in Action and features stories about ecological restoration and conservation around the world.

On the site viewers can learn what is being done by conservation groups to protect what is missing before it is missing, including partners such as Cornell Lab of Ornithology and World Wildlife Fund.

"We are here to give people hope that so much is being done to help," says Lin.

Yesterday, Maya sent around a helpful guide for using the site:

Click on Time Travel to go between map of past (the Map of Memory) and the present (Conservation in Action).

Check out View in Time and View in Place and see what happens.

Then select Sort to better understand the content.(On the Map of the Present, Red 's and green 's highlight conservation successes and disasters) we also allow you to see all the Core Videos we have produced. Those Core Video dots have a sound rollover. With over 600 historical entries on the Map of Memory, you can learn about what the world used to be like from an environmental standpoint.

Lin also wants this to be a truly interactive memorial, where you can add your own memory of what is missing for you -- a place that was important to you that is now paved over or a species that meant a lot to you that is no longer found where you remember it being. She also wants to know about the work you and others are doing to help save or restore a place that's important to you.

"What Is Missing?" Screenshot

Throughout her career, Maya Lin has challenged us to look at the world differently. Her art and architecture often use elements of the natural world to shake up our perception of what is around us. Her memorials have changed the way we think about memorials and how we interact with them and with our memories.

With "What is Missing?" Lin challenges us again to think differently about our relationship to the Earth and the species with which we share the planet.

This Earth Day, take stock of what is missing and spend some time on "What is Missing?" contributing your own memories.

Why Cleanweb Will Beat Cleantech

2012-04-19T11:44:00.000-05:00

Blake Burris and my friends at Cleanweb Hackathon have created an excellent primer on "Why Cleanweb Will Beat Cleantech."

Have a look:

Why Cleanweb Will Beat Cleantech

View more presentations from Blake Burris

You might also enjoy the narrated version of the deck on YouTube by @cleanwebvc: CleanWeb

Contrarian Investors Take Stage at Mid-Atlantic Cleantech Investment Forum

2012-04-16T17:46:00.000-05:00

"Energy efficiency is the cleaner energy option that pays for itself," suggested Mark Fulton to the large crowd gathered for the Mid-Atlantic Cleantech Investment Forum last Thursday evening. "It applies already existing technologies at scale with no government funding and a payback of 2-4 years."

Mark Fulton

Fulton is Managing Director and Global Head of Climate Change Investment Research and Strategy with Deutsche Bank Climate Change Advisors, so he has the data and charts to back up his statements.

His team is currently exploring financing models for energy efficiency, which they believe will generate over $1 trillion in savings over 10-20 years.

"The Empire State Building energy efficiency upgrade demonstrated 30 percent IRRs," offered Fulton. "So why isn't anyone investing in it?"

Perhaps it's the wise investor's contrarian outlook.

The Forum, now in its 4th year, co-hosted by the Cleantech Alliance Mid-Atlantic and Blank Rome's Cleantech Group, offered some contrarian suggestions from an investor panel.

The panel included Tucker Twitmyer of EnerTech Capital for whom "efficiency plays have been our bread and butter," and Lux Capital founder Josh Wolfe, who's refrain, "it's a great technology," belied the fact that not all great technologies make great investments.

It's such a contrarian outlook, too, that has led to successful investments for Lux, EnerTech, and NRG Energy's venture arm, and that has cleantech newcomer Edison Ventures looking to capital efficient "cleanweb" models as a way to play in the sandbox.

The nascent cleanweb movement, initially launched by Sunil Paul at Spring Ventures, brings together web coders to tackle big energy problems. (You can read more about the cleanweb hackathons here.)

Tucker Twitmyer

Twitmyer, who has been investing in clean energy companies and projects for over 10 years, sees parallels with earlier cycles in the space, "LP [limited partners] who haven't seen the kinds of returns they want have started heading for the exits."

But that's not necessarily time to panic, suggested Wolfe. On the contrary, when the bulk are investors are chasing the next big thing, Wolfe and other successful investors see opportunities in what's left untouched.

Josh Wolfe

This thesis has paid off handsomely with one such investment, Kurion, which has a solution for addressing toxic nuclear waste, realizing $40 million in profit on $100 million in revenue last year.

The company was one of the few working to clean up the Fukushima nuclear reactors in the wake of the tsunami a year ago.

Another panel at the Forum on shale gas development revealed that there's a growing need for clearly defined regulations in the natural gas sector, especially around well-casing construction and fluids disclosure. But the panel of experts concluded that sustainable natural gas development is achievable.

Presenting company pitches by new entries in the space rounded out the evening's program, including Green Power Technologies (the "BERT" people), Matcor, OmniWind, Primus Green Energy and XL Hybrids.

"We need to start talking about cleaner energy, not just clean energy," offered Fulton in his keynote. "Sixty to seventy percent of American voters support the idea of cleaner energy," which includes advances to make existing forms of energy better, cleaner and more efficient.

Recognizing there are no silver bullets or magic remedies, fora like this one are designed to call attention to the variety of solutions available. No matter how contrarian they may seem.

(Disclosure: The author is a co-founder of the Cleantech Alliance Mid-Atlantic, which co-hosted the Forum.)

4th Annual Mid-Atlantic Cleantech Investment Forum - April 12th

2012-03-30T08:30:00.000-05:00

The Cleantech Alliance Mid-Atlantic, along with Blank Rome's Cleantech Group and the Academy of Natural Sciences are pleased to host our 4th Annual Mid-Atlantic Cleantech Investment Forum featuring panels of experts and thought leaders discussing the new future of shale gas development, cleantech venture and corporate investing, as well as our annual showcase of leading Mid-Atlantic cleantech companies.

The program will include:

Keynote Speaker: Mark Fulton, Managing Director and Global Head of Climate Change Investment Research & Strategy, Deutsche Bank Climate Change Advisors

Shale Development Panel featuring
Andrew Leitzinger, Director, Appalachian Basin UG Services, URS Corporation
N. Foster Mellen, Senior Strategic Analyst-Oil and Gas, Ernst & Young LLP
Thomas Murphy, Extension Educator and Co-Director, Penn State Marcellus Center for Outreach and Research
Peter Terranova, Vice President Midstream Assets and Services, UGI Energy Services, Inc.
Moderated by Peg Hill, Chair of Blank Rome's Marcellus Shale and Hydraulic Fracturing Industry Group

Cleantech Investment Panel including:
Bruce Chung, Vice President-Venture Investments, NRG Energy
Michael Cichowski, Principal, Edison Ventures
Ellen Purdy, Chief Financial Officer, Renmatix
Tucker Twitmyer, Managing Director, EnerTech Capital
Josh Wolfe, Founding Partner and Managing Director, Lux Capital
Moderated by Thomas P. Dwyer and Louis Rappaport, co-leaders of Blank Rome's Cleantech Group

When: Thursday, April 12, 2012, 3:30-7:30 PM
Where: The Academy of Natural Sciences, 1900 Benjamin Franklin Pkwy, Philadelphia

To purchase tickets: Mid-Atlantic Cleantech Investment Forum

(Disclosure: The author is co-founder of the Cleantech Alliance Mid-Atlantic.)

My Next Step on the Path: Ernst & Young's Global Cleantech Center

2012-03-17T07:40:00.000-05:00

The author ponders his path on Block Island.

A few years ago I announced the launch of my consultancy VerdeStrategy here on The Green Skeptic.

I've enjoyed working with some great clients in a consulting and advisory capacity for marketing, capital raising, and strategic positioning. I've helped some great companies and entrepreneurs navigate often stormy waters of the past few years.

But I missed being a part of a team, part of an entity larger than myself and a few colleagues who came together on specific projects. I missed the camaraderie that comes from an enterprise of shared vision and objectives.

So now I'm embarking on a different path.

This week I joined Ernst & Young's Global Cleantech Center to direct their marketing strategy. I'm becoming a part of a great team of experts and thought leaders in the cleantech space, including Gil Forer, Scott Sarazen, and John De Yonge. You can read some of their writing on the cleantech opportunity in their Global Cleantech Insights and Trends Report for 2011.

With Ernst & Young, I'm joining an even larger global team of assurance, tax, transaction, and advisory professionals that share my values -- values that have been consistent throughout my career with The Nature Conservancy, Ashoka, and VerdeStrategy.

I'm excited about this new opportunity in my life and work. And I hope to be able to continue to share my sector insights through The Green Skeptic and my commentary on FOX Business and other media.

Meanwhile, a hearty thank you to my clients and friends for your support over the past few years. And apologies to my readers for the lack of posts over the past few weeks as I sorted out this transition.

Keep in touch and stay skeptical!

The Green Skeptic on FOX Business: Is Algae the Answer?

2012-02-28T14:57:00.000-05:00

I sat down this morning with Charles Payne of Varney & Co on FOX Business to talk aboiut algae biofuels and if such alternative fuels provide a solution to our fossil fuel constrained future.

Here is the video:

And here is a link in case your browser doesn't support the video format: The Green Skeptic on FOX Business

The Green Skeptic on FOX Business: Solar Energy, Disgruntled Environmentalists and Rising Gas Prices

2012-02-17T21:02:00.000-05:00

I sat down with Stuart Varney this morning on FOX Business News for a lightning round on solar power competitiveness versus conventional electricity, an environmentalist's dissatisfaction with Obama's lack of leadership on environmental issues, and $5 dollar gas.

Here's the video:

And here is a link in case your browser doesn't support the player:

http://video.foxbusiness.com/v/1457836159001/

Always fun to do these lightning rounds with Stuart.

Have a great weekend!

The Green Skeptic on Payne Nation - Blowin' in the Wind?

2012-02-17T19:00:00.015-05:00

Charles Payne of Payne Nation

This evening I spoke with Charles Payne at Payne Nation radio about wind power, production tax credits, and the benefits of removing subsidies for all energy. And my economy song of the day is "Mind Games" by John Lennon.

Here is the show in mp3 (I start at around 10:00):

The Green Skeptic on Payne Nation

Is Global Warming Dead? The Green Skeptic on FOX Business

2012-01-31T18:27:00.000-05:00

I sat down to do a "lightning round" on environmental issues with Stuart Varney on FOX Business this morning. We talked about global warming, car emissions, and green jobs.

According to Stuart, I took two out of three -- although I think it may be more like 3-0 -- and I got the last laugh!

Here's the video:

And in case your browser doesn't support the format, here is a link: The Green Skeptic on FOX Business

The Future of Biofuels: What's Hot, Hype, and Possible

2012-01-27T08:55:00.001-05:00

Renmatix Super Converter

What is the future of BioFuels?

From algae to switchgrass and wood waste to sewer grease, many advances in next generation biofuels are being made today. But what is realistic and how do you cut through the hope and hype to get at viable solutions?

The US military is one of the largest investors in advanced biofuels development and is in a position to make the market ripe for commercialization on a massive scale. Can it do for biofuels what it did for GPS and the Internet?

I'll be moderating an informative and lively dialogue with industry experts, entrepreneurs and investors on the current state and future potential of this emerging growth sector.

Featuring:
Mike Hamilton, CEO, Renmatix, Inc.
Sam Gabbita, Partner, Element Partners
Steve McCracken, Director of Strategic Marketing & Sales, AMERIgreen Energy

A Philadelphia Alliance for Capital and Technology & Cleantech Alliance Mid-Atlantic event, it takes place Thursday, February 16, 2012, at the offices of Morgan Lewis in Philadelphia.

You can register today at: The Future of Biofuels

(Full disclosure: I am a co-founder and board member of the Cleantech Alliance Mid-Atlantic, a business network for cleantech entrepreneurs, investors, and service providers.)

Cleanweb Hackathon Focuses on Killer Apps Built in a Day...or Two

2012-01-23T12:40:00.000-05:00

Hackers hacking at Cleanweb Hackathon, NYC.

What if you put a bunch of developers in the room, gave them access to datasets and APIs and set them loose on the planet's resource problems over a weekend?

Well, the folks behind Cleanweb Hackathon did just that on Saturday and Sunday in New York City.

The result may just be the start of a revolution in cleanweb solutions. The cleanweb, as defined by the hackathon's organizers, uses information technology, the Internet, and social media to address the issues of energy, transportation, and smart grid.

"Information technology is the most powerful lever we have to address resource constraints," as Sunil Paul of Spring Ventures told the audience at NYU's Tisch Center of the Arts before Sunday's project presentations.

Some of the intriguing projects from this weekend include TripWatchers, which founder Ryan Rzepecki calls the "Weight Watchers for vehicle owners," allows drivers to log their routes, track vehicle-related expenses and receive suggestions for how to reduce the impact of their travel such as potential car pooling and public transportation alternatives.

The audience choice award and best overall hack went to Econofy "E-Star," a web-based rating system of consumer products that allows for visual comparison shopping around energy efficiency.

Another cool hack was NYC BLDG, which tracks the energy use and greenhouse gas emissions of city buildings in real-time and puts them into competition.

Hackers will hack for food.

And building on the "Occupy Rooftops" theme of its community solar day back in November, SolarMosaic created Mosaic Map, a web app that maps solar projects socially and in real-time. The idea is to allow project developers to find financing and generate leads for financiers such as, well, SolarMosaic.

The original Cleanweb Hackathon was held last September in San Francisco and another is planned for later this year. There's even a Bay Area-based business incubator for the cleanweb called Greenstart.

Dave Graham, founder of Greenstart, said "If Y Combinator had a love child with IDEO at the intersection of energy and IT, it would be Greenstart." Greenstart has invested in nine companies so far, putting them through a 12-week intensive program. Graham noted there is a March 5th deadline for the next round of applicants.

I've long argued for more focus on the killer apps that will make a difference today in the cleantech and energy space. Cleanweb drives us closer to a more capital and energy efficient model. Events like this one may be the start of a cleanweb revolution.

The Green Skeptic on Payne Nation - Keystone XL

2012-01-20T19:30:00.006-05:00

Charles Payne of Payne Nation

I spoke with Charles Payne of Payne Nation radio about the Keystone XL Pipeline this evening. In case you missed it, here is the show:

Here is an mp3 of the show (I'm up around 10:00):

The Green Skeptic on Payne Nation

Tar Sands, Pipelines and Nukes: The Green Skeptic on FOX Business

2012-01-20T13:18:00.000-05:00

This morning I sat down with Charles Payne on FOX Business's Varney & Co to talk tar sands, the Keystone XL pipeline, and environmental victories.

My opinions shouldn't surprise you if you're a regular reader of The Green Skeptic.

Here's the video:

And here is a link in the event that your browser doesn't accept the format:

The Green Skeptic on FOX Business

The Green Skeptic Goes Black to Protest #SOPA and #PIPA

2012-01-18T08:57:00.000-05:00

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For more information, go to Google

CleanWeb Hackathon Brings Its Disruptive Energy to New York

2012-01-17T10:20:00.000-05:00

There's no question that the energy infrastructure is ripe for disruption. Outmoded, inefficient systems and distribution, and an entitlement mindset has ruled the day in the utility industry for decades.

Enter the CleanWeb Hackathon. Its founders propose to apply information technology to resource constraints, building apps and hacks that combine new, sustainable business models and leverage the mobile and social web.

For 24 hours this weekend in New York attendees will tackle utility, transport, and smart grid datasets and see what they can "hack" out of them.

The first CleanWeb Hackathon, held last September in San Francisco, generated such ideas as Dr. Wattson, which helps you sleuth-out energy plan savings, GroMunity, an online community for sharing and trading home garden crops, helping out neighbors, and ridding your community of food waste, and Toxicslayar, a mobile app that shows toxic chemical releases from thousands of US facilities.

Not many of these ideas survived past the weekend incubator, but the concept of applying the innovation of the web and mobile technologies to energy, transportation, and smart grid is a good one.

Sunil Paul of Spring Ventures, the brainchild behind the CleanWeb Hackathon, describes the concept as marrying information technology with green initiatives.

"Information technology is actually going to prove as valuable as the application of new materials and nano-technology and bio-technology have been for the environment," Paul told an audience last year.

It's not just about apps, however. Other examples of CleanWeb innovations include sharing services such as AirBnB, ZipCar, Spride, and even NeighborGoods, which all help reduce an individual's consumption of resources and impact on the planet.

Now CleanWeb comes to New York and taps into the tech ecosystem here -- 24 hours in the city that never sleeps should yield some innovative ideas.

For more information about the CleanWeb Hackathon or to register to attend, go to CleanWeb Hackathon.

What We Talk About When We Talk About Protecting and Saving

2012-01-10T16:10:00.000-05:00

This post originally appeared on The Green Skeptic in March 2008, when I was about to speak at the Aspen Environment Forum. It's reprinted here as I am on hiatus from writing the blog. I promise to be back at it soon. Meanwhile, I hope you enjoy this piece. --Scott

##

Everything we think about saving or protecting ecosystems and habitats is wrong.

This week, I'm at the Aspen Environment Forum, where tomorrow morning I'll be on a Panel called "Nature's Place: Saving Ecosystems and Habitats."

For the better part of 15 years I worked with The Nature Conservancy to save some of the world's "Last Great Places" around the world (I left in August; see my posts reflecting on my career at TNC
and here.

I consider myself a conservationist, not an environmentalist. What I mean by that is a conservative and prudent approach to our use of resources that requires us to manage them for the long-term -- for the benefit of people today and for future generations.

The Green Skeptic grew out of an increasing concern about our relationship to the natural world and how we protect it. I am a skeptic in the sense that I believe we need to constantly challenge the assumptions we have about "saving ecosystems and habitats."

In my view, we operate under four basic assumptions:

1. We can continue to "save" or "protect" ecosystems and habitats from harm in perpetuity;
2. We can ignore basic human needs and treat poverty alleviation as a separate issue from the environment;
3. We can entrust protection to governments and corporate NGOs;
4. We can't trust human ingenuity and community to manage its own resources.

First, I need to step back and look at the words we use. (I am a poet, so words matter to me.) Specifically, "protecting" and "saving."

Both imply we need to keep ecosystems and habitats from something. The American Heritage Dictionary defines protecting as "To keep from being damaged, attacked, stolen, or injured; guard." When we use the word protecting in terms of ecosystems and habitats, we are guarding nature from something or someone, presumably humans.

Saving is a little less problematic, as it implies a conservative approach to the future (as in saving seed corn for next year's sowing). Still, the AHD's first definition is "To rescue from harm, danger, or loss." It's not until definition number three that we get to the conservative impulse: "To avoid spending (e.g. money) so as to keep or accumulate it."

The question is not about what we should save, but how and for what purpose.

Is it hubris to assume we have protected or saved anything? We promote the fact that percentages of ecosystems or habitats are protected, but they continue to be encroached upon -- see the Amazon Rainforest for example.

What have we really saved if massive changes from climate change or the drive for much-needed economic development will have significant impact on the future status and makeup of places, habitats, and ecosystems?

Climate change will disrupt many ecosystems that exist today -- much as the Internet disrupted print media, the travel industry, TV, bookstores, you name it. It will change everything.

So the question is what are we really protecting when we talk about protecting ecosystems and habitat? Will the places we select for protection today be the same 10-20 years from now? Probably not.

Ecosystems are constantly changing, either from "external" (human) or "internal" (natural) forces. Change is inevitable and could, in the face of global warming, be dramatic.

Shouldn't we be preparing for the changes and begin to think about how we adapt to some of the most likely changes, those brought on by climate change or economic development or basic human needs, such as for food and energy?

Demand for energy and food will drive economic development for years to come and we can't continue to ignore these drivers to "save" the natural, non-human world.

This leads me to assumption two, which is about ignoring basic human needs. It's irrational for us to think that people in developing countries, many of whose basic human needs are not being met, will care deeply about the non-human natural world.

Yet, we continue to have blind faith in our cause and ignore the needs of real people.

I recently returned from India where the extreme poverty is evident almost everywhere you look. Also evident is a growing middle class that strives for the kind of lifestyle we have here in the west, specifically the US, with its inherent accelerated pace and impacts.

Who are we to say that people in developing countries have no right to the kind of lifestyle we have exported for decades? We can not convince, persuade or cajole or even pay people -- Americans as much as people in developing nations -- to "come around to our way of thinking," and yet this is what I hear whenever I talk to environmentalists.

And we can't ask poor people around the world to forgo the comforts of the lifestyle we have been living, and which they wish to copy, "for the sake of the planet" or to set aside their habitats and ecosystems for the sake of humanity. No country wants to become an ecological reserve for the world, especially if it means it cannot pursue economic prosperity.

Try floating this idea with people who go hungry every night for lack of food or money to buy food and see what kind of reaction you get.

In the end, poor people matter. And the governments of Brazil, China, India, Indonesia and African countries must be concerned first and foremost with the well-being of their people. I'm not saying that human well-being isn't tied to ecosystem health; I'm a strong believer that economic growth is tied to those resources.

I believe we can no longer separate the issue of economic development and poverty alleviation from ecosystem health. We also can't expect that governments whose people aren't meeting basic needs to protect their habitats over the economic well-being of their people.

Which leads me to assumption three: increasingly, we are entrusting protection of habitats and ecosystems with the wrong people. Governments have a mandate to improve the economic health of their country and people.

Yet we continue to have faith that these governments will "do the right thing" and enforce laws protecting their forests or other ecosystems in the face of seemingly insurmountable economic obstacles.

Why do we think that is a good strategy? What indicators do we have that tell us this strategy will succeed where it hasn't in the past? Why do we think that the World Bank program to pay countries to "avoid deforestation" will be any more successful than their previous grand plans?

The same goes for NGOs. NGOs are basically corporations that serve a set of shareholders (donors in this case) who subscribe to a specific idea of Nature and a specific set of outcomes, outcomes that may not necessarily be shared by all stakeholders.

This idea of Nature has for a long time discounted the needs of people both today and in the future. To illustrate this, one only need look at the environmental community's approach to government debt.

Conservation groups (my old employers among them) have promoted using a country's debt as leverage to gain conservation protection. The debt-for-nature swap was an innovation of the past couple of decades and a noble one. But it was also painfully ignorant of the true nature of that debt -- in many cases "dictator debt" incurred by regimes that did not have its people's best interests in mind.

Now that we have a more clear understanding of how that debt was derived, and can no longer ignore its immoral origins, we need to give up or adjust the debt-for-nature swap concept and join the call for debt forgiveness. That will free some countries from having to exploit their natural resources to pay down that debt.

Yet, many in the environmental community continue to push the debt-for-nature strategy, because they can't let go of a good thing that advances their agenda.

How is this different from any corporation -- a sector many environmentalists attack -- that advances its agenda at the expense of people here and abroad? Can we really trust ecosystems and habitats to big government or big international non-governmental corporations?

In the end, wouldn't a better approach be to put our trust in the people and the communities where these ecosystems and habitats are found? They have the most at stake in managing these resources, as their needs and livelihoods are most closely tied to the lands and waters.

I believe human beings are basically good. I also believe that, given the opportunity, communities will manage their common interests and keep each other in check. This is the open-source community approach one finds in social networks and in business models such as eBay.

I also believe that human beings are the most creative and adaptable species on the planet -- just look at the variety of habitats, climates, and conditions we inhabit. Our resilience as a species is astounding. I argue that we need to embrace this resourcefulness and apply it to overcoming ecological shifts, climate change, and loss of ecosystems and habitats.

We need to unleash the power of human creativity to find new ways to "save" those places for future use by both human and non-human species.

Unleashing this human capacity will require suspending our assumptions. We will need to focus more on community-based or "commons-based" management (as Jonathan Rowe of the West Marin Commons in California calls it in a recent essay in The State of the World 2008).

We need a people-centered conservation that addresses the real needs of real people, and to empower individual entrepreneurs and communities to manage their resources cooperatively rather than impose grand plans from Washington.

We need to clearly draw the lines connecting economic prosperity with ecological health and human well-being.

And, finally, we need to unleash human creativity to find new technological solutions as well as new ways of living with nature.

This may, in the end, be our only hope to really save habitat and ecosystems – and, ultimately, to save ourselves.

Thrivancy: The Practice of Happiness

2012-01-05T07:58:00.000-05:00

My apologies to those who have been looking for new posts from The Green Skeptic. I've been on a brief hiatus the past few weeks for the holidays and to sort out some personal issues. I'll be back at it soon.

Meanwhile, I want to share with you some words of wisdom from my good friend Jack Ricchiuto, whose new book, The Joy of Thriving is coming out on January 15th (to correspond with his 60th birthday). You can read more about Jack and his work at DesigningLife.com and @zenext and about the book at JoyofThriving.com:

Happiness: The New Face of Thrivancy

Jack Ricchiuto

In societies where success is measured in units of economic advantage, happiness is talked about more as pursuit rather than practice.

Even though the US has lost its world leader status in more categories than most faithful nationals are willing to admit, it still retains global dominance in how to make the symbols of happiness more significant than the experience itself.

Since the 1950s, personal wealth in the US has doubled and happiness has declined. People with over $125 million in net worth are barely happier than the norm. Americans making more than $10 million annually are not significantly happier than the average. In the US and globally, 75% of employees are unhappy in their work at annual costs of over $300 billion. In the meantime, the country launched by Puritans annually spends $1.2 trillion on things they don't need, yielding ephemeral satisfaction that wanes before the next cycle of the moon.

In the recent survey I conducted with 300 people from around the world, the happiest people report that happiness is about practice rather than purchase, doing rather than debt.

92% of the happiest people say that their happiness is about what they focus on in the present. 96% report that happiness is a choice and as a practice, it can be learned. All of the evidence from the neurosciences strongly agree.

Peer reviewed neuroscience research empirically demonstrates that individuals can be trained to be 25 percent happier through various training programs in six weeks. As much as marketers would like to have us believe, there is little empirical evidence that authentic happiness can be measured in square feet, per capita income or big boxes per square mile.

"We can make Gross National Happiness more inspiring and engaging than Gross Domestic Product."

All demographic variables combined, including age, sex, income, race, and education, are responsible for only 15 percent of the difference in happiness levels between individuals. From my research, happiness flows from the prime practices of appreciation, generosity, interest, lightness and easy.

Appreciation is a grateful and passionate heart. Generosity is sharing what brings mutual joy. Interest is discovering new people, spaces, and things. Lightness is a sense of aliveness. Easy is the grace of simple. At least one practice is possible in every moment of your life however it is.

Happy people savor the pleasure of moments. They do not limit life's simple pleasures by multitasking them into seconds rather than minutes. They are thankful and delighted in joyful vision of the future. In measuring abundance from a happiness perspective, they shift from net worth to net gratitude.

They freely offer and invite sharing what brings mutual joy without the strings of reciprocity. With a desire to liberate themselves from the clutter of anxiety in their relationships, they share more from generosity than reciprocity. Happy people know that generosity is not where we lose ourselves. It is where we find ourselves.

They love their questions for the wonder unpeeled. Each of us has a different tolerance and love of questions, mystery, and the unknown. The happiest people on the planet are ridiculously in love with their questions. They decide how interesting their life and world is.

They have a delicious sense of humor and play in the abundant space of serendipity. They love by the principle that life does not necessarily get better by taking everything, including ourselves, too seriously. Happiness becomes more accessible by making our smile the most worn item in our wardrobe.

They do whatever they can to turn difficult into easy and complicated into simple. They reclaim authorship over the way things are easy and difficult. It is clear to them that when we make things easier, we have more courage to take on what we call the impossible.

In the study I conducted, the number one source of happiness for the happiest people is by far the joy of discovering new people, places, and things. 67% of the happiest people believe you cannot become "too happy" and 80% report that if they did, it would lead to a greater life of being caring and passionate. As it turns out, happiness profoundly shapes the contours of our life and world.

In over 200 studies, author of "The How of Happiness," Sonja Lyubomirsky, and her research colleagues find that happiness leads to being more productive, generous, creative, courageous, realistic, passionate, resilient, and healthier. What other qualities do you want to have and have around you in your life, work, and world?

9/11 victims who practiced gratitude were the quickest to be resilient and return to optimism. Higher gratitude people are consistently more helpful toward others in their life, work, and communities.

University of Wisconsin-Madison neuroscience research shows that happiness practices restructure the brain in ways that elevate our set-points. Set-points are the normal levels of happiness we personally experience and do not change with any kind of welcome or unwelcome events.

Harvard studies tracking 4,700 people over twenty years find that happiness spreads across three degrees of connection in personal and social networks for up to a year. When we understand the power of networks and the contagious character of joy, it becomes clear that happiness is a personal, social, and political act.

Each additional happy connection in our life is worth an increase of 9% in happiness where a $10k raise would increase happiness by 2%. British researchers find that a single smile releases the same brain stimulation as 2,000 pieces of chocolate. University of California at San Diego study, researchers find that because of these dynamics, the increased happiness of a friend's friend is worth the happiness of a $5,000 raise.

All of this has important implications for how we think about happiness as practice in our life, relationships, workplaces, and communities.

Happiness has unique power beyond classic economic indicators. Now that we have the science to support the efficacy and possibility of happiness, we can have conversations about happy workplaces and happy communities. We can shift from average household income to average household happiness. We can make Gross National Happiness more inspiring and engaging than Gross Domestic Product.

The Joy of Thriving

No era since the beginning of recorded human history has been so poised for making happiness the prime indicator of our thrivancy. When happiness is finally understood as a practice, we start becoming more innovative in designing our personal and shared spaces for happiness as a design principle rather than naively expect it to be the byproduct of wishful thinking.

Happy communities have more civic celebrations than public hearings. Happy workspaces become vibrant cultures of talent engagement, discovery, and generosity.

The realization that happiness is not about things but about the practices of happiness, creates profound implications for the design of public policy, civic spaces, workplaces, social networks, technology. how we raise and engage the next generation, how we go about our well-being, and how we become a happier planet.

The promise is transformative. Happier people are better friends and lovers, leaders and peers, neighbors and citizens. When happiness becomes a choice, all kinds of new doors open up to our personal and collective thrivancy. --Jack Ricchiuto, author of The Joy of Thriving, reprinted by permission of the author.

An Email from Santa to Climate Skeptics: An Annual Green SkepticTradition

2011-12-23T06:49:00.001-05:00

A few Christmases ago, I published this email from Santa, which arrived on the night before the night before Christmas. Readers had so much fun with it, it's become an annual tradition. Enjoy!

And have a Happy Holiday.

Scott, aka The Green Skeptic
_______________________

TO: Global Warming Skeptics
FROM: Santa Claus
DATE: A few nights before Xmas
SUBJECT: My Christmas List
_________________________

This is Santa, writing from the North Pole. Soon I'll be gathering all the toys for all the good little girls and boys and packing them in my sleigh to begin our journey, our night of nights.

The reindeer, however, are starting to complain about hoof-rot. Apparently, they've been standing around in too much slush. This has put me in a decidedly prickly mood this Christmas.

You know me; I'm not a single-issue guy. I believe that as long as you are good, and I mean good for goodness' sake, you deserve some slack on the other stuff. I'm an equal opportunity distributor. I know whether you've been bad or good or just plain evil. You also know I'm not one to discriminate against one group of people or another, believers or non-believers.

But this year is different. This year, I'm making a few changes to my list. I'm checking it twice and have decided that the naughty include any one of you out there who do not believe in global warming. All you climate change skeptics out there, you are on the naughty list this year.

Oh, you know who you are. And I've got one special gift for you: Nothing but COAL. You like the stuff so much -- and it's such a big part of what's leading to climate change -- you might as well have bags and bags of it and nothing more.

Make no mistake. Global warming is happening. You don't have to show me any scientific reports, although some nifty ones have shown up in my email box lately, sent to me from the National Center for Atmospheric Research and the National Snow and Ice Data Center.

No, you don't have to convince me; I'm a believer. All I have to do is look out my window to my back yard, what's left of it! It's a soupy mess out there.

We usually have a good bit of ice up here at the North Pole -- and early. That's important, too; you see, every year the elves and I construct a temporary workshop up here where we make the toys and assemble the other goodies. The earlier the ice, the sooner we get started.

Although I have figured out a way to deliver the entire shipment of gifts on my list in one night, I still haven't perfected the manufacturing process. I can't speed it up. (Some of that I blame on the unions.) We need all the ice we can get up here for there is no solid ground.

But this year, the ice cover was the lowest it's been in almost 30 years. And at least one of those science groups studying this stuff tells me that, according to their models, by 2040, we'll have mostly open water up here. (They sent me this short animation clip, which sends chills up my spine: Arctic Ice Melt.)

Mrs. Claus has even started looking for Houseboats on Craig's List!

So, dear boys and girls, you better not pout or cry or whine or deny climate change any longer. And I'm telling you why: because climate change is coming to town. Time's a wasting. We need to do something about this now, before it's too late. Or before I have to move all of my operations to the South Pole!

Here's wishing a carbon-neutral Christmas to all, and to all a good night.

S. Claus, North Pole

Wind Industry Just Hot Air? The Green Skeptic on FOX Business

2011-12-22T08:30:00.000-05:00

On Tuesday I sat down with Stuart Varney & Company on FOX Business to talk about wind power and the relative merits of distributed generation versus big wind farms, including the need for transmission and grid infrastructure improvements to make big wind viable.

Here's the video:

And here's a link in case the player doesn't work in your browser: Green Skeptic on FOX Business

What Energy Efficient Light Bulb Regulations Mean: The Green Skeptic on WSJ.com

2011-12-21T21:25:00.000-05:00

GE Lighting Institute's Mary Beth Gotti and The Green Skeptic's Scott Edward Anderson join Wendy Bounds on WSJ.com's LunchBreak to discuss new energy efficient federal light bulb regulations that take effect on January 1, 2012.

Here's a link to the original: LunchBreak

The Energy Collective Podcast: Cleantech, the Venture Capital Climate, and Policy

2011-12-15T13:21:00.000-05:00

We had a lively and informative discussion about Cleantech Investing on The Energy Collective a couple of weeks ago, with Will Coleman of Mohr Davidow, Dan Shugar of SunPower and Solaria, and yours truly, moderated by Jess Jenkins, director of energy and climate policy at the Breakthrough Institute.

Here's how Amelia Timbers described it on The Energy Collective blog:

Will began with "cleantech investing 101", and explained how the macro economic situation and IPO backlog is affecting the venture capital world. He points to the patterns in cleantech venture capital as it matures as an industry of its own. He also points to the importance of large organizations getting involved in cleantech startups. Coleman discussed the complexity of technology risk and financing when startups are scaling from demonstration scale to commercialization.

Scott gave an example of corporate partnerships as a means of acheiving scale, and details the sophisticated 'balancing act' required by management teams in these situations. Scott also offers his insight on operating in China.

Dan Shugar explains his experience in solar, from Sunpower to Solaria, and who remains a strong advocate of renewables. Dan emphasizes the need for growing companies to operate leanly and to operate on as much a cash basis as possible.

And here are the slides and audio recording (about 1 1/2 hours long). You can also download the Podcast here: "How to Save the Planet on a Budget, Part 3"

How to Save a Planet - On a Budget: Cleantech, the Venture Capital Climate, and Policy

View more presentations from Social Media Today

And here is a video of the slides with audio recording:

Let me know what you think about our conversation.

My Interview with Ingrid Vanderveldt, Dell's Entrepreneur-in-Residence

2011-12-13T10:50:00.000-05:00

While speaking at SXSW ECO back in early October, I was interviewed by Ingrid Vanderveldt, Dell's Entreprenuer-in-Residence. We talked about being a skeptic in a green-enthusiast world and about looking for the killer apps in cleantech that are here today rather than waiting for the game-changing platforms of tomorrow.

Here is the interview:

And here is a link to the interview on YouTube, in case the player doesn't work in your browser: Green Skeptic on EIR at DELL

A Data Tonic for Impact Investors: GIIN's New Metrics

2011-12-12T21:50:00.000-05:00

The quest for common language and metrics may not be the Holy Grail, but for impact investors it's pretty close.

Now, the folks at the Global Impact Investing Network (GIIN) have provided, if not the grail, at least a tonic for the growing community of impact investors.

Broadly defined, impact investors deliberately set out to invest for social and environmental impact. (Yes, really.) Until now, it's been difficult for such investors to fully evaluate their investments by financial performance data alone.

The new report is called Impact Reporting and Investment Standards (IRIS) and it supplies the first holistic performance analysis for the impact investing industry.

A number of organizations have tried to develop their own metrics for social and environmental performance -- at Ashoka we long had one set of impact metrics in development -- but typically these have been inconsistent, inefficient and don't allow for comparisons across the board.

The new report coming out of GIIN's IRIS initiative presents early findings from nearly 2,400 organizations, ranging from microfinance institutions to mission-driven organizations. There is still a long way to go, but the hope is adoption of the IRIS methodology by a wider audience of companies, organizations, and funds will strengthen the market intelligence of this growing asset class.

And more and better data with proper comparative analysis should lead to better informed investments across the impact investing community and make for a more efficient and effective use of capital. Now that sounds like good gin to me.

You can download the report here (PDF): Data Driven: A Performance Analysis for the Impact Investing Industry