Is pricey gasoline the best solution to global warming?

When teachers are educated about the best way to instruct a diverse group of students, they are taught to use a variety of different methods to ensure they are properly addressing dissimilar learning styles.

For those of us that track and participate in the fight against global warming, we are sometimes overly idealistic about what motivates people to work on decreasing their carbon footprint. For some, the motivation is as simple as helping the environment. For others, there has to be a more tangible reward involved.

A New York Times article from the weekend, “At $100 for Tank of Gas, Some Choke on ‘Fill It’,” highlights the continuously rising gas prices and the heavy financial burden placed upon owners of larger vehicles to fill their tanks. The article discusses how many owners of large SUVs are now looking for alternatives.

So perhaps we should look to the way teachers use a variety of teaching methods and apply that to educating people about the damage global warming is causing our planet. Everyone has a different tipping point. To assume that all people are inspired by the same information is both naïve and dangerous, as it inevitably means certain groups of people will not understand the implications that global warming could ultimately have on their lives.

To combat this, it is essential for those of us doing the educating to cater to a variety of different audiences – the environmentalist, the intellectual, the businessperson, to name just a few. Value is in the eye of the beholder, and keeping that in mind will ultimately make us more successful at our endeavors.

Green Up Seattle!

A couple weeks ago, we got our power bill from Seattle City Light that also included an insert marketing the “Green Up!” program for SCL customers. Here are some details straight from the website:

What is Green Up?
Green Up is Seattle City Light's voluntary green power program for residential and business customers. By enrolling in Green Up, customers purchase green power for a portion of their electricity use and demonstrate their support for wind power and other new renewable energy projects in the Northwest. Choosing green power reduces our reliance on fossil fuels, improves air quality and helps reduce the growth of climate-warming emissions. The Green Up program is Green-e certified and fulfills LEEDTM Project green power requirements.

How does Green Up work?
Green Up customers make voluntary payments on their electricity bill to cover the slightly higher cost of producing and integrating renewable energy into the Northwest grid. These funds are used to acquire Renewable Energy Credits (RECs) equal to the amount of customer demand. Participating in Green Up does not change how Seattle City Light transmits and distributes electricity to your home or business.

How do I sign up?
Residential customers may purchase green power in increments of 25%, 50% or 100% of their electricity use for $3, $6 or $12 per month.

We are planning to begin purchasing green power at our house, and whether you live in the city of Seattle or elsewhere, you might also want to research ways to begin supporting renewable energy initiatives.

Can You Imagine Life Without Plastic?

More and more, we’re hearing about the dangers of plastic, the harmful chemicals involved in the manufacturing process and the need to start eliminating it from our everyday lives.

It’s a challenging proposition – think about all those iced lattes you have in the summer, the “to go” containers you frequently carry home with you from different restaurants, and the sheer number of items in your household that contain at least some plastic.

This is a great example of a place where small changes are the way to go. If you’re one of the people aiming to eliminate plastic from your life, start small. LifeWithoutPlastic.com has a lot of great plastic-free products that they offer as alternatives to traditional plastic-filled products.

In addition, their website also features a section called “Facts on Plastic” that discusses the health risks associated with plastic and also provides a lot of detail on what all the different resin codes on the bottom of plastic containers mean for the average consumer. Beyond that, they provide tips for living a more plastic-free life if you are interested.

Sustainable Summer Ideas

Summer has officially begun. Gas prices are at a record high. And concern for global warming has never been greater.

At a time when the kids are out of school and our vacations are under way, it behooves us to keep focused on trying to live more sustainable lifestyles. We've got a few suggestions for ways to do that:

Summer Tip #1: Summer is all about getting outside and exploring. This year, think about skipping the annual road trip and travelling by train instead.

Summer Tip #2: Save money! Figure out ways where you can cut energy costs to save money at home. Turning off lights/computers/appliances at home and walking or bussing instead of driving are some easy ways to save some cash that can then be applied to more interesting activities.

Summer Tip #3: If your kids are staying home with you, now might be a good time to spend learning about ways to be more environmentally-friendly. You can even turn it into a game - offering prizes for remembering to recycle, taking public transportation or dropping energy usage. Remember to keep it simple and don't expect too much right away.

We hope you enjoy your summer!

Unleashing Your Inner Green Hero, Part 2

Large organizations worldwide are creating sustainability initiatives, and setting aggressive goals to cut their carbon footprints. Those initiatives are creating mandates across the company to reduce waste, and consider the long-term impact of various processes and decisions – everything from manufacturing to supply chain, IT policy, travel and commute policies and more.

Setting ambitious goals is one thing, achieving them in a measurable way is another.

Deb Horvath at Washington Mutual, by the way, is a hero. According to CIO Magazine, her organization is set to save more than $3 million dollars a year by implementing green IT policies organization wide.

Ron Spalter is also a hero. The deputy COO for City University of New York (CUNY) organized the individual IT departments for more than 15 CUNY campuses to cut their IT power consumption by more than $3 million over five years (PDF), putting hundreds of thousands of dollars back into their pockets each year.

But for every C-level executive who’s taken a leadership and early adopter position on identifying and executing sustainable initiatives internally and externally for their organizations, there are dozens of regular people – like you and I – with sustainable ideas, inspiration and ambition.

I see this every day at Verdiem.com. The vast majority of interest we get in green IT solutions is from individual employees throughout organizations – mostly from IT, but elsewhere in the company as well.

My favorite was the HR manager from a large Midwest-based company who was passionate about helping make her company more sustainable, and also knew that tangible “green” results would help with both employee morale and recruiting.

She was just one example of countless employees throughout your organization who just may hold the secret to true environmental progress and sustainable results – for your products, your processes, your customers and your brand.

And the beautiful thing about individual ideas and initiatives is that their true impact is rarely confined to the pure task at hand.

Forrester Research recently talked about the idea of Green IT Heroes in an attempt to inspire IT professionals to think well beyond the traditional IT boundaries in terms of the sustainability impact they could have on their organization.

Sure, IT groups can directly impact things like equipment lifecycle management, energy consumption and more.

But IT can also impact telecommuting options. By partnering with the HR group, IT can create and implement secure remote-access options that make telecommuting a more meaningful, seamless and productive option for more employees.

By proposing and initiating ideas like this, says Forrester, IT can be an even greater Green Hero in the organization.

And those ideas clearly don’t need to originate from the CIO. They can start anywhere in the organization, as long as that individual has both the passion and the opportunity to share.

Did You Know Companies That Report Sustainability Data Enjoy Higher Gross Margins?

According to a recent report, “The Food, Beverage, and Consumer products Industry - Achieving Superior Financial Performance in a Challenging Economy - 2008,” from Grocery Manufacturers Association and PricewaterhouseCoopers, “companies that report sustainability data generally experience higher gross margins and return on sales, higher return on assets, and stronger cash flow and rising shareholder return.”

Specifically, the report notes that investment decisions and operational improvements associated with adopting sustainable practices could be responsible for the higher margins.

Click here to read the whole story on Environmental Leader.