Don't Forget to Follow Your Own Advice

I was laughing a bit yesterday at the Green Party. A colleague of mine posted about political conventions going green, using the Republicans as the example. Ironic.

I'm sure the Green Party has "green" events. But in forgetting to tell the world, they got scopped by the Republicans, and depositioned a bit. It's a bit like living in Scandinavia and being asked what you do that is "green." The government mandates a ton of stuff, so you might not even think of it as a green lifestyle practice, though you may be doing more than anyone.

It reminded me of my own choices (and communication to my netowrk about what I was doing to live green).

Last week I finally signed up from PG&E's ClimateSmart program, to offset my energy use through funding of forestry projects in California. Despite the real concerns about forestry as an offsets category, I'm comfortable with a symbolic gesture, at the least. And I do think that California is ahead of the game on standards and enforcement, so I feel confident that carbon sequestration is going to happen through my investment. And, being one guy in a sub-1,000 square foot apartment who likes things a bit cool, ClimateSmart is going to run me well under $5 a month.

And I've been sulking about my reliance on a car for my daily transportation. I got rid of my 4 liter Jeep 4X4 recently. Suprisingly, it got about 17 MPG in the city, and about 22 on highway. Not bad for an old SUV ('97). My buddy is letting me use his '07 Audi A3. I assumed that would be a big jump in efficiency. Wrong. It gets 20 MPG in the city, and about 26 MPG highway. With the benefit of ten years of technology and 2 liters less of engine displacement, very disappointing. Plus, it demands premium grade, which is more refining.

I tried MUNI again today (San Francisco's public transpo system). It took me an hour to go 8 miles. Driving takes 30-40 minutes. That adds up over a week. Time is precious to me, so I'm going to continue to drive daily.

So, today I bought an offset for 5,000 pounds of carbon from TerraPass. That's for about 6,000 miles/year for this car. TerraPass seem to be the easiest, most well-known brand, and they give a bumper sticker to help block some shame vibes. Of course, all of offsetting is done as a last resort. Energy efficiency and other lifestyle changes come first.

A bunch of carbon footprint calculators are out there; here are some:
Cool California
3Degrees
LiveNeutral
BP
SafeClimate

Shrinking Bottles

As I don't have TV, I get excited (sometimes) about commercials. This past week, I saw one from P&G touting it's shrinking bottles of detergent. Fun creative and great message.

Although this move to concentrated detergents is old news, as reported by the WSJ in May 2007, it is a nice notch in the sustainable business bedpost.

Back when I consulted with the Feds on ENERGY STAR, we worked with P&G on campaigns around Tide HE, trying to get the word out through partnerships with utilities and manufacturers. This was as early as 2003, and was focused on the front-loading washer boom that required a more concentrated detergent. Good to see the full group has embraced the LOHAS market, even if it's been pushed there by Wal-Mart and others driving waste out of their businesses through pressure on the supply chain.

Shrinking bottles of detergent ties into the bottled water debate, which is gaining momentum. Detergent is basically large bottles of mostly water. It doesn't add any value to ship more water across vast distances. No added value + extra plastic + more transportation costs = waste. BrandWeek had a nice piece back in February 2008 that shows that the big bev boys are concerned about bottled water backlash.

Good to see Unilever changing too, though darker green brands such as Method, Seventh Generation and others (I have a super concentrated detergent at home that I'll update this post with) having been doing it for years.

Green Mixers

Everyone's scrambling to capitalize on the swarm around cleantech. SF Green is a new one that's charging $15, and EcoTuesday starting charging $10 in advance and $20 at the door a couple months ago. There are several freebies too. Here's a quick collection of offline social networks in the Bay Area for cleantech/sustainability:

Green Drinks @ Varnish

EcoTuesday

Climatini

Green Drinks @ Elixir

SF Green

Sustainable Business Alliance Events

Please post any others that you know of, or feedback on these events to help people choose wisely.