Being thoroughly immersed in the eco-craze, including the skyrocketing interest in alternative energy, it’s easy to feel as though we’re well on our way to a more sustainable future. A couple conversations recently reminded me how far we have to go. I recently spoke with a biofuels specialist who told me that, as excited as he is about the prospects for biofuels, the maximum amount of current energy use that biofuels can replace is 6%. The reason is that biomass is not in endless supply, and to create more we would need to do more damage to the environment (e.g. clear forests to grow corn) than good. 6% is of course important and significant, but there’s still a long way to go. Separately, I spoke with an investor in alternative energy sources. He referenced a recent research project that attempted to determine how quickly alternative energ sources could completely replace oil. An unexpected result was that the more alternative energy that was introduced to the equation, the greater the demand for energy. In other words, the growth in energy consumption outpaced the ability to introduce new energy sources.

Sorry to not have more specifics on the findings referenced above, but I’ll post them to www.ecounit.com soon.

Kent
kent@ecounit.com

I suppose I should be writing something related to Christmas or the holidays and the excess that surrounds them, but I’m most excited about a video I recently watched:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bDsIFspVzfI

This is the message that every naysayer needs to hear. It uses the simple concept of probability, together with possible outcomes, to see the obvious conclusion: that we must act now against climate change to assure ourselves of the optimal outcome. The beauty of the logic is that it takes into account the very real possibility that the scientists might be wrong and there will be no downside associated with climate change; even with this eventuality factored in, it’s obvious that the wise choice is to take action now.

I’m excited that we’ve managed to get more news out there about EcoUnit! I love to see the spikes in traffic at www.ecounit.com in response. We just need to tell the story…if they listen long enough, people will join.
Kent
kent@ecounit.com
www.ecounit.com

I am pleased to announce that my company, EcoUnit, just offset our carbon footprint for the year. We did this through our partner, CarbonFund.org, which has a program that enables small businesses to offset their annual carbon footprint with one lump sum payment. Given how young and how small our company is, it’s likely that we offset more than our annual footprint, but that’s okay. We did a joint release to announce this on 12/28, released on CSRWire. Check it out at http://www.csrwire.com/News/10527.html if you’re interested.

I know that there are those who think offsets are questionable at best. I don’t dispute the issues with them, but I’m convinced that they’re a positive step in the right direction. I also think that, as long as you choose high quality offsets that are 3rd-party certified, there is a high likelihood that the offsets will be effective. I look forward to the day when offsets are understood by the common consumer - for their benefits and drawbacks - and are one of many ways that each of us can impact the environment positively.

Kent
kent@ecounit.com
www.ecounit.com

I recently watched a video called “The Story of Stuff” that reminded me of just how far we have to go to get ourselves on a sustainable footing. Our entire system, really the way we have lived our lives since the industrial revolution, is predicated on continuing this ever-increasing pattern of consumption. Scarcity of resources, including a healthy and stable climate, is the manifestation, but this system really defines our time on earth during the 20th century until this point - it is what most of us do during the vast majority of our waking lives.

I think the recent re-thinking of bottled water is a good example of how some of us are starting to scratch our heads and realize that something is just not right. People did just fine drinking water from wells and streams for centuries. Then we managed to make them undrinkable, giving rise to the bottled water craze. We then realized that making and throwing away a plastic bottle for 16 ounces of water was environmentally wasteful. Then we realized that water from the tap is actually safer and better for you. From hindsight, it seems like one of those times that capitalism and consumerism should have just stayed home.

Again, this is just an example. But I like it because it shows how our most basic commodity (next to oxygen) has been impacted by the system. And when we extend this out to other items, most of which are less necessary to our daily lives, it hits home just how totally engorged we are with consumerism.

To be clear, I am a capitalist at heart. That’s unlikely to change. But I’m beginning to wake up to how thoroughly we will need to re-think our systems - in addition to our daily lives - in order to attain a sustainable trajectory. In fact, I think capitalism may be the only system capable of overcoming such a monstrous challenge. If market forces can wake up to the realities of the direction that we’re heading, theoretically they should move us on a new course as effeciently as any system short of a global dictatorship. But this will clearly be the biggest challenge that capitalism - and mankind - has had to face.

I was born and raised a republican, and I’m pretty sure that I’ll maintain that position even as I serve our planet. I don’t want to think too hard about it, but I’m sure there were times when I snubbed my nose at the environmentalists who challenged us to re-think our values.

As I look at the world through a different lens today, I must say that these folks have done us all a great service. While we’ve been laughing and chastising them, they’ve been laying the foundation for today’s mass green movement. If they had not been steadfast in their beliefs, today we would be starting essentially from zero to try to address the unsustainable path that we are currently on.

Recently I have spoken with many of these folks who have been toiling in the trenches for many years. While some are wary of the fair weather crowd who has suddenly emerged, by far I have experienced open arms…even relief, as they realize that all of their hard work is paying off. It took Al Gore, A Nobel prize, and some really bad weather to prove their point, but now they’re vindicated. Fortunately, true to their sincerity of their beliefs all these years, they are welcoming us late-comers with open arms.

Not surprisingly, these long-time hard cores have been working at eco-aware companies for many years. Now that corporate America is waking to the opportunity, we are seeing them spread out like diaspora across “regular” companies in virtually all industries. Much like Chief Security Officers and Chief Privacy Officers have joined management ranks over the past couple decades, we will now see the Chief Sustainability Officer - whose role will span back office and front office, operations and marketing - join the management ranks. Even though they are not a vengeful sort, I’m sure the irony of their newfound position will not be lost on them.

At a recent Eco-Tuesday event I heard an attorney from Morrison Foerster talk about how VCs can be seen “following the money” in clean tech investing. I’m sure she’s right, because that’s essentially the theme for the growth of the entire green movement. Now that “green” and “sustainability” are understood by a large percentage of consumers, and of course with this awakening comes concern and at least some interest in reacting positively to preserve the planet, consumer-facing companies have no choice but to follow the money.

The negative perception that many had of “environmentalists” is suddenly unimportant. The correlation between concern for the health of our planet and ultra-liberalism has eroded. So corporate America can embrace this new buying segment - recent estimates put the value of the LOHAS (lifestyle of health and sustainability) segment at $200 billion - with little downside. More to the point, increasingly, corporate America can’t afford to ignore this growing segment. By all accounts the folks buying hybrids and organic foods are upper-middle class, well-educated, active young adults and families. There are a few companies who have grown up focused on appealing to the LOHAS segment when it was still small; but now that it’s going mainstream we will see virtually all companies rush to figure out their strategy for capturing their share of the LOHAS pie.

Kent
www.ecounit.com

Now that I have arrived on the blogosphere, I feel compelled to address why I’m here. Like a lot of people, I have been running fast and furious for a lot of years trying to get ahead. Though the pursuit of profit has been fun, and often times challenging and sometimes even rewarding, inevitably there were times when I would look up - usually while on a long flight or slaving away in a hotel room somewhere - and wonder what the hell I was doing. At those times it was difficult to come up with good answers. I did take heart in some of the benefits - like helping people to grow in their careers and job creation - but at the core there simply was not enough meaning.

I have often times come back to service, something that was ingrained in me from a young age and reiterated during my schooling. But working so many hours every day, it was difficult to find opportunities to serve that did not come at a cost that I was willing to pay (like time away from family). So my conclusion was always the same: I’ll pursue profit now, and serve later.

With these thoughts ruminating, I began to wake up to the state of our world. The unsustainable ways in which we consume our resources. The sub-optimal decisions that are made because of how we consume our resources. These are issues that I’d been aware of for many years, but chose not to face fully. We’re a resourceful people, I thought, we’ll figure out a way. But when I realized that it would take 5 earths to support a population of people who live like me, it became more difficult to deny.

So the journey brings me here, to the blogosphere. I have resolved, through this and other avenues, to help build a more sustainable economy and culture. It’s time to end the denial and get on with the work of building a more sustainable world.

Kent Ragen
kent@ecounit.com
www.ecounit.com