Tuesday, September 11, 2007

The Natural Step - A New Game

I am learning The Natural Step framework and how it help us plan in complex systems, moving us towards an attractive, sustainable society in the biosphere (aka- the Earth). Currently our society is unsustainable and is not a series of disconnected negative impacts (global warming, Katrina, famine, poverty etc.) but underlying systematic errors in societal design exist and need to be addressed.

So, we must redesign our society and consider the relationships between issues.

Currently, our societal model has a cylindrical shape; where as long as social and environmental damage accrued is equally balanced with economic benefits gained, the entire system remains "in balance". This model is incorrect and is unsustainable.

We define unsustainable by: steadily accumulating waste (in our biosphere-aka The Earth), and diminishing resources. Therefore the resource-potential for health and economy is systematically decreasing at the same time as the population increases.

More accurately, we are in a funnel where non-sustainable development is seen as entering deeper and deeper into the funnel, in which the space to succeed becomes narrower and narrower.
If an organisation "hits the walls" of the funnel, it might appear as any or all of the following:

(i) increasing costs for resources, waste managements, taxes, and insurance premiums;
(ii) increasingly strict legislation;
(iii) loss of good reputation;
(iv) over-corrections when concrete negative impacts surface;
(v) lost investments due to sub-optimized measures and blind alleys and
(vi) loss of market share to those who develop cutting-solutions.

To avoid hitting the walls of the funnel, organisations must stay on the cutting edge of solutions towards strategic sustainability.

So how do we do this? We learn how to play a new game.

Re-design our society within basic constraints of sustainability is the only way of solving our problems upstream at the principle level, where complexity is at it's lowest. To do this, we must become a new type of chess player. First we need to learn the basic principles which govern this sustainability game and then use them to plan our first moves strategically, and have a framework to rely on for making future decisions.

It's much like playing a game where we can co-create solutions together because we are all very intelligent individuals, so by default, we are so much smarter when we work together to solve problems!

Monday, July 23, 2007

Pre-strawbale building workshop


T-minus 3 days until Andreas and I head over to the Kootneys for a strawbale building workshop! I'm secretly so excited as I've always dreamed of being involved in building my own house but never thought it would be true!

We are participating in this workshop to learn more about building with straw and get some hands-on experience as well as connect with other like-minded builders/future home owners. I'm so excited as I've always been envious of boys and how they seem to just "know" how to make things. I think it's a secret right of passage for boys into manhood where someone pulls them aside and says, "Hey boy, it's time you learned how to make something. Then you will be a man."

So envy be gone....I'm learning too!

We will be involved in building a modified-post and beam house that is non-load bearing. We have been doing a lot of pre-reading and I was interested to learn that if the 200 million tons of "waste" straw produced in the United States each year would be baled and used for building, 5 million 2,000 sq.foot houses could be made! This statistic is from 1994 so who knows how much more efficient we've become since then?

Building with straw is a "new-old" idea as it's been practiced in the United States, Canada, Europe and Asia for over 100 years. It seems that the idea is re-emerging on the North American building horizon and I'm happy we'll be part of it's emergence. Sustainably speaking building with straw decreases the amount of cement used (major CO2 polluter), reduces pressure on our timber resources, provides "breathable" walls for higher quality indoor air, uses passive solar techniques thus drastically reducing the heating and cooling capacity needed and most of all, uses a sustainably produced "waste" material (the straw itself).

So, needless to say, I'm excited! Stay posted for more updates and photos.

Wednesday, July 11, 2007

The Wind

A beautiful, funny, creative view!

Monday, June 25, 2007

Paul Hawken speaks at Bioneers 2006

You are not alone! Watch, celebrate and share the word. Together we can make a difference.

Hope and Humility in this busy world

I think that many of us get overwhelmed sometimes about the state our planet is in and I wanted to post this video as a reminder to celebrate today while planning for the future.

Thursday, June 14, 2007

We want cool cars in this HOT world


I have been contemplating a different vehicle for quite awhile. Right now, I have a very dependable 1998 Volkswagen Jetta GT. I LOVE this car; its safe, heavy, dependable and gets about 600km per 55 liter tank of gas. My only beef is that this car runs on GAS and at some foreseeable point in the future this commodity will either:

a) be so expensive that I cannot afford to drive or
b) the emissions of my car will no longer be allowed (if the government gets its act together!)

So I have been working on a longer term plan but have not yet decided on any particular direction to move yet. Options I'm considering are:

1) buy another VW but a TDI and converting it to SVO (straight veggie oil)
2) buy a Toyota import truck from Japan (they make diesel, light duty vehicles) and covert it to SVO
3) Save up and buy a brand new hybrid vehicle (come on VW, make a hybrid!!!!)

This is such a tough decision to know how to move in the most informed and best-for-the-planet direction. I find myself plagued with many questions:

  • Do the environmental costs of procuring materials for producing a new, hybrid vehicle outweigh the benefits that this technology contributes to the reduction of green house gases?
  • Will the costs of shipping over a diesel truck from Japan be balanced by running it on a renewable and "waste" material (i.e. SVO)?
  • Can I find a VW TDI that fits in my budget and is safe to convert to SVO?
  • Do I want to deal with also building my own infrastructure for collecting and processing the veggie oil? (As a friend of mine pointed out, "You don't appreciate how much 55 liters is until you have to collect, filter and pump it yourself!)
So many things to consider and I haven't made my way through these questions successfully...yet....so stay posted and until then this is what I have decided to do:

  1. Offset the carbon dioxide emissions of my Jetta using Cool Drive Pass (click to travel to their website). This cost me approximately $50/year based on driving on 15,000km/year. Very reasonable I think!
  2. Burn Fat not Oil by riding my bike as much as possible
  3. Walk if the destination is 30mins or less
  4. Keep searching for answers and start a savings account for whatever direction I decide is best for my values and driving needs.
CoolDrivePass is the outcome of Professor Hadi Dowlatabadi’s (a climate scientist at the Institute for Resources, Environment and Sustainability at the University of British Columbia) ideas for finding cost effective greenhouse gas solutions for his family car. After sharing his ideas with interested colleagues at UBC, they formed the Cool Drive team and created CoolDrivePass.

As listed on the David Suzuki Foundation page on Carbon Neutrality, here are more resources for your perusal!

Carbon offset calculators (and vendors) - Vehicles**

CarbonZero (includes trains & buses)

zerofootprint

cleanairpass

cool drive pass

CoolDriver

TerraPass

Drive Neutral

Certified Clean Car

DrivingGreen

Climate Care

Climat Mundi (includes motorcycles)


Carbon offset vendors - Gold Standard**

My Climate

Sustainable Travel International

Climate Friendly

Atmosfair


Carbon offset vendors - General**

My Climate

Climate Friendly

Atmosfair

Sustainable Travel International

Offsetters

CarbonZero

Climate Care

The Carbon Neutral Company

The Climate Trust

Solar Electric Light Fund

Native Energy

Better World Club

Uniglobe's Green Flight Program

Carbonfund.org

CarbonCounter

Climat Mundi

Vancouver Renewable Energy Cooperative

zerofootprint

targetneutral

Evaluations and Recommendations of Voluntary Offset Companies - Tufts University

A Comparison of Carbon Offset Vendors


Renewable energy certificate (REC) vendors **

REC Programs in USA

REC Marketers and Related Entities in USA

Pollution Probe - Consumer Guide to Green Power in Canada

Renewable Choice Energy

Wind Power by Pembina

Bullfrog Power

Canadian Hydro

Green Tags Ontario

Wind Powered Computer Network Hosting

Bonneville Environmental Foundation

Greenmax

Environmental Defence - Green Power Options in Canada


Tips for reducing your energy use

The 20/20 Planner: A Practical Guide to Reduce Energy Use by 20% at home and on the road

US DOE Comparison of Vehicle Mileage & Tips for Reducing Vehicle Emissions

An Inconvenient Truth - Take Action

Greenpeace Canada - Energy Saving Tips

Sierra Club - Energy Saving Tips

Lick Global Warming

Cool Companies






Monday, June 4, 2007

Some Eco-Clothing Favorites

So, after the post about Walmart, I thought it only fair to share some of my eco-clothing favorites...some old and some new.

Twice Shy (Vancouver-based)
Proving that “sustainability can be sexy”, they have organic cotton t-shirts with designs silk-screened by featured artists each month.
Oooohhh...me likey!Splaff Shoes (San Diego based)
“Make good use of bad rubbish” with these sandals created from recycled tires and hemp.
Sans Soucie (Vancouver based)
Making non-functional textiles into functional clothing such as the recycled nylon hosiery line filled with funky dresses and tops that are completely wearable.

Love, Deming Clothing Company (Vancouver)
Uses eco-friendly fabrics such as bamboo, soy, hemp, yak wool and silk to make formal business wear and even funky leggings.

Oqoqo (Vancouver)
This organic label sold at lululemon uses boolux (bamboo), soy, hemp and other organic materials to make jeans, tees and chic sweaters.

Terra Plana Shoes
Using chrome free leathers and recycled materials such as old car seats and recycled soles, these shoes are amazingly chic, with styles from high-heeled boots to skate shoes.