For generations, the Zabaleen people have hauled away Cairo's refuse and lived on the fringes of society. But thanks to an enterprising recycling school, the poor and mostly illiterate inhabitants of "Trash City" are receiving education and job training for the first time. Fred de Sam Lazaro reports from Egypt.

 An exciting public radio project is blending new and traditional media systems to highlight the important concept that environmental issues are vital to people irrespective of the governing lines we draw on maps. 

Tackling River Traffic Pollution
Report by Ann Murray (Listen Below)

Shared reporting planned for Ohio Basin ecosystem from Current.org reports on Louisville's Public Media WFPL the driving force behind the Ohio River Radio Consortium.  Additionally the article reviews how the Consortium is incorporating public education, conference events, and stories to tell the stories of the Ohio river ecosystem.

“What we’re trying to do is raise awareness of the fact that environmental issues don’t stop at state borders,” said Kristin Espeland Gourlay, managing editor at WFPL. “What we put into the air from power plants in Louisville flows north and east, and run-off from a farm in Pittsburgh runs down stream to Cincinnati and Cairo, Ill.”

The project, which was turned down for funding by CPB’s initiative supporting local journalism centers, is moving ahead after securing grants from three foundations. It will produce on-air and online reporting from journalists throughout the watershed that reaches from New York to Tennessee.

I've featured video from Ever Green Films before in a previous post, and their series of videos from Copenhagen continues to showcase the quality of their production and the interesting angle on the Pacific Northwest's leadership to create a regionalclean energy economy.  This video features the conference of Mayor's at COP15.

The opening line of this video says it all. "Next up, a major environmental dilemma...".  For quite some time I've considered the potential communications conundrum presented by the clean technology economy's need for raw resources, and the very clear fact that many clean energy advocates don't consider the supply chain of natural resources for building wind turbines, solar panels, and hybrid cars.  I've always asked, what will environmentalists do when they realize what kind of process and materials are needed for producing a clean energy infrastructure? While triple-bottom line systems, closed loop manufacturing, and sustainable design and materials sourcing have been a major part of the sustainability movement as brought forward by leaders such as Bill McDonough, these principles have primarily taken a back seat in the manufacturing of new clean energy technologies. 

So it was only a matter of time that the media considered the contradiction that could provide a dilemma for environmental advocates. This report on PBS News Hour is the first I have seen that provides a in-depth look at the environmental impact of the critical rare earth elements that are the natural resource supply for clean energy manufacturing in China. 

While a strong report and a very important one to consider, this story could have been more comprehensive by examining the percentages of rare earth metals used in manufacturing of non-clean energy products.  Additionally, the report doesn't fully expand on the lack of environmental regulations for manufacturing facilities in China. While very hard to quantify at this stage, the counter point that was not leveled in this report is the consideration of the environmental benefits gained by decreasing our carbon emissions and the impacts of industrial process used in developing conventional energy sources. 

If it is inevitable that we use rare earth materials in our production of the items needed for society, there is an argument to be made that while we switch other process toward more sustainable materials, the clean energy economy may demand less and impact fewer than did previous systems of production in the industrial revolution.  The verdict is still out whether or not there is a balance to be achieved. 

None the less, I predict that clean energy companies will be pushed more in the new decade to begin sourcing their materials from recycled and reprocessed sources, rather than building the new green economy on the very philosophy that moved our society toward our current dilemma; progress is worth the cost we pay both in human and natural capital. Hopefully we won't have to re-learn that lesson again.

Ok, well, maybe not. I'll be enjoying Copenhagen's two weeks of events from afar and hoping for a collective direction on climate solutions. But the See You in Copenhagen ad campaign sponsored by the UN Foundation give you a sense of the momentum going into the Conference.  See You in Copenhagen is a campaign of short films and ads produced by Found Object Films, in cooperation with the UN Foundation and tcktcktck.org to raise public awareness and support civic engagement in advance of the United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP 15) in Copenhagen, Denmark.

In the video featured above, Shai Agassi, founder and CEO of Better Place, introduces us to the prototype electric vehicles that will be part of the sustainable transportation infrastructure his company is building to replace the world's dependence on conventional fossil fuels. He speaks of the importance of the world agreeing to carbon cuts, and his company's potential role in creating the technology that will help move transportation away from carbon emissions.  Read more about the business model of Better Place from Earth2Tech and from Better Palce's website.

Solazyme's ascension to the top of Biofuels Digest's Hottest Companies in Bioenergy for 2009-2010 is not a sign of things to come, but a sign of what is.  Algae as a source for biofuels production is very much the promising bioenergy feedstock of the year, with seven algae companies on the list and many more emerging.  Celulosic ethanol companies (19 total companies) and "drop-in" renewable biofuels (15 companies) such as biobutanol, renewable diesel, green gasoline and renewable jet fuel represented the majority of the field.

One hint to why Solazyme is making in-roads in the marketplace prior to proving a full scale commercialization model is its foray into the government market.  In September of 2009, Solazyme announced that is signed a U.S. Department of Defense contract to develop Navy Fuels from algae. At the most recent presentation of The Energy Conversation in Washington, D.C. funded by the Department of Defense the topic of the session was, Can Algae Replace Petroleum as a Clean, Low Carbon, Homegrown Fuel for our Military and More? While the presentations didn't cover the full spectrum of the algae market, the synthesis of the presentations yielded one conclusion, government funding and beta testing, especially with water and algae connected agencies, such as the Navy, starts to make a lot of practical sense.

Part I

Part II

Part III

No matter the outcome, there are a lot of people heading to Copenhagen.  Everyone brings a message from each one of their corners of the world.  While we see this in the United Nations on a regular basis, this is truly a unique event.  There are many individuals, in addition to organizations that will be an important part of raising awareness to the issues and contributing to the debate.

Walk, Bike, or Document the Talk

Many will arrive by plane.  But some will walk, some will bike, and some will just travel via the internet to get to Copenhagen. Two amazing adventurers that I've recently met via Climate Ride 2009, will be going (or hoping to go) to Copenhagen with adventure as their vehicle to raise awareness.  In the video above, David Kroodsma is vying to bring his story of biking 21,000 miles through North and South America to raise awareness about climate change.  I'm supporting his campaign to be the ambassador for the Hopenhagen project as a reporter in partnership with The Huffington Post.  Be sure to vote!

Fellow Climate Rider and world famous ocean rower Roz Savage has walked with four other women from Great Britain, with a ferry passage across the English Channel, to Belgium to board the Climate Express to Copenhagen.  Check out the photos from their inspiring walk and follow Roz as she blogs from the road. 

Lastly, students from Dickinson College, my alma mater, will embark on a unique class room experience in the coming days, to document the Copenhagen process as part of the class, from Kyoto to Copenhagen and follow their photostream.

Making Their Mark at Home

While some people will be making their own mark by arriving in unique ways, others in the U.S. are making their mark at home.  The Washington Post today covered some internal wrangling inside the United States government with the story about a "Controversial economist probing cost of proposed new air pollution rule " specifically "an economist working at the Office of Management and Budget has raised questions about whether a new air pollution rule proposed by the Environmental Protection Agency would impose too high a cost on coal-fired power plants."

With Secretary Chu's remarks from the Youth Clean Energy Economy Forum in regards to coal's place in the future energy portfolio of the US (he predicted being able to include coal as part of the energy mix and reducing 90% of its carbon emissions at the same time), Copenhagen clearly won't be the only place where the debate will be taking place (see video Part I above).

There have been a gambit of interesting developments over the last few weeks.  The Obama administration changed the game by announcing a U.S. commitment of some level (a 17% reduction below 2005 carbon levels to start the conversation) toward carbon reduction and that he'd attend the negotiations on the way to his Nobel Prize acceptance event. China followed up with their own announcement of working toward a 45% reduction in emissions.

"Climate Gate" precipitated by computer hackers, in which stolen emails have purportedly exposed scientists as hiding facts from the public, vied for the spotlight.  British scientists responded as to its impact on COP15 while others look to dispel the myths of the espionage. It has been at the lead story of most Fox news shows over the last two weeks, but even on Fox News' Bill O'Rilley show last night, Fox News anchor John Stossel said the controversy, "doesn't prove anything about global warming" and that it wasn't "the smoking gun".  O'Rilley also added his thoughts that action on climate change was an important step.  He also suggested that only god will be able to deal with climate change. Stossel a clear skeptic of climate change theory did say that pollution was a critical item to focus on.  While the "climate gate" concept will linger through December and conflagrate the new responses by climate change deniers, this segment of O'Reilly effectively signals that the "climate gates" are coming to a close.  In searching, I haven't been able to find the video on Fox News, Bill O'Reilly's site, or on the inter tube. 

A different discourse has emerged recently amongst environmentalists that exposes the concern of some related to the cap & trade proposals.  Be sure to watch the video (above) and check out the website of "The Story of Cap & Trade" released by The Story of Stuff Project & Free Range Studios, in partnership with Climate Justice Now! and the Durban Group for Climate Justice, two leading international networks of climate justice advocates.  A follow up to the international internet sensation The Story of Stuff, The Story of Cap & Trade raises some serious questions and opens its own climate gates, or at least gives a really visible perspective on what kind of debates are taking place in the meetings leading up to and at COP15.

What is most important in all of this, is that the debate is still well and alive, and it will continue well after the next few weeks. 

D.C. - The Answer to Your Burning Recycling Questions

 
As a D.C. resident and someone involved in the sustainability sector, I'm constantly asked if D.C. actually recycles.  The City Paper does the dirty work to follow the paper trail in the cover story - Together Forever. The article does a good job at illuminating the complexities of enforcement and the loop holes in the private contractor system.  Both as a resident of the city, and a business owner with experience in dealing with landlords and their need to negotiate with their haulers, its true, recycling in D.C. is more complicated than one could imagine.  With out a doubt, the business model needs to be there for haulers, however, one item that is missing in all of this is that landfill costs are going to increase over the long-haul, and it would be better to decrease the volume in the waste stream to avoid the long term consequences of having too much trash volume and not enough disposal capacity, let alone the environmental impact externalities that come with waste management.   Short term costs are always first and foremost, but the city might want to consider the long term costs of not performing enforcement and better waste stream engagement.

Baltimore/Maryland - 9th Most Toxic City/Top 10 in Sustainability

Forbes announced their listing of most toxic U.S. cities this past week, and Baltimore did the best by showing up as the 9th most toxic city in the United States. However, the more interesting fact is the number of cities listed in the top 10 most toxic that also showed up in the top 10 most sustainable in SustainLane's 2008 US City Sustainability Rankings. Portland, Oregon (10th most toxic, 1st in sustainability), Chicago (3rd most toxic, 4th most sustainable), Philadelphia (5th most most toxic, 8th most sustainable), and Baltimore (9th most toxic, 10th most sustainable).  I was most impressed to see that, with a history as a heavy industrial port, Seattle may be doing the best in the top sustainability cities, ranking 3rd in sustainability and as the 36th most toxic city in America.  So that should settle the dispute between Seattle and Portland.

National

The Green Economy is Coming - Senator Lindsey Graham (R-SC) & Climate Legislation

With healthcare bipartisanship in question and climate change legislation playing second fiddle, a number of legislators have been moving to push through meaningful legislation prior to the Copenhagen conference in December. Sen John Kerry (D-Mass.) stepped to the podium with an Independent and a Republican to introduce new climate legislation the same day Sen. Boxer (D-Calif.) moved the bill she co-authored with Kerry.  The Boxer-Kerry bill vote was labeled as "ignoring the GOP" as the 11-1 vote in the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee involved 7 republicans not participating on the vote. 

The news that has been making its way through out the internet keys in on the remarks by Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) in the joint press conference with Sen. John Kerry (D-Mass.), the author of the Clean Energy Jobs and American Power Act, and Sen. Joe Lieberman (I-Conn.) as they offered a new bi-partisan option.

I'd offer that the video of Graham "rebuking Republicans" is not so much a rebuke of Republicans, even though it sounds nice as a headline.  Instead, it may be evidence of a way to explain that climate change solutions are also economic solutions. The reality is that the new energy economy is part of the solution portfolio to our domestic and global economic challenges.   Interestingly, this messaging framework, posed by many multi-stakeholder groups working on clean energy during the last ten years, is now starting to get national recognition, as the Washington Post's David A. Fahrenthold outlined this week in the article, Environmental groups at odds over new tack in climate fight.

Global Business

Nike Announces the Latest "Considered" Line Products

I'm sure Nike's announcement this week about its Considered product line wasn't because of a little post-it note from an on-line customer service representative saying, "comment from D.C. customer, - "bring back the considered line".  But considering my live chat message with a Nike representative was one of the first times I'd made a suggestion to a massive corporation based on my consumer preferences, I'd like to think so. Kudos to Nike for implementing my suggestion so fast! 

What one needs to consider is that just like WalMart's ability to shift the global supply chain toward sustainability, Nike has made some incredible moves to incorporate sustainability into their product lines and their corporate environment.   Ignoring everything else, the last pair of Nike Considered trail running shoes I owned, took me hundreds of miles by foot (not car) and allowed me to get out and run tens of miles of trails over a two year period.  I'm glad to see the Considered line surviving during the economic downturn.