In a possible solution to a marine chemistry mystery that has puzzled scientists for several decades, researchers have now calculated the contribution of teleost fish (bony fish) to marine carbonate (CO3) concentrations. They estimate that such fish secrete up to 15% of the ocean’s carbonate production, through their intestines, or guts (these are conservative estimates; the more liberal estimates show up to 45%).

This is important because sea water is saturated with calcium ions (Ca+2), which must be combined with carbonates to form the shells (as in bi-valves like clams and scallops) and habitat structures (as in gastropods, like conchs, and coral communities) made of Calcium carbonate (CaCO3). CaCO3 is a “neutral” (non ionic/reactive) and stable compound (within normal ocean ph ranges), and, with its plentiful constituent ions (Ca2+ and CO3-), it is an ideal material for marine creatures to utilize in constructing their shells and skeletons.

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The Bush administration has taken steps to open the Californian coast to oil exploration and drilling in as few as three years. The move could potentially tap more than 10 billion barrels of oil, enough to power the U.S. for 17 months.

The proposal has been greeted with horror in environmental circles, wary of the threat of oil spills, air pollution and increased shipping traffic in an area rich with migrating whales, millions of seabirds, sea otters, fish and crab feeding grounds. According to Richard Charter, a lobbyist for the Defenders of Wildlife Action Fund, “You couldn’t design a better formula to create adverse impacts on California’s coastal-dependent economy.”

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Though it can be difficult to understand how BALLE works, I’ll try to nutshell it for you. BALLE, a national organization, is made up of local business networks.  The networks are spread out all over the country, and each is focused on improving the sustainability of its own unique local economy. The businesses that make up each network are locally owned - they work together to share local resources and ideas, and to improve their local economy. BALLE provides resources to these member networks, like conferences and trainings.

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After looking forward to it for several months, the Opportunity Green Conference is now just around the corner. To be held November 17 at UCLA, the conference’s organizers are asking a question that seems to be on everyone’s lips: “Is green the new gold?”

The conference will bring together those involved in all aspects of green business, from visionaries and entrepreneurs to executives and investors, all of whom are dedicated to building socially conscious, sustainable, and profitable enterprises.

Organizers have put together an impressive list of speakers, all well-known in the socially-conscious world of business, including

• Kevin Wall, Founder of Live Earth
• Jonathan Greenblatt, Co-founder of Ethos Water
• Josh Dorfman, Author/Producer of “The Lazy Environmentalist”
• Max Schorr, Publisher and Founding Editor of GOOD Magazine
• Graham Hill, Founder of TreeHugger.com
• Gunther Lie, Director of Interactive Media for Method Products
• Ellen Strickland, Founder/Owner of Livingreen

The agenda features a panel discussion entitled, “Real World Green Business: Challenges, Mistakes and Opportunities” moderated by sustainability consultant and visionary John Picard. In addition, the schedule provides many options for break-out sessions, including Green 2.0: Connecting to Our Community, The End of Cars: The Future of Mobility as We Know It, and Venture Capital in the Green Marketplace.

There are also significant opportunities for networking, most notably before the event even starts. Through EventVue, registrants receive a login that allows you to upload a short bio, picture, etc. Once in, you can see who else will be at the event, including their areas of expertise and what they are “seeking”. A bit like a personal ad, but perfect for networking – you can even contact other registrants through the system before the event.

With more than 500 expected to attend, this conference is certain to help business people learn how to make gold from their green.

Of course, the signs have been around for awhile. It seems that I’m constantly meeting people who are starting new organic soap or skincare lines. And at the LOHAS Conference in April, an entire section was dedicated specifically to the booming green spa industry.

But it looks like I’m behind the curve on this one, though talking with the Green Bliss folks last week was enlightening. They reminded me that every ingredient in a particular product would be absorbed through the skin or nails…eeks! They also pointed out that many products, like nail polish, were developed decades ago. Science has come a long way since then, and we’re all more knowledgeable about what we put in, and on, our bodies so we should take the time to educate ourselves. And, you can’t rely on labels that tout a product as “natural” or “organic” – you have to read the ingredients.

Whew! OK, I finally get it. I need to “green up” my products.

To help me in this quest, I went back to Green Options writer Rebecca Carter’s Tip O’the Day: Cosmetics That Cause Concern. She recommended going to the Environmental Working Group’s cosmetics safety database, Skin Deep. There, I searched for the products that I use most, and got a few surprises, both good and bad. This was great for the products I already use, or am considering, but what about when I’m in the store…what ingredients do I really need to avoid?

I found a list of some of the worst offenders at National Geographic’s Green Guide, which lays out the “Dirty Dozen” one by one, along with the scary stuff that results from their use. They even have a downloadable wallet card so that you can always have the list with you.

With tremendous growth occurring in the Natural Personal Care category, it’s important to be educated consumers. By resisting old habits and spending a little more time educating ourselves, perhaps we can push new products in a healthier direction, and do better for our bodies in the meantime.

Photo Credit: SpaFinder.com

The answer on both questions? Yes and no. My skepticism of the motives of corporations aside, I must admit a bias in favor of the impact that businesses (especially businesses the size of GE) can have on the climate crisis we currently face. However, companies must be able to make a “business case” for green initiatives. In other words, going green has to be profitable for the company. Remember, the three elements of the triple bottom line include profit. Yes, it would be nice if companies made changes to improve their footprint out of a concern for people and the environment, and a few companies do just that, but the business world is not designed to reward such behavior. To get a critical mass of companies on board, profit must be achievable.

Apparently, GE Chairman and CEO Jeff Immelt feels the same way. His new mantra is “green is green,” meaning that green business equals green money. This could not be more true for GE. According to their May 24th press release, “Revenues from its (ecomagination) portfolio of energy efficient and environmentally advantageous products and services surged past $12 billion in 2006, up 20% from 2005, while the order backlog rose to $50 billion.”

Wow.

Immelt goes on to say, “These extraordinary revenues and orders are the initial payoff from directly aligning our product portfolio with our customers’ needs and evolving trends, while ‘doubling-down’ on investments in leading edge technology and innovation. Ecomagination is growing beyond our expectations, evolving into a sales initiative unlike any other I’ve seen in 25 years at GE.”

Though skeptics will point to the fact that ecomagination represents a small piece of GE’s business, this growth can only be good news. A company the size of GE can have a huge impact with their investment in new technologies, as well as in spreading the word through their visibility.

Immelt announced at the press conference a series of new partnerships and investment in many divergent industries, including:

• Water desalination: slated to open in 2010, the Carlsbad Seawater Desalination Plant will draw water from the Pacific Ocean for use in San Diego County. The facility will use GE’s ZeeWeed® ultra filtration technology.
• Hydrogen energy: GE, along with BP, is forming a global alliance to develop and deploy 10 to 15 hydrogen power projects.
• Wind energy: GE Energy Financial Services will invest in its biggest wind farm to date, the 241-megawatt Sweetwater 4 facility and a sister project, both in Texas.
• Transportation: efforts here include the first hybrid locomotive with Union Pacific, and investment in A123’s work toward the next-generation battery technology for hybrid electric and plug-in hybrid electric vehicles.
• Lighting: Wal-Mart, the largest individual electricity user in the country, will be installing motion-activated LED lighting in its refrigerated cases. In addition to using less energy for lighting, less heat will be generated reducing the amount of energy used for refrigeration.
• Housing: RWO Acquisitions is retrofitting an old Air Force base in coastal South Carolina into a green community, featuring energy efficient homes and GE’s first energy-efficient mortgage. Homes will offer the GE SmartCommand™ Dashboard, which provides current and historical data on water and electricity usage.
• Carbon emissions offsetting: with AES Corp., GE will invest in projects to capture and destroy GHG emissions from agricultural waste, landfills, coalmines and the like. The partnership will then sell the resulting offsets.
• Entertainment: NBC Universal has launched “Get On Board,” a program to improve the environmental impact of its operations by reducing greenhouse gases, raising awareness about green issues, and stimulating change in the media and entertainment industry.

After the press conference, we had time to view examples of some of the new technologies in the exhibit hall, before returning for a discussion on sustainability with Immelt and California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger. Though the questions posed by NBC’s Lester Holt were pretty much softballs, it was an interesting discussion. The gist? From the Governor’s point of view, in finding ways to balance environmental initiatives with economic concerns California can lead the way for the rest of the nation, including the federal government. Keys to success include giving industry enough time to meet new standards, and the realization that new technology brings new jobs.

Immelt’s answers did not waiver from his earlier message: GE is into green as a business initiative. When asked about GE’s biggest areas for growth, Immelt responded that taking these new technologies to India and China, where they are needed most, would be a coup for whoever delivers them affordably.

Both agreed that the US must provide leadership for the rest of the world by first cleaning up its own act. The US remains the world’s biggest polluter, representing just 5% of the population while being responsible for 25% of greenhouse gas emissions. The US must remedy this situation to have credibility when offering help to developing nations.

After a long day, I left the event with the sense that we’ve turned a corner. If companies like GE and Wal-Mart can make tons of money with green initiatives, while communicating the message that greening doesn’t cost money but makes money, other companies will follow their lead. This offers real hope, without the Kool-Aid.

His newest book, Blessed Unrest: How the Largest Movement in the World Came into Being and Why No One Saw It Coming is Hawken’s first title in eight years. Billed as an “…examination of the worldwide movement for social and environmental change” the author explores the movement based on a decade’s worth of research into those involved. Personally, as if Hawken’s reputation isn’t enough, the book’s promise to “inspire and delight” those who despair the fate of the world makes me want to read it. After all, who among us has not felt this despair on occasion?

In support of his new work, Hawken has integrated a cross-country book tour into his already crowded speaking schedule. Fortunately for those in the So Cal region, there are three opportunities to hear him speak from May 13th – 15th in the Pacific Palisades, Santa Barbara, and Pasadena. The events also feature a book signing.

Though perhaps most easily recognized as the founder of Smith & Hawken, the catalog and retail company that specializes in gardening products, Hawken’s involvement in social activism is long and varied. He worked as a Press Coordinator for Martin Luther King, Jr.’s staff before establishing the country’s first natural foods company in 1966.

Hawken went on to author books and articles numbering in the dozens, and lead several companies. Since 2003, he has served as the CEO of The Pax Group, sister companies that, among other things, provide quieter cooling systems for PCs, while using less energy. Hawken also heads the Natural Capital Institute, based in Sausalito, California, and has served on many boards, including that of The Natural Step.

Details on speaking dates can be found at: www.paulhawken.com

Photo credit: www.paulhawken.com

If the thought of a cross-town commute from the Valley has stopped you from checking out a Los Angeles area Green Drinks event, April 26th is your lucky day! This Thursday marks the inaugural LA Green Drinks, Valley Edition at The Sapphire in Studio City.

For those of you unfamiliar with Green Drinks International, it’s described as an “organic, self-organized network” of people interested in environmental issues. The organization now sports groups in 26 countries, including 215 locations across the US. This newest Los Angeles location completes the monthly circuit of Green Drinks held each Thursday of the month. The other locations include Culver City (1st Thursday), Hermosa Beach (2nd Thursday), and Silverlake (3rd Thursday).

In my own experience, Green Drinks events are a great way to meet like-minded people in a relaxing, casual atmosphere. The events draw from a cross-section of the green community, including people from all areas of business and non-profits, environmentalists, and even some folks just looking for good conversation and a stiff drink.

The benefits of attending Green Drinks are as varied as the people. On April 5th at the Culver City event, I met the new owner of Whole Life Times magazine and received a free subscription, reunited with a copywriter friend, and made three new business contacts. Plus, I got to do all of this with a cocktail in my hand. What more could you ask for?