Green Options

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In less than three weeks, Sacramento plays host to the world’s largest conference on one of the most important societal issues of our time - Peak Oil. In late September, the Association for the Study of Peak Oil and Gas - USA (ASPO-USA) is convening its 2008 Peak Oil Conference at the Hyatt Regency in Sacramento, California. The conference title - The Peak Oil Energy Challenge - The Future Starts Now! - says it all; it’s time for us to take control of our energy future and start dealing with our oil and energy predicaments.

I imagine ASPO-USA chose Sacramento since California is leading the nation in laws for renewable energy and combating global warming, thereby providing a model for other states. Perhaps if Peak Oil mitigation can get some traction in the California, it can also speed up action on the federal level which tends to be slower than molasses.

Guest Contributing Writer Philip Proefrock is more frequently found writing about green building and design issues at our sister blog Green Building Elements. His wife, Stacia Proefrock is a homebirth midwife, doula, and fertility consultant and is a member of the Michigan Midwives Association organizing committee for the MANA conference.

The Midwives Alliance of North America (MANA) annual conference will be held in Traverse City, Michigan later this October. MANA is a professional organization for midwives throughout North America. “MANA’s goal is to unify and strengthen the profession of midwifery, thereby improving the quality of health care for women, babies, and communities.”

You can help support the work of midwives.  MANA is working to push legislation in a number of states where the practice of midwifery and homebirth is not fully legal.  While some states have laws that support and encourage the practice of midwifery, many other states are less supportive.  MANA is also advocating for insurance companies to allow homebirth options as a safe, less-expensive and less resource consuming alternative to standard hospital births.

No, Al Gore is not running for president this year, but the Nobel Laureate, Oscar winner and former Vice President still keeps popping up during this campaign season. Late last week, the folks at West Coast Green announced that Gore will give a keynote address at their 2008 event, joining other eco-celebs such as Sarah Susanka, David Suzuki and Hunter Lovins.

So what’s West Coast Green?  Well, when we covered it last year, the event was billed as a “residential building conference and expo.” This year, however, the program will expand to cover the wide range of issues and ideas surrounding green building and development, and the event’s being described as “…a feast of innovations and ideas — an educational smorgasbord designed to widen your vision and stimulate your mind with the latest best practices in green building.” Homebuilders, homeowners, policy wonks and ecopreneurs will all find plenty to keep them engaged.

Blue Planet Run Foundation taps into the deeper running issues African women face when they lack access to water. The first ever African Women and Water Conference was recently held at the Greenbelt Center (home of Nobel Laureate, Wangari Maathai’s, Greenbelt Movement to plant trees). Annette Faye, a representative of BPRF’s Peer Water Exchange reports her findings:

Why would women need to gather to discuss the topic of water?

• Pastoral women wake up at pre-dawn hours to walk great distances in order to collect water and relieve themselves. By midday they must walk out into the desert at a greater distance to avoid being seen, often returning ashamed and sometimes soiled.
• Water privatization makes water inaccessible to most because it raises prices. Male water vendors dominate the communal water points, so women have to wait in long lines. Women get beaten if it takes too long to return home, accused by the husbands that they are cheating on them.
• Desperate women exchange sex for water to avoid the line.

Every single women agreed, and took for granted, that water is their responsibility and that it’s a problem.

The AWWC, held in Kenya, was comprised of 30 women from all over Africa. These women were eager to learn and share with their communities. The five-day schedule was packed, going well into the evening. Between activities women broke into song and dance. They learned how to implement new technologies, write business plans, test water’s safety, and use the Peer Water Exchange collaborative model. The women were excited to join a global network and liked that the PWX application is standardized.

With the country seemingly abuzz with the word “green”, you know that industry cannot be far behind. Of course, consumer packaged goods companies are churning out green versions of their products, but what about the rest of the world’s companies? For them, does it pay to go green?

That’s the question that UCLA Extension looked to answer for about 150 attendees at their “The Business of Green: What’s the Payoff?” conference in Long [...]

Fast money and fast movers. These are the phrases that come to mind when entrepreneurs talk about venture capital as a potential source of funding. But what if the flow of funds slowed down…way down?

The Next Generation of Sustainable Capital

The Investors’ Circle spring conference attempted to answer that question during a lively breakout session entitled “Slow Money: New Strategies for Investing in Local Food Systems.” Attended by reps from next generation investors such as SJF Ventures, Transformative Capital, and Renewal Partners, the conference blended a business pitch competition, philosophical discussions, an entrepreneur showcase, and community education in an effort to jump start the transition to a sustainable economy. Ecopreneurist writers were out in full force at the conference, with Leah Edwards blogging the “Is Organic the Next Clean Tech?” breakout session and joining in the networking events.

Slow Money: New Strategies for Investing in Local Food Systems

As part of the larger Slow Movement sweeping the cultures of food, travel, cities, and schools, Slow Money proponents seek investments and returns at the pace of sustainable business development. Slow Money panelist Greg Steltenpohl, former CEO of Odwalla and self-confessed “fast money sinner testifying before you,” advocated for the creation of new metaphors for economic growth. In the Slow Money movement, organic phrases replace academic terminology and new financial vehicles arise to form the “compost of the slow money economy.” Investors’ Circle chairman Woody Tasch expressed this transition as a study in contrasts between old and new ways of thinking:

Wal-Mart CEO Lee Scott attended the ECO:nomics conference in California this week. Wal-Mart has been heralded as a forerunner of corporate environmentalism: in 2005, the company announced big plans to “green up” its act. But when Scott was asked when Wal-Mart expects to achieve the environmental goals it set forth in 2005, Scott answered bluntly: “I have no idea when that will be.”

It’s the first time anyone from Wal-Mart has admitted so candidly that the company [...]

Last Thursday I had the opportunity to attend a conference at Design Continuum’s Boston Headquarters office. I attended on behalf of Ecolect with co-founders, Joe Gebbia and Matt Grigsby, as a team materials correspondent. For those of you who don’t know about Ecolect, it is a free community-based website for learning about and sourcing sustainable materials. I serve as a materials correspondent and help to generate community relationships and material information. The site is intended for architects, designers, engineers, graphic artists, but more specifically everyone! The conference was focused on Green Design- the impact of the field of design, and lessons on how to solve problems while helping the world, not hurting it.

Director of Design Continuum, Mark Bates opened the event with a presentation of the design firm’s overall footprint. He estimated that they’ve added about 500 million parts to the world during their 25 years of practice. These parts are anything from screws to Intel processors to cellophane package display windows- anything included in the overall manifestation and presentation of a product. Considering these facts coming from a design consultancy that tends to take a conscious, all encompassing design analysis approach to everything they work on, it makes me wonder about the impact of the companies designing toys for McDonalds.

He sent us with the message of- think of design in terms of aiding the efficiency and health of our earth and future. To begin to understand the perceptions of “sustainability” and “green” to the average consumer, Design Continuum has launched an internal study project called Color Blind. They are obtaining comments from everyday consumers about products and life to hopefully design from both sides- sustainability and the consumer.

The day long conference was broken down into hour-long presentations during which Q&A was included. “Their approach was a model other conferences could learn from - one day, comfortably paced, intimately sized, focused on one topic, inviting speakers with different views, and …free,” says Joe Gebbia.

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 [...]

For those of you who travel to foreign cities for conferences, get all fired up throughout the day listening to inspiring talks, and seeing innovative ideas in action, yet then dread the retreat to the seclusion of your double-bed hotel room, don’t fear: an alternative is here. Not only is renting a hotel a pain in the rear, but I frequently experience buyers remorse due to how excessive a whole room to myself

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I’ve heard of many things being "the new black" but now the question seems to be, "Is green the new gold?"

At least that’’ the question posed by the organizers of the upcoming Opportunity Green Conference. Developed through a partnership with UCLA’s Sustainable Resource Center, the conference is also sponsored by many well-known names, including Clif Bar and Treehugger.

The conference will bring

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