Overcoming the Seven Sustainability Blunders

As sustainability practitioners we are used to banging our heads against the wall. We wonder why our bosses and colleagues don't "get it". We are dumbstruck by those that refuse to make a profit and still do good. We shake our heads at the refusal of people to think about future generations on the planet and what the world will look like if we propagate 20th century behavior in the 21st century. Yet we plug away, and continue the good fight, full of frustration, but somewhat satisfied with progress, albeit minimal.

If we'd like to see sustainable behavior take root faster (and reduce the amount of headaches we have), then this article titled, "Overcoming the Seven Sustainability Blunders" by Bob Doppelt is a must read.  I've heard of some of the blunders before, but there are a few new ones that I had never contemplated. Mr. Doppelt not only lists and describes the seven blunders, but he also provides ways to resolve the blunders through "interventions". There's a ton of information to digest in this article, so take it in slowly and deliberately, because it's critical that we begin to mitigate our blunders.

Pickens Calls Off Massive Wind Farm in Texas

This doesn't really come as a surprise to me. I guess Mr. Pickens couldn't make enough money on this bold venture. Or he really doesn't care about getting the U.S. off of Middle Wast oil. Or perhaps it was the fact that natural gas prices went into the toilet with economy. It's so sad. Remember all the ads during the presidential campaign touting the "Pickens Plan"? It was all swagger and no substance. My bet is that he couldn't get the government to pay for his transmission lines or for the conversion kit for your car to burn natural gas instead of gasoline. Nevermind the fact that natural gas is a fossil fuel (albeit burns a little cleaner than gasoline) and that the process of extracting it out of the ground is horrid (see hydraulic fracturing), not to mention what it could do to the water supply. Anyway, we don't need to burn any more fossil fuels than we currently do. There's plenty of money to be made in demand side management, the energy efficiency space, sustainability initiatives, and clean renewable energy generation. Let's get on it.

The Call for a New U.S. Renewable Energy Policy

This opinion piece makes the case for a new comprehensive federal renewable energy policy. The author gives numerous facts to show that all we have to do is change our thinking just a wee bit and we can go from the biggest polluter and energy consumer for our size to something dramatically less. For instance:

A 2007 Department of Energy report states that energy efficiency measures can reduce the nation's energy demand growth 50 percent by 2025.

50 percent. That's an incredible amount from just completing energy audits (and subsequent retrofits) on all of our buildings. Here's another tidbit from the article:

"The measures that would drastically cut our carbon emissions also would create millions of good-paying domestic jobs in clean industries. Furthermore, jobs in the green collar labor force are resistant to offshoring."

Made in America could be a household term again and job creation could ease some of the pain this recession impose upon us. There's much that could happen with the right leadership, from Congress and more importantly from the President of the United States. I sure hope that an RE policy is at the very top of the agenda in the next administration.