Japan Earthquake: Signs of Climate Change

An 8.9 scale earth quake rocked Japan generating a tsunami that is moving homes, cars, planes and having an earth shattering office buildings.

This is obviously a terribly disturbing event as hundreds are already reported dead; at what point do we recognize the correlation between what is occurring in the natural environment as a result of the accelerated impact of human activity?

Condolences and well wishes for those who are experiencing a significant loss- it is unimaginable.

Here the ocean moves large boats and vehicles as though they were leaves in a stream.

Climate change: ask yourself, what am I doing

by Scotland Willis

A path to climate consciousness can be a long one.  Some don't necessarily know where to begin, others may believe  they are doing enough.  Still some people may just believe that they have too much baggage they are carrying around to add anything else to their "to do" list is just too much.

To be certain, getting to where I am today was not an overnight decision or process.  Each step along the way I was certain others would see it as a major psychological challenge.  But the further I got into this path of sustainability the more I wanted it.  Once you are committed to climate change issues, two things are very difficult 1) understanding why others don't buy into it; even if you don't believe in the seriousness of climate change, you could say at a fundamental level that polluting is worse than not polluting- right?  Sure!  2) and turning back- I have no interest in doing so.  So where do we go from here?

My goal is to get more people to understand what they can become more climate conscious; understand climate change in a way that they can apply it to their own lives; and to lead by example.  So I would like to share a few things about my own habits over the last few years.  For simplicity purposes I will number them and you can email me if you would like a more in depth response.  It is not about bragging rights, rather it is to present some practical steps towards achieving your own personal climate goals.

1) I stopped driving ( I sold my car and motor cycle in less than a 6 month period)
2) I hang dry my close in the warm and cold months.  The winter is very dry so hanging your clothes inside works great!  I have not used my dryer in more than 2 years.  Machine drying your clothes removes more of the fiber that your clothes are made of or burns the fabric a little each time.
3) I take public transportation
4) I cycle more often than I take public transportation (whenever possible)
5) I compost; using my nitrogen and carbon rich products to contribute to my soil for gardening each season
6) I recycle: 90-95%  of the products we send to the dump / land fill, can be recycled
7) I keep my hot water heater on low most of the time.  If it were my choice, I would recommend that a temperature control for the hot water heater was placed in an accessible place to have more control over when it was on or off
8) I collect the water from my shower in a container while the water is getting warmer so I don't waste the water, I can use it on my house plants
9)  I do the same thing when I wash dishes
10) When I am at Board meetings, I try to use my computer rather than printing up documents for the meeting.
11) I do not use additional heat at night because I have sufficient blankets
12) I purchase jeans from a second-hand store, you cannot tell that they are not brand new.  It requires about 1500 gallons or 6819 liters to make a 1.5 pounds (.68 kg) of cotton.

This is really just the beginning of what you and I can do.  Individuals make the difference.  By demonstrating what we are willing to do we also influence what business and governments do.

Consume less and reuse more; the philosophy is pretty simple.  Figure out how to use what you already have better.  In less developed nations, they are already doing a better job of conserving sometimes because they do not have a choice- we in developed nations could learn from them in many ways.

Most importantly "learn", as much as you can about how to make a difference.  In the United States we are just starting to take a deep look at overlapping services (listen to this broadcast from  npr).  I believe we can change from a culture of excessive consumption to a world of cooperative consumption.

Look for organizations, groups, stores and other resources that are already doing something.  Most entities are very welcoming and will encourage you to get started.  Not only that, in some instances you will enjoy yourself so much you may not even realize you are doing something climate conscious.

Each of us has a responsibility to the other in response to humanity and ecosystem.  

Thanks!
And let's do something environmental.

Saving the planet at home

Here are some basics on ways we can be more active in preserving our planet at home.

Climate and Sustainability News Stories

Let Green Elements Monday's keep you in the know.  Each Monday we will share stories from around the world about environmental issues.  Periodically we will select a topic to write about and share our perspective with you.  Enjoy your week! And thanks for visiting us at Green Elements.
Cotton: Conventional cotton is one of the most chemically-dependent crops, sucking up 10 percent of all agricultural chemicals and 25 percent of insecticides on 3 percent of our arable land; that's more than any other crop per unit.
Environmental Index ranking: Yale University's Environmental Performance Index (EPI), rankingof the United States status.  According to the 2010 the United States has slipped from 39 in 2008 to 61 in 2010.  This is disappointing news and a reminder that we need to be more persistent not relaxed in policies and personal practices of our environmental initiatives.  Keep in mind that as we progress, new light may be shed on what "environmental performance" means.  Also if the parameters are getting stronger, a ranking could also drop.  Let's be thorough in our understanding of all things. Other top ranking countries:
2008 Switzerland, Sweden, Norway, Finland.
2010 Iceland, Switzerland Costa Rica Sweden
Endangered Turtles: Last year 46 endangered Pacific loggerhead turtles were hooked on longlines...  ,their population has declined 80 percent in just two decades.
Uneven Climate Change (ENN)  Scientists are therefore trying to pin down how the warming has affected regional climates because that is what really matters to people...
Cyclone Yasi NASA : CloudSat satellite flew over Tropical Cyclone Yasi and revealed some impressive numbers for the height and width of the storm's clouds. Yasi was a category 4 storm with winds of 155 mph...
The Recycled Port (Science Daily)  In search of a sustainable alternative to dumping at sea or disposal on land,...
Drought in the Amazon (The Independent) the Amazon rainforest last year caused the "lungs of the world" to produce more carbon dioxide than they absorbed, potentially leading to a dangerous acceleration of global warming.
Re: As we continue to examine the impact of human activity, it is critically important that we have comprehensive responses to offset the calamity of overwhelming events  around the world.  If our responses are disproportionate in the minor sense, to the significane of these environmental impacts, we are likely to find oursleves in a compromising position to shift towards more favorable outcomes.  The Amazon plays a key role in carbon sinks as do other parts of the ecological system.
Climate change, housing, and insurance (NYT)...  In Brisbane, Australia, January storms ripped apart a riverside boardwalk— turning a concrete section 150 yards long into a waterborne torpedo.
...one of the world’s largest insurance companies, says climate-related events serious enough to cause property damage have risen significantly since 1980
Re: If the multi-billion dollar a year business of insurance is responsing to climate change relative to affecting their bottom line, it should also serve as a clear indicator that their rising costs and frequence of envets be an indicator to political leaders to respond similarly, by at least the same degree as insurers.

Network Consumption

Utility optimization

By Scotland Willis

Like the nature of recycling and the concept of cradle to cradle, collaborative consumption looks at the advent of social sharing networks commonly known as peer-to peer (P2P) networks; people buying, selling, borrowing, and renting from one another thereby avoiding a retailer- optimizing the usefulness of products and services among individuals.  From Flicker to Facebook, from AirBnB to hundreds of peer-to-peer products and services; this newly defined (compliments of Ray Algar) phenomenon is growing in numerous directions. Collaborative consumption represents a new element in the economy producing a new consumer base that would exist on a much smaller scale without internet technology- the true fabric of P2P networking.  Communication via the internet allows billions of people across vastly different geographies (individuals and groups), the opportunity to connect around the utility of mutually beneficial goods and services.  Put simply you have something with excess surplus and I can utilize that excess surplus which will provide additional (or secondary) benefit to the original owner and primary usefulness to me.

This P2P activity is producing new entrepreneurs and generating revenue in the billions of dollars representing an emerging economic powerhouse while serving other benefits as well.  We are likely looking at the diminishing value of large spaces occupied by retailers who attempt to persuade people to consume new and "improved" products.  Algar sums it up best when he makes the inquiry “What happens when pricing insight becomes accessible and consumers begin to share knowledge?" Essentially people are better informed about products and services, while gaining access to previously hard to complex or out of reach resources.

Algar opened the portal for Rachel Botsman and co-author Roo Rogers to expound on the concept in their book What's Mine is Yours.  Botsman and Rogers do an excellent job exploring the connectivity and concepts therein, along with the economics and behavioral implications.

Here I simply add important-to-consider impact and implications of peer-to-peer (P2P).  It is important to further expand on this emerging phenomenon by building on valuable concepts that enhance the explanation of the P2P consumerism. My guess is that collaborative consumption will continue to evolve; it is not likely to diminish as the economy rebounds-- I see it as an emerging trend that sets new precedence.  Consumers and owners (not producers so not to confuse the concept with manufacturing) are identifying new approaches to usefulness for goods.  Consider this one of many developments that lie ahead for collaborative consumption.

Collaborative consumption embodies only part of what P2P is becoming.  There are a couple of elements that deserve to be addressed in the concept I call product utility optimization.  I use this term because what people's actions are demonstrating is that they are attempting to find creative ways to further utilize products or services.  From distributing workloads to distributing expenses; in some instances people are buying high ticket items, or perhaps making more efficient use of items they possess in communal ways.  One might think of P2P as the great equalizer-- peer utilization.

Wikipedia provides hundreds of millions of people around the world with access to encyclopedic information at no charge, arguably the most efficient benefit possible, consumers in turn of this information, volunteer donations (at least that is the hope).   In my opinion, the idea of collaborative consumption is more about optimization through networking services.  Wikipedia achieves this somewhat altruistically, which leads to the social concept.

As found  in Botsman and Rogers' research, there are thousands of opportunities entrepreneurs capitalizing on those opportunities that are creating this nurturing "groundswell" as they put it.  Some of the more popular P2P include Freecycle, Landshare (in Europe), Netflix, Kazza- too many to mention.  And while at one point, P2P was referred to predominantly in the technology circles such that Netscape created, it has grown into a much broader network where the landscape is accelerating the social fabric of P2P.  Facebook and Twitter are an example of P2P news and information sharing, where messages can be transmitted around the world at near light speed.  All of the aspects of P2P play a tremendously valuable role in society.

What is the social benefit?  One perspective is that it allows people to be equally privileged- an online egalitarian society ; if you can afford it you can have it; if you have access to information or resources you can share it.  No red tape and the all important “S” word simplicity!; perhaps in this case sharing.  The appeal is a combination of both along with other factors.

With product utility optimization the initial consumer may be making their purchase because their consumer surplus consist of functionality towards their need and not necessarily price; the secondary consumer is more likely seeking as their primary benefit a combination of  cost savings + social benefit.  In their mind they are achieving or exceeding the value the initial purchaser received if the product enables them to achieve full utility of that resource for their needs.

In a second example we can consider an individual who owns a condo.  Suppose they have an empty space and choose to make the space available on Airbnb (a P2P room and home sharing service that generates revenue for the owner).  The peer utility allows the peer owner to be matched with the peer user optimizing the empty space.  One generates revenue where there would have been none, the peer user benefits by utilizing a space at what is usually a much lower cost with much higher benefits than a comparative price they might have paid if choosing a traditional hotel.

Where does this lead us and what are other benefits?  Referring back to the cradle to cradle concept; reduce, recycle, reuse, repair (4R's) and Botsman says redistribute. At this point the product is changing ownership.  I believe redistribute is implicit in the reuse concept of the 3R's with the exception of when ownership is changing hands.  Nonetheless, we use fewer resources when we reuse products and thereby reduce the taxation on the natural resources and the environment that results from traditional approaches in consumerism i.e, reducing hyper consumption.

From a social perspective we have large groups of people from all around the world that can participate in the free market concept without a middle man and as mentioned earlier. In large groups many people can gain leverage to negotiate the price of products ranging from oil to televisions.  People also assemble around the notion of being able to utilize what they need most without assuming full responsibility for the expense i.e. Zip Car, kind of like a distributive welfare and accountability system.  The key word is system.   We are looking at an intricate network of multiple systems organized around the multiple needs of people, exponentiating the utility of a good or service.

These emerging industries are intricate systems of like minded people seeking take advantage of not just psychological surpluses in economic terms, but take advantage of the physical surplus that both the owner of an existing good and secondary consumer of that good acknowledge.  This product serves two utilities because it may no longer be of any use to the one, but an amazon.com can optimize its utility without that product going to waste, to the other peer, it results in a secondary value system.

Google does this by enabling share ware and non-proprietary or open source software- efficiency yields a social efficiency that results in less restrictive environments.  Less restrictive environments mean more people have access.  People who embrace this system seem to pursue and desire the liberal (from a non-political perspective) informal attributes.  With greater access to information they become resident experts which also requires an element of self confidence, something you don necessarily gain with retailers.

Trust is another concept that Botsman refers to as the cornerstone of collaborative consumption, and I agree.  While I am not suggesting definitively, that trusting people flock to this environment, I am suggesting that the trust profile (in part) make up a segment of the value added in a P2P environment. Though I would argue that when someone developes a rating system that tracks trustability and applies it to the general online population, the system will lose much of the character it currently enjoys.

Mike Reynolds, founder of Earthship Biotecture demonstrates many of these social value systems mentioned in this article in his architectual Earthship project, where individuals commit to contribute to building a community with little financial output in exchange for 1) preserving natrual resources and helping to build homes.   As in Earthship and other examples, people exchange and share resources with little more than a verbal agreement(ride sharing or swap tree), in all these examples trust is a paramount attribute.  The risk is relatively small compared to the percieved value of being a merchant, executing a trade or share, and successfully feeling like a part of a community without boarder relative to judging your personal character.

Unrestricted resources enable people to connect at low to no cost products which fosters a greater social network, it is an enabler which also fosters resulting in a more egalitarian marketplace.  Craigslist provides individuals with an endless resource to sell products or services, assemble around a common interest (e.g. ride sharing, match making etc).  There are very few restrictions (which have also resulted in legislative pressures to modify certain policies), but in general Craigslist is tremendously successful as their model operate world wide at zero or very modest cost to P2P users.  It is not unusual to find people gloating about how they found a car, lamp, plant, book or clothing on Craigs list free or inexpensively.  These borderless communal opportunities connect people in expansive ways, which people embrace the service and one another . Many price prohibitive barriers have been removed thereby creating greater access to a wider community of people.  People develop individual equity solely based on their results- a tremendous social value.

Peer to peer utility optimization, collaborative consumerism and whatever other language P2P networks might assume, it is anything but temporary.  P2P is a new and component to our society that is likely to improve society, the market place, the environment, and multitude of areas the have and have yet to be explored.  The trend of utility optimization is not new, some might recall a time when grand parents or earlier generations saved everything for another purpose; no this is simply a more innovative approach to allowing the world to look at yet another use for that galss jar.