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A new report shows that 2013 was another banner, record-setting year for solar energy in the U.S., with 4,751 megawatts (MW) of new photovoltaic (PV) capacity installed--a year-over-year increase of 41 percent--with another 410 MW of concentrating solar power (CSP) coming online. A record 2,106 MW of solar power capacity was installed in the fourth quarter alone, amounting to 44 percent of the annual total. That bests the old quarterly record by 60 percent.

As of year-end, there were more than 445,000 solar electric systems generating clean, renewable electrical power in the U.S. That amounts to more than 12,000 MW of PV and 918 MW of CSP capacity–enough for some 2.2 million average U.S. homes, according to the GTM Research-Solar Energy Industry Association's (SEIA) “Solar Market Insight Year in Review 2013.”

Solar accounted for 29 percent of all new electricity generation capacity added in 2013, second only to natural gas, which accounted for 46 percent. In the aggregate, 2013 statistics indicate that solar energy is on the cusp of going mainstream in the U.S., if it isn't already there. A geographic breakdown of solar installations shows that this is indeed the case, but only in a few U.S. states.

Solar in the geographic mix

California alone accounted for more than half of American PV installations in 2013, adding more solar capacity last year than was installed nationwide in 2011. The top five states for solar energy installations in 2013, California, Arizona, North Carolina (a surprising third!), Massachusetts and New Jersey, accounted for 81 percent.

The high level of geographic concentration reveals just how far solar energy is from being a major factor in the mainstream energy mix for the U.S. as a whole. But it also reveals the tremendous growth potential that still exists. With solar costs continuing to fall, technology continuing to improve, and acceptance at the grassroots level and among large investors on the rise, it appears that even better times lie ahead.

Ongoing declines in solar manufacturing and installation costs, along with ongoing increases in energy conversion efficiencies, continue to drive solar deployments higher. So too does continuing support at the state and federal levels. And so too do new financing mechanisms that are broadening access to new categories of investors and lowering the cost of capital for industry participants.

Even better days are coming

Also looming on the horizon is the prospect of affordable and smart battery storage systems, a development that should provide much in the way of new impetus to an already fast growing U.S. solar energy market. As SEIA President Rhone Resch states in a press release:

“Today, solar is the fastest-growing source of renewable energy in America, generating enough clean, reliable and affordable electricity to power more than 2.2 million homes–and we’re just beginning to scratch the surface of our industry’s enormous potential."

The solar industry continues to be a rare bright spot in terms of generating good jobs, as well as clean, renewable energy, Resch continued.

“Last year alone, solar created tens of thousands of new American jobs and pumped tens of billions of dollars into the U.S. economy. In fact, more solar has been installed in the U.S. in the last 18 months than in the 30 years prior. That’s a remarkable record of achievement.”

The following, courtesy of the SEIA and GTM Research, are some more key takeaways from the “Solar Market Insight Year in Review 2013” report:

• There is now a total of 12.1 GW of PV and 918 MW of CSP operating in the U.S. That represents an 80 percent increase in CSP capacity.


• There were 140,000 individual solar installations in the U.S. in 2013, and a total of over 445,000 systems operating today. The market value of all PV installations completed in 2013 was $13.7 billion.


• Weighted average PV system prices fell 15 percent in 2013, reaching a new low of $2.59 per watt in the fourth quarter.


• The groups forecast a 26 percent PV installation growth in 2014, with installations reaching nearly 6 GW. Growth will occur in all segments, but will be most rapid in the residential market, they predict.


• The wave of concentrating solar power installations slated for completion at the end of 2013 into 2014 kicked off with the 280 MW Solana project and the Genesis Solar project’s initial 125 MW phase. In early 2014, BrightSource’s notable Ivanpah project also began operating and SolarReserve’s Crescent Dunes began commissioning.

Image credit: Flickr/CoCreatr

How's this for timing: Just a few weeks in advance of a special Triple Pundit series on sustainable fisheries, last Friday the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency issued a strongly--and we mean strongly--worded announcement that it will use its authority under the Clean Water Act to to protect the sockeye salmon fishery in Bristol Bay, Alaska, which just happens to be the largest sockeye fishery in the entire world.

Triple Pundit took note of the EPA announcement earlier this week (here's that article), and it's worth revisiting the topic to make a point about the growing tension between renewable and non-renewable resources in an increasingly globalized economy.

A slam-dunk for protecting Bristol Bay

The EPA announcement came in response to the proposed Pebble Mine, a copper mining operation. Here is the money quote from the EPA regarding its unusually aggressive announcement:

This action...reflects the unique nature of the Bristol Bay watershed as one of the world’s last prolific wild salmon resources and the threat posed by the Pebble deposit, a mine unprecedented in scope and scale.

That statement is dramatic enough, but beyond this one instance the EPA action indicates a renewed attentiveness to the potentially devastating impact of non-renewable resource harvesting on renewable resources, so let's see how this plays out on a broader scale.

In Friday's announcement, EPA Regional Administrator for Region 10 had this to say:

Bristol Bay is an extraordinary natural resource, home to some of the most abundant salmon producing rivers in the world. The area provides millions of dollars in jobs and food resources for Alaska Native Villages and commercial fishermen. The science EPA reviewed paints a clear picture: Large-scale copper mining of the Pebble deposit would likely result in significant and irreversible harm to the salmon and the people and industries that rely on them.

The Bristol Bay salmon fishery

According to the EPA, Bristol Bay is where nearly half of the world’s wild sockeye salmon get their start, with an average of 37.5 million fish each year. That includes the five Pacific salmon species native to North America (sockeye, coho, Chinook, chum and pink) along with about 20 other fish species. If those numbers seem high, that's no accident. The EPA credits the "exceptional water quality in streams and wetlands" for a healthy habitat.

Putting aside the happy salmon for the moment, EPA also credits Bristol Bay with generating hundreds of millions of dollars in economic activity, involving more than 14,000 full and part-time local jobs.

The EPA Pebble Mine assessment

The Pebble Mine, according to EPA, would be the biggest open-pit mine ever built in North America, and that's just for starters. Disposing of mine waste would require the construction of at least three dams at the headwaters of two rivers that account for approximately half the sockeye salmon population.

EPA's assessment of the environmental impacts was unusually strong, but it was meticulously vetted. The announcement came only after the release of a detailed study undertaken in 2010 on request of several Alaska Native tribes in the region.

The study, “Assessment of Potential Mining Impacts on Salmon Ecosystems of Bristol Bay, Alaska,” is well worth a read in full, but the gist of it is that although some risk mitigation is certainly possible, when you take into consideration everything that could go wrong it all adds up to one glorious disaster.

In light of the string of environmental disasters in the U.S. over the past few years, from the Tennessee coal ash spill in the Emory River to the BP Gulf oil spill and the Enbridge pipeline spill in the Kalamazoo River on up to the West Virginia coal-washing chemical spill and the North Carolina coal ash spill, that's a pretty high level of risk.

As for next steps, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers cannot issue a permit for the mine unless and until the EPA is satisfied.

That prospect seems highly unlikely. In Friday's announcement, EPA cited the more than 850,000 comments it received from a wide variety of stakeholders in the region committed to preserving Bristol Bay.

In that regard it's notable that the jewelry company Brilliant Earth has been in the vanguard of promoting more sustainable mining practices. Brilliant Earth co-founder Beth Gerstein just guest-posted an article to that effect on Triple Pundit last week, underscoring her company's use of recycled materials as a more sustainable pathway to building a business on personal accessories.

Colonialism, much?

Take a quick look back at basic American history, and you'll see that the 13 original colonies were engineered to produce raw materials for companies in their home nation overseas.

Those days have long since gone, but history has a habit of repeating itself, and the U.S. again finds itself in the position of compromising the health and safety of its communities and its natural resources in order to satisfy the thirst for raw materials overseas.

That includes heavy lobbying to increase exports of natural gas, entailing more negative impacts from natural gas fracking. China has also become a player in U.S. fossil fuel development, and then of course there's Canada, adding to fossil fuel transportation risks with the proposed Keystone XL tar sands oil pipeline.

Now we can add copper to the list: The lead developer of the Pebble Mine is the Canada-based company Northern Dynasty Minerals Ltd.

Image credit: Ingrid Talary

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It seems to be just a matter of time. Marijuana legalization is moving across the country. Today, 20 states already allow medical cannabis. On Wednesday, the Washington, D.C. City Council voted almost unanimously to decriminalize marijuana in small amounts, while Colorado and Washington state have legalized the stuff. It's flowing into daily lives, and now we're seeing the first network television commercial for medical marijuana--just playing right there on the TV like they're selling Tylenol or Hot Pockets.

Airing on national networks in the state of New Jersey--networks like A&E, Fox, CNN, Comedy Central, Food Network and the History Channel--a company called Marijuana Doctors is making the case for buying the product from trusted clinical sources.

The television ad features a slick talking, back alley sushi-pusher selling tuna and sashimi from the inside of his leather jacket. The commercial ends saying, "You wouldn't buy your sushi from this guy, so why would you buy your marijuana from him?" The message here, in form and choice of medium, seems to be right in line with MarijuanaDoctors.com's mission of "legitimizing the process for the booking and selection of medical marijuana doctors." Major network television is just about as normalizing and arguably legitimizing as it comes. And it's telling that the networks agreed to air the ad. Sure, money talks. But so does viewer outrage. Apparently the networks didn't think that would be an issue.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jyzxs33B6FA

According to a press release, Marijuana Doctors CEO Jason Draizin said it took some work to convince Comcast that such a commercial is important and legitimate saying: "Securing the airtime for our commercial on a major network was extremely difficult and at the same time, extremely satisfying... We recognize that the sale and use of marijuana is still considered very controversial and we are pleased that Comcast understands that there are legitimate businesses providing legitimate and legal services to people who have legitimate needs."

It took some guts for Comcast to agree to the commercial. This isn't about selling happy-fun-time weed. This is about giving people safe access to a legitimate medication.

Medical marijuana is legal for the people of New Jersey and has been since 2010. They're still dipping their toes into the cannabis thing, however, with quite a lot more restrictions on medical marijuana use for children than for adults, which seems odd since little kids seem like they'd be the ones least likely to seek the stuff out recreationally rather than for legitimate and serious illnesses. The state of New Jersesy only allows children to take medical cannabis in harder-to-obtain edible form, not liquid form as found in other states. Gov. Chris Christie recently rejected a bill that would have allowed people to buy marijuana in another state, in whatever form, and bring it to New Jersey.

This is still very much a national experiment which more and more states seem to be embracing. Mayor Vincent Gray is expected to sign the latest Washington, D.C. local legislation, then it will go to the U.S. Congress, which can reject it. The federal government, however, still publicly opposes the nation's growing momentum toward legalization. The Obama administration's statement about marijuana legalization on WhiteHouse.gov makes clear that they oppose it as a significant safety risk to the nation because it would "increase the availability and use of illicit drugs."

So the debate continues, although with growing acceptance and opportunities for hard evidence on the efficacy of medical marijuana.

Image credit: Flickr/david_shankbone

Logo: MarijuanaDoctors.com Website

By Jamie Carson

The corporate sector is playing a significant role in helping cities build resilience.

There is reasonable concern for cities to be considering this risk, which includes climate stressors such as wildfire, flood and sea level rise, said AECOM Director of Sustainable Development Claire Bonham-Carter on Feb. 25 during the panel “Identifying Climate Risk and Building Resilience” at the Climate Leadership Conference.

According to a recent CDP poll of 110 cities around the world, 98 percent of cities are reporting risk from climate change.

“These cities are reporting this risk now, not in the future,” Bonham-Carter emphasized.

The CDP report, "Wealthier, Healthier Cities," launched in London June 2013 and performed a deep dive into the cascading consequences of climate-related change and variability. The report’s data analysis and informational design were led by AECOM, and it was also co-sponsored by Autodesk and Jones Lang LaSalle.

It’s also important to note that 71 percent of cities are putting resilience plans in place to some extent, Bonham-Carter said.

Alan Cohn, director of climate and water quality for the New York City Department of Environmental Protection, said NYC has been planning for climate–as a stressor to its watershed and wastewater system–since 2004. In the region, $300 million in investments could protect $2.5 billion in wastewater assets from repeated flooding losses.

“There is no one-size-fits-all plan when you are talking about (climate) adaptation,” Cohn said. Considering critical thresholds for practical application is crucial – “What is the level of risk you are willing to accept?”

To do this, Cohn highlighted the benefit of collaborating with the academic and scientific communities.

“It is never going to be perfect; choose something, go with it, conduct assessment, and find shovel-ready projects to start preparing our cities,” Cohn said.

On the other side of the U.S., the state of California recently released its "Safeguarding California: Reducing Climate Risk" report that covers nine chapters–agriculture; biodiversity and habitat; emergency management; energy; forestry; oceans and coastal ecosystems and resources; public health; transportation; and water.

California aims to be sophisticated in communicating climate risk and works with a wide range of departments across the state, said Ann Chan, deputy secretary for climate change and energy, California Natural Resources Agency. Chan also recommended selectively choosing vocabulary that is intuitive and speaks to a broader audience.

“In government, we have always been frustrated by silos, and climate is a way to bridge the silos,” she said. “However, government can not do this alone; the magnitude of events that are occurring will require all sectors to come together to tackle the issue.”

Zurich-based Swiss Re and U.S.-based The Nature Conservancy, among other joint-industry leaders, have recently partnered on "The Case for Green Infrastructure," which assesses the costs and performance of how natural infrastructure–such as forests and wetlands–can increase business resilience.

“If we model the effectiveness of, for example, wetlands in protecting what lies behind them, we can put a value on the wetland,” said Mark Way, head sustainability, Americas, and director, group risk management, Swiss Re.  “What we cannot yet do is to calculate the full value that that area has to the local community beyond it being a buffer to severe weather.”

Cities and businesses will increasingly rely on balancing green (natural) and gray (concrete) infrastructure to increase resilience as natural events continue to grow in frequency, said Michelle Lapinski, senior advisor, valuing nature, The Nature Conservancy. From the business perspective, Lapinski points to the recently launched Natural Capital Business Hub as a look at private-sector led initiatives to safeguard natural assets.

In a panel later in the afternoon of Feb. 25, “Communicating Climate, Targeting Your Audience,” panel moderator, Anne Kelly, Ceres director of public policy, echoed the sentiment of the earlier panel. She raised her hand and counted three important points in communicating about climate change in communities: “Simple message. Repeat often. Credible messenger.”

The Climate Leadership Conference (#TheCLC on social media) was held this year in San Diego, Feb. 24-26, and was co-sponsored by the Association of Climate Change Officers, the Center for Climate and Energy Solutions, The Climate Registry, and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. At the event, several companies were recognized with Climate Leadership Awards to help incentivize exemplary corporate, organizational, and individual leadership in response to climate change.

About the author: Jamie Carson is founder and director of C.C. Global – an environment, resilience & sustainability communications firm that works with local and global partners to advance cooperation, education and outreach in the sector. To that end, C.C. Global has created a track record of connecting dots to new opportunities, all while providing strategic communications services that support your organization’s mission and valuable team. Besides working as a communications support team, C.C. Global reinvests in social enterprise initiatives such as Envirorun, a run, networking and speaker opportunity for the community, and is in the process of launching more in 2014. C.C. Global was a Marketing Partner of the 2014 Climate Leadership Conference. Follow updates on Twitter @ccglobalUS and Facebook at C.C. Global.

Cities and companies may try to ban bottled water, but this convenient form of hydration isn’t going anywhere soon. One company, Agana Rainwater, is taking a different approach to making bottled water more environmentally friendly: collecting, filtering and bottling rainwater that would otherwise go wasted.

We interviewed Marc Howell, Agana’s founder and CEO, to learn more about the Buda,Texas-based company and hear about its future plans.

TriplePundit: How long has your company been in operation?

Marc Howell: We started sales in 2012, but started building the facility and getting state approvals in 2011.

3p: How did you come up with the idea to collect, bottle and sell rainwater?

MH: I am a licensed irrigator and start[ed] using rainwater collection for irrigation during drought times. Once I saw how plants responded to rain over municipal water, I knew that humans would respond the same way. We tested the water and found out that this is the purest form of raw water if collected [using our Sky Spring process].

3p: How does your product conserve water and other resources?

MH: There is no waste in our process like purified waters that throw away between 40 and 60 percent of the water. We are also using an unutilized resource that would otherwise sit in a planned retention pond and would never make it to lakes, rivers or aquifers. All other water sources pull off dwindling water supplies, while rainwater is taking what was already planned not to be utilized.

 3p: How much rainwater have you collected and bottled since you’ve started your operation?

MH: We have bottled and sold nearly 1 million bottles since we started, and we have not begun to max-out our Buda Sky Spring facility. We can produce 1 million bottles on 1.5 inches of rain.

3p: Where do you collect the rainwater? Where would the rainwater go if you didn’t collect it (the storm drain, sidewalk, etc.)?

MH: We collect rainwater on our Sky Spring facility in Buda, Texas. The water would sit in our retention pond in the back of our building. None of it would make it to a water source or replenish the aquifer.

3p: Does collecting and bottling rainwater diminish ground water supplies?

MH: No, our concept is taking commercial real estate that already has a master planned drainage system and utilizing that resource.

 3p: How do you process the water once it’s been collected?

MH: We flush and filter the raw water until it has bottled water clarity. Our finished raw water tank is 13 times purer than Fiji's finished product and two times as pure as Smartwater’s or Voss’. We then run our water through an ultra-filtration process and disinfect it with UV and ozone.

3p: Does acid rain affect your product?

MH: Acid rain is a reality in colder regions with acidic soil or around petrochemical plants. We have no acid rain around our Sky Spring facility in Buda and would avoid these areas for future Sky Spring facilities. Our requirement study can define those areas to avoid them.

3p: How are your bottles environmentally friendly? You say they’re both biodegradable and recyclable–how is that possible?

MH: We use Enso bottles, which are a petroleum-based polymer that is recyclable in mainstream recycling. The polymer is injected with an organic additive that, if introduced into an aerobic landfill situation, can biodegrade.

3p: Where do you sell your bottled water? Who are some of your biggest clients?

MH: We sell water to Whole Foods, Natural Grocers and Vitamin Cottage, the Four Seasons, the Hilton, the Hyatt, John F. Kennedy International Airport, LaGuardia International Airport, Ronald Reagan National Airport, Orlando International Airport and Philadelphia International Airport.

3p: Any exciting future plans for your company?

MH: We are looking to make Agana Rainwater a household regional name by bringing on an experienced sales/broker team that has 29 years experience in the consumer packaged goods industry. We are in talks with one of the world's largest retailers to [add our Sky Spring collection process] to their facilities and also in talks with the largest distributor in Costa Rica to do the same. We have weekly calls to partner with domestic and international companies looking to take control of their water futures.

Image credit: Agana Rainwater

Passionate about both writing and sustainability, Alexis Petru is freelance journalist based in the San Francisco Bay Area whose work has appeared on Earth911, Huffington Post and Patch.com. Prior to working as a writer, she coordinated environmental programs for Bay Area cities and counties. Connect with Alexis on Twitter at @alexispetru

Carbon capture and storage technologies designed to reduce emissions are getting a better reception in the U.S. than in Europe, according to Technology Centre Mongstad (TCM), a Norwegian firm that tests CCS technology.

A CNBC report based on interviews with TCM executives says the U.S is a “more welcoming place” for CCS technology, at least at the moment, because Europe is recovering from a debt crisis and recession.

TCM executives told CNBC that the U.S. shale boom is making carbon emissions reduction technology an easier sale. Also, as part of its energy strategy, the Obama administration last year paved the way for the increased use of CCS technology, which traps carbon from power plants and then injects it underground.

Further, "the fracking revolution in the U.S., if anything, has generated more interest" in carbon emissions capture, says Olav Falk-Pedersen, TCM's business development manager. A number of U.S. and Canadian companies are interested, he added.

"In general, CCS has suffered a setback in Europe," Falk-Pedersen said.

Howard Herzog, a senior research engineer at the MIT Energy Initiative, noted the U.S. is friendlier to CCS than Europe is because it's more acclimated to drilling activities.

The U.S. "is more used to oil and gas exploration, and (the CCS) technology is similar to that," Herzog continued. “In parts of Europe, they just don't like drilling.”

TCM says it is the world’s largest and most advanced facility for testing and improving CO2 capture. The center is a joint venture set up by the Norwegian state (75.12 percent), Statoil (20 percent), Shell (2.44 percent) and Sasol (2.44 percent). It aims to “increase knowledge on carbon capture technologies, in order to reduce technical and financial risk, and accelerate the development of qualified technologies capable of wide scale international deployment.”

The center operates two CO2 capture plants, each with a capacity to capture approximately 80,000 tons of CO2 from a nearby refinery or 20,000 tons from a gas-fired power plant. In addition, the center has available space and infrastructure to sustain the next-generation technologies to be tested in the future.

In a related development, TCM recently launched the world’s first large-scale tests of the amine solvent MEA on a gas-fired source; the results will be shared with the global CCS community in order “to increase knowledge and understanding and accelerate the implementation of CCS.”

Monoethanolamine (MEA) is used as a baseline solvent, which is commonly used in post-combustion carbon capture studies to compare the performance of proprietarily-developed amines and other CO2 removal processes, the center says. The firm, in cooperation with Aker Solutions, has been operating the amine plant since August 2012. TCM has begun large-scale testing of the performance of the MEA solvent system on gas-fired emissions sources, which will be shared openly, it said.

In addition to the somewhat better economic conditions in the U.S., there are still a large number of gas- and  coal-fired plants in the U.S. that will probably hang around once CCS technologies are widely available. Something needs to be done with them besides junking them, right? Plant owners can also thank the shale “boom” and the White House energy strategy.

Image credit: TCM facility in Norway via the TCM site

Welcome to our series of interviews with leading female CSR practitioners where we are learning about what inspires these women and how they found their way to careers in sustainability. Read the rest of the series here.

TriplePundit: Briefly describe your role and responsibilities, and how many years you have been in the business.

Meghna Tare: I am the Director of Sustainability for University of Texas at Arlington. We have our own citizenry, nearly 35,000 students and more than 5,600 employees - as well as our own housing, businesses, transportation fleet and police force. Because the University’s main campus is in the heart of downtown Arlington, our growth is felt throughout the region. Since 2007, we have added 1.46 million square feet of building space to the campus.

I work collaboratively with faculty, staff, the student body and community members to address opportunities to promote sustainability in several areas including greening facility operations, promoting innovative research, supporting and encouraging student initiatives, implementing an environmentally and sustainability-focused curriculum, establishing community gardens and composting programs and sponsoring public service initiatives. I recommend policies and strategies to advance the university’s commitment to being leader in campus sustainability. I also work collaboratively and have established a working relationship with various stakeholders and agencies like EPA Region 6, North Central Texas Council of Governments (NCTCOG), North Texas Commission, local governments, DFW Airport, United States Business Council for Sustainable Development (USBCSD), Chamber of Commerce, Community College Districts and other nonprofits.

My journey in the field of sustainability started when I was in graduate school. At the expense of sounding clichéd, working in the area of sustainability truly is a journey with no fixed destination. The field is evolving every day and there is so much to learn. Every project that I have worked on has opened paths for new collaboration and learning experiences. I write blogs for TriplePundit, Cityminded.org, American Planning Association, and am also enrolled in an MBA program in Sustainable Management at the Presidio Graduate School. I teach sustainability policy and assessment to graduate students at University of Texas at Arlington. My job gives me the opportunity to conduct research on climate change, consult on sustainability planning and GRI reporting, and develop a business model to establish a Center for Sustainability and Environmental Studies at UT Arlington.

3p: How has the sustainability program evolved at your organization?

MT: Like most organizations, UT Arlington tackles issues of constrained resources, efficiency and productivity -doing more with less. We have been on a trajectory of growth and transformation through our pursuit to become a Tier One research university. As a result, we have celebrated many achievements, including record levels of enrollment. With this growth, however, comes increased challenges in managing our environmental footprint. We are working to embed the principles of sustainability across our curriculum and research as well as across campus in our facilities and operations.

Extending beyond our campus, we also are a part of the larger community of North Texas, which is rapidly growing and facing the challenges associated with such expansion including air quality, constrained water supplies, energy costs, financial pressures, and transportation options. Working with businesses, government, and communities, we are building lasting partnership. Universities are unique in that they have an opportunity to influence not only the community around them, but also the students, faculty, and staff within. Today, most campus sustainability initiatives comprise of cost savings from the use of long lasting CFL bulbs or double paned windows. But economic benefits are not the only force behind sustainability here at UTA. We tap into the “moral imperative,” based on the concept that everything is part of the puzzle.  Students attending a university that places high value on sustainable operations are more likely to take this mindset to their future places of employment where they can help shape the future of environmentally-friendly companies.

3p: Tell us about someone (mentor, sponsor, friend, hero) who affected your sustainability journey, and how.

MT: I was fortunate to learn about climate change and sustainability from Professor Stephen Schneider at Stanford University. He was my academic advisor and mentor. He was a brilliant climate scientist and an engaging speaker with a great sense of humor. But most importantly he had the spirit and the audacity to be an “outlier” in everything that he did, including beating cancer. Dr. Schneider was part of the United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change that shared the 2007 Nobel Peace Prize with former vice president Al Gore for international research on global warming. I owe my success and sustainability journey to his knowledge, guidance and faith in me.

I have a signed copy of his book “The Patient from Hell” in which he documented his struggle to conquer cancer, including applying his own knowledge of science to design his own treatment regime. I read it every now and then when I need inspiration and motivation.

3p: What is the best advice you have ever received?

MT: This quote from author H. Jackson Brown Jr. perfectly describes the principles by which I try to lead my life.

Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things that you didn't do than by the ones you did do. So throw off the bowlines. Sail away from the safe harbor. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover.”

3p: Can you share a recent accomplishment you are especially proud of?

MT: Within the United States, UT Arlington is one of the three universities to publish a GRI report. It was a challenging project! I have learned from experience that university campuses that tie together multiple areas of sustainability into a comprehensive, holistic plan or roadmap tend to be more successful — at getting buy-in from the community, funding various initiatives and achieving results and recognition. Hopefully, this report will open new doors for UTA in terms of funding and partnerships.

I am also a TEDx UTA speaker - something that I am very proud of.

But more importantly I am proud of keeping the work-life balance. I am a mother of twin boys (5 years old), working full time and enrolled in an MBA program at the same time. So life is a balancing act and I am proud of never dropping the ball.

This interview, doing a radio show with The Eyes of North Texas, presenting for the CATUN conference (Committee on Teaching for the Unites Nations) - I consider all these as my accomplishments. Following Einstein’s dictum that problems can’t be solved within the mindset that created them, these accomplishments and experiences help me understand the mental model that forms the basis of present thinking when it comes to sustainability, and makes me good at what I do.

3p: If you had the power to make one major change at your company or in your industry, what would it be?

MT: 1) Incorporate sustainability into the strategic plan for the University. Strategic planning is a means of establishing major directions for the University through which resources are concentrated in order to maximize benefits to stakeholders—those we exist to serve and who are affected by the choices we make. Strategic planning is a structured approach to anticipating the future and "exploiting the inevitable,” charting the broad course for the entire institution for five years. The plan should establish a foundation for integration of sustainability into the full range of its academic, operational and community activity. Planning for sustainability should not be an afterthought or an add-on.

2) Establish a Green Revolving fund (GRF) for UT Arlington. A GRF is an internal fund that provides financing to parties within an organization to implement energy efficiency, renewable energy and other sustainability projects that generate cost-savings. These savings are tracked and used to replenish the fund for the next round of green investments, thus establishing a sustainable funding cycle while cutting operating costs and reducing environmental impact.

3p: Describe your perfect day.

MT: My perfect day would include hiking or biking, lunch with my husband, spending time with my kids in the park watching them run, reading a good book and cooking for my family. I love to travel and explore new places and culture and want to share those experiences with my kids as they grow up. I do love my job so every day is perfect for me! But the monotony of routine drives me insane, so I am always looking for something new and adventurous in life.

Profile pictures on social media platforms and dating apps are oh-so-easy to poke fun at: There’s the quirky girl with a cutesy fake moustache or the ex-frat boy chugging a pint of beer at his favorite bar.

But Brooklyn-based filmmaker Cody Clarke discovered a more unsettling trend in profile photos while flipping through the dating app Tinder that pulls pictures and information from users’ Facebook profiles: light-skinned women from developed countries posing with babies and children in developing countries.

“Obviously the original intent, is, ‘Hey, friends, look where I was,’” Clarke told Fast Company. “[But] if you see a lot of them in a row, it becomes a trend and becomes a disgusting thing. It’s like they’re standing around props.”

Clarke started a blog, Humanitarians of Tinder, to post the original photos he found last month and has been uploading new pictures ever since, adding similar photos of men showing off their international philanthropic efforts and inviting readers to submit pictures they come across.

Clarke doesn’t provide any written commentary with the photos (he told Fast Company that he’s just archiving a phenomenon he sees), but the message behind the blog is clear: Boasting about your altruism–and taking photos with locals as you would with exotic wildlife or tourist attractions–to get a date is not attractive. The blog also raises questions about the ethics of modern “voluntourism,” namely how it fits in with larger issues of race, privilege and imperialism and reflects a long history of the developed world’s misguided charity in developing countries.

But should we really single out these well-meaning, albeit naïve individuals, for public shaming on the Internet, especially as the Humanitarians of Tinder blog goes viral and their photos are posted across more and more sites?

“[Internet] shaming all too frequently divorces online behavior from its context—for all we know, Lauren [one of the blog’s Humanitarians pictured with a young boy] is playing with her nephew or something. Even more concerning, shaming often invites repercussions that are totally out of proportion with the perceived crime—i.e., "Lauren may seem tone deaf, but does she really deserve to have her face plastered on a zillion sites?” as journalist Caitlin Dewey wrote on the Washington Post.

While Internet shaming is a consequence of Clarke’s social media sensation, it seems like it is not the blog’s intent. Clarke is helping his featured humanitarians protect their identities by blurring their faces when he receives a request from someone who discovered his or her photo was posted on the blog. Obscuring the faces of these misguided philanthropists actually heightens the effect of scrolling down the Humanitarians of Tinder blog, seeing photo after photo, and recognizing the trend that these photos reflect--rather than getting distracted by the specific individuals taking part in what they see as good deeds.

Because--just as Gloria Steinem pointed out that we shouldn’t fault Miley Cyrus for her infamous Video Music Awards performance but we should criticize the culture that rewards her behavior with fame and fortune--we shouldn’t blame the naïve individuals on Clarke’s blog for wanting to do something good. We should, instead, turn a critical eye towards our society that perpetuates stereotypes about the developing world’s "need to be saved” and our role as saviors, as well as update our models of altruism to better reflect the realities of developing countries and their actual needs.

Image credit: Humanitarians of Tinder

Passionate about both writing and sustainability, Alexis Petru is freelance journalist based in the San Francisco Bay Area whose work has appeared on Earth911, Huffington Post and Patch.com. Prior to working as a writer, she coordinated environmental programs for Bay Area cities and counties. Connect with Alexis on Twitter at @alexispetru

A major global project which will help to define the health and productivity benefits of green office buildings has been launched by the World Green Building Council (WorldGBC).

While studies have shown that there can be 11% gains in productivity from improved ventilation and up to 23% gains in productivity from improved lights, challenges remain in measuring such outcomes and attaching financial value to them.

Jane Henley, ceo of WorldGBC, said: “While there is a growing body of research that firmly supports the connections between sustainable buildings and improved health, productivity and learning outcomes of those who occupy them, this evidence is yet to inform investment decisions in the same way as traditional financial metrics. This project aims to identify the metrics that will support investment in greener buildings.”

Sponsored by Jones Lang LaSalle, Lend Lease and Skanska, the Green Building Councils of Hong Kong, United Kingdom, United States and Colombia are also partnering on the project.

Staffan Haglind, Green Business Officer at Skanska, commented: “The situation today – where buildings’ impact on human health, wellbeing and performance is usually not taken into consideration – is not good enough. I’m totally convinced that optimizing premises from a human perspective will help people as well as organizations to thrive and outperform. To support the development of the tools and metrics needed to make this happen is perfectly aligned with Skanska’s company values.”

The project builds upon WorldGBC’s report The Business Case for Green Building which summarized the existing research into the health benefits of sustainable buildings. Published in March last year, the report acknowledged that more work was needed to build the evidence base and translate academic research into information that could be used to inform business decisions. A final report is expected this autumn.

 

Picture credit: © Soleilc | Dreamstime.com
 

Every Wednesday at 4pm PST / 7pm EST (and every once in a while at other times) TriplePundit will take 30 minutes or so to chat with an interesting leader in the sustainable business movement. These chats are broadcast on our Google+ channel and embedded via YouTube right here on 3p.

On March 5th, TriplePundit's Founder Nick Aster spoke with Phil Bresee about solid waste management in the United States and in Philadelphia, the benefits of recycling, and where this industry is headed. Phil informed the audience about natural resource savings, the implicit reduction in GHG emissions, energy saved, and economic benefits for the City.

 

 

If you missed the conversation, you can watch it right here or on our YouTube channel.

About Phil: 

Since July 2012 Phil Bresee has been the recycling director for the City of Philadelphia, the fifth most populous city in the U.S., overseeing programs and policy planning for one of the largest solid waste and recycling operations in the nation. Bresee’s focus includes the city’s recyclables processing contract, the Recycling Rewards incentive program, commercial and institutional recycling, public outreach, and serving as the lead staffer for the city’s solid waste and recycling advisory committee. Recycling and waste reduction are key strategies in Philadelphia’s Greenworks plan, which is Mayor Michael Nutter’s blueprint for making Philadelphia the nation’s greenest city by 2015.

From 2004 until 2012, Bresee was the recycling program manager for Broward County, Florida, the second-largest county in the southeast and eighteenth largest in the U.S. Bresee led a staff of up to 19, directing programs and initiatives on behalf of the county, its 26 partner cities and the Broward public schools system. Bresee also was the architect of a $20 million recycling grants project which used solid waste system reserves to help cities improve their residential recycling programs. Bresee also managed the county’s innovative project that studied the feasibility of using pulverized recycled glass for beach erosion control.

Phil has served in elected leadership positions in statewide recycling associations, including as chair of Recycle Florida Today, and as president of the Maryland Recyclers Coalition.