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In December I published three guest posts on the topic of "climate capitalism," the first of which was critical of Bolivia’s Evo Morales anti-capitalist stance on capitalism and climate change.  The second highlighted 5 climate capitalists I met at cop16 in Cancun. And the last one was a 2010 year in review summary of my Top 10 Climate Capitalism stories that lead me to be optimistic that 2011 could be the year of the climate capitalist.

I am honored that the latter article was selected as the Editor’s Choice for the Year in Review competition. Given that I will be writing several articles in this column in the coming months I thought I should provide a brief summary of my background.  I have a Ph.D. from the University of Colorado in Strategy & Entrepreneurship. After reading Natural Capitalism, I was inspired to focus on the intersection of sustainability and entrepreneurship. I taught and researched sustainable entrepreneurship at the Instituto de Empresa (Madrid, Spain) and UVIC, SFU, and UBC in British Colombia, Canada.

After starting a handful of green businesses on the side, I decided to resign from full-time academics to try my hand as a full time sustainable entrepreneur. Some of you may be familiar with my last venture, 3rdWhale, which built green mobile apps.  After some ups and downs, we licensed our technology to GenGreen Life and I moved on to trying to be part of the climate solution.  In November 2009, I co-founded CO2 IMPACT to primarily focus on developing high quality carbon offset projects in Latin America.

In this column I will share some of my experiences from the trenches of the carbon markets. I have also been fortunate enough to get to know and work with THE Hunter Lovins.  Hunter was the Time Magazine Hero of the Planet in 2000.  She has been a driving force at the Presidio Graduate School, one of the top business schools dedicated to sustainability education in the world.

Our first major collaboration is our forthcoming book, Climate Capitalism: Capitalism in the Age of Climate Change.  The book, a sequel to Natural Capitalism, tries to shift the argument away from the absurd debate about whether climate change actually exists or if humans are partially to blame, and instead argues that whether you care about or believe that climate change is real, companies will make real profits in the shift to a low carbon economy regardless. In this column I hope to share insights from the book as well as from my own experiences in the carbon markets and from the inspiring people I have met from North America to Latin America who are part of the transition to a low-carbon economy. 

Visionary business leaders from biomass briquette makers in Africa to Wal-Mart, climate capitalists are already proving that low carbon solutions make good business sense. If we can begin to spread the word that businesses can make as much or more money by being part of the climate solution, we can turn the political tide too. We all know that money talks and the business lobby is a powerful force in Washington.  Companies like Nike, Apple and PGE protested largely when the U.S. Chamber of Commerce began its lobbying campaign against climate legislation.

These are early adopters who recognize that the world needs capitalists who promote not fight the shift to low carbon, and that in fact, the whole economy depends on such a shift. This column aims to help in spreading the word about individuals, businesses and even cities and governments who are proving that climate capitalism is the path to economic prosperity. It will also address emerging developments that impact opportunities for climate capitalists, such as recent developments with cap and trade policy in California. If you have article suggestions, please provide them in the comments section.

Image credit: Erick Mclean/Pexels

Disposable dinnerware and utensils have progressed since the limited selection of plastic, paper and polystyrene options of a generation ago.  Walk into any Whole Foods and their options include food containers, napkins, dinnerware, and forks made out of recycled or plant-based materials.  Then there are the sturdier and thicker options made out of plastic that supposedly can be used more than once, but often end up in the trash after one use.

Plastic utensils and paper plates will always be around, and are sometimes unavoidable.  The use of potato starch based forks and spoons are a great step; whether many actually get composted is up to debate.

So what is better for the pocketbook or the planet:  paper plates or ceramic plates?  The downside to the use of ceramic plates is that they have got to be washed, and no water-free cleaning system has come around yet--and probably never will.  Paper plates of course do not need to be washed, but then there is the waste issue.  Well, one green “celebrity” site has decided that paper plates are the way to go.

According to a noted personality who has a segment on blog talk radio, the use of paper plates “can help curve” the problem of water conservation.  After all, washing dishes is a huge waste of water, while paper plates nix that issue.  Furthermore, paper plates can be tossed into the recycling bin.  Finally, the use of paper plates would make restaurants more “sterile” . . . no word yet whether Spago or the French Laundry were ready to switch to Dixie plates and cups.  Another problem with the use of ceramic plates or stainless utensils is that unless they are washed completely, germs can spread not washed at a temperature of 250 degrees Fahrenheit; therein lies another problem, the use of hot water and the energy used to heat it.

So in a society where “celebrity-itis” leads C-listers to give purportedly sound advice on losing weight, exercise, losing weight, adopting children from developing countries, losing weight, and go green while flying in private jets, we at Triple Pundit want to call this tidbit of green advice out.

So to address the question of ceramic vs. paper:  ceramic all the way.  True, any ceramic or metal item has a “carbon footprint,” though the manufacture and delivery of the item are one-off events.  After they are purchased, it is true that the plates have to be washed--but hand washing and dishwashers, which have become more energy and water efficient, mitigate those effects.  Common sense like not running the dishwasher with only a cup and plate inside should have set into our routines a long time ago.  As for the threat of bacteria spreading, most likely you will not have an issue unless we are talking about some horrible threat like cholera.  Chances are the way your parents and grandparents taught you about cleanliness and hygiene still apply today.

As for the paper plates and similar disposable items, you are talking about transporting those goods again and again over long distances.  Recycling may appear to be the easy way out for the disposal of those plastic forks and paper plates.  Depending on where you live, however, such recycling may never occur.  Paper plates, if soiled, often cannot be recycled.  Many paper plates have coatings that make it impossible to reprocess.  Not all grades of plastic can be recycled.  And even if your community could recycle each and every disposable fork or cup, they still require energy--and water--to create new batches of paper or plastic goods.  Then we have the issue of landfills and the methane gases the result from millions of tons of garbage simmering over hundreds of years.

Marketing and branding professionals have done a good job convincing us that bottled water, disposable goods, hand sanitizers, and yes, even paper plates are necessary because of their convenience and cleanliness.  But even if you do not want to buy all the ecological, environmental, sustainable--whatever words you choose as your poison--the fact is that there is a huge financial benefit to reducing the amount of disposable goods in your home or office.

So let us give you some advice:  with all the messages out there, if you want to save money and reduce your impact on the planet, think single purchase, not single use.

Image credit: Marco Verch/Flickr

By Danielle Zimmerman

Building upon comfort with sharing content and information online on sites like Flickr and Wikipedia we are recognizing the potential of sharing more than the digital –the tangible, our possessions. New options are emerging where the 20th-century mindset of buy-use-dispose is being replaced by systems where access trumps ownership and individuals take pride in their ability to consume resources only when they need to.

Product service systems like Zip Car allow you the benefit of access when you need it, without the hassles of ownership. Peer-to-peer exchange and rental networks like ThredUp and Zilok allow you sell outgrown children’s clothing or rent out just about anything for some extra cash. Whether you’re an entrepreneur looking for the next big opportunity or an individual looking to take some small steps toward a sustainable lifestyle sharing is becoming a lifestyle.

The increased tendency to share is more than a reaction to our economic anguish, it’s a social revolution founded on the revival of old-time values and a desire for camaraderie. Combined with an ever-growing awareness of personal environmental impact, comfort with social networks, and access to real-time technologies and location-based services, we have everything we need for low-effort high-satisfaction sharing.

It is obvious how technology makes matching “needs” with “ haves” much more efficient through the use of location-based information and constant connectedness.

But, it’s beginning to do a lot more as the prevalence of social networks in our online life encourages us to trust the unknown and rely on the recommendations of others. A must-read book published this fall, What’s Mine is Yours: the Rise of Collaborative Consumption, authors Rachel Botsman and Roo Rogers predict this trend toward collaborative lifestyles will become a fully fledged economy within the next five years. They categorize the emerging market into three key system types: product service systems, redistribution markets, and collaborative lifestyle.

They also dissect the underlying principles that enable the systems to thrive: idling capacity, critical mass, belief in the commons, and trust between strangers. It’s easy to trust your neighbor to return a tool you lend him, however trusting a stranger is one of the first things we teach our children not to do. So how can organizations like Couchsurfing and EBay thrive when a user must depend on a complete stranger to be honest and reliable, in some instances even entering a stranger’s home? The way to promote this mindset is the development of a different kind of community.

Although different business models, they both encourage an individual to trust a stranger based on the feedback or rating given by other strangers. This translates to overall satisfaction ratings consistently higher than 97%. Ratings in these communities are becoming akin to a personal reference.

These new modes of filling personal needs represent a social phenomenon that is re-inventing why and with whom we communicate, how we value things –both objects and experiences–, and what it means to trust. These systems, businesses or otherwise, are redefining ownership and value, by giving consumers more power to define what we want and how we want it. No matter what you call it, sharing is more than a passing trend.  It’s easy to take small steps toward living with less while still having it all. Think about what having less in your life might mean for you.

The next time you “need” something evaluate how often or for how long you need it and consider borrowing instead. Why not host a holiday exchange with some friends or take a look in your garage or attic to find some things you haven’t used in a while and get online to find a community to share them with.

Image credit: Gerd Altmann via Pixabay