Welcome to the April 2009 Green InSight eNewsletter!

Jon Dougal Editor, Green InSight

"Climate Change is not just another issue in this complicated world of proliferating issues. It is the issue that, unchecked, will swamp all other issues." Ross Gelbspan - The Heat Is On

This insightful and progressive newsletter is concerned with present energy issues and technologies as well as the future of energy. The information is brought to you in living color, on widescreen digital HD format, and sparing paper use with our long shelf-life, greedy little electrons to deliver the latest from the far corners of the alternative and renewable energy empire to foster sustainable development. We exalt your feedback and contributions of your latest experiences and reactions to our content. Sustainability is not just our mission, it is our passion.

Manufacturers Seek Protection from Climate Bill

By: Rick Bishop
Date: March 25, 2009
Source: Talkfloor.com

Ednote: We seem to be deluged with negativity these days doomed if do and doomed if we don’t. California enacted sweeping legislation in the 90’s on toxic issues from air to land use. Soon thereafter other states (watching the effects of that legislation) enacted there own similar bills modeled after the California ones. Those states found that property values were enhanced by acts that protected clean water, air and land. I predict that in coming years other countries, of necessity, will follow the lead of the U.S. towards climate change legislation. The worsening conditions of the world will dictate it.

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Corporate Political Transparency: The Green Business Rating We Really Need

By: Alex Steffen
Date: April 1, 2009
Source: WORLDCHANGING (www.worldchanging.com)

Ednote: Now let’s get to the real nightmare of “greenwash”. You’ve only noticed slightly (maybe?) some products and packaging. Claims that manufacturers make about the packaging being “recyclable” or products being “biodegradeable”. The following article makes the case for what journalists really need to ask in their interviews of corporate leaders.

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Training the Green Collar Workforce: A Role for Community Colleges

By: Xarissa Holdaway
Date: March 17, 2009
Source: WORLDCHANGING (www.worldchanging.com)

Ednote: "Green collar jobs” has become a mantra amongst the young, the enviro-conscious and the unemployed looking for a new career. This article makes some very realistic observations about the romance people voice over Green jobs. Workers will have many jobs in their early years in the workforce. Many should be trained for technologies that don’t exist yet. The fact is that many of the jobs of tomorrow are to fill needs we don’t know we have at this moment. At the present rate of knowledge growth, educators will have to change curricula several times before a diploma can be issue for a technology that isn’t invented yet.

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Biodegradable composites may obsolete wood and plastic

Date: March 19, 2009
Source: R&D Daily (www.rdmag.com)

Stanford University researchers have developed a synthetic wood substitute that may one day save trees, reduce greenhouse gas emissions and shrink landfills.

The faux lumber is made from a new biodegradable plastic that could be used in a variety of building materials and perhaps replace the petrochemical plastics now used in billions of disposable water bottles.

"This is a great opportunity to make products that serve a societal need and respect and protect the natural environment," said lead researcher Sarah Billington, an associate professor of civil and environmental engineering.

In 2004, Billington and her colleagues received a two-year Environmental Venture Projects (EVP) grant from Stanford's Woods Institute for the Environment to develop artificial wood that is both durable and recyclable. The research team focused on a new class of construction material called biodegradable composites, or "biocomposites"-glue-like resins reinforced with natural fibers that are made from plants and recyclable polymers.

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The Economics of Home Buying

By: Richard O. Byrne
Date: August/September 2008
Source: FineHomebuilding.com

Ednote: This math may be a little dated but the thought is good food to ponder in light of today’s and tomorrow’s finances and cost of money. Are you pondering to rent or to buy ?

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Emissions of Greenhouse Gases Report

Date: December 3, 2008
Source: Energy Information Administration (www.eia.doe.gov)

Ednote: The Kyoto Protocol mandated a voluntary reduction of GHG’s by signatory countries. Time limits were set to give those countries non-economically compromising compliance adjustment periods. The following data from a supposedly reliable source would seem to indicate that progress is slow if at all. Digest this date for a few minutes it is quite illuminating if you connect the data to the dire warnings of Climate Change professionals.

The President issued a directive on April 15, 1999, requiring an annual report summarizing the carbon dioxide (CO₂) emissions produced by the generation of electricity by utilities and nonutilities in the United States. In response, the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) jointly submitted the first report on October 15, 1999.

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Corporate Social Responsibility

Source: PRNews Online (www.prnewsonline.com)

Ednote: The staff at GreenMotion strives to bring our readership the tidbits from various aspects of the complicated web of sustainability. PR or public relations is the free ink that many companies use to get the word out about their products or services. YOU know yourself that you are more open to an idea if you think (that is THINK) that you are not being sold that idea. Corporate Social Responsibility is a very good mechanism to connect with potential future customers if the values of the company line-up with those of the customer. There was approximately $5 Trillion in assets parked in Socially Responsible Investments (SRI) before the crash of 2008. Investors placing their money in SRI Funds where placing value on companies that matched or at least approximated their own values. So you can see that CSR is a major PR effort to attract customers through connecting with like minded people.

By example, when a company says they pay women equally to men for the same job description, many women will want to buy that company’s product or so the theory goes. While we are not advertising this product below nor the PR News we feel it is an area of consciousness as a resource that you should know about.

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Interview: Abrupt Climate Change, the Pentagon, and The Day After Tomorrow

By: Alex Steffan
Date: May 26, 2004
Source: WORLDCHANGING (www.worldchanging.com)

Ednote: Sometimes it is advisable to visit yesteryear to view the predictions and muse on the timing and eventuality of their completeness. Did they happen can they still happen? How valid were the facts that the predictions were made from and how creditable was the source?

The Pentagon in 2005 or so released a report that said in essence global warming was the greatest threat to the U.S. security. In 1992 a report by the actuaries of the European Insurance Industry forecast “that within the next decade, whole countries could go bankrupt as a result of global scorching (heating, warming). This dated article gives you some of the background for that Pentagon Report. Of course the Administration totally ignored the report.

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Interested in sponsoring our next eNewsletter issue? Contact Jon Dougal at (415) 798-1933 or editor@greenmotion.org.