The New Green Economy

The Sun sets behind the Cerro Paranal Observatory in the Chilean Atacama desert. The southern sky reveals its nocturnal beauty, leaving the spectator in silent amazement. Some people, however, don't just stare at the spectacle. From ESOCast, with Dr. J.

Join Annie Leornard as she explains why you might want to start paying a little more attention to the precautionary principle.

Ok, so this facebook page might seem a little extreme to some people, but take into account that 99% of what Americans buy ends up in a land fill within 6 months (source: The Story of Stuff). Add to that, this continuing image of my trash can.

As someone who is pretty conscientious of my consumption habits and their effects, I am often dismayed at the last thing that I still need a "trash" can for: plastic.

I have to admit that plastic is handy, but really, we need to be using it in closed loop cycles, i.e. in the "technosphere" as William McDonough described it in his book Cradle to Cradle. Our society has made some attempt at setting up recycling systems, but we need to push farther towards actual closed loops.

An additional problem with plastic is the "nurdles", tiny plastic pellets that are shipped around the world to be melted down and shaped into various plastic products. These pellets tend to spill out of their containers and find their way in to the respiratory and digestive tracts of marine life and birds. In Thor Heyerdhal's books, he talks about the difference he saw in the oceans between his 1936 voyage and a later expedition that took place in the 70's, describing the vast increase in oil droplets and plastic garbage floating in the ocean. The problem is so bad that we now have floating continents of trash in two oceans.

To summarize, it's important to remember the sustainable values of future life and interdependency when making your purchasing decisions. And a facebook page that reminds us just how heinously wasteful and unconscious some design can be gets a thumbs up from me.

Leadership is incredibly valuable when it comes to the values revolution and Google is stepping up to the plate with their recent announcement that their energy subsidiary, Google Energy, has signed a 20-year power purchase agreement with Nextra Energy.

Exhibiting a savvy understanding of green economics, the company stated,

"Through the long term purchase of renewable energy at a predetermined price, we're partially protecting ourselves against future increases in power prices. This is a case where buying green makes business sense."

Google will not be able to directly use the energy create at NextEra Energy's Iowa wind farm. They will instead sell the power on the regional spot market, where utilities and electricity retailers go to buy power when demand spikes and they have have a shortfall.

Urs Hoelzle, Google's senior vice president for operations, wrote on a blog post Tuesday,

"The inability of renewable energy developers to obtain financing has been a significant inhibitor to the expansion of renewable energy. We've been excited about this deal because taking 114 megawatts of wind power off the market for so long means producers have the incentive and means to build more renewable energy capacity for other customers."

With this bold move, google is exhibiting an understanding of and respect for future life as well as engaging the precautionary principle by investing in non-nuclear technology. And by taking responsibility for their energy needs, the Company also shows an understanding of our interdependency as a species. As a result, future generations and the environment are breathing a sigh of relief.

Historical Perspective

At the beginning of the 21st century, humanity is no longer facing the prospect of globalization, rather globalization has begun. From a historical perspective, globalization is a new and common challenge; unprecedented, and affecting every human being on the planet, both the living and the unborn. And from a common challenge arises the ability of the community to weave together in ways that allow it to meet that challenge. Life is not stagnant; it is always changing, evolving and growing.

For those of you who didn't get chance to see this in the theater last year, I recommend it. It showed in hundreds of theaters around the world and provides some cautionary perspective that is difficult to gain when immersed in the daily grind. The film raises the question of what we are leaving to future generations.