ecomaven

This weekend I had the privilege of participating in the 2010 Green Festival in Seattle. This event happens in five cities around the country and is jointly produced by Green America and Global Exchange. While several luminaries of the environmental and corporate mission-driven world were in attendance to provide keynotes and classes one of the things that brings me back to this annual event, is the cross-section of people. This grassroots event draws a wide-range of regional citizens and is part of what makes the experience so fulfilling. The Kids Zone features activities that the under 3’ set can really enjoy including musical performances.

After all, we are responsible for the current state of the economy, environment and education system and it is the next generation that will need to make significant transformational choices in how to live, work and play responsibly. Our Earth, is on the gurney moving towards the operating room, and we are still trying to identify and reach agreement on all that ails this patient before we move forward with drastic interventions. The Gulf Oil disaster is one more triage moment where our patient is bleeding but we can’t seem to suture quickly enough to stop it.

At the Festival, it seem there was much blame handed out between factions: vegans vs. meat eaters; independent journalists vs. national media empires, lefty politicos vs. the righty politicos and, enviros vs. Big Oil, Banks, and Food to site a few examples.

My goals in attending the Festival (also described on their website: we’re celebrating what’s working in our communities—for people, business and the environment.) included focusing on solutions, hope and inspiration: two speakers who helped me get there were Adora Svitak and Amory Lovins.

Adora, a local, 12-year old, child prodigy, conveyed the message that we need to learn to listen — to children who not only dream big and without constraints but are tomorrow’s leaders. She suggested that if parents are not changing their behaviors or expectations then children can push forward by greening their parents. Children were the ones who moved the recycling agenda forward as it started in the classroom, moved to individual homes where we made trips to a recycling station and now to jurisdictions contracting to have more recyclables picked up at your door. Adora is incredibly articulate and has even appeared on the TED circuit (catch her at http://www.ted.com/speakers/adora_svitak.html) where she received a standing ovation. She says that learning should be reciprocal and she is inspiring her generation and older ones too. She offered a few green examples eliminating vampire power by unplugging electronics and appliances when not in use or fully charged, walking or biking instead of always jumping in the car for short trips, and using water responsibly.

Amory has built a reputation as a well-respected leader within the environmental movement over the last few decades. He co-founded an organization along with his wife, Hunter, called the Rocky Mountain Institute in Colorado. He argues for business and policy remedies that capitalize on existing infrastructure and resources to be deployed in far more efficient productive ways. A few examples include super lightweight vehicles constructed with fewer parts and using carbon-fibers (ala Boeing 787 Dreamliner) that weigh significantly less, have less drag and, therefore require much less energy for propulsion. Another concept is for driving energy efficiency and productivity in the built arena, as new window technology, enhanced insulated building envelopes and super efficient HVAC systems will reduce the amount of energy a building uses. Buildings use 70% of the electricity generated in the USA. They require updating and maintaining every decade or so therefore schedule capital investments to incorporate the best materials and techniques at the time for a highly positive and quicker ROI. He states that energy efficiency is the cheapest source of energy and helps reduce our GHG. As for alternatives to energy sourcing, he believes large distributed renewables will be the way of the future, Amory suggested that by covering 3% of our existing structures (in lieu of using land for that purpose) with photovoltaics would eliminate our need for any new fossil fuels-based generation.

The Seattle Green Festival with over 25,000 attendees, 1,000 volunteers, 300 vendors, 100 speakers provides Seattle with a wonderful opportunity to share our passions, offer our insights, learn from others and move towards a new economy.

Next time someone wants to blame a person, group or company just take a step back and think about the underlying frustration this person might be feeling and offer him or her a calming tonic: “Wow! You really have a lot of energy and passion around that issue and let’s use it to move us towards some solutions.” And, remember young and wise, Adora, she asked that we include the younger generation, who tend to dream creatively and without constraints, in the conversation so consider starting there.

Back to the medical metaphor, if you have a hopeful intervention to share please feel free to add Comments and Links for those in our communities that are helping to take our patient, Earth from the operating room and into recovery for a long and thriving future for us all.
-– alex