Sustainability


The Story of Stuff

My friend percussionist Larry Mahlis sent me a link to a wonderful site that I think has the potential to change lives, and, perhaps, even the world. The Story of Stuff is the brainchild of Annie Leonard, and I must say, I like her brain.

Here’s a description from the site:

From its extraction through sale, use and disposal, all the stuff in our lives affects communities at home and abroad, yet most of this is hidden from view. The Story of Stuff is a 20-minute, fast-paced, fact-filled look at the underside of our production and consumption patterns. The Story of Stuff exposes the connections between a huge number of environmental and social issues, and calls us together to create a more sustainable and just world. It’ll teach you something, it’ll make you laugh, and it just may change the way you look at all the stuff in your life forever.

One of the things I enjoyed most about the presentation is the way it call attention to the fact that even if we decide to move our dirty, stinking, toxic polluting factories overseas, it does not make us any less culpable for the damage thus caused. It’s all too easy for the media to get up in arms about lead paint in toys from China, yet neglect to comment at all about the toxic damage done to the workers and the environment in “the factory of the world.” Christine Lu has some good comments on the subject.

Please stop what you are doing and watch this video, and then tell all of your family and friends about it!

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The InterAcademy Council has just released a new report, commissioned by the governments of Brazil and China, that indentifies a detailed scientific consensus framework for directing global energy development. The report, Lighting the way: Toward a sustainable energy future, lays out the science, technology and policy roadmap for developing energy resources to drive economic growth in both developed and developing countries, while also securing climate protection and global development goals.

From a briefing to the Brazilian Minister of Science and Technology, Sergio Machado Rezende, on Oct. 16 in Brasilia:

Lighting the way establishes the best practices for a global transition to a clean, affordable and sustainable energy supply in both developing and developed countries. The report addresses incentives that can accelerate the development of innovative solutions, provides recommendations for financial investments in research and development, and explores other transition pathways that can transform the landscape of energy supply and demand around the globe.

In addressing mitigation of the environmental impacts of energy generation and use, Lighting the way will inform global action on climate change, such as implementation of the Kyoto Protocol, agenda-setting for the Asia-Pacific Partnership on Clean Development and Climate, and ongoing multinational talks on future global action to reduce greenhouse emissions.

Lighting the way also confronts the unequal access to energy experienced by the one-third of the world’s population without access to basic energy services, and makes recommendations for addressing this disparity as well as for promoting national and global energy security.

For those who are familiar with these issues, the approaches suggested are not necessarily earth shattering, but the fact that they are backed by solid scientific data, and that the report was sponsored by some of the highest ranking authorities in government and academia lends it some solid weight.

The report calls for action on three fronts:

  • Concerted efforts should be mounted to improve energy efficiency and reduce the carbon intensity
    of the world economy, including the worldwide introduction of price signals for carbon emissions.
  • Technologies should be developed and deployed for capturing and sequestering carbon from fossil
    fuels, particularly coal.
  • Development and deployment of renewable energy technologies should be accelerated in an
    environmentally responsible way.
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    Could Space Solar Power be a practical method of dealing with the huge worldwide energy demand in the future? A recently published report by a US government funded commission addresses exactly this question.

    From the Forward of the report:

    Preventing resource conflicts in the face of increasing global populations and demands in the 21st century is a high priority for the Department of Defense. All solution options to these challenges should be explored, including opportunities from space.

    In March 2007, the National Security Space Office’s Advanced Concepts Office presented the idea of space?based solar power (SBSP) as a potential grand opportunity to address not only energy security, but environmental, economic, intellectual, and space security as well. First proposed in the late 1960’s, the concept was last explored in the NASA’s 1997 “Fresh Look” Study. In the decade since this last study, advances in technology and new challenges to security have warranted a current exploration of the strategic implications of SBSP. For these reasons, my office sponsored a no?cost Phase 0 Architecture Feasibility Study of SBSP during the Spring and Summer of 2007.

    Unlike traditional contracted architecture studies, the attached report was compiled through an innovative and collaborative approach that relied heavily upon voluntary internet discussions by more than 170 academic, scientific, technical, legal, and business experts around the world. I applaud the high quality of work accomplished by the team leaders and all participants who contributed in the last six months. I encourage them to continue their work in earnest as they move beyond this interim report and seek to answer the question of whether SBSP can be developed and deployed within the first half of this century to provide affordable, clean, safe, reliable, sustainable and expandable energy for mankind.

    This interim assessment contains significant initial findings and recommendations that should provide pause and consideration for national and international policy makers, business leaders, and citizens alike. It appears that technological challenges are closing rapidly and the business case for creating SBSP is improving with each passing year. Still absent, however, is an appropriate catalyst to stimulate the various interested parties toward actually developing a SBSP capability. I encourage all to read this report and consider the opportunities that SBSP presents as part of a national and international debate for action on how best to preserve security for all.

    As is often the case, the comments section is more interesting than the actual post. The poster “Coyote” gives great responses to most of those who challenge the feasibility of the project or espouse alternative technologies.

    However things shape up, it will be interesting to keep tabs on the developments.

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