It's not easy to know if you're being green when you go to stay in a hotel. This article calls for a methodology standardization in certification programs. I couldn't agree more.
CNN Article
Right now, the only standard with any credibility is LEED Certification.
Do you need help achieving LEED Certification? Contact L2Ideas: we can help.
Although I did not attend, ONE/NW had a recent event that I wish I had witnessed. The meeting minutes were posted on John Stahl's blog. Eldan Goldenberg alerted me to the discussion, and posted a very interesting response.
I am currently reading Black Swan: The Impact of the Highly Improbable. One of the central points of the book is that we are biologically/historically built to live in Mediocristan (a world of average stuff), but modern life is actually Extremistan (of dwarfs and giants). 
The Black Swan: The Impact of the Highly Improbable by Nassim Nicholas Taleb
The reason I bring up this book in this conversation is that I view social networking sites and some blogs as being examples of Extremistan. The A-list bloggers, and celebrity facebook/myspace-ers have a vastly disproportional presence. A new meme, fad, fashion, or celebrity can displace them... but it is important to realize that we're living in Extremistan when we participate online.
I may sound like an old fogie, but once upon a time I described Blogger as a "great democratizing agent" -- only later did I see that these social networking sites and tools have the potential to be king makers.
Of course, it is possible to harness this power for highlighting a cause. But let's not fool ourselves that it necessarily means that the amplified messages will be for the betterment of humanity. I have no doubt that these tools could amplify hate just as powerfully as love/peace.
So how can the power be harnessed? The incremental and the dramatic. This blog is incremental: another brick in the wall amplifying green messages for positive change. The dramatic can either be a singular, incremental voice that (for some highly improbable reason) gets elevated to extreme popularity, or because someone who already has the ear of a huge number of folks takes up the cause (ex: Al Gore).
Regardless: welcome to Extremistan. Please wipe your feet.
Labels: green
Next month, world leaders will start trying to agree to post-Kyoto standards. Good thing they are starting soon: the Kyoto protocol expires in 2012 and the UN report (that is the touchstone of the conference) suggests that the world will go to hell in a handbasket by 2050! So, for now, some well meaning but useless politicians will expend plenty of hot air, and kick of tons of carbon on airplane flights from around the world in order to attempt to reach a consensus that no one even believes is possible.
This CNN article lays out the grim truth of what's to come. "The battle will likely be pitched and the stakes high as each side of the global warming debate says the other's plan will cost the global economy trillions of dollars. And public attention in the U.S. - which never signed the first Kyoto agreement - has arguably never been greater."
I don't mean to seem overly pessimistic. I'm actually a long-term optimist when it comes to the ability of humans to positively impact the world - in time to save humanity. I truly believe in the power of transformational technological and scientific advances in combination with conscientious carbon reduction efforts by multi-national corporations. In order to fix the Global Warming crisis individuals and companies can not wait around for politicians. It is in our enlightened self-interest to get this right, and get it going. Want to start reducing your company's emissions? L2ideas can help.
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