On Sunday, October 2, 2011, Stater Bros. Charities and Inland Women Fighting Cancer are teaming up to present the 4th Annual Believe Walk in the historic district of Redlands.  BELIEVE – INSPIRATION – MIRACLE – HOPE – TRANSFORMATION – COURAGE!

Address to the Plenary Session, Earth Summit, Rio Centro, Brazil 1992

Text of Severn Suzuki’s 1992 Earth Summit Address

Hello, I’m Severn Suzuki speaking for E.C.O. – The Environmental Children’s Organization.

We are a group of twelve and thirteen-year-olds from Canada trying to make a difference: Vanessa Suttie, Morgan Geisler, Michelle Quigg and me.

We raised all the money ourselves to come six thousand miles to tell you adults you must change your ways. Coming here today, I have no hidden agenda. I am fighting for my future.

Losing my future is not like losing an election or a few points on the stock market. I am here to speak for all generations to come.

I am here to speak on behalf of the starving children around the world whose cries go unheard.

I am here to speak for the countless animals dying across this planet because they have nowhere left to go. We cannot afford to be not heard.

I am afraid to go out in the sun now because of the holes in the ozone. I am afraid to breathe the air because I don’t know what chemicals are in it.

I used to go fishing in Vancouver with my dad until just a few years ago we found the fish full of cancers. And now we hear about animals and plants going extinct every day – vanishing forever.

In my life, I have dreamt of seeing the great herds of wild animals, jungles and rain forests full of birds and butterflies, but now I wonder if they will even exist for my children to see.

Did you have to worry about these little things when you were my age?

All this is happening before our eyes and yet we act as if we have all the time we want and all the solutions.

I’m only a child and I don’t have all the solutions, but I want you to realize, neither do you!

• You don’t know how to fix the holes in our ozone layer.
• You don’t know how to bring salmon back up a dead stream.
• You don’t know how to bring back an animal now extinct.
• And you can’t bring back forests that once grew where there is now desert.

If you don’t know how to fix it, please stop breaking it!

Here, you may be delegates of your governments, business people, organizers, reporters or politicians – but really you are mothers and fathers, brothers and sister, aunts and uncles – and all of you are somebody’s child.

I’m only a child yet I know we are all part of a family, five billion strong, in fact, 30 million species strong and we all share the same air, water and soil – borders and governments will never change that.

I’m only a child yet I know we are all in this together and should act as one single world towards one single goal.

In my anger, I am not blind, and in my fear, I am not afraid to tell the world how I feel.

In my country, we make so much waste, we buy and throw away, buy and throw away, and yet northern countries will not share with the needy. Even when we have more than enough, we are afraid to lose some of our wealth, afraid to share.

In Canada, we live the privileged life, with plenty of food, water and shelter – we have watches, bicycles, computers and television sets.

Two days ago here in Brazil, we were shocked when we spent some time with some children living on the streets.

And this is what one child told us: “I wish I was rich and if I were, I would give all the street children food, clothes, medicine, shelter and love and affection.”

If a child on the street who has nothing, is willing to share, why are we who have everything still so greedy?

I can’t stop thinking that these children are my age, that it makes a tremendous difference where you are born, that I could be one of those children living in the Favelas of Rio; I could be a child starving in Somalia; a victim of war in the Middle East or a beggar in India.

I’m only a child yet I know if all the money spent on war was spent on ending poverty and finding environmental answers, what a wonderful place this earth would be!

At school, even in kindergarten, you teach us to behave in the world. You teach us:

• not to fight with others,
• to work things out,
• to respect others,
• to clean up our mess,
• not to hurt other creatures
• to share – not be greedy

Then why do you go out and do the things you tell us not to do?

Do not forget why you’re attending these conferences, who you’re doing this for – we are your own children.

You are deciding what kind of world we will grow up in. Parents should be able to comfort their children by saying “everything’s going to be alright’, “we’re doing the best we can” and “it’s not the end of the world”.

But I don’t think you can say that to us anymore. Are we even on your list of priorities? My father always says “You are what you do, not what you say.”

Well, what you do makes me cry at night. you grownups say you love us. I challenge you, please make your actions reflect your words. Thank you for listening.

Ms. Suzuki, the daughter of David Suzuki, was 12 years old when she spoke at the Earth Summit in Brazil in 1993. She received a standing ovation.

What is a PZEV and why would you want it?

The auto industry has perennially been at the forefront of marketing – selling sex, speed and freedom. And we are all 0ver it, we love our cars, the freedom it allows us, our teenage make out sessions in the hinterlands and speeding through “S” curves. We plan our communities and lives around the automobile and the auto industry romanticizes it for us.  A colleague of mine , Eric Corey Freed, even spelled it out in his new presentation. This is what you can be and the places you can go when you purchase an automobile:

From Eric Corey Freed's Presentation: "Sins, Spills and Starbucks"

But now this! The PZEV – new not so romantic terminology standing for “partially zero emissions vehicle”. Do people really want a PZEV, a car that is partially zero something or another? Is it a new marketing ploy telling us we can be green as we pave more roads, widen freeways and build more parking lots while driving around in our partially zero polluting vehicles?  Do you want to be partially zero something, even if it made sense? Are they trying to sell us a car that is almost zero? It doesn’t sound as if they actually want to sell it.  Remember that these are the same people that came up with the Gremlin and the Brat, of course those didn’t have government involvement.

Partially Green Cars

PZEVs are a tremendous step in the right direction, but I am still appalled that they opt to and are even allowed to market themselves as partially zero emission. While visiting the Auto Show a few of weeks ago, I was reminded that this term has received partially zero outrage. These car companies are thumbing their noses at our intelligence and the environment and bringing green washing to it highest heights. Partial what? These companies should be boycotted, if for nothing else but coming up with and pushing for such a ridiculous and confusing term such as (PZEV).  Especially to sell “green” cars, even more so in car loving America. But since we let the government, in such forms as the FDA and Congress, get away with much worse in their deception and sleight of hand, we might as well allow this, right?

The California Air Resources Board (CARB) defines automobiles that receive a PZEV credit as being a car that has met the state’s Super Ultra Low Emission Vehicle (SULEV) tailpipe standard, which is 90% cleaner than an average new 2004 automobile. In addition, a PZEV must have near-zero evaporative emissions and its emission control equipment must carry a 15-year/150,000 mile warranty. To be rated as an Advanced Technology Partial Zero Emission Vehicle (AT-PZEV), an automobile must meet all the above criterion for a PZEV rating and additionally must make use of “ZEV-enabling clean technology” such as alternative fuels, electric drive, or other advanced technology systems.

Partially Green is Partially Sexy?

It sounds like partially green snake oil to me. How about calling these cars something partially green or sporty like GTS (Gran Turismo Sostenible), GSV (Green Sports Vehicle),  CGV (Certified Green Vehicle) or GSX (Green Sexy Machine)? I’m sure a savy marketer could come with something really good. Something that we might get excited about, not something partially zero. OK, so they are doing a good thing by striving towards reducing pollution. So why can’t it be done honestly or with integrity? No wonder its OK to stretch the truth and be deceptive today at all levels of society. What is a part of zero anyway and who wants to be part of zero? Zero has no parts. And since zero has no parts it must be OK if your kid has partially zero drugs at the party,  your daughter is partially pregnant, or you partially didn’t have that extra drink before getting into your PZEV and driving down the road? Why not?

Green Washing Euphoria

This is a reason green washing and blurring the lines between what is real and what isn’t continues. If you spew, you spew, how do you partially not spew? To not be perfect is perfectly OK , none of us are perfect, well, maybe some of us are, or at least think we are. And contrary to some thinking in the world, it is impossible to live and not have an environmental impact, but why not be honest about it? Why can’t we be truthful about what we are doing and celebrate the achievements for what they truly are without trying to deceive and manipulate and confuse through obfuscation, marketing ploys and false terminology. To be truthful is to truly lead and educate by example, thus moving us to a better place in the future than we are today. Unfortunately, stuff like this leads to mistrust and minimization of what doing the right thing truly is. Its one of the reasons that people get “green fatigue” as well as mistrust the government and large corporations.

Here is a list of companies selling PZEV’s:

• BMW
• Chrysler
• Dodge
• Ford
• Honda
• Mazda
• Mitsubishi
• Nissan
• Subaru
• Toyota
• Volkswagen
• Volvo

They seem to think you’re an idiot, that seems like a pretty good reason not to be.

Music has a profound effect on people of all ages and permeates our every day lives from leisurely listening to TV shows, movies, commercials and parties (of all sorts).  Our fondest memories are tied to songs and eras of music that create in us waves of emotions and nostalgia every time those  sounds fill the air. Musicians have an opportunity to have a huge impact in the way we live, think and emote, especially among our youth who are usually more impressionable and live their lives through the power of music of the day.  Thus  a popular musician is given a gift he can use to write powerful music that speaks to us on a different level, fill us with emotions and by example can guide us and our youth by showing them doing the right thing and “living it” is the cool thing to do.  A musician does not necessarily need to sing about the environment to be the message.

My Top Five Green Bands

Here is my personal list for the top ten “green” bands.  The following is the criteria I used:

• Promote green
• Walk the walk
• Give Back
• Good Music
• I don’t care if you never heard of them – you should and will now.

This is a short list knowing there is an exhaustive number of bands that are now promoting sustainability and giving back to their communities.  But my list is personal and I think these five have forged the path and are far and away more green inside and out than most others.  I’d love to hear what your thoughts are and what your favorite green bands are and why, in fact, I’ll send the first person to comment a FREE CD of Dr. Goodvibe’s Album “She”.

Jack Johnson

“Life in general is just a work in progress.” – Jack Johnson

Green Link: Jack Johnson Greening

Type of Music: Acoustic Rock

What makes him green: Jack Johnson  feels it’s more important to eat locally than organic, because so much of the food in Hawaii is shipped in.  So hes eat locally first and organic when possible.

Jack Johnson’s record label, Brushfire Records, is blazing a trail in environmental responsibility.

Brushfire is headquartered in a newly-renovated green building, leveraging a number of innovative features to keep their environmental impact low. These features include:

• Solar panels providing all power for offices and studio
• Interior/exterior wall insulation made from 100% post consumer waste (cotton from blue jean scraps)
• Duro-Last Green Roof
• Recycled Shingles

Why I Like Him: Venerable  – how can a cool laid back surfer not create a huge following.  He is arguably the most green  and the ultimate in green musicians.  He crosses generations and puts on a great live show, I love his music and so does my six year old son (whose been to a JJ concert with me), he walks around singing “reduce, reuse, recycle“.  Talk about indoctrinating the youth – I love it.

Cloud Cult

“I’d rather teach by example than by preaching, so we’re trying to build a good business model that other bands can emulate.” – Craig Minowa

Green Link: Earthology Institute

Type of Music: Indie Rock

What makes them green: In 1999, lead singer Craig and Connie Minowa formed Earthology, a the world’s only nonprofit record label.not-for-profit environmental organization. Craig worked on developing the Earthology Records branch, which  was focused on helping to green the music industry.  the Earthology Institute provides resources and an action network that disseminates critical, forward thinking and practical tools for the advancement of human health, sustainability, and the environment. ” Earthology Institute advocates positive environmental change with a focus on sustainability, environmental toxins, human health, ecological integrity, proactive and positive living in the 21st century, advocacy through the arts, and tools for green living.” Earthology developed the first 100% post-consumer recycled CD packaging in the U.S. market. Earthology Records is now on an organic farm, powered by geothermal energy and partially built from reclaimed wood and recycled plastic. The band’s merchandise is  100% post-consumer recycled or certified organic materials. Cloud Cult has planted over a thousand trees and plants several hundred more each year to offset the band’s CO2 output. They also donate heavily to projects that build wind turbines as revenue generators on Native American Reservations.

Why I Like Them: Cloud Cult has a great story, its tragic, rejuvenating, powerful and moving.  It comes through in their music, you need to hear it.  Their message of hope purpose and undying love comes through in a depth of emotion that touches your soul. A violinist, cellist and two live painters are integral facets of the band and during their shows build on the passion and intensity of emotion that defines Cloud Cult. Craig Minowa is incredibly passionate about the environment, lives it at home and on the road, not to mention they have solar panels on their van.

Dr. Goodvibe

“It’s world gone crazy too much goin’ wrong… nobody’s listening could you write me a song …she wants to save the world she wants to do it today, and I said don’t worry baby we will find a way.”

Website: Dr. Goodvibe

Type of Music: Acoustic Soul

What makes them green: This little known Australian Band is catching a lot of attention  winning some acoustic music awards in Australia and popular on the concert circuit down under. While I was walking on a Brazilian beach with Edu and his wife they were picking up trash using a plastic bag they found (they do this everywhere they travel, which is all over the world).  They promote sustainability wherever they go and live it at home by composting, growing organic produce and native plants, capturing rainwater and living a minimalist lifestyle among other things.  They’ve been green long before the word green came to its present state of an overused and washed out marketing phenomena.

Why I Like Them: They set an example and their music has a unique funky vibe (acoustic soul they call it) that is honest and addictive.  In fact one music producer told them their music was “too honest.”  They are fun loving and have an amazing message that they live and breathe.

Dave Matthews Band

“Progress takes away, what forever took to find.”

Green Link:Bama Green Project

Type of Music: Acoustic Rock/Jazz

What makes them green: While on tour, DMB participates in an evolving green program by eating locally, reducing waste, using bio-diesel, and hosting over 1,700 environmental groups across the country in the Bama Green Eco-Village to help spread the message to their fans. The Bama Green Project is also dedicated to educating DMB fans around the world about how to take simple & action oriented environmental steps. They’ve had the help of nearly 2,500 volunteers in collecting fan carbon offset donations, and more than 400,000 fans have participated in their carpooling program. When the band is not touring, the “Eco-Village” hits ski areas on the annual IZSTYLE Winter Tour, created by bassist Stefan Lessard. Dave Matthews is also an official supporter of The Wilderness Society, which is dedicated to preserving America’s wilderness. The band has also retroactively neutralized the carbon footprint of their entire touring career, offsetting a total of 101,320 tons of CO2.

Why I Like Them: The band jams in concert, is an incredible scene to be a part of  and has a “Grateful Dead like” cult following.  They were at the forefront of carbon offsets for traveling bands.  They’re cool!

It doesn’t matter if you believe in global warming or not. It doesn’t matter if you are conservative, liberal, libertarian, moderate, own a business, go to school, a parent, not a parent, jobless, homeless, black, white, brown, yellow, green… it doesn’t matter. If you believe in clean air, clean water, better paying and new jobs, a healthier environment and brighter future;  If you don’t like the idea of supporting despots, dictators, human rights atrocities, and terrorists through our dependence on foreign oil;  If you want to pay less in energy costs (in actual price as well as in environmental and health costs). If you believe in California and the United States and our uncanny ability to innovate, change paradigms and lead the world – than you need to vote NO on Proposition 23.

“Prop. 23 is designed to kill California’s effort to clean up the environment. [Proponents] are less concerned about California than they are about the fact that if we get something that is working here to clean up the air and launch a clean-tech industry, it will go national and maybe international.

The stakes are high. I hope we can win here and send a message to the whole country that it’s time to put aside partisan politics and get an energy bill out of Washington.”

—George Shultz, Former Secretary of State under Reagan, Co-Chair of the No on 23 Campaign, New York Times, Tom Friedman’s Column, October 7, 2010

Prop 23 suspends California’s landmark legislative bill AB 32, which was put in place to reduce emissions, not only to help stave off global warming, but to protect and preserve our precious natural resources, reduce ever rising energy costs, make a healthier environment for our elderly – our children – all of us, as well as to grow our economy promoting clean and renewable energy and technologies.

Here are 15 points to ponder as you make this important decision to help us to step ahead and lead the world or choose to stagnate in an unsustainable and unhealthy future and lag behind the world as investment and jobs migrate elsewhere:

1. Innovative energy policies beginning in the 1970s have saved Californians $56 billion in electricity and natural gas costs, averted the construction of 15 large power plants and created 1.5 million full-time jobs with a payroll to the tune of $45 billion.
2. Most of the state’s largest employers support implementation of AB 32, including Google, eBay, Applied Materials, Waste Management, the California Ski Industry Association, and Virgin America.
3. Google’s “clean-energy czar” Bill Weihl calls AB 32 a key to creating the companies of the future for California.
4. Air pollution taints the air we breathe, our water and our food, which is a major factor in our extraordinarily high rates of asthma and cancer.
5. Prop 23 supporters are hanging their hats on a discredited study by a Sacramento Consultant,  Sanjay Varshney, as well as a study by the Pacific Research Institute that was funded by Valero, a Texas Oil company who is the largest contributor to Prop 23. Not to mention when Varshney was  asked whether he stands by the report’s findings, and to comment on AB 32, he declined. “I haven’t really kept up with the debate,” he said. “It will be difficult for me to comment.”
6. Since 2005, California green jobs have grown 10 times faster than the statewide average.
7. California’s clean technology sector received $9 billion in investment capital from 2005-2009, and despite the economic recession received $2.1 billion in 2009 alone – 116 deals which amounted to 60 percent of the total in North America and more than five times the investment in our nearest competitor, Massachusetts.
8. A new report by the nonprofit, nonpartisan group Next 10 shows that despite the down economy, more clean tech businesses are starting up in California versus shutting down or leaving the state. The third edition of the “California Green Innovation Index” also shows that the state collected 24 percent of global clean tech venture capital funds.
9. Analysis from University of Californian researchers estimates that AB 32 policies could increase household incomes by $48 billion and create about 400,000 jobs.
10. The implementation of AB32 has been one of unparalleled collaboration and an open process where everyone from John Q. Public to the Oil Companies to the environmental companies having had and still have a seat at the table.
11. Valero (Texas Oil), Tesoro (oil company) & Koch Industries (Coal Industry) have contributed $6,606,273.20 (74% of contributions) to support Prop 23. They understand that a new economy is coming and they aren’t apart of it, especially if California is leading the way.
12. “While [some Americans have] turned “climate change” into a four-letter word — J-O-K-E — China’s Communists also turned it into a four-letter word — J-O-B-S.” – Thomas Friedman (Are We Clever?).
13. If businesses haven’t already adopted measures to reduce their emissions and energy use, they are already behind the curve and will not be able to compete in the world.  The wine industry and organic farmers are at the forefront of sustainable practices and are leading the way to more healthy and practical agricultural operations.
14. You might hear this disingenuous argument, among others, that humans exhale carbon dioxide, well we do, but human exhalation of carbon dioxide is part of a closed system. There can be no net addition of carbon dioxide to the atmosphere because the amount of carbon dioxide we exhale can’t be greater than the carbon we put into our bodies by eating plants, or eating animals t hat eat plants. The plants received the carbon from the atmosphere via photosynthesis. This closed system is true for any animal,  not just humans. The reason why burning fossil fuels is a concern is because it is not a closed loop over human time scales. Extracting coal and oil and burning them puts carbon back into the atmosphere that plants removed millions of years ago.
15. By passing Prop 23 and staying primarily dependent on fossil fuels, private electricity costs in California would rise $100 per person in 2020, making electricity up to 33% more expensive. These added fossil fuel costs will shrink the economy by $84 billion and over a half million jobs in 2020.

So I ask you, What’s wrong with reducing our reliance on foreign oil, which supports our enemies, people like Hugo Chavez and Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, as well as terrorists?  Without the support of oil money they would never be capable of pushing forward their agendas and controlling their people.  What’s wrong with making polluters reduce their emissions, encouraging and giving incentives to clean technology, helping move California into the future in this new, healthy and innovative economy?   As has been said before,  AB 32 feels “like a breath fresh clean air”, let’s not stink it up.

Prop 23 Resources:

No on 23 – Stop the Dirty Energy Prop – Official No on 23 site.

The Triple Pundit – An ongoing series about California’s Proposition 23

Impartial Analysis of Prop 23 - From Smart Voter – The League of Women Voters.

Small Business Majority – released an in-depth report on Oct. 18, 2010, that focuses on the opportunities AB 32 provides to California’s small businesses.

Report Touting Prop. 23 ‘Simply Nonsense’ — Stanford Prof – Debunking report by Pacific Research Institute partially funded by Valero.

Next 10 – Nonpartisan think tank focusing on innovation and the intersection between the economy, the environment, and quality of life issues for all Californians.

Yes on 23 – Read the bottom of the page, misleading name by calling it a “jobs initiative”, there are no jobs being created by this prop.

Meet Koch Industries - One of the top 3 contributors to Prop 23.

California Bright Spot - is sponsored by the California Business Alliance for a Green Economy which supports the implementation of California’s clean energy policies, including AB 32, by the California Air Resources Board and other public agencies.

Are We Clever? - The push for green in China is a practical discussion on health and wealth. There is no need to emphasize future consequences when people already see, eat and breathe pollution every day.

In this post by architecture critic James Russell, he tours Brad Pitt’s Make It Right Foundation’s homes in New Orleans 9th Ward. I agree with his conclusion that they are symbolically invaluable, but does it make sense to build these homes in a place that will most likely be devastated once again. He also has some excellent points about the architecture and the surrounding area. Ultimately the foundation is doing something down there that is having a real and profound effect, and this is one of my credos: Just Do Something.

Full Story: Brad Pitt’s Architects Give New Orleans Safer, Snazzier Homes

The Five CALGreen Code Categories:

1. Planning and Design
2. Energy Efficiency
3. Water Efficiency and Conservation
4. Material Conservation and Resource Efficiency
5. Environmental Quality

CALGreen Requirements for New Buildings:

• Reduce water consumption by 20 percent.
• Divert 50 percent of construction waste from landfills.
• Install low pollutant-emitting materials.
• Requires separate water meters for nonresidential buildings’ indoor and outdoor water use.
• Requires moisture-sensing irrigation systems for larger landscape projects.
• Requires mandatory inspections of energy systems (e.g., heat furnace, air conditioner and mechanical equipment) for nonresidential buildings over 10,000 square feet to ensure that all are working at their maximum capacity and according to their design efficiencies.

CAlGreen Facts:

• The Code is a comprehensive and uniform regulatory code for all residential, commercial, hospital and school buildings.
• CALGreen will allow cities to impose more stringent standards or provide additional sustainability incentives.
• It has both mandatory components as well as voluntary components that can be adopted by local jurisdictions (Tier 1 and Tier2).
• Mandatory measures include elements currently regulated by other agencies (i.e. stormwater pollution prevention (SWPPP), energy efficiency).
• California Air Resources Board estimates that the mandatory provisions will reduce greenhouse gas emissions (CO2 equivalent) by 3 million metric tons in 2020.
• The CALGreen Code will not require businesses or property owners to pay additional fees for certification.

CALGreen Bottom Line

CALGreen isn’t going to make a huge difference in building practices in California, most of the requirements are relatively inexpensive.  Where extra costs may have an effect is in pulling a building permit, the entire building documentation and inspection process will change significantly under the new code and many of the inspections required by CALGreen do not currently exist and will require training and education, an expense most cities cannot afford now days.  This may have a huge effect on the residential side of the code.  Also, CALGreen represents the beginning of incremental changes to California’s building standards which will continue to become more stringent in the future.  The new requirements will also lead to an increase in the retrofit market with owner’s and developers focusing on existing buildings rather than building new ones, a market that is under served in California at the present moment.

CALGreen Resources

Following is  a list of relevant resources regarding CALGreen.  I will be periodically writing about the code and adding more resources as well as upcoming events and presentation about the code as well as how it relates to existing voluntary green building standards such as LEED and Build it Green.

Vista Futura Inc – CALGreen Consultant.

CALGreen – California Building Standards Commission Homepage for CALGreen

2010 California Green Building Standards Code: Nation’s First Mandatory Statewide Standards Code to Green Construction and Fight Climate  Change – This 3-page summary points out unlike point-based certification systems that can be purchased, the CALGREEN Code mandates required field inspections using a public, transparent infrastructure that is stringent, successful, and cost-effective.

Guide to the California Green Building Standards Code – This an educational publication about the new code from the California Building Standards Commission (responsible for the code) First Edition, Issued August 2010

California Building Standards Commission-Housing and Community Development CALGreen Overview July 2010 – A presentation overview of the new code.

USGBC-Orange County Cal Green Presentation – Malcolm Lewis, CTG Energetics ” Where Does LEED Fit with the New California Green Building Code?” – June 24, 2010 – This presentation gives a good overview of the code as well as how it relates to LEED.

California’s Next-Generation Upgrade to Title 24 – An Interview with Dave Walls Executive Director of California’s Building Standards  Commission from the U.S. Green Building Council – Discusses CALGreen and how it fits with other green building rating systems.

Dave Walls Interview – Architect of the CALGreen is interviewed by Green Technology Magazine. He addresses concerns, gives the background of the path to adoption for this groundbreaking work and discusses how it will be implemented.

New CALGREEN Building Code – Matindale.com – a lawyer’s overview of the code.

CalGreen: Impact to Your School Projects – San Diego County Office of Education Presentation May 11, 2010.  Introduction to CALGreen, History and what it means to school projects.

Myth vs. Fact: Setting the Record Straight On 2010 California Green Building Standards Code – From the California Building Standards Commission.

Greening the Codes – from the U. S. Green Building Council a white paper on how and why mandated green building standards and codes alongside voluntary rating systems  such as LEED play an important, distinct and complementary role and together, enabling truly sustainable buildings and communities.

CALGreen and Its Impact on Third Party Certification Programs – Build It Green notes “…there is still much work needed to refine and implement the code [CALGreen] including measure definition, education to affected parties and clear strategies to reconcile and understand how the code relates to the growing number of municipal green building ordinances based on established third-party verified green building programs.”

The Quick Reference For CALGreen v. LEED v. GreenPoint – The commercial matrix compares CALGreen (Commercial) with LEED BD+C.  The residential matrix compares CALGreen (residential) with (GreenPoint) Build it Green and LEED for Homes.

More on CALGreen to follow.

Ever wonder about those people who spend $2 apiece on those little bottles of Evian water? Try spelling Evian backward.  — George Carlin

Everyone needs water and most of us are concerned about where our water comes from, not to mention our addiction to the convenience factor, that’s why we Americans choose bottled water to the tune of more than 16 billion dollars a year.  Amazingly today, in our high tech modern world, still over one sixth of the world’s population does not have access to reliable and safe drinking water, including more than half of the people in Fiji. Fiji, an amazing volcanic chain of islands in the Pacific where freshwater is scarce, where that rare water is a vital life-giving force to the local people and the island ecosystems. Where one hip company is shipping the pristine bottled water all over the world as well as to the United States, where you and I can get it more easily than most Fijians.  So it begs the question – Do we really need bottled water in the United States?

Is Bottled Water Better than Tap Water? Is it Safe?

I began wondering about bottled water at the beginning of the century when I heard that plastic bottles leach chemicals when you froze the bottles or left them in your car in the heat, I was doing both.  Researching the subject I found that freezing the bottles probably didn’t leach the chemicals, heating them probably did, but new studies have found potential leaching is inherent in the bottles.  In our house over the years we’ve been trying to reduce plastic as much as possible.  We’ve switched to reusable bottles and rarely use bottled water now.   The reusable bottles are actually very convenient and filling them with filtered  tap water and loading them with ice on a hot day keeps them cold. And the filtered water tastes fine.  In fact, bottled water has not been shown to be any safer than tap water, in fact, maybe less so in some cases.  It’s convenient and seems cheap, until you compare it to tap water.

Drink a bottle of French water and then step into the shower for ten minutes and you’ve just received the exposure equivalent of drinking a half gallon of tap water. We enjoy the most intimate of relationships with our public drinking water, whether we want to or not. - Sandra Steingraber, Having Faith, 2001

Our government doesn’t seem capable of taking care of anything very well and our trust has in it has waned, especially with reports of different contaminants including pharmaceuticals making their way into municipal water supplies.  But the fact is tap water is put through more stringent standards than bottled water and a to the according to Environmental Working Group about 45% of bottled water comes directly from tap water and just 18% of the bottled waters out there have quality reports with contaminant testing results disclosed by the companies that produce them.  So in some cases you can actually get cleaner water from home by using a water filter.

Is Bottled Water Green?

Bottled water is a business that is fundamentally, inherently and inalterably unconscionable. No side deals to protect forests or combat global warming can offset that reality.” — Michael J. Brune, executive director, Rainforest Action Network, New York Times, 7 November 2007

Presented by Online Education

From factory to packaging to transportation, bottled water uses about 17 million barrels of oil. 1.5 million tons of plastic are used to manufacture bottled water every year. It takes in more than 25 times the amount of water to make each plastic bottle than the bottle contains. 300 million gallons of bottled water are imported to the United States every year and every day 30 million single serve plastic water bottles end up in land fills. Does this sound green, especially when most people in the U.S. can get clean water directly from their tap?

The Story of Bottled Water

It really comes down to unnecessary excess, and we really should be trying to simplify our lives in as many ways as we can, since life is continually becoming more complex – at our own behest.   The people from “The Story of Stuff” again do a great job synthesizing the subject in this short video:

What about Bottled Vitamin Water

“My father, a true conservative, would have smiled on this. All his life he resisted the attempts of big corporations to gouge him by selling him stuff he didn’t need and so he was not a consumer of high-priced water, anymore than he would’ve purchased bottles of French air or Italian soil.” – Garrison Keillor in a Sept. 29, 2007 in the Salt Lake Tribune

Don’t buy it – know reason for it and the sugar content is high, add some fruit juice to your water to get natural vitamins and sugar.  It is a nutrition fact that whole foods like fruits and vegetables contain live enzymes, which act as catalysts for vitamins and minerals to work in your cells, it’s questionable if taking supplements outside of their natural state does anything beneficial.  If the enzymes aren’t there, the vitamins are likely worthless.  They are selling you something you don’t need – in a plastic bottle.

Conclusion

It all comes down to empty rhetoric. You should drink lots of water, its good for you, more than any other drink, but buy a filter for your tap and then use a reusable bottle.  You’ll save lots of money.  If you’re drinking the recommended 64 ounces a day it can really add up – maybe $1,500 a year or more depending on how you buy the water.  Not to mention the effect on the world – socially, environmentally and economically.  I don’t believe in government bans, and they don’t usually work the way they were intended to, but we have a free market choice on bottled water right now, the choice seems clear to me.  It is an unnecessary potentially harmful extravagance.

“…San Pellegrino and Perrier got rich off the pretensions of liberal wastrels like moi who thought it set us apart from the unlettered masses. We ordered it in restaurants for the same reason we read books we don’t like and go to operas we don’t understand – we say to the waiter, ”Perrier,” to give a continental touch to our macaroni and cheese.” – Garrison Keillor in a Sept. 29, 2007 in the Salt Lake Tribune

Author’s Note: Its frustrating for me to read articles on the internet that don’t reference  their sources of information.  Sometimes its difficult to verify data, thus I can’t say it is completely true.  Thus in order to distill and solidify that data and information spilled over the internet, I have either linked within the article or referenced below my resources for information and data contained within this article.

Plastic for Good

This is a fun, powerful and inspiring video clip (with great music as well) about THE HIPPO WATER ROLLER, made of plastic, a barrel-shaped container which holds 24 gallons of water and rolls along the ground.  The plastic roller  facilitates access to freshwater for people who have to travel long distances to get to it.  I love simple technology, simple solutions and education that makes the world less complicated and offers time and opportunity for those who don’t usually get much of either.

Hippo Relief Image Source - Imvubu Projects

The name “Hippo” references the huge African animal threatened by loss of access to fresh water.

Sometimes plastic has a good use, as mentioned in TreeHugger’s recent article on prioritizing the use of plastics.  I agree the “Hippo” is definitely one of the most appropriate uses for plastic.  The barrel lasts forever (in this case you want it to) and radically reduces the workload of African women and children who sometimes have to travel miles, often over rough terrain, to obtain fresh water. This plastic device empowers them, changes their lives, and reduces their suffering.

Without this simple tool, traditional African methods of collecting water rely on carrying heavy 5 gallon buckets on their heads, straining the spine and body and increasing the risk of physical injury.

Sometimes its the simplest technology that makes the biggest difference and can change peoples’ lives.  Even if its plastic!