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Humanity faces severe challenges in the coming century.

* Are you fearful about Global Warming? I am.
* Peak Oil giving you the blues? Join me in concern.
Well, let me add to your worries — as mine have been mounting. Water, one of the most renewable of renewable resources, ranks right up there with Global Warming and Energy in terms of key 21^st century challenges.

Don’t believe me? (Or, if you already think this but want a more holistic perspective …) Well, perhaps it is time for you to spend some time with Fred Pearce and his wonderful When the Rivers Run Dry: Water–The Defining Crisis of the Twenty-First Century.
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Making Green by going Green has many faces.  Cameron Diaz has added hers to the mix, offering a path for budding environmentally-oriented advertising types to compete for public service announcements about climate change.  It is not surprising to see Diaz as a spokeswoman for something like this, as she is a Climate Project trainee and is active in Act Green (with Gwyneth Paltrow).

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As a parent, one real challenge is how to deal with the most serious issues, how to communicate the world’s ills without terrifying and creating utter despair while remaining honest.  

Might it be surprising that the dinner table conversation in my household can range from Constitutional violations to terrorism to national debt to health care to environmental challenges.  How do you explain 9/11 to a five-year old anyway?

Well, as one actively working to help find (and shape) a path toward a sustainable and prosperous future, my challenge is often toward Global Warming and children.  

And, the National Wildlife Foundation (NWF) has just put the Climate Classroom online.

Let’s take a tour together … [Read more →]

Google is doing amazing things when it comes to energy.  They are working to promote plug-in hybrid electric vehicles (PHEVs). They are the centerpiece for Climate Savers smart computing, targeting a 50% reduction in computer electricity usage by 2010.  They custom design/build highly efficient power supplies.  They … they …

Well, do you realize that switching from color to black & white Googling could save 750 megawatts per year?

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America has developed a 99-cent shopping obsession that has turned Benjamin Franklin’s axiom “a penny saved is a penny earned” on its head. A price of $100 gives us pause, but a price of $99.99 seems like a bargain. Combined with easy access to revolving credit and our disposal culture, our focus on purchase price overshadows the total cost of many of our purchase decisions. We tend to focus on the “cost to buy” rather than the “cost to own.” More often than we care to admit, we are — to trot out another axiom that predates Franklin — “penny wise and pound foolish.”

So began a recent article of mine. This is a theme that I often emphasize in my energy diaries and in Energize America:

The critical importance of moving from

• a stove-piped, limited perspective Cost to Buy mindset to a
• more holistic, inclusive perception as to Cost to Own.

And, this is true in our individual lives, in our communities and businesses, and for our government.

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Disney Pixar is contributing to an Energy Smart feature. Check out the ad from DOE’s Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy office.

ITM Power announced last week advances that could (might?) represent a breakthrough moment when it comes to home hydrogen production. 

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Last week, Royal Dutch Shell’s CEO (Jeroen van der Veer) published an OPED in the Times of London: Hard times and hard truths dictate future:  Efforts to fight global warming will be wasted unless we concentrate on energy efficiency.  This is a valuable discussion, in no small part, through the holistic nature of the “hard truths” that van der Veer raises:

1. Global Demand for energy surging — perhaps a doubling of demand by 2050.
2. Peak Oil is a reality (okay — not his words, but clear implication: easy oil running out, new “oil” will be ever hard to extract)
3. “increased coal use will cause higher CO2 emissions, possibly to levels we deem unacceptable”

The key point, though, is about energy efficiency: 

More than half the energy we generate every day is wasted.

What’s the point of producing even more energy if we continue to waste most of it?  Instead, we should aim to become twice as efficient in our use of energy by the middle of the next century.  That is entirely feasible, provided that the will is there.

“Provided that that the will is there …”

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Charles Krauthammer’s The Tax-Free Lunch shows again the Washington Post’s willingness to publish fact-free OpEds.  Like Andrew Ferguson’s fact-free attack on Al Gore (and the Post’s lack of apology for publishing this trash), Krauthammer takes great liberty with reality, speaking commonly known urban legends, to confuse rather than enlighten.

Let’s take a look at Krauthammer’s liberties with truth as he works to undercut movement forward on energy issues.

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The obfuscation effort, the campaign to confuse the globe on Global Warming continues unabated despite Exxon’s well-publicized claims to cut off funding for their campaign.  A coming cold day for a warm globe, in that stalwart of rational journalism — The Washington Times, is another shot in the battle to confuse on facts to inhibit rational decision-making on how to deal with Global Warming challenges.
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