You have to watch this video to see that there is hope for countries such as China to provide clean water for its people.  I do acknowledge that this device at the time in 2009 was made specifically for disaster recovery (Katrina Disaster) but since technology evolves quickly, I would not be surprised to see a second generation of LifeSaver that would provide a more permanent and sustainable solution.  Has anyone heard of this company or its latest developments??

As much as I agree that the solutions to our environmental crises may be delivered outside government control, the examples above show the importance of maintaining a strong judiciary and oversight into the activities of these organisations.

Here is Stephen Colbert with Al Gore

Here is John Stewart with Al Gore

And something on energy efficient light globes from Colbert…

Enjoy!

I found a 2010 Human Development Research Paper that reviewed the criticisms of the index thru scrutiny of various categories such as Education, Health, Income, Redundancy in the following categories:

Education – This component of the HDI accounts for measurements that appear suspect at best when it comes to the accuracy and applicability of the metric.  For instance, we all know that literacy is paramount for human development and betterment yet the plurality of literacy is not measured; such as the comprehension and application of knowledge.  Numerical literacy is also not considered yet we all can appreciate the importance of this facet of education.  Aside from literacy, enrollment figures are used for measurement and is criticized for accounting for drop out rates.  In Africa, only 51% and 46% of boys and girls, respectively, finish primary school.

Income – This component is measured based on the GDP per capita in Purchasing Power Parity.  In class we have already talked about the shortfalls of the GDP which include exclusion of black market activity, unreported activities (homeschooling, home grown foods, etc) – all of which remain a factor in the skewed calculations for HDI.

Despite these criticisms and even more pertaining to the arbitrarily assigned thresholds for each class of HDI scoring, this index does add a more human component of cross-country comparison than strict GDP calculations.  It should be noted that HDI is not by an means a perfected index and should be taken with a grain of salt and supplemented by other forms of sustainable indicators as well.

Workplace:

Do you bag your own lunch or dry clean your clothes regularly?  This may be a good link for you!  I am not 100% sold on the thrift store idea for business clothes though – but if you can find a good deal, than go for it. 

If you are in a leadership position and can look at implementing sustainable business practices, this company (Green Workplace) based on of Vancouver impressed me with their green consulting platform.  One neat service they provide is what they call “Fuel Smart Driving Instruction” to organizations who are looking to save money on gas and reduce greenhouse gas emissions.  They also have a great list of business partners which have the potential to further deepen your company’s ability to go green!

At home:

National Geographic has a very cool site breaking down numerous tips on green living.  One interesting application they have on their website are the Green food guide quiz which I found quite informative.  It’s a great way to educate yourself and it gives you a few ideas on how to spread the “green” bug!  Did you know what Biodynamic wine is?  Take the test and find out

Finally, the water quiz is great too.  It says it’s for kids but I thought it was a great educational tool for me too.  You can infer what you wish about that!  Either way, if it helps each of us learn something and apply better green practices, we all win.  Even if you have to pretend to be a kid once in a while

Hope you enjoy!

McDonalds is literally going green. As the picture shows, McDonalds is desperate to show how green they are. In an effort to convince customers that environmental concern is also one of their priorities, they have added green to their original red background in their logo. However, on a fair note, the company has taken on several green initiatives – like using environmentally-friendly refrigeration and converting used oil to biodiesel.

According to greenbiz.com, “This strategy is essentially the textbook definition of greenwashing: Promoting green in the abstract, literally re-painting your signage with the color green, while simultaneously making sparse, vague claims about environmental action.”

Hummer is possibly one of the most environmentally unfriendly personal vehicle that I know of. EcoSmart is actually the name of the company so plastering it on to a hummer is pretty ironic to say the least.

Barbie BCause was launched in 2008 in an effort to make a green statement where Mr. Richard Dickson, Senior Vice President of Marketing, Media and Entertainment, Worldwide, Mattel Brands, was quoted saying “Barbie BCause is for eco-conscious girls who believe that being environmentally-friendly is the right thing to do”. Fun fact; barbie is made out of plastics.

GPI on the other hand (Genuine Progress Indicator) takes the above omitted costs into account.  So while GDP measures output only, GPI gives a much a better picture of real living standard. Still, GPI has its shortcomings as well. Many of the above mentioned costs are subjective and difficult to measure; it is difficult to assign appropriate economic value to them.  Hence I expect that it would be quite challenging for global economies to agree on specific international standard to use for measuring some of the GPI variables.

In searching for some answers on this topic, there does not seem to be a single defined standard for measuring GPI or a standard on variables to use. Rather, different countries and even provinces seem to decide separately on what are the most important costs to measure.  Imo, this approach makes sense to a certain extent. Considering differences in cultures, state of economic development and differences in wants and needs, it makes sense that decisions on what to count and how to measure it be left to individual nations. GPI as a measure of well-being can only be valuable if it truly measures things that matter. However, I believe there should also exist a baseline, a certain set of basic variables and measure specifications so that economies can be evaluated and compared in regards to the real well-being on their populations. If you are aware of certain standards, please do share the information.  Some good reads include GPIAtlantic web site (Genuine Progress Index for Atlantic Canada) and TheCanadianIndexOfWellbeing page.

In general, the important thing is to go beyond using GDP only, to start measuring environmental and social assets as well, and to focus on ensuring sustainable economy so we can leave Earth in a good state for generations to come.

I was also very surprised with all the different kinds of technology and products she talked about. Although cost of such new technology tends to be high, if governments can promote products such as the sharkskin floor/walls that repel bacteria and support the use of it, hospitals will not have to rely on anti-bacterial sprays anymore. I wonder what the spray company will have to say about that.

This seems to be a growing issue. An alternative solution always faces great criticism from the existing firms, and tends to not get enough backing to be able to develop further. It is hard for me to believe that oil companies are just watching alternative energy development happen, and it is probably unlikely that construction companies are going to use concrete that emits half the amount of carbon dioxide but costs twice as much. It isn’t just firms that we can blame. Most of us don’t even buy toilet paper made out of recycled material just because it’s more expensive then normal ones.

This website allows individuals to post ads that advertise a company or product and rate it on a scale of 1-5 on whether they believe the ad and its claims are “authentic or bogus”.  These are then posted on the website and you can see if people agree with your rating or not since anyone can look through the ads and rate them.

I think this is a great idea for a website since there are many companies and products that now claim to be “green” and it’s hard to know which ones are truthful.  The goal of the site is to help consumers become more savvy about   evaluating environmental marketing claims of advertisers and to hold businesses accountable about their environmental claims.

Our class presentations today on “the good, bad and ugly” companies also showed that while many companies make sustainability claims, they should be looked at critically to determine if they are accurate.