Panel 3 Scenario

If the government put energy‐generating solar panels on their buildings, they could be making money off their buildings and wouldn’t be slashing budgets so much. So what’s the hold up? In general, each sector blames the others.

Case in point: Two years ago, the state government of a swing state set up a Renewable Energy Credits program but did not itself participate. While there may be political reasons to avoid an upfront investment with a delay in return (the panels pay for themselves after ten years, longer than any governor wants to wait), the bigger issue is the challenge of trying something new in a system that is stacked against it. Citizens are impatient with the government for this, but they are also the first to complain when they perceive the state to be misusing funds, particularly in hard times. The government, for many good and important reasons such as accountability, is poorly positioned to take a risk, even with technology that is proven to get results. On the other hand, the government’s traditional role has been to fund the risks of others, including R&D grants to universities and the private sector. Policy analysts for the government claim that energy storage technology has not advanced to the point at which solar panels pencil out for the state. (The summers are very sunny but the winters are very dark.) They claim the private sector needs to find the solution to this before they can consider the transition. Policy analysts for the private sector claim the permitting and funding process selects against new technologies, and that the bureaucratic hurdles cannot handle even moderate uncertainty.
Now a new governor has just been elected. The circumstances of her election were heated and she has a lot of public support. She wants you to sort this out and asks who you would turn to first to see results. Is it best to increase public pressure or perfect the technology? Is it best to restructure the way the state invests in and permits capital projects, or the way the legislature proceeds around innovation? She recognizes that, at least for now, all three sectors want more or less the same thing, but she wants to use this issue as an opportunity to build a lasting relationship between the sectors so that they do not undermine their joint causes in the future. What do you tell her?

Panel 2 Scenario

Your region is experiencing heated debate about the environmental implications of a proposed stimulus bill project. It has long been suggested that a commuter rail to some of the small rural towns would serve the region and provide a lifeline for the towns’ small economies. Tight funds took the issue off the table for many years, but now that the project might really happen, passions are flaring on both sides.
Supporters say that the rail line would be better for the environment than winding highways that connect the region now. Detractors of the commuter rail project say that by making commuting easier, the state would be making commuting more attractive, leading to more development in the small towns and opening new area for development, spoiling territories that are currently in part wooded and in part devoted to agriculture.
The towns generally support the expected growth, and resent the perceived imbalance between funding to big city projects and funding for small towns. There are also rural voices opposing what they see as growth imposed by the urban hegemony. These rural residents resist typical measurements of “quality of life” and insist that economic growth does not begin to address their needs or support existing assets. They point to past examples of small‐town character being absorbed by big‐city sprawl.
Consider the following questions and others you may come up with:
•
How do you measure the long‐term consequences of such a proposal?
•
How do you compare needed economic growth and needed ecosystem services?
• Is economic growth always needed? Is there a better way to measure the assets the opponents of the plan prize most? How do you determine which kind of growth will improve people’s lives?
How do you evaluate the impact of a commuter rail, taking into consideration the ecological inputs, environmental consequences, jobs creation, development stimulus, etc. How do you measure the difference between “environmental activity” and actual environmental gains?

Interesting way of using shipping containers

Converting shipping containers into homes is creating a new type of mobile home.   Gorilla Designs are making these “green mobile homes” that take unused or abandoned shipping containers and build homes out of them in 2 months.  If they are tightly sealed, they can be up to two times energy efficient compared to the typical wood frame home. Check it out here: http://dsc.discovery.com/news/2009/04/07/shipping-container-home.html

This creative thinking is an example of the kind use of technology, opportunities, and partnerships our third panel is discussing.  Sometimes sustainability doesn’t mean rolling out the newest and latest product–it’s using the things we have available already and looking at them in a different light.

IBM Launches “Sustainable Procurement” Program

As the concept of corporate social responsibility (CSR) spreads further to new businesses, one major obstacle arises for the implementation of CSR policies: supply chain management. IBM has launched a new consulting program, called the Sustainable Procurement program, for other businesses interested in finding and building relationships with green suppliers. IBM has had over two decades of work in implementing its own corporate environmental standards and challenging suppliers to meet certain environmental standards. The company has expanded its vision of social and environmental responsibility to almost every aspect of its business operations.

According to GreenBiz.com, “The Sustainable Procurement program covers six areas of supply chain management, including environmental issues like managing and reducing energy and water use, as well as reducing waste and the use of toxic materials. It also aims to ensure that suppliers contribute to their communities, engage in safe and compliant labor practices, support diverse workplaces and adhere to business ethics and financial accounting standards.”

IBM has recognized that CSR is a relatively new idea, and businesses will require tools and access to implement responsible policies. One of the most effective ways of spreading these ideas is asking for certain requirements from suppliers.

Links:

- IBM Corporate Social Responsibility

- IBM Wants to Help You Find and Keep Green Suppliers, GreenBiz.com

Wayne Balta – Corporate Business Perspective

Wayne Balta

Wayne S. Balta is the Vice President of Corporate Environmental Affairs at IBM Corporation. Mr. Balta oversees IBM’s global environmental, energy and chemical management strategy, programs and performance, as well as related legislative and regulatory issues. He also has responsibility for the company’s toxicology function. He has over a decade of experience working on IBM’s corporate environmental issues.

Mr. Balta will be participating in the panel on how we can Progress Toward Sustainability During a Recession.

Over the years, Mr. Balta has assisted IBM in developing an extensive set of policies aimed at reducing waste, promoting recycling, and challenging their suppliers to meet certain social and environmental standards. He brings an important perspective from a multinational corporation. What challenges do corporations face in implementing social and environmental standards, particularly during a recession? What kind of leadership, either political or corporate, is necessary to drive this implementation? We hope he will have interesting ideas for introducing models of social and environmental corporate responsibility to others.

Mindy Lubber – NGO Perspective

Mindy Lubber

Mindy S. Lubber is the President of Ceres, the leading U.S. coalition of investors and environmental leaders working to improve corporate environmental, social and governance practices. She also directs the Investor Network on Climate Risk (INCR), an alliance that coordinates U.S. investor responses to the financial risks and opportunities posed by climate change.

Mindy Lubber will be participating in the panel on how we can Progress Toward Sustainability During a Recession.

We wanted to include Mindy Lubber for her group’s work in uniting the goals of sustainability with the interests of the financial sector. Mindy has extensive leadership experience in environmental law and policy consulting, and is also the founder of the National Environmental Law Center. We hope she will have insight on innovative ways to finance projects in sustainability during a recession, and to develop socially and environmentally conscious business models.

Trying to Strike a Nerve With Students

The idea and challenge of sustainability is something that resonates with students, especially MIT students compared with the environmental conservation movement.  No doubt part of this is because of the opportunities for new technology and engineering challenges.  Part of it, though, is that sustainability presents challenges that are defined enough for MIT students to make systematic improvements that are measurable and lasting.  Furthermore, they can work on these challenges within the scope of their careers and existing institutions.  While it is clear that young people today do have idealistic hopes for the political system and voted in record numbers in the 2008 presidential race, I think that they are somewhat skeptical of the effectiveness of activism and are more interested in more conventional work within the system that they can immediately get cracking on.  

In response to the needs and interests of students, we have designed the summit to focus on practical solutions by people who have experience with implementation, not just people with ideas.  Students today realize that any solution must meet the needs of communities and the socioeconomic wellbeing of the public.  MIT students, in particular, have a strong bond with their communities and value community-building activities.  Therefor, the best way to reach out to MIT students is through their living groups.  It is difficult to do that without being invasive, but it will be an important aspect of organizing for students, and we should keep it in mind for future events.  

We made some posters that we hope will resonate with MIT students.   

 

reuse poster

reuse poster

reuse poster

Sustainable Urban Design, a Competition

Last week, Sitra, the Finnish Innovation Fund, in cooperation with the city of Helsinki, launched an international design challenge for the sustainable reformation and restructuring of one city block in the Western Harbor of Helsinki. They have named the challenge Low2No, in honor of the challenge for participants to develop low carbon emission buildings that will progress towards no carbon emissions. Their website says the competition is designed to seek “approaches for four central objectives applied at the scale of a city block:

1. energy efficiency
2. low/no carbon emissions
3. high architectural, spatial and social value
4. sustainable materials and methods”

The competition requires participants to look at energy efficient, low carbon building complexes, develop an indicator of sustainability that can be used to measure current and future projects, and design a vision that will ease the instability of systemic change. Sitra and Helsinki are hoping this project will provide a model for future development projects, and help facilitate the growth of sectors in energy efficiency and sustainable development.

Links:

- A Competition for Sustainable Urban Development Launched in Helsinki, Sitra

- Official Low2No Competition Website

- Low2No – Sustainable Development Design Competition, Dexigner

What Would You Like to Get Out of the Summit?

We’d love to hear from you about your hopes for the summit.  What are you interested in?  What would you like to get out of the summit?  What is lacking from the discussion on sustainability so far?  

We’d also like to get some feedback about what we’re doing and ideas for how we can do things better.

The Need for a New Sustainable Economy

About two weeks ago, just ahead of the G-20 summit, the UK’s Sustainable Development Commission released a report titled, Prosperity without Growth? The current financial crisis may seem like a messy place to begin considering the significance and role of projects in sustainability, but the UK’s SDC implicates that this would be the best way to improve the resilience and robustness of our economy.