The words green and
guilt go well together. In a 2007
nationwide poll sponsored by the Yale School of Forestry &
Environmental Studies, 81 percent of Americans said they felt a
personal responsibility to do something about global warming.
For them, and for you, we offer this gide to guilt-free
environmentalism. • Illustration by
Christopher Silas Neal
Everyday
Choices
Being green tends to cost green. And oftentimes, the environmental
responsibility that individuals tend to take on seems closely tied
to their ability - and their willingness - to spend. Thus, you may
see that dual-income, no-kids couple down the street commuting to
work in their $25,000 hybrid car or read about celebrities writing
checks for carbon credits to cover their energy- hogging mansions.
But there are moves you can make that don't cost much - or even
anything - and that will help reduce greenhouse gases, keep
recyclable materials out of landfills, and otherwise help the earth
continue to support life.
Conservation International, a nonprofit headquartered near
Washington, D.C., recommends that anyone wanting a greener
lifestyle to do without a car or, failing that, to drive less.
Walk, bicycle, or take public transit, which doesn't cost much at
all. And if you do have a car, keeping the engine tuned and the
tires properly inflated will reduce pollution and save you gas
money.
Next, green your home with
Energy Star-rated appliances and
windows, high efficiency showerheads, and plenty of insulation and
caulking, which will help reduce heating and cooling needs. None of
these options is all that expensive, and most of them will put
money in your pocket because you'll be using less energy and water.
Reusing items and recycling are both easy ways to be green. Repair
and reuse household items instead of replacing them; when you do
buy new products, select ones that incorporate recycled materials.
The average citizen of a developed
country produces anywhere from six to 23 tons of carbon
per year. The cost of buying credits to mitigate
those emissions varies widely, starting as low as $1
per ton and going as high as $30 per
ton.
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What you eat can also have an impact on the environment. Choosing
organic, locally produced foods decreases the need for chemical
pesticides and fertilizers, which are pollutants, and also cuts
down on the negative effects of transportation. Conservation
International also urges would-be eco-warriors to select green
products when you're shopping and green candidates when you're
voting, and to purchase carbon credits (more on this in a moment).
If it all sounds like a bit much, remember that nobody can
completely eliminate the impact that living has on the environment
- but we can all do better.
Clean-Tech
Investing
Now that you've been exposed to the idea that saving the planet can
also save you money, try on the concept of actually
making money off environmentalism by
investing in businesses in the "clean-tech" arena. Clean-tech
companies supply products and services that support energy
conservation, generation, and management, as well as water
and wastewater treatment, eco-friendly agriculture, and other
areas relating to the protection and sustainment of the
natural environment. They also make money - sometimes a lot
of it. The Cleantech Index, a group of stocks assembled by
the Cleantech Group in
Brighton,
Michigan, returned nearly 20
percent of capital invested in the fi rst half of 2007, doing
twice as well as the Standard & Poor 500, NASDAQ, and
other broader indexes.
"This isn't socially responsible investing," stresses Ron Pernick,
coauthor of
The Clean Tech Revolution and
cofounder of Clean Edge, a clean-tech consulting fi rm in Portland,
Oregon. "This is technology driven." Pernick identifies six main
factors that are propelling people's investment in cleantech
businesses. Among them are higher and more-volatile prices of
fossil fuels, falling costs of energy from alternative sources
(such as the sun and the wind), and a wild card called China.
Pernick expects that
China will start becoming much greener - and
when that happens, it will significantly affect the clean-tech
industry.
One of the easiest ways to get on the clean-tech bandwagon is
through an exchange-traded fund. For instance, First Trust
Portfolios, a Lisle,
Illinois, investmentmanagement firm,
introduced in February the NASDAQ Clean Edge U.S. Liquid Series
Index Fund, an exchange-traded fund that tracks the NASDAQ Clean
Edge U.S. Index from Pernick's firm. The fund's biggest holding is
First Solar, a solar-module maker in
Phoenix that reported a net
income of $44 million on sales of $72 million for the second
quarter of 2007.
The small size and relative newness of companies like First Solar,
which is a fairly typical fi rm in the world of clean-tech pureplay
stocks, can make it tricky for a person to invest in shares of
individual companies in the sector. Pernick says that clearly not
all the clean-tech start-ups will prosper longterm, but some will
likely do very well. "Last year, solar, wind,
biofuels, and fuel
cells were a $55 billion global industry," he says. "We see that
expanding to greater than $225 billion in the next 10 years. That's
why investor interest is being piqued."
Carbon Offsets
Of all the odd concepts to come out of the green movement, carbon
offsets have to be near the top of the list. The idea is that you
pay someone else to plant a tree, invest in a solar-energy
start-up, or otherwise help reduce the amount of carbon you emit
into the atmosphere. Then, you can just go about your business more
or less as usual, confident that you have offset whatever carbon
you may be emitting.
Carbon offsetting has won the backing of sustainability champions.
"Offsetting is a common solution," says
Brian Mullis, president of
Sustainable Travel International, a Hood River,
Oregon, nonprofit
education organization. "Investing in
renewable energy is a good
thing, as is preserving ancient forests and investing in replanting
areas where deforesting has occurred."
The average citizen of a developed country produces anywhere from
six to 23 tons of carbon per year. The cost of buying credits to
mitigate those emissions varies widely, starting as low as $1 per
ton and going as high as $30 per ton. At San Francisco- based
TerraPass, a leading carbon-offsets retailer, credits cost about
$10 per ton. So canceling out all the carbon your car emits during
a year costs between $30 and $80, depending on the vehicle,
according to
Tom Arnold, TerraPass's chief environmental offi cer.
Offsetting your entire house would run anywhere from $30 to $400,
depending on size, location, and other factors.
One of the biggest draws to carbon offsetting is the convenience of
it. You can fi nd TerraPasses and other carbon-offset options on
the shelves at many retailers as well as through the Internet. In
fact, most of the 67,000 TerraPasses that have been sold so far
have been purchased online, Arnold says. "Business is very good,"
he adds. "It's been roughly doubling every year."
TerraPass takes the revenues from its sales and invests in
wind-energy projects, projects that upgrade municipal landfi lls in
order to reduce the landfills' emissions, and biomass projects that
aim to create energy from cow manure. Those investments add up to a
lot of carbon offsets. Last year, Arnold says, the carbon-credit
industry offset about 30 million tons of carbon emissions.
If you want to play the carbon offset credit game, start by
checking out an online carbon calculator. The one on the TerraPass
website (
www.terrapass.com)
calculates the amount of carbon that needs to be offset for a car,
home, dorm room, and even a wedding. Enter a few tidbits of
information such as your home's zip code and recent monthly energy
bills and you'll be told approximately how much carbon you're
emitting and what it will cost to counteract it.
The trading of carbon-offset credits has survived controversy, some
of which has stemmed from questions about whether certain credit
sellers are offering offsets of little or no value. Today,
companies like TerraPass engage third-party auditors to verify the
quality of the offsets. In the future, says Arnold, big changes
will come in the way consumers buy carbon offsets. "Just think
about how easy it is to buy travel insurance," he says. "You can
buy from the airline, at the airport - wherever you want. We have
to make carbon credits mainstream - a quick, easy, check-the-box
thing." And, it's already happening.
General Electric recently
announced a new credit card that lets cardholders earn not shopping
or travel rewards - or even cash back, for that matter - but
carbon-offset credits.
Green Travel
Getting there is half the fun, but it's also part of the conundrum
facing modern travelers. Namely, how can you get to the places you
need or want to go without having an undue negative impact on the
environment? The answer is green travel, which, according to
Mullis, "means to focus on limiting your negative impact and
improving your positive impact."
Green
Rooms
Cost-to-coast and
downtown to uptown, you can find a
place to rest your head that will
support your green ideals. These
hotels are among hundreds that belong
to the Green Hotels Association, a
Houston, Texas organization that
recogizes lodgings that have made
efforts to conserve water, energy, and
solid waste. |
The
Colony Hotel & Cabaña
Club
525 East Atlantic Avenue
Delray Beach, Florida
(561) 276-4123
thecolonyhotel.com/florida
Habitat
Suites
500 East Highland Mall
Boulevard
Austin, Texas
(800) 535-4663
www.habitatsuites.com
Hotel
Bel-Air
701 Stone Canyon Road
Los Angeles, California
(800) 648-409
www.hotelbelair.com
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Lake
Powell Resort
100 Lakeshore Drive
Page, Arizona
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(928) 645-2433
www.lakepowell.com
The Moderne Hotel
243 West 55th Street
New York, New York
(212) 397-6767
www.nychotels.com
In the old sense, green travel means visiting locales noted for
environmental charm. Ecotourism may take you to a tent resort in
the rain forest, or to a floating hotel that has been towed to a
summertime location on a Canadian lake to avoid affecting the
environment to the same degree that a permanent, year-round
facility does. This kind of green travel is enjoyable and in
demand, and while it helps remind travelers of the beauty and
pleasure of un- spoiled locations, it doesn't necessarily help
reduce the browning impact of our non-vacation, day-to-day living.
The new green travel tackles that issue. Basically, the new take on
the concept is to travel in a way that minimizes your environmental
impact. Organizations such as Sustainable Travel International
offer a lot of guidance on how to do that; for example, you can
stay at hotels that recycle wastewater, and you can use public
transportation when it's available in the cities you're visiting.
Mullis suggests asking whether an organization has a sustainability
policy, trains its staff in sustainable travel, and practices
recycling.
Carbon offsets play a big role in this kind of green travel, with
some online ticket sellers offering easy ways to purchase carbon
offsets at the same time you book a flight, hotel room, or car
rental. But
air travel probably gets more attention than it
deserves, says Arnold. While flying does have an impact, especially
with regard to carbon emissions, it does not have nearly the
negative effect that other carbon contributors do. For instance, he
considers coal-fi red electricity-generating plants a much more
serious problem. "Aviation is a minor part," Arnold says. "For
certain travelers, it's an issue, but globally, it's only about 2
percent of the problem."
Green Careers
In many ways, the greening of society seems to focus on
restrictions by drawing lines around what we can and can't do and
by outlawing activities that we once enjoyed or profited from. But
one green trend is about opening doors and expanding opportunity.
That's what is behind the rising interest in green careers and
green employees. Ori Sivan knows this angle inside and out, having
graduated in 2005 with a college degree in environmental
engineering (a field in which he briefly pursued employment) before
starting his own business, Greenmaker Supply, a Chicago-based
sustainable-building-materials retailer. Today, he hires people who
want to work for a green company.
In contrast to the worrisome forecasts and warnings often given by
environmental observers, the green-career business is booming.
"Absolutely bonkers," is the way Sivan describes it.
'Working to Save
the Environment: The Top
Three Jobs
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The sector of environment-related
professions has begun to emerge as one of the future's
fastest-growing job markets. Granted, most of the 30
careers on the list of hottest occupations identified by the
Bureau of Labor Statistics were computer- or health-related,
but these three green gigs made the cut on this year's
ranking byu merit of their projected percentage of growths
from 2004 to 2014
Hydrologist
Expected job growth: 316 percent
Hazardous materials
removal worker
Expected job growth: 312
percent
Environmental engineer
Expected job growth: 30
percent
Source: Bureau of Labor Statistics,
www.bls.gov
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Green careers aren't just for technically trained types
like Sivan, either, says Marie Kerpan, a green-career consultant in
Mill Valley,
California. "All functions of business could be
applied to a green career," she says. "You could be a marketer
working in a business in renewable energy." Indeed, Sivan says that
when he recently hired an accountant and a warehouse manager, he
wasn't
looking for green credentials but for people who knew their jobs
and were interested in working for a green company like his.
Credentials can’t hurt, however, and they are increasingly available. Many community colleges offer certificates and associate’s degrees in environmental science and technology, and the trend is reaching all the way up to graduate schools. Kerpan says that “Green MBA” degrees are now offered at a handful of universities, where students with interests in the environment and business can learn how to have a positive impact on both.
Not too long ago, having a green career meant working for a nonprofit group or a research organization. Nonprofits still represent a major career path, but increasingly, businesses of all types are interested in hiring people who can help them with their sustainability initiatives, Kerpan says. And many potential employers are popping up specifically to address problems and sell sustainability solutions, particularly in the hot areas of renewable energy, green building, and transportation. “Pretty much anything can be a green career if you do it in the context of solving one of these problems,” Kerpan says. You can identify green employers by using directories such as Co-op America’s National Green Pages (
www.coopamerica.org) and by schmoozing at green-business conventions and checking sources like the Sustainable Business Institute’s list of green enterprises (
www.sustainablebusiness.org).
The only bad news about green careers is that pursuing one may not pay very well — yet. “Unfortunately, all too often it means taking a little lower salary,” Sivan says. “There are lots of great opportunities right now to get in on the ground floor, but generally that comes with a pay cut and some risk.”