Nike Reuse-A-Shoe Program

Since its implementation in 1990, Nike's Reuse-A-Shoe program has recycled 28 million pairs of used shoes. They collect the worn out sneakers (those you can't donate), break them down into three parts: rubber, fabric, and foam, then transform them into raw materials for soccer fields, running tracks, tennis courts, basketball courts, carpet padding and climbing wall decks. Since its implementation, Nike started working on the design of the new footwear in order to make it easier to recycle them; Their ultimate goal is to close the recycling loop to make new Nike products out of old ones.

This is one of those success stories where the community wins, the environment wins and the company improves the way people see their brand. 

2012 Elections: America's the bet on a green future

The elections are finally over.  No more annoying ads, no more negative talk, and no more infinite hours of political analysis and polls.  On election day, I said to my self that I was not going to spend the night checking the results. I was aware that there was nothing I could do and that by doing so I would only increase my anxiety.  Yes I must say I had a favorite.  A favorite that I picked simply because his opponent kept saying how much he liked coal and how he was going to stop the EPA from hurting this noble industry.

Romney got it wrong. He was wrong to bet on coal. He got the facts about green energy wrong.  He was wrong about the number of Solyndras that failed.  And the worst part is that he kept repeating his lies over and over again as if he had no one to help him corroborate the facts. Ironically, it is the market that has turned its back on coal which now only produces 37.3% of America's electricity, down from 49.8% just a few years ago. 

For his part, Obama is at least consistent.  He has bet on green energy like no other president.  He understands that fossil fuels are not the future and that if America wants to keep leading, green is the way to go.  As a result, clean energies are growing at record levels and CO₂ emissions resulting from energy use are the lowest in two decades. 

The biggest winner in this election is America's green energy future. This won't mean that an energy revolution is to come in the next four years, but rather that our use of coal and oil will continue to decrease as we invest more in research and development of green energies. 

  

  

Microsoft is going carbon neutral

Microsoft has pledged to help protect the environment by reducing its carbon footprint.

As of today, Microsoft will implement a carbon management plan that aims to accomplish their goal to become carbon neutral by the end of fiscal year 2013

The announcement was made by their CEO Kevin Turner on the company's blog and was later formally presented in the Rio+20 business forum. According to Turner, “working on the issues of energy use and environmental change provides another opportunity to make a difference in the world. It’s the right thing to do.”

To accomplish this, Microsoft will implement three strategic pillars: Be lean (be more energy efficient by reducing air travel and controlling energy use in their buildings), be green (purchase more renewable energy and reduce waste and water use) , and be accountable (set an internal price on carbon, measure emissions, and charge a carbon fee to the teams responsible for those emissions)¹.

Microsoft is not the first company to make a commitment to be carbon neutral. Two other notable companies with a carbon neutral commitment are HSBC and News Corporation. Both have achieved this through the purchase of carbon offsets. It also isn't the first giant tech company trying to reduce their environmental footprint. Google and Facebook have also implemented different strategies to “cleantheir cloud”. What makes Microsoft’s approach different is that it places the cost to reduce carbon emissions on each of its business units.

Introducing an internal carbon price motivates each unit to find cheaper and alternate ways to cut their carbon emissions rather than purchase carbon offsets. In other words, Microsoft is internalizing and taking responsibility for its environmental externalities. The money will go towards a global pot that will be used to purchase carbon credits or renewable energy credits; thus, making Microsoft carbon neutral.

For now, the initiative has inspired admiration and acceptance among environmentalist and the general public. Only time will tell if they accomplished their goal and what influence it will have on the industry.

Finally, I would like to leave you with Bill Gates' 2010 TED talk on climate change and renewable energy.

Adventures in Corkscrew Swamp

CorkscrewSwamp is on my list of the best places I’ve ever visited. I am not sure what it was. It may have been the beauty of the swamp or maybe the cypress trees or may be the fact that we saw amazing wildlife like a Red Shoulder Hawk or a BLACK BEAR!! Yes, it was the black bear. Don’t get me wrong, going to this place doesn’t guarantee seeing a black bear. In fact we were VERY lucky to see one. But if you get there early, and walk very, very quietly you may see AMAZING wildlife.

Black bear 

The Corkscrew Swamp Sanctuary is located northeast of Naples, Florida. It is owned and operated by the NationalAudubon Society. The Sanctuary’s 13,000 acres are within the Big Cypress National Preserve. In it, you can see distinct environmental areas including pinelands, freshwater marshes, wet prairie, cypress swamps and hardwood hammocks. The place itself is a big river, like South Florida used to be.

Red Shoulder Hawk 

On the two-mile long boardwalk you will admire this country’s largest remaining stand of 400 to 700 year-old virgin bald cypress. The biggest and most majestic cypress trees I’ve ever seen. You may also encounter wildlife life the Florida panther, alligators, different species of birds like the wood stork and anhinga and the Black Bear! (I still can’t believe we saw one!! :)

Inside the Swamp 

For more information you can visit Audubon’s official webpage or visit their facebook page 

Hours of operation:

October 1 through April 10: 7 AM to 5:30 PM

April 11 through September 30: 7 AM to 7:30 PM

Location: view map

Admission Fees²⁰¹¹: 

Adults - $10.00

Full-time college students - $6.00

Audubon Members - $5.00

Children (ages 6-18) - $4.00

Children under 6 – Free

Camping: No 

The Kyoto Protocol: Does it have a Future?

Canadian Citizens demostrate at the venue of climate change talks in cancun, December 2010
From: the National post 

In less than a month, the 17 Conference of the Parties (COP17) to the UN Climate Change Conference will be held in South Africa in order to reach a legally binding agreement for the second commitment period of the Kyoto Protocol. So far, the only agreement that seems to exist between the parts is that once Kyoto ends, there will be a regulatory gap, and it looks like most developed countries are content to let this happen.

We must remember, Kyoto’s due date is December 2012 and even if an agreement is reached in COP 17, the document must be ratified for the United Nation countries, which in Kyoto’s case took 7 years.

One reason for this “lack of agreement” is that Canada, Japan, Russia and the US will not enter a second phase that doesn’t treat all current “major emitters” similarly. The current document gives reduction targets only to developed nations, which excludes major polluters like China and India. “It is too early for biding obligations. Our view is it would have to include all the major players –China, India, Brazil and South Africa” said Todd Stern, the US’ Special Envoy for Climate Change. These states are “not ready to have international, legally-binding obligations” he added.   

Without the Kyoto protocol, the Clean Development Mechanism (CMD) also faces a dark future. The Clean Development Mechanism allows a country with an emission-reduction or emission-limitation commitment under the Kyoto Protocol (Annex B Party) to implement an emission-reduction project in developing countries. Such projects can earn saleable certified emission reduction (CER) credits, each equivalent to one ton of CO2, which can be counted towards meeting Kyoto targets.¹

The Global Carbon Market has already stopped growing, in part because of the financial crisis, and in part because of Kyoto’s failing negotiations. On the other hand CER markets have suffered a significant loss of 48% in 2010.

It is my belief that this crisis may bring better solutions to reduce GHGemissions, because even though the Kyoto protocol and its carbon markets had a noble purpose, they have been proven to fail over time. The emission targets aren’t high enough and there isn’t a good way to prove that the targets were reached. The good news is that in the US the EPAis moving forward with its GreenhouseTailoring rule and in the EU the Emissions Trading Scheme (ETS) will be valid until 2020. Both regions are more likely to create a more stringent regulation of GHG (which in the US has just begun), more likely with taxation and away from Carbon Markets.