There is a lot of information available on the Internet. Over New Year’s weekend this year, Facebook users uploaded a record 750 million photos. 100 million photos get uploaded to Facebook each day. Typically, data that is created and uploaded to websites like Facebook is stored at data centers sometimes referred to as server farms or server clusters. All of this data available to anyone, sitting on a few powerful computers called server farms or data centers – massive buildings or warehouses full of telecommunications equipment. Disk storage space on these servers has to contain a lot of inventory, even if the inventory is in digital form. There must be enough fast computing power to manage user information.

Amazon’s Web Services EC2 platform uses 40,000 servers. That does not include the number of servers Amazon must use for it’s well-known online store. Google owns more than 450,000 servers, and with at least 45,000 servers in each data center location. Several recent studies and articles have shown that a simple Google search can result in 1-10 grams of CO2 emissions. Household computers create 60 grams of greenhouse gas emissions per hour. Processors have increased in computing power. With over 200 million internet searches per day in the US alone, creates 2000 tons of greenhouse gas emissions per day. The internet accounts for 3 percent of US electricity consumption and 2 percent of global CO2 emissions.

An article called “The Greening of Server Farms” by Roger Allan claims that “worldwide, estimates are that more than 60 million servers are in operation today, consuming a whopping 60 GW of energy.” In the same article Allan says most of that energy is wasted because server farms still “draw 60% of their peak power demand even when they are doing nothing.

Rob Bernard, Chief Environmental Strategist for Microsoft says 85% of IT professionals have no idea how much energy their applications use. Equipment efficiency is one part of the puzzle. Data centers are only as efficient as the applications that run on their servers. In her paper “The Energy Nightmare of Server Farms,” Jane Anne Morris states “the 2006 electricity demand of major search engine facilities (just a small portion of the Cloud) use[d] an estimated 5000 megawatts. Converted to residences, that’s about five million homes’ worth of electric capacity. Converted to electricity generation, that’s ten 500 MW coal plants”.

A growing trend toward cloud computing is making online computing more energy-efficient. Cloud computing allows users to access products and services like applications and data storage remotely. By storing and running processes on the “cloud,” websites can share the resources stored on a wide network of servers, which can keep them from going idle and wasting the energy used to power them.

Microsoft commissioned a study this year conducted by IT consulting firm Accenture who estimated that companies could cut energy consumption and carbon emissions by 30 percent by switching over to the cloud. Environmental groups are skeptical. Environmentalists are concerned about the industry’s apparent confusion with the difference between efficiency and sustainability. While energy efficiency is a worthy goal to strive for, they are asking if it can it still be considered a step towards sustainability even as the technology becomes more ubiquitous?

“There is a lot more proof that needs to be put in place to show that the cloud can be green,” said Simon Mingay, Gartner’s vice president of research. In collaboration with the World Wildlife Fund, his firm recently released a study examining the carbon footprint of the ICT industry. “Whilst we all recognize the potential of it, I haven’t seen anything yet that convinces me that that’s a reality today,” Mingay said.

Next generation data centers that tap into alternative energy. Last year, Hewlett-Packard built a data center with a fan-based cooling system. Yahoo opened a data facility designed to work like a chicken coop, allowing hot air to vent off the top of the housing. Last fall Google decided to work with Greenhouse Gas Services, a GE and AES joint venture, to capture and destroy landfill methane emissions from a North Carolina landfill.

Google is pressuring the industry to open up and show its cards. It is no longer enough to keep insisting that the availability of data helps the world go ’round more smoothly. It is time for the IT industry to walk the walk instead of just talking the talk.

Dennis Walsh is a sustainability researcher, writer and consultant. Read his sustainability blog …
blogs.cityu.edu/international/

There is only so much water in the world; only so much topsoil; only one atmosphere; only so much CO2 that can be stuffed into that atmosphere. The pressure to be sustainable is altering the competitive landscape. Plenty of activity but lacking in business perspective, the challenge is that organizations want to be around in 20 years time. That makes sustainability significant.

As the winds of change blow, it will be easy to distinguish between those who are satisfied and those who are hungry. Change brings the secrets of the heart to light. Sustainability is emerging as a core business issue. In the corporate world, most business leaders agree that achieving real bottom line improvements is critical to business sustainability. Sustainability is all about inclusion. Bottom line achievements are the result of close collaboration with stakeholders.

Ray C. Anderson was chairman and chief executive of the world’s largest carpet-tile manufacturer recently passed away. A self-proclaimed “recovering plunderer”, he re-invented his worldwide factory operation to reduce its environmental impact. “Interface and the world have lost a great man today,” said Dan Hendrix, President and Chief Executive Officer of Interface, announcing that Anderson lost a 20-month battle with cancer on August 8th, 2011.

The state of sustainability in business today is complex and evolving, the challenge to align company practices with company principles comes down to the importance of organizations to “walk the talk.” Companies need to align sustainability strategy with business strategy. That means integrating sustainability into operations and processes across the value chain, the supply chain and the demand chain.

As a 60-year-old executive, he had given little thought to the environment but he was not satisfied. His “epiphany” came when he read Paul Hawken’s “Ecology of Commerce”. In his speeches, Anderson described reading it as a spear in the chest experience. “A new definition of success burst into my consciousness, and the latent sense of legacy asserted itself. I got it,” he said in a 2005 speech. I was a plunderer of Earth, and that is not the legacy one wants to leave behind. I wept.”

After that he seemed to think about nothing else – telling fellow executives about the need to reduce waste and carbon emissions. Many had not embraced the idea that a total shift was needed. The sense of urgency was pushed back to another day. They just were not stepping up to the plate. They did not see themselves as the central elemental force – for better or for worse – with regards to the environment and a sustainable future.

What started out as the right thing to do quickly became the smart thing, Cost savings from eliminating waste alone were in the hundreds of millions of dollars. He was the first to prove that a corporate-wide, systemic commitment to sustainability could increase profitability. Those efforts drew praise from environmental organizations and earned him an appointment to a White House environmental commission under President Bill Clinton.

In 2000 he relinquished the day-to-day running of the company to Dan Hendrix so he could become the synergistic advocate around the country and the world for what he called a “zero footprint.” That is, going beyond the sustainable to restorative to put back more than we take and do good to the earth, not just no harm, through the power of example. Seventeen years later, Interface was more than half-way towards the vision of “Mission Zero”.

Efforts he began have so far reduced the so-called carbon footprint of the company’s 26 factories by about half. Anderson’s legacy lights the way for the future of the world’s productive and living environment. Besides transforming his own business, he went on to influence corporate giants like Wal-Mart.

Ray Anderson was authentic. His greatness came from the expansion of his vision from year to year. In his last book he wrote: “We are all part of the continuum of humanity and the web of life in general. We will have lived our brief span and either helped or hurt that continuum, that web, and the Earth that sustains all life. Which will it be? It’s your call.”

Dennis Walsh is a sustainability researcher, writer and consultant. Read his sustainability blog – http://blogs.cityu.edu/international/

A decade ago there were some predictions that there would be less usage of paper ultimately leading to a paperless society. Contrary to those predictions, computers, printers, fax machines and other information technologies have created an increased demand for paper for printing photos, recipes, school work, Web pages – and business documents.

All this printing, copying and faxing of paper has a significant cost on a number of levels. Printers, consumables, and paper represent a sizable ongoing expense item. Then there is the environmental impact of manufacturing the printers and ink or toner cartridges, making the paper, and then transporting and ultimately disposing of the paper and the consumables. There is also the fuel consumption and associated global warming impact when physical documents are sent around the world via ground or air courier services. For instance, the U.S. pulp and paper industry is the second largest consumer of energy and uses more water to produce a ton of product than any other industry, and the EPA estimates that more than 400 million ink and 100 million toner cartridges end up in landfills each year.

Given the cost of paper, it behooves the smart business person and anyone concerned about maintaining a livable environment to think twice about hitting “print” and to aggressively pursue ways to reduce paper consumption. While modern technology has made it fast and easy to print documents, this ease of use is a double-edge sword since it causes more pages than ever to be printed. In fact, studies indicate that the average U.S. office worker prints 10,000 pages per year. Rarely do users think about the cost as pages pile up unread on the printer or in trash or recycle bins. Even worse, all this printing can represent a significant security risk – while you may enforce strong passwords on log-ins, printed documents lack any form of security and can be easily be lost, copied, stolen or manipulated using nothing more sophisticated than scissors and glue.

Over the last few years, a number of technologies have emerged that could – if widely adopted – lead to an overall decrease in the amount of paper consumed. For example, with the emergence of social media tools like blogs and wikis that encourage online interaction, people are spending time reading information electronically rather than on printed paper. More and more business activities are being done online using email and instant messaging. New devices, such as the iPhone, offer the potential to let people take maps, calendars and photos with them electronically rather than creating a printout. But even with these tools, paper consumption continues to grow at an alarming rate. Paper consumption has tripled over the past three decades and is expected to increase by half again by 2010, according to industry estimates.

This is due in part because there are many areas where paper-processes still reign supreme. One of those areas is when it comes to legally binding documents that many people still believe must be signed with wet ink signatures. The requirement for an ink signature leads to the wasteful printing of massive amounts of documents – virtually all of which were created electronically – and to courier delivery of these documents. If it weren’t for the need for an actual wet ink signature, why would anyone bother with the expense and hassle of printing a Microsoft Word or Adobe Acrobat document and sending it via FedEx when it could be delivered instantly using email and an online service? It simply doesn’t make sense from a business or environmental standpoint.

The Green Business Case for eSignatures

Business activities that take place online eliminate the need to print out paper, lower business costs, increase the speed of business, and are good for the environment. For businesses that are looking to increase profits, reduce costs and help the environment, shifting paper-based processes online is a great place to start. Using electronic signature technology, also known as eSignatures, eliminates the need for wet-ink signatures. Instead of printing out documents and forms for the sole purpose of obtaining signatures, all parties can simply e-sign documents online through a Web browser.

Using a web-based eSignature solution makes it easy and affordable for businesses to immediately reduce their environmental impact since there is no costly software to purchase and install. The service replicates the physical signing model with virtual yellow “sign-here” tabs and electronic representations of actual signatures. This process dramatically increases the security of the documents compared to paper-based documents by offering a full audit trail and technology such as hashing algorithms that ensure a signed document cannot be altered in any way.

The DocuSign Eco-Challenge

As announced on Earth Day 2007, DocuSign is challenging itself, customers and partners to save 10 million sheets of paper through use of the DocuSign eSignature service by Earth Day 2008. This is just the beginning and represents a small fraction of the estimated 8 million tons of office paper (3.2 billion reams) of paper used each year in the U.S. The use of online signatures is growing exponentially and this rapid adoption will lead to a significant reduction of the use of paper and fuel by corporations.
Consider the environmental impact of just 10 million pages:

- 2,500 trees
- 56,000 gallons of oil
- 450 cubic yards of landfill space
- 595,000 kilowatts of energy
- 1.04 million gallons of water

Now consider if all U.S. businesses adopted eSignature technology for documents that are currently be printed in order to obtain signatures, an endeavor that requires an estimated 10 billion sheets of paper:
- 2.5 million trees
- 56 million gallons of oil
- 450,000 cubic yards of landfill space
- 595 megawatts of energy
- 1 billion gallons of water

The Paperless Future
With technologies such as eSignatures, high-quality displays and the growth of online news outlets now becoming mainstream, businesses and individuals have the opportunity to have a tremendously positive impact on the environment by not just recycling but actually reducing or eliminating consumption of a set of products – paper, printers, copiers, toner cartridges and overnight delivery services – that have an extremely negative impact on the environment. Moreover, use of online tools will dramatically improve productivity and significantly lower the cost of doing business. The road to future no longer needs to be paved with paper.

Matthew J. Schiltz is the President and CEO of DocuSign. Matt can be reached at matts@docusign.com.

The MIR project – conceived by Pitt and a group of experts in New Orleans – is a large-scale redevelopment project for affordable housing that incorporates innovative design to be stronger, safer, and environmentally friendly. MIR’s goal is to construct 150 homes in the low-income neighborhood of New Orleans’ Lower Ninth Ward, the area hardest hit by Hurricane Katrina in which more than 80 percent of homes were completely destroyed by flood waters. The name comes from a former resident’s plea to help “make this right.” Groundbreaking is scheduled for January 8, 2008.

The MIR core team is a partnership between William McDonough + Partners, a world leader in environmental architecture; Cherokee Gives Back Foundation, the nonprofit arm of Cherokee, a firm that specializes in remediation and sustainable redevelopment of environmentally impaired properties; Graft, an international leading architecture firm that collaborates with Brad Pitt on projects around the world; and the Jolie-Pitt Foundation, a charitable institution established to aid humanitarian causes around the world.

A key aspect of the project is its ability to be replicated. MIR is developing a panelization system in which structural insulated panels (SIPs) common to all designs are constructed and stored off site. This standardized system will maximize efficiency and minimize cost, allowing the housing design to be replicated throughout the neighborhood as well as promoting a new universal paradigm of affordable, environmentally responsible home design.

Alcoa Foundation will also support a community-based artistic event in New Orleans designed to raise MIR project funding on a broad scale. The “Make It Right Art Installation Project”—held from December 2, 2007, through January 8, 2008, and symbolically located at the site of the Industrial Canal levee break—is intended to raise local, regional, and national awareness of the issue and maximize overall fundraising to help MIR extend homebuilding benefits beyond the initial goal of rebuilding 150 homes.

More details about MIR can be found at www.makeitrightnola.org

About Alcoa

Alcoa is the world’s leading producer and manager of primary aluminum, fabricated aluminum and alumina facilities, and is active in all major aspects of the industry. Alcoa serves the aerospace, automotive, packaging, building and construction, commercial transportation and industrial markets, bringing design, engineering, production and other capabilities of Alcoa’s businesses to customers. In addition to aluminum products and components including flat-rolled products, hard alloy extrusions, and forgings, Alcoa also markets Alcoa® wheels, fastening systems, precision and investment castings, structures and building systems. The company has 116,000 employees in 44 countries and has been named one of the top most sustainable corporations in the world at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland. More information can be found at www.alcoa.com.

About Alcoa Foundation

Alcoa Foundation is a separately constituted nonprofit U.S. corporate foundation with assets of approximately $534 million. The second largest asset-based corporate foundation in the United States, its mission is to actively invest in the quality of life in Alcoa communities worldwide. Throughout its history, the Foundation has been a source of positive community change and enhancement, with nearly $437 million invested since 1952.

The Foundation’s grants address global and local needs in over 30 countries by partnering with Alcoa communities around the world to make a difference. Global and local grantmaking is responsive to the needs and aspirations of Alcoa communities and marshals the combined expertise, energies, and values of Alcoa and Alcoa Foundation to provide a world-class standard of excellence in corporate citizenship.

In 2006, Alcoa and Alcoa Foundation invested a combined total of $42.3 million in community programs in 32 countries, focusing on four areas of excellence: conservation and sustainability, global education and workplace skills, business and community partnerships, and safe and healthy children and families.

In addition to grantmaking, Alcoa Foundation offers two employee programs to encourage volunteerism. Bravo! recognizes individual employees who spend a minimum of 50 hours per calendar year doing volunteer work for an approved nonprofit/non-governmental organization; in recognition of the employee’s effort, Alcoa contributes $250 to the nonprofit organization. ACTION (Alcoans Coming Together In Our Neighborhoods) recognizes the team efforts of at least five Alcoa employees who spend a minimum of four hours on a community service project for a local nonprofit/non-governmental organization; in recognition of the team’s effort, Alcoa contributes either $1,500 or $3,000 to the nonprofit organization, depending on the size of the team.

For more information, visit www.alcoa.com, under Community.

Available to Southern California Policyholders Affected by Devastating Wildfires; First-Ever “Green” Upgrade Offered to Homeowners in the U.S.

NOVATO, Calif.–(BUSINESS WIRE)–As a result of the extraordinary wildfires in the past two weeks, Fireman’s Fund Insurance Company is responding with an innovative green upgrade for impacted policyholders. Fireman’s Fund^® will rebuild its Prestige^® Premier policyholders’ homes that were damaged or destroyed in the devastating Southern California wildfires “green” if desired by policyholders.

This is the first-ever green insurance offered to homeowners in the United States. Setting a new standard for personal insurance, Fireman’s Fund is offering this innovative upgrade for affected homeowners who want to re-build their homes using environmental safety and efficiency standards and landscape using native trees, plants and shrubs.

A green home uses less energy, water and natural resources; creates less waste; and is healthier for the people living inside. The health benefits alone include reduced exposure to mold, mildew and indoor toxins. Many green plants and shrubs that are native to the region provide natural wildfire protection.

Starting in 2008, Fireman’s Fund plans to offer green coverage upgrades as well as other enhancements and loss prevention services currently being offered to impacted Southern California Prestige Home Premier policyholders, to homeowners in selected states.

“Family safety and health is of utmost importance, especially after the considerable loss Southern Californians have experienced,” said Robert Courtemanche, president, Personal Insurance at Fireman’s Fund. “It is important to provide the best protection we can at this time when it is needed the most. We want to be part of the solution in rebuilding safer communities because it is the right thing to do.”

Studies have shown the benefits include lower susceptibility to asthma and allergies, better overall health and productivity in homes with green features. The National Center for Healthy Housing states it is clear that homeowners can expect substantial health gains by building green.

“This is an innovative solution and we’re pleased we can offer it first to Southern California wildfire victims,” said Courtemanche.

In the aftermath of the fires, these additional upgrades will assist policyholders in the rebuilding of their homes and their lives:

• Green replacement upgrades mean Fireman’s Fund will repair or replace damaged property with materials and products that meet environmental safety and energy efficiency standards.
• Green building features include Energy Star-rated appliances and lighting fixtures, home insulation, heating/ventilating/air conditioning, low VOC (volatile organic compounds) paints, sealants, adhesives, low emission carpeting, Federal Energy Management Program- designated plumbing fixtures featuring water conservation, and use of forest stewardship certified wood for cabinets, ceilings, siding and framing.
• Trees, Shrubs, Lawns and other plants – Up to $10,000 per plant and $50,000 total for replacing destroyed vegetation with those that reduce the risk of spreading wildfire. Recommending fire-resistant and green landscaping is part of a comprehensive loss prevention program already available to Fireman’s Fund California policyholders to proactively reduce vulnerability to wildfire.
• Pet injury – up to $25,000 for veterinary expenses due to injuries caused by an occurrence such as the fires.

Fireman’s Fund was the first property and casualty insurance firm to offer green insurance to the U.S. commercial marketplace, introduced in fall 2006.

Steelcase previously used 10 different wooden pallets to ship office desk tops and tables, and dealers or end users typically discarded these pallets after the furniture was unpacked. In addition to the cost of disposal shouldered by the dealer or the customer, the prior system required extra space at the Steelcase facility to store the pallets and caused cleanliness issues throughout the supply chain.

“We see the OptiLedge system as a solution to many of our unit load challenges, giving us increased productivity at our plant and greater efficiency through our supply chain. As a result of the move we have been able to reduce the types of pallets we use from 10 to three, which in itself saves us in procurement costs, warehouse space and maintenance resources,” said Dennis Carlson, Logistics Manager, Technical Distribution and Operations, Steelcase. “We are also pleased that the OptiLedge enables us to reduce out environmental footprint, which is one of Steelcase’s corporate goals.”

Carlson added that Steelcase is now evaluating the use of the OptiLedge for several other product lines, and is considering using the solution in additional plants both domestically and abroad.

The OptiLedge solution features a unique “L”-shaped unit load platform alternative, machines for manufacturing the OptiLedge; machines for assembling unit-loads and the technology for the efficient handling, transport and storage of unitized product. The OptiLedge team is working with Steelcase and its partners to optimize the transport of the unitized furniture loads through to the end users, including the deployment of packaging experts to help engineer the assembly and transportation processes.

“Steelcase is a premier company in the important office furniture industry, so the fact they are relying on the OptiLedge solution to move their products to dealers and direct customers speaks volumes about the impact our system is having for users. We are also committed to working with retailers to ensure the OptiLedge solution provides them with the transport tools they need,” said Jeff Lamb, Vice President of Business Development at OptiLogistics.

Today GE (NYSE: GE) announced that it will invest more than $1 billion on cleaner technology research and development (R&D) for 2007, drawing closer to its pledge to invest $1.5 billion annually on ecomagination R&D by 2010. One of four GE ecomagination commitments originally made in 2005, R&D investment has reached a total of more than $2.5 billion since the program’s inception.

“GE’s ability to reach our ecomagination goals requires a deep commitment to investing in innovative, leading-edge research, while expanding our partnerships with customers, universities and labs,” said Lorraine Bolsinger, vice president, ecomagination, GE. “Ecomagination consistently delivers for our customers, and crossing the $1 billion mark for R&D investment will be further evidence of growing momentum.”

Launched in May 2005, ecomagination is GE’s commitment to imagine and build innovative technologies that help customers address their environmental and financial needs and help GE grow. Now in its second year, ecomagination has a robust portfolio of more than 45 energy efficient and environmentally advantageous products and services.

Today’s announcement was made by Lorraine Bolsinger while she was onsite at GE’s Global Research Center (GRC) in Niskayuna, NY to host a day-long briefing session on the innovative portfolio of ecomagination products, which are currently being developed at the facility.

Research and development funding for ecomagination is shared between GE’s four GRCs (Schenectady/Niskayuna, NY, Shanghai, Munich and Bangalore) and each of GE’s major businesses. The GRCs serve as dedicated labs for long-term R&D commitments and work to develop a broad technology portfolio to help meet a wide-range of energy and environmental challenges.

GE researchers are working on a broad array of technology initiatives that cut across GE’s business portfolio. These projects include:

• Renewable energy — exploration of advanced concepts in wind, solar and biomass to improve the economics and availability of these clean, renewable energy sources
• Advanced gasification technologies — for GE’s Integrated Gasification Combined Cycle (IGCC) System to increase plant efficiency, lower emissions and make these systems carbon capture ready
• Fuel efficiency – research in composite materials, advanced aerodynamics, turbine alloys and advanced coatings and combustion systems to improve the fuel efficiency and overall performance of present and future generations of aircraft engines and electric power generation systems
• Hybrid systems — research to support the development of the next generation hybrid locomotive
• Lighting — several energy efficiency initiatives such as Organic Light Emitting Diodes (OLEDs) to reduce our energy consumption
• Water – programs to provide more affordable, less energy-intensive solutions to water purification and re-use that enable an increase in the quantity and quality of clean water around the globe.

“The ecomagination program’s significant commitment to R&D means that our scientists can work on creating a cleaner, more sustainable future every day,” said Mark Little, senior vice president and director, GE Global Research. “Research teams and business units around the globe are constantly exploring new ways to create renewable and energy-efficient initiatives, cleaner coal technology, water use and purification initiatives, carbon capture technology and transportation initiatives.”

GE is committed to imagine and build innovative technologies that help customers address their environmental and financial needs and help GE grow. Since its inception in 2005, more than 45 ecomagination-certified products have been brought to market with revenues reaching $12 billion and orders and commitments soaring past $50 billion.

The luxury folding carton manufacturer is a leader in the industry for its environmental stewardship. During the last five years Curtis has been identifying, assessing, and reducing internal aspects that contribute to their carbon footprint. As a result, the company became the first printing and packaging company in the United States to be both FSC (Forest Stewardship Council) certified and use 100% renewable energy to power all of their operations.

“We are very proud to take our commitment with the environment a step further by taking responsibility for our carbon footprint and offsetting our emissions,” said Don Droppo, Jr., Curtis’ Senior Vice President of Marketing. “Working with The CarbonNeutral Company, headquartered in London, UK, the company’s remaining unavoidable CO₂ emissions will now be neutralized by investing in a portfolio of independently audited high quality projects. Curtis will be supporting the Mynydd-Y-Garnedd forestry project in Wales and the Rhine-Ruhr methane capture project in Germany.”

“Curtis Packaging really deserves congratulations for going ‘carbon neutral’ on top of using 100% renewable energy in their manufacturing operation in Newtown,” said Governor M. Jodi Rell. “They are proving that making a commitment to good energy policy and environmental stewardship makes good business sense.”

“Curtis Packaging is also setting a great example of the ‘OneThing’ spirit,” Governor Rell said. “The ‘OneThing’ campaign mission is to encourage each of us to contribute something, every day, to reduce consumption and preserve the environment. Curtis Packaging is actually doing a lot more than ‘OneThing’ a day, and I appreciate their contributions to Connecticut’s green future.”

Curtis, which has been in business since 1845, has always been a corporate leader in Connecticut. Connecticut Business and Industry Association (CBIA) president and CEO John R. Rathgeber praised Curtis, a CBIA member, for voluntarily committing to not only purchase clean energy but to also limit and offset its emissions. “Curtis has a long and distinguished history of commitment to the Newtown community and the state. This latest achievement will make them a model for other small to mid-sized manufacturers and other businesses to follow here in Connecticut and nationally,” said Rathgeber.

“It is great to see one of the leading packaging companies in the U.S. taking this issue seriously and working hard to achieve CarbonNeutral® status” said Mark Armitage, President, U.S. of The CarbonNeutral Company “We hope Curtis Packaging’s stance will encourage other businesses to follow suit and reduce their carbon emissions.”

As the project manager and lead technical resource for the process, SRG helped BIFMA develop North America’s first industry-wide sustainability guidelines in 2004. Two years later, SRG became responsible for overseeing the organization and development of the complete product sustainability standard.

To accomplish this, SRG monitored the work of nearly one hundred industry volunteers and divided the standard’s technical approach targets into four categories: materials, energy/renewables, human/ecosystem health and social responsibility. The company helped reconcile stakeholder differences, prioritize actions and keep ideas in motion.

To encourage higher levels of achievement, a point system and accreditation will be added to the final product, along with incentives for continuous improvement over time. One of the biggest challenges is to ensure that participants don’t set the bar too low or too high, so that large businesses are able to achieve something better than “business-as-usual,” or small ones have goals that are out of reach.

SRG claims that a growing number of customers are asking for furniture that meets these standards, and BIFMA plans to submit its sustainability standard to the American National Standards Institute. BIFMA’s ultimate goal is to create an ANSI international standard for sustainable furniture, but success will depend on the transparency of the certification process and the promise by BIFMA to revisit its standard at least every five years to ensure that it remains technically current. To bolster credibility, BIFMA will partner with independent third-party auditor and standards group NSF International, based in Ann Arbor, Mich., and a public comment period will assure transparency and resolve any legitimate issues prior to an ANSI adoption.

“If a company conforms to this standard, it will demonstrate that it has the necessary technical and management skills to deliver a product to the market with cutting-edge sustainability attributes,” said William Stough, CEO of SRG.

Although adopting BIFMA’s sustainable furniture standard will be voluntary for applicants, it will affect the industry’s suppliers and customers worldwide. The new economy will demand organizations provide products and services that protect and restore the ecological and social systems that support us all.

SCENE ONE
Thursday afternoon—Nairobi, Kenya
I am sitting in a huge hall at a meeting of the Global Ministerial Forum organized by the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP). I look around the room and see row after row of ministers, ambassadors, delegates and officials from more than one hundred countries. As executive director of CERES and the chair of the Global Reporting Initiative, I was invited by UNEP to participate in several meetings and I have stayed for several extra days to observe the Governing Council and ministerial meetings.

The mood in the hall is grim. Every speaker begins with praise for what UNEP’s work has done, then moves to an anguished description of how little has taken place since the 1992 Earth Summit in Rio de Janeiro. All indicators are showing steeper decline than ever before—the disappearance of forests, the extinction of species, the advance of deserts, the destruction of coral reefs, the contamination of fresh water, the build-up of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere.

Sitting there, I can’t help but share their dismay. The first discussions of the dangers of the “greenhouse effect” began more than 30 years ago. Warnings that CO2 could have serious planetary effects came more than 20 years ago. Evidence that the process was already causing serious disturbances in the atmosphere was released 10 years ago. Yet the response of the governments represented here has been slow and timid. The Kyoto Treaty of 1997, a modest step that would only have slowed the rate of increase of greenhouse gas emissions, has not been ratified, and a recent attempt in The Hague to resolve some of the developed world’s objections to it collapsed ignominiously. As if the world needed an additional reminder, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change has just released its newest report which suggests that global temperatures are now forecast to climb even faster and higher than had been anticipated.

In the United States, environmental questions are often portrayed as secondary—a pastime for political do-gooders who don’t understand the need for more oil, more development, more growth. At the local level, this view is starting to fade as more and more Americans understand the relationship between environmental protection and the basic issues of health and quality of life in their communities. Still, at the national and international level, American policy has not been to lead, but to obstruct. Given our colossal wealth, our historical ingenuity and our disproportionate responsibility for the atmospheric carbon, American inaction causes widespread disbelief, heartbreak and anger.

American timidity is particularly shocking when compared to the courage and tenacity shown in other parts of the world. In Kenya, for example, environmental questions cut to the heart of the identity and future of the country. Environmentalists like Wangari Maatthai of the Green Belt Movement, who has been fighting to protect forests against the encroachments of a corrupt government, or the dozens who are trying to prevent the devastation of the coastal district of Kwale by Tiomin, a Canadian titanium mining company, must struggle against a cabal of government officials, local business leaders and foreign investors. To oppose them is to court ridicule, punishment, imprisonment and even death.

Back in the UN hall the delegates keep talking. The World Summit on Sustainable Development—the 10th anniversary of the Earth Summit—will take place less than 18 months from now in Johannesburg. “What will we have achieved by then?” the delegates ask. “We need fewer speeches and more actions!” the delegates insist. The president of the governing council agrees with the speakers and thanks them for their words. I pull together my papers, say goodbye to my friends and leave for the airport.

SCENE TWO
Friday morning—Amsterdam, The Netherlands
I am unexpectedly in central Amsterdam at the headquarters of Greenpeace International.

As I was about to board the overnight flight from Nairobi to Holland I met Remy Parmentier, the brilliant and tenacious political director of Greenpeace, who was on the same flight. While chatting, we discovered that I had a lengthy lay-over at the airport in Holland. “Why don’t you come in with me to the office for a few hours?” Remy suggested. I accept his offer and the next morning I find myself standing at dawn beside a Dutch canal in front of Greenpeace International’s headquarters.

Within an hour the building is bustling with energy and purpose. In the elevator a printed notice announces that one of the organization’s ships, the M.V. Greenpeace, is in port—everyone from the home office is invited to come by, take a tour and say hello. On every floor scientists, activists, organizers and Internet experts apply themselves to campaigns ranging from forests to oceans to the auto industry to climate change.

Although Greenpeace still takes on its share of direct action, it has also developed a strong and sophisticated diplomatic strategy. Greenpeace representatives attend government meetings and carefully track the development of both national and international laws. They are particularly vigilant at UN meetings and have helped to push through several vital environmental treaties that now are binding under international law.

In the middle of the morning I take a walk along the canals near their offices and marvel at the natural commitment to sustainability that is part of Dutch life. People glide to and from their homes on tens of thousands of plain, no-nonsense bicycles. Trains carry people around the country; barges move goods and visitors around the city. Like many other European countries, The Netherlands has made peace with the idea of the physical limits and has demonstrated that limits on quantity do not have to translate into loss of quality.

SCENE THREE
Friday afternoon—altitude 33,000 feet; 1,000 miles east of Labrador
My airplane, an amazing device made of hundreds of thousands of carefully machined and assembled parts given life by thousands of gallons of refined petroleum, is carrying me rapidly toward home. The compartment around me is completely dark; people have pulled their shades down in order to sleep or to watch in-flight films. My screen shows the electronic map registering our altitude, speed and position. We are travelling six miles above the surface of the ocean at three-quarters of the speed of sound. Three hours remain until I reach my destination. The outside air temperature is minus 76 degrees Fahrenheit.

Curious, I lift my window shade a couple of inches. Brilliant sunshine floods into the cabin. Looking down I can see a long, broken line of ice floes interspersed with huge icebergs that look like pristine white islands. The sight reminds me of all I have read about the signs that climate change is already under way—the appearance of new water channels in the Arctic; the thinning of the polar ice caps and the rapid retreat of glaciers; the cracking of the immense Larsen B ice shelf in Antarctica, which sent a piece of ice the size of Rhode Island adrift.

The music through my headphones shifts to Strauss’s Blue Danube Waltz, and I suddenly remember the early scene from Stanley Kubrick’s film, “2001: A Space Odyssey,” in which, to this same music, a commercial spaceship is shown carrying sleeping passengers to a rendezvous with an international space station. We are not travelling in space, but we are not far. When I turn my eyes to the horizon I can see the slight curvature of the earth. I look up at the royal blue of the sky, whose darkness tells me that we are skirting the edges of the stratosphere. I look around the cabin at the people sleeping or watching their films and I reflect on how rapidly humans lose their capacity for awe. Not long ago a ride at this height and speed would have shocked people into silent wonder; now we keep the shades down in order to rest or to be entertained.

SCENE FOUR
Friday evening—back home in Boston, MA
I am in a taxi heading with anticipation and relief toward my home and family. After my time in Kenya, everything around me seems strange. Boston’s sights and sounds suggest relentless vigor, power and wealth. Cars rush toward their destinations; the gigantic cranes of Boston’s public works project slowly move titanic pieces of bridge and road into place; the windows on the skyline sparkle in the frigid, gold color of a setting winter sun. Soon I will be back in my home, telling my wife and three children about what I experienced in Nairobi and Amsterdam. Within a day or two I will be driving my car, absorbed by the daily duties of work, distracted by the priorities and amusements of our self-important, self-indulgent culture. What will I really be able to retain, let alone convey, of the last week?

In 30 hours I passed through what seemed like four completely different worlds. Yet they are not different worlds—they are four realities located on the same planet. Somehow they must all be brought together and the lessons from each shared with the other. If this does not happen, our wisdom will never coalesce into action, our words will never become deeds. Instead, the talkers will keep talking, the sellers will keep selling and the builders will keep building. Above all, the travelers will keep traveling, distracted by their movies or immobilized by their fatigue, while their sleek metal chariots skim the edge of space and the planet below them slides toward a slow and infinitely tragic end.