Faith and Wonder

It's 3:23 in the morning and I'm awake because my great-great grandchildren won't let me sleep.
My great-great grandchildren ask me in dreams
"What did you do while the planet was plundered?
What did you do when the Earth was unraveling?
Surely you did something when the seasons started failing, as the mammals, reptiles, birds were all dying.
Did you fill the streets with protest when democracy was stolen?
What did you do once you knew?"

This is part of a poem by Drew Dellinger a young social activist, cosmologist, and Thomas Berry scholar. I had the privilege of hearing him recite the entire poem in person last week as I assisted with a video shoot for Pachamama Alliance with their Awakening the Dreamer symposium.  I also got to listen to Lynne Twist and Joanna Macy. 

As with all the the work that I've done with Pachamama, there was an incredible energy present with us that day.   I got to thinking about how lucky I've been to be exposed to this.  Through my film work, I've been blessed with an incredible environmental awakening that I continue to carry with me and foster.  As I search for my next career move, I had thought it might be directly involved with this cause.  However, I think there is an even higher plan for my environmental consciousness.   I remind myself to have faith that I am working towards the greatest good that I can.    

This greater good is not immediately obvious when thinking about entering the big bad world of consumerism.  As I become increasingly excited about re-embracing my engineering roots, I have to come to terms with the fact that engineers build stuff - stuff that gets sold.  Stuff that people buy too much of.  Stuff that's bad for the planet.  The other way to look at this, however, is that: Stuff is going to get made no matter what, and I if I can help make better ecological decisions along every step of the process then I'm doing my part.  There is no way to know how it's all going to look all the way down the road, rather, you simply need to start making your best educated steps.    

This seems to be a shared viewpoint of all the Pachamama interviewees: We do not know what the future of our planet will look like.  The science and realities around us certainly paint a bleak picture, but all we can do is educate ourselves and start to make proactive decisions.  We have to have faith because there is no other option.  

I wonder how it will all turn out.   

I Love this Guy

Obama Raising Hopes for Climate Pact
President Obama has radically shifted the global equation, placing the United States at the forefront of the international climate effort

Obama to Push for California Waiver

....bold, quick action on greenhouse gas mitigation.

Obama Reverses Bush Decision on Endangered Species Act

"With smart, sustainable policies, we can grow our economy today and preserve the environment."

It's so nice that someone is finally making bold moves for the right reasons!  

By the way, the WorldChanging.com site is a fabulous source for bold, straight, and hopeful information.

Skiing the Snow Away

 I returned this last Wednesday from a (very) extended weekend in Tahoe. The snow was as good as it has been all year, and I had a few of the best ski days of my life.

Today, it is raining in Tahoe. At least that's what the forecast calls for and what the radar appears to show. It's typically for Tahoe to get a few rainy days a year, but my feeling is that this is getting worse. Global Climate Change projects that the winters will continue to get weirder and more extreme, so the good days of skiing are going to get fewer and further between.

I love skiing. It is what I am most passionate about. Having spent a number of seasons skiing everyday, I know that the more I do it, the more I love it. It some ways it's a curse, an obsessive addiction. I finagle my schedule to get up there whenever I can to get the best days. When I can't, I'm bouncing off the walls in SF knowing that others are going to brag about how good it was.

I also know that it's an addiction that's bad for the environment, mostly because of the driving. Every time I make the trip up and back, I'm contributing carbon in the atmosphere. Everyone of the thousands of skiers at each of the resorts has traveled to be there. The whole community, in fact, is based on this unsustainable system. Skiing = Travel = the worst segment of the economy for the planet.

I've joked with my wife about NOT teaching our son how to ski. I usually make this reference in terms of how crazy I get, but part of it also springs from my concern for the future of the sport, or even of snow. I single degree makes a big difference between rain and snow, and the Sierras are projected to raise at least a few degrees.

This is not just a single selfish concern, as the snow in California also represents the water we drink and grow our food with. The state is officially in a severe drought, and might remain in one even if we have an above average year. I've heard talk of tough water rationing for farmers this year.

So, what can I do. Again, the answer sucks: drive to the mountains less. I could also stay there longer when I do go up. (something I took advantage of this last trip, with 6 days of skiing) I could find a new sport?!!?

I guess I could also live in the mountains. I've thought about this frequently, but I've never found a career that could support me up there. I also worry about the whole community being unsustainable. Cities are inherently greener than suburbs, especially cold snowy suburbs. I feel like if I was ever to live outside the city, then I'd like to be able to grow some of my own food. Living in Tahoe probably rules this out, though the skiing certainly would be sweet.

I can also help to conserve water. I recently purchased a flow stopped for the shower, and I've turned off the flow every time I soap up. (See Soak & Soak Valve from GreenFeet.com) I think I should also get a timer to help further reduce the time I'm in there.

Until the next, actually snowy, storm...

Annual Carbon Calculation

PDF - my carbon calculation

I calculated my carbon emissions for 2008 and boy am I an earth-hater! 

I claim responsibility for emitting about 60,000 lbs (30 tons) of CO2.  This is about the equivalent volume of 5 hot air ballons and about the weight of 6 elephants.  For my lifestyle to be truely sustainable, these numbers should be close to zero. (carbonfootprint.org claims that the global average for a healthy planet should be 4,000 lbs.)  I am about 50% heigher than the average American who emits about 40,000 lbs (20 tons).  

More than 75% of my total goes to traveling.  I drove a fairly average number of miles last year, 10,000.  This was 18% of my footprint (11,000 lbs CO2).  My airline flights were close to 30% (18,000 lbs) of my total.  Although I really don't consider myself a huge airline traveler, they added up to a total of 13,000 miles.  Most of this in tern was a flight from SF to Maui (for a wedding), and another cross country from SF to CT (for a job).   My biggest source of all, however, was 3.5 hours of Cessna time, 34% (21,000 lbs).  While we were in Alaska filming this April, four of us were dropped off on a glacier above Haines and picked up a week later.  Even though this was split between four of us, I take full responsibility since it was my business making the film, I paid for it, and I know none of those guys are doing a carbon calculation this year.  

One thing I thought about when looking at this huge effect of traveling is that no one ever says that we need to fly less.  You always here to drive less or drive a hybrid, but rarely to not fly.  I'm not sure why this is? [Another note about the airline calculation: I used the BEF.org model which takes a hint from the IPCC and effective doubles the impact of airline carbon because it is emitted at altitude - where it can do more harm.  Most other airline calcs do not do this and as a result flying does not seem as bad.]

These 21,000 lbs attributed to the cessna did give me a little pause.  I had Bonnieville Environmental Foundation do the calculations for me as part of my carbon offsetting for the film, AK the Hard Way.  The premise of the film was to earn our turns the hard way, but we chose to use the plane to access terrain that was otherwise impossible to get to.  Because of all our gear, and the small plane, the pilot had to make two trips to drop us off and two to pick us up.  The total cost for all the flight time was $1,200.   This is about on par with the cost of all my traditional airline flights.  Because of the economies of scale, it makes since that large airlines would have about half the carbon per dollar of cost.  It really makes me wonder how large the carbon footprint is of the large ski film production companies who use helicopters for every run....

My home energy footprint was tiny, about 2,000 lbs.  Granted, we live in an apartment in the very temperate climate of San Francisco.  I use plastic to seal up the windows in the winter (Jan-July), have only used the heater once during the day in the last year, my wife turns it on sparingly (probably so I don't berate her about it), and we have no air conditioner.   

The result of all this is that our home energy is about one-fifth of the national average.  It's also nice to have a gas/electric bill of only $40/month.  

It's all business.  Much of my footprint can be attributed to my business of making ski movies and other videos.  The Cessna of course was part of that, but also about half of my driving, and at least half of my commercial flying.  My total would probably be less than 30,000 if I didn't have this as a business, and starting this year, I probably won't.  This year, I have decided not to make another ski movie.  One nice part about owning my own business is that I do get to actually count my carbon footprint.  I have yet to see an online carbon calculator that even asked what job you have let alone counts it.   Industry is a huge component of this carbon problem.  Some jobs, like my wife's, have their impact mostly through the buildings themselves.  But these are the same buildings that leave their lights on all night and have heating and cooling running constantly.  There's got to be an impact there. 

And what about all those lifestyle choices?  I eat mostly organic, very little meat, in season when possible, rarely go out to eat, recycle fanatically, and buy little to no new stuff.  No flat screen TVs, speedboats, or electronic gizmos.  There is one online calculator that asked these kind of questions (www.carbonfootprint.com, a British site) and I came out at 3,000 lbs.  I think that this could run as high as 30,000 lbs, so my lifestyle choices are making a difference.  It would be nice if these sort of estimates make it onto the America websites because this can be just as important as how much you travel.     

Other sources that I counted were my ferry travel, train travel, and hotel stays. Not much of anything here since they were infrequent.  Another large source however, was Water and Waste in California.  I found some numbers last year on the Air Resources Board and I used the same ones this year since the web link was not longer there.  It about 4,000 lbs of carbon per person just to get our water and dump our waste.  (ironically 4,000 is the global average needed for a healthy planet - and we use this just to drink and take out the trash!!)  None of the online calculators accounted for this.  

This brings up an interesting point about how these calculations are performed: top down or bottom up.  I'm confident that when we hear that the US average is 40,000 lbs that this come from the top down: we add up all the carbon across the US and divide by the number of people.  When I go online and calculate my carbon footprint, I do it from the bottom up.  I start with my home energy, add my auto miles, and flights and come up with a number.  This misses a ton (no pun intended) of secondary sources from lifestyle and ancillary sources. (many are mention above)  What about the truck that drives tomatoes 1,500 miles?  What about the building lights left on at everyone's work?  The plasma TV imported by tanker from China?  etc... This has the effect of skewing the bottom up calculations to under estimate - resulting in American's thinking they're not as bad as they really are.  This also has to do with the average being pulled lower by the million of Americans who are lower income.  Most middle class individuals who might be inclined to do their carbon calculation, are the types of people who drive and fly on vacations, but they also buy their share of stuff and affect the world proportionally to their income level.  I guess what I'm trying to say here is that all the other stuff we spend our money on and do as Americans affects our carbon emissions and our environment and it would be nice to have the calculations be a little more inclusive by including better ways to account for these. 

As for me, I need to practice what I preach a whole lot better.  My take-away for next year: TRAVEL LESS (doh!)

A New Era, a New Blog

The first blog is the hardest.  

This blog is part of a New Years resolution, but also part of a shift inside me.  Climate Change is real and it is a huge problem.  The change required of us individually and collectively in order to meet the challenge ahead of us is daunting.  Daunting enough that Hope must be a requirement in our action plan.  I think about our effects on our planet everyday.  I think about what this world will look like as I hand it down to my unborn son.   We've got to start now.  I've got to start now.  I decided to write this blog to catalog my thoughts and actions about our environment and how they intersect with my life.   

Watching An Inconvenient Truth had a catalyzing effect on me.  It opened my eyes to the scope of the problem.  I felt frustrated that our society had already know about climate change for quite some time and yet had done almost nothing.  It inspired me to the first steps of action and I tried an interesting film combination: Al Gore + Ski Porn = Weather We Change.  I made a global warming ski movie and toured it around the Western states.  I was helping to spread awareness about the problem, but I was also shocked at how little people knew and cared.  I also realized that my lifestyle was part of the problem.  OK, everyones lifestyle is part of the problem, but I could start to do something about mine.  It was just a start. 

A few years have past and much has changed.  The world seems to be listening now - people are aware that this is a big problem.  Our country seems to be listening now - a call for change has been issued.  For a lot of progressives, the election of Obama was very emotional.  For the first time in my life, I got emotionally (and financially) involved in a political campaign.  Hearing some the the rhetoric that Obama used in his Iowa primary acceptance speech put me firmly onboard.  My thoughts were never that this man could save us, but rather that he would at the very least not hinder us.(the environmental movement, or any other logical movement).  In following the campaign, I've come to see that Obama also represents empowerment at the personal level.  I feel it in me and I want to do my part.  I keep reminding myself, and the eminent birth of my son reminds me, that I must be as active as ever in changing the fate of our future.   

I feel I must clarify my scope in addressing the worlds problems.  Although 'environment' and 'global climate change' and my buttons of choice, I feel that everything is connected, all is one.  The same mentality that allows us to pollute our air, also plays a part in wars around the world, economic woes, water uses, agricultural policy, even domestic animal abuse.  It all boils down to Compassion - compassion for our earth and all the creatures that inhabit it.  I'm sure there are volumes written about this (some I've probably read), but it's something I feel deep inside.    

That feeling allows me to carry on even when many signs around are flashing red warnings.  I recently saw a great short video posted on GreenTV (I can't find the link outside my podcast subscription) with an English professor lecturing to a group of activists.  The speakers main point was that even when optimism wavers, hope is still essential.  I see this myself, in Obama, in an upcoming movement around us.  The mountains seem insurmountable, but the power is building.

And so, I've created this blog to try to sort though the ideas knocking around in my head, to see my environmental/engineering brain and how it works against and with the forces of desire, family, politics, and the world.  I hope for a brighter future for this hand-me-down world.