Walking The Sustainable Walk With Kevin Wilhelm (Sustainable Business Consulting)

Kevin Wilhelm spends his days being incredibly convincing on all things sustainable and profitable—whether he’s consulting companies on their journey towards a greener corporate existence or speaking with us. Kevin kindly offered us a peek into his world of building profitable and socially/environmentally responsible businesses, reminding us that people are as important part of the process as clean energy and a low carbon footprint.

GG: What are some of the ways to save costs, create profits and green your business at the same time?
KW: A big thing is waste and reducing your carbon footprint. Obviously one way of doing that is through reducing air travel and a lot of firms, because of the economic climate, ended up not traveling at all this year or traveling significantly less. Instead they’re doing things like using video conferencing. But those are both more cost saving methods—which we see more often than looking for profit centers at this time.

GG: Would you consider cost the biggest stumbling block to adopting sustainable practices or are there other challenges companies face.
KW: It’s certainly one of them. There are two to three more that also present big challenges. One, they don’t necessarily see how sustainability ties into their company in general. And they first need to have that general understanding and then they’re open to more of the business case stuff. But the two other key factors are management support—knowing that you have support from your leadership to pursue sustainable options and investments to save them money is important—and then the second thing is employee engagement and understanding. Within most firms all their people are goodnatured, but they may not know what the impact of their day-to-day decisions is. So even if the business case is successfully made to management, people involved in daily operations need to know about all the opportunities that are out there in order to make a more sustainable, greener purchase or decision.

GG: How do you navigate around those challenges?
KV: The most important thing is to show examples of how initiatives have worked internally within a company already. If, for example, you’re a utility and you’ve decided to start buying recycled utility parts instead of going out and purchasing new ones. And you find out that they’re more sustainable, they have a lower carbon footprint and they save you a half a million dollars, but you then you have to start communicating with people and getting them to think about what they could do in their own jobs and where the business case is.

Most companies have examples of where they’ve used waste reduction, reuse of product, or where energy efficiency has saved them money, but the message hasn’t been communicated broadly enough within the company— as well as to the upper management. The leadership isn’t hearing that these things have been done, that they save money and they’re green—they just get lost in the day-to-day. The best way to navigate that is to share the success stories you already have and then go after the potential ones that are low-hanging. If you can do that, generally you have some room to gain momentum.

GG: You wrote on your blog that Copenhagen shouldn’t be considered the “end all, be all.” Can you elaborate on what you meant by that statement?
KV: Copenhagen certainly didn’t turn out to be what a lot of us in the sustainability community hoped it would be. And there was a lot of frustration and disappointment around that. However, this is an ongoing process. There are those feeling totally disappointed and bummed out by what happened and then there are some who are celebrating the fact that we at least got some commitments from the United States and others to get going on this stuff. And even though much of it’s not binding, we’ve at least got a framework to discuss it. There are going to be follow up meetings in Bonn, Germany and Mexico City, Mexico—there’s still time and opportunity to create a bigger agreement. So what I was trying to say is to not go jump off a cliff because Copenhagen wasn’t signed. Yes, it was a big disappointment, but there’s still time to make things happen and hopefully the political world will be there to do that.

GG: What was the most exciting thing that came out of the Copenhagen summit?
KW: The thing that I’m most excited about, and most hopeful about, is that the United States and the EPA are saying they’re going to regulate greenhouse gas emissions. It was also exciting how many companies and corporations were directly involved in lobbying on behalf of climate legislation. In a lot of ways businesses have already started moving—they’re not waiting for the public policy people to take the steps. You have organizations like the Carbon Disclosure Project, which is pushing a lot of companies that wouldn’t be moving otherwise, and may push them faster and harder than if there was legislation and if Copenhagen had been a success.

GG: Do you think the private sector can rally hard enough to create government action?
KW: I think they can, but I don’t think they’ll be able to do it alone. In a lot of ways the markets have been moving for years towards sustainability even with the absence of a global treaty. But there ultimately has to be public policy, even if the push is led by the private sector, in order for the U.S. to send a signal. And putting a price on carbon would certainly accelerate things three to five times faster than they’re moving right now.

GG: So how does your work at Sustainable Business Consulting influence the push towards a sustainable tipping point by the private and public sectors?
KW: Most of our work is done in the private sector. We’re helping companies find ways to increase profitability and enhance their brand value through sustainable business practices. On a day-to-day level that’s rethinking how they do work around their own office, but also what they put into their products and services—and how they’re delivered.

In terms of affecting public policy, most of this is happening through organizations and trade industry groups that we’re a part of—such as the Seattle Chamber of Commerce, which has done a lot of work on climate change and clean energy. We’re also signed on to the Business Leadership Climate Solution, which is a group of 350+ business leaders that are not only advocating for stronger climate legislation, but also trying to create political cover for those elected officials that put their necks out on behalf of sustainability and carbon legislation.

GG: Are there any projects you’re particularly excited about?
KW: Definitely. One project I’m excited about is with a very large foundation based here on the West Coast. We’re helping them doing a carbon footprint and a CSR (Corporate Social Responsibility) report and we’re also helping them do something called a Triple Bottom Line report on their lone product. A lot of institutions have been putting out mortgages and car loans and student loans for a long time. That provides an exciting and cutting-edge opportunity for us to help them discover and track the impact of these loans, as well as then helping them develop products around them, such as lower rate loans for hybrid vehicles and clean cars, or home audits towards mortgages, so that people can get a better interest rate for choosing a greener product or investment for their home/life.

GG: How do you “walk the walk” at Sustainable Business Consulting? What are some things that other businesses can use as example for getting serious about being green?
KW: One of the main things about sustainability is the people part. Everybody’s talking about the environmental part and printing double-sided and using VOC-free paints and non-toxic cleaners, but one of the things we value the most here is life-work balance—which is different than work-life balance. We really work hard with our employees to find that balance. We encourage them to take vacations, we have a shorter or more condensed work week, we offer them generous health and wellness packages so they can bring their best to the position and make sure that their lives are sustainable—which is very different than most companies.

The second thing is that believe strongly in transparency. I think this is one of the biggest and most exciting differentiators about us. When the financial crisis hit, the tendency of many CEOs or CFOs was to grab the books and hold them tight, and the make the decisions as they made them, but not involve the employees so much. We went the completely opposite direction and opened our books entirely to our employees. We created 100 percent financial transparency so that they could see how the money was being spent as well as define and help the organization find innovative and cost saving ways that we can continue to do business. That’s did help us find cost saving and also improved employee morale, especially at a time when you’re reading and hearing everyday about job losses and people not hiring and cutting back.

GG: Is there anything else you’d like to leave our readers with?
KW: The one thing I always like to leave people with is that it’s a journey. People who haven’t gotten started, need to get started. It’s easier than you think. And if you have gotten started, there is always more you can do. There are always new innovative and cost-saving ways you can do that. I think it’s important the people not rest on their laurels right now. It’s time to lead and show employees and customers that sustainability does make sense from a bottom line perspective.

Kevin Wilhelm is the CEO of Sustainable Business Consulting, a Seattle based consulting firm focused on practical solutions that deliver profit improvement through the use of sustainable business and climate reduction practices. Kevin is also a speaker at the GoGreen Conference 2010 in Seattle, Washington.

GoGreen 2010 Seattle is a full-day sustainability conference geared towards businesses seeking actionable steps to greening their operations. The conference takes place April 21, 2010 at the Olive8 at the Hyatt (LEED certified Silver). Early Bird tickets are on-sale now through April 1, 2010. Tickets are $175 each for single Early Bird Full Day Admission and $150 Early Bird Full Day Admission for Groups of 2 or more. More information can be found at: http://www.seattle.gogreenconference.net/registration/

For more information about Kevin Maas and Sustainable Business Consulting, please visit: http://www.sustainablebizconsulting.com

Join the GoGreen Conference on Twitter:@gogreenconf. We’re also on Facebook!

The Green Line: Farm Power Co-Founder Kevin Maas on The Virtue of Cow Manure

When brothers Kevin and Daryl Maas founded Farm Power, there wasn’t a lot of public awareness or support among Washington State dairy farmers for manure digesters. Although manure has been used for millennia as a fertilizer, proving that there was worthwhile value in cow droppings as an energy and bedding source was a sophisticated concept to develop among farmers, politicians and the Skagit County community. Luckily, this dynamic duo were prepared to fight for their cause and wound up triumphing a business model that helps keep dairy farmers increase their bottom line—and their green line too.

GG: What inspired you to start Farm Power?
KM: It was a combination of an interest in renewable interest and agriculture and wrapping that all together in with the community where I grew up. For a number of years, I’ve been hoping for an opportunity that would tie those all together, and Farm Power was it. We’re trying to support the dairy community and at the same time create renewable energy—while doing it in Skagit County, Washington.

GG: So we have to ask, in all seriousness, what’s so special about cow poo?
KM: Well, it’s an unrecognized resource. For thousands of years cow manure was used as a fertilizer. It’s only recently that we replaced it with commercial fertilizers, but people have already forgotten that purpose it held. The added advantage that there’s also energy locked in it is pretty cool. It’s an interesting discussion to talk to farmers—who view manure handling as kind of an issue for them—and then go to people with more of an urban perspective who see manure as something they just want to go away. That’s why we have waste water treatment plants that make our waste just disappear—or so we think. Farmers are typically less interested in manure just disappearing, especially when we can make energy out of it and kick some of that back to them.

GG: How far do you think we can take this concept of making energy out of waste products like manure or methane sourced from landfills? Do these resources have potential to be major players in the bio-fuels and bio-mass markets?
KM: It’s not a simple answer, but the reality is that if you took all the manure in the United States, and turned it into energy, you’d only make up a couple percent of our energy needs. So it’s never going to solve all our problems. There is a lot of manure out there, but we also need an enormous amount of energy. So it’s a viable component, but it’s not a silver bullet. I like to call it a silver bee-bee and then you go out and find other bee-bees to collectively power the country.

The thing that needs to work for more energy to be extracted from manure is the spread of models similar to Farm Power’s. Right now we’re working with two farms on our first project and the reason that we’re there at all is because neither of those mid-sized farms would be able to put in a digester on their own—it’s just too expensive. But if the organization to bring farmers together like this spreads or if the technology gets cheaper, it can happen on a broader scale.

You mentioned landfills. There’s definitely a lot of opportunity with landfills, but I think we have to ask ourselves how far into the future we want to keep using the very 20th century approach to waste—just piling it all up into landfills. Yes, we can get methane out of our landfills, but I’m hoping we find better ways to meet our energy and waste needs. If you look at the Europeans, they handle their municipal waste much more aggressively. They separate things out, digest some of it and compost the rest. It would be really cool if we could get there.

GG: On your website, it says that Farm Power believes in farming that is both economically profitable and sustainable. How does your business model help achieve this goal for them?
KM: One of the things we’re attempting to do is make a medium sized farm more viable by extracting extra value from manure and providing the farmers with value. We separate out the solids from the digested manure and that actually becomes the cow bedding.  So in all, we’re saving the two farms we’re working with almost $10, 000 a month just on bedding costs. That’s on top of the energy created and fertilizer that comes out of the process. And that helps—it doesn’t make up for low milk prices or other bigger issues, but it’s a noticeable help.

The farms we work with are spending at least a couple of million dollars a year. And we might shave their costs by only one or two percent, but they operate on really think margins. For most of 2009, dairy farmers in Washington lost vast sums of money. So while we can’t give them more value than their milk does, we can help their margins a bit.

As far as sustainability goes, there’s quite a bit of talk about the impact of livestock on the climate and we’re trying to operate ahead of that—before regulations get put in place and force farmers to make changes. We would like to do this now, so that when the inevitable climate regulations come, the farmers can say, “Hey we’ve already got a digester. We’re processing our manure and reducing the methane emissions from it, we’ve got our own renewable bedding source and natural fertilizer.” By the way, the liquid is still a fertilizer that can be used by the farmers as well for their pastures. And it’s actually easier to work with and easier for the plants to benefit from this year as opposed to several years down the road.

GG: How important is the component of collaborative community action in terms of sustainability and profitability.
KM: It’s pretty vital. We spent the first year and a half that we were in business, going through the smaller community of Northwest Washington, just north of Seattle, making sure that everyone knew what we were doing and that we weren’t going to frighten anybody. We enacted the concept of no sudden moves, because the last thing that we wanted to happen with a project like this is that people would get surprised and start to feel the, “not in my backyard” syndrome. We wanted to reach out to people and explain what we were doing.

That worked well when we started and also when we needed to change some legislation. Former legislation recognized that there was manure and there was compost, but there was no category for manure that has gone through a digester. But because we had spent a lot of time talking to people and community leaders and politicians, when the time came for us to make the changes we needed to happen in order to continue our business, we had a lot of support.

If you’ve looked at the Farm Power blog, you’ve seen pictures of the ribbon cutting that we did a few months ago. That was the result of keeping our community relations strong and we had a couple hundred people out for the fun.

Kevin Maas is the co-founder of Farm Power, a collaborative organization that provides and runs manure digesters for mid-sized dairy farms in Northwest Washington State. Kevin is also a speaker at the GoGreen Conference 2010 in Seattle, Washington.

GoGreen 2010 Seattle is a full-day sustainability conference geared towards businesses seeking actionable steps to greening their operations. The conference takes place April 21, 2010 at the Olive8 at the Hyatt (LEED certified Silver). Early Bird tickets are on-sale now through April 1, 2010. Tickets are $175 each for single Early Bird Full Day Admission and $150 Early Bird Full Day Admission for Groups of 2 or more. More information can be found at: http://www.seattle.gogreenconference.net/registration/

For more information about Kevin Maas and Farm Power, please visit: http://www.farmpower.org

Join the GoGreen Conference on Twitter:@gogreenconf. We’re also on Facebook!

Authentic Storytelling

We feel your pain. You want to tell the world about the fabulous sustainable things you’re doing at your business or organization, but there’s a problem—Those darn greenwashers are crowding the airwaves + cyberspace, making it all that much harder for your legitimate message to be heard. Luckily, we have expert storytellers Gary Hirsch (Founder, On Your Feet) and Scott Davis (Founder, From The Rooftops) to show us the way to tell our sustainable stories without resorting to greenwashing and without being lost in the cacophony.

The Green Line Series: Seattle Greendrinks + Re-Vision Labs Founder Gabriel Scheer

Gabriel Scheer is a both an adept problem-solver + skilled community-builder—one whom those in the sustainability movement are lucky to have as an ally. Through his work with Seattle Greendrinks (which he founded in 2003) and Re-Vision Labs (a strategic partnering + community-building organization for world-changing projects in global development, education, government, and finance), Scheer has melded together the concepts of social responsibility and environmental activism with far-reaching success.

Today, we chat with Gabriel about the necessity of evolving how we approach “going green” and the ways we must change our lifestyles if we are both to save our planet from peril, and benefit from the economic + social opportunities that will come from such a shift.

GG: When/What was your “a-ha!” moment regarding sustainability? What drives you to make this a central focus of your life?
GS: I don’t know as I had an “a-ha” moment. My parents brought me up respecting our natural environment and other people, and lived a thrifty life that naturally included recycling – both for cost avoidance (buying used/making do to avoid buying new) and for income (via aluminum cans we’d collect alongside the roads around our house). The closest thing I had to an “a-ha” was working as manager of a coffee shop and realizing there were myriad inefficiencies that could be eliminated that would concurrently save money or offer new revenue opportunities. That led me in a new direction in terms of learning and research and eventually, career.

GG: How important is the social element to winning the war on inefficiency, waste, pollution and limited resources?
GS: Crucial, of course. If people can’t feed themselves, they’re very unlikely to be concerned about something as remote-seeming and impossible-to-affect-personally as climate change or dying polar bears. Van Jones has, of course, led the way on this thinking, and I think he’s absolutely right – we must focus on the social element of the environment if it’s ever to truly become a global movement.

GG: You’ve founded not one, but two very successful organizations that connect people—have you seen a change in the public mentality on sustainability?
GS: Yes and no. Of course, green has been the new black the last 4-5 years, and it’s been fascinating and exciting to see “the choir” grow to be so big. That is, years back, Seattle’s “green scene” seemed to be so much smaller and more insular; that may be my perception, as compared to reality, but that perception has certainly shifted. That said, I think many people still struggle to take big ideas and belief systems and integrate them into daily living – for example, it’s very easy to complain about large-scale problems and yet not make the personal changes that will likely be required to affect those problems. Needless to say, I hold myself up as an example of this paradigm; despite my many efforts to reduce my deleterious environmental footprint, my family lives all over the US – meaning I fly reasonably often.

GG: It seems that we’re pushing toward a “tipping point” in awareness + urgency to act regarding the environment. How close are we?
GS: That’s a huge question; by “the environment,” do you mean climate change? If so, I hope we’re close. Tom Friedman has recently been pushing the idea of looking at environmental problems as economic opportunities in an effort to more effectively leverage market dynamics to environmental problems. Of course, he’s been preceded in this view for ages, not least by people like Amory Lovins. I love, though, that someone as popularly read as Friedman is now pushing this view, and of course, wholeheartedly agree – I don’t see climate change as a threat to our economy, but rather, am endlessly baffled by why more people – in particular, business people – aren’t seeing this as an opportunity for innovation and new global leadership.

GG: What do we need to do to get to that tipping point?
GS: Make it personal – people are more likely to act when they understand the personal dimensions/ramifications of a challenge.

GG: Where do you think the major push needs to come from? From the people or from government, or elsewhere?
GS: Government can be very useful in creating a level, transparent playing field (e.g. carbon floor/ceiling/taxes) and in seeding (through funding, legislation, etc.) innovation. Business can step up and innovate, in particular, in collaboration with government. Academia is likewise poised to add significant value. Finally, people will need to change how they live – and some of those changes will save money and make life richer and more fulfilling.

GG: Why are partnerships + collaborations so effective when it comes to sustainable enterprise?
GS: Because without collaboration challenges, we often devolve to zero sum games; that is, “we’re concerned about “x’ problem, help us fund it/volunteer/etc.” With collaborative partnerships, organizations can recognize the systemic problems, seek and attain systems-level funding, and solve bigger problems, to the benefit of all.

GG: How do social responsibility + sustainability intertwine? Can we have one without the other?
GS: I’d suggest they’re the same thing.

GG: What do you hope to see at the end of this fresh, new decade we’re approaching? Where do we need to be in 2020?
GS: A world that has recognized its interdependence and taken steps to build global networks capable of solving global problems in a quick and effective manner. Those challenges will doubtless still include global warming, but will also include water shortages, education barriers, health, and more. My hope is that as people connect more powerfully together, they will realize not only how similar our respective desires and concerns are, but also discover opportunities to collaborate around developing solutions to those challenges.

Gabriel Scheer is a speaker at the GoGreen Conference 2010 in Seattle, Washington. GoGreen 2010 Seattle is a full-day sustainability conference geared towards businesses seeking actionable steps to greening their operations. The conference takes place April 21, 2010 at the Olive8 at the Hyatt (LEED certified Silver). Early Bird tickets are on-sale now through April 1, 2010. Tickets are $175 each for single Early Bird Full Day Admission and $150 Early Bird Full Day Admission for Groups of 2 or more. More information can be found at: http://www.seattle.gogreenconference.net/registration/

For more information about Gabriel Scheer, Re-Vision Labs and Seattle Greendrinks, please visit: http://re-visionlabs.com/ and http://www.seattlegreendrinks.org/

Join the GoGreen Conference on Twitter:@gogreenconf. We’re also on Facebook! </a1

KC Golden Lights A Fire For Sustainable Action

Last Thursday (12/17) we got a lucky break—KC Golden (Policy Director at Climate Solutions, Seattle Magazine’s #1 Eco-Hero and GoGreen Seattle 2010 keynote speaker) took time out of his slammed schedule in Copenhagen to have a chat with us via Skype. Sitting in a Danish coffee shop 5000 miles away, KC gave us the lowdown on the urgency surrounding a binding climate change agreement, what we have to accomplish on the homefront and where we need to be by 2020.

GG: You’re in Copenhagen right now—what issue keeps coming up, what’s the trending topic (other than we need to get this done)?
KCG: We won’t know until it’s all said and done. It looks discouraging right now, but that’s pretty typical for the late stages of these type of negotiations. Most of what you hear publically is the political posturing and positioning. The head’s of state are just starting to arrive, so the real decisions won’t happen until then.

What we hope we’ll see is the infrastructure of a commitment from the whole world to do what right and necessary, and reduce emissions to safe levels in order to stabilize the climate. Under that promise is also a commitment for clean development—most urgently in the global south, where poverty is rampant. But it’s also important in developed countries that need to transition their economy from a fossil fuel-based economy to a clean energy economy, based on efficient use of renewable energy resources. That has enormous implications for lifestyle, for urban design, for the way we get from point A to point B, and for the way we live our lives. It has to be a whole-scale transition.

I heard a remarkable speech by, of all people, United States Secretary of Commerce Gary Locke, who is a very sharp, practical, level-headed, numbers guy. But in his speech, he laid out a really powerful vision for a major transformation in our economy. Locke said that it’s not just about a couple of windmills and solar plants here and there— it’s about a completely new model for economic prosperity. He talked about re-tooling and re-fitting every industrial activity. He wants to see a profound and systemic change in the global economy, which will open up a world of opportunity for green business, for job creation and for making our communities healthier, more productive, more neighborly places.

GG: Are you sensing that everyone at Copenhagen is invested in getting these goals accomplished or is there still reluctance to change?
KCG: There’s still political reluctance to change—there’s fear of domestic politics and how that will constrain our ability to make good commitments where we need them on the international stage.

But I would contrast that political fear with a lot of confidence and a lot of enthusiasm and forward momentum among civil society participants, the NGOs and businesses who are here—and chomping at the bit to start this clean energy economy—and among the mayors, state and local elected officials. There is a real sense of eagerness, readiness and hunger to begin this transition.

Everyone knows that it’s difficult to do that at-scale; it’s difficult to take the full measure of that opportunity and do what we must do to stabilize the climate without an international agreement and the nationalized laws that must support such an agreement. That’s where we run into the political fear and resistance, which could keep us from reaching a satisfying and adequate outcome.

GG: So what happens if our governments don’t reach the agreement that we’re all hoping for in the private sector? How do we continue to pressure them?
KCG: We’ll have the opportunity in January when the U.S. Congress reconvenes—though, I have to say the failure of the United States Congress to deliver a national climate policy before the Copenhagen Summit is a real cloud hanging over the international effort. People are so frustrated that America hasn’t come to the table to get a legally binding deal, because our Congress didn’t act.

I had a woman from Japan grill me last night in broken English on how the Senate and the House work—and what are the committees, and why does it take so long and why do we have to keeping waiting? It feels like the entire world is being held hostage by 100 senators from the United States. The world is not pleased about that.

We have to do whatever it takes in the next three to four months to get our Congress to move after the conclusion of this conference. And it will be a battle—it’ll be tough, but we absolutely have to do it, we have to turn the heat up. And the perfect place to focus your energy is on your United State’s senator.

Now if we don’t get a meaningful international agreement here, businesses will continue to move forward because of the economic imperatives to reduce fossil fuel dependence and increase efficiency. States and cities will continue to move forward, civil society will continue to move forward—but we will not be moving forward on a path that prevents catastrophic climate destruction. We just won’t be able to do it at the level or with the urgency and coherence that’s required to reduce emissions by 90 percent in the developed world, which is what we have to do.

But, political change is not linear. To be honest, it’s hard to see a path through the political obstacle course right now. Unfortunately, we are going to continue experiencing tragic and enormous costs associated with our fossil fuel dependence in the path we’re on now—more Katrinas and natural disruptions, more disruptions to oil supply, more events like 9/11, which I don’t think many people think would have happened if Saudi Arabia’s principal export been broccoli.

A lot of these truly disruptive events in the pipeline are associated with our fossil fuel dependence and they’re going to keep whacking us over the head until we do something different. If we don’t get a meaningful deal out of Copenhagen and/or a good bill out of this Congress, we’ll just keep experiencing those costs.

Washington State’s economy lost $60 Billion last year to import fossil fuels and Oregon lost about $9 Billion. Those are huge holes in the bottom of our economy! We have to do something different if we ever want to plug those holes.

Eventually we will. Humans are a little slow on the uptake—but we’re not suicidal. We’re going to keep getting signals to change course until we change course with more ambition and more aggressively. In the meantime, all the great things that people and businesses and cities and states are doing are going to prepare us well for the moment when we’re really ready to turn the corner.

GG: So what do you do at Climate Solutions to encourage that kind of behavior? To push government to act in order to turn the corner and more quickly reach a tipping point?
KCG: We are trying to replace the vicious circle of denial and inaction with a virtuous circle of good public policy and accelerated private investment solutions. Let me put a little more substance to that. The vicious circle is that the more we remain in denial about the problem, the less we act. The less we act, the longer we stay in denial about the problem. We had someone tell us once that she didn’t think that [climate change] was that big of a problem because nobody was doing anything about it.

We expect our leaders to respond to really big problems. When our leaders don’t, it confuses us about the severity of the issue. That’s the vicious circle we’ve been in. What we aim to replace it with, at Climate Solutions, is getting more and more people actively engaged in implementing and delivering practical and economical attractive solutions to global warming.

There is so much of that going on, particularly in the Pacific Northwest—which is great because the more people are engaged in being a part of the solution in their business, homes, lifestyles and government agencies, the stronger the constituency and confidence becomes for passing public policy that we need to accelerate the coming of the clean energy economy.

When we pass those policies, we make it more economically feasible and desirable for people to engage in the solutions. That’s the circle that we’re working to build at Climate Solutions. We do a lot of work on creating the public policy infrastructure and incentives, and encourage the rapid accelerations of a clean energy economy to replace the fossil fuel economy.

GG: What are your goals, coming into a new decade?
KCG: Beyond what we get done in Copenhagen, we absolutely have to set a fire under the United States Congress to both raise the bar on what they will do to promote America’s clean energy economy and get a bill passed so we can get the show on the road. That’s the objective for the immediate foreseeable future.

By 2020, we should have reduced our carbon pollution in the Northwest by 40 percent. We should have dramatically reduced our consumption of fossil fuels for transportation by electrifying the majority of our transportation and also by developing advanced, sustainable bio-fuels—plus using sustainable alternative transport rather than cars. We should have de-carbonized our electric power system. We should no longer have any coal plants operating in the Northwest. And our communities, our homes and our lifestyles should have a much lower carbon footprint and much more community oriented and conducive to a good lifestyle where we engage our friends more, eat more local food, ride our bikes more, waste less and waste less time on inefficient transportation modes.

KC Golden is a keynote speaker at the GoGreen Conference 2010 in Seattle, Washington. GoGreen 2010 Seattle is a full-day sustainability conference geared towards businesses seeking actionable steps to greening their operations. The conference takes place April 21, 2010 at the Olive8 at the Hyatt (LEED certified Silver). Early Bird tickets are on-sale now through April 1, 2010. Tickets are $175 each for single Early Bird Full Day Admission and $150 Early Bird Full Day Admission for Groups of 2 or more. More information can be found at: http://www.seattle.gogreenconference.net/registration/

For more information about KC Golden and Climate Solutions, please visit: http://www.climatesolutions.org/

Join the GoGreen Conference on Twitter:@gogreenconf. We’re also on Facebook!

Green Vid: Investing in Electric Vehicles

The “future” is coming at break neck speed for the auto industry. After years of modest technology gains in terms of fuel efficiency and eco-friendliness, there is now a sense that it’s “go time.” Experts in the field are pushing electric vehicle technology to new heights, while simultaneously working to build infrastructure, economic incentive and consumer demand for the new paradigm.

The GoGreen Conference brought in four of the best to tell us where we are, where we need to go and how they think we’ll get there. Join David Patterson/Mitsubishi Motors of Americas, Jeff Cogen/Multnomah County, Mark Brady/Business Oregon and Charlie Allcock/PGE for an honest look at the wave of the future for automakers in America.

Green Vid: Writing Your Sustainability Plan

Writing Your Sustainability Plan was one of the most popular sessions at GoGreen 2009—and for good reason. Not only is a sustainability plan a crucial step in achieving your green goals, but James Curleigh/KEEN, Clark Brockman/Sera Architects, Mark Morford/Stoel Rives teamed up to be wildly entertaining as well. They left us with several key takeaways:

• Every industry and business is different. To achieve success, outlining a list of goals that are relevant for your situation is the important second step (the first being to decide you want to pursue a more sustainable path).

• Sometimes making sustainable decisions is easy (switching to paper with recycled content, purchasing more energy efficient equipment, etc.). Other times it’s not—like when Stoel Rives removed trash cans from their lunch room in an effort to get their employees to rethink their habits. But we adapt and change to fit our environment, and most times your talent will be energized by green ventures. There is no shortage of people out there who want to work for a sustainable company.
• Have fun with going green! You’re doing good things—enjoy the journey, even if it’s challenging at times.

The Green Line: NY Times Writer Andrew Revkin

We were stoked to hear New York Times writer + Dot Earth blogger, Andrew Revkin, speak last night at Portland State University. Andrew gave a compelling talk on what’s happening with climate change, the controversies in the science behind it, ways governments are handling the situation and how news outlets have covered what he calls a “slow drip” phenomenon over the last century.

He was also kind enough to answer a question we’ve been working to answer through the GoGreen Conference: How do we, as citizens and business owners, make a difference at ground zero while our governments and scientists are figuring everything out? Here’s his response.

The Green Line: Eco-Visionaries Panel

Four incredible women joined us at GoGreen 09 in Portland, Oregon and inspired us beyond belief. Sitting in the session with Darcy Winslow (DSW Collective), Sarah Severn (Nike), Sheri Flies (Costco) and Joyce LaValle (Interface Americas), we knew we had to share it with you. Here are four of the most dynamic change agents on the sustainability front—sharing their incredible collective experience and ideas for the future. Enjoy!

The Highlight Reel: GoGreen ‘09 Takeaways, Cont.

The whole GoGreen Conference was so amazing, it’s been hard to pick our favorite moments, but we’ve put together a few more for you. See below for highlights from the incredible Writing Your Sustainability Plan session (with KEEN’s James Curleigh, Stoel Rives’ Mark Morford and Clark Brockman from SERA Architects), the Electric Vehicles session and pictures from the day!

Writing Your Sustainability Plan

James Curleigh, Mark Morford and Clark Brockman really put on a show for the attendees of this session. Coming from very different industries (retail, the law and architecture), they shared their models for success with a sustainability plan. A common thread between the three is that they each took risks with bold programs.

SERA discontinued paying for employee parking. Instead they offered 2 extra days off a year for all employees and a free monthly bus pass to those who were willing to change their commuting habits. Stoel Rives simply removed all trash cans from their employee spaces in order to encourage recycling. KEEN stumbled into refurbishing used materials such as rice bags and scrap aluminum for its products.

The sticking impression is that a sustainability plan is going to be different for everyone—it’s important to remember that a thoughtful review of your companies goals, strategies and tactics should be undertaken to get the ball rolling and reviewed as times and your business change.

SERA Architects had a great mantra for forming their operations model: Can the earth replace what we take? Are the choices we make fair and equitable? Can what we make be absorbed back into Earth? Are our actions respecting the earth and all living things?

Electric Vehicles Session

Oregon has a pretty awesome opportunity to be a worldwide leader in battery technology and electric vehicles in the coming year. This is due to the windfall score of millions of dollars for several Oregon companies to develop new battery technology + being selected as one of five Nissan test markets for a new line of electric vehicles and 2500 charging stations.

We were honored to have four great minds on electric vehicles as speakers at GoGreen 2009. David Patterson (Mitsubishi America), Mark Brady (Business Oregon), Charlie Allcock (PGE) and Jeff Cogen (Multnomah County) lead an insightful discussion on where we are, where we need to be (from a resources use/impact versus planet health point-of-view) and how to get there.

Some key points from our incredibly knowledgeable speakers:

• We have met the average customer’s needs. The early adopter is already there. Now we have to convince the masses and make it easy for them to drive electric vehicles.
• We have the vehicles. We need to build battery technology that will allow drivers to go farther and charge faster. We also need the infrastructure that will facilitate mass use of this technology—i.e. charging stations, battery repair shops, etc.
• The only way electronic vehicles will be successful, is if we make a dollar. It has to be a sustainable BUSINESS.
• Big Opportunity lies in hardware and infrastructure for electric vehicles. Oregon can take advantage of switch to battery from fossil fuel.

GoGreen Photo Album

We had a great time with everyone and hope you learned a lot, got seriously inspired and took the knowledge you gained out into our community! Click here to see our Photo Gallery.