Al Gore on Futurama

Here is a great clip from one of my favorite shows, Futurama (Comedy Central just annouced they are making 13 new episodes). Al Gore discusses his new film and the global climate crisis. Gore's daughter, Kristin, is one of the writers of the show.

I am not sure if having a sense of humor about global climate change is helpful or hurtful. The oil companies seem to be spreading lies about The Inconvenient Truth , maybe all we can do is laugh.

A New Voice of Business

After a year of planning, a new organization finally launched last week to the business leaders of San Francisco. The New Voice Of Business held a gala reception at the Academy of Science to annouce their new initiatives and programs. As they explain, it is a "non-partisan, national organization of business people working to develop pragmatic solutions to benefit business, society, and the world."

That is the official version. The easier way to explain it:
gather all of the visionary and socially responsible business people into an active and vocal group to support clean energy, corporate social responsibility and this new role of business.

Sound exciting? It should. Led by the enigmatic Elliot Hoffman (formerly of Just Desserts), it is a remarkable group of people. I am pleased to be one of the founding charter members (and one of the organizers of the launch party).

Check it out:
New Voice Of Business

That new car smell?

My friend Marian Keeler, an expert on indoor air quality, wrote a great article on that "new car smell" some people look forward to when buying a car.

That new car smell you savor is really an airborne soup of chemicals that could prove hazardous to your health...

FULL STORY

We're screwed...

As with most things, once you start on a downward spiral, things only get worse. Just as we have realized this spiral:
1. snow caps melt from release of carbon emissions
2. the white snow used to reflect heat, but now the dark water absorbs heat
3. things get even hotter
4. even more snow caps melt

so too are we finding other systems in Nature that we have disrupted. The permafrost (perma - as in supposed to be permanent) contains dense amounts of carbon in the trapped air bubbles. As the permafrost melts, the CO2 is released and the problem acclerates.

Today's story explains the problems we are facing...

Want to live in a shipping container?

Innovative architects turn used shipping containers into homes
In this era of scouring the earth for the magic bullet in home building, few ideas can compete with the weird, pragmatic beauty of the used shipping container. Cheap, strong and easily transportable by boat, truck or train, these big steel structures now litter the ports of America as mementos of our Asian-trade imbalance. (Many more full containers arrive on our shores than depart, so ports either ship them back empty -- to the tune of about $900 per -- or sell them.)

FULL STORY

Walter Thomas Brooks: organic architect

From the start, Walter Thomas Brooks has regarded each building as an experiment.

"Each building has a principle behind it, usually related to organic or natural form," Brooks says.

FULL STORY

Wal-Mart goes organic?

Wal-Mart, the nation's largest grocer, has decided to take organic food seriously. Beginning later this year, Wal-Mart plans to roll out a complete selection of organic foods - certified to have been grown without pesticides - in its nearly 4,000 stores.

The company says it will price all this organic food at only 10 percent more than the conventional kind. Organic food will soon be available to the tens of millions of Americans who now cannot afford it. That is the good news.

The bad news? Wal-Mart is notorious for exploiting every loophole, externalizing every cost, and treating everyone it deals with badly. Will they extort the organic farmers as they do the other manufacturers?

Full Story

How the 2004 election was stolen...

Rolling Stone has an incredibly well researched and disturbing article on the 2004 Presidential Election.

A snippet:
In precincts where Bush received at least eighty percent of the vote, the exit polls were off by an average of ten percent. By contrast, in precincts where Kerry dominated by eighty percent or more, the exit polls were accurate to within three tenths of one percent -- a pattern that suggests Republican election officials stuffed the ballot box in Bush country.

FULL STORY

June Greener Buildings Column

My latest column at GreenerBuildings.com had some interesting questions this month:

LEED Consulting
I'm a LEED Accredited Professional and want to consult to project teams to perform the LEED certification. What fees are appropriate for my services? Is there an industry standard? Any other costs to consider?

Sizing Solar Panels
Do you have any good rule of thumb for sizing solar panels?

The First Green Building
When and where was the first-ever Green Building and was it a commercial facility?