How to make people care about an issue, like fossil fuel subsidies

In order to get people to care, you have to personalize your issue for them.

There has been a lot of talk about fossil fuel subsidies recently. But what is missing is the impact to me, as an individual. It's often know as the WIIFM (what's in it for me) approach. It is an effective method to making someone change their mind, or motivating them to do something above and beyond what they were planning to do.

There are numbers thrown out all the time about how many billions of dollars that we give to companies, who are reporting billions of dollars in profit. Sounds like large numbers, but over a million dollars, and even I get lost in how big that is.

From 2002 to 2008 (7 years), the US Government gave the fossil fuel industry over $72 billion in subsidies. I've heard in the past that we spend around $10 billion per year, so that's close enough. The US Government has a budget of around $3.6 trillion dollars (yes, trillion, or 3,600 billion to make the math simpler).

So if we divide the $10B by the total budget of $3600B, we calculate that 0.28% of the US budget is spent on these subsidies.


So in order to personalize it, I need to figure out how much I am personally paying to these subsidies.


I paid in $17,500 in taxes last year, so I can multiply that by 0.28%, and that comes out to $48.60. We'll round to $50, to make it simple. Now we take that one step further, that's about $4 per month. That number doesn't seem that much, but essentially you're buying the fossil fuel industry a sandwich each month, and they're not even hungry. Click to retweet >>

Water bottles are bad, so why are you still using them?

I recently came across an article about bottled water, and it provided me with even more reasons not to use them. If you or someone you know still uses bottled water, you need to read this, or share this article with them.

1) Bottled water is not tested, nor do the companies have to tell you where they get it from. Tap water is regulated, and your city must submit reports to the EPA listing the results, and disclose the results to the public. Laboratory results of bottled water have shown far worse performance than tap water. A company could literally fill up bottles from the tap and sell them as "Pure Glacier Stream" and you would have no idea if that was true or not. Approximately 25% of bottled water comes directly from municipal (city) tap water.

2) It's expensive. The average price of bottled water is 240-10,000 times more expensive than tap water. Per gallon, it is more expensive than gasoline! Over 90% of the cost of bottled water is associated with the bottle, lid and label.

3) Plastic bottles made from PET and Tetra Paks have a higher rate of leaching into the bottled water, the longer it sits in the container. The results continue to come in, and they don't look good. Many of the leaching substances are hormone-mimicking, like estrogen.

4) Most people cannot taste a difference. Here is a blind statistical study we conducted that compared bottled water, tap water and filtered water. Our testers could not taste a difference.

5) Water bottling companies destroy the water aquifers of communities. Most of the water bottle companies are large corporations, like Coca-Cola, Nestle, and Pepsi (to name a few). They come into a community, extract the water for almost no cost, dry up the ecosystem, then take their profits and leave.

6) Manufacturing the plastic bottles (from oil), pumping and filling the bottles, packaging and transporting the bottles greatly increases carbon emissions. Most of the time, the bottles are shipped far away from where the water is collected and filled, so this can have a huge impact on our carbon footprint.

7) Most plastic bottles are STILL not recycled. Only 1 out of every 4 bottles (about 25%) are actually recycled. Even if that number was 100%, recycling doesn't make the problem go away. We need to REDUCE our usage, to avoid the carbon impact in the first place (see #6)

Recommendation: Use a reusable aluminum water bottle filled with filtered tap water. You may not even need to filter the water depending on where you live.

Here is a good pamphlet developed by the Sierra Club that summarizes these same arguments against bottled water.

Philadelphia Eagles set the bar high for sports industry

One of the last industries you think of for promoting sustainability is the sports world. Players and fans flying and driving all over to attend games in large air-conditioned venues with lots of lights, huge amounts of concession stand food in disposeable containers.

One team is stepping out and taking the lead towards sustainability, the Philadelphia Eagles of the National Football League (NFL).

In 2003, the Philadelphia Eagles owners, Jeffrey and Christina Lurie, decided they wanted to make the Eagles more environmentally responsible.  They had the insight to see that they could make a difference, and set the team apart from others with a program called “Go Green!”

The Go Green! initiative focuses around some key initiatives: renewable energy, energy efficiency and conservation, recycling and waste reduction, reforestation (tree planting), and procurement decisions.

To start with, the Eagles offset their carbon emissions for the 2010 season through the GoZero program, which is managed by the Conservation Fund organization. They had been working their way up to 100% offset over the years. In 2009, the Eagles ran 100% of their operations on wind and solar, a small portion of which comes from their solar array at the NovaCare Complex, which produced 12,757 kilowatt-hours (kWh). In addition, they have cut their stadium’s annual electricity use by nearly 50% since 2004 through energy conservation and efficiency improvements.

The Eagles also created the country’s first Renewable Energy Employee Benefit Program, which encourages all full-time Eagles employees to purchase renewable energy credits (REC’s) from Delaware Valley region energy. The program compensates employees by paying the difference in price between current and renewable energy. In 2009, more than half of the organization’s eligible employees took advantage of this program.

In 2008 and 2009, the Eagles offset 100% of the greenhouse gas generated by team travel (air, bus, train and hotel) through tree planting. Their tree planting efforts take place at Eagles Forest, a 6.5-acre site at Neshaminy State Park in Bensalem, Bucks County, Pennsylvania. It contains more than 4,000 trees and shrubs, including over 150 trees that have been purchased by Eagles fans. They are also sponsoring tree plantings in Louisiana’s Lake Ophelia National Wildlife Refuge in Marksville, Louisiana, and helping with restoration projects in that area due to the recent oil spill in the gulf.

In 2009, they launched a composting program, in conjunction with their cafeteria service provider. They capture unwanted and disposed of food, and utilize compostable or post-consumer recycled content for utensils, plates and cups. In addition, the cooking oil is sent out for conversion to bio-diesel. They are also using environmentally preferable cleaning products to clean the food service and facilities areas. Along with a strong recycling program that has been in-place since 2003, they are getting very close to achieving a zero-waste operation.

In the office area, they have also made strides in reducing paper usage. They reduced newsletter publications by 36 tons of paper by moving more of the publications to online. They also moved to a digital media guide, saving more than 200 trees. They also increased the post-consumer content of the following items: game day programs, office printer paper, business cards, memo pads, invoices, staff handbooks, stadium credentials, facial tissue, hand towels, toilet paper, stadium maps, event staff birthday cards, tickets, cardstock and certain envelopes.

The efforts continue with the cheerleaders. The 2010-2011 Eagle Cheerleaders calendar was the first in the league to be printed on post-consumer recycled paper. The 38 cheerleaders are wearing eco-friendly bikinis made from organic cotton or recycled plastic bottles, with accessories (earrings, necklaces and bracelets) made from recycled materials such as CD's and computer chips. Additionally, 10% of the calendar sales will go to the Gulf Restoration Network to help protect and restore the natural resources of the Gulf for future generations.

Finally, one of the key activities that got the effort moving was the Carbon Neutral game, which took place in 2005 between the St. Louis Rams and the Eagles. The teams worked with Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC), StopGlobalWarming.org, and NativeEnergy to offset the energy usage for a single game. They agreed to use clean energy from a Native American wind project in the Midwest, and energy from a Pennsylvania dairy farm methane project.

They determined that a single game produced 58 tons of carbon dioxide (CO2) pollution. The majority of the energy during the game came from heating the dome (wintertime in St. Louis), and running the huge lights during the game.  However, fans, media, and teams traveling by air, bus, and car to the game had a much greater impact. They estimated that travel took up more than 10,900 tons of CO2 – about 99% of the event's total carbon footprint.

Hats off the Eagles, and especially Christina Lurie, for her drive and determination to make this happen! I hope that other teams pay attention, and start competing with them in their sustainability efforts, not just on the football field. 

Learn more about the Eagles' Go Green! program >>>

Offset your carbon emission usage to feel better and make a difference

I was a little leary of carbon offset programs, but as I read more into Carbonfund.org, they have a very rigorous process for validating projects. Even though I do drive a Prius, I do impact the environment with the gas I purchase and consume. I also commute 25 miles each way, five days a week, so those miles add up to about 15,000 per year.

Therefore, I decided to offset the last years worth of driving. According to their calculator, I have contributed almost 3 metric tons of CO2 to the environment in the last year. To offset that amount, I had to pay about $30, or around $2.50 per month. That seems very reasonable to me, and it helps me feel slightly better about my driving habits.

Don't get me wrong. Paying someone to allow me to continue my bad behavior is not the intent. The alternative is that I don't spend the $30 on anything related to the environment, so I'm letting them do it for me. I don't want to pay that amount each year (as affordable as it is), so there is some incentive for me to continue to find ways to reduce my driving.

If businesses and companies were forced to offset their carbon footprint each year, imagine how many projects we could get started? For example, my company generates about 150,000 metric tons per year. If they paid $10 per metric ton (which is what CarbonFund.org charges), that would be about $1.5 million! Imagine how many solar and wind projects we could implement with that kind of investment! (As a side note, my company has set aside $500,000 to fund energy reducion projects this year, which is a great start).

'No Impact Man' sets the bar really high!

I'd like to think that I do pretty good at being "green", but after watching "No Impact Man", I feel like I've got a long way to go.

The movie is about an author who wants to write about something more meaningful. He decides to try an experiment, with his "somewhat willing" family, to see how little impact on the environment they can have. They start out pretty agressive, and build upon it in stages over the course of a year. The final six months, they go without electricity completely.

They generate zero trash, which is truly amazing! Everything they eat is from the Farmer's Market, or bought in bulk, to prevent having any packaging/trash. They don't use any toilet paper (still confused about how they did that...) and only take public transportation.

There are two sides to this movie. First, the effort took a toll on the couple, and they were ridiculed at times. On the other hand, it made them realize what was really important in life, and break themselves from things they thought they needed. Overall, I think they grew closer going through the experience.

Think you're up for the challenge? Download (don't print) the "How to Guide" to see what you are signing up for. The next scheduled event is April 18th.

Use post-it notes to change other people's wasteful behavior!

Where I work, I see a lot of people leaving their computers on, leaving lights on in their office. Those that work in the factory leave the test equipment and other electronic devices on as well.

Instead of complaining, I decided to make up some bright green post-it notes, and place them on the device, so the person sees the "reminder" when they come back. This way, you don't need to confront the "accuser" and make them feel bad. Often times, people just forget, or don't realize that it should be turned off.



Each pad comes with 50 notes, and they can be re-used (like a normal post-it note). Simply scan your work area, or your house, and place the note on anything that should be turned off. Certain items (like refrigerators) need to stay on all the time. Focus on the items that definitely need to be shut off. If you can follow up with this approach and feedback for one month (20-30 days), that should be enough time that behavior starts to change, and people will become more cognizant of what they're leaving on.

To order some of these post-its:

Green "Turn Off When Done" Post-It Note Reminders

Oat: The new renewable energy?

I saw this mentioned on an environmental website the other day, and thought it was pretty cool, especially since I'm a former alum.

"According to a University of Iowa video, burning oat hulls - instead of just coal - saves about $1 million per year for the school. It gets the oat hulls from a Quaker Oats facility, which is just a short distance away in Cedar Rapids, IA. By 2010, the university plans to reduce its energy consumption by 10 percent and use renewable sources to generate 15 percent of all energy on campus."

There is also a short video developed by the University of Iowa to describe the "oat hulls" used to generate power.

Kill-a-Watt Electricity Usage Monitor

We bought the Kill-a-Watt, in order to help us figure out where we were spending most of our money in electricity. We were hoping it would also help us figure out whether we had phantom power on some of our devices (using power when not in use).



The device works by simply unplugging the 110-volt device from the wall, plugging in the Kill-a-Watt into the outlet, then plugging the device into the Kill-a-Watt, and pressing the on button. That simple! It starts to measure the amount of kilowatt hours (KwH) of electricity used, and retains the amount of minutes and hours that it has been plugged in, so you can determine how much is used per hour, per day, etc.



We determined that many of our devices did not have phantom power (good!), and that certain devices are very energy intensive, such as ovens and refrigerators. We turned down the temperature slightly on the fridge, and started using our toaster oven more often, instead of heating the entire oven for items that could fit in the toaster oven.

We would highly recommend this device to anyone looking to reduce their energy usage and electrical bills (which should be everybody!). It is affordable, easy to use, and will pay for itself in no time!