So Cal Fires and Air Quality Effects / SF Climate Challenge

Fourteen large wildfires have developed spanning seven counties in California since Saturday, thanks to the Santa Ana winds, and the prevailing extreme drought conditions... I had been looking around the past couple of days for information on long-term air quality effects and pollution rehab after firestorms past and found some interesting stuff on Wunder Blog:

"Air quality
Not surprisingly, air quality due to particulate matter has been awful in Southern California (Figure 1). Exceedances of the Federal air quality standards by more than a factor of two have occurred the past three days in both Los Angeles and San Diego. Hightened particulate pollution is strongly correlated with increased death rates, particulary in vulnerable populations, such as those with heart conditions, athsma, or other lung diseases. Everyone should avoid any outdoor exertion; people with respiratory or heart disease, the elderly, and children should remain indoors. Keep your windows and doors closed unless it is extremely hot inside. In these cases, seek alternate shelter. Run your air conditioner if you have one. Keep the fresh air intake closed and the filter clean to prevent bringing additional smoke inside. EPA's Airnow website has more information.

Figure 1. Visible satellite images taken midday on Saturday, Sunday, and Monday. Overlaid on the images is the peak daily particle pollution Air Quality Index (AQI) levels due to smoke. Poor air quality became more widespread across the region as the number and size of the fires increased from day to day. Smoke is visible as white or bluish-white streaks. Blowing dust (brown streaks), reducing visibility under three miles, is also apparent on the images. Image credit: NASA and EPA."

As horrifying and post-apocalyptic as that all may sound, it also led me to find information about the San Francisco Climate Challenge, which I think is a fantastic resource for those interested in better understanding the impact that our long-term choices concerning energy consumption can have on the planet. Although the cash prizes they are offering are for SF residents only-- we Southlanders can learn a lot from this initiative and perhaps establish one for LA. I expect there to be more info coming soon on this...

Montreal Ahead of the Green Curve?

During my visit to Montreal last month, I came across a variety of "eco friendly" initiatives across the city that demonstrated some of the more advanced recycling programs the city has in place.

One of the most surprising findings, were these 6 foot tall transparent plastic recycling bins placed on every floor in every corner of their shopping malls. I also noticed these placed in locations across the city in smaller forms - sometimes attached directly to a trash bin to encourage recycling.
One other interesting thing I learned that nearly everyone in Montreal is very environmentally conscious. On several occasions when parking my rental car to pick some one up, or even step out for a second, I had someone ask me to turn the engine off - it became a habit right before leaving that I've even become conscious about it today. When your car is idling and parked, turn it off! Simple, yet effective enough that if you aggregate all the minutes your car spends idling in park it has a fairly big impact.

Finally, Montreal is a very clean city. Trash is rarely found lying around in the streets. People are more responsible and aware about waste. Almost every household I went to had a recycling bin nearby. Overall, it gave me a very positive impression of the city and how mentally aware everyone is - if people care, then the impact is much greater!

CEO Jason Meugniot Rides The Bus

(Thursday October 4, 2007)

As part of Guidance's commitment to a sustainable environment, we celebrated National Rideshare Week today by altering the way we commute to work.

So, this morning at 8:15 A.M. PT, I left the Porsche in the garage, kissed my kids and wife goodbye after breakfast, helped them into their SUV, and I walked up my street headed for the bus stop.

This morning's ride marked my first local bus ride in over 20 years. As a kid, my buddies and I used to ride the "Big Blue" from our homes to the beach to surf in the summer. But this was the first time I rode the bus to work. And while it was new in many respects, the trip itself was quite familiar...

To read the entire post click here.

http://meugniot.blogspot.com/2007/10/bus-ride-to-guidance.html.

Upcoming Webinar: Learn Powerful Sustainable Business Tools

Forwarded to us from our friends at Interface / Bentley Prince Street:

JOIN OUR INAUGURAL WEBINAR SERIES: HOW SUSTAINABILITY IMPACTS YOUR BUSINESS

Hosted by InterfaceRAISE Managing Director Jim Hartzfeld, this webinar series will show you:

~How Interface became a world leader in sustainability
~How emerging challenges pose new business risks and opportunities
~How customers, shareholders, employees and the planet can benefit

Register For The First Webinar In Our Series

The Business Case for Sustainability: The Interface Story Featuring John Wells, CEO, Interface AmericasWednesday, September 1911 AM EDT

You'll learn:
~What sustainability is in the business context
~How Interface has turned sustainability into a competitive advantage
~Practical steps that every company can take to be more "green"

InterfaceRAISE is a strategic resource for sustainability education and guidance based on the dramatic metamorphosis of Interface, Inc., into a global sustainability pioneer.

Offsetting your Carbon Footprint through Renewable Energy Credits

2007 has been a watershed year for Guidance in terms of our environmental policy and the actions we’ve taken to reduce our impact on the environment. Guidance’s use of Renewable Energy Credits to offset the carbon emissions associated with our business activities led this Green Team member to wonder how I could become personally carbon neutral.

The website http://www.begreennow.com/, a unit of Green Mountain Energy, provides a great tool called the Carbon Calculator that makes it easy to calculate your own personal carbon footprint in five easy steps.

I was surprised to discover it will cost me less than well under $100 per year to purchase enough Renewable Energy Credits to become carbon neutral.

Want to calculate your personal carbon footprint and take steps to become carbon neutral?

Click on this link – http://www.begreennow.com/redoffset/begreenreduceofset_cal – then follow the five steps below.

1) You'll be prompted to enter your electricity usage. You can determine the number of kilowatt hours of electricity you use by looking at your electric bill. Enter your monthly usage and the Carbon Calculator will multiply that figure to arrive at your yearly usage.

2) The Carbon Calculator will ask you to enter information about the number of cars you drive, the makes and models, and number of miles you log each year. Your work commute has already been included in Guidance’s carbon emissions calculation, so you only need to calculate the miles you drive in your personal time.

3) You’ll be prompted to enter some information about your personal air travel for the year. Guidance has already included your business travel in calculating our company carbon footprint, so you’ll only need to enter your personal air travel here.

4) You’ll be asked to enter some information pertaining to the amount of natural gas you use. Here again, you can get this information from your monthly Gas Company bill.

5) Once you’ve entered all the information, click the button labeled “Offset my emissions”. The Carbon Calculator will calculate your total emissions and tell you how many Renewable Energy Credits you will need to purchase to become carbon neutral.

Nothin' But Sand

Guidance hit the beach on June 30th as the Green Team spent the morning cleaning up Mother's Beach in Venice.



The project was a joint effort between the Guidance Green Team, Heal the Bay, and local Boy Scout Troop 108.

A huge thank you to all of you who joined in the clean-up effort. It was great seeing familiar faces and meeting new people too.





Particularly satisfying was the number of children who participated, and we applaud the adults for setting an example and teaching them the importance of respecting our planet.



We most certainly made a difference and left the beach in a much cleaner state than we found it, and had fun and good food in the process!!

A few statistics from the event --

In total, we collected:

28 Band aids/bandages

29 Plastic grocery bags

44 Balloons/ribbons

49 Plastic straws/stirrers

101 Plastic bottle caps/rings

Plus countless cigarette butts, styrofoam pieces, broken glass, unidentifiable plastic and paper pieces, as well as 3 articles of clothing and a bar of soap!!

46 adults and children participated !!

75 hot dogs and 20 turkey dogs were consumed!!

And coming up next...

Our next outing will be a tree planting event with the Tree Musketeers!!

Dates will be announced soon, so keep checking back.

The 11th Hour

Coming to theatres this Friday August 17th is The 11th Hour, Leonardo diCaprio’s feature-length documentary about the impact humans are having on the earth and what the film’s producers refer to as the “environmental crisis.”

If you didn’t know, diCaprio isn’t just a talented actor, but also a passionate environmentalist who is using his Hollywood clout to draw attention to environmental issues.

Despite the use of the word crisis, The 11th Hour’s media kit emphasizes the film does not paint a doomsday scenario, but rather attempts to offer "hope and solutions." Featuring a slate of prominent environmental activists and thought leaders, the film’s message is that “the time for action is NOW” and “most of the solutions are available now.”

As a documentary, The 11th Hour will be opening in limited release, with only two threatres in Los Angeles showing the film this weekend. If you’re interested in seeing it, here’s some info on theatres and showtimes.

The Landmark - 10850 West Pico Blvd (Across from the Westside Pavillion)

Showtimes: The film will be playing this Friday, Saturday,
and Sunday at 12:10pm, 2:30pm, 5pm, 7:30pm, 10pm each day

The ArcLight - 6360 W Sunset Blvd (between Vine and Ivar)

Showtimes: The film will be playing this Friday, Saturday,
and Sunday at 11am, 2:10pm, 4:50pm, 7:30pm, 10:20pm each day

For more information about the film, visit The 11th Hour website at www.11thhouraction.com.