Hopes ran high leading up to COP-15 (Conference of the Parties) in Copenhagen, Denmark. But what happened during the two weeks of negotiations?

Leading up to the COP, negotiators met every other month in Bonn, Bangkok, and Barcelona, and divided into Ad-hoc working groups to try to whittle down texts. The process was divided into two tracks – one on deciding the future of the Kyoto Protocol and the other to work on “Long Term Cooperative Action.” This process itself was hotly debated.

When the negotiators arrived at Copenhagen on December 7, they had one week to finalize brackets and options. During the second week, heads of state come in and try to forge an agreement. The same impasse between the US and China that marked the Kyoto Protocol negotiations persisted, and ultimately shaped the so-called Copenhagen Accord.

The Copenhagen Accord agrees to a 2 degree warming limit and $100Billion of aid to the neediest countries. It does not discuss financing or how to maintain a 2 degree limit. These details will likely be hammered out at COP-16 in Mexico City. Stay tuned!!

Courtesy of OptimalEnergy

A while back, we posted on the Cash-for-Clunkers. Now a new “Cash-for” program may be under way: Cash-for-Caulkers, which would pay people to weatherize their houses. Consulting firm Mckinsey estimates that such measures could account for a 28% reduction in emissions over 10 years. There’s a stimulus we can all benefit from!

Hi Rallyers…. take a peek at this video about an emerging energy solution called Enhanced Geothermal Systems. Pretty interesting.

G20 summit. Courtesy of zunia.org

To little fanfare at their summit last month, the G-20, or major economies, agreed to phase out fuel subsidies. The US had been lobbying for such moves from the start of the summit, in a shift in stance. Removing the subsidies will hopefully raise fuel prices so that they are not artificially low, and renewable/efficiency measures will be more attractive investments. Experts estimate that this action will likely reduce GHG pollution by 10-20% by 2050.

Read more:
Reuters Washington Post Grist

courtesy of 350.org

Hey Rallyers! This Saturday is a global day of activism to raise awareness of climate change, and spread the word about humanity’s need to reduce atmospheric CO2 levels to 350 PPM. There are lots of small ways to get involved and inspire others. Here are a few ideas:

• Use your feet. Leave your car at home and find another way to get around on Saturday through carpools, bikes or mass-transit.
  
• Commit to a few Carbonrally Challenges that add-up to 350 pounds of CO2 reduction in honor of the the 350 PPM goal.
  
• Head over to 350.org and join a local event. There are over 4,000 events planned, offering a few hours of fun and camaraderie.
  
• If you want, share your experience by posting a comment/photo to your City Page or Team Page on Carbonrally.

An unlikely green-friendly candidate. Courtesy of Hotels.com

This weekend, I’m at a friend’s wedding at the Sheraton in San Diego. I must say I usually try to stay away from big hotels – I find them impersonal besides pretty un-environmentally conscious (generally speaking). However, upon checking into my room, I found a nice surprise: a note under my door saying that for every day that I declined cleaning services, I would receive a $5 gift certificate. Beyond that, this particular hotel has taken several small “green initiatives” – recyclable room service flatware, in-room recycling bins, recycled bathroom paper and tissues, and eco-friendly toiletries. I dug a little deeper and found a whole list of initiatives, including LEED-certification, here. It is always uplifting to see small reminders of environmental consciousness in unexpected places.

This VIP blog entry is from Chuck Barber, the leader of Team Nalco North America. Chuck’s team is #1 on the monthly leaderboard of Carbonrally’s Company League. Thanks Chuck for sharing some of your tips and experiences… and thanks to Nalco for keeping our water clean and spreading the Rally around the World.

Chuck wrote in September 2009:

Since our company began more than 80 years ago, Nalco’s programs to improve customer operations have always represented the essence of sustainability, even before anyone called it that. Today our company continues to help customers improve while reducing their environmental impact. We work side by side with our customers to establish cost-effective programs that cut their water and energy consumption. Our company vision is to earn customers for life and enhance the lives of employees while protecting the planet. That desire to improve our environment exists at a personal level for many Nalco employees. In addition to our fund-raising support for programs like Water For People, we wanted to find a fun way to extend our sustainable corporate values to our personal lives and our communities away from the office.

In September 2008, we discovered Carbonrally and knew right away that we wanted to participate in this forum. With Carbonrally, we could demonstrate that our sustainability efforts could be fun as well as beneficial to the environment. One of the most positive attributes of the Carbonrally site was that individuals could see the results of each of their actions on the environment. To have your personal efforts tracked and compiled within a corporate team provided the excitement needed to launch our effort. To spur that competitive spirit to the next level, we decided to subdivide the company into regional teams. Early adopters quickly jumped onboard and put Nalco’s name on the leaderboard. Additional awareness of our Carbonrally efforts were communicated through our weekly internal newsletter as well as internal sustainability e-mail blasts. Our monthly team standings are captured and communicated on our corporate intranet site. Awareness, company and personal pride and team success continue to persuade additional employees to join us in this fun, positive competition!

Courtesy of ECU

It’s a sad tale. You spend time every week sorting your recyclables, and then – poof – they’re off into the great abyss, never to be heard from again. You wonder if they have gone on to better things – biofuel perhaps? – and if they offset some emissions along the way. Now, the EPA has come up with an individual version of IWarm, which estimates the climate benefit you’ve incurred by recycling instead of landfilling your refuse. You download an excel file, a kind of calculator where you input what you’ve recycled and get the impact of all your hard work!

Business for Social Responsibility (BSR) has just published a fantastic newsletter article about how Intel is working with employees to meet sustainability goals. Written by Blythe Chorn of BSR’s Advisory Services, the article does a great job laying out the business case for Intel’s employee programs. It also highlights the innovative things Intel is doing to raise awareness, appeal to employee interests, and incent involvement.

We are grateful and proud that Intel is using Carbonrally’s Custom League service as part of their employee programs. We hope other leading companies are inspired to join the Rally and unite with people around the world to save energy.

A big thanks to Blythe and BSR for including us in the article. This means a lot to us! BSR is one of the most respected organizations working with business to drive justice and sustainability. To learn more about BSR, consider attending the BSR Conference 2009:

Reset Economy. Reset World October 20-23, 2009 – San Francisco

In a world that has been “reset” by the worldwide recession and a collapse of trust in business, companies can deliver value by thinking big and embracing long-term sustainability trends. Register Now for the BSR Conference 2009.

Planting trees on New Haven streets. The natural way to reduce CO2. Courtesy of New Haven Independent

As the summer winds down, I’ve become oriented here at Yale Forestry and Environmental Studies, and have learned quite a bit about our local CT forests. I spent the last week learning about the micro-ecosystems here in New Haven and the most interesting was learning that there is a lot more to our environmental damage than just the emissions from our cars and air-conditioners. Planting certain types of trees and plants (flora) can actually cause damage to other plants or animals. When planting a tree, there is a lot to consider. What kind of shade will it provide? Is it indigenous? What kind of water and sunlight will it require? How will it affect your local flora and fauna? etc.

Of course, planting native tree species provides shade from sun and rain, habitats for birds right on your lawn, and improve air quality. Most cities have block associations or horticultural societies which can keep you informed about appropriate flora. And, due to increased stimulus funding, many of these organizations are not only giving away advice, but also providing the labor and the tree itself free of charge!

Big thanks to WGBH for spreading the word about Carbonrally!

WGBH is not only Boston’s premier public TV, radio, and web station, they also produce tremendous educational content that is broadcast around the world. WGBH has just formed their own Carbonrally Team. Please stop on by and say hello.

We know it’s long overdue, but we’re proud to finally announce that Carbonrally is linked to Facebook. This means we can now harness the power of Facebook to spread the word about the Rally and get others on board!

What it does: If you “connect” your Carbonrally account to Facebook, the following will happen:

1. Your Carbonrally activities (challenges, workshop ideas, comments) will appear in your Facebook news feed.

2. You will be able to invite friends to Carbonrally or your Carbonrally Team using your Facebook Friends List.



How to connect:

1. Click on a blue Facebook Connect button on your profile (‘my carbon”) page, or in the invitation forms.
2. Make sure you are logged-into Facebook while using Carbonrally…. that’s it

How to disconnect: If you no longer want your Carbonrally and Facebook accounts linked:

1. Go to the “applications” button in the lower left of your Facebook screen. From there you will see Carbonrally appear on a list of applications.
2. Delete Carbonrally and confirm the deletion.
3. You can always connect again later

Give it a try, and please let us know if you have any feedback about how to improve this feature. Thanks!

Your ticket to $1.2 trillion?

A recent report by the consulting firm Mckinsey found that companies, industries, government, and yes, even you and I, can achieve huge savings through energy efficiency by 2020.

According to a Senior Partner in Mckinsey’s Atlanta office, the potential emissions savings are equivalent to the total emissions of Canada , and could offset any expected increase in US energy consumption over the next decade. More importantly, everyone can save lots of money. Actions taken by individuals in their residences amount to 35% of an estimated $1.2 trillion in cost savings, or $420 billion across the country. Sure, each person who takes some efficiency measures gets only a crumb of that in savings. But it’s a pretty big pie.

The kinds of actions referred to in the report are easy enough to take: when you need to replace appliances, especially energy-intensive ones like air conditioners, buy EneryStar rated appliances. Use CFL lightbulbs. Make sure your house is well insulated. Etc. (Check here for some of the most profitable and energy-efficient replacements).

The new standard in smart shopping?

I know as well as anyone that Wal-mart isn’t exactly the gold standard for an environmental or social record, but a recent Green Inc Article suggests that’s about to change.

The mega-corporation announced plans to require standardized green labels on ALL merchandise sold in their stores. The plan is to create an indexing system which measures environmental and social impacts across the lifecycle of all products. It;s a huge undertaking that may take 5-10 years and collaboartion with thousands of suppliers to complete.

Wall Mart’s green muscle flexing is great news, and could be exactly what consumers need to start making informed decisions about their purchases and the environment.

• A week or so ago, we posted something about taking action on the Waxman-Markey Bill, whether you support or oppose it. Now The Oil Drum has a great article on politics and activism. If you can make it through, it’s quite an inspiring article.
  
  
• The LA Times has a well-written and pretty hilarious article on one woman’s grappling with the concept of compostable toilets. Turns out, it’s not so bad. Who’s next?
  
  
• CO2 is likely going to be taxed in some way in the near future, but it could actually be a useful fuel input! Green Inc discusses a joint venture between Dow Chemical and Algenol Biofuels which will produce biofuel-feed algae from a mixture of water, air, and the byproduct CO2 from Dow’s plant.