Month: June 2014

We hear endless talk about the carbon emissions left by cars and trucks on the road. But what about the greenhouse gases emitted from airplanes? 

According to The New York Times, a round-trip flight from New York to San Francisco generates a warming effect equivalent to 2 or 3 tons of carbon dioxide per person. 

The average American creates about 19 tons of carbon dioxide a year. So, if you take five long flights each year, they may add up to three-quarters of the emissions you make.

Although air travel emissions currently account for 5 percent of warming – there are hundreds of thousands more auto vehicles than airplanes, not to mention the devastating impact of coal power plants – that number is projected to rise significantly. This is because the volume of air travel is growing faster than gains in flight fuel efficiency. 

"For many people in New York City, who don't drive much and live in apartments, this is probably going to be by far the largest part of their carbon footprint," Anja Kollmuss, a Zurich-based environmental consultant, told The New York Times.

What the FAA is Doing About It
But it's not all gray skies. 

In late June 2014, the U.S. Transportation Secretary Anthony Foxx awarded a $442,500 Federal Aviation Administration grant to Denver International Airport to cut emissions and improve air quality at the airport through the FAA's Voluntary Airport Low Emission program.

VALE is designed to lower all sources of airport ground emissions in all areas of marginal air quality.

"This program supports President Obama's efforts to combat carbon pollution and reduce aviation's emissions footprint," said Secretary Foxx. "These funds will help airports around the country make the necessary investments to reduce fuel costs and help protect our health and the environment."

Since 2005, the FAA has funded a total of 66 VALE projects at 34 airports. 

For the Denver airport, the project will allow planes shut off their auxiliary power units while parked at the gate and link up to a cleaner cooling and heating system. All of this will save fuel and help improve air quality by reducing emissions. 

Through the VALE program, airports have sliced ozone emissions by about 466 tons per year, which is about the same as removing 26,000 trucks off the road each year. 

A strong advocate for a sustainable world, Ilchi Lee, remarks that there's no doubt that these are steps in the right direction for leaving a smaller carbon footprint. We just have to be more conscious about where we fly to, and the efficiency of our travel.

People born from 1980 to 2000, also referred to as the millennials or generation Y, will bear the brunt of the environmental burden as climate concerns are dumped on them from previous generations. So, in an effort to spur action and hear their perspective, strong advocate of a sustainable world, Ilchi Lee, among others, wants to find out what these problem-solvers are thinking, and how they might take action.

A recent survey conducted by the Pew Research Center suggests while millennials are the most sustainability-conscious generation yet, they don't call themselves "environmentalists." In fact, only 32 percent of Americans in generation Y see themselves as environmentalists, compared to 42 percent of Americans between the ages of 49 and 64 (born between 1965 and 1980), and 44 percent of those born after 1945.

Based on the younger generations' attitudes, it's likely that millennials simply reject the label of "environmentalist." Despite this, gen Yers are more likely to attribute global warming to human activity, more supportive of stricter environmental laws and more likely to favor environmentally friendly polices such as tax incentives for hybrid vehicles and green energy development. 

But getting the word out isn't the main problem. But before talking turns into action, accurate and relevant news needs to spread among the generation to get an incentive in motion. Right now, although almost every American has heard about climate change, even intellectual, forward-thinking youth are disengaged from the topic. 

University of Santa Barbara sustainability director Kathleen Merrigan recently hosted a panel about what the millennial generation thinks about biobased sustainability. In the discussion, the young people talked about the importance of social media and especially short video message to reach them. There are many stories that need telling, and getting them engaged in the learning process can be very effective.

"What they're doing is trying to teach young people to be storytellers," she said in a press release. "We'd like to send our students out to farms and help tell the story of American agriculture."

Indeed, sharing tales can come in the form of social media, since it shares plenty of ground with sustainability. Through Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn and other social media sites, we are able to capture and share moments in real time, sowing a tapestry of individual and shared experience. Although often posts may be trivial, the monumental ones stand a chance at influencing the viewer. Pictures on "Make Every Day Earth Day," links to eco-friendly videos and referendums to limit deforestation can all make a difference.

If the average person in the U.S. generates 4.3 pounds of waste per day, imagine how much a 100-person company throws out? Too much. Many businesses are even wasting more than they did two years ago. Cutting down on disposables not only saves money on waste hauling, but demonstrates industry leadership and social responsibility. 

So, check out these efficient ways to lower your company's wastefulness:  

1. Cut Down on Packaging
According to the Environmental Protection Agency, one-third of waste in developed countries comes from packaging. Take a look at the shipping and supply methods used in your business. Could you do away with single-use containers? Pepsi-Cola saved $44 million by switching from corrugated cardboard to reusable plastic shipping containers. 

What's more, with the shift onto the online world, consider emailing that 25-page handout instead of printing it for each employee.

2. Go Paperless
Paper consumption has tripled since 1960, and Americans produce 85 million tons of paper into the waste stream, according to Go Paperless Solutions, Inc.

There are better alternatives. Along the same lines as reducing packaging, companies can save lots of money on sending documents via email, the cloud or other virtual platform rather than printing, faxing and boxing. On the back end, it can easily reduce an enterprise's costs on ink, toner and electricity. 

3. Ditch Bottled Water
Bottled water spells disaster for our carbon footprint. The manufacturing, filling and shipping processes emit vast amounts of fossil fuels. 

At the end of the day, bottled water is just glorified tap water. In fact, 25 percent of bottle water comes from the tap, and the containers we toss out are being left for the next millennia to handle. That's not a wise global gift. 

Instead, provide glasses or reusable bottles in your company's break room. 

Before you decide to ignore the message that the world is sending us, consider this: More than 7 billion pounds of PVC are thrown away in the U.S. each year, according to the Clean Air Council. Only 18 million pounds of that is recycled. 

There's no doubt that we – not just your neighbor or your co-worker, everyone – need to lend a hand in recycling. Ilchi Lee, an advocate of sustainable environment, emphasizes that as citizens of the world, it's our job to keep it clean for generations to come.