1. Call it Tom Friedman’s Worst Nightmare: Asia’s already outpacing the United States in clean technology investment by hundreds of billions of dollars — which will mean the U.S. will be importing trillions of dollars in green tech down the road, says a new report. (Hat tip: CleanTechnica.)
2. Call it a Whale’s Worst Nightmare: Japan’s whaling fleet is off to the Southern Ocean for its annual hunt. Dot Earth quotes ocean explorer Sylvia Earle on why eating whale isn’t at all like eating a farm-raised cow, which is what Japanese whaling interests claim.
3. Call it Todd Stern’s Worst Nightmare: Pledges by individual countries to limit their greenhouse gas emissions are multiplying like tribbles, reports The New York Times — and UN climate czar Yvo deBoer is now putting pressure on the Obama administration to release its own proposal.
4. Call it a Gearhead’s Worst Nightmare: Star driver Jeff Gordon has joined with the EPA to warn the public that auto painting causes air pollution and degrades human health, reports Ecopolitology.
5. Call it Ungreen Companies’ Worst Nightmare: GoodGuide releases an iPhone app that scans product barcodes and gives you ratings on the product’s healthy, environmental, and social impacts. (62,000 products in the database so far, says CNET’s Health Tech.)

1. There’ll be no more energy-sucking televisions in the state where TV was born, now that California has passed the nation’s first law requiring TV energy efficiency standards.
2. Sometimes, incentives just don’t work. The Responsible Travel company has canceled its carbon offsets program, saying it helps travelers appease their guilt over flying but doesn’t actually help reduce emissions — and may even encourage more traveling.
3. Climate change plays favorites apparently. A new report from the U.N. Population Fund says women suffer disproportionately from the impacts of climate change – but they also might be in the best position to mitigate it as well.
4. A rare giraffe species was on the brink of extinction in 1996, with just 50 animals left in Niger. But regulations against poaching and other conservation efforts have made a huge difference – 13 years later there are now 200 animals.
5. Wondering which major companies are going green? Check out this list of 5 big corporate names that are trying out new, more sustainable practices, from The Daily Green. 

Feeling unlucky this Friday the 13th? Fortify yourself with the latest in green news — recycled diapers, undersea gliders, a historic comeback and a new way to shut up those global warming skeptics close to you (speaking of superstitious…)

1. So you’re at a family gathering, arguing with Uncle Climate Denier over the reality of climate change — what’s your trump card? How about the huge increase in the ratio of record high temps to record low temps across the United States in the last six decades? Andrew Revkin at Dot Earth says the findings are accepted by scientists across the political spectrum. (I bet Uncle Climate Denier remembers those frozen winter mornings just fine…)
2. Also from Dot Earth — two U.S. senators have proposed giving a prize to anybody with a way to extract CO2 from the atmosphere and sequester it permanently. (Isn’t that called “a forest”? Just asking…)
3. Martha Stewart, eat your heart out — two UK companies are building a plant to recycle diapers into, among other things, wallpaper — and the plant will run on the organic matter in the diapers themselves. Eeewww… (Hat tip: Triple Pundit.)
4. Cool Green Science Alert! A new undersea glider (huh?) is tracking the rare beaked whale off the coast of Hawaii…using only a listening device. (It’s the best way, because the whales are shy and live far off shore. Hat tip: Wired Science.)
5. Score one for the good guys — the brown pelican, once on the endangered species list because DDT weakened its eggs, has been declared “fully recovered” by the U.S. Department of the Interior, reports the LA Times. (Hat tip: Yale Environment 360.)

(Image: Brown pelicans off Morro Bay, California. Credit: mikebaird/Flickr through a Creative Commons license.)

1. Are hybrids more likely to hit pedestrians and bicyclists than other car types, as a new study reports? Treehugger analyzes the data.
2. Andrew Revkin at DotEarth takes a look at the topic of how journalists and scientists can effectively communicate about environmental topics like marine pollution.
3. Did an albatross die so you could eat a tuna sandwich for lunch today? Probably, says Scientific American. A new report says tuna fishing kills an albatross every five minutes.
4. Sure, scientist Stephen Schneider made a mistake back in 1971 when he predicted that aerosol pollution would cause a global cooling effect, but today he’s considered a leading climatologist. Check out this Q&A with him from The New Republic.
5. Thinking about taking a vacation this winter? A new study finds that nature tourism doesn’t necessarily bring more money to the pockets of local people – although the longer the stay, the more benefits for the local economy. 

So, was anyone really learning anything new?

And if festivals, lectures and the like aren’t the answer, how do we reach the people who just aren’t yet thinking about “being green”?

My first solution: Don’t call it “green.”

Don’t Call It Green

I probably shouldn’t say this as the green living blogger on Cool Green Science, but I don’t like the term “green.” At least amongst mixed company.

You know who I mean: the people who roll their eyes when they just hear the word “organic” or talk about how vegan food must taste like tree bark while chowing down on perfectly vegan French fries or cookies.

The problem is that anyone can use the word to describe just about anything. And that leads to overuse (which the term is dangerously close to reaching) and confusion. And if people don’t think the word means anything, it could lead people to just give up entirely on trying to make an effort.

And who can really blame them? According to environmental marketing firm TerraChoice, the average number of “green” products on the shelves of big-box stores almost doubled between 2007 and 2008. Their 2007 study on “greenwashing” found that, of 1,018 products surveyed, all but one product made claims that are demonstrably false or risk misleading consumers.

What we really need is to stop relying on linguistic shortcuts when providing details about the benefits of a particular product, service or lifestyle choice.

Set a Good Example…

People are bombarded with messages all day long, and we have mostly learned to tune them out. But one thing people still notice is the other people immediately around them. So if 75 percent of shoppers are carrying tote bags, the other 25 percent might start to wonder what the benefits are. And if drivers see you happily zipping along in the bike lane while they are stuck in traffic day after day, they might eventually warm up to the idea of alternative modes of transportation.

So proudly carry around those reusable bags, and share with your friends a tip about the delicious apples at the local farmer’s market.

…but Don’t Be a Schmuck

Scolding people into making personal changes never works. They have to want to do it, and to do it for their own reasons.

So when you talk to other people about what you’re doing for the environment, leave them out of it. Be available to answer questions and help them when they are ready, but let them reach out to you. They’ll be glad they have their very own non-judgmental environmental guru to turn to.

Help Make Things Easier

One of the best parts about the Green Festival was the trash situation. Each “trash can” was really three clearly marked receptacles: trash, recycling and compost. In addition, every plate, cup, bowl, napkin, utensil and sample cup was 100% biodegradable and could be put in the compost bin with food scraps.

If only it were this easy in our daily lives.

To really get everyone on the right track, the “green option” has to be the easiest option, or very close to it. So help make doing the right thing the easier thing: advocate for curbside recycling programs, start a local carpooling group, or volunteer to make changes at your office, such as creating a bike room, having an in-house composting bin, and installing double-sided printing options.

Celebrate the Free Stuff

If there was one thing that was clear at the Green Festival, it’s that people (myself included) love free samples.

Many people still think that “being green” is expensive, but there are so many things that people can do that are eco-friendly and low cost that you can shout about:

• Walking more and driving less. Save on gas and get some exercise at the same time.
• Replacing your light bulbs with CFL bulbs. CFL bulbs cost a little more than incandescent bulbs, but they last up to 10 times longer while using about one-fourth of the energy, according to the Energy Department.
• Eating more vegetarian meals. Beef averages $3 per pound in U.S. cities and boneless chicken breasts cost about $3.40 a pound. On the other hand, dried legumes and rice are less than $1 a pound.
• Shopping (and eating) in season. Steering clear of strawberries and melons in the winter will not only save a lot of dough, you’ll avoid having your fruit shipped around the world.
• Shopping online. No, not online stores, but on sites such as Craigslist or Freecycle, where you can find secondhand goods — everything from furniture to house wares to baby clothes — for really cheap or often completely free!

I obviously don’t have all the answers, but these are the ways I plan to reach out to people in my life. How do you plan to reach out?

(Image credit: Somewhat Frank/Flickr through a Creative Commons license.)

1. Do you run a company that pollutes, or do you love someone who does? CleanTechnica has 10 ways polluters can benefit from the climate/energy bill’s requirements to cut CO2 emissions. (I like #5: Form a Symbiotic Relationship with Your Opposite.)
2. EcoWorldly is doing a photo tour of the 10 Great Bicycle Cities of the World. Today’s stop: Berlin, where less than one-half of the residents own a car and the city just invested $3.7 in improving its bicycle infrastructure.
3. So sorry to have missed this on Friday — an Ohio University researcher might have found a cheap way to renewably produce hydrogen from fuel for cars…using urine, says The Vine.
4. Will cap-and-trade create lots of green jobs, as its proponents claim? No, says economist John Whitehead at Environmental Economics (who’s a proponent of cap-and-trade, BTW) — while jobs will be created in certain industries, others will be lost as a result of regulation.
5. The greenest city in the United States? How about Gotham, The Big Apple, The City So Nice They Named It Twice? David Owen at Yale Environment 360 says it’s New York — ya wanna make somethin’ of it?

Editor’s note: Charles Bedford, the state director for The Nature Conservancy in Colorado, is living and working in China for the next year and will be writing about conservation issues there. Read all his posts.

Who’s going to lead the way for conservation in China? Local grass-roots groups? International NGOs? The government?

Here’s another thought: What about Chinese capitalists?

Wang Zhi speaks softly into the microphone and wears the traditional uniform of the Chinese worker — blue collarless jacket with large buttons, matching pants. He introduces the evening with a history of the organization which he chairs — Society-Entrepreneurs-Ecology (SEE). It is hard to discern in his manner, words or style that he is one of the wealthiest men in China. Over the last 20 years he amassed a fortune through savvy real estate dealings. Three years ago, concerned with China’s environmental conditions and the limits that the country’s polluted air and water, degraded soils and dammed rivers will place on its economy, he joined with over 100 other Chinese tycoons to take action on the environment here.

They created SEE, an unprecedented new form of civil society organization in China. Wang and his friends created this organization in a country in which civil society had been virtually subsumed in government for the last 50 years, where “membership” has long been a concept reserved jealously for the Communist Party. In three years, SEE has forged a new power movement, with non-profit/NGO rules and a personality unique to China.

SEE, quite simply, is a club of like-minded entrepreneurs with a commitment to support the government’s environmental agenda by funding local NGO’s that also embrace that agenda and that are committed to principles of “cooperation” and “win-win” solutions. They have raised and spent millions of dollars. They have grant cycles and annually give out over 70 prestigious (and monetary) awards for good works in the field that meet their criteria. SEE acts like a cross between a foundation and a country club — members pony up a certain amount every year and participate in the grant-making and awards decisions in what can only be describe as a very garrulous democracy.

Tonight, I’m in attendance at this year’s awards meeting, along with China Central Television and reporters from all the national papers — who will later describe the event in glowing terms. Deeper into the evening, Wang Zhi is questioning one of the finalists for this year’s awards when an argument erupts about whether the ballots should be anonymous and who should be in charge of the vote tallying. The room explodes in spirited but smiling argument. After 20 minutes and seven voice- and hand-raising votes and recounts, unanimity appears to have broken out that the ballots will not be counted unless they have the judge’s name and phone number — proto-democracy at work in civil society.

Wang resumes his questioning, which becomes a debate between he and the finalist about whether the methods they used can be characterized as “cooperative” or should be thought of as “independent.” The unspoken subtext is — what should be the appropriate level of engagement with the powers-that-be…namely, the government.

Some of the questioning takes on the character of a venture philanthropy audition. The next contestant gets grilled by the sharp finance minds in the room about the cost/benefits of pollution control equipment in a monosodium glutamate (MSG) factory on the Huai River. After asserting that the benefits of this water-quality-monitoring project far exceed the costs, the potential awardee also claims that his project had only a one-year payback, reduced emissions to 10% of the previous year’s levels, and also literally “saved” the MSG industry in the country by driving the technology changes necessary to bring the industry into compliance.

The claim is verified by a SEE entrepreneur who has visited the site and gotten involved intellectually and financially with the local organization. The entrepreneurs erupt in shouts of approval mixed with disbelief. Mr. Wu, whose diversified holdings include provincial vineyards, leads the questioning about the organization’s financial backing and structure. You can almost hear the checkbooks being pulled out.

SEE has evolved over the years from trying to implement its own projects — such as planting trees in the desert — toward acting as a foundation and discussion group for grassroots conservation. Its governance has evolved as well, from a “vote your amount of contribution” model to more stable processes of decision-making. The group also reached out to The Nature Conservancy to bolster its engagement and fundraising systems as well as partnering to create this extraordinary media event, highlighting the power of grassroots organizing on the environment.

Contrast all this with the way that the Chinese government deals and has dealt with issues such as Falun Gong, Uighur or Tibetan separatist groups or the 1989 student movements and the impression you get is of a set of party elders working behind the scenes on the massive hot water boiler that is modern China, making adjustments to this valve or to that pipe, directing pressure towards social goals and away from disharmonious activities. The management of the economic system seems to happen in this way as well, having allowed the wealthy young entrepreneurs in the room to, as Deng Xiaoping said, “get rich is glorious.”

The evening continues to roll along, changing from pep rally to venture capital pitch-meeting and back to discussions of scoring. The prevailing attitudes are hope, optimism and humour, which serves these entrepreneurs well in this incredible Chinese context — a country with the worst pollution on earth, the world’s most-populated country, its wealthiest country, its poorest country, its fastest-developing country, and mega-biodiverse on top of all that.

The view in the room is of the future, the future of the world, which is happening fast. And these are the new leaders of this world, perhaps the only ones that can save the rest of us.

(Image: First-place award winner at the 2009 SEE Awards ceremony. Credit: Society-Entrepreneurs-Ecology.)

1. Big snakes are becoming a big problem, says the United States Geological Survey.  The group just issued a report concluding that, should the Burmese python and other species of giant constricting snakes continue to make themselves cozy in the U.S., they could completely destabilize ecosystems and wipe out vulnerable native species.  (Hat tip:  dotEarth.)
2. The University of Maryland at College Park and Rio Salado College in Tempe, Arizona will share the title of “America’s Greenest Campus,” reports Green Inc.   In addition to bragging rights, each school gets $5,000 toward new green initiatives.
3. The state of California has legalized “gray water” systems, allowing residents to water their lawns with the runoff from showers, sinks, dishwashers and laundry machines, reports The Vine.  Technically, it’s a huge victory for water conservation, but it turns out a lot of people were already doing it anyway.
4. Does buying green products make you a bad person? According to GreenBiz, a recent report found that people feel better about justifying white lies and other minor infractions after purchasing “green” items– kind of like canceling out a bad behavior with a good one.
5. Keep your chins up, mates!  A new study found that Aussies are losing their enthusiasm for the fight against climate change, and it scarily reflects the current situation in the U.S., says Environmental Capital.

Luckily, I just took a trip to what could be considered the greenest city in America: Portland, Ore.

But how green was my vacation? And what were the ways in which Portland made it even greener (and that a lot of other cities could learn from)?

Transportation:

So technically, Portland is just about the farthest place in the continental United States from my home outside Washington, D.C. But sometimes these things just can’t be helped, especially if you don’t have three days to make a one-way bus or train trip out there. To alleviate some of the guilt, my husband and I decided to offset the carbon footprint of our trip through carbonfund.org for a grand total of just $17.04.

Once we got to Portland, though, our carbon emissions were minimal. Other than a couple of bus rides, we got around in the most environmentally friendly way possible: on bikes.

Portland is a bike lover’s Mecca. Here in Arlington, Va., if you bike to a shop or restaurant, you’re likely to spend a few minutes looking for the nearest bike rack or suitable street sign to lock your bike to. In Portland, your biggest problem may be finding an empty spot on the plentiful bike racks lining the streets.

Another new sight: drivers and bikers getting along! Many of the main streets in Portland have bike lines, but even on the ones that don’t, drivers knew to keep a safe distance away and drive carefully while passing.

Renting bikes was a snap at Waterfront Bikes in downtown. The employees were incredibly helpful, and my husband and I got bikes from mid-day Sunday to Tuesday morning for only $50 each.

Lodging and Planning Your Visit:

To minimize transportation costs (especially if you don’t have bikes), stay in a hotel near most of the things you want to see. In most cities this means spending a little extra, but if you’re not spending money on taxis and public transit, it will probably all even out.

Most hotels seem to have finally caught on to the notion that people don’t need their sheets and towels washed every single day.  If your hotel doesn’t have a “if your towel isn’t on the floor we won’t wash it” policy (ours did), feel free to write a note to the housekeepers with that request.

And no matter how tempted you are, avoid opening all the mini bottles of shampoo and fancy soaps. We traveled with our own refillable toiletries so that those cute little plastic bottles wouldn’t get thrown out after just a few uses.

Drink from the tap:

Drinking draught beer from a glass is indisputably friendlier to the environment than drinking bottled beer (even if it’s recycled). It uses more energy to bottle beer than to fill kegs, bottles have those un-recyclable caps, and pint glasses can be used thousands of times.

Good thing Portland is home to the highest concentration of breweries in the world. Even if these places did carry big-name brands, who would order them?  Portland is a great place to try some new local microbrews (out of a reusable glass!).

We also brought our own water bottle from home to avoid having to purchase bottled water or soda on the go. And if you do buy a bottled drink, it’s fairly easy to find somewhere  to recycle it. Our hotel room even had it’s own recycling bin.

Eating out:

Going on vacation means eating out a lot, but that’s just part of the fun. Visiting different cities means trying new restaurants and local favorites.

In Portland, that means a stop at one of its world-class farmer’s markets.  Several days a week, vendors from around the state descend on the banks of the Willamette to sell fresh produce and other products. Swing by and pick up something for a picnic or an afternoon snack.

It was really cool to see farmer’s markets so integrated into daily life. With several locations at prime spots all across town, it seems like any Portland resident would be able to  stop by once a week for fresh, local produce.

It’s also easy to find vegetarian and vegan meals at almost any restaurant here. And since we all know (you do know, right?) that a plant-based diet is the friendliest diet for the planet, Portland’s a great place to set meat aside and try some creative vegetarian dishes.

So, how did I do? We weren’t perfect (we took a cab from the airport and I have no idea about my hotel’s sustainability practices), so I’ll give myself a 7 out of 10. But what do you think?

And be sure to share the ways you stay green while traveling in the comments section below.

(Image: Portland Farmers’ Market. Credit: vis-a-v./Flickr through a Creative Commons license.)

Mark Tercek is president and CEO of The Nature Conservancy.

Over the last few months, I have been participating in a bipartisan commission — The Commission on Climate and Tropical Forests — that is focused on the connections between climate policy here in the United States and protecting tropical forests. The commission comprises some of the country’s leading government, business, conservation, science and national security experts, and is co-chaired by former Senator Lincoln Chafee and John Podesta, the president and CEO of the Center for American Progress and former White House chief of staff.

Today, the commission unveiled our report highlighting a cornerstone of the policy debate: We cannot win the battle against climate change without protecting our forests.

Destruction of the world’s forests each year produces 17 percent of all carbon emissions released into the atmosphere. Each year, roughly 50,000 square miles of forest — an area larger than the state of Pennsylvania — disappear.

Today’s report calls on Congress to pass legislation that will help cut emissions from tropical deforestation in half within a decade and achieve zero net emissions from the forest sector by 2030.

While this sounds like an ambitious goal — and it is — forest protection requires no technological breakthroughs and is one of the most cost-effective strategies we have to address climate change.

Currently, cash-poor but forest-rich nations can earn more money by destroying their forests than by conserving them. But the United States can lead in the global climate battle by providing the incentives and support developing countries need to protect their forest resources and lower emissions.

The report is particularly timely now, because the Senate is considering a climate change bill that offers a significant opportunity to implement a number of these recommendations. And by offering to partner with developing countries to reduce emissions from forest destruction, the United States could help other countries undertake more ambitious efforts to reduce emissions as the countries of the world head into climate negotiations in Copenhagen this December.

The commission calls for the United States to mobilize $14 billion each year by 2020 to protect the world’s forests, largely from private funds. This mobilization could be accomplished by enacting comprehensive climate policy legislation that caps and steadily reduces U.S. carbon emissions and provides incentives for U.S. companies to invest in forest conservation. In this way, such a program would create a win-win opportunity for businesses, consumers, forests and the people who inhabit them.

In the global effort to contain climate change, it is important to take steps to reduce all major sources of carbon emissions. Yet a ton of carbon emissions reduced through forest protection is just as important for our atmosphere as a ton of carbon reduced from a tailpipe or a smokestack.

The commission also recommends that the United States commit to early and sustained public investments — starting with $1 billion by 2012, and increasing to $5 billion annually by 2020 — to unlock these cost savings and begin to reduce deforestation in nations that cannot initially attract sufficient private capital. A well-designed cap-and-trade program, supplemented by bold commitments through the appropriations process, would provide an effective mechanism for providing this sustained public financing. (See a recent speech I gave at Yale University to learn more.)

At the Conservancy, we have seen first-hand how forests can be a powerful tool against climate change. For more than 10 years, the Conservancy has worked with some of the country’s leading businesses to launch programs that protect threatened forests, lower emissions, benefit local communities and fight climate change.

Our Noel Kempff project in Bolivia is the world’s first — and only — forest carbon project to have its emissions reductions verified by a third party. By bringing together AEP, PacifiCorp, BP, the Bolivian government and local communities, the project is protecting 1.5 million acres of tropical forest and will prevent the release of 5.8 million tons of carbon dioxide over a 20-year period.

In Indonesia, The Nature Conservancy is currently working with government agencies, private businesses, local communities and other partners to launch a massive forest carbon program that will span the entire governmental district of Berau – equal to the size of the country of Belize.

And in the Brazilian states of Mato Grosso and Para, which account for 70 percent of Brazil’s deforestation, we are moving forward with two large-scale reduced emissions from deforestation and degradation (REDD) pilot projects that have the potential to halt millions of acres of deforestation and reduce emissions of millions of tons of carbon dioxide. These programs will demonstrate to U.S. and international climate change policymakers how REDD can work in practice.

Along with reducing emissions, stopping deforestation protects biodiversity as well as the food, water and economic resources communities rely upon for survival.

Halting the destruction of the world’s forests is within our grasp. The United States can and should lead in this effort, and the report released today shows the path forward.

(Image: Arcoiris waterfall at Noel Kempff Mercado National Park in Bolivia, South America. Credit: Hermes Justiniano.)