Ruth Ann Barrett of Earthsayers.tv, the Voices of Sustainability
 
Ruth Ann explained that Earthsayers.tv broadcasts the voices of sustainability ranging from experts to business leaders to teachers and to citizens from all walks of life. U.S. awareness of sustainability is very low.  The U.S. is sixth in Google Search Traffic on the term sustainability after Australia, New Zealand, South Africa, United Kingdom, and Canada.  Portland is the only U.S. City to make the top-ten city list for searches on sustainability.

She reminded us that we have an enormous cultural heritage of sustainability, starting with indigenous populations around the world. “Now science is weighing in and everyone is hysterical because we weren’t and have not been paying attention.”  

Ruth Ann thinks of sustainability as a mission critical application and is applying the Technology Adoption Lifecycle model to increase awareness of sustainability.

Talking about how Ruth Ann got interested in the voices of sustainability, she told of going to a speech by Robert Kennedy Jr., co-sponsored by Sun Microsystems. “My God I have been so closed off to the voices of sustainability. Hearing Robert Kennedy, Jr. motivated me.  How can I put my high tech marketing experience to work for sustainability?”
 
After getting inspired by the Robert Kennedy, Jr. speech, Ruth Ann started researching sustainability on the Internet and found top search results to be too academic and primarily B2B companies offering consulting services. In the last six months Wikipedia has appeared in the top three listings offering more practical information.

Searchers seeking an understanding and greater awareness of sustainability have to start with nearly 30 million results!  There was also no taxonomy to be found on the term sustainability. So, as a first step, Ruth Ann enlisted Dr. Joanne O’Brien-Levin to create taxonomy, or content map, for sustainability.

On EarthSayers.tv, sustainability is organized into four main elements – systemic change, planet, people, and prosperity. There are twenty-three categories organized under these four elements and all keywords, more than 300, roll up to categories. The content map not only serves as a way to classify the video content on EarthSayers.tv, but also can be used to create business strategies and to better understand the language of sustainability, said Ruth Ann.
 
On Earthsayers.tv, under the “planet” category, you will see content on such topics as food production to climate change.   Under “prosperity” there is the category, eco- economics, covering “triple bottom line” economics, and B Corporations.   B Corporations are a new type of corporation that use the power of business to create public benefit. Seventh Generation is an excellent example of a B Corporation.
 
Visitors to Earthsayers.tv can search by element, category or key word or by speaker.  “We are an aggregator that provides the value add of reviewing content for relevancy and quality.  We are a network of sustainability-related channels and have access to a wide variety of channels ranging form YouTube to TED to FORA.tv.  More screen door than destination site, we connect to the video search engine, Blinkx.  We, do not, however, host video content on our site.”  

Ruth Ann invited us to visit Earthsayers.tv for more information and to sign in to Ruth Ann’s blog, www.sustainabilityadvocate.blogspot.com.

Rich Green Ink

Rich Green, of Rich Green Ink, has been in the home automation and home entertainment business for 30 years. “It’s fascinating to see what has happened to this industry,” Rich said. “Wi-Fi is changing the industry.”  Through my green action committee it’s our mission to train businesses to design responsibly for the home.”

“Some of our clients have really big homes (some of Rich’s clients include Steve Jobs, Larry Ellison and Gordon P. Getty.  If we can make those homes more energy efficient, we can help everyone.  Some of our clients are very influential.  When they model energy efficiency in their homes, they set an example for others.”

Rich showed us a number of simple, relatively inexpensive devices that can revolutionize the way energy is consumed in the home. The Watts Up AC Power Meter (retails a little over $100 will tell you how much energy your devices are using.  Rich told us about Agilewaves, a Menlo Park company started by former NASA employees, which provide energy monitoring that reports back to the homeowner.

Rich also told us about Control 4, which can turn any house of any age into a smart home.  Control 4 offers simple home automation devices that can plug into any electrical outlet.  The homeowner can then download a Control 4 application that runs on your i-phone, for example.   From your i-phone you can communicate with your Control 4 home automation device and turn your heater up and down, for example.  You can literally control your house from your phone from anywhere in the world. “We could not do this more than about 18 months ago,” Rich said.  These affordable home automation devices are far more affordable than having your home walls ripped out.  “Control 4 devices must be purchased from, and installed and programmed by a dealer. But Rich advised that, with advances in technology, it is now much easier to program these home automation devices.  “It takes my programmers one tenth of time to program than when had to write code from scratch.

Bottom line, Rich said, if you want to reduce your energy consumption, his advice is simple:  “Kill your TV.  Turn off your heater and put on a sweater.  Walk to work.”

While introducing Bill Leland, moderator Chris Wark reminded us that a serious percentage of folks on our planet lead subsistence-level lives.  
 
Bill Leland, Assistant Director for Planning and Development for the University of California, Santa Cruz (UCSC) Center for Agroecology & Sustainable Food Systems.  

The UCSC Center for Agroecology & Sustainable Food Systems is dedicated to increasing ecological sustainability and social justice in the food and agriculture system.  It conducts research, education, and public service programs.  

Bill Leland told us, “It is absolutely imperative to wrestle with the definition of sustainability.  Yes, sustainability is now on a global stage.  But if we don’t deal with it seriously, we are going to be extinct.”

“When we talk about agro-ecology, we need to talk about more than agriculture.”  We also need to talk about people and economics, such as “getting away from food deserts in poor urban neighborhoods, that contribute to childhood obesity.”  Bill shared one of his favorite William Blake quotes: “To see the world in a grain of sand, and to see heaven in a wild flower, hold infinity in the palm of your hands, and eternity in an hour.”
“How do we get folks to really make a difference?” Bill challenged us.   “If we are going live sustainably, sustainability must be integrated in mind body and spirit.  In the world of academia have to really careful about using these kinds of words.”  

“We are talking about change,” Bill told the group.  “We need to know where we are and that can get pretty gloomy; but we have to look at it straight in the eye.  And we need to have the vision to see what a sustainable world would look like.  But how do we get from here to there.  That is the hard part. Many of our human institutions are absolutely unsustainable. In 60s we called it revolution. Today we call it transformative change.”  Bill ended by saying that, whatever we call change, we need to make a real difference.  

At the end of Bill Leland’s talk, moderator Chris Wark opened the session to questions.  

Question:  “Does creating energy efficient homes for wealthy clients help the overall sustainability effort?”  

Rich Green: “Creating energy efficient homes for high-end clients does have a trickle down effect.  I have no hard data; but I do have anecdotal data.  I am doing work for a wealthy Palo Alto citizen who is remodeling her home green.  We are touching so many lives because of her decision. Another client of mine has a house in Hillsborough that is going to run off the grid. Even the dirt used for backfill came from another project.”

Chris Wark:  “Construction workers tend to be conservative and skeptical. These projects open their minds.  And the construction workers start getting involved beyond agreement.”

Comment:  One attendee works for LedEngin, Inc., which develops, manufactures, and sells ultra-small, ultra-bright, ultra-cool LED components and light source modules for low energy lighting.  The industry struggles a bit with what marketing language to use:  “sustainable” vs “green.”

Ruth Ann Barrett:  “Consumer’s think green.  Business thinks sustainable.”  She went on to talk about working with a client who is an antique dealer and helping that dealer see how she fits into the sustainability model.  “Antiques,” said Ruth Ann, “are recycled and durable.”    

Question:  “I live in Palo Alto have not opted for green energy option because it cost me $100+ more a month.   How do we make green cost effective for the consumer?”  

Bill Leland: “We could say businesses must operate another way. Look at full cost accounting, for example.   If you contribute to pollution you have to pay for it.  Understand what you are paying for or not.  In the food business you may be paying a little more for organic.  The cheaper price you are paying for conventionally grown food may be because the grower is paying their employees below subsistence wages.

Comment/question: Organic food consumption has grown between 2 and 4 percent.  More consumers are going to farmers markets and pushing for community supported agriculture.  Why is organic more expensive?  

Bill Leland: Just today I spent a lot of time talking to a farmer about why organic farming is more expensive.  He explained that organic farming is not more expensive.  The reason he has to charge more for organic produce is because the amount of organic produce he can count on selling is so much less. So if you buy more organic produce….”

Comment:  Farmsreach.com connects organic farmers to farmers markets and consumers.  

Question:  How do we get everyone’s voices heard?  How do we raise empowered compassionate people?  

Bill Leland:  “We are at a break point.  This is an extraordinary opportunity.  There are new technologies.  If people are too busy to grow their own food, there may be a business in having people taking care of those garden plots because people are so busy.  All of this stuff is around.  Talk about it.  Be your own thought leader.  Without confronting people…just talk about it.”  

Ruth Ann Barrett:  “Companies don’t see the value of green unless they can see the economics of it.  You can really reduce the price of the product that you sell.  We need to start applying pressure.  We need to begin with an economic value proposition front and center. Natural Capitalism, http://www.natcap.org/, makes a business case for sustainability. Wal-Mart and GE are starting to buy in.”

Comment:  “The public does not get enough information.  I just got a converter box from Comcast.  I received no info on how much energy it consumes or what happens when converter box no longer works.  Because Comcast did not provide enough information I made own antennae out of coat hangers and now get 48 channels.”

Chris Wark:  “The info is there.   But is it being presented in a way that is meaningful to the average consumer?  I would not expect most folks to know enough physics to understand sustainability in the way I do.”  

Rich Green:  The development cost for solar energy is plummeting right before our eyes.  Bay Area companies are getting money from the government stimulus plan. I have a dream.  When you create energy from solar panels, you create DC voltage.   Then we convert to AC voltage, which we then convert back to DC voltage. I want to create a power server that feeds devices directly into DC voltage from a solar power source.  We are already doing this with submarines and jets.  

Ruth Ann Barrett:  “No one is talking about the cost of unstainabilty.  What about the cost of the recall of the salmonella-tainted peanuts?  Start turning your language around.  And when you talk about sustainability you must also talk about health care; you must talk about crumbling infrastructure.  My mother worked in a steel mill and got cancer.  Don’t tell me there was no causality.”