Sierra Club Green Home

SUMBA, INDONESIA—When I bid on an “Eco Resort Experience” last March at the Christie’s Green Auction, I thought we were probably headed to a typically exotic deluxe vacation spot on the other side of the world. It turns out that I was in store for one of the most memorable experiences of my life, reminiscent of Marty McFLy traveling in his “Back To The Future” DeLorean car. A visit to Nihiwatu in Sumba, Indonesia is truly a trip back in time.

Americans will continue to be frugal as our country is in a state of crisis with high unemployment, market volatility, and the threat of the euro zone collapsing. This could thrust us back into the worst grips of recession. Unfortunately, this does not fare well for green consumer products. However, I believe the best of America will rise to the occasion to help out their fellow man. Thus in 2012 the social equity piece of sustainability will be more prominent relative to past years. I’m witnessing this abroad right now as restauranteurs, hoteliers, and other service oriented businesses are including local sustainability goals and policies into their models. This includes educating and employing locals to help lift them out of poverty while teaching them a new skill set. (Photo by Daniel Moyle, Flickr)

Why should struggling green businesses have to give their hard-earned intellectual property away for free? Just because they are potentially game-changing contributions should not mean these entrepreneurs don’t get a payday. Let’s make a resolution for 2012 that we will all give a fair day’s pay for a fair day’s work, and we will pay a fair markup for purchased products and services. If we can’t do this within our own community, how will we get the rest of the world to compensate us for our contributions? (Photo by Evelyn Lee)

When Netflix CEO Reed Hastings raised prices dramatically to discourage use of mail-in DVD service in favor of internet streaming, all holy hell broke loose with both customers and investors. Amidst this fury, I began thinking about Netflix as a customer and as a environmental advocate.

Can you believe that every day, citizens of our planet down 2.5 billion cups of coffee? And that in America alone, more than 450 million servings of “joe” are quaffed daily? Thankfully, there are several things you can do to have less impact on the ecosystem while still getting your morning fix of java.

So I guess I’ve started the great downsizing debate. Which is a great thing, really, because it focuses attention on this important sustainability issue. To downsize, or not to downsize, that seems to not be the question. The point of contention is how much to downsize where we live. What is an appropriate number of [...]

ORANGE COUNTY, CA – I spent Saturday morning at one of the world’s best car museums, viewing a mind-blowing collection of classic automobiles from the 1930s–arguably the modern era’s high point of car design as art. These cars are owned by General William Lyon, an octogenarian renaissance man who has accumulated dozens of one-of-a-kind classics [...]

Let’s face it, the Great Recession has not been a plus for the green movement overall. Most ordinary Americans are still sympathetic to the cause, but their willingness to spend even a penny extra for environmentally friendly products has been dampened by four dollar gas, five dollar cereal and loss of equity in their homes. [...]

A recent New York Times article, in classic “all the news that’s fit to print” fashion, declared that the bevy of green consumer products introduced over the past five years is going the way of the buffalo and Circuit City, i.e. headed for extinction. It should be noted that normally, I consider the New York Times to [...]

LAGUNA BEACH, CA – “FORTUNE Brainstorm Green” is probably the number one environmental business conference in the world. A host of top CEOs, heads of NGOs, and a variety of consultants, private equity investors, venture capitalists and journalists descend upon the spectacular Ritz-Carlton Laguna Niguel each April — this was my third annual event — [...]