 "Photo: Mylo Wiles")
Inside the solar-powered Event Center at Sonoma Mountain Village some of the brightest minds in the environmental industry met last Friday at the 2009 Sustainability Enterprise Conference to discuss the status and future of sustainable technologies.
The day followed a theme focusing first on the larger issue of sustainability in the United States as a whole, later funneling into California and the North Bay in particular.
A variety of workshops on issues such as "Finding Funding and Financing in the New Green Economy" and "The Open Brand: Beyond Greenwashing," were offered.
Also palpable was the excitement over the election of President Barack Obama and the policies enacted by his administration in their first 100 days.
"In the first 100 days we've reaffirmed the role of science in government and reversed the Bush administration stance on polar bears being endangered due to global warming," said Sixth District State Assemblyman and keynote speaker, Jared Huffman. "We're also waiting for a final ruling in June on a new renewable fuels standard, RFT2, moving away from corn ethanol, which does more damage to the environment than gasoline. But by far the biggest and most far reaching step we've taken is to begin to regulate carbon dioxide as a pollutant."
The stimulus package of this year and years past were also the subject of hope and speculation for the group.
"The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA), economic stimulus package, in one fell swoop we're doing more for sustainability and green jobs than arguably has ever been made. The Bush administration's idea of a stimulus was a few hundred bucks and encouragement to go buy some cheap stuff at Wal-Mart," said Huffman.
Connection was another theme that ruled the day, be it between the seemingly endless ARRA and the benefits that might come from it or the direct connection between environmental and social justice issues.
"When we talk about green collar jobs we usually mean folks who don't necessarily have a four year degree," said keynote speaker Ian Kim, director for the Ella Baker Center for Human Rights'Green-Collar Jobs Campaign. "What we need though, is job quality. A quality green job economy won't happen by accident, we have to agree we want a green economy that takes the high road. We want to push the green economy away from Wal-Mart wind farms and solar sweatshops."
The emphasis on social factors continued in Kim's speech, where he described his experiences working in Oakland and the changes that must come about to make green jobs accessible.
"Access is the key," said Kim. "Getting education out there and working with disadvantaged communities and people who have lost their jobs. Looking around I see it's still pretty white, pretty affluent here," he continued. "In one precinct walk over two hours in Oakland I talked to several black families, a couple white families, some Mexican families, a Guatemalan family and more, they call it a minority majority city. But California is a minority majority state. We're all in this together."
Working with under served communities is a task some attendees were already embarking upon. Landpaths, a land stewardship organization, operates a unique project known as Bayer Farm in the under served Roseland community in southwest Santa Rosa.
Bayer Farm, which operates bilingually, is a six acre park and garden that allows inner city residents a place to relax and enjoy the outdoors as well as learn about sustainable gardening and take home fresh produce from the garden.
On the other hand, there was also the business side of the equation to attend to, especially given a sour economy and continuing job losses. A panel with dual expertise in sustainability and business hosted a discussion entitled 'Sustainability as a Driver for Innovation.'
"GE has been very profitable with its Ecomagination program," said William Sarni, founder and CEO of Domani, a sustainability consulting firm. "Monsanto, DuPont, and Toyota are big companies that were able to turn themselves around. Monsanto sold all its liability operations, DuPont is doing bioplastics and Toyota is far ahead of any competitors because of the investment they made in hybrid technology. Is this all about the environment? No, it's hard business and this is some great stuff. It's a huge business opportunity with social benefits."
Sarni expressed his feeling that sustainability is an inherent part of business in the United States by presenting his 'new vs. old paradigms' chart.
The chart states that for the old paradigm materials were abundant, energy was cheap and that there were few stakeholders in a business proposition. However the new paradigm is for few raw materials, costly energy and many stakeholders.
Host Sonoma Mountain Village certainly follows the new paradigm.
Currently being developed as a mixed use new urbanist style community where work, life and play are available in one space, Sonoma Mountain Village holds the distinction of being the only World Wildlife Fund One Planet Communities certified community in North America, one of four worldwide.
Qualifying for the One Planet Communities certification means a community must be zero net carbon, zero net waste, offer sustainable transportation, local and sustainable materials, food and water as well as a commitment to equity and fair trade. Many steps have already been taken to meet these goals, though the most notable is the massive 1.14 megawatt solar array Sonoma Mountain Village uses for nearly all power needs.
As important as it was for Sonoma Mountain Village, the energy issue dominated much of the panel discussion, particularly over the interaction between modern living and the energy demands it creates.
"Air conditioning makes up 30 percent of our power usage in the state, for the two months that we run them," said John Webley, CEO of PAX International. "For that we have to have power plants built that stand by 10 months of the year without seeing full capacity. Ever been to a supermarket? One supermarket air conditioner releases one million tons of HFCs [hydrofluorocarbon] per year, and HFCs are worse than carbon dioxide," he continued. "So we designed a solar powered air conditioner. Then I found myself sitting in a meeting with Wal-Mart asking for 600 of them when I only have 20 people."
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