Solutions & sustainability – July 11

July 11, 2007

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Many more articles are available through the Energy Bulletin homepage


Preaching the Anti-Shopping Gospel

Erika Hayasaki, Los Angeles Times via Common Dreams
Familiar in his clerical collar, cream-colored suit and dyed-blond pompadour, the Rev. Billy has spent much of the last decade parading through the streets of Manhattan, shouting through a megaphone messages such as: “Mickey Mouse is the anti-Christ!”

Accompanied by a robed choir belting out gospel songs, the Rev. Billy condemns the “Disneyfication” of Times Square and warns that Wal-Mart is part of the “consumer axis of evil.”

To passersby, the preacher who shouts: “Can I get a change-a-lujah?” might seem like just another colorful character in New York’s backdrop. But the Rev. Billy does not promote religion and he is not actually a reverend. He is the alter ego of Bill Talen, an activist, actor and writer who has become nationally known as Rev. Billy, a character inspired by televangelists, for his fight against consumerism and big corporations.

…Talen’s mission to curb consumerism began in 1997, when he felt that megastores and corporations were overrunning Manhattan streets where family-owned shops and restaurants used to be. Meanwhile, he said, “poor people, eccentric people, vendors, people of color” were being priced out of the neighborhoods they had lived in for years to make room for wealthier people and businesses where they shopped.

Talen bought a pulpit from a thrift store and planted himself in front of the Disney store in Times Square, just as the area was beginning to transform into the glitzy commercial center of the city that it is now. He delivered sermons in a Southern accent denouncing big businesses.

“At first it may have been a parody,” said Talen, “and you probably could have taken it right out of ‘Saturday Night Live.’ “

But Talen said he believed in his message and it resonated with people. As his following grew, he met Savitri Durkee – now his wife. She also came from a theater and arts background and had grown up in a utopian commune. He was raised a Dutch Calvinist in the Midwest, a faith he rejected as a teenager.

He and Durkee partnered in writing political theater featuring the Rev. Billy, which he performs with his choir and band.

“It resembles religion in certain ways,” she said. “We have a regular group of people who come to our shows. They are exactly like a congregation and our relationship to them is very much like a congregation. The expectation in the room is a prayerful one, a hopeful one.”
(10 July 2007)


Downsize my dish

Heather Sokoloff, Globe and Mail
…[Montreal’s venerable] University Club was among the first to get the message that super-sized portions are falling out of fashion with diners everywhere from gourmet eateries to fast-food chains.

This spring, Haagen-Dazs began selling ice-cream bars in half-size portions, while Subway restaurants are currently rolling out four-inch subs – two inches smaller than their half subs – at franchises across the country.

Smitty’s, an Alberta-based family-dining chain, has done away with combo meals.

It’s a trend largely driven by baby boomers who want healthier, tastier meals rather than more food for less money, says Jill Holroyd, vice-president research and communications of the Canadian Restaurant and Foodservices Association, an organization that represents 34,000 eateries across Canada.

Ms. Holroyd says restaurant owners are noticing diners attempting to control portions.

Some order two appetizers and no main course, or split an entree between two people.

Ordering a main dish and requesting that half be set aside to take home is also becoming common, Ms. Holroyd says. “There’s no hesitation in asking for a doggie bag.”

The new trend is forcing restaurants and food suppliers to rethink their business models as well as their menus, and introduce new products that encourage consumers to buy more food in smaller portions.
(11 July 2007)


Green Chemistry: Changing An Industry

Jeremy Faludi, WorldChanging
You can’t do green design without green materials, and material innovations tend to come from chemists. Chemists also produce many products in their own right: paints, adhesives, cleaning products, whole industries. So what are chemists doing to save the world?

There’s currently one famous green chemist in the world: Michael Braungart (founder of EPEA, co-founder of McDonough Braungart Design Chemistry and co-author of Cradle to Cradle). The world needs about a hundred more.

We’ve written before about legislation (mostly in the EU) tightening standards for toxics, and about the huge strides needed to close today’s three critical gaps: knowledge (not only in the general public and governments, but in the chemical industry itself), safety (prioritizing hazards and enacting limits), and technology (developing safer, greener alternatives). But legislation can be slow and fickle, and the industry has a huge amount of inertia; many well-funded groups such as the American Chemistry Council lobby for the status-quo. What are chemists doing to lead?

They’re doing a lot of things, as it turns out. Some researchers are developing alternative plastics that don’t use petrochemicals, some associations are prioritizing green within their members, whole green-chem institutes are being founded, and groups are trying to teach chemists to green their processes. Sustainable chemistry is a baby, born thirty years ago but just now starting to crawl; let’s help it get up on its feet.
(9 July 2007)


Maryland Governor challenges residents on energy saving

Andrew Green, Maryland Sun
Gov. Martin O’Malley challenged Marylanders yesterday to cut their electric consumption at least 15 percent by 2015 and pledged that state government would lead the way by making its buildings more efficient and by tracking state energy use.

O’Malley unveiled a seven-step plan for how the state government will achieve the goal, but he gave no specifics for how businesses and individuals – who use the vast majority of the state’s power – could follow suit. ..

“The least expensive kilowatt of electricity is the one you never have to use,” O’Malley said.

Maryland Energy Administration Director Malcolm D. Woolf said his agency has posted home energy conservation tips on its Web site (www.energy.state.md. us), but he said the administration is still working on broader solutions, such as the creation of an interest-free revolving loan program that businesses and consumers could use to finance energy efficiency projects. More announcements are planned in the coming weeks, he said.

Ultimately, what could make the biggest impact is finding a way to decouple utilities’ profits from the consumption of electricity, Woolf said. ..
(3 July 2007)


Tags: Consumption & Demand, Electricity, Food, Technology