Sustainability Issue: Trading Water for Fuel is Fracking Crazy

It might be difficult to live without oil and gas. But it would be impossible to live without water. But David Suzuki says in our mad rush to extract and sell every drop of gas and oil as quickly as possible, we’re trading precious water for fossil fuels. One of the most disturbing findings is that hydraulic fracturing, or fracking, is using enormous amounts of water in areas that can scarcely afford it. The report notes that close to half the oil and gas wells recently fracked in the US “are in regions with high or extremely high water stress” and more than 55% are in areas experiencing drought.

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By David Suzuki with contributions from David Suzuki Foundation Senior Editor Ian Hanington (20 February 2014):

It would be difficult to live without oil and gas. But it would be impossible to live without water. Yet, in our mad rush to extract and sell every drop of gas and oil as quickly as possible, we’re trading precious water for fossil fuels.

A recent report, “Hydraulic Fracturing and Water Stress”, shows the severity of the problem. Alberta and B.C. are among eight North American regions examined in the study by Ceres, a U.S.-based nonprofit advocating for sustainability leadership.

One of the most disturbing findings is that hydraulic fracturing, or fracking, is using enormous amounts of water in areas that can scarcely afford it. The report notes that close to half the oil and gas wells recently fracked in the U.S. “are in regions with high or extremely high water stress” and more than 55 per cent are in areas experiencing drought. In Colorado and California, almost all wells – 97 and 96 per cent, respectively – are in regions with high or extremely high water stress, meaning more than 80 per cent of available surface and groundwater has already been allocated for municipalities, industry and agriculture. A quarter of Alberta wells are in areas with medium to high water stress.

Drought and fracking have already caused some small communities in Texas to run out of water altogether, and parts of California are headed for the same fate. As we continue to extract and burn ever greater amounts of oil, gas and coal, climate change is getting worse, which will likely lead to more droughts in some areas and flooding in others. California’s drought may be the worst in 500 years, according to B. Lynn Ingram, an earth and planetary sciences professor at the University of California, Berkeley. That’s causing a shortage of water for drinking and agriculture, and for salmon and other fish that spawn in streams and rivers. With no rain to scrub the air, pollution in the Los Angeles area has returned to dangerous levels of decades past.

Because of lack of information from industry and inconsistencies in water volume reporting, Ceres’ Western Canada data analysis “represents a very small proportion of the overall activity taking place.” Researchers determined, though, that Alberta fracking operations have started using more “brackish/saline” groundwater instead of freshwater. The report cautions that this practice needs more study “given the potential for brackish water to be used in the future for drinking water” and the fact that withdrawing salty groundwater “can also adversely impact interconnected freshwater resources.”

Although B.C. fracking operations are now mainly in low water stress regions, reduced precipitation and snowpack, low river levels and even drought conditions in some areas – likely because of climate change – raise concerns about the government’s plan to rapidly expand the industry. The report cites a “lack of regulation around groundwater withdrawals” and cumulative impacts on First Nations lands as issues with current fracking.

Ceres’ study only looks at fracking impacts on freshwater supplies, and offers recommendations to reduce those, including recycling water, using brackish or wastewater, strengthening regulations and finding better ways to dispose of fracking wastewater. But the drilling method comes with other environmental problems, from groundwater contamination to massive ecosystem and habitat disruption – even small earth tremors – all done in the name of short-term gain.

It’s important to heed the conclusions and recommendations of this study and others, but given the problems with fracking, and other forms of extraction, we must find ways to control our insatiable fossil fuel demand. That burning these – often wastefully – contributes to climate change, and our methods of extraction exacerbate the problems, should make us take a good look at how we’re treating this planet and everything on it, including ourselves and generations to come. It’s a reminder that we need to conserve energy in every way possible.

In the short term, we must realize that we have better ways to create jobs and build the economy than holding an “everything must go” sale on our precious resources. In the longer term, we must rethink our outdated economic systems, which were devised for times when resources were plentiful and infrastructure was scarce. Our highest priorities must be the air we breathe, the water we drink, the soil that provides food and the biodiversity that keeps us alive and healthy.

Source: www.davidsuzuki.org

Need to Bring Breakthrough Change into the Pumping Heart of Capitalism

It was great to meet up again with John Elkington in Singapore last month and hear him speak. Always inspiring but did I detect more than a hint of negativism in the man who invented the “triple bottom line” and introduced sustainability as a powerful business model? He has worked so hard to bring about transformative change but he’s acknowledging that we have seen little more incremental steps. So we want to share his thoughts in a recent blog on philanthropy, capitalism, Forbes leadership and what’s the way forward to dealing with the globe’s really big issues. Read More

Getting Beyond the Cinderella Moment: Why Forbes Didn’t Go All the Way

Relying on philanthropy to end poverty is tinkering at the margins.

By John Elkington (7 February 2014):

Without a GPS system that tracks political change, we use leading and lagging indicators to get a sense of the pace of progress. One of my favorite lagging indicators of change has been the coverage—and, indeed, the covers—of Forbes magazine, a champion of red-in-tooth-and-claw capitalism.

If you want a sense of the lagging edge of change, read what editor-in-chief Steve Forbes writes. In the December issue, he went head-to-head with those who argue that more inflation would be good for growth, concluding that, “Most economic thinking is bankrupt.” Well, there’s something we agree on, but much more interesting was the magazine’s cover and no less than 46 pages of its content.

Forbes: Philanthropy is the Path to Ending Poverty

The cover asserted, “EntrepreneursCinderella-Movement Can Save the World.” Governments can’t erase poverty, it said, nor can big corporations. So who can?

The answer, Forbes concluded in this philanthropy special issue, is a mix of ultra-wealthy impact investors (Bill Gates and hedge fund billionaire Paul Tudor Jones appeared on the front cover), socially minded celebrities (ditto rock frontman Bono), forward-thinking politicians (Liberian president Ellen Johnson Sirleaf was the fourth smiling figure) and social entrepreneurs (represented by microfinance pioneer Muhammad Yunus).

Kicking off the survey of poverty solutions was an interview with Gates and Bono, in which the former recalled that the two of them had first met in 2002, at a World Economic Forum summit in New York. This was the first time the Forum had held its annual summit somewhere else than Davos, signaling support for the Big Apple after 9/11.

The meeting between the capitalist who had become an activist and the activist who had become a capitalist went very well, Gates recalls, and “ever since then we’ve been big partners in crime.” By that he means his foundation has helped Bono with his RED campaign to tackle HIV/AIDS and other initiatives.

Moving the Change Conversation Forward

Having taken part in that New York summit in 2002, I am struck by how far the needle has moved since. The Gates-Bono conversation may have caught fire, but that wasn’t the case with the WEF session we organized that same week to bring together the world’s leading social entrepreneurs with business and investors. Some high-powered speakers turned up, but the glittering ballroom in the Waldorf-Astoria hotel was conspicuously empty.

Security and geopolitics were top of mind for most people, scarcely surprising in the circumstances. But since that time we have seen a fairly rapid awakening among the world’s elites to the potential for leveraging theYunus efforts of social entrepreneurs to tackle pressing environmental, social and governance challenges.

The timing—and scale—of the recent Forbes coverage suggests that the 2002 agenda has finally arrived, though its focus on philanthropy also signals that the leaders of world capitalism still see this as something to be tackled via philanthropic dollars, euros and renminbis, rather than as something that must be built into the very DNA of markets, finance and business.

Nobel Peace Prize winner Yunus pops up repeatedly in the Forbes special issue, having accepted the inaugural Forbes Lifetime Achievement Award for Social Entrepreneurship. He told his audience, representing almost a third of a trillion dollars in personal net worth, that for him it was “a Cinderella moment.”

Tinkering at the Margins

Clearly, every Cinderella should have their moment and this was pitched as a philanthropy special issue, so no great surprise that the focus was on how charitable efforts can be supercharged.

But the spotlight here is still on innovation at the margins of today’s capitalist system, on the basis that unless society’s grand challenges are tackled, quickly and effectively, capitalism could come badly unstuck. And it is striking how little space is devoted in such business media to any theories of change explaining how these pioneering efforts can replicate and scale to the point where they become the mainstream economy.

Bridging Social Entrepreneurship and Mainstream Business

Still, it was fascinating to read the story of Tsitsi Masiyiwa, whose husband was initially denied a mobile telecom license in Zimbabwe. When Strive Masiyiwa then sued the government, and won in 1997, he used some of the wealth created by EcoNet Wireless to fund the Higher Life Foundation. Run by his wife, this now has a 120-person staff and feeds, educates and teaches life skills to 40,000 “History Makers,” which is what they call orphans, to give them a sense of a brighter future.

And it was also interesting to read about Liesel Pritzker Simmons, who sued her father to access her inheritance—and, having won, is experimenting with impact investment in for-profit enterprises, aiming for financial, social and environmental returns.

We have been working for years to bridge between the worlds of social entrepreneurs and of mainstream business. Part of the early funding came from the foundation formed by TakeParteBay co-founder Jeff Skoll.

He appears on page 54 of the special issue, explaining what drove him to start Participant Media in 2004, the studio that has made socially focused hit movies like Good Night and Good Luck, An Inconvenient Truth and The Kite Runner. Every film is paired with a social action campaign, he notes, “that puts its issue front and center. We put the campaigns online through TakePart, our digital home for social activists, which gets about four million unique users a month.”

Phenomenal, but this is still a Cinderella world, aching for change. Skoll’s “On My Mind” column focused on the need for stronger and engaging narrative lines to inspire and compel change.

What it would take to transform Forbes into a leading indicator of change, in my mind, would be for the magazine to rapidly follow up with a special issue on how to take breakthrough change into the pumping heart of capitalism.

Source: www.csrwire.com/blog/

Last word

Marching orders

In association with the Eco Products International Fair in Taipei this month (13-15 March) the Asian Productivity Organisation (APO) is holding its International Conference which distinguishes itself as an event that uniquely combines Productivity, Sustainability, and Inclusive Development in the Asia-Pacific region. With the theme:  “Harnessing Sustainability, Empowering the Future Generation”, the three strands focus on key areas in green energy, behaviour changes, and smart and  green city. Ken Hickson will be there and speaking on “Sustainable Cities Go Beyond Green to Blue”. Read More

Each year, the Conference promotes a wide and diverse green productivity initiative to strengthen SME competitiveness, innovation-led growth and entrepreneurship development. Various productivity practitioners will present their green supply practices and value-added technology to facilitate knowledge and technology flow among APO economies.

The theme for this year’s conference is “Harnessing Sustainability, Empowering the Future Generation.” Our three strands focus on key areas in green energy, behavior changes, and smart & green city. Many focus on how sustainability has changed the landscape of policies, technologies and businesses.

Energy

Traditional energies had provided the backdrop for the last century’s industrial rapid growth. We question: will they be able to sustain us for another century? In this conference, we will address this topic through policy, technology and market place.

Consumerism

Increasingly, through the development of Internet, information and knowledge are within reach. Consumers are making smarter choices and casting their votes with their wallet, not just for themselves, but for environment as well. How will this impact product designs, industries and governmental policies and propel us into a sustainable future?

Cities

By estimation, within decades, nearly 75% of the World’s population will reside in cities. The challenges of climate change and diminishing resources that cities face also become the chief motivators for innovation in technology and applications. The potential for sustainable cities is endless.

Source:www.epif2014.com/en_US/forum/dynamicTab.html?activityID=17B70D4029687368C993EB1BFCD9D1FF&functionID=5705#

Sustainability Award to Directgreen for

Plans to Make Shopping Green

Directgreen is making an impact early in its life as it works to Make Shopping Green. Founder of Directgreen Serve Sondeijker was honoured in Hong Kong last week (28 February) when he received the IAIR Global Sustainability Award 2014 for Best Company for Sustainability Eco Shopping South East Asia. Singapore-based Direct Green was officially launched at the International Symposium on Ethical Purchasing and Green Purchasing Forum in Sapporo, Japan 6 February.

Photo shows Serve Sondeijker, Founder of Directgreen, receiving the award from Guido Giommi, President of IAIR Group.

The Italian publishing company IAIR, which stands for International Alternative Investment Review  and organises the awards now in its fourth year, gives special recognition to companies in the clean tech, green building sectors and those displaying leadership in corporate social responsibility and sustainability.

The organisers said that Directgreen was one of a number from Asia Pacific which triumphed as best companies for sustainability thanks to their commitment to green initiatives and eco-products. The other winners were Panasonic, REC Solar, Cardia Bioplastics, China Telecom, Clean Energy, Visionedge, Kismet Jardin and Fuji Electric.

Singapore-based Serve Sondeijker, founder of Directgreen said the award recognises the new business for its foresight in creating a customer sustainability programme that allows both shoppers and sellers to work together towards green purchases. It represents a valuable system to reduce operational costs, give businesses a competitive advantage, increasing profits in the long run.

When he launched the programme early in February, Mr Sondeijker said he was convinced that more and more consumers are becoming conscious of, and concerned about, the sustainability impact of their purchases. “This includes wanting to know about the origin of a product and whether it is responsibly sourced and produced, like Fair Trade coffee, for example”.

“So Directgreen allows retailers to start making sustainable investments, such as stocking more sustainable products or managing their business in a more sustainable fashion, at their own pace.  And at the same time, they can assure customers of their sustainability credentials, ideally giving them a competitive edge,” he says.

Getting the message across that sustainability is good for business is an important aim of Directgreen, says Mr Sondeijker, because it can show where operational costs can be reduced through energy efficiency programmes, for example, or taking on a “green lease”,  which is starting to happen in a number of shopping centres in Singapore.

Admitting that it is not easy for businesses to become sustainable overnight, Mr Sondeijker says, “With Directgreen, even the smallest retailer can start to benefit straightaway with only a small investment.”

Directgreen will work with local businesses and communities to provide a sustainability framework for companies so their customers know that their purchases are making a genuine difference.

Directgreen’s Sustainability Management System is GRI-certified, which means it is equipped with a reporting tool based on the Global Reporting Initiative and the UN Global Compact frameworks. The tool is currently being updated with G4, the new GRI guidelines and is expected to be up and running in about 2 months.

Mr Sondeijker says that as an organisational stakeholder of GRI, Directgreen provides its partners and members with access to an internationally-adopted reporting system to measure and manage sustainability factors, making the benefits of sustainability more tangible for businesses.

Directgreen is also a member of the Social Enterprise Association of Singapore and Singapore Compact for CSR.

The work of a number of organisations, operating in Africa and Asia, will be supported through the Directgreen Foundation, which has been set up to manage funds raised through the programme.

The organisations include Nexus, Biogas Program and FairClimateFund. One example is a project developed in conjunction with the government of Vietnam, to convert animal waste to energy via biogas digesters, producing clean and affordable energy for cooking. It also reduces the health and environmental problems associated with animal waste and the use of wood fuel for cooking.

Ken Hickson, the Chairman and CEO of Sustain Ability Showcase Asia (SASA) welcomes the introduction of a new sustainability programme like Directgreen,  as it provides a practical way for consumers and retailers to learn about sustainability and to engage directly in a process with beneficial outcomes.

“It is also in line with the principles of the Green Purchasing Network, which I have agreed to promote in Singapore, to encourage awareness of, and the need to introduce, responsible and sustainable procurement policies in the public and the private sectors and to green the supply chain,” he said.

According to Mr Hickson, most European countries, as well as Japan and Taiwan, are putting meaningful emphasis on green purchasing, sustainable procurement and supply chain management. “Singapore has made an excellent start with schemes like Singapore Environment Council’s Green Label  for products and the Green Mark programme for buildings, but more can be done to create consumer and retailer awareness,” he said.

Source: www.directgreen.net &  www.iairawards.com