Adam Menter’s Blog

This morning Walmart announced that it will be implementing an environmental labeling system for all of the products sold in its stores. Their overarching goal is to create a single set of measurements for the entire retailing industry. Walmart is serious about this stuff - and is powerful enough to make it happen. It will be interesting to see how this progresses -and whether and how governments get involved now that Walmart has gotten the ball rolling. This is big, exciting stuff.

New York Times Article

Walmart’s Sustainability Website

Net Impact SF helped convene and facilitate the UnConference portion of Sustainable Brands ‘09. The UnConference ran parallel to the main conference sessions on Monday, June 1st. The idea was to help curate more in-depth conversation around the topics that were at the top of conference-goers’ minds.

I led a session about reverse logistics and the materials flows in our economy. I had initially entitled the session “Making Cradle to Cradle Work” because I wanted to prompt a deeper discussion about C2C and put it in context with other forms of recycling and reverse logistics. C2C is such a compelling idea - but I hear a lot of hype and not a lot of new case studies or more advanced thinking. I was fortunate that Mike Biddle from MBA Polymers was interested in joining the conversation. We ended-up co-leading the session. MBA Polymers recycles plastic from e-Waste. They are using processes that are similar to mining to ‘upcycle’ a complicated, mixed stream of waste (grade/use of original plastic = grade/use of recycled plastic). It’s pretty cool. Mike showed a video, which I can’t find online (but here’s a shorter one).

Going into the discussion, I created a the following visual aid to show some of the the material flows in our economy. I couldn’t find an existing diagram that showed the flows the way I wanted (feel free to re-purpose/re-use or suggest improvements)…

I used this diagram in a quick and dirty slide deck with some thought-starters and discussion prompts. The slides provided a nice reference point to help frame the discussion. It allowed the conversation to be organic and I thought it was a nice balance between winging it and actually preparing a presentation. All of the slides can be viewed online below or downloaded as a .ppt or .pdf.

One of the points I wanted to make in the session - was that there is a lot that each of us can do to reduce our environmental impact by how we choose to aquire, care for, and dispose of our stuff. Specifically, I wanted to talk about buying used stuff (re-using) and repair. These are two aspects of responsible consumption that I don’t hear enough about. You get a lot of eco-cred for buying a brand new Toyota Prius, but not necessarily for buying a used Ford or Honda. It seems that people show-off products like the Prius as eco-badges that prove their commitment to the cause. I wanted to create something similar for used and repaired items, so I whipped up some EcoBadges on Zazzle. These are stickers that you can put on your used or repaired items to start a conversation about the importance of extending the use phase of the stuff that’s already in our economy. I handed some out at the UnConference and now anyone can order them online. (I borrowed this idea from WattzOn). Below is an image of the two stickers I created.

Being in San Francisco, and in being involved in the green design community, I have the priviledge of being able to attend a slew of great events every year. I’ve long thought that I should somehow try to communicate what I’m seeing and learning via this blog - but never take the time to actually do so. Here is an attempt…

I attended this morning’s session of the Greener By Design conference (shared a pass with a colleague of mine at Autodesk).

Here is a copy of my notes, all in a pretty accessible mindmap format. And below are some quick impressions of some of the presentations.

Tom Szacky - CEO of TerraCycle (pictured above) - I was impressed with Tom’s presentation. I’m familiar with them from their worm poop/plant food product (I always lament the limited production capacity of my own worm composter), but I wasn’t aware that they’re working on several fronts to productize other waste streams. TerraCycle is actually trying to become the go-to solution deriving value from non-recyclable waste streams (i.e. CapriSun packages turned into bags/wallets). They’re partnering with big companies and engaging “brigades” of consumers to help them collect and separate usable waste streams (their raw materials). With my long-standing interest in closed-loop production cycles and reverse supply chains, this is definitely a company I’ll be watching. (check out the notes for more from Tom’s preso)

Packaging Outside the Box - Wendy Jedlicka from o2, Uri Kogan from HP, and Tony Knoerzer from PepsiCo. This was an interesting and diverse panel. Uri talked about HP’s laptop-bag as packaging experiment with Wal-Mart (nice idea, but perhaps just another bag to collect dust in the long run), Tony talked about Sun Chip’s new compostable bag, and Wendy talked about systems thinking and the practice of sustainable package design. Wendy’s a wealth of information about the nuts-and-bolts of sustainable package design. A few of the high-level slides she showed are below:

GreenOps - A project from Waste Management that involves consumers returning their recyclables to kiosks in stores like Whole Foods, having visibility into the content and volume of their recycling, and getting reward points for it (like RecycleBank, it seems). A cool idea in some ways, but my gut reaction is that it’ll be difficult to gain traction on a large scale. We’ll see. Below is an image of how the system works. (Update from after the Sustainable Brands Conference (6/1/09): GreenOps presence at SB ‘09 left a really bad taste in my mouth. It seemed like all marketing hype for a fundamentally flawed system. They attracted attention to themselves by having attractive young women wear skimpy dresses made from recycled plastic. All spin and no substance. My two cents.)

Stay tuned for more scanned mindmaps from the past year or so (Net Impact conferences, Fortune Brainstorm Green, etc).

Today’s Fresh Air program on NPR featured James Balog, a nature photographer and the founder of the Extreme Ice Survey, a project to document the changes occurring on some of the planet’s most remote glaciers. Basically, they are melting right before our eyes. As Mr. Balog said in the program, this isn’t about climate models and projections - this is about putting us face-to-face with the change that is going on right now.

The program was excellent - and Mr. Balog just seemed like a really cool, genuine guy. I recommend you give it a listen. Also, this work is going to be featured on PBS’s NOVA program on March 24th. I’m sure it will be breathtaking (and scary).

Reading Bill McDonough & Michael Braungart’s book, Cradle to Cradle, has been one of those defining moments in my career journey. The huge task of re-vamping our production cycles to make them more environmentally sane seemed like just the kind of big, hairy problem I wanted to apply my business, engineering, and design skills to. About five years have passed since I read the book and, looking around, I haven’t seen the idea gain much practical traction - despite all of the hype and excitement surrounding it. The idea that Waste=Food is a beautiful concept… and I hope it doesn’t have to remain just a concept.

That’s why I was excited last month when I exchanged a few preliminary e-mails with a big electronics OEM that was thinking of exploring and implementing a Cradle-to-Cradle initiative. Unfortunately, due to the state of the economy, it doesn’t look like the project is moving forward… which is a shame because, in my opinion, it’s only through tackling problems like this that are going to shift our economy onto the right course in the long term.

In the process of getting my head around what might be involved with such a project, I took another look at the state of things. Some thoughts and useful links are below:

• First of all, Fast Company ran a brilliant and brutal exposé on Bill McDonough & MBDC late last year: http://www.fastcompany.com/magazine/130/the-mortal-messiah.html.
• True Cradle-to-Cradle is more complicated than just improving e-Waste management and take-back programs… but better take back programs that get consumers to shift their perceptions about their products at the end-of-life is a requisite first step for C2C. Some big players have been working on this but it has a long way to go (and probably requires stronger legislation in the USA that goes beyond voluntary take-back, which consumers often have to pay for).
• For example, both Herman-Miller chairs and USPS Tyvek envelopes have Cradle-to-Cradle certification. But neither, to my knowledge, have the robust reverse supply chain that’s necessary to actually put industrial nutrients back into the supply chain. In HM’s case, consumers don’t have an easy way to return the items and there isn’t enough volume.  In Tyvek’s case, it’s also hard to actually return the product back to the manufacturer - and, even when it is returned, most of it ends up being downcycled.
• Best Buy seems to be shoring up it’s e-Waste recycling capabilities, a great initiative: http://www.bestbuyinc.com/news_center/02-19-09/best-buy-electronics-recycling-program-now-available-all-us-stores
• The facts that consumers always want new items and that businesses have gotten use to quick product cycles as an engine for growth are huge barriers for strategies like upgradeability, reparability, and durability. (Again, a shift in consumer perception is required).
• Folks have been thinking about this idea for a long time, even before popularized by C2C (and big industry trade groups exist like the Reverse Logistics Association).
• Further reading…
• The October 2008 issue of the International Journal of Production Economics has an article entitled “Cradle to cradle: Reverse logistics strategies and opportunities across three industry sectors” by Sameer Kumara and Valora Putnam.
• Reverse Logistics In the Computer Industry (2005) - Lays out the issues and a few solution strategies:
• BOOK: Environment Conscious Manufacturing (ECM)
• http://ewasteguide.info/ and  http://www.step-initiative.org/ - e-Waste sites with best practices, case studies, and information about initiatives.
• For information (and graphic images) about the eventual fate of our current e-Waste stream, check out this GreenPeace e-Waste site.

So, I guess at this point I can’t answer the question posed in the title of this blog entry. But one thing’s for sure, we can sure improve a whole hell of a lot… and I’d love to dig in and start trying.

I just submitted the above 3-D rendering to the Treasure Island Bike Rack Design contest. This concept is based on re-purposing old car parking meters to be used for bike parking.

This idea is particularly relevant to Treasure Island due to the redevelopment plan’s focus on sustainability, car independence, and pedestrian access. The out-of-context use of parking meters (i.e. in parks, on pedestrian walkways) serves as a constant reminder to Treasure Island’s residents and guests that we, as a society, need to get over our addiction to the automobile - and that biking is a viable option for transportation that is healthier and more environmentally conscious. Re-using our car parking infrastructure for bike parking makes an elegant statement about not only this shift in mindset about our mobility, but also about the potential to creatively re-use our waste.

As a San Franciscan who bikes everywhere, parking meters are already my preferred bike rack. I get frustrated with over-engineered bike parking solutions (i.e. the bike racks at GG Park’s Botanical Gardens and at the Legion of Honor) - so, with this contest, I didn’t want to reinvent the wheel too much. My original idea was simply to create a grid of parking meters. However, this does not meet the contest’s requirement of being able to secure bikes using all types of locks. If someone only had a loose cable lock, the bike could slip over the top of the meter.

I ended up with two complementary no-nonsense designs, both based on old parking meters and both designed to be functional/durable in demanding urban environments. The first is simply welding, or otherwise fastening, a cross-bar between two old parking meters to create a variation on the popular and functional U-rack design. This design allows both wheels to be securely locked to the rack. The second design is to fasten a closed metal loop to the parking meter pole, which allows a cable lock to be threaded through. While this design does not allow both wheels to be fastened directly to the rack (as the contest rules stipulate), most bikers don’t lock their bikes this way currently. From my observation, it’s more common to lock both wheels by running a cable through the front wheel and securing that cable with a single U-lock fastened to the frame/back wheel. These single meter/racks  have a smaller footprint and could more easily stand-alone at various places throughout the island.

The 3-D rendering was created with Google Sketch-Up. The quality of this rendering was limited both by my novice Sketch-Up skills (first ever!) and my computer’s processing power - but I think it conveys the idea pretty well.

(Or, referencing the top-notch Treasure Island music festival, they could go with David Byrne’s sweet bike rack designs for NYC: http://www.davidbyrne.com/art/bike_racks/index.php)

I just fixed my computer.

As in: I just took the whole freakin’ thing apart, replaced a component, and put it back together again.

The reason I was able to do this is that the guys over at iFixIt.com make this kind of repair accessible for someone like me. I called up the company, told a nice fellow named Gabe what my problem was, got advice on what might be wrong (busted DC-in board), and placed an order for a recycled replacement part. Then - when the part came - I went to their website and followed the step-by-step instructions for replacing the part.

I’ll have to say, it did take a while (Apple wasn’t really designing for disassembly and repair) - but it was straightforward and accessible. Yes, you can do it too…try it if you have a broken computer or iPod.

I love iFixIt’s business for several reasons:

• They’re helping to shift the mentality of consumers towards caring for the products that they love instead of just disposing of them and getting a new one.
• Perhaps more on this in a future blog post: Our consumption model isn’t bad because we love our stuff too much, but because we don’t love it enough.
• They’re re-using perfectly good parts from discarded computers - helping to close the loop on our industrial cycle. And they’ll buy and salvage your old computer.
• They have knowledgeable, accessible people who want to help you.
• They empower and equip me to take matters in my own hands. There is no way that an Apple store or other electronics store would have tried to repair my computer. It wouldn’t have been worth it. It’d have been “time for a new one.” Why?

I’m currently reading The Fountainhead and I’ve recently passed the LEED exam, so I’m pretty interested in architecture and green building at the moment. This website from the American Institute of Architect’s COTE top-ten from 2008 is fantastic: http://www.aiatopten.org/hpb/grid2008.cfm. It shows ten green design projects and allows you to compare them across different measures like community, water, and energy.

My mom randomly e-mailed me the following blurb about Sustainability that she found on the website of the United Nations Development Program. It reminded me a lot of discussions I’ve been having for a while about importance of branding sustainability as progress and expanding it beyond its environmental roots. Sustainability is not just about “saving the planet”, it’s about creating a society that is livable for everybody today, and in the generations to come.

“Sustainability means meeting the needs of present generations without compromising the abilities and opportunities of future generations. It thus implies both intragenerational and intergenerational equity. Sustainability is an important dimension of human development. Human development is a process of enlarging people’s choices. But such enhancement must be for both present and future generations without sacrificing one for the other.

In the 1990s there have been major global debates on sustainable development (United Nations Conference on Environment and Development in Rio, 1992) and for people-centred sustainable development (World Summit for Social Development in Copenhagen, 1995). These have a common core, not to be missed, with human development. Human development is not a concept separate from sustainable development—but it can help to rescue “sustainable development” from the misconception that it involves only the environmental dimension of development.

All these approaches have emphasized the need for people-centred development, with concerns for human empowerment, participation, gender equality, equitable growth, poverty reduction and long-term sustainability.”

At its core, human development is all about creating a better world. Creating the kind of sustainable world that we all want to live in requires a vision of what we’re shooting for. And that’s the problem…we don’t know, and don’t know how to talk about, “what success looks like” for a holistically sustainable world.

(As Joel Makower just blogged, No one has created a vision of what happens if we get things right.)

I think one of the things that has hampered the creation of this vision is that we have been so focused on the environment that we haven’t fully explored the social aspects of a sustainable world. How would my daily life change and become more meaningful if we lived in a world that was more sustainable along both environmental and social lines? I want to picture it clearly. What’s the Futurama of the 21st centry?

As Makower points out, the atmosphere of hope surrounding Obama’s leadership might just create the conditions in which this vision can grow and flourish. But one thing’s for sure: it can’t only be top-down. We’re going to have to crowd-source this sustainable world and build it from the ground up.

Thank Van Jones for this sweet quote: “Barack Obama helped us take America back. Now we have to help him take America forward.”

The environmental movement has evolved in exciting ways in 2008. One significant step is the increased consideration of the social/human side of environmentalism. Saatchi & Saatchi S, led by Adam Werbach, have done an admirable job articulating this shift in their Birth of Blue speech. Blue, as they define it, expands the idea of Green to include social, cultural, and economic benefits, as well as environmental good.

The video is an hour long - so to save you some time, here are my main takeaways:

• We need to properly balance the cultural, social, environmental, and economic factors of the green movement. The lack of balance is why everyone cares and no one acts.
• Shopping can be a platform for change and we need to create a 1 billion person strong consumer movement for sustainability (he’s big on this point).
• Unleashing the creativity and aspirations of the general public are key to this movement. And it’s important to keep “the way we treat ourselves and others” at the center of our actions to create the kind of future we want to share. (A world full of happy people contributing to a healthy planet).
• The conservation movement needs to shift its focus from limits to possibilities.

Blue, as a term, hasn’t really taken off yet. I’m sure the ideas embedded within it will. It looks to be a promising 2009.