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According to the Times, Dozens of developing nations, including India and China, have threatened to walk out of the United Nations Copenhagen Climate Conference in protest. Leaders of these developing nations feel that larger, developed nations - yes, of course the US - should bear the burden of capping emissions and progressing more quickly toward carbon neutrality. 

Interestingly, developed nations stand to gain the most from pushing reform and instituting regulations. As the world economy seeks stimulus, the workforce needed to actually bring about real change in carbon emissions looms in the distance, needing only training and job security to race to the aid of legislators in Copenhagen.

Here's hoping those who can make a difference realize this opportunity and sieze it!

Green Collar Solutions will soon be offering our first fully online CEU workshop in conjunction with the International Carbon Bank & Exchange and the UF TREEO Center. The workshop will offer an eco-friendly, instructionally sound alternative to the current live workshop.

In preparing for this, we have been looking into a more robust web hosting platform. Naturally, we are investigating green hosting options.

There are a number of new hosting providers cropping up. They seem to fall into 2 categories:

1. Those that actually use or produce their own renewable energy
   TapRoot Hosting
   AISO.net
   WebCTel
2. Those that purchase Renewable Energy Certificates and claim environmentally friendly practices
   HostGator
   A2 Hosting

It's a tricky decision, involving a lot of interrelated variables. At this point it looks like the 2nd set of options provides a much more scalable and reliable platform. Most of the providers in the first group only offer shared hosting and don't appear to have much professional cache.

Yahoo! Hot Jobs recently launched a dedicated Green Jobs search on its site. Its features include articles focused on green industry along with a handy set of options allowing you to browse various categories and locations.

Slowly, but surely, the mainstream outlets are beginning to recognize the fiscal potential for green jobs. Isn't it satisfying to know we all can (read: will) benefit from a new workforce devoted to sustainable environmental and social practices?

It's really quite amazing how fashionable Glenn Beck's misanthropic machine has become. In this very public indictment of Jones, Beck calls Jones to the mat for a round of "I can make you like like a heretic no matter what you say." 

I suppose Beck has to find someone to pile on after many advertisers on his illustrious program pulled the plug, due to his similar indictment of our president, the racist. 

An eco-friendly phone from sprint

The Reclaim is 80 percent recycled materials and made from corn-based bio-plastic. (Do the amount of hyphens in your promotional material equate to cutting edge technology?)  The Sprint/Samsung phone's eco-friendly packaging is 70 percent recycled material and uses soy-based ink. The phone will cost $50 ( 2 yr contract w/ a $30 instant rebate and $50 mail-in rebate). The Nature Conservancy's Adopt an Acre program will receive $2 from each sale.

Read More

A new mobility solution - The Riversimple

At 300 mpg vs. 65 mpg, the new Riversimple Urban Vehicle puts your Prius to shame. Okay, it's a two seater, powered by hydrogen fuel cells, and has a top end of 50 mph.

Not exactly a competitor for your Prius, but it's a geat urban commuter transportation option. The key feature that makes this a breakthrough is the coupling of high energy, quality fuel cells with higher power density ultra-capacitors.

The ultra-capacitors are charged by the car's regenerative braking system, providing power for acceleration. De-coupling acceleration from cruising allows the Riversimple to achieve a range of 200+ miles on 1 kilo (2.2lbs) of hydrogen.

Hear more about Riversimple's innovative technology and social vision.

In a perfect example of media steadfastly holding to the status quo, David Speers, Australian news anchor for SKY News, pokes holes in a green jobs program proposed by Mark Arbib, Australia’s Employment Minister. Speers goes on to suggest a clear delineation between a "job" and a "work experience program."

If you couldn't stomach the whole video (understood), here's text of the most painful exchange:

David Speers: Does that mean that you are calling this a job or does that mean they’ll be remaining on the unemployment benefit?

Arbib: No, well, this is ... yeah this is a work experience program.

Speers: Is it a job or is it a work experience program?

Arbib: A work experience program is a job. They’ll be actually working during this time.

Speers: When you say it’s a job, do they get sick leave? Do they get superannuation? How is it just not the same as the work for the dole scheme?

Arbib: Well, I don’t have all the details.

Speers: But you’re the minister.

Arbib: Well, I am, but I don’t have all the details today for you mate. But what I can tell you ...

Speers: But it’s just been announced by the Prime Minister.

Arbib: 10,000 young people, 26 weeks’ training, plus work, day after day, it’s a great, great result.

Speers: But it is still being worked out.

Arbib: No, no, this scheme will be under way in January 2010, and obviously some of the detail will still have to be finalised, but ...

Speers: Is one of those details whether it will be a job or work experience?

Arbib: Well, well ... it’s a fine line but can I tell you it is work experience. Work experience is a job.

Sadly, I found this clip posted by a card-carrying nutjob in a nifty piece you can gargle with. For all you who think experiential learning cannot produce anything or expect your employees to know everything they should know on the first day -- I repeat Mr. Arbib's sage assertion: Work experience is a job.

[Originally published on my blog here]

Why you should learn to count carbon: Musings from a soon to be college grad.

I am graduating from the University of Florida with a degree in economics next week, and lately I’ve been reflecting on how my college experience has prepared me for the “real world”. While I took some pretty interesting classes, I learned most of the important things outside of class (Note to impressionable students and concerned parents: This does not mean you shouldn’t go to college, and I recommend going to class most of the time. College is great, but the actual classes are just one part of the experience. It’s hard to get life-skills in a classroom). All of my internship and job experiences, the parties I attended, the friends that I made and leadership roles I had are experiences that will stay with me for the rest of my life; they gave me the people skills and career skills that  will help way more than if I only had a degree.

Learning carbon accounting was a major factor in setting me on my current career path, and getting into it was more or less an fortunate accident. I say “fortunate” because I am one of the only students at the University of Florida (out of 50,000 or so) who knows how to complete a greenhouse gas inventory, which shows how rare a skill it is for a college student to have.  This does not mean carbon accounting is hard. The main reason for this is the fact that very few schools actually teach carbon accounting, and those that do have not done so for long. More about that below.

I got to learn carbon accounting thanks to a few great programs and organizations at UF and around the world. These include: NWF’s Campus Ecology Program, the Global Change Education Program, UF’s Office of Sustainability Internships, UF’s University Scholars Program, oikos Winterschool and the EIA’s Internship Program. This may seem like a lot, but keep in mind that most of these opportunities were awarded to me because of those I had previously. So, getting your first internship or extracurricular experience will make getting the 2nd much easier, and it only improves from there. Please feel free to contact me for any advice on getting an internship in the climate change industry.

co2U: Empowering the next generation of greenhouse gas experts and climate change leaders

You should learn to count carbon. This is because I believe that climate change is one of the biggest challenges our generation will face, and I want to do everything I can to ensure that we can to stop its worst effects. I cannot do that alone (luckily, I wont have to). While there are a lot of people out there who are working very hard to stop this crisis, there’s nowhere near enough. I see this especially in my own peers, many of whom are having trouble finding work. This is a problem that I am working to solve by starting a training program to teach greenhouse gas accounting and management to students and professionals alike.

I don’t think you should learn carbon accounting because I started a business that trains others on the topic (although I hope you decide to go with my company for your training).  I think you should learn it because carbon accounting is an emerging industry that is already a “big business”. Learning this much sought-after skill can help save the world and your own career as we work together to battle climate change.

Coming as soon as I finish packing my apartment: The top 5 reasons you should learn to count carbon. Stay tuned!

In 2007, Raquel Pinderhughes, Ph.D. composed an enlightening case study of Berkeley, CA Green Collar Jobs: An Analysis of the Capacity of Green Businesses...

In her analysis, she presents a sound case for development in green jobs. However, one of the most startling things I found in her case was the assertion that green jobs exist in a whopping 22 current economic sectors.

When discussing green solutions with people who have never heard the term "green collar," I often mention the obvious: solar installers, wind turbine manafacturers, and the like.

Rarely do I think about more tangible, quotidian fields like bike repair and tree pruning. I wonder why not.

The much talked about "Cash for Clunkers" or the Car Allowance Rebate System seems to have been watered down by Detroit.  The fuel economy standards have been reduced amid fears that requiring the new cars that qualify for the system to actually achieve reasonable fuel economy standards would push consumers to imports.

The rebate program would now even allow an old pickup truck to be traded in for a new Hummer H3T as long as the pickup get 2 MPG less than the H3T's 16 MPG.  Considering the energy it takes to produce a new car it would probably be much better for the environment for those drivers to keep their pickup rather by a buying a new car with only a 2 MPG gain.