One thing that we should all try to keep in mind as we move forward, as businesses and individuals, is the line between “voting with our dollars” (using our financial support to help businesses whose ideals and products we believe in, and to send a message to the various industries in which we participate that we want greener, cleaner products) and falling in to the trap of trying to consume our way into a greener future. (Is it green to throw out your perfectly good television and go out and buy a new bamboo-encased one? You might be surprised at how much of this is going on these days.)
There is inherent value in raising awareness about green issues, and there is also value to us as a company in promoting ourselves as being green. That being said, don’t throw our your perfectly good “regular” Curious business cards when the fancy new “green” ones come in! 
The trees for the old ones have already been cut, the inks manufactured, the printing done, and the product transported. Let’s not waste all of that effort. We’ll all just have to meet that many more new people so we can break into the new ones.
Other things to consider for future business card orders (not to mention other promotional and office materials): recycled/unbleached paper? water/bio based inks (most are petroleum based) with non-toxic dyes (you would be surprised)?
We have begun to design some new business cards to help promote the message of sustainability that Curious Pictures is trying to move towards. If you have any suggestions for other business card ideas please leave a comment. The idea is to create an environmental and thought-provoking message, all the while incorporating the Curious question mark. Here are a few examples of what we have come up with:
Yesterday, the price of crude oil reached $140.34 a barrel, the highest price ever charged for the world’s leading source of energy production. Once more this morning, the price of oil rose to $142.26 before settling for a brief period just below $141.00. According to a money.cnn.com article, “The jump to $142 a barrel comes amid a growing consensus in the oil patch that $150-a-barrel oil is soon to be a reality.” Here is a link to the article mentioned above:
http://money.cnn.com/2008/06/27/markets/oil/index.htm?postversion=2008062711
According to “Climate Effects of Global Land Cover Change” (09/2005), planting trees outside the tropics leads to an increase in global temperature. This is because of the effect trees have on surface albedo (shininess). The earth absorbs heat from the sun and bounces some of it back into the atmosphere. If the earth is shiny (let’s say you are in Alaska and the ground is covered in shiny snow), more heat is bounced back than in areas where the earth is not shiny (like a dark, dense, non-snow-covered forest canopy). Trees also have an evapotranspiration effect, which results in cooling. In areas with boreal forest (places outside the tropics), the effect of decreased albedo resulting from reforestation outweighs the effect of increased evapotranspiration resulting from reforestation. (Note: grasslands have more albedo than forests)
The opposite is true in tropical areas, so reforestation along the equator is going to cause net cooling.
What was not determined in the trees-cause-warming study is whether the warming effect of decreased albedo is offset by the amount of cooling produced from carbon sequestration.
Conclusions from other studies are that the heating caused by mid-latitude forests is pretty much canceled out by their carbon sequestration but that in high latitudes there is still a net heating effect. Google “Climate Effects of Afforestation: Carbon sequestration and changes in land surface albedo” (02/2007) for more info .
This summer, there will be a seven mile strip of New York City road, extending from East 72nd Street southward along Park Avenue and Lafayette Street that will be closed to automobiles. The Summer Streets Festival will be taking place on this stretch of roadway during the first three Saturdays of August. Curious Pictures is planning to design a banner, with a fitting message, that we can hang outside in place of the normal flag. Here is a map of the area that will be closed:
For more information on the Summer Streets Festival, visit: http://www.autobloggreen.com/2008/06/18/new-york-city-trying-car-free-experiment-in-august/
While on our way back from our lunch break today, Chris Marotta and I were stopped on the sidewalk and asked if we had a minute for the environment. Our answer was an obvious “yes”, so we took a minute to speak with and Environment New York representative named Lindsay. Environment New York is an organization affiliated with Environment America, that works to raise awareness about our environment. They are a strong advocate and supporter or clean energy technology and are working to get legislation passed that would extend the renewable energy incentives and tax credits that are set to expire at the end of this year. Check out their website at http://www.environmentamerica.org.
Dominie Mahl, one of the members of the Curious Pictures green team sent out an email today that we felt needed to be shared with the rest of the world. Tristan Eaton is an artist that Curious Pictures has been working with. Recently he has made the decision to go GREEN! The headline of the article was “THUNDERDOG DOING THE GREEN THING!”
Next up is a special project in collaboration with the UK’s recycling initiative, “DO THE GREEN THING.” Tristan Eaton was asked to recycle Brooklyn garbage into a special work of art to increase awareness of eco-conscious living. The result was pretty amazing. Special thanks to Chris Coots of Sasguerilla and Strawberry Frog for the filming and editing. You can watch a video of the making of this creation on the website below. Take a look!
http://www.dothegreenthing.com/
Here is a picture of what he came up with.
This whole “trying to be green” thing is complex. Seeming advances in one area, when you step back and look at the system as a whole, are really just draining non-renewable resources elsewhere. There are going to be setbacks along a way to figuring out the best way to be sustainable, but as long as we keep our eyes open and don’t get too attached to ideas that may not turn out to be the best in the long run, we’re going to come out just fine.
Here’s a brief overview of some bad things that can happen when you’re not paying attention:
Indonesia is the 3rd largest emitter of man-made Green House Gases (GHGs) after the US and China, even though it only makes up a tiny percentage of the world’s land mass.
Indonesia has rain forests and peat lands (which have rain forests growing on them). Peat lands are enormous carbon sinks. When they are drained or burned, they release very large amounts of GHGs into the atmosphere.
Rain forests and peat lands in Indonesia are being cleared at astonishing rates to support the palm oil industry. Palm oil is in beauty products and food. And it’s used as a BIO-FUEL. Oil palm plantations are planted on newly cleared rain forest land instead of already cleared or degraded land because their owners get to subsidize their building with timber profits. They sell the cleared trees to paper pulpers, among others. They oftentimes illegally burn the leftovers. Also of note, clearing or degrading peat lands with a depth of over 2 meters is illegal. This does not stop companies from doing it.
Funny how it is companies in developed countries (who have Kyoto targets for emissions reductions) driving GHG emissions in Indonesia (which does not have emissions reductions targets)… and yet the emissions are counted as Indonesia’s fault and not ours. Hmmm…
For more info, check out this article or this Greenpeace Report.
This morning we took an inventory of the lighting at Curious, taking into account the different types of bulb we are using and whether or not the light is on a dimmer (CFLs cannot be dimmed). After taking an official count of the bulbs, we purchased a few samples from Home Depot in an effort to show employees what the new lights will look like in the workplace. A total of 102 bulbs were counted on the fifth floor and by some rough calculations replacing all of these bulbs with CFLs would save Curious Pictures about $8200 over the life of these bulbs. Again, it is important to note that none of the dimming capabilities of the lighting fixtures in our building will work once the full lighting change has been completed.
Currently our energy system is very centralized - power is generated at a power plant and then sent great distances by power lines to our homes. In the event of a small problem, power can be interrupted hundreds of miles away. The advent of smart grids could change all that, making our power structure much less fragile.
In Ashland, Oregon, the municipal utility is able to control power demand peaks. They are able to send signals to homes through the cable system when power demand on the grid is too high, telling energy-guzzling appliances such as pool pumps and hot water heaters to automatically turn down. Home users can override the low power mode online if they need to. Another advantage of smart grids is that they are able to pinpoint downed power lines much more quickly than conventional grids. And after a power outage they are able to stagger the turn-on of smart appliances, avoiding demand surges that could create a new blackout.
Ideas for Curious, Other News | admin | 
June 30, 2008 12:14 pm | 
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