With the recent decline in oil prices and the break in rising pump prices, will consumers go back to their old ways? Personally, I think it is too little too late. Even if we see a decline in pump prices (we’re still at $4 per gallon!), my belief is that consumers have already changed their habits, and they are now more accustomed to conserving and reducing their gasoline usage. We now take public transportation more often, we carpool more often, we drive less, we combine trips, and we’re ditching our monstrous SUVs and trucks for smaller, more fuel efficient cars.
Unless we see a huge decrease in gas prices (I’m talking about a nearly impossible sustained decrease of 50 percent or more), I don’t see consumers changing their new habits any time soon. Unfortunately for the oil industry and fortunately for the environment, consumers have picked up some good habits they’re likely unwilling to change.
We’re obviously big believers in greentech or cleantech here at TTMYGG, so it was interesting to see this list of high-tech luminaries who have made the changeover. There are some big shots on the list, which shows that cleantech is getting serious.
- Vinod Khosla, Founder Khosla Ventures.
- John Doerr, Partner, Kleiner Perkins.
- Elon Musk, Chairman, Tesla, Chairman, CEO SolarCity
- Steve Jurvetson, Partner Draper Fisher Jurvetson.
- Bill Gross, Founder Idealab.
- Al Gore, Chairman Generation Investment Managment, Partner Kleiner Perkins.
- Bill Joy, Partner Kleiner Perkins.
Unfortunately, unless you’re a big shot, it’s unlikely that you’d be able to invest with them or in them, but one thing you could do is join them! Here, thanks to earth2tech.com, is a map of 101 cleantech startups. Take a look at what’s around you, or somewhere you wouldn’t mind living, and get in on the ground floor!
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Remember my posts on palm oil awhile back? (here and here) Well, it turns out that deforestation due to the ever-expanding palm oil industry is causing the remaining 30,000 or so orangutans in Malaysia and Indonesia to lose their habitats…and die.
It’s estimated that orangutans will go extinct in 3 to 20 years. THREE YEARS? Come on people! Give me a f-ing break. Are we seriously going to let this happen?
From Plenty Magazine, here’s a really sad quote to put some perspective into what’s happening:
Hardi Baktiantoro from the the Centre for Orangutan Protection in Indonesia says,
“I find dead orangutans, they have starved to death. There is no food, no water,” he said. He tells me that on the Indonesian island of Kalimantan (formerly Borneo), more than ten orangutans are starving to death each day because of palm-oil driven deforestation. “The situation for orangutans today is very, very critical. The experts say the orangutans will be extinct in 2015. The orangutans will be extinct in next three years unless the government takes extreme action to save them. But instead they are planning convert 455,000 hectares of forest [in Kalimantan] into new plantations, mostly palm oil,” he said.
The workers on those plantations see orangutans as nuisances that trample and eat their crops. “The plantation workers have to protect the oil-palms. That is their job. To them the orangutan who is hunting for food is only a pest,” said Baktiantoro, clicking through slides on his laptop of orangutans whose fingers and hands have been mutilated by plantation workers, and others chained to workers’ dormitories.
This is just really, really sad. And totally shameful and egregious that we are letting this happen.
We’ve written about plastic bag bans before such as Seattle’s proposed ban as well as the evils of plastic bags. It now appears the L.A. City Council is also jumping on the plastic “ban wagon”.
Last week, L.A. City Council voted to ban disposable plastic bags by 2010. However, L.A. put a new twist to this ban. The ban would only take effect if California failed to implement a 25 cent bag fee on shoppers who request them. In essence, L.A. is really hoping to effect wider change, not just a ban within its own city limits.
As you can imagine, this is a controversial subject. The plastic bag industry, represented by the Save the Plastic Bag Coalition, filed a lawsuit against L.A. County’s plan to reduce plastic bag usage 30 percent by 2010. They argue factories will be closed and jobs will be lost. I don’t disagree with their arguments completely, but there must be a way to use plastic bag fees to help these workers get new training or find new jobs. Sticking to our old ways because it’s comfortable isn’t a great reason to me.
I won’t reiterate the all the various evils of plastic bags, but I think we’re starting to see more support for bans. In fact, I think all disposable bags should have a fee, including paper bags. I don’t see a reason why we aren’t all carrying and utilizing reusable shopping bags. I’m sure a fees and bans will get us there much more quickly.
The Olympics start in a mere 11 days.
As you’ve likely heard, China has embarked on several measures to improve air quality, such as limiting the use of cars and the closing of dozens of factories.
Apparently, these efforts have had little impact. The Air Pollution Index, or API, (the API measures particulate matter) in Beijing has hovered over 101. To qualify for a “blue sky day,” which is supposedly safely for athletes, the API must be below 101.
As a result, the Chinese are implementing an “Emergency Green Plan”, banning 90% of the 3.3M private cars from the roads, and temporarily closing even more factories.
What do you think? Is it going to work? Or is it too late?
