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August 26, 2008
Site of the Week: Alltop Green
One of the great things about the web is how fast information (both good and bad) propagates. All over the world, the Internet is changing how we get our news. Now, anyone with an idea can self-publish with no review and news can be seen in real time. Well, Alltop Green is probably the most comprehensive site for aggregating rss feeds from blogs reporting on green news, updated continuously.
Google is helpful in finding popular and potentially useful content and they even have directories, but it's actually takes some time to know what kind of content is on each site.
For those of us who want a quick glance at the latest news and have an overview of the entire news-scape, Alltop is the place. Serial entrepreneur and creator of the site Guy Kawasaki calls Alltop an "online magazine rack."
On it's Green page, Alltop lists the 5 most recent stories from the various news sources it has identified as being green.
The sources include blogs at NY Times, Wall Street Journal, Forbes, but include many non-mainstream sources that have emerged because of the Internet. The big stories will get lots of coverage but what's interesting is the news that are lower profile but just as interesting and valuable to know. These come from sites like EcoGeek and the .
Besides, eco and green news, Alltop features everything from Egos to Yoga. There's even a page dedicated to Japan. If you scroll to the bottom of that page, you'll find news aggregated from Japanese language sources!
Clearly, the web is transforming how we get our news. While mainstream sources will undoubtedly have a role to play, blogs and sites that do up-to-the-minute reporting and editorializing are becoming a regular part of journalism, providing valuable information.
Alltop Green is really a dream come true for me. It has saved me the time of sifting through many sites. But the bigger picture is the opportunity for the web to help facilitate sustainable practices. Check out this great article by Max Gladwell, in which he says:
The Internet did for communication what cheap oil did for consumer goods. It brought the world seemingly close together. From the U.S., you could find people in New Zealand or China who shared your same interests and then build a global online community. It was liberating. And now social media has turned this on its head.
Services like Meetup and even the big social networks (Facebook and MySpace) are enabling like-minded people to find one another online with the express purpose of meeting up in the real world. In Shirky’s Here Comes Everybody, he recounts how stay-at-home moms are the number-one group on Meetup. He says they are reinventing the social infrastructure of small towns and neighborhoods. Perhaps they’re getting together at the farmers’ market to do some local, organic shopping? on how social media and sustainability can align.
投稿者 econetworks : 12:08 PM | コメント (0) | トラックバック
August 12, 2008
Tokyo not Eco-Minded?
It's very known around the world that Japan is one of the most energy efficient countries. Moreover, awareness of global warming and its human causes are also well accepted in this country. Yet, it seems that the residents of Tokyo may not be so willing to make sacrifices in order to lower their greenhouse gas emissions further. In an AFP article that a colleague of mine at cleantechblog noted, more than 90% of Tokyo citizens do not want to trade off on their lifestyle to stave off climate change.
In the article, the author says:
More than four in 10 Tokyo residents -- 41.6 percent -- said they "don't want to sacrifice a convenient lifestyle to prevent global warming," according to the poll results published recently by Japanese advertising agency Hakuhodo.
and furthermore
In a list of 27 daily activities considered to counter global warming, from taking only short showers to participating in tree-planting activities, Tokyo residents only scored above average for five of them.
In particular, Tokyo dwellers came last when it comes to studying about global warming or preserving the environment.
They also ranked lowest when it comes to buying eco-friendly products.
Of course this analysis is relative to other capitals around the world and does not necessarily reflect sentiments outside of Tokyo. Nevertheless, this makes me wonder how much work we have ahead to change the mindset of people to truly take action. In many ways, this is the same problem we have in the US. When it comes time for action, many people will not follow through because of the sacrifices they will need to make.
In one sense, because Japan is already ahead of the curve when it comes to efficiency, it may be harder for them squeeze more out but clearly the question is how can improvements be continued..
投稿者 econetworks : 05:56 PM | コメント (0) | トラックバック
August 05, 2008
Book Review: The Family Tree
How do talking dogs save the planet?
Ever since I was young, I've let my imagination run freely and pretend seeing invisible animals from the future! Some of my friends are amused while others are just perplexed. But, talking animals may not be as silly as one could think. I recently read Sheri Tepper's The Family Tree, a fictional novel about ecological fallout.
In this book, talking animals from the future tell us of mankind's environmental neglect and how human can once again become a part of the solution. Interestingly, the story starts in the present with our main character Dora, who is a cop living in a very ordinary town.
As she investigates the mysterious murders of three scientists, she also gains the ability to talk to trees. She is also involved in an unhappy, almost lifeless marriage. As she is confronted challenge after challenge, she awakens to the realization that she could be the one saving humanity's future.
What makes this story - albeit a fantasy - so engaging, is that Tepper subtly and not to subtly comments on our current industrialized state of the world, one in which not only is the environment threatened but the ability for people to live freely. Some can interpret it as a criticism of today's state of human rights, agriculture, equity, and self-determination.
In a sense, stories like these make me better articulate how solving today's environmental problems also requires genuine leadership. Perhaps at the root of our global challenges, is the necessity for people understand how they fit in the world community and how their choices have grave consequences to people and to lands thousands of miles away.
Similar themes are evoked in Al Gore's recent book, The Assault on Reason. Without fundamental participation in today's increasingly interdependent world, democracy in the participatory sense may very well be threatened, Many leaders, including Gore, believe that without this general participation, solving global issues will be much more difficult.
Seriousness aside, did I mention something about talking animals? You'll have to read Tepper's book to find out how they came to be. Just a side note but I participated in an improv acting class recently and one of the exercises involved passing along an invisible animal of your choice to another member of the class. Maybe I'm on to something...
投稿者 econetworks : 03:44 PM | コメント (0) | トラックバック
August 04, 2008
InterSolar 2008
This year brought InterSolar 2008 to San Francisco for the first time. The event was held in conjunction with SEMICON West at SF's Moscone convention center. One of my colleagues in SF did a general survey and found some very interesting trends. In addition one of the participants gave me his views on why Sharp has not fared well in the American market.
My understanding from the people I talked to is that Applied Materials, one of world's largest semiconductor manufacturing equipment providers, pressured the organizers of SEMICON to jointly hold the InterSolar event otherwise they would pull out. It turns out that InterSolar was very well attended with a very large contingent of Germans. In fact, most firms had at least one representative from Germany.
Nathan Polland, an intern, who works with us at the CleantechBlog visited about 75 companies at InterSolar 2008 and found that among the newer entrants into the market (and there are many), they are growing at 50+% a year!
The older, more established firms did not experience as fast growth as the entrants but are still gaining significantly from the market momentum. For more interesting statistics about the solar market, please check out Mr. Polland's full report.
I asked a German-American businessman who facilitates trade deals between the two countries on his views of Japanese companies in the US market. He noted that Sharp, which is one of the leading providers in Japan, has not done well in the US. He believes the problem lies in the fact that upper management in Japan does not have a good grasp of the US market. This is partly because the company does not let the US subsidiary take their own charge and develop a strategy that is appropriate here.