Last week, I attended a dinner at Houston’s Petroleum Club where former Shell President John Hoffmeister spoke about what he calls the impeding “energy abyss”. 

A crisis so ugly that it will “put our lifestyles at risk over political symbolism”. He’s pretty outspoken about that, and his main issues are as follows:

1. Americans have a lot to learn about energy. About how much we use, where we get our supply, how the infrastructure works, and how it does and does not impact the environment.

2. Politicians are killing us. Making short-term decisions based on the “optics”, letting campaign slogans and political campaign cycles set our energy agenda is not sustainable.

Vote for our SXSW Panels on Sustainability and lets make the conference Green! 

Dateline 2025: The internet solves our environmental issues
 

As I left the Sustainable Brands conference in June, I felt exhausted and buzzed at the same time. Buzzed from exposure to amazing ideas and inspiring people. Emceed by “rock stars” of sustainability like Andrew Winston (Green to Gold) and Gil Friend (Natural Logic) it was easy to follow the thread of continuity as we covered a broad landscape.

If you are reading your Chicago Tribune or flipping through the latest Pottery Barn catalog, it’s probably pretty hard to determine where that paper was sourced. Even harder, is where that paper has been in its lifetime, since its days as a tree. Paper can be recycled an estimated 7 times.

Though many Americans are increasing their recycling efforts, it’s interesting to note that American paper mills are going out of business.  There are several factors that can be blamed.

 #1:  You are reading this online – not in print. With publishing of newspaper, magazines, yellow pages, promotional advertising, books and even credit card billing statements all going digital, there is simply less demand for mills to generate these types of paper products. In fact, today’s New York Times (electronic version) reported that Amazon’s sales of e-books just outpaced their sales of hardcovers. This wave of change is moving fast. But that doesn’t necessarily mean there is no longer a use for paper mills. Which leads us to the next reason.

If you have been on our mailing list or tweet stream, you may have seen something out there about the MYOO Create 'Beat Waste' competition. (And, if you haven't voted yet, for pete's sake, hurry up and vote here!) UPDATE: RecycleMatch was selected as a finalist!

Sustainable Brands Conference in Monterey CA this week was an amazing source of inspiration. As I’m working on one blog post, I feel like there could be ten. The topics ranged from high level strategic discussions to deeper dives on specific issues. With a room filled with so many experts, innovators and open-minded seekers, it was easy to compile a list of favorite quotes and comments I’ve heard this week.

The term ‘zero waste’ has been on my mind lately. Working with EH&S (Environmental Health & Safety), Operations and procurement to divert waste from landfills and maximize their value is what we do at RecycleMatch.

Earth Day was created 40 years ago to raise awareness and appreciation for the Earth and our collective impact on it. The Earth is pretty big, so it’s no wonder that it is such a big, diverse topic. Whether it’s the conservationists, the off-the-grid / energy independence voices, the LOHAS / organics and personal health folks, the always popular 3Rs (reduce, reuse, recycle), the think global / buy local voices, the global warming / climate change folks -- everyone has an opinion and everyone is using this day as a platform for their agenda. So, why not corporations?