To Till and to Tend

I fly.  I fly a lot.  There.  I said it, I’ve admitted my problem.  This year has been a crazy year of flying – I averaged close to a flight a month. I had weddings in Los Angeles, Chicago and Israel; my baby nephew and his parents moved out to San Francisco; I had work conferences in various states in the US and delegations abroad.

The problem you ask?

The flights were really expensive.  Not that kind of expensive – many of the flights were frequent flier tickets, gifts or for work, so I didn’t pay very much in dollars.  But those are not the costs I’m referring to.  It’s the costs that don’t come with a dollar sign attached – the environmental externalities. My 11 flights emitted approximately 22 tons of carbon dioxide into our atmosphere.  To put the 22 tons in context, excluding flying, my carbon footprint is an impressive 7 tons (the global average is 5.5).  Including flying, I become worse than the average American (27 tons) [note, you can see those stats after you complete the carbon calculator].

As aware as I am, I don’t regret a single flight.  Because I flew, I danced wildly in celebration, connected regularly with my nephew (and other relatives) and furthered the mission of the Jewish environmental movement.  In the rare occasion that I’m not willing to alter my behavior for the benefit of the environment, what am I to do?

For now, I offset these emissions. Because carbon dioxide is a global pollutant, if I contribute CO₂ here in America and reduce it anywhere else around the world, the net effect on the globe is zero. This is how people become “carbon neutral.” I am not offsetting everything – I generally tread lightly on the earth (through wind power, public transportation and farmers markets) and feel comfortable with emissions that are produced by those actions.

For my work flights, COEJL is offsetting through the Heschel Center’s Good Energy Initiative based in Israel (like this blogger).  One of my cross-country trips was offset through a generous gift from my interns and the rest I’m in the process of offsetting by buying carbon credits sold through the cap and trade programs set up through volunteer and state regulated initiatives in the Chicago Climate Exchange (and if that doesn’t work out, through carbonfund.org).

It’s hard to understand and even harder to calculate the externalities of our actions.  Though the carbon calculator and offset science remains imperfect, it’s a method to take responsibility for our actions.  At this time, it’s the most I can hope to do.

For further information:

A piece by Rabbi Julian Sinclair about the Jewish meaning behind carbon offsetting

Homes and offices that run on the sun’s rays. Trucks and buses powered by used grease from the local McDonald’s. Cars that plug in like kitchen appliances to a cell phone provider-like network.  All of these ideas may sound as futuristic as the time traveling DeLorean but, in fact, all are possible with current technology. Innovators around the world are taking action to solve the climate change and energy crises one step at a time and, in the process, changing the way we live.

One especially exciting innovation is the next generation of plug-in hybrid automobiles. We have all grown accustomed to the Prius, but these new cars are different. The Chevy Volt, which is predicted to be “fully charged” by 2010, will run entirely on battery power for the first 40 miles, will plug into a conventional outlet to charge, and will get the equivalent of up to 150 miles per gallon in optimal conditions. Yes, 1-5-0. Forget the 35 miles per gallon CAFÉ standards that Congress passed last year. Forget the 50 miles per gallon range of current gas-electric hybrids. This is real progress.

The major obstacle for the truly electric car is infrastructure; without a network of stations to charge cars during long trips, hybrids must revert to gasoline power after traveling a certain distance. Not to worry. Shai Agassi, an entrepreneur from Israel, is currently touring the world to promote his BetterPlace project—an initiative to establish a global grid of plug-in stations that will allow hybrids and full electrics to completely replace the traditional automobile. Israelis have long understood the intersection between energy, security, and economics. Now, it seems Americans are beginning to see it too; the economic bailout passed last week includes $25 billion dollars in loans for Detroit to spur the next generation of cleaner, more efficient cars. Auto- and policy-makers hope this money will provide an impetus for real and rapid progress. As one Chrysler exec explained, “It’s a way for us to accelerate technology so you can get it in the hands of people faster and so they can afford it.”

In this country, one third of our carbon emissions come from transportation. It is unlikely that Americans will stop driving anytime soon, though we can and should drive less. However, the plug-in hybrid and other projects like it can take us on the path to a cleaner world and a more secure energy future without requiring revolutionary changes in the way we live. This is innovation at its best, and technology to keep an eye on as these new cars roll off the factory floor and onto our roadways.

As Al Gore and friends remind us, working together “WE” can solve climate change. And when I see innovations like the Volt, I believe it too.

I have an exercise bike in my basement.  It has sat idle for months – years even.  It’s not that I don’t exercise – I go to the gym regularly. However, I find it difficult to motivate to ride a stationary bike in the solitude of my own home.  But take me to a gym – and I’m in the front row of my spinning class.  These “peer pressure” exercise classes appeal to my competitive nature, I suppose.  I work out better when surrounded by others who are also working out.  This same philosophy, I’m afraid, extends to more than just exercise.

My husband first noticed my “competitive environmentalism” when we bought our hybrid a few years ago.  For months, he refused to drive if I was in the passenger seat – because I would badger him incessantly about his mileage stats.  Whenever his fuel economy “plunged” from 45 to 44 miles per gallon, I’d tell him to slow down.  If we drove fewer than 550 miles on a full tank, I’d make him recount everywhere we drove that week to figure out where the missing gas had gone. 

A few months ago, a colleague referred me to a passage, which convinced me that I’m not alone.  In an article titled, “My Mileage is Better than Your Mileage,” Bill McKibben writes:

… [Do] I pay inordinate attention to the gas gauge? Absolutely. And is it because I’m obsessed with global warming? Not really. True, that’s why I bought the car in the first place…. But if you thought about global warming all the time, you’d be nuts. When I’m behind the wheel, I’m an American—competitive, score-keeping, out to win.

And this competitive streak does not stop with hybrid cars and fuel economy.  In fact, a recent study in the Journal of Consumer Research reports that only 37% of hotel guests choose to forego a fresh towel when their hotel bathroom simply urges them to “help save the environment,” while 49% of guests make the “green choice” when confronted with a customized sign indicating how many previous guests had done the same.  Another article in the New York Times reports that people dramatically reduced their electricity use when their electric bill listed the average consumption in the neighborhood – and included a frowning face on households with an above-average bill. 

Jewish tradition offers some insight for these behaviors.  As Ira Stone explains in A Responsible Life, human beings live in a constant struggle between the “evil inclination” (in Hebrew, yetzer hara) and the impulse to do good (yetzer hatov).  Humans are inherently competitive. We must strive, however, to transform the evil inclination to do good.  As Jeffrey Spitzer writes, “[w]hen properly controlled by the yetzer hatov, the yetzer hara leads to many socially desirable results.”

Herein lies the future of the American environmental movement: we must look at pride and vanity, competition and shame – and redirect these values to reduce our impact on the Earth.   Can peer pressure really be the answer to climate change?

I’d love your thoughts about ways public scrutiny can inspire green behavior.

[for more on the power of public opinion, read "On Dolly Parton and Climate Change" and "Visualizing a Changing Climate: How to Know when You've Used 'Enuff'"]