Green Collar Media believes it is time for a substantial increase in the gas tax in America. Not being in love with the idea of any type of higher taxes, we are firmly convinced that a gas tax increase is the right type of tax to use to pay for the war surge in Afghanistan, and will provide the country with three absolutely critical benefits. :

First; we simply cannot continue to add to the enormous deficit with new war spending. We must have a means to pay for it (and all new programs) - or our kids will never forgive us. This means new taxes - growth alone will not generate enough revenues to close the gap. Additionally, if we keep this up, our international creditors will get even more nervous than they are now, will have more leverage over us than they currently do (if you don’t think they have leverage, read the news coverage of Obama’s trip to China), and interest rates are going to go up on our debt and the burden will increase dramatically. We must show fiscal responsibility as a society.

Second, increasing the price of gasoline leads to changes in driving behavior, which lowers our emissions - a vitally important goal for our nation and the planet. This post from when gas was $4 a gallon discusses how that was happening and what it meant. The fact of the matter is there is only one way gas prices are going over the next 20 years, and that is UP, UP, UP. As a society we need to get ahead of that curve and make that inescapable fact work for us. If we don’t, we’re proving that our heads are so far in the sand, ostriches are embarrased for us.

Finally, more expensive gasoline will stimulate demand for green solutions in the vital transporation sector of the green economy and create jobs. American auto companies (what’s left of them) are betting their futures on fuel efficient vehicles. A gas tax will accelerate the adoption of these vehicles and the solutions of dozens of other entrepreneurs and companies that are working like mad to bring new products to market. And let’s be honest - deep down, don’t we all want to drive a Tesla or a Fisker? Stimulating this marketplace in this manner will allow these companies to reach economies of scale and bring the prices down. We’d probably also be happy with Tesla’s mid-sized sedan, or Fisker’s minivan as long as the performance was based on what they’re doing with their sportscars.

These are three things that are vital to our country. Nobody likes to be taxed and feel the pinch in the wallet, but this is exactly how the tax code should be utilized when absolutely necessary. It should be focused on discouraging or eliminating things that are not in our interest as a nation (greenhouse gas emissions, runaway deficits, sending jobs overseas) and encourage areas that are in our interest (new green technologies, manufacturing jobs, exportable products, lowering emissions). We cannot scream “No Taxes Under Any Circumstance, Ever!” and expect that our country will not continue to suffer. We need to use the tax code to further our national interest, and a significant gas tax will do that at this point in our history.

Join this Facebook Group to add your voice to the cause.

When I started writing Green Collar America, I did so because I felt that the green technologies and solutions that were going to make our nation and our society more sustainable represented the next great industry that would drive America’s future prosperity. According to a just released report produced by The Breakthrough Institute and The Information Technology and Innovation Foundation we are going to be buying all that technology from Asia.

Every American should read at least the “Overview” page of this report. There are 5 points on that page…here is the first:

Asia’s rising “clean technology tigers” – China, Japan, and South Korea – have already passed the United States in the production of virtually all clean energy technologies, and over the next five years, the government’s of these nations will out-invest the United States three-to-one in these sectors. This public investment gap will allow these Asian nations to attract a significant share of private sector investments in clean energy technology, estimated to total in the trillions of dollars over the next decade. While some U.S. firms will benefit from the establishment of joint ventures overseas, the jobs, tax revenues, and other benefits of clean tech growth will overwhelmingly accrue to Asia’s clean tech tigers.

That 3-to-1 investment disparity is assuming that the US Senate will pass a clean energy bill like the American Clean Energy & Security Act which the House of Representatives passed earlier this year. That is by no means a certainty, and is actually very unlikely based on what’s going on with healthcare. The outspending will be more in the ball park of 10-to-1 in that case - and it is only that close because some of the stimulus bill went to clean tech. However, we’re sending a ton of that stimulus money overseas anyway and not creating Green Collar Jobs at home - because we can’t buy cost competitive clean tech products here.

Even if we do pass such a bill the report argues that it;

includes too few proactive policy initiatives and allocates relatively little funding to support research and development, commercialization and production of clean energy technologies within the United States.

Instead, we are relying on some tax incentives and other market stimulating solutions that - in past times - have jump started innovation and moved America into a leadership position. There are a lot of good things to be said about this bill - as Representative Markey (the primary author) describes in this video

Unfortunately, the race may be over before this approach even gets us running - we have never had competition that was willing to spend half a trillion dollars to kick our ass before.

There is only one answer - we all have to get off our asses and scream at Congress until we drown out the noise from the people who JUST DON’T GET IT. We don’t have time for obstruction - we need to move and we need to move now. Unless you have another idea for a multi-trillion dollar industry that is being birthed right now and can sustain our country and our economy, call your congress person…please.

If you’re like me, you’ve often thought that we humans produce a huge amount of energy when we excerise - or just go about our daily lives. The huge majority of that energy is wasted - but perhaps not anymore. A startup out of Cleveland, Tremont Electric, just released a new kinetic energy capture device that can generate wall socket level energy just by carrying it around with you while you walk.

About the size of a flashlight and weighing in at 9 ounces, the nPower PEG (Personal Energy Generator) takes advantage of magnets and springs to capture and amplify the kinetic energy we generate when we move and turn in into enough power to recharge personal electric devices. In the short-term it seems like a dream come true for serious campers, hikers, lumberjacks - folks who spend extended periods of time outdoors and off the grid. Based on the feedback about how well these things work, it will just be a matter of time before we start seeing them integrated into appliances and products we are already carrying around with us.

The folks at Tremont are already scaling the devices up - way up - and looking at ways they can put them in buoys and use them to generate 50kW per device in lakes and the ocean to create kinetic energy from Wave Energy.

This is an idea that has needed to happen and seeing a product of this type commercialized and ready to roll-out to market is a great example of how American ingenuity will help us make up for lost time in sustainability. Now if someone will just roll-out an entire gym worth of exercise equipment that will make every health club in America carbon neutral - let’s turn all those burned calories green!

Well, WBUR - the Boston NPR station anyway (the best NPR station in the country I might add). I was interviewed for the recent Radio Boston show about the Massachusett’s economy and how ‘green’ is allowing the state and region to emerge from the recession - perhaps earlier than other regions. I should have had this up weeks ago, but they never got back to me about how to embed their media stream in the blog. Click Here to listen to the show.

OK, so although I spent yesterday afternoon thinking about the giant floating plastic continent and feeling overwhelmed, I am feeling much more like my optimistic self today. However, this is not blind optimism that ’science’ is going to figure this out. I am feeling better because I was just visiting the Recycling White Paper section on GreenCollarEconomy.com and noticed that hundreds and hundreds of business people are downloading these documents while looking for best practices for ther companies.

I like to believe that they are doing this for two reasons - first, humans run companies and deep down, even the greediest captain of industry wants to protect the environment; second, they know they are throwing good money after bad by simply throwing out so much trash. Here is a great example. Bayer Healthcare has lowered their garbage disposal bill by over $500,000/year and diverted over 70% of their waste from landfill into the recycling stream - all while making their business more profitable.

We need more businesses to wake up and start looking at sustainability as a strategic opportunity. There are thousands of ways to make ROI-generating investments in sustainability that will make a business stronger in more ways than just the short-term bottom line.

Occasionally when I am working out on my cycling trainer, I bring my laptop downstairs and watch a TED video. If you are not familiar with TED, you should check it out. However, on this particular occasion I watched a video that did not so much inspire as it did daunt and depress. I tweeted several months back about an article I read about the floating plastic garbage dump that has been accumulating in the Pacific Gyre for the last 20 years. It is almost unbeliveable than an area of the pacific twice the size of Texas could have an average of 6X as much plastic in it as it does plankton.

This area of floating and submerged plastic does not biodegrade, it just gets smaller and smaller and ends up in our food supply. As Nicholas Kristoff wrote about in this Sunday’s New York Times, 92% of Americans have the chemicals from these plastics in thier urine. Certainly not only from the Pacific Gyre garbage continent, but we have plenty of other plastic that we consume on a daily basis….by the way, it’s made with synthetic estrogen. This brings me back to the TED video….take a look and let me know if you have any bright ideas. We have to go from capturing and recycling 5% of our plastic to 95% plus and we need to do it in a hurry.

I read a great quote in The Daily Climate

Author and reporter Dianne Dumanoski noted in her recent book, The End of the Long Summer, that the only thing certain about the coming century is “its immense uncertainty.”
“It will take conscious effort to resist taking refuge either in despair – in the conviction that ‘it’s too late’ – or in the alternative, to bask in groundless, sunny optimism that ‘we’ll figure out something, because science always does.’ “

Anyone who knows me, knows that I am about as optimistic person as you will meet. Looking at something like this can take a little wind out of your sails. It is another huge problem to deal with that is going to require billions or trillions of dollars - like we don’t have enough of those right now.

I twittered about this a few months ago and have been meaning to get to writing a post about it, but this is exciting news for my hometown. Boston has just committed to - what may be - the largest bike sharing program in the US.

Bixi is the brand name for a program developed in Montreal by the Public Bike System Company and rolled out there with great success. The concept is that bike sharing terminals will be deployed throughout the city and wherever you see one, you can walk up, wave your $78/year Bixi card (or a credit card) and take a bike out. When you get to your destination, pull right up to the nearby Bixi station and the bike is secure. Heading back? Grab a bike and start peddling. One thing I love about this idea is that the stations are completely self-contained, solar powered, wifi enabled - so you can plunk them down, boot them up and they are up and running. When the snows come, pick them up and store them for the winter.

The hope is that the bike sharing program will allow city dwellers and visitors to substantially cut down on car trips when moving around the city - thereby reducing traffic congestion and greenhouse gas emissions. I have had several conversations with friends and colleagues about this idea, and every single one of them has loved the concept in theory. The one downside cited by 100% of these folks however is perfectly understandable to anyone who has ever visited and driven in Boston. Beantown drivers are insane and the roads are old cowpaths - there are no bike lanes and no room to put them in. With this in mind nobody (except 20 year olds with a deathwish) are going to want to ride around the city. I am an avid road cyclist and want no part of riding in Boston.

I will keep you posted as the city and Bixi address this obvious concern….maybe they will surprise us all and come up with an amazing bike lane system with aggressive enforcement. Let’s hope, because I love the idea.

Twittering. Follow me at http://www.twitter.com/greencollarguy. Damn it, that 140 character thing is so much easier than researching and creating trackbacks and defining a topic that is interesting enough for an entire blog post. But, I’m back….enough of this being easy on myself. So what is new in the world of Green Collar Media? Well, lot’s actually:

First, GreenCollarEconomy.com now has the largest collection of ‘green business’ case studies and white papers available on-line. Check them out here. We have been receiving great feedback from our audience as they are interested in what works for businesses.

Second, building up our team. I’m not sure if you’ve heard, but it is not exactly the best economy in the world, and still we are attracting and bring into the fold some great sales and operational folks that are passionate about sustainability. They believe in the Green Collar Mission of facilitating profitable sustainability and accelerating the adoption of the Green Economy.

Third, getting ready to launch some new blogs and applications that are going to fill out the Green Collar Media lineup and provide you with all of the detailed information you need to take your business green and do so practically and profitably.

Fourth…twitter….can’t help it…it is easy and we’ve gotten almost 3000 new followers in the last month. Make us one of your favorites…never boring, sometimes thought provoking.

Fifth, getting LEED certified…just because it is interesting and a good idea (although a lot more work than you would think!).

OK, I’ve built up a lot of topics to cover, so expect to see more of me.

I’ve been meaning to make a comment about this program from ABC News for the last 5 weeks. It is an overview of the things that might happen in this century as a result of the perfect storm of climate disruption, population growth and resource depletion.

I will grant you that it portrays a very dismal and potentially worst case scenario, and yet I ask you to watch it and tell me if you feel there is anything in it that is unrealistic. Do any of us think that the Colorado river is going to be able to provide water for 50 million people living in the desert southwest for more than another 20 years? What happens to Vegas and Phoenix?

The G-8 just put out a statement that it agrees we need to limit temperature rise to 3.6 degrees. Guess what? If that happens (the G-8’s best case scenario, mind you) Mexico is going to be a parched wasteland. Where are all those people going to go?

I’ll tell you the truth, I only watched the show until 2060 and I had very uncomfortable dreams for a week. Let me know what happens if you can stomach the whole thing.

In the meantime, we all have to get moving. Visit http://www.greencollareconomy.com to find businesses that can help your company go green and check out the ever growing list of white papers and case studies that will give you ideas of ways to go green that are practical and profitable.

Found an interesting article on Green Collar Economy, via PESWiki, about Thorium Nuclear Reactors.  These have been proven, effective energy generation plants (to the tune of 1000 MW production), that have much lower risk profiles than uranium-based nuclear generation.  According to the article on PESWiki:

The thorium nuclear fission cycle eliminates the risk of meltdown and weapons proliferation while the byproducts have a reduced half-life on the order of 1/2 century rather than thousands of years. Thorium can be recycled and poses no direct risks to our environment unless the facilities themselves were attacked. Even in this situation we would not have another Chernoble.

Man, a half-life of 50 years?  That changes the game on nuclear waste storage in a massive way.  Why haven’t we all heard of this?  Why are we not discussing a way to roll out 100 of these plants?  I am definitely going to look into this more.  Here is a Google Tech discussion of the concept for more details.

Apparently there is a bill going through Congress right now called the Thorium Energy Independence and Security Act of 2009.  This is one we should all demand more information about and work to get moving.