One of the more critically acclaimed shows on cable television is AMC’s “Mad Men.” It follows the lives and times of the people in a fictional Madison Avenue advertising firm circa 1960. The writers and producers have worked hard to depict life in the early [...]]]> by Bob Massaro for Napa Valley Life Magazine

One of the more critically acclaimed shows on cable television is AMC’s “Mad Men.” It follows the lives and times of the people in a fictional Madison Avenue advertising firm circa 1960. The writers and producers have worked hard to depict life in the early 60’s, down to the clothes, sets, cars, and interestingly enough, how women were treated in the workplace. But the one thing that jumps out at the viewer is that in “Mad Men” everybody smokes. All the time, everywhere, in restaurants, in elevators, in offices, at the dinner table… there is no place off limits. Even pregnant women smoke in “Mad Men.”

Looking back now 50 years from 1960 we now know how inappropriate, and more importantly, how dangerous this type of behavior was to everyone’s health.

I can’t help but draw the parallels between how smoking was viewed in the 1960’s, and how we here in America view global warming and climate change. By the time 2060 roles around, 50 years from now, those of us living will look back at the 1990s and early 2000s and think…. “didn’t they know how bad global warming was for them; why didn’t they work sooner and harder to stop it.”

Somewhere in recent times there was a turning point for smoking. People started to hear the statistics, and made the connection to shortened lives and smoking. Regulations were put in place and people’s behavior changed. Today if someone lights up a cigarette in an elevator or restaurant he or she would be met with consternation and criticism and quickly someone would make the smoker stop.  You have all heard the statistics and the forecasts about global warming. Rising sea levels, droughts, lost species, lost micro‐climates (including the wine-growing regions of Northern California), and a general loss of the quality of life, as we know it today.

Yet in many venues global warming is the family cousin that nobody wants to talk about. There are those that even insist that it is a hoax, just as there are those who think that the Holocaust never happened, or we never landed on the moon. But let’s for a moment put that discussion aside, whether you believe human behavior and its machines caused global warming or not, consider the affects on our lives if we all worked to live more sustainably.

Sustainable living reduces our dependence on fossil fuels, which would in turn change the world‐wide political stage. Our transportation would move from internal combustion engines, and their polluting side effects to electric and fuel‐cell powered vehicles. Transportation would become less important, because we would live closer to where we worked and learned, and because mass‐transit would be more readily available and more user‐friendly. Our homes, offices and schools would be powered by renewable energy, or at the least, by clean energy. Buildings would be designed to be more focused on natural light and ventilation, and less on conditioned air. They would be cooler in the summer, and warmer in the winter, without the need for mechanical systems for heating and cooling.

Our food would be grown more locally, and transported shorter distances. Biomass facilities, which turn waste products into energy, would replace coal‐fired power plants. Our clothing would be made of rapidly renewable fibers, grown organically, and manufactured and transported sustainably. Landfills would become obsolete, because all products would be designed to be recycled or reused in true cradle‐to‐cradle fashion. Water use would drop dramatically, because we would have learned how to use less, and to recapture what we did use. Rainwater capture and grey water systems would be commonplace.

In a sustainable world we would live in smaller houses, and drive smaller cars because we would come to realize that smaller is better, particularly if it is also designed smarter.

Yes, all of this represents change. Not everyone likes change. Many times change is caused by a force or action. In 1964 it was the Surgeon General’s report on smoking that caused smoking to be viewed as what it was… the single greatest health hazard of its time.  If climate change caused by global warming is in fact proven to be a hoax I will be among the first to stand up and say… “You got me.”  But until then I think we should all recognize global warming and climate change for what it truly could be -  the single greatest threat to life on this planet since the extinction of the dinosaurs.

We have learned to influence smoking behavior. But the efforts to influence, and in effect stop, climate change caused by greenhouse gas production are proving to be much more challenging. That doesn’t mean that the effort should in anyway diminish. If anything, it should intensify.

Ultimately the threat or hoax discussion should take a back seat to the goal…more sustainable living. In this case the “what” is far more important than the “why.”

Onward – to a more sustainable world.

Bob Massaro is the CEO of Napa­based Healthy Buildings, a full service Design­Build firm. He has been building light green since 1983, and bright green since 1999.

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As you read through this section of Napa Valley Life Magazine you are probably among the many who relate the word “sustainable” to environmental issues only. If so, you would only be 1/3 correct.

Without all three legs, a three-legged stool would not stand. Without [...]]]> by Bob Massaro for Napa Valley Life Magazine

As you read through this section of Napa Valley Life Magazine you are probably among the many who relate the word “sustainable” to environmental issues only. If so, you would only be 1/3 correct.

Without all three legs, a three-legged stool would not stand. Without at least 3 sides, a pyramid would collapse. Without economic vitality and social equity, mated to environmental responsibility, true sustainability would not exist. These are the “Three Es” of Sustainability – Environmental, Economic and Equity. To be fully sustainable all “three Es” must be present and thriving.

Looking for a real life examples of the Three Es?  Look no farther than the oceans of this planet, the one commonly viewed as “the blue marble” or “the water planet” because its predominate surface material is the waters of our oceans.

But these oceans are changing. They are becoming more acidic. All over our world ocean acidification is happening at an alarming rate.  Ocean acidification is the name given to the ongoing decrease in the pH of the Earth’s oceans, caused by their uptake of anthropogenic (man made) carbon dioxide from the atmosphere (Wikipedia).

The National Oceanic and Atmosphere Administration (NOAA) notes in their May 2008 “State of the science fact sheet for ocean acidification” that: “The oceans have absorbed about 50% of the carbon dioxide (CO2) released from the burning of fossil fuels, resulting in chemical reactions that lower ocean pH. This has caused an increase in hydrogen ion (acidity) of about 30% since the start of the industrial age through a process known as “ocean acidification.” A growing number of studies have demonstrated adverse impacts on marine organisms, including:

• The rate at which reef-building corals produce their skeletons decreases.
• The ability of marine algae and free-swimming zooplankton to maintain protective shells is reduced.
• The survival of larval marine species, including commercial fish and shellfish, is reduced.

Plankton are at the bottom of the food chain. As they decrease, so will those that feed on them, and next up the chain and so on. Let’s not lose track of the fact that 70% of the oxygen we breathe comes from the ocean (from plankton and the process of photosynthesis). So ocean acidification will, if not stopped and reversed, affect the availability of the food we eat, and the air that we breathe.

While this may look like a matter affecting only environmental sustainability let’s look closer. Consider the commerce that is generated by fishing our seas. Be it in the recreational or the commercial sector, fishing throughout the world makes a substantial contribution to our global economy. As this food source starts to disappear so will the fishing jobs, and the jobs of those that rely on fishing commerce to support themselves; the dockworkers, the storekeepers in the small communities, the packaging plants, the transportation facilities, the marketing facilities, and so on. Fishing villages and fish processing facilities could go the way of gold mining towns of the 1800s. Such a scenario is not one of Economic Vitality.

There is one other population affected by the prospect of ocean acidification. These are the smaller economies, the third world countries that border oceans and whose inhabitants rely on the fish of the world for their daily sustenance. For them fishing is not recreation, and while it may play a small part in commerce for them, the main reason they fish is to bring food home to the table. As the food chain of the oceans is affected, as the zooplankton and coral reefs disappear, so will the primary source of food for the inhabitants to these less fortunate countries. There is no Social Equity when there is not enough food to eat.

The good news about the non-sustainable acidification of the world’s oceans is that it is happening slowly, and we have realized that it is happening. This gives us an opportunity to stop it. But like so many things that affect us on a global scale stepping in and solving the problem involves the participation of many countries, of different ideologies, many times lead by men and women of unlike mind sets. But as we have learned many times in the past course of history the will of the few can affect the will of the many. The first step is always the hardest.

You have already taken the first step, you are reading this magazine. This means two things. First, you have helped this magazine to remain economically sustainable, which is a good thing for many people. It is also a good thing because that means that this magazine will continue to thrive economically and to get messages like this one out to people like you.

Secondly, the message that this magazine sends with this column will, hopefully, inform you about the 3 Es of sustainability, particularly as viewed through the lens of Ocean Acidification.

Now you have more knowledge, which of course means that you have more power. Put this power to good use. Our earth needs it.

Bob Massaro

Bob is the CEO of Napa based Healthy Buildings Management Group, Inc. and Healthy Building Construction Group, Inc. He can be reached at bob@healthybuildingsusa.com

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