solar squirrel

I went to a BAWB event today after work. (Actually left work early to go). It was pretty interesting. The speaker, Rinaldo Brutoco, was pretty impressive. He said a lot of things that I wish more people were in line with - like the fact that there is no such thing as clean coal, and using corn for fuel is the dumbest idea since the Hummer. One of the things I was most impressed with was his passion for socially responsible business practices. When I say socially responsible, I don’t mean donating money to the food bank. I mean really thinking about what you do every day with regard to its impact on things in the future. He spoke of his relationships with his vendors and how it was truly a partnership, not a competition. He talked about looking at the entire product lifecycle, which so many companies fail to do. (designing with non-hazardous materials, components that utilize less energy, packaging that is lighter and made of recycled or recyclable materials, using less resources in the manufacturing of goods - water, electricity, etc - providing a mechanism to reuse your product once it’s use is up, can it be recycled, refurbished, etc.)

The main point of the talk though was discussing the transition from fossil fuels to renewable or alternative energy. He slammed nuclear power and coal power - which I thought was awesome. He also discussed climate change and how imperative it is that we make drastic changes today.

All in all pretty good reason to leave work early.