Nine years. That’s how long it has been since this blog came into existence. I’ve written over 300 posts, probably averaging about 700 words each. For those doing the math at home, that puts me north of 200,000 words hammered out on my keyboard. That’s a book, and not a short one. It’s admittedly less than half of War and Peace’s 587,000 words, but I think that says more about Leo Tolstoy than me. That dude could WRITE. But I digress. The point is, I think the time has come to give my fingers a rest.

I’ve decided to pause Ecocentricity, so for those of you who have subscribed (and thank you for that!), you won’t be receiving regular emails anymore. As for sparing your inbox…well, you’re welcome.

There is no need to unsubscribe though. When the mood strikes me, or when there is an environmental issue I simply can’t avoid, I will still sit down to write. We will send those out in the ordinary way, so I will still pop up in your inbox from time to time. All the same, I don’t know how frequent those blogs will be, and I don’t intend to set any goals for myself. Let’s just see how it goes, you and I.

Well dang, if it wasn’t great to be with my people again! Last week, I had the great joy of attending the Georgia Climate Conference, hosted by the Georgia Climate Project at the University of Georgia. It was an excellent few days, filled with learning, fellowship, and a reminder that Georgia’s climate community is remarkable. Now that I’ve had a few days to rest and reflect, I want to share a more philosophical post about what has stayed with me. 

It Takes a Village

First and foremost is gratitude for all of the people who made the conference happen. There were so many students who volunteered their time, presenters whose sessions offered rich content, and staff at the conference center who took excellent care of us. It took a village to pull off, but there were two leaders of the village whom I want to lift up.

Dr. Tish Yager is the Director of the Georgia Climate Project, but she is also a Professor of Marine Science at the University of Georgia. In other words, she has two really big jobs! And in the last academic year, I know that planning for this conference has consumed an inordinate amount of her time. Tish, thank you so much for the long days (and sometimes nights) that you poured into this conference. You should be really proud of it, and I hope you enjoy getting back to your Antarctica research this summer!

Photo courtesy of Amprius

It’s been years since I have written about batteries, and given how quickly things change in that sector, it’s about time I revisited the topic. Often, the buzz around batteries focuses on new types which might be able to topple the king, which is currently lithium ion. That’s not where all the research and innovation is focused, however. Many organizations continue to work on making lithium ion batteries even better than they already are, and in that respect, there has been a recent breakthrough. May I present to you - the silicon anode.

What Is an Anode, and Why is Silicon Better?

As I am wont to do, let’s start with an explainer. An anode is one of the fundamental components of any battery. Take, for instance, the AA batteries that are hanging out in your television remote. On one end of the battery, specifically the side that is flat, you’ll see a “-” sign. This is the anode, with the other side showing a “+” sign for the cathode. Together, anodes and cathodes are the electrodes of a battery, and they serve as the bridge between the energy stored in the battery and the electric circuit to which the battery is designed to connect. In particular, the anode is the side of the battery into which an electric current flows, while the cathode is where the current exits. And in the case of a rechargeable battery, like those in my electric vehicle or this laptop I’m hammering away on, the roles of the anodes and cathodes can reverse depending on if the battery is charging or discharging.

Hey, hey, look! It’s here, it’s here! It’s been a long year-and-a-half, but we finally have the latest levelized cost of energy report from Lazard. I realize you may not be as excited about this as I am, but it’s one of my favorite nerdy climate reports, right up there with those from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. Click your brain into gear, because we are diving headfirst into the weeds.

Levelized Cost of Energy Explained

Here is Lazard’s webpage for the report and a direct link to the PDF. You’ll want to open up the PDF in a new tab and be ready to do some clicking back and forth. But first, let me explain what in the heck Lazard is doing when they publish these reports.

The levelized cost of energy (LCOE) refers to the average net present cost of producing energy in different ways. It can be expressed either as an average number or as a range of costs. In other words, when you see the LCOE of, for instance, offshore wind turbines, you are seeing what it generally costs to add that form of electricity generation to the grid. Because those costs are normalized per unit of energy, an LCOE report that looks at different forms of energy generation can tell you the relative costs of each form. Not surprisingly, LCOE analyses can range widely in different regions of the world, but Lazard’s 2023 report focuses specifically on LCOE in the United States.

Remember Whac-A-Mole? It’s that old-timey arcade game where you hold a mallet and smack a cartoonish mole that pops up out of a hole. Just like you, I have no idea why we were hitting fake animals for entertainment, but that’s not my point here. The enduring legacy of this game is that it became a colloquialism. No matter how good you were at whacking moles, you could rest assured that another one would pop back up, and so Whac-A-Mole became an expression for similar phenomena in real life. It’s commonly used when fixing computer programming bugs and when news outlets work to debunk misinformation. It’s also the analogy that I thought of when I read the latest news on per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances.

The Health Concerns Associated with PFAS

No, I didn’t just type a random series of letters on my keyboard. Per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances, abbreviated to PFAS, are a classification of synthetic chemical types. I’ll dive into the details of them in just a moment, but first let me share the latest news with you. Last month, the US Environmental Protection Agency (“EPA”) proposed new drinking water regulations for six different types of PFAS. Those regulations are now going through a public commentary period, and the EPA anticipates finalizing them by the end of the year. Because of the toxicity of these chemicals to the human body, the EPA projects that regulating them will prevent thousands of deaths and tens of thousands of illnesses.

If you, like me, are an average citizen of the United States of America, you might respond to this news with a perfunctory, “Oh, good.” If, on the other hand, you are a public health expert who thinks long and hard about the pervasiveness of unregulated synthetic chemicals commonly used in commercial products, you might respond to this news with, “About dang time, and now what about the other PFAS?”

How do you keep climbing a mountain once you’ve reached the top? The answer is, “You don’t.” But I’m speaking metaphorically here, not literally, and the metaphor is one that has long been near and dear to my heart - climbing Mount Sustainability. That’s how Ray Anderson described Interface’s ambitious goal set in the 1990s. He called it a mountain higher than Everest, and only at the summit could a business claim to be truly sustainable.

From the beginning though, Ray knew that the summit of Mount Sustainability was a waypoint, not a finish line. Given the scale of environmental degradation, any business that becomes truly sustainable must keep going, working to become a regenerative enterprise. If sustainability is about doing no harm, regeneration is about doing good. A regenerative company is one that, by the very nature of how it operates, helps to heal and enrich both communities and the environment. In a sense, Mount Sustainability and its seven different fronts were the framework for how any business can pursue sustainability. But what about a corresponding framework for a regenerative enterprise? What might that look like?

Events, by their very nature, will always have some element of waste. Making something from nothing, and involving crowds of people will always create by-products.

How to Plan a Green Event: Before the Event

1. Designate someone on the event team to focus on sustainability. This will help ensure that reducing waste and emissions is in focus at every step in the planning and execution of your event.
2. Get “Green Event” buy-in with vendors and venues. Prioritizing vendors and venues that are already focused on sustainability will make it easy to produce a green event.You can also include sustainability requirements in contracts with the venue and your chosen vendors, and limit in-person planning meetings to only those that are truly necessary. A video conference call is often all you need.
3. Get “Green Event” buy-in with guests. Educate your guests about the work you are doing to make your event as eco-friendly as possible.Include information about your sustainability efforts in every communication, along with tips for guests to green their attendance, such as carpooling or utilizing public transportation to get to the venue. 
4. Food planning is critical for a green event. It’s easy for large events to produce equally large amounts of food waste, which is bad for climate AND your bottom line. To prevent wasted food, plan carefully to ensure you have just enough food for the size of the crowd. Consider serving smaller portions as well, or even allow your guests to choose their own food. At RayDay, we utilize the sustainability-focused food truck group Simply Food Trucks to provide guests a small portion plate of their choice.
5. Serve food with cups, utensils, plates, and napkins that are fully compostable. If renting dishes and glassware isn’t an option, you’ll find a variety of compostable one-time use items now on the market that are not much more expensive than plastic. Examples that we’ve used at RayDay include products from Better Earth and Eco-Products. You can also consider providing BPA-free plastic or reusable bottles and cups that are made from silicone or stainless steel.
6. Provide natural fiber or other reusable bags for use at the event and re-use after the event. Skip the disposable plastic or paper bag or other “swag” in favor of something attendees can use again and again.
7. Minimize printed materials. One of the benefits of the ubiquity of smartphones and laptops is that it’s easier than ever to share materials electronically. Use a QR code that people can scan with their mobile device and immediately have access to the information.
8. Skip the handouts and don’t print materials unless it’s absolutely necessary for your green event. You can also reduce waste by reusing printed materials like signs and banners from previous years if you are planning a recurring event.

How to Plan a Green Event: During the Event

1. Create a Waste Management System. Offer multiple compost, recycling, and landfill stations with good signage throughout the event if it is not a seated dinner. Ten stations for every 1,000 guests is a good rule. Consider having a “waste management ambassador” at every station to help ensure guests put each item in the right place, and who can also educate guests on the goal of having an empty “landfill” container at the end of the event, which means that all waste was prevented as effectively as possible. Ensure that your composting, recycling, and trash are taken to the correct facilities by hiring a team to manage this system. Some venues, like Serenbe where RayDay is hosted, already offer composting on site; partnering with a company that manages composting at special events is also becoming increasingly common.
2. Use bio-diesel generators. If your green event requires generators, be sure to select bio-diesel generators. Biodiesel generally produces fewer emissions than petroleum.
3. Donate all edible leftovers. Every city has a food bank and/or an organization that collects leftovers, and there are likely hundreds of our homeless and hungry neighbors near our event venues. Be sure to collect your event leftovers so you can donate them. At RayDay, we work with Goodr to accomplish this goal.

How to Plan a Green Event: After Your Event

Think back to elementary school with me. You walk into class each morning, dreading the monotony of the day. Math…reading…writing. Hey, at least there’s lunch and recess to look forward to. Let’s go play four-square for the 100th time this year! But then, one magical morning, your teacher utters two words that shatter the repetitious haze permeating your classroom. You hear them, you smile, and the classroom erupts with joy. Those two words?

Field trip!

Atlanta’s Alternative to Curbside Recycling

I don’t know why we stop taking field trips after our schooling days are done. They’re fun, educational, and still a welcome departure from whatever we would call a typical day. And so, I found myself quite happy to be on one a couple of weeks ago. A colleague of mine and I took a trip to the Center for Hard to Recycle Materials, located just southwest of Zoo Atlanta. It sits on a nondescript piece of property, dotted with an odd assortment of tents, trailers, and variously sized bins. While it may not look like much, this diamond-in-the-rough nonprofit organization offers tremendous value to the City of Atlanta.

Fusarium oxysporum. I know, you didn’t think I’d hit you with Latin right out of the gate. No, that isn’t a spell from Harry Potter (though it should be). It’s a fungus species. More precisely, according to Wikipedia at least, it’s a genetically heterogeneous polytypic morphospecies. But since I don’t know what that means and don’t really want to find out, we will just go with a fungus species. Strains of this fungus are found in soils all over the world. They are often endophytes, meaning that they grow and live within plants. Typically, these fungi will latch onto the root structures of a plant. Sometimes that’s a helpful thing, as they have been found to offer disease protection to their plant hosts. For some strains though, these fungi are a little less helpful. Take, for instance, fusarium oxysporum f.sp. cubense.

It’s history lesson time in ye olde favorite environmental blog (probably not your favorite, but please let me live on in bliss). This time, I’m going to write more than you care about one of the most important industries on earth - steel. Trust me, this one is going to be a slag, I mean slog, so consider grabbing a drink at the (re)bar before settling in. As far as industries go, it’s a dirty one, so I’ll need to put some lipstick on this pig iron. Though you’ll feel like you’ve been through a crucible when I finish, I hope you’ll come out smarter. Okay, I need to stop with the puns if I want to keep my reputation stainless.