Kevin Danaher

Kevin Danaher is a co-founder and board member of Global Exchange, and  Outreach Program Manager at SF Environment.

June 5th is World Environment Day. To mark the occasion, Kevin Danaher shares his thoughts on a new type of economic enterprise that values the triple bottom line.

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Despite the bad news about the environment— depletion of clean air, water and soil, extreme weather events that damage infrastructure and kill people, the melting of glaciers and polar ice caps, rising oceans levels—we are seeing an encouraging cross-fertilization between the green economy and the digital economy.

We are witnessing the birth of a new type of economic enterprise—a triple-bottom-line model that puts social equity and environmental restoration on an equal footing with financial sustainability (profit). That economic model will steadily replace the old profit-centric model as the impacts of environmental destruction and inequality get impossible to ignore.

The new economic model sees sharing as the new buying, and Bay Area companies are leading the way. airbnb allows people to share living space. GetAround allows people to share their motor vehicles. LiquidSpace allows people to share workspaces. Everywhere you look, people are coming together to strengthen the local, resource-sharing economy.

This new economic model undermines the old myth that saving the environment will destroy jobs and slow economic growth. The data are showing us that the eco-enterprise model—making money by saving resources rather than destroying them—creates more and better jobs than the old model.

A study by the Pew Charitable Trust found that green jobs in the U.S. grew more than twice as fast as the overall job market between 1998 and 2007, and suffered fewer setbacks. The private sector has invested over $2.4 trillion in green companies and technologies since 2007, and the projection is for future investments of $1 trillion annually – an amount necessary to accelerate a global transition to sustainability.

This trend has been especially true in the San Francisco Bay Area. Last year the 415 area code pulled in $3 billion in new venture capital.

There is a straightforward supply-and-demand driver of these trends. As the natural resource base gets depleted, it becomes more profitable to conserve resources and develop renewable substitutes. A business that finds ways to make more profit healing nature than destroying it is bound to be successful.

There are buildings in San Francisco that are saving tens of thousands of dollars per year in operating costs due to changes promoted by the SF Department of Environment. We are proving that sustainability can be profitable.

And we Americans have a special responsibility to promote matriotism (love of Mother Earth), because we are less than 5 percent of the world’s population but we use 25 percent of the world’s resources and we produce more than 25 percent of the world’s pollution.

Green economy in action in Detroit Photo Credit: Samantha Frick

Matriotism involves creating a “solutionary” culture where people feel empowered to change the things in their neighborhood that need upgrading (planting more trees, promoting community farming, increasing the rate of composting and recycling). It means creating a culture of “sustainovation”: innovation that promotes sustainability.

Matriotism also requires that we learn how to become good ancestors. The masons who built the foundation layers of the cathedrals in Europe that took centuries to build knew that they would not see the final product of their work. But they also knew that they had to do very solid, precise work because of all the weight that would eventually rest on the foundations they were putting in place.

We are the modern equivalent of those masons. We are laying the foundations of a future sustainable global economy that will have no starving children, no clear-cut forests, no wars for oil, and no endangered species. The only questions revolve around how long that will take and how we will muster the courage to save humanity from itself.

And we already have a prime directive to guide us on this challenging journey, from the green architect, William McDonough: “How do we love all the children, of all species, for all time?”

Take Action!

Explore sustainability for yourself…Travel to Cuba with Global Exchange on the Sustainable Agriculture and Urban Gardens trip, or another one of the many sustainability-themed Reality Tours trips coming up.

From March 26 – June 22, 2012, you can tune in to Jane Goodall, Bill McKibben, Vandana Shiva, Van Jones, John Robbins, Hazel Henderson, Frances Moore Lappe’, John Perkins, Thom Hartmann, Aqeela Sherrills, Julia Butterfly Hill live on the phone or webcast or later on recorded replays. This is a one-time chance to participate in an event of truly global proportions – with tens of thousands of people like you committed to bringing forth a thriving new world!

Sound interesting? Download the flier (SoS Overview Flyer) and sign up for free!

On April 28, I’ll be co-hosting with Thom Hartmann, to focus on Thriving Communities. Join me to explore what it takes to create them, maintain them, principles and practices. We’ll have six hours of programming with:

• Vandana Shiva (author, international activist, India)
• Aaron Lehmer, Dave Room (principals, Bay Localize, San Francisco)
• Claude Lewenz (founder, Village Towns, New Zealand)
• Esperide Ananas (Damanhur Community, Italy)
• Charles Eisenstein (author, Sacred Economics)
• Manuel Herrera (local green politician, SF Bay Area)
• Michelle Long (BALLE – Business Alliance for Local Living Economies)
• Tina Clark (Transition Towns)
• Andres Edwards (author, The Sustainability Revolution)
• Michael Lewis (author, The Resilience Imperative; Canada)
• Sobonfu Somé (international educator, Burkina Faso)
• Carl Anthony and Paloma Pavel (Breakthrough Communities, California)
• Woody Tasch (Slow Money)

Produced by The Shift Network in partnership with the Sustainable World Coalition, the Spring of Sustainability is the world’s largest-ever sustainability events program. Sound interesting? Download the flier (SoS Overview Flyer) and sign up for free!

A new video by Annie Leonard addresses this issue in a powerful and convincing way. It’s called The Story of Broke: Why There’s Still Plenty of Money to Build a Better Future, and it’s out today, November 8th.

The evidence is mounting that the global economy has been allocating way too much capital to investments that destroy the environment. Every biological system on our planet is collapsing, largely due to the way we have been running the global economy, putting corporate profits ahead of saving natural resources.

Hundreds of species of plants and animals are being wiped out because we are destroying their habitats. Every year, billions of tons of the topsoil that grows our food is disappearing. We are rapidly destroying the forests that absorb carbon dioxide and produce the oxygen we need to breathe. The glaciers and polar ice caps are melting, which will raise ocean levels, threatening the very existence of major cities such as Miami and Houston.

Everywhere you look, severe weather events are Mother Nature’s way of telling us that we cannot continue on our current path.

Now the new online video by Annie Leonard, author of the popular video and book, The Story of Stuff, lays out a well-researched case for changing the way our society decides how to invest its wealth. Instead of investing in the military-industrial complex that pollutes the earth and does not produce enough jobs, this entertaining video explains how we could redeploy our money in ways that will lessen environmental destruction and reduce the growing inequality that is prompting protests all around the world.

The Story of Broke points out the contradictions between the response we get from our political leaders when we want better schools and environmental protection—“Sorry, there’s not enough money”—and the way they always seem to find money when it comes to waging war, subsidizing big corporations that move our jobs overseas, and bailing out financial institutions that gamble our money away.

The video makes a very strong case for shifting our capital away from the destructive “dinosaur economy” to the newly emerging green economy sectors that are developing renewable energy, green building, resource recovery, grassroots education, and environmental restoration.

As Jim Hightower says: “Capital is like cow manure, if you concentrate it in a big pile it stinks, but if you spread it out evenly it makes things grow.”

Watch the video teaser here:

Watch the full video here!

Photo Credit: pakupdate.com

A recent NewYork Times article about military drones had some ominous warnings about the technology getting out. Global Exchange Co-founder Kevin Danaher shares his thoughts on the subject.

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Military Drones are the Opposite of Nature’s Drones

A drone in nature is “a stingless male bee that has the role of mating with the queen and does not gather nectar or pollen.”

But the drones used by the US military are certainly not stingless and they do create nectar, but it is the bitter nectar of hatred and resentment when we kill innocent bystanders in so many of our drone attacks.

Within US society, who benefits from people around the world hating us? Could it be the military-industrial complex that President Dwight Eisenhower warned us against? An imperial power structure based on formal democracy must have a credible threat to justify spending so much taxpayer money on weapons that are ineffective against the real threats we face.

When Soviet communism collapsed, it created a huge problem for the U.S. military and the corporations that supply it with everything from guns and bombs to boots and socks.  As the USSR declined as a threat, US taxpayers started asking about a “peace dividend” that would switch military spending to dire social and environmental needs.

But along came the events of September 11, 2001 and, conveniently, a new threat was created. Even if you buy the official story, why would U.S. leaders hasten to define the incident as war instead of crime, and thus anoint the rag-tag Al Qaeda forces as an equal combatant with the world’s only superpower?

The greatest threat to the US military-industrial complex faces is not outside our borders; it is the minds of the American people. If enough people get out in the streets (does the word Occupy ring a bell?) we can demand a shift of resources away from death and destruction toward green jobs, better schools, no more home foreclosures, and affordable health care for all.

In addition to the money being wasted, the drones have another dangerous impact: the undermining of the US Constitution, this nation’s most precious document. The Obama administration and the Bush administration before it have executed US citizens in Yemen without any trial, based solely on the US government’s perception that these US citizens were a threat to US national security.

Last time we checked, it was not legal for the US government to execute US citizens without a trial. Is the empire so fragile now that it requires the sacrifice of our basic rights in order to suppress some “bad guys”?

And if all that is not bad enough, chew on this trajectory for the technological future of drones.  The Pentagon and private contractors are developing tiny remote-controlled drones, and these can be weaponized with explosives or disease agents. Can anyone be so naïve as to think that this technology will not eventually get into the hands of people who would fly a mass of hummingbird sized, weaponized drones into some corporate headquarters or the Pentagon?

Drones were developed as a response to the American people’s distaste for US soldiers dying abroad. Our leaders thought, “how can we run an empire when our people don’t want to spend their own blood?” And instead of heeding the wisdom of the masses, US leaders instead developed weapons that can be remotely controlled, thus lowering the US body count in foreign wars.

But these chickens will come home to roost, and we will rue the day we let the military-industrial complex define security in ways that make us LESS secure.

Explore More

• New York Times: “Coming Soon: The Drone Arms Race“
• CODE PINK: “Drone Expansion in the U.S.“

The Climate Reality Project emphasizes the power of the fossil fuel industry to skew the debate about climate change away from the facts—we are destroying the planet’s ability to support human life—and thus the only effective counter-balance will be mobilizing masses of well-informed citizens.

The project is correct in assuming that reality is our most powerful weapon. People need to grasp the intensity of the crisis confronting us. Major cities such as Miami and Houston will go under water—and that will happen even if we were to implement radical lifestyle changes right now.

The organizers of the Climate Reality Project understand that many people are vulnerable to the lies and distortions of the fossil fuel industry, so they are organizing a global educational event September 14 to get the basic facts of climate change out to the world while we still have some time to save humanity from itself.

Their promo material sums up the idea: “What can change in a day? Everything. On September 14, the world will focus its attention on the truth about the climate crisis. For 24 hours, we will all live in reality. Pick a faraway place or a city near you. Make it yours for one day. We’re hitting every time zone — but only once. 7 p.m. in your time zone. Choose a location and get involved.”

As Al Gore puts it: “24 Hours of Reality will focus the world’s attention on the full truth, scope, scale and impact of the climate crisis. To remove the doubt. Reveal the deniers. And catalyze urgency around an issue that affects every one of us.”

Please join Global Exchange and many other organizations in supporting this major global effort to wake people up to the climate challenge and what we can do about it.

Maybe you’re like me, and you’ve noticed more and more solar panels going up in your neighborhood. But also like me, it could be that the cost of installing solar has held you back – I know it can be a $20,000 investment, and that stops a lot of us, no matter how committed we are to alternative energy.

But now I’d like to share an easy, affordable and efficient way to go solar – Sungevity’s innovative Solar Lease Program.

Go solar today – with no money down, and no installation costs!

Global Exchange has teamed up with Sungevity, an innovative solar company, to encourage you to Go Solar, reduce impacts on the climate and support Global Exchange. When you go solar with Sungevity, Sungevity will donate $1,000 to Global Exchange! If you live in Arizona, California, Delaware, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Jersey, or New York, get in touch with Sungevity for a quote. And if you’re a renter, or you’ve already gone solar, tell your landlord, friends and family – you can help them go solar and earn $1,000 for Global Exchange.

That’s what we call a win-win-win:

• a win for you (you reduce your use of dirty energy);
• a win for the planet (reduce carbon emissions);
• a win for Global Exchange ($1,000 to support our work)!

It’s easy! This is all you have to do:

1. Go to www.sungevity.com/global-exchange for your “iQuote”. It’s free and you’ll receive your solar proposal within 24 hours.
2. Enter the referral code GLOBAL.

Join us in reducing our dependence on dirty energy and celebrating the Summer Solstice — Take Action and Go Solar Today!

Contact Anne Poirier at 415.575.5552 or email anne@globalexchange.org, if you have any questions. And just so you know – Anne already went solar with Sungevity, and she can give you the low down on her experience.

And have a great Summer Solstice!

They say time flies when you’re having fun. That certainly has been the case with the Green Festivals, a joint project of Global Exchange and Green America, with our partners at Seven Star Events.

As we go into our tenth year, these parties-with-a-purpose have now reached more than one million people, inspiring them with green/eco alternatives to the nature-destroying corporate model.

This year we are expanding to New York (April 21-22), and Los Angeles (October 29-30), so if you know people who we should be in touch with–either for our Host Committees or to speak or exhibit or volunteer at the events–please let us know. Our next Green Festival in San Francisco is happening November 12-13.

Our combination of green enterprise and radical education has struck a chord with the hippest people — those who are trying to be good ancestors by creating a sustainable economic model to ensure that our grandchildren will not inherit a burnt cinder of a planet.

The green economy is the only sector that tells people: “consume less, and consume consciously, instead of unconsciously.” We are not so naïve as to think that we can “buy our way to salvation.” But people do have a number of basic needs for food, clothing, shelter, health, and fun! And it is better to meet these needs by supporting enterprises run by people who share our values of social justice and environmental restoration.

Yes, there is green-washing out there. But consumers are increasingly hip to companies that cannot back up their green claims with tangible proof. And the great thing about Green Festival is that we use Green America’s standards for social and environmental responsibility to screen all of the exhibitors – so there is no green-washing at the Green Festivals.

Those of us promoting fair trade and the green economy understand that we possess a market advantage over the mainstream corporate products. Each product we sell is actually two products: the product itself and the story of who produced it – what company stands behind the product — and how it was produced. Whereas the model of the big corporations is to hide their impact on workers and the environment, the green companies treat workers, the environment their communities and their customers as stakeholders with them in creating a better future.

Plus, there is a simple supply-and-demand factor working in favor of the green economy. As natural resources get depleted, the profitability of saving resources and developing renewable substitutes goes up. So we are seeing a steady shift of capital, policy and jobs in a green direction. Sure, the system is not shifting as quickly as we would like it to, but it is shifting nonetheless.

Those of us who have a radical critique of capitalism as practiced by the transnational banks and corporations are in the best position to redefine enterprise in a triple-bottom-line direction. For 22 years now, my organization, Global Exchange, has pioneered the non-profit enterprise model, subordinating profits to social justice and environmental restoration. In developing this new model of enterprise there are two questions that must be answered correctly: (1) In the production of your goods and services did you exploit people or nature?, and (2) What do you do with the profits, put them into your own pocket or put them back into the education work?

The ten years of Green Festivals have given us a large network of green companies and tens of thousands of grassroots supporters. So now it is time to build on this network to create a permanent Green Festival–GreenMart, the first eco-mall convergence platform that will be one-stop shopping for the green economy. If you are interested in learning more about this new venture, don’t hesitate to contact me at 415-255-2341 or Kevin(at)globalexchange(dot)org. Looking forward to seeing you at Green Festival this year!

Our hearts go out to the people of Japan and all those affected by this tragedy.

Ways to Support Japan Relief Efforts:

1. Give to the Red Cross by texting REDCROSS 90999 and a $10 donation will be made.
2. Give to the Northern Japan Earthquake Relief Fund.
3. For a list of ways in which you can help, please visit the COLORLINES website.

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What important lessons can we learn now from this current nuclear disaster? In recent months, dialogue in the United States has favored nuclear power in the renewable energy debate, but if the growing crisis in Japan teaches us anything, it shows us the many risks associated with nuclear power.

The following ten points are adapted from Green Festival Reader by Kevin Danaher and Alisa Gravitz.

Ten Reasons to Oppose Nuclear Power

1. Accidents: As the situation in Japan demonstrates, natural events (e.g., earthquakes, tsunamis, hurricanes, tornadoes), which we have no control over, can create havoc due to the instability and toxic content of nuclear power plants.
2. Terrorism: Nuclear power plants are prime targets for terrorist organizations. Imagine if the hijacked planes on 9-11-2001 had crashed into nuclear power plants. The devastation would have been far worse than what actually happened and large areas of the eastern United States would be uninhabitable for decades, if not centuries.
3. Nuclear waste: Waste from nuclear power plants will be toxic for more than 100,000 years. The human race does not even have a language that has lasted that long, so how can we store those toxic wastes in a way that will be safe for that long, plus write messaging that will warn people away from those storage sites?
4. Proliferation: The U.S. government and U.S. companies have been complicit in allowing nuclear technology to spread to many parts of the world. The fissionable material used in power plants can be spread in ways that jeopardize people, property and the planet.
5. Costs: The costs of building nuclear power plants have skyrocketed over the years. What killed nuclear power in the United States was capitalism: it is simply not profitable without massive corporate welfare from the government. While solar, wind and other less dangerous forms of energy have been getting less expensive over the years, the cost of nuclear power keeps going up.
6. Corporate welfare: Private investors have not been willing to finance the construction of nuclear power plants. Nuclear power would not even exist were it not for billions of dollars of welfare payments from the federal government. The same politicians who oppose welfare for the poor and sick seem to have no problem shoveling our tax money into the coffers of powerful energy companies to support dangerous nuclear power plants.
7. Environmental impact: The most important natural resource we have is water, and it is being poisoned and depleted at an increasing rate. Nuclear power uses more water than any other form of power generation: nuclear power takes 40,000 gallons per megawatt whereas wind energy uses just 2,000 gallons. This resource cost will increase as the supply of clean water steadily declines and population increases.
8. Not enough sites: Nuclear power plants must be located near large supplies of water, so drought (a more common occurrence with climate change) can reduce their productivity or shut them down.
9. Not enough “clean” uranium: Uranium mining in the U.S. southwest is notorious for its damaging impact on Native American nations and the workers who mine the uranium. Plus, the recoverable supply of worldwide uranium—nuclear power’s fuel—is dwindling. Scientists have shown that if we tried to generate all of the world’s electricity with nuclear power, we would run out of uranium in ten years.
10. Not enough time: We must find less-polluting energy sources during the next decade if we want to avoid catastrophic climate chaos. Whereas distributed renewables (wind and solar) can be built quickly, nuclear power plants are notorious for taking long periods of time to finance and build.

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Once again, to support relief efforts in Japan:

1. Give to the Red Cross by texting REDCROSS 90999 and a $10 donation will be made.
2. Give to the Northern Japan Earthquake Relief Fund.
3. For a list of ways in which you can help, please visit the COLORLINES website.

If you know of other organizations not listed here that are doing great work to support relief efforts in Japan, please feel free to share links and information about them in the Comments section. Thank you.

This is Part 7 in an 8-Part “Giving Thanks” series, a Global Exchange exclusive highlighting individuals (chosen by Global Exchange staff members) who are contributing to our social justice work in some way. This series will culminate with a “Giving Thanks” video to be launched right here on Wednesday, November 24th. So please join us in recognizing those special individuals who are helping to make this world a better place.

Global Exchange proudly honored Van Jones earlier this year as the Domestic Honoree during our annual Human Rights Awards. Here Global Exchange and Green Festivals Co-Founder Kevin Danaher takes the opportunity to personally thank Van for his contributions to the green movement:

I am thankful that I have been lucky enough to know Van Jones —as a mentor, colleague and friend—because Van has done SO MUCH to combine the struggle against inequality with the environmental struggle to create a nature friendly economy model. If we had a few thousand Solutionaries like Van, the transition to sustainability would have already taken place.

Van Jones and Kevin Danaher at Global Exchange 2010 Human Rights Awards gala.

Van Jones has been a pioneer in many areas. He was one of the first courageous leaders to call attention to police violence in poor neighborhoods, and he connected it to the violence of US foreign policy in many parts of the world. He has been one of the most articulate spokespeople linking the need for jobs in the inner city with the need to save our environment from the destructive effects of profit-oriented policies.

His path-breaking book The Green Collar Economy: How One Solution Can Fix Our Two Biggest Problems —the first by an African-American environmentalist to make the New York Times Best Seller list—made irrefutable arguments for linking green job creation with the need for more racial equality in our society. While a member of the Obama White House Van pushed the bureaucracies to put more money into green job creation. And now he continues that work, inspiring action for social justice everywhere he goes.

Thank You Van Jones!

If you want to keep up to date about Van and Kevin, here’s how:

Follow Van Jones on Twitter and Facebook.

Follow Kevin Danaher on Twitter and Facebook.

Who are YOU thankful for? Add your own thank you message in the Comments section to recognize someone you think is doing great social justice work. And if you feel so inspired, Retweet and Share this post to help spread the recognition all of our ‘Thankees’ deserve. Thank YOU.

This project could forge a diverse global coalition to press for the transformation of hundreds of U.S. military bases overseas into eco-development centers for launching the global green economy from the grassroots.

The world is facing two interlinked crises: militarism and global destruction of the environment. They are obviously related, in that the U.S. military is probably the most egregious polluter and waster of resources on the planet, and the Pentagon functions to protect the dominant role of transnational corporations, which are notorious violators of human rights and environmental justice principles. This project will seek to unify the peace movement and the green movement by working together on a visionary campaign that simultaneously addresses the environmental crisis and the need for the United States to make a transition from being an empire to being just one nation in a community of nations.

The more than 800 U.S. military bases around the world are part of an old model of domination, militarism, and environmental contamination. Instead of protecting the United States, these bases have made us the target of animosity and attacks from groups opposed to the U.S. presence on their soil. These bases represent institutional inertia rather than serving any real national security interest of the American people. Quite the contrary: by inserting thousands of young, poorly educated yet well-armed American males into foreign cultures they know little about, we are generating hostility and resentment that fuels the passions of those who would do us harm.

This project has an important national security component, given the fact that the force structure of the U.S. military is not appropriate for the current threats we face as a nation. The force structure and strategic doctrine of the U.S. military were forged over 60 years of preparing for a land war with Soviet tank armies on the steppes of Eastern Europe. Now the threat is a highly  motivated individual with a suitcase bomb containing radioactive material. The struggle against this type of zealotry cannot be won with tanks and bombs, it is a war for hearts and minds, and that war can be won with eco-development on a grand scale.

This campaign will call for handing U.S. bases back to their respective national governments, with the U.S. government and civil society institutions undertaking a clean-up campaign during the transition in ownership.  Through grassroots networks and donations from local citizens, the local governments will be encouraged to transform these bases into educational and experimental clean-tech centers promoting green practices that will help us address the environmental crisis, while generating good green jobs and eco-entrepreneurship.

The conversion of these bases into models of eco-development would be beneficial to the United States in many ways:

• it would help transform the U.S. from a dominating empire into a global partner, thereby making us more appreciated and less of a target for terrorist attacks;
• it would save the U.S. billions of dollars now being wasted on maintaining this global network of bases;
• by helping countries develop more sustainable practices and cutting-edge green technology, it will have a positive impact on the planet we all share.

Objectives

All empires collapse. The challenge before us is this: can we create a soft landing for the U.S. empire by transforming our military bases around the world into platforms for accelerating the transition to the next economy: the green economy.