Andrew Campbell, a member of the U.S. Sailing Team and Patagoniac, raises a great point on Patagonia's blog:

As much as we like to brag about its clean and quiet demeanor, the sport of sailboat racing – from Olympic sailing to the America’s Cup to local one-design racing  – has a massive impact on the environment because of the resources we use to get ourselves and our craft to race locations around the world.

Having just returned from a 1737 mile road trip to Oregon–to spend a week with friends and race my bike for a little over an hour–I, too, question the impact of traveling to compete. Is the fact that Wyoming has no time trial championships reason enough for me to set off to compete in championship events in Utah, Idaho, Oregon and Montana?

Of course, my pursuit of excellence isn't quite up to the level of Andrew's, but I am serious about my racing and training, and I do crave the competitive outlet. I've done everything I can to reduce and/or offset my carbon footprint this year (except buy a new vehicle), but I still feel a little bit guilty about the road trips.

I wonder: just where on the scale of priorities will our recreational extravagances fall in the future?

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Two stories in today's Washington Post caught my eye. Both pieces raised my ire.

1. the first detailed the vandalism of a Hummer in a suburban DC neighborhood
2. the second confirmed what we knew all along–many of our VP's energy task force meetings were clandestine

There is no excuse for the kind of vandalism-in-the-name-of-the-environment that took place in Northwest Washington. Nor is there a moral basis or justification for Cheney's modus operandi. Neither instance is going to help us all find the middle ground so necessary to solving the issue of global warming.

Extremism at both ends of the global warming spectrum is counter-productive. Can't we all play fair, roll up our sleeves and get to work? What is it going to take?

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OK folks, it's time for me to admit that I've totally lost the plot here at the Carbon Neutral Journal. With a total of just eight posts for the year, how can I even call myself a blogger?

After a year of daily posts, driven by a weekly schedule of topics, I thought I could just dial things back a bit, yet continue to blog about all things Carbon Neutral in a relevant and somewhat timely fashion.

Instead, I find myself up to my eyeballs in two new carbon neutral related ventures. I hope you'll find them of interest, and will allow me the time and space to fully develop these new ventures at the expense of this journal. That's not to say that I'm completely giving up on the Carbon Neutral Journal, just redistributing the workload a bit to do justice to a couple of new and exciting projects.

The first is a partnership with a longtime friend and colleague, Lee Barrett. It's called Eco-Logistics.biz, and is an outgrowth of an opportunity I first wrote about in the Journal back in August in a post titled greening Las  Vegas. As I said:

two old friends from the running world produce an annual conference for race directors–they've asked me to help them come up with an agenda for a one-day conference on "greening" running races.

That conference, titled How Green is Your Event? is scheduled for April 5th in Arlington, Virginia.

Since that first post linking participant sporting events with environmental responsibility, I've written a number of related posts. From at least we carpooled to prioritizing play to carbon free surfing to sports and the environment, I've considered the impacts of a variety of sporting events on the environment and the rise in greenhouse gases.

My conclusion: the status quo for today's participant sporting events is shockingly wasteful. Duh!

So Lee and I are going to try and do something about that by offering our expertise (mine in sports marketing, event management and public relations, and Lee's in event management and solid waste management) to event directors who want to make a difference. Stay tuned to our progress by subscribing to the RSS feed at Eco-Logistics.biz.

The second effort that's been taking a lot of my time is called the Teton Area 10 x 10 project. It's inspired by the Town of Jackson's and Teton County's 10 x 10 effort, which I've written about on numerous occasions. The goal of the Teton Area 10 x 10 effort is have participating households and businesses commit to reduce their energy use by at least 10 % by 2010. We've got a Web site in the works and plans to roll out this initiative later in the spring. Until the Teton Area 10 x 10 Web site is up and running, I'll be posting updates here in the journal.

So, you see, I haven't just been slacking off the past few months. I'm just as excited about both of these new ventures  as I was when I committed to blogging about carbon neutrality every day in 2007.

Good things are in the works. I hope you'll stay tuned.

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My friend Bert just submitted a comment to the August 7th post about prioritizing play. In it, he suggests:

It might be time to organize a Wyoming time trial championship.

As I left home yesterday afternoon for a 400-mile round trip to Bozeman, Montana for yet another race, the same thought crossed my mind. I'm not sure, however, if organizing a race in Jackson Hole (or anywhere else in Wyoming, for that matter) would actually help reduce green house gas emissions? Given the minimal and very spread out population of Wyoming, folks would have to travel from afar to support any Wyoming state championship.

I will give it some thought, however, as I continue to pile on the miles.

Bleak as my driving stats may be–remember, my goal is 10% fewer miles driven this year–there's great news on the energy saving front! Our most recent monthly bill from Lower Valley Energy indicates a 47% reduction in use for the June/July time period as compared to a year ago.

As you can see in the table below, our year-to-date electrical use is still up about 8%, however, our year-to-date use of natural gas is down a whopping 58%. In total, our energy use is down 9.6% … right on track for a 10% reduction for the year.

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I received my first issue of GREENTIPS the other day (it's a monthly e-newsletter from the Union of Concerned Scientists). This month's topic is Ensuring a Strong Future for Forests.

As they say:

Forests provide habitat for more than half of all species living on land, help filter pollutants out of the air and water, and prevent soil erosion. They also play a major role in regulating global temperatures by absorbing heat-trapping carbon dioxide from the atmosphere and storing it in their cell walls. Unfortunately, the global benefits provided by trees are threatened by deforestation…

The best way to reduce emissions from tropical deforestation is to help ensure these trees are not cut down in the first place. Your purchasing decisions can play a role in this effort:

Wood: When buying wood products, look for labels that indicate the wood comes from sustainably managed forests…For home improvement projects, you can avoid new wood products altogether by using reclaimed wood for floors and wood-free materials (such as composite resin boards) for decks or play areas.

Coffee: Make your daily cup o’ joe using shade-grown coffee beans, which are grown under a forest canopy.

Paper: You can support forest-friendly paper by buying paper made from sustainably harvested timber, a high percentage of post-consumer recycled content, or wood-free fibers such as kenaf.

Their point of view on planting trees?

Planting trees, while not a substitute for stopping deforestation, can provide important climate benefits, especially in urban areas. In addition to absorbing carbon from the atmosphere, trees cool the air by providing shade and transpiring water from their leaves, which help reduce air conditioner use (and subsequent emissions from electricity production) during the summer months.

Now that I've got the first issue of GREENTIPS under my belt, it's time to go back through the archives for more tips.

Stay tuned.

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Al Gore sent me an email appeal yesterday, and I can't imagine I was the only one on his mailing list.

The appeal: to sign a petition calling on the U.S. government to assume a new leadership role in solving the climate crisis.

The plan: in eight days, Al will address the UN Conference on Climate Change in Bali to urge the adoption of a visionary new treaty to address global warming — he wants to deliver a petition with millions of signatures to the conference delegates.

The message: the American people want a visionary treaty to address climate change and for the U.S. government to play a positive leadership role in its development.

I did what Al asked — twice: I signed the petition, and I'm urging you to do so as well.

THANKS!

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My friend Steve, who publishes the Children and Nature Journal, suggested I might want to rant about a new book titled The Sky's Not Falling! Why it's OK to chill about global warming.

I haven't read Ms. Fretwell's book and don't plan to. The following blurb was enough to tell me that the author is in deep denial:

While riding a bike saves energy and is a great exercise, it gives you less time to do other things, like sports or homework. We drive our car because it gets us to work and play faster.

She may be in denial, but she's right.

We drive our car because:

• McDonald's, Pizza Hut, the local Java Shack and all Jackon banks  have drive-up windows
• the bus stop is two blocks away and the bus only runs every 15 minutes
• there will be plenty of parking in the new parking garage downtown
• how else are you supposed to get the case of bottled water to soccer practice?
• who in their right mind would spend tens of thousands of dollars on a status symbol and leave it parked in their garage?
• why spend all that money on a heated driveway if you're not going to take the SUV out for a spin?
• bottom line: were just plain lazy.

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