November 13, 2007

Climate of Hope: U.S.-India Connection

On Tuesday, November 13th, in partnership with the Worldwatch Institute and Malini Mehra, founder of the Centre for Social Markets, The 11th Hour Project hosted a Symposium that highlighted the growing cooperation between the U.S. and India on climate change and the need to work together as international efforts towards a Global Deal on climate escalate over the next two years.  Bringing together leaders in business, government, and civil society, this event spurred the rising leadership of India and the United States on clean energy, and explored the economic advantages to be gained from pro-active climate change strategies in both nations.

November 2-5, 2007

Powershift 2007

11th Hour is proud to be a sponsor of Powershift 2007, a gathering of youth from across the country in Washington, DC.  They hope to change the climate on global warming in the United States and create a shift in the fight for a clean and just energy future.  Read more here

September 12-13, 2007

UC Berkeley: Meeting of the Minds

The Meeting of the Minds Conference -- jointly convened by Toyota, the UC Berkeley College of Environmental Design, LandDesign, and Urban Age Institute --  brought two worlds together around one common goal: designing more sustainable post-carbon cities while creating more sustainable vehicles. This Conference provided a unique platform for leading automotive technologists/engineers, who focus on designing cars and buses, to share their future visions with leading urban planners and designers, who focus on the built environments which house more than half of humanity.  The 11th Hour Project hosted a dinner reception for conference attendees.  Go to conference site.

July 2007

Spotlight: Green is the New Red White and Blue

A follow-up to the 2006 Spotlight on Global Warming, in 2007 Interfaith Power and Light offered Green is the New Red White and Blue. In this documentary Thomas Friedman explores various and not-so-green technologies--hydroelectric, solar, wind, and nuclear power, hybrid, electric, and hydrogen-fuel-cell cars, clean-coal, bio-fuels, and energy-conservation methods. He looks at what works to reduce the output of greenhouse gases, carbon emissions and ultimately stop global warming and ensure political stability throughout the world.  The 11th Hour Project proudly assisted The Regeneration Project with this initiative.  To find out more, visit their website.

May 21, 2007

Religious Leaders Summit, Grace Cathedral

A small group of the nation’s highest-ranking religious leaders convened in San Francisco to learn more about the science of global warming. Led by Rev. Sally Bingham of The Regeneration Project, this marked the first time an interfaith group like this has assembled for such a meeting. Dr. Stephen Schneider from Stanford University presentated the latest IPCC findings in the morning and in the afternoon, the leaders discussed how they can best convey the message to their constituencies. An invitation-only dinner for the guests occurred the evening before, April 13, and featured a visionary presentation by Bill McDonough, world renowned designer and architect.  As a result of the groundbreaking summit, a petition was delivered to Washington signed by the interfaith group.  Read the petition and sign on.

May 7-8, 2007

Cornell Global Labor Institute

Changes in the way we produce and use energy need a major overhaul — starting now.  Will labor be involved in making key decisions about this overhaul or be on the sidelines? By taking on the fight for environmental sanity, unions will open up new avenues for organizing, grow the labor movement, and be able to forge powerful alliances.  The 11th Hour Project is proud to be a sponsor of this forward-looking event.  See more here.

March 1-2, 2007

Energy Crossroads, Stanford University

Energy Crossroads was organized by a consortium of student leaders committed to learning the latest about global warming mitigation strategies. Former Director of the CIA R. James Woolsey opened the conference at on Thursday, followed by a discussion featuring Steven Chu, Director of LBNL, Ralph Cavanagh of NRDC, and John Denniston of KPCB venture capital. Thomas Friedman gave the keynote address at 1 p.m. on March 2 to a packed Memorial Auditorium. 11th Hour Project hosted an invitation-only dinner to close the conference on March 2, featuring a presentation by Dr. Stephen Pacala of Princeton University.

October 1, 2006

Spotlight on Global Warming

11th Hour Project and The Regeneration Project distributed 4,000 DVD copies of "An Inconvenient Truth" to churches, synagogues and mosques around the country. Each screening was provided with a kit to encourage discussion and individual packets of educational materials for each participant. 

May 6, 2006

Vinod Koshla & Daniel Kammen, The Village Pub

The 11th Hour Project brought Vinod Koshla and Daniel Kammen together to speak to alternative energy ideas, including biofuels and electric vehicles.

January 29, 2006

Energy Action Week, Campus Climate Challenge

The 11th Hour Project helped to distribute over 500 copies of “An Inconvenient Truth” to college campuses the week of January 29th, 2006. Colleges can still participate in the Challenge by registering at www.campusclimatechallenge.org.

December 5, 2005

Al Gore, Stanford University

At this inaugural event, The 11th Hour Project brought Al Gore to Stanford University to present his famous "slide show" presentation on the facts about climate change.  This event sparked many of the sustainability initiatives that exist today in Silicon Valley as well as the birth of The 11th Hour Project.

Flex Your Power

Flex Your Power is California’s statewide energy efficiency marketing and outreach campaign. Initiated in 2001, Flex Your Power is a partnership of California’s utilities, residents, businesses, institutions, government agencies and nonprofit organizations working to save energy. Flex Your Power is an integral component of California’s strategy to decouple utilities’ energy sales from profits and adding incentives for energy efficiency. See more »

RealClimate.org

The definitive source online for a discussion of the latest facts on climate change. RealClimate is a commentary site by working climate scientists for the interested public and journalists. Its aim is to provide a quick response to developing stories and provide the context sometimes missing in mainstream commentary. An excellent tool in combating disinformation. See more »

Lives per Gallon: The True Cost of Our Oil Addiction, by Terry Tamminen

This book reads like a mystery novel but weaves together a compelling mountain of facts that illustrate what President Bush has referred to as America's "addiction to oil." More importantly, this book identifies a number of solutions to move us away from our dependence on oil. Reasonable people will disagree about what are the best solutions to our addiction, but Tamminen's book offers a menu of tools that can begin the discussion. Order the book »

Big Coal, by Jeff Goodell

Veteran journalist Jeff Goodell considers the latest energy idea that in coal lies America's energy future, providing an analysis of its supposed revival, the myth of cheap coal energy, and the history of coal's involvement in business, politics and resources throughout American activities. Chapters provide eye-opening insights on coal's lasting impact and importance - and why it holds troubling environmental concerns today.  Hear Jeff discuss his book on NPR here.  Order the book »

The Creation, by Edward O. Wilson

Famed entomologist, humanist thinker, and cogent writer Wilson issues a forthright call for unity between religion and science in order to save the "creation," or living nature, which is in "deep trouble." Addressing his commonsensical yet ardent discourse to "Dear Pastor," he asks why religious leaders haven't made protecting the creation part of their mission. Forget about life's origins, Wilson suggests, and focus on the fact that while nature achieves "sustainability through complexity," human activities are driving myriad species into extinction, thus depleting the biosphere and jeopardizing civilization. Wilson celebrates individual species, each a "masterpiece of biology," and acutely analyzes the nexus between nature and the human psyche. In the book's frankest passages, he neatly refutes fantasies about humanity's ability to re-create nature's intricate web, and deplores the use of religious belief (God will take care of it) as an impediment to conservation. Wilson's eloquent defense of nature, insights into our resistance to environmental preservation, and praise of scientific inquiry coalesce in a blueprint for a renaissance in biology reminiscent of the technological advances engendered by the space race. Order the book>> See more »

World Without Us, by Alan Weisman

In The World Without Us, Alan Weisman offers an utterly original approach to questions of humanity's impact on the planet: he asks us to envision our Earth, without us.

In this far-reaching narrative, Weisman explains how our massive infrastructure would collapse and finally vanish without human presence; what of our everyday stuff may become immortalized as fossils; how copper pipes and wiring would be crushed into mere seams of reddish rock; why some of our earliest buildings might be the last architecture left; and how plastic, bronze sculpture, radio waves, and some man-made molecules may be our most lasting gifts to the universe. See more »

An Inconvenient Truth

A well-done, thought-provoking documentary buoyed with facts and expressed with warmth. Al Gore handles the issues surrounding changes in the environment without being either an alarmist or glib, leaving us with the impression that although global warming is critical, there is still hope. We loved it so much, we distributed over 55,000 copies to various groups ranging from Catholic nuns to prison inmates, and everyone in between. A must-see film. Order the movie »

Blessed Unrest, by Paul Hawken

Blessed Unrest explores the diversity of the movement, its brilliant ideas, innovative strategies, and hidden history, which date back many centuries. A culmination of Hawken's many years of leadership in the environmental and social justice fields, it will inspire and delight any and all who despair of the world's fate, and its conclusions will surprise even those within the movement itself. Fundamentally, it is a description of humanity's collective genius, and the unstoppable movement to reimagine our relationship to the environment and one another. See more »

Felix Kramer

Felix Kramer tirelessly pushes the idea of plug-in hybrids as the only future for the transportation industry. In April 2006 he became the world's first non-technical consumer owner of a plug-in hybrid.  His op-ed entitled, "Kyoto and Beyond" can be read here. See more »

Wangari Maathai

Wangari Maathai founded the Green Belt movement in Kenya in 1977, which has planted more than 10 million trees to prevent soil erosion and provide firewood for cooking fires. A 1989 United Nations report noted that only 9 trees were being replanted in Africa for every 100 that were cut down, causing serious problems with deforestation: soil runoff, water pollution, difficulty finding firewood, lack of animal nutrition, etc.

The program has been carried out primarily by women in the villages of Kenya, who through protecting their environment and through the paid employment for planting the trees are able to better care for their children and their children's future. Wangari Maathai's leadership earned her the Nobel Peace Prize in 2004. Upon receiving the award, Wangari reflected "It is evident that many wars are fought over resources which are now becoming increasingly scarce. If we conserved our resources better, fighting over them would not then occur...so , protecting the global environment is directly related to securing peace...those of us who understand the complex concept of the environment have the burden to act. We must not tire, we must not give up, we must persist." See more »

Amory Lovins

Physicist Amory Lovins is cofounder, Chairman, and Chief Scientist of Rocky Mountain Institute . Published in 29 books and hundreds of papers, his work has been recognized by the "Alternative Nobel," Onassis, Nissan, Shingo, and Mitchell Prizes, a MacArthur Fellowship, the Benjamin Franklin and Happold Medals, nine honorary doctorates, honorary membership of the American Institute of Architects, and the Heinz, Lindbergh, Jean Meyer, World Technology, and Time "Hero for the Planet " Awards. He advises governments and major firms worldwide on advanced energy and resource efficiency, and has led the technical redesign of $30 billion worth of facilities in 29 sectors to achieve very large energy savings at typically lower capital cost. See more »

William McDonough

William McDonough is a world-renowned architect and designer and winner of three U.S. presidential awards: the Presidential Award for Sustainable Development (1996), the National Design Award (2004); and the Presidential Green Chemistry Challenge Award (2003). Time magazine recognized him as a "Hero for the Planet" in 1999, stating that "his utopianism is grounded in a unified philosophy that - in demonstrable and practical ways - is changing the design of the world."

Mr. McDonough has been a leader in the sustainable development movement since its inception. He designed and built the first solar-heated house in Ireland in 1977 while still a student at Yale University and designed the first "green office" in the U.S. for the Environmental Defense Fund in 1985. Mr. McDonough was commissioned in 1991 by the City of Hannover to write The Hannover Principles: Design for Sustainability, the official design guidelines for the 2000 World's Fair, which the City presented to the 1992 U.N. Earth Summit in Brazil. He and German chemist Dr. Michael Braungart co-authored Cradle to Cradle: Remaking the Way We Make Things (North Point Press, 2002), which has now been published in German, Italian, Spanish, Chinese, and Korean translations. The two were also the subject of a 2001 documentary video, The Next Industrial Revolution, from Earthome Productions. See more »

Find Solar

FindSolar.com's mission is to serve as a convenient, user-friendly means for home and small commercial building owners to make preliminary evaluations of solar energy options for their location, and to help find qualified professionals who can design, install and service solar energy systems.  Get your solar estimate here.

Cradle2Cradle Certified Materials

Products certified by MBDC’s Cradle2Cradle product regimen lend themselves to easy repair, disassembly, and recycling. For example, certified office chairs from Herman Miller and Steelcase can be easily taken apart, sorted into their constituent parts, and recycled at the end of their useful lives. Bill McDonough created the Cradle2Cradle certification, which means using environmentally safe and healthy materials; design for material reutilization, such as recycling or composting; the use of renewable energy and energy efficiency; efficient use of water, and maximum water quality associated with production; and instituting strategies for social responsibility. See more products »