Panelists including Benjamin Goldhirsh, left, and Ric Erdheim examine the business and environmental opportunities in recycling electronic waste.
"E-waste is the fastest-growing solid-waste treatment in the world," said John Shegerian of Electronic Recyclers, who opened the panel discussion of the confluence of consumables and green consciousness. Green is cool, green is hip, he said, but he challenged the panelists to explore whether that green vision is really creating the desired outcomes.
Ric Erdheim of Phillips Electronics, dubbed by Shegerian "Mr. e-Waste," reflected on the view from the manufacturers' side.
"Manufacturers understand that green sells," and they're moving in that direction, he said; and their move is spilling over into the policy realm. To illustrate this, he pointed to the example of incandescent bulbs.
On Dec. 6, 2006, Erdheim explained, if you'd asked any politician whether the United States should ban incandescent bulbs, you'd be laughed out of the room. On Dec. 7, the president of Phillips called for the phasing out of incandescents in favor of compact fluorescent bulbs, which are significantly more energy-efficient. Now there is legislation on the horizon to make green policies official. In California, much of this groundbreaking legislation has already been passed.
Erdheim believes, however, that these successes are not being touted enthusiastically to other states And Rubin Aronin of Global Green USA reminded that audience that while California has been a leader in the path of effecting good policy, the United States still uses a quarter of the world's resources. Nor does he see consumer demand changing.
The change that is coming is one of design,he noted; producers are thinking more about "cradle-to-cradle design," making their products easier to dismantle and recycle. With this comes the necessity of educating the public on how to choose products wisely, making recyclable purchases part of the consumer process.
Deeply involved in educating consumers and influencing the image of "green" were Benjamin Goldhirsh, publisher of Good magazine, and Becky Morgan of the UK-based Global Cool. Goldhirsh said that his generation is not interested in sacrificing their interests; in fact, he wants to see consumer demand grow, to make companies agree that "going green" is pragmatic and profitable. He suggested that rather than telling people what they should be doing to be better people, green educators should provide them with the opportunity to think for themselves. Good magazine profiles people who are being green and making a difference, he said, with the idea that the public will want to emulate them and think about ways to incorporate green strategies in their own lives. Morgan agreed, saying Global Cool is about making the shift from being green because you feel guilty to making lifestyle changes because they're cool and you want to.
Shegerian pointed to a recent poll in Iowa, in which a third of respondents felt that the biggest political issue is the environment. This is partly because they have control over it, as opposed to the lack of power they had in the response to Katrina or the Iraq war. People know they can help solve this problem through modifications in their behavior, and that being a part of moving things forward is, in the words of Goldhirsh, "part of living a valuable and relevant life."
The question remains, though, how active a role governments should take, and whether they should emphasize incentives or punishments. Erdheim emphasized that governments should take both tacks, but that they need to keep up to date on the state of the electronic world. Many lawmakers, he said, do not realize that this is a "post-environmentalism world," that the economy is not what it was 15 years ago and that the situation is changing rapidly.
Aronin added that policies California and the European Union could help drive best practices for manufacturers and others. He said that it's not rational to believe that the majority of companies will take change their behaviors independent of regulation. Morgan agreed that government response is crucial, saying it's really only in North America that the government is not taking action.
Nevertheless, all the panelists stressed that getting the public involved in demanding eco-friendly services and products is the bottom line. Morgan said it's an issue of personal empowerment. As soon as voters care, that becomes the impetus you need on the policy side. "We finally 'get' that this is a crisis," said Aronin, and the trick is to find actionable items and overcome cynicism about the potential for change. As Goldhirsh pointed out, "When the stakes are this high, being cynical moves from being acceptable to becoming absurd."
The bottom line, he said, is that environmentalism must become a critical component of "what's sweet." Whether it's turning the AC off, taking the TV off "standby," buying locally grown food, not buying imported bottled water, these are achievable shifts in personal perception and action. The only thing keeping us from the good life, he concluded, is our own inertia.
Global Conference 2013
Former Prime Minister Tony Blair, philanthropist Bill Gates and Strive Masiyiwa of Econet Wireless discuss advancing prosperity in Africa.
