Women’s Role in the Clean Energy Economy

I have attended many Clean Tech conferences in the southwest over the last six months. Frankly, I wish I saw more women in the room. So this post on EcoAid’s website really resonated with me, so I am sharing it with you. It’s a juicy topic. Please join in on the conversation by leaving your comments below. And if you are a woman working in clean tech now, what do you know now that you didn’t know before that could help other women wanting to enter the clean energy sector? — Carolyn

Women across the nation are preparing to play an integral role in the green economy, and the United States will need their help if we’re going to pull ourselves out of the recession and compete in the new economy on a global scale. CAP’s Jorge Madrid has the story in this repost.

It’s true that men have been hit the hardest in the recession as far an unemployment numbers go, but we will need to seize the opportunity to diversify the future workforce in a way that will incorporate all workers in all areas of the clean energy economy—including those where women have been traditionally underrepresented.

Women in Burlington, Vermont are training for careers in the fields of green construction, renewable energy, and energy efficiency as part of the Vermont Works for Women project. Women Going Green in Atlanta, Georgia is educating women in management and entrepreneurial opportunities in the clean energy economy. And young women in Los Angeles, California are receiving science, technology, engineering, and math education through the Infrastructure Academy, which will prepare them for high-paying, high-demand careers developing the next generation of clean energy technology.

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This 4th of July, skip the hot dog

This 4th of July, we Americans will consume 150 million hot dogs, “enough to stretch from DC to LA over five times,” says the National Hot Dog & Sausage Council. Yikes! An estimated 100 billion gallons of water and 70 million gallons of gas would be saved if everyone in the US just ate vegetarian for just one day. One day. So skip the pork and pile up the potato salad instead. For more eco tips on how to make this Independence Day lighter on the planet, and your palate, check out Huff Post’s Green July 4th.

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Is compassion the key to a truly greener world? An intelligent conversation with Dr. Renee Lertzman – Show 46

We know plastic water bottles are overwhelming our landfills and severely clogging mother earth’s pores, yet we mindlessly grab a bottle when offered. We know pesticide-free apples are way better for us, but still we eat the heavily sprayed ones. Here’s the dilemma: We say want green products and healthy foods, but we don’t back up our words with actions. The very actions, Renee Lertzman says, “…we know from an ecological, economic, political and spiritual standpoint would do us all a lot of good.” So what’s holding us back? Why are we talking the talk, but not walking the walk?

Renee has some answers. She’s a writer, researcher and communications consultant focusing specifically on the psychological dimensions of sustainability. Her article “The Myth of Apathy” laid out some concrete truths and insights into this dilemma, so I invited her on Women Of Green to share those with me. What I uncovered is a fresh, new perspective on what it means to be green and how to engage the mainstream consumer in really caring about the environment. A very cool interview so listen in!

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Where the women aren’t.

According to Businessweek, today, 29 companies in the S&P 500, or 9.4 percent, have no women on the board or among the five highest-paid executives. Among these are Discovery Communications, the co-owner of the Oprah Winfrey Network, and America’s largest maker of uniforms, Cintas.

Oprah’s audience is overwhelmingly women. What is wrong with this picture? Unfortunately, this is common across the board. Women hold less than 15% of leadership positions in Corporate America and politics. We need to seriously make a change. With the state of the world — from toxins in our food, to oil spills poisoning our marine life, to the threat of more nuclear disasters, we need women’s voice at the table more than ever. What are you willing to do to make that happen?

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The top 3 pesticide-laden produce you want to know about

The Environmental Working Group just released their 2011 Shopper’s Guide for pesticides in produce. Here are the top three offenders:

#1 Apples. An apple a day keeps the doctor away? Not if 98% of conventional apples have pesticides. Sad but true.

#2 Celery. Don’t crunch this for lunch. Celery tested positive for 57 different pesticides.

#3 Strawberries. Some of these lovely, juicy red berries have as many as 13 pesticides.

To see their whole list and get their guide, go to Environmental Working Group. They are your friend.

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If fish are eating plastic, so are you

According to a study published in the Marine Pollution Bulletin, about 35% of the fish collected on a recent research expedition had plastic in their stomachs. And even more alarming, while researchers expected to find that fish had consumed a few pieces of the denuded plastic––possibly one or two–– what they actually found was much worse. Researchers found that many of the hundreds of lanternfish that were collected and dissected for the study contained around 80 individual pieces of ocean plastic in their bellies.

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Drill baby drill? Not for US Military

A new report from the clean tech research firm Pike Research confirms a trend that has been percolating along mainly under the radar: the U.S. Department of Defense is gung ho for clean energy. In an interesting twist, Pike states that “increased access to clean and reliable energy has become a leading priority for the U.S. Department of Defense.” By stressing the reliability of clean energy, rather than focusing on the renewable aspect, Pike effectively steamrolls over any further discussion of whether or not the U.S. should continue to promote oil drilling, at least not for national defense purposes.

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Become a Compost Queen

Hot composting, cold composting, worm composting, grub composting? Here’s a quick and easy slide show that breaks it down for you whether you are a Compost Aficionado or just starting out.

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Avon meets solar energy. Here come the solar sisters!

“Solar is the most distributed energy source we have. The same sun shines down on everyone. And with advances in technology, it is available and affordable. Especially in sub-Saharan Africa, where only 5% of the rural population has access to electricity, solar is the perfect energy source as it takes advantage of their most abundant resource, the hot African sun,” says Katherine Lucey, Founder & CEO, Solar Sister.

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Our Accidental Community

I live in an idyllic valley just 45 minutes drive north of Auckland, the largest city in New Zealand. These six acres I call home has been my turangawaewae or standing place for 25 years. The first time I walked the land, I knew I belonged here. It was mostly pasture with a scraggly bit of remnant native forest that sheltered the sheep and cattle that grazed here. North facing, it is surrounded by huge hills covered with native trees. My then husband and I had no doubts. We rang the agent and put in a bid. From a piece of bare land it has grown to be a tree covered oasis, a place of healing and a haven for people, birds and insects.

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