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  by kevin, on March 13th, 2010
Two weeks ago Aleida and I took a dreadful red-eye flight from LA to Miami. I hate red-eye flights. We flew with Virgin America this time, which was a new experience for us. Having an internet connection while en-route helped me wrap up the final details of a show I was scheduled [...] by kevin, on November 6th, 2009
The original Ford Model T achieved 13 to 21 miles per gallon and could run on gasoline, kerosene, and ethanol. It rolled off the assembly line more than one hundred years ago. But visit the web site of any US automaker today and you’ll find vehicles listed with worse fuel economy. I’ll admit that’s not a totally fair comparison. Cars today are far heavier than those of a century ago. But it raises an interesting question – how would today’s models compare on a mileage per pound comparison? Fifty years ago, General Motors was the world’s most dominant automaker. The expression – what’s good for GM is good for America – was true. It’s wasn’t just a clever marketing slogan. At the height of its success, GM controlled fifty percent of the market – half of all cars sold. Today, they only have a twenty percent market share and are the number two manufacturer behind Toyota. And Toyota did that with fifteen hundred dealerships compared to GM’s seven thousand. During WWII, General Motors and the other US automakers transitioned their factories from auto and truck production to military craft, armaments, and equipment in a matter of months. It was an unprecedented reshaping of US industry like none other in history. But today the big three can’t even get out of their own way. Since then US automakers have attempted to block every effort to improve efficiency, reduce emissions, improve safety, and more. They routinely fight government plans to raise CAFE (Corporate Average Fuel Economy) standards. As a result, cars manufactured in the US cannot be sold in other parts of the world. Europe, China, Australia, and others have higher fuel economy standards. How is it that other countries have been able to figure it out, but the best minds in America cannot? Honda, Toyota, and Nissan all have higher fleet mileage than any domestic brand. With every government effort to improve safety or environmental impact, Detroit has used the time work argument that any change will increase cost passed on to the consumer. In 1994 when California was debating low emission standards they cried wolf again and claimed that modifications would increase each auto by $800. After the legislation passed the price tag per auto was actually $80. Several years ago I attended a presentation by a Toyota representative where they acknowledged their products rely on a fuel with a dwindling supply. They understand and accept the fact that to be in business fifty years from now their cars will have to run on another fuel. They aren’t waiting for more crude to be discovered, they aren’t resting on their laurels, they aren’t waiting for someone else for figure it out for them, they are aggressively pursuing alternative locomotive options. by kevin, on October 22nd, 2009Recently I’ve read a number of sustainability opposition books such as Green Hell, The Really Inconvenient Truths, plus others and I’ve been seeing similar arguments in them all. Common among them are themes suggesting sustainability is a euphemism for socialism and other mechanisms to gain control of your life. There are repeated claims how [...] by kevin, on October 19th, 2009Steve Milloy’s Green Hell is one I would choose willingly over the gray hell we’ll surely experience if his ilk win the battle for a sustainable future. He suggests in this book that staying fat, dumb, and lazy is the best option for America. [...] by kevin, on October 16th, 2009Of the major southwestern cities – Los Angeles, San Diego, Phoenix, and Las Vegas – San Diego’s battle for water independence has been the longest and hardest fought. Thirst for Independence: The San Diego Water Story by Dan Walker is a marvelously entertaining and detailed accounting of that struggle. The primary difference that sets [...] by kevin, on October 7th, 2009The more I read about the issue the more troubled I am with the way certain television commentators have been presenting the story. In particular, I think Sean Hannity is doing valley residents a grave disservice. He continues to proclaim – just turn on the water – as a simple solution to a very complex issue. [...] by kevin, on September 23rd, 2009There are four key components of the current system that can be the foundation for such a conversion – raw material supply (planet), availability of energy (power), labor (people), and balance sheet externalities related to the environment (profit). [...] by kevin, on September 21st, 2009If you need an example to illustrate the depth, and absurdity, of the rhetoric being used by sustainability opponents, look no further than the 2009 Values Voter Summit held last week. [...] by kevin, on September 19th, 2009Whenever someone makes a connection between current circumstances and tragic historical events as an attempt to make a point, it raises my hackles. The worst examples over the summer can be found in the health care debate where people make reference to Hitler or Nazi policy. It’s shameless to compare any political rival to events so vile and despicable. It diminishes the suffering and sacrifice of millions. I wonder why such diatribe isn’t considered the political third rail. Anyone who takes that route does so for effect only and isn’t seeking serious dialogue. [...] |
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In my last 
Earth Day origins
In 1999, Advertising Age magazine compiled a list of the best advertising campaigns of the century. Many of their selections occurred in the 1960s; an era that many consider an advertising golden age. The AMC television series Mad Men quite accurately depicts New York’s Madison Avenue during that time period. Atop the magazine’s list is Volkswagen’s Think Small campaign that launched late in 1959 and ran for more than a decade. The campaign slogan, Think Small, was the work of Julian Koenig while at the firm Doyle Dane Bernbach. Koenig is a legendary copywriter who eventually co-founded the firm Papert Koenig Lois. He’s responsible for the now famous tag line – Timex: It takes a licking and keeps on ticking. His genius was making the complex look easy. He was a master at boiling down product attributes to their essential and developing catchy memorable phrases that resonate with audiences. His work seems effortlessly timeless.
Julian Koenig
He is also credited with naming an event celebrating its fortieth anniversary today – Earth Day. The story goes something like this. Koenig was a member of the Earth Day organizing committee, the event was planned to take place on April 22, Koenig’s birthday – Earth Day rhymes with birthday – that easy. Thank goodness organizers didn’t go with their initial name – National Environment Teach-In. Fortunately, smart marketing won. The name is as memorable and meaningful today as it was forty years ago.
Late in 1969, U.S. Senator from Wisconsin Gaylord Nelson delivered a presentation to a small group in Seattle, WA where he proposed an idea for a national teach-in dedicated to environmental issues. Coastal damage caused by a devastating oil spill near Santa Barbara, CA earlier that year left a lasting impression which moved him to action. The activism and demonstration tinged decade of the 1960s was coming to a close, but Senator Nelson knew that environmentalism interest begun with Rachel Carson’s book Silent Spring was beginning to gain momentum. In his opinion, the pace wasn’t fast enough and national awareness of natural depredation needed a jump start.
Read more Earth Day origins