16 Ideas for the Planet

LAURIE DAVID
Environmental Activist and Producer of 'An Inconvenient Truth'

Everybody can do something
One important lesson I've learned in advocating environmental progress is that the perfect is the enemy of the good. It's not about everyone doing everything. Those days are over. In fact, that's part of what held back the movement. We can't hold people up to a gold standard, because that's unattainable. We're all guilty of being part of this problem. I have a swimming pool that I keep heated for our kids and a house that's got a big carbon footprint. I recognize that and try to do other things, not to justify it but to do the best I can. I can't do everything. But it's about everybody doing something. And if everyone would do something, we would get there. There's a great quote from the governor of Montana, Brian Schweitzer. He said, "Unless you're living in a tree eating nuts, you are a global-warming polluter." The whole idea here is to bring people in, not to push them out or alienate them. Not everyone in Hollywood is perfect, either. But you have to give Hollywood credit for some things. Leonardo DiCaprio and Cameron Diaz were driving hybrids before anyone—while people were still making fun of them. And that influenced people. And Hollywood made "An Inconvenient Truth." Hollywood made that movie, not thinking it was going to make them money, not thinking it was going to be a huge success. They did it out of passion.

DAVID STANGIS
Director of Corporate Responsibility, Intel

Being green is just good business
As the largest chip manufacturer worldwide, Intel has been leading the area of environmental excellence for decades. For us, being green is just part of the way we do business. One thing that plays to our advantage is that our manufacturing process essentially gets refreshed every few years. We can anticipate that, so instead of having to retrofit facilities, we've applied a philosophy of design for environmental health and safety that projects eight to 10 years down the road. With each step we take in successive generations of the chip, we employ different manufacturing recipes every two years. So when we went from the eight-inch wafer to the 12-inch wafer, we were able to drive reductions to 50 percent in terms of water and energy use. We have a long-term goal to reduce our energy use on an average of 4 percent a year from 2002 to 2010, which will amount to a 30 percent overall reduction during that period.

We are a large user of electricity, but we're also the largest purchaser of wind energy in the state of Oregon, and one of the largest purchasers of renewable energy in New Mexico. As a global company, Intel exports its environmental leadership to every country we do business in, including China, where we've been asked by the government to work on their air-quality regulations.

K. R. SRIDHAR
Founder and CEO, Bloom Energy