With every innovation in the 20th century, one pattern stands out: where technology advances, a rise in public concern follows. From HAL in 2001: A Space Odyssey to wireless devices, new technology gives rise to new questions and new concerns. This is certainly true of nanotechnology – a topic on which I’ve written extensively, and which has been the subject of vigorous debate.

Last month, at the first ever conference of the Sustainable Nanotechnology Organization in Washington DC, Michail Roco of the National Science Foundation, and architect of the U.S. National Nanotechnology Initiative provided a response. He said, “every industrial sector is unsustainable…and nanotechnology holds the promise of making every one of them sustainable.”

It’s my belief that that is true: nanotechnology, or the ability to manipulate matter at a scale of one billionth of a meter, has far-reaching implications for the improvement of sustainable technology, industry and society.

Already, it is being used widely to enable more sustainable practices. Safer manufacturing, less waste generation, reusable materials, more efficient energy technologies, better water purification, lower toxicity and environmental impacts from chemotherapy agents to marine paints are all current applications of nanotechnology. There is no reason for this technology to develop in an unsustainable manner.

In the past, a lack of foresight has resulted in costs to society – people, businesses, and governments, and— that could have been avoided by proactive efforts to manage risks. Today, the tools to develop safer technologies and less harmful products exist. Let us not miss this opportunity.

The opportunity for emerging technologies and cutting edge materials to improve our quality of life, and decrease our impact on the planet is compelling. However, we know from past experience that novel materials can have unforeseen impacts. Brominated flame retardants, for example, added to consumer products to reduce their flammability have been detected in household dust, and in people and polar bears. We now have to phase out these chemicals, and introduce new ones.

My just released book, Nanotechnology Health and Environmental Risks Second Edition explains how we can manage the risks while gaining the benefits of this exciting enabling technology with applications that sound so whiz bang they could be science fiction, not current technology. Through a combination of screening risk analysis, life cycle thinking, and iterative analysis, better decisions can be made early in the product life cycle. Chapters contributed by esteemed colleagues in fields of nanotoxicology (Richard Pleus), exposure assessment (Thomas Peters), environmental assessment (J. Michael Davis), and risk perception (Ann Bostrom and Ragnar Lofstedt) describe the cutting edge science and emerging approaches in the field. The developments in the field since the first edition, in 2008, are many and our understanding has improved significantly.

CLF Ventures is working with a variety of public and private organizations to guide their efforts to be proactive in addressing the risks of emerging nanoscale materials and nanotechnologies, while our understanding continues to grow, and our regulatory structures develop. As with all types of innovation, the need for confidence about the safety of the products and demonstration of the benefits is critical to adoption. The potential benefits of nanomaterials and nanotechnologies are transformative and mission-advancing; their impacts must be addressed in order to achieve their benefits.

Urban agriculture holds great promise for Boston.

This post was coauthored by Melissa Hoffer & Jo Anne Shatkin.

We are excited to share with you the news that today CLF and CLF Ventures released a report that, for the first time, details the economic development potential for urban agriculture in Greater Boston, assesses its environmental and health co-benefits, and examines current market and policy barriers to expanded food production in Greater Boston. The report‘s findings confirm that urban agriculture can play an important role in creating a more livable, carbon resilient, healthier, economically vibrant, and environmentally sustainable city—if we put smart policies in place and encourage market development for Boston grown foods.

Download a free copy of the report here: http://clf.org/growing-green/

The City of Boston has taken important steps over the past two years to advance urban agriculture, and new businesses are taking root, including City Growers, a Mattapan-based farming business that is featured in this report. There is a palpable sense of excitement about the potential of this new urban vision for agriculture for communities; possibilities abound. But CLF and CLF Ventures believe it is more than possible— it is a necessity, and an urgent one at that as we face the challenges of climate change, an obesity epidemic, lack of availability of healthy foods in many communities, and a fragile economy.

The report found that converting as few as 50 acres of vacant or underutilized land around Boston into agricultural production would spur job creation, improve access to healthy, local, fresh food, and reduce environmental harms. Key findings of the report include:

• Land is available. 50 acres – an area the size of Boston Common – is a small portion of the vacant or underutilized land available in Boston.
• Urban farms would stimulate the economy by creating jobs. 50 acres of urban agriculture in Boston will likely generate at least 130 direct farming jobs and may generate over 200 jobs depending on actual business characteristics and revenue.
• Healthy, local and affordable food. 50 acres in agricultural production would provide enough fresh produce to feed over 3,600 people over a six-month retail season. If the produce is used to prepare healthy school lunches in Boston Public Schools, 50 acres could provide more than one serving of fresh produce for each lunch served to a student eligible for free or reduced school lunch over a six month period. If 800 acres of potentially available City-owned land were put into agricultural production, the food needs of approximately 10 percent of Boston’s total population could be fully satisfied during a six-month retail season.
• Significant environmental impacts. Urban agriculture in Boston will result in a net reduction of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. 50 acres of properly managed soils would sequester about 114 tons of cabon dioxide (CO2) per year and may result in an additional CO2 reduction of up to 4,700 tons per year.
• Community adaptation. No less than 6,000 new temperature records were set during the recent March 2012 heat wave, and more than 40,000 have been set for the year-to-date. Meanwhile, the July 2011-June 2012 period was the warmest 12-month period of any 12-months on record for the contiguous U.S., with the first half of 2012 being the hottest ever recorded. The International Energy Agency’s recent projection of a 10.8 degree F temperature increase over pre-industrial levels by the end of this century underscores the fact that a more decentralized food system will be necessary to enable our communities to better adapt to changing climate conditions, including the impacts of more frequent severe weather. Urban agriculture is a part of this solution.

As Jo Anne said in the press release announcing Growing Green, it’s clear that even 50 acres of sustainable agriculture on available land would be an economic stimulus and environmental resource for Boston. While we focused on a 50 acre test scenario, these conclusions are scalable across New England. Imagine how vibrant New England would be like with a robust and sustainable regional food system.

In addition to the potential benefits, the report also considers the policy and market barriers to fully realizing the potential of urban agriculture, examining the ways in which promoting urban agriculture will require city and state involvement and key needs for such involvement. Such barriers include the need for policies that provide affordable access to land, one of the key market barriers for both new and experienced farmers; strategies to reduce the risks associated with the Commonwealth’s hazardous material cleanup law; improved access to high quality compost; and better financing options to overcoming prohibitive capital and operating costs, amongst other findings.

Our ongoing work seeks to link urban agriculture to the larger regional food system, and focuses on how to overcome some of the barriers we have identified.

Boston is ideally positioned to play a lead role in coordinating with the Massachusetts Food Policy Council, other New England states, and cities around the region to build a vision for a New England regional food system and make it happen. Boston is emerging as a national leader in urban agriculture innovation, and can be a voice for the benefits of urban agriculture and as one of the region’s largest consumers, help to build the market for regionally grown food.

For more resources on this topic:

Find a copy of the report here: www.clf.org/growing-green/
Find an infographic detailing the report here: http://bit.ly/clfgrowinggreen
To read more about CLF’s Farm & Food Initiative, click here: http://www.clf.org/our-work/healthy-communities/food-and-farm-initiative/

Innovation – a word commonly used, and commonly associated with big money and big business. But as 15-year-old Jack Thomas Andraka, recent winner of an Intel prize for his cancer detection technology, demonstrated: innovation is unfolding in unlikely places. We should nurture these innovations, and we must do more to leverage these breakthroughs.

If you haven’t already, I suggest viewing this passionate and inspiring video of Jack Andraka winning the Intel Gordon E. Moore prize for medicine. It is a rare treat to experience the sheer joy of a 15 year old being recognized for an innovation some spend careers pursuing. In this case, Jack’s idea turned disruptive technology was for a simple, elegant, inexpensive and accurate cancer detection technology. By coating single walled nanotubes with antibodies and attaching them to a paper strip, Jack found he could accurately identify pancreatic cancer cells, enabling wide screening for deadly cancers.

Despite not knowing this young scientist, I am proud of him for his stellar accomplishment. He picked an important problem, and focused on an innovative technological solution. Society will undoubtedly benefit from the availability of a simple screening test that can be widely adopted.

He’s not the first to put nanotubes, a manufactured nanoscale material that is a rolled up tube of carbon, into paper, nor is he the first to coat them. But, he has succeeded in leveraging the benefits of nanotechnology for society’s benefit.  If the technology achieves its potential it will result in the widespread use of these strips in hospitals, doctor’s offices, and clinics.

Because of our name, CLF Ventures meets many entrepreneurs who have developed innovative ways to address society’s pressing problems. Through our networks, we are often able to help them gain market access, or make introductions. There is often resistance to adopting new approaches and technologies, particularly when adoption requires a shift in existing policies or infrastructure, as is often the case with clean or “green” technologies. It’s human nature to resist change and maintain the status quo: we like what is familiar. Yet, as Jack Andraka demonstrates, there are often great benefits associated with new technologies.

To that end, it is critical to support innovation, and to maintain openness to new ideas and options. Three things are critical to enabling this support.

1. There is a need to make adoption straightforward, to leverage the benefits for society and for the environment.
2. It is also important to balance the risks with the benefits, to consider the broader impacts of the inevitable disruption new technologies bring, and to manage those impacts to avoid adverse effects on health and the environment.
3. We need to ensure our resilience and ability to manage the unanticipated, and innovation enables our doing so.

Kudos to Andraka and to Intel for inspiring the changes.

CLF and CLF Ventures are proud to again co-sponsor the third annual Massachusetts Sustainable Economy Conference (SEC), April 30 at the Federal Reserve in Boston. I invite you to please come to the panel discussion I will moderate on the opportunities and barriers involved in cultivating Boston’s and the region’s urban agricultural sector, with some of the area’s leading entrepreneurs.

The brainchild of CLF Ventures Board Member Crystal Johnson, the Sustainable Economy Conference is an unparalleled opportunity to build bridges within and across Massachusetts’ government, business, academic, nonprofit, and community sectors to foster sustainable communities and a viable 21^st century economy. CLF and CLF Ventures are working to address barriers to the growth of urban and regional sustainable agriculture from market and policy perspectives. At CLF, we view sustainable agriculture in our cities and our region as a key component of a more carbon-resilient future for our region in the face of unprecedented climate change and its threats to our economy and way of life. We’ve met many compatriots at past Sustainable Economy Conferences and look forward to a great conversation about urban agriculture with panelists:

• Newly sworn in Agricultural Commissioner Greg Watson
• Head of Boston’s food initiative Edith Murnane
• Marketing coordinator of Holyoke’s Neustras Raices
• Entrepreneur Glynn Lloyd of City Growers

As a founding board member of the national Stewardship Action Council, I was fortunate to also participate in last week’s 25^th anniversary celebration of the Toxics Release Inventory and Environmental Conditions in Communities Conference, a gathering of national public and private leaders in sustainability. Before my panel discussion about building collaborative partnerships among state, non-governmental, and industry partners within the Stewardship Action Council, four members discussed how they interact with communities:

• Mike Wendt of 3M explained that “a crisis is a bad time to make new friends,” so at his Menomonie, Wisconsin facility, community engagement is embedded in the culture.
• Annette Russo of Johnson & Johnson described their new Procurement Sustainability Initiative to ensure their entire supply chain is focused on sustainable solutions for ingredients and packaging.
• West Liberty Foods HR Director Tara Lindsey linked that organization’s renovation of a neglected church into a day care facility as an initiative that both fostered employee retention within the company and benefited the community.

Stewardship Action Council members also had an opportunity to weigh in on EPA’s role in promoting sustainability leadership with Deputy Assistant Administrator in the Office of Policy Vicki Corman. It’s a sign of the changing times that industry, at least those leading organizations participating in SAC, are ahead of EPA in adopting measurement and reporting initiatives. EPA can provide national leadership and guidance to advance the practice of environmental stewardship, but would only confuse the marketplace if they were to develop their own standards in the already crowded voluntary sustainability standard realm. In our development of measurements for “Level 4” membership in the Stewardship Action Council, we identified over 200 “standards” under the umbrella of sustainability reporting.

The demand for sustainable solutions will be drivers for the 21^st century economy. The third annual Sustainable Economy Conference is designed to:

• Provide a platform to discuss new collaborations and partnerships for sustainable solutions within and across sectors
• Serve as a resource on cutting edge “sustainable thinking” through experiences, case studies, and showcases
• Promote diversity and inclusion to improve business performance in Massachusetts
• Provide effective tools and approaches for meeting the challenges of the changing global market and encouraging businesses to meet the new market expectations
• Promote an equitable and ecologically sustainable economy

I look forward to meeting you there.

Sleep is a wonderful thing, and it’s necessary for good health. As someone who doesn’t always get enough, I understand people’s concern that wind turbines are disturbing their sleep, or if built, will. Yet the report this week from  the state’s expert review on the science did not find sufficient scientific evidence that wind turbine noise impacts are loud enough or have the right characteristics to physically disturb people’s sleep.

The panel did find limited evidence that some people are annoyed by noise from wind turbines, due to a combination of “the sound itself, the sight of the turbine, and attitude toward the wind turbine project.” In other words, if you are annoyed by the presence of wind turbines, you might also be annoyed by the noise from them. Still, the report disavows claims that wind turbines are associated with adverse health effects.

But, if you are one of the 44% of Americans who have trouble sleeping (according to a Consumer Reports 2008 survey) and you are annoyed by nearby wind turbines, it’s not hard to see how you would link the two together and associate sleep problems with the sound from the turbines. The value of a scientific review is to sort out whether there is sufficient evidence to support claims that the cause (i.e., noise from wind turbines) resulted in the effect (sleep disturbance or health problems). The review by the state’s expert panel did not find sufficient evidence to support the causal link between noise from wind turbines and health problems or disease, debunking the claims of “wind turbine syndrome.”  “Claims that infrasound from wind turbines directly impacts the vestibular system have not been demonstrated scientifically.”

The story is a bit more complicated for sleep disturbance. The report states, “A very loud wind turbine could cause disrupted sleep, particularly in vulnerable populations, at a certain distance, while a very quiet wind turbine would not likely disrupt even the lightest of sleepers at that same distance.” The question becomes, how loud is loud enough? or what is the threshold at which disturbance occurs?, and that answer doesn’t definitively exist.The science tells us some of what we need to know, but still leaves uncertainty about how to ensure that wind turbines don’t disturb poor sleepers. For example, if the disturbance is a function of one’s attitude about wind turbines, it might not be possible to avoid disturbance for some people.

The key question is, what do we do with this information? How does the science help us make sound decisions about siting wind energy? The data do not suggest we stop all development of wind energy facilities because they pose unacceptable health risks. The evidence does not support that. Regardless of how uncomfortable we may be about making decisions under uncertainty, the reality is that we always operate under uncertainty – and there is no avoiding that. We can never be certain about the future. An appropriate path forward for wind energy decision-making is to use the best available information to make siting decisions that address abutters’ concerns, such as incorporating good design principles to minimize any annoying effects. In fact, that is what the expert panel recommends.

The good news is that having a wind turbine in your back yard will not make you sick. The bad news is you might be disturbed by it, and that is an important consideration for decision makers. Those directly impacted by wind siting decisions should have the opportunity to participate in them, to minimize the potential for disturbance. CLF Ventures’ Wind Siting Guide offers guidance on how to engage stakeholders in such decision processes.

Renewable wind energy offers many benefits, including energy independence, reliable pricing, and no ongoing emissions. As we strive to achieve a cleaner energy future, which necessarily includes wind turbines, we will need to take measures to minimize the annoyance impacts of living near them, since they will always be in somebody’s back yard. Robust community processes will help us make better design decisions and minimize the impacts.

Over the past several months, CLF Ventures has been participating as a founding member of a new collaborative effort with diverse organizations to improve their social and environmental performance. The Stewardship Action Council is a collaborative multi-stakeholder membership organization dedicated to partnerships that advance environmental performance in the broader context of sustainability. Conceptually, this means continuous improvement at the corporate and facility level to reduce environmental impacts, advance community goals, and report on progress.

CLF Ventures’ goal in joining the SAC is to develop collaborative efforts that drive excellence and raise the bar on sustainable innovation. The unique value of this collaboration is the multi-stakeholder approach where varying levels of experience among participants provide opportunities alternatives for leaders and learners—those that commit to putting an Environmental Management System in place and those for whom an EMS is already functioning. This broad based, multi-sector network of partners and organizations creates a learning network focused on the exchange of ideas, sharing of best practices and implementation of collaborative projects enabling our members to improve their social and environmental performance and includes representatives from the academic, state government, non-governmental organization (NGOs), investment and industrial and services sectors.

CLF Ventures is an Alliance Member and plans to work with our Participating Members to coordinate partnership opportunities, data review and analysis, and best practice development. In particular, we are excited about the opportunity to advance principles of sustainable innovation – that is, how members can efficiently and sustainably develop new products that advance environmental performance. Members will share best practices, participate in discussion forums and research studies, and collaborate on improvement projects.  The founding members of the Stewardship Action Council represent a breadth of NGOs, industry and service sectors, state government, and academic institutions.   Moving forward we will be designing a sustainability standard, to be used by members to both direct and measure sustainability improvements. Additional goals include providing research data to academic institutions, provide a link for students at the participating academic institutions with innovative companies, and link NGOs looking to partner with industry on unique projects.

Please contact me to discuss your interest in collaboration. For additional information about the Stewardship Action Council and how to check out the website at www.stewardshipaction.org .  A webinar providing additional information on membership in the Stewardship Action Council will be held in the next several weeks.