On becoming less

unsustainable

On becoming less

unsustainable

David SmernoffDavid Smernoff

ToP Environmental Sustainability

September 6, 2013

Personal Journey• Childhood

• Outdoor playtime = No Nature Deficit Disorder

• Parents: value education!

• HS Activism - Nuclear power

• Education

• MS Environmental Management

• Ph.D. Ecology

• NASA- Ames Research Center Closed Ecological Systems: Mass and energy balance

Community• Public Service (elected)

• Midpeninsula Regional Open Space District

• Los Trancos County Water District

• Community Service (volunteer)

• Ames Environmental Conservation Committee

• Bay Area Action

• Acterra

• Outgrowth of Earth Day 1990 staff/volunteers

• Invented organizational structure

• Reluctant leadership role

• Project-based Environmental Activism

• Redwood Summer

• 100th Monkey - Stop Nuclear Testing

• Electric Vehicle Conversion

• Urban gardens

• Arastradero Stewardship Project

“If it Ain’t Fun, it Don’t get Done!”

• Negotiated contract with City of Palo Alto

• Community-based Stewardship

• Ecological Restoration

• Environmental Education

• Trail improvements - GIS mapping

• Starts 1997 - Current Acterra program has >12 sites, multiple contracts, native plant nursery

Gateway Facility

• Deconstruct - salvage materials

• Straw bale, Solar PV & water

• Native Landscaping

• Stewardship program benefits

• Volunteerism

• Program effectiveness

• Funding

• Created by merger in 2000

• Common values

• Significant cultural challenges

• Executive Director 2000-2003

• Managed 20+ programs

• Significant Issues

• Governance

• Finance

• Administration

• Program renaissance

EducateEngageEmpower

Stewardship

Be the Change

Environmental Leadership

Business Environmental Awards

Carbon Reduction

“Social Change organization masquerading as an

Environmental Group”

• Searching for solution to fossil fuel pollution/climate change

• Apply microbiology expertise

• Incorporate sustainability values into business model

• Non-profit and government agency experience helps

• Turning ideas into economically viable reality challenging

10

Cyanobacteria:What have you done

for us lately?• First O2 producing photosynthesizers• Gave us our O2 atmosphere! 2.5 BYA• Highest photosynthetic efficiency• Worldwide distribution, robust, prolific• Excrete sugars and nitrogen compounds• Can they help us protect our atmosphere?

2µ

11

CO2N2

Fermentable Sugars:monosaccharides

disaccharidespolysaccharides

Nitrogen compounds

sugars & NH3

How does it work?

SeawaterSeawater

EthanolButanol

Renewable Chemicals

Fermentation

Marine cyanobacteria community

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Production process schematic

Lipids/Biodiesel

Laboratory

Cyanobacteriapropagation ponds

Lowest costSeparation

TechnologiesSugar

feedstock

ResidualBiomass

Feedstock Production

Pumps

Seawater

Brine

Production Ponds100 tons/acre/yr

Electrical energy (pumps, distillation, etc.)

CO2

Aquaculture

Pumps

Post-Production

Fermentation& Distillation

Processes

Compost

Anaerobic Digesters

Ethanol

AlgalGrowthPonds

Water

Pre-Treatment

Chemicals

Fish, shrimp, etc.

To ponds, other processes

Solar PV or Wind TurbinesTo other power needs

Staying on the path

Staying on the path

My education and engagement with issues and my community has empowered me.

Solutions are out there, we all have to work together to create the future our

children deserve

My education and engagement with issues and my community has empowered me.

Solutions are out there, we all have to work together to create the future our

children deserve"Those who contemplate the beauty of the earth find reserves of strength that will endure as long as life lasts." Rachel Carson