I haven’t been posting lately because we’re doing a redesign of the blog and moving it to a WordPress template on my company’s servers.
I’m also tightening my focus to water-related issues. I’ve always been interested in how climate change is affecting us on a personal level, right now, and water is one of the very early indicator issues. It is related intimately with weather issues, another subject I find fascinating. One of the reasons I’m choosing water issues stems from one simple fact: In China only one in 500 people has free access to safe drinking water.

Water will become the most valuable commodity on the planet, surpassing oil, in the next few years. In many places it already is. The oil wars of the second decade of this century will probably be eclipsed by water wars in the next decade, particularly if we don’t take worldwide action right now. It is my hope these conflicts are economic rather than violent as economic conflicts create business opportunities, which in turn, create incentives to resolve the issue (driven by profit motives). Violent wars also present opportunity but this opportunity only results in the creation of weapons which have no positive economic effect and death of innocents. This is a path we cannot allow humanity to go down.
Watch for our new look in the very near future and please contribute your views and stories.

Thanks,
Martin Edic

This trailer is a compelling brief look at a film that may eclipse An Inconvenient Truth in relevance right now. I am not a celebrity cause fan but by all reviews de Caprio has made a very important film that is frightening, provocative and relentlessly positive in its belief that we can change the world for the better. I can’t wait to see it.

In today’s NYTimes business section there is an article about a very unusual product and business decision made by America’s brand marketing giant, P&G. It seems that for several years they’ve had a product branded under their PUR water purification brand that is a powder that can purify water in the field. It has not been marketed in the US until now. Instead they attempted to sell it in third world countries. When it became obvious that it would not be profitable they did something incredibly unique and forward-thinking: They built a plant in Pakistan to make the product very cheaply. Then they distributed the packets for pennies. A local village market can sell them for a dime and make 5 cents. Each purifies 10 kilos of water. P&G formed a not for profit organization internally to help provide pure water for children globally. This was a big hit within the huge company.
Now they have arranged for US sales via a much smaller company called Reliance that sells into outdoor sports and survival markets including disaster recovery. This is where it gets interesting. They are not out to make a profit on US sales. All P&G proceeds from Reliance (an independent distributor) will be donated to the Children’s Safe Drinking Water program, a not for profit agency.
While there are questions about charging US disaster victims more for this than 3rd world countries, overall it is a great concept. I would hope the major Pharma companies who won’t design drugs for poor markets will take a look at this model. The fact is that climate change and its affects are global- we’re all in this together.
Kudos to Proctor and Gamble.

“Inexpensive as it is, though, the Aura Hybrid is controversial. Toyota’s (TM) hybrid business is booming—the Prius’ sales have doubled in the first five months of 2007, to 76,747 units—and Detroit automakers want a piece of the action. But critics will say the Aura Hybrid is little more than another sign of how far behind Detroit is. That’s because the Aura Green Line is a “mild” hybrid that doesn’t have the fuel efficiency of a “full” hybrid such as the Toyota Prius and Camry.”

Business Week gives a rave review to the Saturn Aura Hybrid noting that it is the cheapest hybrid at around $23,000. Only one problem: The mileage is 28/city, 35/highway. My Honda Accord LX was $18,600 and it gets 24/34. The Toyota Prius, a true hybrid gets 51/60 at around $28,000. This is why it outsells all other hybrids. It’s also why Honda dropped its $30,000 Accord hybrid that got one mile more per gallon than my $18,600 Accord.
It’s the same story with the Ford SUV hybrids and most others- they are not true hybrid technology and there is virtually no benefit to paying extra for them.

To me this is cynical marketing at its worst. They make these vehicles so they can claim a green strategy. At least Honda pulled theirs and they still have the most fuel efficient automotive line. I’m guessing they are going back to the drawing board to compete with Toyota. Meanwhile the US carmakers fight any regulatory improvements to fuel efficiency while losing market share every day. The unions and management have to wake up and truly embrace this technology because it is in our national interest.

A note about emissions. These hybrids, with the exception of the Prius, have marginally lower emissions because they still use full size engines. My Honda, however, is what is known as a Partial Zero Emission Vehicle (PZEV) which seems to be a contradictory statement. This designation came about because of California’s strict vehicle emission standards which the Asian manufacturers apply to all their US vehicles. The US makers, for the most part, sell different cars in California to meet the standards- they’d rather pollute the states with lower standards to save a few bucks. Don’t buy American cars until they start acting responsibly. This goes for union members too- if you don’t take your heads out of the sand there aren’t going to be any union automaker jobs left at American car makers because they will be out of business.