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UPCOMING PROGRAM HIGHLIGHTS WINTER 2009-2010

Public Address: Rennee Chow, "A Venice of China: Transforming China's Cities for the Next Century." January 13, 2010

Panel Discussion: "Global Warming and the Emerging Water Crisis in California and China." January 14, 2010

Public Address: Elizabeth Economy, director of Asia Studies, Council On Foreign Relations. February 18, 2010

Conference: "China Financial Markets," February 18, 2010

Meet the Authors: Peter Hessler, Country Driving: A Journey Through China from Farm to Factory, and Leslie Chang, Factory Girls. February 23, 2010

As China’s economic success and middle class have grown, many predicted that it would follow the historic Western trend toward de-

mocracy, but that perception is changing. With the collapse of the US economy and stalemates in Con-gress over the past year, China’s model of “consulta-tive authoritarianism” is gaining legitimacy at home and credibility abroad. The Chinese Communist Party is delivering the goods economically, but it is not likely to deliver democracy anytime soon.

This was the sobering message at “The Future of Democracy in China,” the October 5 panel discus-sion featuring Minxin Pei, adjunct senior associate in the China Program at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace; Harry Harding, Dean of the University of Virginia’s Batten School of Leadership and Public Policy; Orville Schell, Arthur Ross direc-tor of the Asia Society Center on US-China Rela-tions and moderator Jonathan R. Stromseth, The Asia Foundation’s Country Representative to China.

As Schell put it, throughout the last century, the Chinese struggled to catch up to their neighbors and the Western superpowers, constantly reinvent-ing their political system with the view that each stage was a waypoint to some undefined final gov-ernmental model — perhaps democracy. But af-ter the economic crisis hit the US hard and left China relatively unscathed, Chinese citizens began to have more faith and confidence in their home-grown, authoritarian model.

“They [the Chinese] see the US Congress as totally paralyzed, incapable of doing anything. They see a brilliant new government in Washington, with

Obama appointing all these incredible people to positions of power, and they’re basically incapable of effecting policy,” Schell said.

But just because the Party does not plan to share power any time soon doesn’t mean it isn’t working on reforms. In recent years, the party has worked to increase accountability through anti-corruption measures, solicited public input on law-making, and loosened its reigns on NGOs. Harding de-scribed this form of one-party rule as consultative authoritarianism.

“The Chinese Communist Party has launched a very impressive series of political reforms that have tried to make an authoritarian system more effective, more efficient, more accountable to some degree and more responsive, but not significantly more pluralistic,” Harding said.

Of course, nobody can predict the future, particu-larly with the many problems and internal conflicts that still plague China’s government. While many citizens have bought the social contract of economic gain at the expense of political freedoms, ethnic ri-ots, food shortages, pollution and global warming are all challenges that could incite renewed calls for systemic change.

“It’s quite robust, it’s quite successful, and yet un-derneath there are foundations of jello everywhere you look — can this last?” Schell asked.

“What's going to happen to us is perhaps the more interesting question than ‘what’s going to happen to China’ and for that, I have no answer either,” Schell said. “But I certainly do hope that this great experiment in American democracy, which we’re all on, can find a way to undergo something of a re-naissance, or we may find ourselves out-competed by whatever it is that China is doing.”

Harry Harding, University of Virginia

The CCP has launched a very impressive series of reforms that have tried to make an authoritarian system more effective ... but not significantly more pluralistic.

Evaluating democracy as China surges ahead

Another season of programs has come and gone, and somewhat to my surprise, I have learned that what we do not present sometimes defines us almost as much as what we do present. It is a lesson we recently learned when we were forced to cancel a Novem-ber 9 program with David

Chang, the executive chef of Momofoku, one of New York’s hottest restaurant empires.

One of our most successful and high profile series has been Off the Menu, a series of food programs which enable some of San Francisco’s most cre-ative chefs to demonstrate the remarkable range of their culinary talents to Asia Society members. Unfortunately, Chang and Kitchen Confidential author Anthony Bourdain engaged in some highly visible bashing of Bay Area chefs, including much-loved California cuisine icon Alice Waters, who, while she does not cook Asian cuisine, still serves as an inspiration for Bay Area chefs. As covered by SFGate and various food blogs, Chang asserted that Northern California chefs should be more cre-ative (“all they do is serve figs on a plate”) while Bourdain called Waters “Pol Pot in a muumuu.”

Needless to say, our chefs were not amused — and lost interest in cooking with Chang. The story

even made it into the New York Times, which not-ed that New York chefs have in fact learned much from their Northern California counterparts. As I write this, it is still on the front page of SFGate.

On a more positive and proactive front, ASNC has received recognition for its multidisciplinary pro-grams on sustainability and the environment with a five-year grant from USC’s Marshall School of Business and UCLA’s Anderson School of Man-agement. The grant will be used to examine urban sustainability in Asia from a California perspec-tive. Titled "the Pacific Cities Initiative," Asia Soci-ety Northern California and Asia Society Southern California will jointly examine a variety of critical issues — water, transportation, green building, clean energy — and consider how California and Asia can learn from each other, paving the way for a brighter, greener future together.

The series kicks off with a public program dis-cussing answers to emerging water crises in both China and California on January 14, and we look forward to seeing all of our members and friends during the winter season of programs and events.

2 Asia Society Northern California News WINTER 2009-2010

Staff

N. Bruce PickeringExecutive Director

Wendy Soone-BroderDevelopment Director

Robert BullockProgram Director

Amanda HuffmanProgram & Development Assistant

Asia SocietyGlobal

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The Honorable George P. ShultzHonorary Chairman

John S. Wadsworth, Jr.Co-Chairman and Trustee

Chong-Moon LeeCo-Chairman and Trustee

Richard C. BlumDaniel A. Carroll

Iris S. ChanCarmen ChangHoward ChaoJeff O. Clarke

David A. CoulterMark A. EdmundsThomas B. Gold

C. Richard KramlichDavid W. LyonDipti B. MathurLenny MendoncaWilliam J. PerryGary E. Rieschel

Sanford R. RobertsonSanjiv Sanghvi

Orville H. SchellLip-Bu Tan

Kenneth P. WilcoxJames Yee

Kyung H. Yoon

Charles R. KayeChairman, Asia Society

Vishakha N. DesaiPresident, Asia Society

Of Food Fights And Sustainability

Bruce PickeringExecutive Director

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Asia Society is the leading global and pan-Asian orga-nization working to strengthen relationships and pro-mote understanding among the people, leaders, and institutions of the United States and Asia.

We seek to increase knowledge and enhance dialogue, encourage creative expression, and generate new ideas across the fields of policy, business, education, arts, and culture.

Founded in 1956, Asia Society is a nonpartisan, non-profit educational institution with offices in Hong Kong, Houston, Los Angeles, Manila, Melbourne, Mumbai, New York, San Francisco, Seoul, Shanghai, and Wash-ington, D.C.

Asia Society is on the web at www.AsiaSociety.org.

Preparing Asians and Americans for a shared future.

3Asia Society Northern California News WINTER 2009-2010

Corporate Members GlobalAESAlcoa FoundationAmerican AirlinesBombadierBank of New York MellonEni SpAFreeport-McMoRan Copper & Gold Inc.General AtlanticGreen Stamp AmericaKPMGMorgan StanleyPfizerShui On LandSony CorporationTEDA

Corporate ContributorsConnell Bros. Company LTD.PG&ESilicon Valley BankUnion BankWells FargoWilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati

Corporate SupporterDeloitteHSBC

Corporate DonorsBay Area CouncilCeyuanChevronLevi Strauss & CoIndus Capital PartnersSutter Hill Ventures

Talent Age Associates

In Kind ContributorsBetelnutCathay PacificComcastChina DailyGenslerGiant Horse PrintingJohn De LucaHyphen magazineK&L GatesKQEDMartinelli’s CiderParducci WinerySan Francisco Business TimesTeance Fine TeasTommy Toy’sWinery ExchangeYank Sing RestaurantAnita Zand

Program UnderwritersAutodeskBCAIARichard BlumCalifornia MagazineIris ChanChevronDeloitteHPChong-Moon LeeDipti MathurLenny MendoncaMorgan StanleyNew Enterprise AssociatesNixon Peabody LLPRichard Palmer

PG&EPTW ArchitectsSan Francisco Business TimesShui On LandSouthwest AirSVB Financial GroupTECOUnited AirlinesVerizon WirelessJack WadsworthWells Fargo BankWilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati

New Student MembersMax HinchmanFrederick K. ChowMax HinchmanPaul JoyShu on Wang

Senior MembersTerry CerratoWilliam P. FullerFazlur KhanSumi KimJean M. MoseleyRobert Scalapino

New Individual MembersWen BoCarolyn CheungRobin FenstermakerLixin HuangJill RobinsonMa. Cristina RocesEva SoDavid Tsao

Tori L. Zwisler

Young Professionals MembersJohn BranderhorstFay CoadKiyoe CongerRon FisherLilinoe KekoaChristopher KelleyMaggie LiJason LiouRachel NgVictor SiuZi Wong

Dual/Family MembersBarbara & William BullockBarbara BundyEleanor & Bernard W. BurkeBrian ConleyLap Yee ConleyKate Fickle & Jerry CarrollStuart FongKevin HaroffChristopher HeffnerKatherine & John L. KrikenAlmon E.Larsh, Jr.Ross RevenaughKristi M. SaitamaKaren ShintoHeidy ValbuenaMichael Zielenziger

Contributing MembersMark ChandlerWilliam F. DagleyNiels ErichMike Gallagher

Quentin K. HillsScott KlikaDuncan L. MattesonT.J. PempelBruce PickeringRuth A. ShapiroL. L. WhitneyMee Mee Wong

Sustaining MembersLouis D. BeldenWendy Soone-Broder & George BroderSumir ChadhaKevin HaroffKenneth LamRichard M. RosenbergToby RosenblattLisa SpiveyIngrid Staudenmeyer

President's Circle MembersJohn De LucaWilliam H. DraperDaniel P. GettySandy & Harlan Kleiman John McQuownCynthia MiyashitaBecky & James MorganRobert P. MorrowBetty & Hiro OgawaSuno Kay OsterweisCarolyn & Richard K. PalmerRafat PirzadaAl SmithAnita & Edward Tortorici

Asia Society is grateful to the following individuals and organizations for their support:

For this issue, we sat down with James C. Morgan, chairman emeritus of Applied

Materials, to discuss his approach to philan-thropy.

How has your philosophy on sustainability influenced operations at Applied Materials?

Most of our product line is focused on less en-ergy, more efficiency, and our services are to help our customers become more sustainable while reducing their impact on the environ-ment. We see this as an advantage because it helps us to optimize the relationship with their environment and also pursue economic development. As chairman, the question for me has always been how to be sustainable in an intelligent way?

Tell us about the James C. Morgan Global Humanitarian Award.

The James C. Morgan Global Humanitarian Award honors individuals who have been en-gaged in solving some of the impending hu-manitarian challenges.

In the inaugural year I was presented with this award and this year’s recipient is Al Gore, who was selected for his worldwide work on awareness of climate change. For me these awards have always been an inspiration of how technology and corporations can play a vital role in helping identify and extend ben-efits to those who need it most.

What is the Northern Sierra Partnership?

My wife Becky and I recently co-founded the Northern Sierra Partnership (in 2007), focus-ing our efforts on conserving bio-diverse land in the California Sierra Nevada Mountains.

We have committed $10 million from our family foundation and the idea is to work with willing land sellers and public funds and buy about half of 100,000 acres (in the Sierra Ne-vada Mountains for conserving this important watershed).

How difficult is it to maintain corporate giv-ing in the current economic downturn?

We found in Applied that when times are tough, people are more generous. As a com-pany we see the community as an important constituent for us. In the early 1980s we set up a foundation at the corporate level, so that we can give a steady amount during good years. Our business is very cyclical — so when we have good years we put money above the decided amount into the founda-tion, which helps keep the level the same dur-ing the bad years.

Why support Asia Society?

I have known the work of Asia Society since the 1970s. I think it’s important for the US to focus on our relations with Asia. Knowledge about Asia has been a recent trend, as new markets emerge, and of course the Bay Area has a sizeable Asian community. Earlier, not many people knew much about Japan, China and Korea. Asia is the future, so if you don’t have the language skills or knowledge about some aspect of Asia, you're probably out of the loop.

For the complete version of this interview, please visit asiasocietync.blogspot.com.

Inside the President's Circle: James C. MorganMembers

President's Circle members James C. Morgan and Becky Morgan in the Sierra Nevada mountains

4 Asia Society Northern California News WINTER 2009-2010

Meet the Interns

In addition to Asia Society's global website (asiasociety.org), we here at Asia Society Northern California have been working to

better serve our audience through new so-cial media platforms. Each one makes for a convenient point for our members to stay in touch. Be sure to subscribe, follow and join to keep up with what’s happening in the Northern California center and throughout the Bay Area.

ASNC on Twitter

Short, sweet, and to the point. Follow us on Twit-ter to stay up-to-date on

our events and keep up with breaking news that catches our eye, as well as important information from our af-filiates and friends.

ASNC on Facebook

Integrated into your social life, Facebook al-lows for yet another place to find out about

our events, as well as connect to other fans of the Asia Society. Also, we will be introducing pre-event questions from our Facebook fans. If you have any questions to present to a speaker before the event, put them up in our discussion and we’ll give them priority during the presentation.

ASNC Blog

Our blog provides in-depth informa-tion about our center, our events, as well as what’s going on across the broader Asia Society network and in the news. From event previews to highlights of our guest speakers, to exclu-sive post-event interviews and commen-tary, our blog allows for a richer experience of our dynamic programming. It’s also a great place to stop by and read up on events that you’ve missed.

Be sure to connect to us through these platforms. We will be regularly raffling off memberships, free tickets to events, as well as other great prizes — books, restau-rant coupons, and more — to our fans, fol-lowers, and subscribers. So get connected to the Asia Society today!

Get Connected

Not receiving our email blasts? Please contact Amanda Huffman at amandah@asiasoc.org.

Sarah Davis recently graduated from Stanford University with an M.A. in International Educational Administration and Policy Analysis. While at Stanford, she completed a master’s thesis on high school students’ college expectations in rural Shaanxi, China. Her interest in Asia and working with international nonprofit organizations stems from her experience

studying abroad in China in high school and college, and from working for The Mountain Institute. Sarah is taking a program officer position at a foundation in Marin, where she will support the strategic objectives of its education, literacy and community support programs, and serve as a liaison between grant recipi-ents and foundation staff. At the Asia Society, Sarah focused on supporting initiatives in development and membership.

Carlos Cajilig continues to intern at ASNC, managing social media and planning upcoming programs.

Carla Faraguna, a San Francisco native, graduated from Stony Brook University in New York with a B.A. in Political Science. Her childhood exposure to the Japanese language and culture fostered an interest in working and living abroad. She recently returned from two years of teaching English in Japan and is now dedicated to furthering

the goals of the Asia Society. At the Asia Society, Carla hopes to gain deeper insight into Asia and the Asian American com-munity.

Caitlin Kelly-Sneed is a graduate of University of California-Davis with degrees in Chinese and comparative liter-ature. She recently returned from Beijing, China, where she studied, traveled, and worked for a year. Her travels in the poor, rural provinces of China inspired her to seek a career in international philan-thropy and Asian affairs. Caitlin served

as managing editor of The California Aggie, UC Davis' daily student newspaper. At Asia Society, she focuses on develop-ment and communications, and is busy helping to plan the Annual Dinner.

Sion Lee continues to intern at ASNC, organizing the office, updating the database and handling the phones.

Neha Sakhuja recently moved to San Francisco and joined Asia Society Northern California to gain knowledge about Asian-focused NGOs. Prior to moving to the Bay Area, she was based in New Delhi, India where she worked as a Research Associate for the Centre for Science and Environment, on issues relating to environment and pov-

erty and authored several articles for Down to Earth magazine. She received her MSS in International Development from Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology, Australia. Working under program director Robert Bullock, she has contributed research to public programs on sustainability in Asia and interviewed key political and social analysts and activists on Asian affairs.

ASNC Goes Digital

News from the Center

Become a fan on our Facebook page: AsiaSocietyNC

Follow us on Twitter at our feed: AsiaSocietyNC

Check our our blog at: AsiaSocietyNC.blogspot.com

5Asia Society Northern California News WINTER 2009-2010

Thanks for joining us at our Annual Holiday Party!

News from the Center

Asia Society Northern California held its annual Holiday Party in December and enjoyed a great turnout from members and supporters (left). Intern Carlos and volunteers Angela and Nicole keep the party going with wine generously donated by Winery Exchange, and our signature Leotinis (above).

Photos Courtesy of Kunal Rohilla

Guests hob-nob with Program Director Robert Bullock (left).

Vendor Prudy Kohler, artist and teacher at Art for Lunch, sells her unique but-ton necklaces and bracelets while min-gling with guests (right).

Development Director Wendy Soone-Broder talks with guests (left). Artist Shari Arai DeBoer sells her prints (bottom left).

A special thank you goes out from all of us at Asia Society North-ern California to our members — Thank you for another year of jumping into stimulating discussions with our panelists, starting heated debates after our public programs, sharing delicious meals at our Off the Menu series, and celebrating all things Asian with us. We are deeply grateful to our members' support and look for-ward to seeing all of you at our upcoming events!

President's Circle Member Cynthia Miyashita, Executive Director Bruce Pickering, and Contributing Member Neils Erich (right).

6 Asia Society Northern California News WINTER 2009-2010

Tori Zwisler is the founding execu-tive director of the Jane Goodall Institute-Shanghai and its Roots and

Shoots program. Roots & Shoots aims to plant one million trees in Inner Mongolia by 2014.

What is the biggest environmental chal-lenge in China?

TZ: The fundamental challenge for China, environmentally speaking, is overall enforcement of environmental rules and regulations. China has by far the most comprehensive and far-reaching environmental laws of any country in the world. The enforcement of said laws is sporadic at best.

Once students get involved with Roots and Shoots and start to see the small cause-and-effect relationship of doing something more en-vironmentally appropriate, they will understand the relationship that it has to the rest of the world. In China, the most populated country in the world, every decision makes a huge difference.

How are NGOs in China surviving?

TZ: There are literally millions of grassroots NGOs working in China. The problem is that they are poorly funded and poorly managed. So while the majority of them are working on important issues like wa-ter pollution, health benefits, and human rights, there is no guaran-tee they will be able to sustain themselves in the future. One needs to figure out how to keep environmental activism groups steering a course for the future.

What are the challenges for a foreign-funded NGO in China?

TZ: Roots and Shoots is the only foreign-affiliated, legally regis-tered NGO in China. We are non-confrontational, non-religious, and non-political, so it is easy for us to work in China.

We do exercise caution while working on projects, and want to stay on the path that works. We are creating environmentalists who can work within the system and go on to get great jobs in the government, universities, and work with NGOs. That’s how you change society, change attitudes and directions in China. Activ-ists are viewed positively by the government as long as they stay on the government’s positive side. The minute their cause is no longer advocated, they go to jail. We will take slow, small, posi-tive steps forward in the environmental arena within the system

On the Ground: Environmental NGOs in ChinaIntern Neha Sakhuja interviews the speakers at "The State of Environmental Activism in China." For the full articles, visit asiasociety.org.

Program Highlights

Wen Bo is Co-Director of Pacific Environment’s China Program. Wen was an Asia Society Asia 21

Fellow, received a 2009 Pew Fellowship in Marine Conservation, and was named a 2009 Young Global Leader by the World Economic Forum.

Who are China’s environmental NGOs?

WB: Before 1990 China did not have any environmental NGOs in an organized form. After the opening of the economy and its en-vironmental setbacks, intellectuals started organizing themselves into clubs. They began to look at Western environmental groups and slowly hundreds of groups emerged. The grassroots movement in China is supported by a number of citizens who are taking small but important steps.

In addition, the active participation of college students in the eco-logical involvement has been vital. There are a large number of campus environmental groups in China which are working on rais-ing awareness about some of the glaring environmental issues fac-ing the country.

How are NGOs regarded by the public?

WB: I think people in China are very supportive of the NGOs and more aware of the work groups are doing. Many organizations are able to have a large number of volunteers. So, a lot of people check the website, write to these groups, and some simply report to these organizations on local environment problems. They now turn to the environmental organizations to find solutions.

How do NGOs juggle both policing and partnering with govern-ment and business, as well as educating the public?

WB: We have come a long way in 10 years. The government has never been completely supportive of grass-roots and non-govern-mental efforts. But, many organizations are able to win the sympa-thy and support from many government officials in both central and local government.

I think the NGO community needs to realize that you cannot treat the government as an enemy. One needs to convince the govern-ment to make the right decisions through diplomatic tactics. It is important to hold the policy makers accountable and work with them at the same time. Have respect for individual government officials.

ASYPG kicked off the fall calendar with the JET (Japan Exchange Teach) Alumni’s Career and Networking Forum at Hotel Kabuki in San Francisco. Next on the agenda was a mixer with Japan Society’s Young Professionals Group at Ozumo Bar and Lounge. Our last event of the fall season launched Kearny Street Workshop’s 11th Annual Apature festival, an event spotlighting Asian American art, at Goforaloop Gallery. It was an evening of art and networking with ten Bay Area professional associations including: Asian Business League of San Francisco, Oriented.com, and Young Filipino Professionals Association, amongst others. Thanks to all who

attended and showed their support!

Stay tuned for more information on upcoming YPG programs this winter and beyond. If you would like to be added to the YPG mailing list, please contact Amanda Huffman at amandah@asiasoc.org.

Young Professionals Group

7Asia Society Northern California News WINTER 2009-2010Program Highlights

Tempers flared at ASNC’s September green technology conference as ex-perts heatedly debated the solutions

to climate change, the urgency of the prob-lem, how governments should implement new energy programs, and how green technology should be shared between the US and China.

The conference, titled “Greentech A Call to Action,” took place at the Shanghai World Financial Center September 7 and 8 and was co-organized by the American Chamber of Commerce in Shanghai. Over 100 busi-ness executives, academics, and govern-ment experts offered their views on the role greentech should play in solving the climate change problem, es-pecially in China.

Though everyone recognized the im-portance of climate change, many disagreed on how radi-cally governments need to change in order to address it. Orville Schell, Arthur Ross Director of the Asia Society’s Center of US-China Relations, called for swift and drastic change, calling climate change the most important issue of this century. How-ever, Mitch Daniels, Governor of Indiana (R), doubted the capability of the US and the global economy to undergo rapid trans-formation, and called for a more cautious approach. Saying he wished to inject a sense of realism into the debate, he added that progress must be “incremental and synergistic,” with careful attention on how to pay for this transition.

While many agreed that governments need to work together on policy, there was debate as to what those policies should entail. Some of the solutions proposed were relatively simple, yet many pointed out that before even simple changes in policy can be made, lawmakers must be educated about climate change.

"We have to educate the decision makers, engineers, stake-holders, and the general public," said Dominic Yin, on the Energy Panel. "Otherwise, the type of transforma-tions we advocate here simply won’t hap-pen.”

A repeated theme of the conference was how The US and China must cooper-ate to slow global warming, and in doing so mutually benefit. Senator Ma-ria Cantwell (D-WA) said, “On the climate

issue, we need a robust partnership, one that moves us forward with technology and provides high-paying jobs for our citizens.”

Her remarks were echoed by Fu Zhihuan, Chairman of the Finance Committee of China’s 10th People’s Congress. “This is a win-win proposition,” Fu said, adding that the Chinese leadership was extreme-ly happy with the change in America’s energy policy under the Obama admin-istration.

While the spirit of cooperation was in the air, there were substantial disagreements

on green technology innovation within Chi-na and how technology should be shared between the US and China. Panelists at the Plenary Session on Green Financing, led by Brad Sterley, Director of Renew-able Energy and Environmental Finance at Standard Charter Bank, all agreed that there was no real technological innovation in China as yet, meaning that new tech-nologies as well as best practices would need to be shared by the US.

“We are too worried about technology transfer, and not on the transfer of sys-tems, processes, and management tech-niques,” Sterley said.

Ken Jarrett of APCO International said that while Senators John Kerry and Nancy Pe-losi have been enthusiastic in discussions with Chinese officials on climate change mitigation, the issue of intellectual prop-erty rights had been problematic due to a perceived lack of policy enforcement in Beijing.

But Zhang Fuming of Beijing Capital Steel, offered a much more optimistic picture, insisting that incentives are in place to en-courage technology innovation in China. “We have the largest furnace in the world,” Zhang said, “And we are developing our-selves into an innovative company and country.”

The conference was part of Asia Society Northern California’s ongoing series in sus-tainable development. The series will con-tinue with public programs, culminating in another conference in the spring.

Experts debate impact of climate change at conference

News from the Center: Greening ASNC's Office

Did you know that leav-ing a copy machine on stand-by mode overnight

uses the energy equivalent of making 5,000 copies?

Neither did we, until we started performing an Eco-Office audit for ASNC. During ASNC’s audit we found that even though our office staff is generally aware of good environmental practices, there are still many ways in which we can improve.

Eco-Office is a program of Shanghai Roots and Shoots in which students survey lo-cal business’ office equipment, staff habits, and consumption of resources. Then, using a model formulated by Environ-mental Resources Manage-ment, they identify the carbon

footprint of the office and make suggestions for improvement.

Many of the suggestions for ASNC were simple, such as adding plants to improve air quality. Others, such as shift-ing the type of energy we buy to reusable energy, will be a bit harder to accomplish.

One of the easiest and most important areas to improve on was paper consumption. By setting the print default on our computers to double-sid-ed, we were able to cut paper consumption in half. Then, to further improve our paper use, we looked into buying recycled copy paper. Although recycled is more expensive than stan-dard paper, when taking into account our other paper-saving

measures, we will actually save money by going green.

Another important area to im-prove upon was energy usage. One of the biggest ways to cut down on power use is to regu-larly shut down computers and monitors. Our new policy is to hibernate computers and turn off monitors during lunch breaks. When we leave the of-fice, we shut off all electronics and turn off power strips. The items that consume the most power overnight are sometimes surprising — a water cooler left on overnight consumes more energy than a refrigerator.

We are still working on ways to green our office, so check our blog for updates on ASNC’s green makeover!

Eco Tips• Turn off comput-

er & monitor• Turn off water

cooler, copy machine, printer & power strips

• Use window shades to regu-late heat

• Telecommute• Use public

transport• Use non-toxic

cleaning agents• Reuse dishes &

utensils• Buy organic

foods

Brad Sterley, Standard Charter Bank

We are too worried about technol-ogy transfer, and not on the transfer of systems, processes, and manage-ment techniques.

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