america in transition

As we all know, we are in the process of transitioning from one president to another. In this case, we are also transitioning from one political climate to another.

Barack Obama has spoken many times about his concern for the environment and his plan to commit the United States to a green policy. In a move that supports what he has been saying, there was an announcement today about how his stimulus package will include a heavy dose of spending on environmentally friendly projects that will create “green”-collar jobs.

“Clean energy is going to be a foundation for rebuilding the American economy,” said Bracken Hendricks, an analyst at the Democratic-leaning Center for American Progress and an adviser to the presidential-transition team. Generating jobs in concert with cutting pollution will be “a major component” of any economic-recovery plan, Hendricks said.

The plan outlines many things, including a greener infrastructure and public transportation. The hope is that with new policy, the creation of new jobs will follow. Jobs that cannot be outsourced, since the idea is being green and being local.

You can read the whole article HERE, via Bloomberg News

i really don’t know what to think

Lately, I have been reading a lot about Wal-Mart’s to be a more sustainable company; switching to CFL’s, lowering air conditioning, new buildings being LEED certified, and the list really does go on and on.

I just read an article about Wal-Mart’s Personal Sustainability Project (PSP). It is program where employees are encouraged to live a more sustainable life, even going so far as ‘vowing” to do something, or not do something.

Since 2007, all Wal-Mart employees in the US have been asked to take a simple, concrete step to benefit their health, their local community, or the earth. PSP pledges, which can involve work or home life or both, have included vows to drive the speed limit (to save gas), clean up trash, quit smoking, switch to a reusable bottle, or turn off the tap when toothbrushing.

Wal-Mart has reported that 45% of its employees enrolled in the program, and this is with no financial incentive to them. However, maybe there should be? In many cases employees have found things that the stores can do to improve their sustainability (i.e., turning off lights in the breakroom). These changes have saved the company over $1Million dollars.

The criticism is that yes, these employees are doing this on their own, as encouraged by the company. But, the company has a long history of demanding things from their employees without any gain to the employee. So, do you praise the company for implementing green initiatives or do you criticize the company for bullying its staff to change how they live without any benefit except they don’t get fired?

It is an interesting debate. I, personally, have had trouble with ‘ends justify the means’ attitude. We saw with gas prices, that when the cost was high, people were trying to incorporate ‘green’ ideas to keep the personal cost low. Now that prices have gone back down, they are back in their SUV’s having not learned a thing about being sustainable.

I think we will see more and more of this in many other companies, with many more examples. It will be interesting to see what effect it has….

You can find the article HERE, via MotherJones.

book review: why we hate us

I am about a chapter away from finishing one of the best books I have read in a long time.

An excerpt: The environment for character education today is rotten. The times are not exactly ripe for etiquette, either. The screaming lack of both virtues contributes enormously to the “why we hate us” saga. We hate weasels and we hate rude people. We should. But – big but – when it comes to character and manners we are obliged to again consider not just what we think of the world, but what we contribute to it. Do we, in public, exhibit good character? Do we have good manners?

I think you can tell by my writing, that I am disheartened by the lack of community. I do not believe in over-consumerism and corportacracy. I get depressed when I see teenagers dressing and speaking inappropriately. I think media has caused issues that will take longer than over night to fix. I do not value a government that lies to us, nor a government that has spends more time campaigning than passing worthwhile legislation.

If any of that resonates with you, then I think you will enjoy this book.

You can find it on Amazon: Why We Hate Us: American Discontent in the New Millennium, by Dick Meyer.

A very quick read, and well worth it!

vroom, vroom

When many of us think about what we can do about climate change, we go to obvious: lightbulbs, recycle, bring a bag, short shower. We demand of our government to invest in clean energy and protect lands.

However, in light of the rumblings of a auto industry bailout, I think an article from The Economist, is an important read: A Survey of Cars in Emerging Markets

We forget that with a growing population comes a growing demand for goods and the infrastructure to match. So what is going to happen when more people want more cars?

…the IMF have calculated that the number of cars worldwide will grow from 600m in 2005 to 2.9 billion in 2050. By 2030, they believe, China’s car fleet will have overtaken America’s (which itself will have increased by 60%), and by 2050 China will have almost as many cars as the entire world has today. India will be catching up fast, with a fleet of 367m, 45 times the number on its congested roads today.

Cars made up an estimated 6.3% of all global emissions in 2000. Eight years later, you know that number is higher and climbing.

This is why it is so important for a green initiative to be built into any auto bailout that either the Bush or Obama Adminstrations would consider. If the estimated car purchase growth becomes reality without a major push to reduce emissions and create fuel efficient, hybrid, or electric cars, we can assume that any net positive effect in other green initiatives will be negated due to autos, alone.

In a way, we should hope for a continued rise in fuel prices, so the desire to own an automobile is lessened.

Read the article, it is very interesting.

Top 10

Reasons to buy local food:

1.) Tastes better
2.) better for you
3.) preserves genetic diversity… we know how important THAT is.
4.) GMO free
5.) supports local farm families
6.) build a stronger community
7.) preserves open space
8.) keeps your taxes in check
9.) supports a clean environment and benefits wildlife
10.) it’s about the future

Go HERE for the whole article.
Go HERE to find your local farmer’s market.

Can green make us greener?

George Soros knows money and economy. When he talks, I listen.

Watch an excerpt from an interview with Bill Moyers…. he thinks we need to fix global warming… which would benefit our economy…. where have I heard this before? Why are people not listening the first time?

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nDiX9N0p1sw]

sometimes I get depressed

I mean, does this really surprise me… no. But, I would like to think more highly of people, and sometimes they just really let me down.

I have written a lot about BPA (bisphenol A), and if you still use products with it, I ask you to stop. It is bad, very bad.

And then came this news:
Soon after scientists Frederick Vom Saal and Wade Welshons found the first hard evidence that miniscule amounts of BPA caused irreversible changes in the prostates of fetal mice, a scientist from Dow Chemical Company showed up at the Missouri lab. He disputed the data and declared, as Vom Saal recalls, “We want you to know how distressed we are by your research.”

“It was not a subtle threat,” Vom Saal says. “It was really, really clear, and we ended up saying, threatening us is really not a good idea.”

and this addition:
Earlier this year, the industry spent hundreds of thousands of dollars to defeat a California legislative proposal to ban BPA in food packaging. The Chemistry Council and allied companies and industry groups hired an army of lobbyists. Tactics included an industry email to food banks charging that a BPA ban would mean the end of distributions of canned goods for the poor.

I highlighted the last statement because of the impact that truly exists in this statement. I know that Dow and the likes want to make it seem like disadvantaged people are going to suffer without canned goods… but tell me this, how are they going to suffer because of canned goods?

But, I also want to say… when a chemical company launches this kind of campaign, we know that BPA is as bad as the scientist want us to know. Protect yourselves people… we know corporations won’t.

You can go HERE for the article

babysitting 101

Paul Krugman won the Nobel Prize in Economic Science today for his work on international trade patterns.

Slate Magazine re-ran an article published in 1998 called “Baby-Sitting the Economy” about how learning from a babysitting co-op going bust, could give us information to save the world.

Click HERE for the article.

“If you think this is a silly story, a waste of your time, shame on you. What the Capitol Hill Baby-Sitting Co-op experienced was a real recession. Its story tells you more about what economic slumps are and why they happen than you will get from reading 500 pages of William Greider and a year’s worth of Wall Street Journal editorials. And if you are willing to really wrap your mind around the co-op’s story, to play with it and draw out its implications, it will change the way you think about the world.”

say it ain’t so,… TED?

I came across this article and thought it was very important.

It seems watching the Dow isn’t as critical as watching TED. I didn’t even know this number existed, but it does and it is important:

“There’s a lot that’s ill-advised about that habit, but, most importantly, attending to the ups and downs in the Dow won’t tell you much about the current financial crisis. Ours is a crisis of credit: Financial firms are unwilling to lend to each other (at all-but-exorbitant rates) for fear that borrowing firms may fail or that they themselves may need the cash to fend off their own crisis.”

click HERE for the article.

breath of fresh air

Last week I wrote about the bailout being about credit and the banks not making loans, and how this effects us. Today, an amazing article came by me about a town in Vermont that is dealing with this financial turmoil in a pretty revolutionary way.

They are coming together as a community.

Not only that… but they are focusing on my favorite topic: FOOD!!

“Facing a Main Street dotted with vacant stores, residents of this hardscrabble community of 3,000 are reaching into its past to secure its future, betting on farming to make Hardwick the town that was saved by food.”

The article illustrates a truly inspirational way to come together as a group and collectively save ourselves from economic hardship. I think we could all learn an amazing lesson from this.

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