what economy?

We can fix the economy and help the planet. Seriously, just here me out. Ok, so my idea is to funnel a large chunk of the money we are spending in Iraq into alternate energy R& D. Iraq is another discussion in itself, but what the hell are we doing over there anymore? Is it really necessary to spend billions of dollars to construct schools and roads when ours are falling apart? I know the answer, " but we owe them." No we don't , we did our job ( what was that again? ) Are we in Darfur fixing their problems right now? No, cause they don't have the oil. Lets re-direct that money into alternate energy development. Once we got that going for us, we can drop our reliance on foreign oil. The technologies that we enhance could not only create new US jobs ( sorry India, love you but it's time to in-source for a lil bit) but also help reduce our carbon footprint. I'm not the only one saying these things I know, but I really think that a lot of our nation's deficiencies could fall into place once we got off of foreign oil. Lets rip that band-aid already, it's not gonna get any better. I think that we could really diversify our power supplies too. This will not only help create a little competition ( better prices for consumers) but provide much needed jobs in areas of the country that have been suffering. The Midwest could generate jobs not only from wind farms, but from solar farms, as well as growing bio-diesel crops. They could have the trifecta going! It is hard to say the amount of jobs and industries that will be forced to close their doors to make way for new more sustainable ways of working. Will they even out, or will we be able to create more jobs in the process? With the economy going down as it is, my guess is for the latter. These jobs are already hurting, ( home-building, energy companies, auto makers, etc.) The costs of goods is increasing rapidly due to the rising costs of fuel. If we didn't have these high costs, all business's would be better off for it. Sustainable companies will be growing very quickly as most people have reached their tipping point and are broadening their horizons. Incorporating these "green" habits into you life isn't for hippies anymore, but for people who want to save money in the long run. I know I'm not saying anything new here, but the more it is said, maybe someone will really hear it. I know that we won't turn into this perfect utopia where we all eat organic food from our gardens and hold hands. I think that if we change our focus from this old school mentality and really look at all these opportunities to create a better living environment, we will in turn create a better economy and way of life. Thus concludes my random rant.

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What i'm bugging my husband to do now...

My husband told me about this guy Dan, who builds his own wind generators in Tampa. He created Hurricane Electric and sells his home-made generators online. He also gave me a link to a DIY website. This dude was even able to retro an old pick up truck to run on batteries that were charged from his wind generator!!! This guy is rad. So we were inspired to make one ourselves. Looks like it will cost around $1200. Since my husband builds planes, I'm hoping we will be able to get that price down. I'll have to check with the city code to see if there are any height ordinances before I get too excited about this. It is relatively small, so it will only be able to power a few things for around 6 hours. With soaring energy costs, I think this is a good investment. I'm sure my neighbors are going to be real impressed with our little power plant...but guess I don't really care. They will be jealous while we are enjoying cold beverages during the hurricanes.

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bleeding green

So I started a new job a month ago. I am working for IZEA and we are a platform that helps advertisers connect with bloggers. So hence, the creation of my very own blog. ( Obviously I'm new at this and my page layout sucks right now, sorry. ) Working for IZEA has really expanded my knowledge base on what is happening in social media. I come across soooooo much information and a lot of green blogs. To be honest with you, I was getting overwhelmed with all the info and then I came across FLOCK. Flock is a social media web browser that centers around what your interests are. Obviously mine is the environment, so it basically helps me organize all this info. I literally just downloaded it 5 minutes ago, but it is really sweet! So now that I have the tools, I am on a quest to get more sustainable companies to join my company's network, SocialSpark. Blogging goes hand in hand with spreading the sustainable message. Right now, there are so many people who want to purchase green products but don't really have access to them. Soooo, if I can connect the two parties, everyone wins. The best part about this type of marketing is the minimal carbon footprint incurred. I found this carbon foot print calculator for online marketing campaigns and the carbon emission is minimal. The cost to offset that emission is also extremely low , like $1. I'm feeling pretty good about my company's environmental impact, and I hope we can help more sustainable companies generate some buzz across the blogsphere.

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LOW IMPACT LIVING

Check out Low Impact Living
They have a wealth of information from DIY projects, to low cost green solutions. I love their impact calculator. I used this to find out where I should start attacking my energy suckers. So right now my LILI scores is a 66. I think last year I was around 89. So i'm getting there. My goal is that by next year my score is 47, and then finally to a score of 23. It is such a great calculator, it even tells you how much money each particular project should cost you. So you can use that to determine what is going to have the most impact in the most economical way. However, it does calculate the cost of purchasing a hybrid car around $1400. I'm not sure where they are finding hybrids at this price, but i'll buy 2!!!!

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going green is harder than i thought....

So I thought going green would be easier for some reason. I started my quest about a year ago, and I've come a long way, but I have a ways to go. Since I was immersed in home building for 3 years, I started there. I became a Florida Green Home Certifier, and recently a LEED for Homes field agent. I first got into the game by replacing my old energy sucking appliances ( scratch and dent sales rule!) and then quickly ran out of funds. So now I'm all about cheap green. If you are an average working class American, then you know where I'm coming from.

FOOD. I love to eat, and I TRY to eat healthy. But making the "greener" choice in food isn't always easy on the pocket book. Organic food right now is sort of expensive. So I can only buy it in small doses. Stoneybrook is great for us poor folk. Farmers markets are always a good way to make the green choice too. Publix ( sorry if you don't have one) has a lot of organic choices that aren't too expensive. One day when i'm rolling around in my money, i'm going live in Whole Foods. I wish we had a Trader Joes in this town!!
*When I do finally break down and go grocery shopping I always piss off the bag lady with my numerous canvas bags. Mu ha ha ha. I love the eye roll, I know then that I'm on my way to being an annoying tree hugger.

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