Outstanding.
Tonight on the Daily Show, Jon Stewart interviewed William Kamkwamba, a young man from Malawi, Africa, who built a windmill in front of his family’s home after quitting school because of the famine in his country. William visited the library in his village – which was sponsored by the U.S., by the way – and [...]
Weatherization: not just a long, fancy word
I love it when the topic of weatherization comes up in political debates or speeches. To me, it means that the people in charge are actually paying attention and realize that buildings need to be more energy efficient. But, what exactly IS weatherization?
First the definition: Dictionary.com says that weatherization is the process of making (a [...]
Be lazy! Buy nothing! Do less!
While it’s not exactly a winning strategy if we are going to get our depressed consumer economy at least partly back on track, I have to say I agree in principle with this article by Matt McDermott on Planet Green. Simply put, the consumer economy is, itself, largely to blame for many of the problems [...]
The Environmental Impact of Poor Health Care
There’s been a lot of talk recently about the health care situation in this country as the Obama administration tries to find a solution for the 50 million or so Americans who don’t have health insurance (watch Kathleen Sebelius on The Daily Show here to hear more about it). As I am unemployed and will [...]
Portland is awesome!
Look at what I found while perusing the city of Portland’s various pages about sustainability: it’s a handout that details things that you can do, both at home and at work, to reduce your impact on the environment. It’s great!
And this is why Portland is leading the country on sustainable design issues! Awesome.
Greenwashing! Boo!
Don’t ask me why I had to go all the way to the UK’s Guardian to find out about this, but according to their article:
“More than 98% of supposedly natural and environmentally friendly products on US supermarket shelves are making potentially false or misleading claims, Congress has been told. And 22% of products making green [...]
GDC Portfolio Project
Unfortunately the building industry is going through a period of massive contraction right now. The economy is bad, creditors aren’t lending, great firms are shutting their doors, and people are losing their jobs in droves. Some of those people are my friends. Which is why I am starting a new initiative, called the GreenDesignCollective Porfolio [...]
Make recycling make sense
Full disclosure: I love my 15″ MacBook Pro. Knock on wood, I’ve not had any major problems with it in the 3 years that I’ve had it. And, even though I’ve seen some things about the batteries that freak me out a bit, I don’t regret my purchase of it. It’s done everything I have [...]
Happy Earth Day 2009!
If I have one request, hope, or wish for you this Earth Day 2009, it is that you stop using plastic bags. Entirely. Forever. And ever!
My suggestion? Get some reusable bags! Everyone sells them by now, from Ralph’s to IKEA to Trader Joe’s. And like everything, you’ve got plenty of choices, from economy to top-of-the-line, [...]
Turn off your computer! (But read this first…)
Speaking of computers, I can’t believe I forgot to tell you about this. Do you want to know a really simple way to save energy in your home or business? Turn off your computers! This article from TreeHugger last week discusses a report that says…
50% of US workers don’t power down their PCs at night, [...]
Blog Action Day 2009!
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