Archive for April, 2008

Earth Day 2008

Tuesday, April 22nd, 2008

Happy Earth Day everyone… and what a perfect day for it too! The leaves on the trees just began to appear today and it seemed something was growing everywhere you looked. 

I’m not sure if it’s just me, but Earth Day seemed to be a little different this year. It seems like it really meant something more than in past years. Most years, I think Earth Day just kind of comes and goes without much discussion or mention of it. In fact, it seems like in the past, most people I’m around don’t even know Earth Day is even upon us. Today, I heard various conversations going on about it. I saw things on TV about it. I heard mentions of it on the radio. And of course, saw plenty of things about it on the Internet. In case you want to learn more about the Earth Day and events having to do with it, check out EarthDay.net. I hope everyone had a great Earth Day and did their part to help their planet. 

-LINKS-

Earth Day 
EarthDay.net

Posted in Conservation | No Comments »

Presidential Hopeful Barack Obama and the Environment

Sunday, April 20th, 2008
Obama says to reduce carbon emissions 80% below 1990 levels by 2050 he will create a “Cap-and-Trade” system that means that you will be able to purchase credits to offset your carbon footprint. The money made off of these credits will be used to invest in creating green alternatives. These new alternatives will need skilled workers to pull them off and some of the money will also go to job training to help support this task. Part of this proposal is to give incentives to people who actively plant and support forests. 

Obama also wants to invest in clean energy, he proposes investing $150 billion over the next 10 years. He says this will speed up the creation of plug-in hybrids and make renewable energy cheaper to generate and distribute. He would also like to require 25% of the energy we use by 2025 to be renewable. 

One of the biggest points that Obama has pointed out is oil independence. He would like us to reduce our oil consumption 35% by 2030 which he says should remove the need to import oil from OPEC nations. To do this he says that we will double fuel economy standards by creating tax credits for domestic auto manufacturers to also increase the domestic job market in the United States. 

Obama has clearly laid out his energy efficiency and environmental plans. Above is a summary of some of the main points, but on his website there is a comprehensive layout of his ideas along with links to his related speech’s. 

-LINKS-

Barack Obama’s Energy/Environment Page
Barack Obama’s Energy Plan Details
Barack Obama’s Environment Plan Details

Posted in Conservation, Entertainment, Financial, Hydro-Electric, Nature, Politics, Recycling, Solar, Wind | No Comments »

Turning Fear into Power

Thursday, April 17th, 2008
Iceland is using once feared geysers and other geothermal activities in their country into huge sources of energy. Check out this interesting video that shows how they’re doing it and see the other steps they’ve taken to make Iceland a much greener place.  

For more information about Geothermal power check out the links below… 

-LINKS-

Geothermal.org 
Wikipedia – Geothermal Energy

Posted in Nature | No Comments »

A Green ‘Method’ for Cleaning Your Home – Revisited

Tuesday, April 8th, 2008

Some time ago, I wrote an article about a company that makes environmentally-friendly cleaning products called Method. At the time, I had just heard about the company from friends, but never actually used the products myself. After writing the article, I was inspired to try them out for myself, so I ordered a few things from their website. I was very impressed with the quality of the products and also the interesting packaging of the products. I’ve recently discovered that their products are sold at Target, which makes them even easier to get a hold of. 
      I also recently have seen commercials for other environmentally-friendly lines of cleaning products. S.C. Johnson has been running ads to show what they are doing to make their products more environmentally-friendly. They call the process to improve these products, Greenlist. Clorox has also introduced a full range of cleaning products called Green Works Natural Cleaners. They use plant and mineral components to make up these cleaners and vow not to test them on animals. I have no experience using these two lines of products from Clorox and S.C. Johnson, but if anyone out there has used them and would like to send us your feedback, please email me your comments and I will write a follow-up article with testimonials from readers. 

-LINKS-

Method 
S.C. Johnson 
Green Works Natural Cleaners

Posted in Around The Home | 2 Comments »

Give A Tree For Arbor Day, Or Any Other Day!

Sunday, April 6th, 2008
This past Christmas, my girlfriend received a card from one of her friends. This was no ordinary card though. This card was from The National Arbor Day Foundation. It is called a “Give-A-Tree” card and it’s a very green card. They are printed on recycled paper and can be recycled. The card is also printed with soy ink and as the name states the Arbor Day Foundation will plant a tree for you in a National Forest. 

As far as cards go this card is very familiar, they have a picture on the front and give you a nice little statement relating to the occasion. On the inside of the card there is another statement wrapping up the idea stated on the front and adds “In celebration of _______ a tree has been planted in a National Forest.” As I said very similar to every other card out there but, this card makes the world a better place and also makes someone happy that you remembered them. On the back of the card there is a little story to explain how this will help all of the little woodland creatures and tells the recipient how they can pass around the green love.

With Arbor Day coming up on April 25, 2008 this may be a good way to pass the word along. These cards come for every occasion, from “Birthday” to “Wedding” to “Any Occasion,” so you have every reason to look. The cards are priced at $5.95 which is a tad bit more than a normal card. I mean you can almost buy one gallon of gas for that price! For this price, you need to ask yourself a question. Do I think I can get one of my friends to buy a sapling, dig a hole, plant the sapling, and feel like they are part of something good if I just give him/her $5.95? Yeah, I didn’t think so. 

-LINKS-

Give-A-Tree
The National Arbor Day Foundation

Posted in Conservation, Nature, Recycling | No Comments »