Simple Green

As most intelligent people like to read, how does an intelligent, but green-thinking person rationalize the cutting down of 20 million trees per year for American book production? The Amazon Kindle is a great product, but I think it is still a few years away from being perfect. The public library is great, but they only get one or two copies of every new book and the waiting lists can be brutal. Book Swim is Netflix for books. Read it, return it in their 100% recycled plastic bag, and someone else can read it without cutting down another tree. Simple but brilliant.

While Florida is not usually considered a hot-bed for green development, Miami's Tri-Rail Trains have announced that they will be operating on a 99% biodiesel blend. Evidently South Florida is one of the few places that can run on such a pure blend of fuel due to the temperate climate. Public transportation is one of the easiest ways for someone to live green.

The brains behind RecycleBank prove that you don't have to be an expert or have a PHD to impact the environment in a positive way. They have developed a plan that rewards you for recycling. For every pound you recycle, you earn points that can be redeemed for discounts at green-friendly businesses. This article explains the process and how it has been rolled out in 13 states already, or visit RecycleBank's website. This is a win-win-win in that more people will recycle, the businesses that donate discounts get more business and good publicity, and the cities pay less to dump garbage.

These are all simple ideas that translate to huge environmental rewards. I think that simple is a big part of the future of Green.

Green is Not Just Local It's Global

Here are a few story as evidence of this trend.

• “Green” Politicians in Canada may gain majority due to missteps of conservative prime minister. It’s good to see our neighbor to the north going green. If Obama’s economic and environmental plan goes forward the U.S. could be in a great position to create a green coalition with other first world countries like Canada.
• Nations of Africa to vote as one bloc in support of tighter restrictions on carbon emissions in upcoming meeting in Poland to update the Kyoto Protocol, which is set to expire in 2012. More evidence that the world is starting to demand more sustainable systems. If things like Kyoto really begin to be accepted and are given teeth for enforcement, globalization will spread green like wildfire.
• The U.S. Army is taking a modest step towards green with the planned lease of 4,000 electric vehicles. How do you know a green revolution has started? When an ultra conservative and traditional institution like the U.S. Army starts embracing it. Green Government Contracts anyone?
  

I think this is a historic time, a chance for the U.S. to regain its positive image by leading the efforts towards a greener world economy. Perhaps though a little competition is in order. If another world power, say China, starts really moving towards green it could exhilarate global green efforts tremendously. Now before you call me a commy, look what we did during the Cold War. We put a freaking man on the moon, when less than 50 years earlier no one had even flown solo across the Atlantic Ocean! What do y'all think?

Buffy the Vampire Power slayer

We've seen the awareness campaigns. We know we're supposed to unplug unused electronic appliances, turn off power strips, and only plug cell phone chargers into outlets when we are actually charging. But how many of us really make the effort? And what about the appliances that we can't unplug?

The Madrid based company Good for you, good for the planet claims to have solved the phantom load problem with their 100% off product. GreenSwitch is another company that sells products to combat the vampire...and still be lazy.

Do you guys think these energy saving technologies will become mainstream soon? Where will it take off first, businesses or residential? Or will the majority of people just let it slide for now, and rely on electronic manufacturers to incorporate smarter standby modes into future devices?

I've Got Green in Low Places...

This past week, I came across several articles that show how Green Building is starting to pop up in places you'd never expect.  Here are but a few of them:

1. "Green Nightclub Trend Comes to New York" from the NY Times' Green Inc. blog.  I had never really considered looking to nightclubs for examples of Green Building, but apparently they have more to offer than eardrum popping music, hotties who apparently don't like it when you do the Mangina for them, and $12 whiskeys in plastic cups.  Good to know.
2. "Project 3.0 greens Ybor City"...as a born & raised central Florida boy, I was amazed to read that the 103 year old Tampa Bay Brewing Company building is undergoing a green renovation.  If Green Building can work in this building, they can work anywhere.
3. "New spas go green"...even the Mecca of poor urban planning, Atlanta, is showing signs of green innovation.  I love the quote from the spa founder & CEO:  "We've always been interested in building with energy efficiency and eco-chic design."  

Eco-chic, I hadn't heard that phrase before.  I think I like it, but I'm kind of dubious because it makes Green sound like just a fad.  Is Green Building the next fad?  Will it go the way of boy bands, slap bracelets, Pauly Shore, and such?  Or will it be an ever-enduring fad, like The Beatles?  Only time will tell, but I'm betting on Green.

Keynesian theory- Looks like Obama is a believer.

I have attached a link to an article in the New York Times written by N. Gregory Mankiw whom is a professor at Harvard Law. In the article he breaks down the Keynesian theory of economics and in doing so shows how the new government is going to try and get the economy jump started by spending money on infrastructure.

What Would Keynes Have Done?

My favorite part is where he brings up the argument that Keynesian theory ignores the long run impact on an economy to which John Maynard Keynes famously quipped, “In the long run we are all dead."