Being Green

Thanks for taking an interest in being green. This means you are on the right path to helping create an earth friendly environment and life style.

It all begins with new knowledge.

Being green is easy.

Being green saves you money.

Being green promotes a healthy planet.

Being green simply makes sense.

It's World Environment Day! How are you helping to ensure a greener future for all?

Mobilize The Earth Video

Five Earth Day Ideas for the Entire Family

                     Five Earth Day Ideas for the Entire Family

The 42nd anniversary of Earth Day, April 22, is Sunday, and everyone ages zero to 100 can show their appreciation to Mother Nature and the planet. The first Earth Day was celebrated in San Francisco in 1970 to teach others how they can have a positive impact on the environment by reducing, reusing and recycling their resources. Today there are celebrations in over 100 different countries and countless ways we all can give back to the planet!

Get out and celebrate our great planet by attending a festival or event in your area. Most are free and open to the public and have something for everyone including fun games for children, organic foods and drinks, arts and crafts.

Planning or attending a picnic is a low cost way to enjoy the nice spring weather and Mother Nature. You can share delicious dishes made from all-natural ingredients grown in your garden or purchased from a local farmers’ market.

Movie fans in your family can help support the Jane Goodall Institute efforts to save chimpanzees by purchasing a ticket to see Disneynature’s Chimpanzee, during opening weekend. The film is being released on April 20.

The little ones in your family will love getting their hands dirty learning to plant a garden or compost leftovers into food for nature’s smallest inhabitants. Children will better understand how food grows and can be used to strengthen their bodies’ and nature.

Hosting family “contests” to see who can pick up the most litter or make the most creative crafts or costumes from things found in your home’s recycling bin is a great way to teach children about keeping the Earth clean and upcycling old things into new ones.

Pick one of these ideas today and start planning your Earth Day celebration with the entire family. Happy Earth Day!

Tell Legislators: Protect Our Water From Fracking!

 Subject:Protect Our Water: Support The Fracking Legislative Package

Dear [Decision Maker],

I am writing to ask you to SUPPORT the hydraulic fracturing legislative package, a group of bills that would protect Michigan citizens from the dangers of Fracking.

Fracking has been associated with literally thousands of incidents of environmental contamination in several other states, which we must not allow to happen here. The EPA recently linked groundwater contamination to Fracking in Wyoming, Ohio underwent multiple earthquakes because of Fracking, and now scientists are suggesting that Fracking can also destroy air quality.

Michigan needs to delay any new natural gas Fracking until we have strengthened our safeguards and laws to protect our clean, fresh water, our air, our natural resources, and our communities.

There are some major problems with Fracking. The water that flows out of Fracking wells carries toxic and radioactive substances mobilized from the rock by the Fracking chemicals. A Congressional report on Fracking listed 750 chemicals used in the Fracking process, of which at least 29 of the chemicals are carcinogens or pose a risk to human health. Right now, companies are not required to fully disclose which of these cancer-causing chemicals they are putting into the ground.

In addition, each of these deep Fracking operations consumes up to 5 million gallons of water from local watersheds and the Great Lakes basin. However, Michigan's water withdrawal regulations currently exempt oil and gas drillers from complying with rules designed to protect waterways and groundwater from being depleted. 

Michigan needs to "push pause" on Fracking until we learn more about this process and until we have more protections in place.

Please SUPPORT the Fracking legislative package, and help get this on the agenda of the House Energy and Technology Committee. This is vital in order to protect our water, our air, and our communities.

Sincerely,

Angelita Mercado

Designing the Green Economy

 

 

A green economy is based on the efficient use of energy, reducing polluting emissions and the use of renewable sources of power. A green economy uses these investments to create new opportunities, more jobs and stronger communities.

New job activities will certainly be created as we make the transition towards a green economy while implementing global warming solutions.

Green jobs are in every community in every state throughout the nation, in the same areas of employment that people already work in today.

 

What makes these occupations “green jobs” is that people working in these fields are contributing their time and labor towards environmental solutions.

Millions of U.S. workers across a variety of occupational fields, states and income levels will all benefit from working towards the common goal of transforming the United States into a green economy.

“To achieve sustainable development and a higher quality of life for all people, States should reduce and
eliminate unsustainable patterns of production and consumption and promote appropriate demographic policies.” Rio Declaration, Principle 8 (UN 1992).

A transition to a green economy can assist in overcoming the contribution that the population growth makes to the depletion of increasingly  scarce natural resources.

The key aim for a transition to a green economy is to enable economic growth and investment while increasing environmental quality and social
inclusiveness. Critical to attaining such an objective is to create the conditions for public and private investments to incorporate broader environmental and social criteria.

Moving towards a green economy has the potential to achieve sustainable development and eradicate poverty on an unprecedented scale, with speed and
effectiveness.

What are the challenges to a transition to a Green Economy, and what will make it possible?

 

What is the green economy?

The Green Economy is being mentioned everywhere it seems. Open up a paper or magazine, listen to the radio or TV or visit a website or blog and chances are that it will appear as part of some story. It is certainly an increasingly discussed  subject and it is imperative to understand the relevance  in our troubled economic times.

The principal challenge is how we move towards an economic system that will benefit more people over the long run. Transitioning to a Green Economy will require a fundamental shift in thinking about growth and development, production of goods and services, and consumer habits. This transition will not happen solely because of better information on impacts, risks or good economic analysis; ultimately, it is about politics and changing the political economy of how big decisions are made.

The green economy embraces such diverse industries such as renewable energy production like wind, solar, and electric energy distribution and efficiency organic agriculture, green transportation and green building ranging from energy efficient lighting, to electric passenger trains, to cellulosic bio fuels, to carbon capture, to home insulation.  It is a very diverse industries that is linked together by the desire to achieve sustainability  in a manner that is more Earth Friendly.

What is the "Green Economy"?

 

A Green Economy can be thought of as an alternative vision for growth and development; one that can generate growth and improvements in people’s lives in ways consistent with sustainable development. A Green Economy promotes a triple bottom line: sustaining and advancing economic, environmental and social well-being.

It is a methodology of economics that supports the harmonious interaction between humans and nature and attempts to meet the needs of both simultaneously. The green economic theories encompass a wide range of ideas all dealing with the interconnected relationship between people and the environment. Green economists assert that the basis for all economic decisions should be in some way tied to the ecosystem.
Green economists perceive nature as being extremely valuable and seek to maintain it. Supporters of this branch of economics are concerned with the environment and believe that actions should be taken to protect nature and encourage the positive co-existence of both humans and nature. Emphasis is placed on creating value through quality rather than on accumulating material items and money.
For the purposes of the Green Economy Initiative, UNEP has developed a working definition of a green economy as one that results in improved human well-being and social equity, while significantly reducing environmental risks and ecological scarcities. In its simplest expression, a green economy can be thought of as one which is low carbon, resource efficient and socially inclusive.

Practically speaking, a green economy is one whose growth in income and employment is driven by public and private investments that reduce carbon emissions and pollution, enhance energy and resource efficiency, and prevent the loss of biodiversity and ecosystem services. These investments need to be catalyzed and supported by targeted public expenditure, policy reforms and regulation changes. This development path should maintain, enhance and, where necessary, rebuild natural capital as a critical economic asset and source of public benefits, especially for poor people whose livelihoods and security depend strongly on nature.
"To truly transform our economy, protect our security and save our planet from the ravages of climate change, we need to ultimately make clean, renewable energy the profitable kind of energy," President Obama

Save Yellowstone/Greater Rockies: Take Action!: Save BioGems

Dear Ken Salazar, Secretary of Interior 

Our nation must transition from a dirty fossil fuel-based economy to one that runs on clean energy. But we must ensure that the development of large-scale renewable power plants on our public lands is done right -- by protecting our wildlife, wildlands and water resources.

The Supplement to the draft Solar Energy Development Programmatic Environmental Impact Statement is a step in the right direction and I urge you to follow through on your commitment to zone-based development of large-scale solar projects on the deserts of the Southwest. Guiding solar development to appropriate places is the best way to ensure that the benefits of solar energy are realized while also safeguarding our public wildlands.

Currently, the solar resources of our public lands are being managed on the same antiquated project-by-project basis that oil and gas resources have been managed. Continuing this scatter-shot approach and permitting these very large projects to be dotted across our public lands is certain to harm sensitive wildlife species and diverse recreational opportunities, and will also lead to costly conflicts, delays and litigation at a time when solar energy is needed to improve our energy security and provide much-needed jobs.

I commend you for recognizing the need for a better way to develop solar projects, by designating zones that minimize conflicts with wildlife and other resources and providing incentives for projects located in these zones. I also appreciate your recognition of the need to provide limited flexibility to the solar industry for well-sited projects outside zones. Adoption of these and other proposed program components will help protect the unique and sensitive resources of our public lands while providing more certainty to all stakeholders.

By focusing on the places that have the best chances for success and having a clear plan to deal with potential impacts before they occur, we will be able to move quickly to develop our solar resources. This will enable America to better meet our clean energy demands while also preserving our nation's wildlife, wild lands and other natural treasures. Please continue on the path to finalize a comprehensive and environmentally sound framework for developing solar energy on our public lands in an environmentally sensitive way -- as promptly as possible.

Save Yellowstone/Greater Rockies: Take Action!: Save BioGems

Jack Lew – Friend of Energy Efficiency and Clean Energy – Named White House Chief of Staff

Jack Lew – Friend of Energy Efficiency and Clean Energy – Named White House Chief of Staff

February Program Calendar | Grand Traverse Conservation District

February Program Calendar | Grand Traverse Conservation District:

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Sundance Film Fest 2012: “Chasing Ice” and “Atomic States” : TreeHugger

Sundance Film Fest 2012: “Chasing Ice” and “Atomic States” : TreeHugger:

'via Blog this'

Contact a Politician

You can not change the world all by yourself..even though there are some of us who believe we can..on the other hand no single politician can save the world without our help..So todays action is all about letting your voice be heard…Bringing change to environmental policy begins with awareness. It will require continued support of regulations and environmental quality. Widespread support is essential.
That’s where your phone calls and emails come in. Email and social media is a great way to be heard. Many politicians are now on the web and use some form of social media. Other visitors to the same sites will be able to see your comments and generally reply. You also have the option to write a good old fashion letter addressed to your local politician.

Chasing Passion

  I once read that Going Green saves Green...Some may ask "What?" After all even I questioned the statement..

 So here is where I share what I did discover about going green..With every green action that I took it put more of my money back in my pocket..And in my pocket is where it should be..
 With the New Year comes my new commitment to being Green and saving Green...promoting Green..Shared knowledge for the environment is my passion...and saving money just makes sense.

Click on the link below for a very useful online tool..Home Energy Saver..You input your information and out pops your cost and savings..No software download needed..

http://hes.lbl.gov/consumer/

Green Education

I would like to thank the E.P.A. for once again offering classes to me to continue my certification in the field of Sustainability..Watershed Management...Residential Energy Efficiency Auditor...and many more...So as the New Year moves on so will my desire for a Greener Education..With this new knowledge it is my hope to share with my readers the benefits from living a green life..

Going Green?

Welcome 2012