Three Dangerous Allocation Methods That Aren't Going Away

Feeling guilty I haven't  posted more this summer, here's a quick review of some not-so-pretty things happening these days. These issues are in this post because they are NOT going away if we don't know about them. People are dying and invaluable resources around being compromised, not in Africa or Asia or the Middle East, its happening right here in the U.S

1.) Mountain Top Removal
Coal used to be harmless and an important source of energy- before modern scientific research proved it was actually killing us, that burning it was not nearly as efficient as speculated, and pollutes the environment. It also used to be good for local economies, until companies replaced workers with sticks of dynamite. Mountaintop Removal cancels the need for coal miners by simply blowing off the tops of mountains in areas like West Virginia in the Appalachians. Some more recent speculations include that coal is cheaper than other energy resources, but a closer look at the financial breakdown shows heavy subsidies come from our very own Federal government. That's right, we are actually PAYING for toxic poisons our air and water. It's all corporate coal margin and all sickness for the American people. Sheesh, pretty insane huh? Check out this short clip about  Mountain Top Removal:

Check out the campaigns and websites to take action:

 I Love Mountains

Appalachian Voices

 Earth Justice

2.) Hydraulic Fracturing
Euphemisms continue to break my heart! Natural gas has been discovered in many rock formations well below the ground throughout the country. The only natural thing about this gas is that it comes from the ground, developing the product we can use as fuel involves a process far less natural than you can imagine. You could also not imagine a super hip and cheap way for us to harvest this gas that is being found trapped in pockets under the earth. Call it Hydro- Fracking, the cool sounding name is irrelevant, this shit is dangerous. Energy companies found these pockets of gas trapped under the ground in place like Upstate New York and Pennsylvania, in a rock formation call the Marsellus Shale. Companys go in and drill into the ground with water and chemicals which split the shale rock and cause the gas to rush UNCONTROLLABLY to the earth surface. There is no controlling where the gas goes, so ground water pollution is immenant. and THEN we have all that run off chemicals that resurface and are left at the drilling sites to further pollute the environment. Seriously, guys, this is frakin' ridiculous:

If you want to learn more and take action:

Citizens Campaign for the Environment

 The U.S. Green Party

Think Before You Frack

3.) Drilling for Oil
This one might go away one day when we don't have any oil left to spill. It's call a fossil fuel, just like Coal and Natural Gas, there is a finite amount of oil and an ever-growing human population, you do the math! Let's all recall the most recent BP Oil Spill, let me remind you with a short and witty reenactment  One of the most sad but true Eco-satire i have ever seen, just watch it:

To protect our air and water from more oil disasters:
Start investing in green companies
Don't by gas from well know evil oil companies
Um...Vote?!?!?
Check out The Oil Spill Task Force

Stats from The Daily Green

11 people were missing and presumed dead after the explosion of the tanker

12,00 people in Louisiana filed for unemployment as a direct response to the oil spill ruining their line of work

 2300 square miles of coastal Louisiana marsh and cypress forest has been compromised

 BP's containment cap has caught over 127,000 barrels of oil since the cleanup start.

All in all, this wasn't the first oil spill and if we don't do anything to better regulate big oil,  it won't be the last.




If this topics make you angry, good! Getting clicking and find out what you can do to join the good fight. Thanks for tuning in, please pass this post around like it's your day job. Thanks!

5 Things To Do With Plastic Bags ( Other Than Throw Them Out!)

Take two seconds and look around your house.You're looking for plastic bags, and I doubt you will have much trouble finding any. Under sinks, in closets, dressers, attics, garbage cans, cabinets, refrigerators... I think you might get where I'm going with this. Plastic bags are EVERYWHERE in almost EVERY household! Don't freak out just yet. First, stop picking up unnecessary plastic bags from the grocery store when purchasing items you can carry, or take a reusable bag for the trip. In the mean time, collect all the plastic bags you find around your house and make this stuff!

1.) Plastic bag wallets and reusable shopping bags!

                                                (Making A Seriously Legit Reusable Bag:)

2.) Knee Pads




3.)  Package Liner

4.) Covering your head to retain heat while hair dye soaks in


 


5.) Hand protection around harmful cleaning products ( which shouldn't be used in the first place, but just in case you "really" can't use something else...)





Got any other cool uses for plastic bags? Let me know!

Frananigans: Sustainability Lessons from Cape Cod

Val and Fran: Living Green!

I've got some pretty impressive friends, it's true. What's even better is when I learn my friends are not only impressive, but practical and brilliant as well! This post is a result of an awesome conversation with two crazy kids up in Massachusetts who live their lives in an EASY, sustainable manner. The advice and tips gained from our talk should be a wake-up call to everyone that thinks greenin' aint easy. 

A few weeks ago some Jersey and PA locals and I visited my friends Val and Fran up at their house in East Sandwich, Cape Cod.Val is a nurse at Cape Cod Hospital and Fran has his own Insulation company. They live minutes from the beach in a secluded area and it's just about the nicest place I've ever been, true story. While I was there I couldn't help but notice a few features around their house, check it out:

Composting!

Year-Round Homemade Green House

Homemade Rain Barrel 

Various Potted Herbs and Veggies

Best Fridge Signage EVER

Yes to Wind Energy! Appropriately on top of a Thermostat

 Needless to say I cut my vacation short for a impromptu interview to really find out what Fran and Val do around the house and their community to make the world a cleaner place to live. Here's a look at the garden:

1.) What's in there:

Fran and Val grow just about anything that can come out of the ground and tastes good. The list varies from Onions, Parsley, Lettuce, Dill, Potatoes, Beans, Eggplants, Zucchini, Hot Peppers, Green Peppers, Chili Peppers, Heirloom, Garden Peach and Cherry Tomatoes and more! They also have herbs like Cilantro and Rosemary growing on the deck ( see pic above). 

2.) Growing and pest control:

Val and Fran's garden is 100 organic and pesticide free. They compost things like egg shells, lobster, and fish but not meat and dairy. They also noted that if you do compost, don't do it next to your house. Insects and animals love free meals, so you're better off keeping it next to your garden and away from where you sleep! If you want to buy organic fertilizer, chicken and cow droppings work great, and companies like The Coast of Maine produce organic lobster compost. As far as pest control, Val and Fran suggested Neem Oil ( natural from the Neem tree) as an excellent bug repellent.

3.) What do they do with all that food?

Seriously guys, there are tons of uses for all the veggies and herbs growing around the garden. Val and Fran not only consume most of what they grow ( saving them hundreds on groceries every year) but they also pickle and can their produce themselves. Think about it, tomato sauces and jalapenos are easy to make and give away as presents for neighbors or even sell!  Oh yes, and then there are fried eggplant sticks. Just grow the eggplant, chop into sticks, and fry. Thank us later. The couple say they put around $300-500 of their money into the garden annually, which gets them almost 16 weeks of growing, the investment is well worth it.

4.) Extra tips and ideas for beginners

An important thing to mind if you are a first time gardener is crop rotation. You can't keep growing the same stuff in the same spots year after year, this will diminish the nutrients in the soil and you won't get the same quality product as the first time around. So mix it up every three years and you're good. Planting a clover or nitrogen blanket will help replenish lost nutrients and get your garden back in shape after an epic growing season. Some easy veggies to start with are tomatoes and lettuce, if you're worried about messing up. 

5.) Also...

If you live near a beach like this one on the Cape, chances are that your soil is a bit sandy. No worries, just remember to water your garden, it's harder for that type of soil to retain water. 

Thanks again to Val and Fran for all the awesome tips and advice, much appreciated!

If anyone has any questions on the design for the greenhouse or rain barrel just leave a comment and I'll get back to you!

True Life: My Dad Gardens

My Dad: Kenny 'Kuhl It!'

     My dad is a Mason, a Local 4 Union Brick Layer. He has not only been working at his trade for almost 30 years, he has also been supporting a family for most of his life. His choice to join a union came because of health insurance and choosing what was right for his family.My dad is the Picasso of Brick. That's what I call him, at least. He has worked on hundreds of houses, patios, walls, you name it, all over New Jersey. And he's amazing at it, just ask to see one of his many portfolios he has built throughout the years. A few years ago, the economy started tanking, as you all must remember. Unfortunately, the honest, hardworking guys like my dad were inevitably laid off , and have continued to work less and less, some becoming unable to support their families.

    Everything just seemed to get worse. It's been a tough time for my family, with years between my dad finding union work. We've lost health insurance and have seen savings go out the window. 

Since my dad is nowhere NEAR a lazy person, he has applied his skills and energy elsewhere around the house. He started clipping more coupons than I ever would imagine. He cleaned, heated the house with our wood furnace,and made home improvements by himself, using materials he could find from friends, the side of Route 287 or for extremely cheap. Also, he has been growing an organic garden for the past few years       ( Note: all the brickwork and structure has been designed and built by my dad!). Organic means he doesn't use any pesticides, fertilizers or any other crap on his garden. Only rain water collected in bins, composting, and T.L.C. ( that means Tender Loving Care, not to be mistaken with THC). First it started out very basic, with one plot next to the patio he was working on. But it started progressing, getting bigger and bigger every year he was out of work. Now, the garden is built up a little like this:

IMPORTANT: The garden has not started to grow this year. He's got tons of summer veggies in the sun room inside my house, waiting to be planted outside:

My dog, Panda, watches my dad work in the garden from inside ( poor pup!)

   With all the extra food around the house, my dad saved tons of money on groceries and learned how to make all different types of meals. We've gone from a house of boring burgers, dogs, and deli meats to salads, veggie stews, and more flavor on those burgers, dogs and deli meats!

   The next best thing about my dad's favorite new hobby: it's made us money, on top of saving money on groceries! That's right, my dad grows everything from tomatoes, eggplant, carrots, zucchini, summer squash, peppers, and turnips, of which he sells on our front yard with a veggie stand. It's more like an honor system, he asks neighbors to leave money at the front door if they take anything. My dad's little business has grown throughout the summers. The first year he started his veggie stand he made $200. The next summer he made $225, and this past summer he made over $300! Remember, my dad was selling things out of the ground without buying or adding extra chemicals or growth enhancers from a store, at .50-$1.00 a veggie! Imagine where you could put that money if you made $300 profit off of your backyard? That's one hell of a summer cookout, or Kegger in the woods, or trip to the beach.

   This summer my dad is going all out again. My sister and I even got him fruit seeds.

My plan is to document my Dad's garden this summer. I want to show you all how its done and what you and the environment can get out of it! For all those recent college graduates looking desperately for employment, here's a good way to work off all that job search stress and make a few extra bucks in the process. Your first task is to find a happy garden gnome that will help you get motivated. This is the one I bought my dad:

Also, if anyone wants to add a few fun facts and tips to gardening on a budget, please email me and leave comments!

Google and Recycle Bank Set Challenge To 'Green' Your Social Graph

This is my first post on SearchEngineWatch.com! Read and Leave love!

Google & Recyclebank Set Earth Day Challenge to ‘Green’ Your Social Graph

Recyclebank has teamed up with Google to test game mechanics as a way of empowering consumers to go green, while spring cleaning their homes. The annual Green Your Home Challenge, commencing today on ‘earth day’ will be a “test of truth” for how the green industry can take an alternative and holistic vision to market and simultaneously empower consumers to change their lifestyle.

By contributing photos of green deeds and referring friends, contestants qualify to win thousands of dollars worth of prizes. This year’s grand prize includes energy star household appliances and a free consultation to green the winners’ home.

What could be so exciting for Google about greening homes? The companies are on a mission to measure the impact of game mechanics using Google Analytics, in order to learn which factors most effectively trigger sustainable practices through user engagement.

Game Mechanics in Marketing Strategies

Game mechanics aren’t necessarily new to green marketing strategies, although Google’s analysis may turn out to be the most insightful yet and could pave the way for greener consumers, empowering incentives from companies, and smarter energy consumption for everyone.

Attempts by brands and green initiative sites have already begun to test the waters of emotional impact, community engagement, and leader board gaming tactics.

Similar efforts are noticeable in Nissan’s Leaf Rewards, Toyota Prius’ Car Town, and OPOWER campaigns. Depending on what Google, ROI, and Recyclebank’s results reveal, new campaigns toward the green initiative may take on a whole new light.

Nissan Leaf Rewards 2011

Nissan’s Leaf electric car puts efficiency, environmentalism, and gaming to the test. Leaf drivers have a component on their dashboard called Carwings, which tracks the driver’s efficiency information (Fuel use, mileage, etc) and puts the owner in competition with other Leaf drivers in the region or neighborhood.

Technology and competition, sounds great, right? One problem: the Leaf has recently been in the spotlight with some products failing to start, a highly dangerous quality for any kind of car.

If Nissan can work out some minor starting issues, the Carwings program is a great way to get consumers thinking about their carbon footprints in a lighthearted and competitive way.

Toyota Prius and Car Town

Toyota Prius’ Car Town on Facebook was launched to encourage interaction between owners and create a more connected community. Toyota was able to reach its highly valued audience of 7.2 million users of Car Town. Owners were able to earn badges and buy and sell cars through this Facebook App.

Car Town engaged the brand and created organic promotion for Prius. Car Town helped generate buzz for Prius, engage its community and reached consumers in a convenient spot where they spend most of their time while avoiding real life situations: social network platforms.

“We don’t just throw ads in front of consumers to drive impressions. We create game elements and game extensions that incorporate the key messages of the brands we work with ensuring a level of attention and engagement to the brand those other media properties and games don’t achieve,” said the president and CEO of CIE games, owner of Car Town.

Although the campaign was to promote Toyota products, the importance lies on the family of products being greener than others, therefore assigning more positive recognition to smart cars such as the Prius.

OPOWER

Opower’s way of encouraging consumer to keep up with the Joneses by driving consumers to compare energy consumption to everyone else, while using Opower’s services in the process. With Opower, the consumer can see how much better or worse they are at saving money on energy bills compared to their neighborhood.

The use of bragging rights from competition seems to be the angle, but how much are bragging rights worth? Apparently, tracking energy consumption and bragging rights are enough to top off a $35 million profit for Opower in 2010.

But is energy tracking enough to make fully conscious green consumers, not just at home, but in stores, restaurants, on vacation, and at work?

Why Google + Recyclebank is Different and Better

Many attempts at game mechanics provide positive engagement to raise green awareness, but have yet to deliver a real-world sustainable impact as they have remained fairly virtual and aimed at a single conscientious consumer, rather than a community of like-minded people. Google’s current experiment with Recyclebank offers physical and valuable prizes to drive a genuinely ‘healthy’ competition between close communities of people to perhaps make them all a bit greener.

Hopefully, practical incentives from the Green Your Homes contest will show more results with stronger engagement than plain leader boards, emotional appeal, pure community engagement or ‘gamified’ dashboards on vehicles. It promises to be an awesome green campaign test. Not only will it showcase the new Google Analytics software’s full capabilities, but Google’s influence and know-how to measure engagement is something that many emerging organization and companies in the green industry don’t have the time or access to resources to do for themselves.

No one quite knows how to hit the nail on the head to influence sustainable behaviors, with this collaboration on Recyclebank’s Green Your Home challenge, all the right pieces to the puzzle are laid out on the table. Which mechanic will prove to be most influential? Only time and, hopefully, Google will tell.

This post is syndicated from Search Engine Watch. Original post: Google & Recyclebank Set Earth Day Challenge to 'Green' Your Social Graph.

Wait A Minute, Documentaries Are Cool?!?!

I wanted to get a post out this week, but because of finals and senior year nonsense, I have been unable to post anything awesome. However, I did remember this sweet documentary I watched in a consumer behavior class in Paris. Check it out, if you don't like what its talks about, it's got some amazing shots. Enjoy the whole movie on YouTube here:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jqxENMKaeCU

Movie: Home
Summary: Internationally renowned photographer Yann Arthus-Bertrand makes his feature directorial debut with this environmentally conscious documentary produced by Luc Besson, and narrated by Glenn Close. Shot in 54 countries and 120 locations over 217 days, Home presents the many wonders of planet Earth from an entirely aerial perspective. As such, we are afforded the unique opportunity to witness our changing environment from an entirely new vantage point. In our 200,000 years on Earth, humanity has hopelessly upset Mother Nature's delicate balance. Some experts claim that we have less than ten years to change our patterns of consumption and reverse the trend before the damage is irreversible. Produced to inspire action and encourage thoughtful debate, Home poses the prospect that unless we act quickly, we risk losing the only home we may ever have.

Earth Day Resolutions

What will you do this year to help your planet earth? Today I hosted an Earth Day party and asked my coworkers to write down a few things they will be doing to go green this year. The list is as follows:
1.) Lights out
2.) Recycle
3.) Use more resuable cups
4.) Digital Presentation v. printed copies
5.) Use biodegradable doggie bags
6.) Not turning on more than one light at a time
7.) Buy less/stop buying bottles water
8.) Meatless mondays!
9.) Stop collecting plastic bags from the super market
10.) Fix leaky faucet
11.) Cut back on water ie shorter showers, shutting off faucet when brushing teeth/dishwashing

And THAT is why I love where I work. People, the point of this holiday is to raise awareness on all the little things we could be doing to help make our world a better place and save our resources. Every little thing you do will help our society become more sustainable. Most importantly, no matter what you do:
READ. LEARN. EDUCATE YOURSELF.
Seriously, it is the most important thing to do in order to stay aware on all those little things I mentioned...

Happy Earth Day everyone!
Post your Earth Day resolutions if you have any! Would love to hear them :-)

Watch out! Your Grocery List Aint So Green

Fact One: I am a 21 year old from New Jersey and I regularly feel the need to buy food, because I enjoy not starving myself.
Fact Two: Cheap prices, sales,cool packaging, and popular brand names regularly determine my decision to buy products, planned or not.

I realize something undeniably obvious exists when I think about the above facts. There are millions of people, just like me, influenced by the exact same things. Creepy.

Not only is it creepy to imagine an army of Brianna's, but the fact that this army is easily persuaded to buy any product that catches their eye is creepy for the environment and public health, too. Attention to all who can relate: Cheap,shiny, and popular brand NEVER determine purchases when it comes to being a smart consumer, no matter what Walmart says!

Okay, this is turning into a scary post, I get it. But most people need to be a little alarmed in order to pay attention to problems. Grocery shopping is a necessity in the daily life of the average U.S. citizen. Unfortunately, you would be surprised to find out the kind of crap you've been wasting your money on. Check out the videos posted below for the documentaries Food Inc. and Kind Corn. Not the full videos, but you could definitely find them on Youtube. On your mark, get set, EDUCATE YOURSELF!!!!!!

Food Inc, Trailer

King Corn, Trailer

If your stomach feels like it was ripped from your body and then put back inside-out, I've just made my point.
If you only checked out the previews, please get on Youtube and check out the full videos, you will thank me afterwards, after you probably vomit or never eat again. Just remember, the next time you're in a rush at the store picking up almost anything made by a mass producer, you probably want to read the ingredients and/or NOT buy it. Oh, and here's a link to a cool site with tons of fun information on sugar. Enjoy!
http://www.wellnesstaskforce.org/media/cms/mediafiles/toolkit-sugar.pdf

Mean and Green Ways To Live

Have you given up on any new years resolutions since January? Do you feel a bit down on yourself for picking up another cigarette, watching TV more than you said you would, or eating the same crap you did last year? It's a true life situation, we all say we want to better ourselves for the year to come, but realize it may be easier said than done. Why not start with going green? Forget your empty promises about dieting and spending money. Becoming a more sustainable consumer will just about take care of it all! Here's a few easy things you can do in order to make yourself and the world better.

Partying

Believe it, the way you PARTY affects everything from your health to your carbon footprint! Before buying the booze for your next party, consider what the products are. Is it Budweiser from a large polluting factory in Newark, New Jersey, or is it from a local, energy and environmentally conscious brewery?  Glass, can or plastic cups for the keg? Was the booze shipped all over creation to end up in your living room?? If your beer is brewed close to home and your town has a good recycling program, choose glass; if it comes from far away, stick with aluminum. A pulled pint of draught beer will always be the greenest choice. When in doubt, buy local, that generally takes care of it! And try to lose those Solo cups! If you are in desperate need of some single use cups, try Solo's "Bare" line of "Eco-friendly" cups. They are made from compostable,recycled, recyclable,and renewable materials. The line also include containers and dinner ware. Perfect for your next get together!

Eating
I love to eat. I bet you and everyone else you know likes to eat as well. Let it also be known that although I am a Pescatarian ( I do eat fish, but not meat!) I do recognize that meat is a staple in most people's diets. That being said, I bet MOST of you don't realize that many meat products being sold around the world are in fact NOT environmentally friendly in more than one way. Here's a little clip to check out what I mean, before you think I'm pulling this crap out of no where:

Alright, I am NOT a PETA fanatic, I think that's important to know about me or anything I will ever write in this blog. However, I do recognize the good points and solid facts stated in this video and I think that all meat eaters should be made aware of modern meat production. Seriously guys, it's gross. My suggestion is, other than becoming a Vega/Pescatarian, to buy local, organic, grass fed meat! Its humane, better for you, and better for the environment! Also, pay attention to packaging and try to minimizing the amount or meat you and your family consume. Less is more,people!

Exercising
This is NOT an area where less is more! More is more, and more done OUTSIDE is even better! For real, get off the tread mill and on to the sidewalk, park, or outdoor track. In the cold months, keeping off of electric powered machines helps out too. Remember the little things, guys!

Shopping
Hmm.... yes... greener shopping is a WHOLE other topic that will require its own separate post, but I'll leave a few good points here for now:

• The less packaging, the BETTER
• Stay away from single use products as much as possible!
• If you notice a business is not acting environmentally responsible, don't give them your business. Enough said.
• Buy local, all natural, and organic as much as possible,but make sure brands can back up claims with certification and literature.
• Shop less.

Cleaning
Thanks to it being 2011, the average consumer now has a variety of cleaning products to choose from, when elbow grease and vinegar won't cut it. Here's a video to help you find eco-friendly cleaning products:

Thank you, Oregon Environmental Council! 

Working
Hey guys and girls, I totally understand being busy at work. That's probably why it's called work in the first place. Anyway, whether you work outside or inside, anyone can keep track and reduce the amount of resources wasted during shifts.


If you work in an office, try double-sided printing ( most office printers do it automatically, if you select the right print option setting). Turning off the lights in restrooms, offices, hallways, and turning off computers at night will all help reduce the energy consumed through the day. Reusable coffee mugs are always better than paper cups. Separating trash is an important and easy way to integrate sustainable practices on the job.


Personal garbage bins will NOT help sustainable practices, so try to avoid having them around. Larger recycling cans and smaller waste bins will also encourage more coworkers to recycle and separate instead of throwing everything away together. Also, encourage bottle cap collection and separation from plastic bottles, these parts are NOT recyclable and will cause more waste in the long run!


A good sustainability program on the job will help condition employees to act more responsibly. These actions will translate to practices at home and can be picked up by employees' families. Imagine the possibilities of starting a sustainability program at your job!

Thanks for checking out my new post! Leave comments and questions, I'm more than happy to answer them!

What the hell is Greenwashing?! Are you Greenwashing Yourself?

Dear Consumers,
Yes, I'm talking to all of you. We are all consumers making up a consumption society, whether or not you choose to identify as so ( this serves for another discussion at a later date!). Have you recently reused the same plastic water bottle that you bought to mix your vodka and orange juice before the club last night? Or, maybe you just bought a Prius. Or, maybe you started buying products with "green" packaging all over them.

Defined by Google:
Greenwashing (green whitewash) is the practice of companies disingenuously spinning their products and policies as environmentally friendly, such as by presenting cost cuts as reductions in use of resources. It is a deceptive 
use of green PR or green marketing

Friends, you are also Greenwashing yourselves by saying or believing you are a smarter consumer when in fact you are only doing what you perceive others do. Not understanding the process and importance or looking for real ways to help the earth is the only place Greenwashing will get you.

But still, congrats for the effort, sort of...

The earth appreciates the little things we all do for it. However, it's not time to pat yourself on the back and call it a day! The consumer perception of 'changing small parts of my life and buying products that look green makes a difference' is a terrible misconception.

This mindset is exactly what will throw us into a period of more deceptive advertising practices because it's easy for big business to slap a  "green" green label on a product and sell millions of it! Product purchases by consumers just because there's tree, a leaf or a recycling symbol is a rapidly growing byproduct of the situation. FYI people, you need to read labels, it's what they are there for!

Thankfully, the internet is here. Think of all that information, right at our fingertips. Amazing, right? So before you go and congratulate yourself on saving the world by using your disposable water bottle you purchased yesterday more than once, look into the product's company features and content. Research is made simple with Google, blogs, and social sites like Facebook, Twitter and YouTube. If you ask questions, you will get answers. So get curious and start questioning the little things you do in life. We are all connected like never before, use it to your advantage! Find out what you're really buying and consuming.

Here are some videos that reinforce the point I am making and are great for show & tell!

1.) How to Identify Eco-Friendly Products:

2.) Greenwashing: False Claims on Recycling, Environmental Sustainability and Eco Friendly Products

3.)The History of Bottled Water:

PLEASE PASS AROUND THIS POST!

Comments and questions are appreciated :-)

Cutting out Confusion

The more I think about the real meaning of sustainability, the green movement, or smart design, the more I wonder how many people out there REALLY don't have a clue what any of it means. This presents a dangerous bottleneck in the process of raising awareness and changing the way the modern human being consumes resources. I have taken a definition from the most generic word reference website, dictionary.com, which has come to define the term "sustainable" in the English Dictionary as follows: 

 Sustainable (adj) : Capable of Being sustained; ( of economic development, energy sources, etc.) capable of being maintained at a steady level without exhausting natural resources or causing sever ecological damage.

There, now that we have THAT cleared up, I also want to include a definition I found on UCLA's sustainability site, seen as the following(reference located at bottom of post):

" A sustainable society is one that is environmentally viable, economically robust, and socially just and equitable one that meets the needs of the present without compromising the resources for future generations."

For those of you new to these terms, when I reference anything sustainable throughout this blog, these definitions are important to understand in order to fully comprehend my mission and purpose here. I am generating greater awareness on issues, news, innovations, and concepts that are shaping the future of a sustainable society, in order to maintain lifestyles at a steady level without exhausting natural resources or causing ecological damage. The best part is, I know that all of you are FULL of great ideas as well. I want to hear what you have to say, and so do many others. Let your voice and thoughts be heard. Tell some friends, but better yet, tell me! What is your personal definition of sustainability? Leave a Kuhl comment on this post or leave me a message!

	*UCLA sustainability site: http://www.sustain.ucla.edu/article.asp?parentid=5

First and Foremost

Anyone who would be doing me the courtesy of looking at my blog right now should also check out some of these sites for basic essentials in news trends, issues, etc.

1.) http://www.treehugger.com/


2.) http://www.fastcompany.com/topics/ethonomics


3.) http://www.cleanwater.org/


3.) http://www.erec.org/fileadmin/erec_docs/Projcet_Documents/RES2020/AUSTRIA_RES_Policy_Review_09_Final.pdf

4.) http://www.gogreeninitiative.org

5.) http://www.ilovemountains.org/

6.) http://www.huffingtonpost.com/green/


Just a few to get you started!

Moving Up and Out: My Green beginnings

In May of 2009, I started organizing for the New Jersey Environmental Federation (NJEF) . Let's face it, I was about 19 and in terrible need of a paid summer job. My college room mate was probably the only teenager I knew who habitually recycled, turned off lights, used reusable grocery bags, and didn't eat meat. She also had been working with a sketchy sounding organization she found an ad for in the newspaper, which ended up being NJEF. Was I into all the "crazy" stuff she did, with her resource conservation and hippie- like childhood background? Hell no, but I was ever so slightly interested....ever...so....

Anyway I got lazy looking for a job related to my soon-to-be degree of international marketing and I got on board with the Federation. Every day I walked around neighborhoods knocking on doors and learning how to piss people off. Best. Job. Ever.

No, seriously though, it was an incredible experience.So far, it has been the most important thing I've done with my life.

 I learned for the first time that it's perfectly normal to WANT to change the world, and not only that, but it's actually POSSIBLE. You could only imagine the excitement I went through every day knocking on doors and never knowing who I was going to run into and how they would react to me standing at their door. I loved it. It got even more exciting when I started meeting real people who were already making changes themselves doing things like installing solar panels on their houses, designing wind turbines, and working for other organizations to pass laws to protect our air and water.
That first summer was the wake up call I needed: I had wasted almost 20 years of my life as a consumer from one of the richest places in the world without thinking.

 I worked with NJEF all that summer and then moved to Austria for a semester abroad. On top of that semester being one of the best experiences of my life, I learned the U.S. was a tad far behind in energy efficiency, waste disposal, and just about anything sustainable. It was appalling. After getting back to the U.S. I went through a tough semester readjusting and picked up canvassing as soon as junior year was over. Then I did a summer semester stint in Paris studying European consumer behavior and policy, and learned an overwhelming amount about French food, drink and nuclear energy. Phew. Anyway, I was back by August and canvassed until I went back to school for my last year.

Now I'm on a mission. Being a marketing and international business double major ( and a damn good one, might I add!) I pulled together all my collegiate and experiential knowledge and realized there MAY be a huge thing happening here...I wanted in. So here I am. Just, in. Want to be in, too? Join the crowd, the mindset, the curiosity, and find the connection between business, the individual and sustainability today! It won't be hard, I'll walk you through it. Just keep yourself posted, and Kuhl it.