Our World and Everything in It

Over the weekend I saw reports about the huge amount of homes across the country that are in foreclosure. My question is where did everyone go? Did they move to an apartment, a rental house, a condo, or a mobile home? Where did all these homeowners go that spread the urban sprawl at ungodly rates in the Nevada desert? Did they return home and where would that be?

So many houses stand vacant and I was just wondering did anyone learn anything? We can see that our sprawl doesn’t necessarily follow the ratio of a bulging population because everyone indeed went somewhere else to live. Other homes were available when the expensive homes were vacated. So the sprawl was unnecessary. All the land that was cleared, all the wood used in the buildings has no redeeming value. The vacant homes no longer do what a house is supposed to do, shelter a family. But the family is still a family, big house or not, and it matters not where the family lives to accomplish that. The family will survive.

Maybe in the future we will consider our needs more carefully relative to what we do to the earth. And I’m sure we’ll have many more wake up calls from Mother Nature like fires, floods, and wind to force us to re-evaluate what is important not just for our pleasure but our survival.

Hopefully, when the 1800 homes lost in the California fires inevitably rebuild, the idea of using recycled goods or the latest green technology will be a priority. The idea of using even more lumber in the lumber scorched area would be like throwing salt on a wound.

Organizers for the winter Olympic games of 2010 that will be held in Vancouver, Canada have set a goal of holding carbon-neutral events with no net emission of CO2. The organizers and the United Nation’s Environmental Program signed an agreement that together they will work together to become models of environmental performance and bring awareness to the importance of finding alternative sustainable energy.
 
I thought it was funny the article I was reading said that: “The agreement between UNEP and VANOC comes several days after the 7th World Conference on Sport and Environment, which took place in Beijing on October 25 to 27.” That was probably the clincher right there. The organizers got a whiff of Beijing. I’ve been concerned about the Olympics being held in China. Their air quality is very, very poor and the worst concentration of pollution is not far from the Olympic arena. I reported that a marathon in Hong Kong resulted in many runners passing out. The air quality there—not so good either.
 
It’s about time the Olympic committee got around to realizing they are definitely connected to the environment. Without snow there wouldn’t be much of a winter Olympics would there? And I imagine the first Olympians really counted on the weather to work in their favor, since they performed naked.
 
With so much interest in sports and the Olympics in particular, going green will get a great boost with the amount of exposure the Olympics can contribute. This was a great move by the organizers and the UNEP who stated: “In recent years, there has been an increasing awareness that environmental and sustainability considerations should be at the heart of the Olympic project. All Olympic Games are now expected to leave a sustainable legacy and promote environmental awareness.”
 
Read more at: http://www.ens-newswire.com/ens/nov2007/2007-11-01-02.asp.

My last post was about funding for “green” business. I read another article in Time Magazine, March 2007, about a commercial bank, New Resource Bank in San Francisco, that states, “sustainability has become a major market force.” It wants a piece of that market. “It operates like a full-service community bank but deposits are used to finance loans for green businesses.” The article said green builders can get lower interest rates and homeowners can finance solar installations for the same amount as their monthly electricity bill.

This bank has nearly $60 million in assets and is only 6 months old. It’s attracting green depositors as far away as New York, Massachusetts, Virginia and Texas. Peter Liu, the banks vice chairman, wants to expand throughout the U.S. The article went on to say funding green startups is becoming popular.

Liu’s bank and the other funding institution in my previous blog are the exception not the rule. Lenders for new “green” construction are slow to come around. They have no special standards to rate the value of a green home and are unwilling to fund anything differently than normal construction. Another article in the St. Louis Business Journal stated, lenders don’t see why they should lend more money up front because costs may run higher for a “green” home simply because they won’t be the ones reaping the benefits, the homeowner does.

The Journal explained that many factors such as insulation ratings double and have a 40-year warranty. The homeowners have no maintenance and can save themselves $200 a month so they can afford a larger mortgage or pay it off sooner. Makes sense to me, but are other banking institutions listening?

I’m still working on a hybrid car. So US automakers listen up: sports car, gas/electric, nice lines no cartoon look to it, maybe a convertible…?

http://www.bizjournals.com/stlouis/stories/2007/08/20/focus9.html?ana=from_rss.

Got a green company and looking for funding? According to World-Wire, “Environmental Capital Partners, LLC (”ECP”) announced today that it has formed a relationship with New York Private Bank & Trust to invest $100 million exclusively in green companies. Sectors of particular interest for the firm include: green consumer products, eco-friendly building materials, alternative energy, and industrial environmental services. ECP is actively seeking growth and buyout transactions that will require equity investments of $10-25 million though the firm also has the ability to complete larger deals.” http://www.world-wire.com/news/0709250001.html.

It’s good to know there are companies forming to help propel a green economy. But companies that are already trying to do the right thing and go green, are waiting for direction from congress. From what I’ve read, many American companies are doing what they can to the best of their knowledge to cut emissions, lower their usage, recycle, buy green, etc. But beyond the usual, they are floundering for leadership to outline specifically what is expected of companies for the future and what direction the country or regions of the country are expected to go be it solar, wind, bio mass, bio fuels, or a mixture of them. I was surprised the percentage of companies making attempts to cooperate and help the global climate crisis.

Scientists are alarmed about the latest news that more ice has broken away from Canada. The results from the UN meeting today about climate crisis say our world is in a state of emergency. When I think of companies in Michigan sliding by with little regulation like the CAFO’s that will surely pollute our water supply in the future, and our obstinate path to construct even more coalburners is just poor business practice. I blogged about this before. We the consumer will end up picking up the tab for last minute change of plans for big energy that failed to heed a new green economy that is and always has been advancing forward. It is no longer a hoax by the liberals, or Al Gore’s scheme to get rich. It’s getting ridiculously evident the world is in trouble. To continue to pollute is a public display of horrible ethics. The voting record of Michigan’s Senate relative to the environment is atrocious. If you will, please urge our Senate to get a conscious.

The “Galloping Glacier” in Greenland has receded 9 miles in the past 5 years. The water produced in one day from this glacier melt equals what N.Y. uses in one year. This could mean that Boston, Galveston, and Seattle will be under water by mid–decade. Anyone notice these predictions keep moving closer and closer? 

This isn’t a pretty picture. Michigan should start looking at environmental issues a little closer, a little faster. Indiana has some sweet deals going with one of the nation’s largest bio-diesel plants and 2 more to follow, plus 6 ethanol plants to be built. This looks like a lot of jobs for Indiana. So what about Michigan? We’re still courting big polluters as everything appears to be stagnating. It’s one thing to save jobs but a decent economy also requires getting more jobs, like Indiana!

Read more about Indiana’s new bio-diesel plants:  http://www.greencarcongress.com/2006/03/one_of_largest_.html.  

Rising waters swamp an Alaskan island forcing 400 inhabitants to abandon their homes, the recent ice melt the size of New Jersey in just 6 days time, the housing market unable to sell what has been termed “McMansions,” Walmart’s evolution into a “green” retailer, and Princeton University Scientists identification of 15 technologies “that are ripe for large-scale use” and… that each could solve a significant portion of the [global warming] problem,” are just some of things that may propel environmentalism forward and soon. There are so many other things I’ve read about recently that it is inevitable we will be advancing quicker than expected into the future of environmentalism. The extremes of ice melting relative to rising waters and millions not hundreds of people that will be affected, will get the world’s attention shortly. 

A blog I did earlier in the Spring about our urban sprawl and how those new, big homes were unnecessary considering many of them now stand empty was joined by input from the Monroe News staff with commentary how they cope quite comfortably in smaller homes has come to fruition.  It’s no surprise to me those “McMansions” as they are termed cannot sell. GMAC showed several that have been on the market 3 years. Contractors are now scaling back on the average sq. ft. for homes to under 2000 or less and forgoing high end products like granite countertops and huge bathrooms with large jacuzzi tubs. 

 And Walmart, who is steeped in controversy with union folk, anti-import phobes, civil rights people, and wealthy communities who find it tacky, is reinventing itself as a green corporation. Despite the anti-Walmartians, it remains the largest retailer in the country. Once this giant goes green, watch Target, Meijer, Kmart/Sears scramble for a piece of that pie.  And finally, a couple of Princeton scientists have squelched the belief it will take America forever to produce alternative sources for fossil fuels. The Environmental News article stated: “Their analysis, published recently in Science , indicates that many combinations of these 15 technologies could prevent global emissions of greenhouse gases from rising for the next five decades.” “Pacala and Socolow’s research [at Princeton] is part of the Carbon Mitigation Initiative, a project in the Princeton Environmental Institute funded by $20 million in grants from BP and Ford Motor Co. Read more about the Princeton study at: http://www.enn.com/top_stories/article/8

     There are all types of casualties we endure on a daily basis especially during times of war. Losing someone or something precious can happen moment to moment. And although our lives are upset to the point we don’t think we’ll recover, we do. I just wonder how many people realize the biggest casualty of all is happening in small increments every day that none of us will recover from if we don’t turn it around.

Our environment is taking hit after hit, and many of us still do not know that when it’s stated we have 10 years to do something, it does not mean we have ten years before we start doing something. It means if we do not start today toward reversing global warming by controlling our pollution it will be irreversible within 10 years. It’s a good idea to control pollution to begin with. By all the water bottles I see these days, I realize that everyone does get the idea that maybe our water isn’t all that clean, and probably our air.  What I also see by those same water bottles is that we really aren’t getting it at all. Where do you think those plastic bottles go? If your community recycles that’s great. If you recycle on your own, then bless you, but unfortunately only 70% of all our garbage is recycled. Those bottles end up in landfills of which there are approximately 6000 in the U.S.  Plastic takes around 500 years to decompose. Do we love our children, grandchildren, and great grandchildren? Then what are we doing?

The intent of this news blog is to be in your face about our world because we’re all in this together, and if you or my other neighbors don’t jump in and help, the experience of living won’t be what we once knew. Right now it is what it is “An Inconvenient Truth” as Al Gore aptly named it. Many of our little conveniences in life may have to be abandoned to save our earth, save ourselves. It’s a rude awakening, but the sooner we snap out of it, the sooner we turn it around. No more burying our heads in the sand or waiting for “they or them” to do something. They or them is us, all of us.

Anyone who has any questions about anything environmental feel free to blog. If you know something you don’t think the rest of us are aware of blog it. If you don’t quite believe in global warming yet let us know why. Anyone who has already adapted his or her lifestyle differently to save on anything let us know how, so we might adapt. One idea becomes a ripple that becomes a wave and the whole community benefits.

None of us are perfect angels about the environment. I still drive a gas hog, although I’m looking at all hybrids and beseeching Ford to revive the cobra body style with an electric/ethanol motor. I’m a baby boomer that wants a hybrid sports car. Any baby boomers out there want to weigh in on that? Doesn’t an environmentally friendly sports car sound good? My tip to any other gas hog drivers out there, consolidate your running around. I’m down to 2 days per week. Group up and ride to work together. Quit running your kids around and enjoy family nights. Quitting our rat race can help the environment.