March 28th is the day we do Earth Hour. What is Earth Hour?
All you have to do to Vote Earth is turn your lights out for one hour tonight, Saturday, March 28 from 8:30pm to 9:30pm local time, in your city. Your light switch is your vote!
This is a genuine no-brainer. Go here to sign up, pledge to be part of Earth Hour.
Go here to learn more, including what events are taking place around the world.
Don’t miss it! Enjoy the dark and silence 
Friends of ours just moved to San Antonio, which gave me the idea to check them out for their green-ness. Having visited there as a teenager, while visiting family friends in Austin, I have a fond recollection. Everyone knows it for its river walk and champion NBA team, the Spurs. But what would a green family do, should they go to live or even visit?
For starters, they have a Whole Foods (always a plus!). Sustainlane.com had some other points to make about San Antonio:
* San Antonio currently has no USDA certified farmer’s market. (Local food isn’t quite San Antonio’s strong suit)
* Water use is superb! The city relies on groundwater from the Edwards Aquifer, which is replenished by rainwater. Although the city had only six inches of rain in 2007, it never went into emergency conservation mode.
* While San Antonio ranks number one in housing affordability, there is no policy to control urban sprawl.
* In SustainLane’s 2006 survey, green building was the city’s lowest scoring area. The good news is that it has since adopted a green building resolution mandating that all new city facilities achieve LEED silver status.
If you’re interested in seeing about the viability, here is a link for some San Antonio Jobs
I had no idea, before researching, that San Antonio is the 2nd largest city in Texas and 7th largest city in the United States!
So there you have it! If my friends can report back about the sudden growth in farmer’s markets, I’ll be sure to pass it along!
For those visiting the Chicago area, check this out: A well-known Chicago museum just reopened its newly remodeled green home.
The Museum of Science and Industry’s briefly closed (for renovation) their environmentally friendly home exhibit.
The Smart Home exhibit closed Jan. 4 but reopened March 19. The home is on museum grounds and originally opened in May 2008. More than 100,000 people toured the original exhibit. The new display runs through Jan. 3.
The goal of the Chicago exhibit is to show visitors that saving energy and conserving resources are within reach of everyone. The redesign updates the 2,500-square-foot home with the latest in green technology, including an eco-friendly baby nursery and a garage workshop.
Here is a link to the Museum of Science and Industry for more information!
The White House is set to have it’s first organic vegetable garden since the Roosevelt administration, the economy (and resulting inflation) is causing people to rethink the way they spend their food budget and the increase in home food gardens are reported as on the rise. And then there is the simple, “back to easier times” joy of getting your hands in the dirt, nurturing and watching something grow and visiting a vegetable garden every afternoon to pick what to serve for dinner. Doesn’t that sound great?
Organic home gardening is on the rise and here to stay. And we are jumping on the bandwagon. What better way to use the super-rich soil we get from our composter?
Within that, we are borrow some necessary elements from my in-laws to get us started. Or so I thought. They come from a different era, and have used products that we know to be if not outright unsafe, at least less-than-desirable for exposure to our kids, pets, selves and our overall environment.
At the same time, I found a site called Saferbrand.com that sells organic gardening products, as well as organic pest control products. Let’s see how they match up.
Fertilizer: conventional fertilizers are full of chemicals that can leach into not only food that you grow, but lawns that you walk on. Organic alternatives can provide long-term money-savings, and increased vitamin and mineral content in your soil, among other benefits.
I found an organic fertilizer on this site that will fit our needs perfectly. Let’s just say that finding something like this at your local hardware store isn’t likely.
Bug spray/pest control: non-organic options are full of man made chemicals and poisons. Organic pest control products are based on safe alternatives to the damaging ones found in their conventional counterparts. Knowing that they’re safe is just part of the benefit.
Saferbrand.com offers an insect-killing soap that is based on safe and natural ingredients, and will give us both peace of mind and bug-free plants and vegetables!
Let’s just say that my in-laws are not growing an organic garden. Although, they have been interested in learning how we live our lives in a green way. I’m hopeful that we can help them learn more about organic gardening!
For more information, you really should check our Saferbrand.com. A particularly good place to start is their Gardening 101 section.
Also, If you are serious about going “Green” in your yard, do not miss Designing Spaces’ host Jodi Dombrowski and Woodstream Corp’s Karolyn Warfel in this very informative 5-minute segment.
Wish us luck as we embark on our organic gardening mission!
Really interesting news in the Green photography realm: Ecovisual Communications has launched the nation’s first 100% Green Custom Photo “Lab”
Greenphotoprint.com is a new photo-printing firm, headed by industry veteran Rick Colson, and is the first to offer an exclusive combination of totally green, museum-quality, archival photographic print services.
“We’re bringing new green solutions to an industry that still uses toxic, petroleum-based, silver-based and tree-derived materials. Our new print solutions use papers made from 100% recycled cotton, VOC-free water-based inks, and mounting substrates made from soy and 100% post-consumer recycled paper,” says Colson. He continues, “I wouldn’t hesitate to hang one of our healthy prints over an infant’s crib as soon as it comes out of the printer.”
Here’s a question: I’m looking to possibly update the theme for simple + green. This blog is run via Wordpress.
Within that, something like this looks pretty cool: Custom WordPress Theme Software.
Does anyone have any experience with a company like that one, or feedback about them?
The custom work they do is pretty cool. Again, I’m looking at a new look and feel for simple + green. Any thoughts would be appreciated!
California governor Arnold Schwarzenegger has unveiled a number of new Green jobs for youths. What is this all about?
The governor on Monday announced the new California Green Corps, a statewide effort to train young adults between 16 and 24 years old to work in the state’s fledgling green-tech industry.
“It’s the kind of program President Obama envisioned when he put together the economic stimulus package. It’s all about jobs, jobs, jobs,” Schwarzenegger said after touring a solar-installation certificate program at a Sacramento community college.
…
The idea is to create a 20-month pilot program in at least 10 locations to train at least 1,000 people for jobs such as solar-panel installation and sheet-metal manufacturing for wind turbines, Schwarzenegger said.
In particular, demand for solar panel installation professionals has outstripped supply for awhile now. I haven’t read through the fine details of the program, but creating jobs that fit such a Green niche is obviously impressive.
It might pay to wait another year before getting any sense of success for this program.
I have been interested in Raw Food, if not necessarily being on a full Raw Food Diet for years. As with any other change in one’s diet, switching to Raw Food would have to be done carefully, with the help of a health professional. I guess it’s an offshoot of being mostly Vegetarian for so long (now half of my life) that I’d look for even more healthy opportunities. But, as someone who needs good stores of energy, not only for running but also for having such a full schedule of work/family/house, I’ve hesitated to go too far into anything that strays from the path for me. But I have remained interested, and will occasionally try some Raw Food bit, if I’m somewhere that it is sold.
That said, I have found a pretty cool online resource on Raw Food that is somewhat changing my mind.
The site, BeautifulOnRaw.com has more than just information on what it would take to maintain a Raw Food diet. If you’re looking for personal insight on Raw Food, as well as recipes, books and testimonials, the site owner also has a frequently updated blog that is an ideal place to keep current on new ideas around Raw Food.
In addition, they also offer a line of natural skin care products. What might seem incongrous, is actually anything but. This is more my wife’s domain that mine, but these natural skin products are dedicated to natural ways of restoring and improving one’s skin. One of the benefits of a Raw Food diet is the body’s reaction to what are considered to be the toxic effects of cooking. Skin care goes hand in hand.
simple + green finds this to be an interesting resource on Raw Food, so check it out!
In her 5 Simple Steps to Make Any Home a Green Home post, Maura Judkis notes things that many of us know will improve our carbon footprint:
Eliminate vampire power
Install a low-flow shower head.
Reduce amount of water being flushed by your toilet
Install a gray water system in your bathroom
Replace your conventional thermostat with a programmable one
There are obviously many more things one can do, but bite-sized changes can and will add up to a greater whole. Kudos to Maura for continuing to put the good message out there!
As more people branch into working remotely from main offices, companies will find ways to further reduce costs. I predict that the rate of people working from home will continue to rise, not only due to costs, but also by choice.
Working from home, if you couldn’t already guess, is a green way to go, too! But how do you effectively run a home office without a separate phone line for business? VoIP (Voice Over Internet Phone)! This way of doing calls via your computer is still pretty new, but it is also hugely popular for people to call overseas cheaply, which makes it attractive to me.
I found a site called ConsumerVoipCompare.com, which is dedicated to reviews and comparisons of the top VoIP providers available. They actually rank the providers and offer current customers the opportunity to submit their own reviews. Which is a great place to start comparison shopping for VoIP services.
The PhonePower deal is one that I would consider. The price is reasonable and the feature set is rich.
OK, something for me to consider and I gradually work towards doing my day job remotely. The idea of working green is one I welcome!
