US Water Shortage? Not YET.

Though there is not a water shortage yet, it may be coming...  click the image below to get more info...

Water Useage Infographic

Thanks,
-Joe

Getting warm...

In the Northeast/New England region, we have been getting a few warmer days, but not nearly hot enough yet to turn on the AC. You could just put on a fan or two to get a good breeze going, but there is another option as well. Many houses have the furnace in the basement/cellar and it is almost always cooler down there. Most of the duct work connections on those basement furnaces have a service vent or removeable section of ductwork that opens to the basement air space. If you have a way to turn on your furnace fan (at the thermostat or with a switch near the furnace) you can cool your house with basement air. You need only block the cold air returns on the first floor with a piece of cardboard or plastic and open that service vent in the basement. Now when you turn on the furnace fan, you will circulate cooler air from the basement to the other floors of the house.

Hope this idea helps you out for these in-between days that are neither too cold or too hot yet still not quite comfortable.

Thanks,
-Joe

Help Promote Green Energy

"Speak out to save programs that promote energy efficiency and renewable energy

The Property Assessed Clean Energy (PACE) program is an innovative way to get property owners the money needed to invest in energy improvements, and could create hundreds of thousands of jobs. But in 2010 the Federal Housing Finance Agency halted PACE programs. Before the March 26th comment deadline, urge the Federal Housing Finance Agency to promote more clean and efficient energy use by restoring PACE programs."

http://www.nrdc.org/action/allactions.asp?utm_source=alert&utm_medium=headeract&utm_campaign=email

Thanks,
-Joe

Water, water, everywhere - not really...

Did you know that of all the water on the plant, only about 1% of it is available for use by human consumption? >http://www.theglobaleducationproject.org/earth/fresh-water.php

Did you know there is a Water Day? You can take a quick and easy quiz to lean more...

http://www.recyclebank.com/how-to-earn/questions/take-an-exclusive-quiz-5518

Thanks,

-Joe

Use LEDs to be greener!

Even though LED bulbs will cost you more upfront they offer you return savings in two ways. First, they last longer, a lot longer than conventional bulbs or CFLs. Second, they require less energy to produce the same amount of light.

Spectacular prices on LED bulbs and lighting for any purpose! They have bulbs for anything and everything, even you car! The prices are better than you will find at any of your local home improvement/hardware stores. LEDs use less energy, by a very long shot, than other bulbs even better than CFLs.

Check it out!

http://www.superbrightleds.com/

Thanks,

-Joe

Go Frugal, Go Green...

Using less by being more frugal will also lead to you becomeing more green without any additional efforts... check it out...

http://greenopolis.com/goblog/litegreen/frugal-greenie-16-ways-make-most-what-you-have

Thanks,
-Joe

Blocked by SOPA

If SOPA goes through, this site and many more may no longer exist.

Green Fire movie screening

Greetings,

The Wildlife Society Club is hosting a FREE screening of the movie Green Fire! The screening will be held on Thursday, February 9th, 2012 at 7pm in Room D214 at Finger Lakes Community College. To reserve your free seat, visit the club site and go to the ticket page from there...

https://paws.flcc.edu/~wildlife/?page_id=43

This is a really good documentary about a great conservationist. The movie tells a lot about what Leopold did and what we can do today!

Thanks,
-Joe

Happy Holidays!

'tis the season to be red and GREEN!  Merry Christmas, Blessed Kwanza, Happy Chanukah, Happy Holidays...   :)

Thanks for reading my blog, posts and pages...

-Joe

Feds see the Fraking light!

After years of study, the Feds see the light! EPA links Fracking to tainted well water... http://www.nytimes.com/2011/12/09/us/epa-says-hydraulic-fracturing-likely-marred-wyoming-water.html

"The draft report, after a three-year study by the Environmental Protection Agency, represents a new scientific and political skirmish line over whether fracking, as it is more commonly known, poses a threat in the dozens of places around the nation where it is now being used to extract previously unreachable energy resources locked within rock."

This rocks! and the DEC has extended the deadline to comment on the sGEIS report into January! Take a moment to go through the process, please! After following this link, choose "Submit comments on the proposed 2011 rdSGEIS" and then select "General Comments"... Recommend that the whole thing be tossed out and Fraking just be banned completely in NY!

http://www.dec.ny.gov/energy/76838.html

Thanks,
Joe

Green Charity...

While we are not all wealthy enough to be thinking about giving some of our moolah to charities, I know there are people who have enough to work giving into the budget. Knowing who to support can sometimes be a difficult choice. Since this site is obviously environmentally friendly, I will recommend that you support green charities!

Clint Williams at the Mother Nature Network has done a bit of work to help us figure out how to get the most bang for your green charity buck! 8 Well Rated Green Charities (http://www.mnn.com/money/personal-finance/stories/8-well-rated-green-charities-to-kick-start-your-holiday-giving)

The Greener Me has quite a few postings on Squidoo and one of them is about Green Charities. Ten Green Charity Organizations (http://www.squidoo.com/green-charities)

So, if you can give this season, please consider one of the Green Charities listed at either of the links above.

Thanks,

-Joe

why not sign against Hydrofracking in NY?

Not gonna profit from Hydrofracking, why not sign against? http://www.dec.ny.gov/energy/76838.html choose sGEIS 2011 and select General Comment. Thank you!

NY can lead the way!

THE DECs sGEIS report is seriously flawed. There will be accidents and incidents if HVHF is allowed to occur in NY. There have been issues in EVERY other state where High Volume Hydraulic Fracturing is being performed. That means that all risk factors accounted for in this report are null, the risk is too high. Would NY not be better served as the state that really started the green energy movement instead of bowing to financial and political pressure? NY is big enough and strong enough to push back against the federal pressure exerted due to energy company financial input. Instead of falling down like the other states have already done; we can see the messes that have occurred there; stand against them and be the leader we can be! If NY leads the way against big energy, other states will follow suit. Maybe we can get this country going in the right direction.

Please share this message and send it to the agencies who need to hear it!

Comment directly to the DEC

http://www.dec.ny.gov/energy/76838.html

and

send a message to the Governor

http://www.governor.ny.gov/contact/GovernorContactForm.php

Thanks,

Joe

Who likes clean drinking water?

Here's a chance for you to tell someone other than the anonymous internet reader. You can put your name on the petition and we all know that the "bigger" and "louder" the voice, the more likely it is to be heard...

The National Resource Defense Council is advocating for support on maintaining the Clean Waters Act. Please follow the link below to add your voice to the masses...

Tell your senators not to weaken Clean Water Act protections for America's most vulnerable waters

https://secure.nrdconline.org/site/Advocacy?cmd=display&page=UserAction&id=2547&autologin=true&JServSessionIdr004=u0zddpsvs5.app306a

Thanks,

-Joe

Sustainability of all natural resources is the responsibility of the people who want to use those resources.

Food Waste Unnecessary (in many cases)...

Americans are conditioned by labels & signs and food manufacturers take advantage of that, significantly. If a manufacturer puts a date on a package containing food, we assume that date is when the product is no longer suitable for consumption or at least close to being spoiled. As it turns out, that is a sales ploy in many cases. If your package says that the contents are expired, you go buy a new package. The food is not really expired or spoiled and in most cases still the same as the day it was packaged.

The National Resource Defense Council did a little footwork at discovered all this and the fact that the dates on most packages are not even regulated by anyone. A manufacturer can put any date they want on their product. Check out the post "Use-By" Dates: a Myth that Needs Busting by Dana Gunder from the NRDC.

So, just because the printed date has passed does not mean you have to throw away your food.

Thanks for reading,

-Joe

Garden Prep for winter

Do you have a vegetable garden? Do you have trees in your yard too?  I bet you put your leaves out for city/town pickup. Instead, you can pile them onto the vegetable garden.  This will do two things: the garden soil will be insulated from the snow which will allow the worms to do their work closer to the surface and it will also provide easy mulch to be tilled into the soil in the spring.  Those two things will help to improve your garden soil for next season.  It will also reduce the work you have to do cleaning up the leaves.

Thanks,
-Joe

How much do you recycle?

There is a program I am taking part in right now that has to do with reducing the carbon footprint of an entire city/region. (coolrochester.org) One of the points brought up in the program is paying attention to how much you recycle. The goal of that portion is to see if you can reduce the amount of "garbage" you produce. Essentially, if you pay attention to what goes into the garbage can, you might find that you can put more into the recycle bin (or compost) instead. I used to think I did a pretty good job with it, but after reading this portion of the program and paying more attention myself I discovered that I could easily do more. Now I can often get by with only one kitchen garbage bag a week. More often than not, the recycle bin has more contents than the garbage can come collection day.

Do you recycle all that you can?

Thanks,

-Joe

There's A Green App for That...

The following is from SierraClub.org:

Are cell phones taking over our lives? Sometimes it seems like it. But you can wrangle back some control by keeping your phone use as green as possible. This week’s tips tell you how.

Tip #3: There's an app . . .

In addition to making your phone multitask, apps can help you live greener, whether you’re trying to save gas, commit to carpooling, garden more, or recycle anything. Apps can also help you find public transit, cancel paper subscriptions, even become an Eco Hero.

Tell us: What are your favorite green-living apps?

-Joe

Interested in News about the Environment and Sustainability?

I have another blog which updates itself from numerous news feeds which only pull stories related to the Environment, Sustainability and the like.  Feel free to check it out if you get a few minutes.  EcoFeeder

http://ecofeeder.blogspot.com/

Thanks,
-Joe

Solar Subsidy in the US? ha. :(