Green Home Headquarters blog

Podcars in Raleigh??

2008-10-13T18:18:00.002-04:00

I read this earlier today, about Ithaca, NY possibly getting a podcar system. For those that may not know, a podcar is kind of like a monorail, except with many small 4 passenger maximum cars. It's described a lot of times like an elevator, only it goes horizontal. It is fully electric and very efficient (they also say that a single rail system would be the equivalent of a 3 lane highway). It got me thinking, why not in the triangle? Public transit systems have notoriously been doomed around here, partially because of just how spread out things are, but also the overall traffic on the roads, but most importantly the price. If this truly is about 10% as expensive as a light rail system or a subway, it is definitely worth a look. Here is the Unimodal website (the company mentioned in the article). This just looks SOOOO cool. I've been trying to imagine just how awesome it would be to see this in the triangle all day. Anyone have any great ideas on how we can make it happen?

Drill Drill Drill :(

2008-09-23T18:52:00.002-04:00

So the news today is basically the moratorium on offshore oil drilling will be allowed to expire. Forget about any of these comprehensive energy bills that include renewables that everyone SAYS they want. This is pretty discouraging to me personally, since it is pretty much all of the bad with none of the good. Hopefully, one the election is over though this will be be revisited and done the way it should be.

Big Day Today

2008-09-16T19:18:00.002-04:00

Today was a pretty big news day. First off is the new Energy Bills floating around Congress. We might as well all accept that there will be some sort of bill that will open up offshore drilling at each state's preference. The moratorium will end, and if nothing is done, it will open up drilling as close as 3 miles off the coast. Anyway, clearly my favorite is the one introduced by the Senate;

"The bi-partisan group's bill, which has not yet been formally introduced, calls for increased tax credits for renewable and clean energy production, as well as consumer tax credits for purchasing energy-efficient vehicles and business tax credits for investing in clean energy like solar power. The cost of the tax credits to the government would be offset by repealing tax credits to major oil and gas companies.

The compromise bill would also transition 85% of the nation's cars and trucks away from gasoline and diesel to renewable fuels by 2028. In the meantime, the New ERA bill would increase domestic production by expanding drilling leases to 100 miles offshore like in Pelosi's bill. The Senate bill would also permit Virginia, Georgia and the Carolinas to petition for leasing as close as 50 miles offshore, and some analysts believe Alaska could be added to the fray as well. In return, the states would receive some royalty sharing from the drilling companies.

The bill would also increase energy conservation and ban exports on domestic oil, in addition to the consumer and corporate tax credits for renewables."

This is the exact type of comprehensive energy bill that McCain claims he would support, it will be interesting to see what the future holds for this one. As you may know, the president has in the past threatened to veto any bill that would repeal the tax credits to oil companies, and then there is this tidbit, "Though Senate Minority leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., has said he will try to filibuster any bill that includes raising taxes on oil and natural gas companies to offset the costs of renewable energy tax credits, compromises between lawmakers on both sides of the aisle seem to be gaining." Needless to say, I am watching this one VERY closely.

The other bit of info today was a new study released about Bisphenol A used in water bottles (among other things). I've posted about this in the past as well warning of the possible dangers. This new study has found some statistical connection to higher levels of BPA in people's systems to higher risk of things like heart disease and diabetes. The scientists say that nothing conclusive has come from this yet, but the fact is that there is enough evidence out there that would point to the possibility that this stuff isn't safe that it needs to be pulled from the shelves until we have something that proves it's safety. We should not be put at risk because there is not yet enough conclusive evidence that these products are unsafe. Canada has already all but phased these things out, but the truly disappointing and disturbing part about all of this was the response from the FDA. “A margin of safety exists that is adequate to protect consumers, including infants and children, at the current levels of exposure,” What exactly is a "Margin of safety?" I am continually shocked with the philosophy of the FDA that products innocent until proven guilty. This is great for our criminal justice system, but not for the regulating body that is supposed to be acting in the best interest of the citizens of this country. sigh... I've personally been working on using less and less plastic, but it really is nearly impossible. I can only hope at this point that FDA changes it's stance instead of hoping that all these studies are totally wrong and BPA is perfectly safe.

EPA actually doing their job

2008-09-03T22:13:00.002-04:00

This came up today in my newsfeed. To sum up, the EPA took advantage of a little used veto they have for public works that could threaten the environment and natural habitats. In this case, it was a a flood control pumping station along the lower Mississippi delta area that has been in the works since the 40's. This project would potentially severely damage extremely important wetlands along the gulf of mexico. Not just for the wildlife, but also the natural barrier that these wetlands form against stormswells. So I say well done EPA. Keep up the good work and fight the good fight. Looks like this one will continue to be fought in the courts, but I'm jut happy that the EPA is standing up and doing what they are supposed to do.

Nature is getting Rights!!!

2008-09-02T16:01:00.002-04:00

I found this today and had to pass it along. It would seem that Ecuador is doing something revolutionary and placing the same rights that fall onto individuals and corporations in this country on nature itself. The result being that people can sue for the rights of the environment in cases where there are mistreatments. It sounds really cool and I'm really curious and excited about what the ending result could be. Perhaps, mother nature fighting back in the courts and getting justice for pollution? Wouldn't that be incredible.

Pollution in China

2008-08-18T19:10:00.003-04:00

A lot has been said about the state of the air quality in Beijing over the last few weeks with the Olympics now ongoing there. I'm not exactly going to jump into that debate. It is what it is, we can all make our own opinions, but a lot has also been said about the efforts that the Chinese government has made to clean up the place. This article I read today from a newspaper in Tanzania is one of them. I do think it is great that China has added all this green space to the city, and I was even commenting about it while I was watching the marathon the other day. I really have never seen a city with so much greenery. Still, a lot of the things they have done are hardly permanent, such as shutting down industry while the games are going on and banning half the cities cars from the roads are just not realistic to continue. I imagine the factories are firing back up and the gridlock will continue as soon as the flame is extinguished.

On top of that I just feel like the whole thing is just one big illusion. Great, they have spent tons of money to "clean" Beijing, but what about all the other cities where all the other 1 Billion plus Chinese live. What of all the other parts of the country that they are banning reporters from seeing. I really do feel like they are trying, but I have an extremely hard time praising a government for anything when they are detaining people without cause, deporting anyone who shows signs of protest to their government, flat out barring the media from reporting certain details, news reports about their president of the Olympic organization committee having been convicted of torture in the past and just their complete and total refusal to address the human rights issues that they promised they would adjust when they were awarded the games eight years ago.

I love that the environment is making headlines. Very few things make me as happy actually, but the problems they have in China just are not going to be solved by transplanting a few trees and rolling out a few fuel cell buses.

Yes we are still alive

2008-08-04T19:30:00.002-04:00

I feel horrible having not posted in a while. I'm really sorry for such a big gap in posts. We are still alive I promise. It's been really hectic around here lately, but I'm definitely going to get back to business soon. We had a nice vacation to Ocracoke Island a couple weeks ago that that really recharged our batteries. I actually had a small accident where I broke one of my ribs not too long ago. I'm pretty well healed up now, so I'm ready to get back to things full speed again. Check back please. Hopefully by next time I'll have some really great stuff to talk about.

Kudzu to Ethanol

2008-06-22T13:30:00.003-04:00

Personally, I am very against the use of ethanol to fuel cars. Mainly because as it is the main source of ethanol is corn, which is delicious... so it just doesn't make sense to me use something to run a machine that I could just as soon eat. Anyway, for those of you that live in the southeast, you know of the plaque that is Kudzu... I have found a couple good posts in the last couple weeks about the possibility of using it to create ethanol. Now that's more like it. Check out the article on ecogeek here. And this one on chemically green. This is the kind of thinking we need to encourage and pursue. The answer is out there, just not in my stomach.

Spin Dryer

2008-05-14T16:23:00.002-04:00

I got an e-mail about this great product today, so I am passing it along to all of you. It is called a spin dryer. Basically it gives your clothes a nice fast spin after the washing machine to wring the water out of them, making it so that your drying time can be cut in half or more. Pretty cool product. Could for sure make a big difference in the electric bill.

Waste Management in Korea

2008-05-13T17:56:00.004-04:00

A while back I stumbled upon a blog talking about living in Seoul for a period of time. Nothing too out of the ordinary about it at all except for a post about how they handled the trash there. It was really just a genius system to me. In order to encourage more recycling, they put together a system where you have to buy government issued bags for your garbage. In other words you can only use these certain bags that they sell for something like $1 a bag for your garbage. You can use any bag for recycling. So in effect instead of paying the flat rate for garbage like most of us currently do as part of our water bill, you would pay for the bags, and the more you use the more you pay. So the people that never recycle and fill their bin to the brim every week would actually pay more for their garbage pickup than someone like Anna and myself that get by most weeks with one bag of garbage.. wouldn't that be nice. Anyway, they also are using this system for compost, so you can limit your garbage even further by sending organic materials to the community compost heap. I would love something like that here, but who knows how or when anything like that would ever happen. They basically were having serious problems with landfills becoming too full too fast, so they came up with a new idea that is turning out to be a HUGE success. If you want to read more check out some of the links about it I've found. Anyone that has some ideas for how we could make this happen here, feel free to share.

Link1, Link2, Link3, Link4

two good articles today

2008-04-28T17:03:00.005-04:00

Well, good is not necessarily the correct word, but interesting, infuriating or important may actually be better for this one. The Union of Concerned Scientists ran a little bit of a survey with the EPA. Just to see really how much current policy is dictating what data they are putting out, how the finding may have been edited by current administration, etc. It turns out to be quite a bit. Coming from someone in a scientific field, I am completely unsurprised by these findings, but at the same time can tell you that nothing is as frustrating to a scientist than someone coming in and manipulating your data to say what they want it to, or to challenge your assessments with no scientific evidence on the contrary. We currently have political officials with no scientific background coming in and changing scientific findings to match what they want, and this is not the first time I have heard of this sort of censorship going on under the current administration. This stuff is bad and really needs to stop.. Anyway, the article says it all better than I can, definitely a good read.

The second article is a study performed by the Environmental Defense Fund. The basic rundown is that they wanted to find out what it would actually cost our economy to put a cap on carbon emissions with a cap and trade program. What they came up with was approximately 1% of the GDP... hardly the crippling cost that we have been led to believe. The other important tidbit is that it will become more and more expensive to perform the longer we wait. So lets get it done already.

Get rid of your Nalgene bottles

2008-04-21T09:17:00.002-04:00

If you haven't already, get rid of all your Nalgene Bottles. You know the popular clear hard plastic bottles that seemingly EVERYONE has and carries around with them. These plastics contain what is being described as a very harmful ingredient called Bisphenol A (BPA). I read an article about this several months ago in the Green Guide, and at the time it was becoming a hot issue, with cities like San Francisco banning it. Also, at the time, the people at Nalgene were defending their product and playing the there is not enough evidence to say our products are unsafe card. I recall going to their webpage at the time that I read this and they even had a special link to their own information on BPA, claiming their products were safe and all studies to that point where inconclusive.

Well, now that Canada is planning a ban, and the National Institute of Health is saying it is toxic, they are phasing it out over the next few months and offering many non-BPA alternatives. It would seem to me that they saw these bans coming a while ago.. They did offer some alternatives before, but they were not marketed nearly as much as the Polycarbonate bottles that everyone knows so well. That may just be the cynic in me, but if they DID see this coming and planned accordingly, how on earth do they explain the continued sale of a product that they knew would be classified as unsafe in the near future?

There is also a huge buzz going about where they are using these plastics in baby bottles. The green guide has also hit on this as well (in 1999!!), but it is back in the news because of these most recent studies. How is this for a response from a plastic company representative, "There is nothing new in this report," said Steven Hentges, executive director of the American Plastics Council's Polycarbonate Business Unit. "The data that is presented has been known for years and, most importantly, data of that type has been reviewed by government agencies around the world in their comprehensive reviews on BPA and, in every case, they reach a conclusion even after considering this kind of data that polycarbonate baby bottles are safe for use."

Basically there is no ban yet, but many producers admit they are BPA is unsafe, but they downgrade the amounts that are leached and they plan to keep selling them anyway. I personally really wish we would remove the phrase "safe level" from our vocabulary. If we know something is unsafe... why have ANY of it?

top 20 bills in NC Assembly - Part 4 (#1-5)

2008-04-07T17:38:00.003-04:00

Part 4 (#1-5) of the top 20 bills in the NC general assembly

This is it.. the final part. Check out part 1, part 2 and part 3 if you haven't yet.

And on we go.

5. Senate Bill 1493/House Bill 1232 - Fund State Water Infrastructure Commission
The State Water Infrastructure Commission would of course identify the state's water needs and develop plans to meet them. Then monitor the implementation of the plans.

4. House Bill 1179 - Clean Cars Program/Funds
This would establish a low emissions vehicle program in North Carolina. This would basically adopt the low-emissions vehicle program that they have in California for the state of North Carolina, effective for cars sold after 2009 model year. There is a lot of info included in this bill, so if you are interested I recommend reading up. Needless to say, any bill that will require the phase out of vehicle emissions is a good thing.

3. Senate Bill 927/House Bill 1073 - Green School Construction Loan Fund/Program
This basically allows for schools to get no interest loans for the purpose of green constructions or renovations. With the number of schools going up in the state every year (especially Wake County) there is no reason why they shouldn't be building as green as they can, and this would help them cover a lot of those costs.

2. Senate Bill 1522/House Bill 990 - Land and Water Conservation Bond Act of 2007
This one looks to have been sat on a bit, but there is no reason to think we couldn't get it moved back up and pushed through. It would authorize the issuance of bonds, provided passing of vote to address the statewide needs of land conservation, Water Quality protection and Historic preservation. We are talking about a lot of money here (up to $1 Billion), that is needed in a bad way for conservation around the state. I can only hope that this one gets revisited.

1. Senate Bill 634/House Bill 557 - North Carolina GREEEN Act
This act is to grow a renewable and energy-efficient economy in North Carolina by establishing a Green Business Fund to be administered by the state energy office to provide seed grants to develop North Carolina's green economy. This version of the bill allows for $15 Million a year to be divided between Bio-fuels, Green Building and general Green Entrepreneurship. This one is important to me for clear reasons, but not only because I am trying to start a green business. I think becoming a leader in this industry can pay huge dividends for this state in the future.

With elections coming up, etc. it is on all of us to make sure the folks running know what we think is important and the type of things we want them to work on for us. All of these bills may not work out in these particular iterations, but we can at least draw some attention to them. Check out the state board of elections for info on all the candidates. E-mail them, call them, whatever. but let them know what you want. Maybe something can eventually get done.

Top 20 Bills in NC Asembly - Part 3 #6-10

2008-03-31T22:41:00.001-04:00

So here we are for yet another installment. Check out part 1 and part 2 if you haven't yet.

And on we go.

10. Senate Bill 1149 - Use of Biodiesel on School Buses
This bill would allow $5,000,000 for grants to NC public schools for production of biofuels to be used to run school buses.

9. House Bill 1052 - Hog Farms/Methane Gas
This bill would require power suppliers to purchase electricity from farms/facilities that use hog waste to produce it.

Just found out that my #8 was ratified as well. It was a bill that prohibited any sort of control over the use of solar collectors by things such as homeowners associations, etc.

7. Senate Bill 215 - Litter Reduction Act
This bill would be an attempt to curb litter and promote recycling by instituting a deposit program for things like bottles and cans. Other states do this with a lot of success, so no reason to think it wouldn't work here.

6. Senate Bill 967/House Bill 1600 - NC Organic Economic Opportunities Study
Self explanatory, but it would be a market research study to determine what sort of opportunities there would be for organic farming in the state. I can give them the quick answer, PLENTY. But government needs an actual study with actual results, so the sooner they get it over with the better.

That 5 flew by. check back soon for the top 5.

Top 20 Bills in NC Asembly - Part 2 #11-15

2008-03-26T21:10:00.002-04:00

Part 2 (#11-15) of the top 20 bills in the NC general assembly

So here we are for another installment. See part 1 if you have no idea what this is.

And on with the list.

15. Senate Bill 1451 - Biodiesel Incentive Fund
It may seem awfully familiar, as in #16, but this Biodiesel incentive is slightly different. This one provides for a fund to pay out to biodiesel producers to encourage development of Biodiesel in the state. The only downside to this one for me is that if emphasizes the use of feedstock for biodiesel production. The perfect bill would be to really push biodiesel from recycled veggie oil or cellulosic ethanol, but we will take what we can get I suppose.

14. My #14 I just noticed has been ratified since I first checked it, so we’ll skip that one. FYI it was for an increase in the penalty for Air Polluters.

13. House Bill 1832 - No Mining Sand from Tidal Inlet/Delta
This one is self explanatory, but it would basically end all mining of sand and damage to the ecosystem, unless it is necessary to maintain navigation channels.

12. House Bill 1846 - Tax Credit for Recycling Vegetable Oil
This bill would provide for a tax credit equal to 25% of the cost of equipment for the conversion of used vegetable oil to fuel.

11. Senate Bill 141/House Bill 1117 - Topsail Beach/Beach Renourishment funds
This would provide $2,000,000 to the town of Topsail Beach for use in beach renourishment.

Thats if for this one, check back for the rest later

Top 20 Bills in NC Asembly - Part 1 #16-20

2008-03-25T16:15:00.002-04:00

I was doing some digging this weekend on the NC general assembly webpage to see what the state government in North Carolina was doing as far as environmental policy, I looked through every bill introduced and still in committee, etc. for the 2007-2008 session. What I have put together is what I feel are the top 20 most important bills in that category. They are in somewhat of order of importance, and I hopefully caught all the good ones, but it was a VERY long list, so I apologize if I may have missed any (and if I have please let me know and I can post them up as well). The basic goal of this was to show what our representatives are looking at, and what we can bring to their attention to help push through. I personally feel like much much more can be done, but I will save that for later, right now I just want to look at what IS there so we can all start bugging our representatives on a regular basis to keep tabs on how these things are progressing. It is actually somewhat hard to tell what the current status of some of these are, but I am sure it won’t hurt to bring them up to the folks in power. I will break this up into a few parts to kind of shorten these posts a bit, so check back over the next few days to get them all.

OK so here goes #’s 16-20;

20. Senate Bill 843 - Establish the Biofuels Center of North Carolina
The bill says the Biofuel center would be created as a non-profit organization with an annual budget of $5,000,000 for both and would be responsible for the implementation of “North Carolina’s Strategic Plan for Biofuels Leadership.”

19. Senate Bill 1222 - Funds for NC Solar Center
Appropriation of funds for North Carolina Solar Center at NCState University.

18. Senate Bill 948 - Small Dairy Sustainability
This bill would allow for consumers to contract with local farmers to become partial or complete owners of dairy animals. The original edition of this one was just to allow for people to contract with local farmers to buy fresh milk, but it turned into the current bill that would allow consumers to buy into a local farm to get fresh milk, it now would also require a health warning of the dangers of raw milk, but the nature remains the same. It would allow for small dairy farmers to stay afloat, and for people to support and take part in local agriculture and give themselves a local food source.

17. House Bill 618/Senate Bill 671 - Eat Smart...Move More Initiative
This would provide a budget of $3,000,000 for the next two years for to promote community environments that would support physical activity, healthy lifestyles and personal well-being.

16. House Bill 2003 - Biofuel Incentives
This would supply incentives for distributors of Biofuel in the form of a tax discount.

Business Update

2008-03-23T15:15:00.004-04:00

I just want to really quickly try and give everyone an update on how things are going for GHH. I have been asked several times in the last couple weeks about when we might open. The best answer that I have right now is, we don't know. I wish I had something more definite, but right now that is the best I can do. We are currently in the status of looking for funds. Truthfully, right now we haven't yet even been able to find any positive leads. What I can for sure tell you is that we have completed our business plan, after long hours of research, editing, writing, rewriting, etc. If any of you readers out there might know someone/something that would be a good place to look for funding, we would MUCH appreciate it. Until we can find some way to get us off the ground we are somewhat on hold. Rest assured though that we are VERY committed to this movement. We will not allow this idea/dream die. Again, if any of you readers may have some ideas, or even just encouragement, please don't hesitate. Hopefully soon I will have some more definite and happy news. Thanks for reading and please come back often.

The importance of building green

2008-03-18T17:42:00.003-04:00

For those out there that may (not sure how you could though) doubt the importance of building green, check out this post on ecogeek. Not sure exactly where they get the figures on the amount of carbon from cars, but an interesting bit of info anyway. Basically, they are saying that if all building were to turn "green" for the year, then we would save as much greenhouse gasses, etc. as are used by every car and plane used in North America for the year.

Again, I have no idea about the accuracy of those numbers, but either way it is CLEAR that building green will have a huge impact. Now all we have to do is make every builder and developer to build everything green.. Then renovate every existing building using green principles. Seems like a rather daunting task, but things seem to be moving in the right direction at least. Maybe someday we will all be living in sustainable, comfortable homes. We can only hope...

Stumbled upon this earlier

2008-03-15T20:32:00.001-04:00

Great conservation tips here. A lot of them are kind of common sense, but it's nice to see all these tips in one place like this.

If my couch is healthy, I'm healthy

2008-03-02T07:46:00.005-05:00

By my estimation, the average American probably spends somewhere between 700 and 1000 hours a year on his or her couch. Watching TV, napping, reading, relaxing after a long day; some of us (Jake and I are guilty!) even have meals there. Most of us don't give much thought to the close relationships we've developed with our furniture, but it is a fact that we are intimately involved. So it only seems natural that we'd expect an object we're in such close contact with every day to be made of materials that won't harm us. Unfortunately, Green Daily just mentioned a new report that links an ingredient in more than 2/3 of California furniture to birth defects and cancer. The chemical, called PBDE (a type of bromide) seeps into the bloodstreams of pregnant women, affecting the fetus or baby via the umbilical cord or breast milk. This toxin has even been affecting the cats who snuggle with us.

So that begs the observation: if California is noticing this problem in household furniture (and still hasn't resolved it via legislature), imagine what that says about my couch here in North Carolina, one of the largest furniture-producing states around. My solution? The next couch we buy (which will be very soon) will be a green one!

Clorox going green?

2008-02-19T12:14:00.005-05:00

Most if not all of you have probably seen these products advertised by Clorox, the new GreenWorks line. They are touting it as a "natural" cleaner, safer for the environment and the user, etc. etc. etc. Most of you may also know that my background is in chemistry, and today I had a few minutes to take a look into the ingredients of these "natural" cleaners. I add the quotes, because the word natural as it is used by corporations is a completely unregulated and VERY loosely used term. OK, so what's the verdict, is it natural or not. Well we will get to that shortly, first let me just list to you the ingredients per their labels:
water, alkyl polyglucoside, ethanol SDA-3C, glycerine, lemon essential oil, preservative (Kathon) and colorant (Milliken Liquitint Blue HP dye and Bright Yellow dye X) and also some of them contain sodium lauryl sulfate and lauramine oxide.

Now a good general rule of thumb with these sorts of things is, if you can't tell right away where something comes from, then it probably isn't natural. Alkyl polyglucoside??? Turns out is pretty readily available from chemical manufacturers such as Dow. Clorox says that it is derived from Coconuts. OK then. The use for this surfactant (which basically means a wetting agent that lowers the surface tension of a liquid) is to help form nice soapy bubbles and act as the main detergent ingredient. This is basically the meat and potatoes of the cleaning product. The other stuff is added for smell, color and preservation. So what exactly is it? well it is a synthetically produced chemical. It does appear to degrade pretty quickly (28 days) I do not know the path to degredation though, so I have no idea why it doesn't just break down in the bottle, most likely what the preservatives are preventing, as well as the prevention of bacterial growth. Dow says they are quite stable in a caustic environment, meaning pH higher than 8 or so, which is common for soaps and cleaning products.

The other eyebrow raisers; Sodium Lauryl Sulfate, Lauramine Oxide (an emulsifier, meaning it allows oil and water to be mixed). could both definitely be construed as very un-natural and SLS sounds downright scary. The others, preservatives and dyes.. eh.. Then you have corn based ethanol, which I don't have a problem with using in a cleaner personally, but there is the little problem of the creation of that ethanol taking up huge amounts of energy both in production and in the transport of corn, etc.

Anyway, about the only thing truly natural in this bottle would probably be the water, the rest are synthetically extracted or produced wholly in a lab. I think I'll just use some vinegar and water...

Six Degrees Could Change the World

2008-02-12T11:39:00.000-05:00

I watched this last night, and I just have to say that it is a MUST watch for really anyone. Not just the people like me that are obsessed with the planet, but even the sceptics among us. I really encourage anyone to check it out and the webpage if they get a chance. It is far superior to the horribly dumbed down special that CNN put together a couple months ago. This one gets a bit spectacular with the visuals, but by most accounts they are being pretty conservative with the predictions.

It is pretty scary stuff. We all know the troubles we could be in if nothing is done, but unless something really big happens soon, we might as well all invest in the future breadbasket of the world in north-central Canada.

Wind and Solar Potential

2008-01-28T12:08:00.000-05:00

I found this fun little toy earlier today. Basically a quick breakdown of wind and solar potnential for the entire nation, but detailed enough that you can find your own town. A lot of fun to look at.

Air Quality

2008-01-08T10:39:00.001-05:00

Ready to be completely depressed. Check out the Air Quality maps I found on creativemethods.com. I have no real idea where they get their data from, but it was appear to me to make sense based on the areas with F grades. There sure seems to be a lot of F's and D's out there, and as of yet I have not found a single speck of A quality other than the Aleutian Islands. That is a truly sad state of things.

Water Shortages

2008-01-04T14:37:00.000-05:00

For those of you out there that may not know, the southeast is currently suffering from a SEVERE drought. Many places are down to as little as a month of drinking water remaining. Plans are being put into place to truck water in and begin rationing it if things persist, other plans include taking water from other sources (quarries, lake bed sediment, etc). I was just poking around a bit yesterday to try and find some articles out there on there, as well as some of the truly unbelievable pictures of lakes and river, etc. in the area. In the process of that search I found these 2 articles; the first from USA today from 2003, the other is from a blog called whyfiles from 2001. Both of these articles predict extreme water shortages in the coming years, going as far as to predict "water wars" and other such horrors. I point out just how old they are for the simple reason that there are still people that do not believe global warming is taking place. Scientists can release information and articles all day and they will always be labelled as Doom and Gloomers. The fact is, the water shortage issues talked about in these articles from years ago are happening NOW. Some people would way that it is just a normal trend when it comes to weather, there are dry times, and there are wet times.. This is true, and may be so, but the fact is that all these people drinking SO much water and using water for frivolous things is a HUGE factor. The perfect illustration is Falls Lake near Raleigh, where basically all of Wake County draws drinking water, The lake has turned practically into a stream... Meanwhile Jordan lake nearby (while quite low) still resembles a lake.

The truly frustrating thing is that all of this can be helped, aided, whatever you want to call it with responsible uses. Stop watering your lawns for something as useless as green grass for one thing. Then there are many conservation steps we can all take, as well as systems that can be built into our houses to reuse graywater. I highly recommend the book The Natural House, which is also a GREAT source of info on the basics of many different natural building techniques, but also includes a great chapter on Graywater systems. Just one of the many types of things that I feel will need to be integrated into ALL homes for things to continue to be as prosperous as they currently are.. I personally do not want to ever have to worry about whether there will be enough water in which to bathe, but far too many people are more concerned with whether or not their yard is pretty. A lot of things will need to chance dramatically in this country and a lot of people's priorities are going to need to shift, but lets just all hope for some rain soon, and then we can maybe start to change some people's habits.

Back From the Holidays

2008-01-02T09:16:00.001-05:00

Sorry for the long gap in posts. Been very busy around here with the holidays, but it's time to get back to work. Hopefully, there will be some more posts and updates coming soon.

Freecycle

2007-12-06T12:31:00.001-05:00

This site randomly popped up earlier today while I was searching for other things, but it looks like a really cool site. Join up with your local group and see what sort of treasures you can find, or if there are any people that can find treasures of their own with your old stuff.

Christmas tree; Real or Fake

2007-11-28T11:37:00.001-05:00

Yahoo has a decent article up on the debate between real or fake Christmas trees. It just touches on the basics quickly but pretty clearly shows why a real tree will always be better in every way. I always liked them because they smell great and just say "Christmas" so much better than a plastic thing. I happen to be one of those strange people that likes the needles all over the place and the chore of watering it every day.

The good news is that it is also a really green thing to do. The plastics in the fakes are bad bad bad. The real trees eat up the CO2 happily, and if you are lucky enough to live in a place like North Carolina where there are literally hundreds of tree farms in the mountains, you can support a local farmer as well. Anna and I have been buying our tree from the same family for the last 3 years. They are "Mountain Advantage Tree Farm" and have sales locations in Holly Springs on the corner of Sunset Lake and Holly Springs Rd, as well as another on the corner of TenTen rd. and Holly Springs Rd. The one on Ten Ten is the best because they hand out hot apple cider while you wait for them to strap the tree to the roof of your car. I highly recommend them to anyone in the area.

Liquid Coal... BAD!!!

2007-11-20T08:00:00.000-05:00

Possibly some may have heard of this stuff already, but there is a new technology out there called liquid coal, and it is really as bad as it sounds. The coal companies of course LOVE it and want to use it to replace gasoline. This would be bad. Check out the NRDC webpage for a pretty funny and sadly accurate little cartoon. This organization needs support so anything anyone can do will definitely help.

quick update

2007-11-07T11:12:00.000-05:00

After a very busy last couple weeks, I finally have some time to update folks on things. We are still working on completing the business plan, but some real progress has been made. We are down to a few more sections and maybe one or two more trips to the library, then the editing begins, hopefully soon to be followed by starting the process of opening. We will keep you updated as things progress further.

Aside from all that, I did find this useful review of non-toxic paints on the green guide. Worth a look through for sure, and hopefully Green Home Headquarters will soon be the place to go for them instead of the Internet and the limited color choices that it provides.

I Love These Windows

2007-10-26T08:02:00.000-04:00

Perfect for the central North Carolina climate. I hope to hear a lot more about these in the coming months. Flip it one way in the summer and the other in the winter. So much easier than putting in storm windows or plastic up or any of the other things we do to help hold heat in during the winter.

Something to share

2007-10-25T15:11:00.001-04:00

Since I brought everyone down earlier, now I give you this. Good stuff, and pertinent subject matter I might add.

How Depressing

2007-10-25T11:36:00.000-04:00

I found this article today, easily one of the more depressing things I have read in a while. Sorry to be a downer, they really make it sound like there is no hope. We all just have to do what we can.

Conserve Water Now!

2007-10-22T13:40:00.000-04:00

The drought situation is getting very desperate in the Southeast, as evidenced by this blog entry on treehugger.com. People in Atlanta have even resorted to painting their lawns (wonder what kinds of chemicals are in THAT?). I would urge everyone to please, please conserve the most water you can. I know your lawn doesn't look nice when it's brown, but what's more important: a pretty lawn or clean clothes and dishes, drinking water and being able to flush the toilet? The Raleigh/Durham area is just as likely to be in Atlanta's situation in the near future.

Before you stock up for Halloween

2007-10-17T11:33:00.000-04:00

Before you head to the store and buy the huge bags of candy, think for a second about where that candy is coming from. A lot of good things are mentioned here. It's looking like the kids in our neighborhood will be getting organic chocolate this year. My guess is that they will think it is weird because the wrapper isn't Hershey's, but once they try it they will like it just the same.

Solar Decathlon

2007-10-17T09:20:00.000-04:00

I just found out about this a couple hours ago, but definitely want to go. The solar decathlon is going on this week in Washington DC. Looks like a lot of really interesting new ideas and things to see. I really want to get up there, but I'm not sure if I will be able to, but if you are in the DC area I would definitely recommend you check it out. And if you do, give us a report on it!

Carbon Footpring Labeling

2007-10-12T08:25:00.000-04:00

According to this, they are soon going to begin labeling food with a carbon footprint in the UK. This is pretty cool and I wish all products had to have it (not just food). I am talking toys, clothes, tools. Anything to get people to think about the hidden costs of the things they buy. I'm not holding my breathe for something like this to happen in the US, but I like it.. I shudder to think what some of the things would say.

An unrelated story, but I heard yesterday that one of the founders of my company is "so frugal" that he figured out that if he bought t-shirts and socks in bulk and just wore them once and threw them away, it would be cheaper than washing them over and over. My first question was, what detergent were you using??? I find it hard to believe that it is actually cheaper anyway, but what a monumental waste. To buy a cotton shirt, wear it once and throw it away... that honestly makes me sick.

2007-10-10T12:02:00.000-04:00

I found this article this morning. It is just unbelievable how bad pollution is in some places and how severely it affects people's health. This article goes into very specific detail on what heavy metals are being found there and how they are affecting the local population. I just hope something can be done to help them because as is typical, it always affects children the worst. But really for those out there that do not think that the environment isn't THE issue that we need to concern ourselves with, please read this excerpt;

" According to World Health Organization, a quarter of all diseases affecting the humankind are attributable to environmental risks, with children more vulnerable than adults. Among children under five, environmentally-related illnesses are responsible for more than 4.7 million deaths annually. Twenty-five percent of deaths in developing countries are related to environmental factors, compared with 17 percent of deaths in the developed world. "

This isn't just a problem in third world countries. That is one thing that people in the US need to remember, the stat is still 17 percent of all deaths are attributed to environmental factors. The children in this country may not be in quite the direct danger that the children in Nairobi are in, but the stats on childhood asthma (courtesy of the American lung association) in this country clearly display the very real danger people are in here. "Asthma is the most common chronic disorder in childhood, currently affecting an estimated 6.2 million children under 18 years; of which 4 million suffered from an asthma attack or episode in 2004." I currently work with what they call emergency inhalers for asthma patients. We are actually working on an all new product at this time. These are not new products by any stretch of the imagination, but the pharmaceutical companies believe that the market for emergency inhalers will possibly double by 2020, and probably exceed that. This is a problem that can be directly attributed air pollutants and allergens. If you have ever either had a child, or been around one that was struggling to breathe because of asthma, then you know how serious a problem this really is.

but if you still need more.. check some of these links
Childhood Asthma Still Increasing
ICES Asthma study
Rise in childhood asthma
The environment and asthma in U.S. inner cities.

A Few Things

2007-10-08T09:43:00.000-04:00

Found this little editorial this morning, says some interesting things about government environmental policy and how private citizens tend to have a much larger impact than anything the government may be doing. I happen to agree with the assertion that the government does much more to enable polluters than it does to stop them.

There was also this article basically citing a poll that a majority of Americans would support higher taxes in order to help the environment. I would guess that this is the first time ever that people would say that. Whether in practice it is true or not is yet to be seen, but I think it does show that people are starting to really think about what they are spending their money on, and that is never a bad thing.

Ethanol Emissions... Worse Than Fossil Fuels

2007-09-24T09:49:00.000-04:00

I heard this one traveling around the halls today, but also found the article to support the rumors. I am blown away by this. There have been many reasons to shy away from using corn ethanol as an alternative fuel (the fact that it takes more energy to create than you actually get out of it for one), but this one is a deal breaker. Most people are under the impression that Carbon is the sole cause of global warming, specifically CO2, but that is simply not the case. Many compounds have similar or in the case of Nitrous Oxide (N2O) far more severe effects. Lets just hope that the Senate gets this story and they stop mandating and subsidizing the use of corn ethanol. Something tells me they won't be getting this message, sadly.

World's best places to live

2007-09-21T08:14:00.000-04:00

Found this today on yahoo. Not a big surprise that the Scandinavian countries lead the way in this. Just makes me want to take a trip there so much more. It is clear that environmental factors took the main spotlight in this, as they should. US came in 23rd, but there is absolutely no reason why that shouldn't be much much higher.

Another example of why I want to open our store

2007-09-20T08:18:00.000-04:00

I was just surfing around a bit when I found this article from Japan. (Isn't the internet great by the way??) Well it tells a story that I have read seemingly over and over again of people wanting to build a more eco-friendly home. It gives a great example of what it really means to be green and also how much thought goes into every tiny detail, but it seems like almost always one member of the couple is an architect, in this case the woman of the house who not only designs the home but will also hand pick all the materials. This, to me, is the problem. I love that people want to build a more eco-friendly and also people friendly home, but it needs to be accessible to people that aren't architects. The fact is that it most definitely is available to anyone that wants to do it, but it takes a massive commitment from them personally to research every tiny aspect of the home. Asking the average homeowner to become an expert on all these things is really unrealistic. Imagine researching and becoming an expert on plumbing, greywater systems, heat and air exchangers, air current dynamics, building materials, heating and cooling systems, passive solar principles, insulation, etc. etc. etc. the list truly goes on forever. This is what it would take to fully understand and properly complete the modern green home. That is unacceptable to me. I have an interest in these things and am taking it upon myself to learn everything I can about them. The hope is that I will be able to pass that knowledge on to customers, and take a great deal of the tedious portion of the task away. Not nearly enough people will build green until it becomes as accessible as the fine McMansions that builders are seemingly building at the rate of thousands a day.

My other concern is that we are putting too much emphasis on building green homes. I definitely feel that we need to emphasize green building for as many new homes being built as we can, but the great paradox to building a new green home is that building new is inherently not green. The absolute most eco-friendly way to live is to find an existing structure that you can renovate and adapt to take advantage of green principles. This will be Green Home HQ's main focus. Make your current home green, have fun doing it yourself, spread the word and help your neighbors do the same and please don't ever tear down an existing structure (unless it is unsafe) to build new.

China Doing Something

2007-09-17T12:57:00.000-04:00

In a clear move to try and deflect a lot of the negative press they have been getting, the Chinese government is "urging" that people in 108 cities refrain from driving their cars for a full week, with emphasis put on Sept. 22nd or "No Car Day" where they will open lanes of road for bikes or other alternate vehicles according to chinadaily.com. They say this will save 33 million litres of gas and cut emissions by 3000 tons on the "No Car Day." The goal, it says, is to increase the use of public transportation, which is already apparently at 50%. First off, I think this is a pretty cool Idea and really wish some cities locally would give something like this a shot. Secondly, I agree with the assertion that public transport is very important and really an absolute necessity for a city above a certain population to function. More money must be spent worldwide on creating a reliable, safe, cheap, clean and convenient public transportation systems in as many cities as we can. There really are a relatively small amount of cities that have public transportation that would be classified as good. But, how much capacity do these systems in China really have? This isn't a small population we are talking about here, and you can't just push people towards public transport if the system isn't actually in place in a useful form with enough copacity to handle that many people. I know nothing about China's public transportation systems, so I am just hypothesizing here, but when it comes down to it, I don't know how much a campaign like this is really going to accomplish. My guess is that they get some people to ride a bike, or ride the train for a week, and they will immediately go right back to what they had always been doing, but it gets people talking and thinking about emissions and energy use, so that's good. None of that really changes the fact that the whole thing just really stinks of a strategy to counteract all of the recent press, and calls into question their true commitment to these sorts of policies.

Sustainability on display at Auto Show

2007-09-11T15:22:00.000-04:00

It would seem that automakers, especially European automakers, are making some efforts at their own green makeovers. I found this a few minutes ago courtesy of the NY Times. Key points in this one are that there are a lot of new hybrid options being discussed (at least for European consumers) some of the more interesting to me are the hybrid diesels. How nice would it be to have a hybrid car running on biodiesel. They do seem to be making huge strides in making diesel engines even cleaner and more efficient as well. Definitely a trend I am encouraged by. There is even a passing mention of a plug in hybrid. Very cool. I am a bit discouraged that there isn't a single mention of an electric car, but a plug in hybrid is a start at least in getting back to a full electric.

Celebrities and Eco Living

2007-09-10T12:09:00.000-04:00

Yesterday Jake and I were talking about the public's perception of celebrities who take up the green living cause. They often come off fake, self-serving, and "eco-hypocritical." I, for one, think it's great that they are trying to use their positions of power to make a change, but I do think that if they really cared, they would try harder to live more like you and me (e.g. no more 10,000 square foot houses-- no matter how they're heating and cooling them!). Check out this article on treehugger.com for interesting insight: Celebrity Eco-Hypocritique

A Critical Situation

2007-09-07T08:32:00.001-04:00

Sobering news today: 'Scientists Make Dire Forecast for Alaska'
Much of the global warming damage over the past 20 years has been done, and its full effects will be seen by 2050, after which the gases we recently emitted will finally soak into the ocean, melting Alaska's ice caps by about half. This means dire consequences for fishermen, polar bears, and ocean life in and around the Bering Sea.

It feels futile and fatalistic, but we should let this news inspire us to STOP GLOBAL WARMING in its tracks. Let's not allow it to cause any further damage to our children's and grandchildren's Earth.

Chinese Manufacturing

2007-09-05T12:18:00.000-04:00

Like many of you probably have, I have been following the news about pollution and improper manufacturing standards in China pretty closely. The latest is a recall from Mattel, which includes recalls for Barbie sets among others. If you don't have the time to read it, basically, all that I got from it was that "it wasn't our fault" that you typically get from publicly traded corporations in this sort of situation. Mattel owns and runs several manufacturing plants in China, but they also contract out some manufacturing to some other companies -- Holder Plastic Company and Apex Manufacturing Company were mentioned in the article -- who not only do the manufacturing, but will also contract out a portion of their work to yet another company (the subcontractor). This is all pretty common out in the business world, but should it be? Of course the end line subcontractor takes the blame, as they were the ones that messed up. But I would argue that it is the job of the parent company to ensure that the contractors are doing things properly. In this case how could Mattel really conduct proper quality control over more than one degree of separation. Basically, Mattel is rightfully taking heat over this and losing money. The bad thing is that they are deflecting blame, when it is every bit as much a failure of their system as anyone else's. A company should be confident and 100% sure of what they are bringing forward to the retail environment and ultimately the end consumer. Mattel did not have that level of control obviously, and they are paying for it. The only way for them to take that control back would be to pull everything back in house (which is how things used to be done anyway), and then even start manufacturing domestically again. We all know they used to do everything in house and on US soil in the past, but now everything is contracted out and done internationally. Why waste all that energy to bring it all the way back here to sell, and why put the financial future of your company in the hands of a foreign contractor? I am hardly an isolationist, but I do have a problem with wasting energy on bringing a product across an ocean that could have just as easily been sourced and manufactured close-by. We all know WHY they want to manufacture in China, the labor is cheap... but there is also the little tidbit of information that they leave out about how they have little or no environmental limitations there. They can pollute all they want there and save the cost that they would have to take on if manufacturing in Europe or the US. We fought very hard for environmental legislation as well as fair labor laws in this country, only to have all the corporations just pick up and move somewhere else so they could continue using near slave labor and destroy the earth. The only solution I have found for myself is to stop buying products made in China, but do you realize how difficult that is? There is no simple solution really, but never underestimate the combined power of the American consumer. If we stop buying so many products made in China, it will most assuredly be felt and addressed.

Paper vs. Plastic: Nobody Wins

2007-09-04T11:22:00.000-04:00

Once a week, I buy groceries. And once a week, I'm asked a question that makes me cringe: "Paper or plastic?"
The question seems meaningless enough to us; we make the decision in one second and throw away, reuse or recycle the bags when we unload our haul at home. But our decision's significance to the health of the Earth is more meaningful than most of us take the time to think about. Perhaps what we should be hearing hidden in that innocent question is, "Chop down a tree, or increase our dependence on fossil fuels?"
There are arguments for and against both choices. Unlike plastic, paper is compostable and biodegradable; however, much more energy is used to produce and recycle a paper bag than a plastic one. On the other hand, even though plastic bags are recyclable at the bins at your local grocery, the truth is that many of those plastic bags are NOT recyclable at all. Their fate? The local dump, where they never break down. When you really start to look at the seeming lack of advantages to either choice (for example, take a look at "Paper vs. Plastic- The Shopping Bag Debate" on Greenfeet.com), the answer for the bag boy becomes obvious: "Neither."
If every American family would simply invest in a few reusable shopping bags to take to the store with them, the reduction in plastic and paper bag waste would be enormous. There are a number of attractive and functional options out there today: organic and recycled cotton canvas, cotton mesh, and even insulated bags made from recycled soda bottles and bags. Some have cute designs and some are plain, but remember the basic, least expensive ones will do the job just fine. I just purchased five plain organic cotton canvas totes. By my calculations, I will probably be able to fit the equivalent of about 3 plastic bags into one of these bags. I spent $35 including shipping, a small investment for bags that will last us for years to come. I also just learned that my grocery has started refunding customers 5 cents per store plastic or paper bag that they don't use, so my investment will pay for itself in time.
Of course, this topic spawned discussion between Jake and me about how we plan to bag GHH customer purchases. First and foremost, we'll make be making cotton (and other materials) shopping bags available for purchase. Alternatively, we'll also be using paper bags that are approbated by the American Forest and Paper Association, and we'll of course encourage customers to return those bags to us for recycling and offer a partial refund of their purchase for every bag re-used or recycled.

Going green doesn't mean depriving yourself

2007-09-04T08:39:00.000-04:00

I was thinking yesterday about the implications of a transition to a green lifestyle for the average person. The traditional first step in the 3 R's (Reduce, Reuse, Recycle) is to only buy what you actually need-- not a bunch of junk to satisfy a momentary want or desire that later ends up in a landfill. For Americans especially, I think this is going to be a hard nut to crack. We Americans love our stuff, and we love showing it off. I would venture to say that we get more pleasure out of the actual buying of the stuff than the stuff itself. Many of us build larger houses than we need just so we can house our stuff. Anyway, you get my point.
The idea I'd like to posit is that I do believe it's possible to continue to get pleasure out of material objects--objects that may serve no purpose other than decorative-- and still be "green." The way to do that is to purchase items that were crafted with care and regard for where the materials came from, who made them, and what those objects' eventual future on the Earth will be. At Green Home Headquarters, I plan to make available objects that can fill that role. I hope to offer attractive and eco-friendly kitchen items, children's toys and games, decorative and soft furnishings for the home, and unique gifts. For example, take a look at this bowl made from discarded food wrappers (which are non-biodegradable). It was crafted by workers in Nepal via a non-profit humanitarian organization. When you shop at our store, you will feel confident that any item you choose will enhance the health of your home. Mentally, I think that has a huge impact on your health, as well. If you're buying a gift, it will be an object you feel good about buying and the recipient feels good about receiving.
Pretty soon, you'll start to think about each and every object you buy with a new perspective-- one that makes you feel good about the dollars you spend and the new item that will soon occupy precious space in your home. Now that is shopping at its best!

SEE Expo

2007-08-29T17:48:00.000-04:00

As promised I'll update you all a little on how things went at the SEE Expo out near Asheville this past weekend. We have had a few days to digest everything we saw and while it was a small show, there was plenty there to see. Most of what was there was more to do with energy efficiency and alternate energy sources (as expected) but there were plenty of good leads on products that would fit with Green Home Headquarters' vision. There was one true star there in my opinion, and that was the good people at Earthpaint (www.earthpaint.net). The products looked great, all raw materials were sourced within 800 miles, they are currently using wind energy offsets and they are a local (Asheville based) company. I hope to get some samples soon so I can try some things out and I will be sure to pass along anything that I observe. They will be coming to Raleigh in September for the southern ideal home show and I can't wait to go and see them again. If you have a chance please give their webpage a look and if you have any needs for paint in the next few months (at least until Green Home HQ opens!) I hope you'll at least give them a thought before you go and get the nasty toxic stuff at the local homecenter.

Back From Vacation

2007-08-27T18:17:00.000-04:00

Sorry for the long gap in posts, but Anna and I were of to the mountains for the last week on vacation. I'll let you see just a small sample of some of the beautiful scenery. It was energizing, fun and tiring at the same time. We really managed to fit a lot into the week. There were two separate hikes to waterfalls, one very challenging hike to the top of Calloway's Peak at Grandfather Mountain, a trip to blowing rock, an 8 hour drive down the Blue Ridge Parkway (100 miles with stops at several overlooks, the town of Spruce Pine, Crabtree falls, an apple orchard at Alta Pass and a trip to the top of Mt. Mitchell), A visit to the SEEExpo for some time spent with the business (details on that to come) and bike riding at the Biltmore Estate. Like I said, a LOT of fun. I think we are all set to go to rededicate ourselves to getting the store moving forward and hopefully find time for some more trips like this in the future.

Thin Solar Cells

2007-08-21T11:45:00.000-04:00

Found this article a while ago about thin film solar cells. Am I the only one that wants to coat everything I own in this stuff?? There is one application in particular that I think will catch on n a big way. Wrap your roof shingles in it and create an entire roof of solar cells. I've seen this talked about over and over again, but we finally might almost be there with it.

Today's Links

2007-08-16T09:12:00.000-04:00

Anna passed these along to me the other day, some good info in there.

This one is about the junk is household cleaning chemicals, no news there, but good to see that it is on something as visible as AOL.

This one talks a little about some of the green cleaning product companies and how they are making things happen without harmful chemicals. Probably the most important bit in there is just how, as we all find out, there are many levels to green and some of these companies really don't live up to what my expectations for that would be. Is it really a green product when they still have the same chemicals in smaller amounts?

And finally, This article is pretty cool. It describes the top ten, or should I say, THEIR top ten new environmental technologies. There are some pretty neat things in there, most of them are really, to me at least, not what I would call advances. Like #8, you mean planting things can actually make the planet cleaner and nicer?? What a discovery. and #9 is. quite literally, just sweeping the bad stuff under the rug. I wonder why the energy companies like that idea so much? Could be that they wouldn't have to change anything and just keep collecting truckloads of cash. And #3 with Hydrogen energy cells. That one isn't new, but it is about 30 years away, just another one that the oil and energy companies LOVE to try and slip in as a "solution." Anyway, I make this article sound horrible don't I? It isn't all bad. I love the ideas they have about harnessing the power of the ocean. If we are able to convert just 1% of that energy to electricity, we would have enough to power everything human made on the planet and have plenty to spare. That is DEFINITELY an area to pursue and would probably be #1 on my list. Anyway, I hope you enjoy!

Raven Rock

2007-08-15T10:54:00.000-04:00

I thought it would be fun for our first ever post to our blog to just talk a little bit about our recent trip to Raven Rock State Park. It is one of those pretty small little parks that litter the landscape in North Carolina. This one is right along the Cape Fear river near Lillington, only a matter of about 30 or so miles down south on 55 and 401 from Cary. It was most definitely worth the trip. Plenty of trails, lots of nature. The park gets its name from the huge rock feature along the banks of the river, which is quite impressive. You really have to see it to appreciate the scale of it. There are quite a few steps to climb down though to get to that part. My legs are still sore from it, but definitely more than worth it. Even with it being well over 90, it was still bearable because of all the shade. It was definitely evident that the drought was being felt there as the river was clearly low and the creeks and streams were almost totally dry. It was sad because there were several places where the creek would have been BEAUTIFUL with water flowing. Maybe we will make it back sometime after a nice rain.