This is an entry from the fastcompany blog that I found interesting:

It’s not easy being green. Anybody who’s ever really tried to minimize his or her carbon footprint, knows that even when you’re committed to recycling and responsible purchasing, you can be foiled by forces outside your control. You buy a new set of tiny earbuds, and they come encased in a mound of nasty plastic and Styrofoam. You order lunch at the Cheesecake Factory and get a portion big enough for three (the upside: I now feel virtuous instead of cheap for my unrepentant doggie bag habit, and my predilection for tap over bottled water). You buy something online, only to trigger a torrent of unwanted catalogs. Continue reading “Talking Trash”

This was sent to me by my dad, so I thought I would pass on the words of wisdom.

Sound advice on retirement planning.

If you had purchased $1,000.00 of Nortel stock one year ago, it would now be worth $49.00.

With Enron, you would have had $16.50 left of the original $1,000.00.

With WorldCom you would have had less than $5.00 left.

If you had purchased $1,000.00 of Delta Air Line stock, you would have $49.00 left.

But if you had purchased $1,000.00 worth of beer one year ago, drank all the beer, then turned in the cans for the aluminum recycling REFUND, You would have had $214.00.

Based on the above, the best current investment advice is to drink heavily and recycle.

It’s called the 401-Keg Plan.

There was an article on CNN.com today about ice cooling. It is a pretty interesting alternative to air conditioning. CNN Article

Anyone else think their time could be better spent than sorting, shredding, or recycling all that junk mail? Continue reading “Junk Mail”

I have heard a lot to buy local, it is better for the environment because there is less transportation involved, supports the local economy, and tends to be organic. I had one problem with that, there was not a good selection of local produce at the local grocery store. It was hit or miss on finding anything grown locally. I have been encouraged to see that both local grocery stores have increased their organic produce sections. But buying organic was only part of what I was looking for. Well today I came across an article regarding Consumer Supported Agriculture (CSA), I had heard something along these lines but had not bothered to research it much. I was interested in finding a local farm to support after reading the article, I was wondering if any such farms even existed in Arizona. I knew we had farms out here, but had never seen any with diverse produce. So, how does one find a local farm to buy produce from? I googled it and found a website that allows you to search by zip code or state: http://www.localharvest.org/csa/
Continue reading “Buy Local”

I thought for my first blog post I would introduce you to one of my biggest pet peeves: disposable, plastic water bottles.  According to a July/August 2007 Fast Company Article, Americans spent more money last year on bottled water than on ipods or movie tickets: $15 billion.  That figure is staggering to me.  If the water we use at home cost what even cheap bottled water costs, our monthly water bills would run $9,000.  (Fast Company, July/August, 2007)  Now I think drinking water is very important I try hard to drink my 64 ounces a day.  Those of you who see me on a regular basis know that my pink Camelbak water bottle goes pretty much everywhere with me.  I am not against drinking water, I am for more responsible ways of drinking water, such as in a glass or reusable water bottle.  I did the basic math on my most recent water bill to figure out how much my water costs.  I have a basic water delivery charge of $25.00 and a usage charge of $9.66 for a total of $34.66.  We used a total of 4,714 gallons of water.  That comes to $.00735 per gallon of water, much cheaper than $.99 for 16 ounces from a bottle.  That means it cost me a mere $.0013776 to fill up my 24 ounce bottle.  I’ll put my math in so you don’t think I am crazy.  (128 ounces per gallon, .00735/128=.0000574 per ounce, .0000574 * 24 = .0013776)

Continue reading “Bottled Water”