EcoInsomniac

My girlfriend, my dog Lucky and I are going to be heading down to Port Lavaca for a one night stay with my parents.  A trip totaling about 300 miles which we’ll be doing in my parents Prius.  We’re heading down for a break and so my parents can see the 10 lots I bought in a neighborhood off of the Tres Palacios River.  I’ve owned it for almost 2 years now and they’ve never been down so we’re going to go check it out.  Hopefully there aren’t any alligators at the river to greet my little dog.

Until I got involved in the environmental issues that my owning the land has an actual positive environmental impact for my life.  Not that I need to offset much, but it’s good no less.  The land totals an acre and I’m not sure how to calculate what kind of CO2 that offsets, but it’s good to own and since I’m not building on most of it for quite a while it will continue to be a positive impact on the environment. 

One of my goals in life is to own a lot of land maybe a working Ranch or Green Farm.  We’ve been shopping around the area and have found many good deals, but my current employment issue won’t allow us to buy anything for now.

Do any of you own land?  How does your job or lack of job effect your life?  Do you have goals of owning land if so what is holding you back?

Have a great weekend

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Personally, I’m glad the bailout went down when it did, but only really because I believe a better proposal will come of it.  I’m no economist and I’m not one to listen to the scare tactics of the media either, but the economy is messed up and that’s apparent.  My only concern is how rushed the act was and how many scare tactics were used to get citizens to implore their representatives to vote to pass the bill.

I am a (very)small business owner and it is pretty worrisome to see the economy where it is as far as lending and banking stability.  The thing is it doesn’t matter how bad the economy is if you have a good idea and the ability to explain the idea in a way that makes sense to people with money then you will have no problem getting money to do business.  If you just say, “Hey, I’ve got a website and it will make money because people click on ads!” or “We’re offering our web product for free for now, but someday next year we’ll add a pro service and everyone will want it!”  then you’re out of luck the days of handing out money because a young kid made an awesome looking homework project is over for now.  Don’t fret though I’m sure it’ll be back there is tons of money just waiting to be spent.

While this turned into a kind of rant for me I truely do want to know what you think of the bailout and our economy in a whole.  Do you believe it’s in as bad of shape as they say it is?  Do you see signs in your area?

Popularity: 19% [?]

I pull inspiration from many different sources and while my blog posting has severely slowed down to nearly a halt others have kept up the pace and continued to provide readers with awesome posts to inform and entertain.  I’ve been reading quite a few blogs lately to get myself back into the swing of things.  Here are a few of my favorites:

Autobloggreen.com – I am a car lover through and through so autobloggreen.com gives me the best of both of my worlds.

Treehugger.com – This is a give me and I’m sure most of you who read this have been to Treehugger.com they offer a great assortment of bloggers who provide amazing stories and posts for us to enjoy.  They’re owned by Discovery and use the resources provided to them to bring stories to Treehugger that I could only wish to offer.

GreenDaily.com – Is another big name blog that I love to read.  They’ve always got something new to say and the writers are great.

EarthandEconomy.com – Is really more of an aggrogator of green blogs, but really puts it together in a very readable way so that I can quickly and easily determine which articles could be worth my time.  The fact that they hand pick the articles that show up means that most of the reading is worth anywhere from a glance to a full read.  (Though none of my articles have managed their way on to the site *wink wink*)

I read many more sites and would love to share them with the rest of you, but that’s for another time.  If you have any favorite green sites please do share them with me by emailing me or commenting below.

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Honestly I haven’t a clue what exactly “Greenwashing” is and I don’t think many people do.  I’ve heard companies labeled “greenwashers” because of the products they create or use or way they make things.  I’ve heard Clorox be called “greenwashers” because of their green line of cleaning products.  Lexus was called a
“greenwasher” because the Hybrid they came out with gets something like 2 mpg better then the regular version.

I get that some companies are jumping on and using the word green as a marketing ploy.  Clorox has put out a green range of cleaners that many organizations have gotten behind.  Organizations that have been green long before most of the people handing out these labels have been.

What do you think “Greenwashing” is and who do you think is the worse offender when it comes to your definition?

Popularity: 19% [?]

You know it doesn’t matter what side you’re on or what news department you listen to anymore.  The economy is going down the drain period.  There is no ifs ands or buts about it anymore.  So, then why isn’t something that doesn’t appeal to the masses in America being marketed more towards this economy?  As I see it many commercials, marketing plans and websites are out there trying to convince people in America to go green because we have to because its good for the earth.  I absolutely 100% believe that is the truth.  The earth needs fixing the environment has been trashed and its past time to clean it up.

So, why not go after Americans where it counts?  Go after the wallets and the end of the month bills that hurt them so badly to open that they sit for a week on the coffee table or kitchen counter.  It needs to be explained to those people who don’t care about the environment that going green can and usually does save money in the long run.  That the investment in their home and lifestyle not only is good for the earth, but has an ROI.

Would that be so bad for the green movement? No, absolutely not it would be great.  Our end goal after all is to get more people thinking responsibly so that the earth benefits and has a chance to do some recovering.  Now if that means showing others that going green means they can cut down their monthly bills and save some money in the long run then by all means that is what needs to get done.

Trying to convince the people who care about the planet that going green is the thing to do is a no brainer that’s easy.  Advertising firms are milking it and taking the easy money convincing those that need no convincing.  Enough of that go after the people that don’t care and make them care if not about the green earth then the green in there pocket.  It’ll be good for all of us in the end.

Popularity: 19% [?]