Sustainability

     Here is my favorite video on Sustainability. In my travels, I have learned that many people think they know what it means, but actually have it wrong. I did, too! There's know shame in learning something new. Watch and enjoy.

Maryland's Stormwater Bill

     Over the last few years, I was one of many people to push for the new Stormwater Bill in Maryland to be passed. It addressed the antiquated Stormwater systems that dumped polluted water from our streets into the Chesapeake Bay and its tributaries. It also will raise money to fix and replace leaky septic systems that were adding to the declining health of our state's most valuable resource. Many stormwater systems were designed and installed over 50 years ago. They are outdated and need to be modernized. To see the new Governor push to repeal the bill is heartbreaking. The health of the Bay affects the health of millions of people, will cost thousands of jobs if left to get worse and lead to the loss of thousands of species of plant and animal life. 

     The what upsets me the most is that the opponents of the bill have labeled it a "rain tax", with people who do not fully understand the language and purpose of the bill believing they have to pay a tax every time it rains. That's absurd! People have just made the jump from the term "Rain Tax" to thinking they are paying more in taxes each time a storm rolls through. I guess snow isn't included in that, huh? Can people be so lazy that they don't even read the language of passed legislation before they start to argue against it? 

     Many against the bill acknowledge the declining health of the Chesapeake and refuse to swim or let their children swim in its waters. Yet they don't even think twice about eating crabs. Oysters and rockfish that are caught in the ever increasing pollution. 

     Like so many in the world, they want to reap the rewards at the cost of the future. Clean water means healthy things to eat, more jobs and water safe to swim in. You are going to prevent that if the Stormwater Legislation is overturned. Think about it. Can you afford an extra $6.25 a month to clean up the waters in the Chesapeake? What if it meant it would be safer to go crabbing or fishing or waterskiing?

Learn the real facts and intent of the Maryland Stormwater Remediation Legislation. 

Monday's List

     Over the weekend and this morning, I found a few articles you might find interesting. So I thought I would share because I'm cool like that. :)

     The first one is an article from the San Diego Free Press, which highlights why Pat Robertson thinks a lack of miracles from God is a result of all these "educated" people in our country believing in science. You might want to put your powdered wig on for that one. I'm just sayin'.

     The second is from the Washington Post and outlines what the State of Virginia is doing (and I mean bipartisan doing) to comply with the EPA's new CO2 emissions standards. I don't want to ruin anything, but the solution involves a cap-and-trade system and joining a coalition of other states that are working for reduced greenhouse gases. Instead of the government telling the State how to do this, Virginia is going to let the market dictate how much a permit to emit greenhouse gases should cost. Which is the whole idea in the first place.

     The third is bittersweet for me, personally. I had this idea a few years ago, but since I am a bit lazy, I didn't get it out of the development stage. (And when I say development, I mean I didn't move past the "hey! That's a cool idea! I wonder if that would ever fly" stage.) According to the Washington Post, seems there is a Finnish company out there that is making modular cellphones that people can buy and then in the future, when technology advances, consumers can switch out old parts for new, re: screens, batteries and processors. Why is this company doing this? Because people spend about $12 billion dollars a year in the US for new cellphones, throwing their old ones away. This new type of phone would reduce waste and conserve precious resources.

     Reduce, Reuse, Recycle people. It really works. Even in a capitalist society.

     Enjoy your Monday reading! And thanks for stopping in.

Book Review: Cradle to Cradle

     The book sat on my shelf for a few years before I finally got around to cracking it open. (I've been busy). I have a known bookstore-addiction, where I must go into any book store I happen to pass regardless of what I am doing at the time. It is my greatest guilty pleasure. I walk the aisles, looking thru sections that promise to reveal a hidden treasure I was meant to hold in my hands. And I always buy a book. One of those times, I picked up "Cradle to Cradle: Remaking the Way We Make Things" by William McDonough and Michael Braungart. I wish I had read it the day I brought it home, but I have accumulated quite a stack of unread books from my bookstore dalliances.

(Click image to visit the Cradle to Cradle Products Innovation Institute)

     McDonough and Braungart...