Earth Day/Sun Day

I noticed Google is displaying an iceberg (maybe it's a glacier?) which reminds me that it must be Earth Day. Some of my conservative friends will think that I’ve been gearing up for this day for a long time. I prefer to think of it as a Sabbath day; a day of consuming and producing as little as I possibly can.

As I was opening this week’s set of bills and solicitations I noticed the League of American Bicyclists (LAB) is attempting to cash in on Earth Day and Climate Change. Seems they think bicycling is a helpful way to mitigate global warming. I agree. Tom DeWeese was right, there’s a lot of money to be gotten off this climate thing! Maybe I’ll send them both a little something…’cause there’s a lot of money to be gotten off this climate thing.



Over the past few days I’ve been running into sustainability and green ideas in unusual or new (and welcome) places. LAB’s solicitation is, to my knowledge, the first time they’ve talked global warming. At investment club the two annual reports I reviewed contained surprises.

The first was Duke Energy. The cover features a random and thoughtful face next to the words, “Changing minds. Changing habits.” I should mention that Duke Energy is my second favorite energy company. I wrote about it once before. Inside the annual report I found these words:

“…the most environmentally sound, inexpensive and reliable kilowatt hour is the one we don’t have to produce. Generating “save a watts” is just one part of the equation that requires our customers to change how they use electricity…"

Is that a call to personal responsibility?

The second report was from Corporate Office Properties Trust. They were touting their LEEDS Certified buildings and made the statement that green, sustainable buildings are the future.

The future is now.

I learned a little about LEEDS Certification this week. I was inviting the Museum of Visual Materials to join the Bike to Work Celebration. When they open in June they will have a shower available for people who commute to downtown by bicycle. I understood the building was going to be LEEDS certified so I asked my contact there about it.

“In addition to the shower, we have several other green qualities including soy-based insulation, flooring made from bamboo and cork, birch and quartzite from Minnesota (supplies from less than 500 miles cut down on transportation costs and support the local economy) diverted rain water to irrigate the landscaping, photo voltaic panels (solar power), cabinetry made with wheat…the list goes on. We’ll have a complete green/LEED tour available after we open.“

I wonder how my wheat allergic The Boy 5 will like the cabinetry.

Enjoy. Sabbath.