green wednesday

I effing hate Ikea, but I like them. - "it's in the bag"

2011-01-31T10:00:00.000-08:00

How is this so? Last weekend I stopped in to Ikea with the sole purpose of getting a cabinet for some office storage. I spent a good half an hour talking to an Ikea rep about configuration options; colors etc. He then printed out a parts list that told me where to find the items in the self serve warehouse. Things were looking good as I followed the arrows out of there to go pick up what I came for from Lake Tahoe to Sacramento. I decided to buy some lights to mount under one of the cabinets so i turned off all the lights on display and tested them all out till I found the perfect ones to mount under the cabinet that would go above my desk. I spent a good 20 minutes doing this. Then I decided to pick up a few other complimentary items.

Off to isle 37 bin xxxx etc to pick up the first part. Come down to the last part on my list and there is not one on the shelf. So I ask for some help. Some kid about 12 tells me to head down to isle 14 to ask someone to check the stock. So I head the mile and a half or whatever it is down there. Of course there are 20 people lined up and only one very slow worker on a terminal. After about 10 minutes waiting I flag down an Ikea guy walking by. He gets on the other empty terminal to check the stock. Guess what, those other 20 people in line were kinda bummed but knew I took the initiative to get my own help and bypass their silly line and probably started hating Ikea even more themselves.

Of course as i kinda expected, they were out of the item I needed to complete the cabinet I wanted to put together. :(

Tell me, why the "eff" they could not have a rough stock estimate on the parts list the guy printed out for me in the office section? Even if it said only one in stock then I could of rushed over to claim it. Or if it said "none in stock" then I could of just left that place. But no, I spent a bunch of time picking out lights and waiting in line.

I had a bunch of crap in my cart and decided to abandon it and hit the road. Then I reconsidered and figured I could use a handful of things I had in the cart; sans the lights and other things meant to go with the cabinet I could not get.

So luckily the checkout line was not to long and was painless. Well that is until I am left with an awkward pile of items with no bag. I asked for a bag and was told they do not have bags, that "I had to buy one" what the hell! I had to play Houdini to carry the stuff out to my car.

So I was pretty bummed at Ikea to say the least and proceeded to bad mouth them for the next few days. That is until this morning when i opened up a kitchen draw and saw the plastic bags I had from the local grocery store. I typically use my own bags when I go to the store or I try not to use any bag at all when possible. But sometimes I forget and take the plastic cuz they are small, easy to store and at least they can be recycled to recoup some of the energy and resources that went into making them.

I have heard of places (countries?) that do not allow plastic bags and I know Trader Joes always gives incentives to bring your own bags (a chance to win $50 credit and your odds of winning the lottery are better) Maybe home of Ikea; Sweden is one of these countries? I dunno maybe I will research this whole bag deal like I did with the plastic bottles and figure it all out.

As mad as I was about juggling my crap out of Ikea, now i am glad and know to bring my own bag. As i sit and ponder all this while I look in my "bag" draw I think about all the freakin disposable Ikea bags there would be in this world had they not had the "no bag" policy they have.

Sometimes what is best for us hurts a little at first but we adapt and soon realize that it is for the best. In this case it is not only good for the environment but also the economy. A disposable bag is a resource and this world does not have unlimited resources. Plastic bags are a petroleum product and not only is it clear and evident that oil is extremely limited but that because of our dependency on it we have become dependent upon other countries to keep us happy little oil consumers.

Just think if all the grocery stores in America made you pay for your bags (and they were reusable). I wonder how many bags would be saved and taken off the endangered resource list. (there should be one).

off to write about "endangered resources"

2009-01-28T00:00:00.000-08:00

Perplexed About Plastic Alternatives?

By: Elisabeth L. Sporleder

Most people in the developed world know that plastic is bad for our environment, some even know certain kinds of plastics are harmful if used with food, and a lot of us are searching for alternatives. Plastic is everywhere; we find it in our clothes, cars, sports, toothbrushes, electronics, mattress, furniture, and toys. It’s hard to buy something without plastic involved at several levels — from the debit card to the product packaging. Plastic has become such an integral part of our lives, change requires new laws for businesses and ultra conscious, creative individuals (like you and me!).

Did you know that plastic bags and Styrofoam are two of the top three items littered on our planet (see here) , more than half of all thermoplastics eventually sink in seawater (see here, pdf), and 8 out of 10 water bottles will end up your local dump (see here)? A million plastic bags are used every minute worldwide (see here) and can take hundreds of years to decompose — Styrofoam as long as 1 million years (see here).

The facts are staggering, but even I was shocked to find out from World Wildlife Foundation, that plastic bags choke and suffocate turtles to death when they mistake them for jellyfish — their favorite food! What a bummer that would be. Could you imagine biting into your favorite food only to die a torturous death?

I’m a busy, working mom of two, who struggles to shrink our carbon footprint as much as possible. Since our family has learned the facts on plastics, we’ve made a lot of changes in our house. We use reusable water bottles (Our favorites are SIGG and Klean Kanteen ). Next time you go to by that plastic water bottle, hold it up and know that you’d have to fill that bottle one fourth full of oil to equal the amount of energy it took to produce it (see here).

Of course everywhere you turn now in your local grocery store there are options for reusable grocery bags. Some states, like Washington, are charging for plastic shopping bags, and other countries, like China, have just outright banned the evil critters. Before you throwaway that pair of well loved jeans or T-shirt, checkout which parts are still usable and might make a good shopping bag if cut up and reassembled possibly keeping the ‘outfit together’.

Once the news about the neurotoxins that off-gas from plastics — Bisphenol A (BPA) (see here) and Brominated flame retardants (PBDEs) (see here, pdf) -- we started using our plastic food storage container for storing nails and bolts in the shed and bought some very reasonable glass containers at K-mart. Glass is amazing. Did you know not only is it reusable but it can be recycled an indefinite number of times? We also rely on glass mason jars and reuse things like peanut butter jars to store leftovers, can our own food, or pack a lunch. Did you know you can freeze the mason jars without the rounded ‘shoulder’? We hardly ever buy a can of soup anymore; our freezer is full of quart and pint size frozen homemade soup.

Maybe you’ve already started using reusable hot and cold drink containers, reusable shopping bags, and glass food storage constrainers. So tell me, what have you found to substitute the other plastic bags in your life? You know the sandwich, freezer, ziploc, put anything in them, they don’t leak bags? OMG this was the biggest challenge for my family. When I told my husband we had to loose the plastic baggie he came home with the half size baggies and grabbed the tinfoil (which isn’t much better). He still insist he needs a box of ziploc freezer bags and I wash them so we can reuse them until they go to the recycling center.

I’ve found a few solution to our addiction to the baggie. We use the natural, wax paper sandwich bags for our lunches. They work fine for sandwiches and most snack foods (e.g. Grapes or trail mix). Wrapping a sandwich in a cloth napkin even works in some lunch boxes. After purchasing 6 organic cotton net bags for packaging produce for the trip home from the grocery store, we hardly need to reuse the plastic produce bags we collected from all our previous trips to the store. Last on the list are cloth bags to use for purchasing bulk foods, like grains and nuts. I have an old table cloth with a tight weave I’m going to make into bags. If you don’t sew then checkout http://www.ecobags.com/ or search the net; there are a lot of options.

Old habits may die hard but think of that turtle with a baggie in its gullet and give yourself 29 days to change one thing at a time. Before you know it, you’ll be walking with a lighter carbon footprint, and helping to slow down global warming.

If you have any ideas for replacing the plastics we use in our homes, please share your secrets with the rest of us!

Reduce, reuse, recycle!

Elisabeth L. Sporleder

References (see here's):

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/europe/1849302.stm
http://www.algalita.org/pdf/YENRS5200.pdf
http://www.container-recycling.org/mediafold/newsarticles/plastic/2006/2-4-OneWorld-BottledWater.htm
http://www.newscientist.com/article/mg18324644.800-battle-of-the-bag.html
http://behealthyandrelax.com/2007/11/how-long-does-it-take-to-decompose
http://www.panda.org/index.cfm
http://mysigg.com/index.asp
http://www.kleankanteen.com/
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8wXGrzDIcr8
http://www.pacinst.org/topics/water_and_sustainability/bottled_water/bottled_water_and_energy.html
http://assets.panda.org/downloads/toxics_chemicals_glossary.pdf

2009-01-21T15:33:00.000-08:00

Obama on global warming:

It takes more than “changing f---ing light bulbs!”

Here we are in the first blush of a fabulous new presidency (whoo-hoo!), which promises to kick America’s collective ass into gear on everything from social reform to global warming. And that’s what I’m loving about President Obama. America hasn’t had an inspiring leader with integrity, intelligence and common sense for quite some time. Even diehard Bill Clinton fans (or former) know that despite his intelligence and policy success in office, integrity and common sense weren’t two of Clinton’s most defining values—and we as a nation paid dearly for these shortcomings (see the horror of two terms with Bush/Cheney). But Clinton’s philandering is pure innocence compared to the globally destructive mess left by G.W., especially on climate change. So here we are with a legacy so dirty it rivals Chernobyl, or the Exxon-Valdez oil spill (which is still wreaking environmental havoc after 20 years). Thankfully, President Obama is not only an informed man of great conviction—as well as a unifying force—but he’s also had the wisdom and humility to surround himself with whip-smart people who will get shit done and sweep the Bush legacy into the nearest landfill where, while it won’t biodegrade, can at least be contained. In particular, I’m delighted by President Obama’s calculated appointment of the Fantastic Four of environmental policy (see names below) and his very public meeting last month with Al Gore, the catalyst of the global-warming zeitgeist.

Here’s an excerpt of what our new President had to say about that meeting (which included new VP Joe Biden):

“The purpose…was to listen and learn from VP Al Gore on…the issue of climate change. All three of us agree that the time for delay is over. We all believe what the scientists have been telling us for years now, that this is a matter of urgency and national security, and it has to be dealt with in a serious way. That’s what I intend my administration to do.”

What is compelling here is his reference to the “science” of climate change, which has been the flashpoint of all discussions surrounding global warming during the last decade. Bush was such a nimrod about the veracity of science that he even—right at the end of office—tried to strip the EPA from requiring scientific input on resource management (I know, don’t get me started)! President Obama has made a point of embracing the scientific veracity of global climate change and its impact, not only because it’s a no-brainer, but also because fact trumps rhetoric. Bush squelched science and embraced rhetoric because it was the only way he could justify anti-green policy. But this isn’t meant to be a rant. It’s merely meant to underscore the point of today’s Green Wednesday blog—to share what I believe President Obama sees as one of the cornerstones of his presidency: galvanizing Americans into collectively doing their part to effect positive change alongside his policies—particularly when it comes to global warming.

Here is a brief, candid statement he made on the subject, which was recorded on tape behind the scenes at his last presidential debate while discussing his take on commentator Brian William's question about what personal thing he’s done to help global warming:

“We can’t solve global warming because I fucking changed light bulbs in my house! It [has to be] something collective…”

You certainly won’t hear that in one of his speeches, at least not so elegantly put, but it shows that in terms of his personal sensibilities he understands that mass change requires mass action—not just policy, and certainly not just lip service. He gets it! He gets that small change on a mass scale—again like Mr. Dan Sheehan’s penny-to-riches analogy—can have profound effects. Couple that with his sweeping policy plan toward achieving a greener world, and we’re not just looking at moving into the black in terms of conservation strides, we’re looking at moving into the green!

So take the pledge to live greener, on whatever scale, and support the sensibilities and policy of a f---ing amazing new President!

Click on the Fantastic Four below for bios. Also, check out the excellent link to Greenpeace (courtesy of DS) that allows you to "click" and let President Obama know that you want to help end global warming… http://www.facebook.com/note.php?note_id=75522405280&ref=mf

Happy Green Wednesday!

Stephen Chu , new head of the Department of Energy (Nobel prizewinner; clean energy guru)

Lisa Jackson, EPA

Carol Browner, “Energy Czar”

Nancy Sutley, head of the White House Council on Environmental Quality

2009-01-14T08:47:00.000-08:00

The One-Mile-Radius Challenge

As some point in our lives, I bet most of our parents lectured us about how they had to walk 5 miles to school in the snow--or some variation on the idea. It's an idiom as well-worn as "Don't you know you can put an eye out by doing that?!" While few of us--thankfully--endured such insults to our wellbeing, I bet a large percentage of us did get ourselves to school by way of foot or pedal power. I know I did. And not because my dad was too lazy to drive me. It was simply what we did back then. I even rode my horse to school on Earth Day once, but I was sent home--to my great chagrine. And this was in elementary school no less! (I think I was grounded for a week after that.) Anyway, I was probably 10... I wonder how many 10-year-olds today get themselves around without the benefit of the family SUV or mini-van. Less than you'd think. According to data published in a New York Times article, “Forty years ago, half of all students walked or bicycled to the schoolhouse. Today, that number has dropped to 15 percent, while 60 percent of youths are toted in a car.”

Apply the change in those statistics over time to our parents' generation, and perhaps their stories aren't as exaggerated as we believed. The point is that fewer and fewer people--be it adults or their children--are using kinetic energy to get around. And by kinetic energy, I mean the energy produced by the movement of our bodies--not the Uri Gellar mojo. How many of us would raise their hand when asked if they run or cycle regularly for exercise? Probably quite a few. I know I do. And while I put put in a casual 6- to 8-mile bike ride a couple days a week and several easy 2- to 4-mile runs, I certainly don't stop off to pick up groceries en route, or drop off drycleaning, or go to the post office, or to BART to go see a client. I could very easily. They're all close by (data shows that a quarter of the trips Americans take by car are within walking distance). I should, especially considering that each gallon of gas we use releases 20 pounds of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere. Eeeek! That's certainly not good for declining amphibian populations and melting ice caps. But my foot power is! And as an added bonus, it's super good for me, too. Can't beat that level of return in today's stock market. So I got to thinking, what can I do. We all struggle with limitations, whether it's weather (...that snow again...or incessant rain in the Pacific Northwest) or the disturbing reality of increasing suburban sprawl (where the nearest grocery store is in a strip mall 18,000 miles across town), or major time constraints. So I thought, I'll start by enforcing one easy-to-achieve rule--one that harkens back to school. I will not wimp out on a cold day and drive my two sons to school, which is only a mile away!! Nor will I use the excuse that I'm-running-late-so-I'll-just-drive-dammit! The kids (and I, internally) grumbled and complained about frostbite and cruel and unusual punishment, but we did it. We wore gloves and toughed it out. And what were we complaining about anyway?! We live in California! Our Winter (at least half the time) is a close shave to spring. I did everything 10 minutes earlier in the morning to ensure I wouldn't fall back on the running-late excuse, and I made the children get dressed BEFORE breakfast. Amazing how that helps. O.k., so that was pretty easy to do. Now what about stepping it up a bit, and I'm not talking about taking pride in bringing my reusable bags everywhere I go. What about sticking a large reusable bag-pack on my back, get on the bike, and go to the grocery store. How unusual here in East Bay California suburbia. But I did it! And I was so proud in a dorky way that I had to find every excuse possible to tell anyone who'd listen (mostly parents and acquaintances at school). What surprised me wasn't their shock, but the fact that many people were already doing this. Wow! There was an actual kinetic-energy culture thriving in my backyard and I had no clue. Nice! So my next stop was returning books to the library via my little hybrid Giant, and while that was a heavier burden, I lifted that load off my back and dropped it down the book chute with a satisfied smile on my face. Then a friend, a real kinetic-energy groupie, told me about a great challenge, called "One-mile Radius Living". The idea is to figure out how many stores, restaurants, community resources, etc., exist within a 1-mile radius of where you live and then make a point of walking or riding a bike to get there when necessary. It's astounding, really, how even in suburbia, just about any place you would need or want to go is either within, or just outside of, that range (including parks, banks, farmer's market, movie theaters, cafes, etc.). Sure, I still drive my car a lot more than I should, but nowhere near as often as I used to. Like fellow GreenWednesday blogger Dan Sheehan said, if everyone picked up a penny every day for a year, it would equal billions of dollars (or something nifty like that). So each of our small steps, taken together, can make a huge difference. Granted, I'd still be hard-pressed to shuffle through 5 miles of snow to get my Peet's coffee, but I'd definitely do a mile... Good luck if you try the challenge, and happy Green Wednesday to all our members!

2009-01-07T00:00:00.000-08:00

Give Me Some Water
(sans the plastic)

Happy Green Wednesday to all and welcome to another weekly installment of "green thoughts".

I took the Pledge!
I took the pledge to never buy another plastic water bottle.

(more here , here & here)

As I mentioned in my first blog, My primary concern is that of my health, and it just so happens when you start to care about and are aware of your own personal health you begin to care about the health of the larger organism you are apart of…Planet Earth. It is a win win situation that I have been ignorant to for far to long.

I drink a ton of water throughout the day whether I am hiking peaks with my snowboard or working an 8 hour day in the field (as a carpenter/contractor) or sitting around at my desk working etc. As of lately my awareness of my health and that of the environments has become more paramount thus the recent pledge.

I can write for days about why to drink water but that is for another blog entry (maybe, maybe not). One quick note (just the tip of the iceberg (pun-intended)), every cell in the human body requires water as nourishment and to remove wastes so why fuel your cells with crap or not at all? You might as well put milk in your gas tank. more here , and here.

My major and primary reason for wanting to stop the use of the plastic bottle is because of the fact that most all of the bottles water comes in are made from a plastic which leaches a chemical called "Bisphenol A" or commonly called BPA. If you can taste the plastic of the bottle then you are most likely ingesting BPA. And even if your Crystal Geyser or whatevs taste great, it most likely had some BPA leach into it when the plastic was hot (or even sitting in the car) More here: BPAs Found In Plastics Linked To Several Diseases

The other reason for my desire to stop the use of the plastic water bottles derives from my awareness of the impact all those bottles have on the environment. Where do they all go? 60 million of them are disposed of daily! Not to mention the resources used in getting that bottle of water to me. I know from my own environment it can get ugly. You’d step into my truck as a passenger and usually 3 or 4 bottles would have fallen out. And usually every cup holder in that truck had a bottle in it. Then you’d go into my house and my garbage can was usually filled by the plastic water bottle, one on the desk, one next to the bed etc.

So how am I doing it?

Well I need to have water with me at all times so I started by buying some stainless steel bottles from Klean Canteen . There are many good bottles out there and I am sure I will try some others but I liked the price and look of these and what really sold me was the company itself and the fact that they are part of Yvon Chouinards (Patagonia founder) organization "1% For The Planet"
Also, I am trying to find the smallest most low profile camelback type of device to fit under my coat for snowboarding (Up to now I have carried a small plastic bottle in my cargo pocket) so that I do not look like the Hunchback of Notre Dame (not that anything is wrong with looking like that) and so’s I can sit on a lift chair comfortably. I am thinking of going with the camelback Hydroback 50 (black) and having a chest strap sewn onto it for a tight fit. Any other ideas please let me know. For the backcountry, My Dakine pack already has a place for my bigger camelback bladder and I can pack stainless bottles as well. I am still trying to figure out what those bladders are made of? Any rate, if you replace them yearly and keep them out of the sun it should help the rubber from breaking down (chemically) and they are reusable.

So now I am not using supposedly clean (bottled) water so where do I get my water. Well the tap water is better than a lot of the water that comes in plastic. For one, municipal water supplies are more regulated than the bottled water is. However I tested my water and found “acceptable levels” of all kinds of shit in it. And every once in awhile they dump a bunch of chlorine like stuff in it that you can smell, not to mention the gas it turns to in a hot shower! You can go here to look up the studies done on your particular water source.
The options for cleaning up your tap water are daunting! If your water is perfect (unlikely) except for chlorine and some simple particulates, then a Brita water filter should do the trick. If you have things like arsenic, lead and mercury etc. then a really good carbon block filter could do the trick. The next step up would be reverse osmosis which gives you some really clean water however in making a gallon of water you waste something like 3 gallons, u also need to store it cuz it does not make it quick enough (on demand) and most importantly (to me) is that in removing all the bad shit like lead, it also removes all the good natural minerals found in h2o that make water such a great natural drug. Another option is water ionization. Ionization is seen by some as hogwash and others as the answer to a healthier life and to preventing/curing cancers. (I believe in it) The systems are $$$bucks. Changing the chemical make-up of the water so that it is wetter thus more easily absorbed by cells, and more importantly you can change the alkalinity /acidity of the water so that it is more alkaline. Cancer and other disease thrive in acidic environments so if you can douche your cells with alkaline water you become superman to cancer (supposedly , in a nutshell) I’ll let you decide.
More here and here.

I am using my Brita filter for now until I employ my new water filtration system. I have found through my own testing/ my naturopaths testing and that from studies from the "National Tapwater Quality Database" that not even my water here in Tahoe is all that good. Mainly Olympic Valleys problem derives from years of damage done by the ski resort (blasting the tops off of peaks (squaw peak) etc)
I would rather drink the tap straight than expose myself to more BPA and all that the plastic bottle entails, so a brita at least will rid of the chlorine and other particulates. The filter I am installing will filter out the nastier stuff found in my water supply (mainly arsenic) My naturopath is recommending this filter: "Multi Pure MP880" and I am currently researching them to make my decision. Here is another place selling them

Lastly, If you have taken it this far with water then you should also be concerned with the water you are showering with. During the course of your showering your skin absorbs the water (not retaining it) this dermal contact can be bad for you. And when the water is hot and steamy, basically the chlorine turns to a gas (chloroform) .
More here.

So give it some thought and think about treating yourself right; forget about the plastic!

Peace out,
Dan

Links:
http://www.takebackthetap.org/
http://www.stopcorporateabuse.org/tob/
http://www.mizulife.com/home
http://www.kleankanteen.com/
http://waterpurificationadvisor.com/
http://www.cleanwaterfund.org/
http://www.cleanwateraction.org/

2008-12-31T00:00:00.000-08:00

Green Wednesday – Green Thoughts
12-31-2008

Happy Green Wednesday (last one of 2008) to all members and followers and a very happy Green 2009 to you and everyone that should cross your path.

I am still trying to define what Green Wednesday is. I did not want it to be a single day of the year where one reflects on or praises the environment for just that 1 day. But, I liked the name Merrik serendipitously proposed thus I wanted to form something around it. I keep thinking of it as a day to remind you to think green everyday. At the very least it will be a day I try to write something to the group and or the blog www.greenanyday.blogspot.com or www.greenwednesday.net Maybe it has simply become my way to really think about a green world and figure out what I can do to help and to commit myself to a green transformation (I’m really not that green)?
Now that I have formed the blog I am using it as my launching ground for research (thus the links) and as a tool for me to find my direction in my quest to change the world (and myself).

There are many, many, green/environmental/advocacy groups and organizations and it is hard to choose those to support more less give $ to. They all have their place in the big picture of a green world and more humane world; be it a cleaner ocean, reduction on foreign oil, solar technology (or any alt. Energy) world hunger, animal rights, child abuse, green clothing, zero population growth, green construction etc.

I think for me and others I am speaking to (you) that our first priority (to a greener world) is to be healthy; because a green environment sucks when you’re not feeling to stellar. Secondly, rather than be so overwhelmed by it all just try to understand that there is no one thing you can do to change the world (leave that to Obama) and that it is the conglomeration of you , me and millions of others that make a difference on the macro level (global warming etc). So do what you can be it recycling, using your own shopping bags, driving less biking more, promoting green corporations etc. and advocate to those around you and know that you are doing your vital role in the big picture and make your immediate environment green. A penny from me means nothing to you (unless you think I am lucky) but a penny from everyone in the world would mean $66,022,241.75 to you, it is the power of many.

Grassroots is where the future lies in terms of revolutionary movements (IMO) things just do not miraculously happen easily (and overnight) and it takes a lot of small actions by many to create a great change. The advent and proliferation of information on the internet and viral marketing has made it all possible and created a new avenue as to which revolutions can take place. I see Obama’s rise as a direct product of this age of information and grassroots movement phenomena.
This all brings me to one of the main reasons I was impelled to write today. Just by joining (and not giving $$) groups and causes here on facebook and outside the FB world and getting others to join has a profoundly positive impact.
As such is the case with my primary cause; “1% For the Planet” Facebook cause page & main site & (see videos at bottom of blog page)
It is great if you can give a few bucks but I feel it is much more beneficial at the grassroots level that you join and get others to join in hope that it will lead to corporations (in the case of 1% for the Planet) realizing that there are eyes watching and that by them joining they are meeting a demand. Much like the consumer who looks for the milk that does not use hormones, or the paper towels that use recycled stock. The consumer will soon ask that corporations give back to the resource base which they have exploited upon and profited from, and those that do will be seen as more responsible and desirable. As a stock trader and sometimes investor the last thing I want to hear from a company I invest (long) in is that they are giving away 1% of sales!! However If the public demands it as they might demand more earth friendly products, then it is in there best interest and thus should view it as any other revenue generating expense such as advertisement etc.
So, do not think that you are not doing much by joining a silly little facebook group, you are and it is your voice so let it be heard.

So,…. You have read my babble this far and what have you gotten out of it all? I do not really know either. JK. I do know that despite a failing economy (national and personal) that I can be broke and green at the same time and as long as I am healthy, I am stoked and smiling large.
So I wish for everyone to be healthy and happy in 2009, the rest will follow.

Happy New Years