Vote for your favorite green t-shirts before tomorrow! If you stopped in looking for a mean, green St. Patrick's Day outfit, these t-shirts may not be your style. However, you are still invited to vote for your favorite to and have your say as to which of the shirts that you would like to see want to see Repower America supporters wear in 2011. They have narrowed the designs down to two choices.
While you are on their website, casting your vote, I would encourage you to sign up whether you are concerned about extreme climate changes, want to reduce your power bill or because you want to save the planet for future generations. It's crucial that all come together as soon as possible because the fossil fuel industry becoming bolder than ever and we must show that we are a united force that is standing strong for what is true and right.
WHAT IS TRUE?
The truth is actually very encouraging since the movement is going forward and already showing results. Electric utility companies and other corporations are reducing their emissions, we see more and more windmills and solar panels popping up from coast to coast and more auto shoppers are checking out the fuel-efficient vehicles over those big, ugly gas guzzlers.
Although momentum is building, there is a need for more supporters in order to get the message across loud and clear that we, the people, will not be denied a future with clean energy moving us forward.
GETTING THE MESSAGE ACROSS
Repower America is rolling out a new, GREEN T-shirt designed exclusively for Repower America members and they need our votes to help pick the best one.
Please visit HERE AND vote for your favorite design by Tuesday at midnight.
And remember the solution for environmental problems is in your hands. NOW GO VOTE FOR YOUR FAVORITE SHIRT!
Monday
GREEN T-SHIRTS
Friday
Blame for the Gulf Coast BP Oil Spill
We recently visited the coast and was amazed at the many locals' unwillingness to pass blame for the Gulf Coast BP oil spill. I found this very surprising because that's pretty much the focus of the talking heads on the news shows that I've watched. Basically, they have been shouting about who did or didn't do this or that blaming everybody from President Obama right on down to the original contractors who built the well.
Speaking of the Prez, while we were down there I got to get a look at the Presidential motorcade via my review mirror! Out of respect, we pulled over and let them pass while thoughts were flying through my mind like "What would I do if they stopped to talk to me in order to get opinions from visitors to the area", etc. I would have loved to have been able to tell my grandchildren that I had the honor of speaking to the President of the United States, but there you go...it didn't happen.
Getting back to the BP oil spill on the Gulf Coast, well, I chatted up as many people as would talk to me including people who live in the area to workers who were scooping up the tar balls.
The main concern of the workers (at the moment) was that they weren't keeping up. It was obvious that the amount of goop coming in was increasing and the residents are living in dread of the economic devastation and in fear of a hurricane. Visitors who have historically taken vacations in the area feel they are saying farewell to those wonderful oysters and shrimp and wondering if this will ever be considered the vacation spot that it was in its prime ever again.
As far as who is to blame for the Gulf Coast BP Oil spill, the locals don't say much about that. They don't want to think about the past, they just want the oil spewing geyser in the ocean to STOP! Maybe they are like me and know that big oil shouldn't shoulder all the blame, we have to raise our own hands and admit that our greedy consumption of oil and lack of concern for the environment has made us the guilty party.
On this trip, I bid the coast of my childhood a fond farewell and said a prayer that my girls would grow up to be more responsible than my generation has been and take going green to the next level. Hopefully, with God's blessing, our country can break free of our oil addiction and save the planet.
Wednesday
ECO FRIENDLY CLOTHES DRYING
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When the weather is just right, laundry day is really not about saving the planet by practicing eco friendly clothes drying. Drying clothes in the sun is about a more easy, relaxed way of taking care of my family’s needs. You just can’t put an Energy Star rating on the anti-depressant benefits of stepping out the back door early in the morning knowing that later in the day you will fill your basket with fresh, sweet smelling clothes. On the rare day when the humidity is low, I can usually gather all three lines and have them folded and hung in the closets by lunch.
The only articles of clothing that I don’t like to line dry are our jeans. When hung on the clothesline to dry they feel too papery and rough and the worst case scenario is that I will have to iron them to remove wrinkles. Not having to heat up and use a steam iron makes the best case imaginable for shopping for the most energy efficient clothes dryer that is manmade!
IS ECO FRIENDLY CLOTHES DRYING FOR EVERYBODY?
Regardless of where you live, you can dry at least part of your laundry in an environmentally friendly fashion. It's true that you have to have a back yard of some size to handle a clothesline. But if you have a postage stamp sized yard, you can get a retractable or an umbrella clothesline. These compact clothes dryers are cheap as can be and may be the best choice for city dwellers. We live in the country and have a big yard so I have the old fashioned kind of clothesline like my grandmother had which was a monster sized eco friendly clothes dryer if one ever existed!
Speaking of my grandmother's clothesline, she had special boards to put under the lines at the halfway mark so that heavy items wouldn’t make the whole load sag to the ground. The vision in my mind of her sheets, towels and granddaddy’s work clothes blowing in the breeze are one of my favorite childhood memories long before the phrase, eco friendly, had ever been coined.
Monday
THE USA'S LOSS OF WORLD STATUS
The buzz on the street is that in fifty or less years that the United States will no longer have the superpower status that it has enjoyed since the beginning of the last century. There are quite a few reasons given as the cause of our country’s diminishing importance in the world community.
Some say that it’s because we have dropped the ball where originality and innovation is concerned. Others maintain that it’s not so much that we are sinking, but that other countries are rising to meet and greet us and possibly wave in delight (and scorn?) as they pass us by.
Do nations have to make it a competition? Aren’t we in this boat together? The one encouraging development on the horizon is that I see more thought along these lines. I find hope in the realization among the broader thinking of great minds that third world countries deserve to have clean water, pollutant free air and basic infrastructure. Nothing is to be gained by keeping the more deprived regions of the world from gaining in status.
Does America have to continue to decline to achieve these goals? The answer to that question is an unequivocal no. Will we? The answer to that question is yet to be determined.
It’s my opinion that we have an excellent chance to lead the world in new technologies regarding alternative energy resources if we will make that our focus and not drop the ball where funding and dedication are concerned. For the sake of the planet not just for ourselves, I hope that we are up to the task.
Thursday
OIL PRICES ARE DROPPING AND NUCLEAR POWER DISCUSSIONS ARE RISING
Amazingly, tbe price of oil has dropped considerably the post few days and yet I am hearing more and more about decreasing the time it takes to get a nuclear power plant up and running.
People! Wake up and remember 3 Mile Island and Chernobyl. Do we really want to be stampeded into making rash decisions and rushing into pushing forward with a power source that leaves us with the problems of dealing with nuclear waste that nobody wants in their back yard that can poison everything within a large area if things don't go perfectly?
On the upside, I hear that Texas is jumping on wind power. I find this very encouraging to hear that a traditional oil state is moving forward with alternative energy sources. Cheers to Texas! I wonder if turbines could be mounted on the roofs of buildings in the same way that they have installed microwave towers? Anybody know?
