Environmentally friendly?

Shannon

Member
Jun 7, 2006
642
0
I've had a chance to spend the past few days out in Oregon. It is wonderful to see such a forward thinking, environmentally friendly community. I was just wondering if anyone else out there is as interested in the environmental advances as some of the Oregonians I have met...

Have a great weekend! :yahoo:
 
I live in the Adirondacks and the mining company my dh works for is in the process of (it will take a couple more years due to the red tape) installing windmills on mountain where original mine site is located. They will be on the company's property and will provide most of our county's homes electricity.

A lot of tourists look at our area as being very backwards and redneck-y, so I think the sight of the windmills on the mountain will show them that Adirondack folks are very proactive and forward-thinking about the environment when they visit here.
 
I am! :nuts:

I work for the state environmental regulatory agency in Florida. I do public and media relations for the Southeast District of the agency, which comprises the most populous counties in the state - Palm Beach, Broward, Miami-Dade, etc. Needless to say, topics such as transportation (vehicles are the number one source of air pollution in the country), coral reefs, waste management and other environmental issues are extremely important right now.

In July of this year, a summit on global climate change was held in South Florida to bring attention to environmental issues. Our governor has also signed executive orders which will help reduce emissions by having state agencies adopt best management practices, such as having hybrid fleet cars and having all future state government buildings be constructed to adhere to the LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) Platinum standards.

This is just a start, but the next step is educating the public and raising awareness among the citizens of Florida and the United States.
 
Not all Oregonians are environmentally forward-thinking. The only part of the state that is very active is Portland. If you go south, people tend to be quite conservative in a lot of ways.
 
I'm really impressed with SF.. Right now the mayor is trying to ban city purchasing of bottled water to help reduce plastic waste. Recycling is very useful but it uses a lot of energy. It's cheaper and eco friendlier to avoid buying small water bottles. My brother cleans water for a living(he helped put together the million dollar project to clean up the Erin Brokovich case) and drinks SF water straight from the tap. Even though I live in LA, I'm taking the SF mayor's lead and trying to avoid purchasing plastic bottles and buying products in bulk to reduce plastic waste. I bought a water cooler and use a refillable water bottle regularly. Saves money and plastic!

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/19378595/site/newsweek/
 
If you're interested in living environmentally friendly or environmentally friendlier at least ;) check out this blog: http://noimpactman.typepad.com/blog/

This guy lives in Manhattan and is a true inspiration to me. I mean, if a family with a toddler living in NYC can live so environmentally friendly, then there really is no excuse why I can't!
 
I live in an extremely environmentally friendly city. We are one of the most bike friendly communities in the country (not kidding, there are signs proudly proclaiming this everywhere), the one downside to that is if you are in a car it seems to take forever to get across town because the bikes have the right of way. We have a whole earth festival, this is separate from earth day. People will plant trees and other greenery on the sides of the roads (this is not done for or paid for by the city, or by any type of organization, just random people) just to help the environment. All of the buses here run compressed natural gas (to help reduce emissions etc...). We do not have any big retail stores here (the only exception is 3 grocery stores), we have an ace hardware that is split up in 3 different buildings because that was the only way that the city would approve it being built. Don't even think about asking for plastic bags when you are at the grocery store...
 
I'm really impressed with SF.. Right now the mayor is trying to ban city purchasing of bottled water to help reduce plastic waste. Recycling is very useful but it uses a lot of energy. It's cheaper and eco friendlier to avoid buying small water bottles. My brother cleans water for a living(he helped put together the million dollar project to clean up the Erin Brokovich case) and drinks SF water straight from the tap. Even though I live in LA, I'm taking the SF mayor's lead and trying to avoid purchasing plastic bottles and buying products in bulk to reduce plastic waste. I bought a water cooler and use a refillable water bottle regularly. Saves money and plastic!

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/19378595/site/newsweek/

I agree - plastic bottles are real waste. Also, plastic packagings really get on my nerves. I'm talking about the ones that are really thick that you have to cut it open with some serious tools. I see it mostly on toys and electronic products, it is crazy. Not only is it wasteful, but very dangerous IMO. You could get hurt trying to cut those packages open. I think there should be a regulation on this.
 
Not all Oregonians are environmentally forward-thinking. The only part of the state that is very active is Portland. If you go south, people tend to be quite conservative in a lot of ways.

Yeah, my grandma lives out in the middle of the woods in Medford and is like an hour from town. When my dad visits her he says that he never sees Prius and Prius-type cars up there like we do here in CA. They're all over around here (I don't have or want one though).
I'm just surprised at some of the things that AREN'T already requirements in some places...here in my city, we've been recycling cans, bottles and newspapers in a blue recycling bin that gets emptied on trash day for years now. Some places are just now starting to do that.