You get to choose when you're green

What was that line from Days of Our Lives, soap opera? "Like sand thru the hourglass, these are the bowls of our lives." Now, I own a bowl I never dreamed would be part of my life and even better, I feel great living green and walking the talk. No, I was not about to buy the new toilet from Sink Positive. I give that company a lot of credit for greening their toilets so that when you use the sink on top of the tank, that grey water is used for toilet flushes. I get it... up to the point that I'm supposed to brush my teeth over the toilet. One day I know it will be all the rage but until then, in terms of my green credibility in your eyes, have I been demoted to a lime green from forest green? Maybe I can persuade you.

I've had one toilet in the house that has been broken for a few months and was avoiding buying a new one. My brother said, "Hey, Mr.Green, how 'bout a toilet that's reaaaaaaaalllllllllyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy green."

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The solar-powered ‘dragon’ stadium in Kaohsiung, Taiwan

Today it's really cool images from our green friends in Japan.

The solar-powered ‘dragon’ stadium in Kaohsiung, Taiwan, is the world’s first stadium which gets all its power needs from the sun.

Designed by Japanese architect Toyo on a steel-rod structure with a roof covered with solar panels, the horseshoe-shaped structure has been constructed for the World Games to be held in Kaohsiung city in July 2009. Spread over 19 hectares and having a seating capacity of 55,000 it will be used mainly for athletics and rugby events, including hosting the main events for the 2009 World Games.

After the World Games, the Taiwanese national football team will play home matches at the dragon’ stadium.

The stadium’s unique, semi-spiral shape imitates a dragon and is intended to provide a “cordial welcome and a cheerful greeting to athletes and spectators with its open-ended structure,” according to the organizers of the World Games.

There are 8,844 solar panels on the roof which are expected to generate more electricity than is needed to power the building’s 3,300 lights and two gigantic television screens. Some 1.14 million kWh of electricity a year will be generated – preventing, in the process, 660 tons of carbon dioxide from being discharged into the atmosphere.

As for the surplus energy generated during the warm weather, the government of Taiwan intends to sell it

Thanks to my freinds at GreenPacks for some really grand slam images and a great post!

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1Ed McMahn 2Farrah Fawcett 3Michael Jackson by Jerry Hart

1Ed McMahn 2Farrah Fawcett 3Michael Jackson by Jerry Hart

If part of the meaning of green embodies truth, then we know today, social media is a tool that empowers wisdom or truth of the crowd to project the message further and perhaps, more authentically than any agenda based media publisher on earth could do on earth.

It’s been quite a day hasn’t it? Three icons leaving us in one week. Ed McMahon who I met in Milwaukee in ‘96 and he was a very nice man. Farrah Fawcett is gone now. She was so beautiful… and did you know she had the #1 selling poster in history? Hey, I had one. And, Michael is now on the other side. Wow.

So many emotions about Farrah and Michael dying on the same day and the pervasive use of social media to know what’s true. It’s more than irony to me

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1Ed McMahn 2Farrah Fawcett 3Michael Jackson by Jerry Hart

I saw a green nightmare on TV last night

Did you see the shocking story on 60 minutes about the ship breaking beaches of Bangladesh? At first I thought the story was horrible, then my emotions fell downward to anger as I watched a nightmare on television.

Let me digress quickly about my journey of joy, living green and assessing my emotions every eco-step of the way. This was the first green story ever, that truly boiled my insides morphing from anger, as I just mentioned, to a nightmare. Have you had one of these episodes where you can’t think of anything else and can’t feel anything but the ache in your belly for people less privileged than you.

What do you do with those emotions in the moment? I directed myself to Websters dictionary to define what I was initially feeling which was the emotion of viewing people like you and me in horrible conditions. Then, the story made me physically nauseated leading to my labeling this story an utter nightmare.

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Big solar panel sitting on a long steal rod by Jerry Hart

Posting options for today

• Most powerful guy in Iran is tweeting everyday. Wow! If he's turned on to tweet, maybe we should be too?
• A Diesel Volkswagen is much more green than a Prius. I have proof.
• Write about a big solar panel sitting on a long steal rod in my backyard. Yeah. why not?

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Eco-tunnel help turtles cross a Florida road

I learned that $3.4 million of federal stimulus money is being used to build a tunnel to help turtles cross a Florida road. Look at that face.

turtle-headHow could you not spend a few million bucks on a face like that?
Do we hire a couple green turtle loving people to guide the turtles thru the tunnel?
How can we rely on Turtles to know where the eco-hole under the eco-tunnel is positioned?

Hey, I'm just the new green guy wanting some logical understanding here. Help a green brother out.

You know I did do my homework on this and found out they did the same ...

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“Hey Alex, I’ll take the Sustainable Energy for $300″

What does sustainable mean? In the U.S. and Canada, many residential builders use the word “sustainable” as a synonym for “green.” We hear about sustainable development, sustainable homes, and sustainable building products. Now that the word “sustainable” has become ubiquitous — even at the GreenBuildingAdvisor Web site, where a new $736,000 home on the coast of Maine is described as a “sustainable spec house” — it’s time to take a step back and consider the word’s history. It is really important to separate the green from the greenwash as we proceed down a path of improving our planet. Otherwise, we won’t improve it! Can we find sustainability within an opulent western lifestyle? I think we can, if we know what it means first.

Plus sustainability means it will require a broad social movement, with people from all walks of life buying into the idea that sustainable is not bad for us, that we do not have to have less to be sustainable. (Actually, we will end up having less, but we won’t mind because we will have chosen to have less.) Lets break down the word “sustainable”

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Disney keeps greening up while Six Flags go down

A friend of mine joyfully jumped with family on a plane and entered the happiest place on earth, Disneyland. When I ran into him a few days later, I asked him, "Was it packed?” He said, "Oh yeah, three hour waits for Indiana Jones and most rides for that matter." I was shocked with the economy in shambles. Then I figured its stay-cation time not va-cation time. Families are staying closer to home for one day trips, rather than migrating away from home, breaking the bank.

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Solar panels, hybrid cars, and recycling garbage are only scratching the surface

It's easy to regurgitate what the the media deems as green worthy for this day. It's not easy bringing my authentic self to you, sharing my most heartfelt life changing experiences and synthesizing them so we can learn together. So lets briefly hit on what most green media spent most of their time talking about, then we can get to the lesson.

gosselin_hawaiiJon and Kate Gosselin, the heads of the crowded Pennsylvania household featured on the hugely popular TLC show, have recently made a push to have a more Earth-friendly lifestyle.

Some TV experts have applauded the efforts.

"This woman not only raises a family of eight kids — she also recycles, she buys organic food whenever possible, she buys local food whenever possible and she's overcome a lot of the obstacles a lot of people are still tripping on," gushed Sarah Snow, a green-living expert and TV host, during an appearance on the show.

On the converse other green bloggers are sounding off! The only green they see is caused by nausea over Jon and Kate's attempts.

various quotes from environmental blogs today
"Sure, the family might have installed solar panels and made a fuss over recycling, but with eight little carbon footprints running around on the Earth, America's most televised family is hardly non-consumptive, charge some greenies."

"No matter what this family does, it could NEVER go green," writes one blogger on Treehugger.com. "The most green families are those with one child or none. So this family has absorbed the CARBON FOOTPRINT OF 8 FAMILIES. This is very greedy!!!"

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Top 10 wild ways to go green

The restaurant I enjoyed today with family for lunch needs help. If using up too much unecessary space on paper is not green, then we know what Tahoe Joe's is doing on their menu is not green. Of course, I'm having fun and awakening my green intuition as to what is on the fringes of being a good green company or citizen.

So, nonetheless, I look up to the top right corner of the menu and it says, "Lunch served Monday thru Sunday"...hmmmm....isn't that EVERYDAY! I'm just sayin here...green is about efficiency and authentic conservation of everything including words.

Yes, I sound extreme or wild, and I'm in one of those silly moods again staring at this computer for too many hours and now I don't FEEL green. Does a case of retinal trauma from gazing at this monitor of mine for too long mean I get sympathy from you for not feeling green at the moment? No. oh, we'll I tried in my wild sort of way. Then it got me thinking what other wild ways could we go green.

Wild ways to go green? I'll start and you jump in for smiles and giggles.

1. Child eco-powered vehicles– are you forever running your kids from place to place and want to try and cut down on your carbon footprint? Why not put a cycle rack on top of your car and then attach a chain to the axle! The kids get exercise, you get to make sure they arrive safely from the comfort of the car and the whole thing is better for the environment – it’s a win-win situation.

2. Annual bathing – if it was good enough in medieval times why can’t it be good enough now? The savings in water will be huge, not to mention the money saving benefits that will come from the drastic decline in your social life. Americans like to bathe a lot. We're bath crazy. Although you may not believe me, you don’t need to bathe everyday. A couple times a week is good enough to keep you healthy. (If you are very physically active or work in the sewers/morgue/infectious disease ward, you are probably an exception.)

3. Forget fair-trade, source it yourself – if you want to ensure that products you buy are really ethical then what better way then compiling your own list of producers and sourcing everything direct from the point of origin? From fruit and veg to shoes and socks, you’ll be paying retail prices so the producers get an even better deal. Of course some producers may object to the paperwork and insist you buy in wholesale quantities, but hey, you can never have too many bananas!

5. Become a hermit – if even ethically sourcing everything yourself seems to resource intensive then why not shun worldly possessions altogether, live in a cave and eat what you can forage? You can’t get much closer to nature than that! You may cause a few pollution incidents in the early days as you learn which berries and fungi are good to eat, but at least you’ll have plenty of peace and quiet to recover.

6. Coat your house in tin foil – When all else fails there are always geo-engineering options. By coating your house and garden in tin foil you can reflect more of the Sun’s energy back in to space, thus reducing the global temperature and helping to reverse climate change.

OK LETS GET MORE PRACTICAL FOR THOSE WHO THINK I'M ON DRUGS

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Driving the green freeway of love a little slower now

As a new guy to green, driving the green freeway of love, well... my speeding habits may be catching up to me.

Yesterday I was just talking to a friend about Sammy Hagar and his smash hit from the 80's, "Can't drive 55".
The rock star was also the first person to update the first roadway speed sign of millions across California that went up 10 miles per hour from 55 to 65 in the mid 80's.

"Hey Sammy, can you come back out to drop those signs back to 55? Looks like his song could soon live up to what is a more safe and green approach to saving lives. The news is the U.K. wants to lower their speed limits by 10 miles per hour on the freeways and another 10 mile an hour reduction on two lane roads.

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How Pure is Your Hart of Green?

How pure is your Hart of Green?
Does it seem like you don’t hear much positivity around you? Maybe it’s the internet and all the commenting you see all over the web that amplifies our perception of the volume of negativity. If

I do hear something I presume is negative and there’s logic in the complaint from someone wanting to polute my air, I listen. Hey, I might learn a thing from someone that’s passionate.

For example, this green blog excited me to hear about this new show that aired last night! Earth 2100. I missed it, not intentionally, just didn’t know about it.
After getting stoked over when I can catch a re-run, I spotted a comment that seemed loaded with angst that actually triggered a belly laugh out of me.

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You think I'm a lazy greenie, check this photo out

You think I'm lazy, check this photo out. Look close, that's a twig sticking onto the roadway and look at the paint line on the street. Say what? This is one of those people that walk around saying, "that's not my job!". Just pick up the stick, good lord.

I'm in such a goofy mood today and am grateful for the good laugh. One more, my mother was commenting on something prolific I told her on the phone and she called it "expository". I said please don't say that word again, it's a little too close to suppository. Gotta love those hysterical moments with your Mom. You never know when those precious moments will disappear.

Next moment of fun was last night as I approached my gas guzzling Ford F-150 truck which I have got to turn in soon for something more green. I'll get there. Nonetheless, I stick my key in the door and started laughing at how lame it was that I was about to drive, literally, one block to the supermarket for one item. Of course, I walked to the store.

I can't tell you how many times I have thought, should I walk or drive this 1 block?... and have chosen the truck. Did I think "oh you lazy schlep?". No, I did not. Why would I? Just a month ago, I wasn't blogging everyday on Hart of Green. There was no deliberate desire to be aware of this precious planet with all it's beauty that we take for granted.

Hey, lets start a "Walking in San Francisco Club". Sure sounds better than running.

Need to know which city rocks for the walks? Yes, who ranks best for walking.

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You think I'm a lazy greenie, check this photo out

You think I'm lazy, check this photo out. Look close, that's a twig sticking onto the roadway and look at the paint line on the street. Say what? This is one of those people that walk around saying, "that's not my job!". Just pick up the stick, good lord.

I'm in such a goofy mood today and am grateful for the good laugh. One more, my mother was commenting on something prolific I told her on the phone and she called it "expository". I said please don't say that word again, it's a little too close to suppository. Gotta love those hysterical moments with your Mom. You never know when those precious moments will disappear.

Next moment of fun was last night as I approached my gas guzzling Ford F-150 truck which I have got to turn in soon for something more green. I'll get there. Nonetheless, I stick my key in the door and started laughing at how lame it was that I was about to drive, literally, one block to the supermarket for one item. Of course, I walked to the store.

I can't tell you how many times I have thought, should I walk or drive this 1 block?... and have chosen the truck. Did I think "oh you lazy schlep?". No, I did not. Why would I? Just a month ago, I wasn't blogging everyday on Hart of Green. There was no deliberate desire to be aware of this precious planet with all it's beauty that we take for granted.

Hey, lets start a "Walking in San Francisco Club". Sure sounds better than running.

Need to know which city rocks for the walks? Yes, who ranks best for walking.

How will we be a green America?

What an interesting day. I was going to celebrate my 17th hour straight without a smoke. Hart of Green is upgrading my bad habits and I'm so grateful. Some of us have to go thru a near death experience for a wake up call.

I I don't know about you, but the reason I'm making so many changes in my life to live more authentically is due to our climate change. Much more than weather, I'm talking about all of it, government, economy, religious, family relationships, the whole enchilada has changed. Everything we believed in just 12 months ago looks, tastes, or smells very different to me.

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