Re-Gain

When we see land as a community to which we belong, we may begin to use it with love and respect.—Aldo Leopold What is true to live in America today? We are a nation of $18 trillion dollars of personal debt. In the last few years we have amounted $260 billion dollar deficit that to $1.5 trillion dollars. Also we continue to sink down further into this black hole. We live in a land where our government has subcontracted out energy, environmental, labor, health and even our voting machines to private interests. Inequality, injustice, and inhumanity seem to be the by-products of a nation that generates 18 billion tons of materials each but we are unable to measure how regrettable our nation’s greed impacts those less fortuned especially the land and its creatures. We are facing an inner form of poverty but the denial of our actions. Our very democracy is in question since our quality of life reflects are country’s inability to be fully honest with our self. Our addiction to material thing...

We may be approaching a crossroads today in the emergence of the human spirit. Those aware may question if our future is ecologically more endangered each day. Given the exponential growth of our human footprints our world’s survival depends upon sustaining life. As we become more sensitive to how delicate the carrying capacity of our eco-systems we can see a direct connection to our very soul. This is reflected by diverse spiritual and religious leaders appeal to one common universal concern- the fate of our beloved planet earth. Simply we depend on our environment to live. Everyday you see increased evidence of how people of all walks are sensitive whether our distant generations are left a legacy. Without investing in our future a pandemic of despair may erupt among the young and cause unprecedented societal problems. Developing more sustainable ways of living are becoming critical. For example European agricultural subsidies now are economically encouraging farmers to become better...

Time for Green Lights! The journey of energy independence begins with proper lighting management It is time we go look beyond just jokes about how many people it takes to change a light bulb. Lighting consumes up to 20% of our home energy and up to 30% our work electricity. Light-emitting diode (LED) is a 45 year old technology that delivers n heat output and deliver an average of 32 lumens of light, and they burn about 50 times as long as the average incandescent bulb. The Department of Energy estimates that LED lighting could reduce U.S. energy consumption by 29% by 2025, slicing $125 billion off our national energy bill in the process. Recent university research and other advancements have help LEDs to replace incandescent light bulbs in the next five to seven years. Over the last few years there has been advancements increasing the light output per chip. Once you get more light out of the chip, then the cost goes down in terms of how much light it produces. There are three major ty...

Never in human history have we faced a planetary crisis of this magnitude. Climate change is our world’s greatest form of global terrorism. Over 150,000 people each year die due to climate change events according to the World Health Organization. The National Academy of Science report on climate changes confirmed this last decade hotter than any other time in 400 years or more. Scientists are now the prophets of seriousness of climate sensitivity rising-- likely greater than 2 degree Celsius, could be as much as 5 or 6 degrees. A October 2006 British 700 page report cites if no action is taken, rising sea levels, heavier floods, and more intense droughts could displace 200 million people by the middle of this century. The report estimates that climate change will cost the equivalent of 5 to 20 percent of the global domestic product each year. Acting now to cut greenhouses gas emissions would cost about 1 percent GDP per year but only with U.S. and China’s cooperation. This report a...