SanJoseGreenHome.com

Sometimes weapons are our only hope for peace.

As the talks in Copenhagen are picking up momentum and the “Climate-Gate” scandal is unfolding, more and more people get perplexed and raise good questions.  Is this thing real?  Why would the scientists try to hide something or mislead us?  

In situations like these our human nature and its subtle expressions become very obvious.  It’s fascinating to observe two sets of beliefs and convictions.  One group says Yeh!, the other group says Nae!, and then there is a silent majority who are waiting to be nudged in the right direction.  

Why the mainstream media is over-inflating the climate scandal instead of focusing on real scientific numbers is probably beyond all of us but a one thing is certain: we’ll see some very positive and some very negative outcomes of this “Climate-Gate” fiasco. 

Some immediate effects are obvious – scientists will have to be more transparent, disclose sources of data and be able to back up their finding with sound and undisputable reasons.  Climate change and data that supports it ought to be visible and open to our scrutiny, it’s that simple.  There is no doubt that when all dust settles, we will still have an overwhelming amount of research showing the planet is indeed warming and we are unequivocally contributing to it more than ever. 

At the same time, doubts in the process and questionable ethics of the science community only fueled the skeptics and fed more excuses to folks who never cared about the issue in the first place.  The creepy part is that people like Sarah Palin will latch on to this piece of news like a bulldog and will keep mauling it on the media, further spreading doubt and apathy among those who don’t lack it already.  You know what separates Sarah Palin from a Pit-bull?  Nope not lipstick (more…)

It’s been official for months now – California again is facing water crisis. Unusually dry and hot weather had eroded our priceless Sierra snowpack, the supply of much of our water.  Our local reservoirs have been low for years now. In addition, water demand in beautiful state is growing each year and our sources of water are drying up.

Climate change models demonstrate that California will become a much drier place in our lifetimes.  Not only precipitation will likely decrease, but our precious Sierra snowpack is expected to shrink and leave of only with 10% of its current capacity.

Even more interesting, according to the California Energy Commission, 20% of our state’s electricity is used for the treatment and pumping of water.  Groundwater pumping has greatly shrunk our underground aquifers.  Parts of the San Joaquin Valley has now seen soil level drop 50’ from the removal of groundwater. Every single river in California has been dammed, wiping out fish populations, including endangered Chinook salmon. Two out of five most endangered rivers in the U.S. are in California. 

Let’s face it; this is not our grandkid’s head ache. Very soon water will become a treasured commodity.  Sadly, you’d never know it by the way we are dumping it down the drain. A traditional home has potable water piped in from a local water supplier. Amazingly, one half of this water is used for irrigation, where potable water is absolutely unnecessary. Almost all the remainder is used for non-potable water needs in the house, where it is then flushed down the drain to our local sewage treatment plant.

Now that sewage plant spends an enormous amount of time, money and energy treating this so called “greywater” like raw sewage.  This makes no sense, does it?

Here are two ways to re-use water already available to us (more…)

You must have heard by now the term – Carbon Footprint.  Many folks, including myself, for years had no clue what it truly meant and what to eat it with.  It could be that the word “carbon” confuses most people so personally I like the term – environmental footprint.   It’s more obvious and easier to relate to isn’t it?  Plus, most folks relate carbon to green house gas only but we sure have a much wider effect on the environment than merely passing gas into the atmosphere.  

Carbon Footprint Defined

Basically, our life on the planet generates its own set of environmental footprints by virtue of our use of natural resources.  Almost everything we touch, eat and throw away has an effect on the environment.  This is the footprint we leave behind after we interact with nature.  This has been going on ever since humans inhabited the planet and this caused no problem because nature could cope with our existence.  The footprints left behind were quickly replaced by green grass and a new animal was born to replace the one freshly barbecued over a bonfire.

As time went on, population grew (watch this video) and tools were introduced into society, ostensibly to make life easier on humans, and humanity’s carbon footprint increased proportionately.  Eventually we started multiplying and consuming natural and non-renewable resources at a speed that is now putting a humongous strain on the planet.  Our environmental footprint became bigger than the ground it can stand on.  Thus, we now experience troubling events like (more…)

You’ve seen it on TV, you’ve heard it on the radio, you’ve read it in the papers – PG&E wants you to conserve energy and save the planet.  They’ll even send you rather substantial rebates in the mail if you are willing to upgrade some systems in your home or purchase new appliances.  

Now all of this is enormously helpful and commendable but I couldn’t rid myself of that nagging question…  How does all this make financial sense for our friends at PG&E?    Never before had I seen in our capitalistic society a company encouraging its customer to consume less of its product.  Can you imagine McDonalds saying – “Eat less hamburgers!  There are no happy meals here… they will all make you fat!”  

So what’s going on with PG&E?  Is this truly enlightened business that wants to save the environment or does it all in some convoluted way actually make business sense?  I set out to find the answers at the last West Coast Green Show in San Francisco where I interviewed lovely Katie Romans, an Environmental Communications representative from PG&E.  (The video is about 3 minutes.) 

So now you know.  The answer is “Decoupling”  – a novel approach towards utility pricing that separates a utility’s ability to make money from the amount of electricity that it sells.  So while PG&S forest conservation and methane capture efforts appear genuine, it was nothing but a California Decoupling law, enacted in 1982, that effectively disincentivized PG&E to sell more energy for profit.  

No need to worry about them though; they have other ways to make the bank.  In fact, last year the utility filed for, and received shareholder earnings based upon energy savings they delivered to customers, and the program costs were already recovered in their rates.  Besides that, the utility company also benefits from increased customer satisfaction, a boost in its “environmental” image and gets a lot of community and political support.  

You have got to love the business model.  The company is required to sell less of its product and help its customers save money.  And in return, it makes more and appears as an environmental hero.  Not bad at all, is it?  Go PG&E, or to be more accurate – go California!

All the TV shows, all the magazines and all the advice from our environmentally conscious friends about green living can really make our heads spin.  Is your floor off-gassing VOCs, do your cleaning supplies have endocrine disruptors, what’s the carbon footprint of your German Sheppard… Oh my goodness, some of this can sound like a brand new language!

One of the reasons this blog was started is to help you simplify things and take the burden of interpreting all the “green” jargon out there today.  I’ll take the joys of staying on top of all this and you, my green partner, enjoy and implement some of these concepts when you can… deal?

You’ve heard the term “Green Home” by now; probably many times if you’ve visited this blog or browsed the internet on the subject before.  Have you ever asked yourself what that really means?  Chances are you have. 

Essentially, living green implies being aware of the environment around us.  Not just locally, but also globally.  We do our best to consider results of our actions when it comes to our bodies, health and nature around us.  Green homes are no different.  An environmentally friendly home is a home that—compared with a standard home—uses less energy, water, and natural resources; creates less waste; and is healthier for its inhabitants. These homes can either be built green from the start, or they can undergo some eco-conscious alterations or remodels later down the road. 

5 KEY COMPONENTS

Nearly all eco friendly homes will consider the following key principals essential to green building and (more…)

If you are an eco conscious parent there is no doubt your kid will be one too. The only challenge we may face as parents is finding an effective way to teach our children about the environment. There is a growing concern that the environmental information our children find on television or in schools is biased either by activists who scare children with “gloom and doom” stories or by companies who are trying to downplay the effects of pollution in our environment.

To the average parent, finding accurate, balanced environmental information for children can sometimes be quite a challenge. But why rely on schools or TV when we should do it ourselves in the first place?  There are plenty of simple ways that we can help our kids understand the significance of caring for the planet. The key is to inspire them without sounding preachy or overly militant.  Here are some things we can do to engage our kids and inspire them to become caring earthlings (more…)

One would be miserable without a mask in Kathmandu

If you ever think that San Jose is polluted or is not “green” enough then keep reading… Last February I had a fortune to visit one of the most polluted cities in the world – Kathmandu. Air in Kathmandu is so polluted, you can taste it in your mouth and your skin smells like it for weeks after you leave the place. I am not even being sarcastic, it really was very fortunate circumstances that led me there and it was truly a trip of a lifetime.

Kathmandu is a capital city of Nepal. This magnificent country, situated just north of India, is beautiful, rich in culture and hosts one of the biggest treasures of our planet – the Himalayan Mountains and of course – the Everest, the rooftop of the world.

However, this story focuses on the darker side of that part of the world – overpopulation, pollution and overwhelming neglect of its environment. See, Kathmandu with all of its beauty is situated in the valley, just like the Silicon Valley but the major difference is (more…)

We love our electronics, don’t we?  There seems to be hundreds of new and improved gadgets hitting the market every day.  Today however, the headaches of recycling computers and the rest of the e-waste abound.  It also happens to be one of the most controversial issues.  You see, it appears our spending and recycling habits affect much more than our local landfill.

For years now we have been stuffing our homes, cars, offices, pockets wit the most exiting technologies that makes our lives easier and more fun.  Like our own bodies thought these items tend to age and eventually brake down.  So what do we do with them? 

It’s easy to recycle paper, plastic and aluminum cans but how do we recycle a computer and all of its components?  Or that grandma’s TV from the world war two era?  There are no bins in our drive way to toss that tv, vcr, fax machine and all those crazy gadgets we bought a year ago on a Christmas binge.  So where does all this “e-waste” go?  Unfortunately, most of it heads straight into the nearest dumpster. 

According to Silicon Valley Toxics Coalition (SVTC), electronic discards is one of the fastest growing sector of our nation’s waste stream:

- There are 500 million obsolete computers in the U.S. alone.
- 130 million cell phones are disposed of annually.
- 20 – 24 million TV’s and computers are stored annually in homes and offices.
- Only 10% of unwanted and obsolete computers are recycled.

Now, as eco mindful earthlings we make an effort to recycle them somehow, don’t we?  Some of us will even find a local e-waste recycler and happily rub our palms after we drop of our age old computer at the (more…)

Want to know the world’s top destroyer of the environment? It is not the car, or the plane, or some coal plant: it is the cow.

A United Nations report has identified the world’s rapidly growing herds of cattle as the greatest threat to the climate, forests and wildlife. And they are blamed for a host of other environmental crimes, from acid rain to the introduction of alien species, from producing deserts to creating dead zones in the oceans, from poisoning rivers and drinking water to destroying coral reefs.

The 400-page report by the Food and Agricultural Organization, entitled Livestock’s Long Shadow, also surveys the damage done by sheep, chickens, pigs and goats. But in almost every case, the world’s 1.5 billion cattle are most to blame. Livestock are responsible for 18 per cent of the greenhouse gases that cause global warming, more than cars, planes and all other forms of transport put together.

Burning fuel to produce fertilizer to grow feed, to produce meat and to transport it – and clearing vegetation for grazing produces 9 percent of all emissions of carbon dioxide, the most common greenhouse gas. And their wind and manure emit more than one third of emissions of another, methane, which warms the world 20 times faster than carbon dioxide. (more…)

Did you know that millions and millions of dollars are spent each week on advertising campaigns to give us the perception that bottled water comes from some pristine mountain spring or magical underground aquifer, assuring purity and quality?  So I decided to put a couple of our local delivery services to the test and… it seems like the two services available in San Jose area like Alhambra and Arrowhead Water are not all what they are cracked up to be.

This time I was only concerned with the PH levels of the water and not the impurities or the taste.  There is a growing awareness that our bodies are way too acidic because of our life style, pollutants in the environment and our diets.  Human body’s normal PH levels are about 7.4 and we have a “perfect” PH balance when we’re born.  But after we’re able to visit the potty room on our own and independently reach into the cookie cupboard we start exploring foods that are much less friendly than our moms would put in our mouths when we were babies.  We then start eating what “tastes good” instead of what really is “good” for us.  Then come the pizzas, fried foods, coca colas, burgers, steaks, beer, and of course… fried calamari.  Combine all this with an acid pumping stress day at work and we are now bathing our cells in acid bath.  The body’s natural defence system kicks in and it does everything it possibly can to compensate for the acid by introducing alkalinity back into the blood stream and try to pump the acid out with liquids – water.  But where does the body store the alkaline substances to compensate for this acid influx of acid?  Well, most proponents of this theory say that it comes from our cell tissue and our bones.  Our body borrows it from our flesh and bones.  And what happens when it can no longer do that? (more…)