The Februaray 2008, Palm Beach Green Drinks event was hosted by the Arthur R. Marshall Foundation at O’sheas on Clematis Street in downtown West Palm Beach.  The event was great as always!  Check out some highlights from the event below.

The Arthur R. Marshall Foundation:   Eric from the foundation provided a brief talk featuring the “Young Friends of the Marshall Foundation.”  He also announced some of the following upcoming events and opportunities.  Visit the Marshall Foundation’s website for further details.

• March 1st -Macy’s Shop for a Cause: Purchase a coupon for $5 from the Marshall Foundation and use it for 10-20% off purchases at any Macy’s.
• March 7th - Marshall Foundation’s 10th Anniversary Recognition Luncheon:  Held @ the Palm Beach Club featuring Eco-Artist Betsy Damon and a drawing for a ZENN electric car. 
• March 11th - The Young Friends of the Marshall Foundation: They’ll be be meeting @ 5:30.  Call 561-805-8733 for more info.
• March 15th - Get Green St. Patrick’s Day Tree Planting: Held on Torry Island in Belle Glade from 9:00 a.m. -12:00 p.m. 

Palm Beach Green Building Conference:  Dennis from the Alternative Energy Association announced that the association will be hosting the Palm Beach Green Building Conference.  The conference will be held on February 29th at the Kravitz Center in Downton West Palm Beach.  Visit the Alternative Energy Association’s website for registration and sponsorhip information.

A New Prius Hits the Road:  Jonathan, a Green Drinks regular, recently made the switch to a Toyota Prius.  Check him out showing off his new wheels! 

The first Palm Beach Green Drinks event of 2008 was held at O’Sheas in downtown West Palm Beach on January 8th.  (Palm Beach Green Drinks holds its events on the 2nd Tuesday of every month.)  As always, we saw a diverse crowd of people interested in the environment, including teachers, financial planners, lawyers, engineers, environmental consultants, account managers, students, and city and county employees.  We enjoy Palm Beach Green Drinks because: its laid back, we learn something new, its a good place to network, and there are interesting people there.

Justin Hoysradt from Abundant Energy spoke to the group about the benefits of using solar power in homes.  Here’s a short video of that, as well as some pictures of the event.  Hope to see you at the next one, on February 12th at O’Sheas.

What did you think of the event?  Click here to leave a comment.

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Check out this video about global warming / climate change.  It’s worth 9 minutes and 33 seconds of your time.

We choose column “A,” although hopefully we can be smart enought to prevent global warming and the economic impact he describes. What do you think?  Is his argument wrong?  Is column A the right choice?

1. I will reduce my love handles and my carbon footprint.  If getting toned reduces my carbon footprint at the same time, great!  I will bike places instead of drive and take the stairs instead of the elevator when I can.  I will hike, run, bike and swim outdoors.  If I see trash on the beach, I will pick it up and run to the next trash can to throw it away. 

I will save money and the earth.  I will drive less and carpool and save money on gas.  I will turn off the lights when I’m not in a room and lower my electric bill.  I will wait to fill a full load of dishes and laundry and save on electricity and water.  I will not buy pesticides and garden with compost and other natural materials.  I will plant native plants that use less water.  I will not leave the water running.  Instead of buying new, I will reuse wrapping paper for presents, old t-shirts to clean with, shopping bags to carry things, etc…  (But… maybe I’ll splurge on organic food and sustainably produced clothing…)

I will eat better, organic and local.  I will eat more fruits and vegetables, but I don’t need them to travel thousands of miles and be grown with pesticides to get on my plate.  I will eat less meat (that’s better for my heart and pastures contribute to deforestation and carbon emissions anyways).  I will eat fish from sustainable fisheries.  I don’t need extra hormones, so I will choose milk from cows that aren’t pumped full of them or choose soy.

I will be more organized and efficient.  I will make a conscious decision to purchase items with less packaging, so that I don’t have to deal with disposing the packaging.  I will get rid of things I don’t use in my house and donate them, so that someone else can reuse them.  I will look into making my home more energy efficient (which will help me save money too) - like installing low-flow shower heads to use less water, plugging air leaks in doors and windows, replacing old appliances and windows with energy efficient ones, and adjusting my thermostat to use less energy.  I will plan ahead, so that I can get my errands and shopping done all in one trip, rather than wasting time and gas driving back and forth.

Have you heard of the Great Pacific Garbage Patch?  Basically, it’s a massive, swirling stew of garbage between California and Hawaii, and it’s the largest landfill in the world, estimated to be twice the size of Texas, 3.5 million tons and consisting of 80 percent plastics.  Sadly, because it would take billions of dollars and a huge collective effort, most people believe that cleaning it up is not even feasible at this point. 

How does this affect us?  Possibly cancer, impaired memory, and infectious disease, among other things.  According to the Algalita Marine Research Foundation, plastics transport and release toxic pollutants that can contaminate the food they were created to protect.  When plastics are burned, they release toxic dioxin, which poisons the food chain (and we’re pretty high up in the food chain).  So, toxic “stuff” accumulates in the food we eat.  Other results of garbage in our oceans are that animals (such as birds and sea turtles) die from eating plastics because they mistake it as food and either choke on it or eat it, can’t process it, and then starve to death.  Also, some of the toxics mimic estrogen and can turn male fish into females (which makes us wonder what it’s doing to us when we eat them…) 

 Now that we’ve told you the scary part, here’s what you can do to help:

1. Don’t Use Plastic Bags.  Use canvas bags when you go to the store.  Some stores will even give you a discount for using canvas bags.  If you have to use a plastic bag, make sure you recycle it.
2. Shop Smart.  Choose products packaged in biodegradable materials.  This is good for the planet and good for your health too.  (By the way, why are fast-food places still selling food in containers that aren’t biodegradable?)
3. Don’t Litter.  Whether you’re at the beach or anywhere else, don’t litter. 
4. Participate.  Go help or organize your neighborhood street or beach clean up!  Ask your citiy to install catch-basins in your neighborhood so that trash won’t go into the water and eventually into the ocean.  Help enforce litter laws by reporting illegal dumping.

Here’s a video about it from MSNBC on YouTube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Eljbv8NtC9Y. 

It was a beautiful Florida day, so instead of driving, we rode our bikes to downtown West Palm Beach for Step It Up 2007. We had a blast!  There were great speakers and we met a lot of really intersting people who care about the environment and showed their shade of green.

The mayor of West Palm Beach, Lois Frankel, kicked off the event. Governor Charlie Crist and Senator Bill Nelson couldn’t make it, so their letters supporting stepping up against climate change were read to the crowd!  We also heard from Bryan Miller who is running for the Florida House, as well as the U.S. Green Building Council and Dr. John Marr from the Perry Institute for Marine Science. 

We also met a bunch of really interesting people!  A realtor wanted to make her entire office paperless.  We met a county employee who installed solar panels on his house and knew a whole lot about electrical engineering.  We also met a school teacher working to start a recycling program where he teaches, a college student interested in biodiesel, and a local green high school club who, if I remember correctly, called themselves the “tree-huggers.”  We also spoke to a rep from Whole Foods and tried to convince her to open a store in West Palm Beach!  

We wrapped up the event by test driving a Toyota Scion retrofitted with an electric engine that the owner plugs into his house to recharge.  The ride was smooth, quiet, and get this, only two dollars to travel over 160 miles!  (We’ll write more on this later on.)

What was Step It Up 2007 like in your city?  We’d love to hear about it.  If you have any pictures, send them to yourpics@youmaybegreen.com.

  

Hey everyone! Join us Saturday, November 3rd for the “Step It Up National Day of Climate Action.” 

Step It Up is a national campaign to increase awareness of Global Warming.  Our friend, Randy Vanhoose, organized the Step It Up event near us - at Centennial Square in downtown West Palm Beach  from 12pm to 2pm.  Click on this link for more information. 

If you don’t live in our neck of the woods, please visit http://www.stepitup2007.org/ for events nearest you. 

There will be several interesting speakers with diverse backgrounds to talk about things like green buildng, protecting coral reefs and solving environmental problems.  For the people that would like to get involved there will be educational booths to help out. 

YouMayBeGreen.com will be sharing a booth with Palm Beach Green Drinks, so please stop on by and say hello.  Oh, one more thing, show your support by wearing a green shirt.  We look forward to seeing you there!  Come back next week to see our pictures of the event.   (By the way, if you go to a Step It Up event, tell us what you thought and send your photos to us at yourpics@youmaybegreen.com.)

You probably know that transportation is a major source of greenhouse gases, but did you know that in the US about 17% of all carbon dioxide emissions come from people’s homes?    According to the EPA, electricity use, heating and waste are the main sources.  

Here are some ways to help out (and save money too):

1.  Turn off the lights and unplug electric appliances when you don’t need them. The average household carbon dioxide emissions from electricity are approximately 7.4 metric tons per year (about 16,290 lbs).

2. Bundle up or take it off (instead of turning up the heat when it’s cold or the air down when its hot).  Most furnaces and boilers burn fossil fuels such as heating oil or natural gas, which emit greenhouse gases.

3.  Reuse stuff and recycle. For every person in the U.S., about 1,060 pounds of carbon dioxide equivalent comes from the garbage we throw out every year. The average recycling rate for the United States is 30.6%. If the recycling rate increased to 35%, greenhouse gas emissions from waste could be reduced by 67 pounds of carbon dioxide equivalent per person.

Also, check out the video below from The Alliance for Climate Protection.  We think this will let you see what the carbon dioxide coming out of your house ”looks like.” 

Click To Play

Want to calculate your emissions?  If you want to calculate your own emissions, try the EPA’s Individual Emissions Calculator by clicking here.  (By the way, all these stats are from the EPA.)