I thought I might add a bit more on the Green roofing ideas. But, I will give some links for you to do your own research on this that I found quite good.
Green Roof Resource
Time for Green Roofs by Elisabeth Rosenthal. She is a writer at the Herald Tribune.
Why aren't there more Green Roofs? by Libby Rosenthal. The same writer as above.
I am happy that we are including Green Roofs in our development project going on near Austin, TX. Our designs utilizing this were originally to assist in our septic system design, but as the main developer moves forward with a city sewer connection we can bypass the septic needs. We will keep the Green roof in the design as the lots are small and we will create a great roof garden that will have amazing lake and golf course views. We make it quite a showpiece in the development! We have a few lots that will have this concept with similar views, but one will be right on the top of a hill.
Friday, November 30, 2007
Thursday, November 29, 2007
Living Roof technology
Contrary to some popular beliefs, green - or living roofs are not too heavy or expensive. An engineer can design a roof structure for nearly any environment. There is not as much weight for these as most think as various technologies to implement these roofs have come a long way. The average extensive (thin commercial) living roof is 18-24 pounds per square foot fully saturated, well below the live weight loads of most American roofs. The price ranges from six to fifteen dollars per foot installed depending on access to the roof.
A living roof can double or triple the life of the roof membrane. The cost of a roof membrane is approximately seventeen dollars a foot so clearly the living roof pays for itself in extending the life of the membrane itself. Then there are the energy savings. As much as 25% on heating and cooling on a two story building. With the cost of heating bills continually rising this can become a major addition to a cost cutting opportunity to your building.
In the NY area we found a company, Greener Designs that built the living roof at Silvercup Studios in NYC (30,000 square feet) and they are reporting noticeable heating and cooling savings two years later.
Living roofs up to approx. 45º are a normal occurrence in countries like Spain. They use a plant called ’sedum’ not growing more than 8 centimeter high in trays 60X60 cms with an intelligent micro-irrigation system. That area receives approx. four to six months of beautiful white or pink flowers in the roof. No problem with humidity due to a special treatment of surface and maximum isolation. Living roofs in areas around 30º are perfect to integrate efficient and visually solar panels. Thermic diode solar panels don't produce electricity and photovoltaic are a 12 V. system. In general there is no specific problem to date with electrical fittings open air.
Living roofing is a wonderful scenario and something that we are working with in some of our development projects we have in TX and CA. We are integrating living roof ideas to add livable square foot usage to footprint homes that can then utilize some other optional areas since the lot sizes are minimal. These rooftop gardens offer the homeowner the land use they deserve and pay so much for. Also, we are using living roof designs to offset leach field space necessary for septic systems in outlying areas on small lot projects. Using the rooftop to help with an aerobic septic system we have been able to control the waste water and return it to grey water to be used for the plant irrigation watering systems on the property.
There are numerous and creative ways and usage designs that are coming out today. We should all think more strategically and ecologically in our future developments and renovations to create ways to give back and maintain our water, material, utility, and mineral usage of our planet.
A living roof can double or triple the life of the roof membrane. The cost of a roof membrane is approximately seventeen dollars a foot so clearly the living roof pays for itself in extending the life of the membrane itself. Then there are the energy savings. As much as 25% on heating and cooling on a two story building. With the cost of heating bills continually rising this can become a major addition to a cost cutting opportunity to your building.
In the NY area we found a company, Greener Designs that built the living roof at Silvercup Studios in NYC (30,000 square feet) and they are reporting noticeable heating and cooling savings two years later.
Living roofs up to approx. 45º are a normal occurrence in countries like Spain. They use a plant called ’sedum’ not growing more than 8 centimeter high in trays 60X60 cms with an intelligent micro-irrigation system. That area receives approx. four to six months of beautiful white or pink flowers in the roof. No problem with humidity due to a special treatment of surface and maximum isolation. Living roofs in areas around 30º are perfect to integrate efficient and visually solar panels. Thermic diode solar panels don't produce electricity and photovoltaic are a 12 V. system. In general there is no specific problem to date with electrical fittings open air.
Living roofing is a wonderful scenario and something that we are working with in some of our development projects we have in TX and CA. We are integrating living roof ideas to add livable square foot usage to footprint homes that can then utilize some other optional areas since the lot sizes are minimal. These rooftop gardens offer the homeowner the land use they deserve and pay so much for. Also, we are using living roof designs to offset leach field space necessary for septic systems in outlying areas on small lot projects. Using the rooftop to help with an aerobic septic system we have been able to control the waste water and return it to grey water to be used for the plant irrigation watering systems on the property.
There are numerous and creative ways and usage designs that are coming out today. We should all think more strategically and ecologically in our future developments and renovations to create ways to give back and maintain our water, material, utility, and mineral usage of our planet.
Monday, November 26, 2007
The calm before the storm...
We must prepare ourselves as we come into this new realm of financial re-structuring and rebounding for our woes over these past 10 years in the global economy. Some say we’re all about to pay for the housing boom bust. See our previous entry Your Cup Runneth Over on how to handle this present and upcoming economic phase.
As the housing boom grew real estate agents, lenders, and members of the media hyped houses as if they were stocks. Numerous investors bought Pre-Construction deals only to sell out of their purchase option before the construction was even completed for a profit in places like AZ, Vegas, and FL. Some of this drive up was from the largest and richest demographic in our human history that began to prepare for their retirement. People were buying second homes and vacation homes in record pace as many homeowners came to believe they had an ATM in their paperwork or their own living room. They could use their living room to refinance and to buy their next home or down payment.
They found they could withdraw from the Bank of John Q. A house appreciating $100,000 could easily provide $60,000 through refinancing or in mortgage equity. Thus multitudes of people went out and borrowed in 2001 through 2005, more than $1 trillion. Lucky for them at the time, there was no end to the number and variety of nontraditional mortgages flourishing, the most popular being subprime adjustable-rate mortgages (ARMs). Now, don't get me wrong, there were many that had a rhyme and a reason to this type of action. There were those that were using this loan vehicle for investment rental homes, offsetting a great rate for a no money down purchase to offset their carrying costs for the first few years before they would catch up. There were also those repairing or renovating which used some of their appreciated capital for improvements to add even more value to their home rather than simple appreciation. However, leaving the upgraded nest egg on the table to offset this action is a more advantageous action. Borrowing against your local general appreciation with no other upside potential is where things began to get dicey for many.
Millions of people were buying in 2001-2005 with no little to no money down, and no work to do on the home as many of these were new structures yet continued to pull money out as they went. Now the monthly payments on about $600 billion subprime mortgages are increasing by as much as 50 percent because the two-year teaser periods are up. As we’ve seen after the last couple of months of the subprime situation, many of the recipients of these loans aren’t able to make their payments, or balloon payments so loans are defaulting and mortgage lenders are declaring bankruptcy. Now with them failing, and not only is the U.S. market suffering, but so are markets around the world. Some of the other markets in Europe have experienced housing appreciation and growth that makes the United States market gains look relatively small. The end is certainly near, and soon we will find that we won’t be able to refinance ourselves out of our problems.
We all must prepare and re-strategize our personal finances as money problems are just around the corner for practically everyone. This will be a good thing for everyone. We appear to have reached the end of the biggest bubble of debt and credit in history. This is not to say that there is still a large demographic, the baby boomers, that have made and structured plans for years that many are still on target with which will aid in keeping some of the markets going. Although, at this very moment, the public markets are teetering on the brink of a major change of direction. Five hundred trillion dollars in derivatives are on the edge and ready to explode. Fifteen trillion dollars in worldwide stock-market capitalization, if we do not pay attention, could disappear. The average American house could lose 20 to 40 percent of its value as, as many as five million families are forced into bankruptcy. Practically everyone is in debt. Much of this debt is home debt, which for all intense and purposes is considered "good debt", but this is also compounded with credit card debt. If you can't pay your bills there is no such thing as good debt or bad debt. Debt that is stuffed into hedge fund portfolios as an investment, debt that is laid away at insurance companies and pension funds as an asset, and debt that is traded, extended, and wrung out. It is debt for all seasons, all people, all times, and all places. All of our previous excess is bound to catch up with us.
Over the next few years, many people are going to be ruined; fortunes will be wiped out. However, as Enron fell, Google rose. As there are some that fall, new groups of people will acquire wealth and power, while some of today’s economic elites will be destroyed. But with a new understanding and diligence, we can avoid being a victim of history. We can be among the few whose investments go up when the great mass of people lose money. As a result, you will not only be able to safeguard your wealth, you will enhance your well-being and save your sanity.
As the housing boom grew real estate agents, lenders, and members of the media hyped houses as if they were stocks. Numerous investors bought Pre-Construction deals only to sell out of their purchase option before the construction was even completed for a profit in places like AZ, Vegas, and FL. Some of this drive up was from the largest and richest demographic in our human history that began to prepare for their retirement. People were buying second homes and vacation homes in record pace as many homeowners came to believe they had an ATM in their paperwork or their own living room. They could use their living room to refinance and to buy their next home or down payment.
They found they could withdraw from the Bank of John Q. A house appreciating $100,000 could easily provide $60,000 through refinancing or in mortgage equity. Thus multitudes of people went out and borrowed in 2001 through 2005, more than $1 trillion. Lucky for them at the time, there was no end to the number and variety of nontraditional mortgages flourishing, the most popular being subprime adjustable-rate mortgages (ARMs). Now, don't get me wrong, there were many that had a rhyme and a reason to this type of action. There were those that were using this loan vehicle for investment rental homes, offsetting a great rate for a no money down purchase to offset their carrying costs for the first few years before they would catch up. There were also those repairing or renovating which used some of their appreciated capital for improvements to add even more value to their home rather than simple appreciation. However, leaving the upgraded nest egg on the table to offset this action is a more advantageous action. Borrowing against your local general appreciation with no other upside potential is where things began to get dicey for many.
Millions of people were buying in 2001-2005 with no little to no money down, and no work to do on the home as many of these were new structures yet continued to pull money out as they went. Now the monthly payments on about $600 billion subprime mortgages are increasing by as much as 50 percent because the two-year teaser periods are up. As we’ve seen after the last couple of months of the subprime situation, many of the recipients of these loans aren’t able to make their payments, or balloon payments so loans are defaulting and mortgage lenders are declaring bankruptcy. Now with them failing, and not only is the U.S. market suffering, but so are markets around the world. Some of the other markets in Europe have experienced housing appreciation and growth that makes the United States market gains look relatively small. The end is certainly near, and soon we will find that we won’t be able to refinance ourselves out of our problems.
We all must prepare and re-strategize our personal finances as money problems are just around the corner for practically everyone. This will be a good thing for everyone. We appear to have reached the end of the biggest bubble of debt and credit in history. This is not to say that there is still a large demographic, the baby boomers, that have made and structured plans for years that many are still on target with which will aid in keeping some of the markets going. Although, at this very moment, the public markets are teetering on the brink of a major change of direction. Five hundred trillion dollars in derivatives are on the edge and ready to explode. Fifteen trillion dollars in worldwide stock-market capitalization, if we do not pay attention, could disappear. The average American house could lose 20 to 40 percent of its value as, as many as five million families are forced into bankruptcy. Practically everyone is in debt. Much of this debt is home debt, which for all intense and purposes is considered "good debt", but this is also compounded with credit card debt. If you can't pay your bills there is no such thing as good debt or bad debt. Debt that is stuffed into hedge fund portfolios as an investment, debt that is laid away at insurance companies and pension funds as an asset, and debt that is traded, extended, and wrung out. It is debt for all seasons, all people, all times, and all places. All of our previous excess is bound to catch up with us.
Over the next few years, many people are going to be ruined; fortunes will be wiped out. However, as Enron fell, Google rose. As there are some that fall, new groups of people will acquire wealth and power, while some of today’s economic elites will be destroyed. But with a new understanding and diligence, we can avoid being a victim of history. We can be among the few whose investments go up when the great mass of people lose money. As a result, you will not only be able to safeguard your wealth, you will enhance your well-being and save your sanity.
Your Cup Runneth Over
WHY SOME PEOPLE HAVE IT ALL
How many times have you met people who seem to have "it all" and yet, all they do is complain about how bad they have it? Then there are others who in spite of having to cope with unusually difficult challenges see themselves as fortunate and even blessed. I think this goes further than simply letting a smile be your umbrella. Rather it's the deeper perspective they hold for themselves and the world around them that colors every event and interaction of their daily lives. For those who see the glass as half-full, the voice is a friendly one. However, wouldn't it be great if those who live in a world of half-empty glasses could change their perspective to bring more joy and satisfaction to their lives?
HEARING THE VOICE IN YOUR HEAD
All of us have constant and highly dictatorial voices in our heads that we are so used to hearing that we believe them to be real and wise. This voice is very much in control of many of your actions, much of what you think, what you will and won't say. The inner voice constantly frets about the future... it chatters away about its worries concerning life, people and how things will go. And it seems to us that the voice is just being smart by warning of danger and by being protective from all of the bad people and events in the world or is being smartly speculative... we think it's completely rational, understanding, even brilliant, especially in a world filled with terrorism, natural disasters and economic uncertainty.
WHAT YOU SAY IS WHAT YOU GET
The problem is that the explanations that our inner voices provide about events in the past and predictions for the future leave us stuck with low expectations and a sense of resignation. This voice's confident assessment of future reality may thus lead you to lock yourself into patterns of behaviors in small ways and large ones. For example, you might refuse to go out to dinner with your spouse because "we always argue when we go out to dinner" or "we never have anything to talk about so it's not fun." Another possibility is that you may live with chronic, low-level melancholia because your life never seems to work out the way you would like.
Your voice is really telling you the story of your life -- the reason it is the way it is, why you are the way you are, and who you can blame." Listen carefully, to hear how it drones on in a constant state of sameness and how its themes become the themes of your life. By listening to and following the guidelines of these inner voices, people get exactly what they expect from their lives -- dissatisfaction. But no one really wants to be unhappy in life,we'd all prefer to be happy and fulfilled.
THOUGHTS CAN BE CHANGED
The good news is thoughts can be changed. They can be denied, laughed at and even eliminated -- and you can bring your inner voice in line to harmonize with what you want for your life. You must learn to understand what it is saying and how that affects what you do... what you believe... and who you are.
The point is you are not your inner voice. You are a person who actually has a choice whether or not to listen to your inner voice. Your voice may tell you "you'll never do that"... or "you can't succeed"... when you're considering a new job. Or, it may make excuses that sound more like "I don't have time," "I can't take a class that's so far away" or "my spouse would never let me spend money on that." Beneath those excuses, however, is the real message: "I'm scared to ask for what I want and go for it." The voice may seem like it is keeping you safe, helping you avoid rejection or keeping you from getting hurt... but it is really just holding you back.
With such discouragement coming at you all day, is it any wonder you can't muster a productive attitude and therefore end up perceiving your life as lacking? Be aware that wherever in your life you lack satisfaction, the voice is probably running rampant. Its many versions keep you the innocent victim with a no-fault policy. This, however, is exactly what stops you from believing in yourself. Regardless of how much you have, there is always what you still want. If you're not moving toward getting there, you may well be listening to your own drama or resignation that explains why you can't.
CHANGING THE MESSAGE
And so the first step in revising the messages is to discover exactly what they contain. Here's how to do that: For a week or two or maybe even a month, keep a "thought log" detailing the comments you make in your head. This teaches you to hear how your voice talks to you -- about you, about others, about your body and the events of your day. Get to know this voice and really hear the dialogue that plays endlessly in your head. List the excuses ("no time" or "no money," for instance). The point is to become so present to your themes that at last you can see where you have been dwelling. What you discover doesn't have to make sense initially, but if you approach this exercise with humor you can enjoy discovering your hidden influences. This practice begins to separate you from your inner voice.
The next step is to identify your themes. Give them nicknames -- are you a sourpuss, always looking to the bleak side? A know-it-all martyr, endlessly doing for others and never for yourself? Perhaps you are a mean saint or a better-than-everyone-else Goodie Two Shoes. Probably your voice has several themes and this is your opportunity to discover them all.
A NEW VOICE
The most challenging task follows -- putting into practice the commitment to changing your thoughts. Having exposed them and interpreted their themes and messages, the odds are that you've realized these are not the themes you want to be living with. By taking charge of your thoughts you can take charge of your life.
Make rules that help you accomplish this. For instance, you might make a rule that you don't allow yourself to make snide remarks to yourself about people you see on the street. Another one: Your internal voice is not allowed to tell you that life is short-changing you... and it is never, ever to announce negative conclusions about anything you are facing. To be effective, these rules demand vigilance, diligence and discipline -- otherwise your life will slip back to being what it was.
LEARNING TO LAUGH AT YOURSELF IS A MAJOR STEP
No doubt you will find that much of what your voice says concerns others in your life, since your inner voice is practiced at coming to conclusions about what others think, including about you. Your inner voice is really a lot like a bad journalist -- reporting what it decides is true without bothering to check the facts. Challenge yourself to do the research by asking the other person or people for their input about what troubles you. It calls for personal courage, but it can be done with honor and respect. When you "hear" such a fear or concern three times, ask questions. Start by saying something like, I'm saying this stuff to myself and I think you could clarify it for me... since it is about you and I want to know if I am nuts or not.
When walking down the street, remind yourself to love people, not pick on them. Assigns light consequences to yourself if you starts to fret, replacing worries with positive thoughts. "This is the most important work you can do. "It's like building the muscle of the mind. If your thoughts run you and you don't manage them it is a bit like allowing your child to watch television all the time. We know how that turns out -- inconsistent and most likely unhealthy."
Once you introduce yourself to the storyteller inside your head, you can start working at last on the life and relationships your true self has long hoped to have. With effort, your cup may indeed begin to run over.
How many times have you met people who seem to have "it all" and yet, all they do is complain about how bad they have it? Then there are others who in spite of having to cope with unusually difficult challenges see themselves as fortunate and even blessed. I think this goes further than simply letting a smile be your umbrella. Rather it's the deeper perspective they hold for themselves and the world around them that colors every event and interaction of their daily lives. For those who see the glass as half-full, the voice is a friendly one. However, wouldn't it be great if those who live in a world of half-empty glasses could change their perspective to bring more joy and satisfaction to their lives?
HEARING THE VOICE IN YOUR HEAD
All of us have constant and highly dictatorial voices in our heads that we are so used to hearing that we believe them to be real and wise. This voice is very much in control of many of your actions, much of what you think, what you will and won't say. The inner voice constantly frets about the future... it chatters away about its worries concerning life, people and how things will go. And it seems to us that the voice is just being smart by warning of danger and by being protective from all of the bad people and events in the world or is being smartly speculative... we think it's completely rational, understanding, even brilliant, especially in a world filled with terrorism, natural disasters and economic uncertainty.
WHAT YOU SAY IS WHAT YOU GET
The problem is that the explanations that our inner voices provide about events in the past and predictions for the future leave us stuck with low expectations and a sense of resignation. This voice's confident assessment of future reality may thus lead you to lock yourself into patterns of behaviors in small ways and large ones. For example, you might refuse to go out to dinner with your spouse because "we always argue when we go out to dinner" or "we never have anything to talk about so it's not fun." Another possibility is that you may live with chronic, low-level melancholia because your life never seems to work out the way you would like.
Your voice is really telling you the story of your life -- the reason it is the way it is, why you are the way you are, and who you can blame." Listen carefully, to hear how it drones on in a constant state of sameness and how its themes become the themes of your life. By listening to and following the guidelines of these inner voices, people get exactly what they expect from their lives -- dissatisfaction. But no one really wants to be unhappy in life,we'd all prefer to be happy and fulfilled.
THOUGHTS CAN BE CHANGED
The good news is thoughts can be changed. They can be denied, laughed at and even eliminated -- and you can bring your inner voice in line to harmonize with what you want for your life. You must learn to understand what it is saying and how that affects what you do... what you believe... and who you are.
The point is you are not your inner voice. You are a person who actually has a choice whether or not to listen to your inner voice. Your voice may tell you "you'll never do that"... or "you can't succeed"... when you're considering a new job. Or, it may make excuses that sound more like "I don't have time," "I can't take a class that's so far away" or "my spouse would never let me spend money on that." Beneath those excuses, however, is the real message: "I'm scared to ask for what I want and go for it." The voice may seem like it is keeping you safe, helping you avoid rejection or keeping you from getting hurt... but it is really just holding you back.
With such discouragement coming at you all day, is it any wonder you can't muster a productive attitude and therefore end up perceiving your life as lacking? Be aware that wherever in your life you lack satisfaction, the voice is probably running rampant. Its many versions keep you the innocent victim with a no-fault policy. This, however, is exactly what stops you from believing in yourself. Regardless of how much you have, there is always what you still want. If you're not moving toward getting there, you may well be listening to your own drama or resignation that explains why you can't.
CHANGING THE MESSAGE
And so the first step in revising the messages is to discover exactly what they contain. Here's how to do that: For a week or two or maybe even a month, keep a "thought log" detailing the comments you make in your head. This teaches you to hear how your voice talks to you -- about you, about others, about your body and the events of your day. Get to know this voice and really hear the dialogue that plays endlessly in your head. List the excuses ("no time" or "no money," for instance). The point is to become so present to your themes that at last you can see where you have been dwelling. What you discover doesn't have to make sense initially, but if you approach this exercise with humor you can enjoy discovering your hidden influences. This practice begins to separate you from your inner voice.
The next step is to identify your themes. Give them nicknames -- are you a sourpuss, always looking to the bleak side? A know-it-all martyr, endlessly doing for others and never for yourself? Perhaps you are a mean saint or a better-than-everyone-else Goodie Two Shoes. Probably your voice has several themes and this is your opportunity to discover them all.
A NEW VOICE
The most challenging task follows -- putting into practice the commitment to changing your thoughts. Having exposed them and interpreted their themes and messages, the odds are that you've realized these are not the themes you want to be living with. By taking charge of your thoughts you can take charge of your life.
Make rules that help you accomplish this. For instance, you might make a rule that you don't allow yourself to make snide remarks to yourself about people you see on the street. Another one: Your internal voice is not allowed to tell you that life is short-changing you... and it is never, ever to announce negative conclusions about anything you are facing. To be effective, these rules demand vigilance, diligence and discipline -- otherwise your life will slip back to being what it was.
LEARNING TO LAUGH AT YOURSELF IS A MAJOR STEP
No doubt you will find that much of what your voice says concerns others in your life, since your inner voice is practiced at coming to conclusions about what others think, including about you. Your inner voice is really a lot like a bad journalist -- reporting what it decides is true without bothering to check the facts. Challenge yourself to do the research by asking the other person or people for their input about what troubles you. It calls for personal courage, but it can be done with honor and respect. When you "hear" such a fear or concern three times, ask questions. Start by saying something like, I'm saying this stuff to myself and I think you could clarify it for me... since it is about you and I want to know if I am nuts or not.
When walking down the street, remind yourself to love people, not pick on them. Assigns light consequences to yourself if you starts to fret, replacing worries with positive thoughts. "This is the most important work you can do. "It's like building the muscle of the mind. If your thoughts run you and you don't manage them it is a bit like allowing your child to watch television all the time. We know how that turns out -- inconsistent and most likely unhealthy."
Once you introduce yourself to the storyteller inside your head, you can start working at last on the life and relationships your true self has long hoped to have. With effort, your cup may indeed begin to run over.
Sunday, November 25, 2007
Full steam ahead, I say!
Utility companies of the US, as well as those in the other parts of the world, have a pressing need to supply power to the ever growing population of energy starved consumers. Through our endless need of this precious commodity to power our home appliances, home computers, laptops, PDA's, iPods, iPhones, cell phones, home theater systems, televisions, air purifiers, wine fridges and more, we are consuming more and more power at the same time we are needing to either cut back or find a new means of power supply if we are to be enjoying this glorious planet of ours much longer. This has nothing to say with respect to the world we intend to hand down to our future generations.
Due to this there is a growing concern through both public and political pressures for using renewable energy sources. With our newest addition to the expanding economic populous and ever growing consumer base of China we find they commission a new coal-fired plant every 5 days. Yet in the US there has not been a new coal-fired power plant permitted in about a year. Although, keeping in mind that there are currently numerous on the agenda in various parts of the United States. But, over time in North America, are the older systems to begin fading away? The real question is, what will take their place?
Our public perception of renewable energy systems at this time seems to be limited to windmills covering mountains with spinning props. There is an expectation of solar panels mounted over rooftops in search of the sun. But these are both intermittent sources of energy production as only some of the time does the wind blow. The other part of the equation is that there is night time, thus the sun doth not shine. Things are quite different with geothermal power, which has demonstrated the ability to not only meet base load power requirements, but can be done without the much of the visible pollution numerous naysayers have in their complaint arsenal. Geothermal offers the prospect of heat energy from the depths of the earth. This happens without pause 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, 365 days a year. The fuel is, for all intense and purposes, “free.” That is to say that we are expecting that the heat energy of the earth will last for at least another billion odd years.
The Swiss have been producing steam since 1872. Through war time, peace times, night time, day time, calm days and windy days. To make a point, one must consider what is not around a geothermal plant. There are no train lines to haul coal, there is no mine necessary to get the coal to put on the train. There is no mountain top that needs to be removed to get the unnecessary coal to put on the unnecessary train. There is no diesel necessary for the unneeded bulldozers that do not need to get the unneeded coal to put on an unneeded train line. There are no rivers spoiled with the waste and runoff, and no carbon dioxide that is spewing from stacks. Cleaner air, cleaner land, cleaner water. What a concept.
To put it to scale, geothermal energy would dramatically change the entire equation of energy consumption and waste in our culture. As fossil-fired infrastructure from decades past has reached the end of its planned service life, geothermal offers a new way forward. Now is our time to act. We must make a choice for a better future and our time is now. I must add that we should not eliminate our desire and need for wind and solar, and even nuclear power, but we should add more to our satchel of various utilities to choose from that are even better overall for our environment.
Are we not a people that take on challenges? Do we not forge ahead through all types of diversity? An obstacle is simply a challenge, as something that needs a solution to be found. There are no mountains too tall to climb, as we have Mt. Everest conquered every year by many. We have gone to the Moon, Mars, Mercury, Venus, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, Neptune, Pluto, and “X”. We have sent objects beyond our solar system. We have cured ills, Pasteurization, x-rays, Cat scans, penicillin . We have split the atom. We create to the billionth of a millimeter. I think we are ready to tackle this new technology.
Contact your Senator or Congressperson to show your support of this new and emerging technology. You can purchase your utilities from green suppliers and contact them regarding this new option. When we get these utility companies to purchase more of this type of power our pricing can go down, our air can be clearer, our lakes and rivers will be cleaner.
Full steam ahead, I say!
Due to this there is a growing concern through both public and political pressures for using renewable energy sources. With our newest addition to the expanding economic populous and ever growing consumer base of China we find they commission a new coal-fired plant every 5 days. Yet in the US there has not been a new coal-fired power plant permitted in about a year. Although, keeping in mind that there are currently numerous on the agenda in various parts of the United States. But, over time in North America, are the older systems to begin fading away? The real question is, what will take their place?
Our public perception of renewable energy systems at this time seems to be limited to windmills covering mountains with spinning props. There is an expectation of solar panels mounted over rooftops in search of the sun. But these are both intermittent sources of energy production as only some of the time does the wind blow. The other part of the equation is that there is night time, thus the sun doth not shine. Things are quite different with geothermal power, which has demonstrated the ability to not only meet base load power requirements, but can be done without the much of the visible pollution numerous naysayers have in their complaint arsenal. Geothermal offers the prospect of heat energy from the depths of the earth. This happens without pause 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, 365 days a year. The fuel is, for all intense and purposes, “free.” That is to say that we are expecting that the heat energy of the earth will last for at least another billion odd years.
The Swiss have been producing steam since 1872. Through war time, peace times, night time, day time, calm days and windy days. To make a point, one must consider what is not around a geothermal plant. There are no train lines to haul coal, there is no mine necessary to get the coal to put on the train. There is no mountain top that needs to be removed to get the unnecessary coal to put on the unnecessary train. There is no diesel necessary for the unneeded bulldozers that do not need to get the unneeded coal to put on an unneeded train line. There are no rivers spoiled with the waste and runoff, and no carbon dioxide that is spewing from stacks. Cleaner air, cleaner land, cleaner water. What a concept.
To put it to scale, geothermal energy would dramatically change the entire equation of energy consumption and waste in our culture. As fossil-fired infrastructure from decades past has reached the end of its planned service life, geothermal offers a new way forward. Now is our time to act. We must make a choice for a better future and our time is now. I must add that we should not eliminate our desire and need for wind and solar, and even nuclear power, but we should add more to our satchel of various utilities to choose from that are even better overall for our environment.
Are we not a people that take on challenges? Do we not forge ahead through all types of diversity? An obstacle is simply a challenge, as something that needs a solution to be found. There are no mountains too tall to climb, as we have Mt. Everest conquered every year by many. We have gone to the Moon, Mars, Mercury, Venus, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, Neptune, Pluto, and “X”. We have sent objects beyond our solar system. We have cured ills, Pasteurization, x-rays, Cat scans, penicillin . We have split the atom. We create to the billionth of a millimeter. I think we are ready to tackle this new technology.
Contact your Senator or Congressperson to show your support of this new and emerging technology. You can purchase your utilities from green suppliers and contact them regarding this new option. When we get these utility companies to purchase more of this type of power our pricing can go down, our air can be clearer, our lakes and rivers will be cleaner.
Full steam ahead, I say!
Saturday, November 24, 2007
The Dollar vs. the Euro?
I was talking with a friend last night and she had mentioned that she was told that the dollar is going to merge with the Euro. I wanted to laugh, as I have not heard anything like that previously, as well as the fact that the dollar is still much too entrenched into the global economy and the primary peg for global valuation. But, perhaps she knew something I didn't.
There are numerous currencies that do peg themselves to the Euro, such as the Denmark DKR, and others. If you were to compare supermarket prices in Denmark and in the USA, and remove sales taxes and VAT, the real value of the dollar in a supermarket is about 56-60 eurocents. Today the exchange rate is about 68 eurocents to a dollar. If you look at IKEA which is both in Europe and the USA and make the same comparison, IKEA values 1 dollar to 52 eurocents. I think the dollar is going through a “controlled” gradual devaluation.
Without going into any conspiracy theories and such, this current global economic condition we are seeing could be construed as a very controlled means of a trade re-balance. There are numerous countries in the far east that are invested heavily in dollars, though we find their exports and labor force increasing in strength, which is a good thing for them, although this puts a load on the dollar. In order to bring this back to the "new normal" there must be an imbalance for the market to restructure itself. Whether this is created or the natural process of our time, eventually the global trade markets will find themselves in synch again. However, in the mean time we will be going through this re-balance of economy.
Another point would be the FED and the ECB (European Central Bank) both have a common interest in the project. The FED can in that way lose a good deal of the American foreign debt, and the ECB can assist the Euro to be a new international reserve valuator. At the same time, the EU has only a small part of the dollar reserves, so their losses will be relatively small. That’s why the ECB keeps up the rates, while the FED lowers their rates.
The United States must make note, that the USA is not the largest economy in the world. In 2006 the US GDP was 13.000 billion USD, and the GDP in the EU15 11.400 billion €. With today's exchange rate that is 16.764 billion USD, or about 29% larger than the US GDP. Maybe that’s the reason for the shift in reserve valuation.
With a foreign debt of 60% of GDP and large internal public and private debt and a negative private saving rate (-2% in 2006) the US economy is in a relatively bad shape, and on top of that is the crude oil prices and the sub-prime crisis. So it is not likely, that the dollar will re-valuate in the short run.
In the long term the dollar will fall relative to certain currencies. China and India are growing in economic stature, by as much as 9%-10% growth rates, and as a result will probably have a stronger currency on a relative basis. As the oil prices increase, perhaps mainly due to the new crude appetite of these emerging economies, the U.S. should step back and begin to realize that it may not have any relation to them whatsoever. Or at least somewhat...As the Middle Eastern oil families see their massive investments and economic projections in the United States lose value, as the dollar slides they simply offset their balance sheet by raising their rates. That is simple economics and has nothing to do with war or religion. As they raise their rates they also are enjoying their new far east customers. Between the oil conglomerates of Russia and the Middle East these emerging economies will soon become their largest consumer. It is estimated by some that China will outpace the U.S. in oil imports by this next years end.
Then, without trying to confuse the issue, you have to keep in mind of how things like the trade deficit are measured. It measures dollars per sale rather than profits. For an example, Apple will bring in more of a profit line item for an iPod, or iPhone than the overseas manufacturers of all of its components. They will then put those profits in R&D (which is normally marked as consumption in stats), which in turn then again yields more profits over time.
While it is no secret that the Euro has been the disproportionate beneficiary of the global over valuation of the dollar. The same cannot be said of the Asian currencies who continue largely to peg their currencies to ours. There is also the other issue of the Middle East region who peg their oil futures to the dollar. We will get into that on another day as this is a bigger issue for our time than the Euro spread.
The question is how and where the inevitable inflation that we are creating through our accumulation of massive internal and foreign debt will play out. Devaluation is always in the interest of foreign debtor nations. "Our currency, your problem," as Nixon once said. But, with that said and in order to complete the economic cycle, will the wave of inflation also be exported? It does seems to be happening in China already. There is certainly a housing and mortgage situation happening in the Euro countries as well.
The housing appreciation bubbles in Ireland, France, and England in the past five years, as an example, have shown more of a dramatic increase in housing prices that those that the United States has encountered. We are now seeing a very dramatic slowdown in their Real Estate markets as well. With the Northern Rock fiasco their lending scene has hit the skids and pulled back. The PTI (Principle, Taxes and Insurance) ratio to income in many European areas is much more drastic than the U.S. creating a home affordability gap in some of the Euro markets to be much more pronounced. The unemployment in some of those same areas is measureably higher than the U.S. as well.
While the U.S. has debt, and too much in my opinion, there are many others countries with far more relative to their GDP. In the U.S. there is approx. $54 trillion in household wealth (stock holdings, home equity etc...), which, all in all, makes the overall U.S. balance sheet look pretty good. Although, we do need to teach our consumers how to save and invest rather than acquire credit card debt.
As we add into the mix the lowering of interest rates, which drag on the dollar too. I'm certainly not going to say the dollar is "undervalued", but I do not see the fall in value as a sign of the end of the dollar either.
There are numerous currencies that do peg themselves to the Euro, such as the Denmark DKR, and others. If you were to compare supermarket prices in Denmark and in the USA, and remove sales taxes and VAT, the real value of the dollar in a supermarket is about 56-60 eurocents. Today the exchange rate is about 68 eurocents to a dollar. If you look at IKEA which is both in Europe and the USA and make the same comparison, IKEA values 1 dollar to 52 eurocents. I think the dollar is going through a “controlled” gradual devaluation.
Without going into any conspiracy theories and such, this current global economic condition we are seeing could be construed as a very controlled means of a trade re-balance. There are numerous countries in the far east that are invested heavily in dollars, though we find their exports and labor force increasing in strength, which is a good thing for them, although this puts a load on the dollar. In order to bring this back to the "new normal" there must be an imbalance for the market to restructure itself. Whether this is created or the natural process of our time, eventually the global trade markets will find themselves in synch again. However, in the mean time we will be going through this re-balance of economy.
Another point would be the FED and the ECB (European Central Bank) both have a common interest in the project. The FED can in that way lose a good deal of the American foreign debt, and the ECB can assist the Euro to be a new international reserve valuator. At the same time, the EU has only a small part of the dollar reserves, so their losses will be relatively small. That’s why the ECB keeps up the rates, while the FED lowers their rates.
The United States must make note, that the USA is not the largest economy in the world. In 2006 the US GDP was 13.000 billion USD, and the GDP in the EU15 11.400 billion €. With today's exchange rate that is 16.764 billion USD, or about 29% larger than the US GDP. Maybe that’s the reason for the shift in reserve valuation.
With a foreign debt of 60% of GDP and large internal public and private debt and a negative private saving rate (-2% in 2006) the US economy is in a relatively bad shape, and on top of that is the crude oil prices and the sub-prime crisis. So it is not likely, that the dollar will re-valuate in the short run.
In the long term the dollar will fall relative to certain currencies. China and India are growing in economic stature, by as much as 9%-10% growth rates, and as a result will probably have a stronger currency on a relative basis. As the oil prices increase, perhaps mainly due to the new crude appetite of these emerging economies, the U.S. should step back and begin to realize that it may not have any relation to them whatsoever. Or at least somewhat...As the Middle Eastern oil families see their massive investments and economic projections in the United States lose value, as the dollar slides they simply offset their balance sheet by raising their rates. That is simple economics and has nothing to do with war or religion. As they raise their rates they also are enjoying their new far east customers. Between the oil conglomerates of Russia and the Middle East these emerging economies will soon become their largest consumer. It is estimated by some that China will outpace the U.S. in oil imports by this next years end.
Then, without trying to confuse the issue, you have to keep in mind of how things like the trade deficit are measured. It measures dollars per sale rather than profits. For an example, Apple will bring in more of a profit line item for an iPod, or iPhone than the overseas manufacturers of all of its components. They will then put those profits in R&D (which is normally marked as consumption in stats), which in turn then again yields more profits over time.
While it is no secret that the Euro has been the disproportionate beneficiary of the global over valuation of the dollar. The same cannot be said of the Asian currencies who continue largely to peg their currencies to ours. There is also the other issue of the Middle East region who peg their oil futures to the dollar. We will get into that on another day as this is a bigger issue for our time than the Euro spread.
The question is how and where the inevitable inflation that we are creating through our accumulation of massive internal and foreign debt will play out. Devaluation is always in the interest of foreign debtor nations. "Our currency, your problem," as Nixon once said. But, with that said and in order to complete the economic cycle, will the wave of inflation also be exported? It does seems to be happening in China already. There is certainly a housing and mortgage situation happening in the Euro countries as well.
The housing appreciation bubbles in Ireland, France, and England in the past five years, as an example, have shown more of a dramatic increase in housing prices that those that the United States has encountered. We are now seeing a very dramatic slowdown in their Real Estate markets as well. With the Northern Rock fiasco their lending scene has hit the skids and pulled back. The PTI (Principle, Taxes and Insurance) ratio to income in many European areas is much more drastic than the U.S. creating a home affordability gap in some of the Euro markets to be much more pronounced. The unemployment in some of those same areas is measureably higher than the U.S. as well.
While the U.S. has debt, and too much in my opinion, there are many others countries with far more relative to their GDP. In the U.S. there is approx. $54 trillion in household wealth (stock holdings, home equity etc...), which, all in all, makes the overall U.S. balance sheet look pretty good. Although, we do need to teach our consumers how to save and invest rather than acquire credit card debt.
As we add into the mix the lowering of interest rates, which drag on the dollar too. I'm certainly not going to say the dollar is "undervalued", but I do not see the fall in value as a sign of the end of the dollar either.
Friday, November 23, 2007
New energies from old beings and global warming
We at Boggs Development Group are interested in some new business models for global warming solutions, and fuel alternative sciences. There are a few ideas "floating" out there and some others that are "bubbling up" that show high interest to us.
The science that if one were to spread iron filings that float across the oceans, the idea goes, that this process will promote algae growth. The algae forms and attaches itself to the iron filings, just as a sunken ship that eventually grows coral and algae communities around it. Algae then, by concentrated volume absorbs carbon dioxide. The algae does eventually die and will then sink to the bottom of the ocean. This was verified and studied over a decade ago in the Southern Ocean and suggests that the underlying ideas behind the science are sound. Since then, there have been studies that show an algae pack holds a far denser punch energy wise than the plants now used as energy crops. In fact, they produce oils of the kind valued as biodiesel and are a good replacement for mineral oils. Harvesting these little creatures is a bit of a challenge, but can be done more easily in controlled environments.
We have found a company, Planktos Inc., that is "planting" these iron particles across the ocean. It is their idea that by the institution of CO2 credits, through their business model, they will be able to sell off their CO2 credits to other companies that need them to help offset their old or fossilized business models. We find this is a win win for science and business as these fossil fuel manufacturing companies make transitional phases to their plants and processes.
It was shown in a recent conference in Oxford that an area the size of the North Sea could yield enough biodiesel to replace fossil fuels used in transportation today. If science can find ways to harvest these millimeter or less sized CO2 eating beings in an economical way biofuel aquaculture would be as green as you could get.
There is also new fields in geothermal energies that are showing promise. There is a new California Senate Bill #107 that will force California to produce 20% of its power from alternative energy sources by 2010 and to reach 33% by 2020. Geothermal energy needs no land mass to create power plants. It needs no fossil fuels or uranium to generate and distribute its product. Its waste byproduct is steam. Nice.
You see, there are numerous ways for us to power our lives on this planet that require little to no petroleum based products. This will help eliminate our foreign dependence on a very historically unstable political region. These new sciences can bring new jobs and economies of scale that will be likened to those of the early industrial age and the beginnings of the computer age.
There is promise and solutions out there. If we work with these other live beings, we call algae, we can work together to keep our planet healthy and prosperous.
The science that if one were to spread iron filings that float across the oceans, the idea goes, that this process will promote algae growth. The algae forms and attaches itself to the iron filings, just as a sunken ship that eventually grows coral and algae communities around it. Algae then, by concentrated volume absorbs carbon dioxide. The algae does eventually die and will then sink to the bottom of the ocean. This was verified and studied over a decade ago in the Southern Ocean and suggests that the underlying ideas behind the science are sound. Since then, there have been studies that show an algae pack holds a far denser punch energy wise than the plants now used as energy crops. In fact, they produce oils of the kind valued as biodiesel and are a good replacement for mineral oils. Harvesting these little creatures is a bit of a challenge, but can be done more easily in controlled environments.
We have found a company, Planktos Inc., that is "planting" these iron particles across the ocean. It is their idea that by the institution of CO2 credits, through their business model, they will be able to sell off their CO2 credits to other companies that need them to help offset their old or fossilized business models. We find this is a win win for science and business as these fossil fuel manufacturing companies make transitional phases to their plants and processes.
It was shown in a recent conference in Oxford that an area the size of the North Sea could yield enough biodiesel to replace fossil fuels used in transportation today. If science can find ways to harvest these millimeter or less sized CO2 eating beings in an economical way biofuel aquaculture would be as green as you could get.
There is also new fields in geothermal energies that are showing promise. There is a new California Senate Bill #107 that will force California to produce 20% of its power from alternative energy sources by 2010 and to reach 33% by 2020. Geothermal energy needs no land mass to create power plants. It needs no fossil fuels or uranium to generate and distribute its product. Its waste byproduct is steam. Nice.
You see, there are numerous ways for us to power our lives on this planet that require little to no petroleum based products. This will help eliminate our foreign dependence on a very historically unstable political region. These new sciences can bring new jobs and economies of scale that will be likened to those of the early industrial age and the beginnings of the computer age.
There is promise and solutions out there. If we work with these other live beings, we call algae, we can work together to keep our planet healthy and prosperous.
Tuesday, November 20, 2007
Response to comments:
We thank those of you who have commented on our blog. Keep it coming as this is the perfect open forum for public discourse and community discussion.
For you who commented on Nov. 15th -
Global Warming Responsibility
There are green projects currently going in, although our firm has not yet begun the projects that we are to be undertaking. You can stay abreast via our company website at http://www.bdgroupllc.com or our email there, or the Blog will be releasing that information when the time is there.
Michelle from Nov. 16th -
Dog Dogma For Freedom
Only time will tell as to our benefit of another great orator and social leader. Is there faith from those of you out there in someone now that will fill those shoes? We, here, would love to know who.
Anonymous from Oct. 29th -
Dealing in Todays Market - Bay Area
Check back as our blogs deal with numerous areas around the United States. We will do year end or New Year projections and such as well, so stay tuned.
For you who commented on Nov. 15th -
Global Warming Responsibility
There are green projects currently going in, although our firm has not yet begun the projects that we are to be undertaking. You can stay abreast via our company website at http://www.bdgroupllc.com or our email there, or the Blog will be releasing that information when the time is there.
Michelle from Nov. 16th -
Dog Dogma For Freedom
Only time will tell as to our benefit of another great orator and social leader. Is there faith from those of you out there in someone now that will fill those shoes? We, here, would love to know who.
Anonymous from Oct. 29th -
Dealing in Todays Market - Bay Area
Check back as our blogs deal with numerous areas around the United States. We will do year end or New Year projections and such as well, so stay tuned.
Saturday, November 17, 2007
What is right and what is not right...
“The man who, knowing the right, fails to do it, loses the power to know what is right; and the man who, having the power to do right, is unwilling, loses the power to do what he wills.” St. Augustine, De Libero Arbitrio
We have had responses regarding setting a political tone to our Blog. We, our writing staff, don't feel as if we are holding a political tone one way or another to any political party. If there are responses to counter anything we have to say we welcome comments as this is a perfect forum to do just that.
With the St. Augustine quote it should be noted that we stand behind our convictions. As human beings, our views are created through the actions and reactions we receive through the lives and circumstances we encounter. This is what life is about. How we deal with and handle those circumstances and lives we encounter, in relation to the words of St. Augustine, is what we hold true as to our character.
Our firm, Boggs Development Group, has chosen to build Eco-Green efficient homes due to our knowledge of the amount of construction waste in the building business, the typical energetic waste in a less efficient structure, the stress being instilled on our planet due to the energy needs of less efficient buildings, the overall longterm financial gains a more efficient home holds for the homeowner (as well as our society), the quality of health and life the homeowner benefits from by having these better houses, and the fact that there is less overall maintenance, great insurance and tax advantages...do we need to go on?
When we all feel we know that something is the right thing to do, should we, and do we not move forward and do that? By doing what we feel is right the overall benefits will be felt throughout our lives and society in the long run.
If there are opinions that differ, and knowledge that is counter to what we are doing here at Boggs Development Group, we encourage a discourse in order to enlighten us all so that we can all learn from each other and make the world and our lives better and brighter.
With this said, our title for this entry as "what is right and what is not right..." is simply to show that "right" is also a relative term. Obviously there are opposing views to anything. There are some that feel that the human experience is not a participatory factor in the escalating global CO2 problem and some that do, there are some that feel that democracy and capitalism are not the overall socially benefiting means of political and economic policy and some that do, there are some that feel that our drinking water, or mercury levels, or childhood vaccines do not have direct relation to childhood autism and some that do.
This is where the power of freedom of thought in the human experience shines. If we partake in the public discourse and allow people to research, feel and express themselves openly and honestly we, as a society, can reach a higher level of interaction with each other. We will all reach a higher level of knowledge and decision making power.
Education has as one of its fundamental aspects the imparting of culture from generation to generation. Education means 'to draw out', facilitating realization of self-potential and latent talents of an individual. As Mark Twain said "never let school interfere with your education", throughout life we learn and learn again as to what is right and what is not right...
We have had responses regarding setting a political tone to our Blog. We, our writing staff, don't feel as if we are holding a political tone one way or another to any political party. If there are responses to counter anything we have to say we welcome comments as this is a perfect forum to do just that.
With the St. Augustine quote it should be noted that we stand behind our convictions. As human beings, our views are created through the actions and reactions we receive through the lives and circumstances we encounter. This is what life is about. How we deal with and handle those circumstances and lives we encounter, in relation to the words of St. Augustine, is what we hold true as to our character.
Our firm, Boggs Development Group, has chosen to build Eco-Green efficient homes due to our knowledge of the amount of construction waste in the building business, the typical energetic waste in a less efficient structure, the stress being instilled on our planet due to the energy needs of less efficient buildings, the overall longterm financial gains a more efficient home holds for the homeowner (as well as our society), the quality of health and life the homeowner benefits from by having these better houses, and the fact that there is less overall maintenance, great insurance and tax advantages...do we need to go on?
When we all feel we know that something is the right thing to do, should we, and do we not move forward and do that? By doing what we feel is right the overall benefits will be felt throughout our lives and society in the long run.
If there are opinions that differ, and knowledge that is counter to what we are doing here at Boggs Development Group, we encourage a discourse in order to enlighten us all so that we can all learn from each other and make the world and our lives better and brighter.
With this said, our title for this entry as "what is right and what is not right..." is simply to show that "right" is also a relative term. Obviously there are opposing views to anything. There are some that feel that the human experience is not a participatory factor in the escalating global CO2 problem and some that do, there are some that feel that democracy and capitalism are not the overall socially benefiting means of political and economic policy and some that do, there are some that feel that our drinking water, or mercury levels, or childhood vaccines do not have direct relation to childhood autism and some that do.
This is where the power of freedom of thought in the human experience shines. If we partake in the public discourse and allow people to research, feel and express themselves openly and honestly we, as a society, can reach a higher level of interaction with each other. We will all reach a higher level of knowledge and decision making power.
Education has as one of its fundamental aspects the imparting of culture from generation to generation. Education means 'to draw out', facilitating realization of self-potential and latent talents of an individual. As Mark Twain said "never let school interfere with your education", throughout life we learn and learn again as to what is right and what is not right...
Friday, November 16, 2007
Dog Dogma for freedom!
Philosopher, Simone Weil said that,"the idea of the dignity of labor is the only idea we have not borrowed from the ancient Greeks. But it is from such an idea that we can begin again to construct a notion of the labor of being and of a new form of participation."
Is Being found in labor? Is participation found in labor? Perhaps this is a modern and more civilized process of mass manipulation. As our societies of today strive to be "free" and "democratic" in nature, we also find that over time in this new revolution our "freedom" is quietly taken away through the manipulation of the trust of economic intrinsic value. Our trust that our participation is working towards a better future or reality for us as a participant. As our elected officials help to evolve our global economic strategies we find that our measured quality of life is reduced over time creating a necessity of labor, rather than the desire of it, for participation. This necessity rather than desire helps to slowly dissolve the inherent dignity Weil refers to. There is no such thing as a free lunch! The fact that the Greeks held labor for the slaves and not as a desired wish of the commoner is no different today than it was then. Only today we are, much of the time, able to choose how we wish to spend our labor hours slaving for our participatory cause. We are still slaves to the economic system to which has devalued itself over time, thus devaluing our participation in our modern society. This is where the "haves and have yachts" comes into effect.
Caryl Johnson's most recent blog entry, found at Mind Body Politic stated that "it is only the sheer weight of the so-called masses that provides the countervailing force against the giddy spin of this occult transgression of the mental elites. Whether the masses will in time gain the ability to think, and I mean along the lines that I am suggesting – thinking accompanied with thanking and ‘thinging’ — a new whole and fully participated thinking – on that the future of the world depends."
Well said. It is the mis and dis-information on a mass global scale, from the have yachts, that has left a paralysis to our conscious selves. It seems that the masses have lost the belief in themselves, and placed it into the elites. These same elites that slowly erode our quality of life we all strive so diligently to create.
Ghandi marched with quiet cause to show the masses that the masses do have force without the use of force. Martin Luther King marched to show the masses that the masses do have mass without the use of force. It starts with a dream. We can show the world there is mass participation in the common thread of desire for, what Caryl says as thinking, thanking and 'thinging'. It is apparent today that what is needed is the true belief that it all begins with a dream. Have we collectively stopped dreaming? First we must imagine it for it to be able to begin. Our have yachts know this, and successfully attain this continually. Yet through the combined manipulation of the distribution of fear and mis and dis-information their strangle hold helps keep their dream intact.
We must all realize that this existence, our own individual existence, is a reality of a dream of unlimited possibilities. We must believe in this before it is to be for us as individual participants. By participation in our own personal development of thought, and not that of dogma and the structured masses of Sunday Mass, or the daily dogma of social mass through the press, etc. will we become free to be a true participant in this cosmic twist called life.
Is Being found in labor? Is participation found in labor? Perhaps this is a modern and more civilized process of mass manipulation. As our societies of today strive to be "free" and "democratic" in nature, we also find that over time in this new revolution our "freedom" is quietly taken away through the manipulation of the trust of economic intrinsic value. Our trust that our participation is working towards a better future or reality for us as a participant. As our elected officials help to evolve our global economic strategies we find that our measured quality of life is reduced over time creating a necessity of labor, rather than the desire of it, for participation. This necessity rather than desire helps to slowly dissolve the inherent dignity Weil refers to. There is no such thing as a free lunch! The fact that the Greeks held labor for the slaves and not as a desired wish of the commoner is no different today than it was then. Only today we are, much of the time, able to choose how we wish to spend our labor hours slaving for our participatory cause. We are still slaves to the economic system to which has devalued itself over time, thus devaluing our participation in our modern society. This is where the "haves and have yachts" comes into effect.
Caryl Johnson's most recent blog entry, found at Mind Body Politic stated that "it is only the sheer weight of the so-called masses that provides the countervailing force against the giddy spin of this occult transgression of the mental elites. Whether the masses will in time gain the ability to think, and I mean along the lines that I am suggesting – thinking accompanied with thanking and ‘thinging’ — a new whole and fully participated thinking – on that the future of the world depends."
Well said. It is the mis and dis-information on a mass global scale, from the have yachts, that has left a paralysis to our conscious selves. It seems that the masses have lost the belief in themselves, and placed it into the elites. These same elites that slowly erode our quality of life we all strive so diligently to create.
Ghandi marched with quiet cause to show the masses that the masses do have force without the use of force. Martin Luther King marched to show the masses that the masses do have mass without the use of force. It starts with a dream. We can show the world there is mass participation in the common thread of desire for, what Caryl says as thinking, thanking and 'thinging'. It is apparent today that what is needed is the true belief that it all begins with a dream. Have we collectively stopped dreaming? First we must imagine it for it to be able to begin. Our have yachts know this, and successfully attain this continually. Yet through the combined manipulation of the distribution of fear and mis and dis-information their strangle hold helps keep their dream intact.
We must all realize that this existence, our own individual existence, is a reality of a dream of unlimited possibilities. We must believe in this before it is to be for us as individual participants. By participation in our own personal development of thought, and not that of dogma and the structured masses of Sunday Mass, or the daily dogma of social mass through the press, etc. will we become free to be a true participant in this cosmic twist called life.
Thursday, November 15, 2007
Global warming responsibility
We are in a very delicate time for our planet. It has become a consensus of common knowledge that there is a global problem with CO2 emissions, and global warming. There are a variety of issues pertaining to this and not simply Big Oil. I do agree that Big Oil is a large player in this situation and must take responsibility for their part as well as their future part in this challenge. Although, we all must take individual responsibility for our own lives and how we use and abuse power and its waste. This problem we face, is a global problem. We, in the industrialized countries, must hold ourselves accountable before we continue to point to everyone else as the culprits, or to try to teach or tell the rising economies of China or India how to live. We each must help set an example for the world to learn by.
We must learn to live life differently and drive less, buy more local and organic farm products, plant trees through organizations to help offset our carbon footprints, drive more efficient and/or alternative fueled vehicles, build and remodel better and more efficient housing.
Housing is the largest end user global green house emitter. Between the building industry and the efficiency of housing we must keep in mind that with a growing planet population that continually needs more housing it is our responsibility to build and remodel housing to help eliminate the overall carbon footprint of the building industry on through to the home consumption and waste of energy.
We must learn to live life differently and drive less, buy more local and organic farm products, plant trees through organizations to help offset our carbon footprints, drive more efficient and/or alternative fueled vehicles, build and remodel better and more efficient housing.
Housing is the largest end user global green house emitter. Between the building industry and the efficiency of housing we must keep in mind that with a growing planet population that continually needs more housing it is our responsibility to build and remodel housing to help eliminate the overall carbon footprint of the building industry on through to the home consumption and waste of energy.
Saturday, November 10, 2007
Have and have Yachts!
Through the last six years our country has gone down a very dangerous financial path. (Actually, longer, but for ease let's just start there.) That of financial demise and a massive spreading of the distance between the "have's and have yachts"!
As a society we are certainly not poor by any global means, however, the earning capacity of the dollar for the hourly worker of today, based on inflation, is close to that of the early 1970's, but were in 2007! There has been no increase in living wage? This also means that the spending potential, based on inflation is reduced as well. Through the high cost of living, education, gasoline pricing, along with reduced benefits for working adults there seems to be a reduction in our quality of life. Can that really be maintained while we are continually wanting to purchase the lowest priced products from emerging global markets while keeping the people of our country employed? Can this happen?
If you believe in a world of plenty and not scarcity you will find your answer.
Previously, through the Clinton Administration, our feelings of prosperity were everywhere. That is not to say that we did not go further into debt as a country. We did get a budget balanced, however, we maintained a level of debt and continue to do so. (Only today it is much worse.) Due to this mis-information to our public by our government this was a time of celebration as tens of millions of people saw their savings and retirement plans reach plateaus they never thought possible before. Perhaps much of this came from the belief of abundance vs. scarcity.
Prior to the advent of the internet, in the late 80's early 90's, there was only a mere 10% of people that even had a stock holding portfolio. With the internet and online stock trading and investment information, various investment derivatives, mutual funds, and a high flying boom of IPO's and corporate spending throughout the 90's to today we have now been spoiled and left ill prepared.
Ill prepared by which I mean that we have never had an administration teach our country how to save. We have had, and continue to have, administrations that put programs together to aid in the proliferation of economic stagnation rather that education to teach the majority of our next generation the benefits of global economics and prosperity for all. In our basic public education system we don't even teach our children how to balance a checkbook, let alone, the basic principles of finance. It is suggested that the average person in our society is better left to work and trust the "experts" in how to spend or invest their money. yet, it is easier to make money in the stock market by throwing darts at the Wall Street Journal for stock, mutual fund, option, hedge fund, etc. picks than to listen to the experts.
If you believe in a world of plenty and not scarcity you will find your answer. Through this belief system one is able to see that it is not necessary to conduct a war to transact business, but that war is a business that is transacted. This distinction is primary to come to terms with our never ending defense budget spending. If you believe in a world of plenty and not scarcity you will find that answers lie in questions and not statements to countries. Understanding what the needs are of the other global participants rather than attempting to control the global masses. There is a common thread to all that reside on this planet despite all of our differences. That is that we all reside on this planet. With no other option, and our current means of survival is just that, survival, it is best to change our thinking. The time has come for a revolution of thought and not power.
Some say that if we were to stop spending only one of our years budget on defense in America we would be able to rebuild our schools, cure numerous diseases, revamp our elderly assistance programs, and develop new technologies for power. We would still have enough defense technology to destroy the earth over 1000 times. We would still have the largest fleet of air, water, and land technology to maintain the planet's police state. However, this one year would change the world by we could become the world leader in alternative fuels. Thereby infusing the development of alternative energies and technologies that could be packaged and distributed throughout the world. By maintaining and taking care of our people in our own country would allow us a greater opportunity to help others. I could go on, and will...
If you believe in a world of plenty and not scarcity you will find your answer.
As a society we are certainly not poor by any global means, however, the earning capacity of the dollar for the hourly worker of today, based on inflation, is close to that of the early 1970's, but were in 2007! There has been no increase in living wage? This also means that the spending potential, based on inflation is reduced as well. Through the high cost of living, education, gasoline pricing, along with reduced benefits for working adults there seems to be a reduction in our quality of life. Can that really be maintained while we are continually wanting to purchase the lowest priced products from emerging global markets while keeping the people of our country employed? Can this happen?
If you believe in a world of plenty and not scarcity you will find your answer.
Previously, through the Clinton Administration, our feelings of prosperity were everywhere. That is not to say that we did not go further into debt as a country. We did get a budget balanced, however, we maintained a level of debt and continue to do so. (Only today it is much worse.) Due to this mis-information to our public by our government this was a time of celebration as tens of millions of people saw their savings and retirement plans reach plateaus they never thought possible before. Perhaps much of this came from the belief of abundance vs. scarcity.
Prior to the advent of the internet, in the late 80's early 90's, there was only a mere 10% of people that even had a stock holding portfolio. With the internet and online stock trading and investment information, various investment derivatives, mutual funds, and a high flying boom of IPO's and corporate spending throughout the 90's to today we have now been spoiled and left ill prepared.
Ill prepared by which I mean that we have never had an administration teach our country how to save. We have had, and continue to have, administrations that put programs together to aid in the proliferation of economic stagnation rather that education to teach the majority of our next generation the benefits of global economics and prosperity for all. In our basic public education system we don't even teach our children how to balance a checkbook, let alone, the basic principles of finance. It is suggested that the average person in our society is better left to work and trust the "experts" in how to spend or invest their money. yet, it is easier to make money in the stock market by throwing darts at the Wall Street Journal for stock, mutual fund, option, hedge fund, etc. picks than to listen to the experts.
If you believe in a world of plenty and not scarcity you will find your answer. Through this belief system one is able to see that it is not necessary to conduct a war to transact business, but that war is a business that is transacted. This distinction is primary to come to terms with our never ending defense budget spending. If you believe in a world of plenty and not scarcity you will find that answers lie in questions and not statements to countries. Understanding what the needs are of the other global participants rather than attempting to control the global masses. There is a common thread to all that reside on this planet despite all of our differences. That is that we all reside on this planet. With no other option, and our current means of survival is just that, survival, it is best to change our thinking. The time has come for a revolution of thought and not power.
Some say that if we were to stop spending only one of our years budget on defense in America we would be able to rebuild our schools, cure numerous diseases, revamp our elderly assistance programs, and develop new technologies for power. We would still have enough defense technology to destroy the earth over 1000 times. We would still have the largest fleet of air, water, and land technology to maintain the planet's police state. However, this one year would change the world by we could become the world leader in alternative fuels. Thereby infusing the development of alternative energies and technologies that could be packaged and distributed throughout the world. By maintaining and taking care of our people in our own country would allow us a greater opportunity to help others. I could go on, and will...
If you believe in a world of plenty and not scarcity you will find your answer.
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