Winston Salem’s Hanesbrands recognized for green programs!

Hanesbrands

Congratulations to our very on Winston Salem Hanesbrands for being green.

Hanesbrands has been named the Energy Star 2010 Partner Agency of the Year by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency in recognition of its energy conservation programs.

Beyond that, Hanesbrands announced new goals to increase it’s use of renewable energy and reduce its emissions.

I’m impressed that Hanesbrands has been tracking its carbon footprint since 2007.  Goals for reductions in energy use, carbon emissions and water use by 2012 are to:

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Happy Earth Day Month!

Earth & Home

I’m green and I’m proud of it.

I don’t use plastic bags; nope, won’t do it.  I carry my own little fold up bags in my purse and my car.  Please read  “No More Plastic Bags”!

Last year for Earth Day, I bought a spring water cooler for our office and outlawed disposable cups in the office.  Everyone now has their own reusable drinking cup.  Saving the planet, one paper cup at a time!

This year, Earth Day is Thursday, April 22.  Take time, right now, to think about what you’re going to do for the planet on April 22 that you’re not already doing.  What behavior can you change that day that will make a difference for Mother Earth forever?

Remember, Mother Earth is where all this real estate stuff takes place.  Let’s make sure we do everything in our own, individual power to protect her.

And, please, let me know what you did.  Thank you and, Congratulations to us all!

Needed: An Energy Miracle

When you have 27 minutes and 49 seconds, please listen to this TED talk by Bill Gates, the second richest man on the planet. :) Bill tells you his one wish for our world for the next 50 years.

He’s working on a miracle to solve our energy issues – you know, a miracle, like the microprocessor or the internet. Another possible miracle. As with everything he’s involved in, fascinating. And important. And our need has a deadline. 40 years.

Have you heard of Terrapower? If we don’t save Mother Earth, the rest is unimportant.

TED talks, ideas worth spreading.

A molecule of uranium has a million times more energy than a molecule of coal.

Earth Days may have Shortened due to Chilean Quake

Earth

Can you imagine? According to Nasa, the Feb. 27 magnitude 8.8 earthquake in Chile may have shortened the length of each Earth day.

Not only that, but perhaps even more impressive is that the quake actually shifted the Earth’s axis and, relatively speaking, by quite a bit!

Why did this quake have such a global effect when most quakes don’t? A number of things worked together. First of all, it was a very large quake that lasted for a very long time. Next, this quake was located very near the center of the earth making it “easier” to shift the axis. And, finally, the quake was very deep.

Read more about this phenomenon at the Nasa news topics site.

Free Energy Audit for your home

Free Energy Audit

Did you know you can get a free energy audit for your home? Have you had yours yet?

I had mine today. Fabulous experience and.. free gifts!

Duke Energy will come to your home and do a FREE energy audit. Just call Duke Energy to schedule your appointment. I had to wait almost 3 months for mine but it’s no big deal to wait, right?

My audit took less than an hour. The inspector started by sitting at his laptop where my account was already pulled up. He knew my energy usage history. Then he asked questions about our energy needs and habits such as how many people live in the home, what temperature we keep the thermostat in the winter (68*) and what temperature in the summer (74*), do we wash in cold, warm or hot water. (cold)

Then he made a tour of the property beginning in the attic crawl space where he looked at insulation and duct work. He checked the hot water heater for age and efficiency, checked windows, fireplace openings, heat ducts, vents and insulation in the attic as well as under the house. He checked the heating unit for age and efficiency.

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Turning Wine to Water

wine to water

I voted for Doc Hendley for CNN’s top hero. He is a local boy, graduating in 1997 from Ragsdale High School here in North Carolina, and he’s truly making a difference in the world.

Doc is working to bring clean drinking water to more than 26,000 people in countries like Cambodia and Sudan and Peru. He’s built wells in 6 countries already and started the non-profit group Wine to Water.

This group builds wells and trains people to build and fix wells and to install special bio-filters that can clean water.

The winner of the CNN contest receives $100,000 for his or her program. You can vote as many times as you like.  The winner will be announced Thanksgiving night.

My passion is clean water for the world. What’s yours? What are you doing about it? Click on the link above and check out the extraordinary people CNN has found, everyday people like you and me, doing things that really matter. Vote for your favorite and do something today to make a difference in your world.

Wine to Water

World Statistics in Real Time

Mother Earth

This is absolutely amazing. Check out these up-to-the-minute statistics. World-O-Meter

1 in 6 People Don’t Have Access to Clean Drinking Water

How can you help?

Check out Charity Water.

Plastic Bottles Banned in North Carolina

slider-bottle-4

Really? That actually might be a good thing but, no, not quite. Plastic bottles are however, as of October 1, 2009, banned from landfills in the state.

What’s being banned? All rigid plastic containers. This includes any bottles with a neck smaller than the container itself.

The goal of the ban is to keep our 288 million pounds per year of soda containers, milk jugs and detergent bottles out of the landfills and into recycle centers. Another goal? The creation of jobs. We already have companies that recycle plastics such as Envision Plastics & Plastic Revolutions here in Reidsville.

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Green tips – Water Conservation

Water Drop
photo from Randy son of Robert

About 75% of the earth is covered by water but less than 1% is available for us to use. The rest is mostly salt water.

Nationwide, our water resources and supplies are stressed, to put it mildly.  Between 1950 and 2000, the U.S. population nearly doubled.   In that same period, public demand for water more than tripled!  Each American now uses an average of 100 gallons of water each day.

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