Green Living Homes That You Create

September 23, 2010 | By In living green | Comments(0)

In today’s marketplace, Green Living Homes have taken on a different connotation and seem to inspire different emotions as well. In these economic times, it seems that you can’t do Green Living Homes without some sort of a major overhaul of your home , or so it seems. When a new administration enters the White House, somebody or some group seems to think they may have a voice. In America, the Green lovers are of the mindset that the next President will be so for them.

Granted, I am not coming at you from an environmentalist mindset. In fact, nothing could be further from the truth. I am of the mindset that a lot of the Green thinking borders on the “Guilt” aspect that characterizes you as bad if you aren’t Green for some reason.

Quite honestly, the Green movement can be a bit radical in its propagation of their overall message and, from a design standpoint, the lens that I often gage things, the materials have not been there to justify a Green Living Home. That has begun to change with some great new design materials that has started to spark the interest of the design community, and, more importantly, become more reasonable from a price standpoint.

Now, here are some things you can do to be more Green just by making changes in the things you do everyday and in future design changes that you may be making in your home.

First, if you are about to do an Interior Design change, look at your electrical systems. There can be a tremendous waste in your electrical output systems. Even if you are not doing Interior Design changes , walk around your home and see it there are ways you can reduce some of you electrical waste. If you just did some minor changes in the way you used your electricity by making sure appliances are turned off when not in use, etc, you could probably realize a 6% to 20 % difference in you bill each month a recent study showed.

From a Design standpoint, it goes without saying to spend the extra money for the energy efficient appliances. An option that is not as difficult to do these days, but still needs to be thoughtfully considered.

There are some simple changes from a lighting standpoint by changing out some of the bulbs that are claiming to be more efficient. I am not talking about going crazy and just start changing them out, but when you need to make a change, do so then.

Also look at you filters in heating and air conditioning units. My Dad was a heating and air guy for years and was always shocked as to how people just wouldn’t take the time to change the filters which would cause countless dollars in repair bills yearly. There are some pretty decent filtration systems, but are still a little pricey compared to regular ole filters.

Finally, from a Kitchen Design standpoint, Bamboo and cork flooring should be considered in Interior Design, as they are dynamic looking. Kitchen cabinets can also be redone with similar alternatives to wood which can like just like exotic woods.

There are some great looking Metal and Stone alternatives which are also good for Kitchen counters and cabinets and a great product, IceStone, one brand of recycled glass used to create countertops for kitchens and bathrooms that generally ranges between $100 and $150 a square foot.

The point is that there is finally coming into the market place a great plethora of products that are Green focused to design and live in your Green house. With the changes you can make from a Design standpoint and just the changes you do by walking around the house, you can be Green. Just don’t let it be out of guilt.

It’s kind of like when I used to eat Twinkies that I loved so much and said that sooner or later there would be a low-fat version, and I was right.

Its the same with going Green. They’ll catch up.

DA Southern is a designer who learned the ropes as a set designer for theatrical productions and has taken what he has learned into all of his Interior Designs. As a designer from a more theatrical view, he sees how to build and Design with more of a creative eye towards trends that can save homeowners money. With more of a modern approach to design, DA blogs about design and the trends in the Design community from a Modern appeal. Green Design has become more of a focus and DA feels that Green and Modern Design can coexist in the modern era. Catch his blog at design.itsyourshowitsyourlife.com and see what trends seem to be moving the Design community.
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Global Warming: A Ghastly Proposal

June 30, 2010 | By In Global Warming | Comments(0)

This business about global warming is actually starting to look like a nightmare for humanity. It’s becoming more a ghastly proposal, not an “inconvenient truth.”
Global warming is occurring at even a more accelerated pace than what was originally predicted, many who are expert sources on this issue posit. Most are still a bit skeptical of the Global Warming issue. It’s commonplace for the press- listening and reading public to be cynical and even critical today. It’s not only that opposing views of any issue are part of the mainstream “Op-Ed” consciousness; it’s just good business and idea salesmanship to keep everything murky, dusty and convoluted.

The news – especially science news – is so hazy and muddled with political and religious sources traditionally centered in spin, connotation, even stigma that trying to believe in anything today is very hard. In a society that cannot decide if a little white wine each day can cure cancer or lead to alcoholism, finding a Gregorian “middle ground” is tough.

And because science is always based in theory, it’s even more confusing to sort out good theory from bad; and just the way scientific theory is designed and argued, nothing is really set in stone and is not fact, per se, rather, scientific theory is just what its name implies — it is theory. Considering much of the fingerprint and harbinger evidences surrounding global warming, however; this theory becomes more denotatively arguable and convincing with each new day.

Most people stay convicted to their beliefs even long after their beliefs have been denigrated or sometimes even proven totally false. In the case of global warming, ever increasing scientific theory is an ongoing constant, though, and this leads to a very unsettling future forecast for Mother Earth, the human race and really, most types of species that reside here. Validation surrounding the global warming theory is so stacked it’s alarming.

One such truth: The rapid buildup of killer carbon dioxide in large lakes like Nyos in Africa (which saw an explosion kill about 1,700 people) creates stern consternation by those who are even slightly to the side of “green.” If it happened to Lake Nyos, what’s in store for Lake Superior, Erie, Huron or the “thousand lakes of Wisconsin, Minnesota, Missouri or Finland? What’s in it for Loch Ness in Scotland? How’s about the Mississippi and Nile rivers? Can we include about every body of water here if our waters continue heating? Carbon dioxide buildup in large lakes is not the stuff impossible fictions are made of – this is a stark reality – and global warming is the root of the problem, scientists argue.

Just to reiterate and try to ring the alarm a bit louder: It’s an enigma why people aren’t up in arms about this – and if the implications behind global warming are true, it might indeed be the biggest crisis humankind has ever faced.

Scientists say the dinosaurs went extinct due to climate changes brought on by a comet hitting the earth 65 million years ago. The estimated 6-mile-wide comet slammed into the Mexican Yucatan Peninsula region “leaving a hole 112 miles wide. It wiped out the dinosaurs and more than 75 percent of the species on the planet, throwing up a cloud of dust that blocked the sun for months, killing off plants at the base of the food chain and causing ecosystems to collapse worldwide; it was a global environmental catastrophe”.

Are we going to go extinct because of our factories’ creation of plastic ornaments on lawns? Is the Earth heading for a quick demise because SUVs and trucks are two of the planets biggest polluters? Tables, chairs and houses are taking the place of rain forests; and through the rapid buildup of developing nations’ industrial revolutions, our world has been kidnapped – and there’s little that can be done to stop global warming – many who are very familiar with this issue contend.

Even the most drastic actions – which entail a global greening in very strict, drastic and complete uniformity – may not be enough to fend off the inevitable greenhouse effect that is predicted.
As things continue to unfold concerning global warming, however, a lot of us are seeing that all this fretting over the world’s environment isn’t a political trick or a smoke and mirrors routine. No. Our atmosphere is becoming more like a microwave and we’re rotating around on the big dish inside.

I’d really like to see proof to the contrary but everything coming out lately points to making valid the global warming theory. To be honest, I’m getting quite upset over the spicy forecasting that’s being done these days. With the threat of the equatorial waters getting about as hot as a chili pepper over time, what’s there to even plan in the mid-century we’re living within?

The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change has found that this warming is due to anthropogenic factors (mankind is cooking things up here). The Intergovernmental Panel’s Fourth Assessment Report, completed in 2007, found that even if temperatures stabilize, the world is expected to heat up during most of this millennium. The sea level has risen 4 to 10 inches (10-25 cm) on a global scale over the past 100 years. “With additional warming, sea level is projected to rise from half a foot to 3 feet (15-92 cm) more during the next 100 years.

On average, 50 to 100 feet (15-30 meters) of beach are lost for every foot (0.3 meters) of sea-level rise. Local land subsidence (sinking) and/or uplift due to geologic forces and coastal development will also affect the rate of coastal land loss. There seems to be a lack of real, viable solutions for keeping Mother Earth blue and green and not gray and black.

James Nash is a climate scientist with Greatest Planet (www.greatestplanet.org). Greatest Planet is a non-profit environmental organization specialising in carbon offset investments.

James Nash is solely responsible for the contents of this article.
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