Empty your mailbox

I was surfing one of my favorite sites (www.nrdc.org) and stumbled upon something incredibly useful. You see, my mailbox has fallen victim to all of the mass marketing gorillas out there.  Barneys, Gucci, Costco, Bloomingdales, Burberry….you get the picture….and the site gave me a simple step to cut down on the catalog clutter. What’s astounding to me is that each year, over 19 billion catalogs are mailed and over 52 million trees are cut down to make these catalogs. There are more far reaching effects than just this.  Go to www.catalogchoice.org and select what you wish to receive, and what you wish to have removed. The whole process took me less than five minutes. It feels good to have a little control over what is being sent to me.

I am starting to see more people consciously aware of environmental issues worldwide. There are more hybrid cars on the road, and the stores I shop at have “environmentally friendly” products widely displayed. How does this translate into the way we buy and live inside our homes? Marketing companies and developers are starting to advertise the fact that their buildings may be “green” or LEED certified. I believe that this trend will grow. As technology evolves, green living will become more efficient and become both environmentally and economically preferable. But, there are shades of green and it is not simply black or white. I was fortunate to sit down with Ashok Gupta who is Senior Energy Economist with the Natural Resources Defense Council. He is actively involved in all aspects of green buildings on a daily basis and is incredibly insightful on this subject.

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