Green Recovery

Our economy is in trouble. Falling home prices, foreclosures, bank failures, a weaker dollar, rising prices for gas, food, and steel, and layoffs in banking, construction, and manufacturing sectors are all indicators of serious economic strain—following a long period in which the middle class went nowhere even while the economy grew as a whole. What’s more, evidence suggests the current downturn will continue for at least another year.

At the same time, we face a growing climate crisis that will require us to rapidly invest in new energy infrastructure, cleaner sources of power, and more efficient use of electricity and fuels in order to cut global warming pollution. There is much work to be done in building smart solutions at a scale and speed that is bold enough to meet this gathering challenge.

It is time for a new vision for the economic revitalization of the nation and a restoration of American leadership in the world. We must seize this precious opportunity to mobilize the country and the international community toward a brighter, more prosperous future. At the heart of this opportunity is clean energy, remaking the vast energy systems that power the nation and the world. We must fundamentally change the way we produce and consume energy and dramatically reduce our dependence on oil. The economic opportunities provided by such a transformation are vast, not to mention the national security benefits of reducing oil dependence and the pressing need to fight global warming. The time for action is now.

Today, the Center for American Progress releases a new report by Dr. Robert Pollin and University of Massachusetts Political Economy Research Institute economists. This report demonstrates how a new Green Recovery program that spends $100 billion over two years would create 2 million new jobs, with a significant proportion in the struggling construction and manufacturing sectors. It is clear from this research that a strategy to invest in the greening of our economy will create more jobs, and better jobs, compared to continuing to pursue a path of inaction marked by rising dependence on energy imports alongside billowing pollution.

The $100 billion fiscal expansion that we examined in this study provides the infrastructure to jumpstart a comprehensive clean energy transformation for our nation, such as the strategy described in CAP’s 2007 report, “Capturing the Energy Opportunity: Creating a Low-Carbon Economy.” This paper shows the impact of a swift initial investment in climate solutions that would direct funding toward six energy efficiency and renewable energy strategies:

• Retrofitting buildings to increase energy efficiency
• Expanding mass transit and freight rail
• Constructing “smart” electrical grid transmission systems
• Wind power
• Solar power
• Advanced biofuels

This green recovery and infrastructure investment program would:

• Create 2 million new jobs nationwide over two years
• Create nearly four times more jobs than spending the same amount of money within the oil industry and 300,000 more jobs than a similar amount of spending directed toward household consumption.
• Create roughly triple the number of good jobs—paying at least $16 dollars an hour—as spending the same amount of money within the oil industry.
• Reduce the unemployment rate to 4.4 percent from 5.7 percent (calculated within the framework of U.S. labor market conditions in July 2008).
• Bolster employment especially in construction and manufacturing. Construction employment has fallen from 8 million to 7.2 million over the past two years due to the housing bubble collapse. The Green Recovery program can, at the least, bring back these lost 800,000 construction jobs.
• Provide opportunities to rebuild career ladders through training and workforce development that if properly implemented can provide pathways out of poverty to those who need jobs most. (Because green investment not only creates more good jobs with higher wages, but more jobs overall, distributed broadly across the economy, this program can bring more people into good jobs over time.)
• Help lower oil prices. Moderating domestic energy demand will have greater price effects than modest new domestic supply increases.
• Begin the reconstruction of local communities and public infrastructure all across America, setting us on a course for a long-term transition to a low-carbon economy that increases our energy independence and helps fight global warming. Currently, about 22 percent of total household expenditures go to imports. With a green infrastructure investment program, only about 9 percent of purchases flow to imports since so much of the investment is rooted in communities and the built environment, keeping more of the resources within the domestic economy.

Our report looked at investments that were funded through an increase in near-term government spending, which could ultimately be repaid by future carbon cap-and-trade revenues. These sources of new investment included the following funding mechanisms:

• $50 billion for tax credits. This would assist private businesses and homeowners to finance both commercial and residential building retrofits, as well as investments in renewable energy systems.
• $46 billion in direct government spending. This would support public building retrofits, the expansion of mass transit, freight rail, smart electrical grid systems, and new investments in renewable energy
• $4 billion for federal loan guarantees. This would underwrite private credit that would be extended to finance building retrofits and investments in renewable energy.

A comprehensive clean energy agenda is essential to the future of our country. The green recovery and infrastructure investment described here is doable in the early days of a new administration. It would enable our country to take significant steps, through energy efficiency and renewable energy development, to move toward a low-carbon economy, while Congress and the next administration move toward the swiftest possible implementation of an economy-wide greenhouse gas cap-and-trade program.

The next president and lawmakers can pledge to repay the Treasury the cost of the green infrastructure recovery program from cap-and-trade auction revenue. The plan increases public spending in the short term when a near-recession economy needs greater impetus to growth; but it remains consistent with fiscally responsible long-term plan to reduce the debt as a share of GDP, after the economy recovers.

My colleagues and I at CAP look forward to continuing to work on our shared mission to reap all of the benefits provided by the transition to a low-carbon economy and look forward to discussing this work in greater detail.

LIFE IN GREEN

Green Holidays

There are plenty of ways to be green friendly and environmentally aware during the holiday season--ANY holiday season!

For starters, cutting down the amount of plastic you purchase is an excellent choice. Carving a real pumpkin is much better than the plastic versions sold in stores around Halloween, and recycling those scary decorations you already own is also an option.

For birthdays, a gift bag is a smaller use of paper than buying a roll of gift-wrap, and far easier to deal with. For winter holidays, fake trees may seem like a green alternative to a real tree, but plastic trees mean petroleum-based materials. Eventually, even the fake holiday trees will end up in a landfill somewhere. It's better to explore living tree options or even consider doing without the tree in favor of a special place in the home where gifts can be put on display before the great unwrapping.

When it comes to the unwrapping, most people consider it impractical to try and save the paper, but any ribbon used to wrap those gifts could definitely be used again. When dealing with the discarded wrapping paper, one alternative to throwing it all away is to save it for a do-it-yourself papermaking project, which can be great fun for kids and adults alike

Going Green With Cleaners

Many people fret over the amount of chemicals in their kitchens. Commercial kitchen cleaners often have caustic chemicals, fumes, and are generally unpleasant in spite of a lemon-fresh or "cool breeze" scent. The scents themselves are a source of irritation for many allergy sufferers who can't stand the perfumes. The solution?

Ordinary household vinegar mixed with varying degrees of water. Vinegar is a natural disinfectant, and cuts through caked on residues like ketchup, mustard and salad dressing. You can clean the entire fridge with vinegar, including the rubber seals.

There are some things to remember about cleaning with vinegar: Never mix it with ammonia or bleach-the fumes created by such a mixture are toxic. Do not mix vinegar with dish soap, which contains ammonia. Use white vinegar for your cleaning needs-including the bathroom, where vinegar is quite effective in cutting through bar soap residue and lime deposits.

Green living is not just better for the environment; it can also be quite cost effective. Compare a single bottle of vinegar with the cost of the same amount of cleaning solutions for both your bathroom and kitchen and see how the savings add up.

Getting Started On Greener Living

Your start down the green living path means reducing waste, reusing what you can, and recycling wherever possible. The first step could include a more mindful use of everyday objects we throw away without thinking, such as plastic shopping bags. Green-minded people will reuse these bags for diaper disposal, and as alternative trash bags.

The advantage to using a shopping bag for trash is twofold; it saves you money on garbage bag purchases, and it makes you much more aware of how much waste you are creating in a given week. You will also find yourself sorting out the recyclable materials from the trash--glass containers, plastic bottles and the like--because they become too much for the smaller bags. Your green living home recycling program just got a jump-start, all because you saved money on larger, more wasteful garbage bags

Green Alternatives In Entertainment

Many people want to reduce the amounts of paper, plastic, and related packaging waste found in everyday purchases. Not so many take a very hard look at the kinds of waste generated by everyday purchases.

How much plastic goes in to each and every compact disc sold at your local music store? Digital music download sites, while not advertised as such, are excellent green alternatives to CD purchases. The extra benefits of digital downloads include the elimination of the need for plastic CD cases as well as the plastic wrapper that goes around it. Another green alternative?

Canceling your newspaper subscription and getting your news online, and from the source. Most newspapers use Associated Press news wire reports for their national news, and your local issues can be found at the websites for your local TV stations. How much paper and ink goes into your Sunday supplement alone? Getting your news online saves trees and landfill space.

Yet another not-so-obvious green alternative related to entertainment? Beer on tap. Nobody thinks to market draft beer as an environmentally friendly commodity, but serving beer from the tap eliminates not only the need for glass bottles and wasteful cardboard packaging, it is often better tasting and less expensive depending on the time of day and the brand you buy. By switching to "draft-only" you vote with your dollar, and enjoy a much better brew

Using Homemade Remedies

There are many problems and tasks that can be solved by using home remedies or other natural solutions. Avoid environmental issues by skipping harsh chemicals in detergent and other cleaners, and make your yard a safer place by using natural pest remedies. Make your own cleaners. Rather than buying cleaners, detergents, and other products with harsh chemicals, make your own with simple ingredients you have lying around the house.

For example, combine baking soda and vinegar, and flush with boiling water, for an effective drain cleaner; use lemon juice to remove mildew; and use corn starch to deodorize carpet. Get rid of outdoor pests naturally. You don't have to use harsh pesticides in your garden to get rid of outdoor pests.

Try companion planting, which combines plants that attract pests (like roses) with plants that pests avoid (like chives). Or, hand-pick pests off your plants – it's time consuming, but definitely a good way to get rid of aphids and Japanese beetles. You can also apply garlic juice or blended hot peppers to your plants to deter pests. Rid your home of unwanted visitors naturally, too. You don't have to spray, buy ant traps, or apply other chemicals to get rid of indoor bugs, either. To get rid of ants naturally, squeeze a lemon at their point of entry and leave the peel. Use flypaper if you are plagued with flies, or even make your own with honey and yellow paper. And don't kill spiders at all (unless your house is infested), as they will help get rid of other pests.

Green Workout

1. Use your muscles en route. Instead of driving to the gym, walk (or jog or bike) there. If it’s too far, drive just part of the way and complete the journey under your own power. Improve your fitness by parking farther and farther away each time.

2. Bring your own bottle and fill it at the tap.

3. Share your soles. Recycle your used athletic shoes, or donate them to a clothing drive. Nike’s Reuse-A-Shoe program turns old shoes into new courts.

4. Take short showers. Just because it’s not your water bill doesn’t mean it’s not our water.

5. Speak up. Encourage your gym’s management to take measures to reduce waste, such as turning off lights in vacant rooms, shutting off the sauna/steam room/hot tub at night, minimizing use of the heater and air conditioner, and installing recycling bins

Green Office Tips

1. Turn off unnecessary lights, especially in unused offices and conference rooms. Turn down other lighting levels wherever possible.

2. Use a desk caddy to save envelopes, rubber bands, and paper clips for reuse.

3. Not only recycle the paper from your printer, but recycle your newspapers and boxes too.

4. Be more eco-efficient. Use a mug or glass instead of styrofoam or paper cups.

5. Write with refillable pens made from recycled plastic.

6. For fax machines and printers, use refillable ink cartridges and recycle old ones.

7. Save paper by printing and copying on both sides. And only print what you really need.

8. Carpool or use public transportation. If you own a business, encourage carpooling or allow telecommuting to reduce carbon emissions.

9. Take your lunch to work in a reusable container.

HAPPY ENVIRONMENT

Incorporating Green Architecture Into An Existing Home

The latest buzz in the residential market for architectural enthusiasts is green living. And why shouldn't green living cause such a stir? Green architecture means a cleaner environment and using cost efficient energy saving building methods. If you're looking for ideas to incorporate green architecture into your existing home, there is a lot you can do.

• Incorporate green architecture into your home by using sustainable materials for your home finishes. Items like countertops, wall surfaces, and flooring can be sustainable. Use finishes like recycled plastic, salvaged steel, and locally mined and produced stones and tiles.

• Select low toxic paints and finishes for the interior and exterior of your home.

• Use low flush toilets to conserve water usage.

• Conduct an energy audit by doing an inspection of your house and looking for any areas that might have air leaks or could use more insulation. By creating tight seals in your home and properly insulating your walls, you save on heating bills and usage. See if there is a non-profit in your area providing green building services that will conduct an energy audit for you.

• Look at the product labels.

A Prefabricated Home Is A Green Home

Once, a prefabricated home typically consisted of homes designed to be mobile homes or tract type housing. Today, a prefabricated home, or pre-fab home, is the new modern affordable alternative to housing. This new green home comes designed with cost-saving building techniques, a streamlined construction timeline, and often incorporates elements of green architecture, like energy efficiency and recycled or renewable building materials. The pre-fab home comes in a sleek, modern, package with streamlined edges and open floor plans

Benefits Of Living In A Green Home

Though the concept certainly sounds good in theory, you may wonder what the real benefits are to living in a green home. Whether you're contemplating remodeling your existing residence, purchasing a sustainable home, or building a new one, not only will you reap the benefits of cleaner, greener living, but so will the environment. Here's how living in a green home as its advantages:

• You'll realize savings in the long-term due to lower utility bills.

• Living in a green home can actually keep you healthier. Less toxic substances and cleaner air help promote healthy living.

• You help the environment by utilizing recycled products and renewable resources. You live in a home designed to have the least impact on the surroundings around you.

• An energy efficient, well designed green home will command a high market value in the real estate market.

Go Green With Plants

Houseplants have more advantages for your home than just looking pretty. Houseplants can actually filter the air in your house and rid it of pollutants. Follow these guidelines to make your houseplants work for you:

• Keep one houseplant per every 10 square yards to help keep the air clean in that area

• If you mix night synthesizing plants (like orchids) with regular plants, your plants will work around the clock to filter your air

• Use a general mixture of plants to try to filter out as many pollutants as possible

Different plants are good for different pollutants, for example:

• Philodendrons and aloe plants are especially good protection against formaldehyde

• Gerbera daisies, peace lily, and English ivy are good protection against benzene and trichloroethylen

Green Environment For Your Backyard

Creating an environmentally friendly habitat for plants and wildlife is not that difficult at all. Here are some tips to create your own Green World: -Plant only trees common to the area -Do not replant flowers from the wild -Use only bulbs from cultivated stock -Use compost, grass clippings and vegetable table scraps to enrich the soil and eliminate the use of fertilizers -Never use pesticides. Encourage the presence of natural predators such as birds, frogs and ladybugs. -Use items such as buckets to collect rainwater to water your plants.

Green Food, Greener Living

Some people don't realize that the food they eat and shop for could be contributing to the rising pollution problem and global warming. Using dangerous chemicals, pollutants and hormones that can harm our bodies and the environment grow produce and other foods at the grocery store. How can you do your part? You can help eliminate this problem by buying foods that have been grown organically. Buying organic and whole foods not only benefits the health of your family, but you are helping to cut down on the chemicals going into the air that we breathe everyday. Whole foods and organic foods are grown by energy efficient practices as well as without chemicals and pesticides. Shopping for organic foods is a smart decision all around

Live A Green Lifestyle

Living a “green” lifestyle is easier than you think. There are a few simple steps you can follow that may seem small, but they are big in the fight against pollution and waste in the United States. The green motto that you can live by is “reduce, reuse and recycle.” These things can help drastically when it comes to waste and pollution in your community. Cars, groceries, food and other elements contribute to the growing problem. Here are some steps you and your family can take to do your part in the fight for a less polluted environment: Promote and support businesses that use and sell “green” products (recycled products). Drive sensible, “emission friendly” vehicles. Recycle all you can from home including glass, plastic, newspapers, motor oil, etc. By following these three simple rules above you will be preparing the world and the environment for future generations. Do your part now, so they won't have to deal with so much in the future.