1. BUDGET

Probably one of the most important steps in a time of financial hardship is to create a household budget.  Start with the total net monthly income of the house hold.  Then, write down what bills you are responsible for and the date they are due.  Mortgage or rent, utilities, car insurance, car payment, gas, cell phone, food, miscellaneous (personal hygiene, household supplies, school supplies) and any other bills you may have.  Most of these numbers do not fluctuate too much, but estimate a little higher than your average costs for each.  Once you have subtracted your bills from your net income, you can budget out for other things.  You may also want to have an emergency fund where you specify an amount that you contribute to monthly.  Remember, you can have an entertainment category too, all work and no fun makes Jack a dull boy.  The remainder should go into savings account for the future.  Ask yourself about your purchases: do I need it or do I want it? Will it help me in the long run? Live within your limits and be responsible.

2. CONSERVE

Well you have a budget, now where else can you save a few extra pennies? For those of you who read the It’s Little Things Daily tip, there are numerous ways to save money and help the environment.  One tip that I am constantly reminded (thank you mom) is if you aren’t in a room, turn off the light… There’s no reason to waste electricity.  Something so little can make such a huge difference.  Additionally, make sure your house or apartment is sealed.  Another thing my mom used to do is time our showers.  We had a kitchen timer set for 3 minutes and that was our shower time.  There really wasn’t a reason to go much longer, plus all that water saved is money in your pocket.  In the summer months, open a window and use a fan to bring cool air in at night instead of using the air conditioner.  Use a blanket in the winter instead of the heater.  Think of cost effective options.  Look into Energy Star approved appliances; they will pay for themselves in the long run.  Also, replace all light bulbs with Compact Florescent Bulbs; they have a longer life and save energy!

For more money and environment saving tips, check out the It’s Little Things daily tip

3. RECYCLE

Did you know every time you purchase aluminum cans of soda or plastics that can be recycled, you are charged the redemption value? Therefore if you do not recycle it, you are losing that $0.05 per can.  That can add up over the span of a year.  So say you drink 1 soda can a day for an entire year 365 cans x 0.05 = 18.25! That’s 4.5 gallons of gas ($4/gal).  For a family of 4, it amounts to $73.00! And that may not seem like a lot, but over the span of 10 years that’s $730.  Not too shabby for recycling! Besides the money aspect, you are helping to conserve earths natural resources and reduce our carbon footprint.

 Here are a few links to help you find local recycling facilities

CA- http://www.calrecycle.ca.gov/BevContainer/Recyclers/Directory/Default.aspx?lang=en-US

 US- http://earth911.com/ 

4. DO SOMETHING DIFFERENT

Ever thought about riding a bike to work? Reduce fuel emissions into the environment, save money on gas AND get a good workout!  If riding a bike isn’t your strong suit, carpool with a coworker!  There is also public transportation too!

Stay tuned for more helpful tips!

But when it comes time to make decisions that really affect these issues, are those images still in mind? Or does it come down to hard, cold, economic sense? As we’ve seen over and over, economics almost always wins over the vague sense of responsibility or emotional ties to a place or species.

But now the tables may be turning. As more and more environmental advocates drop the warm and fuzzy arguments for purely economic ones, the messages carry more weight and the outcomes are win-win. A recent NRDC On Earth Magazine article describes how in Kern County, CA, a bastion of conservative values, ranchers are looking to wind energy installations as a way to prop up the value of their private ranches, and still continue to live and work there. This has the added value of moving some of the renewable energy development pressure off of nearby public lands, too. A win-win-win.

The same logic is being applied in Columbia, according to a recent MNN.com article, where 10,000 local jobs have been created by using coffee waste to fertilize new crops of mushrooms. The waste from the mushroom harvest is used to make animal feed. This creates a triple cash flow, and another win-win-win.

Now some strictly economic arguments are being applied to biodiversity and species survival efforts as well. When nature has provided so much guidance for pharmaceutical research, product development and food supplies, it’s crazy to let species and habitats go at such an alarming rate. So why not provide some strictly economic values to environments and species in order give decision makers some food for thought in a language they can understand?

A hectare of intact coral reef, for instance, can be worth up to $1 million a year for tourism, up to $189,000 for protecting coasts from storms, up to $57,000 as a source of genetic materials and up to $3,818 for fisheries, according to a preliminary U.N.-backed study in late 2009.

As we struggle to find ways to get the message out, it’s proving more and more valuable to speak the language we can all understand. Dollars and sense.

Read the MNN.com article: Saving Endangered Species: It’s about the economy, stupid >

Read the On Earth Magazine article: Renewable Energy Catches on in Red America >

Through a brilliantly simple whiteboard-type animation, Annie Leonard takes the viewer through the entire process, explaining how at virtually every step we are running up against limits of the system. Whether it’s depletion of raw materials, unsustainable manufacturing processes, unhealthy buying habits, or poorly planned end-of-life processes, we’ve got a number of things wrong. This might be a good point to ask yourself or your management team at work “Where do we fit in this picture? What are we doing to be part of the solution?”

While the video itself is short on answers, the site is a gateway to a lot of information. Stop by and take a look around. Share the video The Story of Stuff with your family and friends. At the very least, it guarantees you’ll never look at a $4.99 radio the same way ever again.

ps. There’s also a book coming out this week, and you’ll find a lot more videos on the site besides the original Story of Stuff. Enjoy!

You see, if you were to ask any ten Americans on the street, they’d all tell you they’re for reduced government spending, balanced budgets, lower taxes and generally a sound fiscal approach to things. But then ask those same ten Americans which of the programs – they benefit from – to cut, and you get a lot of shuffling feet and muffled speech. We all find it easy to call for cuts to various programs, as long as they’re not OUR programs. This is how we’re still stuck with subsidies for gas and oil companies (HOW could they possibly survive without them?), ethanol subsidies and grants to makers of worsted wool products (no, that’s not a typo). It’s either less spending, or more taxes, people. We can’t have it both ways, at least not for long.

So the Obama administration has come out with their recommendations for the federal budget, and it includes a LOT of cuts to somebody else’s programs – and probably some of your pet projects, too. All part of the freeze on non-military discretionary spending. Included on the list of items getting the boot are various coal tax preferences, environmental education programs, various outdated weapon development programs, public broadcasting and telecom grants, and the above referenced gift to manufacturers of the worst wool products (did I get that right?). Over 100 programs in all (if you count terminations, reductions and savings) for an overall projected savings of $283 billion over the next ten years. That’s starting to sound like real money.

Some highlights for us green-thinkers:

• Elimination of the Brownfields Economic Development Initiative
• Termination of four different tax benefits for coal producers, eight for oil and gas companies
• Canning Local Government Climate Change Grants
• Taking back $10 million in grants to California for diesel engine retrofits
• Dropping $157 million in water infrastructure grants

and the list goes on and on. The reasoning behind most of these cuts is the same: Programs have outlived their usefulness, other funding mechanisms are more efficient, or funding for local programs is best left to locals.

If you want to take a more detailed look, each proposed cut is described (in sparingly brief terms), along with justifications for the change. It’s really quite refreshing to see the federal government getting serious about cutting wasteful programs. As long as they’re not MY wasteful programs…

More about the proposed 2011 budget >

Terminations, Reductions and Savings PDF >

Maybe not. According to a recent study of Green Perception vs Reality at the New Scientist, we’re actually hopelessly shallow and easily swayed. While most companies enjoying (and touting) a green reputation do in fact walk the walk, we’ve missed out on numerous companies that have been quietly toiling away in eco-friendly obscurity for years, sometimes more. When asked to rank companies in various industries based on green criteria, consumers consistently gave high marks to those who have done a good job of promoting their sustainability efforts, while their actual green business scores might be a little lacking compared to other, less vocal, competition. Maybe the new study is a chance for the lesser known to even the score, but only if word actually gets out.

In the meantime, it’s fun to see that while we all think that Whole Foods and certain “Fresh” food companies do better on  green issues than giants like Nike and McDonald’s, that’s not necessarily true. It’s a brilliant Flash graphic with layers based on industry type, so you can really see the players and how they rate. (hint: Food and Beverage companies as a group are pretty bad)

So share the following links with your friends, and pass it around the workplace. The key question to ask is “if our business was ranked in this study, where would we fall?” Try to make sure you’re on the right side of the graph – literally.

New Scientist interactive Green Perception vs Reality test results

Green Perception vs Reality in consumer opinions

Maybe not.

Nuclear is getting some much needed positive PR these days, and from some unlikely sources. Normally one to concentrate on world health issues in developing countries, Bill Gates and his mega-billion dollar foundation have turned their attention to the climate change issue, and see nuclear power development as critical to our energy future. “We need energy miracles,” Gates said at the recent TED 2010 conference. “And there are some innovations in nuclear.” He goes on to speak of the burning of depleted urnanium (the common waste product we’ve all been nervous about), and how one plant in Kentucky has enough to supply the country’s energy needs for two centuries. No, that’s not a typo. (the TED video is quite good – a must see)

And he’s putting his money where his mouth is. Gates also recently announced a major investment in new nuclear technologies, promising just by the sheer gravity of his persona and dollar value, to draft numerous other investors into the fold.

So while some may still be nervous about the expansion of nuclear energy plants in this country, it may be that the spectre of nuclear accidents prove to be more mythology than reality. Nuclear, along with renewables and carbon sequestration (if they can ever get that to work right), is part of the solution. New nuclear technologies, a decade or so down the road, will likely be burning the waste created by today’s plants, in a fantastic form of recycling. This is one writer, and former skeptic,  who’s certainly interested in learning more.

Check out the sustainable business initiative post here >

Development has been outstripping the replenishment capabilities of our aquifers for many, many years, and the payback won’t be pretty. And it’s right on the horizon. Even the current building of new desalination plants, like the one in Carlsbad, CA, can’t promise an endless supply of clean water AT THE PRICE WE’VE ALL BEEN USED TO. Not forever.

While most think about this in terms of their family’s health and access to water at the home, it certainly affects business, too. Almost all major business processes require tremendous volumes of water. As scarcity becomes a real threat, business leaders need to ask themselves:

• Will your business be able to get enough water to operate?
• How might water allocations restrict your supply chain?
• What effects will the lack of water security have on your markets?
• Will your customers have enough water to enable them to use your products or services?
• Can you justify your water consumption with regard to other users?
• Can you boost your revenues by providing solutions?

Other Messages for Business Leaders on the subject of Water Here

It’s important that you look ahead at the real nature of water source quality and quantity in your areas of operation, and figure out NOW what you can do to become part of the solution moving forward. The World Water Development Report provides some good insight. It’s a monster read, so I’ll save you some trouble if you’re looking for some more easily digestible chunks. Go straight to Chapter 8 (starts on page 152 of the PDF) for info on how water use is affecting the environment and water availability, or skip to page 156 and read about sustainable management of groundwater. Just the map overlays will amaze you, and give you an idea what a fairyland we’ve been living in here in the southwest all these years. Time to cowboy up!

There is much to support greater involvement of business in driving policy changes. While most people consider the business community to be largely at odds with policy makers when it comes to climate change provisions, it doesn’t have to be this way. In fact, this kind of thinking misses a huge opportunity. The business leader/policy maker relationship is actually a double feedback loop. The details of this are complicated, but evident in the 10 Climate Trends That Will Shape Business in 2010 article recently found in GreenBiz.com.

As the public becomes more aware of climate change issues, there is a greater demand for policies to stem the tide. There is also more pressure on businesses to do their part. If businesses choose to get involved in the process instead of burying their heads in the sand, they can make it a win-win. Here’s how:

• Effective corporate action helps educate the public and fence-sitting senators
• Education results in increased support for climate change legislation
• Education results in greater climate issue literacy among business leaders
• Partnering with policy makers gives you a voice
• Lending your voice helps drive policy change
• Policy changes can be tailored to the areas where you see the most benefit for the least effort/cost
• Desirable policy changes increase your bottom line efficiencies and lift profits
• Effective policy change advances the goal and generates more effective corporate action

The perception will be that you are an industry leader, driving climate change policy development. And all you have to do is educate yourself, your management team, and your customers about the effects of climate change on your business. Then aggressively contact your legislative representatives and tell them what you are doing to curb your impact, and how these efforts can be codified into broad reaching legislation. The more companies they hear from, committed to efficiency projects and other low hanging fruit, the more likely they are to take action to create legislation along those lines. Without this involvement, you risk having your targets and methodologies handed to you. Which would you choose?

Read more >

You will need a grand total of a year’s worth of energy bills, and the going rate (for example, your total kWh of electricity consumed in a year, and the kWh rate from your utility – SDG&E is about $0.246). Pull together the same for natural gas, propane, etc. if applicable. It’s also more accurate if you understand the inner workings of your building and its systems, so it’s best done by a facilities manager, if you have one.

The survey/widget takes about 10 minutes to complete, and asks you for your name, email etc. before giving you the results (haven’t found any detrimental effects just yet, though ; )

Go to A Simple Switch Energy Survey and check it out:

• Take the test to measure your facility’s Energy Profile and understand how you perform in comparison with similar facilities in your area
• Find out your company’s energy saving potentials for lighting, heating, cooling and ventilation
• Then, get more detailed and customized information on the saving opportunity of your choice