12.20.2008

 

A gift for you. And us. All of us.

Please take a moment to visit Brighter Planet's One Day Campaign and claim my gift to you: one day's worth of carbon offsets. It is free to you (and me) and helps fund sustainable energy projects. In exchange, they ask that you try to be conscious of consumption during the holiday and do your best to conserve resources. After you claim your gift you'll be able to pass it on to your friends.

If for some reason my allotment of days has been used up by the time you visit, check out Jeffrey Zeldman's web page, which is where I got my gift, to claim yours. You might also stick around to read about standards based web design, but you don't have to.

—Jack

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9.08.2008

 

Green, baby, green!

I heard an excellent interview with economist Thomas Friedman today on Fresh Air. Friedman just published Hot, Flat, and Crowded: Why We Need a Green Revolution and How It Can Renew America. About 19 minutes into the interview, he says:

[The US's oil addiction] is funding just about every bad trend in the world today. If we could find a way to truly get off our addiction to oil, as Michael Mandelbaum says in the book, it's not just win-win; it's win-win-win-win-win-win-win. Think of the things that happen. Our trade deficit dramatically improves, our dollar strengthens, we weaken the worst regimes in the world, we mitigate global warming, we clean up our air, we become healthier, more economically strong, competitive, and respected in the world. And people are out there saying "Drill, baby, drill"?

While the drill, baby, drill mantra has been taken up by the Republicans lately, he's not approaching the issue in a partisan manner; he would have a problem with anyone who wanted to prolong our dependence on oil period. And, as an economist, he's not just saying "Hey, wouldn't we all feel great if we made everything green?" without thinking about the impact to businesses and individuals. He's presenting an economic framework that will help make things better for the US. And the byproduct is that we get green.

It's 33 minutes long. Listen on your lunch break. It's worth the time.

—Jack

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