November 3, 2007

As A Backup Plan

Fucking Blogger!

Since Blogger is not letting me post . . . so far . . . I'm going to post here because I am nothing if not a follow through girl.

And pardon the crappy factor of this post. I'm desperate and busy and the wheels are already coming off the bus with the blog every day effort. Dammitt!!

My day started with having to be at an EPA laboratory at 8 AM. Now, you see, I am not by any stretch of the imagination a morning person. In fact, I'm a lucky if I can make it to the office by 10 AM person. So, having a 45 minute drive before touring an EPA facility first thing in the morning was less than superfantastic.

Neither here nor there . . . The reason I was touring this building is because it features "green design and construction". I'm environmentally conscious. I'm even an environmental consultant by profession. However, I'm not much of a drum banger for the cause. It's not that I don't care, it's more that it bores me. Sure, everything is wrecked environmentally and things need to be done to make it better, but to me, the subject matter is about as tedious as watching news reports about another Goddamned car bombing in the Middle East. And to me, that spells out extremely tedious. And honestly, sea level rising resulting in Florida becoming largely submerged does not break my heart. At all. (Many apologies to the lovely people of the Sunshine State)

So, the building I toured this morning was the EPA's New England Regional Laboratory Green Building. Which, I'll have you know, is very cool. It's recieved a boatload of awards for being so freaking green and it touts a net 30% savings on energy expenditure all around as a result of how damned green it is. Some of it's features include: energy efficiency, water efficiency, solar power, green power, landscape design (xeriscaping), waste handling, and utilization of environmentally preferable materials. Check out the brochure. You know you want to, you don't really have anything better to do with your time.

The long and short of it is that although energy efficiency and green construction isn't the most scintillating subject to muse over, but my apathetic ass was able to see that there is much that can be done that makes a positive impact on the environment and the wallet without too much effort on my end. Much of it seems to be as simple as thinking things through before you take a trip to the hardware or garden shop. Blah blah blah.

I've not seen An Inconvenient Truth. I hear it's great, but I'd rather watch something that is fun and interesting. I usually get into arguments with people who are patently 'green'. I see their point and I get it, often moreso than they do. I just can not resist the role of Devil's advocate. Plus, imagine Florida being a thing of the past . . .

Still . . . the whole of it bores me, but it's worth thinking through. Thus endith my contradiction stew. I've come 'round and banged the drum. Don't expect to hear any more from me on the environment.

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