It was a beautiful Florida day, so instead of driving, we rode our bikes to downtown West Palm Beach for Step It Up 2007. We had a blast! There were great speakers and we met a lot of really intersting people who care about the environment and showed their shade of green.
We also met a bunch of really interesting people! A realtor wanted to make her entire office paperless. We met a county employee who installed solar panels on his house and knew a whole lot about electrical engineering. We also met a school teacher working to start a recycling program where he teaches, a college student interested in biodiesel, and a local green high school club who, if I remember correctly, called themselves the “tree-huggers.” We also spoke to a rep from Whole Foods and tried to convince her to open a store in West Palm Beach!
We wrapped up the event by test driving a Toyota Scion retrofitted with an electric engine that the owner plugs into his house to recharge. The ride was smooth, quiet, and get this, only two dollars to travel over 160 miles! (We’ll write more on this later on.)
What was Step It Up 2007 like in your city? We’d love to hear about it. If you have any pictures, send them to yourpics@youmaybegreen.com.
Hey everyone! Join us Saturday, November 3rd for the “Step It Up National Day of Climate Action.”
Step It Up is a national campaign to increase awareness of Global Warming. Our friend, Randy Vanhoose, organized the Step It Up event near us - at Centennial Square in downtown West Palm Beach from 12pm to 2pm. Click on this link for more information.
There will be several interesting speakers with diverse backgrounds to talk about things like green buildng, protecting coral reefs and solving environmental problems. For the people that would like to get involved there will be educational booths to help out.
YouMayBeGreen.com will be sharing a booth with Palm Beach Green Drinks, so please stop on by and say hello. Oh, one more thing, show your support by wearing a green shirt. We look forward to seeing you there! Come back next week to see our pictures of the event. (By the way, if you go to a Step It Up event, tell us what you thought and send your photos to us at yourpics@youmaybegreen.com.)
You probably know that transportation is a major source of greenhouse gases, but did you know that in the US about 17% of all carbon dioxide emissions come from people’s homes? According to the EPA, electricity use, heating and waste are the main sources.
Here are some ways to help out (and save money too):
1. Turn off the lights and unplug electric appliances when you don’t need them. The average household carbon dioxide emissions from electricity are approximately 7.4 metric tons per year (about 16,290 lbs).
2. Bundle up or take it off(instead of turning up the heat when it’s cold or the air down when its hot). Most furnaces and boilers burn fossil fuels such as heating oil or natural gas, which emit greenhouse gases.
3. Reuse stuff and recycle. For every person in the U.S., about 1,060 pounds of carbon dioxide equivalent comes from the garbage we throw out every year. The average recycling rate for the United States is 30.6%. If the recycling rate increased to 35%, greenhouse gas emissions from waste could be reduced by 67 pounds of carbon dioxide equivalent per person.
Also, check out the video below from The Alliance for Climate Protection. We think this will let you see what the carbon dioxide coming out of your house ”looks like.”
Want to calculate your emissions? If you want to calculate your own emissions, try the EPA’s Individual Emissions Calculator by clicking here. (By the way, all these stats are from the EPA.)
Here’s how Shane Davis, a Naturalist/Biologist, is green:
“Attached are a couple of photos of an area 600 acres in size that I planned for an entire year to restore. It was a 1.5 mile state park creek that had been re-aligned due to extreme storm water run-off and erosion due to urban development.
This project created a viable, sustainable ecosystem - creating new habitat for wildlife to flourish. I organized and led a team of 156 volunteers to plant 18,000 trees and shrubs along the creek side to prevent stream bank erosion, cleanse the water and generate new habitat for all wildlife. This was 3 years ago and I saw it last week for the the first time and it is amazingly teaming with invertebrates and vertebrates of all sorts. The stream banks are solidly intact and the willow shrubs are now 12 feet tall from planting 6″ cuttings!”
He also sent us a video - thanks for sharing how you’re green Shane!
Hey everyone! Join us Saturday, November 3rd for the “Step It Up National Day of Climate Action.” 
