GoingTrueGreen's Blog Postings

Future Communications with Going True Green

1/27/2021

YouTube, FaceTime, Twitter, Pinterest, Instagram, communication, sustainability, going green, effective communication, social media, conglomerate

Bye Bye

We have been studying the different ways Going True Green has been communicating over recent years and the following results are being presented in order to notify every one of the changes that we will be making over the coming weeks.

Going True Green will no longer be using several Social Media platforms, because they have not produced effective and productive communications between GTG and a Follower, Visitor, Friend, Client or GTG Lifetime Member.

In fact, we have seen that the most productive and effective communication we have with anyone, has been and still is through Electronic Mail. Yes, Email is what everyone uses to seriously communicate with us. Let the subject be on suggestions, comments, questions, specific inquires, sharing information, school projects, speaking engagements, energy audits, sustainability classes or GTG Lifetime membership.

We still have email communication with followers and members of our original websites: the LightBulbHotline and EnergyHotwire, to this day. This goes back to when in the mid 1990s we said, “We are on the Web! Visit us and here is our email address.” At that time we received several confused looks, followed by queries on how to visit our website. At the start we had everything on our website, as we still do today. Last year we closed our YouTube account after placing all our videos on our GTG Website in the GTG Lifetime Members section. Here we provide our Quick Videos and Online Classes without constant commercial interruption.

The Bottom Line is the fact that productive and effective communication is not found with an Emoji, a Like or a Following just to see a video short or photograph. To accomplish anything we all must first Read, then Listen, then Communicate with facts, so we can implement solutions as one team.

So we say Goodbye to YouTube, FaceTime, Twitter, Pinterest and Instagram. Our time is far better spent communicating directly with you, instead of trying to catch a fleeting attention span with an entertaining photo or video. We are here to share the complete picture, all the facts, so that we the people can make a difference. One person at a time and as a conglomerate of one team.

Please consider joining our email list if you have not already joined. We only send out one to four emails per Year. Please use our Link Here. If you sign up for our emails with MailChimp, (appears at bottom of our Homepage) they will send a reminder email once a month.

Additionally, look into being a Lifetime Member with the GTG Membership Link at the top of this page. Most of all, just visit our GoingTrueGreen Website and Blog once a month to see what is new with saving Money, Energy, Health and Earth, so to live a more sustainable life without sacrifice. - Thank you.

Bill Lauto, at GoingTrueGreen.com
Environmental Scientist
International Sustainability and Energy Consultant
Contribute your comments!

1 Comment

Food Labels Decoded, Free Range

1/14/2021

0 Comments

Free Range

Free Range or Free Roaming or Free Running / Cage Free

To say all these labels for the same topic is confusing, is an understatement.

On October 2, 2013, I posted a GoingTrueGreen blog for Food Labels Decoded that was titled Cage Free. Free Range eggs and chickens are similar to Free Run or Cage Free, except that with Free Range the hens are also given outdoor access. With Cage Free, the hens are not in cages, however, they are all kept inside the building or hen house.

Free Range has the added benefit of allowing hens to forage on outdoor grass, some bugs, and take a dust bath. How long and how often the hens get to go outside is NOT presented by this Free Range label. The label states that all animals for producing poultry and eggs are not to be confined. The rule continues by stating that the birds must have access to the outdoors for 5 minutes per day. Wow, 5 minutes, still doesn't sound like a stress free farm for hens. Yet, there is more...

There isn't any proof the birds actually went outside at all. This label also doesn't state if they are treated well or are antibiotic-free. The Bottom-Line, many of these birds can live their lives inside and still have a label saying Free Range because they weren't in cages. One last item, only USDA regulated poultry gets this label.

As I continue to add to my Food Labels Decoded series, please note that I am doing the labels in alphabetic order and that I am only up to the letter "F" as of now. Getting all the facts on the various labels being used is time consuming and sorting out the misleading information is not easy. I just hope that the information I post, can help us live a more sustainable life and allow us to make healthier decisions.

Bill Lauto, at GoingTrueGreen.com
Environmental Scientist
International Sustainability and Energy Consultant
Contribute your comments!

0 Comments

Old Traditions Made New

12/17/2020

0 Comments

DuckDuckGo, duckduckgo, Lincoln Logs, Log cabin toys, toys, Christmas, plastic, scrooge, grinch, save earth, saving our environment, sustainable living, making a difference, save money, Christmas Past, Christmas Future, Christmas Present, GoingTrueGreen, GoingGreen, Christmas Cards, glitter, cotton, linen. porcelain dolls, recyclable, wooden toys, Amish, Amish Toys, Amish Log Cabin toys

Real Wood Amish Made Log Cabin Toy

This holiday season, we can all make a great difference for our health and our planet’s environment just by omitting plastic from our festivities, this year and forever.

“Impossible!” Is the false cry from the Scrooges and Grinches worldwide!

Sadly, when you hear this tone from those in the above categories, they are only spinning a theme in their favor and lying through the process of omission.

I hope this GTG blog will be a helpful start for many. I used the word “start” because, I too, am not plastic free for the holidays. Yet, I have taken significant actions over the last few years leading to a finish line that shows all things are possible.

First action is to remember Christmas Past:

Think of the times when children received a truck made of recyclable aluminum, tin or wood, not plastic. Even the tires were wood or rubber. Dolls were made of stuffed material, with clothes made of cotton or linen. The head was made of porcelain and the hair was real.

Christmas and greeting cards were made with just paper or even hand made. The caring words written carried the message and good wishes. There were no sparkles or glitter made of plastic sprinkled all over the card and envelope that then would fall all over the house.

Children ran into the room to find treasures under the tree. The gifts were right there to see! Already set up and unwrapped. No wrapping paper with multiple color inks or sparkles, just a ribbon tied in a bow on top of “Wow, just what I wanted!” or “Thank you, this is just what I needed.” Then hugs, kisses, and I love you, followed. We enjoyed our gift(s) and each other before getting ready to attend Church, see friends and family.

Second action is to compare our Christmas Present:

Are the hugs and kisses with “I love you” still there? Are we still going to Church to say thank you to God? Do we mail order plastic wrapped gifts and not see family or friends? Do we plow through only our wrapped gifts and not even take time to share the enjoyment of the person next to us and the gift they received? Do we indulge ourselves way too long into a cell phone screen, wide screen TV or Social Media lies about people we don’t really know? Sadly, we are all guilty.

Final action is to plan our Christmas Future:

Here is just one example (Other examples can be found in previous December GTG blogs)

I remember when I was a kid, I would visit my grandparents and their son, who was my youngest uncle. Now these memories were before I learned the truth about a Bishop named Nicholas of Myra who lived from 270 to 343AD in the country now called Turkey and how he, Saint Nicholas, was the real Santa. My Uncle Wilton was still a teenager and he would take out his Lincoln Log sets that he had received as gifts when he was young so I could play with them.

We built cabins, cowboy barns and stables with fences. I built towers and windmills. The log sets were all made of real wood, not plastic. There were no online directions - I had to problem solve myself. There were no batteries - I had to make the sounds and use cardboard for additional parts, such as the blades for the windmill.

Log cabin sets made of real wood are still made today! They are made by hand, no power tools, and they are made by some Amish businesses. All made here in the United States of hardwood and only a non-toxic, water based stain is used. Recommended for 3 years old and up. Parts come in burlap bags with pull string. Wow ingenious! Third party partners help to make these toys available via the web. Try doing a search on DuckDuckGo, a better search engine, to find a wide variety of Amish made toys.

We all need to start evaluating the complete picture for our holidays, so we can take some action that once again, allows us to find treasures under the tree.

Bill Lauto, at GoingTrueGreen.com
Environmental Scientist
International Sustainability and Energy Consultant
Contribute your comments!

0 Comments

Entrapped by 128 Million Pieces of Waste

10/17/2020

0 Comments

A Created Low Orbit View of Earth Entrapped by Space Litter!

Perhaps there is something within our genome that causes humans to litter, but I sincerely hope that isn't the case. Yet, too often when we are holding something that we no longer want, we drop that item to the earth at our feet. Most of us do not recycle, reuse or properly dispose of the object, we discard the object. We have become so infected with this syndrome that we also discard human life.

Additionally, look at what we are doing to ourselves. We do not exclusively just litter at our feet, but also far above our heads!

The image I created on the left is an example showing Earth and what is orbiting our planet... Litter, space junk or aka: garbage. We are at the point that we are entrapping ourselves on our own planet.

On October 15, just a few days ago, an old useless 2 by 17 meters Soviet Parus Navigation Satellite that weights 800 Kilograms almost collided with an old Chinese rocket stage, according to U.S. Space Surveillance Network. Object number 19,826 came within 100 meters of object number 36,123 at the event altitude of 991Km or 615 miles above earth. If they collided, these two large items could have created thousands of smaller MMODs which stands for Micro Meteoroid and Orbital Debris. There are 34,000 items larger than 10 centimeters and the balance of the 128 million pieces of orbiting litter are MMODs.

While some people are concerned about a meteor from outer space hitting our planet, we also should not rule out a future collision of two large pieces of space junk in low orbit possibly causing dozens of bullet size pieces to penetrate our atmosphere. If these pieces come in over an empty ocean, thank God. However, what if they rain down over a town or city?

Above is an image created by NASA showing space junk from a high Earth orbit. Two main debris fields are the objects in geosynchronous Earth orbit and the concentration of objects in low Earth orbit.

We are our worst enemy. Times are already challenging to launch a rocket and enter Earth's orbit among the current 128 million pieces of orbiting junk. No program is yet established to remove orbiting space junk, but I suspect and hope the new Space Force with the prototype Chaser space crafts will have that assignment.

So if you think that navigating home through rush-hour congestion is hard in your earthbound vehicle. What will your great grand children be saying when they are trying to visit Earth's orbit, our Moon or Mars? We cannot allow this space litter to freely increase as humankind works more and more in space.

Bill Lauto, at GoingTrueGreen.com
Environmental Scientist
International Sustainability and Energy Consultant
Contribute your comments!

0 Comments

Summer 2020, Soylent Green 2022

9/30/2020

0 Comments

soylent green, Charlton Heston, taylor young, Edward G. Robinson,

Scene from 1973 Soylent Green movie

Summers come and go, but this summer felt like the summertime enjoyment never arrived. Times are difficult, I know first hand how much with the loss of friends and family. We held on and pushed forward. These efforts also included continuing actions for living a more sustainable life.

Food supplies became an issue for many more people this year, especially for those of us who were sick in bed. Now while food is a major environmental issue, we the people must change the tide of reductionist. Our food supply is not an automatic conveyor belt to our dinning table. However, despite our ecological surroundings being resilient, we all still need to review our own efforts for obtaining food.

We cannot wait around for "technology" to solve all of our needs for food. There was a movie made about this very topic back in 1973. The title: Soylent Green and the story takes place in the year 2022!

The plot was straight forward... Overcrowding, pollution, and resource depletion reduced society's leaders to providing an artificial nourishment to the teeming masses. Actual ingredients are not made known and soy is not an ingredient. A homicide detective stumbles onto the secret that is so unbelievable, no one would believe him.

Nevertheless, if you have a yard, terrace, or window shelf, please consider growing some food for yourself, family, friends, and strangers. This year, even now at the end of September, I still have watermelon and eggplant growing.

watermelon, going green, going true green, garden, growing food, planting food, composting, eggplant, sustainable living, sustainability, food issues, food shortages, ecological, food depletion, growing crops

This year in my small garden I grew:

Blueberries
Cantaloupe
Carrots
Cucumbers
Eggplant
Grapes - Bluebell Grapes for jam
Grapes - Red Grapes for eating
Red Peppers
String Beans
Tomatoes - Cherry/Plum/Beefsteak
Zucchini

BlueBell Grapes

In my clay or cedar wood pots I grew:

Basil
Garlic
Mint
Onions
Oregano
Parsley
Shallots
Snow Peas
Thyme

In the long run, we all can grow some food, we can all make the difference, we are the solutions.

Bill Lauto, at GoingTrueGreen.com
Environmental Scientist
International Sustainability and Energy Consultant
Contribute your comments!

0 Comments

Sabotaged Recycling

9/18/2020

0 Comments

Recycle, recycling, sabotage, plastic, plastic bottles, recycling program, waste, glass, paper, trees, sorting, China, Townships, going green, going true green, sustainability, sustainable living

Sabotage Handbook

Earth Log, 1970s
Query:
Why don’t all Townships implement a recycling program?

Answer:
You will see recycling everywhere, once someone figures out how to make money from the process.

Earth Log, 1980s
Someone did and recycling started in earnest through the 1980s.
So in the beginning we were instructed to do the following when recycling…

Wash or rinse out all cans, glass and plastic bottles
Remove the paper labels from all cans, glass and plastic bottles
Recycle paper labels with newspapers and paper mail tied together with cord
Separate aluminum, glass and plastic in appropriate bins

Earth Log, 1990s
Then an anomaly occurred.

Many people in America were not rinsing out anything nor were they removing paper labels. However, they were still sorting.

Jars can’t be recycled with peanut butter at the bottom and plastic bottles can’t be recycled with paper labels still on them. The tolerance level was reaching the highest saturation percentage for the ratio of paper to plastic and food contamination to container.

So instead of “rewarding” the people for recycling correctly, the Townships didn’t re-educate the public, they threaten the public with punishment for not complying. No education or explanation given, just warnings and possible fines for not complying.

Earth Log, 2000s
China was now buying the bulk of America’s recycling inventory.
Many Townships change strategy to make more money…
Let the people recycle contaminated items and tough on China.
After all, many Townships concluded, people are lazy and don’t care. People will recycle more if they no longer had to rinse or sort. Again this would mean tough on China and more money for politicians.

Earth Log, 2010s
China communicates to the U.S. in 2012, that the paper labels on all the new plastic water bottles is at a 10% level of contamination and needs to drop to 1.5%. China is now purchasing two-thirds of America’s recyclable scrap, according to a 2011 report from the Institute of Scrap Recyclers (ISRI). The same holds true for food waste on aluminum, plastic containers, and cardboard.
Manufacturers step in to help with replacing paper labels on plastic water bottles with plastic labels and reducing the amount of plastic in every water bottle. Thus, making them weight less and hold a lower monetize value.

Most American Recycling no longer required:

Rinsing out cans, glass and plastic bottles
Removing the paper labels from all cans, glass and plastic bottles
Sorting of any kind

Earth Log, 2020
China stopped buying America’s contaminated recyclable scrap.
Many Townships no longer accept plastic above the number two.
Many Townships no longer accept glass bottles! Glass was one of the first items ever to be recycled and is now thrown into Landfills.

America's Unwanted Recyclable Scrap

America’s recycling scrap is piling up in warehouses and parking lots.

Sad state of affairs. We did this to ourselves because of greed.

Bill Lauto, at GoingTrueGreen.com
Environmental Scientist
International Sustainability and Energy Consultant
Contribute your comments!

0 Comments

CONNECTING

7/3/2020

0 Comments

clouds, 4th of july, God, sky, heaven, celebrate, shows, COVID, Natural Show, Connect, connecting, 4th of July show, sustainable living, make a difference, going true green, nature, family, friends, neighbors

Natural 4th of July Show

Humankind walks a fine line. Somewhere between various possible devastations and a lackadaisical existence, we have convinced ourselves that we are in control. Yes, we can "make a difference" of many situations, but only if we are connected to everyone and everything with the complete picture - All the facts.

We have many holidays and celebrations, but only a few have an engaging impulse to reach for truth. The fourth day of July, for me, is one of those holidays. Studying the good, the bad, and the ugly, allows me to sense when lies or narratives are being sold to make money. Let it be from those who scream we are doom or those who whisper there are no worries.

So allow me to suggest something we can all do to make a difference now. Since there are no big productions this year to celebrate, because of the COVID virus, try watching the most amazing natural show around. Pull up some chairs by a window or in a yard. Sit on a stoep or stand on the street's corner. Then while practicing smart germ protection steps, watch an amazing show with family, friends, neighbors. This show is free and has an all star cast. Take your time watching and conversing about the details, because the show never has reruns.

Pay attention to Nature's cast that presents Sky, Air, Sunlight, Clouds, Colors, Moon and Stars. Don't forget to study the supporting actors such as Wind, Rain, Breeze, Flashes of Light, Sounds, and so many others such as Snow and Comfortable Humidity. Then while watching, connect with God, who is an encouraging Producer and Director.

Finally, don't neglect to turn and look at the actors next to us. Ourselves and our neighbors are also starring in this show. Mine are completely diversified and yet, we are all connected.

So LOOK UP and find that silver lining, see and learn the complete picture. Each time, humankind takes the time to learn all the facts and have intelligent discussions, we are always successful.

Bill Lauto, at GoingTrueGreen.com
Environmental Scientist
International Sustainability and Energy Consultant
Contribute your comments!

0 Comments

NEW GTG CATEGORY: MAKE A DIFFERENCE NOW

5/21/2020

0 Comments

climate change, time, sustainability, sustainable living, future, solutions, environment, answers

Right now, this very minute, do you want to help save the world? Be a superhero to kids and a leader to your peers? All while saving money, energy, health and without sacrifices?

This is for all of us, a new Going True Green Blog category:
MAKE A DIFFERENCE NOW

I find taking questions lately, after I speak with a class of students, more troubling. When I see fear in the eyes of teenagers and they share that fear about the world becoming unlivable due to the destruction of our environment, this becomes painful for me. There is always a few students who believe there is no hope unless we end all CO2 emissions now. This belief is the result of stating a narrative along with the process of omission. To me this is another form of verbal abuse, especially when no solutions and no hope is offered. For me, there is always another way. Adults must be superheroes to the very young. We must teach all the facts, along with solutions and hope, to teenagers and adults of all ages.

We have to collect all the details, evaluate the complete picture, because if we believe just ending humankind’s injection of CO2 into our environment will save the day, then we are all fooling ourselves. Our environment has multiple issues that may or may not occur, but are in need of intelligent execution by each one of us, so that we don’t manifest those predictions of horror or evoke the occurrence of negative future outlooks founded on current statistics increasing in the wrong direction.
First we must work to change what we are capable of changing and be at peace with what is truly beyond our control.

Earth, magnetic field, nickel core, man made disaster, CO2, CO2 emissions, Ozone, Solar, solar radiation, satellites, polar flip, climate change, time, sustainability, sustainable living, future, solutions, environment, answers

Slide from European Lecture Tour

Two Beyond Our Control Examples:
1) There isn’t anything humankind can do to stop our planet’s inner iron and nickel core from flipping, thus for a time (no one knows how long) lowering our protective magnetic field surrounding Earth. Yet, we can invent protective systems for our electronics and shelters for us against the increase in solar radiation. Yes, this is an environmental issue and no one knows for sure any of the facts or time frames. We will do what we can over time and we must be at peace with this. I will be including my European lecture tour in different languages for GTG members under GoingTrueGreen’s Membership section sometime next year. This lecture covers additional information on Earth’s core and magnetic field.

2) There isn’t anything humankind can do to stop one of our planet’s largest volcano, located under Yellowstone national park, from erupting. Some calculation show that a major eruption is already overdue. Additional predictions show the population of the world being decimated if there is indeed a full size eruption. No one knows for sure ‘when’ or ‘if’ this major event may occur and worrying about this, is useless.

However, I mention these potential disasters to put in perspective what we can do for other major environmental issues. The current virus situation shows how fragile our supply chains are and how their collapse will cause hardship and death. If our infrastructure for the power grid crashed, some calculations are horrifying. Systems that can’t come back online within months will cause massive starvation. If the power grid is down nationwide, within the year some predict over 50% and higher, of the population will perish. Think about this for a minute, delivery drivers for food and gasoline cannot conduct their routes, because they can’t get gas for their cars. If they can’t drive to work, they can’t drive delivery trucks, trains, cargo ships, or planes. Also they have their own love ones to care for in addition to job responsibilities. On top of all that, if there is no electric power, then there isn’t any working refrigeration units and gas station pumps are rendered useless.

Examples Within Our Control:
Nevertheless, we have many intelligent options and actions that can be taken by each one of us in all three areas of concern:

For the events we have no control over, hopefully we have faith to give us peace.
For natural and human made disasters, we can prepare.
For all other environmental issues, we have solutions we can do now to make a difference.

GoingTrueGreen’s new Blog category addresses the third area of concern, however, let us briefly review all three:

1. To have God’s peace within you, that is a journey each of us travel alone. That is not to say there isn’t anyone among us to assist, but that we must accept peace ourselves.

2. When a natural or humankind disaster comes upon us, we only have our preparations and knowledge to survive. One action I took was to become state certified in preparedness under a division of Homeland security and emergency services. Today, programs like that are available online. Additionally, I am trained and teach survival courses, which I will be including as videos for GTG members in GoingTrueGreen’s Membership section later this summer. However, with all humankind disasters, we will be "all the better" when we take actions to avoid and prevent them. Such as nuclear power plants creating risks to human life in the event of a disaster when operating or even afterwards with spent fuel creating radioactive waste.

3. As an individual we can execute multiple solutions to help our world’s environment. These actions that can be done save us Money, Energy, Health and Earth. Additionally, all actions are done without making any sacrifices to the life we know. So please peruse the new GTG blog category MAKE A DIFFERENCE NOW in the near future to review actions that can be done today. Solutions and actions with explanations showing the how and why, then in turn, that information enables us to empower others.

If we could end all CO2 created by humankind tomorrow, there will still be natural amounts of CO2 in our atmosphere which is necessary for our planet’s balance. This virus has shown us that after a major close down of the world’s transportation systems, CO2 levels were not depleted by much. Some estimates hover around five percent. Until we truly know the percentage of natural and humankind CO2 levels, we all must address every issue in our environment within our best ability to implement solutions feasible to our budget of time and money. I do not expect a family struggling to put food on the table to put solar panels on their roof. However, they can continue doing actions such as recycle, reuse, reduce, along with additional actions perhaps not yet taken. Such as: composting, growing some vegetables in a yard or windowsill, not littering and using a surge protected with an on/off switch to power down products that still use electricity, even when off, because they are plugged into an outlet. The cost of these surge protectors pay for themselves within a few months and money is saved off the electric bill every month.

Europe speaking tour, Vatican university, Earth, magnetic field, nickel core, man made disaster, CO2, CO2 emissions, Ozone, Solar, solar radiation, satellites, polar flip, climate change, time, sustainability, sustainable living, future, solutions, environment, answers

Slides from European Lecture Tour

Humankind Killing Prochlorococcus

Connection with Litter, Ocean & Air

I trust my new GTG blog section will help in areas such as providing the powerful reasons for actions like NOT littering, because we all enjoy breathing! The connection between litter, our oceans and our oxygen supply is real and just as concerning as increasing levels of CO2. Let us start today, let us start with ourselves and let us change what we can and have peace with what we can’t.

Bill Lauto, at GoingTrueGreen.com
Environmental Scientist
International Sustainability and Energy Consultant
Contribute your comments!

0 Comments

REALLY... Glove Litter?

5/4/2020

0 Comments

gloves, virus, covid, covid19, litter, litter bug, litterbugs, careless, medical gloves, wakeup

Discarded Glove: Neighborhood Lawns

Discarded Glove: City Sidewalk

I do not get out much lately due to "stay at home" orders, but every time I had an essential trip (doctor/food) to make... Really? GLOVE LITTER!

Why would anyone allow their glove that may have been contaminated to be dropped or discarded on a street, lawn, hallway or sidewalk?

Each one of us is the solution, but sadly, we are also our worst enemy.

Bill Lauto, at GoingTrueGreen.com
Environmental Scientist
International Sustainability and Energy Consultant
Contribute your comments!

0 Comments

Earth Day Impaired

4/22/2020

3 Comments

Earth, Earth Day, Going Green, Impaired Earth Day, Going True Green, sustainability, sustainable living, CO2, Greed, Everything Green, environmental science, saving energy, EPA, Gaylord Nelson

New Day Over Earth as of 7:28am Pacific Time, April 22, 2020

Fifty years is a long time. We had amazing accomplishments and we still have much to change. However, afford me the time to read this GTG blog post, because the change I will speak of, may surprise many. Nevertheless, the change I wish to share, will make the difference. I have seen the evidence and the facts over the decades while working in the environmental science/energy fields.

An impaired Earth Day may have come at the right time. Not just because of a virus that has confronted the world and cancelled outdoor events for Earth Day's 50th anniversary, but because of many other reasons. Exactly 50 years ago when Senator Gaylord Nelson started the first Earth Day, on April 22, 1970, over 20 million people in the United States attended events that day. The day's mission was to teach, present facts and learn other ways of doing everyday tasks so our environment would not be harmed. For me today, that mission has become impaired because of the following truth that I find self evident:

Back in 1970 the problem was how Earth's environmental issues were NOT addressed by political parties and the environment's concerns, were NOT covered by the media. Today, the reasons and mission for Earth Day has been hijacked by political parties, the media, and anyone with a voice who is not interested in educating, teaching facts or presenting solutions. They are just using the complex and multiple issues of our environment to make money or protect money already being made, by failing to show the complete picture. Both extreme sides are purposely omitting truth and only telling their narrative by the process of omission. They blame someone else and as a result, effective feasible solutions are rarely presented or taught.

A vortex of excess verbiage has hit our ears over the years and demands have been thrown at politicians and corporations, much justified, for many decades. Sadly this approach called "the blame game" and "listen to me so I can make greedy amounts of money" comes from both sides and has caused doors to be shut and effective communication to be destroyed. At the conception of Earth Day both American political parties worked together to not only start Earth Day, but also the EPA (Environmental Protection Agency). Corporations were even persuaded to work as one team and save the world's Ozone layer from being obliterated. So what went wrong? Greed.

Different view points are always beneficial when presented objectively, however today, everything has become subjective. So perhaps this is a time for a third view point...

Only recently, there is additional talk about how each of us can implement solutions to save ourselves money and our Earth. Originally in the 1970s, this discussion was based on conservation, which translated into making sacrifices. Put on a sweater and lower the heat. However, with the complete picture based on facts and the correct technology, an individual's action is a much more powerful phenomenon than most realize. All of us together become the team that surpasses any government or corporation. This may come as a surprise to some or perhaps many, but long term solutions are both tangible and attainable for each one of us. Teaching the data and facts for decades has been my mission. Demands made by others did not help me put out one garbage can a week, while my neighbors put out two cans, twice a week. Waiting for someone else to save the day did not have me obtain a Net Zero home. First I had the lowest electric bill in town because of multiple actions done within my own budget of time and money. Then after I was able to get solar panels (with a payback in 3 years and 8 months) I have no electricity costs for almost 5 years now. I gave up red meat almost 25 years ago. I do not buy potting soil, top soil, or mulch, because I make my own for free! No celebrity, politician or corporation taught me that - Actually an Amish farmer did.

Today with all the blame and spin going around, we have very little progress because we have very little education with all the facts. Also when each one of us implement a solution ourselves, that does not make anyone else money! So perhaps we have to teach ourselves. I for one have been sharing as much as I could over the decades.

Basically, this is easy... Teach the individual and we save the world. Think about that and ask who is a politician? Who runs a corporation? Individuals make up the corporation's board, CEO and so on. And yes, as hard as this is to believe, politicians are individuals too.

Each one of us can be the problem or together we are the solution! The battle is not between them over there and those standing here. The battle is within each one of us!

Additionally we need to come together with communication, facts and solutions because our environment is complex and has thousands of situations that need our intelligent caress. For if we are to believe that all our environmental issues will be solved just by lowering or eliminating carbon dioxide, then we are truly leaving our grandchildren with a "world of mess" to clean up. God help them to do so, if we do in fact, fail them.

Here are a few additional serious concerns for our planet that are rarely addressed and may play a larger role with harming our planet's sustainability:

We are causing great harm to our oceans, the truly one main source of our oxygen supply. The invisible O2 producing forest within our oceans’ waters is called Prochlorococcus. These microscopic green photosynthetic organisms were discovered around 1989 and they use sunlight to convert Carbon dioxide into oxygen. They divide once a day and have been making oxygen for millions of years. One drop of ocean water has 20 Thousand cells! Humankind is killing them with Nitrogen and Plastics!

The Rainforest is being cleared to meet the demand with increase consumption of meat and palm oil. Palm oil is found in products and food we all consume everyday. Decrease our forests and increase our issues with oxygen and CO2.

Another major concern is that we are manufacturing clothes mostly of plastic. We are all contributing to the fact that we are drinking, breathing and eating plastic. When we wash our clothes, research studies showed that up to 700,000 Micro Plastic Fibers go out with the water for each wash load! Studies in Germany found plastic fibers in all of the 24 beer brands they tested at Octoberfest four years ago. They also found plastic in honey and sugar.

My hope is that this GTG blog post will be a catalyst for each of us, every individual, to be inspired with learning the complete picture of our environment. Many parts of that picture can always be found in my GTG blogs and website.

To celebrate the 50th anniversary of Earth Day, GoingTrueGreen.com has created a GTG Membership program with a Lifetime enrollment to provide organized solutions so each one of us can make a difference. From Videos to Check Lists, please consider this and the benefits with the link above. This summer, two new On-Line classes called:
What Actions Each Individual Can Do and Sustainable Survival! Both will be included in our membership program.

Thank you for reading and following GTG all these years. You are already part of the solution to make our planet's complete picture look beautiful in the future!

Bill Lauto, at GoingTrueGreen.com
Environmental Scientist
International Sustainability and Energy Consultant
Contribute your comments!

3 Comments