Ten Simple Contributions You can Make to Reduce Global Warming

Scientists estimate that Glacier National Park in Montana will not have a single glacier left by 2030. Scary thought that a National Park, and its singular attraction will disappear from the face of the earth in what amounts to the blink of an eye if we do not change our ways, take steps to reduce dramatic climate changes being brought on by Global Warming. Change starts at home, especially here in America. We make up 22 percent of the world’s population, yet account for 22 percent of all Green House gas emissions. Each of us, doing our own part can effect positive changes that will begin reducing Green House gases, and in turn, reversing the harmful effects being wrought by Global Warming. Below is a top ten list of simple steps you can take to be a part of the solution.

Recycle/Freecycle

Recycling is simple, and something we can do everyday. One ton of recycled paper saves 17 trees and 7,000 gallons of water. Trees act as natural scrubbers, actively removing CO2 from the atmosphere, sequestering it from doing harm. Recycling one aluminum can saves enough energy to power a television for three hours. Freecycling works the same way, but amounts to giving away to friends, family or charity things you no longer use or need, rather than throwing them away and seeing them end up in a landfill.

Buy and Shop Locally

The average meal on the American table travels more than 1,200 miles all the while using precious energy, adding CO2 the environment, and increasing our personal carbon footprint. Make an effort to buy products that are locally produced.

Eat Less Meat (Notice I do not say, “eat no meat”…I like my steak.)

Raising, Slaughtering and transporting Livestock is responsible for 18 percent of global warming emissions. Also, the millions of cattle raised around the world release vast quantities of methane, a powerful greenhouse gas. Limiting meat consumption will encourage smaller herds, which will help cool our planet.

Bike Instead of Ride

You keep one pound of CO2 out of the environment for every mile you don’t drive. Additionally, biking will lead to increased health and vitality.

Demand Change

Demand that your elected leaders make the climate a priority, locally, at the state level, and nationally. Politicians are greening their speeches, we now have to hold their feet to the fire so they green their actions and votes.

Lights Off

Turn your lights off every time you leave a room. You will be surprised at the energy you save.

Drink Tap

Bottled water creates over 1.5 million tons of plastic waste each year, which takes about 47 million gallons of oil to produce. Stop buying bottled water and instead filter your tap water.

Unplug

Deliberate or not, many of today’s modern appliances and gadgets (their chargers) are energy thieves contributing to Global Warming. Appliances and chargers (including MP3 player and cell phone chargers) drain electricity, even when they’re not in use. Forty percent of home energy is used to power devices that are turned off. Using power strips, unplugging unnecessary electronics when not in use can save a great deal of money and energy.

Go Organic

Organic agriculture produces soil excellent at storing carbon, keeping it out of the atmosphere. Organic fields are more resistant to droughts and flood than conventional fields. Purchasing organic supports increase of organic acreage keeping CO2 out of the atmosphere.

Switch

Compact fluorescent light bulbs (CFL) last 12 times longer than incandescent bulbs. If every home in America switched one incandescent bulb to a CFL, it would be equivalent to taking one million cars off the roads. LED’s promise even greater savings, promise greater CO2 reductions.

We all can contribute our share to fighting global warming, and these ten simple steps will make a difference if embraced and practiced by all of us. If we do our part, we can create a healthy, thriving, green eco-friendly planet for generations to come. Scientists agree, for the world to continue living comfortably on our planet, we must reduce carbon emissions by 80 percent before 2050. It is an attainable goal if we all do our part. No one can do everything, but everyone can do something.

A Heartland Community Destroyed By Tornado Going Green

If you do a couple of Google searches (Eco-Town and Greensburg) you’ll find the small American Heartland town of Greensburg, Kansas is getting a whole lot of attention, and hopefully a lot of help in their effort to rebuild their community after a Tornado devastated their town this past May, destroying almost 80 percent of the community’s infrastructure, both public and private.

My own involvements with the community began some weeks ago when a close friend of mine Bill Thomas of Green Home Solutions rang me up in the middle of the night and said, “I had a dream, and you and I are going to go spend a week in Kansas helping the people of Greensburg rebuild their town.” First thought was obviously, “Why Greensburg?” Any town or city devastated by a natural disaster deserves all the help we can give them, but too often there just does not seem to be enough help to go around, with the best known example being New Orleans, and specifically the Ninth Ward, so why Greensburg?

Greensburg has a vision, a dream and if that dream can be realized, they can serve as a model of what a Green Community can be. Early after the disaster as the town and its people surveyed the damage of their battered community and idea was born into being…lets not only rebuild our community, but re-build Green, construct as many of our structures, including government buildings as LEED Certified eco-friendly structures. That dream, that model of rebuilding the town is capturing a lot of attention.

Discovery is about to launch an All Green cable channel, and one program scheduled to be aired is Eco-Town hosted by Leonardo DiCaprio who has long fostered a dream of providing a town with a complete green makeover. Having seen the destruction done to Greensburg, hearing about their dream to be America’s greenest city, he pitched the idea for his show to Discovery who embraced the idea with open arms. Thirteen episodes of Eco-Town are now being filmed/produced journaling the efforts of Greensburg to rebuild themselves into America’s greenest Community.

Mother Earth News (Ogden Publishing) has stepped up and offered to build one of the first LEED Certified home models for Greentown (a non-profit formed in Greensburg after the disaster) which will act as the organization’s office space and green library.

A small group of us here on the east coast have recently formed a new organization aimed at helping Greensburg, and other communities recovering from natural disasters to not only recover, but to re-build using green building materials, to rebuild a more eco-friendly sustainable community. Green Helping Hands is small, just in the formation stages, yet the people we have reached out to so far have been receptive, are eager to step in and help Greensburg in their efforts to rebuild their community into America’s greenest city.

The town and Greentown want to build an eco village with six green homes cited in the village, another six built at other locations throughout the town, thus creating a real life model of sustainable green living that others can visit and study, which in turn will create eco-tourism for this small rural community. We’ve proposed to Greentown having a competition wherein the best architectures in the world could compete to have their plan chosen for these green home builds. The idea has been well received, and we will see where it goes.

Green Helping Hands is also hoping book publishers and distributors will step forward by donating books on anything green from gardening to green construction to act as the foundation of Greentown’s new Eco-Library.

Greensburg has presented America with a wonderful opportunity. If everyone pitches in, if everyone steps forward and makes a small contribution of their time, effort or money, we can not only rebuild a small town in the Heartland of America, but we can re-build it as the Greenest city in America, a model that other communities can study and immolate moving forward. Take some time to Google Greensburg and Eco-Town, visit our web site (still under construction) and then get involved. America has always been the land of dreams and opportunity, and in helping Greensburg, you can play and important part in making those dreams and opportunities come true for one small town that was devastated by a natural disaster.

The Netherlands-Floating Green Eco-Homes

Written By Sherwood Martinelli

Feb. 21, 2008

One of the grave perils of Global Warming is rising of sea levels (by as much as 43 inches by 2100), the potential threat of lost infrastructure along almost every coastline of the world from those rising sea levels potentially catastrophic. Perhaps the Dutch have found a way to plan for that potential danger, while at the same time contributing to solving the problem (global warming) that could cause it...floating eco-homes.

The old adage has been that real estate was a good investment, because we were not making any more land. If you live in a major metropolitan area such as New York, Chicago or San Francisco, you know the truth of that statement; see the wisdom in the ever rising real estate prices even in a depressed housing market. Perhaps we can create more real estate, and build a healthier, greener world by adopting the Dutch technology of floating green communities.

The world's population is exploding, the population here in America estimated to grow to 500 million by 2050. To address the burdens and problems of that population boom, to make room for these new citizens, house builders and city planners must be willing to look for and explore new solutions. If one of those solutions comes with a whole array of green benefits for society, it is an idea that is ripe for wide spread develop. The Dutch amphibious communities seem to be just such and alternative solution.

Chris Zevenbergen of Dura Vermeer which developed the floating houses is looking for additional ways to make his company's floating homes more sustainable, and to further mitigate adverse impacts on the environment. Here in the New York area, the price tag of these floating living spaces could be considered affordable housing with their starting price of $310,000. More importantly, with ferry service to key metro work areas, how many cars could be kept off our roadways Monday through Friday? How many sustainable floating green communities could we build along the banks of the Hudson River? Imagine moving forward small floating river towns to compliment their land locked neighbors on the shore. More importantly, could we re-green large delta areas, restore flood plains by moving people off the land, out of the flood plains, and into a floating home?

Rather than building communities along the waters edge that fight against the forces of nature, losing almost every time, perhaps the solution can be found in floating homes that co-exist with, and on the river, rather than beside it?

Solving Global Warming is Going To Require Sacrifice

Tackling Global Warming Requires Tough Choices

Authored by Sherwood Martinelli

It seems the world is waking up to the reality that the planet, Mother Earth is in trouble, that drastic climate change is more than a possibility, but an already occurring reality. We have Lord Richard Branson of Virgin fame speaking before the United Nations and calling for a Global Warming War Room, and Al Gore winning a Nobel Prize for his “Inconvenient Truth” documentary. Natural Disasters are up, and polar bears are in danger of extinction in the Artic as ice melts into the oceans and sea levels begin to rise. The BIG TICKET item that most of the experts are banking on is carbon capture…not carbon reduction, but capture. Perhaps there is some hope in that strategy, perhaps that carbon could even be reprocessed back into energy for some future generation born centuries from now, but it is doubtful. Technology alone simply cannot save us from our self’s.

Reversing climate change is going to take GREAT SACRIFICE, and the world seems unwilling to accept that reality. Putting an end to Global Warming is going to take a major paradigm shift that is going to create policies and laws that people are not prepared for. These policies and laws, which certain religions and organized churches will perceive as sacrilege, must be implemented to save mankind, to save our world. It is imperative that our leaders here in America and around the world start speaking truth, preparing the citizens for the hard times that lay ahead.

Three words must be our guiding force as we embark on a journey to save the only world we have, a simple truth spoken to the people of the world, “Less Is More”. It will not be easy to ease people into this new mind set, will take time for world citizenry to adjust to a world where less is more, a world wherein having less, living meagerly is looked upon with honor and pride, rather than distain. Sadly, we as a world society do not have that luxury, our time to halt certain realities already passed, or time to adjust to harsh realities vanishing before our eyes. The concept of less is more has to start with the family unit as we see and understand it. The population of the world is out of control, growing at a rate that makes a sustainable world an unattainable reality, reversing Global Warming and impossible task. Large families must be outlawed, when necessary, forced sterilization the law of the land if we are to save Mother Earth.

No different than a deer herd, or cattle on federal grazing lands, the human population must be managed, our numbers reduced to under one billion citizens to have a realistic chance at having a sustainable world wherein we do not live in fear of devastation from climate change brought on by Global Warming. Must reduce our numbers if tens of millions are not to die cruel deaths from starvation and disease as the planet’s temperature rises. Hillary Clinton has said it takes a village to raise a child…perhaps in limiting the number of children born into this world as we rein in our own over population that dream could become a reality? Think about it…how much more precious would the children of the world be to every member of a community if there were far fewer of them in the world? Some, perhaps most will label me a heretic for speaking such blasphemy, how dare I control for harsh controls own human population growth, but ask yourself a serious question. If Global Warming is real, if we have to drastically reduce our carbon emissions, can we afford an ever escalating human population that is going to require an ever increasing amount of services and comforts, both of which will create ever increasing amounts of CO2 being released into our environment? We cannot afford the population growths around the world that are predicted between now and the year 2050, the world cannot bear the burden.

There are other changes that must be implemented that will send organizations like the Chamber of Commerce howling into our Halls of Government in attempts to curry favor, begging politicians to say it isn’t so. A major contributor to Global Warming is lost canopy cover in the world’s forests. Yet, each year over 100 million trees are felled to fill our mailboxes with junk mail as advertisers convince us that we need more and more product. There is a simple solution that would down size government, and go a long way towards reforestation…outlaw junk mail world wide. I would estimate, that preservation of 100 million trees a year, the carbon sequestration from such preservation would qualify me for Richard Branson’s $25 Million Dollar Science prize, and it could be accomplished with the simple stroke of a pen.

Sure it will not make the Postal Carriers Union happy, but while we are at it, let’s reduce mail delivery to three days a week. Do we really need to get our mail on a daily basis, would slowing down the pace of life really be so bad? While we are at it, let’s take a step backwards, and make it mandatory that all televisions (including cable and satellite) stations sign off at 2:00 A.M. like they used to do. How much energy could be conserved in shutting down mass media around the world four hours each and every day? We must take cars off the roads whenever possible. This can be done by making it mandatory that 80 percent of all clerical, administrative and executive work be done from home unless there is legitimate reason not to do so…the corporate need to see bodies in big buildings must come to and end, employers learning to trust that their work force can perform their tasks just as well without ever leaving the confines of a well executed home office paid for by the corporation.

Less is more, and that means learning to live differently, to adapt to smaller homes that create a smaller carbon footprint. Renovation and restoration of all infrastructure whenever possible, and if a building cannot be saved, it must be deconstructed, crews salvaging any and all usable materials to be recycled back into our stream of usable material resources. Citizens of the world must learn to share material items whenever possible or feasible, such as lawn mowers…do we really need a lawn mower for each and every house in America, for that matter, do we really need such large manicured lawns, or would something more rustic and rural (think wildflower meadow) be healthier for the planet? Should there be six or seven swimming pools in one city block that has only 12 homes on it? Why must American families have numerous television sets, and more gadgets than they know what to do with as they toss one after another into a drawer never to again see the light of day all because the new replacement gadget is newer, sexier, and has and extra must have gizmo that advertisers convinced the masses they just had to have.

Given a chance, our world has a great ability to restore itself, to replenish the oceans food stocks, to restore forests destroyed and burned in the name of progress, the ability to cool its environment, and restore lost ice pack around the planet, but only if we, the human race take the steps necessary to give our world a chance to heal herself. Time heals all wounds, but to give the world that time, we must reduce our own impact upon the surface, change our ways, and reduce our population base to a sustainable level that allows us to peacefully co-exist and prosper with the bounties given to us by Mother Nature. Corporations would have us believe that our salvation lays in technology. Technology can play a part, but it does not hold the full answer society needs. The solution will be found in sacrifice that does not come without certain pains. The longer we as a society put off acceptance of that basic truth, the deeper and more immense the pain will be.

Understanding The Need For Green Helping Hands™

Sure I could ask anyone to name ten charities or non profits, and most people could quickly tick off a list without much thought. United Way, Red Cross, Salvation Army and on down the list to ten with no difficulties at all...which begs the question, why would a few people start thinking we need another charity to donate money to? Perhaps because there is a need that is not being met?

The concept of Green Helping Hands™ started to form a few weeks ago when Bill Thomas of Green Home Solutions called me and suggested we make a trip out to Kansas to a small town called Greensburg that had all but been blown away when a Tornado this past May destroyed everything in its path as it moved through this rural community in America's Heartland. Heading up onto the one year anniversary of this tragic event the town is struggling to rebuild, attempting to become America's greenest city in the process, and simply stated, "They need our help." Bill told me to use my internet skills to find out what was going on out there, find us someone on the ground to give us a birdseye view of progress made, and where they were at in their rebuilding green iniative.

As I looked at photographs, watched newsreels of the Greensburg Disaster I was reminded of my youth in South Western Ohio, and the Xenia Tornado that killed over 3o people, and wiped out almost the entire small city. I remember doing my own small part to help clean up after the event, remember driving down street after street of devastation...not quite 40 years later I feel I've come full circle, that same sick feeling in the pit of my stomach wishing that I could do more.

The miracle is, people like Bill Thomas, like myself can do more. I am no longer a teenager, neither is he, and we both have skill sets that perhaps could be put to some use in helping Greensburg, and helping other towns and cities in their time of need. His seed, our separate but similiar visions began to grow as a kernal of an idea was nurtured and plans began to take shape. He has been reaching out to people in the building industry, speaking with manufacturers about getting some product donated...in short, forming a movement being spearheaded by Green Home Solutions and the folks over at The Great Green Race.

On a separate track, but heading in the same direction Green Helping Hands™ as a vision was/is beginning to take shape as a budding charity aimed at helping the people of Greensburg and other communities recover and rebuild after a natural disaster comes into being. Ambitious undertakings that need the help of many to solidify into reality and move forward to the important task at hand, helping people in need. It is a daunting undertaking, one easily set aside for the weak of heart, but then reality sets in as you watch the evening news and see another Greensburg, this time in Prattsville Alabama where 200 homes were destroyed. There is a need, and with the help of others, Green Helping Hands™ will become a rich vibrant reality, and a charity pursuing a noble cause...helping towns and communities recover and rebuild after natural disasters.

Tornadoes Hit South, Destroying Homes

By KATE BRUMBACK,

AP

Posted: 2008-02-18 12:35:03 FULL STORY

Filed Under: Nation News

PRATTVILLE, Ala. (Feb. 18) - Rescue crews searched door-to-door for people trapped in wreckage after a tornado crashed through town, part of a wild weekend of weather that also included rain, snow and flooding in the Midwest.

No fatalities were immediately reported in Prattville, outside Montgomery, but two people were critically injured, said Fire Department official Dallis Johnson.
Twenty-seven people had minor injuries, officials said. About 200 homes were damaged or destroyed. A curfew began as darkness fell Sunday.

Will Plummeting Prices Stall Green LEED Certified Home Builds?

The real estate market right now seems to be doing a great impression of Walmart with their falling prices campaign. As more families lose their homes to foreclosure, as house prices drop and couples see the equity in their homes dissappearing before their eyes, one has to wonder what effect all this will have on the gains made in selling the concept of building green, designing and building green homes.

We were contemplating a major green renovation of our own home that has now been postponed as it would be almost impossible for us to recoup the investment when selling our home. the tumultuos market has seen us lose almost $60,000 of our equity in the past 12-15 months, and looking forward, do not see the market making a turn around in a timely enough fashion to allow us to recover the costs of renovation, let alone turn a profit in say five years. Crunching our own numbers, the monthly budget savings would just about cover the construction loan payments. In a bull market, greening our home would make economic sense when we sold it, as we would recoup our investment, and turn a profit. Foreclosure is not a worry for us, but we are feeling the pinch of lost equity as a result of lower home values due to the glut of inventory now on the market.

Solar is popular because of the rebate programs, and other green renovations (such as kitchen cabinets) for health reasons, or because it is the right thing to do. Question is, will consumers considering home renovations be willing to pay a premium to build green in a depressed housing market? If not, what will the effects of a stalled green building movement be?

Leave a comment, share your comments on this important question to the green building industry.

Green Helping Hands Non-Profit Website About to Launch

Green Releaf-Greensburg Video

Yesterday, the first steps were taken to create the non-profit organization, "Green Helping Hands™" with the concept very simple. Creating a Green Cross, a second wave of help for communities after America's First Responders have left out of town, are on their way to another Natural Disaster. Our slogan is simple, "Green Helping Hands reaching across America." Our first responders are the best in the world, but often, communities need help after their initial needs have been met, need help in rebuilding their lost infrastructure...Green Helping Hands™ wants to help meet the need. We are looking for an attorney to help us in getting registered with the state of New York as a non profit, and taking the necessary steps to become a 501 3C.

Green Helping Hands have secured web domains, and hope to launch the site next week. The first project will be helping to raise funds and product for the people of Greensburg, Kansas. For those wishing to contribute to the towns rebuilding efforts, we have posted an address below where you can send donations. Please mention Green Helping Hands in the memo for tracking purposes. If your company is interested in donating building product to the citizens of Greensburg, Kansas, please feel free to contact Green Helping Hands™ at green_helping_hands@yahoo.com .

We will be accepting proposals from 15 corporations who would like to be founding members of this Green Charity as a part of their Corporate Social Committment to America and its citizens.

Greensburg, Kansas
Greensburg needs your help with reconstruction.

Please send your donations to:

Greensburg Rebuilding Fund%

Greensburg State Bank,

P. O. Box 787 Greensburg, Kansas 67054

Every dollar you donate will go to rebuilding our city.

Sustainable Living-Visit New York's Farm Barge

Imagine a sustainable urban farm and environmental education center. Imagine it being operated on renewable energy, supporting sustainable food production. A beautiful organic green space that grows tomatoes, cucumbers, and lettuce with zero net carbon emissions, zero chemical pesticides, and zero runoff. That is a wonderful vision...now, imagine that place right in the heart of New York City. Let's take that vision a step further...imagine this beautiful vision leaps wildly forward and exists on a barge! This vision exists, and you can visit the Science Barge again this year starting May 2, 2008.

From May to October 2007, the Science Barge hosted over 3,000 schoolchildren from all five New York boroughs as well as surrounding counties as part of our environmental education program. In addition, over 6,000 adult visitors visited the facility along with press from around the world.

Further information:

Know more about the Science Barge
The Science Barge education program
How to visit the Science Barge
Press coverage of the Science Barge

A Great Day Trip For Book Lovers-The Bruised Apple in Peekskill, New York

Don't let any one know, but someone writing on this blog has a love affair with the written word, specifically vintage books, old hardbound editions, many made a century or more ago. I've never met a used bookstore I didn't like, can spend hours walking its small aisles browsing through books with leather bound covers, and gilded page edges. When combined with another favorite passion, a day trip, its a beautiful thing. For those looking to get out of New York for a day, one such trip worth taking is a ride on the Metro North up to Peekskill, New York where you will find a favorite haunt of mine, "The Bruised Apple Bookstore". 923 Central Avenue (914) 734-7006

If I were looking for a bookshop to film a classic movie in, this would be on my own top five list. It has a wonderfully magical, aged patina about it (think Harry Potter), the well worn wood floors speaking of times long ago gone, the musty old frangrance of the books beckoning you deeper within to explore the mystery of words written long ago. The patrons of this establishment seem almost whimsical behind the counter just inside the door, ready and waiting with a warm smile and a friendly hello, and they poccess a wealth of information about the small river town of Peekskill and its surrounding area nestled in and hugging the Hudson.

If you are having a bad case of cabin fever, are looking for a Saturday adventure, this could be just what the doctor ordered. Find your way to Grand Central Station, another fabulous place to be, and purchase a round trip ticket on Metro North ($18 round trip non-peak) to Peekskill. If you are not faint of heart, you can walk from the train station up the LONG HILL into downtown Peekskill, but it is recommended you opt for a taxi ride. With tip, the five dollar ride beats the brisk 20-25 minute walk, but to each their own.

No day trip is complete without a good lunch, browsing over your finds from the Bruised Apple over some fabulous food, and there are several choices for the discerning pallet in Peekskill, all within easy walking distance from the shop. However, sticking with the theme of the day, I highly recommend Kathleen's Tea Room (wonderful, charming lunches)which is just around the corner.

Just for the record, when you look at the tasteful use of antiques in both these shops, realize they are taking others throw aways and recirculating them into the market place, it is obvious they are role models for a sustainable society wherein we capitalize the longevity of every product produced by man.

Prince Charles "GREEN" Vacation

You have to laugh to keep from crying...Prince Charles has decided he must establish proper green protocols, lead by example in addressing Global Warming. To that end, he has decided to reduce his vacation CARBON FOOTPRINT by renting a 246 Foot Sailing Yacht for he and his wife Camila's 11 day trip, reasoning it's better than flying. The link to the boat is well worth a peek if you want to experience if you will (tongue in cheek) some Green Envy.

Prince Charles' Yacht Vacation

Posted Feb 10th 2008 8:02AM by Rigel Gregg
Filed under: Journeys, Water, Celebrity Shopping, Green

Prince Charles has said before that he's committed to the environment and to reducing his personal carbon footprint on the world, and for his latest trip it seems he's keeping to that promise. Next month he and his wife Camila are planning to sail around the Caribbean on the Leander, a 246 ft luxury yacht, for an 11 day trip that sounds like a mix of business and pleasure. The voyage will have them skipping around to several different locations and officials say that sailing in the yacht will result in reduced costs and reduced carbon emissions compared to having the couple fly each step instead.

The yacht, with huge richly decorated rooms and features like a sauna and hot tub, looks like a vacation in and of itself! And it is available for private charter -- if you've got the dough.

A Green Cosmic Hello-Green Bathrooms

Greetings Green Folk:

Welcome to the world of the Green Cosmic Rabbit where we cover every topic in the world from a very green perspective. Politics, humor, green answers to your every green question over time will be answered here, hopefully in a way to have you visiting often, and bringing along a friend. To start this journey into green living as we work towards creating a beautiful self sustainable earth, thought we would address one of the most sensual and delicious rooms in our homes. (No, not the kitchen!)

Necessary Elements of a Green Bathroom

Environmentally Friendly, sustainable Green building materials combined with creative, aesthetically pleasing ecological design are the cutting green edge way to implement sound health and hygiene practices, ensuring that clean water, clean air and healthy habitat are a central theme of your bathroom remodel.

1. For vanities and cabinets seek out sustainable harvested woods, renewable materials like bamboo, wheat straw, or sunflower plants bound with resins free of volatile organic compounds.
   
   
2. Countertops should incorporate green products such as EnviroGLAS® Terrazzo which can contribute 7 or more US Green Building Council LEED® points of the 69 total available, while making a beautiful addition to any contemporary green bathroom renovation.
   
   
3. For an updated green version of a old classic, consider recycled glass, ceramic or porcelain tiles which are available in every color and hue imaginable.
   
   
4. Older toilets use up to 5 gallons per flush (GPF), Dual-flush models such as the Profile™ Toilet Suite greatly reduces water usage, preserving this valuable natural resource.
   
   
5. Adequate ventilation makes for a healthier bathroom. Operable windows and good ventilation keep fresh air circulating through the space.
   
   
6. Longevity is central to sustainability. A well designed bathroom means less maintenance, fewer repairs and can postpone costly remodels.