Living Green Everyone Benfits
I blog a lot about spending time with my kids and trying to instill the morals and values my parents passed on to me. I am trying to teach them the best way to live I possibly can, but I am not sure I am practicing what I preach. I used to joke around saying I wish everyone drove a hybrid so gas would be cheaper for me to fill my gas guzzling truck. I think it is time to change that view. I don’t know if we are really able to screw up the globe; not sure if we are over estimating ourselves thinking we have more power than God. Just hearing that we might be devastating the environment is enough for me to start taking more of a proactive approach to preserving the environment for my kids.
I bring my kids to earth day each year. We are friends with a few people that are extremely involved in clean green living. I know I should do my part to help reduce my carbon footprint, but at the end of the day all I really do is bring my recycling bins to the corner. It sad really, I want to do everything I can to raise to healthy happy kids, but I am not trying to leave them with much of an environment.
I am not about to run out and sell my truck or move into a straw bail house off the grid. What I need to do is start spending some serious time understanding different types of green energy. I have a unique opportunity working in construction to work towards building green projects. There is legislation mandating set percentages of energy generation in Nevada are in place within defined time frames. Looking into these projects in the development stages to offer assistance would be a good use of my civil engineering degree. Once projects are ready to be constructed my employer could directly benefit as well.
It is not fair to my kids to simply place a couple of recyclable items on the curb every other month and think I am doing everything I can to leave them better off. Getting into green building trends will benefit everyone in my life from my children to my employer.
January 11, 2010 at 8:14 am
Great to hear you are thinking of expanding your green-ness and sharing that with your kids. How very exciting. I bet there are a lot of fun things you could do to learn to save energy and water around the house too.
January 11, 2010 at 9:39 pm
I think there are going to be opportunities in the future for construction companies that have established portfolios in successful green projects. My goal is to do my homework each evening understanding the industry and then search out opportunities and projects for Granite. If all goes as designed I should be able to find new markets for my current employer, help the environment, and build my career. I think just bringing the recycling bin to the corner was a good start, but I am interested in doing more. Do you have any recommendations for where I should begin to learn about green heavy civil projects in California or Nevada?
January 12, 2010 at 2:20 pm
I believe that you really do have a great opportunity being in the construction industry. Green building started out as a fad, and now it is more of a selling point. I believe that in the future it will be the standard. Branding yourself now as an expert is sustainable building practices will be a great benefit for the future. It will also be a great example to set for your kids. I will look into the opportunity for green heavy civil projects and let you know if I find anything.
January 12, 2010 at 8:35 pm
Thank you for your response. I hope you are right that now is the time to be standing in the shallow end of the bath tub when it comes to this trend. The more I get involved the more it feels like I am a not as early as I should have been to the shallow end if you know what I am talking about from Dr. Bret’s class.