Kelly's Blog

Update and excitement

2008-09-11T15:46:35Z

Well, for my regular subscribers, I must apologize that I have fallen off the blog wagon. An interesting business opportunity was thrown my direction and I caught it.

On June 30, 2008, I purchased my brokerage, which makes me the agent/owner/manager of !Daley Real Estate in Savannah Georgia. My brokers, Paul and Nancy Daley embarked on a long-dreamed retirement adventure of RVing across the country to visit every national park. So, along with a head-spinning summer of closings, I have finalized everything involved with the transfer and closing, so that I can focus on real estate and blogging and all the fun agent things I used to do. Has anyone else had a crazy summer?

I would love to hear about it (celebrate, commiserate, whatever!)

It's great to be back! I have a back-log of things I have been wanting to add to my blog!

Wanted: Great ideas for greening my office

2008-06-03T21:19:17Z

Well, I am looking to help my office go "greener". I need things that are cost effective and simple for people (i.e. anyone in my office) to implement. What would be your suggestions? How do I get the most bang for the buck?

I will let you know how it goes.......

Until next time,

Kelly

question mark from www.designcrack.com

Vacation: Waster wonderland

2008-05-21T20:53:50Z

Okay, so I am on vacation this week and between the snacks and convenience of relaxing, I have gone through so much more trash than what is normalor my life. It seems that everything I am consuming is an "individual" pack or that we are using disposables to reduce our work while we are on vacation ENJOYING NATURE in the Smoky Mountains and their National Park. What a hypocrite! I feel like I need to change even more! Always something isn't it? What is your dark secret of falling off the eco-wagon?

Well, since I am on vacation, I am going to log off my blog...

Until I return....

Local Action, Global Impact

2008-05-14T21:34:18Z

One Saturday Morning. That is all it took to save the whole Earth.

Okay, it wasn't that simple, but I really enjoyed participating in Savannah's Earth Day Festival 2008. So many people were there to give a little back. The cool thing is that all of our "little" giving, ended up with huge results. RecycleRama is the initiative that allows the community to dispose of harmful products correctly. This is what we did:

Earth Day Festival 2008 Wrap-Up

RecycleRama

4200 gallons of paint
310 gallons of oil
3 truckloads of electronics with Goodwill
1100 tires
152 car batteries, thousands of small batteries
60 cell phones, 250 printer cartridges with CleanCoast
60 pairs of eyeglasses with Lion's Club
520 lbs of Aluminum
1500 lbs of plastic
1500 lbs of newspaper

Pretty cool huh? Mark you calendar for April next year and you too can be covered in paint like I was!

Plastic Bags- the slow decline of nature

2008-05-13T14:50:35Z

So, guess what I have been consciously attempting to do....eliminate plastic bags from my life. I received as a gift a re-usable eco-bag to be used instead of plastic grocery bags (which are derived from fossil fuels). Here's the catch though- I ALWAYS FORGET IT!

At home or in the car, I can't seem to get my act together about keeping this dang thing with me (and for those of you who know that I carry a briefcase/duffel/suitcase-sized purse, please continue reading when you catch your breath from laughter). Seriously, the bag eludes me. So I came up with a solution. Because I am always buying perishables, I know that I am headed home post-grocery shopping, so I came up with a new routine at check-out. I simply unload the contents of my buggy (a buggy is a shopping cart if you aren't from the South) onto the conveyor belt, allow them to be scanned and I place the items back into my buggy.

When I get to the parking lot, I open my trunk and put them in, loosey-goosey. After I get home, I grab a laundry basket and load everything on into my kitchen. Easy-Peasy. No bags to recycle, no bags at all....just double check your trunk to be sure that the sour cream made it inside or you may have a pungent mystery emerge from your trunk after your next trip to the store! Ironically, more eggs make it back to my house unharmed, because I can clearly see them.

Plastic bag picture from www.concertina.net

Grocery cart picture from www.do2learn.com

10% Ethanol...Blessing or Burden

2008-05-13T09:54:46Z

While filling my tank the other day, I noticed a little message stuck to the pump...

The message indicated that the gasoline may be mixed with Ethanol up to 10 percent.

So the positives about this change would be that the ethanol is derived from corn instead of a fossil fuel, the change is forcing the general public to adopt alternative fuels, and it reduces our dependence on foreign fuels. I am amazed Georgia jumped on board...

The negatives of this step seem to keep cropping up. Corn may or may not be our golden solution to energy problems. It isn't like we are putting ears of corn into our tanks, it takes energy to convert the kernels into the fuel and some of this energy is derived from fossil fuels. Apparently Ethanol and rubber are not great friends since engines fitted with rubber parts that would be exposed to the fuel will wear out faster than with traditional gasoline. (Additional problems have been noted with fuel blends that contain more than 10% Ethanol). Not to mention that the amount of corn needed to supply the country is being ravaged by the demand for this fuel. And, Ethanol isn't cheap- it costs almost as much as gasoline due to demand.

So, is there Ethanol in your area? What is your opinion? Were you surprised by the sticker when you filled your tank? What alternate fuels do YOU try to use?

Corn photo from home.howstuffworks.com

"Car" photo from www.tdc.ca

Earth Hour: Are you committed?

2008-03-29T14:47:32Z

Anyone that has "Googled" anything today may have noticed that their page went black. This is an effort to remind everyone that cities around the world from Copenhagen to Melbourne and everywhere in between will be hosting a volunteer blackout to show their support for energy conservation. What a forward-thinking, outward-showing way to love our earth! Think about blacking out your home from 8 p.m. until 9 p.m. tonight to show your support for earth causes. Heaven knows that there are all sorts of fun things to do with the lights out. What is your favorite g-rated thing to do off-the-grid? How long have you ever been without power and why?

I like picnics, sleeping, reading, and meeting neighbors when you can't find your emergency candles.

The longest time I have ever been without power was about 2 or 3 days during the "storm of the century" in Savannah. LOTS of time with the neighbors.

Leprechaun in a hybrid car- how GREEN is that?

2008-03-05T15:01:55Z

Well, it's March. March is a triple important month for me. I am an EcoBroker- a "Green" Realtor, it is my birthday, and I am Irish, so St. Patty's is alway important- compounded by the fact that I live in Savannah where the festivities are disproportionate to our poplulation when you look at New York and Chicago as rivals.

So what green gift would I like for my birthday? A Green Car!

I am looking to get a new-to-me (pre-owned) car in the next 12-18 months, so the research has begun. I am a mother and also take out clients regularly as a buyers agent. We are coping with a Nissan Altima at the moment. I don't like mini-vans for taking out clients, but am open to cross-overs and am VERY interested in hybrids which would expand my search into SUVs- hybrids only. I am also looking at Saturn, and Subaru as they seem to have green-leanings on a corporate level. Safety is also a concern (of course).

So...my question is, what car do you have? Is it great for clients? How many people does it seat and how great of gas milage.

Happy St. Patty's Day to everyone! Erin Go Breu or Erin Go Bragh - For the non-Irish- it just means Ireland the Beautiful. And you can throw people for a loop with Erin Go Deo - Ireland Forever!

Kelly (O'Malley) Fajen Bringman - How's that for a hyphenated name!

Image from www.kookerkids.com

You just can't win....

2008-01-24T07:11:08Z

Well, enough for my hiatus from blogging. I would like to share a tale of woe involving my mother-in-law. Before you sign, please realize that my mother-in-law and I get along great, so it's not a typical "mother-in-law" story.

As an early birthday present, my mother-in-law bought me a cashmere sweater. Since I live in Savannah and it is hot before my March birthday, she gave it to me early so I could wear it before spring. ANYWAY, I am proudly wearing my new sweater, thinking of how I should wear natural fibers more often since it MUST be better for the environment.

Then I hit the web.

I was just minding my own business, checking my email, when I was visually affronted by an article on the webbrowser. Apparently the cheap cashmere used by Costco and others, is coming from China where the goats and sheep have eaten everything on the ground, creating a non-sustainable trend that is creating an expanding desert-like environment which creates dust pollution and other problems. Is it just me or did the world get smaller last year? It is so true that we live in a global economy and obviously share the world. I have chosen to keep my sweater, but when people comment on it, I am sharing the problem with cheap cashmere.

Information referenced from: http://losangeles.broowaha.com/article.php?id=548

Powerstrips- The gift that keeps on giving?

2007-11-30T14:03:51Z

This holiday season, I would like to wage a war against idle current. More than just a lazy grape or cool band name, Idle Current is the fancy term for what happens when your electronics are supposed to be off but they are busy sapping electric from your wall, wasting energy and your cash.

Take for instance a television. I recently read on http://www.homeenergy.org/ that "For TVs that are used less than one hour per day, on average, the standby energy consumption can actually exceed the on-mode energy consumption. In other words, on an average day these TVs use more energy while they are off than they use while they are on." You can check out this interesting study by following this link: http://www.homeenergy.org/archive/hem.dis.anl.gov/eehem/99/990510.html. By plugging your television or computer accessories into a power strip instead of the wall and flipping the rocker on the switch when your devices aren't being used is a great way to stop your electric meter's mad dash to the Kilowatts.

So this holiday season, tell someone you love to stop wasting their cash to idle currents. When they look at you weird, tell them to subscribe to my blog. (Shameless self-promo)

NBC's green week

2007-11-09T14:59:56Z

Okay, you caught me. I watch NBC's Thursday night line up. Other than that, I was pretty oblivious to NBC's "Green is Universal" promotion that they have had going this week . So they changed the colors of the peacock to all green. And they are peppering in phrases like "carbon footprint" and "fecal composting" - uh, yuk??. But mainly, the content serves as jokes. Their heart is in the right place, but the message of the programing is muddled at best. It's like they are making fun of people for caring about earth's future. At least that's the impression I got from 30Rock, despite the Al Gore guest appearance. My Name is Earl was a little more upbeat about trying to teach school children about conservation. The Office had Michael go spend time with nature which, again, didn't have a clear green message. And Scrubs had a couple of quips and a rant or two. But on the whole, I got a whole lot more out of the tips that popped up on the bottom of the screen than anything else in the scripts. On the other hand, the NBC website, NBC.com, has some great blogs about different green topics. If you have some idle search time, I recommend it for homework. So what I want to know is this: Am I a little jaded about "Green is Universal"? Should I just be happy that NBC is trying to create awareness and stop worrying about the actual message? Tell me what you think? And don't worry, I won't judge you for keeping up with ER for 14 years!

Tax man cometh....

2007-11-02T12:47:33Z

Well, it's time to figure out where to place our last dimes before the year ends. If you find yourself with a few coins hanging around, you might want to consider the tax breaks associated with Energy Star products. For a clear chart about how much you can save, click on www.georgiapower.com/energystar . They also have information about tax breaks for environmentally friendly cars, solar energy systems and fuel cells. A great resource to share with friends.

How do you boycott a coal factory? Part 2

2007-10-23T13:33:43Z

Well, I seem to have struck a nerve with my last posting. Continuing on, let me state that I have no intention of going "off the grid" unless I can do so with basic comfort. Apparently coal factories supply us with electricity, so it is really going to be hard for me to boycott a coal factory from a demand perspective since I still demand energy. Let me summon the spirit of the OxyClean salesman Billy Mays and say "BUT WAIT...THERE'S MORE." So the speaker, Edward Mazria, states that by the year 2035, 75% of U.S. building stock will be new or renovated. If we set in place the legislature to ensure that these new and renovated stocks are green friendly, we have a fighting chance with the coal factories. Check out the idea for yourself and let me know what you think: www.architecture2030.org/home.html

How do you boycott a coal factory? Part 1

2007-10-19T16:04:18Z

So last week I went to a lecture at SCAD. The speaker was addressing the threat of rising sealevels. Of course, global warming melting polar icecaps was cited for the reason for the rising water. His solution to global warming was to stop the use of coal. I liked his reasoning. He reasoned that with the level of (petroleum) oil and (natural) gas left, we could burn what is left and it wouldn't be enough to fuel warming on a global level. The problem is COAL. Because it is so dirty in the way it pollutes and so much is still left to be used, coal has the biggest threat to our environment. So large scale efforts to stop people from guzzling gas and small scale efforts to recycle plastics are undermined by the waste produced from coal plants. The problem is that I don't know how to stop coal factories from a demand perspective. More on this later...

My Alter-Eco

2007-10-09T15:21:02Z

So I have come up with a name for my blog. I will call it my "Alter-Eco". Not only is it catchy, but it is also very reflective of my attitude towards our environment. I want to change the world, but find that I have to take an alternate route to the end result. I am not ready to be a bike-riding, tree-hugging dung-hut-living hippie. I want to adapt my life to be a good earth-steward, but at the same time, I have a life. I work full time, I have a small child, a husband, a mortgage and the normal grind of stresses. I make excuse like everyone, but I am getting tired of the excuses. I want to make changes, but it isn't going to happen all at once. I will be making alterations and I hope you will too. Small steps, big difference. If you know of any inspirational facts or small ways to take care of our planet earth home, I would love to share them on my blog. All comments welcome!

The ultimate win-win-win

2007-09-28T14:31:56Z

There are cool new ways to recycle. I am discovering them every single day. Petsmart and many other organizations collect printer ink cartridges for charities (about $2 per item is donated). Also, cell phones (Domestic Crisis Centers) and eyeglasses (Lyon's Club). Talk about a win-win-win situation. You get to feel good about helping the charity and the environment. The environment feels better with less trash. And, the charity gets some much needed funding. How cool is that?

For more information, you can visit the following sites:

http://www.staplesrecyclefored.com/ - Caters to educational funding

http://www.actionaidrecycling.org.uk/ World Charities

www.petsmartcharities.org/donate/toner-cartridge-recycling.php - Animal Welfare

http://www.wadt.org/ Click on Hopeline phone donation - Fight Domestic Violence

Or if you want to skip the charity, you can also get paid directly. Just check out http://www.ecyclegroup.com/ or http://www.ecorecycles.com/

Bill Gates Hugs Trees (a.k.a. Much MODIW about Nothing)

2007-09-21T14:08:04Z

He may never admit it, so I will claim it for him. Bill Gates is a tree-hugger. I recently discovered Microsoft Office Document Image Writer (MODIW). This cool little program lets you look at stuff as it will print when a print preview function isn't available. It will also let you pick and choose pages with ease or save temporary copies of documents instead of printing them. And it's easy. You just click the prompts as if you are printing and when you get to the screen where you choose which printer to use, simply shift down to the Microsoft Office Document Image Writer icon and instead of cranking out paper, it will crank out a document. Cool, huh?

Here are a couple of tree-saving uses for this software:

1. When bills or other items are paid for online and you have to print out a confirmation code, opt for a digital document. That way, when all goes through and you'd throw out the paper, you just delete the document, but if there is a problem, it is at your fingertips!

2. I use this all the time before I print to make sure that the last page isn't a bunch of junk attached to the website view that actually was of interest to me.

3. Back up copies

4. Selecting multiple pages to keep. Instead of printing and tossing every other page or third page, you can load to MODIW and delete them before they print.

I am sure there are a million other uses for this feature, so let me know by posting your comments.

As always, thanks for reading!

Bill Gates Hugs Trees (a.k.a. Much MODIW about Nothing)

2007-09-21T14:07:58Z

Here are a couple of tree-saving uses for this software:

2. I use this all the time before I print to make sure that the last page isn't a bunch of junk attached to the website view that actually was of interest to me.

3. Back up copies

4. Selecting multiple pages to keep. Instead of printing and tossing every other page or third page, you can load to MODIW and delete them before they print.

I am sure there are a million other uses for this feature, so let me know by posting your comments.

As always, thanks for reading!

Bagging Blog

2007-09-18T14:08:16Z

Has this happened to you? You go get groceries and you are so busy watching the prices as they zip across your screen that you don't even pay attention when the bagger DOESN'T ask if you prefer paper over plastic. And you don't notice when the bagger puts only 1 item in each bag. It begs the question: "If my milk gallon of milk has a handle built into the package, why does it need a bag?" Most everything that can only fit one to a bag is tough to carry in with a bunch of other groceries anyhow. (Ever tried to tote the milk gallon in a plastic bag in the crook of your arm? OUCH!) So I am advocating speaking up to your grocery bagger. Let them use those stickers instead of plopping everything in separate bags.

Of course there is the arguement for "recycling" these bags, but most ideas involve re-using them by putting some other junk in them before they are tossed into the trash. While this is noble in theory, it doesn't stop the amount of waste that goes into our landfills. My favorite reuse idea is keeping bags to collect biodegradable dog waste. I am not about the "poo on your shoe" public park phenomenon, but it seems odd to put something natural into a plastic to dispose of it... but I digress. These bags are taking over our planet but they are SO DANG CONVENIENT! I am trying to reduce my bag consumption and I recycle the ones that do make it home. And speaking of reducing, why do I always think about bringing a bag from home AFTER I get to the store? As stated in my first post, I am only on a journey here, I am not claiming to have all the answers. Feel free to post a comment to let me know if the plastic bag dilema keeps you up at night. I'd love the camaraderie!

For more information, you can check out

http://www.reusablebags.com/facts.php The ticker will blow your mind!

Until next blog, Kelly

Recycling

2007-09-15T11:53:20Z

Okay, I admit it. I am pretty bad at recycling. I am just plain lazy about it. I will watch myself throw things in the trash and think "Next week, I'll organize those bins in the garage". But here's the thing. Once the bins get organized, then you put the cans, glass, cardboard, newspaper, etc.. into the bins. Then what? Another thing to add to my endless list of chores for the month. Driving stinky stuff in my car to drop off to the recycling centers to save the earth and sleep better at night. What's the deal Savannah? Why is recycling such a bother?

If you are like me and would like to recycle but are too lazy to spend all your time and gas money doing it, then join me in the pettition to get a CURBSIDE recycling program going in Savannah. Just click here ( http://www.petitiononline.com/cleannow/petition.html ) and follow the instructions. With interested parties advocating, we should be able to make our job of recycling a bit easier for everyone. Convenience is the key to a greener Savannah. Thanks in advance for you support!

www.freecycle.org

2007-09-14T10:30:42Z

Is it a coupon? Is it a bike? What is freecycle? Well, Freecycle.org is an online community that I have supported for years. It's cool how it works. If you have something that you don't need but you think someone might be able to use it, you post it. If you need something that someone posts, you respond to their post and go pick it up. The main idea is to keep things out of landfills. All you need is a yahoo account. Go to freecycle.org and add yourself to the Savannah group. This week I got a new listing. We (the seller and I) were working together to get the home in tip-top shape to fetch the highest bid. On our task list was a coypond in the backyard. It was overrun with water plants that had multiplied to beyond what the pond could handle. I posted the plants on freecycle.org and instead of being thrown in the brush heap, a lady from Bloomingdale picked them up. What a win-win situation! Let freecycle.org work for you! Kelly Bringman

Welcome to my Green Blog

2007-08-28T13:26:28Z

I have to admit that when I think “Savannah” and “green”, St. Patrick’s Day is the first thought in my head. I can’t help it. I like a good party. But have no fear. I have started this blog as a resource for YOU! I am sharing my journey through this journal. Savannah needs a consolidated resource so that people can stay updated on what resources are at their fingertips. Fortunately, with the progress of technology and science, it is getting easier and easier to make green choices, but people have to know about them. My thought is that if it was easy and cheap, everyone would be on board with saving the planet from human impact. Six months ago, I didn’t know anything about how our homes impact our environment. Let me clarify. Tree-hugger. Hippie. Dirt Worshipper. Nope. Never been called any of those. I don’t even see the environment as a political issue. I just think that waste is wasteful and we should try to minimize the impact that our lives have on the earth. So my goal is to create a forum where I post what I learn, making it easy for you to learn from my blog. Think global. Act local. Let me show you how. Subscribe to my blog.