Happy New Year! 

At EnviroProtex, we present practical, sane environmental information!

Most of what passes for environmental information is either heavy on the theoretical side, or focused on things of relatively little importance in the scope of things. We focus on practical information like how to prevent pests on your property rather than treat them with commercial pesticides, or organic, natural pesticides.

There is also information on environmental issues from a well reasoned perspective, not the doom and gloom environmental apocalyptic view, or the perspective that humans aren't contributing at all to environmental problems.

Without this perspective, we run the risk of going to far in one direction or the other. If we make mistakes that harm the earth while trying to save the earth, we are not reaching our goal.

Tips For Greening 2008

I bet that you have already resolved to live a green life in the coming year. Well, I am offering a few tips to help to do that very thing. These are a little different than the standard “energy efficient light bulb, buy a hydrogen car” suggestions. They point toward bigger, longer term solutions, based on how we think about green issues!
Here are some steps into green. There are a lot of others, but this is a good start. One of the most overlooked is economic incentive. When people see that it pays to be green, being green will become the norm.

1. Encourage local officials to offer economic and tax incentives for green friendly home building and home improvements.

2. Encourage young people to consider work in the sciences. The more great minds we have working on issues, the better the chance of real solutions.

3. Think economics. Aluminum is a great product for recycling because it is cheaper to recycle than to mine bauxite and haul it to the smelters. Let’s work on ways to make recycling other products less expensive, and the recycling effort will become effortless!

4. Think in terms of prevention. Preventing waste, is better than overcoming problems presented by waste. Preventing pests is better than attempting to control pests, in the same way that preventing fires is better than controlling fires!

5. Encourage contests for finding better, greener ideas. Money and prizes are great motivators, whether it is for a better mousetrap or a better way to reuse plastic bottles.

6. Always think forward to consequences of even the most well intended environmental efforts. Biofuels are a great source of renewable energy, but paying for it with food shortages or a dust bowl, will make it a lot less of a victory. Always look forward toward alternate forms of energy such as solar, wind, hydrogen, etc.

7. Encourage local officials to offer economic incentives to green businesses who go the extra mile to be energy efficient in design, construction and energy and material usage.