This has to be the most publicized Earth Day ever. Everyone is on the band wagon. In fact, Earth Day may be right up there with Presidents Day when it comes to sales bulletins, a very strong sign that Earth Day has come of age. I eagerly awaited the announcements from the builder corporate offices to see how they would celebrate. I must admit I was a little disappointed that all I could find was a statement from their trade association that today's homes are more energy efficient than ever (yes, that is true) and that people should look for ways to conserve energy. That is not new news. We already know that. Frankly, I had hoped for some major announcement of some sort...maybe that major home builders are all switching to some new building material...that kind of thing. Oh, well--enjoy Earth Day, everyone.

Added after original post: In all fairness to the builders, I can't say I uncovered every stone in my search and will make an effort to find out exactly what the big builders did for the event. I guess my complaint is that they did not make enough noise about Earth Day. I will follow up to this post in the coming days as I visit each builder's site to discover their "green" efforts...and I will hopefully be pleasantly surprised. In fact, I should invite them on here to post what their company is doing. We all need that information.

Darlene

Google changed their logo yesterday an earthy one as a participation with Earth Day.

^^and what is Google doing outside of cyberspace...

I noticed that TV stations and other companies are jumping on the "green" bandwagon, and I have to wonder what they're actually DOING besides MARKETING.

When I think of the house that Al Gore lives in (Compared to Pres. Bush's ranch) it makes me ill that so many people have looked up to him as an example, a trailblazer, etc. He's nothing but a hypocrite talking the talk that's popular or politically correct.

I'm all for conservation, all for caring for the environment, all for being responsible. But please. let's not exploit it to make ourselves look like something we're not....

***just a rant, sorry***

Perk, I finally adjusted to the new Vista computer I bought last month and now LOVE, but I can't say the same for the 2007 Office Suite. It is just too, too different...so it will take me a while. PowerPoint, however, is fantastic. So, that's my excuse for taking so long to answer your post.

I am going to stay neutral as far as the political scene is concerned...hard to do but I'll try just to moderate. In all fairness to Gore, I do think these politicians and activists have huge staff and home office needs. As for the President, I had no idea he had made such a contribution. I don't know if you read the same article I did, but the way they dealt with working to solve some of the problems was very impressive. I'll stop patting myself on the back for buying plastic bottled water now. Seriously, it must have cost an unbelievable amount of money to accomplish what they did. I guess the area around Crawford appreciated his pumping the money into the community, also...the part that he was able to get done there, anyway. I would like to see more of the Hollywood crowd take those type steps when they build their mansions...instead of just gold plating everything. It's the difference between doing something to help the environment and talking about doing something to help the environment. I hope everyone can read up on the construction of Bush's ranch and especially the way they handle the water. And thanks for bringing it up. I really had no idea. I just thought he had a very nice ranch. Who knew? He obviously doesn't boast about it.

That's what upsets me - is that the media doesn't let people know about it. Al Gore is the Poster Boy of the Green Movement, I suppose, and yet, his lifestyle is the antithesis of what he preaches.

I'm not speaking about this as a Republican vs. Democrat (I have no party, I dont' like any of them, I think they're all exactly like Al Gore - liars and hypocrites and the media just feeds into the lies over and over an d over). I'm not a political person, really.

I just think it's pretty unfair that the world sees G.W. Bush as a loose cannon cowboy ready to rape the earth and yet...who's got the more earth friendly home? Who is living responsibly? And yet...who does the media love?

The unfairness, the bias - the BULL$#&% - that's what gets me upset.



No, he doesn't. He doesn't seem like a puffed up boastful man, does he? Do I agree with everything he's done? No. I don't. Do I think he's the greatest President ever? No, I don't (IMHO the greatest president was Grover Cleveland but I think I'm in the minority there, ha ha). But I also don't think he's the monster that the media has made him out to be.

Interestingly enough, I sent the same Snopes story to people in my life who love, love, love Al Gore and are so worried about Global Warming, and how awful "W" is...and you know what? NOBODY responded. All I sent was the link and a blurb about how "interesting" it was. Not a single comment.

Inconvenient Truth - indeed.



Makes me sick. I don't think Al Gore cares about anything but HIS OWN POLITICAL environment. If he did really care about the global warming crisis, I think he'd take serious steps to tone down his extravegant lifestyle. He's in the prime position to set an awesome example.

We can certainly use our positions as Realtors to help carry the message to builders that there are buyers who would prefer smaller, more environmentally friendly homes. Right now, in my area, there are few to choose from. I know these builders did not decide out of the blue to build the larger homes...they did a lot of research first. And until this recent downturn, these homes were selling down here. So maybe we have to wait for the homebuyers to make the decision to turn back to the smaller homes. That just may happen as the report cards on these latest subdivisions come due in a few years.

You've got a point their but isn't that a good move by Google through that they can inform millions of people using their services what that day meant.

Earth Day has been a biggie in the schools for a long time now, so maybe the kids are growing up "greener" then their parents. It's coming, that's for sure. In fact, since Earth Day, I see the word "green" on everything but oranges.

Adler, you have a great web site. It's so easy to move around in. I love that the default locator map is the satellite map. I checked out a few listings to see if they had trees...yep, all nice treed lots. This is winter for you folks, right?