Your Green Review

Company Name: Zero Impact Guitars

Company Type: Privately Owned

URL/Location: www.zeroimpactguitars.com

Contact-Info: steve@zeroimpactguitars.com

Company Description: Zero Impact Guitars builds custom electric guitars from smartwood using solar power to charge all tools not powered by hand (with the exception of a bandsaw outfitted with a DC motor).  We offer only the best US-Built handcrafted custom guitars built right in our shop located in South Florida using only the best materials and hardware available.

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Your health is only as good as the air you breathe.  Unfortunately, you’re probably one of the many millions of Americans who live and work in buildings awash with chemical, biological and particulate pollutants linked to chronic illness.   Perhaps you’re blissfully unaware of this fact, after all,  Indoor Air Quality (IAQ) isn’t in the forefront of most people’s minds as they head into work.   More than likely, unless there’s a noticeable IAQ issue such as heavy odor, most probably aren’t even aware of their own breathing…but maybe they should be

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Thanks to BuildingGreenTV.com for the epsiode!

Company Name – Watt Works Inc

Company Type – Privately Owned

URL/Location – www.wattworks.com

Contact Information – dhall@wattworks.com

Can Provide Facility Tour To:

A YGR RepresentativeThe General Public

Company Description:

We sell What Works to save energy in our energy efficiency store on Goodale Blvd in Grandview Heights. We have LED lighting, setback thermostats, solar heating and power systems, rechargeable batteries, lighting controls and more. Plus we do energy analysis for homes and businesses, and we do energy consulting for utilities, small government, businesses and nonprofits. Our showroom is an adventure.

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Someone once said that “an EMS without an effective monitoring and measurement program is like driving at night without the headlights on-you know that you are moving but you can’t tell where you are going!“

This statement rings true despite company size, certifications sought or annual earnings. When it comes to Greening business, Environmental Management System (EMS) monitoring programs are crucial and can ultimately save your business time and money through strategic planning, monitoring and continual improvement.

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Green Computers Anyone?

It’s ubiquitous today, unlike a decade or so ago when it was a novelty to be seen with or own one. In this day and age though, a computer wouldn’t generate a second look, unless it’s Apple’s MacBook Air or Dell’s Adamo. I don’t deny that computers are extremely useful in all walks of life, but in a world that’s being forced to rethink its priorities because of global warming and environmental degradation, where do these electronic gadgets fit in? Are they eco-friendly? Can they be used in a way that does less harm to the environment? I can safely say that none of us are ever going to throw our notebooks or desktops into the trash can, so the best we can do is to use computers responsibly, by:

• Switching them off when they’re not being used: I’m guilty of it, and so are you probably – we leave our systems on all day and all night long, even though there are no programs running in the background. If you’re the absent-minded kind, use the optimum power settings on your system so that your computer is programmed to hibernate or sleep when it’s idle for a certain amount of time. As much as possible, shut it down overnight unless you’re running a download or something. If so, use applications that allow you to set a time for automatic shutdown once an event is over or in a specified time.
• Switch off peripherals: If you’ve got printers, fax machines and other gadgets hooked onto your system, switch them off when they’re not being used. Most of us do tend to leave our modems and routers on even when we’re not using the Internet, but it’s best to switch them off as a matter of routine when you’re putting your computer in the hibernate mode.

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Company Name: Skye Public Relations

Company Type: LLC

URL/Location: www.skyepublicrelations.com

Contact Information: Angie Palmer

Can Provide A Facility Tour To:

A YGR representative

Company Description:

“We are a public relations business that focuses on using social media to get the word out, instead of using mass direct mail or flyers that are not eco-friendly. We are also active in promoting green practices to the general public through Ohio Green Specialists, a brand new local green group that provides free education about green living to the general public.”

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If we retain 10% of what we read, 20% of what we hear and 90% of what we see and do then it would stand to reason that giving children books about environmental stewardship is good, talking to them about it is better and giving them hands-on experience in sustainable living is best.

If the above isn’t enough to sell you on the importance of ‘Greener’ operations in our schools then perhaps this will: America’s schools spend more than $7.5 billion annually on energy—more than they spend on textbooks and computers combined. That’s a big chunk of change that doesn’t even take into account the billions spent on inefficient water usage or waste hauling (both are big drains on the budget for most schools).

TEN WAYS ANY SCHOOL CAN GO GREEN:

1.) Create a waste-free lunch program-On average, kids create 67lbs of garbage from disposable lunches every year. Promote the use of reusable lunch sacks, utensils and containers to reduce cafeteria waste. A week-long pilot may be useful in implementing an ongoing program down the road.

2.) Stop the presses! Do away with paper newsletters, weekly updates and as many hard-copies of study guides, syllabuses and homework. Instead, list pertinent news on school websites, ask students to bring in USB drives for e-study guides and switch to email when sending information home to parents.

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Global warming; over-consumption; poisoned lakes; smog; endangered species; e-waste.

Green-Overload.

What’s the problem with raising awareness about significant environmental crises?  There is none.  However, it’s easy to become paralyzed by the constant barrage of commercials, articles, tv specials and speeches portending global disaster if we don’t facilitate sweeping global changes immediately.   As Patrick Metzger of The Green Daily puts it,  “I haven’t been inundated with guilt and fear like this since I was at Catholic school.”

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20 percent of America goes to school every day to gain the education and problem solving skills they’ll need to succeed in competitive job markets and an increasingly uncertain global economy.  At 6 1/2 hours a day, 5 days a week for roughly 36 weeks a year, that’s approximately 1,170 hours per child per year spent studying the importance of proper grammar, basic science and fundamental mathematical formulas in schools across the nation.  This knowledge is indeed relevant and important, but when some of the most pressing issues facing our youth exist outside the confines of traditional education, how well are we truly preparing them for the challenges their futures hold?

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