Monday, June 2, 2008

Thinking Green

I work for Charlottesville-Albemarle Technical Education Center (CATEC) and last year the Carpentry students built the first LEED ( Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) "registered" house in the Country built by high school students. If the right person buys it and follows all the necessary steps, it will be the first LEED "certified" house in the Country built by high school students. That is quite an accomplishment!

Working in an atmosphere that encourages “green” thinking is so inspiring. I picked up a great book at Barnes and Noble when I was home in Erie last month called Go Green, Live Rich (50 simple ways to save the earth and get rich trying) by David Bach. He is the guy who wrote The Automatic Millionaire and Start Late, Finish Rich - two informational books for people like me who can't seem to save as much as they want to. Anyway, this book is just as encouraging in a different way. His premise is that everyone can do something to help the environment and each page is full of doable, easy, common-sense suggestions. Then, if you invest what money you save (going green doesn’t have to cost more) in a “green” fund, you can make some money along the way. My financial adviser already had my money going to an alternative green fund before I ever read about that exact one in this book – it was nice to have that validation.

This idea of “saving the earth” is a cause near and dear to my heart and whatever I can do to help, I will.