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Yesterday, I posted about green jobs advocacy day on Capitol Hill and some of the ways in which a green recovery will benefit ecopreneurs. Thanks to 1Sky, the nonprofit with the single goal of seeing federal action that can reverse global warming, today (and actually tomorrow or the day after, etc…) you can quickly and easily call your Senator and tell them that you support green measures in the stimulus package.  All you have to do is click through to the 1sky site and the handy, dandy Click-to-Call webform asks for your email address, name, address and zip code as well as a 10 digit phone number where you can be reached so that they can connect you directly to your senator. Here’s the 1sky pitch:

Right now, the Senate is working on the economic recovery package passed by the House. This is a pivotal opportunity to invest in green projects like public transit and energy efficiency, which will jump-start our economy lay the foundations of a new, clean energy America. We’ve made it easy for you to call Washington–at no cost to you! Call your senators today and tell them to keep the economic recovery green!

Making that call couldn’t be easier. Whatcha waiting for?

Photo by Lusi at sxc.hu

Today, people representing our interests—but who do not necessarily have paid lobbyists like big oil and the auto manufacturers—get to lobby in Washington, to make a difference.  And, ecopreneurs stand to be huge recipients of green jobs policies and legislation.  Many of the issues lobbied for today would mean more incentives, funding and support for you.

What are they going to talk about? According to the Advocacy Day Leave-Behind Document (that contains much more information about the specific recommendations), they are going to ask Congress and the administration to include policies that will create green jobs in the economic recovery package:

Energy efficiency and Infrastructure upgrades.

• Expand tax incentives for energy-efficient homes, commercial buildings and products;
• Increase funding for the Weatherization Assistance Program;
• Support a Clean Energy Corps;
• Fund the Energy Efficiency and Conservation Block Grant with a specific emphasis on large-scale, block-by-block retrofit projects;
• Invest in capital funding to repair and upgrade water, waste-water, and storm-water systems to ensure that we have safe, adequate water supplies for people and wildlife. (The American Public Works Association (APWA) estimates that every $1 billion invested in infrastructure generates about 35,000 jobs for engineers, construction workers, plumbers, architects, maintenance workers and many others.)

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What would happen if we reframed the issue: ask not what the country can do to green you; ask what you can do to green the country?

We all know that in order to be a green business we have to walk the walk, as well as talk the talk.  And, walking the walk needs to be more than greening your individual business. Changing your business practices is only one piece of the greening puzzle. Just because you can’t afford to install solar panels right now, doesn’t mean you can’t make a big difference. In fact, the time you invest in making a difference may be as valuable to environmental progress as installing CFLs. What if every small business owner in America got involved?  Joined a green business organization? Strengthened their green requirements for suppliers? Provided customers with greener alternatives?

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But this insightful challenge - in their own words - to help us better understand and teach about a variety of concerns, could have been more interesting if it was broader in perspective.

Instead of trying to spend just a dollar on food daily from their comfort in Encinitas, California, where a tub of toothpaste costs $4.99, they should have enlisted a family in, say, Chittagong, Bangladesh or Turkana, Kenya, and asked them to survive on a dollar a day.

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As much as I love to bring you pretty things, today I have something weightier to share. Grab a cup of coffee or something, pull up a chair, and when it’s done, please let me know what you think. My thoughts on this topic are definitely a work in progress, and I welcome your thoughts. (Thanks to Yoel Knits for inspiration for the first section’s title, by the way.)

Greening The Craft World

As far as I can tell, there are four main “green” strategies currently circulating in the crafting world.

The first strategy is being thrifty with materials.  Very few crafters are made of money, so we cut fabric carefully, re-use materials, and give away or swap supplies we don’t need.  This would fall into the Reduce part of the reduce-reuse-recycle waste hierarchy, and would also encompass stashbusting and “use what you have” type projects that decrease or postpone additional consumption.   Nicely for us, this is also better for the environment than being wasteful.

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New research from Mediamark Research and Intelligence has released the results of a study, based on interviews conducted with approximately 26,000 US adults, that suggests those 2% of people who are self-described “Green Advocates” are also among the most tech savvy.

Over the past few years, as the environmental movement has grown online, so has a new wave of “journalism”. I quote that word because there are some journalists out there who will resent the opinion that they are lobbed in a group with, say, me. However there are, at the moment, three groups of people that are, sadly, often misrepresented as only two; and this is where the problem occurs.

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