Green Options

Michelle Obama made an appearance on Sesame Street touting the benefits of healthy eating and gardening.

Who knew Big Bird was a Republican?

Millions of Americans are declaring financial sustainability, even if they don’t exactly call it that. After all, we can’t borrow our way out of debt.

We’re paying down or paying off credit cards. We’re getting rid of our mortgage or putting an extra payment toward the principal balance (which has huge cost savings advantages). Or we’re practicing other frugality rules. According to data from the Federal Reserve, the amount Americans owe on consumer loans and credit cards plummeted $21.6 billion in July of 2009 – the largest monthly drop in consumer debt since the Federal Reserve started to track it in 1943. The “cash for clunkers” will, no doubt, alter the outcomes for August and September, but the trend continues to be less appetite for debt, not more.

People are working to get the bankers out of our lives, demanding that we become someone other than a “consumer.” So while the Federal government continues to re-affirm their “wise” decisions to bailout bankers and big finance, Americans are choosing to fire their credit card companies and break their “death pledge” (aka mortgage) by paying it off early. Of course, there are also many Americans who are in so far over their heads that unfortunately, personal bankruptcy and home foreclosure are the only remedy.

I am, however, focusing on those who thrive in abundance, simplicity and sustainability when it comes to community, lifestyle and, yes, financial intelligence. As my wife and I write about in ECOpreneuring, you cannot have ecological sustainability without a large degree of social and economic equity. The ECOnomy is not about “free trade” but fair trade; it’s about commerce that restores the planet, not destroys it or exploits people.

You can join these financial freedom-seekers too, by practicing financial sustainability. As most of us intuitively recognize, the best things in life are free (or close to it).

As my wife and I write about in ECOpreneuring, if good health is important – and it should be for everyone – then a regular exercise routine along with eating right becomes a feature in our sustainable lifestyle, whether you walk around the block, do yoga or work out three times a week at a local YMCA like we do.  Or go for a hike in the woods instead of watching more TV.

Remember the last time you had the flu or a lingering cold? Get much done? When we’re healthy, we take our good health for granted. Despite what our politicians and healthcare providers might suggest, good healthcare does not necessarily provide good health. Our lifestyle and daily habits contribute to feeling great just about every day of the year.

Some companies provide a good healthcare plan when it comes to physician access and medical coverage. But what does that matter when the stress-filled, unhealthy environment in a cubicle – with no access to the outdoors and fresh air – ends up giving us poor health? The American healthcare system is great – perhaps the best in the world – if we crashed in our car. It’s designed for treatment, not prevention. It’s a healthcare system based on the poor health of relatively well-off people who can pay (by credit or otherwise) for the services it provides.

Given all the debate on a national healthcare plan offered by the United States, below are a few promising trends many people are discovering.

This is another  in our series of environmentally focused cartoons we are featuring from Seppo Leinonen a cartoonist from Finland. I met Seppo through Twitter @sepponet and loved his business oriented green cartoons - I think you will too!

This column highlights the top economic stories of the week.

Last weekend, the biggest players in the health care industry announced that they would put together a cost-cutting plan to present to the Obama Administration.  The expectation is that the measures will save a family of four $500 a year in the first year, and  $2,500 a year by the fifth year.

Federal [...]

A “persistent” President Obama addressed the nation last night, defending his plan to create jobs, boost the housing market and energize the credit markets. In a primetime address, Obama asked the American people and Congress to support his proposed $3.6 trillion budget, and his ambitious spending and tax proposals one day before the plan begins to move in Congress.

This week a study by Social & Scientific Systems Inc., summarized by PR Newswire, has found that between 1996 and 2005 there has been a 6 percent increase in the number of U.S. citizens who have three or more chronic illnesses.  And with the lack of affordable healthcare this is no longer just an issue for the millions of uninsured, but for our own children.  According the article “Shaping good health as teens outgrow pediatricians” by Lauran Neergaard of the Associated Press, recent research performed by the National Research Council and Institute of Medicine has found that there are few doctors equipped to provide comprehensive healthcare to tweens and teens.  Adolescents between the ages of 10 and 19 years of age, experience, arguably, the greatest biological transformation and yet the healthcare system is poorly equipped to deal with the needs of a demographic that is known for testing boundaries.

Today is “World Diabetes Day” brought to you by:

Eli Lilly
Astra Zeneca
LifeScan
Insulet
Medtronic
Pfiser
Takeda

And a handful of others. You see, diabetes is big business, insulin costs and insurance will always pay. Diabetes is one of the many preventable diseases that mothers give their children.