We are in the process of rebuilding this site, but that shouldn’t stop you from finding out more about us. This site still works . . . poorly perhaps, but it still works. There is also plenty of more up to date information at our other sites. Visit the 100k Blog for day to day information on our ideas and ongoing projects, or head over to Postgreen Homes to learn about our current residential projects. You can even customize a home while you are there.

We are working hard to fix this site as quickly as possible. If you have any questions or concerns during the process please feel free to email me at nic@postgreen.com. We apologize for the inconvenience.

As you have surely noticed by now, we are not doing a whole lot of blogging here right now. Sorry it took so long for us to tell you why. We are notoriously forgetful when busy.

The Postgreen site is undergoing a major renovation behind the scenes. The site will have a new look and a new strategy in which the blog may or may not have a role. So, for the time being, we will not be updating.

Worry not though, there is plenty of opportunity to follow what we are doing over on the 100k blog (as many of you already know). Get regular project updates, ridiculous videos, educational articles and philosophical musings. Trust me, you will soon be so tired of reading our scribbling (okay typing), that you will hardly miss the Postgreen blog during its hiatus. Of course, we haven’t updated in a while and the complaints aren’t exactly flowing in, so I guess no one’s missing it too much anyway.

Thanks for subscribing and keep and eye on the site. Cool stuff is on its way.

I just realized that, in the flurry of activity last week, I never gave you anything to look at. Irresponsible and rude of me, I know. So, in abbreviated form, I will give you exciting green links from both last week and this one. Look at all this . . .

Episode 18

• Lot’s of information about dirt, where its going and how we can get it to stay put.
• Apparently in the distant past, before the Internet, people sent something called “letters”, they sometimes forgot the name of an obscure movie forever and they looked up businesses in an overweight tome known as The Yellow Pages. Unfortunately, despite the fact that their use for anything other than a doorstop or a booster seat has been long since eliminated, these Yellow Pages continue to be produced and delivered, wasting trees, fuel and cupboard space. Now you can help stop this irrational printing of business information and ads. Sign up to have your home and/or office removed from the unsolicited delivery of phone books.
• Solar panels without the huge upfront investment? Leave it to the Nutmeg State.
• I don’t believe a disagreement with liars to be a political statement, so I feel alright about using this apolitical blog space to ask why the hell there doesn’t seem to be an appropriate and effective response to the falsehoods repeated endlessly in the conservative media? Look at some of these oil related yarns that are being spun right now. Unfortunately, with 63% of Americans supporting off-shore drilling, it appears that merely repeating a lie often enough can make it true. Let’s try it . . . I have washboard abs, I have washboard abs, I have washboard abs . . . damn.

Episode 19

• What are some things we could make with 6 million dead carp? The 6 Million Carp Man . . . Carp Mahal . . . 6 million “Dead Carp Behind Your Fridge” practical jokes . . . Wall-to-wall Carp-et for a good section of Brooklyn . . . Sorry, those were bad, but the opportunity does make one think.
• We care about the earth, but does that mean we also have to care about bats? If so, we might want to see what we can do about our alternative energy solutions causing bats’ lungs to explode.
• Speaking of wind energy, the issue, as one would expect, gets more complicated as we start making more of it.
• We think energy is costing us a lot out of pocket, but that doesn’t even account for the cost of subsidizing the poor struggling energy companies.

Videos are just rolling out of the Postgreen office lately and while our quality hasn’t improved noticeably yet, we have some stuff in the works that will impress (if you are easily impressed). That said, blog posts have not exactly been coming at the same pace. Hopefully we can pull ourselves away from Final Cut long enough to remedy that. Until then, look at this . . .

• Off-shore drilling is the gas crisis penicillin according to some and the harbinger of the apocolypse according to others, but what is the real, unspun deal? I’m not sure if this post on drilling answers that question, but it is definitely part of the conversation.
• It’s a little late for this years crop of concentious college-bounds, but those looking into schools whose green fervor matches their own now have an excellent resource. Pick up a copy of Princeton Review’s list and see if your future alma mater cares about anything other that corporate gifts and winning football teams.
• A cool house with a cool name, but the Alley House is not for those of us scraping change out of the couch for our next dozen organic eggs. Unlike most things in alleys (trash cans, rats, Hobo Steve) this is one of those beautiful things to look at, admire, steal ideas from and, at all costs, avoid touching (I can hear my mother now . . . “no touching. That stuff’s expensive.”). Wow, alleys in Seattle are way nicer than the ones we have in Philly.
• You know how single malt scotches come from a single batch, no blending, no mixing (mmmm . . . scotch)? Well, this is the furniture equivalent and I want one . . . no rocks, just a splash of water.
• More on the whole drilling question, but this one is funny and depressing.

I actually have more links but I don’t want to overwhelm you. I’ll just stockpile them for next time . . . as if my links were oil and I wanted to make a higher profit by creating artificial scarcity . . . but that would be crazy . . . you’d never buy it . . . you’d revolt . . . wouldn’t you?

Well, it is finally here, the first video entry in the Green Office Pledge Breakdown. It is riddled with inaccuracies, chock-full of foolishness, poorly framed and horrifyingly lit, but that didn’t seem to offend anyone when we released our first video press release, so what the hell.

Some notes to read before watching:

1. We failed to address daylight/occupancy sensors. Basically, we left them out because this thing is too long as it is, and Chad had mentioned them in another post.
2. I inexplicably add the word “building” to the Green Office Pledge. This was noticed but we were too busy to fix it. Sorry.
3. The lighting is awful, but so is the cinematography, editing and graphic work. Imagine if the lighting was great. It would stick out like a sore thumb.
4. We breezed over the CFL mercury thing. We know this is an issue, but currently feel the power-savings justify CFLs. We will happily hear complaints, advice and alternatives in the comments, but be nice . . . we’re sensitive.

Alright, enough prologue. Here’s GOPB Part 6.

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aR-RQVdqYpE

The video can also be found here for those of you who prefer watching on YouTube or in case this doesn’t appear in the RSS.

This post is part of our ongoing, 30 part series breaking down the Green Office Pledge. Sign up for the pledge and be sure to check out the rest of the series for more tips and anectdotes.

In addition to my normal internet surfing I have been doing some video work this week for our 100k House project. I have nothing to show for this yet as most of my time was spent relearning Final Cut, but I do have a favor to ask. If any of you are musicians and would like a little free publicity, we would love to feature your music in our video productions. We will tell everyone who you are and where to find you both in the video and on our blogs. In exchange, you won’t ask us for money (that green stuff I’ve heard so much about) for using your sounds.

Alright, now we can get on to the important stuff. Look at this . . .

• Despite my desire to believe everything comic books tell me, it turns out that extreme radiation doesn’t create super powers. So, no more uranium (will that word finally earn us some government attention?) under my pillow at night. Fortunately, it turns out that radiation can help create a new type of mushroom which would be great if they weren’t so inaccessible and incredibly poisonous.
• The questions have been asked before and they have been answered before, but for some reason I like the way this post responds to a few typical green inquiries.
• While I normally write about beer, I figured my beautiful lady friend would appreciate a little space devoted to affordale organic wine.
• It appears that we have increased the birds yearly commute. Birds think we’re jerks.
• I am basically linking to this because the word “sucks” is in the title of the post. It has been a difficult day and the word sums up a lot.

I pledge to turn off my lights whenever I leave my office for extended periods (15 minutes or longer) and ask my employees to do the same.

This one doesn’t seem to need much in the way of exposition. I mean, generally it is common sense, right? I know as a kid this was a constantly repeated mantra. “When you leave a room,” my parents would say, “turn off the light.” There was nothing green about this. It was simply economics and basic logic. After all, my mother was probably right when she said that my stuffed monkey wasn’t scared of the dark.

Chad’s Green Office Tips

Turning off the lights is pretty straight forward. There are advancements in this pledge that include occupancy sensors on lights. Most of them basically have a sensor near the door that senses when you enter the room and when you leave. If you forget to turn off the light when leaving, it will automatically do so for you after a set period of time. This may be worth looking into during your green office renovations.

I’ll add one more tip to this post to go along with the lights. Ceiling fans and all types of fans for that matter should be turned off when leaving a room for a prolonged period of time as they only serve a cooling function when they are blowing directly on people in the room.

This post is part of our ongoing, 30 part series breaking down the Green Office Pledge. Sign up for the pledge and be sure to check out the rest of the series for more tips and anectdotes.

Promise 1: I pledge to designate a Green Office Advocate for my company to hold us accountable for our pledge.

Every effort needs a leader just like every body needs a head. Without heads there would be a lot of bodies wandering into traffic, walking into walls and generally screwing up anything requiring cognitive thought. In the same way plans for which no one has direct responsibility tend to self-destruct or fizzle out as time passes. At the very least, every effort needs someone to blame when things go wrong.

The Green Office Pledge, if taken seriously (which we encourage), is a complicated undertaking. The position of Green Office Advocate is vital to maintaining the momentum and focus needed to make progress in each of the other 29 promises to which you have agreed. The person chosen for this position should be considered carefully. Traits such as organization, leadership, communication skills and a drive to institute change are good indicators of an acceptable candidate. Though, in lieu of these, a simple will to do th job could suffice. It will be a thankless task at times and in many cases require more work with no remuneration. Thus, it is important that the person sees the result as its own reward.

The process of choosing a Green Office Advocate will vary in each organization. Some might hold an election, interview potential appointees, or if you have a small office (like ours) and the candidates are equally qualified (or not), you might resort to rock paper scissors as we did.

Postgreen Green Office Advocate Rock Paper Scissors Contest: Best of Three

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BTgUzr5yYZU

We shall see whether rock paper scissors skills equate to Green Office Advocate ability. I am looking forward to the new role and the power and prestige that goes along with it.

Chad’s Green Office Tips

Some of the responsibilities and duties of the Green Office Advocate could include the following:

1. Dissemination of the Green Office Pledge to all employees
2. Periodic training for employees as need on green office initiatives
3. Tracking of Green Office measureables (utility bills, steps implemented…)
4. Monthly updates to the office on overall progress towards greening the office
5. Organizing green office work events to collectively green the office

Today marks my first day as an employee of postgreen, and Chad has made an effort to keep me too busy to write this post. Even now he is distracting me with ideas about the 100k House line. Dammit Chad, I’m trying to tell people about all the cool stuff I found on the Internet this week! Jeez.

Try to ignore him and look at this . . .

• Now I dislike a wet newspaper as much as the next guy, but what is one to do with all that pesky plastic protecting our informative black and white from the summer storms. Well, now you can have your unsmeared ink and a gift for the special person in your life.
• Yes these ideas are crazy . . . crazy like a fox . . . if that fox were keen on saving the world from an impending climate disaster.
• George Carlin is dead, but his thoughts on meat leave on. Thanks interweb.
• And my fiancee said those pizza boxes I was saving in the basement wouldn’t be good for anything. Hello pepperoni scented recliner. That’ll teach her to question my absurd hoarding.

A little brief today, but what can I say. I need a post work beverage and a little down time.

It is another Wednesday which means you get another nice batch of links to the wonders of the world wide web. For those new to this section, it is basically a collection of all the odd and interesting things I have come across during the 80+ hours a week I spend online. That’s right, instead of a social life I have the Internet. Stop pitying me and look at this . . .

• I planted phase one of my garden this past weekend (herbs, tomatoes, peppers), and right after, I learned that I could have easily added more feces to the process. If you knew me better, you would understand how much the absence of hardened, formed cow dung in my gardening process disappoints me. Look out for gardening phase 2.
• The sheer volume of our consumption is sometimes difficult to grasp. Numbers, graphs and reports don’t really ram the truth home like a smoking skull or naked torso.
• So, I never really thought about carrying a purse before, but this one is solar powered and biodegradable . Now if I can just find the shoes to match . . .
• In the mists of the distant past, when gods walked among men and monsters roamed the earth, there lived a simple plastic bag with an amazing destiny. Cursed by the gods, driven by passion and tangled in the fates of millions, this humble bag would shake the very foundations of the earth . . . um . . . sorry. Here are five real myths about plastic bags.
• I don’t have much more to say than . . . its a robot . . . it eats suburbs.

If you find anything I should look at or link to, let me know in the comments or send me an email. I really like emails and comments.

Nic Darling is a guest writer on postgreen, and much like that annoying uncle who came for Thanksgiving and stayed until Christmas, he just won’t leave.