Ecolonomic Life

 A bill has just been passed by the United States House of Representatives for a 6.5 billion dollar school renovation. The money will go towards making schools greener. The targeted schools are ones in the south east which were destroyed by hurricanes Katrina and Rita. These schools haven’t been properly rebuilt yet and so this money will go to rebuild them to be more efficient and better for the environment. The rest of the money will go to other school renovations across the country. These will be schools that are in desperate need of repair. 
 
This is just one small step that our country is making in the fight against global warming, but there is always controversy. The people opposed to the bill worry about the action the federal government is now taking in education. In this case, the opposition believes that the federal government should only step in to ensure that students are getting fair educations and that disabled students are getting appropriate care. They believe it is the responsibility of the state to fund school renovations and things of that nature, and not the federal government’s.

The people who voted against the bill were worried about this new role the government was playing and they were also worried about the high upfront costs of these renovations. These costs will be off-set in very little time though. It is claimed that with such improved efficiency these schools will save 100,000 dollars a year. In just ten years a school will save a million dollars. I know from experience that schools can last for many years. The high school I graduated from was built in the early 1900’s. That means it has been around for almost a hundred years. This renovation can pay for itself.

Other benefits come as well. Jobs are created due to the construction that will be taking place. There will be a smaller impact on the environment. But most importantly, children will be able to learn and experience the significance of living green and making a difference for the environment as well as the economy. All I can say is that it’s nice to see our money going to benefit our country and not being shipped overseas.

For further reading on this follow the link to the CNN article where I received my information: http://edition.cnn.com/2009/POLITICS/05/14/green.schools/. As always we welcome your comments and thoughts, and we hope we can generate a little interest for cleaning up the planet and as Dennis would say “making some money doing it.”

Kindle, that’s the new trend in books. It is a hand held device created by Amazon where you can receive digital books and read them right off the screen. It’s pretty fascinating to think about where books have come. Thousands of years ago books were only made for religious and governmental purposes. Only the highest ranked people were able to read and only scribes could write. Books were scarce and could not be published in masses as they can be today. Eventually, books became something for just the elite society thanks to the Guttenberg Press (the first press that could copy hand written books and mass produce it), but only the elite were literate. Now, thanks to public education, almost everyone can enjoy books. Paper books have been the way we read, but now digital books, or ebooks, are becoming more appealing. But which is more ecolonomic?

Ebooks are very exciting and intriguing. The digital format of the books allows for the storage of several books on to one small device (smaller than most paper books) which can be toted just about anywhere. Their portability far exceeds that of a conventional book. The digital format also allows for text searches, making research much easier, and for easy duplication. You can easily give a friend an ebook and still have a copy for yourself, something you can’t do with paper books (unless you have more than one copy, which is uncommon). Ebooks can also be read in almost any lighting situation because of backlighting on screens. Even in the dark you can read an ebook. No paper is used when making an ebook, which means thousands of trees are saved. Publication costs are cheaper because everything for an ebook is done over the internet. There is no shipping which means no energy is used to ship the books to a store and no energy from consumers to go to the store and buy the ebook. Digital books will never decay, rip, or fall apart at the binding. I wouldn’t be able to rip the book in two as I have with paper books. Even the devices used to read the digital books are smaller and ship to stores for less.

What are the cons to ebooks than? No matter what you do an ebook is always an ebook, which means you will always be using energy when buying, downloading, or reading it. Paper books certainly ruin trees, exert carbon emissions while manufactured and pollute through shipping methods, but ebooks use quite a bit of energy just from reading the book. Publication of ebooks is cheaper and would make books cheaper as well, but though the consumer gains, authors and publishers lose. Books can be pirated and revenue would be lost to the author. Though ebooks can’t wear and tear, electronics can. I can drop a book and it’s usually fine, but drop an electronic and who knows what will happen? Electronics tend to last for about five years and go out of date in about one or two. Books can last for thousands of years. Ebooks have no resale value if they can just be duplicated, where as paper books can become collectables and rare. Electronics are harder to recycle than paper and you can’t send an ebook to a used bookstore for recycling, or to a library, which allows people access to books for free without any expensive device.

With new sources of energy being developed, who knows what will become of paper or digital books? Ebooks may be the next great ecolonomics thing, what do you think?

Lets see if it works.  I will be adding some magic code below this shakesphearean (I know that is not a word) prose.  If it works you will be able to shop from our site and when you do you will get great buys and we will make a little coin.  So here goes!! 

Just kidding! Well it did not seem to work.  We will keep at it and you will see the results when we do. 

Yesterday was our first official day of IOE managed dog training at the Loveland Rocky Mountain Prairie Campus (RMPC).  Joe Brakke and agroup of his friends kicked off our open grounds training program in style.  It was a beautiful 60 degree day with sun and a little breeze.  Joe has attended our Wenter fun Trial series, and he will be training at the RMPC regularly. 

You can check on our home page a find out about our dog training program.  We are comitted to preserving the heritage of the RMPC and creating a unique venue for ecolonomic dog training here in Northern Colorado.  You can pick one of three sessions on four different days of the week, and share a special time with your dog and human friends alike.  We hope to see you this spring  – at the RMPC.

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I thought I would post a few pictures of our beautiful campus in Northern Colorado where we are conducting Aquaponic research, raising alpacas, doing composting, revitalizing a stream and pond ecosystems, enjoying a unique pasture golf course, green quarrying natural stone for local construction, creating a small eco-friendly community, training dogs, mountain biking, hiking, and much more…

You need to come visit us, and even better we have two incredible lots available for sale, of which a portion of the sales price will be donated to IOE for use to preserve the planet.  Check out the pictures.

Hi, I’m Scott Fardulis, the newly elected Chairman to the Institute of Ecolonomics.  I’d love to get to know as many of you as possible and the best way I know how to make that happen is to initiate a little conversation with you.  So here we go.

I’m sitting in my home study enjoying some personal quiet time.  The house is quiet, my kids are fast asleep, and my thoughts are pulled toward my grandmother.  She is currently 92 years old and my wife and I have had the unique privilege of caring for her in our home. 

Unfortunately, her health has been rapidly declining and she’s been in a lot of pain.  Part of this is due to her osteoarthritis and the general breakdown that occurs with old age.  So, I wonder… what will old age look like for me?  What negative health aspects can I avoid?  How much control do I really have anyway?  What is in my genes and can I take any prevention for risks which I may be predisposed?  Futhermore, why have some many diseases been born over the past couple of generations? 

It can be argued that most people don’t die of “old age,” rather, they will die of mineral deficiencies which lead to health challenges in general.  If this is a relatively accurate thought, would it not be important from an ecology standpoint to consider richness of our soil?  It has been said, “we are what we eat.”  There must be a tremendous amount of truth, considering we are one of the most overweight countries/societies in the world.  It is fairly well known that our soil deficiency is a wide spread concern.  With our continual crop turnover and the vast array of chemical compounds being used to ward off destructive insects and various plant diseases, the collateral damage over generations is beginning to be revealed.

Ok, enough deep thought for one sharing session.  I’d love to hear your response to this and any thoughts you may have regarding ecolonomic subjects.

Be of courage and resolve,

Scott

Well we set a record.  Over 20 days where the high temperature is over 90 degrees.  Global warming, or just hot, I am not sure.  But it is worth thinking about, and that is one of the goals of IOE.  We want people to be thinking about ecology, the environment and the economics of our lives. 

It hit me again yesterday when I was in the grocery store.  I had again forgotten to bring my cloth shopping bag.  I feel so guilty when I take a plastic bag from the store.  Do you know how much landfill space those plastic bags take?  It is huge.  But, how do I change my habits enough to always remember to have a cloth bag?  There are even times when I have one in my car, but I forget to bring it inside and am then too lazy to go out and get it.  I have to change my attitude and make it an absolut must to have the bags and if they are in the car to go out and get them. 

Am I the only one who is lazy like this?  I do not think so.  What are any of your thoughts about this dilemma.  How can I get better?  Well I have to get to some work, but I am loving thinking ecolonomically.  See that is a word.  Get it fixed in your mind ECOLONOMICS.

Wayne

Well,  I am officially now a blogger.  I hope you get some value, knowledge or entertainment from what we will write in our blog from this time forward. 

Let me introduce myself, I’m Wayne Dorband, and I am excited to be newly elected to the Board of Directors of the Institute of Ecolonomics.  It is an honor and a big responsibility.  We have huge shoes to fill to try to fulfill the dream that Dennis Weaver conceived almost 15 years ago when he formed IOE.  I beleive that Dennis was a man with a passion and a belief system that was just a little before his time, and it is too bad that he passed away before the timing was right for IOE to greatly blossom and grow.

Well, that time is now!!.  The world is ready to embrace Ecolonomics.  The word will become as common in peoples vocabulary as “green” or eco-friendly or sustainable.  It really more rightly describes what we should be considering as we try to change our world to become more balanced, long-lived and enjoyable. 

As time goes by you are going to see (and hopefully be a part of) IOE become a world leader in promoting technologies that will revolutionize aspects of sustainable life.  We will become effective educators for youth to adults about products and services that have Ecolonomic value, and we will be supportive of causes that are truly necessary for the healthy future of our planet and our place as residents of it.

So, please, take this journey with me.  Join the Institute!!  Volunteer your time and passion to help us with this vital mission.  It will be fun.  It will be challenging, and most of all it will be meaningful.  Until we talk again, best wishes and God be with you.

Wayne