The folks from Decor Kraft Inc. (DCI) have come up with a new twist for the paper coffee cup that we have all grown fond of. It is a ceramic reusable look alike with a silicon top and cup collar. It holds about 8 ounces, the lid stays on securely and because it is ceramic like your coffee mug at home it will keep your coffee warmer longer. It also seems to be a little easier to use than those other insulated “roady” travel cups most of us pick up from a trade-show or the local coffee venue. Less paper cups used = less energy used to make them. DCI also recommends cleaning them in an environmentally friendly by way using lemons and toothpaste. See iamnotapapercup.com for more information on it.
About Windspire
Windspire wind turbines are low-cost, low-noise, attractive wind power generators for use with residential, business, and commercial buildings. Manufactured in the U.S., the Windspire wind turbine is a 30-foot tall, propeller-free, vertical-axis wind turbine designed for harnessing wind power in urban, suburban and rural locations. Windspire’s patented technology maximizes energy conversion from wind into electric power, regardless of changing wind speed and direction. For more information, visit www.mariahpower.com.
The following is information recently reported by one of the top job listing sites. It is very clear from below that job recovery has started in many sectors. Especially encouraging are the increases in job ADs for hospitality and retail as these are good indicators that consumer confidence is increasing – a sure sign that people are spending more money than on the basic necessities. See our JOBS tab or use our JOBS SEARCH to find a job listing that is right for you.
March 2010*
Industry
Job Postings
Annual Change
Accounting
124,153
12%
Construction
87,492
0%
Education
93,224
11%
Financial Services & Banking
205,227
15%
Healthcare
593,545
-4%
Hospitality
78,805
33%
Information Technology
256,866
17%
Manufacturing
80,575
22%
Media and Newspaper
34,930
30%
Real Estate
29,868
29%
Retail
301,849
42%
Transportation
60,579
16%
*Statistical approximations have been used to compute these results.
Ever wonder how you can reduce the amount of unnecessary junk mail you receive? Most of us get catalogs that we never use or want and what about all those value coupon packs! Well hopefully you recycle them rather than add them to a landfill by throwing them out. For some handy ways to reduce the amount of junk mail you get see below for how to eliminate or at least greatly reduce it.
Direct Marketing Association (DMA) has an online form to take you off their preferred lists which will greatly help in reducing the flow of marketing mail to you.
Stop Junk Mail.org has an easy to use printable form to stop junk mail. It has postcards to send in, places to write to, and 800 numbers to call to get you off many direct marketing lists.
Privacy Rights.org has a list of places you can opt out of offers yourself.
OptOutPrescreen is the official consumer credit industry’s site to opt out of credit offers.
ProQuo is a company helps stop junk mail, but seems to be more of a venture funded business that is designed to help get catalogs and mailings you might want to you.
Similar CatalogChoice is a company helps reduce unwanted catalogs but allows you to select new ones you may want.
For more information on other ways to reduce your junk mail see the Privacy Rights Clearinghouse website for tips.
The 2011 Job Outlook survey from NACE (National Association of Colleges and Employers)
The top 5 candidate skills desired by employers:
Verbal Communication Skills
Strong Work Ethic
Teamwork Skills
Analytical Skills
Initiative
Source: Job Outlook 2011, National Association of Colleges and Employers
While the NACE organization focuses on entry-level careers, the above list is important at all levels to stay competitive. So how do you score?
If you are a job seeker do you have specific examples for each of the above skills? Do you have multiple examples that show a range for each? For example, regarding verbal communication skills you might highlight your ability to have difficult conversations, your concise and clear communication style, your engaging presentation style, or your ability to communicate effectively with different types of people. These are all compelling and very different attributes of verbal communication. For strong work ethic, this could mean working long hours, working a volatile or heavy travel schedule, or working in turnaround situations against all odds. You need to know your unique skills and experience to position yourself effectively for what prospective employers care about.
Even if you are happily employed, work environments and priorities change. You want to make sure that you are not getting complacent and allowing your skills to rust. The above five skills are always valued, but the standards by which they are measured change over your career. Maybe you got to where you are now because of superior analytical skills and despite below average communication skills, but now you are a manager. You may not get a pass for your lack of communication skills now because proficiency is measured differently at different levels. On the flip side, maybe you were always a great people person with soft analytical skills, but now you have been promoted to running a budget and need to get the numbers to work. The strengths that served you and the weaknesses you could dismiss might be different now. In addition, as situations and people change, your style and approach might need to be modified.
For both the job seeker and the happily employed, you want to translate the overall top five list to your specific prospective employer’s or current employer’s top five list. You want to know the top five desired skills for your specific industry, functional area at your specific level. These overall survey results are a great framework to start reviewing your skills and experience, but they are not a substitute for paying attention to your market and getting regular feedback from people with whom you regularly interact.
How do you score on these 5 commonly desired skills?
Do you know if these skills match your target or current area?
What do you need to do in the next 30 days, 90 days, 365 days to improve?
If you are looking to automate your home with Z-Wave lighting and appliance control, the Vera Z-Wave Web-Enabled Automation Controller will give you the power to take advantage of full-featured home automation and make it simple. The Vera system is based on a Wi-Fi access point that links with your wireless router. Once connected, the Vera interface can be accessed as a web browser from a web-enabled PC, phone or PDA anywhere in the world. You can remotely program scenes, events and timers that activate an individual device or group of devices throughout your home. You can also receive remote notifications via a text message, email, or a phone call when certain things happen that you want to be notified of.
In addition to Z-wave products, Vera is also able to control certain wireless IP Cameras and audio video equipment. Vera offers the convenience to control lighting, climate, draperies and a variety of devices using your cell phone, iPhone, iPod or other handheld remote. The intuitive program allows you to see how much you’re spending on energy and gives you remote access see what’s going on in your home by watching your cameras from a PC or cell phone. They claim it can help a typical family reduce their energy bill by about 33% . The Vera system claims to be able set up in minutes and allows the novice home automation enthusiast to get everything you would expect from a high-end home automation system.
Love doesn’t cost a thing and it shouldn’t cost the environment either!
Valentine’s Day is here and before you go and kill some flowers and purchase non-fairtrade chocolates. So before you go and be all lovey-dovey to your valentines, how about you show some love to your mother… mother earth, that is. You can be the great valentine you want to be and still be eco-friendly, all you need really is time, knowledge and creativity.
Cards
When the option really isn’t there and you don’t want to seem too creepy by giving an actual gift, but you still want to give something, we advise two things when it comes to cards. E-card is always the best eco-friendly option. You basically have an unlimited amount of space to write and usually they are pre-designed and created with the perfect message if you don’t feel that you’re all that great with words.
If that doesn’t seem that personal enough for you, you can always make your own card. We encourage the use and creativity of recycled materials. This project might be a little pricey, but then again it may be worth it.
Flowers and Chocolates
For the valentine’s day newbie or for the non-couple situation, the traditional flowers and chocolates are acceptable. But the green twist to this packaged deal would be to be to purchase potted-flowers and fairtrade chocolates. Fairtrade meaning that the chocolate company that created this heavenly sweet treat support sustainable agriculture and healthy communities. Being a fairtrade product also means that it is free from pesticides and the process in creating the product was conscious of the environment.
We know you might be thinking, potted flowers? really? Flowers are flowers! We are sure the recipient receiving them will want them to be alive in a week, versus the two-dozen long stem ones you paid a lot of cash for that wilt, shrivel and die. Plus, potted flowers gives him/her the chance to plant them in their own yard to help save the planet.
If you can’t go fair trade for the box o’chocolates then the least you can do is go for organic chocolate and we highly recommend Equal Exchange. They have chocolate bars, dried berries and nuts, organic hot cocoa and so much more. (And if you enter the code: gochocolatelove, you’ll get free shipping!)
Dining
Instead of killing the environment with driving from car exhaust, why not take the time and prepare a meal for your loved one. It really isn’t that difficult, all you have to do is whip out a cookbook and stop by your grocery store, or better yet a farmer’s market, and make your valentine a meal made with love. You can also take your dining experience to another romantic level by making it mobile and turning it into a picnic to the beach or park. Just remember to pick up your trash and recycle.
The only place I see green technology being integrated right is in California. There are companies that take the inner city youth and train them in the fields of solar panel installation, retrofitting buildings, green rooftops, etc (link at bottom of page, one example.)
In the Midwest if your not an engineer your chances of getting your foot in the door are slim to none. I believe this creates a major gap between the educated and uneducated (which in this country we know is not accessible to everyone). We will never build a middle class in America with the declination of College Institutions being in the state their in. Life skills are not being taught.
America now ranks as one of the most undereducated countries in the world(http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2005/09/13/national/main838207.shtml), yet most graduates find themselves 70 to 80k in debt in an economy that’s not hiring. This is a major problem. I know first hand.. I went to school and when I got out in the field, I was retrained in a more real life way. It only took about a week to find out I could have apprenticed my way up and that nobody gave a hoot about my little certificate piece of paper, or my accolades I obtained in school.. Still I was 24,000 dollars in debt to an institution that had no concern of my future but loved sending me my bill. It made me realize that our educational system in mimicking, banking system, and that system is mimicking our governmental system and then everything became clear. Most people in higher places have for along time understood, to put people in debt is the best way to (without sounding too harsh) really enslave us.
I think we need to start from our grass roots again; our brothers and sisters, neighbors and family need to help one another out and stop sending all of our hard earned money to these institutions and keep it in our communities and privately owned business. One of the people I look up to on issues like this is Catherine Austin Fittz you might want to check her out at solari.com. Truth of it is, America needs a whole new way of putting people back to work. The Teddy Roosevelt’s of yesteryear are gone.. you know, those people that understood how to put men and women to work and built the greatest country in the world. There is nothing equal to field training and/or apprenticeship, nothing! I’m sick and tired of this mythological green movement that is ever so elusive being the next comparative thing to the computer era or automotive era yet the only way to do it is become an engineer? I’m sorry, the basics of electricity are not that hard, then you can work with a mentor from that point on.. Every job posted I see is for an engineer! I’m getting too old (35) and I am too broke to go back to another school that’s going to suck another 20k out of me.
In a perfect world, there would be someone out there that understood this gap, someone that understood that the only way to really learn something is to mess it up enough times until you get it right. To have someone with you that had been there and had done it, to educate you along the way.
I write this not only because I’m just looking to make a paycheck. This new technology excites me, I want to be a part of something that’s positive in what seems to be such a negative time. Most of all I want to see our men and women working gain, and not just let the Chinese take and do everything for us. As patriots, we should be very weary of globalists and return more back to an isolationist view, I personally think. Thanks once again for your time, and I hope for brighter futures for us all.
But really there’s hundreds more, just Google inner city youth back to work California.
Chicago’s mayor also is leaping ahead nicely.
END
Editors Note:The above unedited commentary does not necessarily represent the view of the NRGspot.com. We have published this to give our readers a passionatereal life perspective of one person’s trials and tribulations with respect to finding a green job. If you should be able to help Dan in his quest to find a green job, have a some insight to share or constructive commentary please e-mail us at info(at)nrgspot.com
Drinking water is healthy. Drinking water from certain types of plastic bottles is not only potentially unhealthy but it uses a tremendous amount of energy to produce. It also uses more energy to transport it to us which creates additional green house gas. Let’s not also forget that many of them still end up in landfills despite recycling efforts.
New York City recently launched a campaign to promote its fine drinking water by installing new fountains all over the city. Many restaurants are also adding water purification and carbonation machines to deliver pristine local water to its clients at a fraction of the price and impact that bottled water has. Bottled water still has a purpose but let’s all begin using eco friendly re-usable eco bottles rather than contribute to green house gases while saving us all some money.
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