This week yours truly had the opportunity to speak to members of the St. George Area Chamber of Commerce on the topic of: "The Business of Being Green." The message focused on the point that being Green is more than just a label, a tag, a passing fancy; it requires understanding and proactive decision making to manage resources and be energy and environment minded. So, what is Green? And Who Cares?
To understand what is meant by "Being Green," it is essential to provide some definition. Green has to do with energy efficiency and environment-friendly practices, being earth- friendly - to lessen the environmental impact on our earth by society.
Whenever new or attractive movements occur in society, one can pretty well expect counterfeits or pseudo types patterned after the original, the real or the authentic to pop up. The subject of Green is vulnerable to this condition occurring. In the context of our discussion, this practice is called Greenwashing; it is akin to whitewashing. It has to do with: "Making green claims without a verifiable positive effect to the environment." Or "Falsely promoting or exaggerating the greenness of a product or service."
When mention is made of "Living Green" as a life style, it is intended to include living habits and choices of conduct or behavior. For example, one may express a concern about pollution from one's automobile, yet leave the house with ten lights on or have the air conditioning thermostat set at 65 or 68 degrees during the warm months of summer. It includes such matters as: 1. Turning off appliances when not in use; 2. Using timers and sensors to regulate times, intervals and quantity of energy use; 3. Car pooling when possible and actually planning and scheduling trips and combining projects and tasks to be accomplished; and 4. Packaging, recycling, composting and reusing to handle waste. Obviously, there are many other similar or related items that could be mentioned.
When it comes to managing our resources, at the time of usage of some item, ( actually before use would be better), one might well ask some searching, reflecting questions such as: How was this item made? What materials were used? Can its use be extended? What will become of it when this specific use is completed? It would be well to also consider known, anticipated or conceived health implications or the life engaging activity from the particular resource used.
It is this writer's belief that there is plenty of room for individuality and meeting unique needs of individuals and groups within our society and still have a concentration and focus on doing a better job of the use and management of our resources. This is all part of this new fashion or movement called Being Green.
St. George REALTOR® Jim Coleman is Associate Broker and Partner/Owner of ERA Brokers Consolidated. He Specializes in Residential, Investment and Commercial Real Estate, holding National Designations of Accredited Buyers Representative ( ABR), Certified Residential Specialist ( CRS), Resort and Second Home Property Specialist ( RSPS) and Seniors Real Estate Specialist ( SRES). He was recently awarded NAR's new Green designation. You can contact him by e-mail at Jim@JimColeman4Homes.com. Call: ( 435 ) 674-0600; or write: Jim Coleman, 201 East St. George Boulevard, St. George, Utah 84770. This and other columns are available at www.RealtorJimC.com/articles.