Service Act

On February 24, 2009, President Obama addressed a Joint Session of Congress. In the segment below, the President called for passage of the Serve America Act, a bipartisan national service bill co-authored by Senators Kennedy and Hatch

A Graphic Designer at odds.

As a graphic designer, I work mostly with print. The amount of paper I go through in a week is simply ridiculous. I am also a senior this year and that also means that I have to have gallery show. Normally, we use a lot of paper in the preparation of our show (roughs, re-prints.. etc.) We could easily go through a 100 pound roll of paper in no time.

This really bothers me. Although I love print, and love holding a brochure, booklet, magazine, etc. in my hands, I think that as graphic designers, we need to move with the technology and embrace the web. Print will never die, but we should learn to cut back on print when it is not necessary.

In order to do this, I am creating an annual report to be shown through PDF (and eventually online). This will allow anyone to access it and won't cost a thing (besides the time designing it). For my printed items, I am currently looking into using recycled paper. The companies I am choosing will be environmentally conscious.

I think, as students, we should push for our university to use recycled paper instead of regular paper. It feels about the same, and saves a couple of trees.

I hope that by trying to cut down on prints, others will see my example and try that with their own shows.

Redefining the American Dream

When I was in Philippines in 2005, I asked one of my Filipino friends about his future plans and goals in life. He replied that he wants to have a nice house, good family, well paid job and a branded car. Her response surprised me. There are three reasons for this: My Nepalese friends also have the same wishes and dreams, so did the guys that I talked with during my stay in India. These people were from various religions and backgrounds - Christian, Muslim, Buddhist, Hindu, Sheikh.

These youths also came from various economic classes: rich, upper middle class, middle class, lower middle class and poor. However, they all had and have similar aspirations despite what route they want to take to achieve their dreams. In 2007, I came to U.S.A and talked to my American friends about why they go to college and what they want in their life. They also shared similar views. I told them that in the corner of poor countries like Nepal, or in emerging countries like India or in developing countries like Philippines they all have similar goals. And one of my friends goes: "Yeah it is called the American Dream. I had never heard of this phrase before. However, even when I was a kid, I did know that in the U.S everybody has a car, house, well paid job and all other small amenities that will keep them happy.

I started to find articles on American Dream in the summer of 2008. The article found on the website of the Library of Congress is most meaningful and interesting for me. Here is the excerpt:
"The term was first used by James Truslow Adams in his book The Epic of America which was written in 1931. He states: "The American Dream is 'that dream of a land in which life should be better and richer and fuller for everyone, with opportunity for each according to ability or achievement.' It is a difficult dream for the European upper classes to interpret adequately, and too many of us ourselves have grown weary and mistrustful of it. It is not a dream of motor cars and high wages merely, but a dream of social order in which each man and each woman shall be able to attain to the fullest stature of which they are innately capable, and be recognized by others for what they are, regardless of the fortuitous circumstances of birth or position".

Here is the other excerpt that I really like: "In the United States' Declaration of Independence, our founding fathers: "...held certain truths to be self-evident, that all Men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are life, Liberty and the Pursuit of Happiness." I think these are the noblest ideas humanity can ever come up with. I sometime wonder what would have happened to the world if this would have been exported to the whole world rather than just materialistic interpretation of the American dream.

It is undeniable that U.S.A exported the materialistic interpretation of American dream to the world and now we can find Americans all over the world in the sense that there are lots of people now living to achieve similar quality of life. After the fall of the Berlin Wall, capitalism flourished more than ever; countries like China, India and Brazil enabled more people to achieve American dream. Unfortunately, in these same countries we can find comparatively more denizens living under the poverty line and the gap between haves and have-nots is increasing.

Yes, it is true that because of capitalization lots of people got out of poverty and moved to middle class. However, the inconvenient truth is that the world welcomed lot of people too and lot of them are in poverty. The New York Times reported on Aug 26, 2008: "In India, the number of people below the $1.25 a day poverty line increased to 455 million in 2005 from 420 million people in 1981".
My grandfather used to say that poverty leads to violence. After the cold war, we did not have major wars but we did see many ethnic wars and a few are still going.

One of the other reasons why American dream got exported so fast was because of technology and communications. However, it has not been able to export equality, liberty, rule of law and the idea of undeniable rights comparatively well as it exported the materialistic interpretation of American dream. People break rules, discriminate and exploit others to turn their dreams into reality. China stands as profound evidence; they exploit their own people and the world's natural resources to achieve their version of the American Dream.

In addition with all these problems, the American dream did allow lots of people to use more resources and waste more than before. This all harmed the environment and the damages caused are almost irreversible. In the long run, the exportation of materialistic interpretation of an American Dream will do less good to the world and to the U.S itself than we would like to.
The challenge that the U.S and the world faces now should provoke and persuade the U.S to take this as an opportunity to lead the world in a new direction. It should export the American Dream in the way its founding fathers would have like it to. I also wish certain features should also be incorporated in this American Dream - an individual should have sense of community and should be environment friendly.

What Can You Do to Save Energy and Natural Resources on Campus?

Lights
o Always turn off your lights whenever you leave your room.
o Utilize natural light whenever possible. Open your blinds.
o Use only Compact Fluorescent Light (CFL) bulbs in all your lights. They use 75% less energy than incandescent (normal bulbs) and last 10 times longer.
o Turn off lights in bathrooms, lounges, and other common areas. Tell others to do the same.

Computers
o Turn your computer off when you aren't using it.
o Set your computer and monitor to go into sleep / stand by when they're inactive for too long. A computer in sleep mode uses about 5% the energy of one running a "screen saver". Click here for Computer Power Management directions.
o Look for the Energy Star label when purchasing a new computer or any other electronic device. Consider buying a flat screen monitor or a laptop model. See www.Energystar.gov for more information.

Appliances
o Turn off TVs, radios and stereos when you aren't using them. o Coordinate with your roommates to avoid bringing unneeded appliances. If you do bring a refrigerator, set the temperature between 36 and 42 degrees. Empty out your refrigerator and unplug it when you go on break.
o When purchasing a new appliance, look for the Energy Star label. See www.Energystar.gov for more information.
o If lounge TVs are left on, please turn them off!
o Only wash and dry full loads of laundry.

Phantom Loads
o Many appliances consume electricity even when turned off. The easiest way to avoid these "phantom loads" is to have all electrical cords plugged into a power strip and turn the strip off when not using any of them.
o Phone chargers, laptop cords, printers, etc. all draw power when unused. Please unplug them or use a power strip as mentioned above.

Water
o Take five minute showers.
o Turn the water off when you are brushing your teeth or shaving.
o Wash only full loads of laundry.
o In residence halls with dual flush toilets, use the appropriate flush.

Turn Off The Lights

This article/blog was found online at thesimpledollar.com. Little things can make a big difference and here is a great example of how turning off lights not only saves money but also the environment.
How Much Money Does Turning Off the Lights Really Save?

November 18, 2007 @ 3:00 pm - Written by Trent
Categories: Frugality
Bookmarks: del.icio.us, reddit
Source: TheSimpleDollar.com

When I was young, my parents were adamant about turning off lights and were often rather upset with me if we’d leave on a two or three day trip and my bedroom light remained on. Even now, my wife and I traditionally go through the house and turn off lights, even if we’re just leaving for a couple hours.

Is this tactic worth the time invested in it? Let’s dig in and crunch the numbers, but let’s first make a few assumptions.

First of all, it takes two minutes to walk through the house and ensure all the lights are shut off. From the upstairs bedrooms to the laundry room on the far side of the basement, this is about right for our house.

Second, electricity costs $0.10 per kilowatt hour. This is roughly what the nationwide average is, and roughly what we use.

Third, the average bulb in our home eats 20 watts. We use mostly CFLs, so this is a rough estimate. At my parents, where they’re still using almost all incandescent bulbs despite my admonitions, it’s more like 50-60 watts on average per bulb.

Fourth, doing that walk-through causes me to turn off four light bulbs. This is just on average, sometimes more, sometimes less.

Taking those assumptions, let’s say we’re going to leave on a two hour trip. I turn off four 20 watt bulbs that would have run for two hours, so that’s a total of 160 watt hours of energy, or 0.32 kilowatt hours. The effort in that walkthrough, which takes two minutes, is 1.6 cents.

Let’s do the same for an average work day, where the house will be empty for nine hours. Turning off four 20 watt bulbs that would have run for nine hours saves 720 watt hours of energy. That two minute walkthrough here saves 7.2 cents. This is getting better, but still not very cost effective.

Now, let’s look at a weekend trip, which we take about once a month. We’re typically gone for about 52 hours. Thus, if we turn off those same four 20 watt bulbs, we save 4,160 watt hours of energy. That’s 41.6 cents, which is getting to be worthwhile for two minutes of effort.

This is assuming only lights, of course. What about the potential for other electronic devices to be turned on? If you find a television on, which sucks down roughly 150 watts on average. Over two hours, that’s only 3 cents. Over that 52 hour trip, that’s 7.8 kilowatt hours, or $0.78.

Here’s what I concluded from running the numbers.

First, a walkthrough gets more and more cost effective the longer your trip is going to be. For very short trips, it’s probably not worth the time investment - with just the lightbulbs and a two minute walkthrough before a two hour trip, your hourly wage for that effort is 48 cents. However, if you do a two minute walkthrough for a two day trip and find the four lights and the television on, your hourly wage for that effort is $35.88.

Second, the more devices you turn off, the more worthwhile the walkthrough is. On longer trips, I do things like unplugging devices, powering off everything on my entertainment center, unplugging my laptop’s power supply, and so on. This cuts down on a lot of drain and can be done pretty quickly, not adding much at all to the time of the walkthrough.

My strategy? On short trips, I usually don’t even bother with a walkthrough - it’s not worth the time. On weekend trips, however, I’m pretty vigilant about a two or three minute walkthrough to turn things off and unplug a few things - it saves a lot of energy and the value of the time I invest in it is quite worthwhile (I can regularly earn the equivalent of a $50 hourly wage turning stuff off before a long trip).

It’s simple things like these that really make the difference. Taking just a few minutes to look at your behavior and realize when a frugal tactic is cost-effective or not can tell you a lot about whether that behavior is really right for you. For me, I often try to look at it as an hourly wage - if that hourly wage looks nice to me (or there’s some other appeal to it), I’ll do it. That’s why when I bake bread, I usually make several loaves at once, for example, and also why I enjoy trying once-a-month cooking, but I usually eschew most high-intensity efforts at coupons - I’ll browse through them idly at the kitchen counter on a lazy Sunday morning and sometimes search online for them, but the benefit is usually not worth the effort.

Weekly Challenge - DO SOMETHING

Hold The Door Please...

I have been hesitant to post on the blog, but time for deliberation has expired. "Do Something" for me is presenting "challenges" to myself and hoping it can positively impact the lives of others by sharing them on here with you. That something does not have to be made public or get recognition, as long as it is the "right thing" to do a euphoric feeling will come about because you are taking part in something larger than self.
The Challenge, as the title states to DO SOMETHING, prompting us all to take action in order to affect change. There are so many issues plaguing our world today that we often attempt to disconnect ourselves from them because it does not hit home. We focus on what is here and now, or what immediately effects us personally - so the challenge is to do something here and now. In turn, the actions we take here and now will have instantaneous affects on our world both in the now and forever. Here is a practical example: Today I was at the top of a flight of stairs and a student held the door open for me until I made it down the stairs and through the door (the chain reaction has been sparked)So guess what I did the next time I had the opportunity - that's right, I held the door open for a person who was on their way to the door. Another example: Yesterday I stopped to pick up a cup left on the floor of a residence hall and a student saw this action and the piece of trash near his foot was picked up as well - what a wonderful feeling. It felt so good because typically students walk by and help rub trash into the carpet rather than taking .2 seconds to improve their living space.

It is important to know that our society can change with simple, every day actions, by normal every day people. One of best coaches I ever had the opprotounity to play for often stated "you dont have to do extrodinary things to be great, doing the ordinary things extrodinary is more effective". This references the fundamentals of athletics but also the basic functions of life. Doing what you can to help others is a fundamental function of being a human being. Going green involves more than recycling, the very notion of improving our world is an ordinary, extrrodinary action. Lets clean up our world together both mentally and physically!

Leave thinking about these thoughts:
Gandhi said "be the change you wish to see in the world"
Ben Franklin states "you may delay, but time will not"
Snickers "why wait, grab a snickers"

WHAT CHANGE DO YOU WANT TO SEE & WHAT WILL YOU DO?

Stay driven - your dreams can come true (ace a test, become a super star, pro athlete, get a job, lose weight, create an atmosphere of service etc.) - What about now? Do it!
Be Blessed and Inspired!

We have enough time starting right now.

Wearing blue or pink dress can be your personal choice, but being involved in the process of degrading the whole environment should not be your personal choice. We all share common home and that is our planet. We do not have a choice except to engage our self in discussion and act immediately. As one of the late environmentalist said “We have enough time, starting right now”.

We need to do the right thing at the right time, in the right way and understand how and why we are doing it.

Now you may think why should we be thinking about our world? If you want the answer, ask yourself this question: How do I want to live my life after 10 years or what kind of world I want my kids and grandkids to live in. Think about it! I know you want to.

I am not asking anyone to become an iconoclast. I am just asking you to try to master the skill of husbanding our resources in sustainable way. Your every action matters, your actions may not change the world, but I am confident your wise actions will control the damage.

I will leave you with this video, please watch and think about it and post you comments below in the box.

What about Now - Courtesy of Youtube

P.S : Thank You to Rahn Franklin , who found this video on Youtube.