Be Part of the Presidential Green Team
Earlier this week I posted an open letter to President-elect and Mrs. Obama offering to help truly "green" the White House--not just an audit of energy and water efficiency but also a focus on optimum First Family health. Now I'd like you to join me in crafting a comprehensive plan on how to do it.
It was your thoughtful responses and recommendations that gave me the idea to make this a joint effort. I love iconlady's idea of setting aside some Pennsylvania Avenue lawn for organic gardens, having Malia and Sasha help raise fresh organic fruits and vegetables, and leveraging the media coverage to inspire schools and neighborhoods to do the same. And how about pcuvie's idea of creating some vegetarian State Dinners and evaluating the current use of solar power? That's a good one too. You all reminded me that through our ideas and actions we are always stronger together than we are alone, and that the best way for me to be of service to the First Family, and our country, is to represent all of us as a unified voice for greener, cleaner living.
So, consider this our greening petition or call to action. Add your ideas here on how to optimize the health of the First Family, and consequently set the stage for healthier living across the country. Maybe you have some great ideas you've tried at home or perhaps some suggestions you've read about but didn't get around to implementing. Think old, big, white house built in the late 1700s, and reconstructed in the 1800s and a large staff ready and willing to make all necessary changes, setting the perfect example for the World. I will include your recommendations in the proposal I plan to present to the White House.
I hope you are as excited about this as I am. I know that together we can make a big difference.
Sincerely,
Sloan Barnett
GreenGoesWithEverything.com
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First and foremost, I believe in the healthy benefits of organic food. Enough research has been completed to show that those who eat an organic diet have fewer toxins in their systems. I'd like to see our President set an example by putting his mouth where his money is. We should all be able to afford organics. Arugula anyone?
Kelly Jad'on/Founder
www.BasilAndSpice.com
Author & Book Views On A Healthy Life!
A Review of Green Goes With Everything: http://www.basilandspice.com/living-green/live-safe-with-a-chemical-free-home.html
Here are a few things I would recommend on White House Going Green:
1. Eliminate as much dry cleaning as possible and use washers at home with the steam feature to refresh clothes more frequently; use eco-friendly dry cleaners.
2. Of course, Shakleeize the White House.
3. Do not re-decorate! Break tradition and not re-decorate rooms in the White House, except maybe the children's rooms to make them feel at home. Even then, they could bring their own bedroom sets and not have to invest in something new. If they do any decorating could they do it with items previously used.
4. Motion sensors on lights.
5. Invest in undersink water purifiers and give employees a bottle/mug to drink out of to stop one time use of water bottles.
6. Promote a country wide incentive to have community gardens.
7. Grow more of our own food supply here in the USA.
How about sending the White House a checklist?
Want to use green products?
From a green company?
That will make the first children proud and perhaps healthier?
From a company that works with NASA?
Whose CEO is a successful entrepreneur with an excellent track record?
Whose CEO is a philanthropist?
Whose philsophy is Creating Healthier Lives?
Then, check out Shaklee!
I would like to see the Obama administration renew and encourage "Victory Gardens" that were encouraged during WWII. Let's encourage people to grow vegetables in their own yards and in community gardens.
I also like the idea of banning plastic water bottles - but let's expand that to plastic (one time use) shopping bags!
Make the two kids share a room to reduce energey usage.
Limit the changing of the thermostat and require mandatory sweaters for everyone.
Turn off all unecessary lighting, and I mean all!
Close off and do not use rooms in the White House that are not absolutely necessary for the entire term
Vegan meals and do their own food prep.
Cut the staff of the white house to the bare minimum for adequate security and normal assistants/secretaries/supervisors, etc.
Grow fruits and vegetables to eat and cut out most of the greenery around the White House.
Solar panels on the roof.
Sensors on all lights.
Low flow toilets.
Make the staffers car-pool or take public transportation only.
Only green cleaning supplies and cut the cleaning staff.
Any re-decorating must include energey efficient drywall and other supplies.
No unecessary construction.
No floral decorations unless they are grown on site, a very special occasion, or they are fake.
Solar panels on the roof.
These are all a good start.
I would make republicans ride electric generating bikes outside the whitehouse all day. 10 miles for every day of the Bush administration.
How about painting it green and calling it the Green House... no?
http://www.vagabondstory.com
How about motion sensor lighting in bathrooms, bedrooms. Also motion water in lavatories. Dual flush commodes! Obama has been to Europe so he is aware how this saves millions in other countries.
maxie
FIrst, ban all plastic water bottles from the White House!
I put solar panels on my roof and produce 92 percent of all the electricity used in the house. It cost 30K, California gave me a 10K rebate and the Fed gave me a 30 percent tax break. The system will pay for itself in ten years. All buildings in DC should have panels on the roof for starters. That's a NO BRAINER.
I agree with "thrugreeneyez" that the Obama's should have at least one vegan meal per week. It is kinder to the earth and animals, as well as having a much smaller carbon footprint. According to the FAO of the UN "livestock production is one of the major causes of the world's most pressing environmental problems, including global warming, land degradation, air and water pollution, and loss of biodiversity."
http://www.fao.org/ag/magazine/0612sp1.htm
Also, the Obama's should compost their food scraps. According to the EPA, Food leftovers are the single-largest component of the waste stream by weight in the United States. Americans throw away more than 25 percent of the food we prepare, about 96 billion pounds of food waste each year. Food waste includes uneaten food and food preparation scraps from residences or households, commercial establishments like restaurants, institutional sources like school cafeterias, and industrial sources like factory lunchrooms. The nation spends about 1 billion dollars a year to dispose of food waste.
http://www.epa.gov/osw/conserve/materials/organics/food/fd-basic.htm
The compost can be used to fertilize the White House grounds. They can also use eco-friendly insecticides and herbicides.
Additionally, the First Family should use low, or no, VOC paints and polyurethane if they are doing any renovations. They can use sustainable or even, reclaimed materials for cabinets and countertops, etc. And all of the cleansers should be eco-friendly and cruelty free.
Hello,
Thank you for asking for our collective wisdom.
1. Please suggest installing a structure in which winter vegetables can be grown. This can be a hoop house or solar greenhouse with no external heat sources, and in which arugula and many other greens can be grown. This will be a strong example to the whole country that we needn't import from far away what we can grow locally.
2. In response to another post, please use recycled paper - stationary, toilet paper, paper towels, the works. You can make so many statements about how to change responsibly.
Have a vegan meal at least once a week. Vegan diets are the best for the planet as a vegan diet leaves the lightest footprint. Plus, it is very healthy and kind to animals. Maybe Obama could hire a vegan chef to cook one day a week at the White House.
HuffPost's Pick
It appears Obama has a hydrogen fuel cell knowledge deficit as he rarely mentioned it on the campaign trail. So somewhere on his advisory team list, he needs to staff a person who is abreast of this ready-to-go technology that governments seem to be ignoring.
The recently completed official Japanese Prime Ministers residence installed two hydrogen fuel cell electrical generators to provide electricity and hot water.
There is a Verizon communications building in NJ that has 6 hydrogen fuel cell generators and only relies on the electrical grid as a back-up power supply. The Sheraton Hotel chain is installing these as well.
Jamie Lee Curtis, who posts to this site like yourself, leases a Honda FCX hydrogen fuel cell vehicle but she does not talk about it in her posts. Honda is confident of this new technology and has started a production assembly line for these zero pollution vehicles. I have suggested that Obama use these vehicles at Camp David and offer lots of photo ops of him driving a hydrogen fuel cell electric vehicle with his daughters on board.
I am sure that his living quarters at the White House could have it's electricity provided by a hydrogen fuel cell.
I've noticed this too. Everyone is talking about big bulky batteries, but a fuel cell can power a car and emit only water as exhaust. I'm suprised there is not more talk of it.
In 1959, a team led by Harry Ihrig built a 15 kW fuel cell tractor for Allis-Chalmers which was demonstrated across the US at state fairs.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fuel_cell
Take a page from Elanor Roosevelt - tear out the white house lawn and plant a victory organic garden of vegetables and herbs.
A Greening revolution should begin with agriculture and I'm anxiously awaiting Obama's nomination for Secretary of Agriculture.
Symbolic gestures are important. Here's a good one: Weaning the White House off foreign oil.
Strive for 100% renewable energy sources for heating, cooling & lighting; no more petrochemicals on the lawns & grounds; green-powered vehicles; buy only U.S. grown organic foods and -- most importantly: no more fossil fuels in our foreign policy. The grounds could be put to better use, as mentioned in earlier posts: community gardens, victory gardens, organic horticultural practices, e.g. There is good precedent for symbolic gestures in hard times. The Hoovers added a flock of sheep to graze on the White House lawn. Eleanor Roosevelt installed a Victory Garden.
Here's another good symbolic gesture: Strive to buy 100% American-made products.
While this could prove to be even more difficult than weaning off of foreign oil, the Defense Dept. already has such a policy, called the Berry Amendment. Although it's been watered down over the years, this amendment requires that preference be given to domestically produced, manufactured, or home grown products. As symbolic gestures go, this would convey a strong message to the suffering manufacturing and agricultural sectors in America.
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