Since it's Earth Day...what is your company doing to "go green" this year?

[Beth n Rod 1,279]

You're funny Jon :)

And you are right, it's only the right thing to do to practice good stewardship of our planet.

Beth

[Chappy 138]

Sorry Beth.

I didnt mean to take away from the issue at hand, but as you might have gathered, I feel pretty strongly about this.

It is a serious subject and if it was addressed with out all the the liberal demagoging I think more conservatives would take it more seriously. Unfortunately, I don't think the demagoging is going to stop. It has become a fad that more and more people are biting into to the detriment of real change for the better.

[D_Tagr 14]

I know if I drink too much grape juice, I make a lot of brown :D Prunes work well too.

Actually, I'm with Jon Chapman and I think most of the whole "green thing" is a crock of crap. All you have to do is follow the money to see that. In the kitchen exhaust cleaning industry I think we do have a major responsibility to stay compliant on what we do with our greasy waste water though. I was recently given an endorsement from a local Lake Manager while cleaning an exhaust system. He came over to the restaurant with the intention of shutting me down, but when he saw how I was handling my waste water, he gave me an endorsement and said to put it in any advertising material that I have.

We do need to be aware and we do need to be good stewards, but going over board really ticks me off.

Oh yeah, D-Tagr, I admire your efforts, but in my opinion, you are totally wrong in your assessment. With a higher GPM machine, you would more than likely get the job done in half the time. For 3 1/2 years I ran a 2.0 gpm machine to clean hoods, I've since changed to a 5.5 gpm machine and I'm saving soooooo much time and the water is about the same. Do whatever works for you, I'm not trying to discourage you, but I just think that you are wrong about that. Also another thing to think about is the fuel consumption....if it takes half the time and half the gas then........

It definitely works for me. Not saying your wrong but I don't think you can clean 80 sq ft in half the time. 80000 sq ft you'd definitely kick my butt. Vast majority of my jobs are under 100 sq ft. Graffiti is not as endemic in Canada as it is in parts of the US. But it is growing.:lgmoneyey It's a good point about the fuel though.

When I go into resi and commercial work I will definitely increase my flow rate but because of the nasty chemistry involved with paint strippers (sodium hydroxide, potassium hydroxide, propylene glycol, etc) the less runoff the better.

I do agree with the general sentiment of the thread as far as the "Green Agenda". A lot of it is driven not by scientists but by "believers" and dedicated acolytes. I am in the same region as David Suzuki (environmentalist broadcaster) and Paul Watson (cofounder of Greenpeace) and there are legions of followers. I call them "Greenatics".

I guess in a nutshell I do what I can afford to do and I do what I know from experience and trial and error what is feasible. But if going green truly distinguished myself from my competitors I would jump with both feet. As it is many market green but very few achieve.

Good thread.

[RPetry 564]

... We do need to be aware and we do need to be good stewards, but going over board really ticks me off. ...

In a nutshell, perfect.

Old enough to remember Rachel Carson. Pesticides were going to "kill" the earth. Then there was the "population bomb". Procreation of humans spelled mass disaster of famine and resource poverty.

Pesticides helped spark an agricultural productivity revolution. 3 billion people later and the world is overall much better fed, educated, and of higher quality of life today than in any period my own lifetime.

Got so bad in the 70's that people were seriously considering if the horse and buggy could keep us mobile as petroleum was near extinction.

Pessimists hem and haw, scream and shout, and in my meager experience enjoy being miserable. Optimists bide their time, have a grasp of history and belief in the power of human endeavor.

Human history favors the optimist.

[Chappy 138]

Pessimists hem and haw, scream and shout, and in my meager experience enjoy being miserable. Optimists bide their time, have a grasp of history and belief in the power of human endeavor.

Human history favors the optimist.

Amen Brother.

[Jeff 232]

Somethings I don't really consider at all as being related to "green" as green implies wasting non renewables and being friendly to enviro. Talk of saving this or that, like water for instance is silly. Water doesn't disappear it just isn't everywhere as much as another.. that's drout..When it comes down to it I believe in partaking of what was given long as enviro is healthy.

Jeff, yea some waterway animals surely showed benefit from less pollution at commercial level but don't that credit mainly go to earlier fed efforts and putting an end to certain agricultural use of poisons years ago?

Let's be serious..the whole current green movement is way overcredited. It's been normal people seeing effects on animals , or on their skin, or on their respiritory systems that inspires safer buying decissions of the homemaker not the "green' movement. I mean they can only ignore things so long before seeing truth. Is no different then when woman had to learn and except that smoking or doing drugs during pregnancy is not a good thing. They didn't need an organized party of nutjobs to exagerate to them. Just became common understanding and that was that. This "green" thing is a business now pushing exagerations if not outright lies down everyones throats.

I'm not talking about the ones that chain themselves to trees, I'm talking every day people that joined a movement or didn't join. I'm talking Earth day when they teach 1st 2nd and all school children then benefits of not polluting or the Jr high kids that are doing science fair projects on pollution .

Not everyone is a nut job. I see all the green stuff I guess, but I like any think its just an every day thing and dont put much thought to it as left wing, this or nut job that

You all sound like nut jobs talking about other nut jobs

[MMI Enterprises 289]

Beth, mainly refering to the 'this is biodegradable and that isn't' bull larky type stuff.

In the end everything goes back to nature, even concrete with all the metals and salts involved and such.

[MMI Enterprises 289]

Jeff I fail to see where we differ but,

Is going GREEN really that big, I really havent heard that much about it except around Earth Day

..maybe it's that you don't see them on regular basis so your more free or unbiased to not group all the nuts together. I live and deal with the fruit and nut group regularly and they are not the everyday folk like you or I. They buy into anything and everything in way of current fad. Be careful as before ya know it they'll start laying claim and put words in everyday folks mouths. For instance ask the consumers if they want to spend money on cleaners that don't clean or stains that don't last. Before ya know it it won't be that the green products are available as option it wll be all that is available. Its the old give an inch they take a mile scenario.

We could get into loss of timber jobs or land development due to the spotted this or that, or hunting and fishing rights etc. but do we dare go there... I mean just a hundred yards from where I live I have to be careful about stepping on or hurting some endangered beetles riperian area. I kid you not the looks I get from the bird watchers as I ride bike past their holier than thou walking/sighting adventure. Meetings on the hunting trail can be out of this world...Same folks, different color ribbon..

[Jeff 232]

Jeff I fail to see where we differ but,

..maybe it's that you don't see them on regular basis so your more free or unbiased to not group all the nuts together. I live and deal with the fruit and nut group regularly and they are not the everyday folk like you or I. They buy into anything and everything in way of current fad. Be careful as before ya know it they'll start laying claim and put words in everyday folks mouths. For instance ask the consumers if they want to spend money on cleaners that don't clean or stains that don't last. Before ya know it it won't be that the green products are available as option it wll be all that is available. Its the old give an inch they take a mile scenario.

We could get into loss of timber jobs or land development due to the spotted this or that, or hunting and fishing rights etc. but do we dare go there... I mean just a hundred yards from where I live I have to be careful about stepping on or hurting some endangered beetles riperian area. I kid you not the looks I get from the bird watchers as I ride bike past their holier than thou walking/sighting adventure. Meetings on the hunting trail can be out of this world...Same folks, different color ribbon..

The Beetles, I love that group.

[HotShot 34]

Jeff I fail to see where we differ but,

..maybe it's that you don't see them on regular basis so your more free or unbiased to not group all the nuts together. I live and deal with the fruit and nut group regularly and they are not the everyday folk like you or I. They buy into anything and everything in way of current fad. Be careful as before ya know it they'll start laying claim and put words in everyday folks mouths. For instance ask the consumers if they want to spend money on cleaners that don't clean or stains that don't last. Before ya know it it won't be that the green products are available as option it wll be all that is available. Its the old give an inch they take a mile scenario.

We could get into loss of timber jobs or land development due to the spotted this or that, or hunting and fishing rights etc. but do we dare go there... I mean just a hundred yards from where I live I have to be careful about stepping on or hurting some endangered beetles riperian area. I kid you not the looks I get from the bird watchers as I ride bike past their holier than thou walking/sighting adventure. Meetings on the hunting trail can be out of this world...Same folks, different color ribbon..

I have a (what I think is funny) story about some granola heads and hunting...a couple years ago I was deer hunting up in the mountains and some jobless lowlifes that prolly still lived with their momma's had the bright idea of messing up the opening day of hunting season for us big bad evil hunters. Well, their plan was to scare off all the deer by banging pots and pans together all over the forest. To their credit, IT WORKED!!! but unfortunately for them and the deer, it spooked the deer right to us and we just massacred them :D

We had some great deer jerky for a long time thanks to those bozo's....

[Beth n Rod 1,279]

What does it mean for us as contractor to use "green" methods? How does it impact our bottom line? What is the perception of the consumer? What is the impact on our business if we don't?

Beth