Green Buckeye

To celebrate the holiday, I've chosen three unrelated quotes from Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. to share with Green Buckeye readers. To some extent they reflect aspects of the philosophy associated with my efforts on this blog.

The first quote reflects on the problem of imbalance and unsustainable behavior:

"The means by which we live have outdistanced the ends for which we live. Our scientific power has outrun our spiritual power. We have guided missiles and misguided men."

The second quote provides inspiration for continuing to move forward, even when feeling tired and outnumbered.

"Almost always, the creative dedicated minority has made the world better."

And the third quote reminds us that fear is not enough to sustain change - we must also have hope in the face of adversity.

"Everything that is done in the world is done by hope."

Labels: about greenbuckeye, inspiration

The Green Buckeye blog focuses on sustainability in Central Ohio. Tina Kreminski started the blog in November 2006 so that she could both learn more about what was happening around sustainability in this region, and so that she could share what she learned.

This blog represents Tina's personal views. It does not represent or intend to represent the views of Tina's employer or any other organization or individual.

Labels: about greenbuckeye

I've added a new element to this page. If you scroll down a bit, you'll see the "my del.icio.us" heading in the right sidebar with a list of links appearing below. These are links that I've discovered one way or another. Some are related to Central Ohio, some to sustainability, and some to my other, unrelated interests.

Labels: about greenbuckeye, resources

Until now I've expressly kept this blog free of partisan politics. That's because I believe that sustainability is not a political choice - it is a human imperative, and it's the right thing to do.

However, in the interest of transparency, I must let you know that I recently sent $25 to support something called The New Hampshire Project. Why did I do this?

Well, first of all, Jerid Kurtz, the initiator of The New Hampshire project, is a blogger - he's the administrator of the (Democratic) Buckeye State Blog. Second, Jerid is a law student at Case Western Reserve University, my alma mater. Third, Jerid has decided to spend the summer season in New Hampshire blogging the 2008 Democratic presidential primary campaign.

Since I'm not free to spend my summer bumming around New Hampshire blogging, I'm hoping Jerid will be my proxy. When Jerid meets and interviews the candidates and their staffers, I hope he will ask about their plans for creating a sustainable future for the US and the rest of the world. When he reports on those responses, I will link to his posts so that you can see what the Democratic candidates are saying.

In the interest of balance, if I find a blog that covers sustainability for the Republican candidates, I'll share those, too.

Jerid, we're counting on you.

newhampshireproject

Labels: 2008 Presidential Primaries, about greenbuckeye, New Hampshire Project, sustainability

As I build out this blog, I'm reading and learning a ton. First of all, of course, I'm learning about sustainability. As I find new, interesting, and what I hope are relevant items and resources to share, I'm adding them to the sidebar on the right. So if you want to read more about sustainability for "regular people" (we could call it sustainable living, maybe?), I encourage you to glance over there and click on a link that interests you.

The other thing that I'm learning more about is blogging and Web marketing. And believe me, there is an enormous amount of information to read, digest, integrate, and implement! This piece of the Green Buckeye puzzle is actually taking more effort and time to learn than the "sustainable living" knowhow. So if this site seems to you to be slow getting off the ground, you can attribute some of that to the tech learning curve.

In the interest of full disclosure, you should know that most of the links on this site are unsponsored. That means that Green Buckeye isn't earning money from your "impressions" or "clicks" or whatever. However, there are a few "affiliate" links sprinkled around here, too. I think they're pretty obvious, but let's make this as transparent as we can, shall we? (Read on - you may learn something about Web marketing, too!)

• Shop the Green Buckeye Store! is a link to my Amazon.com store. Clicking on that link takes you to a list of products (mostly books right now) that you can buy from Amazon.com. If you buy anything from Amazon during that shopping session, Green Buckeye earns a small commission. Note that the price of the item is no different than it would be if you were to go to Amazon through your favorite bookmarks, by typing Amazon's URL into your address bar, or by searching and clicking through from Google or another search engine or web directory. You should also know that while I can see *what* was ordered through my site, I cannot see *who* ordered it or *where* it is going. So your privacy is intact.


• The badge for OrganicBouquet.com is an affiliate link. If you order something after you've clicked on that badge, Green Buckeye earns a commission. All the Amazon caveats about pricing and privacy apply to Organic Bouquet, as well. I love the idea of organic flowers, so I'm excited to have been accepted as an affiliate! By the way, there are bouquets you can buy that support causes like the Nature Conservancy and the Rainforest Foundation.


• If you see a book title, book graphic, product name, or product photo and clicking through it takes you to Amazon, you can safely assume that it is an affiliate link, too. Check out my previous post on Cradle to Cradle for an example. The book title and the book graphic in that post are both Amazon affiliate links. (The links to Bill McDonough's web site and his presentation on Social Innovation Conversations are not.)


• Lastly, I've added Google Adsense words to this blog. I don't control the content of those ads directly: through the magic of pixie dust, the wizards at Google determine what kind of products readers of this blog might be interested in. I'm hoping that as the blog develops, the ads will become more relevant - it seems like an ad for "Buckeye Ringtone" comes up most often right now, and I'm not convinced that's relevant. Of course, you may disagree, and if so: Go Bucks!
  

All of these affiliations and ads are an attempt to keep bringing Green Buckeye to you and making it better each week. I don't expect this blog to replace a full-time (or even part-time) job, but it would be great if it would bring in enough "green bucks" to support itself and make it possible for me to report to you about books, conferences, and events that might be of interest. So I thank you in advance for supporting Green Buckeye by "clicking thru!"

- Tina

Labels: about greenbuckeye, building a green online business

Green Buckeye's focus is optimistic and local. My hope and plan is to share the good news of organizations and individuals in Central Ohio who are doing big and small things to make our little corner of the world greener.

Sometimes, though, bad news from around the globe needs to be shared so that we can remember why we're making these efforts.

A few weeks ago, the primary organization working to save the white-fin dolphin (baiji) declared the animal "functionally extinct." Six weeks of searching the baiji's Yangtze River home in China yielded not one sighting.

Think of it - a mammal that survived on this planet for 20 million years, with no natural enemies other than humans, is most likely gone for good. This is not our proudest moment as a species.

How many times does the alarm have to ring before we wake up to our responsibility to this planet and its inhabitants - whatever species they might be?

Labels: about greenbuckeye, news

Thanks to George Nemeth at Brewed Fresh Daily, Green Buckeye is moving!

From today forward, you'll find us at:

www.greenbuckeye.com

Please point your browser to this new site to stay in touch!

- Tina

Labels: about greenbuckeye

The Ohio buckeye (Aesculus glabra) is the state tree of Ohio.

While there are Ohio buckeyes, California buckeyes, Texas buckeyes, red buckeyes, and yellow buckeyes, there has been no green buckeye. Until now!

Labels: about greenbuckeye

Note to Self and Others - Why I'm doing this:

• Save the planet for the kids!
• Develop a sustainability resource for Central Ohio
• Create an online community for Central Ohioans with an interest in sustainability
• Connect with and support others who are doing something tangible
• Market and advertise learning opportunities
• Be part of the solution
• Create a secondary income stream

Labels: about greenbuckeye