There are so many good things happening on the transportation front in Omaha. Mayor Fahey recently announced plans and funding for an essential East-West link between the Keystone Trail and downtown which will use dedicated bike lanes. Everyone who lives here knows how important that is. The Young Professionals just completed their Bus Challenge and Activate Omaha has the Bicycle Commuter Challenge in full swing. Omaha recently announced their downtown master plan where pedestrians and cyclists are well accounted for.
Now there is another opportunity to build a positive future for our city. The Metropolitan Area Planning Agency (MAPA) now has a Long Range Transportation Plan survey available for the public to complete. The responses from this survey will be used in updating the Long Range Transportation Plan for the Omaha-Council Bluffs metropolitan area for year 2035.
Go to www.mapacog.org and find the link for the survey at the top of the homepage. The 15 question survey covers a multitude of transportation topics and respondents can use this as a platform to make suggestions about the future of transportation in the metro area.
The MAPA Long Range Transportation Plan will provide a vision for the metropolitan area’s future transportation system. Additionally, projects must be identified in the Long Range Plan to be eligible to receive federal funding.
My birthday is coming up and Corey treated me with an early present. She got me a Grub Hoe from EasyDigging.com.
This thing is awesome. I’ve been obsessed with gardening tools for the last year, and since we expanded our planting area this year I really needed something for cutting into untouched soil. In a catalog last year I saw an Italian Grape Hoe being used and really wanted to find something like it. None of the local stores carried anything nearly as burly as I wanted.
Easy Digging grub hoes (Azadas) from Bellotto of Brazil. The head is solid and simple, and the company includes a strong handle and even a file for keeping it sharp. I’m impressed.
I got it out in the garden yesterday and tilled about 300 square feet in an hour. The technique is easy to adapt to and the head sliced right through my hard clay soil with ease. I had a pickup load of aged manure and another of sand delivered. That’s what I’m tilling in now, down to about 6 inches. Next I’m going to double-dig the bed before laying out the plan and beginning planting. There is still a lot of work but I’ve got a ton of springtime energy to keep me going.
The current economic crisis has caused some in the sustainable marketing field to wonder if companies are going to shift their focus away from environmental responsibility as money gets tight. Of course those of us in the field know that when done right, sustainable marketing can actually SAVE MONEY.
Here are some ways to make lean, green initiatives part of your company’s belt-tightening efforts:
Cut Waste
It almost goes without saying, but now is a better time than ever to go after the proverbial low-hanging fruit. Simple waste reduction strategies can free up badly needed cash while generating measurable environmental benefits.
Moving from paper to electronic communications is another tried and true source of savings for the earth and the bottom line. Verizon has not only saved more than $8 million in paper and administrative costs by getting more than 3 million customers to sign up for paperless billing, it also saved another $2.7 million by moving its payroll, training, and HR systems online. You can find more examples of such initiatives here.
Invest in Efficiency
While the financial crisis has led us all to rethink the risk profile of our investments, it is important to remember that energy efficiency projects are still relatively safe ways to deploy capital. Oil prices may have fallen from their highs this summer, but the price is still far above what it was only few years ago (the price was under $30 per barrel in 2003), and the price of electricity is still rising. Even if energy prices remain where they are, many energy efficiency investments will be worthwhile.
The McKinsey Global Institute just published a report stating that economic uncertainty can drive more investment in energy efficiency, particularly in the developed world, because efficiency costs less than meeting demand through new energy supplies.
What’s more, investing in energy efficiency now puts your business in a better position to examine clean energy choices later. Lower energy needs will mean you will need smaller, less capital-intensive renewable energy systems to provide green power.
Tunnel Through the Cost Barrier
Amory Lovins, Hunter Lovins, and Pawl Hawken introduced this concept in Natural Capitalism. In short, tunneling through the cost barrier means designing highly efficient products and processes so that they require less capital than traditional systems. Rather than waiting for five-, three-, or even one-year paybacks on equipment, you can be in the black on day one. How? By designing whole systems to be so efficient that they require smaller energy sources. For example: A well-insulated building requires a smaller HVAC system. Better-designed piping requires smaller pumps.
Spend Time Rather Than Money
The approaches above shouldn’t be capital-intensive, but they can be information-intensive and communication-intensive; they require plenty of thinking and cooperation to implement effectively. In a white-hot economy, it can be difficult to take the time for this level of planning. But during a slowdown, you may have the luxury to think things through more. One best practice is to convene design charrettes - meetings of designers, builders, and those impacted by design decisions - long before a project gets off the ground. By including participants all along the value chain in the process, you can avoid the hang-ups and do-overs that cause costs to escalate, while creating a greener, better outcome.
Sustainable thinking makes perfect sense in a slowing economy. Whether your priority is efficiency, re-engineering, or deepening trust with customers, employees, and other stakeholders, there’s a lean, green strategy that’s right for you.
They discussed how bicycle friendly communities can work to address a myriad of issues for a city. These issues include impacting the obesity epidemic, traffic congestion, pollution, dependence on foreign oil and carbon footprints. Creating bicycle friendly is accomplished through combining good city design and city policy supports with strategically targeted transportation dollars.
I attended the breakfast session, where business and non-profit leaders were introduced to these concepts. John and Andy outlined a number of troubling trends and statistics which they believe should motivate Omaha to rally towards solutions. While they pointed out that there are several solutions to this range of issues, they proposed that the bicycle is the simple solution to several of these complex problems.
John provided 4 examples that prove that bikes can support a metro’s transportation needs. He showed that in the Netherlands 25% of all trips are taken by bike, and in Boulder the number is 21%. He reminded us of London’s congestion reducing strategies, and explained some of the political initiatives that have helped transform Portland.
Omaha was challenged to educate the city’s residents and public servants in order to help develop bicycle infrastructure. The city leaders were challenged to make Omaha a leader in this initiative, and become a model for other cities to follow. They readily agreed that Boulder and Portland have different cultures than Omaha. But they show it can be done. And they believe that Omaha, a city in the heartland, can show that this model can work anywhere in the state.
Kerri Peterson from Activate Omaha (host) opened up by explaining that Omaha has previously applied to be designated by the League of American Bicyclist as a bicycle friendly community. Despite our expansive recreational trail system, the application was denied.
Since then, efforts have been underway to change that outcome. Over $500,000 in private funding has been raised to design and build a 20 mile bicycle loop. The first bicycle transportation map has been created. The City has instituted a Bicycle and Pedestrian Advisory Committee to review and recommend infrastructure improvements. This momentum is just the beginning and we would like you to join us to continue the push to change the physical face of our community.
Kerri also pointed out that the Bicycle Commuter Map was so well received by the city, that the 5000 copies printed were all distributed within 2 months. The supply was intended to last 3 years. They are currently reprinting, and the map is available for download now.
I’d encourage everyone to be involved. Bicycle and pedestrian infrastructure, along with a well-developed public transportation system, can change the face of the city in which we live.
Saturday was a good day. We woke up early and made ourselves a good ole country breakfast…err…tried. Corey set the recipe for pancakes in front of me and wished me luck. The problem was, the recipe was for 2lbs. of mix, and there is no way we could eat that much. So, I set about using my common sense and public school math skills to freestyle the recipe. I set out to make pancakes…I ended up with a plateful of crepes?
Oh well…moving on. After breakfast we headed down to Fontenelle Forest for a composting workshop co-hosted by the Green Omaha Coalition. We were shocked by the turnout; there were probably 70 people there.
Topics ranged from ‘Composting for Beginners’ and ‘Composting with Worms’, to ‘What to do with Finished Compost.’
I am very interested in the Vermicomposting. It would be nice to have it as an available option during the winter. From what I learned, we can make a homemade setup for our basement. We should be able to compost all winter with no risk of smell. I’ll let you know how that turns out.
My attention started to drift near the end. I have a hard time sitting still inside on a nice day.
So Corey and I decided to wander around the forest to check out the Eco Huts display. The display includes practical interactive displays sharing information about the environment and our homes. The displays were amazing. I’m so happy to see these learning opportunities available to kids.
Cyclists and community organizers from around the metro gathered downtown on Saturday for an all-inclusive discussion of cycling accessibility. The event was hosted at the Midwest National Park Service Headquarters on the Omaha riverfront. I have to praise the location first. The building is situated right at the foot of the pedestian bridge, and has a wonderfull view of the river and downtown. To top it off, the building is Leed Gold Certified.
Corey and I were only able to attend a short portion of the day-long event, but we made sure to join at the portion that was most important to us. We were there for the review of the Omaha Streetscape plan hosted by Omaha By Design’s Connie Spellman.
She gave a concise but informative presentation about Omaha’s initiative to integrate pedestrians, bicyclists, and the environment into our streets. The streets that are now exclusively built for cars. (Did you know that Nebraska doesn’t have a Department of Transportation? Only a Department of Roads. Makes you wonder how we don’t have a better mixed use planning.)
She highlighted the successes in the Benson Ames Alliance master plan. Next year they are beginning the first phase of the streetscape redesign.
Connie made a point to motivate members of the audience to contact their City Council Person and the head of Omaha Public Works to advocate for better bicycle and pedestrian transportation options. She said that these public servants (an underutilized word, but so important in this time of jaded politics) really do want to hear from constituents and act on their behalf.
This summit reinforced the good and the bad for cycling in Omaha. The good is that Omaha isn’t a huge city. It is practical to move around by bike or foot. Also, the bus system has recently added bike racks to the front of busses. And of course, Omaha has over 80 miles of bicycle trails snaking across the city. The challenges are streets that are often poorly designed, crowded with drivers who are impatient and uninformed. And, the topography of our city, make East/West traffic difficult. The hills are challenging, but the bike trails and bike lanes are limited in this direction.
I asked if there is ONE street in particular that we should contact our local representatives about. I wanted to know which East/West street had the greatest chance of being renovated in the near future. She strongly suggested that we advocate for Leavenworth Street. This street is well graded, and is dangerous currently because it carries too much traffic. Redesigning this street can greatly contribute to the quality of life for neighborhood residents as well as cycling commuters.
I’m making my calls this week. I’d encourage you to do the same.
Most people in business, community, and government are focusing on tactical and survival-based responses in order to deal with the current financial crisis. I would suggest that sustainability initiatives are an essential element for everyone to consider in order to minimize financial imbalances and limit overhead.
This is a time when it is important for pay very close attention to what you spend. That doesn’t always mean that spending needs to be frozen, but it does mean that value is a more important consideration than ever.
I have found that the sustainable marketing message is becoming increasingly attractive to my clients. At Harvest we show clients how to reduce resource use, reduce environmental impact, and reduce overall expense. Cumulatively these benefits help their companies be more socially responsible which is a critical response to the current environmental crisis. But responsible spending is absolutely essential in this atmosphere of economic crisis.
So many people focus exclusively on the environmental aspects of sustainable business. But there is an opportunity to drive home the message that this practice is a very practical solution to tightening budgets with a continued demand to increase sales.
If you are looking for more information for your home or business, make sure you look through the links listed on the right of this page. There are some excellent resources for learning more. Or feel free to contact me if you are in the Omaha area and I can share what I know.
“Omaha—smack dab in the middle of America,” starts the city profile on SustainLane. Omaha ranks #25 on the site’s sustainability index of the nation’s 50 biggest cities, notably beating the front-range Colorado city of Colorado Springs and sunny San Diego, CA.
The site’s peer-reviewed, national study ranks cities by at least 16 factors, including each city’s ability to maintain healthy air, drinking water, parks and public transit systems, as well as a robust, sustainable local economy with green building, farmers markets, renewable energy and alternative fuels.
“We’re beginning to see the top- and bottom-ranked cities move farther apart, with the cities taking sustainability seriously increasing in desirability nationwide and enjoying better odds of long-term economic prosperity,” said SustainLane Media CEO James Elsen. “Specifically, the top 15 cities are creating more vibrant city centers and offer higher quality air, water, food and transportation choices that yield smaller carbon footprints per resident than those at the bottom of the list. We predict that the lower-ranking cities will increasingly struggle to sustain their resident and business populations and local economies.”
Why does Omaha rank where it does?
The city markets its own brand of compost called OmaGro. Omaha also recently switched to single stream recycling and has upped the types of plastics it accepts, making it easier for residents to divert waste away from landfills.
On the the transportation front, the city would do well to turn its attention to upping public transit ridership. In our survey, it 48th of 50 in this department. Mayor Mike Fahey is thinking about resuscitating the city’s old streetcar system; he might also consider offering alternative transportation subsidies, as many higher-ranking cities do.
The biggest limitation to making Omaha more sustainable may lie in getting more people to buy into the idea of living green, says the mayor’s deputy assistant, Andrea Fox. To help with outreach, the city is collaborating with the Green Omaha Coalition, a group that aims to promote a healthy, sustainable community through public-private partnerships, educational programs, and proposing policy solutions.
SustainLane.com is the web’s largest people-powered guide to sustainable living. The site connects interested consumers with the tools and information on everything related to green, including:
The largest directory of local, green-friendly businesses in the United States with over 20,000 small business listings;
Consumer-generated how-tos, news and product reviews of new green offerings in the marketplace; and
A community of likeminded individuals willing to share information and personal experiences with each other.
I’ve found the site to be a rich resource for information on virtually any sustainability topic.
Pizza is my biggest food vice (ice cream isn’t considered food…more medication). And it is always such a bummer when we finish the pizza and have to scrap the box.
A company called Green Box has turned the formerly single-purpose pizza box into a cross-functional delivery, dining, and long-term storage solution.
Their design is simple. They take the standard box, perforate the top into quarters, and they can turn into plates. Perforate the edges of the bottom of the box, then once down the middle, and you can fold that into a leftover box that’s half the size of the original. Less than that, actually, since the box is wedge shaped.
The company has clearly added value to the pizza box, but they have also used a simple business solution that yield meaningful environmental benefits. Think about all the other things that would have been used with a normal box: Plates plus the time/water/detergent used washing them. Disposable plates if you’re out, likely tossed. Paper towels standing in for plates. Plastic wrap or foil used to cover or wrap the leftovers in a smaller package then that mammoth box.
This may not sound like a lot in terms of one meal, but it adds up when you consider that American’s consume 4.8 billion pizza’s each year.
The makers of the box didn’t stray much from standard construction materials, believing that would have likely raised the price. They felt that most pizza shops are quantity focused businesses that will only make a move towards sustainability if it doesn’t raise the cost of doing business. Instead, they took the industry standard box, modified nothing but how it’s cut, and made it out of recycled paper, an increasingly cost competitive option.
This sort of creative decision making that focuses on solving conventional problems in a more sustainable way is the future of sustainable business. Sustainable businesses cannot live on the fringe if they hope to succeed in a competitive marketplace. The folks at Green Box clearly took the time to evaluate the factors involved in the decisions of everyone through their distribution chain and made decisions that benefitted each one of them. The end result is a simple product that will hopefully make me feel better about ordering my next gourmet pie from my favorite pizza shop.
Corey and I took a focused approached to yesterday’s Green Home Tour, hosted by the Green Omaha Coalition. We really wanted to learn more about water conservations, especially the control of runoff.
We decided to make an adventure out of the tour, so we decided to walk the two miles to the water conservation house. We set out early in the afternoon, and enjoyed a beautiful Dundee day. We were getting a little winded from the hilly route, and were pretty glad to finally arrive at our destination.
It was a pleasant suprise to find that the tour was apparently a hit. The house was crowded with visitors of all ages, all wanting to learn more about home water conservation. There was a convenient handout (printed on FSC Certified paper of course) which highlighted all of the tools and techniques used in the home. At all major stopping points (kitchen, bath, garden & gutters) there were helpful volunteers ready to answer questions.
Many of the interior changes we have already made, including faucet aeroators and flow controllers. We have made many eco-friendly cleaning product decisions as well.
But in the kitchen we were impressed with some common sense suggestions. Lined up on the kitchen counter were big boxes of Baking Soda and Powder, along with a big jug of vinegar. It was a helpful reminder that much of our home cleaning needs can be solved the old fashioned way. If anyone knows of a good book for teaching about homemade cleaners, please let me know. Also in the kitchen, the home owner had a water pitcher next to the sink which she used to capture grey water before it was wasted down the drain. She collects the water and takes it out to the garden to water plants. The coolest thing in the bathroom were all of the plants in and around the shower. It was such a cool idea to bring life and green into this usually ’sterile’ environment. Placing a bucket in the shower as the water temperature is set is another good way to capture waste water.
We were most interested in the rain garden (PDF 5mb) found in the front yard. We have erosion issues at our home because of the slope of our property. We have done a lot of research, and are doing the math right now (yes, math is required) to determine the right size and placement of ours. All of the literature we have read suggests that the garden should be densly planted, but it was good to see that the sample home was planted more scarcely. We are trying to save money and don’t want to have to rush out and buy a bunch of plants for the garden.
On that note (sorry for all of the random thoughts), we stopped by Pageturner’s Used Books in Dundee on the walk back and I picked up a really helpful book on plant propagation. It is exactly what I have been looking for. I wanted to find a way to multiply my and my neighbors plants in order to fill in our gardens. Plus we are going to start our complete vegetable garden from seed next year, and can use all the tip we can get so our time is well spent.
Anyway, whereas we didn’t spend the whole afternoon on the tour like many of the participants clearly did, we had a great time and learned a lot. If you aren’t already a member, please join the GOC and recieve their regular updates with other educational events.
I was sitting on my front porch earlier this morning, sipping on my first cup of coffee for the day. The birds weren’t out yet and the wind wasn’t blowing, it was quiet.
Then, from down the street, came the roar of an engine. I looked down the hill to see a pair of headlights racing up the street. As the dark SUV sped past, a hand reached out the window and tossed a plastic wrapped newspaper in the general direction of my neighbors house. Without hesitation, the engine roared again and the ‘paperboy‘ continued up the hill.
What happened? I never had a paper route. But I remember when I was in elementary school my best friend did. Whenever I spent the night, I would wake up early with him. We would grab the stack of flat papers from his front porch, pull out a bag of rubber bands, and wrap the papers up. Then he would strategically load his double sided bag and we would walk up and down the neighborhood streets, carefully tossing papers onto porches as we went.
I can’t remember the last time that I saw anyone walking a paper route. And I certainly haven’t seen any kids doing it.
So many things disturbed me about this morning’s experience (not the least of which that someone was speeding down my street…grrr). The fact that an SUV is apparently required for a paper route is ridiculous. As if this isn’t inefficient enough, the driver is racing around with totally inefficient driving habits. Then the fact that this guy cares so little about his work that he barely slows down to toss the paper with any sort of consideration for the customer. And of course, what happened to the rubber band? It wasn’t raining. Why the plastic bag?
I think that our society needs to take a long look at ourselves. We need to slow down, live in a way that is healthy for ourselves and our environment, we need to live in the moment, and we need to be considerate towards others.
I made a big step towards a more sustainable home. I sold my gas powered rotary mower and my gas powered trimmer, and officially freed myself from fossil fueled lawn care.
I started thinking about this when I read recently an article on how to green you lawn that noted that mowing your lawn for 1 hour emits as much CO2 as driving your car 20 miles. That was troubling. Then I started to wonder why exactly did I need a 6.5hp self-propelled mower to cut the little blades of grass. Seems like a disproportionately powerful solution to the problem of lawn maintenance.
So I posted both items on Craigslist, and within 24 hours had collected a couple of hundred bucks and said goodbye to my lawn equipment. I hopped on Amazon and ordered up a Scott 20″ Reel Mower. Then I went to Mulhall’s and picked up a beautiful pair of Corona grass sheers (if you haven’t used Corona tools, you don’t know what you are missing).
I got the mower yesterday and mowed my lawn with the reel mower for the first time. There is of course going to be an adjustment period, but it works awesome. It is really easy to use, it is better for a healthy lawn, and it is a decent workout.
All in all, I’m stoked. One more sustainable decision has been made, I came out well ahead financially, and I’m going to save money and use less gas over the long term.
The Pollution Prevention Regional Information Center (P2RIC) strives to improve resource sharing for waste reduction between the programs, businesses, and agencies of EPA Region 7 (Iowa, Kansas, Missouri, Nebraska). P2RIC shares success stories in Region 7 as a way to increase dialogue for businesses wishing to implement sustainable practices.
Recently, the P2RIC contacted me to speak with them about the differences between Greenwashing and Sustainable Marketing. Greenwashing is not a complementary term, it is ‘the practice of making an unsubstantiated or misleading claim about the environmental benefits of a product, service, technology or company practice.’
In the recent rush to go green, greenwashing has oftentimes become synonymous with green marketing - which makes the job of marketing a company’s genuine green efforts all the more difficult. It can be easy, if not even tempting, for a company to slip into the unsavory realm of greenwashing. According to local marketing specialist Ryan Atkinson, “the current environmental movement has been used as a marketing tool to try and attract new customers.”
Atkinson is President of Harvest Design and Marketing, an Omaha-based company that began in 2007 as a firm dedicated not to green marketing, but rather, to sustainable marketing. So, what’s the difference? According to Atkinson, it’s not merely to attract customers with greenness, but to build a green ethic into a company’s overall marketing strategy. “If they have a sincere desire as a company to reduce their environmental impact, that’s where sustainable marketing as I see it comes into play.”
To learn more, click the link below to listen to the audio file.
We live only a few blocks away from the elementary school that I attended for 5th and 6th grade. On occasion, our evening walk take us by the school.
Recently, we decided to visit the schools central courtyard to see the vegetable gardens that our good friend Kate helped organize. Kate is a teacher at Western Hills, and clearly hasn’t settled into a ‘business as usual’ approach to education.
I honestly wasn’t expecting to be impressed with the garden. I pictured a bunch of cobbled together beds that were poorly maintained. It was after all summer, and school wasn’t in session. Surely the students would completely forget about the garden while they were spending endless summer days in front of the TV.
I couldn’t have been more wrong. Rounding the corner an endless and lush garden came into view. It is one of the most wonderful things that I have ever seen. At the far end is a bright mural, accenting the frame of institutional walls and windows that house the gardens. Wandering through the gardens was awe inspiring, everywhere we looked there were more and more veggies ripe and ready for harvesting. Clearly the students were born with green thumbs, because their efforts put Corey and my little plot to shame.
Kate was generous enough to answer some questions about the garden, and I wanted to share them with you.
How did you get the idea to start a student garden at Western Hills?
Four of us went to the National Magnet Conference in Las Vegas two years ago. While we were there, we were discussing what to do with the courtyard. We wanted to create an outdoor classroom of some sort. We liked the garden (especially the vegetables and herbs idea) because it goes really well with our push to be a leader in Wellness Education in OPS.
How did the students respond the idea? The kids have always been very excited about it. That is really the element that makes this project so successful. It was the teachers, teachers’ families, students, and parents all working together to create this garden. We would work after school, on Saturdays, and throughout the summer.
How do you blend classroom curriculum with the garden? We have done it a couple of ways. We use it for math a lot. It helped the kids understand measurement a lot. They had a hands on experience of measuring the depth of the soil for seeds to be planted. Also, over summer school we had the kids each choose a plant to measure and record it’s growth each week. We also use it for science, obviously. We had electives about gardening, worms, and soon we will use the produce for a cooking class as well as a wellness class.
Do you have anyone that you would like to thank?
Well, Lowe’s for sure and also the landscape designer. Also all the wonderful parent volunteers that gave so much of their time over the summer.
When the invitation showed up in the mail, we knew this was an event we couldn’t miss. The premier of the documentary film I.O.U.S.A. was to take place in downtown Omaha at the Holland Performing Arts Center and be broadcast to over 400 theaters across the country. After the film, a round table discussion featuring Warren Buffet, Pete Peterson and David Walker would provide insights into the film.
The event didn’t disappoint, our evening was spectacular on all fronts. After a brief introduction by the film’s director, the lights dimmed and my eyes opened wide in anticipation. The film clearly explained the state of our nation’s current financial crisis. It drove home the importance of not only national policy, but also personal responsibility.
I.O.U.S.A. examines the rapidly growing national debt and its consequences for the United States and its citizens. America must mend its spendthrift ways or face an economic disaster of epic proportions.
The numbers were staggering, the nation now has over $53 trillion in total liabilities, and that isn’t going anywhere soon. The nation’s budget is far from balanced, running a deficit year after year. Currently, our national dept is equal to 64% of our GDP and growing. Within 20 years, it is projected to exceed 100%.
In 2008, the Congressional Budget Office projects a deficit of $357 billion ($553 billion excluding the Social Security (surplus). That estimate reflects the impact of the economic slowdown and legislated stimulus efforts, but not pending supplemental funding for operations in Iraq, Afghanistan and other purposes that could add more than $180 billion in deficit spending over the next two years.
The federal budget should serve as the fiscal roadmap for federal policy making. However, the budget and its related process have major weaknesses when it comes both to understanding and to managing the
financial condition of the United States government. The annual budget process focuses on the immediate budget year and largely discounts the future implications of current decisions. Decision makers do not devote the same level of scrutiny to future impacts as they do to current costs.
The film’s graphics did a fantastic job of offering a clear understanding of the scope of the problem, how issues are interrelated, and where the crisis is headed. As a way of throwing the staggering number in perspective, the $53 trillion was put into more understandable numbers. They calculated the burden to:
$175,000 per person living in the United States
$410,000 per full-time worker
$455,000 per household
As the film ended, citizen’s were challenged to demand that Washington policy makers begin to address these issues. Rethink our priorities. We should focus on critical societal needs and programs and policies that work. In addition, we should not assign responsibilities to the government that we personally are not willing to pay in taxes. And also recognize that there are no easy answers.
The discussion that followed the film was interesting, but also strange. One member of the audience opened with a question that made me wonder if he had even watched the film. He asked, ‘Does anyone really want to live in a world where we all exercise fiscal responsibility?’ How bazaar?
I was absolutely impressed by Pete Peterson and David Walker, but was befuddled by Omaha’s own Warren Buffet. He just came across like a booster for the US financial system. He kept rambling on about the size of the ‘pie’ in order to help the audience understand that we could count on growth and continued prosperity. He was no better than the guy who asked the opening question…did he even watch the film? The he made some statements that totally reflected the Horatio Alger Myth, implying that we can all be billionaires if we just work a little bit harder.
I was so happy to hear the thoughts of Peterson and Walker, both of whom came across as grounded and insightful. They drove home the reality of our current financial crisis and discussed the practical issues which we must face in order to slow or stop the impending disaster.
The messages of the film was just one more reminder of the importance of Simple Living and a sustainable financial life.
If you are a numbers person and want to see how the film’s data played out, click here to download the complete citizen’s guide on the Financial Condition of the US.
There are so many good things happening on the transportation front in Omaha. Mayor Fahey recently announced plans and funding for an essential East-West link between the Keystone Trail and downtown which will use dedicated bike lanes. Everyone who lives here knows how important that is. The Young Professionals just completed their Bus Challenge and Activate Omaha has the Bicycle Commuter Challenge in full swing. Omaha recently announced their downtown master plan where pedestrians and cyclists are well accounted for.
My birthday is coming up and Corey treated me with an early present. She got me a Grub Hoe from 
