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For the past 30 years homeowners have been remodeling for various reasons to include, increased space, aesthetics, child safety, or just an overall improved quality of life.

Back in the 70’s Americans experienced the revelation that our country and citizens had become too dependent on foreign oil. As long as the oil embargo endured, Americans sought out ways to reduce their energy consumption which included retrofitting their homes.

The United States Department of Energy introduced a solar research program which focused on reducing building energy and consumption. It was determined that we indeed knew how to reduce energy consumption in homes and in home building. If we had kept building energy efficient solar homes we could have saved the equivalent of the amount of oil we were importing from middle eastern countries by now.

Eventually oil prices began to come down. Unfortunately, this diminished the interest and emphasis on creating and sustaining energy efficient lifestyles. The tax benefits and credits for utilizing solar energy expired back in 1985. The entire solar industry contracted as a result.

Asians and Europeans assumed the quest and continued down the path to energy efficiency, reducing energy consumption in virtually all sectors. As a result, their countries are among the global leaders in energy reduction. America, the sleeping giant, is finally awakening again.

We’ve come full circle as a nation and as a society and we find ourselves crossing the same bridge again, however the stakes are much higher now. According to oil experts we have already exhausted more than one half of all the oil in the world. The balance of remaining crude oil is further underground and therefore more difficult to access.

Offshore oil reserves are farther out to sea and the oil is more chemically complex which creates unique challenges. Essentially these challenges create difficulties that inevitably make oil more expensive. Oil will eventually become too expensive to utilize.

All fossil fuels are becoming increasingly expensive and difficult to obtain. Our country now imports most of our natural gas. The world demand for coal from China is also causing costs to rise. Now that we’ve considered the ramifications and global impact of burning fossil fuels, we’ve finally faced the realization that we can no longer bank on fossil fuels to sustain our power requirements for the future.

Voters overwhelmingly elected Barack Obama in November 2008, indicating a desire for change. We can only hope our faith is answered with more than intent and rhetoric by this administration. Although it’s politically expedient and correct to be pro-environment, we need more than words to solve this global dilemma. The global problems we face cannot be solved by any one man or any single administration.

There is a lot of talk lately about the need for a green economy. We all need it desperately. Regardless of whether the need is for lean manufacturing, green building, recycled materials, or renewable energy, it has become a moral and economical imperitive.

Government can’t and doesn’t change things of this magnitude, citizens do. It’s time to think globally but act locally. We all know we need to reduce our dependence on fossil fuels, particularly foreign oil. I believe this is a matter of national security.

The technology and capabilities are available to reduce energy consumption by as much as fifty percent for every home in America and we can accomplish this within a reasonably short period of time.

There are approximately 120,000,000 homes that need to be retrofitted to become more energy efficient which will also reduce month to month living costs. This can only happen one home at a time by individual consumers. If we can accomplish this, we stand to save $700,000,000,000 every year that is currently spent to fuel our addiction to foreign oil.

It’s individual efforts over time that translate into quantifiable global reductions in energy consumption. One changed community multiplied exponentially equates to real change. Every dollar saved or recaptured through energy efficiency is a dollar that could be reinvested into our economy via retail sales, vacations, college education, or debt reduction. Increased revenues for individual states would be realized through the collection of sales taxes which benefit schools, teachers, state funded health organizations, fire and police departments and much more.

One state at a time we can change a nation. We need to rely on our own knowledge, abilities, and talents to accomplish sustainable lifestyle changes. This is the type of change that is positive and contageous.

Our government continues to spend and borrow money we can’t afford, from foreign countries that are willing to buy our debt. This mortgages our children and grandchildren’s futures. Eventually these countries will either own our nation or our dollar will be worthless. Either way, the outcome is devastating and unsustainable.

It’s time for our country and people to evaluate our own nation’s history. If we continue on this path, history is sure to repeat itself and this current recession will become a depression.

Our country and it’s people have become complacent, forgetful, and too dependent on our government. During World War Two, forty percent of the produce consumed by Americans was home grown in what were called “victory” gardens. This meant that many average American families took it upon themselves to plant, maintain, and harvest fruits and vegetables from their own yards. This was not accomplished through a government mandate, people just took the initiative to take care of themselves. They thought globally, but acted locally.

Remembering our heritage is part of where our strength and resiliance comes from as a nation. This is where we should look to gain the inspiration necessary to carry on and do what needs to be done. It’s adaptive spirit and ingenuity that allowed our parents and grandparents to endure the hardships of previous wars. They were able to convert automobile factories into facilities that produced ammunition, aircraft, and military vehicles that supplied our nation and our allies with the hardware and supplies necessary to turn the tide or war in our favor. This is what allowed us to prevail in World War Two.

It is that Tye of ingenuity that makes our parent’s and grandparent’s generations worthy of respect. They knew what it took to win and were willing to make hard decisions and we need to learn from their example.

Time is not on our side as it relates to tackling green initiatives. However, if we all take individual steps and individual responsibility for our actions, we can make a difference. One person, one home at a time, we can make a difference. If millions of us start to participate, we will see the change in our lifetime. It’s the type of change we can be proud of. We also need to let our voices be heard in Washington. We need to become more involved and vocal as a people. We cannot allow government spending to become an out of control runaway freight train. We have to voice our opinions regardless of political affiliation.

We’re Americans first. Membership to any political party is secondary.

Our children are counting on us to get it right. Let’s do the right thing while there is still time.

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My name is Phil Swindle. I operate an office furniture website called. OfficeAnything.com it is our goal to provide green office products nationwide in an effort to reduce our global footprint. Here is a link to our site. http://officeanything.com

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