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For some reason, the items I had ordered did not save to my shopping cart. I was able to overcome this issue by clicking “update cart” before checking out. This saved the items in my cart, and allowed me to place the order. I’m posting this because I get the sense that many users are experiencing the same problem (based on my conversation with green disk tech support). I like what they are doing at Green Disk, so I am hoping this post will help someone else to use their site. Maybe Green Disk will read this and actually fix the problem.

Some related sites, that also allow you to purchase “green” credits: Native Energy, Green Tags and Carbon Fund.

Probably the most interesting chapter was on the automobile. Despite a century of engineering, the automobile is unbelievably inefficient. Only five percent of the force created by an automobile actually moves the driver, the rest goes to moving the car. Eighty percent of the energy created is wasted through exhaust and heat. The book goes on to offer solutions to the way that automobiles are designed, along with solutions to many other problems facing the way that industry produces things.

Another fact that came up, which seems to be a recurring theme in what I’ve been reading lately, is misguided subsidies that go to industries that destroying the planet. Obviously this is a practice that needs to end, and quickly.

Overall, a great book. Even if you are not interested in the environmental theme of the book, I’d still recommend it to anyone interested in business or economics.

The goal of the bike trips : “to inspire individuals to walk away empowered to make positive changes in the world. Our mission is to inspire, empower, and thus facilitate social change for a better world”.

It sounds like a great program, so I thought I would give them a little promotion. Unfortunately I don’t think I’ll be riding, since I live in Milwaukee and have never ridden a bike that far before.

The major topics covered were water usage, land usage, global warming, and the social division between the poorest and richest nations.

Over the last 50 years, the world’s popluation has doubled and the economy has grown sevenfold. This is putting enormous strain on our natural resources. At the moment we are living in a bubble economy. We are using our renewable resources faster than they can be renewed. One example being the drilling of aquifers to provide water for irrigation to grow food. Eventually, the aquifers will run dry, and we will not be able to grow enough food for the world’s population. We are living on borrowed time with regards to water and food production.

Solutions to these problems include discontinuing the billions of dollars in subsidies on energy produced by fossil fuels and shifting taxes from income to consumption. Focusing on technologies that increase efficiency of water and land usage, such as new irrigation techniques is critical. The most important answer to the world’s problems is population control. We must make family planning a priority. The author claims that this may seem impossible, but it is not. He compares it to the mobilization of WWII. The United States was able to shift from a peace time economy to a war time economy in only a few years. The same thing can be done today, but instead, moving to an economy that is environmentally sustainable.

This is one of the books that I wish everyone would read. I think I may buy a few copies to give as gifts.

ADVO . They send all those stupid coupon books (Shopwise) that you never use along with the pictures of the missing children that you will never find. Note: The postal carrier may not stop putting the coupon book in the mail box, so I had to call ADVO, who then called the post office to make sure the carrier did not put one in my box.

Valpak coupons More coupons you will never use.

Do-it-yourself: Stop junk mail, email and phone calls

OptOutPrescreen Opt-Out of lists supplied by Equifax, Experian, Innovis and TransUnion for firm offers of credit or insurance.

Direct Marketing Association They claim their opt-out list is good for five years.

Junk Busters Great resources on removing your name from mailing, telemarketing and spam.

Dell Opt out of mail and email.

Experian

Crutchfield: Send an email to service@crutchfield.com or call them at : 1-800-955-9091 and ask to stop receiving their catalog.

Nelson Publications – 1414-313-8808 Call them and tell them to take you off their mailing list. They send out coupons for Milwaukee area businesses.

Besides these links, you can also call the companies sending you all of the catalogs you never read. I also called my own credit card company, Chase, and asked them to stop sending me mail. Not only is it an environmental issue, it’s a privacy issue. How easy is it for someone to intercept something from your credit card company, especially all of the those stupid “convenience” checks?

Also, for those of you in Milwaukee, I called the Journal Sentinel (414-224-2000), and they removed me from their lists, so I won’t receive all of those coupons that I never use.