Richard Blanton

Solar roof technology has came a long way in recent years.  Most recently Tesla of electric car fame has entered the fray and offers a number of options that are visually appealing, durable and cost-effective when either building a new home or facing the need for roof replacement anyway.  If you would like to investigate further, their promotional page is:  https://www.tesla.com/solarroof.

Shopping at retailers that embed conservation in their business model can be a wonderful way to broaden your impact.  Two such examples are Birds & Beans coffee and Tentree clothing.  Birds & Beans only sells shade-grown coffee although they offer numerous tasty blends.  By doing so and taking other precautions they ensure that their coffee groves are helpful to migrating birds rather than eliminating necessary habitat.  Tentree is an online clothing store that pledges to plant 10 trees for every item purchased.  To date they have planted over 16 million trees.  I challenge each of you to find and utilize retailers that make positive environmental impact one of their central principles.

As an avid naturalist, it is very evident how impactful humans are on our environment.  Not the least of which is the amount of trash you encounter in some of the most remote areas.  It is for this reason that I have for some time done my best to recycle as much of the materials I use on a daily basis as well as refuse unnecessary disposable items.  This may be the result of carrying items without a bag, using reusable bags when grocery shopping and refusing straws when eating out.  Additionally, I make my best effort to pick up trash and recycle what I can when finding items on or around our trails in parks.  I challenge each of you to make similar efforts and share with those in your personal circle how important these actions are.