here goes!

I've been talking about this project for over a year and have only gotten more and more excited and sure that it is a great plan and needs to come to life. So, here goes... first steps... and I wanted to document it here for you. The project is called "Fresh Green Start" and what I aim to do is remodel low-income housing in an environmentally sound way to do two very important things. One, benefit the family living there by lowering their energy costs as much as possible and allowing them to spend thier wages in more productive ways. And two, benefit the earth by lowering that homes carbon emmissions. It is a perfectly balanced cycle for the families who need it most: lower the energy output, lower the cost of living!
I named it "Fresh Green Start" because I hope to give that family the feeling of a fresh start by moving into an affordable, yet newly remodeled home. One that will allow them to feel pride in thier home, and inturn renew pride in themselves. It is my hope that the children living in this home will feel empowered learn more and to share thier knowledge.

a little about me:
I was raised in West Virginia by a mother who was a counselor and a father who was an engineer and an environmentalist. From these two lovely people, I have a very strong sense of the importance of service to other people as well as the earth. The idea that what I do effects not only myself but everyone living on this earth today and for generations to come. I am so grateful to have had this education as a young person. For years I was best at the service to other people, especially children, until the need for environmental action hit me right upside the head, literally. We were living in New Orleans when Hurricane Katrina hit. Watching our sweet city wash away was one of the hardest and most helpless moments of my life. I was sent an email days later warning, with chilling accuracy, about the environmental events that had begun to unfold. I dug deeper and learned more about the recent effects of the global climate change and the role that humans are having in effecting the earth so severely. And closer to home I now see the great need for affordable housing and not the stereotypical Projects that keep those living there in a cycle of poverty and despair, but a new kind of affordable housing. I wanted to build a house or apartment that a family could feel proud to come home to and that moves in a direction toward the well-balanced relationship we should all have with the planet we live on. Letting it help us with solar energy and rain water, and us helping it by not carelessly using more energy than is necessary.
Helping people and helping the earth, ah, a fresh green start...

If you have any questions or comments please email me at freshgreenstart@yahoo.com