Read N Seed 3: Second Quarter of Green From the Ground Up

1. In the 2nd quarter of the book it covers 4 chapters, framing, roof and attic, windiws and doors, and plumbing.
2. The 5th chapter is framing and it has a lot to do with things to help insulate the building more effieciently. One way to do that is to not waste wood and use whats called Optimum Value Engineering. There are different techniques to doing corners that does not squish the insulation making it less efficient. Recycled steel studs are another way to cut down on the amount of wood that is used. Chapter 6 is installing the roof and attic. One of the first things you ahve to do is decide if you possbily want solar panels because then there slightly different things that need to be done. Again there is some new techniques to make sure the insualation is not squished making it less efficient. Some greener roof types would be recycled metal roofing or vegetation roofing, opposed to variety of shingle types. Chapter 7 was windows and doors and they both have some common similarities. Positioning windows and doors in a room is important for the aspect of natural air ventilation saving electricity amoung other things. The 3 most important things are the framing, insulating value, and edges of multiplane window/doors for keeping the as efficent as possible. Mudrooms are a great way to "seal" off and area that might alter room temperature. Chapter 8 was plumbing and what can be done to not be wasteful of water. The first thing that you can do is use Energy Star appliances that specialize in using as little water as possiblr. The type of water hearter that you use is also a large factor. The longer you are waiting for the water to heat up the more cold water that is getting wasted.
3/4. The thing that I thought was the coolest and could help out the community with a large impact was the on demand hot water system. This makes it possbile to immediately have hot water so you are not standingt here outside the shower or sink watching the water go down the drain without using it. It doesn't seem like much but think of how much is wasted in one day, then in a week, then a month and so on. It would be an astronomical difference not having to wait. I think that communities should have so legal binding to use on deamnad water systems.

Eye Opener: CSPI

1. The environmental burden of animal products I eat in a year is .9 acres of grain and grass needed for animal feed, 19.4 pounds of fertilizer used to grow animal feed, .1 pounds of pesticides used to grow animal feed, and 5457 pounds of manure is made by the animals I eat. The daily nutrients that I get from my diet is 270 calories, 17 grams of fat, 8 grams of saturated fat, and 123 mg of cholesterol
2. After improving my diet my diet by one less serving from each category I made some pretty pleasing results. My results were 7 more grams of fiber, 7 less grams of fat, 5 grams less of saturated fat, 74 mg less cholesterol. These changes may reduce my risk of heart disease, cancer, obesity, and other diet related problems.
3. Yes I did take the pledge for a more plant based diet, I actually already took the pledge unofficially over a year ago. I'll admit that I was 22 years old with slightly high cholesterol, and a with a vegetarian girlfreind it was kind of an easy decision to make. To be honest my diet is still not the best but for how I was eating, I have shown a large improvemnent nad am still learning and getting better about it.

Read N Seed 2: First Quarter of Green From the Ground Up

1. The first quarter of the book is 81 pages and four chapter long. The four chapters are green building basics, the house as a system, planning and design, and foundations.
2. Chapter one was the intro to the book and cleared up a couple common questions and myths. It talked about the rising demand and popularity for building green. It cleared up a myths about the cost, who would want to build green, and how the buildings will look. Chapter 2 explained how the house is a system and how everything works throughout it. It talked about the different ways that heat is transferred and how to control heat flow throughout the house. Next was the importance or air leakage and barriers on windows, doorways, etc because of the presence of moisture. It finished up talking about noise pollution from inside and outside and how to minimize both. Chapter 3 was the first steps in building a house and what to consider and make sure you make an educated decision about. the biggest thing was siting the house and the position of it. many different aspects come into play including what part of the house faces which way in order to use the sunlight to help control the house's temperature. Also what kind of landscaping and vegetation would help with cutting cost off heating and cooling the house. Chapter 4 was the first step of actually building the house, the foundation. The major topic of this chapter was insulation of the foundation to prevent heat loss. It covered the best ways to do it and and what materials could be used to insulate it. It finished with making sure that moisture is considered and how to minimize it starting with the outside of the house then the foundation itself.
3. One of the cooler things that I learned from the first four chapters that I did not know was the use of straw for insulation. it said that it will probably never be a mainstream use for wall insulation but it has many positives. It is a renewable resource that can be harvested locally, it is relatively inexpensive, and straw-bale walls have a high R-value for energy efficiency.
4. One of the things that I thought could affect society was the siting and window placement on buildings, and use of tress in order to use the sun for helping to heat and cool the building. There really is a significant difference in good and bad spots to build in order to save energy. Doing some research in a community that is going to be doing a lot of brand new developing can really make an impact by picking the right spots using the landscape and sun to help keep the buildings energy efficient. I think that there should be an evaluation of the landscape before a developer can build on a large site legally.