Green Eco Services » Money

Green iPhone Apps

Cathy — Tue, 21 Jul 2009 03:44:19 +0000

Make sure you have a pen handy- this is quick and cute and great eco friendly info.Similar Posts:

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Top 20 Frugal and Thrifty Blogs

Cathy — Tue, 10 Mar 2009 18:37:04 +0000

People think I’m rich because I (stupidly?) took off a year to start blogging. The reason I was able to take off a year, is because I stopped buying. It was pretty simple for me and not so simple for many other people. (That’s a 3 Trillion obvious issue) But when you stop spending money, make do with less, you might be able to take off for a year as well. Oh- and I’m not rich- just cheap- and yes I will have to go back to work, especially since any retirement plan is now, how do I say- Almost GONE! How I did it, no new clothes, no new furniture, lots of oatmeal, I walk as much as possible, drank less wine and reuse, reuse and reuse.

In case you need help- Here are some great blogs that can help guide you to the simple life and meanwhile you can save money.

Top 20 Frugal and Thrify Blogs

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Tax Dollars at Work -Logging

Cathy — Fri, 20 Feb 2009 16:06:41 +0000

I Just Gotta Tell Ya

The United States originally had a billion acres of forest.
Now only 40 million acres remain uncut.
American people own 635 million acres of public land U.S. Forest Service, U.S. Bureau of Land Management, U.S. Park Service, and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, and are compris
Public lands provide 80% of municipal water supplies and half of the remaining habitat left to endangered species
The U.S. Forest Service routinely loses $1.2 billion per year for the taxpayers, since they spend more money building logging roads and administering timber sales for timber companies than they receive from the sale of public trees.
An honest, full cost accounting of the Forest Service would reveal that revenues from living public forests are worth over $117 billion per year, yet revenues from Forest Service lands are only $354 million per year. “

Tongass Logging

According to Forst Service Reco commerial logging in the Tongass National Foret lost taxpayers $48 M in 2004. Since 1982 Taxpayers have spent nearly $1b subsidizing the timber industry clear cutting of Tongass Nation Forest

In one deal alonen the Forest Service spent nearly $4.3 M preparing 450 acres of pristing forest for sales by building logging roads then sold it for $53,000.

Tongass Logging Subsidies http://65.110.78.8/Library/Documents/upload/Factsheet-TongassSubsidies-TCS.pdf

Siskiyou National Forest

The Government Accounting Office (GAO) today confirmed that logging after the Biscuit fire in southern Oregon’s Siskiyou National Forest lost money. The report released by Senator Jeff Bingaman (D-NM), ranking Democrat on the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee revealed that the Biscuit logging project cost taxpayers nearly $2 million dollars. (Portland Independent Media Center) http://portland.indymedia.org/en/2006/10/346999.shtml

Taxpayers have to foot the bill for building roads and other operations that will make the extensive logging project possible, according to the agency documents compiled by PEER:

Black Hills National Forest has proposed an amendment of their Land and Resource Management Plan that would run up net losses of US $969 million over the next ten years

Wyoming’s Bighorn National Forest is proposing to eliminate more than three-quarters of it inventoried roadless area at a net loss of US $218 million

The East Fork Fire Salvage in Utah’s Wasatch-Cache National Forest, proposes to exacerbate already serious water quality and soil erosion problems by cutting dead trees at a final cost of US $325 million to the taxpayerEven some of the smaller Healthy Forest salvage sales are expensive, such as the Duck Creek Fuels Treatment Project in Utah’s Dixie National Forest, which proposes to lose US $10.9 million, or US $5,000 for each new structure (such as a retirement cabin) in the planning area.As well as providing the primary source of sediment in forest streams, from erosion caused by logging, these roads are costly both to build and to maintain, Mr Ruch pointed out, with the estimated backlog of deferred maintenance currently standing at around US $8.4 million.”The environmentally preferred alternatives are greener in both an ecological and an economic sense,” he concluded. “At a total distance of 386,000 miles, we already have more roads through our national forests than the total number of roads in existence in the entire nation of Russia.”Country Boys_ Department of Agriculture-Another cornucopia of targets for reform: A crop insurance program that costs more than $3 for every dollar in benefits delivered, atimber program that has spent a billion dollars building roads for private logging companies, or a subsidy program that paid $49 million to ineligible farmers are just a few wasteful abuses that come to mind.

Resources-

Sierra Club
Kucinich- http://environment.kucinich.us/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=13&Itemid=1
Heritage Forests Campaign
IRS Laws http://www.scribd.com/doc/537733/US-Internal-Revenue-Service-forlog

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Optical WebBlog and Business

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Green Taxes- Energy Credits

Cathy — Thu, 19 Feb 2009 14:23:31 +0000

I’m going to do my taxes today! Thought I would do a quick post on rebates. Since I remodeled and put in all EnergyStar appliances and WaterSense fixtures, I’m hoping this will save me some money!

install energy-efficient windows or an energy-efficient boiler or furnace. You can get an aggregate tax credit of up to $500 for doing so, and this will lower your energy bill as well. There are several limitations on the amounts you can claim for various installations, so do your homework before you get started.
Install a geothermal heat pump and receive an additional $2,000 tax credit. This pump is used to heat and cool your home, and up to $2,000 of the cost of installation can be used as a credit. This credit is separate from the above-mentioned $500 credit.
Receive a credit for up to 30 percent of the cost of installing a solar power system in your home. This credit is also capped at $2,000, but is separate from the previous credits and will be available for the next 8 years.
Install a fuel cell or microturbine system in your home and you can claim a credit of $500 for every half kilowatt of capacity within the system.
If you buy a plug-in hybrid vehicle in 2009, hurry! The first 250,000 buyers get to claim a whopping $7,500 tax credit! This is $4,000 more than the previous hybrid credit!

Before You Buy- Research First in Your Home State and Local Government

Each state has a number of energy-related credits available that can reduce your state taxes

From Sierra Club-

Visit zoomer.sierraclub.org and click on “energy incentives” for a complete list of both federal tax breaks and incentives and those offered by your own state and local governments. Here are just a few examples of:

Hybrid vehicle tax credit: this credit varies by make and model, but can up to $3,000.
Home energy efficiency tax credit: up to $500 for home improvements designed to make your home more energy efficient, such as new windows or a more efficient heating/cooling system.
Residential solar and fuel cell tax credit: up to $2,000 for installation of a solar electric, solar water heating, or fuel cell system. Any excess credit can be carried forward one additional year.
Energy subsidy exemption: Any rebates or incentives you receive for energy conservation measures, directly or indirectly, from utilities are not counted as taxable income.

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Sustainable Investing Conference- NYC

Cathy — Tue, 27 Jan 2009 13:28:05 +0000

FT Sustainable Business, Responsible Investing

Where Corporations and Investors Connect on ESG Issues
March 2, 2009 – Altman Building, NYC

Register today for the inaugural FT Sustainable Business, Responsible Investing Conference: Where Corporations and Investors Connect on ESG Issues. This event will bring together CSR Executives, Responsible Fund Managers, Institutional Investors, Financial Advisors, and NGOs. (Use marketing code FTCSRFS to save 20% off admission.)

Featured Speakers include:

Tod Arbogast, Director of Sustainable Business, Dell
Ben Bingham, Managing Director, Benchmark Asset Managers
Victor DeLuca, President, Jessie Smith Noyes Foundation
Rob Frederick, VP, Director of Corporate Responsibility, Brown-Forman
Bennett Freeman, Senior Vice President for Social Research and Policy, Calvert
Hunter Lovins, President and Founder, Natural Capitalism Solutions
Sonal Mahida, Vice President, Carbon Disclosure Project
Michael Musuraca, Designated Trustee, NYCERS Board
Jane Nelson, Director of the Corporate Social Responsibility Initiative, Harvard’s Kennedy School of Government
Dina Powell, Global Head of Corporate Engagement, Goldman Sachs
Gavin Power, Deputy Director and Head of Financial Markets, United Nations Global Compact
Rev. David Schilling, Program Director, Global Corporate Accountability, Interfaith Center on Corporate Responsibility
Stephen Viederman, previous President of Jessie Smith Noyes Foundation, Finance Committees of the Christopher Reynolds Foundation and Needmor Fund
And more!

To view the complete agenda and list of speakers, please visit our web site at:
http://www.ftconferenceslive.com/csr

4 EASY WAYS TO REGISTER (mention VIP code FTCSRFS for 20% discount)
Online: http://www.ftconferenceslive.com/csr
Phone: 212-641-6415
Fax printable form to: 212-641-6479
Email: annette.bialowas@FT.com
*SIF members receive a special rate!

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Green Taxes 2008- 2009

Cathy — Sun, 25 Jan 2009 15:39:12 +0000

It’s that time again- Taxes- then I found out all sorts of information- that has nothing to do on what I was going to blog about! But thought I would do a post on where to find out about Green Taxes and 2009.

Ecotax, short for Ecological taxation, can refer to:

A policy that introduces taxes intended to promote ecologically sustainable activities via economic incentives. Such a policy can complement or avert the need for regulatory approaches. Often, such a policy intends to maintain overall tax revenue by proportionately reducing other taxes, e.g. on human labor and renewable resources, in which case it is known as the green tax shift towards ecological taxation

Then I went to New Internationalist – with a great article on Green Taxes …………’Recent studies in Britain, the US and by the European Commission have found that replacing existing taxes on employment, incomes and profits (‘goods’) with taxes on energy use (‘bad’) can yield a threefold dividend: better overall national economic performance; higher levels of employment; and a cleaner environment. Their goal should be to shift the balance between the use of human resources (now under-employed) and natural resources (now over-employed………

Tax Policy Center- Article Taxes and the Environment: What green taxes does the United States impose?….The United States imposes virtually no green taxes. Most programs to reduce pollution rely on mandatory standards such as the Clean Air Act’s New Source Performance Standards (NSPS) for stationary polluters and the Corporate Average Fuel Economy (CAFE) standards for automobiles. Among the few green taxes imposed in the United States at the federal level are the “gas guzzler” tax on new cars that exceed fuel efficiency standards, a tax on ozone-depleting substances, and miscellaneous taxes on fertilizers and pesticides used in agriculture………..

If Green Taxes Go Away- Say Goodbye to 116,000 jobs- Article by TreeHugger

Paying for the Environment with Green Taxes- NY Times

Green Tax availability 2009- Low Impact Living

Sierra Club- Green Taxes

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Green Money – Investing in Socially Responsible Companies

Cathy — Sat, 20 Dec 2008 15:16:48 +0000

With all the economic troubles we are having- is it possible to make money in the stock market? After reading all the information- it appears Green Investing will have a Silver(green) lining. With Corportations, the government, the world and consumers buying more and more ‘Green Products and Services’ the Green Market has to increase.

I am not a financial planner, investment broker, or even claim to be close to being a money maker. My suggestion, if you are looking at re-investing, or even investing to consider some of the below companies- BUT DO YOUR RESEARCH FIRST!

Some Green Funds

Domini Social Investment-As a shareholder in the Domini Funds, you make a difference in the world. Engaging companies on global warming, sweatshop labor, and product safety. Revitalizing distressed communities. Bringing new voices to the table. Redefining corporate America’s bottom line. Invest for your future while helping to build a world of peace and justice.

Social Funds Socially Responsible Investing (SRI) SocialFunds.com features over 10,000 pages of information on SRI mutual funds, community investments, corporate research, shareowner actions, and daily social investment news.

Green Century Funds With Green Century’s mutual funds, you can use your investment dollars to help the environment. We seek competitive returns while we put your money to work for cleaner air, cleaner water and a healthier planet. We believe that, in the long run, companies that now seek to protect the environment may be more profitable than companies that pollute. And that means a better future for everyone

Green Money Journal: The Green Money Journal promotes the awareness of socially and environmentally responsible business

Alternative Energy Stocks

Clean Tech Investing

New Alternative Funds New Alternatives Fund is a Socially Responsible Mutual Fund Emphasizing Alternative Energy and the Environment. We seek investments in listed companies that have a positive impact on the environment. We are different from funds that make their environmental contribution by only avoiding companies that harm the environment

Summit Global- Summit Global Management is a San Diego-based investment management firm with a strict Discount to Appraised Value philosophy of securities selection, designed to achieve consistent long-term returns while minimizing risk.Our value discipline has encouraged an unrivaled, 30-year specialization in global hydrocommerce and other industries directly impacted by water. Water has historically proven to be an attractive non-cyclical opportunity, and the current reality of exploding demand coupled with diminishing supplies suggests an increasingly compelling and persistent investment theme.

Natural Green Pages- Has listing of many financial Companies and funds

Investing For The Soul “Investors desiring a better world, concerned about ethics, or their spiritual development, the environment, and so on, must incorporate related values in their investing decisions. The reason for this is that when we invest in a company, (or many companies such as in a mutual fund, unit trust, ETF, etc.), we share in the responsibility for the activities of those companies as well asparticipate in the outcomes of their corporate actions.”

Good Reading and Research

Chicago Tribune-

Business Week- Tips for Investing in Green Companies

Environmental New Network

Michael Blue Jay- All Sorts of Information, with listing of Socially Responsible Funds

Stephen Leahy- Environmental Journalist-

Coop America- Strategies for Investing

Renewable Energy Stocks BlogSimilar Posts:

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Green Money

Cathy — Fri, 05 Sep 2008 18:03:44 +0000

This doesn’t really have anything to do with ‘Green’ and Eco except for Money is Green.

But I read this great article on Sunday at the LA Times about missing money and thought I would at least post a comment on this. Unfortunately I was not listed as missing money but several of my family members were.

Read the article first, as it has helpful hints:

http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-perfin24-2008aug24,0,4650643.column

Here are the links, and I definitely would check it out.

www.missingmoney.com

www.naupa.org

www.pbgc.gov (to find a missing coporate pension)

treasurydirect.gov (lost savings bonds)

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