Connecticut Green Living

Connecticut recently ranked fifth in the country for greenness — so why aren't we always acting green? We're particularly lax when it comes to giving up our one-person-per-auto mindset. This reporter wholly believes that the greatest impediment to getting more folks to share a ride, or get on the bus or train is reversing a stigma. Being a bus rider is even fodder for comic effect in movies. Women walking to the bus in the 'burbs sometimes get propositioned as ladies of the evening! It's the bus, people, not a meth deal. The reason to reverse the stigma is clear and urgent: we are on a collision course with climate change and the planet isn't winning. From coral bleaching to cites choking on air pollution, climate change -- a laughed-off topic by Donald Trump -- is the plague that keeps on giving. Thought last summer was too warm? Just wait till the next hurricane hits us and everyone's remarking how severe the weather "suddenly" is. So here are ...

October is National Energy Awareness Month, and according to WalletHub, the average household spends nearly $2,000 a year on energy bills. In honor of this important month, the personal-finance website conducted what they say was "an in-depth analysis" of 2016’s most and least energy-efficient states. The top 10 most efficient states are, in order: New York, Utah, Minnesota, Vermont, Rhode Island, Wisconsin, Massachusetts, Colorado, Connecticut, and New Hampshire. The least efficient are, in order: West Virginia (#39), Kentucky, Georgia, Oklahoma, Tennessee, Mississippi, Arkansas, Alabama, Louisiana, and South Carolina (#48). We Nutmeggers can be proud that we ranked number 9 on the list, right behind Colorado but ahead of the Live Free or Die State. Yet, 9 isn't 1, so this reporter wanted to speak to someone at WalletHub who could explain how we could become first. Note, due to what WalletHub said were data limitations, Alaska and Hawaii were excluded from analysis....