Connecticut Green Living

Bravo, Connecticut! We shine in the latest WalletHub rankings. Although, weirdly, Maryland ranks one above us overall, we are numero uno for climate change contributions! Carbon dioxide, methane, nitrous oxide and fluorinated greenhouse gas emissions are all lowest in our great state. The other two metrics used to judge greenness were environmental quality and eco-friendly behaviors. Senator Bernie Sanders' beloved Vermont ranked first for eco-friendly behaviors and Hawaii, not surprisingly, boasts the highest environmental quality. Connecticut came in 8th for environmental quality and 11th for eco-friendly behaviors. Blue states overall are far greener, the study shows. Democratic-led states rank 14.92 on average for greenness, while Republican states come in at an average of 36.08. The lower the number, the greener the category or state. Other sub-categories examined water, air, LEED-certified buildings, percentage of renewable energy consumption and energy consumption. One of ...

"You Can Save The Earth - An Adult Coloring Book for Environmental Awareness, Conservation, and Sustainability " is a different kind of read. That's because it's also an adult coloring book with messages both poetic and simple enough for children to understand. So share it with them and you'll see their eyes light up - not only when they color the stunning drawings of wildlife and fauna, but when you explain the messages. From our limited resources and need to use less, to the reality that greenhouse gases are burning through the atmosphere so fast that if we don't do something, our grandchildren will not enjoy the same world. What's unique about this book is that it not only instructs, not only offers pages to color, but offers prompts to make one think. For example, under "Choose to Reduce", the author quotes Pope John Paul II: "The earth will not continue to offer its harvest, except with faithful stewardship. We cannot say we love...

WalletHub, a personal finance website, has lauded our state with green praise once again. We've ranked fifth in the union overall for environmental practices, even tops for water quality. Analysts culled data on everything from rate of waste recycling to soil, air, and water quality. While we weren't high on every criterion, our overall rating was superb. Rankings in order were: #1 Vermont, #2 Massachusetts , #3 Oregon, #4 Washington, and #5 the Nutmeg State . The worst rating on the green scale was Wyoming. I got a chance to send some questions to one of their analysts, Jill Gonzalez. Following is a transcript of that discussion: Jill, explain to me, please, what methods you all used to determine these scores and can you quantify them? We compared the states across three quantifiable categories: 1. Environmental Quality, 2. Eco-Friendly Behaviors and 3. Climate-Change Contributions. These categories were evaluated using 20 relevant key metrics. We then calculated the o...

What's refreshing about Sustainability Made Simple: Small Changes for Big Impact is that it doesn't talk down to the reader, nor does it assume the reader knows anything more than that the climate is changing and everyday citizens should do their part to slow the process. The young authors, fairly recent University of California San Diego International Affairs grads, met on campus when they were studying environmental policy. Laurèn DeMates now works in sustainability in San Francisco at a tech startup, and co-author Rosaly Byrd, who blogs on sustainability for the Huffington Post, was calling in from her role as a sustainability professional for the UN in Rio de Janeiro. DeMates told me recently that the idea for the book arose naturally. "We definitely knew we wanted to do something about the polarization about information on sustainability. There was nothing in the middle that was helpful to individuals who don’t necessarily call themselves environmentalists. We wan...