michelle kaufmann designs

With every breath, we release CO2 into the atmosphere as we exhale. If that were the extent of human-made carbon emissions – carbon being a necessary part of our and our planet’s existence - then global warming wouldn’t be the specter that it is today. As we all know, though, that simply isn’t the case. Living in an industrialized society attaches a certain amount of carbon to almost every facet of our lives, from the everyday items we own, wear, or use to the built environments we occupy over the course of our days. Human beings’ aggregate carbon emissions long ago reached the point of being environmentally sustainable, causing the trend of global warming that is now throwing off the balance of natural systems on which we and all other living things reply.

Where we can make a difference and help stem global warming is by living in a way that minimizes the amount of carbon we’re responsible for producing. So for this year’s Earth Day, I set out to become more aware of how the choices I make each day effect the size of my carbon footprint. I did so by attempting to keep that footprint as small as possible with every decision I made and to then neutralize the carbon I couldn’t help by planting seeds destine to grow into carbon consuming, carbon storing trees. As I quickly learned, it’s not easy to understand how every little choice impacts your personal carbon output, so this was a way for me to educate myself and hopefully, by chronicling and quantifying my efforts here and on Twitter, educate others about what all of us can do to live more sustainably.

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Today we’re pleased to announce the release of the latest MKD white paper, Turning the Tides of Crisis: Prioritizing Water Conservation Before It’s Too Late. In this white paper, the fourth in a series addressing a variety of environmental and green building topics, we examine the looming water crisis that faces the U.S. as well as the world at large. Already, certain regional water “bubbles” around the planet have begun to burst, with far more tittering on the brink. If we remain on our current course, we will eventually find ourselves at the mercy of a “water bankruptcy” with hugely damaging effects on economies, ecosystems, and human wellbeing across the globe.

However, as the world suffers the fallout of turning a blind eye to mounting economic risks that ultimately resulted in today’s financial meltdown, we’re learning a crucial lesson that can be rightly applied to the pending water bankruptcy. Rather than ignore this growing threat, we can and must address is proactively, taking steps now to guard against a devastating water crisis as we ought to have done against the financial crisis.  In this white paper, we explain what those steps could look like and offer advice on some of the best ways a household can reduce its water footprint.

Click here to download and read the entire paper.

Click here to watch our EcoPrinciple video on Water Conservation.

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Click the image above to download the Green It Yourself (GIY) guide to making your own rain chain: a beautiful tool for effectively managing rainwater runoff in your yard. Learn more about Water Conservation and by clicking here and get more great GIY ideas here.