American Apartment Owners Association

By making even moderate changes to renewable energy and energy efficiency policies at the Federal level, the new administration can create jobs. These policy changes will help workers put gas in their cars, food on their tables, and give people hope and reason to care about the little: picking up those flimsy plastic bags littering our neighborhoods, and the big: creating a sustainable future for our children and grandchildren.

The American Solar Energy Society released a report on January 15, 2009 stating that "green" industries generated $10.3 billion in sales and accounted for more than 4% of Colorado's state product in 2007. That translates into 91,000 jobs in this state alone that were provided by renewable energy industries. The report also stated that nationally, over 9 million jobs and 1 billion dollars in revenue were generated by "green" industries. Read more...

Check out our Green Pages for information on money saving tips that help the environment. Once there, click on the Green Forum for more articles by feature writer Louisa May.

American Apartment Owners Association offers discounts on products and services related to your commercial housing investment, including real estate forms, tenant debt collection, tenant background checks, insurance and financing. Find out more at www.joinaaoa.org.

To subscribe to our blog, click here.

The Orton Family Foundation is changing the way communities approach land planning, and they're doing it with heart and soul.

Founded in 1995 by Noel Fritzinger of Weston, Vermont and Lyman Orton, proprietor of mail- order business The Vermont Country Store, the foundation helps small cities and towns look with more than hope to the future. Citizens and their leaders are given tools, research, guidance and capital.

The idea is to promote inclusive decision making and land use planning by getting people to talk about what's important to them in their communities.

The essence of this process, and this is where the heart and soul conversation takes center stage, is to ask three questions of every person in the community and the community as a whole:

• Why did you come here?
• Why are you still here?
• What will keep you here?

This is a great way to get people thinking about what's unique about their home place, whether it's the physical landscape, economic attributes, or values that residents hold dear. Read more...

Check out our Green Pages for information on money saving tips that help the environment. Once there, click on the Green Forum for more articles by feature writer Louisa May.

American Apartment Owners Association offers discounts on products and services related to your commercial housing investment, including real estate forms, tenant debt collection, tenant background checks, insurance and financing. Find out more at www.joinaaoa.org.

To subscribe to our blog, click here.