Be GREEN or Be ‘Left Behind’

American wealth and real estate – a combination that has thrived for decades. More Americans have their wealth in real estate than any other investment. Real estate, therefore, is Main Street. Main Street – just walk down one today — is Americana. Do you love America? Truly love your country? Do you love your real estate investments — your wealth — your ability to retire more comfortably?

The answers to these questions, based on our actions over the last 30 years, for the most part, unfortunately, would be “NO.” If you love America, like I and others love America – then you – and ALL others in our communities who love America — must love GREEN, and live GREEN — for without a GREEN revolution in this country, WE lose — America loses — American businesses lose – American citizens lose – the path we have chosen, the path of waste, the path of consumerism, the path of the ME Generation, is no longer sustainable… no longer sustainable if you wish to live in an America like the one we have lived in — and have welcomed the world too — for generations  upon generations upon generations.

GREEN is the answer, GREEN delivers profit, GREEN delivers jobs, GREEN delivers a better quality of life.

History tells us that there’s always a counter-culture dissatisfied with the culture as it stands – but where are today’s “junior grade hipsters”, or in short today’s “Hippies” – maybe they need a new name, perhaps we can coin a new term for the counterculture youth today – the GREEN Miliers – if you will – that will lead us to a new way of life – a new way of thinking – where we base our decisions on facts and on intelligence NOT on propaganda that serves to keep those… WITH… “fat and happy” and those without… believing in  phantom pipe dreams — a new way of thinking where the REALITY of success is productivity and hard work and recognition of the community and the environment around where we live and work.

Could it be possible that the young people who lash out and form their own social hierarchies and customs — the “free-your-mind types” – the anti-establishment — have ALL been placed in an alternate universe? Ooops, I digress as my profound liking for the TV show Fringe has taken over my thought process. My apologies.

GREEN cannot be a trend, an inclination or a tendency … trends do not last long – GREEN must be a philosophy of life, a revolution, a lifestyle change, a significant, a MAJOR attitude adjustment.

“Come senators, congressmen… Please heed the call. Don't stand in the  doorway. Don't block up the hall. For he that gets hurt, Will be he who has stalled. There's a battle outside, And it is ragin'.It'll soon shake your windows And rattle your walls. For the times they are a-changin'.” [We all could use another Bob Dylan…]

AND, that change towards GREEN, must start by transforming the building sector. According to a research report published by DB Advisors, a subsidiary of Deutsche Bank, buildings account for over 40% of the world’s energy use and the resulting carbon emissions are substantially more than those in the transportation sector. Buildings that will use – and waste — more energy than necessary are being built every day and millions of today’s inefficient buildings will remain standing into 2050.

The building sector is responsible annually for: 50% of total U.S. energy consumption, 40% of total U.S. greenhouse gas emissions, and 75% of total U.S. electrical consumption. The opportunity to reduce existing building energy consumption through energy efficiency measures in the U.S. is huge — due to large amounts of aging infrastructure. Consider: 72% of existing buildings were built before 1990. Over 90% of the buildings that will exist in the year 2020 are already built today. Existing buildings outnumber new buildings by a ratio of over 100 to 1.

Real estate if purchased well continues to be the single best investment one can make – Most Americans have their wealth in real estate — AND without a healthy real estate market we will not have a healthy economy. If it is going to continue to be the locomotive that pulls the economic train in the U.S. and the wealth generator for investors, owners, property managers, lender, and all the other players involved in a real estate transaction, then we need to change the discourse in this country about GREEN and its importance to our collective futures.

GREEN is the answer, GREEN delivers profit, GREEN delivers jobs, GREEN delivers an overall better quality of life for us ALL.