Conservation 101: the Compete to Conserve Blog

photo credit: otisarchives3

California hospitals will spend about $100 billion before 2013 in order to meet state seismic safety standards.  On top of that, the nation-wide mortgage and credit crisis more or less doubles that $100 billion price tag in the event that these hospitals do not have the cash on hand.  With construction expenses reaching an all-time high, a 100-bed hospital may spend close to $100 million to build a replacement facility.  That same facility will be lucky to break $50 million in revenue (revenue, not profit) in any given year.

This incomprehensible financial dilemma, only five years away but the result of a shifting in the earth’s core somewhere around Northridge in January 1994, is yet another example of inconsistent public policy concerns converging in the health care sector.  If this $100 billion expense was not bad enough, hospitals now face increasing pressure to be more “green”.

Caught in the middle of a financial crisis, a healthcare crisis, a gas crisis, an ever-present earthquake crisis, and now an environmental crisis, will tomorrow’s hospitals in California be yesterday’s 8-track tapes?  While the ultimate fate of California’s hospitals has yet to be written, there are a handful of facilities throughout the state actually trying to be both seismically sound and green.

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photo credit: merfam

Tracing its origin as far back as 16th Century England, “Townball” was a game involving 20 to 30 boys in a field attempting to catch a ball hit by a “tosser”.  The tosser used a four-inch bat with a tapered handle.  The bat was designed to improve leverage and control for the tosser.  Although unconfirmed, baseball folklore believes this is the beginning of the baseball bat.

The baseball bat evolved during the 19th Century, but there were very few limitations imposed upon the instrument.  1884, however, marked the beginning of the wood baseball bat business when a woodworker and his father teamed up with a Louisville player who had just broken his favorite bat.  After providing the player, Pete Browning, with a custom baseball bat made of white ash, the Hillerich family’s baseball bat business began and the official Louisville Slugger was born.

Without dispute, baseball bats are big business.  Even with 100 years of evolution, wood baseball bats used today in Major League Baseball are similar to the ones used by Honus Wagner (the first player to autograph a Louisville Slugger for money).  Even metal and aluminum bats, first patented in 1924, never made a debut in MLB. (more…)

photo credit: TheeErin

Here’s something the dry cleaning industry doesn’t want you to know: You don’t need them. Really. Most items in your closet, even the ones labeled “dry clean only” are hand-washable in mild detergent. I know. I’ve tried it myself on suits for work, wool sweaters, silk shirts, and more. Over the course of a year, I easily save $200-$350 just skipping the dry cleaner.

Save Even More Compared to “Green” Cleaners

I save even more if you compare what I’d spend at a “green” dry cleaner. I tried one once. It cost me $20 compared to the $6 at my standard cleaner, and it shrank my sweater. Good thing 3/4-length sleeves are “in” right now! Though, in all fairness, they did warn me that their environmentally friendly method has a tendency to shrink woolens.

Sure, dry cleaning has its immediate benefits, namely, someone else is doing your washing and pressing. But when you take the economic cost to you and the environmental impact (lots of non-biodegradable plastic bags and wire hangers in the landfill, toxins released into your home and our waterways) and compare it to a little extra work on your part, the choice is clear.
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