Credit reports: they matter more than they should and are often wrong. So, who is the great, shining television knight who is making us aware of how bad they are? John Oliver, of course.

In the video below, Oliver tears into credit report companies that, basically, suck.

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Feel like you’re falling behind the curve when it comes to clean energy technologies? Not to worry, we’ve gathered up some of the web’s best infographics to get you up to speed.

Oil and coal have had a monopoly on energy production for centuries, but their glory days are just about over. The clean energy industry is growing by leaps and bounds, and quickly approaching grid parity (which means soon solar and wind power will be just as cheap as fossil fuels).

With all the political debate surrounding renewable energy technologies, it’s easy to lose sight of the really important news: that clean energy is creating safe jobs while helping people to reduce their carbon footprint and save money. All without giving up access to the electricity that powers all the gadgets we can’t live without.

To help cut through all the spin, we’ve rounded up nine of our favorite clean energy infographics. If you’re a visual learner (or just don’t have time to read a 10 page article on the growth of solar) they’ll help you digest the facts in record time. Click on the images to enlarge, or on the credit link to see the original.

1. How Do Solar Panels Work, Exactly?

Do you find yourself smiling and nodding when people mention photovoltaics or grid connectivity, but aren’t really sure how it all works? This infographic from Solar Energy Systems explains it all.

2. Top 10 Countries For Solar Power

The U.S. could be a global leader in solar energy, but thanks to political delays and misinformation about solar’s potential, other countries are out in front…for now. This infographic from 1 Block of the Grid shows the top 10 countries in terms of megawatt production.

3. Top 5 Solar Energy Myths

Wondering what kind of misinformation we’re talking about? Check out this infographic from Bright Energy. It shows a few of the myths that solar critics like to spread about this amazing energy source. How many did you believe?

4. Solar Jobs In America

Opponents of solar power often claim that weaning ourselves off coal and oil would be disastrous for our economy because it would eliminate jobs. What they fail to mention is how many jobs it could create! This infographic from 1 Block of the Grid proves that embracing clean energy could be the best thing that ever happened to the American workforce.

5. How Is Wind Power Harvested?

Not sure how a gust of wind is transformed into juice for your phone? No worries, this neat infographic from Daily Infographic explains how wind turbines turn sweet breezes into clean energy, as well as other fascinating facts about this quickly growing industry.

6. Top 10 Things You Didn’t Know About Wind Power

Did you know that a wind turbine has as many as 8,000 different components? Or that as much as 20 percent of our nation’s electricity could come from wind energy by 2030? These and more mind-blowing facts about wind can be found in this 6 part infographic from the Department of Energy.

7. How Loud Is A Wind Turbine?

Just like solar, wind energy comes with its own set of myths and misconceptions. Some people say they’re unsightly, dangerous for animals, and too loud to be set up near urban areas (where they’re needed the most). This interesting infographic from GE shows that you can’t believe everything you hear.

8. Harnessing The Power Of Geothermal Energy

Solar and wind might be the most popular forms of clean energy, but they’re not the only ones you should know about. Geothermal energy systems tap into the thermal energy generated and stored in the Earth for energy efficient heating and cooling. Never heard of it? Check out this infographic from Wellhome.

9. Energy: Our Past & Future

By now your head is probably swimming with facts and figures about all different types of clean energy. But what does it really mean? How long has it taken us to get this far, and how long will we continue to squeeze the last bits of fossil fuels from the ground? This award-winning inforgraphic from Linda Nakanishi puts it all in perspective.

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Lead Image: Jurgen

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Start asking people what they know rather than what they do.

One of my best friends earns an hourly wage working on an organic farm in Central California. She loves her job, the dirt that lingers under her fingernails at the end of every day, and the fact that she gets to supplement her bare essentials income with a steady consumption of freshly-picked vegetables.

I have another friend that works for a London investment bank. She’s clever, hard-working, never struggles to pay her rent and graciously offers to buy rounds of drinks far more than she needs to. While she doesn’t like talking about finance outside of work, when pressed, she’ll tell you that her job is “interesting, but not what I thought I’d be doing.”

When people ask my farmer friend that inevitable question—”what do you do?”—she frequently finds herself explaining that her job requires more than “mere manual labor.” Those same people frequently feel the need to assure her that it’s a good thing she got a degree in psychology, “you know, just in case.”

For my banker friend, it’s rare that her answer to “what do you do?” requires further explanation or justification beyond the financial institution she works for, or the impressive masters program she completed. Unsurprisingly, people don’t feel the need to ask her if she has a contingency plan for her future.

While asking someone what they do for a living isn’t always a subtle attempt to classify their educational, financial, or societal stature, in our achievement-oriented culture, it very often feels that way. Even when asked with the most earnest of intentions, the question gives the respondent a very limiting framework with which to answer. What’s worse is that in shaky economic times, when artists, designers, activists, musicians, writers and actors often pay the rent by becoming waiters, bartenders, nannies, and PA’s, it can be altogether misleading.

The extent to which society relies on this question leads many college graduates, laid-off workers, and career builders I know to vehemently-dread it altogether. The question seems to carry with it the need for those not fully employed to justify their place in life, to make it sound like they’re doing more than working a part-time job, or to at least lay out a vague five year plan.

I often wonder what might happen if we stripped away this formulaic getting to know you question and replaced it with something else.

Questions like: What do you know to be true? What’s your dream job? What gets you out of bed in the morning? Where are you going?

These questions may not help us ascertain which box—fully employed, student, intern, job seeker, drifter etc—to assign someone to upon meeting them, but when answered thoughtfully, they can be much more effective in helping us get a sense of the person in front of us.

Often, the most interesting people doing the most interesting things don’t have a job description at all. They simply don’t tick any of the culturally sanctioned boxes that we’ve grown accustomed to filling. And that’s okay. We are more than what we do, and for that reason, we should start giving people a chance to talk about something other than how they pay the rent.

When I ask my favorite alternative question—what’s your dream job?—I love seeing the look of relief that registers on a person’s face when they realize they get to talk about something that they actually care about. Even if they never get there, a thoughtful and honest answer can serve as a proxy measure of what they’re passionate about today. The head chef at French Laundry, the creative director of Nike, an adolescent psychiatrist, digital media strategist, jewellery buyer for Nordstrom—these are not things that I would want to do, but it excites me that I know people who do. Equally telling is when someone doesn’t have an answer to this question at all; I sometimes hope that asking them might at least spur them to give it some thought.

So try it. Next time you meet someone, ask them not what they do, but what they know, what they’re trying to make happen, or who they’re planning on becoming. It may not be as informative, but it’s a hell of a lot more interesting.

Image: jjay69

The post Is What You Do Really Symbolic of Who You Are? appeared first on EcoSalon.

Owning? Sharing might be better for you in the long run.

We’re always recommending you move your unwanted goods out the door, decluttering both your thoughts and your living space – but what if there’s a more socially useful and profitable thing to do with your unwanted belongings? Why not rent them out?

Welcome to the Sharing Economy. It’s here, it’s everywhere and it’s seemingly unstoppable. What is it? In the words of Roger Yu of USA Today:

“…this movement represents the newly cemented intersection of online social networking, mobile technology, the minimalist movement and heightened penny-pinching brought on by lingering economic uncertainties.”

If you have something of value to another person – an item, a skill, a place in your car on the way to work, a spare stretch of driveway, a room for the night – you have your very own tradeable commodity to offer in an increasing number of tightly focused digital marketplaces. The most famous examples are of course Ebay and Craigslist (arguably the founders of the movement), and it’s taken a while for investors to see the potential in supporting niche markets and for the arrival of technology that makes such ventures affordable and sustainable.

But look at the number of companies successfully embracing this philosophy right now. Airbnb and Roomarama for booking private accomodation. Zimride for filling someone’s unused car seat in their commute to work. RelayRides or Getaround for booking a car to get to & from work. Parkcirca or Parkatmyhouse to make use of someone’s spare driveway space. Loosecubes to grab unused office space. TaskRabbit for running just about every type of household errand you can think of.

Or how about Dopios? It’s a new startup designed to put travelers in touch with regional expertise. Want a tour guide with decades of local knowledge? Want to experience a traditional local meal? How about a beginner’s language lesson? Log into the site, browse through the registered locals  and book an experience, tailored for your comfort. Its current focus is Athens, Greece but it’s shortly expanding to San Francisco, London, Istanbul and Rio de Janeiro.

As with eBay, the service providers take a cut – but the rest of the revenue goes into the pockets of the people doing the work, providing them with an unusual source of supplementary income. In places hard-hit by economic woes, that could be the difference between struggling and keeping it together. Does it discourage spending, a big no-no for the governments of faltering economies? Not so, says Rob Atkinson, an economist & president of The Information Technology & Innovation Foundation:

“People can now spend on things that are of value to them,” he says. “Why buy a chain saw when you use it once a year? If we share a chain saw, we have the value of having a chain saw, and we use the money to create jobs in other industries. So the economy is better off.”

And a further requirement of using these services is trust, on both sides.  That’s why these companies rely so heavily on social networks – it may be easy to set up a Facebook or Twitter account, but it’s difficult to fake the web footprint of a legitimate internet user. Nevertheless, all companies have security measures in place. (In the case of Dopios, all locals are interviewed in person by the site administrators).

And if the net result is that huge numbers of people learn that strangers can be trusted…that’s certainly a message worth sharing.

Further reading: America’s New Business Model: Sharing – Roger Yu, USA Today.

Image: idleformat,

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Has your cubicle got you comatose? Here are some warning signs that it’s time to launch your conscious career.

Most of us spend more time with our colleagues and bosses than our partners, kids and friends. If that’s not motivation to make sure your job is a good fit, what is? The job you choose can determine how physically and mentally healthy you are, your standard of living, your future prospects and whether you look back at your life at the brink of death and feel like you did your best. Consider these 10 signs that it’s time to quit, and you might just set yourself onto a much more fulfilling path.

Just about any task is better than doing your job.

When you’re at work, you’ll do just about anything to avoid performing the tasks that are assigned to you. You play around on Facebook, browse the internet and organize your vacation photos. In fact, you’re happy to perform menial tasks like taking out the trash and running errands for the boss – anything that will keep you away from your job for another five minutes. In other words, your work is utterly joyless for you.

You’ve got unsolvable issues with management.

There’s almost always going to be a certain amount of friction between workers and management; that’s just the way of the world. But sometimes, no matter how hard you try to diffuse it, conflicts with your higher-ups can jeopardize your career well into the future. First, make sure that it isn’t all your Facebooking, those lunchtime cocktails or any other performance or behavior issues that are causing the problem. Then, talk to your boss’ boss. If that doesn’t work, think about moving on. Sometimes, it’s just not a good fit.

Your company is on a downward spiral.

There have been layoffs left and right, and the company has been reorganized and consolidated so many times it’s hardly recognizable. Things are so tight, they’ve asked white-collar workers to start delivering packages and vacuuming their own cubicles. This ship is probably going down, and even if the company manages to hang on, your position could be eliminated at any time. Don’t be caught by surprise. Start researching new jobs right now.

Your skills aren’t valued.

You feel like you’ve got a lot to offer, and your company just isn’t using you to your full potential. Not only are you rarely challenged, but you’re marginalized. Maybe you’re not being included in important meetings, or you’ve been passed over for a promotion. If your job doesn’t let you flex, you won’t be able to build more skills and grow professionally.

You’re stuck in a dead end.

You haven’t gotten very far in your company, but the growth has stopped, and it doesn’t look like things will be getting better any time soon. There are no opportunities to move up, and no opportunities for higher pay. Unless you can come to grips with the fact that you might remain stagnant for the rest of your career, you should explore options that can take you higher.

You dread going to work.

It’s Sunday night and your stomach is a ball of lead. The absolute last thing you want to do tomorrow morning is get up and go to work. Maybe your anxiety is so bad, you have a hard time enjoying your weekends because you just can’t stop thinking about Monday morning. When you hate your job this much, you’re not doing yourself or your employers any favors by staying on.

You’re simply bored.

Maybe work is not so bad, but you can’t muster much enthusiasm about it. You definitely don’t feel passionate about what you do – it’s just work. This is reality for a lot of people, and in a poor economy, it’s probably not enough reason on its own to quit your job. But take this opportunity to imagine what kind of job would make you truly happy. What would you rather be doing right at this moment? Running a food truck, starting a dog grooming business or growing exotic orchids could certainly be a viable business. Your dream might be more achievable than you think.

You can’t pay your bills.

On the other hand, some people quit well-paying jobs with the hopes of following their dreams only to find that surviving on their new pay is practically impossible. If you truly love what you’re doing, make it work. That might mean downsizing your lifestyle so that you don’t require as much money to pay the bills. But if you’re working to exhaustion every day and still stressing about your paltry paychecks, it’s probably not worth it.

It’s affecting your health.

Speaking of stress, it can really do some cruel and horrifying things to your body and your mind, putting you at increased risk for heart attacks, respiratory disorders and hormonal imbalances. It can cause tension headaches, nerve pain, irritability, joint pain, ulcers and depression. You shouldn’t have to sacrifice your well-being for your job. If you lie in bed every morning wishing you could call in sick yet again, perhaps this gig is not for you.

It’s affecting your personal life.

You’d love to go out for drinks with friends, catch up with that cute guy that always flirts with you at the gym or attend your daughter’s dance recital, but you can’t. You’ve got to go to work. Some people aren’t bothered by 80-hour work weeks, and everybody has to decide for themselves what level of personal sacrifice they find acceptable. But being miserable because your job is keeping you from enjoying your life? Not okay.

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Photo: Rachael Voorhees, Ana Patricia Alameida, EpSos.de, whatmegsaid

The post 10 Signs It’s Time to Leave Your Job appeared first on EcoSalon.

More alpha men and women seem to be answering the call of the wild, signing on as leader of the pack for several hours each day. For herders able to command six-to-ten furry friends at a time in a neighborhood park or at the beach, dog walking can rake in as much as $200 a day (minus the truck fuel). Scooping poop just got a lot more enticing!

But you should know it isn’t all fun and games, warns Emy Sakai, 29, owner and founder of The Urban Paw dog walking service in San Francisco. The consummate animal lover has been pet sitting and dog walking since the age of 12, starting her career working part time while working in office settings and then branching off to launch her own service, which she likens to running a daycare program.

“The dog walker is like the teacher on a preschool field trip who has to keep a very close eye on the kids or they might wander off or eat something that is poisonous,” she finds. “I use treats and positive reinforcement and know what they are doing at all times.”

Sakai walks some seven different breeds at a time at Fort Funston, a wild and breezy stretch of headlands, sands and dunes. It has become the new happy hour spot for unleashed thirsty beasts and their guides, and where she has seen a lot of newbies come and go. It’s easy to talk the talk but can you walk the walk?

“You have to walk the dogs rain or shine, get dirty and not be grossed out by a lot of things,” she shares. “You have to have thick skin. It’s not just hanging out with cute, fuzzy animals. Being the pack leader shouldn’t be viewed as a glamorous or good transitional job.”

Okay, so it’s not as cushy as being a personal assistant to Carrie Bradshaw or being the intern who erases the chalkboard on the Glen Beck set. You may not be after glamor. You may not be a cat person. But perhaps flicking a Frisbee or waving a ball wand is your idea of a fling.

Here are seven signs that dog walking is the career for you:

1. You form attachments easily, even with drooling mutts who won’t pick up their poop. (“It’s sad when clients leave and I don’t get to say goodbye or have one last walk,” shares Sakai. “They’re like our second kids.”)

2. You are seeking part time work with flexibility so you can play with your human kids or finish that novel. An indoor retail job would be impossible, and besides, they won’t let you wear your gnarly, muddy boots at Saks.

3. You’re an alpha personality (a.k.a. control freak) who feels powerless in your current position. Why won’t someone, anyone, listen to you? Why are you constantly interrupted by stupid humans? Dogs know their place.

4. When you run on the beach you feel like a lonely loser and envy the dog walkers you spot throwing balls and sticks and connecting with their four legged friends. You like throwing sticks. You want friends.

5. You are looking for way out of that booth at Starbucks and perusing your laptop for listings for desk jobs. Your tush is spreading like nobody’s business, but the bills are not getting paid. You need exercise and money. Who doesn’t?

6. While you are a master at multi-tasking, you have never had the right job to employ your skills. As a dog walker you can shout loudly (calling out each name so everyone around you can hear), run, scoop, praise, play, feed, defend and reward, all while socializing and commiserating with other walkers.

7. No matter how hard you try, you cannot get rid of that gas guzzling SUV but realize you can use it for a good cause, namely the outings with your Fidos. Better yet, your clients all live within walking distance and you can pick them up on foot and hit parks a few blocks away!

Images: revolution cycle, NinaZed

The post 7 Reasons Not to Diss a Career In Dog Walking appeared first on EcoSalon.

Green jobs are energizing us in almost all fields – from gentle dry cleaning to sustainable urban farming, city planning and specialized recycling. And when you can’t locate the right opening, Go Green, Live Rich author David Bach strongly recommends the entrepreneurial path: “Pause in whatever you’re doing today and ask yourself whether there’s a smarter, better, greener way to do it. You might just come up with a million-dollar idea.”

Not all green job seekers equate success with great wealth. In fact, many purists eschew the notion that a revitalized economy means red bullish consumerism – three cars in every garage and fully booked far-off resorts. No, you can surely locate or create the kind of pro-active eco career that meets your ethical standards – ones that pay back in a way you deem responsible. Here are a few to consider:

Farming

Fictional Oliver Douglas of Green Acres sitcom fame had the right idea when he abandoned the urban jungle for the urban garden. Fifty years later, trained geologist Catherine Gockley found her own plot, and according to Uprooted, she will soon be able to support herself completely on the land and bees she has cultivated at her Fire Mountain farm and Apiary.

Today, the country has two million farmers whose average age is 55. Food guru Michael Pollan emphasizes that there is a growing demand for new age farmers and small-scale, local and organic methods to replace the widespread, petroleum-based industry. Being adept as a small businessperson is an advantage. Related jobs in this field include food producing, cheese making, farmers markets and communal farms and markets.

Tips on how to get started: Catherine Gockley, Owner of fire Mountain Farm and Apiary

Recycling

Specialized companies are needed to meet new laws and regulations for recycling and repurposing construction waste, clothing, plastic storage and many other materials that could be useful. There are more than one million recycling jobs around, including scrap metal recycling as our need for steel increases (most steel comes from U.S. recycling). Recycled steel makes up some 35 percent of total steel output and saves up to 75 percent of the energy required for producing virgin steel. This is a growth industry worldwide. Pacific Steel and Recycling is an employee-owned corporation with 38 branch offices in the Northwest. It is developing green technology for industrial salvaging, including the Shredder, a machine that is 99 percent accurate at separating out materials reducing the need for mining for additional virgin metals and saving energy and other natural resources.

Tips on joining the industry: Pacific Steel and Recycling Blog; Careerbuilder Job Posts

Wind Turbine Fabricating

China is a huge producer of steel as well as one of the biggest markets for wind turbines, and the need in the U.S. continues to grow as well. The fastest-growing source of alternative energy, wind employs some 300,000 workers worldwide, including 50,000 Americans. Since turbines are mostly metal by weight, fabricating is a good way to redirect autoworkers and other manufacturers in hurting industries. However, the U.S. government needs to get on board to protect this important industry. Wind energy advocates are now pushing for a Renewable Electricity Standard (RES) in the U.S. Senate energy bill, noting that wind power installations are dropping from 2008 and 2009 levels because there has not been enough government support.

For tips on jobs and to see the kinds of positions available, visit the American Wind Energy Association Job Board.

Images: Lara604, New Bedford 360

The post Need Wind In Your Sails? 3 Hip Jobs You Can Cultivate appeared first on EcoSalon.

Last week I wrote about about my friend Mary Osborne’s trip to the Gulf. Writing it hit me a hard emotionally, as I’m preparing to tour the area with a delegation of people from my hometown of Portland, Oregon in the next few weeks. Right now, we’re doing logistics, fundraisers, etc., readying ourselves for time on the ground interviewing, hearing stories and communing with the gulf residents.

Reading the headlines, we typically hear only about BP crap this, or Obama crap that, but we don’t hear much from the voices being affected; the people who can’t wake up from the nightmare. One journalist, Mac McClelland, a humanitarian writer for Mother Jones has been detailing the crisis in the gulf from an authentic, human perspective – talking to residents and getting involved in the community where this horror is taking place. Her stories are hard to hear at times – finally, this spring, residents were hoping for a big boom in tourism dollars after years of residue from Katrina. Well, we all know what happened.

Oil is both a blessing and a curse for states like Louisiana. The oil and gas industry essentially changed this state from an agrarian society to an industrial player. Oil and gas accounts for some 320,000 jobs in this region, which is no small sum. What statistics like this tell me is that I have to ditch my presumptions, my preconceived notions of what story I want to tell. It’s going to be way more complex than I can imagine, and it’s going to hurt the heart.

The goal is to bring stories back to Portland, and share them with our community. I was in a meeting with our media team, talking to our videographer who was on the fence about going. I’ll be directing a lot of what we focus on, and his simple question to me was, “What is this film about?” I couldn’t answer. That’s the rub exactly. I’ve worked on documentaries before, and typically you go into the whole deal with a treatment or at least a shot list. But we’re going to be Dante searching for Virgil here, and I’m overwhelmed. I have no idea what we’re going to see down there. Sure, we’ll see oil, and we’ll see birds in pain, but what are the cacophony of thought bubbles drifting out from front stoops?  What are the permutations of fisherman who have lost their livelihoods? Their identity? There are so many questions.

I guess I’m going to listen to my heart as we wander and do my best. I’m going to listen for the quiet voices in the room and work on telling their stories. You’ll hear them all on EcoSalon in the coming weeks.

Here is a video from Louisiana resident and TED speaker Casey DeMoss Roberts, talking about the intricate relationship between two very different but interconnected ways of life – shrimp and petroleum.  We’re about to feel this, firsthand. Heavy.

Image: Shrimp Petrofest

The post Shrimp, Petroleum and a Hurricane Named Katrina appeared first on EcoSalon.

I see ads all the time for green business cards at sites like Green Printer. What sets them apart?

Their little squares for doing business are printed on 100% recycled paper using soy and veggie zero-VOC inks with chemical-free plate processing and scuff-resistant, non-toxic aqueous coating. Some of the newbies are not even squares at all, but 3×3 disks for “making a unique impression.”

But what kind of impression are we making when we swap paper at a time we’re eschewing the over-foresting of our natural landscapes to produce the pulp, and envisioning a paper-less lifestyle? Perhaps trading information this way isn’t in the cards.

As the senior editor of an environmental blog, it can be awkward to produce a paper card for a new contact, despite the greener alternatives of jotting down my data on a piece of scratch paper or asking Daryl Hannah and Brad Pitt to program my number into their iPhones. I’m down for it, but are they?

Business cards have traditionally been the preferred networking tool of the working world, long before social networking via Facebook and LinkedIn became available. These sites function well for all the uses cards provide: Applying for jobs, hiring for jobs, passing along a name, planning a lunch or golf date, even tossing your name into a hat for winning stuff.

The question remains: Have these habit-forming cards become obsolete in the electronic age? According to TechCrunch, they should die once and for all. It’s just a matter of improving the handset alternative.

Crunch contributor Jason Kincaid finds, “The cell phone market could easily put business cards out of their misery, but instead of conforming to a single standard for contact exchange, handset manufacturers offer proprietary solutions or none at all.”

Examples he cites include apps like Friendbook, an iPhone “handshake”  connector from Tapulous, and rmbrME (“remember me”), a service launched last spring that costs 50 cents every time you wanted to add a new contact. A poor response to the model has led the company’s founder Gabe Zichermann to offer a premium service in the future.

Still, an etiquette column in the Newbury Port News takes the opposing view, arguing traditional cards are not just pieces of paper, but an integral part of doing business that can never be replaced.

To support this claim, columnist Judy Bowman points to the Japanese example. In Japanese, the business card, or “makke,” literally translated means “my face,” and represents one’s life.

“The business card you receive from someone speaks volumes about them and the firm they represent,” Bowman says.

Bowman goes further to describe the elaborate dance of the Japanese business card exchange, apparently as dramatic as the tea ceremony: “Our Japanese friends suggest an almost ritualistic way to present and receive business cards. Present the printed side up with both hands, a thumb and forefinger carefully holding each top corner. Respectfully hand the card forward, almost with a bow-like gesture, as a show of respect. This is the most formal way to present a business card.”

The Japanese – who are among the world’s most enthusiastic users and makers of electronics – are clinging to swapping cards almost as a cultural meme, a meme that shows they value tradition at a time of tremendous advances in global communication. But that doesn’t convince me to have a set engraved any time soon. After all, the Japanese are also still slaughtering whales.

Images: Jeff McNeil, Green Printer, TechCrunch, Japan Print

The post Can a Green Nation Forsake Its Business Cards? appeared first on EcoSalon.