Friday, September 24, 2010

Chesapeake Bay WIP Update - FAIL

The six (6) states and District of Columbia have submitted their Watershed Implementation Plans (WIPs) to EPA as required to show how they will reduce pollution in the Chesapeake Bay.

EPA has reviewed the plans and failed all of the reports as being insufficient.

See this link:


This also details the Draft TMDL for the Chesapeake Bay.

For more information, please contact Jim McCulley at LandmarkJCM at (302) 323-9377

Tuesday, September 14, 2010

Green for Green Success !


Saturday, Mr. and Mrs. Fritts received their ceremonial $3,000 rebate as the first recipients of the new DNREC/SEU Green for Green program! Because Silverstock Builders delivered the home in Ocean View Delaware that earned Silver Certification from the National Green Building Certification Program, Mr and Mrs Fritz were the first to receive a rebate, actually issued a couple weeks ago.


Reybold Development delivered the second rebate check, also Silver, to their buyer at Meridian Crossing in Bear a couple days later. Buyers are seeing the benefit of Certified Green homes!


Pictured from left includes Howard Fortunato representing the Green Accredited Verifiers at LandmarkJCM; Mr & Mrs. Fritts; Homebuilder Bob Thornton; sales rep Mary Cerami; DNREC Energy and Policy Director Carolyn Snyder; and Jen Casey, EVP of Home Builders Assn of De.


We hope more buyers continue to buy homes and obtain their energy efficient, certified green homes - plus a rebate! Info at http://www.degreen4green.com/

Friday, September 10, 2010

Silver Woods Green Event Sept 11, 2010

Congrats to our good friend and client Bob Thornton of Silverstock Builders. He scored another green "first" and delivered the first NGBS Silver Certified home in Delaware last month under the new State Green for Green Rebate program for homebuyers.

To celebrate, we are helping Bob at his Green Event held onsite Sat 9/11/10 from 11am-4pm. In addition to display of our native Delaware critters by our Senior Biologist Mick McLaughlin, we will be on hand to explain green homes to prospective buyers and the rebates available to buyers. More importantly we will explain why Certified Green homes is so important to new homebuyers.

There will be music and food and goodies. Further info is available from Silver Woods Mary Cerami at 302-745-7004.

Look to see you there!

Tuesday, September 7, 2010

Labor Day Thoughts


From Seth Godin:

Whatever happened to labor?

Not Labor with a capital L, as in organized labor unions. I mean labor as in skilled workers solving interesting problems. I mean craftspeople who use their hands, their backs and their heads to do important work.

Labor was a key part of the manufacturing revolution. Industrlalists needed smart, dedicated, trained laborers to solve interesting problems. Putting things together took more than pressing a few buttons, it took initiative and skill and care. Labor improvised.

It took thirteen years to build the Brooklyn Bridge and more than twenty-five laborers died during its construction. There was not a systematic manual to follow. The people who built it largely figured it out as they went.

The Singer sewing machine, one of the most complex devices of its century, had each piece fitted by hand by skilled laborers.

Sometime after this, once Henry Ford ironed out that whole assembly line thing, things changed. Factories got far more complex and there was less room for improvisation as things scaled.

The boss said, "do what I say. Exactly what I say."

Amazingly, labor said something similar. They said to the boss, "tell us exactly what to do." In many cases, work rules were instituted, flexibility went away and labor insisted on doing exactly what they had agreed to do, no more, no less. At the time, this probably felt like power. Now we know what a mistake it was.

In a world where labor does exactly what it's told to do, it will be devalued. Obedience is easily replaced, and thus one worker is as good as another. And devalued labor will be replaced by machines or cheaper alternatives. We say we want insightful and brilliant teachers, but then we insist they do their labor precisely according to a manual invented by a committee...

Companies that race to the bottom in terms of the skill or cost of their labor end up with nothing but low margins. The few companies that are able to race to the top, that can challenge workers to bring their whole selves--their human selves--to work, on the other hand, can earn stability and growth and margins. Improvisation still matters if you set out to solve interesting problems.

The future of labor isn't in less education, less OSHA and more power to the boss. The future of labor belongs to enlightened, passionate people on both sides of the plant, people who want to do work that matters.

That's what Labor Day is about, not the end of a month on the beach.