Welcome

Klockner is a green building company out of Takoma Park specializing in design / build projects including upscale additions, renovations, and custom homes. With an extensive knowledge base on green products and construction methods, the firm offers services in budget development and project design.

One of the categories of GOforChange is "Inspiration." I’ve always been fascinated by the etymology of words that we tend to throw around unconsciously. "Inspiration" comes from the Latin, inspiratus , or inspirare : "inspire, inflame, blow into," from in -"in" + spirare "to breathe." Breathing is such a part of life that we often are completely unaware of it. When we take a bit of time to notice our breath, we become more open and expansive. This stillness helps us navigate the challenges of life.

I’ve been listening to Wayne Dyer’s "Change Your Thoughts, Change Your Life," which is his exploration of the wisdom of the Tao Te Ching , as applied to our modern world. Each day, I listen to a verse of the Tao, along with his musings on what it means to us today and how to apply it in simple, practical terms. For example:

11th Verse of the Tao Te Ching

Thirty spokes converge upon a single hub.
It is on the hole in the center that the use of the cart hinges.

Shape clay into a vessel.
It is the space within that makes it useful.

Carve fine doors and windows,
but the room is useful in its emptiness.

The usefulness of what is
depends on what is not.

As an architect, I have always been attracted to this verse, with its embrace of the void, of the spaces between. Continued

Wind Power at the Inner Harbor from Planit on Vimeo .

Planit Agency , an advertising company that works with Baltimore City on sustainability marketing campaigns, has begun a fun initiative to raise the media and citizens’ public awareness. Planit’s motto is "ideas transform," and we couldn’t agree more! Their choice of using Baltimore’s iconic Power Plant for this clever, visual way of asking, "Why Not?": priceless.

Solar Publishing is located in Owing Mills, MD and is a multi-media production company. “We utilize print, video, animation and web-based media to encourage humanity to embrace our connection with the environment.” “Solar Publishing promotes cultural awareness, planetary responsibility and holistic living.” Their books help teach kids about the environment and the diverse peoples around them ultimately giving a stronger sense of themselves and the world around them.

Earth Alley, located off the Avenue in Hamden, offers a wide varity of home, garden and personal accessories. Fairly traded and often made with recycled materials, you’ll find bowls made from telephone wire, angels crafted from discarded tin roofing, and handbags fashioned from inner tubes. Earth Alley also offers rolling worksops in household composting, gardening and much more.

Three Stone Steps offers fairly traded accessory items like laptop bags, scarves and necklaces handcrafted in small workshops or from peoples homes. Although selling imports may not seem very eco-friendly chief executive, Ellen Reich is committed to minimizing each trip when possible and using recycled materials in the work place. Reich doesn’t just look to ‘fair trade’ and being "green" as devices for clever marketing. Having worked in the U.S. labor movement for 15 years, and holding a masters degree in Labor Studies from the University of Massachusetts Amherst, she is keenly aware of the issues involved with justice in the workplace.

Read their press release……

Continued

This past Sunday I came across artist Nicole Herbert, now showing at MICA in the Pinkard Gallery . The photos on display site a few walls and walkways surrounding the Institute that have a missing brick. By making her own mold she returned to these spots and delicately replaced what had gone missing with a white plaster brick.