So I asked myself, what is it you're going to do to serve?
Campbell will help make your home healthier and happier to live in
Campbell will reduce your waste and increase your recycling
Campbell will work with you on money (energy) saving priorities and goals
Campbell will help you create a step by step plan for a greener home
Campbell will help simplify and clarify renewable energy decisions
Really, it's a lot easier to remember the name Campbell, since it's me that started the company, and so far it's me that will be doing the consulting. I'm an energy coach, taskmaster, drill sergeant, and dominatrix rolled into one.
I know you feel responsible, and I know you are often concerned that you're not doing enough. I felt the same way. I know you've been meaning to get an energy audit or get new insulation, but you didn't know anyone in the field. Neither did I. I know you and your family have been cooking in our global warming summers and shivering in our triple-grande-overcast winters. My family did for years. Is there hope?
Yes, there's hope. Like me, you need a holistic systems-view of your home so you can make the right decisions in the right order about energy efficiency. I work with you and your family to show you how a combination of upgrades to your home and your behavior can substantially change your carbon footprint. I know the right people to bring in to do the work that might be needed. I will follow up with you and make sure you're living in a more comfortable home, lowering your impact on the planet, and saving money on your energy bills.
Call me for a free 30 minute initial consultation (on the phone or at your home) and we'll get cracking on changing the world, today.
Aaron Campbell
Energy Star certified
Residential Energy Consultant
(two-oh-six) eight nine eight, eight three three seven
glowplug at google mail
Sunday, July 20, 2008
Thursday, July 10, 2008
esteem-boosting daily service
So, if'n you want to join my no longer secret cult, I think there's one precept that must be followed: service.
Preferably, daily service.
I just got back from an extra-office walk (where I take my iphone and roam around while talking business) where in the middle of the walk I saw that my neighborhood park (The majestic Meadowbrook Community Park) bench had trash all around it. I thought "someone should be paid to go around and pick up this kind of trash..." and realized immediately that I was that someone and I would definitely not be paid.
I made concentric loops around the bench, picking up the trash with my bare hands, and putting it in the now-handy bags left around. There were more recyclables than trash, so it was doubly satisfying. I got to thinking, "I should do this more often", and realized that during my measly 15 minutes of trash/recycling pickup that it would be pretty easy to pull off. I live literally across the street.
As I put the trash in the nearby garbage can (somewhat hidden), I thought for a fleeting second that I wanted people to see me doing it. I wanted people to look at me picking up trash and think "there's a guy doing his part". I then thought that perhaps that was ego-centric of me, wanting people to see me doing this public good. I replied to my own thought "no, isn't that what drives a lot of Toyota Prius sales? the desire for people to see you doing the right thing?". Yes.
So, I think I might just film myself picking up trash and recycling what I can, and sending the clip to Meadowbrook, maybe even YouTubing it. I'm helping, and this is how I'm doing it, and it's not secret, it's service.
Daily Service. If your job isn't service (helping others or the planet), no sweat; you can do some other service activity. Try to do something every day. Make a note of it. Tell people about it. Show it off. If we all do this for our various reasons and some of us do it so we feel better about ourselves, so be it. It's naive to think people can only do real service if it's exclusively benefiting others. Heck, if we became a nation of show-off do-gooders, so much the better. It's a step on the path.
Anyone else feel this way? Ever had a pang of guilt that the selfless thing you were doing was in fact somewhat self-interested? Banish the guilt, I say. If it makes you feel good to serve, do it. just do it.
Preferably, daily service.
I just got back from an extra-office walk (where I take my iphone and roam around while talking business) where in the middle of the walk I saw that my neighborhood park (The majestic Meadowbrook Community Park) bench had trash all around it. I thought "someone should be paid to go around and pick up this kind of trash..." and realized immediately that I was that someone and I would definitely not be paid.
I made concentric loops around the bench, picking up the trash with my bare hands, and putting it in the now-handy bags left around. There were more recyclables than trash, so it was doubly satisfying. I got to thinking, "I should do this more often", and realized that during my measly 15 minutes of trash/recycling pickup that it would be pretty easy to pull off. I live literally across the street.
As I put the trash in the nearby garbage can (somewhat hidden), I thought for a fleeting second that I wanted people to see me doing it. I wanted people to look at me picking up trash and think "there's a guy doing his part". I then thought that perhaps that was ego-centric of me, wanting people to see me doing this public good. I replied to my own thought "no, isn't that what drives a lot of Toyota Prius sales? the desire for people to see you doing the right thing?". Yes.
So, I think I might just film myself picking up trash and recycling what I can, and sending the clip to Meadowbrook, maybe even YouTubing it. I'm helping, and this is how I'm doing it, and it's not secret, it's service.
Daily Service. If your job isn't service (helping others or the planet), no sweat; you can do some other service activity. Try to do something every day. Make a note of it. Tell people about it. Show it off. If we all do this for our various reasons and some of us do it so we feel better about ourselves, so be it. It's naive to think people can only do real service if it's exclusively benefiting others. Heck, if we became a nation of show-off do-gooders, so much the better. It's a step on the path.
Anyone else feel this way? Ever had a pang of guilt that the selfless thing you were doing was in fact somewhat self-interested? Banish the guilt, I say. If it makes you feel good to serve, do it. just do it.
Thursday, June 19, 2008
public thought
Might as well come out with it:
I have a secret plan.
I'm putting a team together, and you're already on it.
I may or may not have already met you, but I can assure you that you've been picked.
My job on the planet is two-fold: Change how we power our lives, and make sure everyone I can possibly contact is supported in their right livelihood.
Those are my deeper skills: energy and connections.
It's essential, no matter how batty it sounds, that people make these kind of thoughts public. That's what's been missing, I think. That people have been keeping their golden thoughts buried. I would urge you to share those thoughts.
There may or may not be monetary wealth that comes from the sharing of your inner dreams and golden thoughts, but you should share them anyway.
Your right livelihood is beckoning, and you need to make a decision: decide to listen to that inner whisper that will grow to a shout. Trust that pulse of goodness that knows you better than you might (right now) know yourself. Take that supposed risk and make that thought public.
I have a secret plan.
I'm putting a team together, and you're already on it.
I may or may not have already met you, but I can assure you that you've been picked.
My job on the planet is two-fold: Change how we power our lives, and make sure everyone I can possibly contact is supported in their right livelihood.
Those are my deeper skills: energy and connections.
It's essential, no matter how batty it sounds, that people make these kind of thoughts public. That's what's been missing, I think. That people have been keeping their golden thoughts buried. I would urge you to share those thoughts.
There may or may not be monetary wealth that comes from the sharing of your inner dreams and golden thoughts, but you should share them anyway.
Your right livelihood is beckoning, and you need to make a decision: decide to listen to that inner whisper that will grow to a shout. Trust that pulse of goodness that knows you better than you might (right now) know yourself. Take that supposed risk and make that thought public.
Saturday, May 3, 2008
This is not about Barack Obama.
This is not about Barack Obama.
His candidacy clearly helped wake some people up, but basically this
is about Americans finally having enough hope mixed with enough
frustration to get off their butts and get to work.
His candidacy clearly helped wake some people up, but basically this
is about Americans finally having enough hope mixed with enough
frustration to get off their butts and get to work.
Sent from my iPhone
Tuesday, April 29, 2008
My new take on "extremism"
I have always considered myself (hmmm...) a level-headed person. I'm weird, but I like me some logic. This logic drove me away from some things: protests, for instance. I thought of myself as "evolved", that protests were for fundamentalists and people who were into public displays of their politics and values above the hard work that should lead from those values. Plus, all those hippies! Those open minds, leaking out!
Recently, I met a fellow recently who asked me what I thought about "attachment parenting". I have had a somewhat love/hate relationship with attachment parenting. It once again seemed fundamentalist, (or it was *portrayed* that way...). All those hippies, never letting their kid out of their sight, forcing it to sleep with the parents on a bed that was not big enough, kids getting claustrophobic; how could that be good? I said none of these things to him, only let him bring up the idea of the "8 principles of Attachment Parenting". I was expecting some serious rules, all of which would need to be observed or I'd be labeled a bad parent for life. Instead, he asked me what kind of parenting I was doing. I told him, and he said to my surprise that I was *already* doing attachment parenting. Then he went over the 8 principles:
Now, there are actual extreme attachment parents out there, and bless them for doing all they can to love their kids. Some things I don't think work for us, (like never letting your child out of your sight for 2 years), but hey, that's your kid and your life. Do what you want as long as you don't hurt people. But the other stuff, especially if taken in the general sense, that's spot on. It's still on the spectrum and you can pick and choose what works for you and your child. It's not an all-or-nothing proposition.
Cut to another form of supposed extremism: hypermiling.
Yep, it's that fetishistic practice of getting every single mile per gallon you can from your car. There I go, degrading it by calling it fetishistic. Anyway, I went to Arizona for my grandmother's 85th birthday and we rented a Toyota Prius. Now, I know what you're thinking: why not a Jetta TDI? Well, they don't rent those very often, and at least it's a high-mileage car. In fact, we got an average of 44.6 mpg for around 400 miles driven. That's pretty good.
Truth is, I think I know why the Prius people get such good mileage. Is it the nifty electric motor? Nope. Is it the super-stealth streamlining? No again. It's the simple fact that there is a real-time readout of your current gas mileage, and that you can see when the internal combustion petroleum-powered engine (ICE) kicks in and when it goes back to clean electric power. You change your behavior almost immediately. I found myself learning the tipping points of the two motors, timing the hills, braking way earlier, accelerating much more gradually, thinking about brake return power.
So, I started to become a hypermiler, without even knowing it! I've always been somewhat of a recycling extremist, but I figured that was okay here in Seattle. Now I'm thinking seriously about getting a readout for my TDI and really gunning for the highest mileage possible. It frankly sounds like a lot of fun. Damn.
Now I can see that there must be some kind of attitude shift required if we're to do anything about this climate change thing, and this world-changing
-for-the-better-thing. We've just got to push through the anti-hype, media blitzing, and peer-pressure assaults that label anything out of our comfort zone "extremist". That's the lesson I've been learning.
I'm coming to the conclusion that there are real and imagined forces lining up to tell you that you shouldn't do this or that because you'll be a "------nazi". Some of these forces are in your own head! You might be thinking, "I don't want to join up with my friends and interested people to do co-housing, they are going to be "consensus- nazis". Or I don't want to pick that dirty aluminum can out of the office trash bin because someone will call me a "recycling nazi". Or "I don't want to tell people how cool it is that my wife breast-feeds and we don't use formula because we might be looked at as unreasonable people, La Leche Leaguers, breastfeeding nazis".
Sheesh! that list goes on and on! Organic foods, solar hot water, biodiesel, CFLs, this is all stuff that when taken to the seeming "extreme" (i.e. actually doing it) is somehow leaving the realm of the logical and entering the shady polly-ana world of dangerous fantasy. But look at all the things I'm listing off:
Attachment Parenting
Recycling everything you can
Using solar power or alternative energy
getting the best mileage possible
eating foods that are as natural as possible
Breastfeeding
This is all stuff that the culture (even my supposedly "Green" version here in Seattle) has been labeling as extremism in one form or another. They take the most strict fundamentalist versions of things and point to the "slippery slope" of becoming an avid supporter. They denigrate the efforts as "fetish". They pull out that old Nazi saw. Yawn already! I'm seeing that all the stuff that makes sense (logic and science anybody??) is pointed at and made less "sensible" so people can feel better about not giving a shit.
It's freaking lazy to not hang on to your Coke can until you can recycle it later (and also lazy not to simply ask if a recycling program could be started!). It's good for your kid to breastfeed as long as it wants to. It's good to get the most mileage you can from your car. This isn't extremism, it's progressivism!
Now, I don't think people should enforce their own way of life upon another when they need to get to these places on their own and in their own time. I think people should leave their minds open to all kinds of improvements, but do so with desire instead of guilt or coercing. That's the stuff that the bulk of the world is rightly worried about, it's not the science and logic, it's the enforcement and coercion. We want to see the good in it for ourselves, not have it inflicted upon us from the outside. We worry about that so much that anything that smacks of seriousness gets labeled as extremism. *THAT* is the slippery slope, friend. Let's pull our collective heads out of the sand, open our eyes and minds, and judge things for ourselves. That's how we'll move forward. And if you want to get a little extremist on yourself, go for it; as long as you don't force it on others, or hurt anyone in the process.
Peace, seriously.
Recently, I met a fellow recently who asked me what I thought about "attachment parenting". I have had a somewhat love/hate relationship with attachment parenting. It once again seemed fundamentalist, (or it was *portrayed* that way...). All those hippies, never letting their kid out of their sight, forcing it to sleep with the parents on a bed that was not big enough, kids getting claustrophobic; how could that be good? I said none of these things to him, only let him bring up the idea of the "8 principles of Attachment Parenting". I was expecting some serious rules, all of which would need to be observed or I'd be labeled a bad parent for life. Instead, he asked me what kind of parenting I was doing. I told him, and he said to my surprise that I was *already* doing attachment parenting. Then he went over the 8 principles:
- Preparation for Pregnancy, Birth and Parenting
- Feed with Love and Respect
- Respond with Sensitivity
- Use Nurturing Touch
- Engage in Nighttime Parenting
- Provide Consistent Loving Care
- Practice Positive Discipline
- Strive for Balance in Personal and Family Life
Now, there are actual extreme attachment parents out there, and bless them for doing all they can to love their kids. Some things I don't think work for us, (like never letting your child out of your sight for 2 years), but hey, that's your kid and your life. Do what you want as long as you don't hurt people. But the other stuff, especially if taken in the general sense, that's spot on. It's still on the spectrum and you can pick and choose what works for you and your child. It's not an all-or-nothing proposition.
Cut to another form of supposed extremism: hypermiling.
Yep, it's that fetishistic practice of getting every single mile per gallon you can from your car. There I go, degrading it by calling it fetishistic. Anyway, I went to Arizona for my grandmother's 85th birthday and we rented a Toyota Prius. Now, I know what you're thinking: why not a Jetta TDI? Well, they don't rent those very often, and at least it's a high-mileage car. In fact, we got an average of 44.6 mpg for around 400 miles driven. That's pretty good.
Truth is, I think I know why the Prius people get such good mileage. Is it the nifty electric motor? Nope. Is it the super-stealth streamlining? No again. It's the simple fact that there is a real-time readout of your current gas mileage, and that you can see when the internal combustion petroleum-powered engine (ICE) kicks in and when it goes back to clean electric power. You change your behavior almost immediately. I found myself learning the tipping points of the two motors, timing the hills, braking way earlier, accelerating much more gradually, thinking about brake return power.
So, I started to become a hypermiler, without even knowing it! I've always been somewhat of a recycling extremist, but I figured that was okay here in Seattle. Now I'm thinking seriously about getting a readout for my TDI and really gunning for the highest mileage possible. It frankly sounds like a lot of fun. Damn.
Now I can see that there must be some kind of attitude shift required if we're to do anything about this climate change thing, and this world-changing
-for-the-better-thing. We've just got to push through the anti-hype, media blitzing, and peer-pressure assaults that label anything out of our comfort zone "extremist". That's the lesson I've been learning.
I'm coming to the conclusion that there are real and imagined forces lining up to tell you that you shouldn't do this or that because you'll be a "------nazi". Some of these forces are in your own head! You might be thinking, "I don't want to join up with my friends and interested people to do co-housing, they are going to be "consensus- nazis". Or I don't want to pick that dirty aluminum can out of the office trash bin because someone will call me a "recycling nazi". Or "I don't want to tell people how cool it is that my wife breast-feeds and we don't use formula because we might be looked at as unreasonable people, La Leche Leaguers, breastfeeding nazis".
Sheesh! that list goes on and on! Organic foods, solar hot water, biodiesel, CFLs, this is all stuff that when taken to the seeming "extreme" (i.e. actually doing it) is somehow leaving the realm of the logical and entering the shady polly-ana world of dangerous fantasy. But look at all the things I'm listing off:
Attachment Parenting
Recycling everything you can
Using solar power or alternative energy
getting the best mileage possible
eating foods that are as natural as possible
Breastfeeding
This is all stuff that the culture (even my supposedly "Green" version here in Seattle) has been labeling as extremism in one form or another. They take the most strict fundamentalist versions of things and point to the "slippery slope" of becoming an avid supporter. They denigrate the efforts as "fetish". They pull out that old Nazi saw. Yawn already! I'm seeing that all the stuff that makes sense (logic and science anybody??) is pointed at and made less "sensible" so people can feel better about not giving a shit.
It's freaking lazy to not hang on to your Coke can until you can recycle it later (and also lazy not to simply ask if a recycling program could be started!). It's good for your kid to breastfeed as long as it wants to. It's good to get the most mileage you can from your car. This isn't extremism, it's progressivism!
Now, I don't think people should enforce their own way of life upon another when they need to get to these places on their own and in their own time. I think people should leave their minds open to all kinds of improvements, but do so with desire instead of guilt or coercing. That's the stuff that the bulk of the world is rightly worried about, it's not the science and logic, it's the enforcement and coercion. We want to see the good in it for ourselves, not have it inflicted upon us from the outside. We worry about that so much that anything that smacks of seriousness gets labeled as extremism. *THAT* is the slippery slope, friend. Let's pull our collective heads out of the sand, open our eyes and minds, and judge things for ourselves. That's how we'll move forward. And if you want to get a little extremist on yourself, go for it; as long as you don't force it on others, or hurt anyone in the process.
Peace, seriously.
Saturday, April 12, 2008
Staying up with coffee, thinking
Yes, I am simply blogging what is going on right now. Twittering old school. I can't sleep right now (and didn't even try!), so I am typing with my ouchy fingers (due to cutting my nails too damn short).
I am thinking the following thoughts:
I am thinking the following thoughts:
- should I talk about my giving up a bunch of bad habits in my blog
- call me if you want to actually know which ones
- is it okay to be happy and not to show it outwardly?
- yes it is
- is "enlightenment" really the final obstacle to enlightenment?
- duh
- every time you take a hot shower, consider it a baptism, and remember how freaking lucky you are to get a) a shower stall that is your own b) water that you can freaking drink c) HOT water. There's more, but holy crap that's plenty to be thankful for.
- seriously. People praise {∞} for food all the time, but best be thanking your Stars you can take hot showers, people.
- lately all the proverbial wisdom I thought "someday I hope to understand that stuff" is actually making some sense (one day at a time, let go and let {∞}, a stitch in time saves nine, go with the flow, etc.)
- okay, the stitch one I still don't get.
- my idea for {∞} will have a hard time taking off since I have to hit so many keys to type it out!
- but it's still a great idea. Seriously. Who else (lately) has a Grand Unified Theory in physics that includes religion, love, and community, but also has its own icon? Send me their links!
- lists of things seem easier to read than huge bungly paragraphs?
- I know, bungly isn't a word. Yes, lists are boss. Outline format for blogging? Super-Boss.
- single parents are mostly heros, it's friggin hard to parent a baby by yourself, even for a few hours!
- I love my wife and daughter for reals, and appreciate my wife a snick-ton.
- I missed Green Fest 08, but my wife was sick. I was glad to stay home, actually, because I got a chance to take my baby out for two walks in the neighborhood, soaking up the excellent warm sunshine.
- I'm planning on meeting the people I wanted to meet at Green Fest, only in person and for more than 2 minutes.
- my life is going stupendously, and always has been. With or without my knowledge, things were unfolding as they should.
- it really is. I'm technically drowning in blessings again. Call me for more details, or text my iPhone, yo. Crap. Did I just say that?
- yes, you did.
- What the heck is wrong with this outline formatting? Every new indentation gives me a #1? Double Crap.
- It's not even a Roman numeral! I'll get over it.
- Love is all you need.
Science on hold?
Perhaps this is the ultimate in my secular/humanist heresy, but I think we need to put expensive particle science on hold until we FEED THE PLANET.
That's right, and no more space shuttle launches. For a year. We can do the major research, but hold back on the Large Hadron Collider, things like that.
In addition, of course to STOPPING THE WAR IN IRAQ AND IRAN. That's a given.
The price of rice in Africa has on average doubled this year (between 20-80% more expensive). We cannot in good conscience continue to spend like we're not in a global crisis with water, energy, and food.
This is all (not surprisingly) tied together.
The current push for expanding our military muscle around the globe actually makes the need for that muscle even graver. We must divert money from war to environmental protection and distributing resources for self-sufficiency.
For my part, I'm working on getting the USA on a path to increased energy efficiency and decreased waste of water resources. That's what my work is about, that's what I am here for.
If we can stop wasting so much household energy and water, we can help reduce the global devastation caused by skyrocketing oil prices and drought. All our power needs to shift into the real present catastophes of the developing world.
If we can as science-loving people put our expensive research projects on hold for a bit, we can show the world we have a conscience and the willpower to use it for peace.
Sent from my iPhone
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)