Nifty Projects with ORE

A shout-out to all of my fellow ENVS students this semester! My name is Josh Chartowich, and I have been an "unofficial intern" at the Office for Resource Efficiency (also known as ORE, for short) since October. ORE is a local organization that is committed to bolstering local sustainability, instilling environmental consciousness in businesses and families, and saving people money (more on that later), to say the least. As of this semester, I have been promoted to just "intern" at ORE, and am poised to help them with a few nifty projects related to their various programs, including EnergySmart - which educates and aids homeowners in reducing home energy use and costs - and the already-acclaimed Gunnison Valley Green Business Directory, a sizable booklet that is a burgeoning compilation of local businesses who are taking steps toward their own and our community's (and for that matter, the entire World's) resilience and sustainability. The aforementioned projects involve both behind-the-scenes work and more public efforts, including building a database for the Green Business Directory and bombarding locations around Gunnison with barrages of (useful) pamphlets. Each week, I will give all of you newly-excited readers introductions, updates, and the like regarding these projects and ORE. I will also launch into some rants - I mean musings - on what all of this has to do with the "big picture" and "local picture." All of this discourse will take place in the form of posts on this nifty little ENVS blog. Just to get you all a little more jazzed, check out ORE's website at www.resourceefficiency.org - and don't touch that proverbial dial!