David Mark Brown, Author at David Mark Brown

Ode to Walmart (or is it Lament?)

March 27, 2009 by David Mark Brown

walmart-sign1 Don’t think I am crusader against Walmart. I’m not, really. I actually applaud their stiff arm tactics to reduce waste in fuel and packaging material. I have fond memories of wandering the 24 hour Walmart in Ft. Worth during the witching hour and trying to carry on cogent conversations with the gentlemen behind the gun counter. (Yes, back then you could buy a gun at 2:00am, even as a youth. Sorry, no ammo.)

But alas, Walmart, what is one to do?

New Tricks With Old Bricks

March 23, 2009 by David Mark Brown

I found a recent study, albeit a small one, done in the UK that brings up an interesting question (even if it doesn’t provide too many answers). New Tricks With Old Bricks, a study done by the Empty Homes Agency, tries to show that an old refurbished home can be just as “green” as a new build. Now by “green” in this particular study they are referring only to the home’s carbon emissions, or as we refer to it across the pond, carbon footprint. While they did include embodied carbon and operational carbon they only studied six homes, and they projected the totals over a fifty year period.

Over Forty Years Later and Still Paying

March 21, 2009 by David Mark Brown

Feeling pretty isolated from the current recession out here in Salt Lake City, I’ve decided to track some of the goings on in Detroit. I have a mild connection with the area after dating a girl during high school and college from Grosse Pointe. I will never forget my first day driving around the metro area. As a country kid from Texas I couldn’t even comprehend most of what I was seeing. I remember pulling up to a red light in my 1984 Volvo 244 DL with all the windows rolled down and my shirt off. (No air conditioning you know.) Of course I was wearing a red bandana wrapped around my head to keep my long hair out of my face while the wind whipped through my windows. This was the summer of 1993.