The intersection of our mission and your passion can make it happen

As the owner of Pure Love Sustainability Inc, I am finding that many people that I am talking to in the 24 – 35 year age group want to do something to help the planet or want to start a business that focuses on their version of creating sustainable change in the world. Many of the people that I have talked to have an inkling of what they want to do, but don’t know how to start or know that sustainability is what they are passionate about, but aren’t sure how they can make a difference.

Pure Love Sustainability Inc. wants to support you in starting up your sustainability business. We do not have all of the answers, we do not know every single strategy to gain clients and we do not run a massively profitable business. With this said, we are working hard to get to this place and are out in the world learning every single day while getting to do what we love – create fully sustainable cities.

We have worked with over 70 hotels, restaurants, commercial kitchens, stadiums, grocery stores and event centers to help them reduce their environmental impact and also have created organic, sustainable farms in New York City, the surrounding suburbs and areas a bit north of the city. Sustainability is our love, our passion and what lights our fire and our mission at Pure Love Sustainability Inc. is to restore the well-being of people, society and the planet.

We want to accomplish this by creating fully sustainable cities where the following conditions are being met:

Renewable energy – 100% of power being generated from renewable resources

Reuse, reduce and recycle – Cities have completely reduced their waste sources and all of the items that cannot be reused are able to be recycled.

Organic and sustainable soil – City residents are growing organic food in their backyards and open spaces that feeds their families and communities

Creating new acres of organic, sustainable produce farmland – Cities have organic, sustainable produce farmland that can are being worked by young produce farmers who are feeding the community.

Clean water – Cities are providing their residents with access to clean water that supports life

Beauty – Cities are growing organic flowers in all open spaces

Prevention – Cities are promoting well-being practices that prevent, reverse and eliminate the presence of diseases in their residents.

And we are looking to build up the next group of sustainability entrepreneurs by tapping into your unique skills, your passions, your commitments and your goals and turning them loose so that you can create the sustainability business of your dream. If you are looking to turn your passion for making a difference in the well-being of people, society and the planet into the business of your dreams that allows you to do work that you love in areas that matter to you, please click on the link below and fill out our contact form

Take these actions everyday for 3 months to drastically improve your health

If we want to “Make America Great Again” then universal health care is just one starting point. Did you know that out of the 33 countries in the world that are labeled as developed that the United States of America is the only one that does not have universal health care. Literally, the only one (https://www.thebalance.com/universal-health-care-4156211). Universal healthcare would absolutely make a difference and it is not the panacea that cures all of our ills.

Truly, I am all for universal healthcare and most of the disease, health conditions, medical issues, etc. that we have are lifestyle-based. In other words we cause a large chunk of our health issues. Smoking is univerally known to be equated with so many different diseases and health issues that there is no need to put a link in this article that backs up these claims. Red meat consumption, sugar consumption, lack of fruit and vegetables and working long hours are also all equated with a number of diseases and health issues. While having health care can help you manage these diseases and live longer with your disease, health condition or medical issue, health care is not setup to have you eliminate the presence of these diseases nor prevent these diseases. I do believe that healthcare is great when an unexpected situation happens like someone falling on your ankle and causing it to fracture or getting into a car accident that was caused by a drunk driver.

For unexpected accidents that were out of your control, universal health care is amazing and necessary. We shouldn’t have medical debt because of unexpected life events that caused us to need medical care and still, many of the diseases, medical conditions and/or health issues that are prevalent in society are caused by lifestyle — more specifically poor diet and poor lifestyle choices that can be prevented. To truly “Make America Great Again” we need universal health care for unexpected accidents and we also need to be responsible for our health and well-being.

I have worked with a lot of people who have done a lot of damage to their bodies and helped eliminate the presence of their health issues so they can be fully engaged with the things that matter to them. During my 6 to 12 month health coaching programs I have helped clients recover from and completely reverse major organ failure, helped clients that have suffered major bone injuries get back to the activities that they love, I have helped my clients completely eliminated autoimmune disorders and sexually transmitted diseases and more health issues solely through implementing diet and lifestyle changes (a whole foods, plant-based diet, targeted strengthening exercises, aerobic exercise, etc.) and am so clear that just about every disease, health condition and medical issue can be reversed through diet.

I am not big on tips and tricks and here are 7 things that you can do right now to drastically improve your health in 3 months or less:

Stop smoking — Research has shown that people who stop smoking see large increases in lung functioning, heart functioning, improvements in blood pressure and have a significantly lower risk of getting a heart attack in anywhere from 24 hours to 1 year after they quit smoking (https://www.healthline.com/health/what-happens-when-you-quit-smoking#three-years).

Eat fruits and vegetables at every meal — Even one carrot and a half an apple per meal make a huge difference as fruit and vegetables are high in fiber, which helps your body flush out toxins (Our body is constantly producing toxins and we encounter a lot of environmental toxins on a daily basis as well). Fruit and vegetables are also high in antioxidants which are compounds that are found in food that help to counteract the effects of cell damage (https://www.webmd.com/food-recipes/antioxidants-your-immune-system-super-foods-optimal-health)

Reduce (or eliminate) your meat consumption — Whether you like it or not meat consumption has been equated to heart disease and cancer. Even “white meat” such as chicken is high in cholesterol (https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=39&v=RjNcvDxCvFk)

Get 20 minutes a day of aerobic exercise at least five times a week — There is a belief that the only ways to get benefits from exercise are to push yourself and push yourself hard, a.k.a. no pain, no gain. I am calling total BS on this and this study proves it (http://thinkhealth.priorityhealth.com/health-benefits-of-walking-20-minutes-a-day-makes-a-difference/). Pushing yourself hard is great if and only if your body is trained for this, when I say trained for this I don’t mean that you used to be able to run 5 miles in 45 minutes so I am going to jump on the treadmill and run 5 miles in 45 minutes today eventhough I haven’t run in 6 months. This causes injuries because the body has not yet acclimated to high level activity and needs to build up enough strength to actually be able to handle high levels of stress (physical activity causes stress because you are causing small muscle tears every time that you exercise, if the body is trained then it can handle the small muscle tears and repair them, if it is not then small muscles tears can quickly turn into large muscle tears and sideline you for weeks or months). Starting slow and building up, is the most effective way for you to exercise or you can also start slow and stay there because walking 20 minutes a day, 5 days a week makes a huge difference in your health as evidenced by the above study.

Stop working so damn much — Work hard and you will succeed is the American way, it’s all that we know and hard work is what makes Americans who we are. Umm, maybe… Numerous health issues have been equated with working long hours and one of my clients literally almost worked themselves to death. (https://www.inc.com/tom-popomaronis/science-says-you-shouldnt-work-more-than-this-number-of-hours-a-day.html).

Eliminate dairy from your diet — Are you freaking nuts? This may sound insane as milk, cheese and yogurt taste so good and dairy products are mucus forming, can cause bloating and gas, and have been shown to be inflammation causing (https://www.healthline.com/health/food-nutrition/no-dairy-diet#3). I know hundreds of people who have given up dairy and have experienced amazing health benefits when they did including experiencing fewer allergic reactions, being able to breathe with greater ease and a reduction in mucous. As the above article says, calcium can be gotten from so many forms of fruits and vegetables hence as I mentioned in point 2, eat fruit and vegetables at every meal and you won’t have any issues with getting enough calcium

Reduce your sugar consumption — After a rough day what do most people want more than anything else? A sweet treat! Sugar! Cookies, ice cream, chocolate, etc. I get it sugar brings up feelings of elation, it brings us back to childhood when our parents got us a treat for doing so well in school or succeeding at something that we worked hard on. I believe in rewarding ourselves and sugar is not the way to do it. Sugar has been linked with a number of health issues, diseases and medical conditions (https://www.webmd.com/diabetes/features/how-sugar-affects-your-body). I’m not perfect and I do consume sugar at times and we all need to reduce our sugar consumption for our health.

I promise you that if you practice these 7 things everyday for the next 3 months that you will see massive improvements in your health. If you have a medical condition or health issue that is impacting your day to day life you may even see some of the symptoms of your health issue reduced by takign these things on. If you would like support in taking these 7 items on or have a medical condition or health issue that stops you from doing the things that you love then you should give me a buzz or send me an email as we can work together and get you back to doing what you love in anywhere from 6 to 12 months.

Michael Forman
Founder
Pure Love Sustainability Inc.
(208)584–1492
purelovesustainabilityinc@gmail.com
www.purelovesustainabilityinc.com
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Solar power and community solar make so much sense when you understand how standard electricity works.

I was reading an article that Idaho just started offering community solar and got super-excited about it as this can make solar power available to people who don’t own homes, homeowners who don’t want to pay for or install solar panels, restaurants, stadiums, malls, food courts, et al. I am a huge proponent of solar and just started a sustainability consulting company in Idaho called Pure Love Sustainability Inc. that provides in-home sustainability consulting to help homeowners to determine the sustainability features that they can add to their home and to help businesses reduce the amount of food waste that they send to landfill and also lower their power, water and heating bills.

Solar is one of the best solutions that is available to help homeowners and businesses to reduce their environmental impact and reduce their power, water and heating bills. Yet solar has not been implemented on a broad scale yet in the U.S.

I think the challenge comes down to electricity as a whole. I am not an electrical engineer nor purport to be one and on the surface electricity seems almost too simple. You plug something into the wall and it gets powered. Then we don’t think electricity after that. The homeowners and businesses that I have been speaking with understand that the same thing happens when you have solar panels on your home/business or source your power from community solar and we do have to think about solar a bit more than standard electricity. The interesting thing is that the mechanism behind standard electricity is not that simple either and there are hidden costs of standard electricity that actually make solar power a no-brainer once you know them.

As I said earlier I am not an electrical engineer and one of my best friends used to be an Electrical Engineer and Project Manager with Con Edison, the company that supplies most of New York City’s power and also owns all of the power lines in New York City. A few years ago we were having a great conversation about standard electricity and I took a few things away from that conversation that blew my mind and made it seem almost silly to not use solar power to power my home and business.

A majority of our power in the U.S. comes from power plants that have massive power generators. Power plants convert mechanical energy (coal or oil being burnt are examples of mechanical energy) into electrical power that we use to charge our phones and computers, heat our water, power our lights, air conditioners, refrigerators and more. There are a number of challenges with electrical power though. Power generators and power turbines (the equipment that generate power) get extremely hot and need to be cooled down with water and as my friend explained to me, 1,000 gallons of water need to be used to cool down a generator for every 1 killowatt hour of energy that a power plant produces.

In other words 1,000 gallons of water need to be used to produce 1 kilowatt hour of energy.

1 kilowatt hour of energy is the amount of power that it takes to run one standard 50 watt light bulb for 20 hours. Which means that huge volumes of water need to be used to power just the light bulbs in every home and business in America forget about the water heaters, televisions, ovens, refrigerators, stove tops et al that we use that rely on being plugged into a wall outlet.

Another interesting factor about standard electricity is that the further the power travels from the power plant (power station), the less efficient it is. So if you live close to a power plant the power grid will need to send out less electricity in order to power your home because your home will be able to utilize more of the electricity since it is traveling a shorter distance. If you live 10 miles from a power generator, the electricity that your home receives will be way less efficient and it will take more energy to power your home than it would if you lives one mile from the generator since more electricity must be produced to make up for the lack of efficiency due to the distance that power has traveled.

At the end of the conversation with my friend I realized that standard electricity wastes a huge amount of our water resources, is extremely inefficient and in the long-term does not make sense, all of which he affirmed for me.

Solar power on the other hand does not use any water at all as solar energy converts light from the rays of the sun directly into energy. Photovoltaic cells (solar panels) absorb sunlight and pass the suns rays through semiconducting materials such as silicon that can transport electric current. Then the solar cells within the solar panels convert solar energy into a usable form of energy. Solar panels do not need to be cooled down by water, hence it takes zero gallons of water to produce solar energy and since the water used to heat power generators cannot be reused (https://www.forbes.com/sites/quora/2017/11/08/is-solar-energy-less-efficient-than-non-renewables/#f8e080b4d4a7), solar energy is clearly the best choice when it comes to the amount of natural resources used.

When it comes to efficiency, it is true that only about 20% of the light that hits a solar panel gets converted into solar power ((https://www.forbes.com/sites/quora/2017/11/08/is-solar-energy-less-efficient-than-non-renewables/#f8e080b4d4a7)). This seems significant and this is a moot point as there the sun provides an infinite amount of light when it is shining whereas coal and oil are finite resources. Sunlight is also free to produce, where as oil and coal are not. So while coal and oil power appear more efficient on the surface, the costs to mine and ship these materials more than makes up for the lack of the efficiency of solar panels to convert the suns rays into energy.

As we know not everyone can have solar panels, on their home or business due to a variety of factors: cost, lack of sunlight, roofs that are too small for solar systems and the fact that many people do not own homes. This is where community solar becomes a huge asset. Community solar gets sourced from solar farms or solar scale utilities that have large pieces of land with thousands of solar panels and a large battery to capture all of the energy that solar panels gather and then distribute the solar energy among its members.

Being a part of a community solar program is like joining a Co-Operative Market (Co-Op Grocery Stores such as the Boise Co-Op, the Flatbush Food Co-Op and the Sacramento Co-Op exemplify this model). In a community solar program you pay an upfront or monthly membership fee that provides you with benefits such as receiving solar power at your home, office or building and you also get a credit on your bill when the solar utility generates more power than its users use. This happens because the power that community solar members does not use gets sent back to the power grid and the power company pays the solar utility for generating extra power. This payout then gets distributed evenly among its members (this is the same benefit that a homeowner or business gets when they install solar panels on their roof).

Community solar is a fantastic solution to make solar power more available and can help you and your business to significantly reduce the environmental impact that you have. By purchasing a community solar membership, you are preventing tens of thousands of gallons of water per year from being used to power your home, you are lowering or in some cases eliminating your power bill and you are doing the right thing for the future of the planet.

I am happy to personally help you determine whether community solar can make a difference for your home, office, restaurant, stadium, mall or apartment building. To schedule a consultation, please fill out the contact form on our website and we can schedule an initial consultation where we will assess both the short-term and long-term value that community solar can provide for you.

Michael Forman is the founder of Pure Love Sustainability Inc., a sustainability consulting company in Boise, ID. He has worked with more than 70 business to help them reduce their environmental impact and utility billls and is now also offering these same services to homeowners. Visit Pure Love Sustainability Inc’s website to learn more and schedule an initial consultation (www.purelovesustainabilityinc.com)

Thanks for joining me!

Good company in a journey makes the way seem shorter. — Izaak Walton