If you're like me you've probably spent the first few days of the New Year meticulously adding up the receipts you've accumulated, like those fresh new pounds from too much Grandma's cooking over the holidays. Once the shock of realizing it'll take months to recover from all of this wears off, breathe a sigh of relief.

Now, I'm no physical trainer so you're on your own when it comes to losing those extra pounds, but I can help you save more money this year and it doesn't involve taking on a second job.

It's quite simple actually, just Tweak Those Leaks! A good place to start is your doors and windows. Take a few minutes to walk around your house and inspect the doors and windows. If you see any cracks around door or window frames a quick fix could include caulking or weather-stripping to seal those leaks. Another place commonly overlooked is your homes electrical outlets. Simply but some inexpensive plastic child safety plugs and put them in your outlets, especially those located on an exterior wall.

You're already well on your way to savings but don't stop there. Air may not be the only thing leaking from your home. Water leaks can really add up. The first place to go is the bathroom. According to Denver Water, toilets commonly form leaks. Put a few drops of food coloring in the tank and wait several minutes (at least 15). After that time, if any of the color is visible in the bowl you have a leak.

Denver Water also says dripping faucets and showerheads can waste hundreds to even thousands of gallons of water a year. Also remember to check under sinks for any bulges in hoses or damp spots which may mean there's a leak.

Here's a couple of good websites to check out:

http://greenliving.lovetoknow.com/Water_Conservation_at_Home

http://www.water.utah.gov/Brochures/CHKLIST.HTM

http://www.powerhousetv.com/stellent2/groups/public/documents/pub/phtv_se_000498.hcsp

I'm writing this week's entry from the snowy slopes of Steamboat Springs Colorado!

I'm not here to ski, although there is a good chance the fresh powder will eventually get the best of me and I'll soon find myself barreling downhill, but rather to participate in the 19th annual Weather Summit.

This year one of the major topics of discussion is 'Climate Change.' Certainly, this has been a topic of interest for some time, but it's a whole different story when you put together some of the sharpest minds in climate research and dissect the subject even further. I've already heard from one of the leading experts in hurricane forecasting and research: Dr. Steve Lyons whom you may know from The Weather Channel.

Obviously, Colorado isn't a place where you'll find people getting too concerned about hurricanes, but there's no question in my mind we've all become more aware, and to an extent hyper-sensitive to catastrophic weather since Hurricane Katrina in August of 2005. There's also been a heated discussion amongst scientists and meteorologists whether or not Global Warming has contributed to an increase in Atlantic hurricane activity.

Although Dr. Lyons doesn't believe there's a direct correlation between the two, he did talk in detail about seasonal hurricane forecasts and how the naming of tropical storms has changed over the past couple of decades. He emphasized a good point, that it is the responsibility of broadcast meteorologists like myself to make the viewer (that's you) aware of the danger--but not to exaggerate it. As he put it "Prepare, not scare."

Now let's localize things a little bit more. Jim White is probably a name you've not heard of, and most of us wouldn't recognize him if he passed us on the street, but the research he's involved with plays an integral part in 'Climate Change'. Jim is with CU's Institute of Arctic and Alpine Research. He showed us some alarming statistics on the concentration of CO2 in the earth's atmosphere. Just in case you didn't know this yet, there is strong evidence that an increased level of CO2 equates to an increase in global temperature.

Jim showed throgh several different graphs and charts that the rapid industrialization of China and India has substantially increased the level or concentration of CO2 in the atmosphere. He also showed satellite pictures depicting the extensive decrease in ice over Greenland and the polar ice caps, which has led to a rise in sea levels. I'll let you digest all of that for a moment.

Okay, have you caught your breath? I don't want to be an alarmist, and this isn't the time to panic. 'Climate Change' is something that will be discussed the rest of our lives and whether or not you believe in 'Global Warming' really isn't the issue. I'm a firm believer that no matter what the impact humankind is having on the enviornment, thnking "green" is a very, very good thing for everyone.

I'm not expecting to change the world by writing this blog, but I hope, just maybe a few of you reading this will change your habits enough that you'll influence your friends and family to change theirs. After that, then we can start thinking about changing our world for the better.

JB

So we decided to rent a movie the other night, and, after much debating and musing, we chose a movie called "An Arctic Tale."

If you haven't heard of this movie before, it follows two different mammals, a baby walrus and a baby polar bear, through the early years of their lives. The movie not only does a good job of portraying the many battles each animal goes through in daily life, but conveys an even stronger, more alarming picture of the additional struggles created by environmental changes.

These changes--over the course of eight years of filming the movie--start subtly, but then become more dramatic towards the end. Warming land and ocean temperature brings the onset of Spring earlier and earlier throughout the movie. This leads to an unanticipated thawing of sea ice, vital to the survival of both the walrus and the polar bear. Watching all of this unfold over the course of an hour-and-a-half not only made me feel sorry for the animals, but frustrated and even guilty.

Let's start with the frustrated part. I felt frustrated because through all of the environmental/"green" stories that I've done I thought to myself, "Hasn't anyone been listening?" Obviously, I quickly came to my senses realizing that these changes didn't happen overnight, but were put in motion decades ago.

That's when the guilt came. From what I know now about the increase in carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases in the atmosphere, it's hard not to believe that you and I and the six-billion others across the world aren't having some kind of impact on all of this.

Believe what you want, but the fact is both the Arctic and Antarctic sea ice is disappearing, in most recent years more rapidly than ever. How much of that is due to us is still debatable. Nonetheless, I think what's important to take from this movie is the fragility of our environment. Science has proven that warming of our atmosphere could lead to catastrophic collapses in ecosystems throughout the world.

There is no reversing the damage that's already been done, but as citizens of this world we need to act more like stewards pushing and demanding that things change, change for the better. I strongly recommend checking out this movie for its eye-opening and emotional plot.

More and more Flex-Fuel cars are hitting our roads each year.

For those of you who may have heard of but don't know what exactly a Flex-Fuel car is, I'll provide a good website link at the end of this entry. Basically it's a vehicle that can run either using gasoline or E85, a fuel blend of 15% gas and 85% ethanol.

American car makers have been manufacturing most Flex-Fuel cars in recent years, like GMC's Tahoe version. GM plans to double their production of Flex-Fuel cars by 2010 producing up to 800,000.

The use of ethanol certainly has its benefits. For one, it reduces our dependency on the use of petroleum and thus foreign oil. It's cleaner burning than gas, so there are less Greenhouse Gas emissions, and it can be made from organic sources like corn. All of this has led to an explosion in demand for corn as thousands of farmers across America rush to grow this cash crop.

Let's step back for a moment and look more closely at the details. Environmentalists worry that too many farms are growing corn, leading to less crop rotation and thus more soil erosion. Several studies have concluded that manufacturing ethanol from corn actually requires more energy than producing gasoline, thus giving you a net loss in energy. Even so, the demand for ethanol will only grow in the coming years.

There is some good news. Researchers have discovered other ways to create ethanol from other organic sources. Soybeans and switchgrass are two major ones. Switchgrass is a naturally growing grass (much like prairie grass) that can be found in many parts of the country. It's easy to harvest and it takes less energy to create ethanol from it than corn. Studies have shown that there is actually a net gain in energy from the use of swithgrass versus corn. I've also included a link to an NPR story on this below.

Some of the more notable research on converting cellulose to ethanol takes place right here in Colorado at NREL, or the National Renewable Energy Lab in Golden just west of Denver. Other drawbacks of ethanol use include fewer miles per gallon using E85 fuel, since it burns faster than gas. And with demand possibly surpassing supply in coming years, purchasing ethanol at the pump may only get more expensive.

Luckily here in Colorado, we're closer to bigger corn-producing states like Nebraska which keeps our prices lower on average.

Weblinks:
http://www.fueleconomy.gov/feg/flextech.shtml
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=17910749
http://www.nrel.gov/biomass/
http://e85prices.com/

Being a broadcast meteorologist there are just certain things you expect, one of which is the fact that people will act like they know you from watching you on TV. This also allows them to feel comfortable enough to come up to you on the street and talk about the weather and even climate change.

I'm always asked the same thing: "Don't you get tired of people asking you about the weather?"

The answer? No, I don't. In fact, I like idea of people feeling like they can walk right up to me and talk to me. It just comes with the territory.

Climate change has been a hot topic for a long time. Years ago, I would be asked the occasional question, "Do you believe in climate change or global warming?" It was hard to answer that question even back then. with so many different sides of this story already becoming public knowledge and getting more and more attention from the media.

Nowadays, it's not much easier. More and more information means the Average Joe is certainly more knowledgeable about climate change. Obviously, this is a good and bad thing. Good in the sense that we--the news media---are doing our job of informing people of the subject, but bad because my answers have to be even more thorough and thought-out than before. It certainly keeps me on my toes.

One alarming thing I've noticed though is the false perception some people have about local weather nuances and their relation to climate change. Now, I've only been in Colorado for three years so I haven't experienced "how it used to be," but I certainly have heard stories amd experiences from many natives about recent and past years. Along with the vast availability of climate data from the National Weather Service, I feel I have a pretty good idea on how variable Colorado's past climates have been.

That being said, many will choose to initiate a conversation in this manner, "I've noticed that this January is colder than it used to be" or "I've noticed that the winters bring less snow here than when I was growing up" or "It never was this cold during (such and such month)."

Everyone seems to have an opinion on climate change, but the point many miss is that daily or even weekly weather is not a barometer for climate change. A colder-than-average or a warmer-than-average week may just be an anomaly for that particular week, not an alarm bell for global warming.

It is a fine line though. How do climatologists determine climate change? They study climate's past. In twenty years, the changes we will experience in Colorado's weather may be the "smoking gun" for global warming.

Let's hope the efforts each and everyone of us puts forth to be "green" in the coming years means they'll be looking at changes for the better not worse.