Top "5" Green Living Facts

Sorry for the lack of updates. As spring is quickly approaching Maku Furniture continues to gain more and more momentum in the marketplace and there doesn't seem to be enough time in the day, which is good of course...!

So while reading the Sunday paper yesterday morning while chilling on the Maku sectional in my backyard, I came across this little gem of info in the North County Times real estate section. The Article is titled "It's easy living green, eco friendly homes reduce carbon footprint"

The story goes on to talk about a new development called Del Sur in Black Mountain Ranch (as if San Diego needs more development..!). But the good news is this 1800 acre development will feature eco friendly building tactics such as Tankless water heaters, Solar Power, weather based irrigation systems. It's good to see that despite the rampant over development of what once used to be a Wonderfully small city by the beach is in some cases taking a green approach.

A big HIGH5 to the Black Mountain Ranch LLC development group for taking some initiative in green home building!

Now back to the original intention of this post. The top 5 "Green" Living facts as brought to you by the ever progressive North County Times.

• The U.S. Residential sector is only 2nd to Chinese heavy industry in terms of INeffecient energy use ((McKinsey Global institute)
• If every home replaced the 5 most used bulbs in the house with efficient compact fluorescent bulbs over 1 trillion lbs of greenhouse gases would be kept out of the air over the course of the bulbs life. (of course it can be debated that the process for manufacturing fluorescent bulbs outweighs the benefits...)
• Green Building, design, and construction drastically eliminate the V.O.C. that we are all potentially exposed to over time.
• Landscape irrigation accounts for nearly 1/3 of all residential water use. If these were replaced with Weather based systems over 24 billion gallons of water annually could be saved according to the EPA.
• An average 2000 sq ft home generates an estimated 4 tons of construction waste. With a little planning and prep it is possible for 90% of that waste to be recycled! (Hello, Any home builders listening...?) Think of the financial savings...
  

Welcome to 08, will this be the end of Trestles??

Wow, where has the month of January gone... Sorry for the lack of updates. A few good swells to start the year off, ramping the business up for the spring, and trying to stay ahead of the "recession" which the media keeps hyping despite GDP growing (albeit not as strongly as the past few qtrs...) has made this month just fly by.

Don't get me wrong, I am certainly not saying there has not been a slowdown in our economy. My daughter dragged me into a mall last week for the first time in years and it definitely was not bustling. But if you delve into the numbers and don't just listen to the over zealous media machine, the economy "appears" to be doing "o.k." Fortunately we are going into spring and a time that traditionally brings solid consumer spending, so we will know soon.

So what's new? Snow, snow, and more snow! There's lots of good snow all around the world; Europe, Japan, Canadia, and most importantly the good ole US of A all are having epic snow sliding seasons. Yet somehow this season I don't have a single day on snow for the first time in almost my entire life. Gotta change that for sure, can you say Spring Skiing!

The good news is all those watersheds that were dwindling in supply particularly on the west coast here will fill back up with the spring melt off!



One of the biggest environmental battles to face Southern California in years is the proposed 241 toll road right through the middle of our beloved Trestles and San Onofre' state park. For those of you not familiar with Trestles, it is the last remaining relatively untouched watershed and wildlife areas on the coast of So.Cal. And the waves aren't too bad either!

Set aside by President Reagan in the early 70's with a decree to never be touched and with a long and steeped history in the surfing community, many say that Trestles / San O' were the birthplace of west coast surfing. Spanning over 3000 acres of beautiful coastline and home to many endemic and endangered species that can now only be found here this area is certainly a place of solace in the hustle and bustle of So.Cal. Access is by foot, bicycle or skateboard so you truly feel like you are away from everything when you spend a day at Trestles.

On Wednesday Feb 6th @ 9 am the California Coastal Commission will be holding a meeting at the Del Mar fairgrounds and will be (once again) hearing arguments for and against this road. Every major coastal city in So.Cal has voted to against this toll road yet the TCA believes that paving over one of the last remaining coastal resources in California will all the sudden solve the traffic issues we face here.

Check out the Surfrider Foundation website for all the info on this project and how you can help save THE LAST remaining piece of undeveloped coastal So.Cal. by clicking here and sending a letter to the Coastal Commission

Early Xmas from Mother Nature!

The biggest swell of the year is currently making it's way down the coast from the Pacific NW and the waves are going to be macking in the morning! Yet another Big Wednesday here in So.Cal. The last time we had waves this size was Dec 21st, 2005. By the way, those "little specks" in that video are guys surfing....

I've got my 6'10" Rounded Pintail waxed up and ready to go but I might be undergunned on this swell. Anybody have a 7'6" gun they want to loan me...?

Here are some of the latest buoy and forecasts. For up to date info click here.

The Good, the Bad, and the Beautiful...

What a day here in Carlsbad. Our little piece of paradise is amidst the worst wildfires we have ever seen... Yet at the same time the combination of 2 solid swells and the Santana Winds (more commonly referred to as Santa Ana winds) blowing off shore are making the waves the best we have had in years! Mother Nature sure is a fickle and torturous entity...

Not a lot of work getting done at Maku HQ today as we are currently under a voluntary evacuation and packing up valuables, etc. right now just in case the fires continue to move west towards the beach... My thoughts are with those that have lost their homes today and many thanks to the brave firefighters out there trying to control the beast...

Here are a few pics from today:

The Good -
My local Spot Going Off, Had a great 2 hour session this morning with only 8 guys out!




The Bad:
Early Morning Smoke moving in from the east


Looking East from the Beach


Looking South Down the PCH Mid Morning....


The Beautiful:
The Smoke made for some great lighting

Riviera Magazine Had their 3rd Anniversary party a few nights ago at the JetSource Hangers at Palomar Airport here in Carlsbad. The party was off the hook! Gillian and crew definetly know how to rock in high end style - Ferrari 308 Spider Gt's, Bentley's, and of course what party would not be complete with out a $23 million Private Jet sitting off to the side for all the attendees to chill in... I figure it would take about 4 stops on that thing for us to get to Bali! maybe one day... :)

Here some pics taken with my cell phone, sorry for the poor quality.







By the way, HUGE THANKS to Gillian and her editorial staff for the profile of myself and Maku in their 3rd anniversary issues. It's on news stands now so go get yourself a copy. Autographs are free.... hahaha!

Maku on cover of Decor & Style

Greetings from Maku PR!

I think most of our close friends know this already, but for those who we have not had the opportunity to bump into during the course of the last two weeks, I wanted to let everyone know that Maku is on the cover of the July issue of . Johnny and I are both extremely excited about this as it's our first cover for Maku. Inside we have a nice little picture of the arm dining chair, along with credit info for our two SD retailers, Mixture and Grounded .

Special thanks to D&S's Georgette and Nadia, who have helped champion Maku internally over there.

More good things to come from Maku in the news.