The obvious news yesterday was Obama's signing the stimulus bill, which provides "$78.6 billion in clean energy, energy efficiency, and green transportation. ... When fully implemented, these provisions will prevent approximately 68 million tons of global warming pollution annually, reduce oil consumption by 15 million barrels per year, and create more than 1.5 million jobs," according to the advocacy group Environment Massachusetts.

A story from marketwatch.com reports that prospective homebuyers may finally be over their space lust. 

The average size of homes started in the third quarter of 2008 was 2,438 square feet, down from 2,629 square feet in the second quarter, according to the U.S. Census Bureau. Similarly, the median size of homes started in the third quarter was 2,090, down from 2,291.

A friend spied us in the Metrowest Daily News....

A couple of tidbits to pass on from my affiliation with Sustainable Arlington, a group of townspeople who want to spread the ideas and practices of sustainability among our neighbors:

* Four of us had our first book club discussion, discussing "The Ecology of Commerce," a 1993 book by Paul Hawken that we agreed was eerily current. I may want to refer to it in a post just about what I read, but I did feel sad and surprised that the urgent issues I've come to discuss so often these days were being already apropos more than 15 years ago.

I am not the first, by far, to say that sustainability has a far wider context than "just"  energy efficiency. Even on this blog, Andrea Atkinson of the Green Roundtable made that point when I asked her "what's the one thing you wish everyone would just get right?"

Earthwatch Institute and the Archaeological Institute of America will present a lecture titled, "Sustainability Lessons from Easter Island: Re-Thinking Rapa Nui's Ancient Agriculture," on Feb. 23 at the Lenox Hotel in Boston. A reception begins at 5:30; Dr. Christopher Stevenson starts talkin' at 7. Stevenson argues that we may be taking the wrong lessons from the collapse of the island civilization.

Go here for ticket information.

This strays from the blog's stated theme, but is just too ... tragic? quirky? real? not to acknowledge: A 9/11 widow was on the flight that went down in Buffalo. God bless their survivors.

I'll probably mention it again, but the Down 2 Earth trade and lifestyles show has announced its schedule, so you can start planning: April 3-5 at the Hynes Convention Center, the same locale as last year's inaugural event.

I expect the show, which I found a bit uneven but still worthwhile, to gain momentum this year, though I suppose it could also find the going tougher because of the economy. I have  n-o  d-o-u-b-t  that the down economy makes the efficiency messages of the green movement more important than ever, but I'm not sure everyone sees it that way.

So we had our energy audit on Friday, and it was worthwhile. A three-person team led by Dave Boettcher of Next Step Living spent better than three hours at our house, investigating, assessing, counseling, and repairing, and both Georgie and I enjoyed the experience, in addition to the knowledge and savings we gained.

Long-time readers will know that we've been working on lowering our energy use practically since we moved in: our friend and contractor Harry Chehames of Cedar Builders replaced the windows on our first floor, I wrapped (some of) the pipes in our basement in insulation and applied expanding foam to crevices in our basement, and we installed as many CFLs as we could, changed both our shower heads to low-flow and both our toilets to one-gallon-per-flush, installed programmable thermostats, etc.

So, perhaps it wasn't a surprise that Dave said our house was tighter than 90 percent of the houses he's seen, not only working for Next Step but in similar positions previously. Part of that is testament to our work, but I suspect a larger part is testament to the generally breezy state of our housing stock.

... but in a good way.

Interstate Bakeries, which made its fortune (and then its bankruptcy) by selling such questionable substances as Twinkies and Wonder Bread, is unveiling a line of natural breads that will have no artificial flavors or preservatives, high-fructose corn syrup, or trans fats. 

This is what change looks like. The only reason a company takes an action like that is because it thinks it can prosper by doing so, and the only reason it thinks that is because its market studies reveal that that's what people want.