Friday, December 28, 2012

The Power of Collective Action Gangnam Style

 
by Paul E McGinniss

Wow! A music video by Korean pop star Psy is watched worldwide by more than one billion people. Imagine if a billion plus people joined forces to help solve the world’s most pressing problems. 
Think it’s possible? 

Check out the full post on EcoWatch

Monday, December 17, 2012

Explosion in Natural Gas Exploration is More Doom than Boom

By Paul E McGinniss


Natural Gas Flare at Oil Well in Nigeria.  Photo via Andrew Berends, director of documentary film Delta Boys. 

Natural Gas business is booming. Across the U.S., the extraction of natural gas (which consists primarily of CH4, methane) is a growth industry. This fast-paced growth is especially driven by the rampant implementation of the controversial process of hydraulic fracturing, referred to as "fracking." It is allowing hungry drillers to tap into previously inaccessible gas trapped miles beneath the ground. According to the U.S. Energy Information Agency, the United States will become a net exporter of natural gas by around 2022.
 
Besides the obvious degradation of the environment from the industrial gas extraction process, and the air and water pollution resulting from the unregulated industry, there are important but perhaps less obvious problems associated with the natural gas boom.

Safe delivery of natural gas is a very serious issue. You need go no further than the fire- ravaged Breezy Point neighborhood of Queens, NY to see how susceptible natural gas pipelines are to damage, especially in super storms, and how dangerous these taken- for- granted pipelines can be. Besides the pipeline-fueled fires in Queens, there were over 1300 storm related gas leaks reported in areas of New Jersey devastated by hurricane Sandy. Fires fueled by gas leaks burned many houses to the ground.

NaturalGasWatch.org reported:

"As the storm struck...it triggered a natural gas-fueled fire in the borough of Queen in New York City that destroyed more than 100 homes, as well as natural gas-fueled blazes that struck several locations in New Jersey. Although there was some immediate disagreement about the role of natural gas in the Queens inferno, the
Lehigh Valley Morning Call, citing emergency communications transmissions, confirmed that natural gas did, in fact, fuel the destruction."

Now, if you think the only time to worry about natural gas leaks is when a super storm approaches that could damage pipelines, it's prudent to think again.

According to a November 2102 study by researchers at Boston University and Duke University, the city of Boston is riddled with more than 3,000 leaks from its aging natural-gas pipeline system. “While our study was not intended to assess explosion risks, we came across six locations in Boston where gas concentrations exceeded the threshold above which explosions can occur,” said Nathan Phillips, associate professor in Boston University’s Department of Earth and Environment and co-author of the study.

And Boston is hardly alone when it comes to real danger posed by leaky natural gas infrastructure. Indeed, a November 2012 natural gas explosion in Springfield, Massachusetts injured more than twenty people and damaged almost 4 dozen buildings. The Christian Science Monitor reported: "Such problems appear to be increasing as the nation's network of 2.5 million miles of oil, gas, and other liquid pipelines grows."

There are many examples of natural gas explosions resulting from aging and leaky pipelines. For instance, there was a huge natural gas explosion in Sept. 2010 in San Bruno, CA which killed eight people, injured more than 50 others and destroyed or damaged over 100 homes.

In November 2102, ProPublica reported in Pipelines Explained: How Safe are America’s 2.5 Million Miles of Pipelines?:

"More than half of the nation's pipelines are at least 50 years old. Last year in Allentown Pa., a natural gas pipeline exploded underneath a city street, killing five people who lived in the houses above and igniting a fire that damaged 50 buildings. The pipeline – made of cast iron – had been installed in 1928."

Being blown up by a leaky gas pipeline might be the least of our problems. Consider the silent danger of the potent green house gas (GHG), methane, leaking from pipelines associated with the increasing amount of oil and gas drilling operations around the country. They are spreading like wildfire, pun intended.

When thinking about global warming, most point the finger at CO2 being dumped into the atmosphere as a result of burning fossil fuels. But methane is just as worrisome with regards to global warming and something we need to be seriously concerned about if we want to avoid climate disaster.

According to the Global Methane Initiative, an international public-private initiative that advances cost effective, near-term methane abatement and recovery and use of methane as a clean energy source, natural gas and oil systems account for 22 percent of anthropogenic methane emissions. And, of the GHGs emitted as a result of human activities, methane is the second most important GHG after carbon dioxide.


In February 2012's Bombshell Study: High Methane Emissions Measured Over Gas Field May Offset Climate Benefits of Natural Gas, Think Progress reported how air sampling by NOAA over Colorado finds 4% methane leakage, more than double industry claims:

"When US government scientists began sampling the air from a tower north of Denver, Colorado, they expected urban smog — but not strong whiffs of what looked like natural gas. They eventually linked the mysterious pollution to a nearby natural-gas field, and their investigation has now produced the first hard evidence that the cleanest-burning fossil fuel might not be much better than coal when it comes to climate change.

Led by researchers at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) and the University of Colorado, Boulder, the study estimates that natural-gas producers in an area known as the Denver-Julesburg Basin are losing about 4% of their gas to the atmosphere — not including additional losses in the pipeline and distribution system...... And because methane is some 25 times more efficient than carbon dioxide at trapping heat in the atmosphere, releases of that magnitude could effectively offset the environmental edge that natural gas is said to enjoy over other fossil fuels.”

And it's not just natural gas wells that release methane into the atmosphere. The common flaring of oil wells to release natural gas in the drilling process is a huge source of methane emissions worldwide. The Christian Science Monitor reported: “The United States is posting rapid growth in the waste of natural gas in new oil fields where the fuel is either burned or vented into the atmosphere.

On a positive note, in April 2012 the EPA finalized new standards to reduce harmful air pollution associated with oil and natural gas production. These were the first Federal rules to address air pollution resulting from fracking for Natural Gas. Yet, despite the progress, many think the rules were not strong enough. NRDC said the new EPA rules were “An Important Step Forward, But Communities Still At Risk” :

“These first-ever EPA limits on dangerous air pollution from natural gas fracking wells are a critical step toward protecting our kids, our communities, and our planet,” said Meleah Geertsma, an attorney in Natural Resources Defense Council’s climate and clean air program. “But to fulfill President Obama’s State of the Union pledge to develop these resources ‘without putting the health and safety of our citizens at risk,’ the EPA needs to do more to protect people living near oil and gas production facilities.”

Unfortunately, capturing methane was not one of the requirements in the new federal emissions standards set by the EPA. So, methane will continue to spew silently and unregulated from the hundreds of thousands of natural gas wells and oil wells across the USA, not to mention the wells in many other countries throughout the world.

Granted, the new EPA controls meant to curb VOCs and other toxins emitted from oil and gas drilling will minimize, to some extent, the amount of methane going into the atmosphere. The EPA claims methane reductions as a “co-benefit” of the controls that are meant to curb other emissions.

But, according to environmental groups, the methane emission cuts achieved by targeting VOCs and other toxic chemicals pursuant to the new EPA regulations would address only around 10 percent of the methane emissions from the oil and gas industry. Luckily, these environmentalists are petitioning the Department of the Interior (DOI) to set a host of strict emissions controls for cutting releases of the greenhouse gas (GHG) methane associated with oil and gas drilling on federal and tribal lands .

However, there is most disturbing news about methane, which puts real doom and gloom in the gas boom, from the current
Doha Climate Change Conference. A new report, Policy Implications of Warming Permafrost, released by the UN Environment Programme (UNEP) gives a chilling warning that methane and CO2 released from the thawing of permafrost, which covers almost a quarter of the northern hemisphere, could significantly amplify global warming should thawing accelerate as expected.

It is urgent that we develop renewable energy resources, slow down drilling for oil and natural gas, curtail excavating coal, reduce the burning of fossil fuels, and stop releasing so much deadly C02 and methane into the atmosphere. If we do not halt global warming, and the northern hemisphere continues to melts, the resulting climate change would be a world catastrophe.

"The release of carbon dioxide and methane from warming permafrost is irreversible: once the organic matter thaws and decays away, there is no way to put it back into the permafrost," said lead author of the UNEP report Kevin Schaefer, from the University of Colorado's National Snow and Ice Data Center. "

If there are any doubts about the real impacts of global warming and climate change, all one has to do is see the haunting film, Chasing Ice, to witness the rapid disappearance of glaciers as heroically documented in the film. If “Chasing Ice” doesn't make you worried and motivate you to become a climate change activist, nothing will.

Copyright 2012 Paul E McGinniss
 
Paul E McGinniss is The New York Green Advocate. He is a green building consultant and real estate broker in New York. He is pretty much obsessed with all things environment and has lately become a resiliency addict.

Sunday, December 2, 2012

First Climate Change March in Qatar


Posted By Paul E McGinniss

Hundreds March During UN Climate Conference in Doha, Qatar, Demanding Urgent Action on Climate Change

Check out the Inspiring Events in Qatar as activists from more than 15 Arab countries, including Qatar, Mauritania, Morocco, Jordan, Libya, Tunisia, United Arab Emirates, Palestine, Lebanon, Iraq, Algeria, Sudan, Oman, Egypt and Bahrain calling on their leaders—during the first U.N. climate negotiations ever held in the Middle East—to submit concrete voluntary pledges for mitigation targets at U.N. Climate Conference, COP18 in order to fulfill their own responsibilities in reducing greenhouse gas emissions.  

Via EcoWatch & IndyACT

 Watch this Uplifting Video: (Click twice to see full screen)

 

 

 

Saturday, October 20, 2012

Renewable Energy Doubters Beware: The U.S. Military Wants Us to Go Green and They're Not Going To Take No For an Answer

by Paul E McGinniss


Use of Renewable Energy by the U.S. Military is not only good for the planet, but increases our energy security. Pic Via TGDaily.com  
In 2011, to mark 9/11, I wrote a blog post entitled Green Security: The U.S. Military Fights Climate Change and Declares War on Fossil Fuels

When I was researching the military's passionate effort to embrace renewable energy and sustainable operations, I was thrilled. Thrilled, not only because I knew military investment in renewable technology would help kick-start mainstream adoption of clean technology,  but, also, because here was a strong argument, finally, that renewable energy naysayers and climate change skeptics might actually listen to.  If the red, white, and blue armed forces are going green and seriously worried about climate change, well then, maybe global warming and the whole "green thing" is not just some liberal conspiracy or eco nonsense from left wing environmentalists. 

Energy Bulletin's  "The Real Reason the Military is Going Green" reported that the Department of Defense first acknowledged climate change as a factor in its operations in a 2010 report in the Quadrennial Defense Review.  The report stated: “Climate change may act as an accelerant of instability or conflict, placing a burden to respond on civilian institutions and militaries around the world."

The excellent Energy Bulletin piece featured retired Brigadier General Steven Anderson who calls himself  “an accidental environmentalist.”  His epiphany about climate change began with a tactical problem in Iraq.  The Brigadier General coordinated the transport of millions of gallons of fuel across Iraq to power everything from vehicles to the large compressors used to cool individual tents.  He was taking one casualty for every 24 fuel convoys, and he was conducting 18 convoys a day. That’s one casualty every other day. He needed to get the trucks off the road. He needed to find a way to reduce the military’s fuel use and integrate solar PV and other alternative power sources into his base of operation.

Granted, the initial thrust of the military going green might have been to protect soldiers, not to save the environment.  But, saving lives is, ultimately, what saving the environment is all about. 

Why should our own soldiers risk their lives because they have to haul barrels of oil around hostile territory when there are safer, cleaner ways to power their operations? The thought of not questioning the paradigm is as illogical as it is idiotic.    

Unfortunately, some of our less enlightened Congressional leaders seem to think they know better than the the military brass.  In February, Republican Representative Randy Forbes from Virginia had the audacity to pound his desk after Secretary of the Navy Raymond Mabus Jr. explained some of the Navy’s plans for going greener during a House Armed Services Committee Meeting. Forbes chided Mabus:  “You’re not the Secretary of the Energy—you’re Secretary of the Navy.”

In  U.S. Military's Green Energy Criticized By Congress, NPR reported the White House and military brass are calling for the development of alternative energy. One goal is cutting dependence on foreign sources. Another is reducing the carbon footprint of the largest fossil fuel consumer in the world. 

Sharon Burke, assistant Secretary of Defense for Operational Energy Plans and Programs, called biofuels and alternative fuels “sustainable and reliable” ways the United States can accomplish the defense mission. “Energy security is about international stability and prosperity and that is fundamentally an issue of national security,” Burke said.  And, the Defense Department is implementing new forms of energy without destabilizing the existing infrastructure.  Burke explained: “We’re looking for fuels that are compatible with our existing equipment and storage infrastructure and a cost-competitive alternative fuels market.”

There are more and more people in the private sector who get that going green by implementing use of alternative fuels, renewable technology and taking action to mitigate climate change is as much about security as saving the environment.  This includes Alex Wilson, founder of  BuildingGreen, who recently launched the Resilient Design Institute
to study ways to make our homes and communities more resilient and better prepared for natural disasters and potential disruptions in energy and food supplies in the future.

But, some on Capitol Hill are blocking the military's efforts to develop a green program. The NPR host, Audie Cornish, said: "Now, one of the program's biggest critics is Senator John McCain. He argues that the President is using the military to pursue a green agenda." 

What is wrong Senator McCain with the President of the United States of America, our Commander in Chief, helping the military to save soldiers' lives, reduce security threats, all the while pursuing an environmentally friendly, green agenda which the military itself was already embracing wholeheartedly? 

Now is the time to be proud of the Red, White, Blue AND Green.  

Copyright Paul E McGinniss 2012

Check out the Video: Army Net Zero: Going Green with Solar Power

Wednesday, October 3, 2012

Do You Use Facial Scrub? If So, Read This!

Read the Post by Marcus Eriksen of 5 Gyres On EcoWatch About Plastic In Facial Scrub And How It Is Ending Up In Our Waterways!

Dr Sylvya Earle with Anna Cummins, Marcus Eriksen and their baby Avani at Blue Ocean Film Festival.

Here is just a snippet of this shocking post:

"We’ve got some important news to share about plastic pollution upstream in the Great Lakes, the first expedition to study plastics in inland U.S. waters. We’ve analyzed our data from samples taken in the Great Lakes and what we found is shocking. Microplastic particles, no larger than grains of sand, peppering the lake surface. One sample had more than 600 of them. Yikes! What could they be? After some investigation, we’ve figured it out. The culprit? Non-natural facial scrub products that employ micro-particle polyethylene beads as an exfoliant. The beads are designed to go from your face down the drain and then to the ocean. We’ll be launching a campaign to address this problem in the coming months and we’ll need your help to claim another victory for the ocean."

I am a huge fan of 5 Gyres since I met the co-founders Marcus Eriksen and  his wife Anna Cummins at a SPARK in NYC.

Check out the Full Post on EcoWatch

Sunday, September 30, 2012

Thousands Of "Energy Voters" Gather in Central Park, To Celebrate Fracking and NYC's First Natural Gas Well


by Paul E McGinniss


NYC's First Natural Gas Well being Installed on the Great Lawn of Central Park 

Just kidding.  Actually, yesterday, 60,000 plus gathered at the Global Citizens Festival concert in Central Park to end extreme poverty and world hunger.

There's not gonna be a frack well in our backyard Mr Halliburton!   And, no where else, if we have our way.

I had the awesome pleasure of attending the festival and chillaxin in The Big Green Apple with anti-fracking activists Stefanie Spear, founder of EcoWatch.org, and Russell Mendell from WaterDefense.org.  

The headliner of the consciousness raising festival was none other than forever-young Neil Young and Crazy Horse who blew the organic socks off of the mesmerized concertgoers. 

Photo Credit: Maria Ives via LiveMusic blog.

The Global Citizens Festival took place on the magnificent Great Lawn of Central Park and featured the Black Keys, Foo Fighters,
K'naan, and Band of Horses. John Legend made a surprise appearance to perform John Lennon's "Imagine" on a stage within a short walking distance to Strawberry Field, the Central Park memorial to our beloved New Yorker.
  
 John Legend performing "Imagine". Photo via Fuse.tv

Who said the energy and activism of the 1960s are over? 

Last night, the magical Manhattan skyline loomed and radiated behind us, as a most-apropos Harvest Moon beamed down from above. 

We were swept up in a moment of change-making that will linger for years.  According to AP, the organizers of Global Citizens.org said 170,000 people signed petitions to help end extreme poverty, their web site had 3.5 million page views, and 200,000 pieces of info were shared on Facebook. The project also achieved its yearlong goal of working with an array of organizations such as the U.S. Fund for UNICEF, the Earth Institute and Rotary International while garnering $500 million in commitments to help fight poverty.

Picture Stefanie Spear of EcoWatch.org and Russell Mendell from WaterDefense.org

The night ended with a jam session. Neil Young performed his classic, activist anthem, "Rockin' in the Free Word", accompanied by members of The Black Keys, Foo Fighters, Band of Horses and K’Naan.  Stellar performances by one and all, but especially by Mr. Neil Young who continues to care AND rock like tomorrow depends upon it. 
 
Keep on rockin' in the free world,
Keep on rockin' in the free world
Keep on rockin' in the free world,
Keep on rockin' in the free world.


 Copyright Paul E McGinniss 2012

Here Comes The Flood: Why Climate Change Doesn't Matter

Alex Wilson and the Resilient Design Institute Think It's Time To Forget About The Climate Change Debate and Time To Take The Gloves Off and Mitigate Global Warming

by Paul E McGinniss

Property damaged by Tropical Storm Irene in 2011. Photo: Vern Grubinger Via Resilient Design Institute. 

Mr. Resiliency, aka Alex Wilson, is a man on a mission.   He believes strongly in the existence of climate change and the serious effects it will have worldwide in the coming years. Alex Wilson knows a lot about the environment.  Founder of Environmental Building News, BuildingGreen and GreenSpec, Alex has been promoting environmentally friendly, healthy, clean energy living since Jimmy Carter put Solar Panels on the White House. 

The case of the missing White House solar panels. Solar panels in the 70s went out of fashion faster then bell bottom pants and bad hairdos.  Photo of President Carter on the White House roof via Mother Board and Brian Merchant.

But, let's face it, most people did not take President Carter's efforts seriously.  Currently, as well, not enough people are tuning into the environmental cause or doing anything substantial about changing the paradigm.  While the arctic ice caps melt, whole swaths of the U.S. burst into flames or experience seriously dangerous long term drought, and freak storms regularly devastate various parts of the USA, most of us just bumble along and debate Climate Change. Blah blah blah.

In the Resilient Design Institute blog post "Changing the Climate Change Conversation",  Vern Grubinger points out the following. "The Yale Project on Climate Change Communication reports that only 40% of Americans were alarmed or concerned about climate change, 25% were dismissive or doubtful,
  and the rest were in the middle. One-third of all Americans are cautious, meaning they believe global warming is a problem, but not an urgent one, and they’re unsure if it’s caused by humans."

Photo of floods in Bangladesh via Common Dreams.
 
Meanwhile, a shocking new analysis by the humanitarian and development research organization, DARA, warns that if the danger of climate change continues to be ignored by the world's governments, the encroaching disaster could claim the lives of 100 million people in the next two decades.  And, lost economic prosperity to the world economies would be measured in the trillions of dollars.


Pic Via Elephant Journal via Theresa on Pinterest.

Luckily, smart people like Alex are shifting the focus away from the climate change debate and to the significant environmental impacts and disasters already slapping many of us in the face.

For instance, far from the mainstream media's contentious discussion, Himalayans in remote villages of Nepal and India, eking a living from the land, have clearly figured out that something is up with the environment. The Royal Society in London published a study in 2011 that reported the following. For Himalayans: "There is a widespread feeling that weather is getting warmer, the water sources are drying up, the onset of summer and monsoon has advanced during last 10 years and there is less snow on mountains than before. Local perceptions of the impact of climate change on biodiversity included early budburst and flowering, new agricultural pests and weeds and appearance of mosquitoes."

You still don't think getting slapped upside the head by Mother Nature doesn't change perception of global warming?  Nature.com has a revealing article entitled "Perceptions of climate change and willingness to save energy related to flood experience." 

Here comes the flood.  Welcome to a green world.  Like it or not. 

Copyright Paul E McGinniss 2012

Check out Peter Gabriel's awesome "Here Comes the Flood". (Click on twice to view full screen)
 

Sunday, September 23, 2012

Best Green Building Materials: Free Stuff That Was Someone Else's Waste


Upcycling in the Hudson Valley: Eco Loft Barn Project In Barryville, New York Nears Completion

by Paul E McGinniss
 
I've posted a few other times about the inspiring building project we have been project managing.  You can check out Building Blocks of Successful Green Buildings and Small Footprint Building Project in Upstate, New York Exemplifies Green Affordability.

Today, I made the beautiful drive from Accord, New York in Ulster County south to the Delaware River and met with our client and proud new construction home owner, Jorge Rodriguez.   The magnificence of the scenery and delightful end of summer weather inspired me to update everyone on the project.

Before our clever collaborator, Jorge, showed me all the cool "green" building materials he's been collecting for the finishing work, we met with Todd Pascarella from Energy Experts to go over details of the frame sealing and the blown cellulose insulation work.  Todd is  BPI certified and an Energy Star expert so the structure is going to be very well sealed and energy efficient.  (We made a point of hiring a well trained, experienced insulation professional since the building envelope is of paramount importance to sustainable building i.e. resilient living.)

 Todd  and Jorge reviewing the insulation plan.

Before today's on-site rendezvous, Todd had already spoken with our framer and building partner, the spectacular Wizard of Geobarns, George Abetti.    They conferred on how to install the venting baffles and deal with the roof venting for George's one-of-a-kind, diagonal framing method.  So, as soon as we have the final electrical inspection accomplished, Energy Experts can begin to seal the frame.

There will be R38, dense-pack cellulose below the roof and R21, dense-pack insulation in the wall cavity.  I realize that this R value isn't exactly Passive House standards.  However, the structure is very compact and almost 1/3 underground.  So, the tightness of the structure and insulation levels will make for efficient heating and cooling.  (Look for a future post which will discuss details of the super-energy-efficient HVAC Mini Split air to air heat pumps we will be installing.)

About one third of the structure is built into the earth providing for excellent energy efficiency.  In addition, below grade, rigid  foam insulation was added to the foundation exterior.

OK, so now to the upcycling.   Like any savvy Gothamite, Jorge understands that someone else's trash is another's treasure.  For interior work, he discovered an amazing pile of discarded, weathered "wood with attitude" in the Brooklyn neighborhood of Bushwick.  Cost: free.  There is enough material to panel roughly 50% of the interior walls. Jorge trucked his find upstate in a small rental along with some wood beams and other free and almost free fixtures he conjured up in the Big Apple.  This tranquilly-sited loft barn, perched high above the Delaware River, is an organic merging of urban sensibility, street-smart sustainability and quintessential country ambiance.  It perfectly demonstrates the economic and environmental benefits of DIY upcycling in a green home design plan.   


Just part of the pile of salvaged wood from Bushwick, Brooklyn. The wood will be used for paneling part of the interior walls.

 Jorge's "solution" to the plumbing fixtures was fantastic.  He found a vintage bathroom sink for $20 at Build It Green in Queens.   (As a bonus, that shopping expedition also netted several free doors.)  The search for a toilet resulted in cajoling a local retailer in Brooklyn to take a very cool fifty ($50.00!) bucks for a brand new throne!  And, he purchased a classic claw foot bathtub in good condition for $300.   In support of his upstate local community, Jorge bought this gem right down the street from his new home at an antique shop in Barryville.


A peak at the salvaged (free) door and ($20) sink from Build It Green in NYC 

Some of the best "free" material Jorge gathered was literally at his doorstep!  A simple two step stoop for the front door entrance was fashioned from stones unearthed in the excavation process for the foundation.  It almost looks like it has been there all along!

 Talk about natural building materials:  Stones from the yard are a real locavore find!   
 
We'll be doing a few more posts about this project after the insulation work is completed and the interior space is finished.  I can't wait to see how all the "green", i.e. reclaimed, recycled, free, material is woven together in the final phase of construction.  But, one thing I have no doubt about, despite its incredible affordability and true sustainability, this structure, inside and out, will look like something that deserves to end up in the likes of Dwell magazine.


Jorge and Todd look out at the majestic Delaware River. This area of New York is a hot bed of controversy over fracking  for natural gas.  As part of this project, we made a conscious decision not to use propane in the energy mix so to avoid any use of fossil fuels. The minimal electricity used to power, heat and cool the house can be offset with solar PV.

Master Builder George (Abetti) is returning once more to assist Jorge and his family with some of the interior finishing work, including placing wood board on the interior cathedral ceiling and cupola.  (This will be an elegant natural cover over the soon-to-be-blown-in cellulose insulation.)  

In anticipation of seeing George at the project site again for his last part of the work, I asked him how it felt to finish a project.   George eloquently expressed his deep feelings: "The emotions are bittersweetly mixed...but much of the loss is coming down from the intensity of a build...pouring my heart into something that now, in a sense, is gone....when I return to a site for a visit and realize that the structure--via the client--has moved on past being built and metamorphosed into its intended use.  This is often a humbling encounter..."

And, please remember.  If you are planning to buy an existing house or purchase land and undertake building a house in the Hudson Valley or Catskills, please email: info@paulemcginniss.com

We have had the pleasure of successful collaboration with creative and excellent clients in the past.   We look forward to working with new clients and sharing their journey to a new Home. 

Happy End of Summer, 2012.  Workers of the World Unite!

Copyright Paul E McGinniss 2012