"If you dare to file a claim on your homeowner's insurance policy, we'll cancel your policy no matter how long you've been our customer." That seems to have become the motto of the homeowner's insurance industry.

Just a few days ago, I received an e-mail from a homeowner who was insured with the same major national insurance company for more than 30 years. Last year she filed a $457 claim. The insurer paid because the loss was covered under the policy. But when her policy came up for annual renewal, the insurer refused to renew.  more...

I recently took an ecological footprint quiz and learned that it would take 21 biologically productive acres to support my lifestyle. If everyone on Earth lived like me, we would need 4.7 planets, and I was 12 percent below average for an American!

The only saving grace here is that so far most of the world has yet to achieve my middle-class American lifestyle.  more...