MONEY

As the decade and the millennium began, the economy was soaring high off of the last remnants of the dot-com boom. And as people were freely spending money, banks were freely lending it without doing their homework to make sure that it could actually be paid back.

Because people were borrowing so much money so freely, they were investing in real estate like never before – buying big houses that only a decade earlier they would not have been able to buy. Then the prices of homes sky-rocketed.

And as the decade drew to a close, people’s interest rates on their loans rose along with the prices of the homes. People, who were barely scraping by with lower interest rates, could no longer afford their mortgages. House were in foreclosure like never before, property values began to take a nose dive, the stock market plummeted, employers laid off record numbers of employees, and before we knew it we were in a full-on recession.

ENVIRONMENTALISM

One thing became apparent quickly in the New Millennium; Green was the new Black.

Now saving the environment, once reserved for liberal hemp-wearing hippies in towns like Eugene and Berkley, was hip!

Words like ‘Carbon Footprint,’ ‘Global Warming,’ ‘Eco-Friendly,’ ‘Clean-Energy,’ ‘Bio Diesel,’ and ‘Hybrid Car’ became as common as reruns of the Fresh Prince of Bell Air on Nick at Nite. And Al Gore, who once was seen as the boring robotic Vice President for Bill Clinton, was now the global superstar for environmentalism.

This is the 3rd in a series of 5 articles to be posted this week.

Part 1: Random Thoughts on the First Decade of the New Millennium: September 11th
Part 2: Random Thoughts on the First Decade of the New Millennium: Communication
Part 3: Random Thoughts on the First Decade of the New Millennium: Money and Environmentalism

Anthony Trask is blessed with an incredible wife and two awesome kids. He currently co-pastors Fellowship Church in NE Salem. You can listen to his weekly messages at www.fellowshipsalem.com or read his blog at www.anthonytrask.com.