Springtime brings to mind many things for Texans.

Houston Livestock Show & Rodeo,

the South by Southwest conference & festival in Austin,

azaleas, bluebonnets & Texas Mountain Laurels in bloom,

planting summer gardens,

the MS150 bike tour & warm-up rides,

and much more.

For us, it’s meant spring cleaning — cleaning, recycling, packing & eagerly anticipating our relocation to one of Houston’s greenest ZIP Codes (77098). Yes, our new green building headquarters at 4000 Greenbriar & the Southwest Freeway is almost complete.

It’s been great to see roughly 500 other like-minded Texan businesses thriving in an otherwise uncertain economy by building high performance green building projects, like ours. As of 2007, green is definitely mainstream, just like the internet & email were since the mid-1990’s.

To celebrate & build upon these successes, we’ve chosen to dedicate 2008 to the challenge of air quality & the opportunity for clean air.

And, we’ve found two ways to make it easy for you, our customers, to join us:

1. consider switching to green power at home & work, &
2. stay up-to-date with your city’s current Air Quality Index.

Our Motivation

Even though The City of Houston, The City of Dallas & Green Bank have all acted to improve Texas’ air quality by purchasing 20%, 40% & 100% green power, respectively, we feel compelled to make an even more positive impact on Texas’ air quality for a couple of reasons.

First, it makes business sense. On March 12, 2008, the EPA increased national air quality standards that will impact how businesses operate across Texas.

Read about how the EPA’s newly increased air quality standards will impact Houston businesses (released March 12, 2008).

One of the easiest & most profitable ways that Green Bank proactively addressed this air quality issue was to purchase 3 years of zero emissions, 100% green power for our locations. We discovered that the premium that businesses pay for 100% green power was only about 3% to 4%, which can be less than brokers’ commissions & seems to be doubling every 8-12 months. So, we locked in long-term rates while natural gas & electricity prices were extremely low last year.

Visit green power 4 Texas, the electricity broker that helped us save on green power.

Second, it’s the right thing to do. When we discovered that Greater Houston is currently classified as an Eight-Hour Ozone Nonattainment Area & that ozone accumulates close to the ground where kids play and at the time of day when kids are most likely to be outside playing, we had to take action.

Read about a 2007 study conducted by the University of Houston about other pollutants (mercury & formaldehyde) now found in Houston’s air. Here is another research study about how two Hazardous Air Pollutants from Houston’s Ship Channel may be causing significantly higher rates of leukemia in children.

And, it was surprising to learn that more than half of Texas is classified as nonattainment areas with respect to the Clean Air Act, & that this unacceptable status could jeopardize our receiving billions of dollars in federal highway funds if not corrected soon.

Read about how Texas is offering $3,500 to low-income drivers so they can replace old, polluting vehicles.

An Easy First Step to Making a Difference

Would you consider helping us create a better Texas for our customers by improving Texas’ air quality? If so, here is a simple way you can help.

AIR QUALITY: Before you, your family or your colleagues play or work outdoors, be sure to check your city’s current air quality at AIRNow or the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality.

If the Air Quality Index is above 100, it’s best to:

1. Stay indoors
2. Avoid strenuous activity when outdoors
3. Drink plenty of water, &
4. Avoid high traffic and/or industrial areas.

For example, in 2006, Houstonians had 26 days when Houston’s air quality was unhealthy, particularly for children, the elderly & asthma sufferers. The good news, though, is that Houston’s air quality has improved substantially since 1999 & 2000 when Houston’s air quality was ranked as the worst in the nation. In fact, according to the City Mayors website, Houston’s 2007 rank improved to the fifth most polluted air, primarily due to ground level ozone. Dallas ranks as #7. Austin continues to be recognized as one of America’s greenest cities, but may soon receive one of the EPA’s “worst city” labels based on the federal air quality standards updated on March 12, 2008.

So, please take care of your kids, older adults, asthma sufferers & pets by checking each day’s air quality, because kids & pets are closer to the ground & outdoors playing from 11 AM to 8 PM when ozone can be a real problem.

We look forward to working with you in 2008 to improve Texas’ air quality & to serving as your Green Bank.

Thank you for your help.

That’s right. Kids and youth from America to China are fast becoming the primary force behind the green movement. Young people are the ones who hold the most power in shaping our world and the future. Articles like “Inconvenient Youths” prove that our environmentally conscious are pulling us parents and the adult generations to prioritize sustainable lifestyles and make smart choices.

However, as one of China’s most influential leaders states (see hyperlinks below), although youth are more than aware – even passionate about saving the planet, youth are asking for more guidance, education, and resources. That’s why we committed nearly half of www.greenbank.com to green learning.

Here are just a few links to some of the most intriguing subculture trends that have impressed and inspired me about our youth and the future lately:

• “Inconvenient youths,” Wall Street Journal, September 29, 2007
• “Youth should lead green consumption,” China.org.cn
• Wind the World Over, an adventurous and educational children’s book about alternative energy by Irene Boland and Vanessa Kellogg, a Houston-area wind industry leader
• American Youthworks (Austin, Texas), a charter school and green building vocational training program that transforms young people into self-sufficient adults through education, job training and community service
• Green Youth Farm (Chicago, Illinois), an old-fashioned summer job program for youth who want to learn all aspects of organic farming
• Recycle Mania, a nationwide friendly competition among colleges and universities to see which institution can minimize waste, recycle the most, and much more
• Green Maps, by which youth mapmaking teams pair adaptable tools and universal iconography with local knowledge and leadership to chart green living, ecological, social and cultural resources
• Go Green Initiative, founded in 2002, a simple, comprehensive program designed to create a culture of environmental responsibility on school campuses across the nation
• GreenPlan Philadelphia, where city leaders invited youth leadership to the table for master planning the city’s future

Way to go, kids! Keep leading the way.

For many in the banking and finance industry, October can be a very scary month. In fact, October 19th is the financial corollary of the modern day Halloween. Normally stalwart professionals begin to fear even their own shadows on this anniversary of 1987’s “Black Monday” when the financial markets plummeted 22.6% and shed $500 billion in one day.

This year’s October 19^th threatened to be just as horrific as Caterpillar, the world’s premier manufacturer of earth-moving construction and mining equipment, stated that the U.S. economy will be “near to, or even in, recession” next year… The markets went ghost white — the Dow was down 367 points or 2.64%, its largest point drop on October 19^th since 1987, and the largest percentage drop since August 9^th when the European Central Bank infused money into the banking system to stabilize the U.S. subprime housing and mortgage crises. And, all of this happened against the additional backdrop of record high prices for energy, raw materials and labor.

Fortunately, the Fed and some fellow financial industry good guys scared away the specters, and restored hope … at least for now.

So, the question I began to ask myself was, “How could my banking customers – business owners and families – and other fellow Texans sustain hope and rational growth?”

For me, the answer may be found in an insightful editorial entitled “An old habit could save us all” that was featured in The Houston Chronicle on Sunday, October 14^th the weekend before all these events.

The article starts, “Imagine: a bank that promotes thrift (savings)! This could be the start of something big.” Citing foreclosure and bankruptcy rates, the authors describe how our nation’s attitude of saving has transformed into a monstrous appetite for overspending. One of the scariest realities described is that children today are more likely to live through their parents’ bankruptcy than their parents’ divorce.

The editorial also quotes a leading currency advisor who is urging banks to remedy these afflictions by returning to the bygone days of concentrating on ‘harder-to-get deposits’ and instilling ‘the savings habit by going into schools and helping kids set up small passbook accounts.’

Finally, the authors Boshara and Longman bridge the seemingly paradoxical gap between conservation of money and conservation of the environment:

“Conserving financial resources is not only still essential to individual liberty; it is also essential to moderating wasteful consumption and saving the environment.”

I believe that conservation and stewardship define good business. And, these yield freedom. The heroes whom Tom Brokaw named the Greatest Generation, that is, the generation who lived through and thrived after the Great Depression – modeled this result by living out their good old-fashioned values and habits (i.e., savings and thrift).

We created Green Bank as a community bank to reconcile these issues of quality of life, profit, and the well-being of present and future generations. And, our tagline confirms our commitment: Saving you more than money.

At Green Bank, sustainability can be seen in our products (Totally Green ^SM Money Market Account) and much more. You’ll see ‘green’ in our properties (e.g., we’ve purchased three years of 100% green power for all of our branches and new headquarters, the choice of which costs us less than conventional electricity and improves Texas’ air quality; and, our new headquarters is a LEED® Registered, healthy, high performance green building), our processes (e.g., incentivizing ourselves and customers to think systematically, to go paperless, etc.), and most importantly our people – including you and me. For example, I traded up from my gas-guzzling and polluting SUV to a Toyota Prius, and reduced my household’s carbon footprint by 50%. Because returning to better habits required me to become a student again, we have dedicated one-third of our website to education and learning … to our future.

Green	Products		Healthy	Profits
	Properties			People
	Processes			Planet
	People

For me, the rewards of a sustainable or ‘green’ approach to work and life have been easiest to learn and appreciate once I started with my own business and life. Rather than pressure you with scare tactics, I hope that you’re inspired to join us in saving you more than money.

I’m sure you’ve heard the old adage: April showers bring May flowers. Well, with the abundance of summer rains we’ve had across Texas, our great state is looking greener than ever this fall. The last time I checked, Houston was 21+ inches over its expected annual rainfall, and Austin was 18 inches over its typical annual precipitation.

Unfortunately, while Texas has enjoyed great weather, many of our neighboring states are experiencing 100-year drought conditions and all-time record temperatures.

Nonetheless, Texas’ abundance of rain and cooler weather this summer have done wonders to keep down temperatures, natural gas prices and even electricity prices. In fact, over the last couple of weeks, natural gas prices reached a one-year low. So, Green Bank purchased three years of 100% green power for our branches and new Houston headquarters. And, our 100% renewable electricity actually cost less than conventionally produced electricity through our electricity aggregator, www.greenpower4Texas.com, and Green Mountain Energy. We love saving more than money ^SM

Speaking of fall foliage, have you stumbled upon the spectacular fall foliage at greenbank.com? It’s one of the fun, subtle design features of our site.

We hope that you enjoy the cool weather with some time outdoors in Texas this fall. Be sure to visit the calendar of events for some great outdoor, family-friendly events across Texas.

Welcome to Green Bank — one of the nation’s few banks focused on sustainability. I want to dedicate this first blog entry to sharing a quick personal overview of how and why we started Green Bank.

Redstone Bank reborn as Green Bank

We openly admit that, when we started brainstorming how to create the best bank for fellow Texans, we unexpectedly discovered the trend toward environmental stewardship and even the name Green Bank. Since then, ‘green’ has gone mainstream in Texas and even in our bank and personal lives.

What we didn’t realize at first was that ‘green’ has always been at the core of who we Texans are. For example, when we polled our team about their favorite pastimes, hobbies or memories, everyone listed fun, outdoor activities – such as, golf, walking, biking, tennis, jogging, fishing, camping, bird watching, gardening, etc.

We’ve also been surprised to see that today’s ‘green’ dispels most of the myths and stereotypes that used to keep people from taking care of our great state – including both our neighbors and the great outdoors. Because businesses and consumers have so many more practical alternatives from which to choose – from food to transportation to buildings to energy, ‘green’ is finally practical, cost-competitive, entrepreneurial and fun.

Being Green Bank is not being radical, it is just being smart.
We’re ‘green’ not because it’s popular, but because it’s practical.

A healthy, efficient bank for Texans

Here is the bank we have created for you:

• A community bank operated by a team of seasoned professionals who:
  • call Texas home, and
  • are committed to being “green” through bold changes in their personal lives to lead cleaner, healthier, more sustainable lifestyles
• A simple portfolio of products and services that reward green personal banking, green commercial banking, and green commercial real estate.
• A well-balanced combination of high-touch and high-tech, that is, good old-fashioned personal banking and customer care along with appropriate modern technologies
• Processes and practices that save customers time and money and even save the planet
• Fun educational resources (green events calendar, news, calculators, and more) to help you enjoy what we’re learning and what you probably already find interesting; and
• Healthier and more efficient green headquarters and branches that use 100% green power or are even pursuing LEED Certification through the US Green Building Council.

We look forward to getting to know you, and to helping you create healthy profits, healthy people and a healthy planet.