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{ Not another granola blog }Archive for Environment
Are you ready for the sustainability band wagon?
The more money you have, the better you can be to the environment. True. Domino magazine’s March issue featured the “2007 Green List”: companies and people with “undeniable eco cred.” It seemed fake and forced. ”Let me slip on my $400 Eco jeans and go buy a ‘green’ lunch, later I’ll reimburse the planet for that vacation I took. Gee it’s fun to be rich and green!” Eco-consumerism just seems so double-standard. However, when companies like Backcountry.com have a featured section, The Green Goat: Gear that gives back, it seems so much more sincere. In all honesty though, the raised awareness of our impact on the planet is better than nothing. So I guess we should all be thankful for the sustainability band wagon because it’s better than the planet complacency.
Al Gore, don’t make me cry…
Al Gore, you disappoint me. All the recent news on the ”Al Gore’s personal electric bill” controversy has made me think heavily on credibility and politics. I am extremely frustrated by Al Gore — not because he isn’t completely carbon neutral, not because he pays energy credits to a company he founded, not because he doesn’t have solar panels on his roof — but because he lives in a 10,000 square foot house. The frustration isn’t in whether or not he has “purchased his carbon credits down to be carbon neutral.” That doesn’t matter as much as living what you evangelise! We could all go buy carbon credits if we had the money, but that still wouldn’t fix global warming. Buying yourself out of the responsibility of “global warming guilt” is just a warm fuzzy — it’s only there to make you feel good.
(Interestingly, I found this article from USA Today “Gore isn’t quite as green as he’s led the world to believe” from Aug 10, 2006 chiding Gore on his consumption, so old news I suppose.)
How to save the planet without turning into a bleeding heart
What’s my excuse for being late to the global warming game? It’s not politics or will power, but the lack of real actions steps – short of selling my soul and installing solar panels on my balcony. After checking out my friend Al’s site about an Inconvenient Truth (that he likely discovered), I found a few things that I can, have, or won’t do.
What I can do… today (or tomorrow):
- Buy more cups and coffee mugs so I don’t have to run a 1/2 load dishwasher.
- Bike or walk the 1.4 miles to work. (And take my lunch to work more often so I don’t have to drive home just to look for food).
- Buy more produce from the farmer’s market.
- Try to cook in season. Also, get more organic foods at the regular grocery store.
- Recycle paper and cardboard, (instead of just cans and glass).
- Use the programmable thermostat to set the temperature to 65º while I’m not at home and at the night.
- Buy some CFL (compact fluorescent light) bulbs.
What I have already done:
- Eat less meat. Methane bad. Dairy good. Since I’m already a vegetarian, I can almost ignore this one, but I guess the same could be said for dairy products as they make the cows work, but alas, I <3 dairy!
- Buy an almost “green” car. According to FuelEconomy.gov my car has a 3/10 air pollution score and 5.7 ton/year of greenhouse gas emissions. It’s even on the “Greenest Vehicles of 2007″ list.
- Keep my car tuned up. Thanks Toyota.
- Buy fresh foods instead of frozen.
- Use less hot water. Wash clothes in cold water instead of hot.
- Turn off electronics that aren’t in use. This seems blatantly obvious to me.
What I just can’t (or probably won’t) do:
- Plant a tree.
- Buy Green or Wind Power certificates.
- Sell my car. Flexcar is a great concept, but not realistic for me personally. My monthly transportation expense: $70 gas + $65 insurance + $159 car payment = $294… much less than a $74 bus pass +$65/day for Flexcar.
- Telecommuting. I only live 1.4 miles from work, so the only time I telecommute is when I have the sniffles.
- Fly less. It’s not like I fly every week, so I’m entitled to a yearly flight on a vacation!
- Check my tires weekly. Seriously?
- Get a home energy audit.I can’t help but think that the waste of tax payers’ money out-ways the energy saved.
- Use a clothesline. Maybe in the summer, the Pacific NW wasn’t meant to be a clothesline zone from about October to May.
- Unplug electronics from the wall. Once again… seriously?
