Nov102008
70′s Week: Stamp Out Pollution T-I-O-N
My lovely wife sent this to me. She was an Electric Company fan – me, not so much.
and just for fun…enjoy The Ladybug Picnic!
Nov92008
Following The Trail Of Toxic E-Waste
After the earlier “Greening of China” we happen to be watching 60 Minutes on CBS. Tonight they had a story on following the toxic trail of e-waste. It’s amazing and appalling all at the same time. The conditions that poor Chinese farmers are put through for $8/day. The children are filled with lead in their bloodstream. The soil and water is too contaminated to drink. People are inhaling carcinogenic toxins on a regular basis. All for $8.
I would like to note that many major US computer manufacturers will take back their e-waste and are committed to ethically and properly dispose of their e-waste in the US. Please do your homework when recycling your e-waste. Check the Basel Action Network for more information on responsible e-waste recycling.
Here’s a great 10min piece on e-waste recycling in poor communities across the world.
Nov92008
Greening of Industrial China
Fears of global warming and climate change often carry the argument that populous nations are being industrialized. China is in the middle of the industrial revolution. The more wealth the country brings in, the more the people start driving and acting more like traditional westerners. At least in the midst of this industrial revolution, some corporations are taking measures to mitigate their environmental footprint.
Nov82008
Blogiversary: One Year Later
Today is the one year anniversary of the launch of SCREAM to be GREEN. It’s the blogiversary! Wow – what a difference one year makes. Obama went from a Democratic contender to the President-elect (phew!). Oil went from $90/barrel to $145/barrel and now it’s back at $61.04/barrel (boo SUVs). The economy is in the toilet – not sure if it’s a dual-flush, though. A new green channel was launched – Planet Green – from the folks at Discovery Channel. Al Gore is working on an update to Inconvenient Truth. The 11th Hour came out and DiCaprio is working on 12th Hour. Anyway…
How has this past year changed me? I’ve always been passionate about the environment and conservation, but I’ve stepped it up to a new level. The more you educate yourself on a topic, the more you become engrossed. When you’re talking about the so-callled “green” world – you just keep uncovering more and more information - some good – some bad – most makes you want to change for the better. Just pickup a Michael Pollan book and flip to any page and you’ll want to make a change in your life. Same with Eric Schlossers book from a few years ago – Fast Food Nation. Having two children really opens your eyes as well. You want the best for future generations and when you can come home and put a smiling face to them each and every day it’s that much evident. From the clothes you buy to the food you eat to the makeup you wear to the car you drive- you can make a difference in every facet of your life.
This blog has afforded me the opportunity to not only be an observer, but a promoter. I’m not religious, but this is my gospel, this is my passion. I’m definitely not the most read green blogger out there, nor am I the most influential. I do have a day job, afterall – and while I may be the green committee co-chair at my company, I’m definitely not a green collar worker. I wish I had more time to devote to my passion. C’est la vie, right. I still feel like I’ve been upholding my mission all along. My mission to Be The Mosquito. I’m a small fish in a big sea. I still feel like this small fish is making a difference and it’s educating others just as I’m educated when I read other green bloggers. So a big thank you to all my readers and subscribers and passers by.
Beyond the knowledge that I’ve learned over the past year, I’ve made changes in my life as well. Some of them are minor and some haven’t only been necessarily in the past year, but all are important steps in improving my life and the lives of my family and hopefully others.
In the food department, we’ve tried to eat more locally and also eat more organic foods. We had been a member of a CSA the previous season which had its plusses and minuses. This year we decided to not only start a raised bed garden, but we agreed to spend what we would on our CSA at the various farmers markets. Our veggie garden was a bit obsessive compulsive for us. I’d go out there and just go over all the plants almost every night. I was so proud of its success. It was amazing how much food we harvested from one 4′x8′ plot. We also had tomato plants growing beside the shed and they just thrived. I can’t wait for next season! Another big find for us over the past year was our new friend, “the egg guy.” He started out as “the honey guy.” We found him a few miles from our house. We saw a “local honey” sign and he kept our homemade granola factory going all last winter. At one point we noticed that he had chickens. After some coaxing, we finally had him selling us eggs. Once it warmed up, the kids would always go out and check on the chickens and sometimes get a ride around the property on their golf cart. We get farm-fresh eggs from chickens we visit only a couple miles away at the astonishing price of $2/dozen. I feel spoiled.
Over the past year, I’ve made some great connections with fellow green bloggers, agencies that focus on organic and sustainable organizations, people who own their own green businesses and a myriad of others. I’ve attended a number of gatherings such as Chicago Green Drinks, Green Festival (for the second year), Family Farmed Expo, Solar Tour, NeoCon and the Green Business Conference. I’ve seen speakers from local farmers, community organizers, and business owners. I’ve had the privilege of seeing nationally recognized green activists such as the ever-lovely Sara Snow, Robert F Kennedy Jr, Bryan Welch (publisher of Mother Earth News) and Chef Rick Bayless.
My family and I buy used when possible. My wife was raised as a garage saler and her mother was too. Stores like Once Upon A Child and the Internet groups such as Freecycle, Craigslist and eBay have been great, too. There is no reason that young children, who go through clothing so quickly, need to buy clothing from the department store. I’ve always been fascinated with thinking outside the box and being resourceful. My family nickname growing up was Moe to which some friends called me MoeGuyver because I was always finding new uses for common things. This has really carried over to my passion for the 3Rs. One month initiative from our friends at DoTheGreenThing.org was devoted to used merchandise.
We are human and we are Americans, after all. So of course we exercised our greenbacks out in society. There were things that we needed to buy and there were things that wanted to buy. Whenever possible, we vote with our dollars and buy sustainable, planet friendly merchandise. This means I obtained my first pair of organic cotton jeans and my wife began purchasing natural, sensible cosmetics with ingredients she could actually read and understand from some online retailers. We also made some very large purchases like our Toyota Prius. I guess we scream liberal now – we have a Prius and a 1995 Volvo. Don’t worry – we didn’t scrap our old car – it’s still in use, just not by us. We sold it on Craigslist. I think a lot of people thought we were nuts for selling a minivan and buying the Prius. I don’t regret it for a second. I love that car. Another large purchase happened just today. We bought a natural latex mattress. The wood in the boxspring sustainable and steel springs are 80% recycled material. While I still haven’t purchased a dual-flush toilet (I drool over the Caromas all the time), I did pick myself up a toilet-tank sink from Sinkpositive. I got mine on eBay. I love it. It really makes you realize how much water your toilet uses when you see it come out of the spout. It’s great for brushing my teeth and washing my hands after use. Why flush that perfectly good potable water down the drain?
For those of you who have been asking – yes – our worms are doing well! There are so many of them now. I’m thinking of buying a couple more trays for our worm factory. We added another rain barrel this year, too. I’ve daisy chained them together so that two fill up off of one stretch of roof. I have 100 gallons of water collected from the roof to water the flowers and trees. We only went dry once all summer. I installed a retractable clothes line, too. This has been fantastic. There is actually an ordinance against them in my neighborhood from the home owners association. Can you believe that? Our gas bill over the summer was drastically reduced as we rarely used the dryer. You just feel good air drying your clothes in a nice summer breeze (trick (credit to my wife): if you hang your shirts on the line upside-down, you won’t have any marks on the shoulders).
Anyway – that’s my story for the year. Those are just some of the ways me and my family have made changes or continued to live our green lifestyle over the past year. Its been a wonderful experience sharing my journey with you. I’m happy to continue to learn from all of you and in return hopefully educate some of you as well.
THANK YOU – PLEASE CONTINUE to SCREAM to be GREEN!
Nov52008
FUEL The Film – Coming Soon
The documentary film, Fields of Fuel, has changed it’s name. This is the same film we talked about it way back in January. Seems its gathering some legs as it was on GreenDaily.com today under it’s new name. It’s called FUEL – a film about oil. This film is strewn with celebrity appearances – from Richard Branson to Larry David to Larry Haggman to Willie Nelson (although he incorrectly spelled it “Willy” on the site). I’ve still only seen the trailer, but it’s really piqued my interest to see where it’s headed.
Most Americans know we’ve got a problem: an addiction to oil that taxes the environment, entangles us in costly foreign policies, and threatens the nation’s long-term stability. But few are informed or empowered enough to do much about it. Enter Josh Tickell, an expert young activist who, driven by his own emotionally charged motives, shuttles us on a revelatory, whirlwind journey to unravel this addiction—from its historical origins to political constructs that support it, to alternatives available now and the steps we can take to change things. Tickell tracks the rising domination of the petrochemical industry—from Rockefeller’s strategy to halt ethanol use in Ford’s first cars to the mysterious death of Rudolph Diesel at the height of his biodiesel engine’s popularization, to our government’s choice to declare war after 9/11, rather than wean the country from fossil fuel. Never minimizing the complexities of ending oil dependence, Tickell uncovers a hopeful reality pointing toward a decentralized, sustainable energy infrastructure—like big rigs tanking up on biofuel at Carl’s Corner Texas truck stop, a new Brooklyn biodiesel plant serving three states, a miraculous Arizona algae-based fuel farm, and the Swedish public voting to be petroleum free by 2020. Sweeping and exhilarating, Tickell’s passionate film goes beyond great storytelling; it rings out like a bell that stirs consciousness and makes individual action suddenly seem consequential.
Source: Green Daily
Nov52008
You Baracked the Vote!
Congratulations to Mr Barack Obama of the fine City of Chicago on his momentous win last night.
Nov22008
The Chinese Dustbowl Photographer Wins Top Prize
The Chinese Dustbowl. Photographer Benoit Anquin has won the inaugural competition for environmental photography for his depiction on the Chinese Dustbowl.
This area in northern China was once a lush agricultural mecca. It has been virtually destroyed – and one major factor has been the goats raised to provide cheap-ass cashmere to the United States.
One amazing fact is that this dust has been found in the air in the US – all the way from China – it’s not a localized problem. City streets all over the region are covered in dust – which is detrimental to the health of the citizens. All for a sweater.
I will probably have to reprise my story from last year – DON’T BUY CHINESE CASHMERE THIS HOLIDAY SEASON. Or ever, really.
Source: CNN
Nov22008
Car-Free Sundays
Cities across the world are experimenting with “car-free Sundays.” While it looks only like an annual event, I like the concept. Miami has an event coming up soon. Check it out.
