Living amongst the peeps of the midwest, we often forget that drought is prevalent in the United States. I believe that I recently heard a statistic where 38 states will experience drought in 2009. If you don’t live in a drought zone, water is still a precious resource. Conserve it. It’s spring. It’s supposed to be wet – and it definitely is where I live. Check out this US Drought Map for the past 12 weeks.
The Sunday paper came and my wife made a comment that you could tell it’s almost Earth Day because all the stores have their “green” sales. To be honest – I’ve noticed this too. She even pointed out the new Ziploc Evolve bags that use 25% less plastic (oooh, ahhhhh..ughhhh). Sure – there is a less plastic and a 100% recycled cardboard container, but it’s still oil-based plastic and not PLA or something.) Everyone is having a eco-friendly sale. Target is selling Loomstate organic cotton products – but only for a month. Even Amazon.com is having an Earth Day sale. Macy’s is turning over a new leaf. Walmart is even having “Earth Month.” Of course the Disney Store is cashing in, too 8:-)
Where should my heart lie? Is the recyclable glass half empty or half full? Should I be happy that there are some sustainable products being marketed heavily right now or should I be a pessimist because they’re trying to capitalize off of Earth Day? The ones that piss me off are ads like Target – where they boast “in honor of earth week, our ad is made from 50% recycled fiber.” Why aren’t they printed on 100% recycled paper all the time (or even their boastful 50%)? So they’re saving some virgin trees…for this week at least.
If you really want to honor Earth Day – try not participating in consumerism – or buy something used (novel concept). The fact remains that we’re all consumers – so pick wisely, do a little research, and do your best not to be green washed. If you have to buy something new, I’d rather you buy something remotely sustainable. That’s the best advice I can give you. Consume wisely.
Reduce, Reuse, Recycle, and Reject.
Ben Folds – All You Can Eat
Do you drink bottled water? Do you know people who drink bottled water? Watch this trailer to the new doc called “TAPPED.” I hate that there is a generation of children being raised right now that only knows bottled water. WTF people – it’s called an immune system. You’ll be okay if you drink tap water. Really – you’ll live. Your kids won’t be mutants. Well – maybe they will from ingesting so much plastic from the bottled water.
Yeah – I know – there are cons to municipal treated water as well, but I think the pros definitely out weigh the cons. Let’s look at bottled water. Most of it comes in plastic bottles. Plastic is made from oil. Plastic leaches into the water. A lot of bottled water is just repackaged tap water (i.e. Dasani and Aquafina). Water is heavy to ship, thus using more oil. If you’re a fancy pants, you’re not drinking this “tap water.” You opt instead for Fiji water because it comes in a fancy square bottle and is shipped from Fiji (where a large percentage of islanders don’t have access to safe drinking water). Perhaps you are even more fancy pants than that and you drink San Pelligrino. Oooh…but glass recycles better than plastic and doesn’t leach. Correct – but it’s heavy – damn heavy! Oh…and it’s a Nestle brand…like they need another water brand. Nestle is like the Phillip Morris of water. San Pelligrino, Perrier, Vittel, Ice Mountain, Deer Park, Poland Spring, Deer Park, Zephyrhills, and of course, plain old Nestle.
When I was growing up, no one drank bottled water. Some might have taken old milk jugs to the grocery store to fill up for $0.25 from their filtered water. Perrier and Evian were the only bottled waters you could buy. Then sometime in the late 80′s it started catching on more and more. At some point there was a mindset projected on the population that you were a bad person if you didn’t drink bottled water. I just don’t understand it.
Water is a precious commodity – protect it – drink it – from the tap. I know it’s hard to believe here in the good old U.S. of A. that there will be wars fought for water, but there will be. It’s the next oil, you know (which we need to package the water for you).
Here’s your moment of Zen:
It’s giveaway time again! This time we’re giving away a copy of Greasy Rider: Two Dudes, One Fast Food Fueled Car, and a Cross-Country Search for a Greener Future by Greg Melville. Special thank to Algonquin Books for graciously sending us a copy of this very interesting read.
Synopsis:
Is it possible to drive coast-to-coast without stopping at a single gas
pump? Journalist Greg Melville is determined to try. With his college buddy Iggy riding shotgun, he sets out on an enlightening road trip. The quest: to be the first people to drive cross-country in a french-fry car. Will they make it from Vermont to California in a beat-up 1985 Mercedes diesel station wagon powered on vegetable oil collected from restaurant grease Dumpsters along the way? Their trip takes them to the solar-powered Google headquarters; the wind turbines of southwestern Minnesota; one of the first houses to receive platinum certification for leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED); and a so-called “eco-friendly” Wal-Mart.
Part adventure and part investigation of what we’re doing (or not doing) to preserve the planet, Greasy Rider is upbeat, funny, and full of surprising information about the many sustainable measures that are within our reach.
My Review:
I really enjoyed this book. I read all 250+ pages in one weekend. I wanted to follow the journey from Vermont to California and the tales along the way. If you’re looking for a sequel to On The Road, this isn’t it, but it’s still a funny read. Two grown men, cramped into a small car, travelling across the country in a 1985 diesel Mercedes. Iggy and Greg arguing, giving each other the silent treatment, staying in random hotels and with long lost friends or friends of friends – all made the trek fun to read and keep you wanting to hear more.
Somewhere early in the trip, Iggy and Greg made a bet. Iggy would give Greg errands to do after the trip – one per day – and if Greg completed them, he’d get $50 from Iggy. Melville does a great job of interjecting the errands into the sections of their journey in the book. The errands are so interesting in themselves that you want to read every word, but you also want to get back to the journey to see where they end up next (looking in barrels behind restaurants for WVO along the way). The first errand was to find the greenest house. Greg thought that would be easy – let’s just go visit Al Gore in Nashville. This was before Gore was allowed to retrofit his huge 10,000 sq ft house with solar panels, etc. The thing was lit up like a Christmas tree in Times Square. Errand fail 
Greg came back home with his tail b/t his legs only to find that not far from his house in Vermont there was a newly built ultra-green 2,500 sq ft abode. Complete with a solar array and turbine.
So do Iggy and Greg make it to the Bio-Oasis in San Fran? You’ll have to read the book to find out. If you don’t win, I still recommend this book. Go get it at the library or buy it on Amazon.
Leave a comment by 11:59PM CST, April 30, 2009 and one random lucky winner will be picked to receive a the Greasy Rider by Greg Melville from Algonquin Books. We will not share your email with anyone.
What is a water hippo, you ask? It’s a water-saving device for your toilet. I really don’t know why it’s called a water hippo, but I heard it called that once and we’re going with it. Instead of using a brick – or even finding a brick – why not use something you probably already have around the house? I’m using a 32oz yogurt container. You can use any size container that will fit in your toilet and still produce a strong enough flush. I probably wouldn’t go much over a 64oz container. Put a heavy rock at the bottom so the container doesn’t float around and interfere with the toilets internal parts.
