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Monday, October 15, 2007

Blog Action Day: One More Way To Be Green

An ode to BLOG ACTION DAY:

(Sung to the tune of the "Green Acres" television theme)

Blog Action Day's the place for me!
Green living is the life for me!
Landfills - we have to stem the tide!
Let's make conservation acts worldwide!

Denial is where I'd rather stay!
I'm allergic to Blog Action Day!
I just adore not having a clue.
Earth, I love ya, but I want my Starbucks brew!

Al Gore!
No more!
Fresh Air!
I don't care!

This is our earth!
How much is it worth?

Green living we are there!

*****

Michael and I have always been environmentally conscious and conscienscious. We're Aquarians--apparently, its in our blood. Or, rather, our stars. We lay awake at night and dream together about living off-the-grid in a completely sustainable community somewhere in a very postmodern hippie-like existence. Of course, I want to have running water and electricity, still. I'm a spoiled sort of environmental activist that way.

And come to think of it... why can't we eat our cake and have it, too? Listen, humans aren't stupid, for the most part. There are ways to make it happen. Green building is possible. Green cars. Green EVERYTHING. I long for the day when I reach for a product and I don't have to wonder whether it was created with slave labor or may contain lead.

I'm know rather Al-Gore-ish when it comes to this: I want to live in a completely Green World, and this should be our number one priority above any other concern. Education, taxes, immigration, health care, sure, all important political issues--that completely disappear if we have no planet to live on in the first place!

Alarmist? Crazy? Noah building an ark perhaps?

Maybe.

I know there are folks out there with their heads stuck in the sand. Or, to be generous, they don't "believe" there's such a thing as, say, global warming. Welcome to the Flat Earth Society, would you like a cookie?

I don't understand how, as a nation, we can be so self-involved that we want to maintain the outrageous levels of denial we've managed to cultivate over the years. I don't know about you, but when someone says, "The sky is falling!" I look up. Perhaps the sky isn't falling. That's certainly a possibility. But maybe... just maybe... the sky is falling.

Wouldn't it be better to be safe, than sorry, as my grandmother always used to say?

Speaking of grandmothers, we can take a lesson from the indigineous peoples that lived here long before Columbus "discovered" this land and proved (yes, he did, Flat Earth folks... it really happened...) that the earth was, indeed, rather roundish. They had a custom they called "seven generations." Any time a decision was made that would impact the environment (and what decision do we ever make that doesn't impact our environment, I would argue!?) they would take into consideration the impact it would have for seven generations--both forward and behind. In other worlds, they asked themselves, how will this effect my grandchildren's grandchildren's grandchildren? And... What Would the Ancestors Do? (WWAD?)

It's not a bad policy. Think we can make it global?

Since we moved from the suburbs, I've been even more aware of our environment. Everything is so much more in-your-face when it comes to daily existence. You have to plan and think about rubbish pickup, for example, and have a limit on the amount of garbage they're willing to pick up. You actually count your bags of garbage. We take our recycled items to a center.

Whether you "believe" in global warming or not, conservation in and of itself is really a "better safe than sorry" proposition. It just makes common sense. Tell me, why wouldn't you conserve? I'd love to hear a really good reason.

Because you're lazy? Because it's too hard? *whine* Because you're too apathetic and what difference does it really make, anyway?

The reality is that we don't know what kind of impact we're going to have on future generations. But what it comes down to is this: do you care about what will happen on this planet after you're gone? If you do, then you can't do anything but try to be as much a conservationist as you can manage.

And (I'm so weird like this!) I'm always so excited when I find one more way I may possibly be able to impact the future--one more way to be green.


So when I ask: what are you doing to make your life more "green?" I really do want to know! The more ideas we share, the better. Because every little bit counts. Yes, it really does.


Here's a list of what we do:



**We consume as much local and organic food as possible


**We recycle and avoid buying things in non-recyclable packaging


**We don't use incandescent lightbulbs (and we recycle the energy saving ones we do use!)


**We conserve water


**We use rechargeable batteries


**We donate our old glasses and cell phones, recycle car batteries, etc.


**I use cloth menstrual pads


**We use cloth napkins


**We use cloth grocery bags


**I don't use toxic cleaners or herbicides (vinegar is a great cleaner, and it makes the house smell like Easter eggs!)


**We compost


**We're planning on installing solar panels next year


**We live as unplugged as we can


**We plant trees with the kids every year


**We refill printer cartridges


**We use energy efficient appliances


**We replace our heating/cooling filters every year


**We take community showers :)


**We hardly ever fly


**We freecycle and cheapcycle and hardly ever buy anything new, from cars to clothes


**We BookMooch


**We're working on the eating less meat thing :x (Michael isn't thrilled about that part.)


**Before we moved, Michael was carpooling, but now it's only six miles to work. Maybe some day he'll ride his bike ;) I'm pulling for telecommuting!




We've also signed hundreds of petitions, written lots of letters to Congress, belong to several conservation groups, etc...


So tell me... what do YOU do? I really want to know!


* * * * *


Did you participate in Blog Action Day? Please sign Mr. Linky so others can read what you have to say about the environment!


1. Greenstylemom
2. BayouChica
3. crunchy domestic goddess
4. Simone\'s Butterfly
5. kermit johnson

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Find out more about other Blog Action Day participants here!


9 comments:

Anonymous said...

I feel like I'm not as green as I used to be. Hrm, this is hard to list out.
- I own a Prius and drive it whenever possible and refuse to buy SUV's. Our next minivan will also be a hybrid.
- We conserve water, esp as it relates to the lawn. But we also don't do small loads of laundry or dishs.
- I refuse to wash the car here at home. I use car washs only when necessary but refuse to pollute our sewer system and drinking water by washing here in the driveway, no matter how fun it is for the kids.
- I recycle, resale and reuse (not as much with the reuse as I should)
- I try not to shop at Walmart :-P
- I don't do cloth diaps but I do more or less EC
- I try to shop the perimeter of the store (fresh, not processed) and shop as much organic as I can.
- We buy our beef by the cow
- we don't use chemicals on our lawn.

We live in a very extremly "green" community that revolves around conservation and preservation so I feel woefully inadequate most of the time but some things we just can't do because we don't own the house or our "green" community has association rules against certain things (like solar panels!!!) Crazy.

Anonymous said...

Great song!

half pint pixie said...

Good list :)

I only discovered Bookmooch today from a different site. It looks great!

GreenStyleMom said...

Fun Blog! Your new life reminds me of a book I read year ago called Bean Blossom Dreams about a family that moved from Chicago to rural Indiana.

Thanks for stopping by my blog!

The Bayou Chica said...

Great list! I see you have several on your list that I forgot to mention on my list.

Crunchy Domestic Goddess said...

great post!
i loved the song - did you come up with that yourself? :)

i agree with you that this should be a top priority. what will we do if there's no more earth???

i love this quote: “We are not inheriting the Earth from our parents, we are borrowing it from our grandchildren.”

amy

Choc Mint Girl said...

WAY TO GO, CD!!

Anyway, I just fed the little chick...he he...he's so cute!! :D

lattégirl said...

My Action Day post was written quickly. Frankly, yours is 200% more thoughtful and informative. Kudos to you!

I had a falling out with a blogger who ridiculed the notion of climate change, effectively calling me misguided, brainwashed, and just plain stupid.

Also, I recently read a debate on another blog about the US government's keen interest in spending multi-billions on further exploration of Mars for possible future colonization.

I was, needless to say, aghast. How could we even remotely consider the idea of spending that much in outer space when there is so much work to be done here?! Recycling programs could be expanded, stricter emission standards could be enforced (without fear of reprisal by powerful lobby groups, like the mining or car industries...)

Anyway, I suppose I could have said all this on MY blog (*grin*) so I'll just end by saying, "Great post" and keep up the valiant efforts. You are definitely greener than I am in many ways -- but I try, and that's more than I can say for a lot of people.

Country Dawn said...

Yep, the corny song at the beginning... that was all me! :)