GULP!

I read a statistic last week that still has me reeling:

Airlines use about 1 million disposable cups every 6 hours!

Bring your own reusable bottles on your trip and have the flight attendant fill 'er up. If you don't have one, go to World Wildlife Fund's website here, make a donation, and receive two cute water bottles with the panda logo. They're essentially "free" since your donation amount is tax deductible.

You can read the whole article about airline waste here:

http://www.idealbite.com/tiplibrary/archives/snacks-plane

Change the World Challenge

My friend at reduce footprints issued the following challenge in her blog:

For one full day this week, don't use (or ride in) a car. That's right ... leave the car at home and either walk, ride a bicycle or take public transportation (or even ... stay home). One full day ... 24 hours ... no car. Think you can do it?

Below is a post I wrote last year about this very topic.

Sometimes I get tired of being "the crazy one". The one whom everyone thinks is a little extreme, too outspoken, the granola-sucking, tree-hugging nut. Sometimes I wish I weren't so burdened for the environment and the plight of all the world's animals. Sometimes I wish I could take the easy way out. Then I learn about someone who inspires me, who makes me look moderate, who makes me look sane!

I recently received the latest issue of On Wisconsin magazine, the magazine put out by the University of Wisconsin-Madison for its alumni. In it was an article entitled, "Walking the Walk" by Dashka Slater. The article tells the story of John Francis, a handsome black man in his 60s who, after witnessing the damage caused when two oil tankers collided beneath the Golden Gate Bridge in 1971, spilling 840,000 gallons of crude oil into the San Francisco Bay, decided to "walk the walk". He started out by "end[ing] his participation in the oil economy" by refusing to ride in a vehicle for 22 years. He walked across the United States and South America, earning his bachelor's, master's and doctorate degrees along the way. One day he became tired of arguing and defending his viewpoints, so he stopped talking for a day, then a second day . . . his vow of silence lasted 17 years. He communicated via banjo, charades-style acting, whistling, and occasionally writing something down. Incidentally, he earned his Ph.D. at the UW-Madison DURING his vow of silence, proving the University of Wisconsin is a place for creative education solutions!

John Francis wrote a book, Planetwalker: How to Change Your World One Step at a Time, which has been optioned to be made into a movie. I'm planning to read the book and eagerly await the movie.

Interestingly, John Francis does talk now, and he also drives a Prius which was a gift. In 1990, the Coast Guard in Washington, D.C., was developing regulations that would implement the 1990 Oil Pollution Act which was passed shortly after the Exxon Valdez disaster. They invited John Francis, who is a Goodwill Ambassador to the United Nations, among other things, to work with them. Because he didn't ride in cars or planes, the Coast Guard waited two months for him to travel from New York to D.C. via bicycle. In 1994, Francis realized that he was a "prisoner" of his decision not to use vehicles. If the Coast Guard had not been willing to accommodate him, he would have missed a great opportunity to make a real change in the world. He questioned whether it would "have been worth passing up the opportunity to resolve the very problem that had inspired him to stop driving in the first place? 'The lesson for me was that I have to reassess wherever I am to get to the next place. . . . I have to let go of the old self, which is very scary sometimes.'" John Francis worried who he would be when he became a man who rode in cars.

This is reminiscent of a post I did some time ago wherein I reminded you to reassess your priorities from time to time to make sure they still fit. Sometimes we start to do something because it's meaningful and fulfilling, but we keep doing it out of habit, long after we've outgrown it.

In any case, John Francis' story inspired me, challenged me and made me realize how very far from extreme I am.

It Pays to Complain

Some weeks ago, I shared the problems I have with some of the "big box" stores' un-user-friendly policy toward reusable shopping bags. You can read about that here. Well, I sent numerous e-mails to corporate headquarters explaining my experiences and what I thought needed to be done about it.

I am happy to report that the store clerks are ALL VERY HAPPY to see me coming with my own bags and are HELPFUL and COURTEOUS in allowing me to bag my groceries. But this one takes the cake: yesterday I went through the self check out and the overseeing clerk proudly pointed out the "new button" on the registers, "I have my own bag." This button recalibrates the scales to recognize the weight of your bag so you don't have to weigh your items on the scale and then transfer them to your own bag.

Do I think I personally, single-handedly caused this change? No. Do I think I contributed to cause this change? No doubt about it!

It definitely pays to complain. My orange juice recently underwent a new name, new recipe, new ad campaign and new packaging. Why? Because enough people wrote to the company and asked that the natural no calorie sweetener (Stevia) replace the artificial no calorie sweetener (Splenda) they had been using. This change involved a lot of time and money on the orange juice company's part, but they did it because enough consumers told them they wanted it.

So when you see a company with a non-green policy or product, let them know. While you're at it, let your politicians know how important the environment is to you. This is the only way to effectuate systematic change on a global scale.

I Couldn't Have Said It Better Myself

This may be old news, but it's new to me.

Canadian and youth activitst, Severn Cullis-Suzuki spoke at the 1992 Earth Summit in Rio. When she was 9 years old, she and three of her friends founded ECO, the Environmental Children's Organization. They raised all the money required to travel to the Earth Summit, where 12 year-old Severn gave the most eloquent speech about the environment.

Below is the text of her speech or you can watch the video on YouTube here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EaOJrJ_oqFU

I Couldn't Have Said It Better Myself!

Hello, I'm Severn Suzuki speaking for E.C.O. - The Environmental Children's Organisation.

We are a group of twelve and thirteen-year-olds from Canada trying to make a difference:
Vanessa Suttie, Morgan Geisler, Michelle Quigg and me. We raised all the money ourselves to come six thousand miles to tell you adults you must change your ways. Coming here today, I have no hidden agenda. I am fighting for my future.

Losing my future is not like losing an election or a few points on the stock market. I am here to speak for all generations to come.

I am here to speak on behalf of the starving children around the world whose cries go unheard.

I am here to speak for the countless animals dying across this planet because they have nowhere left to go. We cannot afford to be not heard.

I am afraid to go out in the sun now because of the holes in the ozone. I am afraid to breathe the air because I don't know what chemicals are in it.

I used to go fishing in Vancouver with my dad until just a few years ago we found the fish full of cancers. And now we hear about animals and plants going exinct every day -- vanishing forever.

In my life, I have dreamt of seeing the great herds of wild animals, jungles and rainforests full of birds and butterfilies, but now I wonder if they will even exist for my children to see.

Did you have to worry about these little things when you were my age?

All this is happening before our eyes and yet we act as if we have all the time we want and all the solutions. I'm only a child and I don't have all the solutions, but I want you to realise, neither do you!


You don't know how to fix the holes in our ozone layer.
You don't know how to bring salmon back up a dead stream.
You don't know how to bring back an animal now extinct.
And you can't bring back forests that once grew where there is now desert.
If you don't know how to fix it, please stop breaking it!

Here, you may be delegates of your governments, business people, organisers, reporters or poiticians - but really you are mothers and fathers, brothers and sister, aunts and uncles - and all of you are somebody's child.

I'm only a child yet I know we are all part of a family, five billion strong, in fact, 30 million species strong and we all share the same air, water and soil -- borders and governments will never change that.

I'm only a child yet I know we are all in this together and should act as one single world towards one single goal.

In my anger, I am not blind, and in my fear, I am not afraid to tell the world how I feel.

In my country, we make so much waste, we buy and throw away, buy and throw away, and yet northern countries will not share with the needy. Even when we have more than enough, we are afraid to lose some of our wealth, afraid to share.

In Canada, we live the privileged life, with plenty of food, water and shelter -- we have watches, bicycles, computers and television sets.

Two days ago here in Brazil, we were shocked when we spent some time with some children living on the streets. And this is what one child told us: "I wish I was rich and if I were, I would give all the street children food, clothes, medicine, shelter and love and affection."

If a child on the street who has nothing, is willing to share, why are we who have everyting still so greedy?

I can't stop thinking that these children are my age, that it makes a tremendous difference where you are born, that I could be one of those children living in the Favellas of Rio; I could be a child starving in Somalia; a victim of war in the Middle East or a beggar in India.

I'm only a child yet I know if all the money spent on war was spent on ending poverty and finding environmental answers, what a wonderful place this earth would be!

At school, even in kindergarten, you teach us to behave in the world. You teach us:

not to fight with others,
to work things out,
to respect others,
to clean up our mess,
not to hurt other creatures
to share - not be greedy.
Then why do you go out and do the things you tell us not to do?

Do not forget why you're attending these conferences, who you're doing this for -- we are your own children. You are deciding what kind of world we will grow up in. Parents should be able to comfort their children by saying "everyting's going to be alright" , "we're doing the best we can" and "it's not the end of the world".

But I don't think you can say that to us anymore. Are we even on your list of priorities? My father always says "You are what you do, not what you say."

Well, what you do makes me cry at night. You grown ups say you love us. I challenge you, please make your actions reflect your words. Thank you for listening.

Severn Cullis-Suzuki has been active in environmental and social justice work ever since kindergarten. She was twelve years old when she gave this speech, and she received a standing ovation. Now 23, Cullis-Suzuki spearheads The SkyFish Project and continues to speak to schools and corporations, and at many conferences and international meetings. She lives in Vancouver, British Columbia.

The Search for (Easy) Answers

This Earth Day finds me . . . looking a bit like a big balloon that has had all the air let out of it. Still slightly puffy in spots, mostly wrinkled and worn, but with the potential, however slight, of being inflated again.

Why? Well, I've been reading Thomas L. Friedman's book Hot, Flat and Crowded (available here) and I'm really coming to grips with a few absolute truths:

1. Climate change is WAY, WAAAAAAAAAYYYYYYY worse than we ever imagined and the prognosis for our Earth, without DRASTIC changes in the next three years is worse than grim. In fact, describing it as "grim" is like saying Disney World is "kind of fun".
2. Climage change and our energy crisis are linked to, and responsible for, far more societal ills than we realize -- global poverty, terrorism, you get the drift.

3. There are no easy answers. A "green" household cleaner in your cupboard and a celebrity doing an environmental public service announcement during the commercial break of House just isn't going to cut it.

The fourth truth is accompanied by my opinion, or rather my fear.

Truth: The American people as well as China, India, and the rest of the developed or devloping world have the ability (and largely the technolgy and knowledge, or the capability to discovery both before it's too late) to make the large scale changes needed in the immediate and long term future to fix the problem. Moreover, if we employed all the means necessary to fix climate change and the energy problem, we would cause our economy to grow and thrive, reduce unemployment, take a long step toward eliminating poverty, hunger, terrorism, illiteracy, biodiversity loss and a host of other problems. Opinion/Fear: Do we have the political leadership (I'm not just talking about the President, but also the Congress, state and local governments) courageous enough to do what needs to be done AND to educate and motivate the American people for the long, hard, all encompassing changes required? I fear the answer is no, we do not.

So I'm feeling a little down this Earth Day because it's not just a day and it's not just a slogan and it's not a personal choice to "do good things" as long as they don't require too much effort. Without a systems overhaul on the national and then global scale SOON, we are doomed. Doomed in a James Earl Jones voice. So this Earth Day finds me feeling like a deflated balloon, wanted to run under the covers screaming for my mommy, and literally BEGGING God that somehow our President, his energy advisor and enough others in politics will read Hot, Flat and Crowded or otherwise understand the problem of climate change and the energy crisis, its interconnectedness with other global problems, and have the COURAGE and EMPOWERMENT to face the problem head on. The political beast resists revolutionary change and the American people (who have grown metaphorically fatter and lazier than previous generations) want "100 Easy, Cheap Way to Save the Planet". We have what it takes to win this battle which is so much greater than The Great Depression and World War II, but WILL we?

Read the book, take action everywhere possible, spread the word, pray and write your government officials. I don't know what else to say or do within my small sphere of influence to effectuate a green REVOLUTION.

Gardening Eden

Although environmentalists want to conserve the environment, political conservatives generally don’t. That is the problem Michael Abbate tackles in his book, Gardening Eden, How Creation Care Will Change Your Faith, Your Life and Our World. Abbate speaks to the political conservative, to the Christian, to the conservative Christian, with the argument that God intends and desires us to be good stewards of all He has given us, including the earth. As such, believers should be motivated to care for the environment. He discusses why we should care about environmental issues from a spiritual and practical standpoint, refutes “Christian” arguments against environmentalism and gives 50 practical suggestions on life choices that will make a difference.

Because Gardening Eden is targeted toward the environmental “skeptic”, I feel some of the positions he takes are weak. I feel like he’s giving more credence than is due to the “unbelievers” that our environment is in grave trouble. I don’t think Abbate actually believes the anti-eco arguments, but he softens his approach by arguing why, even if those arguments have some merit, one should still take care of the environment. However, I guess I can swallow his pandering to the skeptics if he’s able to convince them they need to take care of Planet Earth in spite of their reservations. The ends justify the means if, in the end, more people who didn’t care about environmental issues do after reading this book.

One of my favorite comments to come out of the book was this:

As Reverend Richard Cizik told Bill Moyers in the 2006 documentary, “Is God Green?”: “I happen to think that to be biblically consistent means you have to, at times, be politically inconsistent.”

Climate change, species extinction, pollution, destruction of our natural resources, etc., are NOT political statements; they are scientific facts. I thank Michael Abbate (and Reverend Cizik) for saying so!

Another favorite comment from the book was Abbate’s quote of a bumper sticker:

God’s original plan was to hang out in a garden with some naked vegetarians.

I have no doubt Michael Abbate cares about the environment and desperately wants to see the Christian community ban together to advance to cause of eco-stewardship as a group and as individuals. The religious right cares about unborn babies and has made a lot of political hay out of that issue. But in my opinion, if they don't care for the environment, ALL babies -- and adults -- aren't going to survive very long without a world in which to live! Since political conservatives are his target audience, he can’t very well sound like me, an unabashedly rabid environmentalist! For what it’s worth, as a believer I agree wholeheartedly that God didn’t intend for us to destroy His creation and is heartsick when He sees what we have done:

Because of this the land mourns and all who live in it waste away; the beasts of the field and the birds of the air and the fish of the sea are dying. Hosea 4:3

Overall, I would recommend Gardening Eden, especially for the political and religious conservative in your life. You can buy a copy from your favorite bookseller or here from Random House: http://www.randomhouse.com/catalog/display.pperl?isbn=9780307444998&ref=externallink_wbm_gardeningeden_sec_0309_01

BOOK GIVEAWAY: I have one copy of Michael Abbate’s Gardening Eden to give away this week. To enter the random drawing, please e-mail me at seewhykinsman@gmail.com. The winner will be announced on Friday, April 24th. Good luck!

Below is the summary from the publisher:

Summary:

Before the snake, the apple, and the Ten Commandments, God created a garden, placed humans in it, and told them to take care of it.

“Spiritual environmentalism” did not start out as an oxymoron—it was an invitation. Yet today, many believe God’s original job description for humankind has been replaced by other worthier pursuits. So when did this simple instruction become so controversial? How does one sort through all the mixed messages? Is making the world a healthier place for the next generation really a responsibility—or even possible?

Gardening Eden is a new understanding of how the spiritual dimensions of life can find expression and renewal through caring for our incredible planet. Empowering, simple, and never polemical, Michael Abbaté outlines the Bible’s clear spiritual benefits of caring for creation, exploring new motivations and inspired ideas, and revealing the power of our basic connection to all people and living things through the growing interest in spiritual environmentalism.

Green living is no longer a fad—simple lifestyle solutions are now available to everyone. Gardening Eden shows readers how this shift transforms not only our world, but their very souls as they’re drawn into deeper harmony with the Creator. This book invites them to discover the powerful spiritual satisfaction of heeding the call to save our world.

BYOB -- Bring Your Own Bag!

We all know how important it is to bring reusable cloth bags to the grocery store. I would add a bunch of statistics here for anyone not convinced of the truthfulness of this statement, but, quite frankly, I got depressed when researching it. If you're skeptical, google it yourself.

For quite a long time, I’ve been using cloth grocery bags. They were 99 cents each, are made from recycled materials and stay in the car for easy use. This is a wonderful process when you go to Whole Foods, Publix or our local co-op. They like when you bring your own bags; they praise and encourage you to do so; sometimes they even give small cash rebates for each bag you bring in. Unfortunately, there are a number of stores that may sell reusable cloth grocery bags (cha-ching for them), but discourage their actual use. A number of the clerks are less than pleasant – rolling their eyes, sighing and otherwise looking frustrated when you ask they forgo the cheap, but easy-because-they’re-familiar, plastic bags from Hell. Consequently, I bag my own at the stores with self checkout lines. Even this option is usually not user friendly. While I avoid crabby store clerks, I usually have to deal with a machine not designed for eco-friendly bags. I can't bag directly into my cloth bags because the scale senses "something" I haven't paid for when I put my bag there. So I have to scan the item, set it on the scale, and then transfer the item to my bag. Publix and Winn Dixie both have "use my own bag" options on their scanners so the scale accommodates the cloth bag, but other stores do not.

When I have to deal with the clerks because there are no self checkout lines, at the first sign of huffing and puffing and eye rolling, I offer to bag the groceries myself. Plus, clerks in stores are so fond of putting just three items in a bag and taking another because to actually pack a grocery bag well would require time, skill or, at the bare minimum, common sense. I don't have 20 cloth bags; I only have 8 which is more than enough for a month's worth of groceries if packed correctly. Further, even though the clerks complain about how hard it is to bag with cloth bags, when I do the work for them, they still are rude. So even though I am doing half their work by bagging my own groceries, and even though they admit it takes a little more time, they are unbelievably inconsiderate. They push the groceries off the belt as fast as possible. They don't care if the groceries go on the floor – and often they do. Obviously, they can't check out the next person until I'm done, so what good does it do to fling groceries as fast as possible, even when there's no room to stack them? Add to this the fact that I rarely shop after 7:30 a.m. so there’s usually not a line behind me anyway. I put my groceries on the belt in a logical order (all cold foods together, all canned goods, etc.) so it's not as though my lack of organization is a problem. Further, I usually have my mother with me so we can move “double time”.

I honestly don’t think many of the clerks are simply clueless -- I get the distinct impression they're deliberately trying to make it difficult to deter us. They have the attitude that says, “I don’t like this. I don’t want to do this. If you’re going to force me, I’m going to make it as miserable for you as possible.” Lest you think I’m paranoid, one time I encountered an associate at a big box store who supported my theory. She helped me with an error on the self-check out and commented how she hates the self checkout machines. I said, "Me, too, but I use them whenever I can because I have my own bags." She asked why and I told her I couldn't handle the attitude I get from the clerks. Her response was, "So what! We have a lot of people who bring their own bags. They have to learn to DEAL WITH IT. I know they don't want to, but they should and they will. Go through their lines and make them!" Further, when I’ve mentioned such problems to the staff at Whole Foods and our local co-op, I drew actual crowds of people agreeing their experience has been the same.

So, what’s a girl to do?! Well, I wrote a lengthy e-mail to corporate headquarters of the anti-eco-bag stores and told them of my problems. I stressed that education of their clerks is critical since (I pray) the reusable cloth bag revolution is here to stay and growing every day (please, please, please). I received telephone calls from the local managers of a number of the stores about whom I wrote. I’m going to give it some time, but so far, so good. I’ve only been shopping once since then (I grocery shop a month at a time) and my experience was wonderful! We’ll see if it was that particular clerk, a fluke, or if, indeed, the stores are educating their employees. Time will tell. I encourage you to write as well. Given the phone calls I received and the concern in the managers’ voices, they are listening. If enough of us complain, it’s bound to trickle down to the individual employees.

P.S. Please don’t write and yell at me about how hard store clerks work, how much abuse is heaped on them by unreasonable customers, etc. I know and I agree. Completely. But the point is, our environment is as stake and they need to do their jobs well, just as I do mine and you do yours.

Buy More . . . Stress!

It's a fact that the more stuff we have, the more stress we experience. Our possessions own us instead of the other way around. In addition to stressing ourselves, the "buy buy buy" bug kills the environment -- placing undue stress on the earth from cradle to grave -- resources to make the items, resources to maintain the items, and landfills to dispose of items. On April Fool's Day, it seems we are all fools, some more than others!

I recently read about a PBS television show called Affluenza, a show about the "modern-day plague of materialism." Following are some scary statistics from the show:

Americans shop six hours a week while spending only forty minutes playing with their children.

By age 20, we've seen 1 million commercials.

Recently, more Americans declared bankruptcy than graduated from college.

To read more about the show, click here: http://www.pbs.org/kcts/affluenza/


REMINDER: I have a copy of Clutter-Free Christianity by Robert Jeffress to give away to my readers! To enter the random drawing, just e-mail your name and address to me at http://seewhykinsman@gmail.com. Winners will be drawn on Friday, April 3, 2009. Good luck!

I Couldn't Have Said It Better Myself

New York Times columnist and best selling author, Thomas L. Friedman is one of the smartest men in the United States today. Please read his column at the link below and everyone said, "AMEN!"

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/03/08/opinion/08friedman.html?_r=1

While you're at it, please read the blog he references here:

http://climateprogress.org/

REMINDER: I have a copy of Clutter-Free Christianity by Robert Jeffress to give away to my readers! To enter the random drawing, just e-mail your name and address to me at http://seewhykinsman@gmail.com. Winners will be drawn on Friday, April 3, 2009. Good luck!

A Great Way to Reduce Waste and Save Money

Yesterday, I mentioned recycling as a great way to reduce household waste. Obviously, an even better method is to find ways not to generate waste, recyclable or not, in the first place. A wonderful product I want to tell you about is the Wrap-N-Mat. It's a reusable sandwich wrap and placemat all in one. Not only will you reduce your household waste (and save the planet), you'll save money on sandwich bags, plastic wrap and/or aluminium foil. I have to admit I was a little skeptical they would really keep a sandwich fresh, but I bought several wrap-n-mats after confirming the 30 day return policy. We frequently make sandwiches a day or two (or three!) in advance and, true to promise, the sandwiches stay fresh. This is a great product which will save you money in the long run, especially if you're not picky about the pattern and buy the ones on sale! You can check out the wrap-n-mat website below.

http://www.wrap-n-mat.com/

Three Percent?!

Only three percent of people recycle their cell phones. This statistic amazes me since it's EASY and FREE to recycle your cell phone and accessories. There are drop boxes at places like Lowes and Home Depot. You can type "recycle cell phone free postage" into your internet browser and find dozens of places which will send you postage paid envelopes so you can pop your cell phones and accessories in the mail. You can also check online or with your favorite charity to see if they can benefit from recycling your cell phone (as well as printer cartridges). recyclemycellphone.org and gooddeedfoundation.org are two options. Please collect all your old cell phones, chargers and other accessories and recycle them today!