Environmentlists and Earth Day? Not so perfect together anymore.

In what I think is mostly a reaction to companies trying to hijack Earth Day to tout their “greenness,” many environmentalists are having an adverse reaction to Earth Day.

Ding. Right after typing that sentence my computer let me know I had a new e-mail. It was from our friend Adam of Twilight Earth alerting me to his latest post. Amazing timing.

Here’s what Adam has to say at the beginning of his post today, Earth Day - Celebration, Gimmick or Eco Guilt Forgiveness Day?

Twilight Earth isn’t about gimmicks, dog and pony shows or green-washing. It’s for this reason that we almost decided to boycott Earth Day, by not writing an article about it.

Believe me, we’ve had a lot of time to think about it. Leading up to today, we’ve received over 300 Earth Day related E-mails, press releases and requests to write articles. The sheer volume of Earth Day related hoopla is what gave us pause.

I’m afraid that the reason I don’t really care for Earth Day is that it has become another gimmick. Another way for corporate sponsors to peddle their wares and another way to make up for our environmental sins. It has also become a day where politicians can grab some green spotlight and pass environmentally friendly legislation.

Believe me, Adam, I get it. I've gotten those same 300 Earth Day related e-mails, perhaps more. Some of them have been downright insulting like the one that asked me to write about the first flavored bottled water to receive USDA organic status. Organic bottled water!!!!

Adam is by far, not the only one jaded this year by what in the past has been the environmental movements big day. Grist has a "Screw Earth Day" campaign. Even my colleague Shae Gunther over on MNN wrote a tongue in cheek piece making fun of the one day a year efforts.

The fact of the matter is that for those of us who are involved in earth matters day in and day out, it is disheartening to see Earth Day becoming a corporate media day of hoopla. But for those who aren't involved day in and day out, I think it's still an important day. Here's why.

1. Education happens in schools. Teachers rally around this day, around this week, using it to get in a few extra environmental lessons. When I ran the book fair last month at the school, the teachers were snatching up the few books on Global Warming and recycling for kids that were offered saying they were going to use them on Earth Day. Teachers aren't telling kids about organic bottled water or the fact that Macy's will give you 10% off all your purchases if you donate to an earthy cause. They are teaching the kids how to care for the earth today.
2. Communities come together. Last Sunday, lots of families in my town that aren't involved day in and day out with earth matters came together to do clean up around the town. My Facebook account has pictures from my friends from town cleaning up parks and ballfields. Will this ultimately help the earth. Not really, but it will get people thinking about things.
3. Seeds are planted - literally and figuratively. Yesterday, I spoke to a moms group on "thinking about food." I gave a small lecture on how our food choices effect the environment and then gave them a list of things to choose from that could make a difference. I had a lot of moms come up to me after and tell me that they had never thought about the information I gave them before but they were going to choose one thing from my list. I have no doubt that a few of those moms will learn more about this on their own. After my talk, the group planted herb seeds in recycled containers as a way to easily grow some of their own food. I know I'm not the only person speaking to groups across the country this week about environmental things and while not every person who hears talks this week will be changed, many will.

For those of us who live by the mantra "every day is Earth Day" maybe today isn't going to be any different from any other day. To be honest, my family didn't take part in our community Earth Day activities on Sunday. We weren't boycotting them; we just chose to do something else that day. And today, well I'm writing about earth matters - but I do that every day.

Getting Tax Refund Money? 10 Ways to Spend Your Green, Greenly

It's the third Friday of the month and that means we're privileged to have a guest post by Adam Shake of Twilight Earth. Today he's talking about how to spend our tax refunds wisely and greenly.


A common misconception amongst many people is that being green costs more money, than not. This is not true, and in fact, the opposite is true. Being green saves you green. But just like most things in life, there is sometimes an up front cost involved, and that cost, over time, pays for itself or cost's less than a conventional product.

We've put together a list of items that will help you live a healthier life, help you keep the planet clean and will save you money. It’s a win, win, win situation!

1. An Energy Star Washing Machine - While saving over $50.00 per year, the machine will pay for itself through its average life-cycle of 10 years. Kenmore, GE, Asko and Miele are just a few of the companies that sell these models.
2. An Energy Star Dishwasher - This has a double bonus. Not only will you be saving money on electricity, but these use 25-50% less water than a non Energy Star rated Dishwasher. Save some green and use fewer resources.
3. Energy Star Refrigerator - Standard Fridges account for a whopping 15% of your household electric use. But there is good news, new Energy Star Refrigerators use 40% less energy than models sold in 2001! One of these could easily save you $50.00 a year in electric expense.
4. High Efficiency Water Heater - Saving you over $100.00 a year through less energy use and water use, for most homes you can get the heater itself for $600 - $1,200. Sounds like a good deal.
5. Upgrade your insulation - There are many homes, especially those in the South West that don't have adequate insulation. Proper insulation is one of the most overlooked energy saving methods out there, and should be started in the attic. Just about any insulation investment will pay for itself in less than five years. You can also buy great insulation made in the US out of recycled and sustainable materials such as Cocoon cellulose insulation (recycled newspaper), Ultratouch recycled denim insulation, and BioBased insulation (made from soybean oil)
6. New Windows - If you do not have them already, installing energy-efficient, or double-paned windows can be a great way to use your refund. Not only will installing these new windows keep the cold out and the heat in, but you can also claim federal tax deductions for qualifying installations, if installed before December 31st of 2009. You can deduct 10% of the cost, up to $200 for all windows, skylights, and storm windows.
7. Change out your light bulbs and shower heads - Perhaps you’ve been waiting to change your incandescent lights to compact fluorescents or LEDs because the latter are expensive. Now’s the time spend a couple hundred dollars and get really energy-efficient lighting throughout your home– and for outdoors as well. Compact fluorescent lights will last ten times as long as standard bulbs, and LED lights will last 5-10 times longer than the fluorescents. You’ll save money and energy. Also spend $50 to get a few low-water-use shower heads. These shower heads can save you 2,000 to 3,000 gallons of water per person per year. And they work great! You won’t know you’re in a low-flow shower!
8. Alternative Energy Stocks - It looks as if the economy may be turning around, but even if we have to wait a bit, Alternative Energy Stocks are the way to go. Check out sites like AltenErgyStocks.com for more ideas and tips.
9. Invest in a Garden - What's better than healthy eating, saving money on groceries and spending time outside? Not much. Did you know that the largest selling seed in the United States is grass seed? Did you know that there is more grass grown in this country than corn? Gardening is the way to go.
10. Saving your green - One of the things we like to say here at Twilight Earth is that "Sometimes, the greenest thing to do, is to do nothing at all." The only thing I would suggest replacing with energy efficient substitutes is light-bulbs and shower-heads. (Unless it is time to replace other things) Nothing else should be replaced if it has already been installed and is in good working order. The energy it takes to create things often offsets the savings of replacing them. Please don't go ripping out hardwood flooring to replace it with bamboo. Please don't tear out counter-tops to replace them with recycled glass ones. Only replace when needed, and then replace with green!

________________________________

Adam Shake is the founder of Twilight Earth, a blog that brings news and excellent commentary on what is going on with the environment worldwide that we need to care about. Whether he's educating about the environmental impact of things like coal or simply sharing his breathtaking photos of nature, I always learn something at his site. Visit Twilight Earth and look around (and check out my guest post on his site today).

On his blog he says "I’m about sharing with you what I know, what I’m learning, and what I’m ignorant about in reference to this huge subject that we call the environment." That's what we appreciate around here.

Life is a highway

Adam Shake from Twilight Earth is back this month with another guest post. Read more about Adam at the end of the post.

When was the last time you had a song in your head that you just couldn’t get rid of? Well I’ve had one in my head all day. No, I take that back. That’s a lie. I’ve had “Life is a highway” in my head all week long.

Well, life's a road that you travel on
There's one day here and the next day gone
Sometimes you bend, sometimes you stand
Sometimes you turn your back to the wind
-Life is a highway by Tom Cochran

Now I don’t believe in coincidence, so why has this song this song been worming it’s way through my subconscious all week, and what exactly does “Life is a highway, and I’m gonna ride it all night long” mean? I want nothing to do with highways, or cars, or oil or CO2 or….. I’m about as deep green as you can get and if you knew how I “really” felt about some things, I’d probably be banned from the internet. You’ll never find me lying on a beach, and my idea of a vacation is living on the side of a mountain above tree-line and eating wild blueberries for breakfast.

But I digress. I think I’ve got it figured out. I believe that I’ve been contemplating this Environmental journey that I’ve been on, wondering not where I’m at, but how I got here and where I’m going. Life is a highway, after all.

I was recently interviewed, and as I’m sure Robin can attest to, when an environmentalist or green writer is interviewed, there are two questions that are standard. How did you get involved in the green movement and do you have some green tips for us? It’s kind of a running joke between those of us who do this kind of thing. This wasn’t my first interview, but it really got me thinking? How DID I get here? Where am I going?

How I got here isn’t as important though as how you got here. How did you get to the point in your life where you find yourself reading Robins blog, right now? You could just as easily be reading any other type of thing.

What drives us down the highway of life is not ourselves; it’s the people and things around us. After all, if we didn’t have anywhere to go, we’d never get in the car.

Some people realize that we all live in one big house that we call earth, and that by taking care of it, protecting it, we care for and protect the people we love. Turning down the heat at night, buying locally grown organic food, recycling and breathing fresh air tells our spouses and children “I love you.” The people we love have brought you here.

Some people realize that we have an intrinsic relationship with the natural world. This is a relationship that we have know for thousands of years and have only within the last couple of hundred, forgotten about. The world around you, outside your home, car and office has brought you here.

Some people realize that though the onus of responsibility for the environmental catastrophe we face can be laid at the feet of “Society,” there is something in them, which takes some of that responsibility upon themselves. Your integrity has brought you here.

Some people have people in their lives who respect them for caring for the ones they love and humanity in general. These people ask you questions. They respect your answers. They look to you as an example. They could be your friends, your co-workers or your own children. The people who count on you and look up to you brought you here.

Some people disagree with you. Some people think that you are being silly, or worse yet that you are crazy. Some people may even call you pretentious. Some of those people are vested in a consumer and energy consuming lifestyle that does not allow them to change without giving up certain things, and those things have a higher priority to them than working toward a sustainable future so that their own children will be able to live some semblance of a normal life. The people who hurt our home have brought you here.

Some people think that we have to solve a problem before we can fix a problem. We live in a world of instant access to any type of information. Want to know how to build a house? It’s on the internet. Want to know how to talk to your teenager? It’s on the internet? Do you want to know what day your wedding anniversary will fall on in 12 years or what your body fat index is or how long you have left to live based on your lifestyle? It’s on the internet. Want to know how to solve Global Warming? Uhhh, hmmm, I can’t seem to find that. What, you saying I’m the cause? Well umm, there’s no such thing! Skeptics and deniers have brought you here.

Only you know what brought you here. The question is, where do you go from here?

In Don Henley's “Boys of Summer” he says, “Out on the road today, I saw a Deadhead sticker on a Cadillac. A little voice inside my head said you can’t look back, you can never look back.”

It’s kind of like that, isn’t it? Is there any looking back now that we are here? Can we ever go back to our care free consumer lifestyles? Would we want to? The farmers market I go to is a great place. Garden raised vegetables, picked right off the vine in my own yard taste so good. Plants grow so much better when the soil comes from my own little composting bin. Putting my toilet paper rolls in my recycle bin is like thumbing my nose at the paper companies. But nothing beats being an advocate for a greener world, being an activist and being a writer, except maybe the fact that I’m going to the woods this weekend, and even if it’s wet and cold, I’ll feel more alive than I would sitting in my office a couple blocks from the White House.

There are different shades of Green just like there are different roads. Your shade is different than mine and that’s great. You don’t have to stand in front of a coal plant gate with 2,000 other people and risk arrest, but I’ve done it. Maybe you are a Vegan. I am not. Sometimes our roads intersect, like they have just now. When that happens, there is nothing sweeter.

Today is the first day of Spring. It’s a new season, a season of growth and renewal. The highway of life has brought you to this day, to this moment. This article is the Deadhead sticker on the Cadillac. Please don’t look back. Please never look back.

--------------------------------------
Adam Shake is the founder of Twilight Earth, a blog that brings news and excellent commentary on what is going on with the environment worldwide that we need to care about. Whether he's educating about the environmental impact of things like coal or simply sharing his breathtaking photos of nature, I always learn something at his site. Visit Twilight Earth and look around (and check out my guest post on his site today).

On his blog he says "I’m about sharing with you what I know, what I’m learning, and what I’m ignorant about in reference to this huge subject that we call the environment." That's what we appreciate around here.

Altering the eco, one decision at a time

We're privileged to have Adam Shake from Twilight Earth guest posting for us today. Read more about Adam at the end of the post.

Until recently, and even today, the term “Altering the Ecology” of something has had negative connotations associated with it. But how do we alter the eco in a good way?

My philosophy is that environmentalism isn’t about saving the planet. Environmentalism is about saving us.

I’m reading an interesting book by Malcolm Gladwell entitled “Blink – The Power of Thinking Without Thinking,” and in it, he reaffirms some of the things that I’ve always thought. One of them is that some people place “representative feelings on things” and some don’t. You see, we as humans have an intrinsic relationship with nature. We are a part of it, and yes, we need to use it for our survival, but we over use it. It would make sense that we would want to take care of something that we depend on. After all, we take care of our cars, our tools, our homes, all the things that we use to survive. Why wouldn’t we take care of the planet? It’s the planet that provides these things to us!

A person with Autism has trouble creating attachments with other people. Often times, people with autism will look at your shoulder or your hand or at a light switch when you talk to them, because they do not have the ability to see outside themselves and recognize other people as having an intrinsic relationship with them on a human level. To some severe autistics, other people are nothing more than objects.

As a human species, we’ve become autistic to nature. It holds no intrinsic “value” to us, other than what we can take from it. We alter the ecology of the rivers by buying soda, we alter the ecology of trees by overhunting wolves, and we change the frequency and intensity of storm systems by utilizing fossil fuels, resulting in millions of deaths each year. We have altered the ecology of the Wolf and Moose predator / prey cycle on Isle Royal in Lake Superior because Climate Change has increased the number of ticks on the island. The Moose are dying from the ticks and the Wolves are being affected. These are just a few of the hundreds of things that occur when we think of our planet as being “outside of ourselves.”

When we don’t value our planet, we don’t value ourselves. Everything that we do has an effect on our environment, albeit a small one, and it is the accumulation of those billions of effects, that have an effect on us as individuals.

Often times, the negative effects that the environment places on us as a result of our actions, are felt the least by those who are the greatest contributors to environmental damage.

The gold jewelry and diamonds we buy in 1st world counties are mined in 3rd world countries using heavy metals that poison the earth and the people who mine them. The amount of HFCS that we consume in the United States effects the global price of grain, affecting three quarters of the world’s populations whose staple diet is grain and rice. These are just a few of the examples of transitioning global effects of individual consumer decisions. The high amount of CO2 in the atmosphere can not be transferred back to oxygen by the world’s oceans, so the oceans are becoming acidified. That acid is killing the coral around the world and as the coral dies, tidal swells and flooding are occurring more frequently on shorelines around the ocean. But we are not thinking about someone’s fishing village being devastated when we buy that S.U.V.

How do we Alter the Eco? We Alter the Eco by keeping things simple.

• Home grown food (1 process) is better than farmer’s market food. (2 processes) Farmer’s market food is better than store bought natural food. (3 processes) Store bought natural foods are better than store bought processed foods. (4 processes)
  
• Tap water is better than bottled water, bottled water is better than soda and soda is just down right silly.

If we try to keep things as natural as possible and keep the production processes for those things as low as possible, then we are Altering the Eco.

We need to realize that we are involved with the planet. We have a relationship with it, and whether we are held accountable by our society or even our God, we are accountable to ourselves and our children.

Environmentalism is not about saving the planet, it’s about saving ourselves.

As always, keep up the good fight, and Alter the Eco! (In a good way!)

--------------------------------------

Adam Shake is the founder of Twilight Earth, a blog that brings news and excellent commentary on what is going on with the environment worldwide that we need to care about. Whether he's educating about the environmental impact of things like coal or simply sharing his breathtaking photos of nature, I always learn something at his site. Visit Twilight Earth and look around (and check out my guest post on his site later today). 

On his blog he says "I’m about sharing with you what I know, what I’m learning, and what I’m ignorant about in reference to this huge subject that we call the environment." That's what we appreciate around here. 

Image: petra