Journey To Green

Yesterday (Friday, October 9, 2009), I watched (via hulu.com) Colin Beavan on the Stephen Colbert show which originally aired Thursday, October 8, 2009. He talked about how he made no impact on the environment for a year in New York City. From my vantage point, it was extremely painful for me to watch because my theory and reality of going green were not meshing. I want to be green, really, I do. Yet, I want convenience out the yin-yang.

As I continued to watch, Colin said that about 1500 people are going to do the no impact project for a week. Immediately, I thought I should do this and just as quickly dismissed notion. So, I compromised with myself and decided to sleep on it. This morning I went to the website and decided to sign-up for the No Impact Project. Registering for it was a bit confusing because I was routed to Huffington Post’s website. I discovered that Huffington Post will host the No Impact Week and the projoect will begin on October 18, 2009. I received an email that stated information about the project is forthcoming (Please hurry before I lose the courage to participate.)

One part of me is nervous as hell about making this commitment but another part of me loves the challenge. I have no doubt that it will be challenging. The biggest challenge will be getting to work because I live 22 miles from work. I try to take public transportation a couple days a week but it is more like a couple of days every couple of weeks. It really is convenient to drive.

This will be interesting and I am sure I will talk myself into and out of the No Impact Week Project a hundred times before October 18. However, I encourage you to take a look and participate as well. The find out more go to www.noimpactproject.org and let me know if you will participate.

Finally, for the record, I will not be giving up toilet paper during No Impact Week.

The title of this post was inspired by the Neil Sadaka song “Breaking Up is Hard to Do.”  Some how I had a general idea to write about reducing the amount of time I spend in the shower each morning.  I do not know how or why that came to mind other than I like hot showers and on more than one occasion, they are extremely long.   So, I must have been feeling a smidgen of guilt.  The operative work is “smidgen” because those long hot showers seem to come at the right time.

One often hear how there is a shortage of water or there will be at some point in the future. A shortage so dire that rationing can occur and all kinds of terrible things will happen just to have water.  Initially, it appears to be a dubious claim.  You may think, how can that be?  The reality is the issue is with potable water.  The earth’s surface is mostly covered in water but  but it’s salty.  In order for it to be usable, this water would have to be desalinated, which is an extremely expensive process.  What would be done with the by-product?

Is conservation the best way?  Is rain water another options?  Is there freshwater available?  Is transport an issue?  I will continue to think about these questions and more as I try to find ways to cut back on on my water consumption.