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.
When most people think about going “green” they do not think of litter and its impact on the environment. For a long time I did not. I have always hated litter because it is an eyesore and there are health and sanitation issues associated with it. There are loads of stats about the environmental impact of litter. That is not what this post is about. The focus is about how people believe it is acceptable to litter in a less pristine neighborhood as opposed to a “good” neighborhood.
Recently, I was chatting with a colleague about how there are many things I like about my neighborhood but over the last few years of city living I have come to realize that I want a community with quality restaurants, one that is walkable, litter- and dog-poop free. I was relaying a story about how someone in my neighborhood allowed their dog to crap in the vacant lot and did not pick it up. [Digression: I strongly believe you should not own a dog if you are unwilling to clean up after it publicly.]
I moved from my dog-poop rant into a litter rant. Over the last few years, I have seen people drive up to a stop sign and threw a bag of trash out their car window and kept going. The first time I saw it I was incredulous and it continues to be disconcerting when I see it.
My colleague was in complete agreement about the whole littering issue. Then seemingly out of nowhere she said something to the effect that she would never litter in her previous neighborhood but if there was a neighborhood that was less pristine, then she would litter with something biogradable, of course. I have heard that argument before that if something is biodegradable, it is acceptable to litter. Note: Littering is littering, biogradable or not.
I did not know what to say and still do not. It is disappointing to learn that someone feels there is a justification for littering. It begs the question: Can we really save the planet? My reply is maybe, but we have to work like hell to do so.
When I started this blog it was to try and make sense of all the do’s and don’t of the moving to a more “green” life. Since then, I’ve gotten a job that requires me to commute almost two hours a day. Needless to say this sucks. Not only from an environmentalystandpoint but a physical one as well. It was suggested that I take the train or in my case trains. It would take me three or more hours to do so.
In many respects the job I went to mirrors my gasoline consumption in terms of being more wasteful because I’ve started wasting more paper, food, and time. The company is a very heavy paper consumer, that is, they use a whole hell of a lot of paper. In fact, they have a green committee that prints, the “green” newsletter and posts it on a bulletin board on each floor. I found that hilarious. What I find depressing is that less than six months ago, I was using much less paper and gas, now I feel like I walked backed to the nineties and can’t stop.
Is the green movement helpless when companies waste so much under the guise of prodouctivity?
