This feel-good article from the New York Times via the Academy for Global Citizenship launches Green My Parents, a national effort to inspire and organize kids to lead their families toward greener lives. It will train 100 youth advocates who will echo-train 100 peers, etc., to save money and the Earth.
Archive for the ‘Personal’ Category
How to green your parents
Monday, April 26th, 2010Environmentally friendly detergents: Are they for you?
Tuesday, April 13th, 2010This CSM article surveys the options for green laundry and dishwasher products. An infant industry, trust counts because ingredients don’t have to be listed. Green clothing detergents give good results; dishes almost as good.
Report: Airline recycling in ‘sorry state’
Tuesday, March 2nd, 2010Here’s another article about airline trash. Green America, a environmental nonprofit, just found that most American airlines do little recycling, blaming airports’ lack of facilities. Delta and Virgin do best, earning B-’s. United and US Airways both get F’s. An average passenger leaves behind 1.3 pounds of trash, of which 20% is recyclable. Enough aluminum cans are tossed to build 58 new Boing 747s. European airlines do better. You can help by recycling your own cans, bottles, and newspapers.
Americans are getting better at water conservation
Thursday, January 7th, 2010America has shown that it can change its environmental behavior. A report issued in October 2009 by the US Geological Survey indicates that America now uses less water than it did in 1980, when water usage peaked. The reduction seems attributable to increased awareness that water is a scarce resource, which has led western states especially to seek conservation measures in homes, fields, factories, and utilities. About 80% of the more than 400 billion gallons of water used daily in the U.S. go to generate electricity or to irrigate fields. It is encouraging that as water supplies dwindle due to global warming, American industry, agriculture, and even the general public, have taken steps to conserve water.
Americans’ attitudes toward the environment aren’t reflected in action
Thursday, January 7th, 2010Americans have taken to recycling their bottles and cans, and lowering their thermostats to save energy, but far fewer adopt energy-saving measures that are difficult or expensive. That was the conclusion of a recent nation-wide telephone poll conducted by the AP and NBC Universal. Respondents were asked how important to the environment various measures were, and whether they practiced them. About 80% of those polled want to protect the environment, but they’ll do so only if the ease and cost of adopting a given behavior lets them. Rates of recycling and lowering the thermostat were high. Many 70%) recognized that insulating the home would help the environment and save them money, but only about half said they were likely to do so, citing cost and structural impediments. Not surprisingly, people said their likelihood of car pooling (impractical if carpoolers don’t live or work near each other), using mass transit (often non-existent in rural areas), buying efficient appliances or a hybrid vehicle (can cost $4,000 – $7,000 more than a gasoline powerered car), are far lower.
Advantages and disadvantages of a cedar shake roof
Tuesday, January 5th, 2010This is the second part of a series from the Christian Science Monitor.
The best way to reroof an old building, using as criteria greenness, efficiency, affordability, easy maintenance, and esthetics is, after personal and bill-payer trade-offs, red cedar shingles.
Be a green Santa with these holiday gifts
Friday, December 18th, 2009Need some last-minute gifts, and you want them to be green? Here are a few environment-friendly ideas. These gifts cater to all budgets; some will only set you back a few dollars, but others are quite pricy. All will warm your heart, not the climate. Happy holidays!
Four sides to every story
Tuesday, December 15th, 2009Stewart Brand, writing in the New York Times, dissects those warning of or scoffing at climate change. He distinguishes alarmists and skeptics, denialists and calamatists. Some are more scientific, others more ideological. How you interpret the climate future depends on your camp. Which one are you in?
The Endangerment Finding
Tuesday, December 8th, 2009This New York Times editorial on the EPA’s endangerment finding for greenhouse gas emissions focuses on the rulilng’s domestic implications. The House has passed legislation regulating GHGs, but the Senate’s bill is stalled. The Times urges the Senate to act, and the House to improve their bill.
How will religion evolve?
Monday, December 7th, 2009In this provocative piece, John Tierney of the NY Times responds to Nicolas Wade’s new book, The Faith Instinct. When hunter-gatherers settled down, religion conveyed big advantages on early societies; natural selection favored their survival. Now, Tierney suggests, religion should turn green.