The Monday lunch blog continues with some exaggerated reflection on my eco-crusades.
When it comes to green living, the crazier you are, the better.
The thought of at once ditching plastic bags, canned tuna and tomatoes, non-organic eggs and non-recyclable materials (for example) seems to suggest a need for insanity. It’s not so much that to make a dozen eco-friendly and health-friendly commitments at once is crazy; rather, it’s that doing so wholeheartedly seems to require one to be slightly nutty.
This realisation hit me after watching an episode of HGTV’s Living with Ed, a “reality green show [that] chronicles life with an earth-friendly fanatic,” actor Ed Begley Jr. Watching him go to great lengths to green his home and lifestyle while his wife tries to cope with his antics was like watching myself on a larger scale. My sudden “Oh sorry, I don’t need a bag, thanks!” is often met with a surprised face. (It must be my keen delivery.) Or, “can you please help me find a jar that isn’t #1 plastic?” as my poor boyfriend just wants me to pick one and go. (Ed knows all the numbers off by heart and what they mean.) Next time I will have to explain why I want my tomatoes in a glass jar, but not a premade sauce because I’m sensitive to sugar. I started my job and immediately wanted to make my green workplace greener by ditching the paper towels (legally we can’t), antibacterial soap, and harsh cleaners. I will attempt to recycle anything and everything and insist on reusing my plastic bags when buying my produce. Regular deodorant will no longer suffice, and I swear my next couch will not be stuffed with foam.
While I can’t apply green theory to absolutely everything in my life, I refuse to accept the unacceptable and will confuse as many people as needed to get the right product. They’ll get used to it.
So am I crazy? I think to face the challenges this modern world offers us, 100%, you have to be. So here’s to being crazy — crazy about our environment, our health, and our future.
This is the third official installment of the weekly Monday lunch blog. Please do check in the rest of the week for other posts.
In last week’s post, I discussed a recently-released movie titled “The 11th Hour,” a documentary on climate and environmental change. I mentioned I was going to watch “An Inconvenient Truth” soon, so I did over the weekend. (I’ve left my quotes at home so I’ll put them in later.)
This film was, as critics often say, eye-opening. I couldn’t believe the amount of information I didn’t know, and how much of it is shocking, and how much of it MAKES SENSE! There is absolutely no doubt that unnatural, human-produced global warming is occuring. The film wasn’t nearly as frightening as I expected, but rather insightful and very optimistic that we can change and we must. That the individual has so much power to make an impact on the environment is probably one of the few ways in which one person can truly be world-changing. (I personally think one person’s vote is, unfortunately, quite unimportant in the grand scheme of a Canadian or American election; it is the force of all of them that swings the result.) Small measures at home can, in fact, make grand changes: changing a lightbulb, turning off some lights, switching to energy-efficient appliances, taking shorter showers, adjusting thermostats and hanging clothes to dry.
It doesn’t need to be inconvenient.
Continue reading Inspiration from “An Inconvenient Truth” »
This is the second official installment of the weekly Monday lunch blog. Please do check in the rest of the week for other posts.
Perusing through Apple’s film trailers last night, I discovered a documentary called “The 11th Hour,” produced and narrated by Leonardo DiCaprio and featuring the likes of designer Bruce Mau and scientist Stephen Hawking. While at first it might appear to be another “An Inconvenient Truth,” which I actually haven’t seen yet but will soon, the content seems to be more diverse and equally urgent, if not moreso. The film’s main tagline is “consuming less, living more,” and it’s in this consumption that lies the greatest problems for the earth. Fortunately, the messages present a very positive, action-oriented, YOU can do it approach that I think will be successful. Mobilization of individuals is key.
Continue reading Climate change, global warming: what’s in a name? »
The other day I was out with a friend and picked up a Subway sandwich to share for dinner. Assuming we’d share the drink — I don’t normally get one but expected to be wandering the art gallery for awhile — we got a straw. Unwrapping it, I realised the waste involved: a plastic straw and a thin plastic sheath covering it would be thrown out when I was finished. I didn’t even need a straw. We came to the conclusion that bottles (this one was glass; I would have it no other way) should be made like sippy cups.
The sandwich came wrapped in what I can only assume was coated paper, and inside a plastic bag with a couple napkins. All of it ended up in the trash. (I took the juice bottle home and will recycle it when finished.)
So all this got me thinking, fast food sure generates tons of waste!
Continue reading Fast food, quick waste »
I just turned on the TV, which was left on HGTV (the Canadian version), and an American show called “I Want That!” was on. I’m dismayed. Consumer culture and cheesy shopping network style aside, some of the “nifty” new products it was showcasing are troubling.
Continue reading HGTV gets a taste of the shopping network »
Vancouverite and Six-time City Councillor and current Director of Simon Fraser University’s City Program, Gordon Price blogs about California leading the way in reducing greenhouse gas emissions.
The Governor and Legislature, though from opposing political parties, have agreed to a plan that aims to reduce greenhouse gas emissions to 1990 levels by the year 2020. Not quite Kyoto, but nonetheless precedent-setting for the largest emitter in the U.S. and the world’s eighth-largest economy.
I say, better than nothing!
Price isn’t so optimistic about BC, however:
While California acts, we as a province and nation delay. The failure to set realistic goals to reduce greenhouse gases, to establish the rules, to set up the trading mechanisms, means we will be less competitive and more vulnerable.
The 3rd World Urban Forum just ended in Vancouver yesterday.
Bloggers may be interested in earthblog.ca, which is “a two-week discussion about the future of our region.” It runs until June 30.
(If you’re on a Mac, use Firefox as Safari is not entirely supported. Commenting doesn’t quite work in Safari.)
Description from their website:
“From June 15 to June 30, 2006, Earthblog features the daily writings of four opinionated bloggers, two provocative moderators, dozens of passionate community groups and thousands of local residents and visitors from around the world.
Earthblog.ca takes its inspiration from the 1976 UN Habitat Conference, an event that sparked discussion and debate on the state and form of cities. The occasion of the 30th anniversary of the UN Habitat Conference, the World Urban Forum, propels this discussion forward. Earthblog.ca is intended to provide a local perspective on the issues discussed at the WUF and includes themes brought to the fore by parallel events, such as the World Planners Congress, the World Peace Forum, EARTH: The World Urban Festival, and the World Youth Forum. Earthblog brings forward the perspectives of multiple voices on the social, cultural, environmental and economic issues that are relevant to the development of the region.”
I wish it were running indefinitely!
On their Sustainable Vision Wiki, I responded to this question:
Is “sustainability” anything more than just a buzz word?
My response:
“To sustain” has many relevant definitions. “Sustainability,” though tossed around until it seems like a fad, is a meaningful direction and goal for any city to prolong the health and lives of its citizens, infrastructure, economies, ecologies, etc. It is also about reducing a city’ and a city’s people’s ecological footprint, globally. Vancouver has an enormous global impact, and is never independent of the rest of the world for survival. Its ability to maintain itself with the least global impact, such as growing its own food and producing its own products with local materials, is what sustainability is all about.
