The Laughing Gas Threat

The biggest threat to the ozone, according to a recent study, is laughing gas. Yup, good old N20 is the new villian. Perhaps just another reason to avoid the dentist? Well, not exactly. The nitrous oxide in the air comes from fertilizer and animal waste.

The good news is that we've seen this before. Remember the '80s? Metal bands like Poison and Winger were using enough CFC-rich hair spray to deplete our precious ozone. Fortunately, we realized the threat and got interested in grunge rock and hip-hop by the early '90s, killing off the hair bands and their evil ways. Also, the Montreal Protocol, when 190 nations agreed to ban the use of CFCs, probably helped.

Now we need to find a way to regulate nitrous oxide. The Kyoto Protocol called for regulations, but of course, not everyone singed that one. And it runs out in 2012. Stay tuned.

Final note -- I love the internet as much as the next guy. But when you start a blog, and then get busy and distracted, it can be somewhat embarrassing that the blog sits there. The last post, its date stamped visibly next to the title, can be cringe worthy.

Is there anybody out there?

:Knock, knock:

Hello, is this thing on?

Apologizes for the extended absence. The GGP took a solid five weeks off in August this year, Euorpean-style, to re-charge the old AA batteries. Fortunately, vacation dulled neither my passion for going green nor for writing the blog. So while you may have been wondering if a new post was ever forthcoming, you may now rest easy.

Tomorrow is September 1st, and with the new month will come new posts and discussion here at the GGP.

Stay tuned.

A Farm for the Future

One of my favorite topics on this blog is food. One of the easiest and yet most effective ways to living a more sustainability life occurs when we chose what to eat every day. Your food choices have a wide-ranging impact on the environment, and we should all be more aware of where our food comes from and how it ends up on the table.

But of course, awareness is only part of the problem. As our planet's population increases, we face the growing problem of how to feed all those people. How can we move towards more sustainable agriculture when there are people starving in the world even now?

The BBC has recently produced a documentary on this very subject (which I discovered on the Civil Eats blog). Called A Farm for the Future, the program shows how Rebecca Hosking explored how she might turn her family's farm in Devon, England into a farm that doesn't use any fossil fuels. As you might expect, nature holds the key.

You can watch the entire video below. As you can imagine, it's extremely well done and very interesting:

Litterbug, litterbug

We've all seen it: you're walking along in the city, or maybe down a suburban street in your hometown. You're minding your own business, perhaps whistling a tune or daydreaming.  And then, out of the corner of your eye, you see someone blatantly littering.  They're dropping a wrapper, tossing a soda bottle, crumpling up a piece of paper and letting it fall to the ground.

So what are you, a concerned citizen, supposed to do?  Do you silently continue on your walk, stewing about the disrespect some people have for the planet?  Do you lurk around the corner and then pick up the trash yourself when the litterer is out of sight?  Do you confront the person, there and then, in middle of the street?

I encountered a litterbug yesterday while out for a run.  I was minding my own business, listening to my iPod and generally struggling through the heat.  I suddenly noticed a man walking towards me, about 30 yards away, who was unwrapping one of those cheap convenience store ice cream cones.  He was peeling off the wrapper, and as I got closer, he just let the paper fall on the ground.  This was a grown man, in his 40s or 50s, not some child who didn't know better.  

So I slowed my run, got right up close to him, pointed at the wrapper, and forcefully but politely suggested that perhaps he was unaware that he had dropped said wrapper.  He looked at me blankly.  Perhaps it was the endorphins from the run, but at this point I decided to tell him loudly that he reminded me of a particular part of the human anatomy.  You might be able to guess which one.

I'm not sure if this is the most effective way to deal with people who litter on the street.  But then again, what can you really do?

The Green Arches?

Are the Golden Arches going green? That's what the Daily Greenz blog asks today. Can McDonald's, that famous icon of American cuisine and subject of quasi-documentary film exposes, be a green company?

Ok, so they're upgrading the light bulbs in their stores to improve their energy efficiency. And yes, Greenpeace is on board with MickeyD's efforts to step up their effort to save the rainforests.

Still, the Daily Greenz asks the all-important question: how green can a company that relies on the principles of factory farming really be?

I'd stop short of accusing them of greenwashing. Their efforts are in fact good for the environment, and we can't fault them for changing out their bulbs. Let's recognize the good, but not go overboard in calling them the Green Arches just yet.

Measuring sustainability at Wal-Mart

Wal-Mart announced on Monday that it will soon be placing a sustainabilty index on all their products. Yup, when you buy something at Wal-Mart, you'll be able to study not only the nutritional information, but the sustainability information as well. Wal-Mart is turning itself into the Golly Green Giant.

Of course, nothing is simple or straightforward -- not when it comes to corporate sustainability and certainly not when it comes to Wal-Mart. Marc Gunther's blog raises a few of the most important questions about this Wal-Mart story. What factors should you consider when measuring the environmental impact of a product? It's hard to really put numbers on sustainability at the moment. Heck, it's hard enough to define the term, especially we are talking about sustainability for bottom-line driven corporations.

But all skepticism aside, it's still a positive step. Wal-Mart is reacting to consumers' demands (as they always do -- it's way they're so succesful). If consumers want more information about sustainability, Wal-Mart will put the screws to their providers and find a way to provide it. That can only be good in the long term.

AirTran looking to reduce footprint

Nothing wrecks a well-maintained carbon footprint faster than taking a cross-country flight. That's why it's nice to see airlines taking a long, hard look at their environmental impact.

AirTran, one of the U.S.'s low-cost carriers, has agreed to join an environmental sustainability program in Atlanta. This program will provide a model for the company to use in AirTran's operations in 60 cities across the country.

No a bad start. Now if they can just figure out how to give me a little bit more leg room, I might be willing to use AirTran to finally take that trip out to Vegas.

Adding to the layout

As you can of course see to the left of this post, I've added a couple of new features to the blog. I'm hoping this adds a little bit of variety to the blog.

A the top of the list is the Green Product of the Day. This will take you to the Pristine Planet website where you can browse all green products from many different eco-friendly retailers. There are merchant lists, reviews, and, of course, shopping. The site has a lot of information, and is definitely worth a visit.

Next, we have the iGo Green Tip of the Day. Yup, this is exactly what you think -- a new green tip every day. If you're really feeling saucy, you could post this to your own website/Facebook page/MySpace page, et cetera and so on.

Enjoy.

Amateur photography time

Here are a couple of pics I snapped over at the Boston Local Market today. It runs during the day on Tuesday and Thursday, and it's been busy every time I've walked through.

Recycled marathon shoe

I worry about the environmental impact of my running habit. A committed runner is buying a new pair of sneakers every three months (if not sooner!). That's a lot of sneaker, and it starts to pile up after a while. It's hard not to look at a pile of all running shoes and think of the waste.

Is there a solution? Brooks is now producing a recycled shoe for marathon runners called the Green Silence. Made from 75% postconsumer recycled materials and non-toxic dyes and colorants, Brooks certainly has every right to shout about their new product.

So how does it work as a shoe? That's the big question, and one that we won't be able to answer until next February, when the shoe hits the streets (so to speak). Runners are notoriously picky about their footwear, so it will be interesting to see if Brooks can make a dent in the running shoe market.

Will I buy one? Perhaps. I've been wearin the same shoe for over two years, and I fear change, but I'm intrigued by this one, even if I don't exactly understand the name "Green Silence."

Looking back, looking forward

When I started the Going Green Project one year ago today, I was hoping to chronicle an adventure. My first idea was that this blog would be a journal of sorts—one that followed me around as I learned about how to become truly, authentically green. I wasn’t sure how it would turn out, but I was hoping a blueprint for “going green” might eventually emerge.

Over the course of the year, I started to drift away from this original idea. I allowed myself plenty of leeway to write about whatever I wanted. (It’s nice to make up your own rules, isn’t it?) I wrote a lot of posts about the Presidential election in the fall. Although it wasn’t technically about my own adventure, it felt important enough and relevant enough that I wanted to share my thoughts. In fact, I think it added a lot to the project. Blogs can be a strange thing—they are somewhat narcissistic by definition. While it’s interesting to for me to write about my trip to Home Depot or offer a breakdown of what I had for dinner, it may not always make for the most interesting read. So by opening it up for more general discussion, I hope that it added a bit of variation to the proceedings.

In addition, I discovered that being green can mean a lot more than worrying about what’s happening in your own home. Issues of green jobs, the economy, sustainable business practices, and many, many more are all interrelated. It doesn’t make sense to be looking only inward. At the same time, I don’t want to forget about the original intent. Which means, lucky you, that there will still be occasional posts about what I’m eating for dinner.

With all that in mind, I’m going to keep the wide-open format of the blog going for now. In fact, I’d love to expand the format and try to do as many new things as possible. As to what those “things” are, you’ll have to check back to see what happens. I’m not suggesting you hold your breath, necessarily, but I have a few ideas I’d like to experiment with.

Finally, and I’m going to stop short of making a pledge here, I would love to keep to a stricter posting schedule. There were too many times over the last year that I didn’t write about something cool, interesting, funny, or important, simply because I didn’t have the time. Let’s see if I can crack the whip on myself and make sure the blog is always fresh.

The Climate-Change Bill

The House has passed the Waxman-Markey bill, aka the climate-change bill. Although it passed, 212 Representatives voted against the bill. Did your rep vote for or against? If so, did your rep think the bill was too weak to truly battle climate change, or do he/she simply feel that climate change is not worth fighting. Paul Krugman provides closer look at those reps who feel the jury is still out on science.

Keep an eye on the American Clean Energy and Security Act, which now heads to the Senate.

One year of the blog

What's the life expectancy of the average blog? For every blog that has been churning out content and commentary for years, there must be hundreds that lie dormant out there on the web, taking up their small slice of virtual space.

I'm happy that the Going Green Project has survived a full year. For most of that time, it's been active, even though it's limped to the finish line in the last six weeks or so. The primary goal for Year Two will definitely be a more consistent posting schedule. Now, if real life would just cooperate and stay out of the way...

Tomorrow's the actual anniversary, so I'll conjure up something more exciting. For now, I'll leave it to the polar bears:

Local Markets

I've talked many times about CSA (or Community Supported Agriculture) boxes. If you're lucky, in your area you'll be able to find a farm that will deliver the freshest produce to your door once a week during the summer. It's a great way to support local farms and it's probably the best single thing you can do to reduce ye olde carbon footprint.

Not everyone has access to a CSA program, so you may have to be a little more ambitious about seeking out a farmers' market. Or maybe you'll just get lucky, as I did last Thursday. While wandering around somewhat aimlessly on my lunch break, I discovered a farmers' market just around the corner from my office in Boston.

The Boston Public Market has set up a farmers' market on Tuesdays and Thursday, from May through October, right in downtown Boston. With over a dozen vendors selling produce, breads, and other farm-fresh products, the market is going to make it easy for me to stock up twice a week on my way home from work. (As a side note, this also is a smart way to quiet the Rose Kennedy Greenway detractors who think that the green area in the city is a waste.)

If you're in Boston, check out the market in Dewey Square. If you live elsewhere, I hope you stumble upon a market of your own!

Phish Greening Site

I wrote recently about how I've tried to contact the Phish organization to see what their doing about reducing the environmental impact of touring. Now that they're embarking on their first tour in five years, I'm happy to say that they've put up the Phish Greening Site. A lot of people spend a lot of time and energy traveling with this band from city to city, using a lot of fuel and creating a lot of waste along the way. Phish is recognizing the environmental impact of their tour, not just of the band, but of the swarming hordes that follow them around.

The website offers tips on "Traveling Light," and has a Rideshare program for interested carpoolers. Furthermore, it seems that the band will be taking a number of steps to reduce their own footprint, from biodiesel in the buses and Green Crews that clean up after the show to buying carbon offsets. It looks like a lot of time and effort has gone into the site and into Phish's efforts to be green.

I'm curious if any other bands are taking similar steps. Radiohead has always been vocal about their steps to reduce their touring footprint, and I'm sure others are doing the same. If you are doing any amount of traveling to see live music this summer, it's worth looking into what your favorite artists are offering to help make the trip a green one.

128-floor vertical farm?

How about this for fantasy? This concept for a 128-floor vertical farm in New York City looks like the stuff of science fiction. Or maybe the nighttime vision of an urban planner who keeps a pad and a pen by her bed so she can scribble down her strangest dreams. Maybe it's just the bizarro Dubai -- the eco-friendly version.

According to the architect who came up with the plans, the "Dragonfly" is built using "bionic and energetically self-sufficient architecture." The building is supposed to contain housing, office space, reserach labs, and whole lot of farms. Plus it's powered by solar and wind.

Strange? Yes. Is it something I expect to see in the near future? Not exactly. But you gotta admit, it's much better vision of the future than, say, Blade Runner.

Do it Yourself

My sister, who has been environmentally conscious since the days when only Kermit the Frog was claiming to be green, sent me a great article this morning about a group of young Pakistanis. Tired of a lot of talk from the government that never seemed to go anywhere, they decided to take matters into their own hands. They formed a group called Responsible Citizens, and every Sunday, they pick up garbage in the city. It couldn't be more simple. There's trash on the streets -- what do we do? Instead of waiting for someone else to solve the problem, they did it themselves.

It's a great example of how doing the little things can make such a big difference. While this group of kids probably weren't thinking explicitly about the environment, their actions are already having a ripple effect that will create a cleaner and more livable community. The feeling that things can change, that they won't always be the same, is not easy to bring about. But once it takes hold, it can be unstoppable.

Spreading the word

Whenever a friend of mine gets invovled in a green project or business or hobby, I like to call attention to it. Actually, if it's something to do with the environment and sustainable living, I'll probably write about it. And you really don't even have to be a friend -- simply leave a comment here or email me and I'll be happy to spread the word about whatever it is you're doing.

The above preamble is just a wordy way for me to link to http://www.rebekahgreen.com/Blog/Blog.html. Appropriately named for the job, Ms. Green has done a lot of great work in helping to create affordable green housing. You can also find both video and audio podcasts on her site. Clearly a lot of work has gone into these -- can you beat an interview with Tim Gunn about sustainable fashion? No, I didn't think so. We need more people to take the initiative like this and get involved in the green economy, for both economic and environmental reasons.

Did somebody say "Bees"?

It's taken me several days just to calm down from my previous post.  In fact, several times I started a follow-up post that so I could continue my rant.  I had another YouTube clip about light bulbs lined up, and I had even thought up a too-clever Pynchon reference to go with it. Fortunately, I didn't post it.  Sometimes the best thing to do is just move on and not give attention seekers what they're looking for.  

Enough of that... instead, let's talk about something Albert Einstein once said.  Perhaps you've heard this famous quote before: 

"If the bee disappears from the surface of the Earth, man would have no more than four years to live."

Actually, many people think that Einstein probably didn't actually say that, even though you can do a simple internet search for that quote and get thousands of results -- shocking, I know, that there might be false information on the internet.  

Whether it was Einstein or some other uncredited soul who muttered those words, the quote itself is right on the money.  Colony collapse disorder is a frightening problem in the US.  Many crops, from nuts to fruits and vegetables, are pollinated by honeybees.  No one knows why so many honeybee colonies are dying off, but it's a serious problem.  Many theories point to irresponsible human behavior as the cause, but as of yet, no one really knows.

All of this is my way of welcoming back the bees.  Here in Boston, we just had our first weekend of summer weather, even though we're not quite out of spring yet.  As a result, many bees have emerged from their slumber.  Although most people don't celebrate the bee, I'm going to take it as good sign whenever I see one bouncing from plant to plant.  Sure, they sting sometimes, but as Einstein (or whoever) said, we kinda need them around, don't we?  Even the friendly bumblebee, more goofy than scary, is not so bad when you think of it that way.

What will they think in 100 years?

100 A.D., Rome -- In the Colosseum, persecuted Christians are thrown into the ring with blood-thristy lions. Contrary to Hollywood-inspired popular belief, Russell Crowe was not actually present to save the day.

1692, Salem, MA -- The Salem witch trials culminate in the deaths of at least 20 people accused of witchcraft.

1945, Germany -- The Holocaust.

These are all historical events that, when we look back on today, we can only ask ourselves, "how did that happen? How did the people who lived through that not realize how crazy things were?" Can you imagine bearing witness to such crazy events and not realizing how completely bizarre and irrational they truly were? Is there anything that our great-grandchildren will look back on in the year 2100 and shake their heads and wonder how we could have ever been so stupid?

I humbly submit the following for consideration. I do not mean to make direct comparisons between what I've listed above and what the people are talking about on this clip. I'm only trying to suggest that this type of attitude and disrespect will someday be remembered as a tragedy in its own right. Hopefully, when people look back on this type of attitude as a relic from history, they'll be doing so from a green, healthy planet, and not some dark, sun-less, Bladerunner-type existence.

What more can I say about a person who expresses a feeling of erotic pleasure about the chopping down of trees on Earth Day. Perhaps I'll leave the last word to Thomas Pynchon. He was writing about nuclear armageddon, but if you substitute "Slothrop" for "Beck," and "rockets exploding in the sky" for "trees being chopped down," you'll see it's not so far off.

"Jamf was only a fiction, to help [Slothrop] explain what he felt so terribly, so immediately in his genitals for those rockets each time exploding in the sky... to help him deny what he could not possibly admit: that he might be in love, in sexual love, with his, and his race's, death."

Is Disney's Earth movie a great way to improve environmental awareness, or just another corporation looking to cash in on Americans' increasing interest in sustainability?

The philanthropy vs. publicity debate is an important one, especially in this age of greenwashing. I've been bombarded with Earth Day promotions and offers, and it's difficult to separate the good from the too-good-to-be-true. It's a subject I'd like to return to soon. As I mentioned yesterday, the Disney Earth movie's promotion to plant a tree for every ticket sold seems like a great idea, not to mention the actual content of the movie itself.

Check out the debate over the Disney movie here for more.

Happy Earth Day

So what's going on this Earth Day?  Among all the crazy promotions and promises made to capitalize on the buzz, I liked this one: Disney's Earth movie starts, and for every ticket that's purchased, Disney will plant a tree.  It's as good a reason as any to check out the film.  The added bonus is, thanks to the commercial, the promise of the Sigur Ros song Hoppipola on the soundtrack.

In other relevant news, President Obama continues to push his aggressive environmental agenda.  That's a hopeful sign for all of us.  Let's hope that he's successful, and that the blossoming green-collar economy not only helps us combat climate change, but also can provide a boost to the economy (in case you haven't heard, there's a recession on).

Whatever your plans for tomorrow, it's important to remember the now cliche saying, "every day is Earth Day."  

More tomorrow.

Green book deliveries

For those of you who live in the Boston area, check out the Harvard Book Store's promotion for this week.  You can get free delivery this week of any book order, and your order will be delivered by bike.  The delivery service will continue after this week, although it won't be free.  Still, if you live within the deliver range, and you've been to the Harvard Book Store, you'll know why I'm excited about this.

The bike company is called MetroPed, formerly the New Amsterdam Project.  It's the same company that delivers my CSA box in the summer.   The emissions-free bikes, which I've seen often in the area making their deliveries, are kinda badass.

I apologize to those readers who do not live in Boston.  I don't know if you have any exciting book delivery offers in your area.  But since it's Earth Day on Wednesday, keep your eyes peeled for promotional offers.  I'm sure there's some cool stuff going on all over the place.

Earth Day in two days...

Bikes for Boston?

Is Boston getting ready for a bike-share program?

In a great article in the Boston Globe (and please note it's a Globe article--I shudder to think what the failure of the Globe and other newspapers would mean for the future of green blogging and in fact all information, but that's another post...), Boston's readiness for a bike-sharing program is explored in all its gory details.  

What might such a program look like here?  Paris has the Velib service that's been in existence since the summer of '07.  You can get a year-long pass to Velib for around $40, and a one-day rental for less than $2.  It's cheap, it's easy, and it's green.

Of course, those of us who've lived in Boston for any length of time know that bike availability isn't the only problem for would-be Bostonian cyclists.  Quite frankly, you need to get armored up like RoboCop to protect yourself from the drivers.  A successful program probably requires significant investment, not just in the bicycles, but in providing safe, usable roads and sidewalks and pathways.  Think about Boston in January, and then think about navigating the already treacherous roads on a rented bike.  There's still some work to be done here.

Still, it seems like excellent timing for such a project to take off.  It would be a great investment in public transportation, forcing the city to deal with infrastructure problems, employing everyone from city workers to bike mechanics, and just maybe making the air of the city a little easier to breathe.

Looking ahead to Earth Day 09

Now that Earth Hour has come and gone, it's time for look forward to Earth Day.  Yup, a whole twenty-four hours dedicated to the Earth!  This year Earth Day is on April 22, so make a note on your calendar.

Please excuse the lack of a creative segue here, but if you look to the left of the blog, you'll see a badge from the folks at Brighter Planet.  They continue to come up with unique and creative campaigns that bring awareness to environmental issues.  For Earth Day, they've begun the #earthtweet tweet-a-thon.

Full disclosure: I've never used Twitter.  I'm already so hooked in to everything, from email to instant message to the internet to Facebook, that I basically have wires coming out the back of my head, Matrix-style.  So I've honestly never taken the time to explore the wonderful world of Twitter.

However, for you Twitter-ers out there, check out earthtweet.com.  Set up to bring awareness to Earth Day 09, you can send updates on what you're doing to celebrate Earth Day.  And while I'm not making any promises, if I do end up on Twitter, this will be my first stop.

Earth Hour reminder

Just a reminder (although you may be sick of me talking about it at this point), today is Earth Hour.  8:30 p.m. tonight is the beginning -- turn off all non-essential lights for one hour.  That should be pretty easy to do.  

Read a book by candlelight for an hour!

Eco-friendly clothing

As I've written about before, it can be difficult to find eco-friendly clothing for men--but I haven't given up yet. As always, I'm on the lookout for organic cotton/bamboo products, or other types of clothing lines with an eco-friendly focus. I recently discovered two new sites that I'd like to pass on:

Tees For Change [Sustainable Tees on a Misson] boasts, "you buy a tee, we plant a tree." They sell 100% organic cotton and 70% bamboo/30% organic cotton t-shirts, and just as their slogan says, for every shirt you buy, Tees for Change plants a tree! They've partnered with a company called Trees for the Future that plants trees in different areas around the world. I wish they had more styles for men, but there are some great choices for women, babies, and toddlers.

I also got a kick out of the Revenge Is line of clothing. Now this is a cool concept: t-shirts made out of recycled plastic bottles. They offer several different shirts that play off the theme, "the best revenge is living well." No plastic packaging, soy-based inks, 10& of profits given to charity... oh, and did I mention shirts made of plastic bottles yet? It's a unique idea, and I wish them the best of luck.

I haven't tried either brand of shirt yet, so I cannot attest to their quality, but if I can get my hands on any of the clothing, I'll report back.

Happy Friday!

You have to wonder sometimes, don't you?

Check out this piece of genuis that a friend sent me from the Huffington Post. Republican National Committee chairman Michael Steele turned in a rather entertaining spot as the guest host of William Bennett's talk radio program a couple of weeks ago.

I'd like to say he made a lot of gaffes, but that's not exactly true. He was in fact just plain stupid. Steele criticized Republicans, compared Obama to Nixon, and referenced everyone's favorite Italian dictator, "Roberto" Mussolini. Oh, if only that were the bottom of the barrel! Enjoy this little rant, which simply has to be quoted in its entirety to be appreciated properly:

And when a listener scoffed at the notion of global warming, Steele eagerly ran with the baton.

"Thank you, thank you," he said. "We are cooling. We are not warming. The warming you see out there, the supposed warming, and I am using my finger quotation marks here, is part of the cooling process. Greenland, which is now covered in ice, it was once called Greenland for a reason, right? Iceland, which is now green. Oh I love this. Like we know what this planet is all about. How long have we been here? How long? No very long."

Greenland, for the record, likely had forestation some 450,000 to 800,000 years ago. But its name was derived, as is most commonly believed, from Erik the Red, who wanted to trick people into going to that island as opposed to the more hospitable Iceland.

Was I the only one who learned about Erik the Red's clever Greenland/Iceland trick in 6th grade? Again, this person is the chairman of the RNC. How about "warming is part of the cooling process"? How do you even argue that line of reasoning?

This isn't even anti-intellectualism--that's giving Steele too much credit. It's just good old-fashioned stupid.

Vegetable Garden... no, really...

Yesterday I found an article on the NY Times website that had been reprinted from 1991. I was excited to read the editorial, written by a favorite author of mine, Michael Pollan. It's about planting a vegetable garden on the White House lawn, and I enjoyed it so much that I decided to post it on the blog with no delay. I wanted to share what I thought was an interesting piece, and did so without any further research. Because of I was so anxious to write about it, I ended up with a post that laughed at the idea of an actual garden appearing on the White House lawn.

Woops.

The reason the article was unearthed from the NY Times archives should have been clear to me without too much research or active thought. Maybe it was the early Sunday morning air, or perhaps I have a gas leak in my living room -- whatever the reason, I completely missed the story that this past Friday, work began on the brand new White House vegetable garden.

Aided by students from a local elementary school, "first lady Michelle Obama [hosted] a groundbreaking for a White House kitchen garden on the South Lawn... The 1,100-square-foot garden will include 55 kinds of vegetables, including peppers, spinach and, yes, arugula. (The selection is a wish list put together by White House chefs.) There will also be berries, herbs and two hives for honey that will be tended by a White House carpenter who is also a beekeeper. The chefs will use the produce to feed the first family, as well as for state dinners and other official events."

I probably should have realized that the Times doesn't just pull up random articles from its archives without a purpose. Now the Pollan article is even more interesting -- it may have taken close to 20 years, but the garden is now becoming a reality.

So is this a symbolic moment? Will a vegetable garden in the South Lawn of the White House bring attention to the organic and locally-grown food movements? Let's hope so.

How far have we come?

Does it seem as though we are more environmentally conscious than ever? There is more information and public consciousness of environmental issues now than ever before. But is this just a trend? Have we really turned a corner?

Take a look at this 1991 NY Times editorial from Michael Pollan (If you haven't heard of Pollan, I also highly recommend his book In Defense of Food, which I've written about before).  This article was written in the third year of the presidency of Bush I, who had at one point actually expressed the hope that he'd be one day remembered as the "environmental President."

Pollan's suggestion is quite simple: rip up the White House lawn and plant a vegetable garden.  Yes, it was a call for a symbolic gesture, but a powerful one nonetheless.  Of course, tearing up the White House lawn in 1991 was certainly not going to happen.  

Have we made any progress in 2009?  I still don't think the White House lawn is in any danger--President Obama has too many other battles to fight.  But I enjoyed reading this Pollan article and thinking about how little things have changed in the last 20 years.  Sure, we're far more aware of environmental issues, but are we ready for something like tomato plants instead of manicured grass in the front yard of America's most recognizable home?

More Earth Hour buzz...

I debated whether or not it made sense to write a third post on Earth Hour, but the last two resulted in a fair number of comments and emails. So let's keep the discussion going...

The new Earth Hour website has launched. It has ways you can contribute to the movement, a Friend Connect to spread the word, and other information about the "election."

This short video will give you the briefest of overviews:



Remember, it's next Saturday night at 8:30pm (for those of you on the East Coast).

Our Agriculture

I wanted to share this story, which caught my attention today: Our Pigs, Our Food, Our Health

Stories like this one, which appeared on Wednesday in the NY Times, should scare the bejesus out of all of us. While evidence is still being gathered, the article is suggesting that our agricultural practices (in this case, pig farming) may be extremely harmful to human health. There are growing murmurs that pigs may be responsible for spreading antibiotic-resistant staph infections.

The large amount of antibiotics used on our livestock is frightening. Are we unwittingly helping to incubate and spread a disease which has been called "the flesh-eating bacteria"?

The larger question is whether we as a nation have moved to a model of agriculture that produces cheap bacon but risks the health of all of us. And the evidence, while far from conclusive, is growing that the answer is yes.

It should be enough to scare anyone into reducing his/her meat consumption, or at least making sure the meat on his/her plate comes from an organic farm.

Earth Hour, cont.

I wanted to direct your attention to a comment that was made in yesterday's post re: Earth Hour. The Commit21 website lets you take the concept of Earth Hour one step further. Rather than simply switching off some lights, you can commit to doing something for the environment during Earth Hour. Some of the groups include a group committed to changing lightbulbs over to energy efficient bulbs and a group committed to making a more concerted recycling effort. And once you've joined a group, you can pester all your friends/family/people-in-your-Outlook-contacts by emailing them to do the same!

It's a great way to do something extra during Earth Hour.

Thanks for promoting Earth Hour! Another way you can recruit people to the cause is by creating a Earth Hour group on Commit21.com. Simply create a group about one action that you will commit to do for Earth Hour and recruit your friends, family, and co-workers to get involved in that action as well. When it comes to climate change, simple actions can make huge differences and Commit21 leverages social media to influence networks of friends, family, and co-workers. Check it out at http://www.commit21.com/

Turn your lights down low

In fact, turn your lights off completely. Mayor Menino announced that Boston will be taking part in Earth Hour on March 28th, from 8:30 - 9:30 p.m.

Basically, Earth Hour is an hour when everyone turns off their lights. For an hour. This is the third year of Earth hour, and here is the description of this year's campaign:

This year, Earth Hour has been transformed into the world’s first global election, between Earth and global warming. For the first time in history, people of all ages, nationalities, race and background have the opportunity to use their light switch as their vote – Switching off your lights is a vote for Earth, or leaving them on is a vote for global warming.

Raising awareness is great. I'm all for it -- I'm happy to vote for Earth over global warming. My fear, as always, is that people feel a sense of accomplishement with this completely symbolic action. I want people to be aware, of course, but I don't want this to be a way for people to feel good about themselves without having to actually do anything. Politicians and companies can jump on the bandwagon and tout their green credentials, while at the same time they're putting up massive, energy-sucking billboards that throb and pulsate with electricity throughout the night.

Ok, I feel a little bit whiny, like Grandpa Simpson. But now that my cynicism is out of the way, let me say I'll be happy to vote for Earth.

Global warming sucks.

Go Earth.

Rideshare program

When my favorite band, Phish, announced their reunion tour, the first thing I did (after jumping up and down a few times) was start making plans to see some shows. Going to concerts in the summer has always been one of my favorite things to do. As I charted out a course that would take my from Boston to Long Island and back and then later out to Wisconsin, I began to wonder what the impact of all my travels would be.

Radiohead has been the highest profile band (that I'm aware of) to really publicize their commitment to environmental issues and to ensuring that their own tours are as low-impact as possible. I wanted to find out if Phish was doing anything similar. I emailed the band's management, but I still have yet to receive a direct response.

I did notice, however, that they posted a story on their website about the Phish Rideshare Program. Quite simply, it's a carpool program that I hope a lot of people will take advantage of both this weekend at the reunion shows, and throughout the summer concert season. I'll keep my eyes peeled for any other bands/festivals/concerts that offer similar programs.

New badges

Check out the new badges I've added on the left of the blog.  The alternative to printing pages is certainly useful.  If you have your own blog or website, there are plenty of badges out there (such as these) that are good for those of us with less than All-Star design skills.  I think they spice up the blog, and add some interesting content as well.

The electric car is now a concept album

Neil Young loves the electric car so much he's decided to write and record a concept album about it. File this under S for "Strange but true."

Last year, old Neil decided to transform "his 1959 Lincoln from a nine-miles-per-gallon gas guzzler into an electric vehicle that can get 100 miles to the gallon."

"People can say I'm crazy — that's fine, I expect that. I'm a rock & roller trying to do something that may not even be possible. But, frankly, I have nothing else to do... With the energy crisis, I thought, 'This represents an era that's over,' " Young says. "I decided that I wanted to do something with one of my cars to make a statement about technology. Anyone can do it. You don't have to have billions of dollars and be Ford."

All right, that's crazy, but definitely a good kind of crazy. You really don't have to be a major corporation to affect change. Good on ya, Neil.

But did he stop there? Of course not. Neil Young doesn't do things halfway, so he decided to write a concept album about the electric car. No joke--the nine song album is titled Fork in the Road. Check out the crazed video for the Fork in the Road song as well.

Hey, I love the idea here. Neil's writing about his passion. Sometimes I wonder if maybe he could work on the delivery method--you know, is it necessary to try to insult anyone who isn't spending their own time and money turning their car into an electric machine? But then again, this is Neil Young, and he isn't exactly known for his subtelty!

Trip to the Grocery Store -- Remember the Longbox?

Remember the CD long box?  Back in the '80s and early '90s, at the dawn of the compact disc,  record stores were figuring out how to transition from selling vinyl records and cassettes to CDs.  Part of the problem was storage -- they had to fit these small CDs into storage bins meant for the much larger vinyl record.  The solution was the longbox, which was extra cardboard packaging surrounding the traditional CD jewel case.  

Frankly, it was a waste of packaging of elephantine proportions.  Even people in the '80s thought the longbox was excessive!  Through a combination of pressure from artists and music buyers (as well as the natural evolution away from records altogether), stores eventually adapted and the long box became nothing more than an embarrassing relic.

I bring all this up because of a trip I took to the grocery store today.  I've had a chest cough for as long as I can remember at this point, and because I'm tired of sounding like a 3-pack-a-day smoker, I bought some Mucinex.  I got home, and opened the package, and I realized that half the package is empty.  It's an exterior cardboard box, with a bottle (think an Advil bottle), tucked in one half.  What's more, there's a grand total of 20 pills in a bottle that could hold 10X that amount.  All in all, it was just an embarrassing waste.  All I could think of was the old CD longbox and how we apparently haven't come all that far!

On the bright side, I also grabbed some organic oatmeal raisin cookie mix from the Immaculate Baking company.  Not only are the ingredients certified organic, they support the Folk Artist's Fund and other art outreach for kids programs.  I'm not sure if that outweighs the waste produced by the Mucinex box, but it made me feel better about the trip.  And what's more, the cookies are scrumptious -- perfect with a Sunday afternoon coffee.   Nice.

Get Out Your Pencils -- Pop Quiz Time

Ready for a pop quiz?

Myfootprint.org offers a free quiz that will calculate your Ecological Footprint.  Perhaps you've heard of a carbon footprint.  This quiz looks not only at your carbon footprint, but it also takes into account food, housing, and goods & services footprints.  According to the website, we are currently overshooting the Earth's biological capacity by 50%!  No es bueno.

I took the quiz, and was mildly disappointed with my own results.  Keep in mind, I almost always take public transportation, I eat a largely vegetarian diet, I get my food from a co-op farm for half the year, and I try to be very aware of household products and recycling practices. My footprint in all four categories was significantly below the national average.  

However, I still scored over two Earths on the quiz!  (If it's not clear what I mean by that, take the quiz and you'll see what I'm saying.)  So where did I go wrong?  Air travel.  The carbon footprint of an airplane flight is massive, and if you take a couple of flights per year, you're starting way behind.

Obviously, the first thing you have to do is avoid flying when it's possible.  Of course, if business takes you to Europe, it's not going to be practical to do anything but fly. 

I'm sorta hoping they come up with a Star Trek-style beaming machine that will make transportation easier and less environmentally impactful.  Is there a machine like that yet?

Google and swirls of misinformation

I was recently forwarded serveral articles about the on-going debate around the carbon cost of Google searches. A Harvard University fellow conducted a study that claimed every single Google search has a significant environmental impact. Alex Wissner-Gross claimed, as reported by this article, that the carbon cost of a Google search is seven grams of carbon:

Performing two Google searches from a desktop computer can generate about the same amount of carbon dioxide as boiling a kettle for a cup of tea, according to new research.

You better believe that Google had a response, which they posted to their website, claiming the really cost was 0.2 grams. That's quite a discrepancy. They also went out of their way to point out the major environmental efforts Google claims to have undertaken. Of course, Google is not generally very forthcoming about the environmental impacts of their business, so it's not entirely comforting if they only respond to attacks. A company of Google's considerable clout might consider being more proactive in the future -- scrutiny around green business practices will only intensify in the coming years.

That's not to say that Mr. Wissner-Gross should be without suspicion. In the article, he's described being a co-founder of "a business which sells IT companies carbon credits to help them go carbon neutral." Think he might have an agenda? I don't know the guy from Adam, and he may well have the integrity of George Washington. But the sad fact is we really don't have any way of knowing -- it's a he-said, she-said game.

So what's a lonely, eco-conscious person supposed to do? Unfortunately there isn't an easy solution. Consumers are often thought of as passive, but the power of our choices is immense. 'Green' is a rapidly growing business trend, and there are powerful incenvites for companies on all sides. As more and more green products hit the market, and more companies make claims about their eco-friendly buiness practices, the picture will only become murkier.

Navigating through the information and misinformation will be tough, but it's essential to truthfully making more eco-friendly choices. My best advice: try to stay informed as best you can.

Obama OK's clean cars for Massachusetts

I thought I'd pass along this e-mail I received yesterday. If you or anyone you know or anyone you've ever passed on the street supported Barack Obama, you are probably on his e-mail list and already received this. For those of you who are not (or if you got tired of thrice daily updates from Campaign Manager David Plouffe), I'm going to pasted the content of the message here.

Make sure to sign the petition to tell Congress to pass the Green Energy Recovery Plan as well.

Yesterday, President Obama gave Massachusetts the green light to put cleaner, more efficient cars on the road. [1]
I'm so glad the president made this one of his first acts in office. As you may remember, we pushed hard to implement the Clean Cars Program in Massachusetts. I was outraged when the Bush administration, bowing to pressure from automakers, put the breaks on the program last year.
But we're back on track now. We were honored to have our D.C. staff join the president as he signed the order in the East Room of the White House.
Let's keep pushing. Yesterday, I told you about our plans to make sure the economic recovery package invests in green jobs and green projects.
If you haven't already, please click here to urge your member of Congress to support green jobs and a green economic recovery:
http://www.environmentmassachusetts.org/action/new-energy-future/make-it-green?id4=ES
And as always, thanks for standing up for Massachusetts' environment.
Winston VaughanEnvironment Massachusetts Field OrganizerWinstonV@EnvironmentMassachusetts.orgwww.EnvironmentMassachusetts.org
[1]http://www.boston.com/news/nation/washington/articles/2009/01/26/obama_begins_reversing_bush_climate_policies_1233004027/

Contest Alert!

Check out this contest: Pitch the City.

Boston has been ranked as the third greenest city in the US. Ok, but why aren't we first? That's the question being rightfully asked by Down:2:Earth, a website that acts as a marketplace for eco-friendly products. On April 3-5, D2E will holding their secondal annual sustainable living expo. As part of the expo, they are holding a contest in conjunction with the City of Boston. You can submit a proposal to make Boston a greener city, and four finalists are chosen to make a pitch to Mayor Menino at the expo in April.

Exchange of information is always a great idea, and I'm curious to see what the finalists are. I look around Boston every day and see things that we could be doing differently or better, so the opportunities are certainly out there.

Now, I'd like to share with you my own proposal, but since I don't need anyone stealing my idea, I'm going to hold off for now. Let's just say it has something to do with turning the foul terrority at Fenway Park into a vegetable garden...

Going Green for New Year's

Sure, it's cliche to start the new year with a resolution. But if you're going to make one, or if you've made a resolution but still have room for one more, I can't think of anything better than going green. And there are a million places to start. Check out the following article from the Huffington Post on easy-to-achieve green resolutions.  Whether you are a beginner or a seasoned green pro, there is always more you can do.

What's my resolution?  I'll be updating the blog on a more structured basis in the coming weeks, with more tips, facts, stories, and commentary*.  Check back for updates. 

Happy Green New Year!

*Commentary will range from biting to incendiary to rambling.  On rare occasions, it may even be funny.