I know I’ve all but disappeared. Thank you for your patience. I haven’t given up my green living. If you saw my last post, I mentioned that I had been at the hospital with a family member. I’m still helping to take care of my family member who has been in and out of the hospital and a rehab center for the past 3 1/2 weeks.
When things go back to normal (well, what passes for normal in my world), A Little Greener Every Day will be fully operational again.
The lack of posting this week has been because I’ve been at the hospital all week with on of my family members. If this were a political blog, I’d have a lot to say about the health care system, but it’s a green blog so I’ll stay on topic.
I’m at the hospital right now looking at the local newspaper that gets delivered every day with breakfast. Interesting little teaser at the top of the front page “Clotheslines Make Comeback” in Home & Garden section. Of course, I turn to the piece. I’m not impressed.
The two empty-nester neighbors who were featured in the piece share a clothesline or as the piece puts it “a quaint air freshener.” The piece makes it clear that it’s all well and good for these two women who don’t have much better to do to hang out their clothes but for busy big families or people with allergies, it’s just not practical. I understand the allergy part – but indoor clotheslines can take care of that. The automatic out for big families, though, well, I’ve got a problem with that.
While I wouldn’t categorize my family as big (there’s four of us), we are pretty busy and laundry still gets hung out. It is an effort. I have help, though. It’s the rest of the family.
My kids, at 7 and 10, already know how to do laundry. They can separate the clothes, put them in the washer, put them in the dryer if that’s where they go (usually the mounds of socks and towels) and hang them on the line. Often I do the hanging on the line because I like to do it. But, they usually get them off the line. My husband helps, too.
Line drying isn’t just for empty-nesters who are quaint. It’s for everyone with a backyard where it’s legal (yes, legal, there are some places where it’s illegal – I’ve ranted about that before). It’s for anyone who can string a line in their basement or laundry room. It’s for those who can hang things on their shower rod. It’s for those who want to save a significant amount of money on their energy bill each year. It’s for those who want to save greenhouse gasses for entering our atmosphere.
Line drying may not be an option for some people. But to imply that if a family is big it’s out of the question is ridiculous.
Image: Peter Blanchard
Well, kind of. It’s sort of like the time I made a guest appearance on ZapRoot. Actually, it’s exactly like that.
MNN’s CEO Joel Babbit did a segment on Fox Business about the environmental network and how he chose to start it during this recession. Okay, time to play spot Robin. Watch.
Now that you’ve played spot Robin – you can watch the second part of the video.
Today is Blog Action Day. Blogs all over the web, whether their regular topic is the environment or not, will all be tackling the same subject today – climate change. As I go throughout my day and read what other bloggers are writing, I’m going to keep adding links at the bottom of this post to other posts that strike me. What I thought I’d do, is try to define climate change for those who are fuzzy on the term.
What is climate change?
A few years ago, we kept hearing all about global warming. One of the problems with that term is that some regions of the earth seem to be getting cooler, not warmer. Take where I live in New Jersey, for instance. I don’t believe we had a single day this summer where we broke 100 degrees. There was no real heat wave this year. That’s not the norm for what I’ve experienced here my whole life. Many people look at a cool summer like this past one and say, “These hippies need to stop screaming about global warming. Look, it never broke a hundred this summer. There’s nothing to worry about.”
The thing is, what is happening to our earth’s climate is more than just certain regions getting warmer. We’ve got droughts happening not just in places like Africa where droughts are common, but unusually prolonged droughts in places like Australia and the western United States. There are changes in rainfall patterns, sea levels are rising in places but declining in others, storms are getting more severe and more frequent, and we’re losing habitat because of the changing climate.
Why is the climate changing? Well, the current belief by many scientists and environmentalists is that it is changing because greenhouse gasses (carbon dioxide, methane, and nitrous oxides) are building up in our atmosphere and trapping the sun’s heat. That is throwing our climate off balance and changing weather patterns throughout the world. It’s getting warmer in some places, cooler in others. Some places are getting more rain than they have in the past, others are experiencing droughts.
The concern is that if greenhouse gasses continue to build in our atmosphere at the current rate, we could see devastating climate changes in the next 50 years.
What’s causing these greenhouse gasses to build up? Ah…. this is where it gets sticky for many of us. There’s a really good chance it’s our modern, convenient lifestyle. The carbon dioxide our cars emit, the methane that our landfills full of our junk release into the air, the methane that those gazillions of cows we raise for our fast food burgers let loose when they burp, the gasses that our clothes dryers pump out of our house, they could all be contributing to climate change.
What can we do?
We can change our habits. That’s what this blog is all about. It’s about changing a little at a time, a little bit every day, so that my family’s lifestyle contributes less to the problems of this earth and not more.
We can educate people. Especially those who balk when they hear about global warming. Explain that climate change is a better way to describe it. No one in New Jersey can argue that our climate wasn’t different this summer. Something changed.
We can give. Honestly, climate change has not radically changed the day to day living in my region. Sure the summer was a little cooler, but that’s nothing to complain about. But there are places where climate change has already had devastating effects. We can give to charities that do things like provide food and water to people in places where the drought has hit.
We can pray. Yep. Pray. You know, I don’t frequently bring my faith into this blog. I’ve mentioned a few times over the past couple of years that I’m a Christian. But I’ve chosen not to make this blog a “Green Christian Blog.” It’s simply a green blog that is written by someone with the Christian faith. But, make no mistake, my faith is the foundation behind my environmentalism.
Even if you aren’t a Christian, you are probably familiar with the story of Noah and The Flood. After the flood, God chose to restore the earth. That gives me encouragement. He did it before, he can choose to do it again. I believe in the saying (even though it’s not specifically in the Bible) that God helps those that help themselves. I think that if we work hard to make changes and we ask God to help us along, he’ll give us help. You may think I’m delusional, but that’s okay.
Other blogs you’ll want to check out today:
Do you love watching movies? We’re big movie watchers in our house. We don’t have cable so when we do gather around the TV to watch something, more often or not, it’s a DVD.
Out of curiosity, what’s your favorite movie? Mine is When Harry Met Sally, followed closely by Mr. Blanding’s Builds His Dream House.
On to the topic at hand. Whether you’re watching at home or going to the theater, there are little things you can do to green-up the movie watching. Remember, every little thing adds up.
Well, what do you know? For the first time, I can’t come up with 10 easy ways for something. So how about it. Can you fill in number 9 & 10 for me? It’s been a long, tough week (and it’s only Wednesday). Help me out.
First of all, sorry I went quiet last week. I flew down to Atlanta to the Mother Nature Network offices last Sunday to meet with the people in the home office, and I was in Atlanta for two days. I have to say, the MNN people are really great. Technically, I’m not an MNN employee, I contract myself out to them as a blogger. So for an organization to take the time and expense to fly in a contract blogger is really huge. I have a few ghostwriting clients that I’ve had for years now that have never even taken the time to talk with me on the phone let alone make an effort to meet me. It’s a real testimony to MNN’s commitment to being the best at what they do that they are willing to bring the bloggers in for a face to face brain storming session.
After I left Atlanta, I went out to Persimmon Creek Vineyards in Clayton, GA for a two day stay as their media guest. Persimmon Creek’s operations are highly sustainable, and my hosts, MaryAnn and Sonny Hardman couldn’t have been more gracious. My MNN post on their vineyards and winery will be up in a couple of days, and I’ll make sure to put a link here.
All of that to say that while I was in Georgia, my access to the Internet was limited and then when I got home, this site and SJ Locavore were acting up. So I went a week without posting to either. But I’m back and operational once again and I’ve got a question for you.
Do you take the eco-friendliness or the social responsibilitiness (made up a word, I know) of the Halloween candy that you hand out into consideration? Last year was the first time I gave it any thought and we ended up giving away Endangered Species milk chocolate squares (which were really tasty) but I must say, the neighborhood kids weren’t as quick to scoop it up as they were to scoop up a Snickers bar. You can read all about that in my post on thoughts from my first greenish Halloween.
Anyway, this year, I’m going with Divine Spooky Halloween Balls. Last Easter when I gave my boys each one small Divine chocolate bar as part of their Easter baseball hats (I put their Easter candy in a new baseball hat each year), they both said it was some of the best candy they ever had.
Divine chocolate is fair trade, and I like the fact that I’ll be giving out candy that is made with cocoa that wasn’t picked at the hands of child labor. Something we’d prefer not to think of this time of year is that a lot of the mainstream candy that is given away on Halloween has unknown sources. Sure we know it comes from Hershey or Nestle, but where do they get their cocoa from? Who picks it? What conditions do they cocoa plantation workers pick under? It’s difficult to know unless the chocolate you are given out has some sort of fair trade certification.
I just put up a post over on MNN that has various eco-friendlier Halloween candy options including the Divine Spooky Halloween Balls. Before you buy your Halloween candy this year, please give a little thought to how it was sourced. It’s great to let our kids have a blast on Halloween, but it doesn’t have to come at the expense of other kids around the world.
Turns out there is a video for the new version of Beds are Burning. Looks like it went up the day after I wrote the post about the song that is a “giant digital petition” for Climate Justice. There’s also now a website where you can download the song easily for free.
I think the video is well done. What do you think?
Coffee.
Chocolate.
Fruit.
Sugar.
Do you think that at some point this month, you’ll buy one of those items. Sure you will. If you don’t do it already, how about you buy one or more of them certified fair trade?
October is Fair Trade Month. When you buy fair trade products, not only are you buying products that are better for the environment, you’re helping workers, too. That’s because in order for a product to be certified fair trade, the workers who pick the crops of cocoa or bananas or coffee beans (or whatever the product is) get paid a wage that is livable and they have working conditions that are not hazardous to their health.
I know money is a little tight right now, but I have a feeling that for those of you reading this blog, you’re financial situation isn’t as bad off as most of the workers in developing nations that work in the fields picking the beans that become our coffee, the cocoa beans that become our chocolate treats or the sugar cane that sweetens them both. You can make those workers’ lives better off by choosing fair trade.
Easy fair trade options
If you brew your own coffee in the morning, the easiest way to go fair trade this month is to buy fair trade coffee. I’ve found that fair trade coffee beans don’t cost much more (sometimes they cost the same) as the better coffee beans (think Starbucks not Folgers) in the grocery store isle. Personally, we drink Lacas Mexican Dark Fair Trade Organic coffee that we get at Wegmans for $7.99 for 12 oz.
Almost any grocery store now carries a few bags of fair trade coffee. Pick one up and give it a try.
If you want to fair trade up your chocolate try these ideas:
If you need a little crash course in the basics of fair trade, here are some quick and easy fair trade facts.
Conditions for fair trade certification
What products can be certified fair trade in the U.S.?
Each year, I stray from my usual environmental topics at the end of September to talk about The American Library Association’s Banned Books Week. We’re in the middle of BBW right now – it’s always the last week of September.
Did you know that at one time a school system attempted to ban The Lorax? In 1989, the Laytonville, CA Unified School District challenged the book based on someone’s belief that it criminalized the foresting industry. Ridiculous, right?
I wrote about this last year on Sustainablog, and I thought I’d share what I wrote with you here.
What does book banning have to do with sustainability. A whole lot.
Many times people want to ban books that scare them. Or they want to ban books that go against their agenda. Or they want to ban books that contradict their religious beliefs.
This environmental movement that is going on right now, and must continue to go on, scares many people, goes against many people’s agendas, and unbelievably goes against some people’s religious beliefs.
At its very heart, book banning is about muffling free speech. Books are one of free speech’s most powerful allies. Once something is published in a book, it has an enormous ability to influence. The only way to stop it’s influence is to get rid of the book.
Spoken word is powerful, too, of course. And with the today’s technology, it’s easy to record and preserve the spoken word, but for most of our history, it has been the written word that has recorded people’s thoughts and ideas and preserved them for others to chew on.
What if the chemical industry had been successful in its efforts to ban Rachel Carson’s 1962 Silent Spring, the book that many consider the catalyst of the modern environmental movement?
What if The Lorax wasn’t available for me to read to my sons? It’s such a gentle introduction for children to taking care of the earth and also a powerful inspiration to adults.
What if my sixth grade teacher hadn’t been allowed to read my class A Wrinkle in Time by Madeleine L’Engle (a book that has been challenged many, many times) and my eyes hadn’t been open by Ms. L’Engle’s words to the greater world around me?
When I think about the answers to these “what if’s,” I realize that I need to take a stance against book banning, as an environmentalist and as person who believes in everyone’s right to think, say, and write what they believe, even if I disagree with them vehemently.
My other reason for writing about this is that many people may think that the only books that get challenged today are those about having two mommies or The Harry Potter Series. But it’s not so. Today on one of Green Option’s other blogs, Eco Child’s Play, Jennifer Lance wrote about the fact that some people want to ban author Mem Fox’s children’s books, not because of their content, but because Ms. Fox said something they didn’t like about childcare.
How dangerous is that? Banning someone’s books because of her opinion!
We environmentalists have a lot of opinions. What if someone tried to ban our writings because they didn’t like them? Or our opinions scared them or went against their religious beliefs?
Banned Books Week is a reminder that we have the right to say what we want to say and write what we want to write. We should never allow anyone to take that away from us, and we should never try to take that away from anyone else.
Take a look at this list of books that have been banned or challenged though out the years and find one that you want read. Then read it.
I leave you with this cartoon from the fabulous Debbie Ridpath Ohi’s Inkygirl blog that she generously allows to be used under a creative commons license.
If you look on the newly released singles on iTunes and Amazon today, you’ll find a free song. It’s a reworded, We are the World type-version of the amazing 1987 song, Beds are Burning, originally done by Midnight Oil. The original song was a protest song about the way Australia was treating their aboriginal people.
This reworded version, spearheaded by Bob Geldof, and containing 55 musicians/groups such as Duran Duran, KT Tunstall and The Scorpions, is supposed to be a “giant digital petition” by those who download it. According to the UK Guardian it’s to” raise awareness of the disproportionate affect of global warming on the world’s poorest communities.” It’s part of the Campaign for Climate Justice spearheaded by former UN Secretary General Kofi Annon.
I like the idea. I remember We are the World vividly. I remember watching the video on MTV. I remember it actually made me consider what was going on in Africa. I was in high school at the time and what was going on outside my little town didn’t usually concern me, but the song got my attention.
I also remember the original Beds are Burning vividly. I was in college and I was concerned with what was going on in the world around me. I remember the passion and the anger I felt in the song, and we used to play it loud in our dorm room.
I don’t feel anything when I hear this new version of Beds are Burning. It’s tame. Who knows. Maybe if I wasn’t already knee deep daily in the information about the environment, it might be different. Maybe if it was introducing me to the problem, I’d feel more. As it is, it pales in comparison to the original Beds are Burning.
Still, it’s a giant video petition and if downloading it can send a message to the leaders who gather together in December to rework the Kyoto protocol, it’s worth downloading. Plus, you’re taste in music could be different from mine, and you might like the song.
I looked for a video for the new Beds are Burning, but there doesn’t seem to be one. The best I could find was this YouTube page with various key players in the song doing under ten second spots that remind us “The time is now.” Here is one by Duran Duran’s Simon Le Bon.
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