Yes, it’s true I’ve been called a dirt worhsipping treehugger before. Yes, I do work in the green industry, and yes, I have been caught actually hugging a tree before. But it is all for a good cause. Our Planet. What cause is more important than the health of the planet on which we live? What kinds of things do you take for granted that maybe you shouldn’t when it comes to protecting our home planet?
What can you do now to aid in the health of our planet? For a short list of green things you can do to help, check out this website. I reference that site a lot, and I have contributed to the site over the last two years with articles and commentary all in support of the mission of sustainability.
It is our mission as humans to inspire and nurture an appreciation of the natural world and to foster our own personal environmental ethic.
My local library has a lot of great resources dealing with living in an environmentally conscious way, including a DVD of this series by PBS. It’s quite interesting, and, as Acid Lamp and I are interested in eventually building our own sustainable housing, it provides some ideas and insight into how sustainable design works in different communities. We’re particularly interested in the rammed earth housing concept.
These days, we’re doing a bit of food gardening to save some money for ourselves and to feel a sense of accomplishment in regard to being “friendlier” to the earth. We’re not using pesticides, and we’ve started composting as a fertilizer method. Soon enough, we’ll be able to taste some of our homegrown produce and feel satisfied about the work that we’ve done.
Phlosphr, I’m thinking you work for a non-profit, is that right? I’d like to know what if anything people could do to encourage the city they live in to allow more ‘green’ things, for example lift the ban on outdoor clotheslines. Do y’all have experience in that type of lobbying?
Yes, and Yes. I live in a small town in Connecticut, where we have a town council who meets every Tuesday at 7pm. It is of course open to the public, and with enough persistence people tend to get the things they ask for. I would appeal to your town clerk, or show up at a town council or city council meeting. They have to by law give you the floor for a specified period of time. Having served on a town council we see this alot. Sometimes it’s people bitching about having to pay for this or that, or property disputes but occasionally we’d get people petitioning for things. Usually with enough lobbying things can get done.
I’d petition or appeal the town clerk, ask he or she how to go about petitioning for change in policy, then through the proper channels have at it. Take it upon yourself to do the right thing, enough people will agree with you for you to get an audience at the town council meeting. That’s how things get done in a nutshell.
This spring I have been working hard on the overhaul and spring fit out of the Adam Hyler, a sailing Garvey that belongs to the environmental group in which I am a member.
This boat is used for water appreciation, community outreach, teaching sailing and water testing.
I love this planet; it is the only one we’ve got. I love seeing clean water and clean skies. I love breathing fresh clean air and watching nature at play. It still thrills me to see young deer every spring in my back yard.
As usual I look for little things that I can do to help the environment. I do everything I can from recycling to turning off light bulbs to driving instead of flying. I have switched to mostly florescent bulbs and have solar panels to generate much of my electrical needs. When I buy appliances, I look for energy star and minimum sleep mode use.
I use cloth bags most of the times and recycle/reuse the plastic bags that do come home in far too large numbers.
I plan to run my Ford Focus as long as possible and with my decision to run it slower, I have achieved and average of 30 mpg despite it having 119,000 miles on the odometer. I am always shopping ahead for my next car; I am looking for a very high mpg hybrid or plug-in hybrid.
We have low flow toilets and shower heads of course.
I recycle 95% of my junk mail and waste paper.
I use rechargeable batteries for 70% of our battery needs. This is especially helpful with kids’ toys. I recycle 100% of my dead batteries and computers.
In my woodworking, the shavings and scraps become wood stove starters instead of using chemicals or fuels. They shaving from planes and drawknives work better too.
I do buy newspapers anymore accept on special occasions.
I have carefully gauged the candidates for how they measure on green issues and thus made an informed opinion on who to vote for.
Well, if I’ve got my numbers straight, I’ve planted 992 trees on this land since I bought it. I replaced the old furnace here with a new efficient one and bought the most energy-efficient refrigerator the appliance stores had at the time. There are CFL’s everywhere; I R&R’ed the sockets on the table lamps to take CFL’s too. I reuse and recycle my grocery bags. It seems recently that this apparently matters: I don’t drink bottled water or sodas (mostly well water and coffee), so there’s no bottles or cans to get rid of. I only drive about 3 or 4 thousand miles a year and probably 95% of that is in a 4-cylinder truck. I compost kitchen scraps and newpapers. I’m still trying to grow some vegetables out back despite my failures over the last few years. When I can get it, I eat chickens and rabbits raised nearby, and deer shot locally.
To do: I’d like to try to set up a solar water heater; I tried a temporary one last summer. I need to add more insulation in the ceiling; there’s only about 15" right now. I’m sure there’s plenty more I should do.
, but hey I could move to coastal properties in Hartford right?