You are currently browsing the tag archive for the ‘global warming’ tag.
I have been super obsessed with trash lately. I think about it with every piece of garbage I throw out. Most of the thoughts I have revolve around, could I have I recycled that, if not, why? I feel that everything we make should be able to be recycled and if you can’t recycle it, don’t make it. Let me also emphasize that means if you can recycle it without releasing deadly toxins into the air, water or land.
I am no saint, I don’t want to have to clean my yogurt container, aluminum foil, plastic everything ever really. I do it, but I do not enjoy the process. I think it has to do with America and its not very user friendly local recycling processes. There is no national recycling marketing machine out there educating us on what we can and can not recycle throughout our lives. We are not given the tools, for example, recycling bins clearly labeled on what should be contained within them. It is not second nature and could be quite easily. I learned many things about fire prevention from Smokey the Bear. The Ad Council is a powerful tool to get some recycling PSAs out there.
Another thing is there are no real negative consequences for people who are not recycling, nor are there positive ones for people who do. We all enjoy a little positive reinforcement now and again. There are laws in America against littering in public places, but not for littering in define places. That seems ignorant. We should not be able to litter anywhere. Landfills are a disaster.
I did a little research on garbage decomposition to get myself more motivated. Here is what I came up with.
Glass…most forms of glass will never decompose or biodegrade ever. There is this glass, Obsidian, that dates back to the Cretaceous (Latin for “chalky”) geologic period and system from circa 145.5 ± 4 to 65.5 ± 0.3 million years ago. In the geologic timescale, the Cretaceous follows on the Jurassic period and is followed by the Paleogene period of the Cenozoic era. For those who don’t want to do the math, that means about 36 million to 65 million year old glass. That’s crazy, some poor dinosaur foot cutting glass. I said it. :]
The good thing about glass is how simple it is to recycle. Virgin glass is primarily made of sand, lime and soda. A glass manufacturer’s boiler must run at about 2192 degrees Fahrenheit (1200 degrees Celsius) to melt the sand, soda, and lime into glass. Making glass from recycled glass uses 32% less energy than making virgin glass because it melts at a much lower temperature. This process is to shatter the glass into small fragments called “cullet”. You then melt that down to make new glass. Products made from recycled glass save on the extraction of raw materials and produce approximately 20% less air pollution and 50% less water pollution than virgin glass. Point, recycle your glass don’t just throw it out.
I think I’ll stop with glass for today, maybe we’ll catch up with plastic bottles and bags at a later date.
Recycle, Reuse.
-Cara
Green Americans and allies have been calling on the federal government for years to stop destructive mountaintop removal mining practices. Thanks to the thousands of people who have spoken up, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is now taking a stronger stance on permits for this destructive form of mining. The EPA recently reviewed 79 permits for mountain top removal operations submitted by the Army Corps of Engineers and found that all of them would likely violate the Clean Water Act.
The permits are now being revised by the Army Corps of Engineers for re-submission. Coal companies are going to be using all their influence to get these permits approved. We need you to join us today and ask the EPA to stand firm on mountaintop removal mining. Together, we can make sure that the EPA has the support it needs to stand strong against the coal industry.
And, together we can encourage the EPA to go even further, and move to end all mountaintop removal mining, preserving communities from this threat for years to come.
-Cara
Guess what I am doing tomorrow…
Human Countdown: Climate Wake Up Call
On Sunday, September 20th, 2009, people of all walks of life will come together in New York’s Central Park for a bold creative action to tell world leaders that the TIME TO ACT is RUNNING OUT. More than 2,000 people will form a moving human sculpture of our world in a race against time—a massive, living Earth and Hourglass to be picked up by the media worldwide.
On the cusp of the UN climate summit, our Human Countdown will urgently call for a fair, ambitious, and binding new climate treaty, and launch global actions for Climate Week NYC and the Tck Tck Tck Global Climate Wake Up Call.
We will assemble in two groups. The first group forms the living Earth and convenes at 9am in the morning to rehearse the movements. All others come at 1pm to form the hourglass. We will perform the Human Countdown together at mid-afternoon, hear from notable national and international speakers, and conclude by 4pm.
We need a global climate treaty. This is the time, this is the place to make history – we need YOU to join the HUMAN Countdown! All are welcome!
The goal is to show our leaders that time is running out to act on global warming. Video of the image we create will be broadcast the next night at The Age of Stupid global film premiere and delivered to world leaders.
Come to the Wollman Ice Rink in Central Park (Southern end of central park by 6th Ave) this Sunday at 12.30pm.
Click here to RSVP [I found all this stuff thanks to AVAAZ:
http://www.avaaz.org/new_york_climate_action
While action on climate is always urgent, this is an especially important moment for public action. This December in Copenhagen, world leaders will meet to negotiate a new global treaty to avert a climate catastrophe.
This is going to be awesome.
-Cara
Here’s what is on my mind…who is the person that will invent a Facebook-like social network and use it only for good, sustainable stuff and not unleash a fafillion marketing widgets, gadgets, capsules, snippets, modules, minis, badges, webjits, flakes, games, programs, pop-ups and gutter ads for unsustainable crap on the masses? …and no it’s not me, I’m busy!
I killed most all of my social web 2.0 drama like LinkedIn. I figured why am I part of a group called Linked In when all I really want to do is get off the grid. That whole scene is not my deal. I also killed my MySpace. Listen people…Rupert Murdoch’s News Corp…really? If you don’t get that, do some research. I don’t want to be any part of Fox News and all those brothers’ drama. Friendster, what is the point? I slowly killed most of them.
Here is my dilemma, the Facebook still has a hold on me. I think it may be because a lot of people that I had lost contact with and who were a significant part of my life found me on the book of face, more than on any of the other social network sites. It is nice to know all these people are easy to get a hold of, you are reminded whose Birthday it is (see Tony), you can check out what new pictures they have up, what drama they are up to, ETC!!! You know to be able to be a welcomed voyeur of people’s life…that’s good stuff. :]
So who wants to invent the book of face for good?
-Cara
Why save water?
Of all the water in the world, only 3% is fresh. Less than one third of 1% of this fresh water is available for human use. The rest is frozen in glaciers or polar ice caps, or is deep within the earth, beyond our reach.
To put it another way, if 100 liters represents the world’s water, about half a tablespoon of it is fresh water available for our use.
Remember that our local water supplies are part of a bigger global water cycle.
Fix those dripping faucets. If it drips every second it can waste more than 3,000 gallons per year.
Filling up your tub can require up to 70 gallons of water, where a 5 minute shower uses only 10 to 25 gallons.
When you brush those teeth of yours don’t run the water. That way you save about 8 gallons per day.
Never put water down the drain when there may be another use for it such as watering a plant or garden, or cleaning.
Don’t let water run while shaving or washing your face. It’s just a waste.
Do not use running water to thaw meat or other frozen foods. Defrost food overnight in the refrigerator. You snooze you loose.
I myself save water by never drinking it except in restaurants. ;-]
Just some things to think about.
-Cara
Zeitgeist (n) – the spirit of the time; the spirit characteristic of an age or generation
Addendum (n) -something to be added
I never watched Zeitgeist: The Movie. I came across Zeitgeist: Addendum the other day and since my thinking hasn’t been the same. It has given me a better sense of focus, new ideas to think about and hope. Look, I am not saying I am drinking the Kool-Aide, there are things I don’t agree with; for one, their take on religion. I get where they are coming from, but I am enlightened to something else.
I will not go on and on about the movie. If you want to watch it for free you can here (although I am not sure why they would choose Google Video to host the movie. It is part of the problem, not the solution. Maybe they feel it will reach a bigger audience, but I am not too sure that is the way to go. UPDATE 1-22-2011 I JUST CLICKED ON THE LINK AND IT GOES TO VIMEO NOW. THAT’S COOL.). I myself downloaded it from someone else. I am going to watch Zeitgeist: The Movie at some point, but for now I still have a lot to think about with Zeitgeist: Addendum, so I’ll wait. Addendum can definitely stand alone.
I would love to hear people’s opinion after watching the film. I have already had a few cool conversations about it. I have burned it for a couple of people. I would like to keep passing it around and then people can pass their copies around and see how fast it spreads. I want a better world and I know it is possible.
Do not fear the robots.
-Cara
If you live in New York City and have electronics you want to get rid off in a green, eco, recycling way. Here are two upcoming events I found on the Lower East Side Ecology Center’s website:
April 26th, 2009
Central Park
West 67th Street and Central Park West
and
May 2nd, 2009
119 W 23rd Street at Tekserve between 6 & 7th Avenues
Manhattan
Here is what techotrash consists of:
Working and non-working:
Computers (laptop & desktop),
Servers, mainframes
Monitors
Printers, scanners, fax-machines, copiers
Network devices (routers, hubs, modems, etc.)
Peripherals (keyboards, mice, cables, etc.)
Components (hard drives, CD Roms, circuit boards, power supplies, etc,)
TVs,VCR & DVD Players
Audio visual devices
Radios/Stereos
Cell Phones, pagers
PDAs,Telecommunication (phones, answering machines, etc.)
Media (floppies, cd’s, zips, VHS tapes)
I have a bag of stuff I have been saving up for the next techno recycling gala event. This is such a sweet deal.
Goodbye old and improperly burned cds, printer ink cartridges, old laptop batteries, etc…goodbye.
-Cara
The first thing to do with ketchup packets is not use them. When you order delivery remember to say, “no condiments” and “no plastic utensils” is also a good way to go. I bet you have ketchup at home and I am sure most people have utensils, so you don’t even need them.
I have a hard time remembering this as I looked at ketchup packets siting on my counter this morning from last nights delivery. I decided I need to look up some information on said ketchup packets that will really push me to remember the little things that make a big difference.
Here’s something I found,
Heinz sells 11 billion single-serve packets of ketchup per year around the world. That’s 2 packets for every person on earth. That means that 11 billion packets are landfill-bound. This is just Heinz packets.
Enough said.
-Cara
New Reality ad directed by the Academy-award winning Coen Brothers.
In reality, there’s no such thing as clean coal.
Learn more. Join the campaign.
-Cara
Living in NYC, it is strange to wrap my mind around all that nature and chimpanzees swinging around everywhere. I think any of those jobs would be cool. The coffee sniffing, the chimpanzees studying and the farming, but maybe not on such a large scale. I’m more of a fire escape gardener than coffee farmer.
I love organic coffee, chimpanzees and fair trade!!!
-Cara
It has been forever and a day since I wrote a green shopping review. I have been getting a little too political and musical lately. I need to bring this blog back to its roots. :] Let’s start with this super fresh bag by Green Chic Bag Co.
Natalie Bag
Green Chic Bag Company was kind enough to send me one of their bags, the Natalie to be precise. First off, I enjoy the softness of the bag’s stylish exterior fabric. It has a really nice feel that you just need to experience to understand. The interior lining of the bag is waterproof, dark and smooth. I posses multitudes of bags I take shopping, and this is my favorite size-wise. I especially like the depth of it. The straps are very sturdy. I have filled it up a couple times and it is no worse for wear.
I also adore the logo…
Cute Logo
My only issue with the bag is if I have a big sweater and heavy jacket I can’t really throw the bag over my shoulder. When it gets really cold here I may not use it as much, but come the three other seasons, it is my first choice.
It really is a fabulous bag.
-Cara
That’s right a year ago, on January 10th, 2008, “The Day After An Inconvenient Truth” was formed. When I first started this blog it was to have a voice in the world that differs from mainstream television, radio, satellite, newspapers, etc. I was inspired by the movie, “An Inconvenient Truth“, drawn into the meaning of an “inconvenient truth”, the fact that you might not want to hear what the problem is and what can be done to solve said problem, but here is the truth and now that you know, what are you going to do about it?
In the beginning, what I primarily wrote about was eco, environmental “inconvenient truths”, following in the footsteps of the film, but as time went by I began to find “inconvenient truths” in other areas as well, be it the issue of gay rights, human rights, animal rights, freedom of speech, freedom of art, whatever is going on in the world that mass media does not cover or covers up, these were the pieces I exceptionally enjoy writing about. Then there are the “recycle stuff” ones, just there for some information of what extra steps you can take to make a better world, the D.I.Y. projects using recycled materials, or just how to make something green and cool for your everyday life. Throw in a few organic recipes, cool green events, green product reviews, games, petitions, stories of amazing people who inspire me, beautiful photos, and sometimes just a funny video to relax and you have, “The Day After An Inconvenient Truth“. :]
What I am getting at with all this is to say, “The Day After An Inconvenient Truth” has evolved from when I began to where it is at now. I went from doing blog entries everyday from January, 10th, 2008 to October 13th, 2008, right around when I got an official 9-5 job, to now where I may not blog everyday, but no more than a few days go by without me throwing one out there. I needed to find a balance in my life and for now this works for me. I’d rather have good ones than just have ones. :]
I really like writing this blog, even when I can’t think of what to write about, or when I’d rather be playing PlayStation with Ms. Marine or web 2.0 out on the million social networks. This blog makes me more accountable. It is something I started and am still doing a year later (see Tony). Listen, for someone with absolutely no attention span to anything (besides computers and all things tech), I am pretty amazed that “TDAAIT” is still going. What is crazier is when I started this blog I was surprised if I got 10 hits a day, to now where I get on average over 300 unique hits a day from all over the world. Though businesses like MSNBC and other corporations that I do not have any respect for, ask me to place their advertisements on my site, I refuse. I was not working a real job when I started this blog and could have used easy money like that. Instead, I was insulted that they would even ask me, so much so I responded that they obviously had not looked at my blog, because if so they would never have asked me! In retrospect, I am sure they would have asked me anyway. In their minds people are just a herd of non-thinking cows who when they see a blinking ad, inevitably they must click on it. That goes against what I am trying to achieve here. I really hate ads everywhere. I am blessed in many other ways through this blog, so it doesn’t need to monetarily support me as well.
What else have I gotten from writing, “The Day After An Inconvenient Truth”? I have learned about a lot of bad stuff that goes on, and I have learned about good people, things and ideas, living and growing here on this Earth (I liked it when Alice Walker called humans “Earthlings” in this interview.). I maintain hope and an awesome faith that things will only get better if you do good.
Something I keep in the forefront of my mind is, what each of us does affects the other. It is not just the huge things necessarily, even our smallest thoughts affect the world. Also, we can as one person change things; who you touch in turns will touch others. You may not get the gratification of seeing the change you bring to the world directly, but if you do it, you may see the world itself change. I search for happiness and peace, by going inconveniently through its sorrows, untruths, truths, and ugliness. I also keep the faith. Faith is the most important thing, without it you are lost. I guess that is what, “The Day After An Inconvenient Truth” is to me, a way to not lose hope and to maintain my faith during the era that is the beginning of the end.
This year I have learned that humanity is not as bad and hopeless as it seems, so that’s cool.
-Cara
General Motors are at it again, but this time they are loaning out their “green” Chevrolet Equinox Fuel Cell electric vehicles to the United States Post Office. I guess that way they’re not people’s personal automobiles, so possibly in GM’s mind, postal workers will not get so attached and protest the destruction of said electric cars. Well they will have no claim to them anyway.
GM better think this one over, I’ve heard some people who work for the postal service may be a bit sensitive, anxious, stressed and easily annoyed.
The chosen citizen test drivers are only allowed to have the car for three months. I guess that it the limit before attachment begins to set in by their test subjects.
The technology is interesting to the nerd in me.
I don’t trust them.
-Cara
One of my former co-workers, Guillaume, brought this site to my attention. The video makes it sound like it is the start of an awesome site. There is a blog about the coming of GlobalPost. There is also a registration page, where you can sign up for the launch on January 12th.
I hope it is not an illusion or distraction. We will see.
Observe your surroundings and discover the truth.
-Cara
January 1st, 2009, NYC, NY
It’s the New Year (shout-out to 2009) and Marine and I were searching for what’s next. On the 1st of this New Year we ended up at La Palapa Cocina Mexicana in the East Village, eating really fresh Mexican food with some fantastical margaritas (good times). It is in this magical place that we came up with a plan. Our plan is to become real life educated consumers (time frame one year), in our own way. What that means is whatever we buy we need to know before we buy:
1. Location of business in regards to our Spanish Harlem apartment (we just learned yesterday that our neighborhood’s nickname is SpaHa. I really don’t like the way SpaHa rolls off my tongue).
2. Who owns the company
3. Company’s philosophy
4. Are they green? How so?
5. How the employees are treated
6. Where does the company get their inventory
7. Price
8. Product review (by the people and the industry)
9. Company review (by the people and the industry)
Exceptions
1. Medical Prescriptions
2. Cigarettes
3. We Know, you don’t need to know everything
4. Eating out, Delivery, and Pick-Up
5. Rent
6. Bills like ConEd, Phone, Mobile, Web Hosting, etc.
Exceptions does not mean we do whatever we want. It is just places where we indulge somewhat, it is a freedom of sorts. Who knows where this year will lead us, but I know for myself if I try to control all my elements I fail. I need to have some leeway to breath.
Today is the 3rd of January and here is the list of things we have purchased under this new regime.
1. New York Cake and Baking Distributor, 56 West 22nd Street, NYC, NY – $8.99, tax – $0.75, total – $9.74 -Fox Run Kitchens – French Bread Pan – Made in China, Fox Run Craftsmen Ivyland, PA 18974, Concord, ON L4K 3V4, tinplate – Cara
2. Poland Spring Natural Spring Water, 700mL, Poland Spring Water Company, Division of Nestle Waters, North America Inc. , Greenwich, CT 06830, Mood Building Vendor, 225 W. 37th Street, NYC, NY 10018, $2.00, #1 PETE plastic bottle, blue flip top – Marine
3. Mood Fabrics, 225 W. 37th Street, NYC, NY 10018, $100 gift card – Cara
4. Supercuts [Regis Corporation], 460 3rd Ave, NYC, NY 10016, $19 hair cut, $5 tip – Marine (It was Marine’s first time going to a Supercuts. She had said she was going to go there before the 1st of January to experience the true American less than $20 haircut. It is something everyone should experience once.)
As you can see we haven’t done so well…so far… Keep in mind this is a learning experiment. :] We bought bottled water on the 2nd of January and I didn’t even realized we had failed until today. Marine and her SuperCuts haircut… What you have to keep in mind is we have stopped ourselves from buying multitudes of things from the 1st to today, to take the time to research. For real… I will be tracking our progress here to make myself (and maybe Marine) more accountable. I know at least one person in my family reads this on occasion… :]
Keep it real.
-Cara
——————————————
UPDATE [February 24th, 2009] – OK, I need to reassess this project as it was way more difficult than I thought. I am definitely more conscientious about what I buy, but that leave me little time to log it all. I will cover cool finds here and if it becomes easier, or I become more motivated I will track my consuming for more than one day. :]
I live slightly under a rock not having a TV with satellite, cable or any local stations broadcasting from it. Imagine my surprise when I came across Bagley’s Best products, by Ed Begley Jr. of course. I loved “Living with Ed“, when I had a TV, so much so it was one of the first blog entries I wrote about back in the day.
Bagley’s Best was started when a man named John Watts bumped into Ed Begley Jr. in Real Food Daily. It was this occurrence that created an eco Paul Newman like business, where most of the company’s profits got to charities, environmental causes and non-profits.
Live the life.
-Cara
I watched a movie tonight called, “Who Killed the Electric Car“. and it was a great documentary on the electric car and the auto industry’s, mainly General Motors’ relationship with the government and their consumers. There is definitely a lot of information in that movie that people need to be made aware of. At least so they can make the right decisions about their effect on the environment through their car consumerism. I mean it’s conspiracies theories coming true right in front of your eyes. General Motors is an anti-green company run by middle east controlled monkeys in love with money, which still hasn’t been able to fill that void within them.
After the movie I felt a bit overwhelmed and not sure what was that I could do about the issue of the auto industry’s insistence on keeping Americans addicted to oil, especially foreign oil or George Bush’s desire to take nature preserves in Alaska and destroy them by drilling for a minimal amount of oil. During “Who Killed the Electric Car”, they mention a web site called, Plug In America. It was there I found a petition you can sign to automakers stating, “Plug-in vehicles are in America’s national interest. They decrease fuel costs, greenhouse gases and our dependence on foreign oil. I want to buy a vehicle that runs on cleaner, cheaper domestic electricity. I want to be able to plug in my car! Please manufacture plug-in vehicles immediately.” You can even start your own petition drive by printing this form and getting people to sign. At Co-Op America they have a petition speaking out to Ford about the importance of produce plug-in hybrids. These and other things I found here can make a difference, you just need to take the few minutes it takes to do it. In the long run it is definitely worth it.
Be good.
-Cara
That’s really good.
-Cara
Rainforest Action Network has 25,000 stickers, a database of household products containing the not-so-awesome palm oil (which they compiled with the help of people who love the rainforest) and a date: August 13.
Bring all three together by signing up for RAN’s August 13th Stick it to Palm Oil Day of Action.
Sign up online and you’ll get a Day of Action packet including “Warning: Product May Contain Rainforest Destruction” stickers and a step by step guide to taking part in the action. I hope the stickers are made from recycled stickers and not new paper, which comes from trees…I’m just saying.
Rainforest Action Network is also sending letters to every company that uses palm oil encouraging them to be responsible by joining forces with RAN to put pressure on agribusiness giants ADM, Bunge and Cargill to stop destroying rainforests for palm oil. They should send emails instead of letters, every piece of paper we can save is fresh…that’s right I said that too.
Help stop global warming, and support the rights of frontline communities across the world, by going here and doing what you can.
Stick it to ’em.
-Cara
I don’t know where you are from, but it is getting super hot in NYC. Along with the heat of summer comes the seasonal struggle of, do I turn on the air conditioner or don’t I? With me it is not just my decision, but also the decision of my girlfriend Marine, who is what you would call a “delicate flower” when it comes to heat. What I mean by delicate flower is, if she senses heat might be anywhere in the vicinity, it is time to shut all the windows, turn on all the a.c.’s and fans and to cease all movement. Without the air conditioner things get dangerous around here.
What I thought I would do after already experiencing round one of our seasonal fight is write an entry on why a.c. is not cool and some helpful tips besides using a.c. to cool down. Fell free to comment with any additional tips you know.
First it is important to learn how an air conditioner works.
Air conditioning is not about adding cool air to the room, but more about drawing the heat out. The end result is a space without that menacing and sweltering air. Air conditioning is in effect just the result of evaporation. A swab of alcohol rubbed on your skin makes you feel cooler as the liquid evaporates. In reality the alcohol does not lower your body temperature, but rather draws heat away from the air as it turns to a gas.
Air conditioning units contain refrigerant, a chemical which has the unique ability to change from a gas to a liquid in a short amount of time. Air conditioning units form a closed system which consist of a compressor, a condenser, and an expansion valve. Motorized fans within the unit aide in circulating conditioned air, while the thin metal fins on the back of your air conditioner allow heat to dissipate quickly.
Air conditioning starts with the refrigerant entering the compressor. The state of the refrigerant is a cool gas at this stage. Next, the gas enters the compressor’s inner chamber, the compressor squeezes the refrigerant and the gas becomes a very hot liquid under high pressure. This hot liquid goes through a series of condensing coils placed outside of the room being cooled. The heat dissipates into the outside air. Once the refrigerant reaches the end of these coils, it is significantly cooler and in liquid form.
The liquid in a high pressure state, at this juncture the liquid refrigerant is forced through the expansion valve. This valve has an extremely small opening, which forces the liquid refrigerant out of the other end of the expansion valve as a very fine mist. Because refrigerant evaporates at a much lower temperature than water, it begins to evaporate while traveling through another set of coils, which are located in the room being cooled. It is this evaporation action that draws heat out of the air, which includes the air in the room being processed. The air conditioning unit’s fan then blows across the metal fins over these coils, blowing cool air into the room and eliminating heat. Lastly, the liquid refrigerant becomes a cold gas again and re-enters the compressor, where the entire process begins again.
Essentially, air conditioning takes indoor heat and pushes it outdoors. To do this, it uses energy, which increases production of greenhouse gases (a little side note on global warming, check out this article on DeSmog Blog) which warm the atmosphere. From a cooling standpoint, the first transaction is illogical, and the second just proves this. We are cooking the earth to refrigerate the diminishing part that’s still habitable. That’s crazy and that’s why a.c. is not cool
Here are ten tips to fight the heat.
- Cover all your windows with curtains and during the day. Then at night open your windows and use fans or cross-ventilation to circulate cooler air.
- Drink plenty of cold, non-carbonated liquids like water or electrolyte-enriched liquids to replace your fluids even if you don’t feel thirsty or are like me have a hard time drinking water, because you dislike it. No alcohol, coffee or tea!!! :( I curse you heat!
- Light meals, like salads, fruit, cold soup, cheese and bread! Avoid hot, heavy meals and don’t use the oven.
- Lay a cool, moistened towel over your forehead or back of the neck and replace often.
- Wear loose-fitting, lightweight, natural, breathable, organic when possible, light-colored clothing.
- Go hang out in your pool, ocean, lake, rock quarry or for people like me the local public pool!
- If you go out in this heat stay in the shade.
- Stay in air-conditioned areas such as libraries, bookstores, movie theaters, coffee shops (you can drink water there), pottery classes, theater, lectures, and community centers, etc. Even a few hours can cool your body’s temperature.
- Wear a wide-brimmed, vented hat or use an umbrella because your head absorbs the heat, fast and easy.
- Limit all that physical activity to morning and evening hours people. Avoid physical activity or exercise between 10AM and 3PM usually the hottest part of the day.
I learned a lot writing this entry. My house which only had 2 curtains up that were never closed, now has five curtains in all the main windows. Two we already had, Marine made two others herself, one we found in an unopened package last week after a neighbor moved out across the hall. We have two more windows that need curtains to be made for and then that’s a wrap.
Keep cool.
-Cara
Reason 101 from, 101 Reasons Why I Am Vegetarian:
When you fork over that $1.89 for those 7 ounces of Brown ’N Serve Sausage Links, it’s really quite a bargain, or so you might think. But such purchases–collectively trillions of them across the globe–accumulate a steep ecological deficit. In time, the debt will come due. Future generations will be the ones remitting its payments, in installments, with global warming, aquifer depletion, topsoil erosion, desertification, collapsed fisheries, wildlife extinction, deforestation and lost ecosystem services. Isn’t it time to start eating lower on the food chain? Get Hip. Go Veg!
It has been 101 days since I started the 101 Reasons Why I Am A Vegetarian journey. I commend Pamela Rice for her commitment to wanting to protect the wild animals, human animals (sometimes wild as well) and the planet we live on. I might not have agreed with every thing she said or maybe more of how she said it, but always with her mission. There are not many people out there who believe in a humane cause and then follow it up by actually doing something, something big. It is a sign of great character and I respect that.
Thank you.
-Cara
That’s right…negative! I don’t know why but I am super not into Earth Day. It puts me in a bad mood. I get that rhetoric that people say…it is a time where non-“green” people get into it, but I feel like it is a way for people to make up for sucking all year long. Like confession, but only annually.
For example, places like GE/NBC having a “star-studded” tree planting party on Earth Day. A tree planting day will not make up for the tons and tons of paper they print a day in visitor passes, millions of pieces of paper for a 30 minutes meeting, instead of just have people bring in their laptops to review the documents, or the zillions of pieces of paper they use on new hire brainwashing propaganda.
If people related to how they are a part of the problem when they did these types of things, that would be awesome, but most don’t. They pat themselves on the back, which then gets them through another year of printing pages of documents they don’t really need to print.
I was negative today, but now I’m done.
-Cara
—————————————————
Reason 68 from, 101 Reasons Why I Am Vegetarian:
To choose industrial meat is to support a system that has long ago put family farmers out of business. Essentially, it is only the big players–those who bought into factory systems–who are feeding America. We do have lower prices at the retail level. But ultimately, what is the real cost of cheap meat? You need to factor in the $20 billion per year in government subsidies to commodity farmers, higher medical costs attributable to excessive diets, antibiotic resistance in common bacterial strains, a dead zone in the Gulf of Mexico, the inordinate need for oil for petrochemical fertilizers, and dwindling aquifers–the list goes on.
This one is an easy one…
Stop Global Warming Dot Org’s mission is to use the strength of numbers to urge our government to join the rest of the world in addressing global warming, and urge business to start a new industrial revolution of clean energy that reduces our dependence on oil.
It is a site where all you have to do is click and enter a bit of infomation and click again. Not a lot of work to make an impact in the world.
Make a difference.
-Cara
——————————-
The senseless waste of the world’s growing meat-centered diet is illustrated by a hypothetical statement put forth by the Population Reference Bureau: “If everyone adopted a vegetarian diet and no food were wasted, current [food] production would theoretically feed 10 billion people [49 percent more people than alive today], more than the projected population for the year 2050.”
I thought it was time for another petition to save the world on TDAAIT, it has been awhile, plus this one comes with a video.
Click here to go to the petition.
Thank you SaveOurEnvironment.org.
Take Action!!!
-Cara
——————————-
Two major studies have emerged recently that show the vegan lifestyle to be conducive to lower body weight. A Swedish study of 55,000 women and a British study of 65,000 men and women both found vegans to have lower BMIs (body mass index) and to suffer less often from obesity. Vegan food tends to be lower in calories by volume. And since plant-based fare is likely to contain abundant fiber, it satiates quicker.
I love Sunday’s games. Today’s is, Planet Green Game. It is a super green teaching machine this game. Love it. Starbucks is trying to give some of the love back….interesting….
The challenge of global climate change requires us all to think beyond our traditional ways of doing business. At Starbucks we are passionate about contributing positively to communities and the environment. Our core business is coffee, an agricultural product that is grown in tropical regions around the globe. Climatic conditions strongly influence the yield and quality of annual coffee crops. We are working to better understand the risks and implications that climate change may have on our business, as well as identify how we can minimize our contribution to climate change.
When we look at the greenhouse gas emission associated with our operations, we are driven to take action in two major areas that make-up 99% of our emissions: energy used to operate our stores and the energy and emissions associated with roasting coffee. And while taking action on our own carbon footprint is our first step, we also realize we have a unique opportunity to leverage our size and reach to advocate for the need to take collaborative action.
Starbucks and Global Green USA collaborated on the Planet Green Game to educate the public about climate change through engaging and informative game play while encouraging individuals to become part of the solution in their own lives. The game also assists individuals – through simple tools and links – in advocating action by elected officials, business and community leaders.
Disclaimer:
The fictitious names of companies, products, people, characters and/or data mentioned herein are not intended to represent any real individual, company, product or event. Any rights not expressly granted herein are reserved.
;) lol.
-Cara
——————————-
About 25 million pounds of antibiotics are fed to U.S. livestock every year primarily for growth promotion. This is almost eight times the amount administered to humans. Though perfectly legal, the practice is leading to the selection of antibiotic-resistant bacteria and adding to the general worldwide crisis of drug-resistant disease. The consumption of meat contaminated with these superbugs raises the threat of human illnesses that physicians are unable to treat.
I never was like I have to see that Al Gore movie. I was always one to pick on that crazy guy everyone says thinks invented the Internet. [I still haven’t ever looked into that claim either…I will one day.] Point is, I didn’t much care one way or another. Don’t get me wrong, I love the world, but am not sure anything is up with this global warming, except longer days where the weather is more to my liking than not. I always say if this is global warming…I’ll take it!
Like many things in my life, this movie just happened upon it. I am recently a member of Netflix [another phenomenon I thought I would let just pass me by] due to a lovely lady in my life. She even set me up with my own log-in to gain unlimited access to their bazillion movies. Wanting to make a good first impression on Netflix and Marine with my amazingly deep movie selection, I decided An Inconvenient Truth would be the perfect way to do just that. It showed up at our apartment the beginning of December and almost a month later to the day I sprang into action, took The Simpson Game out of the PS2 and begrudgingly popped in the documentary to watch…by the end of this movie we had the heat off, all the lights in the house turned off, and I was feeling guilty having the television on to finish watching it.
Where is it I am going with all this you may ask? Well, for one Al Gore is a good man. It is a blessing he did not become president as he is on an important path now, beginning this journey 4 or 8 years later might have been too late or at least later than need be. We would have lost precious time is what I am trying to articulate. He took something I think many people don’t even try to understand, as the enormity of it seems overwhelming, and made it simply understandable. He stayed away from the anger and finger pointing I think because he wants a solution not someone to blame. It is a great documentary and if you have not watched it, you should, as it is important and your global responsibility to not allow yourself to be ignorant to an inconvenient truth. We need to be passionate, we need to care and connect to humanity and nature, it is who we truly are. We have been blessed with the gift of this life. I for one am ready to start kicking some serious ass. This blog is my first step in kicking ass for the good of the World and the awesome [and not so awesome] people who live here. I will not wake up one day and say, “Why didn’t I do anything?”.
Much Love.
-Cara
The Day After An Inconvenient Truth 
What Did You Say?