Fur · Eco-Chick

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Just a thought

Recently I found myself engaged in several discussions about taking care of our environment as a matter of personal integrity, choice, and responsibility. One such conversation happened with a stranger in a training course I was attending.

The man works for the EPA. He looked to be in his early 30s. He jumped into a conversation I was having with someone else about hybrid vehicles. He said that he owned one and said the name of it, one I had not heard of. He said, “Yeah I traded my Prius in for something bigger because we’re thinking about kids.” Having them, that is. So when I asked, this guy explained that he’d purchased a hybrid SUV.

Hybrid SUV, yeah, I think it was the one that Kermit the Frog was plugging during the SuperBowl in 2006.

Now, maybe I am a bit uptight about gas guzzlers, but his statement that the thing gets about 32 miles to the gallon didn’t wow me. In fact, I was shocked that someone informed, someone that works at the EPA, would buy an SUV, regardless of its hybrid status. He was incensed. “Look, we did a lot of comparison shopping; fuel efficiency, leg room…”, but here my brain just froze. I was incredulous. Are you telling me this guy is arguing that he feels validated buying an SUV because of LEGROOM?

He then started trailing off about how he used to be an environmental activist…he was one of the first hybrid buyers…but so many people at EPA are just bureaucrats and what is the point…and his whole house is outfitted with compact fluorescents…

I kept my cool and stated in the most compassionate way I could muster that I believe it is important that each and everyone of us does our part. I know that we can all justify what we do with the whole balancing out argument: I wear fur, but don’t eat meat, I walk to work so I can fly all over the world 15 times a year…I can have 5 kids because they are all so amazing…it is very difficult to have a net zero impact, but we can make an effort in our consumption rates to act responsibly. It is the easiest step we can make. And the sacrifice? Well, is it really a sacrifice?

At the conclusion of the training class our EPA man went around the room collecting our plastic bottles in a bag, saving them from the trash. When he got to me he looked me in the eye, and, with a bit of cynicism, said, “I am taking my personal initiative here.” I was quite happy. Though he probably thinks I am a jerk, I hope my words helped jerk him back to center (or maybe alittle to the left).

car, consumption, epa, fuel efficiency, fur, gas, kids, meat, plastic, plastic bottles, prius, scents, Shopping, trash

Augusta and Elliott

6 Comments

by Kimberly Jordan Allen · 04/14/07

My paternal grandmother, Leslie, called the West Indies home from 1948 until she died. We had a house in Antigua, with an open courtyard, that sat right on the beach. When I was little, in the seventies, and Leslie was dying, we spent time down there and I first met her dear friend Amos Morrill and his three kids who took care of me as we played on the beach. Amos, originally a New Yorker, still lives in the Caribbean where he has worked in textiles and furnishings for over sixty years. Creating an island aesthetic of bright batiks in tropical hues, Amos’ fabrics were adored by everyone who had the pleasure of visiting his store, The Coco Shop. I grew up spending time with Amos and always loved his incredible stories and his vivacious charm that are both mirrored in his clothing and furnishings. We would swim in his salt water pool, watching the sunset, as Amos shared tales of the amazing islands he so loved and his concerns regarding their preservation.

Amos, now in his mid-eighties, has written and illustrated a children’s book called Augusta and Elliott. Augusta and Elliott are fish that live in a cluttered Caribbean Sea. They have made it their mission to clean up and try to save the ocean. This simple storybook is filled with colorful drawings to tell the tale. Without harping on negativity, the fish throw a party to drum up support and start implementing change.

The message of the book is clear: to bring awareness to oceanic pollution and how the human world has made a dramatic impact on the sea. The last few pages of the book are for coloring, which children always enjoy. This would be a great gift for anyone with kids. Amos would love to know that future generations will be more conscious of the fragile nature of our ecosystems and our need to minimize human impact. Thanks Amos.

Amazon, book, car, children, clothing, eating, fabric, fabrics, farm, fish, fur, Home, kids, party, Pollution, preservation, rum, water

Score one for PCs

1 Comment

by Katie Kish · 04/10/07

Health Hazards in Electronics:

· Some brominated flame retardants, used in circuit boards and plastic casings, do not break down easily and build up in the environment. Long-term exposure can lead to impaired learning and memory functions. They can also interfere with thyroid and oestrogen hormone systems and exposure in the womb has been linked to behavioural problems.
· As much as 1000 tonnes of a brominated flame retardant called TBBPA was used to manufacture 674 million mobile phones in 2004. This chemical has been linked to neurotoxicity.
· The cathode ray tubes (CTR) in monitors sold worldwide in 2002 contain approximately 10,000 tonnes of lead. Exposure to lead can cause intellectual impairment in children and can damage the nervous, blood and reproductive systems in adults.
· Cadmium, used in rechargeable computer batteries, contacts and switches and in older CRTs, can bioaccumulate in the environment and is highly toxic, primarily affecting the kidneys and bones.
· Mercury, used in lighting devices for flat screen displays can damage the brain and central nervous system, particularly during early development.
· Compounds of hexavalent chromium, used in the production of metal housings, are highly toxic and human carcinogens.
· Polyvinyl chloride (PVC) is a chlorinated plastic used in some electronics products and for insulation on wires and cables. Chlorinated dioxins and furans are released when PVC is produced or disposed of by incineration (or simply burning). These chemicals are highly persistent in the environment and many are toxic even in very low concentrations.

Greenpeace has an extremely informative section on their website about electronics. Recently they have released their third discussion and break down on where companies stack up in regards to being green. I always knew there was another better reason as to why I haven’t liked using macs…

adults, batteries, BPA, car, children, Dioxin, electronics, estrogen, fur, health, kidney, Lighting, plastic, produce, Recycling, resources, spa, Target, waste

Ocean Acidification: Another Symptom of Global Warming

3 Comments

by Jennifer Veilleux · 03/29/07

I attended the 8^th Annual Roger Revelle Commemorative Lecture at the Smithsonian on March 5^th entitled “What Corals Are Dying To Tell Us About CO₂ and Ocean Acidification.” Ken Caldeira, the presenter, spoke to about 500 people in a packed auditorium about the current trends worldwide in coral reef health. He expressed concern that although popular media talks about the effect CO₂has on the air, there isn’t much spoken about the effect CO₂has on the oceans. And the oceans are not an indefinite sink for CO₂.

Carbon Dioxide deposits in the oceans and the molecules bind with the water molecules to create Carbonic Acid. If there is too much Carbonic Acid, it can change the pH of water and is corrosive to the shells and skeletons of marine organisms coated or composed of calcium carbonate, such as corals. The acid literally eats away at the organism.

Why is this important? As pollution increases in our global ecosystems, biodiversity is reduced and food chains can be disrupted. In the case of corals, they are the food source, breeding ground, and home for a whole system of organisms, the diversity of which is sometimes compared with rainforests. If the current deposition trend continues, oceans will loose not only corals, but the ecosystem that corals sustain as well.

Visible loss of coral has been recorded worldwide. Though CO₂exacerbates the destruction of corals, it is not the only factor. Eutrophication, temperature changes, and human development have also taken their toll. It will take tens of thousands of years for the oceans to recover chemically to normal levels. The current situation of CO₂deposition in the oceans can be compared with the meteorite theorized to have hit in the Yucatan 65 million years ago that caused a great amount of chemical change in the ocean (along with temperature change) and resulted in a biological impact from which the corals did not recover for 10 million years.

The solution offered by Dr. Caldeira was two-fold. More research must be done on the oceans, we currently know so little about the effects of long lasting events. And we must change our current energy production and consumption. The average American is responsible for producing 120 pounds of CO₂ per day, 40 pounds of which deposit in the oceans. This is five times the global average. Natural release of CO₂is 50-70 times less than this. This is yet another reason we as a global community need to take energy production alternatives seriously and move away from our dependency on fossil fuels.

For more information on corals:

http://www.motherjones.com/news/featurex/2006/03/coral_reefs_faq.html

http://www.llnl.gov/str/Duffy.html

http://oceanacidification.wordpress.com/

biodiversity, car, carbon, community, consumption, Energy, Events, Food, fur, garden, Global Warming, health, Home, media, News, oceans, pictures, Pollution, rainforest, reduce, water

The Good in Goodwill

4 Comments

by Brianne Goodspeed · 02/18/07

One of the advantages of living in a city where the distribution of wealth is so disproportionate and patently unfair is that lots of rich people throw away lots of nice things. If you are a scavenger or a dumpster diver by principle, then Los Angeles is a good place to be. (If you are a scavenger or a dumpster diver by necessity, it is probably worth trading the warm climate and second-hand Gucci for a more humane metropolis.)

In January, I moved into a new, unfurnished apartment a block from my old place. I had been sharing a room—not an apartment, a room—with somebody and it was starting to cramp what little style I have. The first order of business for my new apartment was to find a desk, so that I would have a place to write polemics. I found an incredible desk on the side of the road the night before trash day. It’s perfect. It has four shelves and is so big that I couldn’t lift it without help and barely got it through the front door.

I also needed a chair; the milk crates I’d been sitting on were hurting my bum. I took a cruise around the neighborhood and found several chairs. I took two home.

The next order of business was a bookcase. I didn’t find any on the sidewalk, so I went over to Goodwill, where I found three. My understanding of Goodwill’s policies and practices is superficial, but I respect what little I know. 84% of revenues fund education and career programs. Goodwill offers ex-offenders help with job training, housing, substance abuse, literacy, and mental health. Of course, I should know more; anything—even if it’s a non-profit—that has over 2,000 retail stores makes me jumpy.

Mostly, though, I like Goodwill because if you have to buy something, it makes more sense to buy it used than to buy it new even if you’re supporting the most eco of the eco-friendly corporations. You can’t do it for everything (I still don’t have a bed or a mattress because I fear secondhand infestation), but you can do it for a lot. I’ve found good kitchen stuff and even great music there.

I was back over at Goodwill today looking for clothes. I don’t like clothes-shopping, so I try to get it out of the way all at once–usually when a critical mass of friends and family start telling me to my face that I smell or that it’s really time to stop wearing that green LL Bean hoody that’s two sizes too small. (Sigh. I know.) I left the store with 5 pairs of pants, 7 shirts, 2 belts, 1 sweatshirt, 2 skirts, and a super cute strapless blue dress that I’m sure I’ll never wear in public. All told, it cost me $80, which–it happens–is exactly what Patagonia’s (cute) Hempton dress costs. The stuff I found at Goodwill included Gap, The Limited, Ralph Lauren, and Tommy Hilfiger–all companies that I would never support with a direct purchase.

Of course, the deal with Goodwill is that you have better luck if you live in a big city where people dump last season’s fashion quicker than you can holler “Gratuitous waste, mofo!” As a friend of mine in New Hampshire said, “If you go to Goodwill here, you’ll be lucky to find a pair of stained sweatpants with patches on the knees.” Touche. Every place and every weltanschauung has its advantages and disadvantages, I suppose.