Reduce · Eco-Chick

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Call Your Representatives About Renewable Energy!

Ok, normally I try not to post too much of this kind of stuff, but I can’t urge you all enough to contact your representatives (if you’re not sure who they are, go to this site.)

From MoveOn:

Did you know the U.S. right now gets only 2% of our electricity from clean energy sources like solar and wind? We have the technology. We know people want it. We just haven’t had the political will.
But Congress is voting this week on H.R. 969, a bill that will dramatically boost solar and wind energy. If it passes, it’ll be like taking 37 million cars off the road.1 Along with the rest of the energy package, it’ll be the biggest step in two decades toward a clean planet and affordable energy.
Big oil and coal are fighting the bill hard, because it would undercut their stranglehold on our economy. That’s why Congress needs to hear from the public that clean energy is a priority.
The bill requires utilities to increase the percentage of electricity produced from wind, biomass, geothermal, and solar energy sources. If it passes, utilities nationwide will produce 20% of their electricity from renewable energy sources by 2020. This bill alone will reduce 511 million tons of global warming pollution.

See full text at Grist, with citations (for some reason I can’t find it on their site anywhere…)

If calling makes you nervous, just remember that aside from a hand-written letter, a call is the next best thing to get your voice heard. It’s easier to use scripts if you’re short on time. Here’s a sample message you can leave: “Hello, my name is ____ and I live in_____. I’m calling to urge Rep. _____ to cosponsor the H.R. 969, the Udall
(D-NM)-Platts (R-PA) renewable electricity standard.”

It takes less than a minute, and you’ve gotten your nudge in there for 20% by 2020. Do it today before they vote!

At the very least, sign MoveOn’s petition.

car, cars, coal, electric, electricity, Energy, farm, Global Warming, oil, Pollution, produce, reduce, Technology, Vote

Did You See the Snowman Last Night at the Debates?

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by Starre Vartan · 07/24/07

I thought the Dems debates last night were the best I’ve ever seen (I watched them streaming on Cnn.com since I don’t have cable). That the questions came from real people via YouTube was THE BEST IDEA EVER! (and the videos submitted by us crazy citizens were funny, sad, poignant, and most importantly, touched on really tough issues!)

So first off, CONGRATS to all those questioners that I share the great USA with…YOU made me proud to be an American (the politicians, well, they were being politicians, you know?. Of course the highlight was the snowman/global warming question! Check it out!

(Answers taken from the NYTimes transcript of the debates.)

COOPER: It’s a funny video. It’s a serious question. Congressman Kucinich?

KUCINICH: Well, we have to understand the connection between global warring and global warming. Because when we start talking about wars for oil, we’re essentially keeping the same approach to energy.

(APPLAUSE)

So I’m saying we need to move away from reliance on oil and coal and toward reliance on wind and solar.

KUCINICH: Anderson, that’s the basis of my WGA, Works Green Administration, where we take an entirely new approach to organize the entire country around sustainability, around conservation. We don’t have to have our snowmen melting, and the planet shouldn’t be melting either.

COOPER: Are the people on this stage, are your fellow candidates, are they green enough?

KUCINICH: No. And I think that the reason is that if you support, for example, in Iraq, if you say that Iraq should privatize its oil for the U.S. oil companies, then what you’re doing is you’re continuing a commitment to use more oil. If you believe that all options should be put on the table with respect to Iran, that’s about oil.

So we need to move away from reliance on oil…

COOPER: Time.

KUCINICH: … and that’s really connected to our defense policy, and I’m the one who gets the connection.

COOPER: All right.

(APPLAUSE)

WHY didn’t other candidates answer such an important question???? Too hard???

automobiles, Bush, car, carbon, cars, climate change, coal, conservation, consumption, dress, eating, electric, Energy, epa, fuel efficiency, fur, gas, gas companies, Global Warming, health, Home, nuclear, nuclear power, NYTimes, Obama, oil, oil companies, opinion, Politics, reduce, religion, sales, spa, sustainability, taxes, Technology, video, waste

Green Gossip: What Good Is It?

3 Comments

by Starre Vartan · 07/18/07

At US Weekly, there’s coverage of John Mayer’s involvement with the green group Reverb:

Reverb, a non-profit environmental organization started by Guster frontman Adam Gardner and his eco-conscious wife, is teaming up with both tours, and will actually travel with Mayer. Their goal is to help reduce the “footprint” of the bands themselves, as well as educate concertgoers with interactive “Eco-Villages” set up at each tour stop.

At MSN, there are reports that Trippin’ host Cameron Diaz and super-hottie enviro-hunk (and author of the Live Earth Global Warming Survival Handbook) are hooking up.

And at Yahoo News, Factory Girl star Sienna Miller’s involvement with Global Cool is getting the group some more (well-deserved) attention.

Aside from David de Rothschild, who is a billionaire-heir, the rest of these folks are stars using their celebrity to get attention for what they care about (or what’s trendy?). Either way, people are hearing about issues like global warming who otherwise might not pay attention. I know plenty of people say that stars using their popularity in this way is disingenuous or maybe even opportunistic behavior. But Diaz has been involved with environmental causes for years. I think as long as the person knows what they are talking about (like Leo DiCaprio always proves) they should be able to use their power for good, not evil.

{democracy:8}

book, car, Entertainment, farm, Global Warming, India, magazine, movies, News, reduce, Tea, travel

The Car-free Life in Paris

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by Courtney Tenz · 07/16/07

A few weeks ago, I wrote about the trend toward building entire subdivisions as car-free communities here in Germany; though these neighborhoods eschew cars and roads for bikes and courtyards, they also offer a bit of storage space to house the bikes (either as covered garages or, in the single-family homes, on porches).

In larger, more compact cities, though, there often isn’t enough room for residents to keep their bikes inside and the threat of theft is too great to store bikes outside (nearly every person I’ve spoken to in Cologne has had a bike stolen – hence the preference for buying cheap, unexciting, used bikes instead of mountain or racing bikes). To keep people riding, then, cities like Copenhagen offer cycles free of charge to riders (the cost of the bike is supported by advertisements). All you need is a Euro coin as a deposit to unlock the bike; you get the coin back when the bike’s returned to a station in the city and locked anew.

copenhagen bikes photo (c) aisipos, via flickr creative commons

Lyon has a similar program, though you pay a small amount for each ride; it’s a popular way home for students after late-night dinners with too much wine. Now Paris is trying it out, too. From The New York Times:

The program, Vélib (for “vélo,” bicycle, and “liberté,” freedom), is the latest in a string of European efforts to reduce the number of cars in city centers and give people incentives to choose more eco-friendly modes of transport.
“This is about revolutionizing urban culture,” said Pierre Aidenbaum, mayor of Paris’s trendy third district, which opened 15 docking stations on Sunday. “For a long time cars were associated with freedom of movement and flexibility. What we want to show people is that in many ways bicycles fulfill this role much more today.”
Users can rent a bike online or at any of the stations, using a credit or debit card and leave them at any other station.
A one-day pass costs 1 euro ($1.38), a weekly pass 5 euros ($6.90) and a yearly subscription 29 euros ($40), with no additional charges as long as each bike ride does not exceed 30 minutes. (Beyond that, there is an incremental surcharge, to make sure that as many bikes as possible stay in the rotation.)

I’m really excited that this idea is catching on; wherever my husband and I travel, we rent bikes to get around the city and these ad-sponsored cycles take some of the worry out of having the bike stolen. And as tourists, we see more of the people, the architecture, and everyday life by bike than by subway, so it’s a treat I wouldn’t want to give up. I just hope someone brings this idea to the US soon … because while it’s easy enough to make the car-free lifestyle choice in your hometown, getting around as a tourist is a bit more difficult to do and a program like this takes some of the worries away. So you can spend more time indulging in the arts and wine and not worry about hitting the wrong Metro home or trying to navigate a hatchback down one-way streets cobbled together with tiny stones.

architecture, bicycles, bikes, car, cars, cities, Eco-Chick, Europe, farm, Germany, Home, New York Times, NYTimes, reduce, reference, spa, sport, style, Tea, travel, urban, Wine

Party Pooper

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by Jennifer Veilleux · 07/06/07

firework

Biking to work on the morning of July 5^th I noticed scattered remnants of brightly colored paper. In some places boxes were piled and charred remains of something were close by. Fireworks. There was litter from exploded fireworks everywhere. The night before, in the Capitol Hill neighborhood, it sounded like a warzone…not unfitting for this present moment! And it was not easy to catch some rest through that noise which raged into the night.

In Chinatown in NYC one year I attended a day of the Chinese New Year celebration and it began to rain. The water that snaked along the edges of the streets to the gutters was a kaleidoscope of color from the confetti filled explosive sticks you can buy at any small Chinese store. The confetti, once exploded (really impressive site), littered the street.

So then I thought, things that blow up for our entertainment, are they super damaging one or two or three days in a year? I looked up news reports and found that indeed, fireworks are bad for the environment. But the articles I found suggested rather than the actual visual litter or noise levels being a problem, fireworks caused other concerns for the environment: they increase ambient temperatures (where ignited), deposit perchlorate in water resources (perchlorate, yes the carcinogen, but, not to worry, the amount reduces back to background levels within 3 to 12 weeks), and compound air pollution levels (there were actual warnings for people with allergies and respiratory problems about going outside during the firework display period).

No kidding. Even fireworks, such beautiful and awe-inspiring displays, have a negative environmental impact. Good to keep in mind on our next firework-filled holiday…

Here are some news reports from around the country:

water

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/07/03/science/03obse1.html?ref=science

air

http://www.sltrib.com/news/ci_6310145

http://www.courierpress.com/news/2007/jul/06/guess-what-fireworks-pollute/

http://abclocal.go.com/kfsn/story?section=local&id=5447560

http://www.visaliatimesdelta.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070704/NEWS01/707040332

heat

http://www.insidebayarea.com/trivalleyherald/localnews/ci_6296507