Entries tagged 'environment'

Tuesday, June 17th, 2008

350: The World’s Most Important Number

 

350.org is a new grassroots organizing campaign that launched today, focused on educating the world about the dangers of climate change and launching ordinary citizens worldwide into action.

Why 350? It represents the safe amount of carbon (in parts per million) our atmosphere–and our planet–can sustain.

Right now, we’re hovering at just shy of 400 and beginning to experience some of the beginning effects of global warming. No one’s sure how much more the earth’s fragile ecosystem can take, so it’s time to commit to action.

Need a better explanation? The animated video above makes it pretty easy to understand, without a single spoken word.

If you want to join in, head over to the 350.org site and sign up! While you’re at it, hit up the Alliance for Climate Protection’s We Can Solve It Campaign.

For Jon Warnow, Bill McKibben and the rest of the Step it Up 2007 team–who also advised us on the Right To Learn Campaign–congratulations! Keep up the great work!

 • Email This Post

Friday, June 6th, 2008

Hotels Need to Get With the Program

Years ago, hotels got a lot of grief over the massive amount of unnecessary laundry they did on towels, sheets and other linens. Most major hotels responded with a towel re-use programs.

The idea is simple: if you want a new towel, throw the old one on the floor; if not, hang it up.

Today, while visiting a Holiday Inn in Boxborough, Massachusetts, my towels were replaced despite being hung up–something that I feel has been happening a lot over the past few years.

Evidently I’m not the only one.

These programs truly a win-win: saving money for hotels and helping the environment through using less water.

What gives? It’s not that complicated.

 • Email This Post

Wednesday, December 12th, 2007

The Story of (My) Stuff

I received a forwarded e-mail the other day from a good friend of mine a few days ago telling me to check out this great new video called the Story of Stuff. In the video, Annie Leonard does a tremendous job of outlining the problems that come from (developed society’s) desire for consumption.

I watched the video, which was tremendously creative and well-illustrated, even if some of it’s insinuations were a bit leftist even for my liberal soul. What was even more impressive, however, was how the video has crept back into my mind repeatedly over the past week.

On Saturday night, my roommates and I had a holiday party. Before I had seen the video, we thought about renting glassware, plates and other needed items, but chose to head to the party store and buy plastic instead, because it was cheaper and we didn’t have to return anything.

Today, post Story of Stuff, I discovered a tear in my favorite pair of jeans and spent 15 minutes debating with Sunny over getting an iron-on patch to repair the tear. She advocated for a new pair of jeans, which I could completely understand–iron on patches, even on the inside, aren’t quite stylish for the up and coming hipster. We eventually settled on her sewing the hole in the jeans back together–a zero waste (and fantastic girlfriend) solution.

In thinking back about the incident, however, I realized that most people I know would have trudged down to Gap or Old Navy and grabbed a new pair. $40 later, the hole is gone and you get a nice new pair of jeans to boot. Thirty years ago, such a thing would have been laughed at; everyone would have put the jeans on the sewing machine and continued wearing them.

I’m curious to see how The Story of Stuff continues to affect my decision-making. Already, I’m resolved to have either rented glassware and china, or at least biodegradable plasticware, at our next party. I also hope that Leonard’s story continues beyond it’s 15 minutes of fame and earns a consistent place in what we teach future generations.

If you haven’t seen the story of stuff yet, view or download it (or pick up a DVD) and take a look. It’s well worth the investment.

 • Email This Post

Wednesday, November 28th, 2007

When 1>3: The iPhone Dock Adapter

So I went Christmas shopping today, which is already a horrid enough experience: wading through throngs of shoppers in San Francisco’s Union Square area, trying to find the perfect gift.

I stopped by the Apple Store to grab an iTunes gift card for a relative and used the opportunity to pick up a simple, but needed accessory for my iPhone — a universal dock adapter. This simple piece of plastic allows my phone to sit in the dock I’ve had for a number of years and connect to my computer (the dock included with the phone is in my bedroom for overnight charging purposes).

Apple includes this item with all new iPods it sells, so I’m already angry that I have to buy one, but when the Apple Store representative hands me the package, it contains not one, not two, but three identical dock adapters for $9.

Now, I understand that some people have more than one universal dock, but I have to believe that most users have one, guaranteeing that 2/3 of what users buy ends up in the trash can (not to mention the packaging). What a waste.

Here’s a suggestion for Apple: either give away the dock adapters or sell them individually. I’d much rather pay $4-5 for one than $9 for three, even if it’s just to satisfy my environmental inclinations for a day. No wonder Greenpeace gave Apple such a poor environmental score.

In the meantime, there are 2 iPhone dock adapters on Freecycle, yours for the cost of a stamp.

 • Email This Post