Don't Judge a Book by Its Cover

"Greenwashing is the practice of making an unsubstantiated or misleading claim about the environmental benefits of a product, service, technology or company practice.

Greenwashing can make a company appear to be more environmentally friendly than it really is. It can also be used to differentiate a company's products or services from its competitors by promising more efficient use of power or by being more cost-effective over time." 

(Get to source by clicking the word Greenwashing)

I stumbled upon a website about greenwashing, and realized that it might be something that not a lot of people are aware of.  As sustainability has become such a buzz word, companies have realized that if they use certain words/colors/marketing schemes, they are likely to increase their profits.  Sadly, this does not mean that they are actually improving their business or products, just that they want more money.  Here are the images I found on a site called One Green Planet:

I cannot make this any bigger. :( I hope that it can be read, if not, I suggest going to the link above.  Definitely worth the extra click. 

I really like this chart.  It shows what to look for and what to avoid when making purchases.  It is a good overview of greenwashing, and how to know if a product is actually a sustainable choice.  

I also have a book called Big Green Purse (the website is also a good source), that has very detailed sections on what the best products are, from cosmetics and cleaning supplies to paint and vehicle options.  I suggest checking it out.  It has proven to be a good reference book to have on my shelf.  

Green Streets

I wrote a paper on green streets for a course I took at UF, I recently brought it back out and reworked it a bit to use as a writing sample for an application.  However, looking through some of my old papers, I realized that they are exactly what I am trying to do through this blog, which is educate and spark interest. So I have many topics to (re)explore now! Here is my writing sample on green streets...

Traditional street layouts include impervious surfaces and curb and gutter systems, which increases stormwater runoff and pollutants in the water.  Green streets, which are most commonly found in the Pacific Northwest, use vegetation to enhance both public and private streets.  With the help of vegetation, stormwater is redirected from waste pipes into the ground, where the water is filtered and refuels the groundwater supply. 

There are different types of green streets, depending how much space there is and if the area is urban or more rural.  Stormwater curb extensions extend into the street, and often become a place for safe and convenient pedestrian crossing.  Stormwater Street Planters exist between sidewalks and the curb and work well where there is limited place.  Rain Gardens tend to go where there is plenty of space, and they are able to create safe crossings where awkward intersections existed.  Simple Green Streets dig up an existing planting behind curbs and cut the curb, replacing them with appropriate landscaping and the ability to capture runoff. 

Stormwater Curb Extension

Stormwater Street Planter

Rain Garden



Simple Green Street



Cost:

In Seattle, the SEA Streets initiative found that is saved 20 percent or more of the cost of conventional street drainage by installing green streets.  They spent $280,000-$325,000 per block for a green street versus $425,000-$525,000 for a traditional block.

Benefits:

Among other things, Portland has found that green streets have helped to reduce polluted stormwater in the city’s streams and rivers, reduce impervious surface, and increase urban green space.  Green streetscapes do enhance the aesthetics of a community, but they also provide a natural habitat, clean and cool the air, and reduce heat island effect. 

A major selling point for green streets is their ability to improve pedestrian and bicycle access and safety along roadways.  With narrower streets, local car speeds tend to decrease, which also lowers the likeliness of car accidents.  With the increased area of vegetation along the roads, there is a much larger buffer between vehicle and pedestrian traffic. 

Without curb and gutter systems, vegetation and soil is able to filter out the pollutants in the water before returning it to the ground or surface waterways.  Reducing stormwater runoff results in fewer sewer backups, less street flooding and reduced combined sewer overflows (CSOs).

Sources:

1.    Portland Green Street Program - http://www.portlandonline.com/bes/index.cfm?c=44407

2.    Green Infrastructure Performance - http://www.cnt.org/repository/BMP-Performance.pdf

3.    Green Streets Low Impact Development Initiative in Gaithersburg, MD - http://www.mepp.umd.edu/students/documents/Christine-Gallagher-Practicum-report-June6-2009.pdf

...pretty sweet, huh?

For Nothing?

Okay, a quick post, since I have so much to do..

I found this picture today, and I'm so excited, because it is something that I have tried to say many times, but haven't quite figured out how to get my point across...

I know that sustainability and climate change, etc. are very controversial topics, and that there are so many different viewpoints that it seems unlikely that everyone will ever share the same thoughts.  My personal viewpoint is WHO CARES?  If we can do all of these things (listed in the cartoon) and more to use less energy and fuel, and live healthier lives, why wouldn't we?  I don't think it matters so much if we believe that sea levels are rising and that we are running out of oil.  One less water bottle in a landfill is one less water bottle in a landfill.

The Tea Party and Sustainable Development

First off, I would like to say that I am not very involved in politics, and that although I do have my ideas of how things should be, I do not follow what parties are saying what and who believes who should be running the country. 

With that said, it is increasingly difficult to ignore the growing popularity and public saturation of the Tea Party Movement.  It's everywhere, and highly controversial.  Although I have not followed this movement much over the last few years, there is one argument that I have heard from the group that I am having trouble grasping.  That is, their argument against sustainable development. 

I first heard about this opposition through a colleague who told me that when the county became a certified FGBC Green Local Government, there was resistance coming from the Tea Partiers of the county.  This obviously sparked my interest.  For at least two years, I've learned and heard about everything that sustainability and sustainable development can do for the world, and how much we need it to save the environment and ourselves.  Now, I find out that there's a huge culture of people who believe that sustainability is a sort of scheme that is the United Nation's "vision for a completely managed society, dictating the process to be used for industry, agriculture, housing development, and especially education. It’s an all-encompassing plan to rule from an all-powerful central government.” This is a direct opposition to Agenda 21 which was adopted by more than 178 governments in 1992.

So in my research, I found this article called The Tea Party's Next Target: Sustainable Development, which as you can probably tell by the title, is not exactly unbiased.  However, I think that the article makes some good points.  The article also has a sarcastic tone to it, which attracted me to it, of course.

The author pulls some quotations out of Agenda 21 about its 27 Principles, such as "#1 which states that, “Human beings are at the centre of concerns for sustainable development.  They are entitled to a healthy and productive life in harmony with nature.”" Yepp, that sure sounds like a terrible idea to me...

A few other things that stuck out to me from this article.  The first was that there is/was a group in Florida that was urging people to oppose a bill that would "require homeowners to responsibly maintain their septic tanks". Really? I understand that many people believe that the government should not have the right to decide what people do to their land.  But septic tanks affect so much more than your land. And in my opinion, people do not have the right to pollute our already diminishing ground water supply or to negatively affect their neighbors, since they have rights, too. 

Another spot in the article explains that in her new book, author Beverly Eakman blames our education system for training us to focus on the collective, rather than the individual.  So it's our kindergarten teachers' faults for teaching us to share.  However, I do know that this article is biased, and therefore is probably skewed and drastic (I hope). 

This has all been almost directly from the article, with some narration by me. So here is just me saying what I see and how I see it...

Sustainability means something different to almost everyone, but all definitions share the want to impact the planet less and conserve our land and resources rather than using them all up as quickly as we have been.  I understand that there are many different stances on sustainability and even climate change and that some people believe that these are just works by certain people to control the population.  However, what I would like to say is... who cares?

Who cares why some people are behind certain initiatives.  The truth is that the less materials we use, the longer our planet lasts, the more generations our planet can sustain.  And if you don't believe that our resources are scarce, then think of it this way... If we don't recycle our plastic and aluminum and paper, etc, the faster our landfills will fill up.  Then, as landfills fill up, we are going to have to open more landfills and chances are, we are going to run out of room for landfills that are far away, so they will get closer to our houses (and not only do they smell, they are also not great to look at).  And the longer landfills sit, the more likely they are to seep into our groundwater, forcing us to create systems that are complicated and expensive in order to clean our water before we can drink it.  These systems will most likely be heavy duty machines that will cause more air pollution which will cause more smog in cities, which will reduce your right/ability to clean air, which will probably increase disease and lower life spans.  And as the population continues to increase, there will be less and less rural places to escape to. So why don't we recycle? because recycling is a scheme someone invented to control us?? ok.

Enough ranting. As I have said, the article that I linked here is very biased, and I am not saying that I 100% agree with it.  Also, I am not claiming to be extremely knowledgable about these topics, especially the stance of the Tea Party.  However, I would like to learn more, and although I am going to continue researching the topics, I would really like to hear what you think about this and how you feel sustainable development and Agenda 21 may affect our county and world, or even just reactions to what I have written.

"This is not speculation; this is high school science."

Okay, so it's been a while, to say the least.  But what's important is that I'M BACK! And I'm going to work on writing here instead of repeating my sustainability thoughts and woes over and over again to friends and family.

So here's what has happened since April, when I last posted.  For starters, I GRADUATED! From the University of Florida with a Bachelor's of Science in Sustainability and the Built Environment.  What do you do with a BSSBE degree, you may ask? Well I'll let you know when I find out! I have moved back to Punta Gorda, FL where I live with my parents. yippee! every college graduate's dream.  However, on a happier note, I just started an internship with Charlotte County's Community Development Department, in the Comprehensive Planning office.  I've been there three days now, and I LOVE IT! I have already learned so much, and I am so interested in anything I have been able to get my hands on.

So that's my little catch up, now back to sustainability and learning and all of that...

Today I found an interesting article written by Thomas Friedman (who is my current obsession).  I've been reading his book, "Hot, Flat and Crowded", speaking to globalization and pretty much all that is involved.

Anyway, the article I found is called The Earth is Full, which Friedman wrote for The NY Times about Paul Gilding, and his new book, “The Great Disruption: Why the Climate Crisis Will Bring On the End of Shopping and the Birth of a New World.”.  The article is interesting, and I might see if I can find that book to read, but there are a few memorable quotations from Gilding's book that I will post below.  These are the kind of articles and books that make us think about why things are the way they are, and why we haven't made changes to how we do things, both here in America and all over the World.  


“If you cut down more trees than you grow, you run out of trees,” writes Gilding. “If you put additional nitrogen into a water system, you change the type and quantity of life that water can support. If you thicken the Earth’s CO2 blanket, the Earth gets warmer. If you do all these and many more things at once, you change the way the whole system of planet Earth behaves, with social, economic, and life support impacts. This is not speculation; this is high school science.”


“We are heading for a crisis-driven choice,” he says. “We either allow collapse to overtake us or develop a new sustainable economic model. We will choose the latter. We may be slow, but we’re not stupid.”


There are a few thought-provoking quotes from the article/Gilding's book, but read the article. There's more and it's awesome.  In fact, I think I'll see where I can find that book this weekend. 

A question for you...

So I haven't been posting as much as I had planned on, and it isn't for lack of things to say... I have, however found, that I struggle with putting my thoughts into words, especially when it comes to discussing sustainability.  There is just so much, that I need lots of time to form arguments/thoughts in my head. I need to work on that. :)

So here is a question that I would like to pose to anyone who reads this and may have a response...

Now that people FINALLY generally agree that climate change is fact, there is another type of nay-sayer.  Today is not the first time it has happened to me, but it happened to me today, and I just don't know how to react. In discussion with friends, I made a comment (poking fun) that if we took a trip all the way to the Florida Keys (longer than we would normally drive for our annual function) to see the coral reefs because they are diminishing due to climate change (and other factors) that we would in fact be adding more to their degradation by driving that much farther than we normally would.  So the response I got back from my friend was that the degradation of our Earth is already happening, and we can't stop it, so we might as well. (not directly quoted).  And to that friend, I am not criticizing, just commenting on an argument that I have heard MANY times and really got me thinking today.

I have talked to so many people that have already decided that we are in way too far, and there is no way out so we might as well keep living as we are. I get so frustrated at these comments, but I don't know how to rebut them.  I want to sit and formulate an argument, but every time I try I feel like my head might explode.  There's just too much. Too many unknowns, arguments for both sides (I guess) and all of my emotions/tree-hugging side swirling around.

So I pose this to you.  What would you say to someone who has decided that it is simply too late to make a difference, so why try? Or your thoughts on the topic...

The Trash Vortex

I found this visual online, Greenpeace calls it the Trash Vortex, it is also called The Asian Trash Trail or the Eastern Garbage Patch.  If you follow the link, it brings you to the Greenpeace site.  What the Trash Vortex is, is an area (the size of Texas) north of Hawaii where a significant amount of our trash travels to. Because of the currents in the Pacific Ocean, the trash from the US west coast and from Japan collect in two main areas.  If you click on "The Journey of Trash" you can see the timeline that it takes our trash to collect in this vortex.

Not only does our trash make for choking hazards for ocean wildlife, but it is also full of chemicals that are released into the water.  It would be near impossible to stop all of the trash getting into the ocean, but I think that this is a great opportunity and potentially a way to open eyes to how many chemicals and toxins we allow in the products that we buy.  As consumers start to realize this, and look for products with less toxins, companies will make the products to meet our wants. So start looking at what goes into your products and what happens to them when you're done with them.

Green Products

I was Stumbling the other day, and came across a website that does green ratings for products.  The website is called Good Guide, and helps you "Find healthy, green, ethical products according to scientific ratings." You can type in a product, and it will give you ratings of different products from best score to worst.  There are scores for  Health, Environment and Society, and then an overall score.  You can search for specific products; "Head and Shoulders," or broad categories; "Shampoo."

Check it out! It looks like they have a pretty comprehensive list of products, from cleaning supplies to appliances, from electronics to pet food.  It also seems that you are likely to see the same companies popping us as the top runners (Seventh Generation and Samsung, etc.)

The Blind Men and the Elephant

A couple posts today, to catch up on everything I have been learning and finding out.  First of all, in my Industrial Ecology class today, we had a guest speaker, Professor Leslie Paul Thiele, who teaches in the Political Science field, as well as a course called Facets of Sustainability which is an intro class into sustainability, for those thinking about applying for the major or minor at the University of Florida. Anyway, there was one part of his lecture that I would like to repeat.  And that is the way that he defined the term 'sustainability'.  He compared the test of defining 'sustainability' to the old Indian legend, The Blind Men and the Elephant, where each blind man approaches the elephant from a different side and each comes away with a different version of what the elephant is.  I definitely suggest reading the version above.  And here is the image that goes with that version...

Professor Thiele talked about how sustainability means something different to us than it would to someone in Africa who is just trying to sustain their family one day at a time.  He also spoke about sustainability in different dimensions of time, and this is what sparked my interest most of all.  Sustainability could be sustaining our culture and land for the generations in our graspable future, in which case with help, we definitely can sustain.  However, if we think of cosmological time, the Earth cannot be sustained, since in a few billion years, the sun will have expanded enough to swallow the first three planets, and Earth will be a cease to exist as we know it, or as it has ever been. Each person has the opportunity to view sustainability in their own way and it really can mean something different to each person.


So here begins my search to find out what exactly sustainability means to me...

Costa Farms and Household Plants

In an effort to help my friend, Jessica, get some extra credit in a class, I went to the class with her, last week.  The class is called Plants and You, or something of that sort.   For the class, there was a guest speaker from Costa Farms,  located in SE United States, originated in Miami, Florida.

She spoke about household plants and mostly marketing the company, since marketing was her area of knowledge.  However, in her presentation she spoke a little bit about the benefits of household plants and mentioned a NASA study on the topic.  They suggest one house plant for every 100 square feet of space in your house.  Through 2 years of studies, it was found that plants help combat Sick Building Syndrome and are able to pull out up to 98 percent of toxins from the air.

So think about buying a few, and keep your house clean in a way maybe more significant than dust and clutter.

Quotations

As I said before, I'm a nut about quotes, so here are some that I found while doing some searched today. There's a big chunk of them. Some you have probably heard, and others are very satirical.  Enjoy.  


Found at a Drury University Site:

"We do not inherit the earth from our ancestors, we borrow it from our children."

-Native American Proverb

"It is horrifying that we have to fight our own government to save the environment."

-Ansel Adams

"We could have saved the Earth but we were too damned cheap."

-Kurt Vonnegut, Jr.

"Sometimes I wonder whether the world is being run by smart people who are putting us on, or by imbeciles who really mean it."

- Mark Twain

"That's human nature. Nobody does anything until it's too late."

- Michael Crichton

"However fragmented the world, however intense the national rivalries, it is an inexorable fact that we become more interdependent every day. I believe that national sovereignties will shrink in the face of universal interdependence. The sea, the great unifier, is man's only hope. Now, as never before, the old phrase has a literal meaning: We are all in the same boat."

- Jacques Cousteau, quoted in "National Geographic" [1981]

"The future will be green, or not at all. This truth lies at the heart of humankind's most pressing challenge: to learn to live in harmony with the Earth on a genuinely sustainable basis."

-Sir Jonathon Porritt

"I think the environment should be put in the category of our national security. Defense of our resources is just as important as defense abroad. Otherwise what is there to defend?"

-Robert Redford, 1985

"There must be a better way to make the things we want, a way that doesn't spoil the sky, or the rain or the land".

-Sir Paul McCartney

"I have no doubt that we will be successful in harnessing the sun's energy.... If sunbeams were weapons of war, we would have had solar energy centuries ago."

-Sir George Porter, The Observer, 26 August 1973

"There is a sufficiency in the world for man's need but not for man's greed."

-Mohandas K. Gandhi

"There's so much pollution in the air now that if it weren't for our lungs there'd be no place to put it all."

-Robert Orben

Modern technology
Owes ecology
An apology.

-Alan M. Eddison

"Don't blow it - good planets are hard to find."

-Quoted in Time

"Let us a little permit Nature to take her own way; she better understands her own affairs than we."

-Michel de Montaigne, translated

"Your grandchildren will likely find it incredible - or even sinful - that you burned up a gallon of gasoline to fetch a pack of cigarettes!"

-Dr. Paul MacCready, Jr.

"The use of solar energy has not been opened up because the oil industry does not own the sun."

-Ralph Nader, quoted in Linda Botts,ed., Loose Talk, 1980

"The packaging for a microwavable "microwave" dinner is programmed for a shelf life of maybe six months, a cook time of two minutes and a landfill dead-time of centuries."

-David Wann, Buzzworm, November 1990

"Suburbia is where the developer bulldozes out the trees, then names the streets after them."

-Bill Vaughn

"If all mankind were to disappear, the world would regenerate back to the rich state of equilibrium that existed ten thousand years ago. If insects were to vanish, the environment would collapse into chaos."

-Edward O. Wilson

"You go into a community and they will vote 80 percent to 20 percent in favor of a tougher Clean Air Act, but if you ask them to devote 20 minutes a year to having their car emissions inspected, they will vote 80 to 20 against it. We are a long way in this country from taking individual responsibility for the environmental problem."

-William D. Ruckelshaus, former EPA administrator, New York Times, 30 November 1988

It blows my mind how many of these and others that I have read were said before this huge explosion of sustainability talk and how long it has taken for us to realize what we are doing to our world.  I am reading a book called "Green to Gold: How Smart Companies Use Environmental Strategy to Innovate, Create Value, and Build Competitive Advantage" and read "The capacity of the world's oceans once seemed endless both as a source of fish and as a place to dump waste..." (p. 58) 

And it hit me. Whose idea was it to dump our waste into the oceans in the first place? It doesn't make sense at all, and even if you couldn't care less about the animals and biodiversity and coral reefs and don't understand the fact that all of that is helping us to live, we eat fish from those waters.  It seems like common sense that we don't want our waste there, and we should have realized the need to reduce waste way back then, when we had to start figuring out where to put all of the waste from our consumption.  

Consuming so that "Climate Counts"

This week I did some light grocery shopping. As I am working on making sustainability a part of all of my purchases, rather than picking up the cheaper, generic brand of milk, I bought Stonyfield Farms Organic milk.  I was in an agricultural ethics class last year and we had a speaker that told us all of the reasons that we should be vegan, and to not consume milk or cheese products at all.  I'll admit that he had a fairly convincing, although over the top argument, but I have tried being vegan, and it is tough; a whole lifestyle change.  So I limit my consumption.

In any case, I didn't know how a company could go about making organic milk, so I read the carton and their website to learn a little more about their company.  The milk that they sell is from cattle fed without pesticides and without creating a stressful atmosphere for their animals.  The milk is also made without added hormones.

Reading the carton, I also learned about a site that the owners of Stonyfield Farms created called ClimateCounts.org.  Through this site, they have developed a rating system for the sustainability of companies, specifically geared toward consumers.  You can go to this site and look up different sectors and industries and see which companies they have rated on a scale of 1 to 100 as working toward sustainability.  They rated the companies based on a list of 22 criteria to determine whether they have measured their footprint, reduced their impact on global warming, and a few other factors that they decided are determinants of a company's sustainability.

There are many databases like this one, so I suggest picking one, and using it.  There is a book called Big Green Purse.  This book is catered to consumers and how each of us can use our spending power to change the sustainability of products and companies.  The website is also very helpful, if you would like to be more sustainable, and not go buy the book.  The book goes into great detail to go over the best and worst of sustainability in consumption.

If you know of other resources, I would love to hear them and keep a database of databases for my and your future use.

Green Consumer Tip of the Day:  Read labels before you make purchases.  Through greenwashing, many companies are giving the look that they are 'green' because they know that many consumers are looking for 'green' products.  These companies are not changing their companies from the bottom line, but are rather just giving their products a green hue.  Do research before making big and small purchases.

A Sustainable City

"Cities are not the problem, they are the solution." - Jamie Lerner, Urban Planner and Former Mayor of Curitiba, Brazil.

I'm on a city kick.  Today I had my first official meeting with my Capstone Project, and I am overly excited about it.  My job is to do research and have a project and paper to present at the end of the semester.

My focus is on Detroit, Michigan and how it could be helped and revived through sustainability.  I have not yet narrowed down my topic to a specific question that I will be posing. However, I do know that I will be doing case studies on a few select cities that have in their past gone through change and as a result are considered to be sustainable.  So far I am looking at Portland, OR, Curitiba, Brazil, Bogota, Colombia, and I will be doing some research into Northern Europe cities that I might be able to use.  I am going to look at what prompted these cities to become more sustainable (a strong leader, social movements, following other cities, etc), and also how these cities can be related to Detroit and how what they have done might be able to be transfered to Detroit's situation.  

Once I have narrowed down my choice cities, I will research what has made them sustainable and how what they have done might be able to be relatable to Detroit.  And from there I will research ways that Detroit can become a successfully sustainable city which intern will make the city itself more successful, without losing the city's cultural and social ties. Or at least I hope that will be the outcome. 

Green Tip of the Day:  Shop for produce at a local Farmer's Market rather than at a grocery store.  The produce will be fresher, have less chemicals, and will have used much less fuel to get to your plate. 

The Story of Stuff

Now to take a few steps back to a resource that I found when I first started my sustainability education.  In my very first sustainability class, I was introduced to Annie Leonard's "The Story of Stuff"

It's a fairly short video created by Annie to find a way to reach her audience more easily, through cartoons.  I went back and read recently that Annie Leonard began her work to make her teachings approachable when, years ago, she was at a seminar for activists, speaking about "Materials Economy" and other lingo, when she was interrupted by an organizer saying "I have no idea what you're talking about".  She found at this seminar that when she drew pictures and cartoons on a white board, she could reach the audience more successfully, and has been teaching through cartoons ever since.

Looking back at the website again recently, I found that since "The Story of Stuff", Annie has also created other videos such as:
"The Story of Electronics"
"The Story of Cosmetics"
"The Story of Bottled Water"
and "The Story of Cap and Trade"
With many more videos projected to be released in 2011!

Please, if you have a few minutes, check out at least the first video.  It is a great (simplified) resource to see where each product that you buy is coming from, and what happens to it when you are finished with it.  Imagine how much you throw away a day, not included what you recycle, but just what you put in the trash can.  Then multiply that by the number of people living in the United States today.  All of this stuff going straight to a landfill or to an incinerator.

So, if you're up for it...spend one day actually paying attention to everything you throw away.  It's incredible and such an opportunity to reduce even a little waste on this planet. It is also something that I struggle with every day.  It has become part of our nature to waste.  Take-out containers and paper/plastic coffee cups, even paper towels that we use mindlessly to clean up a mess or to make a sandwich on and then toss in the trash.  So much of it can be at least lessened. This is one of my projects for this year, reduce my personal waste significantly.  If I can reduce my own waste, I will be in a position to help others to do the same.

"Green Hell"

"I cannot teach anybody anything, I can only make them think." -Socrates (Quote compliments of Mike Degrove!)

So today, after another very interesting Industrial Ecology class (will most likely talk about a lot this semester), I walked over to the Reitz Union Bookstore on campus to pick up a gift for my dad and of course made a detour to the science books.  Looking for a book to read from a list of possibles, for my class, I noticed a book called Green Hell: How Environmentalists Plan to Control Your Life and What You Can Do to Stop Them by Steve Milloy.  

I strongly believe that in order have chosen any side of an argument or discussion, one must know fully both sides of the debate.  Therefore, I picked up this book and started reading the introduction.  I can tell you, I was mentally and emotionally exhausted by the time I finally left the bookstore... (with this book in hand, I might add).  I have decided that I want to hear every argument that I can get my hands on against going green and green design.  I do not feel very educated on the topic, because in my classes and the books that I usually read,  I am mostly getting the up-sides of a new, greener lifestyle.  

So here I am, reading about how "The Greens aim to regulate your behavior, downsize your lifestyle, and invade the most intimate aspects of your personal life."  and "What the Greens really seek...is to dictate the very parameters of your daily life - where you can live, what transportation you can use, what you can eat, and even how many children you can have."   Is that what people think? That this huge movement is just about  some people trying to regulate the world? 

There are definitely extremes. Many people are working to cut out parts of their lives, limit waste and use smarter transportation.  But what many "Greens" suggest isn't to stop buying books altogether, but look for books made on recycled materials with soy-based inks.  We don't have to go without electricity, but try to find renewable energy sources (many energy companies are going this way)  and find appliances that drain less energy.  I don't think that people are really expecting people to live less filled lifestyles necessarily, just a few differences that you may only notice when your energy bill comes up smaller and your recycling bin fills faster than your trash can.  

In any case, so far, I have the impression that Milloy really enjoys bashing Liberal viewpoints and President Obama, and is afraid that he will lose his high standard of living if the sustainability revolution continues (which it will.)  I have read very little of the book, and will most likely add thoughts and findings here, especially if I find that he has arguments with substantive backing.  

My First Blog

Hello Everyone! (or my few friends who might read this)

I have been thinking about starting a blog for a while, so I finally decided to do it! Mostly because I am currently struggling on my first homework assignment of the semester (Define the term Sustainability). Should be easy, right, since "Sustainability" is in the name of my major.  To the contrary, however, there is no easy way to define the word, especially since its definition is constantly evolving.  Anyways...

"Education is the most powerful weapon which you can use to change the world." -Nelson Mandela

When it comes to the sustainability revolution (or movement or however you wish to label it),  education has to be the next step.  People hear about being 'eco-friendly' and lowering GHG (Greenhouse Gas) Emissions and the constant struggle with fuel and other non-renewable natural resources. However, what can I do? I care about the world and its health, but how can one person work to reduce harmful toxins in the environment or other such global issues.  Well, that's what I'm here to find out and share.  There is so much knowledge out there, way too much for one person to possibly pick through.

If I can spark the interest of just one person, or get one person even to start recycling or start a compost pile, or just read an article about environmental issues or sustainability in the built environment, this blog will be more than worthwhile.  Throughout the rest of my formal education and my constant informal education, I will post exciting findings, be they books I've read or articles, or just fun-facts.  I also have a love for quotes, and there are so many good ones, so they will probably be appearing.

I would also like this blog to be an information source for me, so if you're reading and have something to add, or ask or just comment on, please do.  I could talk about sustainability for hours and never get bored. There are just so many aspects that it would take forever to touch on all of them, which is the reason that sustainability is so far reaching, and will not go away.  It impacts everyone on this planet.

I'm mostly excited to have somewhere to share my findings, whether people are reading them or not. :)
Katie