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