Enviro(ish)
  • Blog
  • Meet Megan
  • Legal(ish)

Links I Love: Obsessed Edition

2/23/2015

2 Comments

 
I've been spelunking abouts the interwebs and discovered that a few things have happened on enviro(ish) issues I've posted on.  How exciting!  Here's some updates.

Apple. Is. (Maybe). Making. An. Electric. Vehicle.  [APPLAUSE]
If the rumors are true, let the heavens rejoice...and by heavens, I mean all of us on planet Earth.  Guys, everything Apple touches is the best possible design and turns to sold.  For good reason.  If they truly are taking on making an EV....it will be a vehicle that massively moves the consumer needle.  And I know this because I want one right now.  As I previously went enviro(ish) in depth on, EVs are good for the planet and convenient in so many ways.  This is great news.  YAY!
Picture
Microbeads are already in phase out!

enviro(ish) wrote about these nasty plastics that we were putting on our face (and sometimes in our mouth...yuck!)  Turns out 5 Gyres has already moved the needle on this issue as covered in FastCo.  Congrats!

"But what’s surprising many is that companies aren’t actually fighting against taking action. Approached by environmental groups including 5 Gyres in the last three years, many major manufacturers, including L’Oreal, Procter & Gamble, Unilever, Johnson & Johnson, and Colgate-Palmolive, quickly agreed to remove microbeads from their products within the next few years. For example, a Johnson & Johnson spokesperson told Co.Exist that it will complete the first phase of product reformulations by the end of next year and a complete phase-out of all plastic microbeads by the end of 2017."
Photo courtesy of gizmodo
Picture
2 Comments

EverydayEco: Going Unplugged

2/19/2015

2 Comments

 
I wondered whether to make this an "Inspirations" post or "EverydayEco"....and landed on the latter because, well, everyone can incorporate a few of these practices every day (and I hope you do!). 

So I went hiking this past weekend, and yet, I feel more like Thoreau-going-into-the-woods when I am sitting at home than ever before...
"
I went to the woods because I wished to live deliberately, to front only the essential facts of life, and see if I could not learn what it had to teach, and not, when I came to die, discover that I had not lived."
                                                    - Henry David Thoreau, Walden

You see, I have not had cable at my house for over a year and a half.  Like a lot of cord cutters in the digital age, I'm not a big live/sports events watcher...and find it fairly easy on the occasions I do want to watch the SuperBowl or Golden Globes or Oscars to find friends who will host me in exchange for snacks/wine/good company.  With better HD antennas available, and new over-the-top (OTT) services coming out left and right (and winning the Best of CES award), I'm one of oh-so-unbelievably-many frustrated former cable subscribers. For about a year, I was your classic OTT watcher....streaming my favorite shows on Hulu the day after they aired, streaming movies on Amazon Instant Video and Netflix....  
Disclosure: I happened to be moving when Time Warner fueded with CBS here in LA so took it as an opportunity to say sayonara to the company that raised my bill inexplicably (holla at Cable Tipster for solving this problem for peeps!) and gave me terrible hardware that didn't work and wouldn't replace. Considering their handling of the Dodgers/SportsNet issue...they appear to have learned nothing...

But here's what's going to really bake your noodle....for about 2 months now, I've also stopped having internet/wifi connectivity at home as well.  Yes, I am disconnected (gasp!)  I know what you're thinking..."oh that's why she's terrible at posting regularly on this blog" (truth!)....but seriously...you are most likely thinking "aack!  how extreme! I couldn't possibly live that way!"  And some of you are right.  If you work from home or are job searching...wifi at your house is probably necessary.  But I'm here to tell you, if you are like me and sitting in front of a computer all day, every day at work....going disconnected at home is a wonderful way to create space in your life.  I've read the magazines I never used to have time for, and books recommended by friends.  My house is more organized, clean, put together than ever....I'm spending more time cooking meals/trying new things...and I feel like I have more restful time (feet up!) than I ever did.  I can still get emails or websurf on my phone or on my iPad when I turn on cellular data.  I still download my favorite shows when I am connected to wifi to watch later. 

Instead of falling off a cliff, it has felt more like a natural progression...an extension of the thinking that led me to be a cord cutter in the first place.  And while it may not be permanent in my life, here's why finding ways to unplug and disconnect is worth a try...
Photo courtesy of theworldunplugged
Picture

Read More
2 Comments

Inspirations: Green Bronx Machine

2/18/2015

0 Comments

 
I'm here at GreenBiz...it's a conference of the sustainability professionals to talk shop and get inspired.  This morning's session had a 10 minute talk by a real firecracker....Stephen Ritz from Green Bronx Machine.  He's taken a seed of an idea, in what IMO is the hardest/driest urban ground for agriculture...the South Bronx, and grew it into beautiful forest....a completely integrative program for students K-12 to grow their own organic food.   I encourage you to watch the video to get a sense of the epic & inspiration.
 
Green Bronx Machine is an inspiration for me for two reasons:

1) It's the whole shebang.  They've hit the motherload of doing good by finding a solution that attacks multiple issues at the same time (aka is whole community and integrative).  Healthy food that's locally grown and made available to kids is such a powerful, all-around fantastic idea.  Students are healthier and more active/successful in school, an urban food desert is transformed, the community has green spaces in what was urban/hardtop, jobs are created for growing food....it's so powerful and the impacts socially and environmentally are so interconnected.  So often I spend my day trying to tackle one issue in a very narrow fashion (mostly to make sure it gets done/achieved)....I admire this program for going with gusto at solving many problems at once.

2) Innovative design can come from harsh limits.  I remember learning about how to design eyeware for the developing world or for kitchen tools for the elderly, and my takeaway was how sometimes designing for these harsh limits on price or use actually lead to great universal design.  Bronx Green Machine is similar....they've had to innovate on a shoestring in maybe the worst urban food desert....but what's beautiful that is out of these conditions come "the" answer.  A solution that can be carried to anywhere.  

Photo courtesy of stephenritz.com
Picture
0 Comments

Inspirations: Be Enviro(ish) anyway

2/6/2015

1 Comment

 
Here's a beautiful quote to encourage continuing to take that one step and to inspire some personal sustainability this 2015, courtesy of my favorite reader (....and not just because he's my only reader.  Here's looking at you Weebly stats!)

Look inward, do good things, and do not let others' reactions deter you from those two things.

"People are often unreasonable, irrational, and self-centered. Forgive them anyway.

If you are kind, people may accuse you of selfish, ulterior motives. Be kind anyway.

If you are successful, you will win some unfaithful friends and some genuine enemies. Succeed anyway.

If you are honest and sincere people may deceive you. Be honest and sincere anyway.

What you spend years creating, others could destroy overnight. Create anyway.

If you find serenity and happiness, some may be jealous. Be happy anyway.

The good you do today, will often be forgotten. Do good anyway.

Give the best you have, and it will never be enough. Give your best anyway.

In the final analysis, it is between you and God. It was never between you and them anyway."

                                                                           -- Blessed Mother Teresa
Picture
1 Comment

EcoPartyDownload: Climate Change in 2015, so hot right now

2/5/2015

5 Comments

 
There's something in the air this year that's different and new....and not just higher global average temperatures (haha, ok ok, enough being punny!)  I've been doing gigs in the environmental realm for over a decade now.  So I remember a time when climate change transcended party lines, when there was mass understanding in the public, when working on such an auspicious, complicated, important issue won Nobel Peace Prizes and Academy Awards.  And then the smallest of fires sparked...it started with the inaccurately-covered and overly-hyped "ClimateGate"...and then the entire effort began a freefall spiral downwards into a seemingly endless abyss.  It's exhausting and also terrifying when thinking about all the time we've wasted....

For at least the last 8 years, anything remotely approaching climate change has been more like a pub brawl in conversation, or a dogged fight inside the Beltway....we have forced ourselves to laugh about the absurdity of it all (...in my case, so as not to despair, wail and cry).  But I am starting to feel the tide turning...

Ok, I'm going Lord of the Rings on you with this metaphor, but stick with me.  It's as nerdy as it is perfect (plus, you only have to have seen the movies!)  I think this situation is like Gandalf faceoff against the fiery Balrog falling into the abyss under the Bridge of Khazad-dum...the last 8 years of freefall has felt like we are burning ourselves alive and banging into the rocky walls.  So painful.  In LOTR, the two fall into a lake that extinguishes the Balrog's flame and helps Gandalf successfully fight and win after days of battle.  Then, importantly, Gandalf dies to return with even greater powers as Gandalf the White.  

I'm throwing down an enviro(ish) prediction my friends....I think we've hit that lake in terms of this battle on climate change.  I think we are in the last dregs against the haters and the naysayers.  This 8 year freefall will have made us stronger, and we are about to be returning in a state of glory to fight for Middle Earth...I mean THE Earth.

Here's why....

Read More
5 Comments

EverydayEco: Not All Recycling Created Equal

2/4/2015

2 Comments

 
OK, what I'm about to say is going to be pretty unpopular with the "dark greens" as I like to call them.  The uber-eco, off-the-grid, Greenpeace-level peeps that want you to do everything possible to save the planet right now and make you feel like you are not doing enough. (Rinse, repeat)

But listen up, we are enviro(ish)....and ish-ness is the most critical ingredient of this entire works.  It means relieving yourself from the guilt of not being perfect and doing everything, all the time.  And that brings me to recycling...

You see, there's this secret about recycling.  Our waste stream is not created equal*.  We know this because of a handy process called lifecycle assessment.  It tells us the energy it takes to make a product, the energy all the way from getting raw materials out of the ground, to manufacture, to customer, to use, and to the end of life. 
*actually the inequality of municipal waste collection and recycling in this country is abysmal....so it really is an unequal experience depending on where you live, but that's another post for another time.

What it tells us, is that materials are not created equally (duh), but I mean really...think about that.  It tells us the ecological impacts of materials when/if they get into the environment at end of life, as well as energy it takes to recycle those materials.  Which inherently means that there's some materials that have worse impacts when tossed into nature than others (obv)....and there's some materials that are too energy-intensive or degrade when trying to be recycled (true).  On the flip side, it tells us there are some materials that are of utmost importance to recycle.  You ready for a list of some of these?  enviro(ish) peeps unite!

So picture this scenario: you have an item to dispose of in your hand, and there's no recycling can in sight.  Maybe you are traveling, on a plane, or in a different city.  Do you throw away or hold onto it until you can recycle?  Ask yourself these three questions....
Picture

Read More
2 Comments

Inspirations: Enviro(ish) is Onto Something!

2/2/2015

0 Comments

 
A quick note to say huzzah!  There was national news coverage last week on centenarian Edward Gerson, Dartmouth '35. (He's my enviro(ish) inspiration for checking and directing an entire century of passion!) 

For no reason that makes sense besides sheer happenstance (zeitgeist? Centenarians@SuperBowl?), my blogpost from last Monday was a day before a lengthy, amazing article in WSJ profiling Ed....and the next day NPR had a segment on it as well.  Congrats Ed!

I am taking it to be a sign from the universe that enviro(ish) is really onto something.  And in honor of that spirit, here's a nod to living every day to the fullest....and to the Dartmouth alum and my ultimate inspiration, Dr. Seuss.  Obsessed with him I am. 

So let's keep doing this shall we?   Oh the Places We'll Go.....

"You are hearing from the luckiest person on earth. I am able to live to be 100 years old, and am still living a life that just gets better and better."
                                                                                - Ed Gerson, '35
Picture
0 Comments

    Enviro(ISH):

    (adj) balancing caring about the future of our planet with enjoying and living everyday life to the fullest

    Social(ish):

    Categories

    All
    DailyResistance
    EcoPartyDownload
    Energy & Climate
    Environmentalish
    EverydayEco
    Forests & Nature
    @Home
    Inclusion
    Inspirations
    Links I Love
    Mountainfilm
    Reuse
    @TheOffice
    Water & Oceans

    Archives

    October 2020
    November 2019
    June 2019
    May 2019
    September 2017
    April 2017
    March 2017
    February 2017
    January 2017
    November 2016
    October 2016
    September 2016
    December 2015
    October 2015
    March 2015
    February 2015
    January 2015
    November 2014
    October 2014
    September 2014

    RSS Feed

Proudly powered by Weebly