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Everyday Eco: Arianna Huffington & Digital Detox

3/9/2015

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I've talked previously about personally going unplugged.  I don't have cable or wifi at my house.  I've been happily without cable for a year and a half now, and only recently lost wifi.  When I first started in this unplugged state, I thought it would be for a short while.  I thought that after a few months I would get wifi back.  It's inevitable/required for every modern day person right? 

Interestingly, I've found workarounds that work well for me, and don't make wifi an absolute requirement.  Primary of which is I have the internet all day every day at work.  I have cellular on my smartphones and iPad to check email.  I'm now an "old school" DVD Netflix subscriber.  I am getting an HD antenna to watch the primary networks for free.  I'll visit wifi to download episodes of my favorite shows onto my iPad to watch later offline.  My house is a place of rejuvenation.  A place where I have become more mindful.  A place where I feel I have a choice on checking my technology or not.  And sometimes I do not.  Now that I have created such space in my life, I don't want to go back.

Arianna Huffington has been talking about this for a year now.  Darling, you can have a meal or watch a sunset without Instagramming it.  In her case, she literally passed out from exhaustion leading to a broken jaw and stitches, and it led to her digital detox break from technology on a vacation to Hawaii.  Talk about a wake up call.

She brings up interesting points as well...seeing parents on their phones instead of interacting with their children.  Darling, they are growing up, you can never get this time back.  It's what I've found from my own experience. Disconnecting from technology has actually led me to be more connected in all of my personal relationships.  I am restored enough that when I do have "connected time", I can pour more of myself in.  Because there's balance.  "Taking care of yourself is not just a luxury, it's a necessity" she says.

There's a lot of imbalance when it comes to technology.  How are you staying balanced?  What steps do you take to disconnect?

Infographic courtesy of Mind Valley Academy.
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Links I Love: Oil and Gas Edition

3/5/2015

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Keystone XL Vetoed (and #OverrideFail!)
I've posted at length on this issue before. It's divisive, but it's important.  Many kudos to President Obama for (so far) sticking the landing on this issue with a veto...there seemed to be waffling or potential for waffling...but he is obviously rolling with #IWonBothOfThem swagger.   

The Senate tried to override his veto and failed...but only on the grounds that it bypassed the State Department process.  Here's hoping when that comes in, he'll decide to continue the current status quo.

I'm very interested in this article on how people differently view the morality of environmental issues on mostly partisan lines.  [There's a future blogpost in there for sure!]

Photo from NBC News

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Equitable Origin
Have you ever heard of environmental damage from oil and gas?  Yeah, that's a rhetorical question. You'd have to be pretty ostrich-head-in-sand to miss the news over Exxon Valdez or BP Deepwater Horizon or Ecuador or fracking.  Responsible oil might seem like an oxymoron...but not for these guys.  Equitable Origin is a multi-stakeholder certification process for the oil and gas industry to make sure there's social and environmental responsibility.  They are independent from industry but engage well with industry.  I hope this takes off...very novel, very needed!

Our mission is to protect the people, environment and biodiversity affected by oil and gas exploration and production through an independent, stakeholder-negotiated, market-driven certification system that distinguishes and rewards operators for outstanding social, environmental and safety performance.
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EverydayEco: Choose Positive in Face of Overwhelmed-Ness

3/4/2015

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Back in college, when I was studying environmental issues all day every day, I went through what I call "eco depression".  A downswing emotionally on how much we have messed up the planet.  Pick your issue - water, carbon, pesticides, deforestation, oil/gas, ozone, acid rain - and when you spend time really thinking about it...it can overwhelm you with negativity and hopelessness.  Despair at the massive damage we as humans have managed to do to this planet, this gift that gives us life, this Creation.  (And I don't just mean the depression we get from not being in nature...true story).

Have you ever felt that way?  Or a smidge of the "eco depression" despair?  The "why try it's so overwhelming"? Well this post is for how I overcame and you can overcome.  You can, I promise!

Despair is surprisingly common, and perhaps not so surprisingly, a thesis statement of many in the environmental field and environmental academics.  Last fall at SXSW Eco I went to a speaker who titled his talk "Coping with the Cascading Crises of Our World".  He's a professor who has made his profession writing books on "Arguing for Our Lives" and how we've reached the limits of every natural resource and now is the time to change our mindset to deal with the coming catastrophe.  I spent time listening to the science behind his talk (it's well founded), and appreciating the extremely thoughtful approach  he took to get there...but also in my head having more than a few"oh please!" moments....hope and innovation is our greatest renewable resource and we would do well to remember (write that down enviro(ish) friends!)

And even at GreenBiz Forum two weeks, a business conference for sustainability professionals, the head of that organization spent time at length over how companies aren't doing enough....how the problems are so vast and we've not moved the needle.  It's not that the message is untrue....it's just perhaps the wrong message in the first place. As if preaching to the choir and demoralizing those who are in the trenches working hard inside business to solve environmental problems really gets us anywhere. To think, most of the professionals like myself who go to these things do it for the inspiration, the cross-collaboration potential....the hope  (jokes on us?!)


Before I go into my favorite analogy for you to hang your hat on, steeped in actual environmental history....think on the good Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and choose the light.  Amen!
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Inspirations: The Future Is Ours

3/3/2015

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Being that I work for a content company, I have a high value on the power of motion pictures to move you.  To tell a story.  To spark an emotion.  So I won't spend much more text than to say, watch this video if you have not already. Even if you have, watch it again.  I've seen at least 50x. Seriously.
[Hint: this will relate to the soon-coming post about coping with being eco depressed/overwhelmed.  Very different than the "overwhelmed" that has kept me from posting lately! Speaking of which, thanks for still reading.  XOXO]
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