"The task of saving the planet will involve a great reckoning with ourselves – with our all-too-human reluctance to sacrifice immediate comfort for the sake of the future." – from We Are the Weather by Jonathan Safran Foer
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The Letter C
These days, two C words I think a lot about are Climate and Change. Betty Shelley Does that remind you of Sesame Street? I loved watching it with our son when he was little; it was a good way to have some quiet time with him while learning interesting things. One of the things they did on the show was highlighting a particular letter, explaining how to use it in spelling various words like Cat and Cow and Cup and COOKIE! And they would use the words in sentences to make sure the children Comprehended the meaning of the word. These days, two C words I think a lot about are Climate and Change. Other C words that come to…
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Thinking Upstream
“Hey, what’s that in the river?! It looks like…. It can’t be…Yes… yes, it’s a BABY! Oh my gosh, here comes another one! What on earth is happening?!? Where are those babies coming from?!” The people on the river banks jump in to rescue the babies floating downstream. They are able to reach them and save the babies from drowning. Then the next day, there are four babies struggling in the river! More folks jump in and save those babies. This process continues each consecutive day until finally, one of the people on the riverbank turns and runs upstream. “Where are you going?” shout the others. “I’m going to see…
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Our Own Backyards
EDITOR’S PAGE Long before we began publishing the Green Living Journal, we bought a home that happened to be well insulated and heated and cooled with an efficient electric heat pump. It was the year 2000, and little did we know then that we had set the stage for our future personal journey to reduce our environmental impact. Our 3/4 acre property was nothing more than an empty field with blackberries and a few oaks, cherry, and hawthorn trees on the edges. So, over the next several years, we established our veggie garden, planted five kinds of berries, and kiwis, and added several different species of trees and shrubs. Of…
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Enough
“Only when all contribute their firewood can they build up a strong fire.”Chinese proverb. It was a beautiful, sunny fall day today, and I was out for my walk, reveling in the colors of the leaves and the crispness of the air, this being my favorite season. As I passed the neighborhood elementary school, I noticed that some classes were sitting outside, having lunch under a shelter. The kids were sitting on mats, all spread out per COVID guidelines, and appeared to be enjoying themselves. Observing this made me think once again about how adaptable and flexible we need to be to cope with the multitude of challenges, large and…
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We Have Solutions to the Climate Crisis
The emotional weight of the findings in the IPCC’s latest report is real, and the conclusion is therefore unmistakable: we must double down and act without delay. We have known for many decades that at some point, this day would come when the climate crisis was not a distant future occurrence but happening now. The only remaining question is, how fast will we take action to reduce the consequences of this planetary emergency? Now that the climate crisis has become too obvious for all but the most determined denialist to ignore, there are two types of risky reactions. The first is despair. Some will skip straight from denial to doom,…
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Creative Ways to Cut Your Holiday Waste
Between Thanksgiving and New Year’s Day, American household waste increases by more than 25 percent. Trash cans full of holiday food waste, shopping bags, bows and ribbons, packaging, and wrapping paper contribute an additional 1 million tons a week to our landfills. As we celebrate the holidays, it pays to be mindful of sustainable consumption and materials management practices. They may help you focus even more on caring and celebration during this holiday season, and could even reduce the strain on our fiscal budgets and the natural environment. Giving • Less is more. Choose items of value, purpose, and meaning – not destined for a yard sale. • Give treasure. Pass on…
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‘Bird Emergency’
Study Shows North American Bird Population Has Fallen by Nearly One-Third in Less Than 50 Years “Protecting the natural world is essential to saving birds and humans alike” Study Shows North American Bird Population Has Fallen by Nearly One-Third in Less Than 50 Years North America lost 29 percent of its bird population—around three billion birds—over the last 49 years, according to a new report. “Decline of the North American avifauna,” a study released on Thursday in the journal Science, found that the continent has seen a net loss of 2.9 billion birds since 1970. “The birds are the canary in the coal mine,” The Bird Conservancy of the Rockies’…
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Picking Peas
Where Have all the Bugs Gone? Why are insects important? “When I was a kid….” No, I’m not going to say that I had to walk many miles to school in the snow. However, I will say that I remember that on summer evenings we would go for rides in the countryside, all of us in the family car, the windshield of which would be covered by smashed bugs. Loads and loads of smashed bugs. Ask any older person – they will remember that. I realized a few years ago that the bug-spattered windshields no longer happen. I will admit that it’s kind of nice not to have to soak…
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A Word to the Wise
The recently released draft report from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) paints a grim picture of planet Earth in the days ahead. The main point is that humans have waited so long to curb emissions that a hotter future is essentially locked in, as are more droughts, more forest fires, more crippling heat waves, more sea-level rise, and more floods. Moreover, the greenhouse gases that we have already pumped into the atmosphere will stay there a long time, inflicting misery for years to come. Continuing to pour greenhouse gasses into the atmosphere will create a domino effect of changes that will have severe consequences for humanity. The report’s…
