Would You Downsize Your Dog for the Environment?

By sarajean on 8/31/10 6:33pm
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We don’t really have a dog at our house. I say not really because my aunt, who also lives here, does have a small, very old dog who lives in the basement and backyard. We don’t see her because she snaps at children, though my husband takes care of her when my aunt is away. Someday, when we do get a dog, we’ve talked about getting a nice, big family dog—like a golden retriever. I’ve always wanted one, and my daughter loves dogs. (My husband and I are cat people.)

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Tell Wal-Mart, KFC, and Others to Stop Sumatran Deforestation

By sarajean on 7/31/10 3:45pm
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What do Wal-Mart, KFC, Dunkin Donuts, and Burger King have in common when it comes to the environment? You might say they pollute, they sell harmful products loaded with chemicals—whether they be in personal care products or hormones—and they don’t do much in terms of recycling, reusing, and supporting sustainability. (You might also say that those of us who use them don’t, either.)

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WTF, National Parks Conservation Association?

By sarajean on 7/13/10 11:10pm
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I just received an email asking me to “Like” Arrowhead Mountain Spring Water on Facebook. Are you flipping kidding me? Fan bottled water? No, thanks.

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5 Things to Do for No Plastic Day

By sarajean on 6/8/10 1:25am
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Today, June 8, is No Plastic Day. Whether you’re a die-hard environmentalist, a moderate conservative who wishes to curb his or her spending and waste (you could be both!), or simply against people being plastic (Remember using that as an adjective for “phonies”? How Holden Caulfield of us all!), here are a few things you can do to help vote plastic off the island.

 

5. Don’t Use Plastic

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7 Quick Things You Can Do Right Now to Help the Planet

By sarajean on 4/23/10 1:11am
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Most of us know to recycle, to unplug things when not in use, to change to eco-friendly light bulbs and personal care products. I know I’m a little blasé about some of that, since I’m blessed with a free recycling program in my city as well as a large yard to compost in and a budget that allows for a few extra dollars for these purchases, so I thought I’d make a list of things that are not only very important to do but can pretty much be done for free or for very cheaply that really do make a big impact.

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Call on Congress for Healthy Food

By sarajean on 4/3/10 7:57am
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Healthy food, healthy farms… Aren’t these two things sort of granted in the modern age? Didn’t Upton Sinclair already help us realize how yucky and unhealthy the food industry was ages ago? If so, we shouldn’t need this conversation today… But we do, don’t we?

From antibiotics to crammed factory farming in the grossest conditions imaginable, our food’s journey to our tables is nothing short of vomit-inducing. In fact, most people (myself included) are either turned off meat forever or temporarily after witnessing footage from the meat industry—or even simply a movie like Fast Food Nation. We know what we eat is pretty damn disgusting, but given the choice to eat or not eat, we eat, don’t we? And given the choice to eat cheaply or to eat expensively, well, most of us opt for cheap out of necessity.

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Help Strengthen the Clean Water Act

By sarajean on 3/31/10 7:22am
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I hate floaties.

You know what I’m talking about? Those little pieces of flotsam and jetsam that end up in your bath water, your club soda, whatever. You don’t really ever know what they are; they could be random flakes from your own scalp, bits of the bartender’s lunch fallen from his gums, something that came out of your date’s beard…whatever. I hate them. If I see floaties in my bathwater, I grab the cup my kid uses to rinse out her hair when she takes a bath and I scoop them all out before I even get in the water. I know, it’s anal, but it’s just one of my quirks.

And the thing is, I’m completely aware of the fact that there are millions, if not billions, of other things in the water that I can’t see that are probably worse for me than the floaties. Tons of different germs and pollution are just waiting to enter my crevices, which sounds really invasive because, well, it is!

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Help Protect Disappearing Corals

By sarajean on 3/30/10 2:12am
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No, there isn’t a species of coral known as the “disappearing coral;” at least, not to my knowledge, there isn’t. But at this rate, many corals might as well be labeled as such. In a pretty eye-opening report from the Center for Biological Diversity, I recently read that scientists are saying that coral reefs “are poised to become the first mass ecosystem extinction.”

This is alarming in and of itself. Not only are coral living creatures—they are also the important habitat and resource for many different marine animals—as well as for human communities living on the coasts. In fact, coral reefs supply 25% of the total habitat for marine creatures.

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Environmental Actions This Week

By sarajean on 3/19/10 11:28pm
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While you’re acting in your own communities—composting, recycling, educating, and all of the other amazing things you might be doing—please take a moment to act on the following environmental campaigns.

Act for World Water Day. Monday, March 22, is World Water Day. Did you know that 1 in 8 people does not have access to clean drinking water? That’s 884 million people. Staggering, isn’t it? If you purchase Crystal Light Packets on Monday, 100% of the profits will be given to The Nature Conservancy to support freshwater conservation efforts! If you like the drink or know someone who does, please try to make a donation on Monday. Here are some other tips for saving water and taking action.

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Tell Congress: We Want Clean Energy

By sarajean on 3/13/10 12:22pm
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We’ve been eagerly awaiting an energy or climate bill for years. After nearly a decade of our president and his administration pretty much ignoring climate change, we’ve been ready for some action from this new administration since—well, since before Barack Obama was even elected.

So far the environment has taken a backseat to health care on Capitol Hill—though, in the long run, it’s a similar issue, isn’t it? The survival of mankind, after all, is inexorably linked to climate change; and though we definitely need medical care to survive, we also pretty much need the planet as it stands to sustain us as well. Like one of my college science professors used to tell us—the Earth will survive us. The only question is, will we survive ourselves?

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