As you know I’m interested in the environment and how our everyday practices impact it, so I’m always happy to see more people trying to raise awareness through creative means. A friend sent this link around the other day urging us to take the 20 minutes and watch the video. I’m going to do the same thing here. Please, take a look at this video, watch it while you eat breakfast or watch it instead of your evening show, but really you’ll enjoy it, learn from it and be challenged by it. I know I was. I like the fact that its really well done, Annie, the host doesn’t brow beat anyone, she’s candid, has her facts straight and uses some fun and creative animation to help tell her story. Her story has a little more teeth to it than other enviro-films, in that she tackles production, marketing, consumption, waste as well as the politics behind this stuff. Here’s a teaser: [Read more]
I posted a video and a few short thoughts on our other blog Weird Fishes about biking and some tips I wish drivers kept in mind when cruising around the city. If you’re interest you can check it out here.
About four years ago I came across a video of some people riding fixed-gear bicycles, and I was instantly intrigued by the simplicity and aesthetics of these single-speed bikes. Since that time I’ve become more interested in biking both as a culture and as a mode of transportation. I’ve met a number of people who all have fixed-gears and swear by them. In fact, I’ve never met someone who has a fixie who doesn’t swear by it, saying something like, “I can’t imagine ever going back to having gears.” And so for quite awhile I’ve contemplated switching over but it wasn’t until recently that it was practical for me to do so.
As most of you know yesterday was a big day here in Pasadena because of the annual Rose Bowl Parade. People started camping out on Colorado Blvd. 12pm the day before the parade. And while I won’t fault anyone for wanting to see an army of Storm Troopers and some incredible floats there is another reason to be bothered by the impact the parade has on the city. The amount of trash sprawled throughout the city streets not only looked like the aftermath of a riot but showed a lack of decency from our fellow American neighbors.
Emily and I have been tugging around Nalgene water bottles for the past 8 years (as long as we’ve known each other), and have been really happy with their usefulness. Yes, we must love to keep hydrated or something! Well, we recently learned about how harmful the Lexan-made Nalgene bottles are leeching bad chemicals into the water they carry and since it was my in-laws who (also tote their Nalgenes happily) turned us onto the new research they graciously sent us some money to replace the bottles (thanks mom and dad).
There were our old bottles, the big green one I’ve had for at least 6 years now.
All these, once bright and clear, water bottles are made with Lexan plastic which as it ages leaks unhealthy chemicals.
So we went to our local outdoors store and picked up a few new Nalgene water bottles that don’t use Lexan.
There are four great reasons to get these “UVPE” bottles instead: they are way cheaper, they are number 2 plastic which means they can be recycled (the Lexan ones are number 7), they won’t look scratched up when they start to age, and they don’t leech bad stuff into your tasty drinks.
I found this video on my Friend Joe’s, Peace Church, website. The video presents an argument for why we ought to take the climate crisis seriously, regardless of whether you believe that there is an actual crisis or not. What do you think, do you find this guy’s argument convincing?
The other day Emily purchased a few articles of maternity clothing from Gap’s sale section online, afterwards she was asked to give some feedback. Here’s what she wrote:
I am interested in clothing that is made with Organic and Sustainable fibers, such as Organic cottons, bamboos, and modal. I also always look for labor practices when I shop: whom do you employ? How do you treat them? When I see good practices, I am willing to spend more on my products.
Today thousands of bloggers are writing posts on their sites trying to raise awareness on environmental issues. More and more people everyday are growing in their concern for our daily impact on the environment. I’ve written a lot about this, and will continue to do so, not because I am some specialist or know much about the issues but because it is something that is close to my heart and I want to learn more. I want to leave a beautiful world for our children. There are all kinds of things we can do to help take care of the planet, from walking and riding bikes instead of driving, to being more aware of (and cutting down on) the plastic packages the stuff we purchase comes in. But one really fun thing you can do is start a garden and a compost. Whether you live in rural America or a 1-bedroom apartment in a huge city like LA (that’s us) there’s almost always a little space for a garden and compost bin.
As you know I’m interested in the environment and how our everyday practices impact it, so I’m always happy to see more people trying to raise awareness through creative means. A friend sent this link around the other day urging us to take the 20 minutes and watch the video. I’m going to do the same thing here. Please, take a look at this video, watch it while you eat breakfast or watch it instead of your evening show, but really you’ll enjoy it, learn from it and be challenged by it. I know I was. I like the fact that its really well done, Annie, the host doesn’t brow beat anyone, she’s candid, has her facts straight and uses some fun and creative animation to help tell her story. Her story has a little more teeth to it than other enviro-films, in that she tackles production, marketing, consumption, waste as well as the politics behind this stuff. Here’s a teaser: [Read more]
