Mountaintop Mining

Terrible. This could quite possibly be being done to supply the electricity for your TV or computer (mountain tops blown off; coal removed; power plant burns coal; produces electricity; you buy it; powers your appliances)
Mountaintop Mining

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This is not good

Islands emerge as Arctic ice shrinks to record low

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Eco friendly trash bags?

A contradiction?

So I've nearly eliminated plastic bags from my life. I shop mainly at Trader Joe's and the local food coop (which I can walk to, an extra bonus!), so I use my own bags. Most places I do small errands and opt out of taking a bag. But now I've found myself "needing" bags around the house for putting trash in. I always used extra Target bags or other similar sized bags for lining my trash cans, and I'm down to my last one. Usually just one bag a week or so. Do I buy eco friendly biodegradable bags somewhere? Or is there something else I'm not thinking of? Anyone? Maybe Siel can help me here.

Update: 10/26/2008
To purchase eco friendly trash bags, check out the selection of biodegradable bags here.

To see what eco products I use, see my other site here
See updated article here.

For more green tips check out my other site, Idealist Cafe

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Live Earth

Overall, I think Live Earth wsa prerty darn good. Obviously, there was the pretty large double standard of trying to be green while having an event of that proportion. But I really LOVED the commercials they had on TV during the airing of it. Most were good messages about saving energy, conserving, etc. I saw them on Bravo and CNBC, can't vouch for any other stations. And I also loved the fact that in addition to the music, they had announcements and good quality messages and suggestions scrolling across the screen in the background of the stages. I will say that there was no new information for me, but for most people I think just alerting them to the fact that there are little things they can do is a step in the right direction.

On the flip side, I think it's a little crazy for some of the stars to get up there and be preachy about conserving when you have people like Kanye West who are about the bling bling and rapping about gold diggers, lol. Another note, I never heard of Akon before, but I was impressed, he was good and didn't seem too thuggish compared to most rappers. Just my first impression of him.

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Letter to the city of San Diego

I am writing as a envionmentally conscious resident of the City of San Diego, and am specifically concerned about the use of leaf blowers in the city. Let me preface my email by saying I couldn't find an appropriate contact address on the city website, so this email is the closest one I could find on the Environmental Services page. I apologize if I've sent this email to the wrong place, if I have can you please forward it to the appropriate person/department?

I have thought about the use of leaf blowers in the past in terms of both the air and noise pollution that they emit, but really it struck me the other day as I was jogging through Balboa Park and nearly choked on dust cloud as I ran through an area where a member of the maintenance crew was using a leaf blower.

The issue of noise is probably the most obvious, and I'm sure nearly every person at some point has had to shut their windows at home to try to eliminate the annoying sound of a leaf blower chugging away. And I'm also sure most people are aware of the pollution emitted by the engines. But the thing that strikes me in particular is the absurdity of what most people use them for -- not even to move leaves, but to "clean" sidewalks and walkways. I've watched with amazement (with windows closed to keep the dust out) as the gardeners at my apartment use their blowers to blow dust and debris around, sending the cloud out into the street. And as soon as they leave, that dust settles, and a little breeze kicks up or a car goes by, and the dust is back where it started. And of course nothing has been gained, except some extra noise and dust.

Anyway, all my complaints aside, I've heard of many other California cities who have successfully banned the use of leaf blowers, and would like to urge the city of San Diego to consider doing the same. It would save the ears and lungs of many San Diegans, and would save unsuspecting joggers like myself from choking on dust while running in the city parks. We live in a beautiful city, but as we all know the climate is dry and desert like in most places, and of course everywhere in the Southern California air quality is a concern, so it seems a bit ironic that we have people using these leaf blowers to stir dust up into the air just so the sidewalks and walkways look temporarily "clean".

Thank you for reading this.

Regards,

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