Green Thinking Blog

While at home this evening, I perused a book called A Little Green Book of Environmental Quotes and Comments.  Here is what I found:

A quote by Arch Buchwald, an author, stated in 1970.  How did he know what would happen back then?    (p. 89)

And Man created the plastic bag and tin and aluminum can and the cellophane wrapper and the paper plate, and this was good because Man could then take his automobile and buy all his food in one place and He could save that which was good to eat in the refrigerator and throw away what had no further use.  And soon the earth was covered with plastic bags and aluminum cans and paper plates and disposable bottles and there was nowhere to sit down or walk, and Man shook his head and cried: “Look at this Godawful mess.”

I also found a great lesson for us all.  Joseph Wood Krutch, a writer, was quoted in Time (p 97):

Don’t blow it - good planets are hard to find.

And Jacques Barzun, a historian, gives us hope from The House of Intellect in 1959 (p 87):

If civilization has risen from the Stone Age, it can rise again from the Wastepaper Age.

I believe Jacques also means we can rise from the Oil Age, the High Consumption Age, the Wasteful Age, the Ungrateful Age, we just need to try.

Thanks for reading…that equals trying.

This last weekend took me to Ft. Lauderdale beach in sunny Florida. As I walked along the sandy shore I was stuck by a strange mound in the sand surrounded by construction tape.  Upon further observation, I discovered this mound was in fact an onshore incubator for sea turtles.  I said to myself, “Self, You have got to look into this further once you return home & get the scoop on these turtles.”  So. I did.

From what I have found out, in large part to Turtle Time, a not-for-profit organization dedicated to loggerhead sea turtles, is that from May until August every year these amazing creatures come ashore to lay their eggs.  The mama will dig a nest in the sand, usually about 18-22 inches deep and lay her eggs for a period of roughly two months.  When the little babies are born they are only 2 inches big and will eventually grow to be 250-400 pounds! 

So that is the easy part:  Get it on, lay some eggs, return to the sea.

The hard part comes when the babies hatch.  Sometimes they get confused with hotel lights, street lamps, car headlights, and instead of wandering off to sea and their destiny, they wander into the road and under your car tire. 

I saw signs all over the beach in Ft. Lauderdale warning tourists of the dimmed lights on streets and buildings to give the hatchlings every chance they have at surviving, and I truly thought it to be a great effort amongst the community to come together to help this endangered species. 

Tips from Turtle Time, Inc. about things you can do to help the turtles while you are on the beach:

• Do NOT shine lights on a nesting turtle! 
• Please don’t litter.  Plastic bags, balloons, soda can holders, etc. can be fatal if eaten by a turtle - or any animal for that matter.
• Close drapes or blinds after dark if your lights are visible to the beach, while this helps the turtles, this can help you too!  Create a little mood for yourself and a loved one, who knew turtles could be so romantic.

Another great resource:  Guided Turtle Walks.  While on vacation take in a little culture.  Many museums, aquariums, and community centers provide guided walks on the beach in hopes of witnessing this miracle of the sea turtle.  Ususally taking place between the hours of 9 pm - 1 am, but remember, do not bring your flashlights, and do not disturb the turtle - how would you like your business disturbed?

I recently posted 10 inspirational nutrition quotes on my health food blog, so I figured that green thinking blog needs its own list too. Here are my top ten quotes on being green, loving Planet Earth, and doing something to save it. Got quotes of your own? Drop us a comment.

“Never doubt that a small group of thoughtfully committed citizens can change the world. Indeed, it’s the only thing that ever has.” – Margaret Mead

“Problems cannot be solved at the same level of awareness that created them.” – Albert Einstein

“There are no passengers on spaceship Earth. We are all crew.” – Marshall McLuhan, 1964

“You must become the change you wish to see in the world” – Mahatma Ghandi

“If the future of all human civilization depended on me, what would I do? How would I be?” – Buckminster Fuller

“I recognize the right and duty of this generation to develop and use our natural resources, but I do not recognize the right to waste them, or to rob by wasteful use, the generations that come after us.” – Theodore Roosevelt, 1900

“We are the most dangerous species of life on the planet, and every other species, even the Earth itself, has cause to fear our power to exterminate. But we are also the only species which, when it chooses to do so, will go to great effort to save what it might destroy.” – Wallace Stegner

“It is our task in our time and in our generation, to hand down undiminished to those who come after us, as was handed down to us by those who went before, the natural wealth and beauty which is ours.” – John F. Kennedy

“I think the environment should be put in the category of our national security. Defense of our resources is just as important as defense abroad. Otherwise what is there to defend?” Robert Redford, 1985

“How many generations in human history have had the opportunity to rise to a challenge that is worthy of our best efforts…that has a challenge that can pull from us more than we knew we could do? I think we ought to approach this challenge with a sense of profound joy and gratitude that we are the generation, about which a thousand years from now philharmonic orchestras and poets and singers will celebrate by saying “they were the ones that found it within themselves to solve this crisis and lay the basis for a bright and optimistic human future.” Let’s do that.” – Al Gore, 2008

Pangea Day was on May 10th. It was “a celebration of the power of film. It featured films that were funny, sad, gorgeous, stark – and powerful. Voices that had never been heard before. Things many had never seen. Scenes from worlds few had visited. A cross-section of our amazing, complicated, noisy, beautiful world” (pangeaday.org). If you didn’t get a chance to watch any of the short films on TV or online that day, the good news is that you can still watch the full program, or any of the videos on their own, at the Pangea Day website.

I’m so glad the films and powerful interview clips are still available for us to watch online. Whenever you get a few minutes, watch some of them and share how they made you feel. Personally, I was really inspired by the films, and I learned so much myself and other people in the world. But, the best thing Pangea Day did for me was remind me of the universal themes among humans. It reminded me of our commonalities instead of the differences that cause so many problems.

Here are a few of my favorite short films from the four-hour program:

Elevator Music, directed by Serdar Ferit, U.K.

Papiroflexia, directed by Joaquin Baldwin, Paraguay (LOVE this one for green thinking!)

Combatants for Peace, directed by Jehane Noujaim, Egypt/U.S.

The Americana Project: Cuba, directed by Topaz Adizes, U.S.

You can also watch Pangea Day by specific segments such as Love, Fear, Universals, Laughter, Tears, Anger, and Reconciliation. Nokia gave several hundred mobile cameras to people all over the world in places such as schools and refuge camps where people don’t have the funds to buy cameras to make their own films. Some amazing footage came back and was featured on Pangea Day. Click here to view the program by segments.

I just had to share this video.  Please take the 7 minutes and 17 seconds to watch - it is an inspiration to see what someone can do from waste.  A HUGE THANK YOU! to Brittney for sharing her link on videos about recycled bags.

With over 500 exhibitors, there is no way Laurel and I could ever share all the great stuff from each booth. So, we decided we would each pick some of our faves (it was a close call) to share some interesting companies, products, and services we learned about at Green Expo 2008.

My boyfriend and I are suckers for relaxing with the scent of incense in the air, so imagine my happiness when I picked up free samples of Lama Chodpa Incense. Lama Chodpa Incense is handmade incense from the Nub Gon Monestary in Tibet. Monks of this society make the incense from carefully ground herbs and let it dry in the sun. Each ingredient is blessed and one is blessed first for a 9 day ceremony and then for a full year by a meditation master. Not only is this incense free of chemicals and pesticides, it smells great!

Next, we went to visit the gents from Wildlife Solutions, a wildlife removal company that practices humane ways. With their outback theme from down under, these guys gave us a cute magnet with a baby raccoon on it, fake plastic snakes to scare our friends, and introduced us to a real snake—to scare us. The most important thing they shared, however, was their service. This company offers humane removal of animals such as raccoons, snakes, rats, bats, and squirrels. They remove the animal, clean up after it, find out how it got in, and then perform any repairs to prevent you from having any more unwanted roommates and preventing the animal from getting hurt.

100Fires.com caused Laurel and I to kick ourselves the minute we walked in the door. One thing we do best is shop, and we forgot our wallets, which we realized the minute we walked to a booth dedicated to books. This bookstore is dedicated to providing literature on sustainable living. While we encourage you to partake in your local library system, in the event you can’t find a book you are looking to borrow, 100Fires can find books that are hard to find. Important genres to search, the kids section. Educate early and save the future Earth.

Continuing on the subject of shopping…we also stopped by Ten Thousand Villages booth. Ten Thousand Villages is a fair trade store that sells products made by artisans in Africa, Asia, and Latin America. These stores allow the artisans to practice a trade that provides a decent wage and a chance at a higher quality of life. They featured the best gift ideas for anyone on your list. From sculptures to jewelry to trivets, they have it and it is made beautifully!

Laurel provided links earlier to seeing if the Green Expo is coming to your area, if it is, we highly recommend you go—but be sure to set aside the whole afternoon!

Happy Earth Day!

Show some earth day love with one or all of these easy ideas:

• Look at the winners of the EPA’s Earth Day Photo Contest.
• Plant A Billion Trees (or just one tree for $1.00).
• Read about the History of Earth Day.
• Check out what other people are doing on Google’s What will you do for Earth Day ‘08?
• Post Ideal Bite’s “Green Your Office” flyer in the break room.
• Add some “green” DVDs to your Netflix queue (Planet Earth, The 11th Hour, An Inconvenient Truth, Planet in Peril, etc.) and watch them with your family and friends.
• Print out the Horton Hears a Who! “You Can Be An Energy Star” activity book on recycled paper for your kids or students.
• Visit LocalHarvest.com and finally know where local organic farmers are selling those yummy crops.
• Plant some flowers in your yard or in a clay pot on your porch or rooftop.
• Figure out your personal ecological footprint with this calculator.

I heard about Pangea Day over on TED.com, a truly amazing website that you should check out when you have some spare time. Pangea Day is May 10, 2008. But what is it? Well remember when you learned back in elementary school that the world’s continents used to be a connected supercontinent (pangea or pangaea) that later broke out into the 7 separate continents? Well Pangea Day is tapping into this historical knowledge with a huge event that aims to unite people all over to world to promote compassion and tolerance. Here is some of the info from the website to explain:

“In a world where people are often divided by borders, difference, and conflict, it’s easy to lose sight of what we all have in common. Pangea Day seeks to overcome that - to help people see themselves in others - through the power of film. On May 10, 2008 - Pangea Day - sites in Cairo, Kigali, London, Los Angeles, Mumbai and Rio de Janeiro will be linked live to produce a program of powerful films, visionary speakers, and uplifting music. The program will be broadcast live to the world through the Internet, television, digital cinemas, and mobile phones.” (PangeaDay.org)