#118: I'm So Excited! (Friday, March 27)

Since 2004, the first Friday of every month has been National Walk to Work Day in the USA. On that day , people are encouraged to walk for all or part of their commute.  Next Friday, April 3 is National Walk to Work Day 2009.

If you take public transportation, either walk a few stops further than where you'd normally board the bus/train, or get off a few stops early and walk the rest of the way. If you drive to work, try parking further away and walking the rest of the way to work.

If your commute is too long, try a Walk to Lunch Day instead: invite your colleages to go with you for a half-hour walk during lunch. 

No matter what your commuting situation, try to walk (more than you normally do) on April 3. The goal is to get at least a half hour walk in (15 minutes each way).

The benefits are three fold: you reduce your carbon footprint, you get some additional exercise, and you participate in a national environmentally-friendly effort.

I've already roped in a few of my coworkers to participate. You should do the same. I'll be walking to work on Friday, April 3...will you?

Remember, tomorrow is Earth Hour! If you're in Brooklyn, join me at bushbaby to celebrate.

Good Friday #117: Spring Has Sprung! (Friday, March 20)

tandem
Originally uploaded by jonathan_luedee

Whoo-hoo!!! Spring has sprung! Today is officially the first day of spring, and it makes me happy because it reminds me that summer is always here. Plus, spring always makes me think of new beginnings and love. I don't know, do a lot of people fall in love in Spring?

Well, since spring (and love) is in the air, I thought of some great romantic green ideas, which may ideal for a first date:

Have a candlelit dinner at home. Dining out has a higher carbon footprint than eating in: you don't have to use transportation (well, at least not for two people anyway) and you can choose to use locally-grown and organic ingredients. And if you use candlelight, you're also cutting down on the energy you consume. This is a FANTASTIC Earth Hour idea, by the way.

Go tandem bike-riding. You're burning calories, staying in shape and it's a zero-emissions form of transportation. And if you're like me who doesn't know how to ride a bike, it's a great way to participate in an activity you've always wanted to.

Watch the sunset...or look at the stars. Yeah, it's been done to death, but it's still a lovely thing to do. If you're in Brooklyn, there's this awesome place in Williamsburg where I've watched many a sunset. It's great.

Go hiking. Ok, being stuck in the woods with someone you barely know may not be the ideal first date, but it's a romantic thing to do with someone you're involved in. You're exercising, and leaving less of a carbon footprint than many other traditional dating activities.

Here's to spring!

#116: A Picture Is Worth A Thousand Words (Friday, March 13)

I love art and I'm passionate about the environment. Imagine my joy when I recently stumbled upon the work of artist Chris Jordan, who's taken a powerful step of depicting waste in photographs. I was blown away. Running the Numbers looks at contemporary American culture through the austere lens of statistics. Each image portrays a specific quantity of something: fifteen million sheets of office paper (five minutes of paper use); 106,000 aluminum cans (thirty seconds of can consumption) and so on.

In Chris' own words: "My hope is that images representing these quantities might have a different effect than the raw numbers alone, such as we find daily in articles and books. Statistics can feel abstract and anesthetizing, making it difficult to connect with and make meaning of 3.6 million SUV sales in one year, for example, or 2.3 million Americans in prison, or 32,000 breast augmentation surgeries in the U.S. every month." Take a look at some of my favorites:
Toothpicks, 2008 Depicts one hundred million toothpicks, equal to the number of trees cut in the U.S. yearly to make the paper for junk mail.

Plastic Cups, 2008 Depicts one million plastic cups, the number used on airline flights in the US every six hours. The partial zoom and full zoom images even more astounding.
Barbie Dolls, 2008 Depicts 32,000 Barbies, equal to the number of elective breast augmentation surgeries performed monthly in the US in 2006. The partial zoom and actual print size takes your breath away.

Skull With Cigarette, 2007 [based on a painting by Van Gogh] Depicts 200,000 packs of cigarettes, equal to the number of Americans who die from cigarette smoking every six months. When youzoom in, you'll see that this picture was crafted from actual cigarette boxes!

Cans Seurat, 2007 Depicts 106,000 aluminum cans, the number used in the US every thirty seconds. Partial zoom and full zoom

Seriously, the site speaks for itself. Take 10 minutes and go through all the images. It will definitely give you pause: http://www.chrisjordan.com/current_set2.php?id=7

#115: One Hour (Friday, March 6)

It started in Sydney, Australia in 2007, when 2.2 million homes and businesses switched off their lights for one hour. In 2008 the message had grown into a global sustainability movement, with 50 million people switching off their lights. Global landmarks such as the Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco, Rome’s Colosseum, the Sydney Opera House and the Coca Cola billboard in Times Square all stood in darkness.

In 2009, the goal is to expand the movement to 1 billion people. What are you doing on March 28, 2009?

Me? I'll be organizing my friends into a massive "dark event". Drinks, food and one hour of complete darkness. Are you in?