The no-so-active activist me

I have my mom hat. My employee hat. My wife hat. My faith hat. My friend hat. My blogger hat. And in my mess, I probably have a few more. Do I still have room on my shelf for the activist hat?

Time is always a premium in my life. My mom schedule keeps me hopping for two hours before I walk out the door until nearly 9:30 or 10 each night, and by then,our bedtime battles leave us worn out. My husband's work schedules and our budget mean I don't have leeway for sitters to attend events or volunteer outside the home without helpers. Does that make me no longer an activist?

I'm certainly not alone. Today at the Green Phone Booth, Abbie shared her concerns about how motherwood and work often took priority over being an environmental activist.

The truth is, while I may no longer be a card-carrying member of the Sierra Club or out on a visible level, I am an environmental activist. It's just that my audience is much smaller. But much more influential.

My pint-size audience knows we recycle and reuse and whenever possible buy resale. My pint-size audience loves to enjoy nature, to hike, to check out bugs and birds. My pint-size audience reads books from the library about nature and soaks them up like a sponge.

My audience of two may be small, but they will grow. And so will their influence. And I'm OK with that.

Other people's stuff

I'll be straight and just say I've got flu big time on my brain. Thankfully, it hasn't hit the family yet, but I've been swamped with H1N1 communications at work the last few weeks in particular. It's interesting, but I'll be glad when I quit dreaming about it at night!

Rather than hear me rant about being smart and staying healthy again, here are a few articles I've seen that are worth sharing:

Erin writes a great story on eating seasonably on the Green Phone Booth. I have to agree with her - the tiny strawberries we picked from our garden the other day had far more flavor than the pound of red, tasteless things we picked up at the supermarket this weekend.

Beth writes about how cotton clothing just might not be over on Fake Plastic Fish.

I know we're all about saving money these days, but sometimes a little investing is good, too. Rachel writes about 3 great ways to save money over on Small Notebook.

The other day a friend said to me, "Your Facebook always says your work is making you nuts, or your kids are making you nuts..." While it's a bit of an exaggeration (I torment my friends with cute kid stories and social media articles too), I know it's tough sometimes to remember the joys in parenting. FishMama writes about balancing the two on Life as Mom.

And Kellie sums up what other APLS'ers have to say on prolesythizing green. Stay tuned for the November carnival topic.

Have a safe and healthy week!

Monday madness and a few links to check out

Light on the posts this last week. We had a major deadline at work, followed by short notice that we’d have unexpected company (the in-laws) in town.

I confess I actually have posts written out – the really old-fashioned way - on the back of scratch paper; I just haven’t had a moment to post.

I admit I feel like I spend a lot of time apologizing for not posting as frequently as I should. But I would rather spend time to write something of interest than write to just make a self-imposed deadline. The beauty of the Web (especially if you have an RSS reader) is that you can come back any time!

Until we get the family back on schedule (hopefully by mid-week), here are a few links to check out.

A great-sounding recipe for roasted Roma tomato salsa over on Going Local.

One Green Generation shows you how to clean out that cooking standby – baking soda – and 20 ways to use it up: I’ll add No. 21: Getting crayon creations off your walls!

Parenting has no-sew Halloween costumes – if you're needing ideas

Green Phone Booth has some interesting ideas for a second life for old wool sweaters.

Conscious Shopper has some early fall seasonal recipes to share.

Have a great Monday!

Cycling, community and a little TLC...Other writers' views on being green

The last few weeks, I've been up to my ears in work projects, so I'm slowly getting a chance to catch up on my reading. Here's a few articles from other writers worth looking at:

Recently I was inspired by a man I met who lost more than 250 pounds. It started with bariatric surgery but his success was largely due to his love of cycling. Just for fun, he rode across the state of Indiana the other day. Yep, biking isn’t just for kids. I’ve had to listen to my father and brother tell their tales of what I consider extreme bike rides for years, but other people are jumping on the biking bandwagon too, for fun and for transportation. Chile shares her experiences during a month-long personal challenge to drop her car and writes about “falling in and out of love” with her bike.

Fall means back-to-school nights, football and fall festivals. We’re coming back from trips around the country and re-settling in at home. But it’s more than just getting together with the neighbors. A strong community means a greener planet, too. The Conscious Shopper gives you five reasons why.

For all of my gardening mishaps this year, the biggest is that little thing called watering. As my lawn browns to a crisp – interesting because it really hasn’t gotten past the 80s much this year – I keep forgetting that I need to water more than my weed patch in the back. In My Kitchen Garden gives me a little more inspiration – and a reminder that a little TLC now could pay off next spring.

And the September APLS carnival is up! Does size matter when it comes to being green? Find out!

Are you keeping up with the Joneses?

It used to be about who had the biggest and newest car. Or the best vacation plans. Now, it's about who's being greener or more frugal in their choices.

Rachel at Small Notebook recently discussed the frustrations of keeping up with the Joneses. Not gardening yet? Not cooking from scratch? Heaven forbid, do you eat each night from takeout containers? Really, it's OK. For many of us, the path to simpler living is just a gradual process.

Rachel writes:

There have been times when I’ve been concerned that mentioning something might
not be good for my image. You know, my desire to look healthy, conscientious,
resourceful, and like I cook all my food from scratch. Oh forgive me for wanting
to have an image! That should be the first thing that anyone de-clutters. Life
is so much easier when you don’t have to worry about how you look to
others.
When I’m talking to someone else, I would much rather admit that my
spaghetti sauce comes from a jar at the store than pretend I’m a fabulous chef.
Authenticity is living simply.

And "simple" is a matter of perspective. You can spend simply, and reap great rewards if you have a talent for cooking, sewing or other crafts. You can entertain simply and just hang out with a few great friends and good beers in your backyard. You can clean simply and join the baking soda and vinegar crowd, instead of staring at the dozen cleaning products in your cabinet. You can raise your children simply, and not buy toys upon end and overschedule them.

But when living "simple," "green," or "frugal" comes to the point that your choices are stressing you out, aren't you missing the point? Because at the end of the day, it's you (and your family) you have to live with.

Mom, Will This Chicken Give Me Man Boobs?: A review

Sometimes, a book on the library shelf just screams to be picked up.

This time, it was a subtle pink one that just wanted to be green. And the title was too good not to read: Mom, Will This Chicken Give Me Man Boobs?: My Confused, Guilt-Ridden and Stressful Struggle to Raise a Green Family? by Robyn Harding.

Have mommy guilt? Have green guilt? Harding makes you feel better about your life. She chronciles suburban mommy life in ultra-green Vancouver, where parents are out to save their children and the trees simultaneously, trying to out-sustain each other in the process. I couldn't stop laughing through the book -- and my husband kept fighting me to read the copy.

Maybe Harding's book just hit a little too close to home. Do you buy local or organic or simply the best price? Drink from milk organic, conventional or cooped-up cows? Send out a stack of Christmas cards to long-lost relatives? Buy birthday presents for every kid in the class or go "low-impact?" Avoid that glass of wine after a stressful day just because it's "Buy-nothing day?" Or just say forget it, and enjoy that steak for once, because if we eat the cow, it can't fart methane gas anymore? When one news article seems to contradict the next, where does it all end?

Harding tries to strike that balance between education and just being smart, something that's tough to do and even tougher to impart on the next generation. Her children stress about polar bears and pesticides, sweat the small stuff and realize that not-organic food may actually be OK sometimes - especially when it comes in the form of cake.

We have a lot to stress about in this world, and weighing the environmental impact of every single choice we make can be painful. Harding reminds us that we don't have to worry each moment of the day and that sometimes, it's OK to breathe and live - and laugh - a little.

Green on the Cheap: APLS Carnival Round-up

Welcome to the revived APLS Carnival! This month's theme was "green on the cheap" - in other words, balancing sustainability with smaller pocketbooks. If the recession's got you down, no worries! We've got some great ideas to get you motivated again.

Speaking from experience.
Several APLS'ers shared openly how their family overcame or averted a financial crisis by simply living more frugally.

Abbie at Farmers Daughter shares her evolution in going greener and living more frugally, giving three easy ways to pare back expenses and live more sustainably. Read her post to see how she saved $7,000 last year alone! Impressive!

Heather at Simple-Green-Frugal shares her life of voluntary simplicity and how she got there. "I believe it is in times of crisis that we discover what we're truly made of," she writes. Read on to her comments - she's so simplified her life that she could make a move with only her compact car - taking one trip! I'd love to hear more about how she was able to pare down - our family has a long way to go!


Another Heather, at Heather's Homemaking, offers simple ways her family was able to live more frugally so she could stay at home with her children. I think I'm going to have to figure out how to make the cloth napkins - what a great idea!

Steph at Greening Families shares how her family overcame debt by following the three R's. "Anything that broke or wore out was examined for possible other uses and most of the time there were multiple possibilities," she writes. As an example, she shares ways to get new life out of old pants.

I come clean on how my family's financial crisis has impacted our lifestyle choices and admit to wondering whether I'm being good somedays simply because I must. "Like a dieter who’s craving chocolate, I think about the things I want to buy but are simply out of reach at this time."


Spending smart.
Perhaps any future problems will be averted just by watching how we use the resources we have.

At the Green Adventures of a Big City Girl, Heather cost-comparisons shopping while cutting coupons with buying locally from CSAs and other local vendors. "I was a big coupon clipper. I mean BIG. Like I had a big binder filled with baseball card sleeves of thoroughly organized coupons," she writes. "I had no idea I could do this and actually NOT spend more money than I used to on groceries. Cheap, unhealthy, processed, full-of-pesticide-and-fake-ingredients groceries. And I'm really enjoying the process of learning about new vegetables and introducing them to my family. Dinner is an adventure every night and so much fun to be trying new things."

Kellie at Greenhab shares the challenges of greener birthday party planning when the guest of honor thrives on Chuck-E-Cheese. "I decided to stop hanging my head in shame when my son's birthday came up, and to put my money where my mouth was. Or...put my money back in my wallet and put my conscience where my mouth was. Something like that," she writes.


The Conscious Shopper at the Green Phone Booth admits to her green envy but realizes that prevention can be the best policy when it comes to waste. "Going green can be expensive - at least in some ways - but sometimes the greenest path is also the cheapest," she writes. "And once I realized that, my green envy subsided, and I was able to get creative with what I have."

Lisa at Retro Housewife Goes Green talks about the toughest lesson of learning to be more sustainable: That buying less truly is more. "Green has become so mainstream everywhere you look is some new product telling you how it will help you be more green when most of the time we don't need it," she writes.

Beany at the Middle Way, who admits to "being a tightwad when it was uncool," waxes on how we've put our money where our mouth was and what morals our economy has supported. "I think a strong evaluation of the new American values is long over due. I think people do need to think long and hard at what it means ...when one can zip 100 miles to a job with no consideration of that mode of transit is doing to the environment that surrounds us. Who benefits when one can buy apples for $0.10/lb from Guatamela. Why does one have to maintain vigilant eye on what product is currently the subject of a salmonella outbreak?"

CRSTN85 writes about how you can help the economy and the environment at the same time. "It should be second nature to check in with neighbors to see if they could use something you're getting rid of, and if not, it should be donated rather than left by the curb where hopefully someone will take it before the trash pick up date," she writes.

Thanks to those of you who participated in this month's carnival! Look for September details to be posted shortly on the APLS blog.

8-20: My apologies to Jenni at Web of Life! I'd forgotten to include her in the initial post. Check out her tips on being green while saving green, from thrift-store shopping to investing in microfiber cloths. "Basically, I spend next to nothing to keep my house clean. Now if only I could get somebody to clean it…" she writes.

The End of Cooking

My husband grumbles as he paces through the pantry. "There's nothing in this house to eat," he complains.

It's about a weekly occurance. Nevermind that the fridge has leftovers inside, our tomatoes, onions and beans are fruitful, our freezer has chicken and other things inside and our pantry has staples.

It's not a question of nothing to eat. It's a question of simplicity. My guy, who most days loves to cook, just wants the five-minute fix.

While his lament is something I'm quite used to, I never though about it in terms of the bigger picture. And then I read Michael Pollan's recent article from the New York Times: "Out of the Kitchen, On to the Couch." In it, he discusses our cultural shift in the last 50 years from a nation of home cooks to one fascinated in watching and buying food, but uninterested in actually producing a true home-cooked meal.

He writes "today, 80 percent of the cost of food eaten in the home goes to someone other than a farmer, which is to say to industrial cooking and packaging and marketing."

Where are these costs going? Packaging and fillers. Just turn to the label of any processed food or mix, and you'll be amazed by the amount of fat, salt and/or sugar on the label.

Pollan notes that the speed of premade meals and helpers have made a difference to our waistline, if not just for the calorie count but because the "wait" factor is missing.

Cutler and his colleagues demonstrate that as the “time cost” of food preparation has fallen, calorie consumption has gone up, particularly consumption of the sort of snack and convenience foods that are typically cooked outside the home. They found that when we don’t have to cook meals, we eat more of them: as the amount of time Americans spend cooking has dropped by about half, the number of meals Americans eat in a day has climbed; since 1977, we’ve added approximately half a meal to our daily intake. Cutler and his colleagues also surveyed cooking patterns across several cultures and found that obesity rates are inversely correlated with the amount of time spent on food preparation. ...

The time and work involved in cooking, as well as the delay in gratification built into the process, served as an important check on our appetite. Now that check is gone, and we’re struggling to deal with the consequences.

Weight worries aside, Pollan notes that a certain part of our culture is eroding as well, quoting writers dating from the 1700s who say that the celebration of food - from the preparation through sharing - is what separates us from other animals. He writes, "it stands to reason that the decline of cooking in our time would have a profound effect on modern life."

What are your thoughts?

Making ends meet

Great post on Casaubon's Book on bartering to build relationships and get by in difficult times: http://sharonastyk.com/2009/05/07/barter-baby-barter.

From black bands to reusable bags: A look back at Earth Day

I'll be the first to admit I'm a bit jaded about the idea of Earth Day. For one day, we'll plant a tree, grab a reusable bag, read everything we can about the environment and swear we'll get those CFL bulbs. And then April 23 comes--and it's like we've forgotten it again.

So in talking with a friend of mine from a lifetime ago as a reporter, she shared that things weren't always this, well, commercialized. Lisa, from the Visual Traveler, shares how once Earth Day meant banding together - quite literally - in a way to bring attention to how we treat our world. Enjoy!



Happy Earth Day! It's been around for a long time.

My ninth grade biology was little more than a required course for me until springtime. That's when my teacher, Ron Charlton, showed his passion for ecology and we caught his enthusiasm. When he started talking about protecting the planet through our individual actions I immediately bought The Environmental Handbook: Prepared for the First National Environmental Teach-In, which was held on April 22, 1970.

The more Charlton talked about the impact we had on the planet, the more we wanted to do something to recognize and inform people about the issue. Sandy and I spearheaded creation of an informational environmental assembly that the entire school attended. My classmates and I wore black armbands to express our concern about the environment, and mounted a massive trash cleanup around our junior high school.

Fast forward. In the '90s, I taught my daughter's first grade class how to collapse boxes to reduce the space taken by trash. I told neighbors about the consequences of Americans' wastefulness - in a single year the U.S. used 12 billion batteries, 60 million tons of paper, 70 milIion tons of packaging and 800,000 tons of aluminum. We used 2-4 times more water than Europeans did, and a cow had to drink 625 gallons of water and eat four pounds of grain to produce the meat for one hamburger. I also latched on to a quote from the Great Law of the Iroquois that states, "In our every deliberation, we must consider the impact of our decision on the next seven generations."

My daughters grew up with non-toxic cleaning supplies, recycling and donating used items to charity rather than throwing them out. Today, my younger daughter recycles items from a house full of 10 apartments in her college town, each month, and my older daughter continues to donate unused items to charity.

Despite all of the media hype, the basic premise remains the same. Because we're on this planet we have an impact on its health. What can you do for the planet today?

Inspiration from Fake Plastic Fish

If you've ever been interested in abandoning your sea of plastic, Fake Plastic Fish is an inspiring place to turn, focusing on the big picture issues as well as little changes we can make.

Periodically, she shares inspiration from other blogs she's read. This week, my blog was among the ones featured in the Voices from the Plastic-Free Blogosphere. It was a fun interview, and I definitely felt inspired when reading the other bloggers' comments.

Here are some of the great ideas I picked up from other voices on this post. They're surprisingly easy. I'll admit the last one never even crossed my mind!

• The next time you replace your shower curtains, choose cotton or bamboo instead.
• Cut down on take-out food.
• Swap plastic food storage containers for glass.
• Ask for no straw when eating out.

Two blogs I'll definitely add to my feed directory:

• At No Plastic For A Year, Katie invites a different "buddy" to try plastic-free living out with her for a week and post his/her experience on the blog. What a great idea to engage others!
• At Cre8 and Re-Cre8, you can find DIY projects to "create useful items and to re-create old items into something new and functional."

Have a great day!

Friday afternoon catch-up

As many people know, I’ve been guilty of more than one occasion of having things pile up in my inbox, flagged and then forgotten. It is the curse of a thinly spread working mom.

About two months back, Rebecca at The Green Baby Guide tagged my blog. And I thought, OK that would be fun. I'll do that. And then a funny thing happened on the way to my computer.

Life (you know, those things that happen when you’re not online) got in the way.

We had holidays. And family crisises. And work crisises. And personal crisises. And work crisises. And a crisis of faith. And more work crisises. And somewhere in there, I needed to sleep, feed and diaper the kiddos and pay the bills with the miracle money that’s not in my checkbook. It gets a little overwhelming at times.

So, after a week of not blogging and getting my head back on straight, I’m back. And we’ll start with something fun: the past-due tag.

Here 7 fun facts about myself, and they have nothing to do with being green today:

1. I was dangerously close to a brown belt in tae kwon do in college. (One bad flying roundhouse kick, and it was over.)
2. I asked God for my husband to go back to the Methodist church, where his family celebrates, and for him to get a job. I am getting instead an unemployed Catholic. Which proves God has a sense of humor! (We do have a plan though, and things are falling into place somewhat.)
3. I am starting to train for my fourth half-marathon this spring after putting off taking care of myself for the last year. Needless to say, I will not be up with the Kenyans!
4. My dream was to be a bestselling novelist with the white-picket fence and a house overlooking the ocean and two kids by the age of 25. By the age of 25, I was an ex-reporter, going through a career change, no kids, no house and was reading lots of bestselling novels. Though someone did tell me the other day I should write a book...Who knows?
5. I am addicted to Harry Potter and John Cusak movies. I can’t enjoy either because 1) Who has time to read with kids? And 2) John Cusak movies aren’t always family fare.
6. I have kayaked in both oceans and puked in only one. (Gosh, by reading this list, you’d think I was athletic or something…ha!)
7. My dream is to visit Ireland, Italy, Alaska, Australia and New Zealand. I would settle for breaking those up into separate trips.

Here are seven non-friend, non-work-related blogs I enjoy reading, which I will share in case you are killing time on a Friday afternoon:

1. May Dreams Gardens, a local gardening blog. Personally, I’m also glad to know IT people have creativity and a sense of humor!
2. In My Kitchen Garden, which is always inspirational – even in the dead of winter.
3. Biblical Womanhood, which helps push me with some inspiration on many subjects when I seem to need it
4. Feed Me, Drink Me, an Indianapolis blog that focuses on local food. There’s a passion there, and I always appreciate passionate writing.
5. 5 Minutes for Going Green. An interesting mix of greenness geared toward parents and people who love old-fashioned note writing and notecards.
6. The Green Parent, who has recently taken on “Waste-Free Wednesdays” as examples to others.
7. Money Saving Mom. While not a “green” blog, it focuses on extending your tight budgets and making the most of what you have.

And, because it's tradition or something, here are the alleged rules for this tag game, which may or may not be broken:

1. Link back to the person who tagged you and share the rules on your blog
2. Share 7 facts about yourself
3. Tag seven people and list their links in your post
4. Tell those 7 people by commenting on their blog

This all being said, I plan to enjoy our unseasonal 50-degree weather this afternoon while it lasts.

Have a happy weekend!

A sweet treat and other ideas

While my brain defrosts from this cold snap, I thought I'd share a few green thoughts from around the Web:


I never know what to do with those candy canes that somehow we acquire. Now I know. Crunchy Chicken posts a how-to on making candy cane sugar scrub.



Looking for something different to do this holiday season? One Green Generation shares ideas on new holiday traditions you can incorporate. The idea of reading a traditional Christmas tale - even over the phone - hit close to home for me. For a few years, my brother and I had a great tradition of opening our presents over the phone. For a guy who was hundreds of miles from family, that little bit of togetherness counts.


Can't we all just get along? Maybe, maybe not. Jennifer at 5 Minutes for Going Green ponders whether people treat you differently based on your environmental stance.

Finally, for having the most creative excuse ever for missing a deadline - an attack by Rocky the flying squirrel in her home - here's a belated submission to the December APLS blog carnival by simple.green.organic.happy on the 3 R's to live by and how to instill them into future generations.

Tips and tricks from around the blogosphere

Two days of back-to-back meetings, coupled with a video editing project at night, has left things a little quiet on the site this week. Instead, I'd like to share ideas from other blogs I read:


Watching your energy bills this winter? Green Parent has tips for weatherproofing doors and windows. Meanwhile, Greeen Sheeep is tackling heating bills head-on by lowering temps to 55 in her Wisconsin home.

Want to compost but have no space? There's no excuse now...Sustainable Gardening demonstrates how you can compost even while living in an apartment.

In the holiday spirit? The Green Baby Guide switches gears and ponders the eco-friendliness of Christmas trees.

In My Kitchen Garden is already pondering next year's garden and what to buy now. And May Dreams Gardens is putting us to shame already by still working on her garden in this frigid Indiana weather!

Finally, don't forget that the December APLS blog carnival is being hosted here. Get inspired by Lisa Simpson and start writing!

Making sense of eco-confusion: An open letter to an op-ed writer

Dear Kelly Jones Sharp,

Today I finally caught up with the stack of newspapers in our break room, and your column jumped out from me on the op-ed page. Trapped in a mix of politics and who's to blame for the economy, the headline "Even being green can be too much of a good thing" truly stood out.

But after reading 15 inches or so your writings, I'm convinced that you've succummed to the mass confusion and hype about being green.

Being green isn't about buying the latest, greatest, greenest product on the market. And it's not about flogging yourself for not springing for organic milk or eggs grown down the street.

Being green is about being mindful. It's about making small choices that, combined with the efforts of others, paves the way for a healthier community now and for years to come.

Maybe you're tired of all the hype. Sure, it seems that every label out there has slapped the word "green" in there somewhere, but I for one appreciate the fact that companies are starting to wake up and realize that environmentally friendly products may be a priority for some of us. And if you're still confused, there are plenty of green, simple and inexpensive choices for cleaning out there. Like baking soda or vinegar, to get you started.

Even if you're burnt out on the jargon - making sense of organic vs. locally grown vs. labelling, I'm worried you're on the cusp of giving up completely. Your column has me worried. You write:

Is my salad just a Bigfoot Audrey sucking down the carbon ("Feed me, Seymour!"),
with ingredients shipped from California, Florida, South America and New
Zealand?

How can I eat the way I'm supposed to if I give up over-fished tuna
and salmon and fruits and veggies from afar? It's not as though Central Indiana
is a hotspot for banana trees, orange groves and fish full of omega-3 fatty
acids.

Here's where you forget that being green is working with nature, not against it. The great thing about living seasonally is that we can still eat outside the "traditional" culinary box. You don't have to just eat corn to eat local Indiana foods. There are many, many local producers in Indiana - and things you may not consider. Just visit localharvest.org or pick up a copy of Home Grown Indiana if you don't believe me. Check out a late fall farmers market and enjoy something new for your Thanksgiving table.

Being green is about a culmination of simple steps. In the end, it's about consuming less and doing more with what you have.

Fighting for something to reach for

I have a first class education, health care, independence, and countless opportunities. I was raised to believe that I could accomplish whatever I set out to achieve. If that's not affluence, I don't know what is.

It is beyond time for us to extend that dream to every child in every corner of the world. The child playing cricket is just as deserving of education and opportunity as a child growing up in Fremont, California or Pleasantville, New York.

We must fight to give all children something to reach for.

And that starts with recognizing what we have. What we were given.

- Arduous blog, Sept. 8, 2008.

Read the entire post. I certainly can't improve on that today.

Writer wrap-up: 5 links to check out this weekend

It's a crazy work week, and after an anticipated 14-hour or so day on Thursday, I'm planning on sleeping in. So pardon my pre-writing, and check out these links instead:

• Kerri Anne at 5 Minutes for Going Green on "Paradise Lost, Garbage: Found."
• Jessica (also at 5 Minutes) on "Eco-Friendly Ways to Manage Tricky Trash"
• Crunchy Chicken gets political on "The biggest environmental threat"
• One Green Generation on whether dishwashers actually reduce water use.
• Green Baby Guide interviews a single mom who's trying to make better choices for the environment.

Have a good weekend!

Fewer kids - save the planet?

"Fewer kids - save the planet?" is headlining the Wall Street Journal's Juggle Blog right now. In it the writer wonders aloud whether there's an ethical requirement to balance family size against environmental impact.


Blogger Katherine Meyer quotes a recent article in the Chicago Tribune that seems to argue favorably for population control in Western countries, citing such statistics as "each child born in a rich country like Britain or the United States is likely to be responsible for 160 times as much carbon emitted as a child born in Ethiopia."

British physicians are considering just that. A British Medical Journal editorial recently stated:

Should we now explain to UK couples who plan a family that stopping at two children, or at least having one less child than first intended, is the simplest and biggest contribution anyone can make to leaving a habitable planet for our grandchildren? ... doctors should help to bring family size into the arena of environmental ethics, analogous to avoiding patio heaters and high carbon cars.

According to the Chicago Tribune:

Limiting family size is "the simplest and biggest contribution anyone can make to leaving a habitable planet for our grandchildren," the [British Medical Journal's] editorial's authors said. Family planning as a means to reduce climate change has been little talked about in international climate forums, largely because it is so politically sensitive. China's leaders, however, regularly argue that their country should get emission reduction credits because of their one-child policy, and many environmentalists—and even a growing number of religious and ethics scholars—say the biblical command to "be fruitful and multiply" needs to be balanced against Scripture calling for stewardship of the Earth.

I agree that we're called to care for our planet and its creatures, but I have a serious ethical problem in saying we should issue population control for the sake of saving the environment. People are not cars. They are not patio heaters. They are individuals who have the power to make individual, positive impacts on our society and our environment through individual actions. And who is to say that one person should get that choice on who lives or not, based on a carbon footprint?

Shouldn't we be teaching us - and our children - how to better care and manage the resources given to us instead?

Writes Taiyyab Mehmood, Medical Doctor Trainee Surrey, UK/Riga, Latvia, on the BMJ's Rapid Response page:

...don't be shy to have babies. Educate them to not overbuy food (as in UK 25% food bought is binned) and not to overindulge one's desires and ego to have a plasma TV in every room with 4 cars per house - big engines also etc. But don't forget to give them lots of sincere love, protection, care and the gift of wisdom to be ready for the big world.

Kudos to the first APLS blog carnival

The APLS blog carnival kicked off this summer, and I have to say, I'm impressed.

This group of bloggers is tackling not so simple topics such as sustainable living and affluence. And they're doing it in a way that might surprise you.

If you're looking for guilt, you're in the wrong place. The reality is each of us is making a difference, one moment at a time, and none of us feel that we're truly "there" yet.

Here's just a sampling of some of the comments out there:

• Greeen Sheeep on how sometimes, when everything gives, we can be unexpectedly blessed with a more sustainable lifestyle.
• Eco Burban Mom on how living in our disposable world actually keeps us busier than a more sustainable lifestyle.
• Organic Mania on the family battles that can ensue.
• Mindful Momma on keeping up with the Joneses when the Joneses are living more sustainable lives.
• And many more. Read the entire digest of posts here!
  

Back to school! Our weekly writer wrapup

It's back to school time, and time to learn a few tips on how to make your life a little bit greener. Here's a sampling of what's out there in the blogosphere.




Home ec:

• Going Local shares a "local" 1877-era beverage called shrubs.
• Green Parent Chicago discusses meatless meals for kids.
• Chile explains how to can and shares some quick meal tips.

Art:

• Green Baby Guide writes about carbon-free entertainment ideas for your toddlers or older children. Looks like I'll be coming back on a rainy afternoon.

Political science:

• Surely You Nest blogs about Bush's attempts to weaken the Endangered Species Act.
• Onearth.org writes about how political conventions are going red, white, blue and green.

Economics:

• UK's The Green Parent reports on how the credit crunch is impacting organic dairy farms.

Critical thinking:

• Green Sheeep posts a great essay on her evolution toward sustainability.
• Crunchy Chicken weighs in on whether there are benefits to rising food prices.
• Ecoburban banters about the battle over toilet paper and whether cutting off is in order.

P.E.:

• Parenting Examiner writes about the need for unstructured play outdoors.

Have a great weekend!