Personally, I hate birds. Maybe it’s some weird fear that was developed when my 6th grade math teacher made us watch Hitchcock’s “The Birds”, which kind of freaked me out at the time. (Yes, I went to a public school!) Or maybe it’s the fact that birds always seem to practice target shooting on my head… whatever it is, I’ve never developed a particular affinity to these winged creatures.
Be that as it may, I read an article recently that talked about how birds may not be able to keep up with climate change, which is very disconcerting to me. Can you imagine not ever seeing another bird again? I know, I know, it’s extreme and I’m over-exaggerating, but really, how much further are we going to let this environmental crisis go? Are we going to let more plants & animals go extinct before we enact greater change?
One of the first posts I ever did on Things That Make You Go Green was on junk mail. Man, I really hate junk mail. To this day, 95% of my mail is J-U-N-K. I’ve signed up for various services, with the hopes of getting off of random mailing lists, but it still keeps on coming!
I’m a recycler – but for those of you who are interested in a more creative solution, you can try composting your unwanted mail. Shred your junk mail and throw it into your compost bin – just make sure not to use the slick, coated paper that is sometimes found in brochures, as this makes the paper water-resistant and slower to decompose.
The paper from your junk mail is high in carbon and will make for great composting materials, provided you mix in high-nitrogen wastes with it. High-nitrogen waste items include fresh grass clippings and kitchen waste.
I’m a pretty compulsive paper shredder-er, so I’m going to try this. Are any of you already doing this today?
Sorry vegetarians, as this blog post may be offensive to you.
So meat eaters in Australia, there’s a new study out that indicates that if you want to reduce greenhouse gases by grazing livestock, you should switch to eating kangaroos.
Farming kangaroos instead of sheep and cattle in Australia could cut by almost a quarter the greenhouse gases produced by grazing livestock, which account for 11 percent of the nation’s annual emissions, said a new study.
Removing seven million cattle and 36 million sheep by 2020 and replacing them with 175 million kangaroos, to produce the same amount of meat, could lower national greenhouse gases by 3 percent a year, said the University of New South Wales study. [Source]
Unlikely that this will happen though, don’t you think? The mindset shift that would be required to start eating kangaroos seems like too big a barrier.
Regardless of your political inclinations, you have to admit that Mayor McHottie (aka Gavin Newsom) of San Francisco is doing a pretty decent job in promoting “greenness.” In fact, a recent independent study noted that San Francisco has cut greenhouse gas emissions by 5 percent from 1990 levels and is on track to meet its goal of a 20 percent reduction in four years.
That’s pretty impressive if a 20% reduction can really be had in a mere four years.
Below are just some of the ways our city has taken steps to be more green (not all of these are necessarily related to greenhouse gas emissions):
- SF has the largest City-owned solar installation in the country – a 75 kilowatt solar array atop Moscone Center (convention facility)
- 100% of SF’s taxi fleets are to be converted to hybrid or alternative fuel vehicles by 2011
- SF has a new green building ordinance which imposes strict new green building requirements on newly constructed residential and commercial buildings, and renovations to existing buildings – by 2012, it is expected to reduce CO2 emissions by 60,000 tons
- Local restaurants are now banned from using Polystyrene foam (Styrofoamâ„¢) disposable food service ware
- In March 2007, SF became the first U.S. city to ban plastic shopping bags
- SF currently has a 70 percent recycling rate. The city’s goal is 75 percent by 2010 and zero waste by 2020
But enough about us – tell me how your city stacks up and what is being done to curb global warming in your neck of the woods.
Here are some fun pictures – artist Jean Luc Cornec constructed these “Telephone Sheep” using old rotary phones and cords.
It’s a pretty creative way of re-using older materials, and good commentary on the need for us to be more green – reduce, reuse, recycle!
Personally, I hate birds. Maybe it’s some weird fear that was developed when my 6th grade math teacher made us watch Hitchcock’s “The Birds”, which kind of freaked me out at the time. (Yes, I went to a public school!) Or maybe it’s the fact that birds always seem to practice target shooting on my head… whatever it is, I’ve never developed a particular affinity to these winged creatures.