Tuesday, April 22 2008
HAPPY EARTH DAY!
(Today seems like a fantastic time to officially get this blog off the proverbial ground-not to mention a personal drive to end my own perpetual procrastination-so here goes.)
Reduce, Reuse, Recycle.
Reduce, Reuse, Recycle.
Reduce, Reuse, Recycle.
Ahhhhhh, the mantra of the eco-savvy everywhere. Say it with me now. But what does it mean? It is so much more than a catchy slogan found on hemp t-shirts. This is known as the waste hierarchy, listed in the order of environmental importance. Americans account for about 5% of the world’s population and consume almost 25% of the world’s energy. This is an astounding fact. How can so few impact so many? By beginning to change our personal consumption habits, we will start the increasingly important act of reducing waste. By following the hierarchy, we each begin to become more and more aware of our own environmental impact.
Here is a very simplistic breakdown, listed in order of the level of environmental benefit:
1. REDUCE. Buy less, use less, waste less.
2. REUSE. Use what you already have.
3. RECYCLE. Repurpose or remanufacture waste and give it a new useful life.
To celebrate this important day, make a personal commitment to change at least one wasteful habit (we all have them!) Try taking your own mug to your favorite coffee shop and forego the paper cup. Are you itching to redecorate? Try rearranging the furniture that you already have, maybe even move items from one room to another, for a fresh look. And if you must buy a something, try thrift or antique stores. You’ll probably end up with a beautiful, unique piece, often for much cheaper. And it just can’t be stressed enough: ALWAYS, ALWAYS RECYCLE! Think before you toss something in the trash. Most recyclable waste ends up in trash cans.
There are so many ways to make earth-friendly decisions in your life. Be creative! And remember, you can always fall back on the basics for inspiration: Reduce, reuse, recycle.
Over the next days and weeks, I’m going to be writing more about how I am reducing, reusing and recycling in my own daily life. Please feel free to write me if you have comments, questions or if there’s a particular topic that you would like me to focus on. Email me at green@kcsm.net.
And To All, A Very Happy Earth Day!
James
HAPPY EARTH DAY!
(Today seems like a fantastic time to officially get this blog off the proverbial ground-not to mention a personal drive to end my own perpetual procrastination-so here goes.)
Reduce, Reuse, Recycle.
Reduce, Reuse, Recycle.
Reduce, Reuse, Recycle.
Ahhhhhh, the mantra of the eco-savvy everywhere. Say it with me now. But what does it mean? It is so much more than a catchy slogan found on hemp t-shirts. This is known as the waste hierarchy, listed in the order of environmental importance. Americans account for about 5% of the world’s population and consume almost 25% of the world’s energy. This is an astounding fact. How can so few impact so many? By beginning to change our personal consumption habits, we will start the increasingly important act of reducing waste. By following the hierarchy, we each begin to become more and more aware of our own environmental impact.
Here is a very simplistic breakdown, listed in order of the level of environmental benefit:
1. REDUCE. Buy less, use less, waste less.
2. REUSE. Use what you already have.
3. RECYCLE. Repurpose or remanufacture waste and give it a new useful life.
To celebrate this important day, make a personal commitment to change at least one wasteful habit (we all have them!) Try taking your own mug to your favorite coffee shop and forego the paper cup. Are you itching to redecorate? Try rearranging the furniture that you already have, maybe even move items from one room to another, for a fresh look. And if you must buy a something, try thrift or antique stores. You’ll probably end up with a beautiful, unique piece, often for much cheaper. And it just can’t be stressed enough: ALWAYS, ALWAYS RECYCLE! Think before you toss something in the trash. Most recyclable waste ends up in trash cans.
There are so many ways to make earth-friendly decisions in your life. Be creative! And remember, you can always fall back on the basics for inspiration: Reduce, reuse, recycle.
Over the next days and weeks, I’m going to be writing more about how I am reducing, reusing and recycling in my own daily life. Please feel free to write me if you have comments, questions or if there’s a particular topic that you would like me to focus on. Email me at green@kcsm.net.
And To All, A Very Happy Earth Day!
James
Monday, March 17 2008
Go Green With James
It is with tremendous pleasure that I welcome you to these new green pages, and to this, my personal green blog. I’m a full-time staff member here at KCSM, but committing to writing this is a labor of love that I am undertaking of my own accord. I am by no stretch of any mind an eco-expert, at least not yet, but what I do bring is a steadfast passion for the cause. I’ve decided to be part of the solution instead of continuing to be part of the problem.
My hope is that by sharing my own experience, you may be able to relate, and to realize that making environmentally-friendly changes is not only attainable without disruption to your quality of life, but can actually make you feel good and be beneficial to your health, your self-image and even your wallet.
My own eco-awakening began, as it did for many recent converts, as a direct consequence of seeing “An Inconvenient Truth.” Prior to that, global warming had not been much more to me than a catch phrase heard in passing, much like hearing about the ozone layer of my ingenuous youth and how the girls of my 1980’s high school days were punching holes into it at the rate of millions of square miles with their ceaseless dependency on Aqua Net.
I was no skeptic about global climate change, mind you, but I didn’t truly understand or realize the enormity of the problem. After seeing the film, while my tired eyes were adjusting to the muted lighting of the Embarcadero theater lobby, I felt shell-shocked, afraid and disheartened: my early “post-Truth” period. But the overall theme that stayed with me in the weeks that followed was that we can change the course that we are on and that we already possess the technology that is required. It is just a matter of convincing the world that it is necessary to change the way we all live.
Recently I’ve begun to see a fundamental shift in the public's perception around global warming and other environmental issues, and I think that we can all feel a consensus growing worldwide. More importantly, I am beginning to believe that we really will make the changes that will make the difference. We’ve tackled seemingly insurmountable environmental problems before and risen to the occasion. After all, when did you last hear mention of the ozone layer? (Or Aqua Net for that matter?)
As my journey continues to unfold, I’ll be documenting the experience here. And I’m committed to sharing with you what I know and what I learn. Will you make the commitment to try making a few green changes of your own? Let’s do this together.
James Ball
Please share your comments and questions with me- email me at green@kcsm.net
Go Green With James
It is with tremendous pleasure that I welcome you to these new green pages, and to this, my personal green blog. I’m a full-time staff member here at KCSM, but committing to writing this is a labor of love that I am undertaking of my own accord. I am by no stretch of any mind an eco-expert, at least not yet, but what I do bring is a steadfast passion for the cause. I’ve decided to be part of the solution instead of continuing to be part of the problem.
My hope is that by sharing my own experience, you may be able to relate, and to realize that making environmentally-friendly changes is not only attainable without disruption to your quality of life, but can actually make you feel good and be beneficial to your health, your self-image and even your wallet.
My own eco-awakening began, as it did for many recent converts, as a direct consequence of seeing “An Inconvenient Truth.” Prior to that, global warming had not been much more to me than a catch phrase heard in passing, much like hearing about the ozone layer of my ingenuous youth and how the girls of my 1980’s high school days were punching holes into it at the rate of millions of square miles with their ceaseless dependency on Aqua Net.
I was no skeptic about global climate change, mind you, but I didn’t truly understand or realize the enormity of the problem. After seeing the film, while my tired eyes were adjusting to the muted lighting of the Embarcadero theater lobby, I felt shell-shocked, afraid and disheartened: my early “post-Truth” period. But the overall theme that stayed with me in the weeks that followed was that we can change the course that we are on and that we already possess the technology that is required. It is just a matter of convincing the world that it is necessary to change the way we all live.
Recently I’ve begun to see a fundamental shift in the public's perception around global warming and other environmental issues, and I think that we can all feel a consensus growing worldwide. More importantly, I am beginning to believe that we really will make the changes that will make the difference. We’ve tackled seemingly insurmountable environmental problems before and risen to the occasion. After all, when did you last hear mention of the ozone layer? (Or Aqua Net for that matter?)
As my journey continues to unfold, I’ll be documenting the experience here. And I’m committed to sharing with you what I know and what I learn. Will you make the commitment to try making a few green changes of your own? Let’s do this together.
James Ball
Please share your comments and questions with me- email me at green@kcsm.net