Earth Day 2010

Its been almost a year since I posted. That is sad and if you don't read this blog anymore that's ok.

I've mentioned that Tara and I are early adopters of the green lifestyle. We've both been doing various things for the better part of a decade. Simple things like recycling and composting, buying recycled products, more natural products, etc.. Earth Day is one of the things we've both done for awhile as well. I usually went for the people watching and the music. Tara went for the green-ness, the sun and the food.

Among the problem now are that we are always tired, we have a little girl to consider, and we know/do a lot of the things featured at Nashville's Earth Day Celebration. My knowledge of all things green has deepened with the advent of the internet (Inhabitat, Eco Child's Play, ecorazzi.com, EcoTech Daily) but so has the accessibility and acceptability of green ideas and products. I feel I have little to learn from the booths of Earthday. I still want to see what is happening locally but for the past few years I have walked around saying "I already know that" or "I've been doing that for years." The other part that I get from the celebration is that a lot of it is preaching to the choir. I wish the organizers would attempt something that will engage the minority and poorer segments of Nashville's citizenry.

So this year we opted not to go. But how did we spend Earthday (and I mean the saturday when the citywide celebration happens, not specifically on the 4/20)? I planted trees. A month or so ago I picked up some free bare root trees and it took me awhile to get them in the ground. I planted a tulip poplar, a sawtooth oak and a bald cypress. I don't know how fast or slow these will grow but I have now replaced all the trees that were on this property when I was a kid. I can't wait till they get bigger. Julia is gonna have a shady yard to play in!

Earthday Celebration is no longer a priority for me. I know we will go as often as we can but there are other things we can do to celebrate and I know as Julia gets more engaged we will find all sorts of stuff to do.

New hybrid bus at Earth Day Festival

New MTA 60-foot hybrid bus on display at Nashville Earth Day Festival

The Nashville Metropolitan Transit Authority (MTA) will join Nashvillians celebrating the environment at Nashville Earth Day Festival activities on Saturday, April 18, in Centennial Park.

MTA will display one of its new 60-foot hybrid buses on-site to promote the use of public transit to help improve air quality and reduce traffic congestion. The Regional Transportation Authority (RTA) also will have a booth with staff members available to talk about the Music City Star, car pools and van pools.

The free, city-wide event runs from 11 a.m. until 7 p.m. and features different sections of the park representing different areas of the environment, such as air, water, recycling and sustainable living/land conservation. The local festival includes family-friendly games, activities, food and live performances.

The 2009 theme is "Together growing a greener Nashville" and will feature the live music of Susan Tedeschi, The Dynamites, AutoVaughn, Jeremy Lister and Caitlin Rose.

Earth Day is here again

So we move from one enviro-centric Sat to the next.

Earth Day is always a blast. I see it as a "welcome to spring day". This year will be very different.

We are going to Centennial Park with Julia & Johnders. There will be all sorts of vendors and activities. We might even stay late enough to see the absolutely adorable and wonderfully soulful (talented goes without saying) Susan Tedeschi. We'll be on baby feeding time so who knows when we will get there let alone how long we will stay.

If you are in Nashville, its fun and informative and FREE!

One More Reason to Love National Geographic

National Geographic's Green Guide Ten Tips for Earth Day: Preserving Biodiversity.

Yes, Earth Day has passed but of course, in my world "everyday is Earth Day." So there. :-P

Seriously, these are good. I've already discussed a few and I actually do some of them but hadn't thought about talking about them here...for example, paperless bills.

Happy Earth Day

Looks like I'm 18min late but I hope everybody did something earth friendly to celebrate Earth Day. I didn't; I left the TV on when I wasn't in the room, I drove to Home Depot, I ate fast food.

So you see that I'm not perfect but I keep trying. Hopefully, I can make up for it tomorrow.