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!

FTC wants to stop Whole Foods/Wild Oats deal

Nashville has limited options for organic food, the largest, most extensive selection is at Wild Oats of which there are two. Both are on the SW or West side of town closets to the richest of the rich in Nashville. The closest of the two for me is completely across town, about 12 miles, not convient and not terribly practical or eco-friendly. Fortunately my wife goes to church near there and can make a side trip on Sundays. My neighborhood is blessed with a wonderful, small independent store, Turnip Truck, about 3 miles from my home but they have no deli or fish monger or butcher. It could basically fit in the bread aisle of Wild Oats. A couple of years ago we all heard Whole Foods was coming to town and there was the faintest hope they would build east or north. Did they? Of course not. They built about 200 yards from Wild Oats, same side of the street and everything.

Greg Mays, chairman and CEO of Wild Oats, said in a statement that Wild Oats would cooperate with Whole Foods in fighting the FTC in court.

It means nothing to me if Whole Foods gets it's way. Neither chain is helping me by locating all on one side of town.

The article is here.

Why?

I was a kid who grew up outside. I was a Boy Scout for almost 10 years. I went camping or hiking or canoeing or backpacking once a month during those years. I loved animals and trees and bugs and rain. I also had a love/hate relationship with snakes, which still continues to this day. My Dad hunted some, fished some, gardened some but no matter what he was doing he spent most of his free time outside. I read the encyclopedia (World Book 1973) when I was a kid and I thought one day I might be a veterinarian. I am earth-bound, my feng shui reading says so. I get excited at the first sight of forests or valleys or mountains. I have been known to cry at the sight of sunset on a lake (I don't get up early enough for sunrises). When I got a car I drove a lot and I looked around while I drove. I imagine I probably looked like a little old man lost in some unfamiliar neighborhood. I would stop to admire a hillside or a lookout or pull over and take pictures of a cow pasture. I fly more often now but I still take pictures from the window of the airplane. I was fortunate enough to go to a college with a 10'000 acre campus, most of which was, and is, undeveloped land. I was on the championship canoe team, I wandered the perimeter trails and the flower gardens, I studied outside, and I even I remember going for bike rides at sunrise (after an all-nighter) watching the deer appear from the fog. You see where I'm going with this? There is very little that makes me as happy, that makes me feel like I am a part of something, that there is a point to everything as the natural world.

I am completely geeking out on Planet Earth. You must watch (hopefully on High Def!)

During the 90s I lived in Baton Rouge, LA. One of the first jobs I had down there was as a canvasser at Citizen Action. I went door-to-door talking to people about the politics of our ecological situations. We offered to contact legislators and we solicited donations with an effort to lobby legislators on environmental issues. Overall it was a bust, I didn't last long but the time I spent studying these issues cemented my belief that there really is environmental classism/racism. Depending on where you live they can be one in the same but they are not necessarily the same thing; depending on where you live those who get the brunt can be white or black or brown. We went to more poor, predominantly white areas than poor, predominantly minority areas. Some of the people we canvassed - mostly working poor - lived in the most appalling and hazardous environments I could've imagined. I truly began to recognize that something was unfair and that there was a pattern. The people who worked in the shittiest jobs at the chemical/oil companies in LA lived closest and were polluted more severely and more frequently than everybody else. Poor people consistently lived closer to landfills, incinerators and treatment plants and surely you can recognize the possible hazards associated with that.

Now as an adult and a homeowner I am trying to make sure I leave as small footprint on the earth as I can. In doing so I have run into problems with lack of information, lack of interest within my minority and larger communities. I understand that I was ahead of the curve on these issues and was not able to do some things the way I would have liked and I have had to settle for a "lesser evil". In 2004-2005 I tried to remodel green but couldn't find contractors who understood what I was asking. I have now begun this blog in an attempt to rectify as much of this as I can. I want to do my part to make it easier for the next person to work and live in an environmentally friendly, socially responsible way. I want to promote these ideals to minority communities b/c we too are people of the earth. This land we call home, the United States of America is rich with blood and sweat of minority peoples. If anyone can claim this land it is we who are here b/c those before us died (by force or by choice) so that we could reap the benefits. I firmly believe that we can take small steps toward an eco-friendly, socially conscious life and that those small steps will make a great impact on our communities and our persons.

This is an ideal of being responsible for what we do today because we are looking forward to make everyone a beneficiary of the bounty we have, and I promise you, we all have a bounty we just might not recognize it.

I hope this didn't come off as preachy, it was not intended as such. Most of what we will do here is practical info, interesting news and information. This will be fun.