Green Options

The National Audubon Society, like so many other businesses and organizations in the United States, is struggling with the current economic recession. So much so, that they have made a significant push for contributions from their own employees.

Stanford University received $100 million in donations for alternative energy research. The funds will allow the school to expand their research aimed at making renewable energy as economically feasible as oil and natural gas.

[Wind Power. Creative Commons photo by Bryan Siders]

The school’s annual budget for researching alternative energy is $30 million, so this bundle of donations more than quadruples their resources for the Stanford Global Climate and Energy project. The money allows them to grow the Precourt Institute for Energy Efficiency, which has “the simple goal of making renewable energy cheaper than fossil fuels.”

A good friend sent me Daniel Gross’ post on Slate.com, “The Agony of the Food Snob.” The article is a bit self-deprecating, a bit of humor, and a bit of a poke to food snobs’ plight as food prices rise for all of us. At times the article points out the more stupid purchases that defy reason, and at others, it shows that none of us — save the very wealthy — is immune to the price increase.

The last line of the piece is truly a challenge to all food snobs, “We’re spending obscene amounts on food we don’t need at a time when so many others are genuinely struggling to pay for enough basic sustenance to get them through the day.”

I am not a food snob. I am also on a budget these days. Even so, I certainly enjoy the best foods of every season, and the relative abundance and the fact that I can afford to eat when so many can’t has been weighing on me. I needed to do something to help.
So, here’s how I answered the challenge.

So I wouldn’t say we were incredibly green this weekend, but we were relatively green.

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