Green Options

The success of organic foods was never a sure bet in South Korea. Since the Korean word for pesticides literally means “plant medicines” many Koreans have had a difficult time seeing what’s wrong with using them. But today’s ultra health conscious Korean is becoming more environmentally savvy too. Today, words like “blossom” and “bloom” are too mild to describe the exploding popularity of organic foods and environmentalism in South Korea.

My days of Strawberry Shortcake Shrinky-Dinks are long past (although my childhood Strawberry Shortcake doll is still a prized possession–our household rule is that we are allowed no commercial culture toys in the house, unless they’re “vintage”. Ahem), but wow, were they crazy fun or what?

At last year’s Strange Folk festival, some Girl Scouts taught me and my kiddos the joys of #6 plastic. The basic concept: It shrinks! Like Shriny-Dinks! Equally awesomely! And because you get to draw your own pictures, not fill in some pre-printed coloring sheet, AND you get to re-use before you recycle, it’s a great activity to do with our budding little environmentalists.

There are lots of tutorials on the web for shrinking #6 plastic, all a little different, but here’s how my family does ours:

One of my favorite web comics is xkcd’s “Duty Calls,” where the stick figure can’t tear himself away from the computer because “Someone is WRONG on the internet.” Unfortunately, too often discussions on environmental topics devolve into “You’re wrong” - “No, you’re wrong” and we lose sight of what we are trying to accomplish, namely, moving towards a healthier, sustainable, more energy efficient lifestyle.  If you’re the kind of person who has to be right all the time, you’re not going to convince anyone else of anything - you’ll just be arguing minute points like there’s a debate coach keeping score, and at the end someone’s going to hand you a little trophy.  In this type of debate, the goal is to get the other side to see the advantages of going green, even if it’s in a small way.  Keeping the conversation going is more important than proving the other side wrong.  Here are a few strategies to achieve that goal.

Avoid “Green” - The term is overused and since it means different things to different people, many are confused by it.  To me, “Green” means healthy, sustainable, and energy efficient.  To someone else, it might conjure images of hippies in communes.  Companies use “Green” to sell products that have no business being near that word.  So if you’re trying to convince someone to conserve energy and water, use “energy conservation” or tie it into “energy independence.”  If you are arguing health aspects, use “chemical free,” “carcinogen free,” “hypoallergenic,” or just plain “healthy.”

Um, you’ve probably gotten the idea by now that I like to craft with felted wool sweaters, right? The twenty-pound cardboard box on my study floor full of cut-up wool sweaters tells me that this is true. And you’ve probably also figured out that I prefer to use acrylic felt made from recycled plastic over conventional wool felt (and you don’t agree–I swear, that Wool Comes from Sheep post is the only one I have ever seen on all of Green Options in which a commentor calls a blogger a Bad Name. A Bad Name! Really? Because of crafting? I sort of left the world of academics in favor of crafting to avoid crazy politics, but anyway…).

Ahem. My point, now that I’ve gotten around to it, is that I actually do craft with new wool, but I need to know where that wool has come from so that I can assure myself that the sheep were humanely raised as the happy, frolicsome beasts they’re meant to be (I assume–never having raised sheep myself, they could be fierce and blood-thirsty predators, for all I really know).

And one of the awesomest kinds of wool to craft with, especially if you’re not a spinner or a knitter, is wool roving (just don’t use superwash!). You can felt wet-felt wool roving to make your own felt, or you can welt-felt it around a form. A good project for a newbie is this one, in which we’re going to wet-felt some roving around a river rock. It will be hefty but soft, good for anything from a paperweight to a plaything:

After years of protests and obstacles, Wal-Mart has given up on plans to build a giant SuperCenter store on the environmentally-sensitive White Slough in Vallejo, CA.

Environmental activists were joined by Vallejoans for Responsible Growth and California Healthy Communities Network in their opposition to the plans from the start. Due to their vocal opposition, Vellejo’s city council forced a $700,000 independent environmental investigation into the plans in 2007.

Carl Pope, the longest-serving Executive Director in the Sierra Club’s storied history, announced today that he will step down from his leadership position

The great debate among environmentalists is that having children is bad for the environment (or rather, that NOT having children is good for the environment). If we listen to and subscribe to this mentality then we are on the road to self extinction.

There are valid considerations when one is deciding to have children (and how many children to have) like religion and your capacity to care for children. Among these issues should not be the “save the earth, don’t breed” mentality. IMO, this mentality places a greater emphasis on animal rights and earth over HUMAN LIFE and Family. Something is just wrong with that priority assignment.

We all must work toward environmental protection. We must reduce our footprint on this earth and we must raise children who are aware and carry on in earth saving efforts.

This is why I believe that we should be the people raising MORE CHILDREN. By the very nature of parenting, I am raising children who are conscious of the impact of everything they do on the earth. They CARE about conservation and reducing consumption. They are experts on recycling and reducing energy consumption. They live and value natural, organic and local food consumption. These children will grow up to be tomorrows adults who will be making policy that will promote ENVIRONMENTALISM.

If those of us who care strongly about our environment do not raise children then who will raise warriors of this earth?

Bill McKibben, well known for his environmental writings, has compiled the foundational writings of American environmentalism and stuffed them into a 1,000 page epic tome that anyone with a green bone in their body would love to add to their bookshelf.

May Day, Mother’s Day, Memorial Day and even Cinco de Mayo… lots to celebrate in May.  We had lots to celebrate at sustainablog, also… especially a bevvy of new voices who joined us during the month.

Those new writers got us over our Spring fever slump, and took sustainablog in some very interesting new directions…

May 2008

• Keith Rockmael reviewed the film A Convenient Truth: Urban Solutions from Curitiba.
• Our friends at Low Impact Living suggested five eco-smart ways to spend your tax rebate.
• GO editorial intern Oscar Cardenas explored the environmental impact of using echinacea to fight colds.
• Guest poster Max Gladwell argued that social media can change the world.

We’ve covered Sea Shepherd and their new television show “Whale Wars” quite a bit the past couple months, and while we love the organization and the show, we must admit that we cringe every time they make a disastrous mistake on the TV show. But things are looking brighter for the next season, being filmed currently: Sea Shepherd has brought along a former US Navy Lieutenant, Jane Taylor.

On Wednesday the FBI announced it is increasing the reward for information leading to the arrest of four people accused of sabotage attacks in five Western states,”including the largest eco-related arson in history, a $26 million arson at the Vail Ski Resort in Vail, Colorado.”