Green Options

Over half of schools in England have achieved Eco-School status, UK Environment Secretary Hilary Benn announced today.

“Schools have an important part to play in helping young people to build a greener future for us all and it’s young people that will lead the way in creating a healthy environment for future generations,” says Secretary Benn.

Run by Keep Britain Tidy, the Eco-Schools program encourages children and teachers to make their school more environmentally-friendly and sustainable.  They follow a simple seven step process covering themes including waste, healthy living and biodiversity.

Being this is my first post with Green Options, and with Eco Child’s Play, I thought I’d confer with my son about what the topic should be.  His answer went something like this…

“You need to tell people that we only have one Earth, and we need to take better care of it.  Also, people need to stop littering.  That’s gross.  Besides, when you think about it, the Earth is our home…and you don’t throw garbage around on the floor of your home!”

What a brilliant analogy.  That’s one thing I love about children, they tell it like it is.

Autumn is a particularly wonderful season for wandering in the woods. As the leaves start to change color and then reach their peak with smoldering hues, you find yourself surrounded with some of the most spectacular productions of natural “science.”

Of course, autumn brings the natural surroundings into their dying season, the time of falling into a state of rest after sprouting in spring and ripening in summer. Still, a walk in the woods will reveal that even this “dying” season is full of life and wonder, from the acorns hitting you on the head to the fallen leaves swishing around your feet.

But wandering through the woods in this season can also be dangerous because it is a particularly active hunting season. So if you like orange, you will do well to don an extra bit of it so that an eager hunter does not mistake you for a deer, bear, or some other living thing to shoot for. Better safe than sorry.

Wandering through the woods during hunting season is disconcerting, if not dangerous, for another reason as well. Those same hunters with itchy trigger fingers frequently drop more than just shell casings and, sadly, various woodland creatures.

As you stumble through the swishing blanket of leaves, you may well stumble upon and even trip over any number of bottles, cans, boxes, bags, and other bits of litter that hunters often leave behind. It seems that stalking prey is a pretty energy-intensive activity, requiring ample supplies of beer, soda, and convenience foods, among other hunting accessories, to keep the hunting senses keen. (Another favorite seems to be tobacco dip. A bottle or can filled with the spit-water from this surely toxic concoction will likely leave you thinking you have come upon a dead animal; you will certainly not be inclined to pick the litter up!)

Once upon a time, I came to a stop at the intersection of two country roads on the outskirts of Charlottesville, Virginia. Dutifully and lawfully stopped in my car, dutifully and lawfully looking both ways before turning, I happened to notice a scattering of plastic cigar tips on the pavement.

At first I was perplexed: Why would someone empty his or (less likely) her ashtray at an intersection? And why cigars?

But then my confusion turned to consternation. Here I was, stopped atop a pile of someone’s waste after having just driven over the mighty Rivanna River, with mountains and trees and blossoms and birds and blue sky virtually enveloping my senses, and now plastic cigar tips present themselves to my perception!

Alas, my heart sank like a stone in that roiling river I had just traversed.

Ever since that traumatic experience in an otherwise idyllic setting, the presence of human detritus has grown ever more prominent in my environmental awareness. Fast-food containers, plastic grocery bags, soda-pop bottles, sometimes even car parts—-here, there, everywhere, it seems that humanity is only visible in the things it has thrown away.

Almost everywhere nowadays, not just in my fairly rural locale, any patch of grass or stand of trees seems be a field of litter waiting for harvest.

But the farmers and the field hands seem to be sleeping in this season.

I’m traveling trough Patagonia, Argentina, and exploring how eco-friendly the Patagonians are.

I drove through route 3. It runs across Argentina from north to south, next to the Atlantic coast. Here you can see a beautiful landscape, steppe to one side and deep blue ocean to the other.

Patagonia: it’s a land of dinosaurs, oil and strong winds. The latter is responsible for a horrifying realization–how dirty it is! The last time I visited Patagonia was six years ago, and I didn’t see the mass amount of plastic bags everywhere.

Isabel Isaaccura Hudson: Environmentalism in Venezuelan | The situation is one so complex. Venezuela is a petroleum country, so as such, petroleum and its derivatives being the patronage of education, health, security, etc, it’s difficult for a Venezuelan to see the the importance of caring for the environment. Very few people are going to judge thereby the petroleum industry.

For another part, the common people don’t have the conscience or awareness of “not littering.” They throw anything out the window of their cars, as the laws won’t fine them money. Nevertheless, the people adore nature, because it´s beautiful, and they like to enjoy it, only that very few take care that it continues to be beautiful.Some people see [environmentalists] as hypocrites for calling themselves ecologists while continuing to consume pollutedly in their daily lives. Others applaud them, but continue with the course of their lives.

[I don't consider myself an environmentalist] because apart from trying to be, I continue to pollute in one form or another.

Michael Hudson: Environmentalism in Venezuela | I see the Venezuelan’s stance towards the environment as identical to that of the U.S. There is the odd practicing environmentalist who walks, bicycles or climbs into a packed tram, minibus, or subway just in principal. However the majority are mostly talk. Just like in the U.S., people here complain constantly about pollution, and the environment is always at the front line when they don´t want something to happen, but very few are willing to consume less packaged goods or drive less.

Smoking, it's bad for everyone's health. Besides the drawbacks of the smoke, cigarettes also create another issue - litter. Yesterday we talked about promotional flyers - one item that most people don't have an issue with tossing on the ground. Cigarette butts, however, certainly take the cake when it comes to a socially accepted practice of littering.

The person that really masters how to create effective, carbon neutral, and waste free marketing and advertising will get rich - we guarantee it. Because believe us, people - the flyers aren't working. Whether it is to advertise a local pizza place, a nightclub, or a special event, these pieces of paper don't work.