From 830pm – 930pm (your local time). One hour. March 27. Turn off all the lights.
Sit in the dark and pray.
Enjoy the dark with someone you love.
Play board games by candle light.
Lay out a blanket on the ground, cork a bottle of wine, and watch the sky, count the stars.
How would you ideally spend one electricity-free hour of your evening?
Earth Hour, the annual event. March 27. 830-930pm.
I’m a purest. Meaning, do not take this time to play on your laptop (which has been previously charged via electricity). Do not use flashlights for reading. Do not spend the hour babbling on your cellphone.
Yes, I know the candles you burned required electricity to create (odds are), not to mention are likely made from inefficient petroleum products.
I believe, however, that the point is to be aware of living in that moment, with the planet, and consciously reducing your impact.
The hour will fly, and hopefully you can have a joyful memory from the time you took to celebrate the 2010 Earth Hour.
Sustainably yours,
Ashley Sue
PS. I opted not to use the “Dim the Lights” graphic for the annual event. Go big or go home. Why dim the lights when, really, you should just turn them off? Are you focusing on the point if you leave the TV on while your lamps are off? I do not think so. Any rebuttals?
In honor of Earth Day, I figure I should share a completely beautiful and inspiring video of David Gottfried and Van Jones discussing what we are working toward and how this transformation is happening.
You could certainly say I am drinking the Van Jones kool-aid. After all, he’s beautiful, he’s a humanitarian, he’s intelligent, he’s positive, he’s insistent. Why would I fight that?
Truly, take a few minutes to fall captive to the video on urban renewal and environmental progress for a new world.
And take a minute to smile. Take a deep, rejuvenating breath, exhale, and smile.
Every time I go to Facebook, I see my Lil Green Patch, the application that lets you send cute cartoon plants to your other “Greenies” Facebook friends, and in return, the application sponsor contributes money to help save a rainforest. To date, I have saved 27 square feet of Costa Rican rainforest. Just by wasting an extra three minutes a week. Additionally, the application operators claim that the donation made in November 2008 saved over 96 million square feet of rainforest.
Could we actually be helping save rainforest by piddling energy into an application that is likely working to soak up marketing information about each of us? Or is this yet another greenwash?
According to the “Lil Green Patch” FAQ section:
The developers of (Lil) Green Patch are using sponsorship revenue from advertisers to make donations to the Nature Conservancy’s Adopt an Acre program. Adopt an Acre is a program that provides critical funds for rainforest protection and restoration. You can visit the following site to learn more about this program:
So, somehow, someway, supposedly, advertisers are paying the Nature Conservancy for the ability to surf through our Facebook page via our Lil Green Patch. I guess that is better than surfing the web with no gain.
Ultimately, I don’t know. I guess it is a waste of a few minutes a week, but I figure if I am going to waste three more minutes on Facebook, it is nice to think it goes to help something worthy.
Here in the Triangle, we finally got a few days of summer heat, though it pales in comparison to the month straight of 100 degrees that we faced August 2007.
Regardless, Marc and I have been so happy to leave windows open most of this summer. Worst case scenario, we would close the windows during the day and occasionally turn on the air conditioning, just to turn it off and reopen the windows in the evening. This has been wonderful, and allowed me to hear crickets chirp nonstop all summer.
Crickets bring me to a deep sense of peace.
Back to the air conditioning, the last few nights have been humid enough that we decided to keep the windows closed and AC on for the last three or four nights.
Now, Marc’s and my allergies are flairing up. He has been extra lethargic for the last 24 hours, and my infamous earaches are kicking in.
Coincidence? I think not.
Air conditioning. Bad for the Earth. Bad for people.
And before you go calling me an unrealistic granola, please remember I never lived in a home that had an air conditioner until a few years back when I moved here to Raleigh… but I have lived in humid North Carolina my entire life, and faced many thick, muggy summers. I agree with Sue Sturgis that we, as humans, have got to work back toward acclimating to our natural environment, for our own sake and the sake of the planet.
I am so very happy that temperatures are back in the 70s, however, and that my windows are open again!
Here in the Triangle, the housing market isn’t our biggest financial woe. Energy costs is.
As the price of energy goes up incrementally every day, we are less concerned with foreclosures (though some do face this nightmare, we are significantly lower in foreclosures than the national average) and far more concerned with the cost of going to work.
My own commute, as hypocritical as it may seem, is often over 60 miles a day. Nope, I’m not willing to bike that. That’s a price I pay to live where is convenient to Marc’s work (Raleigh) and me work in the city that I love and dream of (Durham). The extra kicker is that Marc drives for a living sometimes (UPS).
My sister and I were on the phone last week and joked how we’re tag-teaming to kick the Ozone’s butt, letting it know we will all do our part to destroy it a quickly as possible. Joking is all we can do to rid ourselves of some of our guilt in an action so contrary to the lives we *want* to lead and the values our hearts carry.
Then we lightened up and agreed we do our part in other areas. We try to shop and eat responsibly. We try to keep the lights off, and to use CFL or LED lights where they make sense (don’t use them in closets… that doesn’t make sense). We wash dishes only in a full dishwasher and laundry in cold water most of the time.
We are big proponents of alternative energy ~ smart research and application of alternative energies ~ here at Green Grounded. Wind is one of our faves, so far, along with solar, and even switchgrass. And there are no definitive answers right now, but by God, the current situation is bleak and getting bleaker. At the current rate, some Triangle residents will have to choose between gas to get to work and healthy food for their families, or their rent, or (more…)
On May 31st, this Saturday, at Common Ground Green Building Center and Kitchen Design (326 W Geer St), the Durham authors will be signing their newly published book, The Carbon-Free Home. The book is their lessons learned from their own purchase and renovation of their 1930s Durham residence.
Here’s a bit about the authors, Stephen and Rebekah Hren, according to Chelsea-Green publishing:
Stephen and Rebekah Hren live in Durham, North Carolina, where they are both actively involved with renewable energy, natural building, and edible urban gardening. Rebekah works with Honey Electric Solar, Inc., as a professional designer/installer of photovoltaic systems and domestic solar hot-water systems. Stephen is a professional restoration carpenter, focusing on antebellum houses. He teaches natural-building classes and workshops at the local community college, and in any spare time works with Bountiful Backyards, an edible-landscaping cooperative.
I generally steer clear of global warming arguments… so why am I promoting this?
Obviously, besides the cool factor of a Durham couple being so environmentally passionate that they sought out to accomplish the house and the book, I love Common Ground. Forget Home Crappot and go here, the BEST home improvement store in the Triangle ~ seriously! Plus, using recycled products and energy efficient products, not to mention sustainable flooring and cabinet options, all equal a healthier home. A home free of toxic fumes and residual poisons. THAT is really important to me no matter what your stance on greenhouse gases.
So check out this local couple and absorb the awesome mission they took on. Get to your locally-owned bookstore, buy The Carbon-Free Home, and get to the book signing! Then get your booty cooking on oil-independence!
I am going “there” to let you know how I feel about all this talk from Hillary Clinton and John McCain about a gas tax holiday. I think it’s ridiculous. Yep. I went there.
We are within 24 hours of voting in the primary elections, and for the first time in ages, NC has an opinion that the entire nation actually cares to hear. When’s the last time that happened, eh?
What I think much of the US fails to know about NC is that we are an incredibly complex little state. A state that is much bigger than people give us credit for, with a tremendous population boom that has no end in sight.
On top of our tremendously growing population, we are a diverse people, mixed heavily of all different nationalities, backgrounds, religions and socio-economic standings.
We have farmers fighting for their due credit, respect and compensation. We have growing energy concerns and a couple major nuclear plants. We have the hub of technology and education that is the Triangle and the hub of finance that is the Charlotte Metropolitan area. We have a dying furniture and textile industry, leaving many babyboomers without job stability or adequate retirement. We have tremendous transportation issues, from whether and how to create efficient mass transit, to making roads safer for bicyclers, to severe droughts and infrastructure issues for such growth, to housing and building and bridge concerns, to reducing emissions and commute times for our residents.
And those are just tidbits of all that NC is but has yet to be fully recognized for.
After hearing a variety of arguments in many directions, I do not see how having a gas tax holiday (if they could even get congress and the President to back it) is helping working-class Americans, as so many NC residents are. Don’t bother thinking I am also “out of touch” or “elitist”. I myself am from two working-class American families that have worked far too hard to have earned as little as they do.
I found this clip on 2sides2ron that really highlights why I think that supply and demand are all the evidence we need to see that a gas tax holiday is a short-term relief for a large-scale problem… and in reality, the bandage will only make the problem worse.
So get out there tomorrow and VOTE, no matter whether you agree with me or not… or don’t complain. Don’t complain about immigration. Don’t complain about our factories closing down and getting shipped overseas. And don’t complain about how much you are paying at the pump.
My friends Jake and Anna have done an AMAZING job looking through NC Assembly laws, on the books or in the works, and highlighted the top 20 on greening our state responsibly.
18. Senate Bill 948 – Small Dairy Sustainability
This bill would allow for consumers to contract with local farmers to become partial or complete owners of dairy animals. The original edition of this one was just to allow for people to contract with local farmers to buy fresh milk, but it turned into the current bill that would allow consumers to buy into a local farm to get fresh milk, it now would also require a health warning of the dangers of raw milk, but the nature remains the same. It would allow for small dairy farmers to stay afloat, and for people to support and take part in local agriculture and give themselves a local food source.
3. Senate Bill 927/House Bill 1073 – Green School Construction Loan Fund/Program
This basically allows for schools to get no interest loans for the purpose of green constructions or renovations. With the number of schools going up in the state every year (especially Wake County) there is no reason why they shouldn’t be building as green as they can, and this would help them cover a lot of those costs.
Whoa~ I just saw a spot with Al Sharpton and Pat Robertson uniting together for climate and environmental responsibility. I’m not sure how I feel about it, but I have to say I am happy to see an issue that UNITES so many people!
From Durham to Raleigh to Pittsboro to Chapel Hill to Clayton to Wake Forest, the entire Triangle is getting down and getting dirty to celebrate Mother Earth this Saturday (April 19th). Here are some of the Rockstar events going on THIS weekend, as well as which ones you are apt to see me! (more…)
