Social Scientists Respond to Grist Letter

Mike Tidwell certainly ruffled some feathers when he argued that voluntary actions aren't enough to protect the environment and that political legislation is necessary to fix the climate problem.

I was quite discouraged by this report. But thankfully, several bloggers like Beth in the Plastic Fish Tank, Experimentaholic, and Merry Meghan, as well as social scientists from Conservation Psychology, provided me with moral support and encouragement.

I think Tidwell was right when he said political action is needed to make significant changes in reducing global warming. But as I said in a recent comment, political and personal actions should not be considered as mutually-exclusive endeavors. This isn't an either/or situation: Both actions are necessary for making significant changes in our environment.

Anyway, the good news is that several conservation psychologists recently pulled together to write a response to Mike Tidwell's report. The response letter was published in Grist this week. It's entitled "The power of voluntary actions," and I hope you take a moment to read it. If anything, the Tidwell report challenged and strengthened my beliefs concerning the environment. Honestly, I'm grateful for this experience; it's good to be challenged and reminded why we do the things we do to protect the environment.

Bagonaut Triumphs!!

Egan "Bagonaut" Sanders sent me the latest press release concerning the Big Bag Event he hosted last weekend. Here's an excerpt:

Donned in his canvas bago-suit and helmet, self-proclaimed “Bagonaut” Egan Sanders emerged from BIGBAG1 at noon on Sunday, Sept 9th ending his 24 hour environmental odyssey. Bagonaut slowly descended an external ladder as the crowd of onlookers cheered. Moments later, he planted a large flag of the Earth into the ground and proclaimed, “That’s one small step for Bagonaut, one giant leap for reusable shopping bags!”

In addition, I received a small gift from Bagonaut today--a reusable canvas bag! I can tell this bag can easily carry groceries. It's mighty hefty! And the other cool feature about this bag is that there's a pouch to hold your belongings (i.e., wallet, keys, and so on).

That's me posing with my new bag. Sorry for the poor image quality; this photo was taken using my cell phone! Anyway, to read Bagonaut's latest press release, click here.

I gave my friend Dan some reusable bags about two months ago. He sent me this photo to prove to me that he's finally used his bags. Sweet!! Welcome to the club!! :0)

Our Plastic Waterfall

I must still be primed from the recent discussion concerning the use of disposable water bottles. This video does a nice job illustrating how much water-bottle waste is generated and subsequently trashed into landfills in contrast to the number of water bottles that are recycled. I think this visual illustration helps us comprehend what happens to those 28 billion water bottles after we're done drinking from them. Anyway, I hope you enjoy this little flick!

Bagonaut's Big Bag Event

This morning, I received a surprise call from none other than Bagonaut himself! I was so happy to hear that the Big Bag Event was a success. Over 1,000 people attended. As promised, the Mayor of San Angelo and the State Representative also came to the festival. Bagonaut was even blessed by a local Bishop!

In just 24-hours, 1200 reusable bags were given away to festival attendants and 3700 lbs of food were collected for charity. Wow, that's tremendous!!

And of course, Bagonaut was the star of the show! He was crane-lifted 80ft into the world's largest reusable bag. And he stayed in that bag for 24-hours. What a brave man!!

But on a more serious note, we both discussed why raising awareness about the consumption of plastic bags is important. "It's planting seeds," Bagonaut said.

And consistent with the growing plant metaphor is the idea of sustaining this momentum. Bagonaut has a few ideas on how to continue this project. One idea is to have a "Bagonette." Hmm, I wonder who might be the lucky girl to take on that role?? ;0)

GreenFest in Philly!!

My friend Sean sent me a couple photos from today's GreenFest in Philadelphia. I'm jealous--this festival is only 50 feet away from his apartment. Lucky guy!! So, for the time being, I guess I'll have to live vicariously through Sean.

Here's a photo that raised an eyebrow (at least for me):

Hmm, using plastic water bottles at an environmental event?? tsk, tsk...they should be using reusable bottles made from aluminum or non-leaching plastic, and/or disposable cups made from cornstarch.

Surely, these folks know that drinking water from disposable plastic bottles is problematic. According to the Consumer Recycling Institute, Americans consume an estimated 28 billion bottles of water each year. And it shouldn't surprise us that 80% of used water bottles get trashed into landfills, slowly leaching toxins into the environment for hundreds of years.

Okay, but before I get too persnickity, here's an alternative to trashing a used plastic bottle. Create a bird feeder!

It's apparently easy to make, though I'll let Sean provide the instructions on how to create this bird feeder.

You know what? Enough of this vicarious posting!! Here's Sean to tell us more about GreenFest:

Greenfest was a wonderful event, and I am proud that local residents are emphasizing this important issue. However, I think that there were several problems with the festival that need to be addressed in the future. For one, and if you know me, you know that I am into counting things; of the 120 booths I walked by, 90 of them were staffed by people drinking water out of plastic bottles. This seemed to me to be a bit disingenuous. Philadelphia tap water is known to be one of the best tap waters of the country, but instead of tapping (pardon the pun) into that resource, these individuals were drinking filtered tap water from plastic bottles, the same filtered water that I get from my own tap.

In addition, there were many people on the street handing out glossy pamphlets on heavy cardboard stock, and I was a bit perturbed by this. Given that the festival was about the environment, I was surprised that so many people were walking around handing out their position papers on expensive, hard to recycle paper. And there was an artist there who made a life-size human sculpture out of food...such as pumpkins and squash. I wondered whether that food would be better on a table as opposed to on the street.

So as much as I appreciated GreenFest, I think that there could be several improvements for future events. For one, having water stations where people could fill their aluminum or glass bottles as opposed to using thousands of plastic bottles. Another would be for the people who have booths at this event to not bring their materials in their SUVs...the neighborhood is filled with these big sports utility vehicles that are great for carrying sample solar panels but only provide 10 miles to the gallon. Finally, I think that there needs to be more thought and analysis into how to get people to make better decisions in respect to the environment and understand how to make people reduce their waste and their impact on the environment. Hopefully, such studies would shed light on how people understand the relationship between their economic and social practices and how that influences the environment.

Anyway, one thing I did see in the booths was how to make a bird feeder from a plastic bottle. Basically what you do is you get a soldering iron and burn a few holes in a plastic soda bottle so that you can pass a wooden dowel through the holes. Then, about an inch above the dowels, you burn another hole in the bottle so that the birds can eat the seed. You then use a funnel to pour bird seed into the bottle and make sure that no birdseed falls though the holes you burned into the plastic. You can alternatively use an exacto knife to cut the holes because I am not sure how wise it is to burn holes into plastic bottles in terms of the smoke that is formed from doing so. You hand this on a tree outside your home and you have an instant bird feeder...you fill it through the top opening of the feeder and hang it on a tree by wrapping some string around he mouth of the bottle. I am not sure whether this results in the best bird feeder out there (beware of squirrels) but it is one way of reusing a plastic bottle in a creative way, and a good project for young children.

Tomorrow is Bagonaut's Big Day!

Bagonaut's big day is tomorrow!! I really wish I could transport myself to San Angelo, TX to attend this event. In case you haven't heard, Egon "Bagonaut" Sanders has organized a Big Bag Event to raise public awareness on the consumption of plastic bags. As with any big event, there will be fun activities (e.g., live music, film festival) and insightful discussions about this issue for kids and adults. Bagonaut is also giving away free reusable bags for anyone who donates a canned food item for charity. Plus, the Mayor and State Representative will be in attendance to provide their support--good, we need this kind of political support. People need to know that these environmental issues is everybody's problem, and that everyone needs to pitch in to reduce the negative impact we're imposing on the environment.

And who wants to miss the greatest spectacle of all? Bagonaut will be lowered by crane into the world's largest reusable bag. He'll remain in this bag for 24-hours nonstop starting at 12pm tomorrow!

Good luck, Bagonaut!!! I am sending you positive thoughts and wishing you success for tomorrow's Big Bag Event! :0)

Baroda Fest

I would just like everyone to know that I will be in my town of Baroda, Mi this Sat from 10am-5pm having a craft booth. Let us hope the weather will be good. I will have most of my craft items for sale. So bring the wallet or plastic (visa, mastercard, discover, amex); hope to see some of you there. Thanks Jennifer, jensgalleryandgifts.com

This Really Is TMI...

Too much information, that is. And especially if you're a guy, you may want to stop reading this post right about now!! (Or consider yourself fairly warned, this post is about menstration.)

There, that ought to have scared all the guys away from this post! :0) So, okay, I finally joined hundreds of other women out there who have switched from using tampons to the DivaCup.

And why has this taken me months to make the switch?

Honestly, I was very, very apprehensive (ok, scared! There I said it!) to make this change. But I finally buckled down this morning and did it. And you know what? It works like a charm! I'm not kidding. I'm really amazed with this product. It's much, much better than using tampons. Seriously! But I totally understand if you feel squeamish for making this change--just remember, it's really not as bad as you might think. To read other reviews about this product from women all over the country, check-out the comments posted on Crunchy Chicken's blog here.

Voluntary Actions Aren't Good Enough

In today's Grist Magazine, I read a provocative article by Mike Tidwell who argues that voluntary actions aren't good enough to solve the climate problem.

I think he may be right.

And it's downright troubling for me to think that my personal attempts to reduce, reuse, and recycle may have no effect on reducing the so-called "ecological footprint" or resolving the current climate crisis we're facing.

So, if personal action is not enough to combat global warming, then what's the alternative solution? To find out about Mike Tidwell's suggestion, click here to read his report.