In support of Earth Day the environmental group at my church put together the following list of things you can do to care for the earth. It was a pretty good list so I thought I would share it with you (with a few changes). Some of these are ideas I have shared with you in the past and some are new.

1. Bring travel mugs with you to the coffee shop and save a disposible cup from being used. Also, you could ask that they fill your travel mug with fair trade, shade grown coffee.

2. Plan to ride your bike to work or on errands, take public transportation, or carpool at least once a month.

3. Eat at least one meatless meal a week. Contribute the money you save to a group that helps feed the hungry around the world. If you have kids, let them put the cash you save in a glass container so they see the results of their eating more simply.

4. Cut down on the amount of lawn watering you do in the summer. Better yet, decrease the amount of lawn you have a little bit each year by replacing turf with drought-tolerant native plants, trees, and shrubs that require less water. The two following links should be helpful in getting you started: High Country Gardens and Grown Native.

5. Recycle your computer printer cartridges. Office Depot will give you $2 off or a free ream of recycled printer paper with each cartridge you return (one per visit).

6. Bring cloth bags to the grocery store or when out shopping.

7. Substitute glass or ceramic for plastic containers when microwaving, and exchange cast iron pans for Teflon when cooking on the stovetop. It’s better for your health and the planet!

8. As you replace your light bulbs, do so with the more energy efficient ones. (Look for the energy star label on the package).

9. If you don’t recycle already, start now. Look online for your town or cities recycling guidlines.

10. Check your tires once a month to be sure they are properly inflated. Underinflated tires waste more than two million gallons of gasoline a day, and are a safety hazard.

Do you have any other simple changes that make a big difference? If you do, please share them with us.

I had never even heard of this before, but, apparently you can be more socially and environmentally friendly by what bank or credit card you choose to use. Banks and credit cards, in general, use your money via interest and fees to make more money. Many times the projects they fund may not be in line with your ethics, such as, illegal logging. For more information on which credit cards and banks to support and which ones not to support go to Co-op America.

In the next few days the Senate is going to be voting on whether or not to approve this year’s congressional budget. A provision has just been put in the budget to allow the oil industry to drill in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge. Please Take Action now by sending the provided letter to your senator. If this is your first time you will have to fill out a form and if you have been there before you should only have to look the letter over and click send. Since this is going to be voted on in the next couple of days it is important that you do this now.

Al Gore, former Vice President of the United States, made his movie debut, two months ago at the Sundance Film Festival in the documentry
An Inconvenient Truth. The movie tells of Gore’s growing passion over the past 30 years for the environment and the need to reverse global warming.

[At] the heart of Davis Guggenheim’s film, [An Inconvenient Truth], is this elegant multimedia lecture itself, where Gore indisputably correlates CO2 emissions with exponentially rising temperatures, already responsible for dramatic climactic shifts like ice-cap melting, drought, and rising sea levels. Interwoven with this riveting public address are intimate moments revealing the poetic, searching side of Gore as he struggles to define his purpose in the aftermath of the 2000 election. .This is activist cinema at its very best, for it serves to popularize and demythologize a problem long obscured by those most threatened by the solution. With humor and searing intelligence, Gore outlines crucial steps we must take to avert impending disaster and proves that inaction is no longer an option–in fact, it’s immoral.— Caroline Libresco

In addition to this, Gore recently spoke at the TED conference in Monterrey, CA where he received more raving reviews. This time it was for the moving speech he gave about global warming and the importance of everyone becoming educated and taking immediate action to protect our environment. He made clear that this is an issue that concerns everyone and, from the reports, convinced all that were in ear shot.

One of the more poignant points that Al Gore made in last night’s powerful speech about global warming was that a lot of people move directly from a state of denial about this issue to one of despair. People in the first state don’t go out and try to change things because they don’t see a problem. People in the second state are often no more inclined to act because they think the situation is hopeless. The fact that these are the two most stable cognitive states on this issue probably explains why a lot of people do, in fact, remain in denial. It’s human to avoid pain, and therefore perhaps natural to subconsciously choose a state of denial over the daily trauma of despairing for the future of humanity.

The main body of the speech musters a great sense of alarm about a formidable enemy (and by the way, I’ll use the present tense in the discussing the speech from now on because Mr. Gore indicated that it’s an on-going project that he’s presenting in as many forums as possible). To convert that alarm into an energized determination to do something, Mr. Gore needs to be equally persuasive in arguing that the enemy can actually be defeated. In light of this, perhaps the most important part of the speech is the tantalizing glimpse of hope that he offers at the end.

I have to admit that I still need to watch, An Inconvenient Truth, and that I am still trying to find a website where I can read his full speech (I found websites that had podcasts of the speech, but they were asked to take them down by TED before I had a chance to listen to them). Nevertheless, what I have read about both the movie and the speech say that Gore is very well educated on the issue of global warming and its compelling nature. My hope is, that those that watch An Inconvenient Truth or were able to listen to a speech he has given (or will hear a speech he gives in the future) will be persuaded to change their lifestyle to one that will help save our planet.

Dan Stafford told me about an online rally that his group Environmental Action kicked off today to try and stop President Bush’s plan to sell 300,000 acres of National Forest in order to raise money for the Federal Budget. Environmental Action is trying to get 1000 pictures submitted of people in their tree lovin’ environment and they are then going to pass all of these pictures on to President Bush and every member of Congress.

Join the rally by submitting a picture AND you can also Take Action by sending a letter (I would suggest that you edit the letter they provide) to your senator.

My husband and I love to travel and we (maybe more me than him) thought it would fun to travel a bunch this winter in order to get a break from the gloomy Chicago days. We have been traveling every weekend for over a month, visiting family and friends all over the U.S. We are now throughly tired and looking forward to spending a weekend at home.

Our last stop on our tour was Dallas to visit my family. On Saturday night we made a yummy dinner for the whole family (minus Andrew ) and then sat outside with a fire blazing to eat dessert and chat. We also opened my birthday presents, all of which were earth friendly! I loved all of them so much that I thought I would share with you what was in my goodie bag.

My step-mom, Amy, got everything from Green Living a very cool, earth friendly store located in Dallas, Texas.

1. Green Field Paper Birthday Card. What makes this card so cool is that I can grow it! The paper contains wildflower seeds and all I have to do is plant the entire card in the soil, make sure and water, and watch it grow.

2. Organic Cotton String Bag from Eco Bags. Their bags are made using fair wages and fair labor practices and are great for toting around stuff (like groceries) and because it is a string bag, when I am not using it I can store it somewhere and it won’t take up much room.

3. A Fair Trade and Sustainable Recycled Newspaper Frame (with a very cute picture of me, my sister Anna, and my sister-in-law Renee in it) hand made by a women’s Co-op in the Philippines and distributed and sold by Ten Thousand Villages.

4. A Hemp Frisbee by Ecolution that gets really high (Amy’s joke not mine).

5. Of The Earth Organic Cotton T-Shirt.

6. A fair trade Recycled Silk Bucket Purse made by artisans in Napal and distributed by Ganesh Himal Trading Co.

7. And last but not least, Chimp Mints Organic Chocolate by Endangered Species Chocolate Company. They make fair trade certified, organic chocolate and “donate 10 percent of it’s net profits to organizations that are committed to protecting endangered animal and plant species.” They also name their chocolates after endangered species to raise awareness and “and inside our labels chocolate lovers can read about the plight of these animals and learn how to contact specific organizations for more information.”

I also got a beautiful necklace but I don’t know anything about it, so, unfortunately I can’t share information on it.

Thanks Amy and Daddy for my great birthday presents!