January 1, 2008
Happy New Year from Green Buckeye
"To be hopeful in bad times is not just foolishly romantic. It is based on the fact that human history is a history not only of cruelty but also of compassion, sacrifice, courage, kindness.
What we choose to emphasize in this complex history will determine our lives. If we see only the worst, it destroys our capacity to do something. If we remember those times and places - and there are so many - where people have behaved magnificently, this gives us the energy to act, and at least the possibility of sending this spinning top of a world in a different direction.
And if we do act, in however small a way, we don't have to wait for some grand utopian future. The future is an infinite succession of presents, and to live now as we think human beings should live, in defiance of all that is bad around us, is itself a marvelous victory."- Howard Zinn
Labels: inspiration
I took their carbon foot print test and it was pretty interesting, but they said that I put out 4.5 tons of carbon while another test gave me like 15 tons? I think I trust earthlab.com’s test a little more (because my score is lower). Does anyone know about any other tests?
If the economics don't work, recycling efforts won't either.
As our little contribution to make this economics of recycling more appealing, http://LivePaths.com blogs about people and companies that make money selling recycled or reused items, provide green services or help us reduce our dependency on non renewable resources.
I don't know anything about earthlab.com. They have posted an "about" page here,and they sound pretty legit:
http://www.earthlab.com/about-earthlab.aspx
There are numerous carbon footprint calculators on the web. Google "carbon footprint calculator" to get a long list of them. There is one on the federal EPA website, another one at the energy company BP's web site, and many, many others.
Which calculator is most accurate? I don't know. My philosophy is that the act of taking the test (any of them) is educational and builds awareness in and of itself. So the final "score" is not as important as the act of taking the test and acting on your new awareness and knowledge.
Bob Dylan once said, "You don't need a weatherman to know which way the wind blows." Trust your own good sense! You know that you'll have a lower carbon footprint if you eat less meat, eat food produced locally, choose organic, bike or walk (or use public transportation) instead of taking the car, turn the thermostat down, replace your next burned out traditional incandescent bulb with a compact fluorescent lamp (CFL), reduce your overall consumption, reuse what you can, recycle what can be recycled, upcycle old stuff into fun new things, and all those little things that we can all do.
I'm excited to see a resource on the web for green business. Thanks for pointing it out.
I agree that in a capitalist society we have to make the economic argument for green action. Otherwise, as they say, that dog won't hunt.
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