Black Gold and Blues

On the day that yet another attempt was made to cap the disasterous oil leak in the Gulf, I reread a blog post from the NRDC on 5/21, about dealing with the feelings of frustration and anger. Since I awoke this morning to news stories of pelicans drowning in oil and the spread heading towards all of our mid-Atlantic beaches, rereading Sheryl Eisenberg's thoughts stemmed the flow of some of my tears. For now. In my rage against the machine I offer some of her words to help us all funnel action to good:

From This Green Life blog of the NRDC: Gulf of Mexico Oil Spill -- What You Can Do

In 1968, when I learned about the population bomb in biology class, I was overwhelmed. The planet was heading for disaster and there was nothing I could do to stop it. In the 70s, it was nuclear weapons; in the 80s, the ozone hole. This spring, it's the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico. But these days I know something I didn't know then. There is always something I/you/we can do.

I don't mean we can erase the disaster that has already occurred. That's oil under the bridge—and if we're unlucky, into the Gulf Stream. What we can do is help prevent recurrence. For recurrence is not only likely but inevitable as long as we allow offshore drilling, depend on oil and, indeed, continue to consume energy as if there were an unlimited supply.

Therefore, this is the time—when we are sick at the thought of the workers killed, sea turtles and other endangered species harmed, fisheries ruined, coastline polluted and coral reefs destroyed—to change our lives.

To begin, we must change our mindset.

We are running on borrowed energy. Oil is just one part of the problem—and oil spills just one of the risks. The trouble is our whole fossil fuel driven way of life. There is not a big enough store of fossil fuels on earth to sustain it, and if there were, it would only make matters worse. Prices would go down and use would go up. The environmental costs of extraction would rise and the climate would be wrecked that much sooner and more completely, perhaps irretrievably so.

We who care need to follow Gandhi's dictum and "be the change we wish to see in the world."

Here's how.

Step 1: Drive less. Do you hop in the car whenever you need something? Zigzag across the landscape to perform errands in opposite directions? Drive where you could easily walk? Join the club.

Americans burn up gas so freely because it hardly seems to cost them anything. The price at the pump is deceptively low and the true price—environmental destruction—is hard to recognize.

But for this brief moment in time, thanks to the oil spill, we can connect the dots. Use the opportunity to change the way—and amount—you drive. Plan your trips. Carpool. Walk. Bike. Give public transportation a chance.

Step 2: Care and repair. Cars and appliances, along with virtually everything else in our consumer culture, are considered more or less disposable nowadays. Since we expect to replace them, we don't keep them in good working order. Thus, they continue to operate, but grow less and less efficient, eating up energy unnecessarily when they run.

So take your car for regular tune-ups, keep the tires inflated, change your air conditioner filters, lubricate the moving parts of motors and do all those other pesky maintenance tasks recommended in the manuals.

Step 3: Get energy-efficient equipment. The difference between conventional products and energy-efficient ones can be quite staggering. For instance, an incandescent bulb uses four times as much energy to produce a given quantity of light as a compact fluorescent bulb—and 10 times as much as an LED. Yes, the energy-efficient alternatives cost more to buy, but they also cost less to operate. Besides, becoming the change you want to see in the world includes paying more for a cleaner, safer future. So, shop for Energy Star appliances and factor fuel economy into your choice of car.

Step 4: Go local—and not just with food. It's simple: goods need to be transported to market. The shorter the distance, the less energy required. Therefore, look for products made close to home.

Step 5: Change your habits. Today's norm is to live wastefully, but you don' t have to go along. To save energy:

• Turn off lights when not in use.
• Wash full loads of dishes and laundry.
• Air dry both.
• Change your clothes before the thermostat.
• Unplug chargers and always-on appliances.
• Reuse and recycle.
• Eat less meat.

Step 6: Buy less stuff. It takes energy to produce goods. Think twice before you throw it away on things you do not need.

Whatever you do, don't let this moment pass without some step toward change.

And one thing I just did with some savings from buying less? Contributed to the Coalition to Restore Coastal Louisiana. It's a start.

Madder than Bette

I read an infuriating (to my bleeding heart (see previous post) sensibilities) response to an op-ed piece co-authored by founder of the NY Restoration Project/singer/actor, Bette Midler, and Connie Roosevelt, in the Daily News. And for all the social media know-how I've acquired techno-snafus on the News's site got the better of me and I couldn't reply on that site. So, just to channel my fury, thought I'd share here:
Bette's appeal was for the stimulus package to support and encourage more green-collar jobs, particularly to the benefit of her pet project: NYC Parks. The lame response posted by "woodrose" was that that was like "redecorating a burning house."

"Really, Woodrose?", as Seth Meyers might say.

MY response to Woodrose is to consider what we're facing, pal! We have to think beyond our current paychecks (or lack thereof) and current generation. The benefit of keeping the city green is more than for beauty's sake (though that might help soothe that savage beast!)
As the parks dept site DOES say: "NYRP's work in parks and community gardens directly contributes to achieving four of these – Goal 3: Ensure that all New Yorkers live within a ten-minute walk of a park, Goal 7: Reduce global warming emissions by more than 30%, Goal 9: Clean up all contaminated land in New York City, and Goal 10: Open 90% of our waterways for recreation by reducing water pollution and preserving our natural areas." And sorry for the reality check, but by way of reminder, some facts I saw promoting a lecture by Gus Speth, Dean of the School of Forestry and Environmental Studies, Yale University, founder of Natural Resources Defense Council and World Resources Institute, former Administrator of the UN Development Programme say:

1. We need to confront the American people with how bad environmental conditions are:
“We (i.e., Americans)… are living a dream. We need to be reminded of the nightmare ahead. Here is the truth as I see it: we will never do the things that are needed unless we know the full extent of our predicament.”

2. We need to confront the public not just with climate change but with the full panoply of severe degradation of global ecosystems. “The rate of deforestation in the tropics continues at about an acre a second. About half the wetlands and a third of the mangroves are gone. An estimated 90% of the large predator fish are gone, and 75% of marine fisheries are now overfished or fished to capacity. Twenty percent of the corals are gone, and another 20% severely threatened. Species are disappearing at rates about a thousand times faster than normal. The planet has not seen such a spasm of extinction in 65 million years, since the dinosaurs disappeared. Over half the agricultural land in drier regions suffers from some degree of deterioration and desertification. Persistent toxic chemicals can now be found by the dozens in essentially each and every one of us....[There are} 200 dead zones in the oceans due to overfertilization….….Freshwater withdrawals doubled globally between 1960 and 2000, and are now over half the accessible runoff….[Major] rivers no longer reach the oceans in the dry season.”

3. Today’s environmental strategy will not succeed because: It works within today’s system of regulation and legislation. It works incrementally and accepts compromise. It allows the public to believe that problems can be solved at acceptable economic costs, without significant lifestyle changes. It tries to save global ecosystems without changing political systems. It does not organize the public. It overly depends on bureaucracies, e.g., EPA, Dept. of Interior, UNEP. "

Want to take some action? Call your senator today.