Wishing you and yours a carbon neutral Christmas
Doesn’t quite have a catchy ring to it, but I gave it a shot anyway. Most of my friends know I’m interested in sustainability, and I’m also not the biggest holiday person. The environmentalist in me finds it hard to square with the rediculous consumption and waste that seems to define this time of year. I love spending time with family and enjoying the good cheer, but all the presents, wasted food, and other things are always bothering me.
So I tried to do things a little differently this year. For my extended family, I donated to www.carbonfund.org to offset 50,000 pounds of CO2 production for my family (really only 1/10 of what one person produces in a year, but I think it covers the impact of just our family christmas on the planet). So I guess you could say that for the first time ever, I took away something for christmas instead of giving. But I still felt wierd about that, so I bought a copy of An Inconvenient Truth book for every household in that attended my family xmas celebration – which turned out to be a great choice because the books producers have chosen to make it a carbon-neutral production by devoting some of the proceeds to carbon-offsetting.
It took a little explanation to the family to get them into it, but they all seemed to like the idea, and I feel better about my small stand against the waste of this time of year. And it started a family discussion on electric vehicles, the sort of topic we don’t often talk about on Christmas. What every family in the US started doing this? I think it would be a great step in the right direction.
More info, if you’re interested:
http://www.climatecrisis.net/
http://www.carbonfund.org
Happy Holidays all, lets shoot for a carbon-neutral Christmas in 2007!
December 29th, 2006 at 10:22 pm
I had an email from my brother in Africa posted on my desk back when I was writing for the Aggie. It had all kinds of thought provoking ideas in it. “Women are for talking to, milk is for tuberculosis” was one of them. Another one, which I think about often, was couched in his complaints that when he leaves the village for the city, he can’t stop eating ice cream. “I am a consumer, born and bred.”
I am a consumer. Born and bred. But I think a modest Christmas is happier than a lavish one. That being said, I still think you are a scrooge. Not because of your Christmas gifts this year, but because deep down inside, I know you, Alan Wells.
About the quote you gave me…what percent of the people do you think actually have that private, less dramatic wear-and-tear? I think the author and the Stern put the chicken before the egg. It isn’t a question of whether or not some writers have the ability to transform psychic entropy…it’s that some have psychic entropy and some don’t. Most people don’t have the grains of sand because they aren’t AWARE of their grains of sand. The writers who “convert the negative” do so because they are unable to duck the pain. The greatest artists did what they did because they had no choice. It was survival.
Not that I’m lumping myself in with the likes of them. I don’t think I’m a genius…we’ve been over this. You’re a scrooge, I’m not a genius. It’s just that, how can you say everyone has psychic entropy if you have ever been to Soga’s?
tshap