We’re Going On The Air

I’m pleased to tell you I’ll soon be conducting full-length interviews about sustainability on your very own radio dial . We’ve made an arrangement with WRRC-FM (107.7) to do weekly taped broadcasts, beginning early February.

I can interview anybody. Locals, not-so-locals, relevant luminaries of all kinds. Would you like to hear Al Gore? (I’m not kidding. (If he takes my call, we’ll line him up.)

Following each broadcast, the program will be available as a down-loadable podcast on the SL website.

Take this simple challenge. Post a “comment” here with your suggestions about whom to invite on the show. I’ve got a short list already, but this is going to be a weekly program, so I need your suggestions. Thanks.

Ralph

P.S. WRRC is Rider’s station. It reaches all of Lawrence and most of the rest of the county, including the Princetons, Hopewell Valley, Ewing, , parts of Trenton, and most of Hamilton. Coupla hundred thousand potential listeners. Their music format is what’s called “hot adult contemporary” (if you listen you get to call yourself a hot adult), and this year they’ll start doing Rider basketball. They shoot. They score.

Drawing the line…

Note: Here’s a guest post from Lauren Cyrsky. She may become a regular in this space or we may add an entirely separate blog that’s all hers. (Hey, I’m not the only around here with opinions.)

I love the environment probably more than the average person. I ride my bike instead of driving my car, I recycle, and I eat meat rarely. I do as much as I can to protect the planet. I feel like I’m making up for all the environmentally unconscious people in the world. Am I the only one feeling as if this is a huge task?

A full-time job consumes close to nine hours of the average person’s day, leaving us with less time to devote to being green. My mind works overtime to find ways to do my part. I bring reusable canvas grocery bags to the store and even the mall. When I forget them, my stomach drops and I panic a little. I end up carrying (and sometimes juggling) my purchases in my arms. I know I sleep better at night when I’m able to keep one plastic bag from ending up in a landfill.

Being environmentally conscious has left me stressed and anxious. Are fluorescent-colored Post-it notes recyclable? How toxic is the sticky stuff on the back? Is using my color printer a bad idea? I went to ShopRite twice this week, creating more air pollution than I would have with one trip.

I’ve considered bringing my own cup and utensils to restaurants that only offer disposable plastic. I’ve even considered a crusade for stores to allow you to opt out of receiving a paper receipt.

It all adds up, and sometimes my brain has a hard time keeping up. Some days, I resign myself to the fact that no one is perfect and one person can’t change the world. Other days, I want to start a new trend by bringing my own place setting to my favorite diner.

Where do I draw the line on having a normal level of environmental awareness and not being a green psycho? Or don’t I?

Lauren

Think You’re Smart?

Try this…

1.  Where exactly does your garbage go, and what happens to it when it gets there?

2.  Name three streams that run through Lawrence Township.  Where do they come from, and where do they wind up?

3.  Name ten bird species native to this area.  Too hard?  Name five.

4.  Winter’s coming.  What direction do winter storms in our region typically come from?  Summer storms?

5.  How much annual rainfall in inches do we normally get here in Mercer County?  Note: According to County Extension Agent Barbara Bromley, Mercer County typically gets more rain than Seattle!

6.  Name five trees native to the Delaware Valley

7.  Final question, in two parts: a) How can you take care of a region if you don’t know what it is?  b) How can you expect our children to respect and care for the character of our region if we don’t teach them what it is?

Ralph

Two Quotations

The earth is what we all have in common…it is what we are all made of and
what we live from…we cannot damage it without damaging those with whom we share it…There is an uncanny resemblance between our behavior toward each other and our behavior toward the earth…By some connection that we do not recognize, the willingness to exploit one becomes the willingness to exploit the other…It is impossible to care for each other more or differently than we care for the earth.

– Wendell Berry
Anything else you’re interested in is not going to happen if you can’t breathe the air and drink the water.  Don’t sit this one out.  Do something.  You are by accident of fate alive at an absolutely critical moment in the history of our planet.

– Carl Sagan

Why Isn’t It More Obvious?

Banks failing, retail sales way down, credit all but gone, money drying up everywhere.  Mine, for sure.  Yours, too, maybe.

So get sustainable.  Today I turned off the dryer and put the clothes on the line.  More sustainable, saves money.  (Really should be doing this ALL the time.)  Drive less.  More sustainable, saves money.  Eat local food.  More sustainable, saves money.  (Not sure why?  Ask me.)

Yesterday I was at Rider working with seniors in a communications course.  I busted chops about plastic water bottles.  Again.  The professor, too.  Tap water: more sustainable, saves money.

Gee, there’s a pattern here.

Ralph

P.S. Happy Birthday to Meagan Terry, TCNJ senior and former SL intern.  Turned 21.  Applying for a position with the Green Corps.  Go Meagan!

Thoughts from a Master…

Another guest post. This one from that amazing Wendell Berry.  This is excerpted from a 1992 essay entitled, “Conservation Is Good Work”…  (Side comments in italics by yours truly.)

No settled family or community has ever called its home place an “environment.”  None has ever called its feeling for its home place “biocentric” or “anthropocentric.”  None has ever thought of its connection to its home place as “ecological,” deep or shallow.

(So, no fancy words that place a level of abstraction between us and where we live.  Just call it home.)

The concepts and insights of the ecologists are of great usefulness in our predicament (good word for it), and we can hardly escape the need to speak of “ecology” and “ecosystems.”  But the terms themselves are culturally sterile.  They come from…juiceless, abstract intellectuality…invented to disconnect, displace, and disembody the mind.  The real names of the environment are the names of the rivers and river valleys; creeks, ridges, and mountains; towns and cities; lakes, woodlands, lanes, roads, creatures, and people.

Where do you live?  Do you know the place?  How can you take care of a place if you don’t know what it is?

Ralph

Silver Lining to the Financial Crisis? (Guest Contributor)

It is all too obvious how difficult the financial crisis is for the average person and family. But the financial ‘meltdown’ is an enevitible correction which will result in a reality-based economic model and a return to healthier personal, family and social values.

As we look ahead to what economic forecasters are calling a ‘protracted recession’, it’s quite discouraging and anxiety-provoking. And as the scope of the crisis widens by the day, we’re seeing the global scale of the problem. The growing interconnectedness of commerce and culture is becoming more apparent. Across the globe, economists, political leaders and people in general have a shared objective – how to best navigate ourselves through this time of transition.

As a child growing up un the 1950’s, I remember my parents working to maintain a middle class lifestyle. While we were proud of the trappings of success, with the model year of the car in our driveway being the yardstick of family prosperity, the values of thrift and resourcefulness were still considered essential to our family well-being. In our backyard, behind the decorative hedge and rows of peonies, were carefully laid out beds of cabbages and lettuce, peas and broccoli, and other seasonal produce. The vegetable patch was located modestly behind the flower beds, and was tended as a matter of course.

Behind the vegetable patch stood a large square-shaped clothesline. It was always in use. Although we had an ‘automatic’ washer and dryer, my mother couldn’t bear to waste energy when the fresh air would dry our clothes and linens for free.

One of my responsibilities as a child was mowing the lawn. As a skinny little boy, I pushed an antiquated, clunky push mower to get the job done. When we finally moved to the modern age and got a power mower, my father bought an electric mower. He did not want the fuss or the stink of dealing with a gas-burning mower. And while gas was cheap back then, electricity still cost less.

Just about every young boy on our street wore patches at the knees of our jeans. New clothes were reserved for Sunday church service and special events. There was pride in being thrifty. While my parents enjoyed the exuberance of the emerging post-war economy, there was still a bedrock common sense applied to all expenses, born of the cold reality of life during World War II.
A few months ago, I read a survey taken in California in which 16 year old girls were asked to name their favorite activity. 71% named “shopping” as their #1 choice. Just a generation ago, results of that survey would have been “dancing”, “horseback riding”, “ice skating”, “singing” or similar personal interests.

With today’s escalating credit crunch, the notion of shopping as entertainment is finally falling by the wayside. Our appetite for consumer goods is slacking, and although caused by necessity rather than choice, the result is the same. And as difficult as this is for business and the short-term economy, we will benefit in the long run from lower per capita consumption.

Besides the economic uncertainty, of course, is the overarching concern of climate change and its myriad consequences. These twin threats require complementary solutions, as we are starting to realize that a healthy economy needs a healthy environment, clean energy and restrained resource use. Our challenge now is to recognize the opportunities during this time of transition to a more stable economy and a healthier relationship with our environment.

Today we are seeing many positive changes which bode well for our future. Businesses and government are embracing the concept of renewable resources. Scientists and researchers are reaching for ‘green’ energy solutions and carbon management strategies which, just 10 years ago, would not even receive funding for study. Communities are creating shared agricultural programs, and small neighborhood gardening co-ops are sprouting up in many areas. In the employment sector, ‘green jobs’ have become the preferred employment choices of today’s school graduates.

Although we are each affected differently by the financial crisis, we need to focus on the positive and look for the opportunities that accompany change. We can learn from the traditions of food security, thrift and modesty passed down from our parents and grandparents. We can pool resources with our neighbors, spend more time with our children in lieu of buying them more things, learn more about sustainable living practices and show our children how to put them to use.

As individuals and as a culture we are on the road to learning how to live sustainably. We can each take heart that, as rough as the road may be, the destination is a worthy goal.

GREG SEAMAN, founder of EarthEasy, contributed this column.  Gratefully reproduced with respect (but without expresspermission).  Contents do not necessarily reflect the position of Sustainable Lawrence.

While We Were Otherwise Engaged…

Amid the tumult of the financial markets, did you see the news that the world this year has generated more greenhouse gas than in any previous year?

We seem to be in lock-step here.  The larger we grow the world economy, the closer (and faster) we get to making our home planet a place where we are literally unable to survive.

This is a shame.  But do not fret.  Do not wring your hands.  And do not be deceived.  There are lots of things you can do about it, right now.

Ralph