WALL-E

I was going to do a post on bananas (don't worry, it'll happen), but I saw WALL-E tonight and had to share. Let's just say I cried...multiple times*, both because it was adorable/touching and dealt with ecological themes. Basically, people consume and throw away so much stuff that Earth becomes uninhabitable and they have to escape in a spaceship. They're only supposed to be gone for five years while the mega-company that controls everything is cleaning everything up. Of course, they can't, and the spaceship remains in exile for 700 years. All the people on the ship are sedentary, glued to phones or TVs, and don't interact face to face. Being 700 years removed from Earth, they have no idea what farming or dancing are. Without ruining the whole thing, I'll just say that a lot of things I think about constantly were in this movie. If you have the chance, definitely go see it.


*probably not typical.

Wesleying loves the Everglades

So I totally didn't know about this, but thankfully Wesleying is around to keep us updated. Apparently, Florida made a deal with U.S. Sugar to buy their land and restore marshes, etc. Yay! Read the Wesleying post here (regarding the kegger, I guess we'll have to postpone it for a few months; meanwhile, I urge you to celebrate heartily in your respective homes/summer residences).

Also:
Associated Press article

And an alligator:

"Bones" on compost

Last night I had some free time and nothing to do (ahhh, it felt so wonderful), so I decided to watch Bones (a CSI-type show on Fox). Much to my amusement, the episode last night was about a murder involving compost. Needless to say, it was excellent.

Most interesting to me, though, were the stereotypes perpetuated by the show. If TV shows reflect as well as shape culture, maybe this show is a good example of how some people perceive what it is to be "green" (and by some people I mean skeptics/non-believers). David Boreanaz's character (Booth), is decidedly anti-green. Other characters (like Dr. Temperance "Bones" Brennan, from whom the show takes its name) advocate environmentally-friendly practices but don't really do a good job arguing for them. Characters also say painfully ignorant things about the environment. Booth and Bones have a conversation in the car in which Booth actually says something to the effect of "if pesticides are so bad why do we put them on our food?" as an argument for them, to which Bones responds with some weak objections before citing a study about alligators in pesticide-contaminated waters having tiny testicles. The main suspects in the case are chilled out organic farmer types who go on yoga retreats and drink a lot of tea.

Before ruining it any further, I'll just say that I enjoyed the episode. You can, too, because the episode is online and there's also a synopsis on the show website.

"Green Noise"

hey, i took this picture! it's a plant that resides in one of the music buildings in the cfa. i'm sure it was kindof weird that the first and probably only time i've walked in there, i took pictures of their potted plants. oh well!

Oooooopsies, it's been a month! Rest assured, this blog will not fade (also known as I refuse to let it die, haha). Anyway, after a brief hiatus, we/I/you have returned.

Though I don't want to make it a habit to just repost stuff I've read elsewhere, I wanted to point you in the direction of this NYT article and this Dot Earth post. Both are about information overload and its effect on interest in enviromental issues. I've definitely felt the effects of too much information about environmental issues (particularly all that stuff about what I should do to have the least impact), and probably contributed to other peoples' disinterest by being too forceful or whatever with my messages. Anyway, I thought it was an interesting article that really resonated with my experiences.

Also, as I was looking for a graphic for this post (because really, a pretty picture makes the thing ten times better), I found this blog post about dealing with green noise. Here are the three Green Noise Reduction Principles put forth in the post:

Principle one: Do it as simply as possible. The idea: Green doesn’t necessarily have to be a new car; you can get pretty far with a new mindset.
Principle two: Some is better than none. The idea: Green is something that anyone can do by being proactive and becoming aware of their impact on the planet.
Principle three: More is better than less. The idea: Green can be incremental; if you’ve got one earth saving principle down why not add another. Baby steps add up.

As always, thoughts are welcome.