My brother once told me this story about something called a 'Roundtoit.' He said one day while at his childhood friends' house they were in the garage playing and they showed him one; a 'Roundtoit.' His friend explained to him, just as he explained to me that it was a very special item, very hard to find. A lot of people would never see it.
Get it?
I know I'm corny. LOL. Well, the point of the story is, is that I have several books that I'd recommend/love to read based on their reviews and topics and if anyone has read them I would love to hear their takes. Here's my shortlist:
Green Collar Economy by Van Jones
Animal, Vegetable, Miracle by Barbara Kingsolver
Slow Food Nation, by Carlo Petrini
In Defense of Food, by Michael Pollan
Hot Flat and Crowded by Thomas Friedman
So this is just a shortlist, but once I get a 'roundtoit' reading one of these, that is, (or scanning the pages as my daughter screams to use it as a coloring book) I will definitely post a review.
In the meantime, have you any recommendations? Reviews?
Wednesday, November 12, 2008
Tuesday, November 11, 2008
I wish I was a little bit greener...
Anybody remember that song, "I wish I was a little bit taller?" That was my jam way back in the day.
In the song, the rapper talks about all the things he wishes he could do or have. When I think about transitioning my life to being green, I start to wonder if the little baby steps I take (recycling, reducing energy use, changing light bulbs) make a difference. Many environmentalists would say, yes. Honestly it just makes me feel better to do certain things.
Anyhow, I always think about what my life would be like if I were 100% green.
Each morning I would get up, from the sound of alarm --powered by an outlet in a home powered by solar and/or wind-- untangle myself from my organic cotton sheets and blankets and take a very short shower using my low-flow showerhead.
I would clothe myself in organic cotton (and/or other sustainable material-clothes) from the underclothes to the fancy scarf that would grace my natural shea butter-moistened hair. Business casual dress, of course.
I would then proceed over my bamboo floors to my recycled-material countertop to pick up some goodies and then to my bamboo kitchen/dining table and chair to eat my breakfast made from seasonal fruit from my own garden. Before tossing the scraps in the compost I'd pack a lunch of fresh veggies from my garden tossed with homemade pasta (If I go all the way, I gotta go all the way).
Next I'd be off to work on my bicycle, (no driving!); burning calories as I frolic through traffic and I'd arrive at my destination rejuvenated. (or exhausted)
Then I'd fulfill work duties on recycled paper. Whether I be a professor or a writer in my green life, I haven't decided, but I'd be sure to cut any unecessary carbon emission.
Going home would also be rejuvenating. On the way I'd think about the fresh homemade bread I'd bake from all organic ingredients. (No meat, because that's not green! It takes loads of carbon emission to slaughter animals).
I'd read by the fireplace used to heat my home. Listen to radio, perhaps and then get some peaceful rest in my no-voc painted, nature-ally decorated, organically insulated home.
Wouldn't that be nice.
Am I forgetting anything? I wish I were a lot greener. I'm like one thousandth (.0001) of the way there.
In the song, the rapper talks about all the things he wishes he could do or have. When I think about transitioning my life to being green, I start to wonder if the little baby steps I take (recycling, reducing energy use, changing light bulbs) make a difference. Many environmentalists would say, yes. Honestly it just makes me feel better to do certain things.
Anyhow, I always think about what my life would be like if I were 100% green.
Each morning I would get up, from the sound of alarm --powered by an outlet in a home powered by solar and/or wind-- untangle myself from my organic cotton sheets and blankets and take a very short shower using my low-flow showerhead.
I would clothe myself in organic cotton (and/or other sustainable material-clothes) from the underclothes to the fancy scarf that would grace my natural shea butter-moistened hair. Business casual dress, of course.
I would then proceed over my bamboo floors to my recycled-material countertop to pick up some goodies and then to my bamboo kitchen/dining table and chair to eat my breakfast made from seasonal fruit from my own garden. Before tossing the scraps in the compost I'd pack a lunch of fresh veggies from my garden tossed with homemade pasta (If I go all the way, I gotta go all the way).
Next I'd be off to work on my bicycle, (no driving!); burning calories as I frolic through traffic and I'd arrive at my destination rejuvenated. (or exhausted)
Then I'd fulfill work duties on recycled paper. Whether I be a professor or a writer in my green life, I haven't decided, but I'd be sure to cut any unecessary carbon emission.
Going home would also be rejuvenating. On the way I'd think about the fresh homemade bread I'd bake from all organic ingredients. (No meat, because that's not green! It takes loads of carbon emission to slaughter animals).
I'd read by the fireplace used to heat my home. Listen to radio, perhaps and then get some peaceful rest in my no-voc painted, nature-ally decorated, organically insulated home.
Wouldn't that be nice.
Am I forgetting anything? I wish I were a lot greener. I'm like one thousandth (.0001) of the way there.
Monday, November 10, 2008
Does anybody watch '60 Minutes' or am I just old school?
Anyhow, whether you (my fictional audience) watch 60 Minutes or not, last night I watched a horrific investigative news story on there about where some of our E-Waste really goes.
If you do not know what E-Waste is, it is basically the electronic junk (tvs, phones, cpus) that's too old, broken or simply out-of-date that nobody wants. The reporter referred to this place as the innovation age's dirty little secret. As I stare at my iphone waiting for quitting time to pop up, I would agree. I didn't know.
Any guesses?
The answer is some place called Guiyu, China. A little town where all the water is contaminated with toxic chemicals formerly in your Dell, where the women struggle carrying children to full-term, and where the men run gangs to maintain the wasteland and jump reporters and crews who try to expose them.
In addition, what bothered me is that my fear of being green for nothing has come to be. My father, who is the skeptic of all things green, claims that the recycling company doesn't recycle. He thinks they just dump the stuff they collect somewhere in the trash. Well in essence, this is exactly what happened in the story.
A company called Executive Recycling basically held an E-Waste event in some neighborhood and made people think they would recycle these goods, which I do believe they were paid to host.
Long story short, when 60 minutes followed the crate of stuff that was supposed to be recycled, all the stuff ended up in China. This wasteland of a place is only there because people thought they were doing the right thing and someone lied to them. I hope the green movement isn't all about lies. I know some of it makes me feel better as a person because I am less wasteful, but this is a little discouraging.
Read the story, here.
If you do not know what E-Waste is, it is basically the electronic junk (tvs, phones, cpus) that's too old, broken or simply out-of-date that nobody wants. The reporter referred to this place as the innovation age's dirty little secret. As I stare at my iphone waiting for quitting time to pop up, I would agree. I didn't know.
Any guesses?
The answer is some place called Guiyu, China. A little town where all the water is contaminated with toxic chemicals formerly in your Dell, where the women struggle carrying children to full-term, and where the men run gangs to maintain the wasteland and jump reporters and crews who try to expose them.
In addition, what bothered me is that my fear of being green for nothing has come to be. My father, who is the skeptic of all things green, claims that the recycling company doesn't recycle. He thinks they just dump the stuff they collect somewhere in the trash. Well in essence, this is exactly what happened in the story.
A company called Executive Recycling basically held an E-Waste event in some neighborhood and made people think they would recycle these goods, which I do believe they were paid to host.
Long story short, when 60 minutes followed the crate of stuff that was supposed to be recycled, all the stuff ended up in China. This wasteland of a place is only there because people thought they were doing the right thing and someone lied to them. I hope the green movement isn't all about lies. I know some of it makes me feel better as a person because I am less wasteful, but this is a little discouraging.
Read the story, here.
Wednesday, October 8, 2008
Good counter to alternative energy
I read this article on The Root this morning and I had to take a minute to think about how green issues/energy is being put in front of troubles the black community faces (and have faced for years). Do I agree? I don't think so. Do you agree?
It Takes Green to Go Green
It Takes Green to Go Green
Friday, October 3, 2008
Thursday, September 18, 2008
Do people of color care about the environment?
I do. Check out this blog. I knew I wasn't the only one.
Monday, August 4, 2008
Weekend Ups and Downs
This weekend was great for two reasons. Not only did I get to spend a great deal of it with my family; I also got to educate some of them about being green. I even convinced one of my aunts to recycle.
My brother, who turned 33 last week decided to host a shin-dig at his home in Columbus. Let me just first say that my family loves to celebrate. Even if we only have a little money to do it, we just tell everyone to BYOB and we get it poppin'. So while 'politick-in' by the trash can telling everyone about my daughter's Klean Kanteen, I decided to start a trash bag for recycling. I am so different now, that when I see glass I just think of it being here when nothing else is. It will be an artifact...artifact times 1 trillion. So while talking and encouraging the folks, my recycling bag even caught on for a while. People were throwing their cans and bottles into the recycling bag. After a while it seemed like I didn't have to stand around and tell them for them to do it. However, after more than a while, the little trash got full and people started throwing their food trash into my recycling bag. At the end of the night when I was helping....excuse me... I mean watching everyone clean, I noticed that my recycling efforts had been virtually unsuccessful and that I'd have to spend the rest of the night continuing to make my brother feel guilty about hurting the environment.
"You have to teach your kids that when you throw things away, they never really GO AWAY!" I fumed. "Take them to a landfill," I said, "and explain how it works. GLASS NEVER BREAKS DOWN!!!" I hope I got through to him. I know that I got through to my aunt who said she only recycles newspaper. Now I'm thinking of getting shiny new recycling bins to every relative whose address I have, even if they become dog baths, I still feel like I gave it some effort.
Sunday was 20 times better than Saturday. I got to see my grandmother, I got recruited for designing the family reunion t-shirt, and I had a meal, in my mother and father's home that came entirely from their garden. I was blown away because my father is the same man who denies anything is happening to polar bears and denies global warming entirely. "You're greener than you think!" I tell him. The food tasted excellent and felt extremely good going down because I knew exactly where it came from. We had red potatoes, red cabbage and chicken (which did not come from the garden, but we'll get there...lol). I was extremely proud. I think I'm wearing the folks down, guys!!!!!!!!
While I'm sure that people do this all the time, I'm honestly not sure how many of my people do this all the time, which is why I am so excited about it.
My brother, who turned 33 last week decided to host a shin-dig at his home in Columbus. Let me just first say that my family loves to celebrate. Even if we only have a little money to do it, we just tell everyone to BYOB and we get it poppin'. So while 'politick-in' by the trash can telling everyone about my daughter's Klean Kanteen, I decided to start a trash bag for recycling. I am so different now, that when I see glass I just think of it being here when nothing else is. It will be an artifact...artifact times 1 trillion. So while talking and encouraging the folks, my recycling bag even caught on for a while. People were throwing their cans and bottles into the recycling bag. After a while it seemed like I didn't have to stand around and tell them for them to do it. However, after more than a while, the little trash got full and people started throwing their food trash into my recycling bag. At the end of the night when I was helping....excuse me... I mean watching everyone clean, I noticed that my recycling efforts had been virtually unsuccessful and that I'd have to spend the rest of the night continuing to make my brother feel guilty about hurting the environment.
"You have to teach your kids that when you throw things away, they never really GO AWAY!" I fumed. "Take them to a landfill," I said, "and explain how it works. GLASS NEVER BREAKS DOWN!!!" I hope I got through to him. I know that I got through to my aunt who said she only recycles newspaper. Now I'm thinking of getting shiny new recycling bins to every relative whose address I have, even if they become dog baths, I still feel like I gave it some effort.
Sunday was 20 times better than Saturday. I got to see my grandmother, I got recruited for designing the family reunion t-shirt, and I had a meal, in my mother and father's home that came entirely from their garden. I was blown away because my father is the same man who denies anything is happening to polar bears and denies global warming entirely. "You're greener than you think!" I tell him. The food tasted excellent and felt extremely good going down because I knew exactly where it came from. We had red potatoes, red cabbage and chicken (which did not come from the garden, but we'll get there...lol). I was extremely proud. I think I'm wearing the folks down, guys!!!!!!!!
While I'm sure that people do this all the time, I'm honestly not sure how many of my people do this all the time, which is why I am so excited about it.
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