Environmentalism

I can't help but feel that a large portion of my generation is suffering from lack of purpose. There seems to be an innate knowledge that 'things aren't good'. Most everyone I know is not happy with the state of the world. These feelings are delivered by an entire regiment on unaddressable woes. We are at war in Iraq. An 8 sq. mile chunk of Canada just fell into the ocean: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/7532435.stm. The government is spying on us.

I don't raise these points to be alarmist. There is little point in that. But hands down the #1 question that I here from my peers is, "Well, what can you do about it?" It got me to thinking about a lot of things. What can I do about it?

I lead a busy life. My friends do to. I realize that not everyone has the time or energy to devote a lot to saving the world, stemming from nothing but the goodness of their hearts.

So, I arrive at this statement. Little things matter.

Earlier this year, in the spring, I sprung the 4 hours and about $35 to make a container garden. I have basil, dill, jalepenos, cayenne, bannana peppers and a few less successful plants that are still great for show. It is my first year doing it, and I expect better results next year, not that this year was poor, but live and learn.

I water said garden, 3 times a week for about 5 minutes at a shot. And I have fresh herbs, and peppers.

I have fresh goods for less than I would pay in the grocery store. Fresher than you could ever find, literally off the stem. These have garnered many compliments on appearance from the neighbors. And all for about 10 total hours of my time, spread over 6 months. Prime requisite: access to sunlight and something that holds dirt.

That is just an example, I'll write more about the container garden in a later post, with photo's ad how-tos. The point of this is that this is the type of 'little' thing that has a high impact (do you know how much energy it takes to ship a Jalepeno cross country?).

When I originally conceived of this blog this was the type of thing I envisioned writing about. I've been kicking around the idea of a reorganization.

Sections:
Home: aggregation of all other sections.
Sustainability: Little things that matter
Book Reviews: Just that.
Forums: worthwhile?
Sam's life: just for kicks.

This is the type of site I might look for a guest blogger or two to round out. I could take or leave the current domain name, for somthing catchier that is more related to group blogging about these topics.

Thoughts? I know this has been done some before, but I think my friends could form a certain micro community of people who want to do little things that matter.

From the BBC: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/programmes/from_our_own_correspondent/6324357...

Me 6 months ago: http://www.treslervania.com/node/205

Not that it isn't something startlingly obvious, but it is nice to be vindicated once in a while. Although his didn't have any pictures of Giant Frogs.

I'm getting awfully tired of seeing politicians praise environmental action with one hand and backstab it with the other.

See this movie. An Inconvenient Truth

Very important topic.

Al Gore does a remarkable job of explaining this crisis in terms that are easy to understand and indisputable. He manages to contextualize the problem of global warming in a way that makes it evient how it affets you.

In truth it didn't tell me any new information - but that's because I've been studying this topic as best I could since the fourth grade. Most everyone else needs to know the consequences that will face us if we don't change the way we are living right now.

I know I might get accused of exaggerating this problem - just watch the movie. Global Warming is very real and vey much going to affect us all in our lifetimes - it already is.

Right now, it is indisputable that that the ice caps are melting more than they have in the past 650,000 years. Not a single expert disagrees on this point. This dispels the myths that global warming is cyclical, can't affect the world drastically, or not a direct consequence of our own human impact.