See What A Mess You're Living In

A commenter, Karen, (thanks!!) brought to my attention this website from Earth Day Network. It has a map with major cities of the US on it, and you click on whatever city to learn it's environmental scores. If you scrol down, it breaks down its averages into smaller numbers, based on things like public health, sprawl, air quality, etc. All in all, it's pretty interesting, and probably gives a great start to understanding the issues surrounding your hometown. I'm not exactly sure about the methodology or the exact science, but use it as a guideline and maybe you can start getting involved in efforts to fix the worst problems.

My original hometown of Philadelphia got a pretty bad rating.. including a 4.1 (1-5 with 5 being the worst) in air quality. We're a rather obese and asthmatic city. Whoops a daisy!


San Francisco has started an aggressive recycling program which is trying to reduce waste going to landfills to zero in the coming years (they already recycle 60% of their waste). They're also starting a local food system to encourage efficiency and community in food production. They got pretty decent scores..better than Philadelphia, anyway. Portland got even better scores, probably due to its incredible land planning.

No cities' without its projects. It's a really hard problem to tackle - how to not only reduce and cut pollution/emissions from cities, but clean former pollution as well.

Anyway, food for thought. Check out your city!

Oh I Wish I Were An Aldo Leopold

"A thing is right when it tends to preserve the integrity, stability, and beauty of the biotic community. It is wrong when it tends otherwise."- Aldo Leopold, Sand County Almanac

First things first. Aldo Leopold is possibly the coolest name ever made. Look at the almost evenly spaced 'o's. For those of you now admiring those evenly spaced 'o's whilst wondering "Who is Aldo Leopold?", Aldo was a widely respected, peaceful and contemplative conservation writer (think along the lines of Thoreau) who died in the early 90s.

Now that we know who Aldo is, let us break down his quote. It's the best definition of right and wrong that I've come across. Of course, right and wrong are still subjective, even in this definition because people will argue til we're blue in the face about what's healthy for a community, but this quote appeals to my conscience like a CD of nature sounds.

Unfortunately, I find myself doing quite a lot of "wrong." Quite frankly, though I consider myself an "executive hippie"-- sort of like a professional, educated and showered (well, occasionally. I, uh, save water, and all that) tree hugger for the 21st century -- many, if not most, of my activities/purchases don't preserve integrity, stability and beauty. A quick glance around my college room yields a view of cheap high-VOC paint, pressed particle board furniture treated with formaldehyde, Walmart curtains, and a mattress made with all the wrong sorts of chemicals. Yikes. It looks like I don't even promote a lifestyle that ensures my own integrity, stability and beauty. But let's extend our examination into the wide world yonder.

There's good news and bad news. The good news, dear Aldo, is that we're working on it. Sort of. Sometimes. Al Gore is on the case, anyway. And wherever Al Gore goes, there's.. um.. well that's where Al Gore is. I kid, I kid. The good news is that people are, on the whole, most assuredly good, or at least, misinformed. There are movements for fair trade, fair workers' treatment, fair treatment of the Earth, equal opportunity for all, green and healthy affordable housing...the list goes on and on.

The bad news is that America, land of opportunity and frontier spirit, is one of the most reluctant to hop on the green bandwagon. As with all great movements in their youth, the green movement is fighting a battle of defining itself - this leaves wiggle room for the current administration to pander to its supporters, namely big oil. With Walmart and other industries scrambling to get a piece of the toast (see blog title, woo woo!) before policy changes happen, people are beginning to question what organic and free trade even mean. And, dear Aldo, in a land where industrial giants have the most political clout, the people who most need our support, small farms and businesses, are largely left out of political happenings.

So where do we go from here? Can the world do "right" things as defined by our dear Aldo?