We love our Earth

It's Earth Week--which will become irrelevant only when people understand that EVERY day is an Earth Day, and we must protect the habitat which supports OUR life.

Locally, the colleges are hosting awareness events (see events list --->), while in the nation's capital, Bill McKibben is leading a rally in front of the US Chamber of Commerce to protest the money pollution that’s corrupting our democracy and wrecking our planet.

It's cold and wet here, while wildfires and tornadoes are ravaging the South.  Globally, flood events are increasing.  Earth has a fever and is not a happy camper.

What can a person do?  No, don't stop breathing. Not yet anyway.

First, stop using plastic as much as possible. This stuff is deadly. You can get inexpensive reusable shopping bags almost everywhere these days (you can even make your own), and you only need to train yourself to take them into the store with you. Keep them in a handy place, by the door, in the car (or bike basket!), to remind yourself. I'm getting rather good at this--though it has taken some time, because old habits are hard to break and you have to be persistent--if I can do it, anyone can.

Now, just how bad is plastic? From Sharon at Casaubon's Book:

We all knew that plastic never breaks down entirely, but I don't think everyone realized that what happens is that plastic fragments and mixes in with your water, your soil, your food, and the food and water of plants and animals, and then it makes its way into our bodies. How is a really troubling and scary story.

Now this is stuff never, ever meant to be ingested - full of endocrine disrupters (messes with your hormones), carcinogens (warm plastic mixed with liquid creates dioxin among other things), traces benzene (liver cancer) and all sorts of things that no one ever meant for us to eat, breathe and bathe in.

Now this plastic warms the planet a couple of times - when it is manufactured from oil, when it is recycled (if it is, most isn't - more on this in a minute), and when it goes into a landfill and helps mix with organic garbage to produce methane. And since cancer treatment isn't exactly low input, you could argue that it warms the planet again - when we have our surgeries and other treatments from the illnesses caused by becoming a plastic world.

The plastics industry has spent a long time convincing us that plastics are recyclable - they have those nice arrows, so they must be ok, right? But in fact only a few varieties of plastic are recyclable, plastic recycling is quite energy intensive, and after you recycle that plastic container into a bumper or recycled plastic lumber, that's it - next stop is the landfill or your water table.

So, if we could all just stop using so much plastic, that would be a  HUGE improvement.

We can talk more later about planting trees, buying local food, and reducing the amount of waste we place at the curb to be trucked away and dumped in a landfill.

Giving up fossil fuel energy is going to be more difficult, given the extent of the problem. But I was encouraged to hear that nationally, retailer Costco (which we don't have here in WNY, but nonetheless)  is going to start selling and installing solar panels. That's pretty mainstream. Yay!

I am always looking for new ways to develop this site into a helpful resource for people who find the idea of a vibrant and sustainable community appealing (we need to work together to make this happen), and I have added some new links to the local and regional category, including:


Allegheny Defense Project, a non-profit organization dedicated to the protection of the natural heritage of the Alleghenies and Pennsylvania’s only national forest, the Allegheny National Forest. They have been engaged in monitoring and research, education, participation in the public decision making process, litigation, and promoting responsible outdoor recreation since 1994, and are currently involved in defending our area against the ravages of the oil and gas drilling industry.  Cathy Pedler represented the group at last week's forum on fracking at JCC,  and she is very knowledgeable and formidable.

Renew Chautauqua County is a new "green" site developed at no cost to the county through a partnership with Blue Springs Energy, and it provides connections to rebates and incentives, educational resources, tips to manage energy consumption, finding local contractors, and helpful interactive tools.

Prendergast Library --I don't have to explain why this is a valuable resource.

If you find my blog and all its various links useful, please share it with your friends so that they too can make use of the information here.