Friday, August 24, 2007

I LOVE it when GOOD is EASY: A Tryptic

I.

Last few days I've been searching the web dressed in black because Laura at Lines of Lattitude turned me onto this:

>If Google had a black screen, taking in account the huge number of
>page views, according to calculations, 750 mega watts/hour per year
>would be saved...[a guy therefore]created a black version of the Google search engine, called Blackle, with the exact same functions as the white version,
>but with lower energy consumption: spread the word-
>
>http://www.blackle.com/

I LOVE it when good is EASY. And when it makes me look hip and mysterious. So much so, actually, I darkend the whole computer yesterday. I use the Opera web browser and I chose a black skin for it, which turns out, is easier on the old eyeballs. Most of the places I write are still off white,but the surrounding areas aren't.

II.

Laura's socially responsible leadership doesn't stop there. She also turned me onto the New American Dream's webiste, and it's campaign to reduce carbon consumption by having people pledge to change one thing about their lives every month -- last month they shopped locally, this month they'll drive less, next month they'll "Junk Your Junk Mail", then they'll help "Break the Botled Water Habit", etc. etc. I like little one step at a time things that don't overwhelm me but that keep me on track. I hope I've mentioned how much I LOVE it when GOOD is easy.

If you make the pledge by clicking on the little icon below this paragraph it is possible you will earn GreenDaddy...the man so devoted this website that he posted a picure of his armpit (our most looked at greenparenting photo, by the way) in his quest to find a deoderant strong enough for bicyclers in Houston's August heat... a brand new bike. Because the C3 people are having a spread-the-word kind of contest.

Carbon Conscious Consumer Logo

III.

This last thing is GOOD and it is EASY depending on what you LOVE.

And since I've already been busy telling you how to be, I thought I'd actually point your eyes towards the little (unpaid, PSA) ad I put on the right side of the site a couple days ago. Click on it and see how the National Wildlife Federation has a campaign to get something like 10 or 20 thousand backyards certified as wildlife habitats, and what you can do to make yours one.

The process acutally isn't too difficult...I imagine many readers' yards already qualify, though we're only about halfway there. We might not get it done this year, but I'll definately keep the guidelines in mind and work towards them as our yard grows.

But you more naturally greenthumbed people can probably already certify, or just make a few changes to do it.

2 comments:

chuck said...

my students thought "blackle" was hilarious. i casually used it in a sentence and then acted surprised that they didn't know what it was. then we "blackled" some things.

Anonymous said...

I have been a staunch environmentalist for 30 years (staff and personal). I have 4 children and do not want to be lectured on population. I read Population Bomb when it first came out.I will not, and cannot, undue what I have done. I love all 4 of my children.

I was mad when Republican Warner backstabbed Webb on his time for deployment of troops amendment. I am spitting mad at Bushe's threatoned Veto of childrens healthcare.I want to shine a light and know who these persons are who call themselves childrens advocates are so I can help vote them out.

We can give indirect Billions to the Haliburtons and Blackwaters of the world but we cannot give poor and middle income children healthcare. That is true Cowardice and un-American. Who are these people????????????

I have been fighting to save the Environment since the early seventies, so I earned my stripes. I am now blogging about Global Warming and such. I am at Wordpress on naturalistjourneys and can see we are of like mind. This is an important non Environmental issue and I need all the help I can get. Please help.
Matt