Everywhere you turn these days, it seems we're being asked to help plant trees to offset our carbon footprint. Yet, according to author David de Rothschild, it's more complicated than that. It's Essential Skill #39 in The Live Earth Global Warming Survival Handbook:
Plant a tree (mindfully).
"In temperate parts of the globe, such as the U.S. and Europe, one result climatologists fear is that all those trees you plant will absorb and retain heat from the Sun," writes de Rothschild, "contributing to a rise in the temperature of the Earth's surface of up to 10 degrees Fahrenheit by the year 2100 in those regions."
Instead, it's best to sponsor the planting of trees in tropical areas.
"Tropical forests filter pollutants quickly and, with their deep roots, draw up water that evaporates into the atmosphere, helping to foster protective cloud cover that reflects sunlight back into space."
Critics of the tree planting solution point to the fact that when a tree dies -- and decomposes naturally or is burned as firewood -- the tree releases back into the atmosphere all the carbon dioxide sequestered throughout its life time.
That's why de Rothschild stresses the importance of caring for the trees we plant. And when a tree does die, it should be salvaged for lumber or disposed of in a landfill (as opposed to mulching or burning).
Click this link to learn more from the Tropical Rainforest Coalition.
Friday, April 25, 2008
Thursday, April 17, 2008
Essential Skill #38: Choose the Right Bag
When you're going through the checkout line, most cashiers no longer bother to ask, "Paper or plastic?" Everything goes right into the plastic bags hanging from the dispeners conveniently placed right in front of them, with the paper bags usually hidden from view under the counter. Paper bags have their own drawbacks, but at least they don't take 1,000 years to decompose.
Fortunately, we have another choice altogether -- the reusable bags that are taking grocery store clerks by storm. Granted, you have to be quick with those trigger-happy plastic baggers, like placing your bags before your groceries on the conveyor belt, or blurting out "I've got bags!" before you can even squeeze in a friendly hello.
Though more and more people switch to reusable bags every day, it's impossible to ignore the countless grocery carts rolling out of stores with 10+ plastic bags filled with food that you know would have fit into four or five of those roomy reusable bags of your own.
"The average American family of four tosses out about 1,500 plastic sacks a year," write author David de Rothschild in The Live Earth Global Warming Survival Handbook's Essential Skill #38: Choose the Right Bag. "Most of these [plastic] bags aren't biodegrading; the plastic just breaks up into tinier and tinier bits until it leaches into the soil or water."
Some cities are taking matters into their own hands, banning plastic bags altogether. But we shouldn't need laws to make such a smart, simple choice.
"There are an estimated 500 billion to one trillion new plastic bags used every year. That's as many as two million per minute," writes de Rothschild. "If one million people switched to reusable bags, we'd eliminate the need for one billion plastic bags."
If you have yet to make the switch, make it now. And if you tend to forget your bags at home, keep extras in the car. You can get them from most grocery stores, but they tend to be flimsy and are rarely made from recycled materials. Check out these durable reusable bag designs made from recycled cotton, plastic bottles and containers at ReusableBags.com.
Fortunately, we have another choice altogether -- the reusable bags that are taking grocery store clerks by storm. Granted, you have to be quick with those trigger-happy plastic baggers, like placing your bags before your groceries on the conveyor belt, or blurting out "I've got bags!" before you can even squeeze in a friendly hello.
Though more and more people switch to reusable bags every day, it's impossible to ignore the countless grocery carts rolling out of stores with 10+ plastic bags filled with food that you know would have fit into four or five of those roomy reusable bags of your own.
"The average American family of four tosses out about 1,500 plastic sacks a year," write author David de Rothschild in The Live Earth Global Warming Survival Handbook's Essential Skill #38: Choose the Right Bag. "Most of these [plastic] bags aren't biodegrading; the plastic just breaks up into tinier and tinier bits until it leaches into the soil or water."
Some cities are taking matters into their own hands, banning plastic bags altogether. But we shouldn't need laws to make such a smart, simple choice.
"There are an estimated 500 billion to one trillion new plastic bags used every year. That's as many as two million per minute," writes de Rothschild. "If one million people switched to reusable bags, we'd eliminate the need for one billion plastic bags."
If you have yet to make the switch, make it now. And if you tend to forget your bags at home, keep extras in the car. You can get them from most grocery stores, but they tend to be flimsy and are rarely made from recycled materials. Check out these durable reusable bag designs made from recycled cotton, plastic bottles and containers at ReusableBags.com.
Sunday, April 6, 2008
Essential Skill #37: Find a Hero
Find a hero.
That's Essential Skill #37 in The Live Earth Global Warming Handbook.
Our hero inspired this blog. From his organization of the Live Earth Concerts ... to his book and movie An Inconvenient Truth ... to his winning of the Nobel Peace Prize -- no one has raised awareness of climate change more than Al Gore.
Yet, Al Gore is one of countless eco-heroes whose lasting legacy on this earth will be the dedicated work they did on its behalf.
Handbook author David de Rothschild highlights some of these heroes, like:
That's Essential Skill #37 in The Live Earth Global Warming Handbook.
Our hero inspired this blog. From his organization of the Live Earth Concerts ... to his book and movie An Inconvenient Truth ... to his winning of the Nobel Peace Prize -- no one has raised awareness of climate change more than Al Gore.
Yet, Al Gore is one of countless eco-heroes whose lasting legacy on this earth will be the dedicated work they did on its behalf.
Handbook author David de Rothschild highlights some of these heroes, like:
- Jacques Cousteau, a scuba diver whose television specials showed us the importance of appreciating and preserving marine life
- Petra Kelly, who co-founded the German Green Party -- the world's first environmentalist party to achieve political significance
- John Muir, who co-founded the Sierra Club and helped Yosemite win designation as a national park
- Greg Nickels, the Seattle mayor who created the U.S. Mayors Climate Protection Agreement that hundreds have now signed
- Wangari Maathai, who founded the Green Belt movement in Kenya, which has planted more than 20 million acres of trees.
- Yvon Chouinard, a rock-climber who developed "clean climbing" equipment to minimize damage to the rocks
- Adam Wajrak, Poland's leading environmental journalist, working to protect wildlife threatened by post-communist development
- William McDonough, a leading architect in the sustainability movement
Read about other eco-heroes in the Ecology Hall of Fame.
As I said, our hero -- Al Gore -- inspired us to create this blog, as well as the associated website, Living Live Earth.
What does your eco-hero inspire in you?
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