Photos

2009-06-14T11:42:00.000-07:00

In case you're wondering, the title image of the blog is a photo I took in 2006 outside of Mostar, Bosnia. We were driving from Zenica (in the center of the country) south towards Mostar, which is much closer to Croatia and the Adriatic Coast. It was a beautiful drive...

"The Mayor's Water"

2009-06-14T06:31:00.000-07:00

In Italy, that's how people jokingly refer to tap water.

On June 11th, the New York Times explored why and how the city of Venice is strongly promoting tap water. They've even re-branded tap water as "Acqua Veritas."

Like most issues, it comes down to cost. Trash collection is more expensive in Venice than other cities because it must be done on foot. (And I'm sure those garbage collectors deserve every penny they make.) But the environmental reasons aren't overlooked: the number one reason being that recycling still releases greenhouse gases.

I honestly think the imperfection of recycling isn't discussed enough in the mainstream media. Now, recycling is great, and all of my friends know that I'm a big cheerleader for implementing it (something I worked on in college, but that's for another post). But the discussion too often stops at recycling = good, trash = bad. There's plenty of grey area, but that does not make the issue overwhelming or hopeless! I've had friends argue that recycling is too expensive to be worth it - the answer is not to stop, but to convince even more people to recycle an even greater percentage of materials.

But repeatedly buying bottles of water (or cans of Coke or disposable cups of coffee) and then recycling them does not help reduce carbon emissions. I think we all know this, but sometimes a reminder is useful. I've been known to buy a water bottle on a hot day, and reuse it a number of times before it heads to the recycling bin. Which isn't good...but it's less bad than buying it and tossing it in the trash. What is even less bad is an aluminum water bottle (available at pretty much any store nowadays, even ones like Target). And if you need a Coke, or other brand drink that is not available from your kitchen faucet? Just remember, the less packaging, the better. You don't need individual servings (of soda or anything!) if you are consuming it in your house. Even if you're on the go...soda goes in travel mugs too! Trust me, I can be a Diet Coke fiend.

Also, I'm a big fan of Venice's marketing technique of distributing pitchers to households. Everyone likes a gift, right? At my alma mater, mugs were distributed to incoming freshmen in the hopes that they would refill those plastic containers with their caffeinated beverage of choice instead of buying disposable paper cups. While I'm sure plenty sat on shelves or held silverware, I know that I saw plenty around. And I coveted them a bit, because I transferred in and never received a mug of my own. :(

Finally, the article rightly points out that, like so many trappings of life, bottled water has only become popular very recently: "In the United States, per capita consumption of bottled water more than doubled from 1997 to 2007, to 29 gallons, according to the Beverage Marketing Corporation." 1997! That's not very long ago! I was learning algebra at that point, and really only drinking bottled water (from a reusable plastic bottle) during my basketball games. So if we lived with half as much bottled water back then, can't we do the same now? Let's get back to that level by 2017...or sooner.

Sounds like a plan

2009-06-12T21:45:00.000-07:00

This idea for this blog has been rattling around in my head for a while. I know many people keep 'green' blogs, and there might even be blogs very similar in concept to this one, but here's my plug:

The idea here is to be green, and be positive about it. I want to talk about my attempts to live as eco-friendly a life as possible (and believe me, I have a ways to go!). I want to show people that there is plenty they can do as individuals, but also that we must take steps together. I believe that the general public is coming around to the environmentalist movement, but will quickly be put off by overly-dreary (and downright unbelievable) doomsday warnings. We all need to focus on the practical and the positive.

So, welcome, and let's go make a difference!

The Optimistic Environmentalist

Photos

"The Mayor's Water"

Sounds like a plan