Thursday, July 31, 2008

eWaste

"The Computer Recycler" reached out to me to tell me about the new eWaste initiatives they are starting in Cromwell, CT. I encourage anyone interested to check them out:

We're working to setup programs with several towns and businesses in CT to help keep electronics out of CT's landfills.

We've recently expanded our operation to have the ability to service all of Connecticut, and now, with a recent partnership, we are not limited to just computer related eWaste; we can now accept all electronics, including TVs, monitors, and many other items most electronic recyclers do not accept. We can also now accept most appliances, refrigerators, air-conditioners, microwaves, even water-heaters... We're really excited about this expansion, and happy to do our part with going green for the state. You can check us out at www.thecomputerrecycler.com, and per your blog's inspiration, I've decided to start my own regarding CT's eWaste as well. :)

Wednesday, July 30, 2008

Four copies of the movie still available

In case you missed it, I am doing a little project here on the blog and wanted to let you know, in case you were wondering, that I still have four copies of the 11th Hour available if you'd like to participate. Be sure to read the original blog post and email me if you would like to participate and can abide by the rules. Thanks!

Yeah, climate change is just a theory...right?

People multiply at an ungodly rate, CO2 increases, greenhouse gases trap heat, ice melts, less reflective land mass exists, more of the sun's radiation hits darker Earth surfaces, warming things faster, repeat.

Canadian Arctic sheds ice chunk

Oh, and caught in the crossfire right now are polar bears who will eventually have no ice left to raise babies on, rest from fishing, or sleep on. I shouldn't get started on polar bears or I may go off on a tirade.

Ok so let's say a fisherman falls off his boat. He is not adept at swimming for long periods of time. The currant pulls him away from the boat a little bit and then as he tries to swim back to the boat, it just floats off into the distance. The fisherman is now treading water in the middle of the ocean with no life raft and nobody coming to save him. He has no chance to live. No land for miles around. Eventually his muscles will give out and he will drown.

Sad metaphor, I know.

Friday, July 18, 2008

The Everyday Greener 11th Hour Project


"The Earth has all the time in the world. And we don't."
-Chief Oren Lyons


Nicole and I recently watched The 11th Hour and I have decided to do something fun. I need your help to carry out a project. I was so moved by the film that I went and purchased 11 copies of Leonardo DiCaprio's documentary about how human beings are pushing ourselves to the brink of extinction. I will send or hand these DVDs to the first 11 people who contact me to request one.

There's a catch (of course). But it's a good one, here's how this project will work:

You request a copy of the movie. I send or hand-deliver one of the eleven copies of the DVD to you. The DVD is not yours to keep, but I don't want it back (I have my own copy which I intend to watch several times). After you and your loved ones have watched the movie, you need to pass it on to someone who you think could benefit from watching it. Or who you think will enjoy it. I'm sure you know someone who will be affected by a powerful, inspirational film with many, MANY ideas of how we can get out of this mess.

Once the next person receives the movie, I need that person to contact me with the copy # of the DVD, their name and zip code (I will add them to this Google Map, and once they are done, they need to pass it on, etc.

This is sounding like a chain letter or one of those goofy emails that promises that you will win the lottery if you pass it on to 20 people within 10 seconds of reading it. This is nothing like that, but the payoff of spreading the word about how we can individually behave more responsibly is huge... and necessary if we want our descendants to have clean drinking water, polar bears, and breathable air. Maybe we should scale back the interest in exploring and building subdivisions on Mars, and start exploring new ways to live right here on the planet we were born on.

Solving the climate crisis is not just about governmental mandates. Although those will affect major change, so will individual local efforts by every single person who chooses to live differently. This is not about being a tree-hugging hippie.

It's about not buying the cheapest possible item every time you need to buy an item. At this point in history, that item was probably manufactured in terrible working conditions by workers with no benefits and miniscule income, and the factory is probably polluting the drinking water of its workers' villages.

It's about eating food produced locally, and it's about turning your back on the disgusting gluttony that has engulfed the American mindset. It's about using natural products to control the weeds in your lawn, if you even care to have a lawn.

Solving this crisis requires a complete overhaul in the way we think, in the way we do, and in the things we consider to be goals in life. We need to overhaul our manufacturing processes to the Bill McDonough plan of Waste Equals Food.

Back to the Project...

All you have to do is be one of the first 11 people to email me and we can get this thing started. Think of this as Netflix, except you are not sending the movie back to the place you got it from. Instead you are participating in an effort to Affect Change, by sending it on a journey to a person you know and then a person that person knows, and on and on.

I will update this map to show where each copy travels to.

Or look at this:


View Larger Map

The Project In Summary:

  • You request one of the eleven copies of The 11th Hour that I have purchased for this project.
    • You must give me your Name and Address in order to receive your copy. How else can I deliver it to you?

  • I will send or hand you the movie.

  • You watch the movie with as many people as possible
    • Let me know how many people you watched it with and what copy of the movie you have. I will keep track of everything on a subsequent blog post.

  • Send the movie on to someone you think will benefit from it, letting that person know how this works. (They can also read the instructions that will accompany the DVD).

  • Working together, we can get a lot of people who may never have heard of this movie to see it, think about it, and spread the word to someone they know.

Plastic bags suck

I received this as an email forward from my Aunt Lin and thought it was very appropriate to this blog...



And then there is this story which is somewhat unrelated, but hilarious. San Francisco seems like a pretty cool place.

Wednesday, July 9, 2008

Thursday, July 3, 2008

4-Day Work Weeks

I am definitely not breaking new ground here, as companies all over the place are adopting both flex time and 4-day work weeks, but I am proudly beginning this next week. Basically, I will be working Tuesday-Friday, from 8-6 with about a 35 minute lunch break (37.5 minutes to be exact)... My employer, Wesleyan University, in Middletown, CT, thankfully has just begun a 1-year trial program for employees who consistently receive good annual reviews.

This is actually an amazing reward if you think about it. I get about 31 miles/gallon in my 2001 Honda Civic and my daily commute is about 75 miles (blech)... With gas creeping up on $5/gallon, I will be saving myself almost $10 per week in gas alone, not to mention the 75 fewer miles of wear and tear on the car. I used Native Energy's CO2 Emissions Calculator to figure I will also be saving the Earth from an extra 48 pounds of CO2 emissions every week. Big fan of that. Check and see if your employer offers this kind of schedule. It is a win for everyone involved. I will be a happier and more productive employee, knowing I am helping the environment by being here one fewer day, but will still work the same number of hours and will have 3-day weekends.