Earth Hour Paradox

We try to be ecologically conscious, so while I applaud the idea of Earth Hour, I'm also a little frustrated by the whole "turn off the lights for an hour and save the world" message. Really I'd rather people try something (for more than an hour) that they can incorporate into their everyday lives (recycling for example).

Anyway, all that said, we (unconsciously) participated in an Earth Hour paradox at our house. I totally forgot that Earth Hour was tonight. Most of our lights (out of habit) were turned off, but all evening I was doing laundry in hot water and drying it on high heat. Why might I be doing such an environmentally unfriendly activity you might ask, because I was prepping cloth diapers (unbleached cotton has to be stripped of its oils in 6 prewashes before it becomes absorbent). We aren't only using cloth diapers because of environmental reasons, but I do have to admit that when I realized that I'd spent all of Earth Hour running our washer and dryer at maximum carbon output, I felt a little guilty. Not guilty enough to abandon cloth diapers and throw a disposable diaper in a landfill for 500+ years, but still a little guilty. At least I was consuming large quantities of electricity during the ultimate off peak time.

Things I've learned on the trail...

So far the biking to work thing is going really well. I've cheated a couple of days (Monday for example, we had a terrible storm and they were warning of hail, so I drove), but mostly I've biked everyday. In the process, I've discovered a few things...

• I drink much less coffee in the morning. Biking two miles wakes me up without the caffeine, but really the thought of drinking hot coffee and biking in the middle of summer just makes me steer clear.
• I really hate driving now. I'm not sure what exactly I dislike, but if it's too hot to bike somewhere, I'm much more likely to stay home. This is an unexpected eco-friendly benefit.
• I shower a lot more. This means more water, more shampoo bottles, etc, but in July there really isn't another option. Hopefully this fall, I won't get as stinky.
  
• I'm "friends" with people on the trail that I don't know their names. They just happen to be on the trail the same time as me everyday. While waiting to cross a busy street this morning, I ran into the older gentlemen who says hi to me every day. Today he said hi plus "have you lost weight?"
  
• People do notice courteous bikers. I always make a point to say hi if someone says hi to me, and I ALWAYS warn people when passing. I frequently see a little boy (about 4-5) on a bike with training wheels. When he sees another bike, he stops and gets off the trail. Last week, he said to his mom "it's okay she's the bike that says hi" and kept riding. This made my day.
• The shade on the trail is nice, but it also creates a bug breeding ground. Talking while riding can result in the unfortunate ingestion of bugs.
  
• Related the above item, Suave has a new body spray that is scented with Grapefruit and Lemongrass, both substances that naturally repel bugs. Plus it doesn't leave with eau de boyscout camp. I don't think this is its intended use, but it works.
  

Vatican tells vacationers to mind Mother Earth | Environment | Reuters

I was reading this article yesterday about the Catholic church's environmental advice for the summer and thinking about M's connection between religion and the environment. I have not been able to find the original list of tips released by the Pontifical Council for the Pastoral Care of Migrants and Itinerant People,* but I'm guessing that the list which is reportedly said to contain suggestions such as bringing less luggage on airplane to reduce fuel consumption and planting trees to reduce one's carbon footprint is largely tied to the Vatican's larger interest in becoming the first entirely carbon neutral sovereign state.

Even though "going green" isn't exactly as radical as it used to be, I'm encouraged that the Church is being as proactive as they are, and I'm really interested in this movement from a view of environmentalist as tree-hugging, commune-dwelling people living as far away from institutional life as possible, to a lifestyle that is being promoted by major institutions. The cynic in me wonders sometimes if "going green" has become a marketing ploy or the latest fad, but the optimist hopes that maybe there really is a larger shift happening here. Does this mean that the divide between academe and spirituality will also begin to become blurred?

The Catholic Church has been notoriously slow at adapting to modern life (i.e. the infamous Galileo apology 400 years late), but I've been intrigued with the adaptation that the church seems to be including lately. Nearly a year ago and way before I had this blog, the Church issued the Ten Commandments of Driving. This list intrigued me because I work with cars a lot in my dissertation (someday I will explain the significance of the title of my blog), so the fact that the Church went so far as to create a rather lengthy document about driving really fascinated me. Number 5:

Cars shall not be for you an expression of power and domination, and an occasion of sin.

is really interesting to me because when applied to adolescent literature, it becomes my dissertation (in a non-religious way). While I don't usually mix my religious beliefs and my scholarship, I was shocked to find this interesting intersection.

Earlier this spring, the Catholic Church made another foray into the 21st century by contextualizing some other modern behaviors as sins. Pollution was on the list. This list in general makes me a little nervous for reasons I'll go into another time, but I am really interested in watching these tensions shift and evolve. I hope that the ecological connection is a sign that society's views are shifting and not that we are going to now try and guilt people into following a rule as one British newspaper headline suggested (Recycle or Go to Hell). In the meantime, I applaud the method of offering suggestions and tips that I have seen them use so far.

*Note: if you Google this, Google asks: Did you mean: Pastoral Care of Migrants and Ignorant People Not PC, but it made me laugh (and, yes, I am Catholic)

Junk Mail

We've always gotten quite a bit of junk mail, but since we bought our house last year, our junk mail levels have reached new highs. In any given week 2-3 companies want to sell us mortgage protection, our mortgage company wants us to refinance and/or take out a home equity loan, a handful of local business want to take care of our lawn, and other churches, banks, pizza companies, and grocery stores want to welcome us "to the neighborhood."

We bought a buffet from IKEA to put in our kitchen/dining area/entry way from the garage mostly to catch the junk mail that was taking over the kitchen table, but even thought we were actively recycling and had a paper recycling bin steps from the back door the number of thinks that went in the "to be shredded" piles were taking over our lives.

A couple of weeks ago I was watching some news program that was talking about identity theft and the need to shred all of that junk mail. The person suggest that everyone keep three things in their mail area: a shredder, a trash can, and a *small* basket for important mail. This bothered me for several reasons. 1) How many people actually have enough space for all three of those things and who really wants a shredder to be the first thing people see when they walk in . 2) Why not mention recycling any of those items at all.

Recently, I've tried a new system. I'm not going to move the shredder from the office to the kitchen, but I've added a small white trash can that is "too be shredded." When it's full, I shred. Unlike the marathon shred fests that we used to have when the piles took over the downstairs, I don't allow myself to get that behind. Since the trashcan hold almost the exact amount as the shredder, I shred then bag it and put it with the recycling that we take on the weekends. More importantly, since the shred trash can is near the regular paper recycling, I've now gotten in the habit of opening the junk mail and separating the must shred parts from the random paper.

My only discovery/obstacle in this has been the fact that when we have people over, we must either explain the system or hide the shred trashcan. I spent the better part of last week pulling banana peels and other items from my shred can.

"Green" PhD

If you don't read PhD comics, you need to. Today's strip combined two very important motives in my life--finishing a PhD and trying to also "live green." The effect was rather humorous.