Actually, it would be more accurate to call this Earth Week, as many of the events span the days leading up to the official holiday.There's a lot to get involved with in our area (and, I'm sure, around the country/world - but for simplicity's sake I'm sticking to my home turf), and I'm hoping that the following list and guide will help some of you find something to check out. Heck, if I had things my way, Earth Day would be the major secular holiday of the year. But then, I'm just a damn dirty hippie.
Madison area Earth Day events:
- EarthdayAction.org (in association with the Nelson Institute) is a great resource for Earth Day events in and around Madison.
- Global Warming Solutions offers quite a few suggestions for Earth Day related activities both in Madison and around the state.
- The Green and Growing-2008 Governor's Earth Day Celebration offers a chance to get the kids involved in some Earth-friendly shenanigans.
- Great Lakes 2008 Earth Day Challenge, put together by the EPA, "challenges residents and communities around the Great Lakes to collect and recycle electronic waste and to properly dispose of unwanted medicines." Find a collection location near you.
- Ideal Bite, though not a specific-to-Earth-Day website, offers easy to implement green tips on a daily basis, and often tailored to your specific location.
- Daily Mitzvah, one of my favorite blogs, offers up fairly regular easy-to-do tips and tricks on greener living.
The trick to all of this hoopla is to find ways to implement greener ways of living every day of your life. If you make it routine, it gets a lot easier. You don't have to move into a yurt and go completely off-grid to make a difference. No positive decision, act or change is too small. Everything counts.
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Wish you could have made it to the podcast. We talked about Earth Day but obviously could have used someone with a bit more comprehensive knowledge about what was happening.
As an interesting sign for the future, our kids' day care seems to be pushing the Earth Day idea quite a bit, so Generation Z (or late Generation Y depending on where you draw your lines) is getting an institutionalized taste of the environmental movement early. (Countered to some degree by the sea of minivans dropping off every morning, which I must confess I'm part of.)
I was looking forward to the Farmer's Market opening, but the weather appears to be uncooperative. :(
Jesse - Me too! Sorry I missed out, but another obligation cropped up. Hope it went well.
John - That's reassuring. And hey, I drive a minivan, too. We're all going to hell! ;)
Weather for Saturday is supposed to be cloudy with "occasional light rain," so dammit, I'm taking my umbrella and going. Nothing will keep me from scones, jam and cheese!
Emily, I love the Great Lakes Earth Day challenge! And thanks for the very kind words about my blog.
Can't wait for the farmers market -- even if I have to take a canoe :-)
I would ask all of you who take man-made global warming as fact, to please read today's (4/18) article on global warming from an actual climateologist. Not someone from an environmental group.
I am highly skeptical of global warming because the other side of the debate is not being heard and those questions have not been satisfactory answered.
I am all for conserving the planet's resources, but I do not agree with massive tax increases for something that is not a proven fact. Consensus in science is not a fact. I also reject the notion that there is consensus. Approx. 500 scientists submitted a letter to congress disagreeing with man-made global warming.
We should be having a debate regarding this
William - The only debate that we can justify having at this late date is on the speed at which change is occurring. Because it's happening. And all of the hard, cold science points to the fact that human beings are one of the main contributing factors to these changes.
At this point, people who go out of their way to argue that global climate change isn't happening, or that it isn't a concern, don't deserve equal air-time. I'm sorry, but they don't. There is almost no data to back their claims, and overwhelming mountains to support the notion that we're fucking things up. The rate at which this is happening and where/how exactly it will manifest itself can and is being debated. But it's happening.
I do agree that we need to be careful about the methods we implement to curb these changes. Biofuels, for example, have turned into quite the tricky mess, what with global food prices being what they are.
Still, we don't have time to have a fruitless "debate" about whether or not this is actually happening. We need to start making major changes in how we do things...yesterday.
Emily:
Whatever you say. You are part of the problem. No the cold hard facts are not pointing to man-made global warming. Maybe you should open your eyes and ask some questions. Did you even bother to read the Wall street journal article? Consensus does not mean fact. I think you should actually take some science classes. Why cant you state the reasons why the global warming (man-made) global warming skeptics are wrong? Please provide a link? I can provide many links to where actual scientists who are not funded by oil companies or are not beholden to funding grants on actual reasons why the computer model data and the data used to compile the so-called warming trend are wrong.
You are a typical liberal, you think you are right and everyone is wrong, and will not even listen to reason. No debate, we cannot have it. Well all of these GW alarmists have NEVER debated. You are a very arrogant and ignorant. You should actually spend some time doing some research on why the people disagree with man -made global warming then just drink the Al Gore Kool aid. At least I have a science background. What background do you have to make the comment that we cannot debate? That one comment tells me all I need to know about you. A close minded, self absorbed liberal. I am sorry, but you arrogance in what you write is really breath taking.
You are a typical liberal, you think you are right and everyone is wrong...
Actually, I think that the vast majority of scientists and researchers are right, and that the strangely still in denial minority is mistaken.
Look, you can call me all of the names you like and accuse me of not having a sciencey enough background, but that doesn't change that fact that we, humans, are causing some serious problems on this planet and need to work to fix them, and soon.
I have a feeling that I could post all the links to valid and wide-ranging research in the world to back up my argument (and heck, I probably will in a future post), but really, the information is out there for you to grab. So that you haven't already makes me suspect that you won't really care what I post.
But this isn't about me trying to feel right or superior. It's about all of us recognizing that something is wrong, and working together to make it right (or at least better). I really can't understand why that's a problem for certain individuals.
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