Sad Days Ahead For The Gulf

A Brown Pelican is seen on the beach at East Grand Terre Island along the Louisiana coast after being drenched in oil from the Deepwater Horizon oil spill Thursday, June 3, 2010.

I wake up every morning wondering whether the flow of oil is going to slow today. Wondering what the ultimate price is that we'll pay for our oil dependence. Will B. P. eventually figure out how to cap the poison gushing into the Gulf and when (if) they do, will it be business as usual?

I sincerely hope that all the people picketing B. P. and the rage at this environmental disaster will continue until the world and especially this country realizes that we need affordable, clean energy.

Please understand that I'm not blaming B. P. alone, or the government for failing to regulate the industry. I'm blaming all of us. We've sold out for convenience. Need something at the grocery? Gotta run to the bank? I jump in my SUV and think nothing about it. Okay, it's a small SUV and gets pretty good mileage and I try to run all my errands at once so I maximize a tank of gas.

But, I'm afraid we're still years away from realizing the sacrifices we need to make.

I remember when Jimmy Carter was laughed out of office for even suggesting that we needed to make hard choices in stemming our thirst for oil. We were incensed when gas prices in 1978 rose to an average of (gasp!) $.63 a gallon!! But, we got over it and it was "business as usual." We're slowly realizing the price of our indifference more than 3 decades ago.

Not sure what I hope to accomplish with this blog post. Maybe just add my 2 cents to the anger and disgust for the shameful way we're ignoring the facts concerning our fragile world.

Thanks for reading this far! Oh, and in case oil in the Gulf doesn't interest you, try reading this: Arctic Sea Ice At Lowest Point In Thousands Of Years

Read About The Earth Day Network Website Don't be Stupid!

It Starts With A Napkin

It starts with a napkin? Okay, let me explain. For years, my husband and I used paper napkins with every meal. Six paper napkins a day doesn't sound like much, but consider this. How does 2,190 paper napkins sound? 25 years worth? 53,750! (Give or take a napkin or two)

That's why we decided to take a small step and switch to cloth napkins. One little gesture and we've eliminated something from the world trash heap. And, if you're wondering, throwing a few small napkins in a weekly load of laundry adds nothing to our utility bills. We've also switched to select-a-size paper towels but use cloth towels for clean-up whenever possible.

We recycle our grass clippings around trees and shrubs instead of filling plastic bags for the town pick up. Much easier on us and it also saves a lot of plastic trash bags! Even better.

We still have a long way to go. It's not easy to give up on conveniences, but, like us, you can start with the small stuff.

What have you done for Earth Day? Earth Year?

Why not pull out the cloth napkins?

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Great News For Mother Earth!

A great weight lifted off my shoulders when I listened to the announcement that the United States has finally agreed to a change in direction on global climate agreements.

Born and raised in Germany comes with a completely different outlook on our environment. Growing up, I was taught in school not to litter. We actually had classes on the subject.

I immigrated from Germany to the United States back in 1991, and remember driving down an Interstate when suddenly, a trash-filled bag from a well known fast food chain, came flying out from the car in front of me. I grabbed pencil and paper and wrote down the license plate number. When I later proudly presented the evidence to a policeman I was laughed at. When you toss as much as a cigarette butt in the country I was raised in, you end up with a hefty fine.

Throughout the years I've made extra efforts to stop some abuse against Mother Earth. I remember a friend asking me to assist him changing the oil and filter on his automobile. When all was finished, my friend carried a plastic bowl with five quarts of used motor oil to his bathroom.

No way! I thought, as he was about to unload the substance into his toilet. I explained to him that one drop of oil renders a bathtub full of drinking water useless, and I volunteered to take the used oil to the local parts store for recycling. Do the math; if my education changed how this person recycled his used motor oil, I saved many bathtubs worth of drinking water.

I'm grateful for the new policy concerning our environment and for a new, more global geared administration. I must say however, an educational process must be in place along with the changes. I'm not sure how it's asked that we protect the earth, when it seems some people can't take care of their problems at home. Animals build soft nests, why can’t we!

Martin Bartloff

Earth Day, 2009

Look for Martin's book, Like A Snowflake In Summer
June, 2009 - Echelon Press

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