Thursday, August 30, 2007

Lobby Packet Delivery.

Wednesday was my Project Hot Seat event! I went with my boyfriend Vinny, my good friend Noel and two great people that I met through the Project Hot Seat website named Audrey and Fabio. Audrey even brought her son. :) We met around 10:30AM and arrived at Michael Capuano's office right at 11. Michael Capuano was busy (as I had expected) so I asked to speak to a staff person. The woman at the front desk said that we wouldn't be able to do that either. She seemed to be in an awful mood. We handed over the lobby packet and signed his constituent book but that was all we could do for the day. Audrey is planning to make an appointment for us to go back and speak to Michael Capuano himself. :) The event didn't go quite as well as we had hoped but it was my first time doing anything like this so I think it was a good start!

When we go back for "Take 2" I hope to bring a lot more people!

AdiĆ³s! :)

Wednesday, August 22, 2007

Updates!

I apologize for the lack of entries this past week. I'm currently gathering information for future posts! One of my neighbors is going to convert his car to electric and I get to help! Expect a post about that soon! Also, I still owe you the interview with my friend Anthony who went to Kyoto this August. (See entry: Conference in Japan).

My Project Hot Seat event is coming up! I've recruited five Greenpeace volunteers and I'm going to bring some of my friends as well. It's still not too late for you to sign up! I'll take lots of pictures and write about the meeting next week!

Thank you for your patience and expect a lot of new entries soon. :)

Thursday, August 16, 2007

Swishing Parties! -- a cool new way to recycle :)

"Consume less, share more" is a saying I like to go by. Every year teenagers spend hundreds of dollars buying back to school clothes but now there's a cheaper and more earth-friendly way to achieve a new wardrobe! Swishing is when you swap your (gently worn) clothes with friends!

"When the swishing officially began, we were allowed to grab anything that we wanted. Just imagine. Free clothes. And jewelry. And shoes. To take away forever. . . I left wearing a whole new outfit and a huge smile." -Anna Shepard, The Times
(quoted by Swishing.org)

Who would've thought that hand-me-downs would ever be cool?

You may not realize it . . . but constantly buying new clothes creates quite an issue for the environment.

New clothes means:
-more waste in landfills
-more energy used during production
-more pollution
-using up more resources

Take a look in your closet and I'm sure you'll find tons of clothes that you never wear, that don't fit, or that just aren't your style. Even if you don't care for them anymore, someone else might! Put them in a box and tell your friends to do the same. When you have enough people involved, hold a swishing party and exchange clothes! "One's trash is another's treasure!" :)

For more information visit Swishing.org.

ttyl :)

Monday, August 13, 2007

Phantom Power! Vampire Load! or. . . idle current.

Sounds like something from Batman right? Idle current a.k.a. phantom power or vampire load means that your appliances use energy even when they're not in use! Your microwave oven, your stove, your DVD player, cable box . . . most of them display the time even after you turn them off. You may not realize this but this little time display is sucking a fair amount of power out of your sockets!

According to The Renewable Planet, "It has been estimated that about 10 percent of total home energy use is due to appliances and electronic equipment in standby mode."

A very unnecessary 10%!

So what can you do about this? Well, in my home after we discovered that vampire load was such an issue, we started using power strips. They look like this:



In this power strip we have the TV, DVD player, cable box, VCR, and printer all plugged in! Without the power strip this would cause an awful lot of vampire load. :(
BUT with the touch of the button on the left . . . the vampire load is stopped! It's as simple as that.

The prices of power strips can range from $5 to over $100. Just make sure you get one with an on/off switch and power surge protection if you are plugging in something expensive like a television or computer.

It's a good investment!
Vampire load be-gone!

ja mata :)

Sunday, August 12, 2007

Down:2:Earth (D2E).

Down:2:Earth - An exploration into sustainable living.

Similar to the Eco Trade Show I mentioned previously that has taken place in California, Down:2:Earth a.k.a. D2E will take place in Boston this March at the Hynes Convention Center!

D2E is a weekend dedicated to sustainable living. It will feature video presentations, booths for companies to promote their products, a fashion show, an art show, author readings, a bicycle rack design competition, and interactive seminars. It is a chance for people to see how many green options there are available. D2E will both teach why sustainable living is so important and show how to create a sustainable lifestyle.

The seminars are planned to include:
-Calculating your carbon footprint
-25 ways to help green your home
-Eating well for your children and grandchildren
-Greening your business
-Slow food -- where to buy what

Aiming to appeal to a wide range of age groups, D2E will promote businesses offering green alternatives to everything from fashion to finance.

It's going to be a great event and I'm excited to be a part of it!
I got my information from Nina Berger who is in charge of communications and publicity for the event.

Eventually D2E will have a website and as the planning progresses I'll let you know!

herete :)

Project Hot Seat.

Yesterday I signed up to host an event for Project Hot Seat. Later this month a group of Project Hot Seat volunteers and myself will visit Massachusetts Representative Michael Capuano at his office and talk to him about the importance of the Safe Climate Act. If you want to do the same it's not too late! Visit Project Hot Seat and sign up to host an event in your area!

Thursday, August 9, 2007

Warped Eco Initiatives (WEI).



Today I went to the Van's Warped Tour '07. Apart from having a whole lot of fun there I was so excited to see the 40,000 watt Kevin Says Hot Topic solar powered stage! "Sustainable Waves" they called it! Here are two pictures I took. . .





You can see the sign in the picture above.

I have also learned that this year's Warped Tour has done even more for the good of the environment. They use a Biodiesel B20 mixture made for their tour buses, clean catering provided by Tada Catering, recycled paper, soy ink, and a WEI recycling program featuring clean-up volunteers. Tour vendors also used power provided by Biodiesel B20 and B100 (which is 100% biodiesel). I also came across a tent WEI had set up. Under the tent they had a TV connected to headphones so that you could watch An Inconvenient Truth right then and there and a petition to increase recycling in Massachusetts. I signed it of course. :)

FYI:

Biodiesel B20 -- Biodiesel is an alternative fuel that is renewable and puts out 60% less CO2 than petroleum-based fuel. It is usually made from soybean or canola oil but can also be made from animal fat and recycled cooking oil. The only problem with this alternative fuel is it's cost, which is much higher than that of petroleum diesel. So to help lower the cost Biodiesel B20 was created. . . which is a mixture of 20% Biodiesel and 80% petroleum diesel. If you already have a diesel engine, then switching to Biodiesel B20 or other mixtures will not require any changes in your engine in order to run.

B100 -- 100% biodiesel!

Soy Ink -- Soy ink is exactly what it sounds like. It's ink made from soybeans, which is an alternative to petroleum-based ink that is much better for the environment and makes paper easier to recycle.

Clean Catering -- Tada Catering has been the catering company at Warped Tour for many years and this year decided that they wanted to reduce their waste. On the road they are using washable dishes! This is part of their new "reuse-and-recycle" program which also intends to turn many recycled items into cash for non-profit organizations.

I was very impressed with the efforts taken by Warped Tour this year! An event that would usually produce TONS of CO2 emissions and all sorts of waste has taken so many efforts to make such a fun day less damaging to the planet!

bye for now! :)

P.S. My boyfriend's band played at the 8/9/2007 Warped Tour and if you're into that kind of music you should give them a listen!
Myspace or PureVolume

Wednesday, August 8, 2007

Conference in Japan.

Recently, I assisted my good friend Anthony on his global warming PowerPoint presentation that was presented last week in Kyoto, Japan. Our Japanese teacher selected Anthony to be a part of the International Youth Conference on the Environment in Kyoto. His job was to represent the United States at the conference and talk about actions that can be taken to stop the climate crisis. I met Anthony, Leah (another Japanese student helping out with the presentation) and teacher John Abbot mid-July to give them suggestions.

Anthony divided the presentation into five sections:
1. Home
2. School
3. City
4. State
5. Country

We came up with ways to help the planet in your home, school, city, state, and country. Most of these methods are obvious to any environmentally conscious person but I'll summarize them anyway.

Home:
- Recycle
- Maintain a garden/ plant trees to help reduce your CO2 output
- Upgrade to more energy efficient light bulbs
- Unplug all appliances when not in use
- Conserve water
- Use environmentally friendly cleaning products (ex. Method)

School:
- Reinforce recycling in schools
- Upgrade to more energy efficient light bulbs
- Solar power
- Make environmental studies part of the required curriculum to spread awareness to the next generation

City:
- Fund volunteer environmental projects. . . such as planting trees
- Have multiple recycling receptacles on streets
- Keep city streets clean
- Encourage the use of hybrid vehicles and public transportation

State:
- Reinforce company policies that prevent them from dumping and burning toxic waste
- Strengthen environmental laws that are neglected by the federal government
- Environment Massachusetts
- "Monkey see monkey do." If one state takes action on improving the environment, other states will soon catch on

Country:
- RATIFY THE KYOTO PROTOCOL!
- Educate the public about the dangers of global warming
- Support National Parks
- Strengthen Federal Environmental guidelines
- Form organizations to confront the issue and aim to improve

Those are some of the main points in the presentation. I will elaborate on some of these points later.

When I was on my way to meet Anthony that day, I was stopped by a man from Greenpeace who asked me if I would be interested in helping to stop global warming. I laughed and said, "I already am!"

I will have an interview with Anthony about his trip posted soon.

au revoir :)