Wearing awareness

I just found out (from stop shark finning site) about this site Ban T-shirts which has a section on environmental message shirts. Pretty neat!

Before you order the shark fin soup...

Shark fin soup was once a delicacy only served for Chinese aristocrats but it has gotten a lot more affordable these days. Apparently the fin does not have any taste, but people eat it for its texture, tradition and probably for curiosity.

It is illegal to harvest sharks for just fins in some countries, but this is seldom monitored and the number of sharks are declining rapidly. Before you order that soup for whatever reason, consider the horrific act of "finning" sharks which involves capturing sharks by mile-long net, cutting just the fins and throwing the bodies back in the sea to make more room on the boat while the finless sharks swim to the bottom of the sea and die, unable to swim.
Millions of sharks die this way each year and it's not just their problems because they play such vital roles in sustaining the marine ecosystem. And messing with the delicate balance affects our life negatively as well.

And if you are not convinced about the malpractice or the negative environmental effect, then avoid it for your health. According to University of Hong Kong study, shark fins contains more than 10 times the maximum permitted level of mercury. If demand declines, the price would drop and harvesters will have less incentives to mal-practice and sharks might have the chance of surviving this battle. If this continues, they will perish.

And if you have a bad experience with a shark and think ill of them, I'd urge you to think about this stat: every year, about 10 people are killed by shark attacks around the world but 200 million sharks are slaughtered by humans.

CNN's Planet in Peril recently featured shark finning.
Stop Shark Finning site has more details.

One more reason to save the planet

Here is another reason to save the planet - your health. Did you know that increase in temperatures and global warming could lead to increased levels of pollen? This is bad news for those with asthma - like myself. Increased temperatures could also lead to dehydration and consequently conditions such as kidney stones could develop. This sounds crazy - but it's true! Look at p.60 of TIME (Nov 1) for more info.

Thanks for reading!

How Obama could save the environment (and the economy)

Hi. About a month back Yoko and I went for our first activity. It was with the Hill Country Conservancy and involved planting young trees. YAY! :)

I found Joe Klien's article on Time (Nov 24) fascinating. Here are some ways the next President may save the environment according to the article:

- Automakers would get a bailout in bad economic times if they increase fuel efficieny by 4% and also make transitions to cars on batteries. This just goes to show how important hybrids are becoming for America.

- Companies that produce wind and solar energy are going to receive tax credits. These are, of course, less polluting than coal and oil.

- Construction of a new electric grid that uses energy harvested from alternative sources of energy. Al Gore is supports this idea and says that the investment would not only create new jobs but also pay for itself in 3 years time!

Sounds good to me - the question is when do we get started.

Thanks.

Breaking the addiction to oil

One of the best ways to break the oil addiction is to switch to alternative means of energy and also using public transportation. Consider the amount of gas saved and the reduction in pollution if public transportation is the norm in Austin. This is the case in many developing nations, such as India where I spent the early years of my life. In Chennai, people use the local buses and trains since gas prices are high. Oh yes, and there is the 2-wheeler syndrome! With bikes that essentially give you more bang for the buck and less pollution per mile ... this seems like a no-brainer for short distances, especially if only 1 person is traveling.

This is where I beg to differ from Time's perspective on the issue on Sept 29. Low-cost hybrids are going to take longer to develop and could be liable to breaking-down in the middle of the road. Apparently the Chevrolet Volt (Hybrid-Electric as the name suggests!), would cost around 40k. Why not encourage public transportation and motorcycles as these solutions mature over the next five years...

Thanks for reading!

Paper Bags ... Not for me!

I was stuck in the Airport in Atlanta for 5 hours on Monday and had to find something to do. So, I picked up Newsweek (Aug 29). Did you know that people in Seattle are actually upset about plastic bags that will cost them 20c instead of free paper bags? Considering that Seattle is one of the most environmentally friendly cities in the US, I wonder how long it would be before we all become greener. What if we just make green living the "Law of the Land" ? I wonder if that's the way to go ...

Thanks!

Unwanted telephone directories?

Did you know you could sign up to opt out from receiving those Yellow page books you never use? There's a way. Click here to sign up.

September = Commute Solutions Month

Next month, in greater Austin area, residents are encouraged to try alternative methods of commuting that are less environmentally-damaging such as carpooling, walking, biking, working from home, or using public transportations. To help promote this cause, there will be a Commuter Challenge (including the Weirdest Commute Contest with 3-day ACL pass as the prize!). River Cities Rideshare has a helpful site for keeping a daily log of your commutes. On top of reducing the carbon footprint and saving gas money, you could also win a prize and each alternative commute you log will increase your chance. Even if you can't participate in the contest, let's use this initiative to reconsider the impact of our daily commute and how we can reduce the amount of unnecessary driving. Don't forget it includes driving during lunch hours as well!

Commuter Challenge Resources:

Commuter Challenge Entry & diary log
Capital Metro schedules & maps

September Events:
Commuter Solutions Month Kickoff
Fri, 9/5
Republic Square, 4th & Guadalupe

Festivities include music from Austin Home Grown, food, information booths on commuting options, the UT cheerleaders, Austin Energy's Cody the Clean Air Car, and more. The fun begins at 11:00 AM and goes until 1:00 PM.

The Weirdest Commute Contest will be held at the Kickoff. Commuters with great imaginations and a tremendous sense of fun are encouraged to participate. Contest rules are on the River Cities Rideshare homepage. Judging will begin at noon and the winner will receive a pair of 3 day passes to ACL.

Press Conference
Friday, September 26
Austin City Hall Atrium, 11:30 AM

Mayor Wynn will summarize Commute Solutions participation and benefits (number of participants in the Challenge, miles saved and emissions reduced). Joe Cantalupo, Executive Director of CAMPO, will present the Commuter Challenge Employer Awards. Commute Solutions Partners will be there with information on commuting options.

9th Annual Renewable Energy Roundup & Green Living Fair
September 26-28, 2008
Fredericksburg Market Square on Main Street, between S. Crockett and S. Adams, Fredericksburg, Texas.

This three-day weekend family fair focuses on renewable energy, green building, water use and reuse, energy efficiency, alternative fuel vehicles, and other related matters. For more information visit www.theroundup.org.

Are we being "bio-foolish"?

I just finished reading a very informative article on Biofuels on Time (April 7, 2008). It seemed like an appropriate time to post since I also saw that ethanol is now available at gas stations such as the one on i-35 and parmer. Ethanol is a biofuel - and is derived from corn. Soybean is another form of bio-diesel, so is sugarcane. So couple of things that seem really striking:



- America's leaders today endorse biofuels like ethanol. The consequences: lost greenlands that would hold much more carbon. In addition, ethanol produces even more harmful effects than gasoline to the environment. So, it seems logical that ethanol is not the answer should we want to save the environment.



- This probably has already occurred to you, but I'll go ahead and state it anyway. With corn now being used to run our cars than to feed us, the demand and prices for such food items goes up. Do we want to eat at a reasonable price or keep our cars running?



Thanks for reading!

Connecting the green dots

Growing up in Japan, classifying every single garbage into different recycling bucket was such a normal activity that even here in the States where I live in an apartment complex with no recycling program, I can't just throw away glasses and plastics as trash. It is a little inconvenient to take them to a off-site recycling place, but I believe in individuals doing the part we can and I think this is something I can live with.

When we started the conversation for the vision of this community, we really wanted to focus on small changes that, collectively, would create a big impact on protecting the environment. We also wanted to focus on the local information because we felt there is a lot of general information out there already. We are interested to know - What are some creative ways that Austin people live to preserve this planet? Where are the good places to get locally-grown and fresh food? What changes have you made to your living environment that makes it easy to live a green life? How good is the public transportation in Austin? - among many other topics. I hope this would be a place for native Austinites and new-comers alike to connect through our shared vision for greener, healthier lifestyle.

Our vision for Green It!

I'm one of the people involved in starting Green It! Austin. I moved here to start my job in February. I'm really inspired by how beautiful and green the city actually is, having spent five years in downtown Atlanta at Georgia Tech. There is more we can all do locally -recycling, car pool to and from work to save gas and reduce pollution, change our lifestyle to be more eco-friendly, and most importantly raise public awareness of the problem. Green it! is founded on the belief that with small environmentally conscious changes from each one of us, we can make the planet a much cleaner and healthier place for future generations. Feel free to email me/post comments with your thoughts and if you want to get involved. Our email address is on the top-right. Thanks for reading!!