Amazon... You have to be kidding me!

I am not quite sure what's Amazon's position on the environment and corporate responsibility, but if I have to judge by my most recent purchase, commitment it's not the word that comes to mind!

I ordered a quite unique battery replacement for my watch that it's nearly weightless and thin as a quarter (as you might expect from a battery for a watch). Well, take a look at the box and protective materials that Amazon chose to ship this purchase. Guys... it could have been delivered in an envelope!


Packing used by Amazon to ship a watch battery replacement.

Our impact in the environment...

I came across this great video that very cleverly articulates our impact to the environment; the one we create in our daily life through the choices we make. It's the first time I see something that clearly helps me 'see' and really understand how I contribute and how I can do things differently. Check it out, it's only 45 seconds: http://www.climateprotect.org/ah12.

Spread the word... the world is really hotter every day!

If feels good!

Over the past 2 years, the understanding and appreciation of what's going on with the environment has been growing for me.

At first, even though interested, I was unable to connect to the point of really making different choices for myself. When Clara and I started dating, she would come home and silently suffer due to my lack of recycling. For me, in all honesty, in such a small house having 2 containers and taking two bags out was too much of a hasle.

As I look back, it might even sound ridiculous, but I think it's important for those working to generate awareness, to remeber where they come from. I certainly do, and in doing so, hope to have a more realistic, empathetic relationship to those who just recently have started to awaken to the realities of the environement.

So, if you are one of those, just starting to think and worry about it, my number one suggestion is, start by your self. Beyond anything else that can be done at so many levels (government, policy, etc.), ultimately the most concrete action we can all take it's our choices.

Today my choice reflect more than I could have ever imaged I would do just six months ago. The environment has grown in me, and today, to take more time to line dry instead of using the drying machine, it actually feels good! Today I made a decision to start offsetting my travel carbon emissions... and it also feels good. I offsetted my last trip to Uruguay, and my driving trip to San Diego tomorrow.

Don't dispair... once you get into it, it's much easier to choose differently. And it really feels good!

Reference: If you want to off-set carbon emissions, check http://www.nativeenergy.com/.

Go noir... save energy!

A friend sent me this e-mail (I am not sure the source). In any case, I think this is a simple way in which YOU can help the environment, without really no sacrifice whatsoever. All you need to do is make your searches in: www.blackgoogle.com. It's the same as google, but with a black bakground.

Benefits? ... reduce eye strain, saves about 3000 Megawatt-hours a year.

An all white web page uses about 74 watts to display, while an all black page uses only 59 watts. Recently a Math was done to see what kind of energy could be saved if Google's search page was black.

Google, gets about 200 million queries a day. Let's assume each query is displayed for about 10 seconds; that means Google is running for about 550,000 hours every day on some desktop. Assuming that users run Google in full screen mode, the shift to a black background will save a total of 15 (74-59) watts. That turns into a global savings of 8.3 Megawatt-hours per day, or about 3000 Megawatt-hours a year. And at 10 cents a kilowatt-hour, that's $300,000, a good amount of energy and dollars for changing a few color codes.

Hope this leads you into a neverending journey og having a more sustainable lifestile and preserving the environment. If you feel compelled to do more, I reccommend this site: http://www.earthlab.com/ecp.aspx. Not only it has great information, but also has a carbon emissions calculator that helps you understand your impact in the environment and proposes way to measure and track performance over time... very fun for the measurements driven ;)

Garbage and the throw-away economy...

[by: Martin Herrera - Tinchohs@hotmail.com]

The planet is running out of space, and we are running out of time. In March 2001 New York closed for good its land garbage dump – it turns out it was full. This is, or is to become the reality in many places in the world.

As a society we produce more garbage than we are capable of processing. Just as an example, New York produces over 11,000 tons of garbage every day. But, just how much is this? Well, it takes the city of New York a military-style operation on a daily basis to transport the garbage some 300 miles away on 550 rigs (huge trucks). Yeah… but is this really a lot? Well, you can see it this way; these tractor trailers will form a convoy nearly nine miles long, impeding traffic, polluting the air, and raising carbon emissions which in itself generated a whole lot of additional damage to the environment. And this in only one city!

But the challenge goes well beyond how to dispose garbage; it actually is a lot more about how to treat the causes, and reduce the amount of garbage we as individuals generate; it’s about what each of us can do on daily basis; it’s about the choices we make and how they impact the place we live in, for example choosing convenient disposable plates, utensil, napkins, buying gold wedding rings for your future spouse or choosing to follow fashion or the latest trends.

The challenge we now face is to replace the throw-away economy with a, reduce, reuse and recycle economy. Just to exemplify this, whole economies can develop around reutilizing intelligently waste disposal, positively impacting the environment, and the lives of those involved. In Brazil, where unemployment is high, the recycling of aluminum beverage cans has become a major source of employment. The system that has evolved in Brazil for recycling aluminum cans now employs more people than the automotive industry does.

It’s very difficult to understand the difference we each can make. You either contribute or you contaminate. Through the development of this story and its revealing pictures, I hope to increase awareness and share a unique perspective of this challenge. I hope to shed some light on the unconscious choices and on the new habits we can develop to contribute to a better place to live in.

Source: 2002 Earth Policy Institute (http://www.earth-policy.org/index.htm).

Note. This is a photo story project that I intend to develop over time. Any suggestions, visual or conceptual ideas, references or links are welcomed.