General: July 2010 Archives
When I was at the bookstore recently I found a book called Practically Green. I decided that I should change the name to this site before I get to attached to it. For the time being it'll be nameless until I come up with a new one.
The second thing that has continued to motivate me to try to live green is the outdoors. I grew up going through Beavers, Cubs, Scouts, and yes Venturers. I was lucky enough to be involved in highly active troops that spent a lot of time in the great outdoors. We had annual Klondike days where we got to practice our outdoorsmanship. We had large camps and jamborees, which usually was pretty easy light camping in large open fields. Finally we went on camps just as a troop in a little bit more remote locations. The last trip I went on was a 14 day hike at Philmont Scout Ranch in New Mexico. That was a great experience, living with what you could carry on your back. We didn’t carry 14 days worth of food with us, there were frequent food pickups and garbage drop offs every three to four days.
I’ve been aware, and involved in living green since I was in elementary school through the late 80’s and early 90’s. In the beginning my father convinced me to start recycling aluminum cans. While it was more for the money than it was for saving the environment, it was my first experience with recycling. I collected cans from neighbours, family reunions, any kind of event where people were drinking out of cans. Of course my favorite were beer cans, because the vendors paid back a deposit on those. The pop cans were just crushed and taken to an metal recycling center and I was paid by the pound. After several summers, and my grandpa sending me to the metal recycling center with copper wire and some old car transmissions, I was able to buy a bike with my money. That was the greatest feeling in the world riding a bike that I had basically paid for myself. Shortly after that I got involved in a much larger recycling program.
The fact of the matter is that moving toward sustainability is easier than most people think. There are many changes that each of us can make in our day to day life that will reduce our impact on our environment. It’s not easy to wake up one morning and live a perfectly green sustainable life. As I often say, life gets in the way of life. However if we remain conscious of what we’re doing day to day, we can change our habits over time. Small steps in the right direction are progress now matter how you look at it.
A common fallacy that I often hear when it comes to green living is what I’ve heard referred to the Utopian Fallacy. Basically it is the idea that unless a solution is perfect, then it’s not a solution at all. It’s a very black and white view of the world. Well the world isn’t black and white, and a step in the right direction is better than standing still. People on both sides of the environmental debate fall into this fallacy’s trap. The danger with this trap is that it stagnates progress because no one wants to move in the right direction unless we get to where we’re wanting to go in one move. This is akin to a hitch hiker not taking a ride from someone going their direction just because they’re not going quite far enough.
Note: At this point I’m not sure where this site is going, what I’m going to write about, whether I have anything unique to say, how long it’s going to last, whether I’ll find any body that is interested in it.... But I’m taking one step at a time. Note: This site is a work in progress, especially at the beginning. Expect to see some design changes, and possibly some growing pains at the beginning.
