11th Hour

I'm pretty excited about this movie:

"The concentration of all this information into an hour and a half makes it more likely to reach a large audience, but it also leaves you wanting more. Hours could be devoted to any one of the film's subjects, and it's easy to imagine it expanded into a much longer television series.
The first third of the film is nearly as terrifying as any science-fiction film as interviewees describe the Earth as behaving like an infected organism. Humanity is a victim of its own collective intelligence as the very skills that abetted our survival against initially long odds have accelerated our possible demise.

According to the filmmakers, at the heart of the problem is our disconnect from nature, the idea that we are somehow removed from our natural environment. This lack of understanding of the Earth's interdependent systems has created a convergence of crises, wherein deforestation, soil degradation, the pollution of the air and the ill health of the oceans all bode poorly.
The middle portion asks why these things are happening and apportions blame in varying degrees to governmental indifference tied to its allegiance to a corporate economy that is addicted to growth at any cost and perhaps, most insinuating of all, to the culture of consumerism. Disposable has trumped sustainable in our society, and we're now paying the price.

Thankfully for audiences, 11th Hour is not without hope. The filmmakers save the most exhilarating portion for last when they ask what's being done about the problems. Experts extol existing technologies and projects as attainable solutions. Progressive designs such as a carbon-neutral city and self-sustaining buildings already offer ideas for a new direction. By mimicking nature's own blueprints, it is possible to create a system of living that heals rather than depletes the Earth. "

Hopefully it will come to Austin and I can go see it!

bottled water?

This one hits home - we drink bottled water. . . maybe it's time for us to re-evaluate. . .

-- 70 million disposable plastic water bottles are consumed in the US each day
-- every year 22 billion bottles either go in the landfill or are incinerated
-- it takes 1000 years for a water bottle to decompose in a landfill
-- at $1.00 a bottle, you are paying $8.00 a gallon which makes gasoline seem pretty cheap

Something else to consider - tap water has fluoride in it which promotes the health of your teeth. Recently my dentist has begun to ask me if I drink bottled water. Reason being, cavities have increased because people use bottled water as their primary source of drinking water.

How Much Can Difference Can One Person Make?

So I'm working on a handout, or send-out, to give to people at our church that want to begin to change their lives to be greener. I would love feedback from people about what they think about these ideas and what needs to be changed or condensed on this list.

How much of a difference can one person make?
For free?

1. Carpool
a. If you don’t drive for 2 days that you were planning to drive, it reduces 1590 pounds of carbon dioxide emissions.
b. Group your errands so you have to drive the least

2. Drive less, bike/walk more.
a. 4.6 million people died last year from air pollution related diseases
b. http://www.austincarshare.org/

3. Maintain your car
a. According to AAA, driving with under inflated tires can reduce your vehicle’s gas mileage and fuel efficiency by up to 2% which, for a $3.00 gallon of gas, causes you to lose $.06 per gallon
b. Proper maintenance will keep your car running properly and increase the life of your car. A poorly tuned car will pollute significantly more than one that is well maintained.

4. Switch to compact fluorescent light bulbs when other bulbs burn out
a. If every household changed its five most used bulbs to compact fluorescent light bulbs, the country could take twenty-one coal-fired power plants off-line tomorrow. This would keep one trillion pounds of poisonous gases and soot out of the air we breathe and would have the same beneficial impact as taking eight million cars off the road. A decrease of soot and greenhouse gases in the air translates into people who will be spared disease and death. Some sixty-four thousand American deaths occur annually as a result of soot in the air.

5. When grocery shopping, reuse your plastic bags or use fabric ones
a. According to The Wall Street Journal, the U.S. goes through 100 billion plastic shopping bags annually. An estimated 12 million barrels of oil is required to make that many plastic bags

6. Eat locally
a. If we were to eat one home grown meal a week, we could save 800 millions barrels of oil (on average our food travels 1200 miles from pasture to plate)

7. Compost kitchen and yard waste
a. http://www.compostguide.com/
b. http://www.ci.austin.tx.us/sws/compostbin.htm

8. Reduce junk mail
a. Each year, 100 million trees are used to produce junk mail; 250,000 homes could be heated with one day's supply of junk mail; and Americans receive almost 4 million tons of junk mail every year
b. http://www.junkbusters.com/junkmail.html

9. Recycle EVERYTHING
a. Only purchase items whose packaging can be recycled
b. We, as Americans, only recycle a tenth of our garbage
c. What can you recycle? http://www.ecology-action.org/what.html
d. AustinRecycles.com
e. Each year, billions of used batteries are disposed into solid waste facilities in the United States. This constitutes 88% of the mercury and 54% of the cadmium deposited into our landfills. Bring your used batteries to church – we’ll recycle them for you

10. Water your lawn less
a. Less frequent, more thorough watering encourages deeper roots, which provide drought protection to plants and grasses. Step on your grass. If it springs back when you lift your foot, it doesn't need water.
b. Make sure the pavement isn’t getting watered; Get your irrigation system tuned up for efficiency.
c. Mulch to prevent evaporation, Set lawn mower blades one notch higher: longer grass means less evaporation; Water in the early morning; don’t use sprinklers that spray in a fine mist, it will reduce evaporation.
d. Water in several short sessions rather than one long one. Three ten-minute sessions spaced 30 minutes to an hour apart, for example, will allow your lawn to better absorb moisture than one straight 30-minute session.
e. Consider capturing rainwater in a rain barrel or finding out how to repurpose gray water, which is water used for showers, dishwashers and other uses that is then recycled.

11. Drive slower
a. When you drive at 75mph, you are burning about 20% more fuel than at 60mph (and even more than 20% if you are in a particularly non-aerodynamic vehicle like a SUV). This could help you save up to 1/5th on gas (along with up to 20% less CO2 and smog-forming emissions in the air). And keep your windows up at high speeds – it’s almost like having a small parachute attached to your car!

feedback!

“Any error about creation also leads to an error about God.” – Thomas Aquinas

So I'm compiling a list of things that you can do, for free, to begin to educate the church that I go to in living a green life. I want to back up these ideas with statistics on what one person can do to help. If anyone has any ideas, please leave comments! I'll post my works in progress once I start the list.

Also, I'm pretty excited that our church is adopting a street to clean up (www.keepaustinbeautiful.org). We picked a pretty prominent local street near the church and we will be one of two Christian churches in Austin that is adopting a street. Many of the other streets are adopted by schools, UT, St. Ed's, Buddhist Churches, the Atheist Society and the Unitarian Universalists. I think it's important that churches do show concern for their community and help in this area. I also think it's going to be a lot of fun to get out there and clean (only 4 times a year) and show our community that were are going to take the initiative to change. Yay!

Also, the recycling program at our church is going to begin soon. Stay tuned for how that one goes!

I love to see things actually change - this is pretty exciting!

"We must care for creation because God is the Creator and all creation praises him. When we destroy creation we allow the destruction of that which praises God. We need to actively care for the creation for the sake of God and his love for creation, for the sake of the poor, God’s non–human creatures, future generations, and the world. We also need to care for creation for our own sake; it is our God–given human task. When we do not care for the earth, we are depriving ourselves of something we were created for. This should not be a burden but rather a gift. God has given this gift of earth–keeping to all humans, and he is calling the Church to live this out in beautiful and imaginative ways by the power of the risen Christ in us. May we be a people of humility who pray and seek God’s face, and may he heal us and the land." - Matthew Sleeth

designing without the car in mind

I just think this car is really cool. And fairly inexpensive for what it delivers:

http://www.smartusa.com/ Maybe Jason's car will die when it comes out in 08 and we can get one.

I saw them all over the place when I was in Italy. Oh Italy. I want to go back so badly. To be in a country that was built when we were not autocentric. So this relates back to when I was in school and we were studying city planning. It seems that since America is a young nation in compasion to what's across the 'pond' we designed a good majority of our cities based on reliances of the automobile. Now, there are some, like NY City, that were not designed around the automobile, and the result is a dense, subway riding, walking population. It's also ranked at the #1 place for young professionals to live. Could you imagine living somewhere where you didn't own a car, and the majority of your friends didn't own cars? My parents are from NY. My mom didn't learn how to drive until she was 28 and moved with my dad to Houston.

Anyways, it's interesting how the way we've created our country has lead to a dependance on cars. Walking anywhere in America is harder than it is in Europe because of the lack of public transportation and destinations nearby our houses. Sprawl.

Thankfully there's a new method of thought on this planning called 'New Urbanism'. As with anything, it can be taken to an unhealthy extreme, but I think some of the basic concepts are fabulous. Some of the main points of this practice are:

- walkability
- connectivity
- mixed use and diversity
- mixed housing
- quality architecture and urban design
- traditional neighborhood structure
- increased density
- smart transportation
- sustainability
- quality of life

It makes me feel pretty good that my discipline supports and encourages these ideas. Finally, I feel proud of what I do.