Blog Entries by Barbara Kessler
I’d be a hypocrite if I advocated for Buy Nothing Day (this Friday in the US and Saturday internationally). For one, I just got done compiling and editing some green gift lists.
Granted, this consumer boycott being advocated by AdBusters has its appeal. It says no to what has become an embarassing grab-fest of shopping on the Friday after Thanksgiving.
I like the concept of the boycott: Send a message to those corporations that want to hijack your wallet this holiday season. Refuse to shop. We really do need to cool it on the consumerism to help re-chill our warming planet. It’s painfully obvious now that our rabid consumption of limited natural resources coupled with our willingness to trash stuff is destroying our planet. Here in the U.S., we’ve got a TV or computer in every room in many households, and they’ll be in the landfill soon because tech wizards come up with the next gen of electronics about 28 minutes after we’ve purchased the very latest “thing”. We’ve got food, and clothing and large houses enough to sustain multiple families. And it’s not just us. Asia’s got a taste for luxury. Sharks are being killed for their fins. Really?
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Remember Chevy Chase’s escapades with a ladder and those strings of outdoor lights in Christmas Vacation? Apparently many Americans would have been happy to help him kick that plastic Santa to death.
A new survey commissioned by GE of 1,050 Americans found that dealing with those tangled, twisty lights appears to be one of the Christmas season’s biggest hassles.
Of the people who plan to decorate with lights (870), a majority (56 percent) cited untangling last year’s lights as the season’s “biggest hassle”. Others noted that stringing lights on the house or in the yard (47 percent) and stringing lights on the tree (39 percent) as the season’s biggest non-joyous headache.
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By Barbara Kessler
Green Right Now
Comedians have joked about how Christians oddly commemorate their savior with a symbol connected to his death, a crucifix. (Of course to Christians, this is the symbol of the resurrection).
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By Barbara Kessler
Green Right Now
If you haven’t seen it, please take a look at our story about America Recycles Day. Find out just how much energy we can save by recycling, a no-brainer if ever there was one.
Last year, a Harris poll found that 91 percent of Americans reported that they recycled. But that figure seemed really high, given the low recycling rates in some cities, like Houston, Dallas, Detroit and Indianapolis. Those were some of the slackers revealed in a study of municipal recycling in 2008 that showed major US cities varied wildly in the amount of recyclables they collected, from San Francisco’s near 70 percent to Houston’s under 3 percent.
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By Barbara Kessler
Green Right Now
One thing you can say about the politics of climate change — people are getting hotter about it.
As we approach the Copenhagen world conference (Dec. 6 – 18), those close to the negotiating progress are becoming more frustrated with the plodding pace of official change.
This week in Barcelona, where negotiators met for pre-talks, activists and leaders of African nations demonstrated to try to win more concessions from industrial nations.
Student activists staged a sit-in at the doors to the conference to press for greater reductions in greenhouse gas targets, beyond even the 30 percent reduction by 2020 proposed by the European Union. What this portends for the US, which hasn’t yet put numbers on the table, is anyone’s guess.
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By Barbara Kessler
Green Right Now
If you’re the lead foot in your family — or if you’re just annoyed by the lead-footed driver in your family — you’ll enjoy this video about saving gas. It’s cute, and makes a good point.
This little ditty won the video contest sponsored by the Drive Smarter Challenge, a campaign by the Alliance to Save Energy, with support from many other energy-focused groups. It’s timely, as we prepare to hit the roads for the holidays.
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By Barbara Kessler
Green Right Now
Here’s a movie you never thought they’d make.
Coming to the big, or maybe small, screen near you, a film…about…laundry!
With a short opening feature on watching paint dry.
OK, so that’s mean and I’m kidding, but not about the movie. Drying for Freedom is really in the works, but it’s not just about [...]
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By Barbara Kessler
Green Right Now
So often politicians obscure their message with caveats, euphemisms and wonky references to elaborately named legislation.
Sen. John Kerry (D-Mass.) took the conversation a different direction yesterday when speaking to student activists assembled for an online teleconference Tuesday night sponsored by Consequence09.org.
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By Barbara Kessler
Green Right Now
I hate confessing to these long-ago memories. But I remember marching against Apartheid. It was a time when we students knew what the term meant, though the rest of the world was still comfortably oblivious, and had become convinced that this problem in South Africa had to be fixed.
Then we marched for divestiture, which was necessary to de-fund the unjust system in South Africa.
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By Barbara Kessler
Green Right Now
We had a chocolate attack at a store the other day, so we schlepped over to the cookie aisle seeking something sweet and crunchy.
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By Barbara Kessler
Green Right Now
In honor of blog action day, so designated by the group Change.org with partners like Greenpeace and 350.org, I found myself explaining the 350 number to my kids on the way to school. As it happens, the teenager already knew about this benchmark, thanks to AP science classes and the [...]
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By Barbara Kessler
Green Right Now
I woke up at 5 a.m. on Sunday. I wasn’t sure why. The house was quiet and there was a soundless rain outside. I was planning on snuggling back into bed for at least two more hours after checking on the old dog — assuming it was she-who -needs-to-go-out-at-exceedingly-early-times who woke me.
I decided to check on the teenagers too. And there in the in the “playroom” or Texas basement or whatever you call that room over the garage, was a nightmare of electricity consumption. The room was ablaze in light. The TV was blaring. The DVR was glowing. The 14-year-old asleep on the couch as only someone his age could be. He was sent to his room — where a light also had been conveniently left on.
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