Friday, April 4, 2008

Earth Day is Coming Up!!

Just around the corner is Earth Day, April 22nd to be exact, and this year “Blue” is the new “Green”. Started by the folks at Architecture 2030 (www.architecture2030.org) the idea of wearing Blue on Earth Day is to bring awareness to the worlds oceans and the stresses they’re under. Interestingly, Architecture 2030 is an environmental advocacy group working on solutions to climate change, particularly in the “Building Sector” with a call out to the design community to be carbon neutral by the year 2030...carbon neutral meaning: zero fossil-fuel (or zero Green House Gas (GHG) emitting energy) to operate.

Back to Earth Day... check out the Earth Day Network www.earthday.net to find out about events going on in your area... but please don’t drive the the event, it’s tacky and is the antithesis of Earth Day. Instead, get on a bus or a bike... or if you have to drive, stuff as many people as you can into the car. Adding one more person to your drive increases the efficiency of the car by 100%, two people, 200% and so on. Emissions from vehicles represent half of all the GHG’s, so for at least this one day...April 22nd, get out of the car. Consider taking the day off all together and go for a walk in nature to see what we’re working to save.

If you live near the ocean, take a walk along the coastline and image how your walk will change as sea levels rise 3 to 9 feet.

But whatever you do, don’t be in denial... look with your eyes wide open. Fully observe what’s at stake and know that the absolute least you can do is wear the color Blue on Earth Day and the most you can do is dedicate yourself to changing your contribution to Green House Gases. Check out www.climatecrisis.net/takeaction/ to get some ideas of where and how to start.