Sunday, January 1, 2012

Jeff Zeiss drew the phenomenal picture that denotes the onset of the Badassazoic Era.


Happy New Year loyal blog readers! This is the year where anything is possible. In fact, we may all go extinct at the end of 2012. (I actually have $50 bet going that I will collect in 2013 as long as “life doesn’t change as we know it.”)

Anyhow, this year also brings in a little over a year of blogging! I’ve taken one walk around the sun in the shoes of an eco-reformer. Though my carbon footprint has gotten bigger, and I’ve eaten more meat this year than last, I’m actually progressing. (I’ll get into that.)

Thank you loyal blog readers for your support. Today’s post is about the 11 environmental strides of 2011 that I found to be most significant in my quest for true life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. It’s also about the goals for the New Year. I wish you the best for 2012.

Below is a long mess of text. It may get shopping list-ish quick. In a nutshell if you want to feel really good about life, join the Kyoto Protocol as an individual, fight detrimental energy sourcing, and embark upon an homage to your personal Mecca.

2011’s Eleven:

1)      “SIGNING” THE KYOTO PROTOCOL: Instead of waiting for our government to get its act together, I decided that as an individual it was time for me to sign the Kyoto Protocol. By taking last year’s global population of 6.48 billion individuals and dividing it into 20 billion tonnes, the acceptable level of carbon emissions under the Kyoto Protocol, I found that each individual could emit around 6,424 pounds of carbon last year. (As the global population grows that number shrinks.)

2)      TRACKING TRANSPORTATION:  By tracking my driving and flight miles, I was able to tangibly grasp how much carbon dioxide I emitted into the atmosphere this year through transportation. I emitted 4,268.48 pounds of carbon driving and about 2,069 pounds of carbon flying. I now have a transportation baseline to best in 2012! 

3)      PROTESTING THE KEYSTONE XL PIPELINE: Joining 12,000 nationwide protestors, I became one of the links in the human chain around the White House, November 6, to stand in opposition to the proposed Keystone XL Pipeline. The pipeline would transport tar sands from Alberta, Canada to the Gulf of Mexico. The pipeline’s proposed route has been suspended and is in the process of being rerouted because of Nebraska’s vehement opposition to the pipeline crossing over an important aquifer. Expect another huge protest soon. As a concession to Republicans for railroading through the payroll tax cut, Obama will have to make a decisionregarding the pipeline before the 2013 election

4)      GETTING INTO GEORGE MASON’S SCHOOL OF PUBLIC POLICY: I’ve been looking to make some serious advances in the environmental movement, and George Mason’s master’s program could be the start. I’m taking courses in transportation policy with a smart growth bent. In 2008 our transportation sector was responsible for around 33 percent of our total greenhouse gas emissions. Transportation policy is an area where I could potentially kick ass and take names. 

5)      TAKING TRIPS INTO GAIA’S VAST BEAUTY: I’ve discovered a happiness bubble, found true life in the myriad of stars above Idaho’s Thompson Pass, and walked where some of the world’s greatest minds got lost in the beauty along the Appalachian Trail. The pristine world is so immensely glorious. I could get lost in her majesty. I love that even our concrete urbanscapes are now trending toward artistic bio-infusions.  

6)      HONING IN ON ENVIRONMENTAL NEWS: With the launch of Envirowire, I’ve been proactively working to grasp our world’s environmental trends and make them accessible to you, loyal blog readers. Knowledge is power, and information is the arsenal. In 2012 I’m looking to catalogue this information in a more user friendly format.
7)      BIKING OR BOARDING TO WORK: “You take your car to work, I’ll take my board…” Weezer hit the nail right on the Schlobodan.  I’ve found my life so much less stressful and have also stayed in much better shape by biking or taking my longboard to work. I’ve done well at sticking to this every day of the work week except for Tuesdays, where I must pick up Food bank supplies for our site. This has saved up to 112 miles and 90 pounds of carbon dioxide emissions. 

8)      BECOMING A GREEN ENERGY PURCHASER:  I opted into Dominion’s Green Power program. The program costs one cent more per kilowatt hour, but it puts the extra revenue generated into renewable energy projects that will soon connect to its power grid. 

9)      BECOMING FOOD CONSCIOUS: Watching and reading Food Inc. was a great start for understanding the widespread atrocities of agribusiness and factory farming. For a moment in time I tried to dumpster dive to remove food from the waste stream, but I soon found I was stealing from local charities and stopped. At work, when we get unpopular foods from the Food Bank, I try to send them home with the kids, but if they won’t take the foodstuffs I eat them, so they don’t get landfilled. I started going to a farmer’s market last summer that accepted foodstamps and I look to continue to do the same this year. 

10)   ENVIRONMENTAL EDUCATION: As part of an AmeriCorps service project about 30 of us (Americorps members, Greenbrier Learning Center staff, kids, and their family members) took part in an environmental beautification project, in other words a trash pickup, at Barcroft and Glencarlyn parks in Arlington, Virginia. The kids at the Virginia Gardens site learned about the water cycle and the Potomac Watershed. During Greenbrier’s summer program the kids took part in some experiential learning with Longbranch Nature Center, as a Master Naturalist showed how insects fit into their habitats. 

11)   VOWING TO MAKE THIS DECADE THE BADASSAZOIC: When I returned to Chicago for my first winter break, with stories of Ileana adventures and life out east, I sat down with my friend Jeff and under the oath of supreme friendship vowed to make this decade the best decade of our lifetimes. He shortly thereafter quit his fulltime job, and I ramped up PlanetWisely. Next year will be year two in the Badassazoic. To living life well.

Now that you’re all ready to die because of the length of this post, I promise that it will end soon. But as the end of the year is a time of reflection, the onset of a new year is the time for anticipation. If you have any environmental subjects you think that I should explore please let me know. Here are my goals for 2012.

o   Post a “route to influence policy” map which shows the most effective route to improve the US’s domestic energy policy
o   Learn about the carbon impact of the following and convert it into CO2 pounds emitted:
§  Water usage
§  Breathing
§  Recycling
§  Garbage collection
o   Meet the Kyoto Protocol – 5,900 pounds of CO2 emitted during the year
o   Learn about the ratio of oxygen created vs. carbon released in the life cycle of plants and trees
o   See 10 new natural places
o   Learn the top five ways to cut back greenhouse gas emissions our transportation sector
o   Make my content more applicable to the everyday lives of all the good people out there

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