What to like about blogging. . . .

This is the first time I have ever had to write a blog regularly and I actually enjoyed it immensely. I was only frustrated at times in regards to finding some of the information that I wanted to make each blog an amazing one that people would look forward to reading. What I did love about blogger (I'm not sure if other blog sites do this) is the fact that I can put pictures as well as videos from youtube on my blog. I also like the fact that you can edit the html because for those who can do it, you could probably change quite a lot of the way each blog looks. I was unfortunately too lazy to try and remember what I had learned about html a few years back.

Sometimes the requirement that each blog be 250 words was a bit of a hassle, but only when I had several exams and/or assignments due in rapid succession. Figuring out what to write was usually not that hard because I found information on the environment and tying it in with my own experiences it was relatively easy to find enough to say. Sometimes I felt my blogs were too long, but when you are really passionate about a particular issue it's hard not to go off on a rant.

The deadlines for blog entries were not difficult most of the time and I feel it is best that there is a deadline because students should not procrastinate to the point where they do all there blogs at the last minute (unless there is a good reason for why an exception should be made). Perhaps, rather the deadline could be extended at least a day. The deadline for comments was also not very hard. In fact, I consider it the easiest part because we could either comment on other student's blogs before class on Thursday or, comment when we first come in on Thursday as we are given the first 15 minutes of class to comment on each other's blogs.


I enjoyed commenting on other student's blogs and enjoyed reading the comments for my blogs. Some were very complimentary and detailed about what was liked about my blog, which was very helpful in understanding how to engage my reader. I really enjoyed the comments where people comment on the blog and where it is taking them thoughtwise. The only similarity I can find with blogging is a creative writing class. You are given a broad topic to write about, you can approach it in any way you choose and then your classmates read your writing and comment on it. I like the freedom in this kind of writing because it gives everyone a higher probability of saying something different. Overall, this was the best part of the class and I would like to try and continue blogging. I'm not sure how successful I will be, but I am going to try. What may hinder me is if it's not a class assignment I won't do it with any regularity. I'll probably try and keep the Tuesday morning deadline.

Tis the Season. . .to Not Buy

I know everyone is getting into the spirit and wants to buy something amazing for their child, parent, significant other and so on. I also know that there are many lists online, showing the hottest gifts for Christmas. Well, let us do something different. I'm going to list the presents that should not be bought! These presents, while I'm sure are a joy for someone, is a pollutant for everyone. I'm trying to find gifts that the majority of people are likely to get and these were what I came up with so far. So to top my list will be a children's toy in great demand.

The Elmo Live toy is amazing. Its mouth opens and closes as it speak. It sits! It stands! It waves its arms and crosses its legs. It can regale you with songs, stories, jokes and games! BUT. . . it requires 6 AA Batteries! Batteries contain mercury which can do severe damage to the environment, people, animals and plants if it is not disposed of properly. And it's so wonderful that when you buy this toy as a temporary gift to a child (they will want something newer very soon) it comes included with 6 toxic AA batteries! This is a buying don't. Of course you could buy batteries that can be recharged. Or, you could simply get another present for them for Christmas. One that one find it's way to the trash heap as quickly as this one probably will. And one that does not come with 6 toxic batteries.


Another popular gift is the blu-ray dvd players, such as Samsung. New things such as these are rendering older products obsolete. So I cite this one as bad only if you already have a dvd player that still works. If that is the case, you do not need this one. Keep the one you have until it dies or at least give it away rather than tossing it into the trash. Most of the electronic waste that makes its way to the trash is still working. People just toss it because it is not new. So again, I mark this gift as a purchase Don't!!



Okay!! I am not trying to pick on Samsung here. There are many brands of dvd players and tvs out there. This is just used as an example. With televsions again as with dvd players, I say do not get them because people throw out there old televisions that still work simply because they have something new, shiny, with really crisp picture! Okay, give me a break. We did not buy a new tv for close to 8 years. Yes we do have a flat screen now, but to be perfectly honest, I see no difference in the picture quality of my old tv and the new one. The new one has a plus because it is easier on my back (big plus!!) and because it does not stretch out the picture to where we cannot see the top of a characters head on the television which is what our old television did before it gave up the ghost (Double plus!!). Now I know the analog televisions have to go and if you're in that situation, I understand. I would recommend the converter, but I've been told by a few people that they have trouble getting there channels with that. Or they somehow end up with channels that they can't enjoy like an Asian channel for someone who only speaks and understands English. But we all know that many people will be getting televisions simply because they want something bigger and supposedly better. So if you're in that category, wait a little while. Technology is developing rapidly and there will always be a new television to ooh and aah over. Just wait and get one when you really need it.

I know that sometimes it's hard to remember to be environmentally friendly, especially if you're not used to it. But it is the holiday season and why don't we simply expand our gift giving to what we can do for the world rather than the individual. A worldwide present! Try and do your part.



Now for the inane, insane!!! I give you my first one! The Big Daddy Driver! Golf Club Weed Wacker! No longer putt and wack separately! Now get in practice on your long drive while chopping the grass!! What inane fun! And this monumental salute to useless products will only cost you $39.99 and it requires 6 AA toxic (Plus!!) Batteries! What inane fun!!!

If you thought that was all, there is more inanity to be had. Ladies and Gentlemen I bring you the Tennis Racquet Bug Zapper!!! Want to have fun killing bugs? Of course you do!! Who needs a fly swatter when you can have this. This racquet contains bug zapping technology. Practice your backhand while killing pesky flies! At only $11.99 and 2 environmentally hazardous AA batteries, you'll feel the insect kingdom is your playground. Is this inane insane or what!!!

Have you had enough insanity? Of course not, I bring you another useless item to ring in Christmas with. I bring you the item that will make you envy of all your camping buddies. I bring you the SpinMallow!!! Now, watch your friends turn green with envy as you expertly spin your marshallow over the campfire flames. And while they are being burned by the flames due to sad inaccurate hand placement, you will be safe!! All you need is 2 AA batteries to crank these suckers up to 92 RPM's!! Wow, you can pollute the environment and make the perfect toasted marshmallow at the same time!! Unbelievable!!

I just couldn't help myself!! I have always been a pretty lazy individuals, but this is for the superior lazy person. This takes degrees of laziness to a whole new level. Are you tired of having to rotate your ice cream cone! It's such hard work after all. All that maneuvering with your wrist must tire out someone who does nothing all day already. As far as useless, insane, inane gifts goes, this may be the winner. It keeps ice cream from dripping and rotates the cone for you. The biggest fun for me with ice cream was catching the melting drops, but maybe others don't like it! All you need to get this sucker spinning is 2 AA batteries and your lazy @$$ is on your way to no worries and no movement. Though, you will have to move your mouth and tongue to enjoy the ice cream, at least until they come out with a stupid product that does it for you.

Moving on to another very wasteful gift or gift attachment that we see not only during Christmas but birthdays and other special occasions is gift bags made of paper. Why do people feel the need to waste paper by giving their gift in a gift bag that will likely be thrown out. It makes no sense, it's as though the packaging (presentation that harms the environment) is beginning to matter more that the gift itself. In my opinion even using a recyled gift bag makes no sense because you don't need a gift bag with wonderful tissue paper and how can you be sure that your friend will remember to recycle the bag when they throw it out. What do you say, "The gift's inside but I need the tissue paper and bag back to make sure that it's recycled."

Another wasteful product for the environment is perfume gifts sets which usually consists of paper and plastic being wasted for, again the packaging. Why do we need that. Okay, sure when I had a gift set I left the perfume and stuff in the package, but you can just as easily leave it on your dresser, in you bathroom cabinet, etc. Why waste the valuable resources to make it prettier. Also, with all of our technological advances why do we still have price tags made from paper on certain products. Also, why are there the "To: From:" gift tags that are made of paper. Isn't there another way to do this. And plastic! It takes forever to breakdown.

Environmental blogs tied in with Nerdiness

Okay, so I did a lot of searching for an environmental blog that I would find interesting. The blog I found that actually caught my attention due to the pictures in the blog and the information and links it has is EcoGeek because of the variety of info it has in its blogs. The writers actually vary. There are blogs written by people such as Benjamin Jones, and Megan Treacy. Although the blog was not extremely eye-catching in my opinion what actually caught my attention was the picture and info on the first blog. There was a car called the Mini-E that is actually looking for drivers to participate in a study of how well the car runs. Now they are looking for drivers in California, NEW YORK and New Jersey!!! I would so love to do that, unfortunately there are a lot of requirements that I don't have like a license. Darn! It also cost $850 a month. Odd, but there are plenty of cars out there that are cheaper as far as monthly payments go, but if I had the money I would still love to test this electric car. This site has many articles concerning a variety of things. They have info on Dell's new "green" computers and some of them are not too badly priced, to info on Walmart and a variety of others.

I'm not sure if I would consider this site a blog or not because it's multiple writers writing a more collective blog. So maybe it could be considered a website with a lot of information. The site also provides links to where they found the information. I actually feel that having a variety of writers for this blog is helpful because everyone is different so this enables for a larger variety of information that would perhaps not be present without this. The articles which I loved the most were "Dell Continues to Wrack Up Green Points" and "Walmart to Use Wind Power in Texas Stores" and the "Mini-E Makes World Premier at Auto Show". The reason I put the names of these particular articles was because the main link, when you click on it, show different articles so it will be easier for you to find these articles if you have the name.


I'm not sure of the total amount of hits this site has received, but a few of those articles had hits of around 300 or more! The links take you to other sites that have information they have used and, some sites, advice and tips on how to stay eco-friendly. The Mini-E article was the first to catch my attention. Man!! I want to drive it! It looks so cute!! I actually found an article on this site that discusses what I wrote in one of my blogs about incentives for green businesses and it also had links!! Check out the site and the Mini-E!!

Follow the Faith

There's a variety of different religions, beliefs, etc. However, the religions or faiths that I consider to be more connected with everything is Wicca; however, Daoism is very good as well. Religions such as Catholicism, Christianity and many of the other faiths hold humans in such a high regard and consider the animals and the environment around us to be our playground that we can use and mistreat any way we see fit. Religions or faiths such as Daoism, Wicca, and Native American faiths focus more on the interconnectedness and balance both within oneself and without.

Daoism focuses on balance. In order to know one feeling or experience the opposite must exist. Pairs. In order to understand, experience and be good, we need to have evil. In order to understand life, we must have death. There can be no darkness without light and so on. Native American faiths also follow these beliefs. For both them and Wicca if an individual is sick it means that there is an imbalance not just at the physical level, but something is off in both the spiritual/emotional/mental level as well. Doctors today in the West have some understanding of this. Stress can harm us just as easily as a fall down the stairs.

The reason I think Wicca is one of the better faiths is because first off, it does not recruit people the way some religions do. It also focuses on responsibility for one's actions. I've run across too many individuals who follow other faiths and when something good happens, God is the reason. And when something bad happens it's either the devil or they are being punished or tested. People no longer hold themselves accountable for their own actions or choices. This is part of the reason that we battle the Global Warming issue. People feel it's just trees, it's just animals and it's not there fault. Without accountability, there is no need for change. If something is occurring outside of your control then you are not to blame, neither are you able to change it. This is the underlying problem with many of the so-called developed countries and will soon be a problem in the developing ones as well.

In order for us to effectively change things in this world we need to accept responsibility and then decide to take action to change the way things are. I love this movie and decided to find the beginning on youtube. We control a lot more than we realize. The name of the movie is What the Bleep Do We Know. Enjoy!

Museum of Natural History visit

I walked around the Museum of Natural History and found the overall visit terrific. My two favorite areas were the Hall of Planet Earth and the Hall of Biodiversity.

The Hall of Planet Earth had so many different rocks and stones. I took pictures with my camera, but unfortunately I can't hook it up to my computer to upload here. There were several things which caught my attention. Like when I read that the Ganges River has enough sediment to fill the Hall of Planet Earth in 6 minutes!! But what I loved about this Hall in particular was the variety of rocks, meteorites, etc. They were amazing and there is no comparison for seeing one up close rather than just on television. They had an iron meteorite, and I also saw a bonded Iron formation that was a combination of red jasper and iron magnetite and it was billions of years old!
There was also something called Godzilla! Reason being that it was the largest sulfide chimney ever found. It was 17 meters high, but collapsed in 1996; however, a second one replaced it by next year and quickly grew to 20 meters high! The Museum really lets you see so many amazing things that most of us, caught in the daily drone of life would never get the chance to view.

In the Hall of Biodiversity, I saw some of the different species of life, plants, and it showed the connection between the individuals, groups and plants and animals. Some of the numbers of species were amazing as well. For crustaceans there is around 40,000 species known, but there are an estimated 150,000. We don't give plants and animals enough credit with helping us to stay alive. If you get right down to it, if humans no longer existed, life on this planet would go on. However, if more and more animals and plants go extinct, we cannot survive without them and yet many people have the nerve to rate themselves as being superior to plants and animals. Sea otters singlehandedly maintain many a few of the pacific coast kelp habitats by eating the sea urchins there. I don't think any human could boast anything near that. They also had a list. . . a very long list of species that we know have gone extinct. But what caught my attention was when I read there were species that have become extinct without us ever knowing they existed. There so much in this world we don't know, that we haven't seen and yet we're killing it. The simple fact of the matter is people destroy or look down on anything that they feel is not their equal, and each one of them decide this according to their own standards.

The way humans look down on animals is also the same as the way they view each other. There are many people so wrapped up in consumerism and the industrial working age that they look down on people if there annual income isn't within a certain bracket. They don't seem to realize there are better standards than how much one makes. I saw pictures and read about the Siberia Khanty and Mansi cultures that herd reindeer and how the oil extraction there has made 75% of the land useless for fishing, hunting and herding. Now, if you consider the interconnectedness of everything, then think of the world as your body and imagine that 75% of your body was no longer able to be used. You would be somewhere around a quadriplegic and that is basically what we are slowly doing to ourselves by damaging this planet. We are crippling ourselves.

Because of the visit to the museum I have been thinking about many different things and I actually saw this really funny but important commercial on Animal Planet about conserving water and thought I would post it for those who don't usually watch that channel.




I also saw another show on Animal Planet called Whale Wars which has to do with the Sea Shepherds on the Steve Irwin ship (they have the blessing of Steve Irwin's wife who christened the boat) fighting the Japanese because the are killing whales in the Antarctic. The Sea Shepherds throw things at the Japanese ship and so on. The Japanese claim they have the law on their side as they are allowed to kill a certain amount of whales for research purposes; however, how many do you need to kill and how does killing them help with research. They are killing over 900 whales. The sea shepherds claim that they are killing them for commercial purposes and are thereby breaking the law, so they are trying to enforce the law that the government is not bothering to enforce themselves. Paul Watson is the captain of the Steve Irwin ship and is the co-founder of Greenpeace, but was asked to leave. As I was watching the show they talked about how Greenpeace takes pictures of whales being killed and so on and something Paul Watson said made sense. He said that Greenpeace takes pictures of whales being killed but how does that really help. He also said that if you were to see a woman being raped you wouldn't stand there and take pictures, if you saw a puppy being kicked you wouldn't stand there and take pictures. You need to be more active in affecting change and I feel he is right.

He reminds me of Peter Singer, who was arguing that by not help children in poorer countries to get food, drinkable water and proper healthcare we are committing murder. As sure as if we are holding a gun to those children's head, by letting them die, we are killing them. Words are not enough to get change to happen. Action is needed. It's upsetting that there are many people out there who are so wrapped up in shopping and being rich layabouts, who have the funds and time to do something to save this planet, but would rather live an empty, shallow life. People need to start getting more active with saving this planet and ALL life on it!

Well, I was actually a little worried about what I was going to find concerning environmentalism and racism, but I found some information and one caught my attention immediately due to a phrase I read. In USA Today, there was an article concerning Greenpeace wishing to stop the electronic waste that is being dumped in places like Ghana, "where discarded TVs and computers that contain toxic materials are being dismantled by children as young as 5." That particular phrase made me decide to focus on the electronic waste being dumped in Ghana and the dangerous toxins that the children and people there are being exposed to. The shipments that are being dumped are coming from the European Union. An article in E-waste states that about 75% of the European Union's e-waste is likely ending up in Ghana. I was surprised by this as I honestly thought that the United States was the only country doing such things (they are also dumping in Ghana), but apparently I was wrong.

These articles are all quite recent, dating July and October of this year and give not only statistical numbers like the one provided above, but they also show that places like Greenpeace are fighting this as best they can; however, I don't think enough people are aware of this. Even most articles in major papers do not focus on these hazards. They make a small article about it and that seems to be it. This kind of information is not mainstream. This information should be published and available to many people, particularly those in school as I feel that education and awareness, when properly executed go hand in hand and maybe if more students read about this kind of information and saw visual images of what is occurring there, they would be more moved to write and contact government officials to effect change. After all, we accept products from these countries committing these acts here. If we were to change our habits of disposing e-waste and not only offer more incentives to companies that properly dispose of waste, but also let it be understood that these countries are not the only ones affected, as we are all connected and these acts will come back to haunt us so we will not accept products from countries that continue to dispose of their e-waste in such a fashion, then perhaps, we can affect change.


This photo was taken by Greenpeace member, Kate Davison and is in this article written on the Treehugger site also about Accra, Ghana and the e-waste dangers. This is extremely dangerous in a number of ways. Constantly throwing out old televisions and computers that still work for the latest models also creates a problem. They are also concerned about the analog/digital conversion in the US as a lot of old televisions will be dumped and will most likely end up in Ghana, being burned with a child running by inhaling the toxic fumes.

I'm going to search for more articles concerning the specific name brand of the products being disposed of and what, if anything, is truly being done to stop this. The unfortunate thing is I think people are too hung up on labeling. For example, an in-depth paper on something such as this would likely end up in an environmental newspaper or magazine; unfortunately, only hardcore environmentalists may read this paper and this is information they would most likely find on their own. The question is how to reach the people who pick up the regular papers, or don't pick up the regular papers at all. There has to be several different methods to disperse this paper. Perhaps in a free newspaper, but perhaps also getting people in school to hand these papers out, or even have more writing assignments such as this not only in an LIB200 course, but many other course like English and Philosophy where writing and critical thought merge.

Dumpster Diving

Dumpster Diving is not necessarily something new that has been created. Individuals have been doing it for years; however, where once people were looked down on by the majority of their peers for recycling furniture someone else had thrown out, now it is seen by some as something preferable rather than continuously contributing to the ever increasing cycle of consumerism and waste. Now there are organized groups who come together to dumpster dive. I am familiar with this because my grandmother, against my will, use to take me as a child to sift through trash to find recyclable cans, furniture and anything else which caught her attention. Although I do believe that dumpster diving is a good thing, it's hard to get past my own issues with being forced to do it.

However, there are times when I want to try something like this, particularly when I talk to someone who found something amazing in the trash, like a guitar that only needed its strings replaced and I'm stuck contemplating what store is having the better sale in guitars. The group Freegan that is a combination of the words "free" and "vegan" dumpster dive in New York. They point out something that I have already noticed, but they take it even further and that is that the fact of the matter is we all may not like corporations' lack of concern for the environment, the welfare of their employees or the welfare of human life in general, but by continuing to buy their products, by working in their company or a company that buys their product we are basically giving them our blessing. I have spoken to people who complain about the unjust things their bosses do, yet they still work there and won't even dare to address the problem to their boss directly. That is a problem, we should not be afraid of corporations and the people who run them, it should always be the other way around.

Unfortunately, many people over the years have put so much value on money that these companies will continue to exist because there will always be someone out there willing to compromise their beliefs for the almighty paycheck. Consumerism is consuming the consumers! When I worked at a retail store, I cannot remember the number of people who came to me to show them the latest iPod and I would glance at the one they were holding in there hand and their answer would be, "Oh, this one is years old. I mean it still works, but I want latest one. Besides, mine looks a little beat up now". When I take it further and ask how many iPods they have bought over the years, the answer is usually at least 3, and sometimes 4 or 5! In almost every instance as well their old iPod is still in perfectly good working condition, it's just failed the test of being "still new". For those people, rather than throwing out a perfectly good iPod, or computer monitor, they should check out the Freecycle site. This site allows you to trade products with others absolutely free. So instead of throwing out something you no longer want you can trade that for something else you do want. That's something, I might be looking into soon as I want to make my book collection more compact and I do not believe in throwing books in the trash! It feels almost sacreligious.

Freegan was also mentioned in the The New York Times last year in June as a few "freegans" were waiting outside an NYU dormitory for the graduating students to move out and dump whatever they no longer wanted in the trash. For the article click here. I also found a site called Outside.In that mentions that NYU is considered the best dumpster diving spot as a lot of "treasures" can be found in trash. The Living Web also talks about the misconception that many people have about those who are looking through trash for something that is still usable. There are also some who make money off of dumpster diving as they find something that is still in good condition and are able to sell something they got for free for a profit.


There are even channels now like PlanetGreen that have shows dedicated to eating right for yourself and the environment, to exploring alternative fuel sources and they have a show called the G Word that explores individuals and/or groups of individuals coming up with innovative ways to protect their environment and cut down on waste. One episode of G Word I remembered watching with my mother had this lady named Evette Rios, "the Salvage Queen" who basically takes someone's furniture that they have thrown out, and she and her friend give it a complete overhaul and return it to the owner! She's actually right here in New York!