Tuesday's Good Read: Double-Es Sustainability

In the midst of the economic downturn, people are rethinking some of the assumptions that we have taken for granted or are regarded as 'radical' when we try to challenge them. Among these assumptions are economic 'growth' and environmental protection. For too many people and for too long, we have been told that we need to maintain economic 'growth' to create jobs, reduce/eliminate poverty and crimes, and improve our standards of living. However, more people have come to realize that the society cannot sustain the economic 'growth' forever. As many hard-core environmentalists have argued, our current economic model is based on materialistic consumption, which is basically extracting the nature to create wealth. Such economic model is ultimately not sustainable because our planet has only a limited amount of resources and that destroying our environment for economic 'growth' does not improve our living standards from a more holistic perspective.

The unfolding of the biggest economic crisis in decades and the increasingly alarming environmental disasters lead to a tipping point of public conscience about the relationship between environment and economy. Thomas Friedman, a long-time advocate of free-trade, globalization, and environmental technology revolution (which ironically contradict each other according to the hard-core environmentalists), has written a column urging for revisit of our concept of economic 'growth.' While there is nothing groundbreaking in his article (as the environmentalists have been saying this for years), it is good to know that someone in the mainstream media like Friedman has finally come aboard with the environmental critics.

Not coincidentally, the current issue (Spring 2009) of Green American (previously Co-op America Quarterly) focuses on the green economy and its implications to the environment and the future of our economy. There are some very good articles that take aim at the concept of economic growth and how we should redefine it. An online article "Rethinking the GDP" is a part of the discussion.

I will have a follow-up entry after I delve into the articles. Stay tune.

Monday's Good Deed: Greenpeace

There was a blog-worthy encounter of me with one of volunteers from Greenpeace last fall. I was walking to the bank and a Greenpeace volunteer was standing just a few feet away from the bank entrance asking me if I was interested in donating to Greenpeace. Immediately I made a gesture to him that I was not interested and continued my way to enter the bank. It was always my gut reaction to reject such kind of solicitation along the bypass. However, it recurred in my mind that I was rude in rejecting him and perhaps I should approach him and offer some encouraging words (I still didn't intend to donate any money). Finally, after my business, I walked out of the bank and saw the volunteer. The pedestrian light turned red so I had to wait for a while to go across the street. Meanwhile, I approached the volunteer to offer my kudos for the organization for what they have done (the biggest thing I knew so far was that they stopped or at least delayed the whale hunting for 'research purposes' by the Japanese government). Not surprisingly, he thanked me and continued to persuade me about donating to Greenpeace by promoting what they have been doing to protect the nature. Finally, I caved into his persuasion and made a donation of $20 (yeah, I am that soft-hearted). Later, to my surprise, I found out that I have signed myself off to a commitment of monthly donation of the same amount. It was my bad for not reading the fine print clearly, but I didn't complain much and didn't plan to suspend my monthly donation. If it is for a good cause and I can afford it, why not?

Greenpeace has been one of the environmental non-profit organizations that actively and creatively uses Web 2.0 technology, such as Youtube, Facebook, MySpace, Blog, and etc. to harness the grassroots power. On Youtube, it was the eighth most viewed non-profit and activism channels of all time. You can subscribe to the Greenpeace channel and get updates from the organization periodically. Nothing is easier than watching a youtube clip, right?

Monday's Good Deed: Stop Sending Me Junk!

Sorry about the small fonts on the banner. I cannot find a better banner/logo to put on the blog. I have seen 41pounds.org's advertisement in many pro-environmental sites, and until recently, my friend August sent me an email message spreading the words about this website and its service. The website got their inspiration from the fact that an average adult American receives about 41 pounds (!) of junk mails every year. By making one time payment of $41 (well, it is obvious why this amount), 41pounds.org claims that it would help you to eliminate 80-95% of your junk mails for 5 years. And on top of that, they will set aside more one third of your fee for a non-profit organization of your choice. Not bad.

However, I still have many reservations about the service. Through my fast skimming of the site, I haven't seen any independent source or environmental authority that supports their claim except for a couple anecdotes from their service users. I will wait for my friend and you to tell me how effective it is before I sink my teeth into this.

Tuesday's Good Deed

Here are some click-to-donate sites that are dedicated to the environment. Click on the banner and visit the sites.

Saturday's Good Deed

Just a reminder how much trash we throw away. And yes, I am guilty of it. Just be mindful about packaging next time when you are shopping. Buy something that has biodegradable or recyclable packaging.

Monday's Good Deed

EcologyFund.com is a click-to-donate site that primarily focuses on environmental issues. So far they claim to have saved 2,313,802,745 sq. ft. (or 83 sq. miles) of land! There is a lot of land considering the source of funding they are relying on (i.e., advertising sponsors).