Blog Action Day: Light Green

Let me go ahead and state the obvious. It's blog action day. If you're not familiar with this event, the whole point is to get a bunch of blogs to write about the same topic-- it's a little forced awareness, I guess. Normally, I think I'd stay away from all this blog brotherhood-ing but the topic this year is the environment. In all good conscience, I can't ignore this call to action via my Blogger Dashboard.

I read an article some months ago which contained John Mayer's approach to environmentalism. He calls it "Light Green," somewhere between freak out and denial. Mayer admits to driving a Porsche SUV and continuing use of privet charter flights while touring, but mostly his stance is-- here's life and here's what I can do without disrupting things too badly. It's an interesting perspective and I think that if we ramp it up a bit, it's more practical and easier to pitch, especially to people who worry "going green" is subscribing to a life of scooter riding, budget breaking, and a loss to those damn hippies.

I can't afford to switch to solar power right now, or install some fancy heating and cooling system, but as trivial as it sounds-- I can unplug my cellphone charger. There's no great sacrifice there but I'm a big believer in every little bit counts. I can't think of a single person who doesn't have a cell phone.
If everyone unplugged that charger...and maybe a few other electronic devices...don't tell me that wouldn't help. I say leave the multimillion dollar overhauls to the multimillion dollar corporations who need to clean up anyway and can afford it. That's what 's really going to take a big quick bite out of this problem.

To an extent, I'm with Mayer (just a bit more intense). Pick something(s)-- do it. Do what you can and what you're willing to do. Fear accomplishes nothing but an unevenly distributed amount of attention to a problem which needs prolonged concern.

The Musically Inclined...
~unplugs charger ~walks instead of drives
~unplugs laptop ~recycles plastic bags
~unplugs desk lamp
...refuses to believe we are powerless.