Plastic Polluted Ocean – Blog Action Day

Today is Blog Action Day and the subject is the environment. It’s a movement to get as many bloggers as they can all blogging about the same thing on the same day. So far there are 15,000 blogs all around the world writing about the environment, and I am going to be another one.

I’m pretty passionate about the environment when I stop and think about it. I mean, I can read stories about entire species going into extinction, or stories of how many plants are dying because of urban sprawl, and it physically will upset me. Yet at the same time, I completely forget about these things and throw away aluminum and paper that can easily be recycled. I am ashamed of myself, I really am. There is no excuse for my laziness, and there is no excuse for yours. In fact, if this story doesn’t impact the way you purchase products, and the way you dispose of your garbage, I don’t know what will.

In the middle of the Pacific Ocean is a vortex of plastic. It is sometimes referred to as the North Pacific Garbage Patch, and it’s main occupant is plastic. So much plastic that this patch is as big as the state of Texas. It is made up of everything from tiny pieces of plastic debris to large nets lost by the fishing industry.

300 billion pounds of plastic is produced around the world every year, and only a fraction of this is recycled. The rest ends up in landfills, or in the streets clogging up the drain gutters, and eventually making it’s way to the ocean. Plastic is made to last for hundreds of years, and it’s doing just that. Floating in a big pile in the middle of the Pacific Ocean.

Plastic is often mistaken for food and has been found inside marine life of all sizes, from whales to zooplankton. It has been directly blamed for the death of a wide range of animals including albatrosses and sea turtles. They see the plastic floating in the water and they think it’s food. This leads them to die from digestive trouble and even starvation. Their bellies are full, but it’s full of plastic, not the nutritious food they thought they were eating to stay alive.

Oh it just makes me sick to my stomach thinking about it, and I need to make an effort to really change my habits. Here are a few things that will make a difference, especially if every single one of us does their part.

• Every time you see litter, pick it up and dispose of it properly.
• Reduce, Reuse, Recycle – you’ve heard it before, but now you know what happens when you don’t. Be conscious of all that you buy, and be sure to avoid products with excessive packaging, especially in disposable products.
• Demand more and better recycling facilities in your area.
• Take part in local stream, river and beach cleanups – or organize one yourself. Though these don’t solve the problem, they are very effective at drawing attention to the greater problem offshore.
• If you live near the ocean, or a river that drains into it, your storm drains are probably washing garbage right out to sea. Be conscious of this and any other potential sources of marine litter in your area. Demand that these are eliminated.
• Be very conscious of your ecological footprint. Encourage change though your decisions and do no accept the current paradigm of use and waste.

It’s a group effort guys! Who’s willing to change their habits with me?

Blog Action Day, environment, pollution, oceans, plastic pollution

The 2007 BP Solar Decathlon

As you know, we love everything green, and have taken small steps to living a greener lifestyle. These have been small changes around the house like recycling more, and using energy efficient light bulbs. This has started our interest in building a home completely off the grid in a small community in Colorado that is looking to be the first completely green city in America. Now if that development job comes through with Google, we can start working towards our goals.

In regards to this topic The BP Solar Decathlon is coming up in a couple days. They didn’t have it last year, but I did follow their progress the year before, and it was really neat to watch. Every two years 20 university teams from around the world design, build and operate livable, enery-efficient, and completely solar-powered houses. This year one of the main sponsors in conjunction with the U.S. Department of Energy is BP, the only energy company that was sponsored this type of event.

One of the goals of the Solar Decathlon is to show the world that we can all use solar power in our homes, and BP is working to make solar energy a more affordable source of energy in our homes and businesses. Solar power is going to be one of the main sources of energy really soon, and it’s nice to see an energy company like BP getting behind this movement and making it happen for us, and the earth.

Solar Decathlon, BP, solar energy

Camping Essay Contest

Calling campers, wannabe campers, and writers with a sense of humor. Have a run-in with a raccoon? Forget your camp stove at home? Wake up to find your tent pitched in the middle of a trail and piss off a lot of hikers?

To celebrate the publication of Let’s Get Primitive, Ten Speed Press is running a 500-word essay contest. Tell them your worst camping trauma. Share your backcountry disaster. Spill the beans and you could win a nifty 2-person Coleman tent, an unbreakable camp cocktail set (complete with shaker), and a copy of Let’s Get Primitive: The Urban Girl’s Guide to Camping!

Essays will be judged on originality, humor, writing style, and degree of calamity by the Queen of Camping Mishap.

No purchase (or chest-beating) is necessary, just email your very best camping disaster story of 500 words or less to camping@tenspeed.com between July 1 and August 31, 2007.

Visit www.tenspeed.com for more details and www.letsgetprimitive.com to read more about the book.

Let’s Get Primitive: The Urban Girl’s Guide to Camping!, Ten Speed Press, camping, campers

TentChat.com

I found a nice new forum today called TentChat.com. They have a wide range of topics including campgrounds, camp grub, gear, and other outdoor activities. They are just getting started, so if you’re interested in chatting it up about camping this summer, go join today.

TentChat.com, camping forum, camping message boards

Samantha Larson

If I ever hear Michael say he won’t be able to do his Everest climb that he’s dreaming about, I’m going to remind him of this story.

On May 17th, Samantha Larson, 18, climbed the Seven Summits at Everest making her the youngest non-Nepalese person to ever achieve this. In 2002 at age 13, Samantha became the youngest person to climb the highest peak in South America, 22,841-foot Mt. Aconcagua. A year earlier she climbed Africa’s highest, Mt. Kilimanjaro.

You can read about her entire adventure here on her blog, and see more pictures on Samantha Larson.com.

Good job Samantha! What an amazing feat you’ve accomplished.

Seven Summits, Everest, Samantha Larson