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In a word: no.

“But I thought this girl was an environmentalist” you say?! Well, I am, but I’m also a scientist, and as such I know that the one thing the nay-sayers have right is that humans are indeed too puny and insignificant to destroy the big rock we live on.

Nope, the world will go on, no matter how much CO2 we emit, no matter how many plastic bags we throw away, no matter how many rainforests we destroy, no matter how many nuclear bombs we “test”. The planet won’t alter course, won’t implode or fall out of the sky, won’t, in short, bat an eyelash.

The fact is that the planet has already survived hot times, cold times, meteors and mass extinctions. There have been rainforests at the poles and seas on top of the prairies, and the Pangaea of old has been cracked and splintered into the continents we know today.

Yet amazingly, the Earth has persisted.

So, you ask, do I think climate change is bogus? No. Do I think the people who tell me to save the trees and the whales are a bunch of lunatics that should be ignored? Absolutely not. Our changing environment is the single greatest threat to humanity that has ever existed. And therein lies the key.

Before I explain further, please raise your hand if you’ve ever peed in a pool… I’m willing to bet everyone’s hand went up. Personally I had to put up both hands… and both feet! And really, what’s wrong with peeing in the pool? The pool itself doesn’t get damaged by urine. The liner doesn’t disintegrate, the pumps don’t jam up. And pee is essentially sterile, so it doesn’t actually make the water dirty.

But if nothing bad happens from peeing in the pool, then why are we all told not to do it? It’s about perception and value assignation.

Most people love to swim. It’s a great way to exercise and a great way to cool off on a hot day. Because the water in a pool provides us with those opportunities, we each assign value to the water based on how much we like it. Nobody, by the way, cares two snits about the actual pool, we just care that it holds the water that we swim in. Society as a whole, also assigns value: to the purity of the water – or at least to the perceived purity of the water. (I’ll save the chlorine debate for another time.)

So let’s say we crowd a pool full of kids, and tell them to let their bladders loose, and to keep doing so, for hours or days or however long it takes. Eventually, the pool will start to smell like pee and look like pee. Society’s perception of what is clean tells us that pee doesn’t make the cut (although I’d be willing to bet that uric acid does just as good a job of controlling bacterial and algal growth as bromine). No one’s mother wants their kid sitting in something dirty, so the swimmers/peers will get out of the pool. If they can no longer swim in the pool, they will grieve the loss of the thing that personally valued.

But what of the pool? It’s still there. The urine-laden water will eventually be replaced by rainwater, which will probably sprout lots of algae, turning the water green. It will still exist, essentially unchanged and certainly undamaged, but it won’t possess the characteristics that we valued - namely clear, see-through water.

If we extend this scenario to the whole planet, we see that there’s only one difference: we can keep peeing in the planetary pool without fear of breaking it, but we also realize that we can’t climb out of the pool once the water turns yellow.

Our descendants will have to live in a world where the things our generation valued have either been fundamentally altered, or have disappeared altogether. It’s not a question of planetary survival; it’s a question of humanity’s way of life. If we dig up and cut down all of the world’s resources, and send them to the dump, we will eventually have to start looking to the dump for our resources. If we fill the air with toxic dust we’ll have to consider asthma a fact of life. If we let bees and ants and butterflies disappear, we’ll have to learn to accept pine needles as replacements for the vegetables we can no longer grow.

But it will still be Earth, and Earth will still go around the sun, and every atom that’s here tomorrow will be the same atom that was here yesterday. And no one cares about the planet any more than they do the pool: we care about the things the planet holds, and we especially care about how those things are arranged. And the problem lies in the fact that we’re rearranging those things, and we’re at risk of not liking the result. More to the point, we’re at risk of not being able to cope with the result.

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This was my first post as a Rethos Journalist! As part of the Rethos journalism team, I’ll post a new article every couple of weeks, the next coming out November 1. Make sure to check them out, and join Rethos if you haven’t already.

photo via Treehugger

About four months ago, I started my blog. Determined to subject the public to my rantings, rather than keeping it a personal journal type of blog, I’ve been promoting it rather vigorously, partly by participating in conversations on other blogs and forums. And in doing so, I’ve noticed a very disturbing trend: militant and elitist environmentalism.

I have yet to come across a forum that doesn’t have a thread to the effect of “What did you do for the environment today,” and invariably these threads go something like this:

“I put a water saver in my toilet.”

“I decided only to flush (my already low-flow toilet) when I do a number two.”

“I do my number two right in the compost pile.”

“I haven’t bought a new shirt in 10 years.”

“I haven’t washed my shirt in 10 years.”

“I haven’t washed myself in 10 years.”

Seriously? Come on people. Does anyone think this one-upmanship really gets us anywhere? It is possible to be an EcoCrusader without subjecting one’s neighbours to body-odour.

Or probably the best example I have is from a blog called “How do I Recycle This?” One woman wrote in that she was out for dinner with some friends and someone at the table ordered mussels. When they were finished, there was a bowl full of shells, and she was wondering if there was a way to reuse them, if she was ever in that situation again. One oh so helpful “eco-elitist” replied that, if she actually cared about the environment, she wouldn’t have eaten them in the first place.

Now, what did he think he was going to accomplish with this attitude? Here was a person who had not only considered recycling something that most people wouldn’t look at twice, she had actually followed up the thought by actively researching a solution to the problem. She was being proactive. She deserved a big fat high-five. Not a snarky ‘you-should-be-doing-more’ reply.

Because really, we could all be doing more. We could all forsake electricity entirely. We could move to caves and eat the organic lichen off the walls. We could hold in our farts to save the methane. We could do many things. But the one thing we absolutely MUST do, is support each other.

Being the eco-minded woman that I am, I love to imagine waking up in the morning to a world with six billion people who choose smaller cars, eat only in-season food, buy wind power, and keep a composter. Unfortunately, that’s not going to happen until the physical evidence of what is happening to our planet blatantly stares all six billion of its inhabitants in the face. And that might not happen until it’s too late.

In the mean time, the future of the world essentially rests on our shoulders. It rests with those of us who educate ourselves, share our knowledge with others, and make better choices every day. But some (in fact, I fear many) of us, are determined to be EcoZealots, and in so being are systematically destroying the work the others do.

This behaviour accomplishes nothing but to guarantee that environmentalism never truly gains mainstream status. It guarantees the continuation of the “crazy hippie” stereotype. It guarantees the alienation of anyone not yet committed to mitigating the dangerous changes that our planet is undergoing.

Until my dreams come true and all six billion of us are on board, we can’t afford to lose anyone who signs up; no matter how small a registration fee they pay. We have to applaud every CFL, every roll of recycled toilet paper, every mussel shell recycled, because we have an infinitely better chance of getting this planet back in shape with millions making these meager changes, than if a select few of us move back to the lichen caves, live methane-neutral and lament the others not following.

Let’s not forget, it’s about the planet, not bragging rights. Down with EcoElitism!

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Keeping our planet healthy doesn’t require big gestures. And let’s face it, after the APEC non-targets, it’s clear that our governments aren’t going to step up and make the big gestures anyway.

So instead, let’s all make the small gestures, starting with these 10, fresh, free do-it-now ideas:

1. Skip your morning coffee. Coffee is the world’s second most traded commodity after oil. It’s environmental impact includes deforestation, water pollution and biodiversity destruction.
2. Chat online. Now with MSN Live messenger, you can support one of several major causes just by sending an Instant Message. Just sign up, log on and choose a cause to support, like the Sierra Club.




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Yes, I am proud to say that YourEcoSource will be participating in Blog Action Day!

In just under one month, there will be over 5,100 blogs, reaching an estimated 3.6Million readers, posting about climate change on the same day. And more importantly the participating blogs agree to give their earnings from that day to an environmental charity of their choice.

And it isn’t just “green” blogs taking up the challenge. Diversely popular blogs of the likes of Problogger and Lifehacker are putting their clout behind the EcoFight too.

So if you have a blog, why don’t you sign up too? Already committed? Leave us a comment about your blog and let us know.

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It seems like a long, long time ago now that I made my parents play the Dixie Chicks’ “Wide Open Spaces” all the way from their house to my new University of Guelph dorm, on my way to start University. At the time, I was worried about fitting in, not about being an earth-conscious student.

To be honest, if I had thought about it, I probably would have thought that I didn’t have a choice in how green my lifestyle would be. The dorm was already built, garbage collection already organized, and the meals in Creelman Hall already cooked. But in her Green Options article, Kelli Best-Olliver points out that there are still choices to be made. To her fabulous list of five simple starting points, I would add a couple of my own:

• Get Mugged. I know that, especially during exams, coffee made up a very big chunk of my student diet. If every student at every University switched to reusable travel mugs, our landfills would have a lot more room in them. Even better, Guelph arranged for every coffee shop on campus to offer a discount on coffee bought with a reusable mug. While you’re at it, avoid Tim Horton’s and seek out the java stops on campus that serve Fair Trade and Organic coffees.

• Retire your Printer. Most of my profs posted notes online, and I blindly printed them, thinking I’d need them to review next year. I ended up throwing them all out (well, recycling them), along with all of the paper they were printed on. If you ever do need to go back to that info, the textbook with its comprehensive index will make a much more navigable source of information, and you can afford to keep it with all the money you saved on toner!

• Black it Out. How many light bulbs are there in a lecture hall? Too many to be left on when the room is empty. If you have another class to dash off to and can’t turn them off yourself, try leaving a note at the podium (anonymously if you’re shy!) reminding your prof to do it him or herself.

• Change the rules. Just because you’re a student doesn’t mean you’re powerless. Check out the green policies your school already has in place, and if something is amiss, get in touch with your student government. Just to brag a bit more about my Alma mater, Guelph, some of the policies I liked best were:
• Mandatory bus passes. Many schools already have these deals with local public transit where passes are purchased at a reduced rate for every student, and the fees are rolled into their tuition.

• Large Item Disposal. In my last year the student council organized a program to pick up large items (couches, desks, etc.) for free. The program, called Dump and Run, diverted these items from the landfill by sending them instead to local charities. And all the students had to do was send an email registering their items for pick-up.
• Used Textbooks. If your campus book store doesn’t buy and resell used books, then start pressuring them to do so. Even if you ignore the green benefits, the cost savings are substantial for cash-strapped students.

• Reusable Containers. I’ve already mentioned the mugs, but Guelph’s campus food services also allowed customers to bring their own tupperware for lunches, also for a small discount.
• Produce Delivery. Guelph also had a program, called Garden Fresh Box, allowing participants to purchase produce boxes monthly, which are delivered to pick-up locations around the city.

I know that students already have a lot on their minds, but paying attention to your everyday actions can make a big difference between a green education and a brown one.

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