Elisa's Green Scene

Way to sell a hybrid, dude

So, the lease on my Saturn is up within a month, and I have to decide what to do about it.

Three years ago when i leased it, the price differential between hybrids and non-hybrids were pretty extreme, the choices were limited, and gas prices were not so outrageous, and I simply couldn't justify springing for a hybrid on principle alone. I opted for a low-end model of the Saturn ION which gets pretty good gas mileage (usually about 27-28 MPG) and figured that in three years when the lease was up there would be TONS of hybrid options.

Here we are three years later, and it's sad to say: there are not tons more options, especially not affordable ones (since I'm not in the market for a luxury hybrid or an SUV hybrid.)

Saturn does have a hybrid Aura, which is the next-generation of the sedan style I have now. I've had good experiences with Saturns, so I figured I would trade in for that.

And then their salesperson talked me right out of it...

BlogHer snags exclusive interview with Barack Obama!

BlogHer's community has put together a Voter Manifesto of 12 non-partisan questions across 4 hot topics (Iraq, the Environment, Our Economic Future and Healthcare.) For months we have been inviting the presidential candidates to answer some or all of these questions. We've offered to travel to where they are, provide an interviewer from their own side of the aisle, and basically do whatever it takes to get their participation.

Finally, one candidate has come through, and this weekend our Politics and News editor Erin Kotecki Vest traveled to Oregon to meet with Obama one on one and conduct this 10 minute interview, exclusively focused on asking our Voter Manifesto questions.

Yes there is a question about the environment, which Obama kicks off answering my talking about growing up in the natural beauty of Hawaii.

Visit BlogHer for more of the story or simply watch the video!

Mark Bittman's TED Talk: Eating meat is this century's nuclear bomb

There's a video making the rounds of Mark Bittman's presentation at this year's TED conference:

If you are purely interested in the global health and global environment arguments for eating less or no meat, then this is the argument laid out quite nicely and succinctly. (Yes, it does seem completely based on Michael Pollan's work, so I'm not sure how Bittman got his start encroaching on Pollan territory, and I wonder how Pollan feels about it.)

As most of you probably know I, in addition to caring about global health and environment issues, am also a vegan because of animal rights issues, so you can imagine that on that score: Bittman leaves me cold. Which I expound on just a tiny bit over at my vegan blog.

But I also think his arguments may carry more weight or actually change more behaviors than my more extreme views, so watch away, and let me know what you think.

Oh my...gotta be link bait right?

So hat tip to hippyshopper for pointing me to a BBC post about how obese people are responsible for climate change and the global food crisis.

First of all, I think hippyshopper does a nice job of quickly poking a few holes in the conclusions of this study issued by The London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine. (Although I must say that for every skinny person turning up the heat there might be a non-skinny person turning up the AC, so I don't think that part of the argument holds up well.)

Second of all: What the hell is the The London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine anyway? What a name, huh? Well, it's a branch of the University of London, calling itself a leading post-graduate institute. The Wikipedia entry for it basically seem like a re-tread of the messaging on their web site, so not much more to earn there.

Anyway, whatever their credibility level, I have to agree with the doctor quoted in the article as saying "I think the causes of climate change and rising food prices is much more complex."

Indeed.

And notice no one is talking about food production's effect on climate change...specifically meat production.I guess they don't want to perhaps muse on whether it's meat-eaters, not obese people who are the real problem?

Anyway, I honestly can't see the value of hanging this on obese people. Except if it's in letting governments and corporations off the hook, right? 'Cause they have nothing to do with climate change or the food crisis, nothing at all.

Simple green tips from Tea & Cookies

Found this post by Tea, a foodblogger from San Francisco, outlining the simple ways she tries to make her home and her life greener.

I like the post because it's not by a green blogger, so it's by someone who isn't, ostensibly, thinking about this all the time, and because these really are very simple ideas.

I'll confess it also caught my eye because she features the Pyrex bowls with lids picture here, and I registered for and received these same bowls for my wedding, and do indeed find them to be really useful and a pleasure to use. When I wash them I never feel, as I tend to do with more typical plastic Tupperware-style containers, that I haven't really gotten them quite clean enough.

Tea reminds me of something I've been meaning to do that I just need to do: Take my own insulated mug along when I treat myself to a soy latte at Starbucks. I only have about a million of them, since they are a very popular schwag item at conferences and such.

There are some things that Tea mentions that I've got going on: reusable shopping bags, reusable coffee filter and so on.

And one thing that I have trouble imagining myself ever doing: composting. I'm squeamish, I admit it. What about you? Any composters out there? Am I being a whiny baby?

Anyway: Nice, clear, simple tips. For regular people who care abut the environment. And unless I'm mistaken, shouldn't that be everyone?

Final stretch for BlogHers Act Mother's Day fundraising initiative: Myanmar relief added to project list

I've written before about BlogHer's Mother's Day fundraising initiative in partnership with Global Giving.

Today we announced two incentives to participate in this the final week before Mother's Day:

1. We've added a sixth donation option on top of the five worthy projects we're supporting: Provide Emergency Relief - Myanmar Cyclone Victims. The devastation is horrifying in the aftermath of the world's worst natural disaster since the 2004 tsunami. And the cries of governmental lack of transparency or fast action is reminding some of us, very uncomfortably, of Hurricane Katrina.

2. BlogHer and GlobalGiving are offering matching funds. Lisa lays it out as follows:

Whichever of the now six projects recommended via the BlogHers Act fundraising widget receives the most donations between now and the end of the week will get a $1,000 donation from BlogHer, which Global Giving has agreed to match. The other five worthy projects will also get a donation of $200 each from BlogHer.

Now, you know you can give a donation to one of these worthy projects in someone's honor, like, say, I don't know...your mother!!!

So, grab the widget, grab your wallet, let's get that number higher, knowing another $3,000 will be added on top of it, from BlogHer and Global Giving.

Depressing post about "organic" labels

Let's be honest: Sometimes it gets a bit tiring and daunting to care about things, right? Seems like you can never care enough, do enough, speak out enough. I'm a big believer that doing anything is better than doing nothing, but sometimes doing only something seems like you might as well be doing nothing. Anyone else feel that way? Or am I just being whiny? (I suppose you can answer "yes" to both questions, of course.)

This post on Groovy Green made me feel this way. Mischa Popoff is a former organics inspector who wants us all to realize that the label "organic", despite having guidelines and parameters associated with it, is still almost meaningless...because (and I really didn't know this) farms self-report and basically self-regulate...and since 80% of "organic" products come from overseas, there's even less control on those!

I guess I can feel fairly good about the organic food I purchase via delivery every other week from Organic Express (now merged with spud, actually.) That's mostly very local stuff, down to them saying what farm produce comes from. But even in those cases...is it tested? Apparently probably not.

So, one more cause to trumpet and speak out about: Having organic certification being based on self-reporting is NOT good enough. We want testing!!!

Right? Right.

Green Your [fill in the blank]

Hat tip to ecofabulous for pointing me to a new , faithful green resource, Green Your.

Its goal is to be a guide to greening practically anything in your life. I like that their About page is quite clear and states their business model and standards up front.

The site organization is exceedingly clear: The break things into three categories Facts, Tips and Products.

You can also search by category.

Finally, you can simply fill in the blank of the search box at the top of the page: Green Your __________.

I've been thinking lately about the fact that the S.O. and I never took a honeymoon, and I've been thinking cruise to Alaska.

So I entered Green Your Cruise and got a list of facts, tips and products, including the tips on how to plan an eco-friendly honeymoon.

I envision myself playing with this site for hours.

What did you find?