Sustainable Living from Creators Syndicate

Carrying Capacity of Spaceship Earth for 02/14/2012

Tue, 14 Feb 2012 00:00:00 -0800

Estimates of the Earth's carrying capacity vary according to which population you're measuring because some populations live more sustainably than others. Some scientists say that not only are we living beyond Earth's carrying capacity, but we are also eating up future generations' ability to live within Earth's means. We are literally emptying the Earth's bank account rather than living off th ...

Updated: Tue Feb 14, 2012

Localization, Not Globalization for 02/07/2012

Tue, 07 Feb 2012 00:00:00 -0800

Recently, we've seen the effects of globalization as local jobs are outsourced. The recession proves that it just isn't working. Economist and author Michael Shuman notes that "about 42 percent of our economy is 'place-based,' or created through small, locally owned businesses." This means that almost half of our economy depends upon small, independent businesses, which make up the ba ...

Updated: Tue Feb 07, 2012

Farmers' Day in Court for 01/31/2012

Tue, 31 Jan 2012 00:00:00 -0800

Today, the Organic Seed Growers and Trade Association (OSGATA) will begin oral arguments in support of its lawsuit filed on behalf of 300,000 organic and non-genetically modified organisms (GMO) farmers and citizens against genetic engineering giant Monsanto. The suit is not for money; it's to seek judicial relief in "protect(ing) themselves from ever being accused of infringing patents on ...

Updated: Tue Jan 31, 2012

Alternatives to Road Salt for 01/24/2012

Tue, 24 Jan 2012 00:00:00 -0800

Winter weather has struck hard this year, and many people and municipalities are pouring on the road salt. According to the National Research Council, we Americans dump between 8 million to 12 million tons of salt on our roads per year. Massachusetts, New Hampshire and New York report the highest level of salt use, with New York weighing in at 500,000 tons per year. The New York State Departmen ...

Updated: Tue Jan 24, 2012

Invasion of the Corn People for 01/17/2012

Tue, 17 Jan 2012 00:00:00 -0800

Americans have become the true "corn people," more so than the Aztecs or the Incas. If you were to examine a typical American skeleton under an electron microscope, you would find corn isotopes throughout our bones. We have more corn isotopes than any other culture, past, present and perhaps future.

Americans eat about one ton of corn per person per year. This isn't the delicio ...

Updated: Tue Jan 17, 2012

Our Future Is Our Dirt for 01/10/2012

Tue, 10 Jan 2012 00:00:00 -0800

In our culture, "dirt" is a derogatory term — "dirt-poor," "dirty," "soiled." Yet we need look back only a few years to the 1930s Dust Bowl to see how important dirt really is.

In the 1930s, the prairie grasses were plowed under to grow crops. After several years of intense drought, the soils dried out, and no crops or native grasses survived ...

Updated: Tue Jan 10, 2012

A Green-Collar Future? for 01/03/2012

Tue, 03 Jan 2012 00:00:00 -0800

Our buildings account for more than half of our carbon emissions, and three-quarters of existing buildings will need to be renovated or remodeled in the next 20 years. We also have a small army of unemployed and underemployed contractors with tools just itching for something to do. What if these ingenious folks were put to work retrofitting existing buildings with energy-efficient upgrades?

...

Updated: Tue Jan 03, 2012

Green New Year's Resolutions for 12/27/2011

Tue, 27 Dec 2011 00:00:00 -0800

Luckily for us, Santa is very kind, or else we would have received a lump of coal in our stockings for being major contributors to climate change.

Instead of giving us more stuff, I imagine Santa probably would have snuck into our houses and swapped out those incandescent bulbs for compact fluorescents. He's probably pretty peeved about the climate changing at the North Pole and that his ...

Updated: Tue Dec 27, 2011

Greener Holidays for 12/20/2011

Tue, 20 Dec 2011 00:00:00 -0800

It's hard not to feel Grinch-green during the holidays because of the rampant consumerism, waste and emissions generated by all of that shopping and gift-giving. Here are a few ways to green your holidays without being a Scrooge or a Grinch.

Those lovely twinkling lights can generate as much global-warming pollution as about 250,000 cars, according to Union of Concerned Scientists. That ...

Updated: Tue Dec 20, 2011

American-Made for the Holidays for 12/13/2011

Tue, 13 Dec 2011 00:00:00 -0800

Americans, already cash-strapped from a sagging economy, are shelling out more than $22.9 million dollars this holiday season to buy toys for lucky little girls and boys. This $22.9 million would make a sweet bailout for U.S. toy manufacturers — if we actually had any. Unfortunately, most of that money is already on its way to China, where almost all toys that are commercially available i ...

Updated: Tue Dec 13, 2011

Finding Holiday Joy for 12/06/2011

Tue, 06 Dec 2011 00:00:00 -0800

Holiday joy can be a fleeting thing this time of year, as many people feel more like Scrooge than Tiny Tim. Behind the advertising blitz that bombards us with consumerist images of smiling, well-dressed people giving cheerfully wrapped packages is the dark truth of depression. Out of 14 countries, the U.S. tops the list in depression, according to a recent World Health Organization poll.

Updated: Tue Dec 06, 2011

The Greenest Tree for 11/29/2011

Tue, 29 Nov 2011 00:00:00 -0800

Before you head out into the woods with your axe in search of the perfect Christmas tree, consider a greener alternative.

The greenest tree is a potted Douglas fir from a local nursery; it's a tree you can plant outdoors in warm weather. Your little fir tree will clean your indoor air during the holidays and clean carbon out of the atmosphere year-round when you transplant it. If you bou ...

Updated: Tue Nov 29, 2011

‘Tis the Season to Cut Down on Stuff for 11/22/2011

Tue, 22 Nov 2011 00:00:00 -0800

Black Friday looms, and thousands of Americans will soon be waiting in line for the latest gadgets and gizmos during the wee hours after Thanksgiving. Sadly, less than 1 percent of all those new gadgets bought and sold during the holiday season will be in use six months from now, according to Annie Leonard in "The Story of Stuff," a short film produced by Free Range Films and availabl ...

Updated: Tue Nov 22, 2011

The True Spirit of the Holidays for 11/15/2011

Tue, 15 Nov 2011 00:00:00 -0800

Judging from our media, you would think that Americans made the Thanksgiving holidays specifically for shopping. We spend an average of $856 per person on the holidays, according to the American Research Group.

Most of those hard-earned dollars will go straight to China because more than 70 percent of the goods on store shelves are from there. If we multiply that by the current U.S. popu ...

Updated: Tue Nov 15, 2011

Thanking the Hands That Feed Us for 11/08/2011

Tue, 08 Nov 2011 00:00:00 -0800

Thanksgiving is a holiday built around food. We gather, we gorge, we acknowledge the work of the cook, and perhaps we thank the divine. But rarely do we honor the hands that feed us.

Growing the food that feeds our country is one of the most thankless and low-paying jobs a person could have. In 2002, the median net income for a U.S. farmer was $15,848, while hired hands and migrant worke ...

Updated: Tue Nov 08, 2011

Stay True to the Holiday's Origins by Eating Local for Thanksgiving for 11/01/2011

Tue, 01 Nov 2011 00:00:00 -0700

Right now, many of us are planning our Thanksgiving dinners. We have a big decision: Either we can sit before of a meal of imported ingredients grown around the world in places the Pilgrims never set foot, or we can skip the supermarket and source all the ingredients for Thanksgiving dinner from local farms, mills and growers.

When we source our foods locally, we eat in season and celebr ...

Updated: Tue Nov 01, 2011

Shop Close to Home for the Holidays for 10/25/2011

Tue, 25 Oct 2011 00:00:00 -0700

Today, it's difficult to buy anything that's not made in China; the U.S. imports more than half of its consumer goods from that one country. Many people are starting their holiday shopping this week, and much of their hard-earned money will go right to China.

The flood of consumer goods from China has nearly tripled since 1997, and the number of recalls has grown proportionately. This ha ...

Updated: Tue Oct 25, 2011

Going Paperless for 10/18/2011

Tue, 18 Oct 2011 00:00:00 -0700

Americans still use more than 90 million tons of paper, or about 700 pounds per person per year. Developing nations like China, India and the rest of Asia are the fastest-growing per-capita users of paper, at about 100 pounds per person per year. Australians use about 300 pounds per person per year, and Western Europe uses more than 400 pounds per person per year.

To feed this intense hu ...

Updated: Tue Oct 18, 2011

An Energy Audit May Be Step One in Winterizing Your Home for 10/11/2011

Tue, 11 Oct 2011 00:00:00 -0700

With stocks plummeting, home heating prices soaring and money getting tighter, many people are looking toward winter with trepidation. One of the best ways to alleviate this fear is to take a positive step and get a home energy audit.

Almost half of our energy use goes into heating and cooling our homes. On average, we're already paying 20 percent more in home heating costs, so any way t ...

Updated: Tue Oct 11, 2011

Bicycle-Friendly Communities for 10/04/2011

Tue, 04 Oct 2011 00:00:00 -0700

Bicycling is the lowest-carbon-producing form of transportation (along with walking), and it provides you with exercise and a great view at the same time. Many cities are actively encouraging cycling, as it helps alleviate traffic congestion and increase foot traffic in downtown areas.

Here are the 10 most bicycle-friendly cities in the world — and a little about what they've done ...

Updated: Tue Oct 04, 2011