Dan and I are just getting ready to sit down and watch the final round of the Tour Championship, so I thought I'd sneak in a blog.  It's been a great day so far. 

A bit of a lie-in for me, getting up around 8:30 and then we were off to breakfast at a local bakery followed by a stroll through the farmer's market.  Today's purchases included some delicious figs, cheese, a zucchini mix, cherry tomatos, pears, some gorgeous lettuce and two loaves of bread (vegan...yummy!).  We took our reusable bags with us and also re-used one of the plastic bags from last trip.

It's a bit ironic to me that the farmers' market, wherein all sorts of greenies hang out, uses a ton of plastic sacks each week.  People give me strange looks when I say, "Oh, I don't need a bag," but I have gotten some positive comments as well.  More importantly, I save about 10 bags each time I go, since every vendor puts each group of like items into a separate plastic bag.

I went to the website for reusable bags (1 Bag at a Time) that has some interesting facts and comparisons in it for those who are interested.  They make their bags out of petroleum products, similar to the single use bags we get at the market.  But their bags are designed to be reused for up to two years.  They're washable, roomier than regular one-use bags, and recyclable at the end of their life.  I may pick up a few next time I'm at the store.  Right now I have 3 different bags from three different stores.  One's canvas, one's a sort of fiberous material (free at a store's grand opening and in need of mending after a year of use), one's of the same material as the 1 Bag at a Time brand.

I did remember one other green thing I'm doing (left off of yesterday's list).  Dan and I both are switching from drinking bottled water to drinking the filtered water we have in the house.  That should save at least 24 bottles per week from this household.

But I digress.  After the farmers' market, we went out for a long walk in the neighborhood.  Lots of hills around here!  The rest of today will be laundry (using up the last of the "less bad" soap before switching to green soap), watching the game and cross-stitching, barbequing with our friends Tom and Renee' and watching the Chargers win (I hope!) tonight.  I'm wearing my team shirt all day today...if that doesn't generate mojo, I don't know what will!

I have a confession to make.  I've been a dilettante environmentalist for years now...a dabbler if you will.  On the "plus" side of my efforts are the following:

1.  I mostly recycle recyclables.  By mostly, I'd say I put 95% of everything I use that's eligible for the recycle bin INTO the recycle bin.

2.  I reuse my computer paper so that both sides are inked before I put them in the recycle bin.

3.  I put batteries, computer parts, etc., in a "hazardous waste" box and then take it to the hazardous waste collection site.

More recently:

4. I use a personal tumbler for my morning Starbucks, thereby eliminating the daily waste of 1 paper cup and 1 paper insulator.

5. I use durable shopping bags that I take into the grocery store (or to the farmers' market) instead of making a "paper or plastic" choice at the store.  (If you need convincing to emulate me on this point and the last, read Steve Lopez's excellent essay here.)

On the minus side?  Well, there's the 5% that doesn't make it into the recycle bin.  I drive an SUV (albeit a little one and one with fairly good gas mileage).  I live in a huge house with my husband and no one else (but I do keep the windows open more often than I run the air conditioner...it helps to live in Laguna Niguel instead of Santa Clarita or Palm Springs).

More importantly though is my lack of knowledge.  Dan likes to gently mock me when I take up a new crusade, so he asked me today how my plastic, reusable Starbucks tumbler--which needs at least a daily rinse and is, after all, plastic--compares to a daily throw-away paper cup.  I know it's better, but I don't know how much better and I don't know why.  I don't know if there's an even better solution (a ceramic cup that's genuinely reusable?) out there.

To that end, I've started to educate myself through a variety of means, on what I can do to be a "good citizen" of planet Earth.  I am fortunate in that I have a number of friends who are ahead of me on this learning curve (Cindy Morefield, Erik Kieser).  Cindy turned me on to a daily web tip on living green called Ideal Bite.  She also told me (which no one else had ever mentioned) that bottle lids are not recyclable and, if you recap the bottle when you throw it in the recycle bin, often the entire bottle will get tossed.  Good to know.

You'll also see a link below to the book I'm currently reading on the topic of environmentalism.  I got the reference from the movie The 11th Hour  and Cindy recommended it highly.  It's a fascinating way of rethinking the paradigm.  Instead of "reduce, reuse, recycle," the authors propose looking at production in an entirely new manner.  Rather than being at odds with nature, they advocate mimicing nature's way of composting everything that is no longer usable into energy for new life.  I'm starting the 3rd chapter, and I give the book a thumbs up.

My favorite concept in the book so far (other than the fact it's not made out of paper!) is the title of Chapter Two: "Why Being Less Bad is Not Good."  When I look at the list I started this blog with, I realize that phrase sums up my efforts so far.  I am trying to be "less bad."

(Story of my life, really...but that's a topic for another blog.)

I am looking forward, at least in the green sense, to learning how to bring value added to the earth rather than just minimizing the damage I leave behind.

Yesterday Cindy and I saw the Leonardo DiCaprio documentary The 11th Hour at a local theater.  I've been pondering my response to the film since seeing it.  In a nutshell, I'm disappointed and yet I'm convinced you should see it.

By way of context, I should state up front that I do believe we human beings are having a significant, mostly negative effect on the biosphere.  Outside of conservative talk radio, there's really not much debate on this point and virtually none that is based on science.  Instead we hear from Rush and his wannabees how really there isn't any impact...or if there is, then it's good.  (After all, isn't everything we do good?)

So one would think that I'd be solidly recommending Leo's documentary.  Indeed, I do believe it's worth watching.  My disappointment in the film has to do with the quality of the direction and its effectiveness as a call to action. 

So let's start with what the film does well.  First off, it poses the issue in broad terms.  This is not a film about global warming.  It's not a film about pollution, overpopulation, conservation or even environmentalism.  It's a film that integrates all these topics and more to look at man's impact on his home, contextualizing it within the broad frame of the planet's history.  It's a film that rightly positions our tenure on this planet as (relatively) recent, brief and impactful.

It's also a film that presents man's ingenuity as the solution to these manmade problems.  The film's experts discuss the necessity of shifting the paradigms in a compelling and ultimately inspiring way.

Several facts are highlighted that bear mentioning.  First, the burgeoning human population.  Since 1960, we've gone from 3 billion people on the planet to 6 billion.  We've doubled the population in just under 50 years.  Prior to the 1800's, we were relatively stable at 500 million.  With the advent of industrialization and the fossil fuels that propel "advancement," our population has indeed "exploded."

Next, illustrations of global deforestation.  The changes we've wrought just by cutting down trees and planting fields or cities or both are clarified when one sees the change on a global scale.

Last, the impact of the global population on what has arguably been our richest source of protein.  We are straining the oceans both by what we take out of them in terms of food...and by what we put in them in terms of pollutants.

What the film does wrong, in my opinion, is two-fold.  One, it never creates a framework for the many facts presented by a multitude of talking-head presenters.  Instead, one is left to pick up a fairly obscure trail by weaving among the facts and creating one's own through-line.  It can be done, but it's tedious work at best and work that not everyone can or wants to do.

Two, the movie appears to be a call to action.  I say appears to be because the call is not clear, the actions are not defined and thus one is left without a vigorous sense of purpose.

As I exited the theater, I found myself wondering who the audience for the movie would be.  It works as "preaching to the choir" but isn't detailed or compelling enough to convince those still on the fence.  All in all, a well-intentioned attempt that falls short of the mark. 

Still, I recommend viewing the film for the following reasons. 

1.  It's informative and it's information we need to know.

2.  It provides reasoned optimism about ways to address the issues.

3.  It provides enough information for folks to determine further areas of research.  I will be picking up a book called Cradle to Cradle and another called The Last Hours of Ancient Sunlight" as a result of the movie.

4.  It is the 11th Hour.

Go see the movie.  Take caffeine with you.