Share your resolutions for making 2009 the greenest year ever
- Scott Dodd
- Website Editorial Manager, New York City
- Blog | About
- Posted December 29, 2008 in Living Sustainably
In 2009, I will become a father.
That's not a New Year's resolution. It's actually happening (gulp). My wife and I are expecting our first child in early March, so I know this year is going to be an eventful one for me.
Having a kid on the way has given me a whole new perspective on the future. In past years, I've made new year's resolutions about practical things like exercising and eating better and keeping my desk organized and paying off credit card bills -- all important, some successful, some less so.
Now, though, when I think about the future, all I can think about is how I want it to help make it a better one for my kid.
In my line of work -- writing about the environment -- it's easy sometimes to fear the worst. The consequences of global warming, the declining health of our oceans, the increasingly toxic world we live in ... my kid will have to deal with all of those realities. Heck, even sippy cups can potentially harm kids nowadays. When I read about the changes expected in the world by 2050, it seems like a long-way off. But it's an awful lot closer knowing that my child won't be much older then than I am today.
I like working for NRDC because I see the people around me struggling every day to avoid the worst of those consequences and help make things better for the future. And certainly, there are plenty of reasons to be hopeful about 2009: We'll have a new administration in Washington, an end to eight years of anti-science ideology, opportunities for new international cooperation, and a drive toward new innovation and technology.
Over the next week or so, some of my colleagues here on Switchboard will blog about their environmental resolutions for 2009. We'd like to hear yours, too. Do you have plans to help make 2009 the greenest year ever?
Will you commute by car one less day a week, buy more local foods, switch to compact flourescent bulbs, or push Washington to reduce greenhouse gas emissions? It all helps. (If you need some inspirtation, you can always check out Simple Steps or our Green Living Guides at nrdc.org.)
Share your resolutions in the Comments section of our blogs, as a citizen journalist at Greenlight, or if you use Twitter, reply to @NRDCSwitchboard with the tag #greenyear. We'll sort through them and share some of the best ideas in January.
You already know what mine's all about.
(bookmark or email this entry)
Comments are closed for this post.
We close comments on a blog post when it's clear the conversation has moved on -- click on the tags (above) or on our homepage to see if we've got fresh news and views on this post's topic.
Comments
Dean Rodgers — Dec 29 2008 01:03 PM
My personal favorite -- stop drinking bottled water. There is just no point to it. In fact, stop drinking everything that comes in a plastic bottle.
I blog about this frequently on http://blog.koifishcommunicaitons.com and http://blog.stalkmarketproducts.com. It is my pet peeve.
OC_Schools — Dec 29 2008 01:25 PM
Our Green Resolution for this Year is to get the word out to as many people as possible on the importance of green schools and green education. USGBC LEED for Schools is a great starting point to get the next generation in line for a better future.
Meaghan O'Neill — Dec 29 2008 01:31 PM
1) become as close to a zero-waste household as possible.
2) become a one (hybrid) car family
3) expand the veggie garden
4) further reduce my family's meat consumption
5) build a pet waste composter
Andrus Purde — Dec 30 2008 10:04 AM
This resolution strikes a cord by being very pragmatic and yet green enough
http://www.pledgehammer.com/loveartist45/eveytime-i-buy-something-new-donate-something-old-to-charity/
I am one of three friends working on Pledgehammer (on our spare time). We're currently working on a functionality that allows joining other people's resolutions. As soon as that's done I will join the pledge above.
Bubba — Dec 30 2008 12:37 PM
I resolve to turn off the power strip on my TV/stereo/PS3 when I'm not using it.
Reid Friedson — Dec 31 2008 12:43 PM
OBAMA’S GREEN NEW DEAL & MOTHER NATURE
Reid Friedson, M.A.*
You can’t fool Mother Nature. You can’t abuse or terrorize her, and you can’t buy her off and get away with not taking care of Her. Mother Nature requires love and respect or the whole bio-diverse global family suffers.
In America, we stand on the cusp of our New Green Age trying to figure out what really placed our Garden on the verge of economic meltdown. Now, we wonder what actions the inspiring President-elect Obama will take to renew and grow American hope.
America has not yet learned the lesson of conservation. FDR, a fearless Democratic father figure, created his New Deal in the Thirties and restored America’s faith in government and economy as fascism, communism, socialism, and democracy battled for world dominance.
People did not know how to label’s FDR’s New Deal. Many are just as confused about President-elect Obama. Like Presidents Lincoln and Kennedy; Obama has selected an ideologically diverse Cabinet for Congressional approval.
President-elect Obama chooses what works over ideology. Like JFK, he selected “the best and brightest.” Many of Obama’s Cabinet selections are leading academic scholars and veteran policy-makers from the Clinton Administration. Echoing famed Depression-era economist Galbraith, Obama’s economic team has wisely advised him to create at least three million jobs to “prime the pump.” This is the largest American jobs creation plan since FDR’s New Deal put Americans back to work in the Thirties.
The U.S. Green Building Council reports millions of Americans can be put to work on innovative green public works projects. Even Republicans are acquiescing to more of a planned regulated economy. The “invisible hand” of capitalism needs a helping hand.
Training and workforce development, like President Kennedy instituted in recession, will re-vitalize management and labor. Creative cross-disciplinary green thinkers who connect government, non-governmental organizations, corporations, and labor are needed in public administration.
Obama’s green jobs plan for the middle class, poor, and unemployed will reform America’s infrastructure, health care, education, energy, and trade. Obama will, for example, expand and improve public roads, public transit, and bridges. He will increase the number of eco-friendly jobs at home and intensify America’s commercial efficiency.
In America, we can and must stop the approaching global depression before it erupts into a third world war. We can and must revitalize the American government’s role in harnessing the natural energy concealed in our economy just as quantum physics unleashed what lay beneath the atom.
We can and must put compassionate community over selfish greed. As Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. said, “We must learn to live together as brothers or we will surely perish together as fools.” It is imperative the world conserve, re-fuel, transform, and re-connect through the Green Movement.
As the ancient people of the Earth taught, we evolve by protecting all flora, fauna, and beings or we manifest our own destruction. Obama plans to start a Green New Deal here in America when he takes office on January 20, 2009. How will Obama’s plan work?
To save energy, Obama’s Green New Deal will promote the use of public transit, bicycles, and walking. Obama will tap an unprecedented new media based grass roots organizational structure. Change has come.
Nobel Prize winning Energy Secretary designate Steven Chu will lead the Obama Administration’s public interest energy research and development effort. The Obama-Biden Energy Plan will invest more than $650 million over ten [10] years in clean energies. That’s nearly the amount allocated by the Bush Administration and Congress to the nation’s largest banks, creditors, and auto manufacturers in just the crisis-laden last quarter of 2008.
President-elect Obama is aware millions of energy jobs as well as a clean, disciplined, compassionate lifestyle will guide American and global transformation. Moving to new, alternative energy sources like ethanol will decrease the demand for and the political power of oil tyrants. Petrol addiction and pollution must stop if we are to thrive. Following the golden conservation mean must be our mantra.
Obama supported the Clean Energy Act of 2007. This Congressional act raised fuel-efficiency standards, established energy-efficiency standards for appliances and federal buildings, and promoted renewable fuels.
Obama plans financial incentives for utility companies and businesses that reduce carbon emissions. Cutting such emissions will slow global warming and Obama plans to cut carbon emissions by 80% by 2050.
For the Obama Adminstration, Carol Browner will target harmful climate change. The Environmental Defense Fund and New Left applaud Browner’s nomination. She, and the EPA, will reduce carbon and toxic emissions by employing workers in newly rising green industries.
Online newspaper Politico cites criticism of new EPA chief Lisa Jackson. Jackson faces allegations of too much support for industry and not doing enough to stop toxic waste. Conversely, Obama’s pick for Interior Secretary, Colorado Senator Ken Salazar, has been a staunch protector of national parks, public lands, water, and natural resources.
The League of Conservation Voters gives Obama himself an 86% lifetime score. Obama will weatherize one million low income homes a year to decrease energy usage and lower energy prices. He proposes federal grants for states and locales that revise building codes and “retro-fit” buildings for energy efficiency. He will reward utility companies that help families and businesses save money on energy bills. Obama will expand renewable solar, wind, and geo-thermal energies.
Starting in 2009, Obama will create green jobs to protect Mother Nature from further abuse. He will promote energy efficient commercial development while expanding jobs, technology, and innovation in what Thomas L. Friedman called the new flat world.
Obama’s Green New Deal should put Americans to work saving Mother Nature, the inter-connected world economy, and America from depression and world war.
31 December 2008
*Professor Reid Friedson recently served as an organizer and advocate to the Progressive Future and Obama for America ’08. He registered over four hundred [400] voters in Florida for President-elect Obama.
Pavan K — Jan 2 2009 01:09 PM
Personal Promises:
1) To switch appliances off, always.
2) To buy a Diesel (low emission) car.
3) To walk to local shops
4) To cycle to relatives and friends nearby
5) To not leave anything on Standby
Professional Promise:
1) To empower 'green' organisations that reduce commercial carbon footprints, on that note here is our first green project - http://archaeo-env.com
2) We then hope to launch mivui.com this year, where any such organis(z)ations can create One Central Place (tm) for their professional presence, unlike anywhere else online.
Have a great green year everyone.