Pragmatic Environmentalism

Okay, okay, so these are actually Saturday green links. My only defense is that Jason has the flu and he’s a very demanding patient. On to the links:

• Ask Umbra’s Pearls of Wisdom on Apartment Dwelling – Grist. Although I’m willing to put some investment towards energy savings in our apartment, major expenditures are more for owners. Umbra offers good basic advice for anyone.
• Massachusetts Sets Ambitious Energy Standards – New York Times. This may make us surpass California as the most energy-efficient state!
• 9,922 Megawatts of New Wind in U.S. in 2009, 39% Growth from 2008 – Treehugger. More good news!
• Recharging Your Cell Phone, Mother Nature’s Way – New York Times. I can’t wait for a solar cover for my Kindle. And one that can use indoor light, too. So cool.
• Another change taking place at Walden Pond – Boston Globe. Thirty percent of the species that Thoreau recorded can no longer be found in Concord. Yikes.
• Recipes for Homemade Household Cleaners – Conscious Shopper. I’m going to do this one day, I swear.
• Amazing Uses for Baking Soda – Greenest Dollar. Along the same lines as the homemade cleaners… I’m taking notes.
• Cities vs. Suburbs – Grist. I still have lingering resentment toward the suburbs for Scott Brown’s election, but I don’t think we can completely write them off.

As always, if you see something this week that I might be interested in, send it my way.

A lot of interesting stuff this week. As always, if you come across anything you think I might like, shoot it my way.

• The Leased Life – Boston Globe. I love the idea of leasing things that we don’t use regularly. It’s also kind of cool that the company that much of my family works for, Interface, is quoted, even if it is in regards to a business model that didn’t work….
• Why I Started Eating Meat Again after 12 Years as a Vegetarian – Green Phone Booth. I’m sad to hear that Erin is no longer a vegetarian, if only because it’s a trend I’ve seen in my own friends. Then again, I’m the last person to be strict about anything, and an environmentally aware occasional meat eater is probably better than a lazy vegetarian.
• Re-Calibrating Your Internal Thermostat – Green Phone Booth. I applaud any effort that conserves resources, but heat is something I refuse to compromise on. Making my house energy efficient is one thing; being cold is something else entirely.
• How To Store Fruits and Vegetables – Berkeley Farmers’ Markets. Thanks to Fake Plastic Fish for posting this. Maybe eventually efficient food storage will become second nature to me.
• Guide to Greener Electronics – Greenpeace. This is pretty unspecific, but it’s useful to look at company-wide habits, such as recycling programs.
• The Ultimate List for Stopping Your Junk Mail – The Greenest Dollar. When I signed up for do not mail lists it took a long time for it to make a difference, but the junk mail seems to have thinned out now.
• Electronics Recycling: Safely and Ethically – Cambridge Energy Alliance. One addendum to this: while the city of Cambridge doesn’t accept TV and computer monitors at the drop-off site, they do offer curbside pickup—one per household per week.
• Borax: The Unsung Green Cleaning Hero – greenUPGRADER. I know I’ve said it before, but I really need to make the time to experiment with stuff like this.
• Environmental Impact of Media – MediaShift. PBS’s MediaShift tries to unravel the impact of print and digital publishing. Their panelists seem a bit biased, but there’s a lot of interesting info. Thanks, Danielle!

In other news, I’m getting How to Be an Everyday Philanthropist from a book giveaway at The Good Human. It’s not an environmental book, per se, so I won’t be reviewing it on here, but look for it on my GoodReads feed.