Lower Impact Woman

I discovered it was very difficult being green in Vegas. I think if I worked harder at it I might have had better luck, but by my second week there I just wasn’t too inspired after experiencing lights, noise, more lights and booze galore.

One thing I did do is order the “carbon offset credit” from the car rental company (and my employer even paid for it). It’s only $1.25 a rental and the idea is that the money is invested in companies that help offset our carbon footprint. I haven’t done any personal research on the corporations they feed the money to, but they sound promising. There are a lot of landfill projects and one dairy project in Outlook, Washington - George DeRuyter and Sons Dairy is an anaerobic digester project in the state of Washington. The project benefits climate change strategies by reducing the amount of greenhouse gases produced in dairy operations, and by reducing the greenhouse gases from the public electricity grid. The farm substitutes fossil fuel-based electricity with clean renewable electricity and substitutes fossil fuel based heating with waste heat from the electricity generators.

Pearl Jam is also trying to offset their impact for their recent tour. They are planting 33 acres of trees in Washington state hoping to soak up the 7000 tons of carbon dioxide emissions left by them and their fans.

Is this possible to reverse? I mean I guess it’s better than nothing, but it seems odd to go out and create a huge amount of carbon dioxide emissions and then just plant some trees to try and take care of it. I think the bigger impact would be to reduce the emissions in the first place, wouldn’t it? I’m obviously not an environmental scientist so I really don’t know the details of this, but if I’m vandalizing someone’s property on the west side of town every day and go to the east side of town once a week to help them clean up, it’s not equal or making everything better, it’s just better for one side but worse for the other.

No Impact Man seems to have a learned a lot of strategies for, well, lowering carbon impact. A great documentary about a New York City family that attempts to go one year without creating any environmental impact. They stop using electricity except for a single solar panel; don’t use any transportation that use fossil fuels; reduced garbage to zero; eat only food grown/made within 150 miles; don’t use toilet paper; and many other things. I recommend it and may screen it for Earth Day, so be on the lookout for a possible invite.

And I thought my project was ambitious and even part crazy at times, but he makes me look like I’m not doing anything! I mean when I start looking at toilet paper and tampon alternatives I feel like I’m going overboard, but I really haven’t even scratched the surface.

If I do an quick inventory I know I’ve made some significant personal changes that I think are in the right direction – different make-up, shampoo, mostly organic food and products, mostly vegan, have large garden in and partially planted, built chicken coop and got babies 2 days ago (so cute!), composting more – that’s a partial list, but I know I have so much more to do. It still takes research, one of my goals is the dog food, I buy a pretty expensive brand because of dog’s allergies, but I understand pet food production is horrific, so I better look into that.

I gave myself a year though too, so I have some time to look into everything. It’s good to be inspired now and then by those that have done it first – it makes it more possible and reasonable to try and be more animal, man and earth friendly.

But, kind of like Pearl Jam - If I'm doing what I can, does it offset the actions of other people in my house?

Two of the new baby chicks!