Chevy Tahoo Green My Foot!

Still a big ol' clunk guzzling gas. The next thing I know they are going to tell me some Green Hummer of the Year, improving gas guzzling from 12 mpg to 16 mpg.

Puhleeze......



FOR AS LONG AS WE CONTINUE TO WITNESS THIS BEHAVIOR, WE HAVE NO CHANCE.


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Look No Further Than The Man In The Mirror

As I was walking to work today, I noticed that, as I have been noticing for a while now, that there are lot less cars on the road. The regular unleaded at Shell gas station I walked pass by has inched up another 15 cents from previous week to $3.81 a gallon.

We the consumers bare no less than one-third of overall responsibility in effectuating the needed green change, but so far the most effective mean has been the high price hurting the wallet.

It is not just the Businesses and the Government. It is just all of us.

Reduce - Remove "Discretionary" and "Accessories" from Your Life

This seemingly obvious point is probably the most difficult to achieve in this materialistic age.

- Do you really need that Blackberry or iPhone? And a cool casing, belt-pack, bluetooth and all the add ons to go with that too?

- Do you really need all these souvenirs, mugs, magnets, postcards, hats and t-shirts?

- Do you really need new gloves, or that more fashionable pair of pants?

- Do you really need cable TV, or premium internet service?

- Do you really need to buy more chocolate or OREO cookies and pack on one extra pound to carry around?

- And yes... do you (actually I) need one more cup of coffee and one more book?


Why talk green if we cannot even moderate these things that got us into to this environmental mess in the first place?

Toyota Prius is still not the answer for gas whiners

We consumers are whining about surging gas prices again. I find it both comical and yet a bit sad that many consumers are flocking to smaller, slightly more fuel-efficient cars thinking 40 mpg can save the day. Surely I expected nothing less than the typical "buy your way out" behavior plus the blatant refusal to make a change in lifestyle.

The fact is that current alternatives are neither greener nor more economical. Trading in an SUV presents a great loss in value and a poor use of "money" in the first place, and the act of a quick swap creates one more car being manufactured, more materials used up, and more emissions from the production process.

My decision is to simply minimize using my car and to extend its life for as long as possible while letting the technology develop into something more mature and greenable. Maybe Toyota Prius will achieve 100 mpg soon, or maybe a conversion technology will become available to improve the mileage of current models. Either way, my "change in lifestyle" is the surest way to go greener and to deal with the inflating cost of living.

THE 3 VALUES OF GOING GREEN

The personal green transformation has barely just begun, yet my thoughts have already raced far ahead of my actions. But that is a good thing. I have re-examined some of my personal values in greater depth and came to a better appreciation of those basic ones that should have been more obvious before.

These values are listed in the order of increasing importance.


1. Learn the value of MONEY

I often watch in amazement how some spend and waste money as if it is no object; I also read in total bewilderment if they are the same cash-strapped consumers who are the subjects of endless media reports.

Without lashing out on the "house of cards" economic that optimally fattens the wallets and bodies of this consumer generation, I will simply state that I belong to the school of thought that the true sustainable economy is a GREEN ECONOMY. I hold a strong yet perfectly sensible belief that one day the INFLATION GENIE will come out in a vengeance to punish us all for having abused the resources and the environment.

We have never been more prosperous, but that is achieved literally by our increasing digging into the Earth; when one day we can no longer sustain this model of economic growth we will also realize "money" is a limited resource.

We should not waste it away, and it will become very valuable one day as a possible way for us to salvage the Earth.


2. Learn the value of LIFE and OURSELF

Going green necessarily requires a very honest and thorough assessment of our values and vanity, and the process forces us to realign ourself to the central principles.

As modern consumers we have been influenced to associate our happiness and success by the things we own. Yet there is a whole lot to be rediscovered by staying home, taking a nice walk to work and staying closer to the very simple things in life that our great great parents have enjoyed. Granted our materialistic quality of life is undoubtedly superior, but I believe our minds and spirits actually have regressed.

Recently, I have found myself to be calmer and my mind to be more clear. I have far less clutter in my life to distract me nor do I think much of any cool discretionary items. I have become more focused, more productive, and ... yes.... happier.


3. Learn the value of the PHYSICAL ENVIRONMENT

Most importantly, Going Green is about caring beyond ourself for all that are and will be a part of the same world, whether. I find it unnecessary to engage in endless philosophical debates or to pursue abstract thesis in understanding the very obvious truth that THIS PHYSICAL ENVIRONMENT GIVES ALL OF US A PLACE FOR OUR PHYSICAL EXISTENCE regardless of our tendency to engage in the relentless pursuit spirituality or happiness.

McCain and Clinton's dumb gas tax idea misses the point - Cheap oil is a thing of the past

John McCain and Hillary Clinton continue to pander the voters on the pretense that gas tax suspension will alleviate surging price at the gas pump. However, economists are in general consensus of this being a "bad idea out of failed learning in Economic 101." Barrack Obama just scored some points in my book for being the sole holdout of this "dumb idea."

Politics or economics aside, I would much prefer the candidates to address it for the ENERGY CRISIS ISSUE that it really is or will be. I see the supply-demand of oil as an escalating problem that not even the complete conversion to Toyota Prius by the entire world can resolve. No amount of money and more money can change the certainty of oil running to its eventual end for as long as we still live our life to guzzle gas.

The only way I see, is for us the consumers to unlearn our dependence, and get a little help along the way from governments and businesses in starting a global green infrastructure.

Reduce - Check out "No Impact Man"

I came across a very interesting "No Impact Man" , whose site was featured by Time Magazine as one of the 15 best green websites.

His opinions and voice resonate with my own, and in addition he has been doing the serious green a bit longer. His life is the perfect example of how anyone can go green for real, even in the middle of a hustling and bustling New York City, with the right attitude and enough determination.

Admittingly all of us are still quite a distance away from achieving the No-Impact Utopia; but what I especially like, is that "REDUCE" is very clearly understood by many as the most important first step.

Reduce - $28 Electric and $102 gasoline

In taking small incremental steps toward a more eco-friendly life style, our very FIRST STEP in the personal "reduce" campaign is to minimize energy consumption. After several months of paying attentions to details, we have been progressively reducing our electric bill to finally break below $30 for 2 months now.

I would like to go below $25 eventually.

And we paid just a smidgen over $100 at the gas pump in April. What makes this cut back even more satisfying is that we did it in face of the recent surge in gas price. What I really would like is to break below $50, and even to go car-less.

Incidentally, the office secretary expressed how worried she is over the $450+ per month fuel cost which seems to escalate to no end.

Cheers... to my decision to live close to work.

More Than Carbon Emission and Global Warming - A Warning Sign from the Environment.

I am still feeling the bone-chill from "The Silence of the Bees" last night.

I was thinking, something in nature isn't replaceable with technology, but that our false sense of security and complacency are making us behaving as if the opposite is true. The program showcased an instance of that ignorance.

Very likely even before global warming becomes the real challenge we would have already witnessed something else major.

Something in the air and the water just isn't right. CASE AND POINT: with sick, infected and chemically poisoned bees, the honey produced is found with pollutants.

And it bothers me that this must be a general condition affecting all animals, fish and crops, and that also means everything we eat and breath.

I wonder about the fate of "organic farming."

"Silence of the Bees"

Bees are disappearing...



This evening while watching the PBS rebroadcast of NATURE episode "Silence of the Bees," I felt a deepest chill down my spine.

During the winter of 2006, the Colony Collapse Disorder (CCD) strike literally overnight and over one-third of bee hives in the US were abandoned. Scientists scrambled to unravel the mystery but were not able to pinpoint to a single cause despite finding numerous disturbing clues. They thought the AIDS-like epidemic was the result of a perfect storm scenario where bees finally succumbed to an Australian virus following a long-term effect from malnutrition, pesticide toxins and other environmental factors. The bee population, as well as other pollinators like butterflies, has been on an alarming declining trend for years.

The massive disappearing of the bees has dire consequences on farming, food supplies, and world ecology as a whole. I learned just how essential these little buzzing insects have been besides pollinating flowers and producing honey - they are also the pollinator agents responsible for one-third of crops and fruits we consume, such as berries, pears, etc.

One farmer exclaimed "I am scared to death."

It propelled me to think further... Maybe, we have been doing just a bit too much to the environment more than we know, and it seems we do not come remotely close to realize just how much irreversible damage we may have already caused.

Enjoy some google videos - Weekend of April 26th, 2008

Some opinions, news, political snippets, and funnies.

Watch the latest videos on YouTube.com

Reduce - The World is Inflating into Reality

I read somewhere a statement made by a financier in a matter-of-fact tone that consumers will cut back only when wallet starts hurting.

This may not be what passionate green minds want to hear, but it is the stone cold truth.

As much as it is a virtue to think beyond self and to care for the environment, pricing is the ultimate bottom line that dictates consumer behaviors. With a booming middle class around the world to join this heated over-consumption race, in particular billions more from China and India, it is little wonder that we are witnessing food shortage, accelerated environmental destruction and even more wars.


We have been asking too much out of this plant, and I think.....

THE INFLATION GENIE IS OUT OF THE BOTTLE.

Reduce - A Brotherly Lesson

I asked my Brother to give me some feedback on my blogs, but a little to my surprise he said he didn't know what much to say.

He and his wife already live a very simple life. His in-laws, as of the previous generation who survived extreme hardship through numerous wars, are as frugal and simple can be.

These values, he said, are obvious.

Indeed, our parents and my in-laws, as well as all elderlies we know of, carry with them these very basic values.

In stark contrast the current consumer generation has difficulty embracing the same. The current economic model and the consumerism values, touted as a great triumph of the free market and human freedom, are seemingly misguided fundamentally.

Reduce - "It's the GREEN ECONOMY, Stupid"

Bill was at least half-right.

This week alone I witnessed no less than 10 popular magazines addressing similar issues on human population, food crises , the environment and the climate. The voice of green movement is becoming irrepressibly louder.

While the endless bombardment of information may be difficult to sort through, recognizing the very basic issues at stake is the important first step in finding our own direction. I spent a part of my "Shopping Saturday" among magazines in Borders or Barnes & Noble to educate myself, and I have come to understand issues beyond carbon emissions.

My intuition tells me that ... A GREEN ECONOMY is, necessarily, shaping up to supersede FREE ECONOMY.

It is all too obvious that our Earth has only so much to give.

Reduce - You Gotta Drive Slow, and Less

I wish that people can just drive slower, and best not at all when not needed.

Friends, keep in mind the basic physics that kinetic energy is "one-half mass velocity squared". When you cruise at 80 mph instead of 60 mph, the 33% faster speed requires you to use 100% more energy. The real world calculation is of course far more complex, but it is a definitive conclusion that you are paying far more for your wasteful speeding habit.

By not waste money and gas, in the process you are saving some lives from accidents and giving a little more back to the environment.

PERHAPS THE RISING GAS PRICE IS A POSITIVE DRIVING FORCE IN ASKING THE CONSUMERS TO DO BETTER IN CONSERVATION.