Vine.com

 

Amazon is starting a new shopping site, Vine.com, which will sell green products. And not just products hyped as “all natural” or “eco-friendly”. All products sold on the site have been verified as meeting green standards and all ingredients will be reviewed to make sure that no banned substances are included. Products listed on the site are energy-efficient, natural, organic, powered by renewable energy, reusable, made of sustainable materials, water-efficient or designed to remove toxins.

 

 

The site also allows consumers to shop fair trade products and those made within 100 miles of their home. Check out Vine.com and tell us what you think?   

 Source: Energy Ace

Live from LA….recap.

My conference has ended and I spent the flight home reflecting on my week at AASHE. I met a lot of great contacts and heard some very inspiring stories. The theme of the conference was “Investing in the Future.” Given the state of affairs in our nation (and world) I thought a very fitting theme.

However I thought my conference theme was a little different. In the food court near my hotel there was sign that said “Bloom where you are planted.” Each day I saw this message it reminded me of a conference session that I attended.

Like many people I am my worst critic. And I’m usually in a state of uncertainty.

Should I scrap this project?…Rev it up? Put more funds into it? Do more research? Take a break and revisit it? Ask for help?

Well AASHE showed me that no matter how large (or small) your program is, everyone is asking the same questions of themselves and their programs.  And its ok, so Bloom where you are planted.

Whether you have a department of one like me, or a Sustainability Institute with lots of staff and funding, our core issues are the same. Bloom where you are planted.

Whether you’re a public school or private school…Bloom where you are planted.

Whether you’re got funding or not….Bloom where you are planted.

Whether you have buy-in or not…Bloom where you are planted.

There is no governing body, no rules to follow, no owner’s manual to what I am trying to do. I will take what I’ve learned, use it to make the best of the resources available to me and Bloom Where I was Planted.

Photo Source: Elizaveta

Live from LA….outside my window

Wordless Wednesday

 

Source: Photoboto.com

 

Live from LA

For the next three days I will be blogging from the Association for the Advancement of Sustainability in Higher Education (AASHE) conference in Los Angeles, CA.  The AASHE conference is an opportunity for me to have diverse face-to-face conversations with other campus sustainability advocates and learn about real-life campus sustainability experiences, best practices, and tips.

Conferences often carry with them a lot of travel and grueling schedules but I love being surrounded with people who “get it”. They understand what I do, my goals and my challenges. When I introduce myself as the sustainability coordinator I don’t get a blank stare but a “so tell me a about your program.” AHHHH how refreshing.

So in the spirit of Meatless Monday I’ll tell you about my first experience in LA. After a long day of travel I went into classic American restaurant for dinner. I asked the waitress what she recommended (I was honestly too tired to decide for myself) and her first question was “Do you eat meat?”  I could not believe it. How progressive? Not….what do you have a taste for? Or let me tell you about our specials, but “Do you eat meat?”

I have always heard that all things environmental start in California and move east. I wonder how long it will take for this level of awareness to spread?

Well Said……

“There must be a better way to make the things we want, a way that doesn’t spoil the sky, or the rain or the land” 

-Sir Paul McCartney

Wordless Wednesday

Source: Photoboto.com

Meatless Monday

Last year, reporters from The New York Times conducted a test to see how cheaply a family of four could eat. They paid $28 for dinner for four at McDonald’s, $14 for a dinner of chicken, potatoes and a salad and just $9 for a mostly vegetarian dinner of pinto beans, rice, bacon and various seasonings. And that $9 meal also had the fewest calories of the three. This would have been cheaper had they made this a truly meatless meal and eliminated the bacon.

Source: MNN.com

Presidential Debates and Sustainability

Politics will always be a sensitive subject for most people. Especially in these changing times….opinions are stronger than ever. That being said A Sustainable LIFE will reserve comment issues surrounding the coming election. We will however share unpartisan interesting info when we find it.  

I think this analysis by Mother Nature Network (MNN) is worthy of sharing. MNN took a look at the last five elections and analyzed the changing environmental priorities. They combined the presidential transcript debates of the last 20 years and made word clouds! These clouds highlight the most frequently used terms. I love the way some environmental terms are used year after year while others have been added or scrapped.

2008 — Sen. John McCain (R) and Sen. Barack Obama (D)

 

• Full word cloud:

 

 

• Environmental word cloud:

 

 

2004 — President George W. Bush (R) and Sen. John Kerry (D)

 

• Full word cloud:

 

 

• Environmental word cloud:

 

 

2000 — Gov. George W. Bush (R) and Vice President Al Gore (D)

 

• Full word cloud:

 

 

• Environmental word cloud:

 

 

1996 — President Bill Clinton (D) and Sen. Bob Dole (R)

 

• Full word cloud:

 

 

• Environmental word cloud:

 

 

1992 — President George H.W. Bush (R), Gov. Bill Clinton (D) and businessman Ross Perot (I)

 

• Full word cloud:

 

 

• Environmental word cloud:

 

Wordless Wednesday

Source:  Photoboto.com