writeaboutwarming

March 29 – My husband and I began eating less meat about fifteen years ago. Prior to that, because I didn’t know how not eating meat would affect my children’s growth, I served meat most nights. Once they had entered their teens, I felt free to begin cutting back. It was a very gradual process, but by the time my daughter graduated from high school, I think we were eating chicken twice a week, and pizza with pepperoni one night a week. I’d essentially eliminated beef somewhere during the transition. For the next five years, that’s where we remained stuck. During this interval, my son informed me one day that he was becoming a vegetarian. He’d seen a movie at school that had shocked him, and he decided he couldn’t bear to eat it anymore. A year later, he’d become a vegan, which – greatly to his credit – he remained for six years. He missed eating cheese terribly, which caused him to decide that vegetarianism was the best way of eating for him. The odd thing is, I can’t really recall wh...

March 22 – It’s interesting; my husband is reading Le Morte d’Arthur, by Thomas Malory. Written in the mid-1400s, Morte d’Arthur is actually a compilation of legends about King Arthur. According to my husband, it is notable for its utter lack of admirable characters and worthwhile endeavors (the action takes place in the sixth century). Based upon Malory’s retelling, we can only assume that later, more modern versions were “cleaned up” in order to accommodate more civilized sensibilities. All of which leads me to speculate about that word, civilized. Not to put too fine a point on it, Malory’s King Arthur and his Knights of the Round Table were a busy bunch, what with endless killings, rapes, and pillaging to attend to. Lovers endlessly plight their troths, only to be undone 24 hours later by their astonishingly bad memories. The action unfolds at a breathless pace, no doubt the product of troubadors having once sung well into the night about Arthur’s various escapades, needing a...

March 15 – Climate change denial has become the story. So much so that I decided it deserved an article all its own. Here’s an example of the kind of behavior deniers indulge in lately: “Please accept our apologies if you have experienced difficulty accessing the Ecologist site in the last few days. The site was the subject of attack that meant many of you may have received messages warning you not to visit our pages.We believe we have resolved the issue, although you may have still seen warning messages as late as yesterday because old copies of web pages are often temporarily stored on servers and personal computers. We are still running tests on the site and we hope to resume a normal service very shortly. Thanks for bearing with us, Mark Anslow, Editor “ (I received this message in my email on March 12.) When deniers leave messages at blogs, they often contain sarcastic and/or foul language. I’m not saying non-deniers are better behaved in that department. Both groups have l...

March 8 – So often I turn to Alex Smith’s Radio Ecoshock Show for inspiration. Alex frequently interviews scientists, authors, and activists in order to stay abreast of the latest thinking with regard to global warming-related matters. To call one particular recent program “inspiring” would simply be a lie, however. As scientists continue to raise their voices louder and louder in a chorus of concern, that alarm makes itself more and more a part of each of Smith’s programs. Smith himself seems to have entered a new stage in his own thinking, as a result. For those of use who have, for so long, known that this was a problem in need of immediate attention, the lack thereof, in the face of the now sober, sad reality, becomes ever more surreal. We dutifully report the latest thinking, and it is like shouting into the wind. Our world no longer teeters on the precipice. It would seem it has gone over the side. I base this disturbing conclusion on Smith’s February 25 program, “On the R...

March 1 – I’ve been looking at “green” job sites lately. There are a bunch of them out there, which is heartening. I ran across a couple of clunkers, but I also ran across a couple of really good sites. Let’s start with them. You could do a lot worse than begin your search at www.sustainablebusiness.com . While green jobs are posted in higher numbers than I found at any other site, you will also find green news articles, press releases, green investing opportunities, a “Green Week in Review” podcast, a green events calendar, and a “Resources” category. This last feature connects you to links of various kinds: agriculture/organics, ecotourism, building design, forests, and waste reduction, to name a few. Each heading is followed by lists of organization websites serving that particular field. As for your job hunt, searching by location, skill level, kind of job, and/or keyword are all options. Internships and volunteer positions can also be found. Another excellent site for you to...