BluePlanet Dad

Don't Make Me Have to Pull This Planet Over...

I have two young kids who act like siblings. In other words, they argue with each other. A lot. As the parent and grown-up in residence, it thus becomes my job to tell them to stop arguing and work it out. I don't care who started it or whose fault this or that was. You're siblings. Take care of each other and be smart about it.

So it occurs to me that in the Global Warming/Climate Change Debate, we need a parent or grown-up in residence to tell people to stop arguing over whether the planet is getting hotter. I don't even care if you think it's really happening or not. In fact, I don't even care who, if anyone, is at fault for it if it is. We live here and it's the only planet we have, so stop arguing over it and just start taking care of it. And be smart about it!

The United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP 16/CMP 6) is taking place right now in Cancun. Last year's COP 15 in Copenhagen was a great disappointment, even after so much build-up to "Hopenhagen". And really, it seemed like a lot to expect the world's climate problems would be solved by UN State parties and "Observers" (IGOs and NGOs), so a stalemate shouldn't have surprised anyone. Now that they're at it again in Cancun (because when I want to get serious work done, I go to the Mexican Riviera), I think expectations are pretty low going in. In fact, more would probably come out of it if all the attendees went home with horrific sunburns. "See?! I told you the earth was getting hotter! Just look at me! And I was wearing water-based primer with SPF 45!" I'm just not getting a Kyoto Protocol feeling from a Cancun Port-o'-Call.

But I wish the delegates good luck. It's no easy feat coming up with a comprehensive climate change policy filled with mitigation portfolios that everyone can agree upon. But maybe if you all stopped calling it "Climate Change" policy and instead called it "Smart, Keep Life on This Planet" policy, I wouldn't have to pull the car over.

Nice Package!

Packaging is the bane of my attempts to live sustainably. Most of the time, it's strictly single use, not recyclable (think of those bubble packs hanging in a phone store), petroleum-based, and then you get all that packaging placed in a shopping bag that you might---but more likely won't---reuse. <heavy sigh>

Last year, I dove deep into the "Reduce" arm of The Three R's and vowed to discern between things I wanted and things I needed. Then---and for those who know me and my Clothes Horse ways, this will come as a surprise to you---I took it one step further and vowed not to buy any new clothing that I needed unless it had a sustainability element in its production and/or packaging. This effectively put a screeching halt on my rather frequent online purchase habits and forays into retail therapy. My UPS delivery guy noticed he was making fewer stops at our door and I went to the mall a mile from our house all of four times in the last year---twice to get stuff for my daughter and the other two times at Christmas; and even then, I brought my own reusable shopping bag, so yip-f*cking-pee for me.

 

So what did I buy last year? Not much. I got a pair of Simple O.S. sneakers that I wear a lot. Yeah, they're suede (I said "sustainable," not "vegan"). When I bought them, I thought they were constructed sustainably (recycled rubber outsoles, hemp uppers, assembled by workers earning a decent wage and toiling in reasonable comfort with Radiohead piped onto the assembly line, etc.), but it turns out they're not--which I find odd given that they come from Simple.

However, the packaging is sustainably produced. The foot form inserts are made of post-consumer recylced paper, and the packaging/shoebox is made of post-consumer recycled paper and natural latex and starch-based glue. Even the soy-based printing ink on the box tells you to re-use the box---and I seriously considered re-using it, but my wife will kill me if I store yet another cardboard box in the garage. I'm not expecting a medal for accidentally finding an element of sustainability to justify my shoe purchase. I just think we should think of a product we buy as two products: the item itself, and the packaging. And in this consideration, the packaging is the heinous offender of our consumer existence as it's a mostly one-time-use item and thus finds its way to the landfill before the product it contained does.

So, to you, Simple, I say "Nice Package!" Now if you could help me out with all that unrecyclable, non-compostable food packaging waste in my kitchen trash can.