reducing carbon part 1

So I knew as soon as I got this montht's wired that i was going to feel strongly about it. It's neon orange cover blared, "Attention Environmentalists: Keep your SUV. Forget organics. Go nuclear. Screw the spotted owl." and then in smaller print, "if you're serious about global warming, only one thing matters: Cutting Carbon. That means facing some inconvienient truths."

I of course started arguing immediately, "the spotted owl has nothing to do with global warming. Protecting endangered species is something different all together!" and of course, no one could convince me that keeping an SUV was EVER a good idea. But now i've read the article, and i'm staying up past my bedtime to let you know what i think about it, because i found it very conversation inspiring.

1.Live in cities. HORRAY! i am of course a fan of this one, because I love living in cities. And I feel it makes a huge impact on my personal footprint- living in the city enables me to make all sorts of green changes in my life that i wouldn't be able to otherwise.
2.a/c is ok. AC is NOT ok. it may give off less carbon than heating, but how neccessary is it? America is way too over air conditioned, in my opinion. heat is a requirement. bodies freeze. there are more deaths in chicago from the winter than from the summer. Keep your thermostat as close to the outside tempature as you can, regardless of which way it goes. i think they're just trying to be controversial. and they compare the heating of a new england home with the aircondtioning of a phoenix home, but that's one small part of the whole effect of the environment. nothing is said about how closer things are in new england, so less carbon is released in travel, or, um? water? and how Phoenix wants some from my fucking watershed? i get really upitty about this. if you want to live in the desert, live in the DESERT. if you want water, live in a great lakes state.
3.organics are not the answer. duh. i didn't realize this was still a myth. local is better than organic. even in chicago, where local is in wisconsin or indiana, and you don't have the mennonite farmers of pa. (my mom says she buys local instead of organic because she knows that this chicken was loved and had a name.) Wal-mart sells organics now. isn't that sign enough they aren't that much different than conventional? I am not convinced that all else being equal, it's not better to buy muir glen salsa than safeway select. my tomatoes are being shipped form far away anyway. i'd rather support small companies. maybe i don't want to LIVE in a world without biodiversity. i think choice is important, and that all the wildness and variety and different colors are part of what makes this world a wonderful place, and i think that going carbon neutral isn't worth it if it creates a world of grey.
4.farm the forests. i thought this one was really interesting. i do think there needs to be places in the world that are just LEFT ALONE. but i also think wise agriculture is a good idea. their plan of chopping down old trees, planting new ones, keeping those happy until they've sucked all the CO2 they can out of the air, using the wood only for high quality durable goods, not burning scrap. that really seems ok to me. again, the headline sounds contriversial because it sounds like chopping down trees and planting corn. but treating trees LIKE a farm- that's something i could believe in.
5.China is the solution, not the problem. it seems to be a question of scale. china's just so big. if given a choice, i choose germany over china every time. but if america isn't producing affortable alternative energy solutions, we have to use all that fossil fuel to get them here somehow. I think what china has going for it is acceptance of the problem and that sacrifices will be necessary. i don't think america believes either of those things. We think it's not really a problem, it's just al's bitter cause he lost the election. and just in case it IS a problem, well, we'll buy carbon credits and recycled paper goods.

and that's only half! but i have to open the shop tomorrow! (ch is camping in MI) so you'll get the next 5 tomorrow. (but connie, you can still comment!)