Wednesday, June 25, 2008

Green is the "new Patriotism"

I guess if I was the mayor of and I'd challenged the Democratic Party to have the greenest political convention ever, I might say that too. (Never mind that in my life, sentences using that structure are normally fashion-related, as in 'green is the new black.' Which also seems to be true based on recent shopping experiences.)

I read with interest the Wall Street Journal article* explaining the great lengths necessary to make the convention green, sustainable, recycled, recyclable, AND pro-union, made-in-the-USA, organic and healthy. Wow. Not surprising that they've hired a Director of Greening to head up this task.

She's recruiting hundreds of volunteers to sort through bags of trash to separate it for reuse, recycling or composting. A Carbon Advisor is calculating the carbon footprint of the convention, including not only the impact of the event, but the travel of every person who attends. Caterers have been told fried foods are banned at the convention, all foods must be organic and locally grown, and each plate must include at least three colors. As a part-time foodie, I love it when food looks pretty, tastes great, and is healthy, too. But for the record, a bacon cheeseburger with fries does have three colors, more if you eat the tiny bit of lettuce and almost-ripe tomato. (Don't worry, you can't tell it's not ripe under all that mayo.)

Don't get me wrong, I think it's a pretty impressive effort and an admirable goal. To simply be aware of the environmental impact is a big step in the right direction. An event like this provides an opportunity to illustrate how small changes made by a lot of people can make a big difference. So, I guess I'll keep recycling and doing my part, and believe that every little bit helps.


* Article details: The Greenest Show on Earth: Democrats Gear Up for Denver appeared in the Wall Street Journal on June 25, 2008.

4 comments:

  1. WOW, that is pretty intense! No fried food, huh? Well, I guess they are trying their best which is a good thing. Kevin keeps telling me we are all going back to having our own farm someday (we'll do everything organic like they did back when). I think he is just using that excuse so HE can have a farm!

    PS Got the package. BEAUTIFUL! Your talents cease to amaze me. I'll try giving you a call in the near future to chat.

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  2. I have to say I'm totally on board with that. I don't know if you've caught any of it but the discovery channel just did this big series called "When we left earth, A chronicle of the NASA missions" and, because I'm a big space geek, I've TiVoed every one...and keep on watching them! Anyway, long story short, one of the astronauts who has flown both to the moon and on the shuttle said that the earth has changed just sense we've been to the moon. The air is yucky (well, that wasn't his word but it's what he meant) over the big cities. He continued to say that maybe se shouldn't worry as much about the price of a gallon of gas but worry instead about what that gallon of gas will do to the environment. Pretty good, I thought. I agree. But, we also had to sell our SUV to make our horrific mortgage every month. Gotta love a 1991 Camry and 1998 VW Beetle at the pump! It's probably a little easier to agree with that when you only put in 12 gallons at a time. :-)

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  3. Oh - what talents is "sittintall" referring too?!?! Post pictures, I'd love to see your amazing work as well :-)

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  4. Okay, that's enough comments for one day :-)

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