Empty your mailbox

I was surfing one of my favorite sites (www.nrdc.org) and stumbled upon something incredibly useful. You see, my mailbox has fallen victim to all of the mass marketing gorillas out there.  Barneys, Gucci, Costco, Bloomingdales, Burberry….you get the picture….and the site gave me a simple step to cut down on the catalog clutter. What’s astounding to me is that each year, over 19 billion catalogs are mailed and over 52 million trees are cut down to make these catalogs. There are more far reaching effects than just this.  Go to www.catalogchoice.org and select what you wish to receive, and what you wish to have removed. The whole process took me less than five minutes. It feels good to have a little control over what is being sent to me.

H.G. Wells Novel?

We might emulate the Netherlands first by our windmills, and not our bicycle lanes. Yesterday, our Mayor, Mike Bloomberg unveiled a first of its kind building with mounted wind turbines to be built in the Brooklyn Navy Yards. It will supposedly create 2,500 jobs and be the nations first multistory “green” industrial facility. (It wasn’t too long ago, one would have thought that term was contradictory). The design looks like something we read about in an H.G. Wells novel. Let’s hope the cost of construction will be far less than the energy it will create and the money it will save. If so, I applaud our Mayor for the creativity and finally identifying the highest and best use for the site.

I am not sure of the practicality of diving in headfirst to the effort to commit to “green” practices in most New York City buildings by installing solar panels or wind turbines but I do strongly advocate taking some small steps to implement some practices that reduce our carbon footprint and enhance quality of life either by consuming less or becoming more aware of the effects our daily habits have on our immediate and global environment.

One resource that takes a very practical viewpoint in this direction is The Toeprint Project. I hope we can all learn a few tips on how to better ourselves and the world through some of the simple ideas espoused on this site. Here’s to a greener spring for all.