So, what is a Louisiana State Senator to do to keep up the spirits of his constituents? Well, if you’re Republican State Senator Robert Adley, you look them in the eye and tell them to f*#k themselves. With stunning disregard for local events, Adley has decided that allowing the Tulane Environmental Law Clinic (TELC) to continue representing the poorest of the poor against illegal and irresponsible government and corporate action is simply bad business. So Adley is proposing a State Senate Bill that will deny state funding to university-based law clinics that have the audacity to bring suit against a government entity or businesses. Apparently Adley’s puppet-master, the Louisiana Chemical Association, is fed up with those pesky law students forcing chemical companies and government agencies to take ridiculous actions like following and enforcing the law!

I mean, really, can’t someone just cut these companies some slack? What’s the worst that could happen?? Oh yeah…

So, these things are my bad. I am not proud of them, but I’m not ready to give them up either.

1. I use disposable diapers. I know that diapers make up an obscene percentage of our landfills, but I still use them.
2. I drive an SUV, and it’s not a hybrid.
3. I eat tropical fruits (mangoes and bananas) that have to be flown long distances to get to me.
4. I sometimes set my heat above 70 degrees in the winter. (On the flip side though, I hate A/C in the summer. So maybe that one balances out?)
5. I had my lawn sprayed with herbicide this year after my organic attempts at weed control last year failed miserably. I’ll probably do it again next year. (Damn you, Creeping Charlie!!)

But here’s what I will do:

1. Supplement my CSA food with produce from local farmers’ markets rather than supermarket produce.
2. Attempt a veggie garden for the first time. (More on this soon.)
3. Write to President Obama, Mitch McConnell (R- KY) and my other representatives about ending farm subsidies that benefit large factory farms and hurt small farmers.
4. Sign Jamie Oliver’s “Food Revolution” petition to encourage the use of fresh foods, rather than processed foods, in school lunch programs.
5. Take Lilly camping and hiking this summer so that she also learns to love and respect nature.

Now, I am most certainly overestimating my influence in the world by suggesting that this has in any way impacted the environmental movement. But still it was the absolute least I could do and I didn’t do it. So, I’m making an example of myself. Rather than say, “oh well, I missed it. I’ll make sure to do something next Earth Day,” I’m going resolve (again) to observe an Earth Life, rather than an Earth Day.

I’m a list-maker; so I’m going to write 2 lists. The first one (below) is a short list of simple things everyone can do to help ease the human burden on this planet. Since I already try (with varying degrees of success) to include the list below in my daily life, I will challenge myself with a second list – to be posted shortly – of things I intend to do to be a little greener.

5 Easy Ways to Help the Earth (and its Future Generations):

1. Join a CSA (Community Supported Agriculture) and get fresh, seasonal food from local producers. Why? It saves the fuel associated with processing, preserving, and transporting out-of-season produce from all over the world and it’s tasty. Find a CSA here.
2. Contact your local representatives and let them know you care about environmental issues. Why? Because big business is telling them just the opposite every day. And if you don’t, who will?
3. Plant something. Why? Trees curb the CO2 in the atmosphere. Homegrown veggies reduce fuel consumption. Flowers, trees and shrubs improve quality of life and the environment.
4. Eat a vegetarian dinner at least once a week. Why? Factory farming is a major source of greenhouse gases, contaminated food and inhumane treatment of animals and workers. (For much more on this, watch Food, Inc.)
5. Include a child in any or all of the above activities. Why? Because children learn by example and there are a lot of bad ones out there.

If you don’t like my suggestions (and that’s all they are), I encourage you to come up with a few green ideas that you do like. And feel free to share them in comments!

The following paragraph from a Washington Post article on the FDA’s latest moves concerning triclosan reveals exactly what is wrong with the way our federal agencies regulate our food and consumer products:

Because it is found in so many different types of products, triclosan is regulated by three different federal agencies: the FDA, the EPA and the Consumer Product Safety Commission. But the FDA, which oversees its use in personal-care products, medical devices and products that come into contact with food, has been working for 38 years to establish the rules for the use of triclosan but has not completed that task.

Thirty-eight years!! Who else gets to work on a project for 38 years and then say, “Sorry, boss, I just didn’t have enough time to finish this up.” Geez. Way to fail, guys.

Sometimes, forgiveness is not divine. It’s just plain evil.