Core & Rind

My dad (if you had a blog I could refer to it here instead of a Flicker account) just informed me that today is Google’s Blog Action Day. The blog action day’s focus in on….you guessed it, the environment. For the action day I am going to tell you about an ambitious program that aims to address TWO favorite issues, the environment and poverty relief. Then I am going to get all Crunchy Chicken on you and present a challenge.

This NYtimes article describes a man, Van Jones, who started an organization that helps both poor people and the environment. He teaches black underserved youth construction skills so that they can jump in on what he calls the Green Collar jobs, which are mainly retrofitting buildings to make them much more environmentally friendly. This is a key issue that I feel many of us middle-class greens fail to appreciate….how can we get the lower socioeconomic classes in on addressing environmental issues. This is likely the only way..to promise them a better standard of living and regular work. You can get more details of the organization the organization’s website.

SO, on to the challenge…. One of my favorite eco-bloggers Crunchy Chicken actually came up with this but I don’t think she would be opposed to me spreading the word to my (small) blogging community. For this upcoming winter I pledge to not use the heat at all unless it becomes unbelievably cold (below 30 at night) or we have guests who can’t take it. Now I know you guys are saying you live in AZ, why do you need heat anyway? Well the desert is surprisingly cold at night since we have no humidity to hold it in all the warmth provided by the sun evaporates as soon as it gets dark. We do have a lot of sunshine during the day though which heats up the house nicely for the evening so for us it is mainly the morning that is cold. Another caveat is that I may use our space heater to lightly heat up our bathroom in the morning if it is one of those frigid mornings.

OK, join the challenge by posting a comment with the goal. For example, “I agree to keep my heat at 60 degrees during the day, 55 at night”….or not that severe…remember baby steps and if it severely cramps your style then you won’t be able to keep it up.

And as a final action for Blog Action Day , I want to point out my two other favorite eco-blogs, No Impact Man , my eco-hero and Green As Thistle , whom I love for her easy green lifestyle suggestions. Both are on my blogroll.

Have a wonderful Friday.