Blog Action Day: The Environment

Posted by Freddie on October 15, 2007 under Uncategorized |

Unless you’ve been living under a rock, you know that green is the new black, thanks in part to new Nobel laureate Al Gore. And if you’re reading this, a blog, it means that you obviously haven’t been living under a rock. So even though I’m probably not drawing any new attention to “the environment”, I thought it would still be fun to participate in Blog Action Day.

So let’s talk a little bit about the environment. And since Al is doing it on a level that evokes thoughts of peace, we’ll keep our focus a little more local.

First of all, I figured I’d give a shout out to a site that’s trying to make greenness in Nashville just a touch easier: Greener Nashville. It’s kind of a local portal for environmental and sustainability issues.

For offline greenness, you might want to drop by Nashville Green Drinks, Nashville’s chapter of environmental professionals and enthusiasts who get together monthly to network and knock a few back.

A lot of our conservation and transition efforts should probably be focused on transportation. As the world’s leading emitter of carbon, we’re also the world’s heaviest consumer of petroleum.

One easy way to consume less petroleum is to skip a car altogether. Okay, let’s say you’re more easily able to justify car payments and the environmental footprint of a car than I am. You can still walk or bike more often, possibly even as a way of commuting. I serve on the board of directors of Walk/Bike Nashville. The organization is nearly a decade old and has helped Nashville move from 0 miles of bike lanes and greenways to 30+ miles of each. Our annual meeting is tomorrow (Tuesday) evening, and we’re excited to have new mayor Karl Dean as our keynote speaker. Come join us! Credit for the greenways should also go to the Metro Greenways Commission and Greenways for Nashville. We’re all working to make it easier and safer for pedestrians and cyclists to walk and ride the streets and urban wilderness of Nashville, while simultaneously educating pedestrians and cyclists about the best ways to be safe (and legal).

If you’d like to supplement your car-free lifestyle, you’ll find no better friend than MTA. With a bike rack on every bus in the fleet, MTA makes multi-modal transportation ever easier. They’re also working on a brand new downtown transit hub. Don’t knock MTA without having tried it, and if you’ve tried it and didn’t like it, let them know. They’re very receptive to feedback and as responsive as possible given their budget, which I hope the new mayor and council will fully fund.

If you must be on the road in a personal vehicle, you might want to get in touch with Dave Pelton at Clean Cities of Middle Tennessee. Dave is working on diversifying our fuel supply, in part to find less polluting alternatives to petroleum and in part to reduce our dependence on foreign oil. Both yield a net positive. He can help you find pumps that have biodiesel or ethanol-based fuels, as well as recommend additional resources for alt-fuel vehicles and sources.

And much of the rest of our conservation and transition efforts should probably be focused on energy generation. For help with that, look no further than local advocates Jeff Barrie and Alex Tapia (et al.) of Kilowatt Ours fame. If you haven’t seen this documentary, then come check out the new national edition next week at the Belcourt.

Afterward don’t forget to sign up for the Green Power Switch, available locally through NES.

Want to live somewhere green? Check out Morgan Park Place or Terrazzo, both of which have qualified for LEED certification.

Finally, learn about all of this and more at the upcoming Summit for a Sustainable Tennessee, brought to you by the Tennessee Environmental Council and Tennessee Conservation Voters Nov. 15th - 17th at Lipscomb University.