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Old 04-22-2009, 02:12 PM   #1
BailOut
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Smile Happy Earth Day!

Happy Earth Day everyone! Another year has gone by and some measurable "green" progress has been made as a nation. It is my hope that each of you will attend some form of celebration and learn a little about the world we live in and our affect on it, and make a personal commitment to adopt at least one "green" strategy for the coming year.

In my part of the world this is a busy time. Last Sunday the city of Reno, Nevada and the nonprofit Nevada Econet group held their celebration at Idlewild Park and it was wildly successful. Thousands of people from all walks of life attended and enjoyed healthy food, great music, fun and educational booths, and some made purchases to aid in their green efforts such as one of the recycled bicycles that I helped repair and transport to the event via the Kiwanis Club for sale at cheap, accessible prices (as alway, as we are a nonprofit that only uses the funds for our kids programs such as free bicycles for low income children). Our bicycle sale/swap was so successful that we had to bring more bicycles over at lunch time as we sold out in the morning.

This afternoon will be my environmental highlight of the year, the Kids for Conservation Festival in Incline Village, Nevada. This will be my 3rd year participating and I have entered 2 booths this time. I will staff the "Energy Bike" booth where kids can pedal a stationary bicycle to power up a CFL bulb and then an incandescent bulb, allowing them to feel how much more power it takes for the incandescent (60W vs. 14W for a CFL). An Americorps volunteer will staff my other booth which uses a pair of Kill-A-Watt meters to show the wattage usage of CFL and incandescent bulbs in real-time, and has photographs of different kinds of bulbs that the children can make a game out of by trying to spot which are CFL and which are incandescent. Last year we had about 130 kids attend an this year we are expecting over 175.

I was also interviewed by the daughter of an associate of mine for a conservation-centric Earth Day article in her school newspaper in a city in Illinois. It should be published today and I certainly look forward to reading it.

Please let us all know what you did/are doing for Earth Day, and have fun with it!
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Old 04-22-2009, 03:58 PM   #2
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What I did on Earth Day:

I broke my computer in order to save energy consumption and now I'm driving my Yaris only two miles down the road to my parents house where I will walk my happy ass into the garage with my Dad, have a pint of micro brew that we made from the freshest of organic hops. Afterwards, my son and I will take a stroll through the park where I will hit on the single Mom's and exchange laughter and giggles all in an effort to burn calories and get those digits so that I can again, save energy by not using my treadmill at home. During the evening time, several hours after I have had my pint of beer, I will drive home. This will of course save more gas, but the details I will spare you as you already know. Once home, I will snuggle up on the coach, read a book maybe, and slowly drift into the dreams of blowing up another computer.
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Old 04-22-2009, 04:09 PM   #3
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Well today for earth day i changed my oil in my car and instead of taking the oil to the gas station i dumped down the storm drain And then i used 4 styrofoam cups and just threw them on the ground. Man i love earth day
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Old 04-22-2009, 06:14 PM   #4
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What I did on Earth Day:

Burnt though a whole tank of gas, driving like a Jack-ass
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Old 04-22-2009, 06:46 PM   #5
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I support you in being the bad guy PK. As the father of a young girl, I am amazed at how HUGE Earth Day celebrations are for the kids in our lives. I find these posted responses a flagrant snubbing of the message of the day, and attack the character of the OP.
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Old 04-22-2009, 07:17 PM   #6
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Quote:
Originally Posted by PK198105 View Post
ok ill be the bad guy here, lets not make fun of people who actually want to try and save the planet, i wish i had the discipline to all the things necessary to protect this planet even though i believe the planet will eventually heal itself.

i try to do my part by refusing plastic grocery bags and i started to shut of my car on those super long lights

Bailout i salute you
Reusing plastic grocery bags to dispose of body parts from the most recent murder victum does not make you green! If you weren't stopped at a light you could save gas by maintaining a constant speed..... since when did you start the practice of stopping at lights? Oh that's right.... when the gov't cameras were installed.
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Old 04-22-2009, 07:33 PM   #7
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I saved alot of my personal energy and kept the Y from polluting the air by not going to work today.

Wait, it's Earth Day?
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Old 04-22-2009, 08:26 PM   #8
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I celebrated Vladimir Illyich's birthday in fine style being that April 22 is His birthday. Plumb forgot that today is also "Earth Day".

Started the day off right by recovering the plastic mulch over my garden plot that a storm had blown off yesterday. The plot is four times larger than last year. Also checked on the status of my Quinoa seeds, which should be here in time for May Day planting. May have spied some Lamb's Quarters nearby which will need exterminating if I want the Quinoa to grow up pure and strong.

Worked extra long today to help my employer make more money. I hope to spend the weekend land clearing and want to have no work pending over the weekend.

Went to Wal-Mart and bought some crap that I actually needed and then went to Arby's for a death burger. Did not speed too much today because the Man is out and wanting some ticket money.

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Old 04-22-2009, 08:28 PM   #9
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It's kind of ironic - I work with people from almost every continent on the planet, especially Africa and Asia. Many of them are of short stature which implies that they did not eat terribly well as kids.

Today they're all hale and hearty and most of them sport pot bellies. They chow down pretty heavy during lunch.

Not one of them mentioned "Earth Day" today. Until I got here and saw Brian's note I had plumb forgotten it myself.

We're too busy trying to save energy to worry about a holiday.

Gene
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Old 04-22-2009, 08:34 PM   #10
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Today for earth day, I got this to replace my gas powered lawn mower.

http://www.neutonpower.com

Have to charge it for 72 hours before I use it, but I will tell you how it works.
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Old 04-22-2009, 08:47 PM   #11
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Quote:
Originally Posted by PK198105 View Post
why do you celebrate Lenin's birthday?
I'm using a huge helping of irony. Last week someone told me that April 22 shared a holiday with Lenin's birthday and Earth day. I forgot it for the most part, but ran across someone with a new sticker on their car. Laughed a while about the "coincidence" of the two days being the same. Forgot it again until I got here.

Glad that some of you had a good time today. Me, I earned money and took care of my garden.

Gene

Last edited by GeneW; 04-22-2009 at 09:21 PM.
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Old 04-22-2009, 08:48 PM   #12
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Of course, working at a conservation organization and all, we did a trail cleanup and a had car-free lunch for the whole office. :)

I need to get this shirt:

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Old 04-22-2009, 08:50 PM   #13
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I've done my part as listed above and now I'm gonna sit down and read
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Old 04-22-2009, 09:37 PM   #14
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I changed an incandescent light bulb to a CFL bulb today only because the incandescent one burned out. I'm all for changing to CFLs but will not toss out working bulbs.
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Old 04-22-2009, 10:20 PM   #15
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Quote:
Originally Posted by PK198105 View Post
if it was up to me i'd change all lights to LEDs:
you have not done that already?

we love our LED lights..... every last one in the house is LED
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Old 04-23-2009, 01:18 AM   #16
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First off I want to thank all of you that understand and respect this day, and here's to hoping that the rest will come around sometime soon.

I just got back from the Kids for Conservation Festival and it was a great success! We had around 215 children come through this year, a new record and a great showing for a small town of less than 3,000 permanent residents. The facility the event was hosted in changed this year as we outgrew the previous one, and while I was glad things weren't so cramped this time around the new space is rather sterile where the previous was quite warm.

Here are some pictures from the event:

1) The check-in station where each child was given a reusable bag and some stickers and magnets.

2) My Energy Bike station, with the event's Penguin mascot cranking up a CFL with pedal power. This station was popular, as usual. The kids love pedaling as fast as they can to try and light up the incandescent bulb.

3) My Kill-A-Watt station which shows the wattage usage of both a CFL and incandescent bulb in real-time. This went over better than I anticipated, with many parents realizing the true energy savings for the first time.

4) My friend's water bug station, with water taken from the creek right behind the facility we're in. This is another wildly popular station as the kids love catching and observing, then releasing the bugs in the water. It teaches them that the streams aren't just a bunch of running water but are thriving and complex ecosystems.

5) The Tahoe Conservation District's table where they had a local flower identification game, and examples of the mussels local to Lake Tahoe and the other breeds, the Zebra and Quagga, that great effort is being spent to protect the lake from. This station was interesting to me because while I know the Zebra and Quagga mussels are bad I did not understand why, but one of the ladies was able to educate me in detail.
Attached Images
File Type: jpg Check-in Station.jpg (195.1 KB, 34 views)
File Type: jpg Energy Bike Station.jpg (150.4 KB, 34 views)
File Type: jpg Kill-A-Watt Station.jpg (141.0 KB, 33 views)
File Type: jpg Bug Station.jpg (174.4 KB, 34 views)
File Type: jpg Tahoe Conservation District Station.jpg (178.4 KB, 33 views)
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Click the graphic above to see my detailed mileage logs.

Last edited by BailOut; 04-23-2009 at 01:32 AM.
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Old 04-23-2009, 01:22 AM   #17
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6) An aquifer station which shows the kids that anything that gets dumped near a water body generally ends up in said water body either through runoff, seepage or storm drains.

7-10) Kids and helpers from the Boys and Girls Club putting on a "Trashion Show".
Attached Images
File Type: jpg Aquifer Station.jpg (233.4 KB, 34 views)
File Type: jpg Trashion Show 1.jpg (232.2 KB, 33 views)
File Type: jpg Trashion Show 2.jpg (233.5 KB, 34 views)
File Type: jpg Trashion Show 3.jpg (218.9 KB, 33 views)
File Type: jpg Trashion Show 4.jpg (229.6 KB, 32 views)
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Click the graphic above to see my detailed mileage logs.
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Old 04-23-2009, 01:23 AM   #18
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11) The outdoor stations with themes like "Leave No Trace", "fishing" for conservation ideas, etc.

12) As usual Waste Management brought one of their recycle trucks and handed out recycle pick up day calendars as well as information on how to properly use the single stream "blue bag" system.

13) This picture is special to me as the little girl in it had her birthday today, and had made it abundantly clear to her Mother that she wanted it to be her "B-Earth Day". So her Mother worked with friends to create a special cake for her whole class, and along with Earth Day events at her school like making paper and having a wasteless lunch she got to share her beautiful cake with everyone. She was so happy playing around on the energy bike, and when she was done she stopped everything and told me all about her wonderful day. It was the highlight of the event for me.
Attached Images
File Type: jpg Outdoor Station.jpg (275.8 KB, 34 views)
File Type: jpg Waste Management Station.jpg (269.2 KB, 34 views)
File Type: jpg Happy B-Earth Day.jpg (169.2 KB, 33 views)
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