The Fun of Environmentalism

Today the EPA issued this statement:

(Washington, D.C. - April 22, 2009) As part of its Earth Month outreach efforts, EPA today launched "Pick 5 for the Environment," encouraging the public to commit to taking at least five actions to protect the environment.

Here are the list of 10 one is to chose from:

1. Use less water.
2. Commute without polluting.
3. Save electricity.
4. Reduce, reuse and recycle.
5. Test your home for radon.
6. Check your local air quality.
7. Use chemicals safely.
8. Reuse and recycle electronics.
9. Enjoy the outdoors safely.
10. Spread the word to family and friends.

Putting aside the contradiction in actions by the EPA for a moment (failed to prosecute the environmental crimes on Marco Island), many of these ideas can be easily incorporated into our daily lives – and invite the city of Marco Island to do the same. Some comments on a few of the recommended actions:

On "1. Use Less Water":

• The City can facilitate the cistern project.
  
• The residents can ensure that lawn sprinklers are aligned (with the grass) and operate only when needed.
  
• The City can fix the sprinklers on Collier Boulevard so that they irrigate the foliage as opposed to the street.
  
• Install reuse water lines … or did that train already leave the station?
  

On "2. Commute without polluting"

• Marco Island is an ideal place for bicycles. Leave 10 minutes earlier and take a bike. Due to the weather and the size, Marco is highly conducive for cycling.
  
  • Couldn't help but notice that at the well attended Easter Egg Hunt at Mackle Park last week there were only 5 bicycles in the bike rack (two of which belong to this author & progeny) but yet cars were parked as far away as the museum excavation site … if you could walk from the excavation site to the park, you can ride a bike a bit further, no?
    
• Although one would not normally consider boating (oh, sorry, yachting) commuting, do they make outboard engines that don't generate as much smoke as a coal-fired plant?
  
• Open up a high school on Marco Island and save approximately 400 students the daily to-and-fro commute of up to 3 hours (sorry, couldn't resist making the connection …). Give all of these students a bicycle – this is an actual idea being included in the high school initiative plan that can be funded by existing "green" grants.
  

On "3. Save Electricity"

• Just a question: how can we save on electricity when there is this huge push for electric cars? Wouldn't biodiesel make more sense? (Every VW and Audi automobile with a diesel made since 2005 runs on either regular diesel or biodiesel). Given the obesity rates in this country, the amount of used vegetable oil available from all of the fast food restaurants can power every diesel car in America (and probably every non-nuclear navy ship too).
  
• Grant the syndicate a monopoly on putting solar panels on every public building predicated on the following premise: the syndicate pays for everything, is liable for everything, and splits the derivative 50/50 with the City.
  
• Since governments are rolling down the central-planning hill already, let's exacerbate the matter by mandating that all commercial establishments have solar panels. The syndicate can also have that monopoly.
  

On "6. Check your local air quality"

• Dear EPA; We did that and proved that there was near-lethal levels of hydrogen sulfide gas being dumped into the air causing hundreds of residents to seek medical attention. Yet you did nothing, and prosecuted no one. So the next time we "check our local air quality", what exactly are you going to do about it? By the way, isn't it your job to check the air quality?
  

On "7. Use chemicals safely"

• According to the EPA, millions of gallons of Hydrogen Sulfide and Sulfuric Acid can be dumped into waterways. Dropping one teaspoon of your pool water into the same waterways will garner you a fine and potential imprisonment.
  
• On a less serious note, most common household chemical cleaners are toxic. Pure orange peel oil mixed in with water is an extremely powerful disinfectant, cleans almost anything, is perfectly safe, is cheaper and is readily available.
  

On "8. Reuse and recycle electronics"

• Instead of chucking an appreciable piece of electronics, donate it to a technical school that teaches kids how to repair electronic devices.
  
• If you are discarding a computer and it still works and it wasn't built before the Neolithic Age, donate it to a school.
  
• Don't use those new light bulbs that allegedly last forever and are highly energy efficient – they contain mercury and when they do fail – and they go bad a lot sooner than the propaganda claims – the bulbs wind up in landfills or who knows where else. Mercury is exceedingly toxic.
  

On "9. Enjoy the outdoors safely"

• How does one enjoy the outdoors unsafely?
  
• How does one not enjoy the outdoors safely?
  
• Perhaps they mean that one should not walk by a lift station when it is malfunctioning.
  

On "10. Spread the word to family and friends"

• Done!
  

All taken with a grain of salt, we can all do this without becoming enviroNazis, tree huggers or fanatics. And besides, many of these ideas will not only save money but in some prove beneficial to our health (especially the riding the bicycle idea).