What would you buy for $3 trillion? June 30, 2008

Try to imagine spending $3 trillion.  THREE TRILLION DOLLARS!  That’s $3,000,000,000,000.  Still pretty hard to imagine?  I thought so…

According to Nobel Prize-winning economist Joseph Stiglitz and Harvard lecturer Linda Bilmes, $3 trillion is the projected cost of the Iraq War.  Our government doesn’t bat an eye shelling out that kind of dough, and now, neither should you.  Visit the site 3Trillion.org to go on your shopping spree.  I just got finished loading up my cart and here is what I got for a price tag totaling $2,126,115,000,000.33:

Plant one million trees…Clean water for everyone…New clothing, shoes, coats and school supplies for ten million children…Rice for all…Funding for sustainable organic produce in the US…Universal health care for every American (all 300 million of us)…Search for a cure for cancer…Universal literacy…The end of hunger and poverty-related diseases for one year…End of our dependence on foreign oil…Switch the nation to solar…

and a cookie after all that do-gooding.

How is that for a little perspective?!

From Ecorazzi.

Parsons helps a garden grow June 27, 2008

Us Parsons gals are green through-and-through, so naturally we put our green thumbs to work at the Children’s Home Society yesterday afternoon.  Parsons and friends did a major spring clean-up in one of the gardens at CHS back in 2006, which is growing in nicely with a beautiful trellis.  This time it was just some of the Parsons gals (Joanie, Pam, Kathleen, Laura, Sarah, Emily and me) and our mission – which we gladly chose to accept – was do some major weeding, make-shift tilling and planting in another area of the CHS grounds.  We pulled out ivy and grass, cut back some overgrown trees, tilled the soil with shovels and hoes – and the help of some very eager-to-dig boys, as well as did some planting.  We are excited to see how everything grows in!

Below are some snapshots taken during our GoodWorks outing.  The boys were so fun to talk to and were a huge help in prepping the dirt to plant – a broken arm and all

 

How to Help the Environment – In Just One Minute! June 26, 2008

I know that we’re all busy, but really, we each have at least ONE minute every day to help protect the environment.  That’s the mindset behind this website we just came across, SimpleSteps.org.  This website breaks down simple things you can do in just one minute to help the environment in some way, with steps sorted by topics. And if you’ve got a little extra time on your hands, SimpleSteps.org provides things you can do “in a morning” or “in a month” for each of those topics as well.  Enjoy checking it out, I certainly have!

How healthy is your home? June 25, 2008

With everyone pointing fingers at nasty environmental pollutants that plague our cities and the Earth - car exhaust, coal plants and the like - when is the last time you considered the quality of the air you breathe in your own home?  Here are some facts to consider:

• Indoor air pollution can be 10 times worse than outdoor air pollution, and the US Environmental Protection Agency lists indoor air pollution as one of the top five public environmental health risks.
• One in four Americans suffers from asthma or allergies.  Asthma alone afflicts about 20 million Americans, including 6.3 million children.

I know, I know, one more thing to worry about right?  Good thing there is a fabulous – and free! -resource for Seattle residents who want to address indoor air quality concerns: the Master Home Environmentalist program of the American Lung Association of Washington.  As a trained MHE volunteer, I perform healthy home assessments (known as a Home Environmental Assessment List or HEAL) for people who are concerned about asthma, allergies, mold and other indoor environmental issues.  Between running over a checklist with the resident and doing a walk-through to address specific concerns, these in-home visits usually take 2-3 hours.  Any and all solutions I offer are easy to implement and very cost-effective (read: cheap or free) – from placing proper mats at your front and back doors to damp-dusting regularly and using natural cleaning ingredients like vinegar and baking soda.

I hope you take advantage of this resource, even if you think you’re doing pretty well on the indoor air quality front.  Sign up for your free home assessment online or by phone at 206.441.5100.  And you can even put in a request for me to do your HEAL.

Buying Local June 20, 2008

We are so lucky to live in Seattle – the land of farmer’s markets.  Beyond Pike Place Market, bursting with tourists in the summer months, we have a wealth of smaller neighborhood markets featuring fresh fruits and veggies, beautiful bouquets, pasture-raised meats and poultry, Northwest seafood, and delicious breads, honey, jams, the works!  Wednesday thru Sunday, May thru November (or all year round in the U. District and West Seattle) you can fill your shopping bags with the makings of a fresh, local, SUSTAINABLE feast.

Check out the Neighborhood Farmers Market Alliance for locations, dates, hours, and even recipes.  Or meet up with us Parsons gals at the Phinney market on Friday afternoons around 4pm.  We’ll be the ones with big smiles, chatting up the vendors and stocking up on yummy cheeses.

Girl Power June 18, 2008

Roz Savage is a rock star.  Not a guitar-playing, chain-smoking, swarmed-by-fans sort of rock star, but a rowing-across-the-Pacific-Ocean-by-herself sort of rock star.  Yes, after tackling the feat of rowing across the Atlantic Ocean single-handed, she is now taking on the Pacific.  And she is doing so in part to raise environmental awareness:

“I believe that our every word, every action, has consequences and effects far beyond what we will ever know.  So I try to be mindful of the consequences of my actions, knowing that somewhere, somehow, they will have an effect.”

Roz crosses oceans as a promise to herself that she will lead a life worth living.  And she hopes to inspire others with her success and the lessons she has learned along the way.  You can follow Roz as she ventures west across the Pacific via her blog.  We hope you are as inspired by her passion and strength as we are.

TGIF June 13, 2008

Wisdom at Work’s Thought for the Day:

 

“Learning how to be kind to ourselves, learning how to respect ourselves, is important.  The reason it’s important is that, fundamentally, when we look into our own hearts and begin to discover what is confused and what is brilliant, what is bitter and what is sweet, it isn’t just ourselves that we’re discovering.  We’re discovering the universe.”

 

~ Pema Chodron

 

Scriber Lake High School Students Visit the Turtles! June 11, 2008

Marjie Bowker, a teacher at Scriber Lake High School in Edmonds and a good friend of ours, accomplished the impossible! Along with the help from her committed teaching partner, Chris Brown, Marjie put her heart and soul into providing a tremendous experience for her students: an eco-tourism trip to Costa Rica through EcoTeach. Marjie presented the idea to the school board and to her students, and after months of hard work, they raised $47,000 to pay for their expenses.  For some, this was their first vacation and for most, their first trip abroad.  And a life-changing one at that!  We are thrilled that they were able to check out our project with the Leatherback Sea Turtles and explore other exciting parts of the country.  Congratulations to Marjie and Chris for leading the way and to all of the students who worked hard to make the trip happen! Here are two photos I wanted to share:

 

Greendrinks Turns 5! June 10, 2008

Come celebrate Seattle Greendrinks’ fifth anniversary tonight!

Parsons Public Relations has been involved with Greendrinks since its inception.  In the past, we have hosted the anniversary gatherings, however, we are proud to say that the group has outgrown our Phinney Ridge abode! Join us tonight for the big party in SoDo, starting at 5:30 and located at 3200/3220 1st Ave S. 

Congratulations to Greendrinks for its enormous success!  

Good Riddance, Plastic Bags June 9, 2008

The world is covered in plastic.  Plastic bags, that is.

Landfills, oceans and everything in between are littered with them.  Sea turtles, like our beloved Leatherback, mistaken plastic bags for jellyfish and choke on them.  India’s venerated cows are dying at alarming rates from ingesting pounds of plastic bag garbage.  That’s where Daniel Burd comes in.

As a school science project, Burd (age 16) figured out how to make plastic decompose in just 3 months.  Positively brilliant!

With the knowledge that plastic does eventually – 1,000 years or so – degrade, he successfully set out to isolate the rare microorganisms that break it down.  And according to Burd, industrial application should be easy.   Talk about changing the world - one grocery bag and a million bacteria at a time.

Via Treehugger.