Blog Action Day: Environment

Back in 1988 I lived for four months in Antarctica. Why I went there no longer matters. The facts of my life there were simple, morning, noon, and night sunshine in the 24-hour summer blast of radiant light. This light gives you a peculiar energy. In my case, it made me want to walk around. In Antarctica, this can be dangerous but I was young then and did not worry about death in a specific way. If I fell down a crevasse, I reckoned, I would use my strength and wits to get myself out of that jam.
I write this recollection now because today we have been invited to weigh in via Blog Action Day on the environment. Because I read from my book and teach nature writing, I get asked with some frequency what people can "do" or "buy" to help make the Earth better again.
Here is my simple list of easy-make life changes.
1) Do not buy things. Use what you have. Instead of buying something, like a belt, or a new dress, or that iPod in red, stop and consider the broader implications. Will the world end if you don't buy that belt? No. Will it end if you do? Maybe. Seems like you have your answer.
2) When you need food, buy things that have not been stepped on in various manufacturing processes. That is, watch out for how many hermetically sealed bags you have around -- things like corn stamped into little shapes then baked. Things like frozen food. Think about frozen food for a minute. I mean, how does it even have any nutritional value, wrapped in plastic and then in a cardboard box decorated with a photo of the food -- and it never really looks like that when you eat it.
Ask yourself, why do I choose to eat like one of the Jetsons, heating frozen food from a box in a microwave? Do I live in some sci-fi version of the future? Make food the old-fashioned way -- find things that are grown near your home and not in some distant land. In winter, don't expect to eat strawberries. Eat less in general. We all eat too much.
3) Never buy plastic bags or wrap. Just stop. Right now.
4) Don't drive every day of the week. Stay home some days. Stay home and go for a walk. Or read. Do things that don't require burning fuel.

Think about all your life's activities in terms of burning fuel. If you read Antarctic diaries or live in Antarctica, well, you will see how in a place where the fuel is all imported, save wind energy and solar, people conserve as part of each day.

If you don't conserve your fuel in Antarctica, we have seen from the stories of early explorers, you die.