Earth Blog

Valentine’s Day was a shopping holiday we covered on the blog and we urged shoppers to buy local and ethical, if possible, when hunting for last minute gifts. Ethical consumerism and the effectiveness of “voting with your money” is being debated and discussed over at treehugger.com and at least one other green blog.

The debate started when Sami Grover posted: ““Why Corporate Fat Cats Love Ethical Consumerism.” He set out to explore the concept of: "Every time you spend a dollar, you are casting a vote."  The widely-accepted idea is this: If you don’t agree with the way a company does business simply stop shopping there and they will change or go out of business as they see their revenues drop. But is that wishful thinking? Grover argues that real change occurs at the political and cultural level. He cautions that ethical consumerism could erode the political activism he believes to be more effective at getting at the core problem. Is he right or wrong or somewhere in between?

The EPA (the job-killing, regulating machine we talk about a lot here on the Earth Blog) has announced the 2012 beneficiaries of their “Building Blocks for Sustainable Communities” program. The program is part of the Partnership for Sustainable Communities that includes the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, and the U.S. Department of Transportation.

The Building Blocks program isn’t handing out money to fifty-six communities in twenty-six states- they are providing technical assistance which is a fancy term for information. These communities asked the EPA to come in to help create a plan for improving their town’s infrastructures. 

The EPA explained it best: “The assistance will be delivered in a day-long workshop for each community that will provide ideas on local policies and procedures to improve the local economy, environment, and quality of life. Each community will receive a short ‘next steps’ memo outlining options the community can consider as it moves forward.”  

Perhaps you missed the 2012 People’s Choice Awards on Wednesday which was televised on CBS. The Internet is still buzzing with commentary on who was there, who wasn’t, who wore what and just how did Kim Kardashian manage to win favorite reality star when her recent actions have not been favorable? But if you are sad you missed the awards show and need to see people being handed accolades to tide you over until the Golden Globes this weekend you can read about the eight winners of the Midwest Energy Efficiency Alliance's (MEEA) 2012 Inspiring Efficiency Awards.

This year’s winners were announced yesterday at a dinner and gala during a three day conference hosted by the MEEA at the Fairmont Hotel in Chicago. This year marks the tenth annual conference and they began handing out the Inspiring Efficiency Awards in 2005.

Researchers in the transportation department are projecting a leveling trend and expecting to see it take effect this summer. Memorial day kicks off summer travel plans and though there will always be more people driving during the warmer months, it is thought that an overall plateau has been reached and record numbers will no longer be broken.