Giving When It Already Hurts

Giving til it hurts is hard enough. Giving when you’re already trying to figure out how to pay the mortgage – as many folks are these days – is quite another.

Yes, this post is wildly off topic. I promise to mention the word “green” in here somewhere to keep it somewhat relevant (there it was!).

But these are the times when giving – of time as much as of money – is more important than ever. Giving a little of ourselves to others enriches us. And who couldn’t use a little enriching these days?

Find something you love and give something of yourself to it. For five minutes, allow yourself to think of something other than the economy, the plummeting balance in your 401k and how long you can go before getting the brakes fixed.

Think of it as a cheap thrill – what else makes you feel so good, for so long, for so little?

If you’re looking for ideas, here are a few. But these days, you don’t have to look far for chances to help someone else out. You might be surprised how much a phone call to a neighbor that was recently laid off means, or an offer to carpool to school for a family going through a tough time (which saves wear and tear on the environment, and so we’ve come full circle!).

MDA Stride & Ride – If you’re looking for stories of courage, love and hope, look no further than the families involved in this battle. We became aware of this particular event through the Pritchard family. Emily and Michael Pritchard can tell the story about their son Jake best: http://www.caringbridge.org/visit/jakepritchard

Helping Hand – Odds are there’s a nursing home within 10 minutes of your house. Odds are there’s an elderly person there who doesn’t get much in the way of visitors. Call the Admissions Director of the facility and ask if anyone there could use…a new pair of soft socks, a box of chocolate chip cookies. It really doesn’t take much. A simple gesture that shows someone out there is thinking of them, and will drive 10 minutes to drop off a couple of magazines for them to read, is an enormous gift to a lonely senior.

Food Drives – There’s no shortage of these right now. Buy one can of something – beans, corn, whatever – each week at the grocery store. Use coupons or find sales. It will cost less than a dollar a week. Save it up, donate it to a local church or food pantry.

VolunteerMatch.org – Connect with non-profit groups that match your interests in your area or nationwide through this free service.

Physics for Future Presidents

Wait – don’t stop reading yet! The title may be heavy, and the subjects at hand are certainly serious. But Richard A. Muller, a professor at the University of California, Berkeley, has a gift for taking unexplainable and – well – explaining it. The sections devoted to energy, nuclear power and global warming were particularly interesting and much easier to read than you would expect. I do admit to doing some skimming in the section on nuclear power, but that had more to do with the time of night that I was reading and much less to do with the author’s ability to write about complicated subjects in an understandable way.

Check it out. It’s enlightening and important to see all of these critical issues through the dispassionate, objective eyes of a physicist.

Somewhat related is the recent article in Grist that some of Britain’s top climate research folks are warning against “apocalyptic predictions” related to global warming. They aren’t saying climate change isn’t a (big) problem – but they fear that “overplaying natural variations in weather”, while attention grabbing, will backfire in the end. Why? Not every snow storm or dry, hot spell in Yourtown, USA is due to global warming. The Met Office representatives say they are afraid all of the hyperbole will draw attention from the real and critical problems that need real and effective solutions, and “undermine the basic facts that the implications of climate change are profound and will be severe if greenhouse gas emissions are not cut drastically.”

Boreal Forests Defined

I saw a headline today about disposable paper towels wiping out boreal forests. I was alarmed. I was concerned. I was confused.

You see – I had no idea what a “boreal forest” was. I thought maybe it meant “really old” forest. Or perhaps “forest with exceptionally large trees”. But an embarrassingly easy Google search led me to the right answer. The term boreal means “northern”. They are found in places that have short summers and long winters, like Siberia, Scandinavia, Alaska and Canada. Because they have a short growing season, the vegetation in these forests regenerates slowly. So when a tree is cut down to…say…make a roll of toilet paper, it’s gonna take a while for nature to grow another one.

The National Resources Defense Council (NRDC) gives a wealth of detail on their site about the reasons why using virgin pulp for disposable products is a bad idea. The shorthand version is that it negatively impacts many species and indigenous communities that rely on the forest. The forests are also among the largest terrestrial storehouses of carbon dioxide – which we need right now.

There are a number of companies and products listed on the NRDC site as those to avoid. You can check them out for yourself, but I will say that I doubt anyone from Kimberly – Clark is getting an invite to the next NRDC office party. There are also lists of companies and products that DO use recycled content, including Marcal, Seventh Generation and Green Forest (there are more, check out the NRDC list here).

I’m all for using paper products from recycled materials. But wow, they are typically SO much more expensive. So to be honest I try to alternate the paper products I use. I don’t use 100% recycled, 100% of the time. I do, however, use it periodically and I keep an eye out for coupons or sales. They are pretty scarce, in my experience. Anyone that has a source, please let me know!

For more facts about forests: www.forestfacts.org