Eco-friendly Pledge

So I know a bunch of people that are urbanites, that enjoy the diversity, the awesome food and the culture, but I don’t know anyone who likes the pollution and rubbish that city life brings. I’ve always grown up in the city-suburb setting, meaning that I lived in tree-loving places that were less than 30 minutes away from downtown. I really took recycling, global-warming, anti-pollution policies as granted, well, that was, until I moved to the US. Let me explain before you start huffin’ and puffin’.

I know that people’s stances differ on many environmental politics and occurrences, but it was the first time in my almost 18 years of my life, that I met people who thought that global warming wasn’t happening. I’ve lived in three big cities in South Korea, Vancouver, Canada and lastly in Wassenaar (near Den Haag), the Netherlands, and I come to the US and I hear people say that, global warming isn’t a problem! Regardless of the origin of it, whether man-made or a natural earthly cycle, but it was the first time being in a country that out right denied the occurrence. McCain’s the Republican nominee, and he actually cares for the environment. McCain said that he realizes that global warming is an actual problem and if elected president, he’s going to deal with it. Cool, right?

Not for some people. What caught me by surprise is when I was reading through an online Christian news source that has some good stuff. Some people were hating on Obama, which sadly isn’t too surprising with their racist and uneducated remarks, but they’re even against McCain because he cares about the environment. What I just find so disgustingly ironic is that most of these people enjoy the environment through camping, fishing or hunting. They seem to have failed on the pre-school lesson on clean up after you play game. If you don’t clean your room, it will get dirty. Same logic. If you don’t clean your neighbourhood after camping, the waste will accumulate and you can’t camp there anymore. So if you like it, care for it! Your carp won’t last long, and next year might be the last time you get to stuff some wild baby boar that you caught.

Anyways, that’s my tuppence on these elections. Here’s what this post’s main purpose was before I digressed. I had to make a few important decisions last year upon entering college, and here’s my pledge this year. I care for the environment, hence I will act to prove it. One of my favourite Bible verses:

Dear children, let us not love with words or tongue but with actions and in truth.
-1 John 3:18

Action Plan:

1. Reduce Waste. Don’t print out or buy useless crap.
2. Recycle like there’s no tomorrow.
3. Reuse. Be creative.
4. Do laundry and dishes with cold water.
5. Turn off my laptop when I go to bed… save energy. And hibernate when not in use. (Better than Sleep)
6. Unplug stuff not in use.
7. Turn off/down AC when not needed.
8. Shorter showers. And don’t let the water run when you’re brushing your teeth.
9. Use both sides of notebook paper. This would help a lot of people on school supplies, too.
10. Eat green! :)

So yeah, that’s it for now. And here’s my pledge bracelet I made.

The colours are obviously earthy ones. White for glaciers, the two greens for plants and organic, tan for arid landscape and brown for soil, orange for other life. I actually also made another anklet, but that’s for another time.

So here it is. I hope this works out for the better.

PS. I got a new fan to combat heat. It’s also an energy saving model. Hah!

PPS. 4 days until rafting!