tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-60786213261841136792012-02-20T20:15:03.984-05:00exploring environmental issues from a christian perspectivelisa c. bakerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04342787511915222457noreply@blogger.comBlogger147125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6078621326184113679.post-76740596928431514942010-03-25T14:29:00.003-04:002010-03-25T15:00:18.716-04:00

Another great post today by Sharon Astyk, possibly my favorite online writer. She's starting a new challenge: the challenge to take care of an acre of land that isn't your own. My husband has been talking about something like this for a while; we've been looking at buying a house, and he's been pushing for one near an empty lot. The house we found is not next to an empty lot, but there's plenty

lisa c. bakerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04342787511915222457noreply@blogger.com8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6078621326184113679.post-83152034127284334672010-03-23T11:04:00.002-04:002010-03-23T11:20:25.160-04:00

Not sure I can add anything to this. Read to the end--especially the bit about peace. Please, everyone, let's remember that. If you have time, the comments on this post are an interesting read, too. A quote from one: "What you [the blogger] are essentially saying is that you're happy your friends with pre-existing conditions can rip off the rest of us, enslave us to the government, and pay

lisa c. bakerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04342787511915222457noreply@blogger.com10tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6078621326184113679.post-90590045952370000402010-03-18T12:07:00.003-04:002010-03-18T12:11:04.476-04:00

The Christian coalition has put out an ad in favor of climate legislation that supports energy alternatives! Which is further proof that you can come at the energy problem from a lot of different angles and still come up with the same solution. Something has got to change. Listen to the ad here. The article by Republican Lindsey Graham and Democrat John Kerry that the ad references is here.

lisa c. bakerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04342787511915222457noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6078621326184113679.post-66775693484751148642009-09-12T22:32:00.002-04:002009-09-12T22:50:22.048-04:00

My husband Matt and I said jokingly the other day that the real solution to our health care problems would be to put a sin tax on Doritos. But apparently Michael Pollan thought of the same thing--and he was serious. He wrote a great piece in which he argues that forbidding insurance companies to drop people from care could be a powerful incentive to change our food subsidies. Because it would

lisa c. bakerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04342787511915222457noreply@blogger.com13tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6078621326184113679.post-11777571167848515992009-09-10T08:00:00.003-04:002009-09-10T08:33:49.949-04:00

I've never written about health care reform here before, partly because it's not an issue I've ever been too concerned about, and partly because I never thought of it as an issue of Christian environmentalism. But as I've watched this debate gain heat over the last few weeks, culminating last night in the president's speech, I'm beginning to change my mind. Health care may not be an environmental

lisa c. bakerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04342787511915222457noreply@blogger.com13tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6078621326184113679.post-6179428215273237502009-08-28T20:54:00.001-04:002009-08-28T20:54:44.894-04:00

Here's a brilliant idea. I've developed an irrational feeling that can best be described as fear of suburbs (suburphobia?) over the past few years. I don't know if it's somehow related to my growing up in the suburbs and my tremendous unpopularity in high school or if it's an inevitable result of living in the city for too long (hence the common Atlanta fear of "OTP" among those of us who live "

lisa c. bakerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04342787511915222457noreply@blogger.com19tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6078621326184113679.post-15933794012787752462009-07-04T17:59:00.003-04:002009-07-04T18:16:33.607-04:00

I've never known quite how to feel about the Fourth. I've always had a hard time understanding patriotism in the context of a country as big as the United States. What does it mean to be patriotic to a country that's a conglomerate of hundreds of languages, ethnicities, and cultures? Patriotism means being loyal to a particular thing, and you can't be loyal to something you don't understand. What

lisa c. bakerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04342787511915222457noreply@blogger.com8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6078621326184113679.post-91618882341423219332009-06-06T09:07:00.003-04:002009-06-06T09:26:24.692-04:00

I really should have included this idea in the post along with cloth diapers and labeled it something like "stop using disposable products." But I decided that this one really deserves its own post. So men, well, you might want to stop reading now. Ladies, this is one we all have to deal with. I tried this a few years ago and didn't have much luck with it--I think I got the wrong size, and it

lisa c. bakerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04342787511915222457noreply@blogger.com27tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6078621326184113679.post-76526476588794314442009-04-21T21:52:00.004-04:002009-04-21T22:02:12.147-04:00

Tomorrow is Earth Day, and although most of the Atlanta stuff happened last weekend, there are still a few things you can do to celebrate tomorrow. The Botanical Gardens has half-price admission and events all day to celebrate, and of course Atlantic Station has an upscale evening event that sounds exciting and modern (and pricey). I won't be going to any of those, but I might try to make it to

lisa c. bakerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04342787511915222457noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6078621326184113679.post-90729341792245140402009-04-18T13:15:00.004-04:002009-04-18T13:20:24.729-04:00

I guess it's youtube weekend here at The Christian Environmentalist. I got this link from a friend and couldn't resist posting it. How cool is this? I know, I know, I'm a gadget girl...and this is really not that green...but I can't help but want one. Luckily, my husband is more sensible and told me that we can compost perfectly well with a pail of worms.

lisa c. bakerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04342787511915222457noreply@blogger.com271tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6078621326184113679.post-20903115094343606522009-04-18T10:32:00.001-04:002009-04-18T10:33:24.467-04:00

You could always do this: I've ridden one of these before. It's pretty fun. But I still like biking better.

lisa c. bakerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04342787511915222457noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6078621326184113679.post-16103136591213326282009-04-16T13:46:00.004-04:002009-04-16T15:01:35.176-04:00

The issue of food has been one of my biggest environmental concerns for a while now. (I think it started when I read The Omnivore's Dilemma.) Not only because it's so important for the environment, but really because it's just important, period. In modern western society, we've become disconnected from the significance of food. We simply don't think about food any more. At best, we think about

lisa c. bakerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04342787511915222457noreply@blogger.com8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6078621326184113679.post-20483714761082928392009-04-11T13:20:00.000-04:002009-04-11T13:22:38.104-04:00

Lately it seems like I've come across a lot of moms who are concerned about environmental issues. I think a lot of people start to think about these concerns for the first time when they have children. Partly, of course, it's because you start to really think about what the earth will be like for future generations when those future generations have a face. But I think it's also because moms have

lisa c. bakerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04342787511915222457noreply@blogger.com46tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6078621326184113679.post-35321196602681613502009-04-09T14:43:00.004-04:002009-04-09T15:09:12.080-04:00

It's a funny thing about Atlanta and the city limit. There are few cities in the world with so much urban sprawl, and no city I've ever lived in has such a vague distinction between inside and outside the city limits. It's all highways and strip malls outside of the immediate downtown area, and for most people, cars are as indispensable inside the city as they are out in the suburbs. And yet,

lisa c. bakerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04342787511915222457noreply@blogger.com8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6078621326184113679.post-12459487919060127932009-04-08T14:27:00.003-04:002009-04-08T14:51:45.550-04:00

It's April, which means that Earth Day is coming up. This month, it seems like everywhere you go you hear advice on greening your life. At Whole Foods the other day (I made a trip to the organic superstore and managed to spend less than $100 in a visit, which might be a record for me), I picked up an "Earth Month Calendar" with "simple daily green tips": advice very day on ways to make your life

lisa c. bakerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04342787511915222457noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6078621326184113679.post-76057238482722928912009-02-26T17:52:00.003-05:002009-02-26T17:57:24.851-05:00

The Coen Brothers, of Oh Brother, Where Art Thou and Fargo fame, made a commercial on clean coal. Or rather, on its nonexistence. Check it out: The commercial, of course, doesn't give any reasons, but the truth is that this is reality: there's no such thing as clean coal. The technology simply doesn't exist. It's a dream, right alongside ideas like electricity powered by solar panels in space.

lisa c. bakerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04342787511915222457noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6078621326184113679.post-88524443169568484952009-02-16T20:15:00.002-05:002009-02-16T20:17:41.651-05:00

Check out the new resource for environmentalists in the southeast at southeast green. They're syndicating my blog, but that's not the only reason I'm recommending them. It's a great site with lots of resources and lots of local bloggers. Take a look.

lisa c. bakerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04342787511915222457noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6078621326184113679.post-75986527789147072852009-02-08T22:07:00.003-05:002009-02-08T22:27:43.343-05:00

Rod Dreher of Crunchy Cons just posted a list of "24 things about to disappear in America." Some of them I think he's right about; others I completely disagree. Maybe I'm just biased. But I thought it was a fun idea, so here's my twist on it: 10 things that will make a comeback in America. 1. Family farms. Dreher thinks these will disappear. He's right that they've been disappearing. But they'll

lisa c. bakerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04342787511915222457noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6078621326184113679.post-22127389835416366112009-02-03T11:54:00.005-05:002009-02-03T12:08:37.802-05:00

Is living in community really worth it? Lately we've been moving deeper and deeper into community. I joked with a neighbor that really we want to live in a commune, but we don't quite have the guts. And there are many benefits to community: the spiritual growth that comes with having to put up with other people; the lower environmental footprint thanks to shared resources; free babysitting

lisa c. bakerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04342787511915222457noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6078621326184113679.post-19572466860946756742008-12-15T15:39:00.006-05:002008-12-15T17:03:45.816-05:00

My turn has at last come to host Treehugger's famous Carnival of the Green. If you're not familiar with COTG, it's a weekly roundup of posts on green and ecological topics from bloggers all over the world. So, without further ado, here's this week in the environmental blogosphere: First, naturally, we have a lot of holiday tips. From Christmas lights to wrapping paper to plastic toys, Christmas

lisa c. bakerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04342787511915222457noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6078621326184113679.post-55519158811233315952008-11-20T10:44:00.003-05:002008-12-14T16:12:33.374-05:00

Last weekend we got to go to Enviro Expo. Which was especially fun because my dad was kind of the one who started it. I ended up volunteering at the Sierra Club booth for a lot of the time, so I didn't get to wander around and meet people as much as I would have liked, but I still had a great time. Here are some of the organizations I was most interested in that I discovered there: The Living

lisa c. bakerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04342787511915222457noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6078621326184113679.post-91035801802068687922008-11-12T15:03:00.003-05:002008-12-14T16:14:07.640-05:00

My favorite blogger, Sharon Astyk, wrote yesterday about the core problem in our thinking about energy decline and transition. In a nutshell, it is this: we want big solutions, but we need small ones. She references Al Gore's recent editorial, where in the glow of Obama's election he calls for sweeping energy reform: solar plants in the southwest, investments in hybrid cars, and a national carbon

lisa c. bakerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04342787511915222457noreply@blogger.com45tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6078621326184113679.post-31499466559468346122008-11-05T11:02:00.004-05:002008-11-05T11:26:40.276-05:00

Like many Americans, I was up late last night. I've been watching this election with all the excitement I usually devote to my favorite television dramas. I've seen every debate, many of the speeches, and absolutely every Tina Fey skit. After two emotional years of following this campaign, last night felt to me like the climax of a really long movie. Cue music and credits as the audience gets

lisa c. bakerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04342787511915222457noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6078621326184113679.post-51926408540306984502008-11-03T18:28:00.002-05:002008-11-03T18:35:04.477-05:00

I can hardly believe it's almost here. This has been the most exciting campaign of my lifetime, and although I'm a little embarrassed to admit it, I've loved every minute of it. The drama! The emotion! The historical precedents! It's been better than a soap opera. And in just a few more hours, at last, we get to vote. I'm not going to tell you who to vote for. I'm not even going to tell you who

lisa c. bakerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04342787511915222457noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6078621326184113679.post-56104514830596613122008-10-20T12:08:00.005-04:002008-10-20T12:38:14.618-04:00

So my favorite blogger, Sharon Astyk, was featured in a New York Times article on "extreme approaches to living a green life." The article implies that people who go beyond recycling or using mass transit in their pursuit of a green lifestyle might be psychologically unhinged. Really. I will admit there are some weird aspects of the lifestyles the article call "dark green," at least as they're

lisa c. bakerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04342787511915222457noreply@blogger.com5