10 Ways to Stay off Oil [Condensed]

In light of the recent tragedy of the BP oil spill, I feel as if it's imperative to draw attention to the true root of this environmental catastrophe, which lies in our unbridled and seemingly interminable dependence on oil for our daily lives. It is so embedded in our consumer culture that we are often not fully aware of the plethora of functions in which it plays a role.

And since the original post I had written about staying off oil was probably the longest blog post I have written to date, I thought it would be helpful for a condensed list that would provide the integral information to help raise awareness about oil consumption, but that wouldn't require taking a day off from work just to get through it.

So, if you would like to improve your personal independence from oil, here are a few suggestions:

1. If you don't absolutely have to, don't drive cars (duh!)

2. If you MUST drive, then actively look for ways to improve your gas mileage and get more bang for your buck.

3. Halt the unnecessary use/production of plastic bags.

4. Buy local, in-season produce and other agricultural products.

5. Get yourself a reusable water bottle, and stay away from harmful plastics.

6. Choose bulk items and fresh foods which require little to no packaging.

7. Instead of wearing synthetic fabrics like nylon and polyester, choose natural fibers like cotton, wool, and hemp.

8. Choose makeups and other skin care products that are not made of petroleum.

9. Weatherize your home.

10. Call for accountability at all levels. This means putting pressure back on our representatives to enforce strict regulations, push for policies that are less detrimental to our environment and our well-being, and to hold the energy giants responsible when they cause incalculable damage.

For a complete description of why all of these points are so important, and to get some suggestions and help for how to implement them on your own, you can read the full article here.

10 Ways to Stay off Oil

As more and more oil pours into the waters, beaches, and wetlands, poisoning the ecosystems and crippling the communities around the Gulf of Mexico, a feeling of outrage emerges. Citizens around the country are becoming enlivened with a need to take action, to help mediate the unfathomable disaster of the massive BP oil spill, and to make sure it never happens again.

The truth is, while it is impossible at this point to undo the terrible tragedy in the gulf, it is entirely possible to prevent similar spills from happening in the future. The global demand for oil is effectively fueling the drive for offshore drilling (no pun intended). Unless something changes in the public demand for oil, then oil will continue to be drilled with enormously volatile consequences, such as the one we are now witnessing every day in our waters. In order for that demand to change, some changes must first be made in our day-to-day lives. Below you will find 10 simple ways to reduce your personal consumption of oil, to make the individual impact that is necessary for large-scale change to occur:

1. If you don't absolutely have to, don't drive cars. This is perhaps the simplest and most well-known item on most "reduce your dependence" lists, but it is the also the most important. I know we all have hard-ons for autos in this country, but seriously. Just think about how many unnecessary trips you make in your car to destinations that are less than a mile away, when you could just as easily hop on a bike or take a peaceful stroll to get to that same place. It's so important: Get outside! Move your body! Interact with the community around you! Plus, with the abundance of public transportation in our world, the necessity of personal cars is becoming increasingly difficult to justify.

2. BUT, if you absolutely MUST drive (I know those summer road trips are hard to pass up), be a little smarter about your gas use. This means that you should A.) Coast as often as possible, instead of constantly breaking and then accelerating again (don't be an auto-spaz). B.) Drive slow (not like grandma- just keep to the speed limits). According to Fueleconomy.gov, driving at faster speeds reduces your fuel efficiency between 5 and 23 percent! C.) Check your tire pressure and air filter regularly to make sure they're up to standard. Dirty air filters reduce your miles per gallon by 10%! You don't want that. D.) Don't idle your car. It's just silly. Basically, turning your car off and then back on again uses about the same amount of gas as idling for 10 seconds. So, if you know you'll be sitting for longer than 3 deep breaths, turn that engine off.

3. Eliminate plastic bags from production. It takes 12 million barrels of oil to produce and distribute the amount of plastic bags used in the U.S. each year, since they are not only shipped using petroleum, but made with petroleum as well. Not to mention that they are non-biodegradable, highly toxic, and one of the top polluters of our oceans and shorelines. So, we're faced with a no-brainer here: eliminate use of plastic bags, and instead switch to handy re-usables! It is completely possible to do this, when we stop to think about how unnecessary plastic bags are. I mean really, truly, sincerely, profoundly unnecessary. Reusable canvas bags are sturdier, often prettier and more interesting, and... oh yeah! They are reusable!

4.Buy Local! This means eating seasonal produce and other food items that have traveled no more than 100 miles to get to your plate. Preferably, these items should be bought from a Community-Supported Agricultural project, or from your local farmer's market. Ideally, they could be grown in your backyard! The heavy environmental burden of transporting out-of-season fruits and vegetables from other parts of the world is largely due to the amount of oil used to ship and truck these food items around. Plus, think about how much better the incredibly fresh food will taste, knowing that you're supporting local farmers.

5. Buy yourself a nice stainless steel water bottle. Just the production of plastic water bottles alone uses 1.5 million barrels of oil each year- enough to run 100,000 cars uninterrupted for a year. And that's not to mention the oil used in the transport of our simplest resource within these plastic containers over thousands of miles, when we could just turn on our tap and have the same crisp cool water, minus the oil. Staying away from plastic water bottles is also a nice way to guarantee BPA-free drinking.

6. Loose the Packaging: Buy products that are loose and not unnecessarily wrapped in excessive packaging. Food items such as bulk grains and fresh fruits and vegetables are always available at the grocery store, and don't involve overwhelming layers of plastic packaging. For other products, buying items second hand definitely helps to cut down on packaging and production, two aspects of our consumer culture which heavily intensify our dependence on oil.

7. Say no to nylon and polyester, since both items are petroleum based. Instead, choose natural fibers and textiles such as cotton, wool, and hemp. Or just go naked, whatever.

8. Don't be putting petroleum on your face. What? Ew! Well, it's true that many skin care products such as makeup and moisturizers are made from compounds extracted from the same refineries that your auto fuel is coming from. For help deciphering which products are safe, use the Environmental Working Group's database, Skin Deep, and make sure your products aren't oil-based.

9. Weatherize your home, and cut down on home energy use! Home energy audits are a great way to figure out what your home consumption looks like, and to pinpoint solutions for making your home more environmentally sustainable. For every million homes weatherized, three million barrels of oil are saved. Not to mention, it's a great way to cut down on your utility bills!

10. Call for accountability- at all levels. Sure, it might be a great idea to boycott BP. After all, they are the face of the largest and most devastating environmental disaster in the U.S., and directing our outrage at them seems almost instinctual. However, it's important to remember that BP's misbehavior took place within the context of limited government oversight and a lack of direct accountability. It's as if BP is the onerous young child who is never disciplined for his misbehavior, and so acts out destructively, and all you can wonder is... where are the parents?! It has been revealed in the month since the gulf oil spill that the government showed a sickening lack of regulation over the issuance of a multitude offshore drilling permits, and that BP's Deepwater Horizon project was one of those lucky ones that squeaked by without a full review. And still, in the face of this disaster, and despite a temporary moratorium on offshore drilling permits, the Obama administration has issued 7 new permits in the past month. So it's important to remember that our responsibility lies not only with our own personal behaviors and lifestyle choices, but with our power as a people to influence our leaders, keep the pressure on to hold them accountable for their actions, and demand that our future not be compromised by short-sight and greed.

The Fracking Shale

The Catskill-Delaware Watershed, from which New York City gets its water supply, is made up of 1900 miles of fresh, clear water nestled within the Catskill mountain region of upstate New York. It delivers nearly 1.4 billion gallons of water every day to 9 million residents, and has been praised as being a part of one of the most efficient, high quality water systems in the country, delivering safe, clean drinking water to the city. It is also a part of one of the mostsustainably-run systems, as 95% of the water supply is delivered via gravity alone, and as the watershed itself is used as a natural filtration mechanism, saving New York the cost of building and maintaining excessive water filtration plants.

By investing over $600 million in the conservation and pollution-prevention efforts in and around the NYC Watershed, and by buying up some of the surrounding land, the city and state have safeguarded a precious resource by maintaining its purity at the source, rather than managing water filtration efforts farther down the line, and reducing the amount of added chemicals necessary for purification. New York city has always had clean drinking water: pure and simple.

Still, New York State has put this enormous economic investment, as well as the safety of New York City residents at risk for the sake of supplying contracts to energy companies who wish to use the Watershed for natural gas drilling- namely, hydraulic fracturing, a process which has proven to be disastrous for water supplies in countless regions around the country. Conveniently exempt from the Safe Drinking Water Act (SDWA), and protected with by trade secrets, companies such as Halliburton continue to receive permits to drill in and around what should be protected areas

The Chesapeake Energy Corp., which had received the first contract to drill on NYC Watershed land, has rescinded on its ambitions, bowing to public pressure and announcing publicly that they have no further plans to drill in the area. But many opponents to hydraulic fracturing believe that this action is not enough, that the compromising extraction technique should be completely banned within the confines of the watershed. Manhattan Borough President Scott Stringer has spoken out in favor of a ban, citing that the company's decision not to drill is in no way legally binding, and that the Department of Environmental Conservation should discontinue its issuance of permits to any potential drillers in the area.

After all, the energy companies are gaga over an enormous subterranean supply of natural gas which extends far beyond the New York City watershed, and offers the opportunity for drilling elsewhere but next to our clean water supply. The Marcellus Shale is the geological mass in question, and it stretches from Ohio and West Virginia eastward to Pennsylvania and New York, and contains up to 516 trillion cubic feet of natural gas throughout its entirety. So, why the watershed?

After public outcry and calls for environmental review, the DEC released a document on the safety and regulation of hydraulic fracturing for natural gas and the wells associated with extraction, and extended the period for public comment to the end of 2009. Currently, the DEC is still considering the many arguments heard from these series of hearings, and will be making a decision about the watershed in the upcoming months. Seems like a no-brainer, doesn't it?

Below is a map, generated by the DEC, of the large scope of the Marcellus Shale in New York State, featuring several existing drill sites. Surely there must be some other drilling sites within this mammoth area that do not compromise drinking water supplies...

Phew!

...that was close! For a few weeks it seemed as if hydraulic fracturing could be coming to NYC's backyard, bringing chemicals and contamination to a faucet near you. But fortunately, thanks to the pressure put on by outspoken groups and individuals, the natural gas drilling company Chesapeake Energy Corporation has announced that it has no further plans to drill in the New York City Watershed. As the New York Times put it in their story, the company was "bowing to intense public pressure."

Hurray! That is great news for us. Especially since earlier this month, the New York City Department of Environmental Conservation gave the o.k. for fracturing to take place within our watershed, and imposed very few constraints on the energy companies to be doing so. Activists and water enthusiasts alike protested loudly and immediately, citing allegations and investigations into the dangerous nature of such drilling taking place within close proximity to sources of drinking water. While the energy companies argued that increased extraction was necessary due to the exceptional state of economic affairs, their opponents questioned whether increased profits were worth the potential cost of human safety.

And in a rare case of corporate concession, it seems as if the concerns of the people have been recognized and respected. As Aubrey C. McClendon of the Chesapeake Energy Corporation stated, "We're not going to develop these leases, and we're not taking any more leases, and I don't think anyone else in the industry would dare to acquire leases in the New York City Watershed." No, they wouldn't dare. Because New Yorkers are nothing if not truculent, and once we've set our minds to something, well... there's no messin' with us!

Still, the willingness of this large corporation to back down without facing government pressure brings to light the very absence of that same government pressure. The New York City Watershed provides drinking water to 15 million people, and the contamination of that resource puts each and every one of us at risk. So, why hasn't the D.E.C. stepped in with harsher regulations on fracturing? Better yet, why has it not outlawed fracturing all together in the watershed area? After all, even though the watershed is made up of nearly 1 million acres, it comprises only 8.5% of the drillable land in upstate New York. So it needs to be off-limits all together: not only to the energy companies, but to any and all developers. We in New York City pride ourselves on our clean, safe public drinking water. And we'd like for it to stay that way!

Toxic Water Laws

The laws which seek to protect our health against dangerous contaminants in our water supplies are unfortunately not as reliable as we would like them to be. One of our main defenders is The Clean Water Act, which was passed in 1972, and intended to regulate public bodies of water such as rivers, lakes, and tributaries. But it does not necessarily guarantee the safety of these vital resources. Their health is directly linked to our own physical health, as we extract food from them, use them as locales for recreation and family getaways, and rely on them as major sources of our drinking water. Yet the Clean Water Act's loophole ridden nature almost ensures non-compliance on the part of major polluters, and the law is practically ignored by state regulators, allowing for dangerous contamination of our public water sources with very few repercussions.

In a major series related to this water contamination, The New York Times has released a study which found that in the past five years, there have been over 500,000 cases of violation of the Clean Water Act, by a total of 23,000 companies. 60% of the offenses were deemed to be "significant noncompliance," alluding to the fact that the danger levels for these violations are high, involving toxic chemicals being released into our waterways. The Federal Council on Environmental Quality reports that "up to two thirds of all cancers can be attributed to low level toxins [in water]," and that "once contaminated, our ground water will remain so for tens of thousands of years." But the most shocking aspect of this new study is that of the half a million cases of violation, only 3% were ever prosecuted or punished by state regulators. This sends the message, as do the loopholes of other laws such as the Safe Drinking Water Act, that the protection of our public water supplies is a frivolous endeavor, and that our public well-being is relatively unimportant when compared with the potential for profits by major corporations.

Besides the fact that both the Safe Drinking Water Act and the Clean Water Act are battered pieces of legislation to begin with, having been plagued by insufficient funding for enforcement and corrupt loopholes for those embedded with the Washington elite, they are practically ignored by those who are technically mandated to follow them. In an interview given to the New York Times, EPA Administrator Lisa Jackson said that despite some progress having been made since the passage of the Clean Water Act, water supplies in the United States do not meet public health goals and the enforcement of water pollution laws is "unacceptably low."

Thanks to the Freedom of Information Act, the New York Times was also able to compile a database of information related to water contamination across the entire country that is "more comprehensive than those maintained by states or by the E.P.A." To learn more about water contamination in your area, you may access this brilliant database by clicking here.

Thank you to Charles Duhigg, the investigative reporter who carried out this study, and to the New York Times for publishing such integral information related to our water safety and our collective health.

The Water Pod Project

It is just the kind of innovative creativity and ecological sensibility that our struggling food system and over-wrought welfare system need in this changing world. Part fantastical solution to an overly-populated earth, part urban farm, part artistic ingenuity, the Water Pod Project represents an unprecedented model of sustainable living that had not been seen before on New York City's waterways, or in the city at all, for that matter.

The concept represents a hypothetical example of a maritime lifestyle in the face of explosive population growth and a lack of essential resources on our earth's shores; a fertile lifestyle that is completely self-sufficient and environmentally sustainable. The pod is actually a fully functional farm home, located on a mobile barge which has been docking in and educating each NYC borough one at a time over the course of several months. It is powered by solar panels atop the inhabitant's quarters, nourished by an extensive grey water system which provides for all life on board, sustained by the intensive companion-planting methods of an urban farm, and staffed by some of the friendliest, most impressive examples of progressive thinkers that the area has to offer. On board is also a complete saltwater ecosystem, a kitchen and shower, a composting toilet, and four healthy, beautiful chickens.

The exhibition is open to the public for tours and education. It is currently located in the Bronx, at the Concrete Plant Park, an ironic name for the location of such a project. While it was on display on Staten Island a week ago, I had the sincere pleasure of spending time there, getting to know the crew and basking in the genius design that so optimized the use of a rather small barge to sustain life on board for such an extensive period of time. It is truly a feast for the mind as well as for the soul, as the creative influence of the artist who initiated the project is just as evident as the skill of the farmers who work on board.

I highly recommend a visit to anyone who is in the New York City area. There isn't very much time left, as the pod will only be docked in two more locations in the Bronx through the end of September. After that, the fate of the system is unknown. If it cannot be sold to a supporting organization, the pod will have to be dismantled and consequently recycled. What a shame it would be to lose such a prime and inceptive example of sustainable living, and such an excellent source of education for the city's children! Hopefully it is sold and installed on a permanent basis somewhere in the our waterways, so that we can continue to enjoy the generous beauty of this agricultural and artistic anomaly for years to come.

Peace.

Water, Water Everywhere...

This summer so far has been the wettest, grayest summer I've ever witnessed. For about a month and a half straight, from mid-May through June, it rained every day. And I mean every.single.day. It seemed as if the sun had completely given up on New York City, and our concrete jungle would soon become a rain forest (not an unwelcome change, if you ask me :-) Check out these crazy water levels from the NYC DEP website.

We had more than seven inches of rain in June alone, which was more than three inches over the historic record! While the lack of sun was slightly depressing, this bountiful rain also meant a lot of good things for the earth. For one, I didn't have to water my garden at all for nearly two months! Plus, the levels of our reservoirs are healthy, our drinking water supplies are strengthened, and thanks to NYC's giveaway of complimentary rain barrels, we can optimize usage of the earth's great gift for watering our gardens and our -coughcough- lawns during the remaining summer months.

This news of plentiful rain in New York is somewhat unique, considering that in many parts of the world a lack of access to clean water is causing countless troubles for human beings. In our own California, farmers are struggling under restricted allotments of water after a three year drought has caused the governor of the state to announce a water emergency. In Iraq, the Euphrates river is drying up, an event that had once been prophesied by religious groups as a sign of the end of times. All over the world in third-world countries, clean drinking water is scarce, and it is a cause of major conflict, disease and strife for millions of people. I won't go any further here, at least not now, but for a simple breakdown of the situation facing humans in global water issues, check out the World Health Organization's 10 FACTS about water scarcity.

Now the sun is shining on NYC again, and all of its gardens are growing healthy with the help of that glorious, life-giving rain water. And in light of these global realities, it is tremendously good fortune that we have such an easily accessible clean water system, and such a rich supply of rain! It is imperative that we don't take this luck for granted, and that we are responsible in the way that we use our water. This means taking shorter showers, turning off the faucet while soaping dishes, recycling the rainwater that comes with so much reward, and mayyybeee, just maybe not leaving that lawn sprinkler on all day long- or at all ;-). This way we can be sure that our water use is sustainable, and not at the detriment of others!

peace.