Blog

Giant Steps Towards Smaller Footprints

beth ingalls — Mon, 31 Mar 2008 10:34:12 -0700

The North Tahoe Truckee Earth Day (TTED) celebration will be held again this year at the Village at Squaw Valley on Saturday, April 26th. TTED drew more than 5,000 people in 2007 and the momentum is building for an even larger crowd this year. Truckee Climate Action Network (TCAN) is a proud presenting sponsor for 2008. What does this mean? We give a tremendous amount of time and energy to help create, promote and produce the event in exchange for the honor of being a part of it! TCAN also created the theme for this year... Giant Steps Towards Smaller Footprints, and is working to make it the first "carbon neutral" TTED. There are justifiable criticisms about the location and size of the event....how can you call Squaw Valley environmentally friendly? How can you really offset so much travel to and from Earth Day and account for the amount of consumption during the day? And the list goes on. As event organizers, we wrestle with these issues logistically, emotionally and morally too! In the end, we are proud that what started as a concept for bringing a small group of eco conscious friends and organizations together seven years ago has grown into the largest and most anticipated eco event in the region. The one that folks look forward to all year. The one that families can't wait to go to and participate in. The one where environmental organizations who are working so hard to save the sierra can reach such a large audience in one place during one day with their messages, stories and calls for action. The one that energizes all of us and helps us feel renewed and alive and pushes us to work harder and accomplish even more as we go forward into the spring and summer. Earth Day kicks off with the Patagonia Wild & Scenic Environmental Film Festival on Friday, April 25th at 7pm at the Squaw Valley Lodge. Kudos to the Lake Tahoe Earth Day Foundation for creating and perpetuating TTED...please support them by supporting Tahoe Truckee Earth Day 2008! For everything you need to know, go to: tahoetruckeeearthday.org

Truckee Climate Action Network launches the Keep Truckee Cool Campaign

beth ingalls — Sun, 03 Feb 2008 12:17:31 -0800

With the bountiful snowfalls we are experiencing this winter in Truckee, it's possible to put fears of the devasting impacts of climate change aside, but the Truckee Climate Action Network is ramping up efforts for 2008 with the launch of the Keep Truckee Cool campaign. Visit www.truckeecan.com for details.

Cutting Carbon One Clothespin and One Perception At A Time

beth ingalls — Tue, 22 Jan 2008 10:15:21 -0800

The summer of 1968 in Ohio was stifling hot and seemed to last forever. I was a five year old impervious to the heat and to the tremendous upheaval going on in the world around me. As I trotted through the backyards of my neighborhood on Kentwell Road in Upper Arlington, the prickly stick grass poked the soles of my bare feet. Breezes were few in the middle of the day and colorful clothes and bright white sheets hung on the line stiffly and obediently under the midday sun. I loved to weave in and out of the long neat rows of clothesline that we shared with neighbors in our block of duplexes. The soundtrack of my summer and even my dreams was a newly released single by Mary Hopkin entitled “Those Were the Days My Friend”. This was my place on the planet, my permanent home, or so I thought. I had no idea that it was merely a launching pad for my upwardly mobile family.

By the time the next summer rolled around we had moved to a four bedroom home in a much newer, strictly residential part of town. My brother and I had our own rooms for the first time, my parents’ master bedroom seemed massive, and we even had a guest room that stayed empty most of the time. There was a brick wall separating the family room and the living room with a fireplace in between that you could see through from both sides. There was a nice dining room we hardly ever ate in and a basement with a pool table and expansive front and back yards.

There weren’t any clotheslines in that newer, upscale neighborhood. This house came with everything we needed to do the laundry inside. Not only that, it appeared that it wasn’t fashionable or acceptable to hang your personal clothing items and bedding out in the yard anymore. I couldn’t walk down to the corner market with coins jingling in my pocket to pick up my favorite bazooka gum anymore either. It was miles away. We only went to the store by car after that. Same with the pool, the park, the school, the shopping center and the sports fields. We went everywhere by car now. My Dad, who used to hop on the bus at the corner to head to his job downtown, needed a car to drive to work now. So instead of making do with just one, we added another to the family fleet.

I adapted quickly to these changes in lifestyle…I guess I even welcomed most of them. My parents seemed happy and after all it’s much easier to get used to convenience and abundance than to give up things up. But now I see how dramatically these incremental changes in lifestyle affected me and how, on a massive scale, they have played an even more dramatic role in altering the climate systems of our planet. The truth is, I was born into an era and culture in the early 1960’s where conspicuous consumption was just beginning to take hold and ever since has become standard American behavior. Now these standards must be unraveled to save the lives we tried so hard to build.

The idea that triggered this blog entry was a flurry of reporting about the fact that many communities have actually put ordinances in place that prevent residents from hanging their clothes up to dry. There are also laws that prohibit people from putting up PV systems on their roof because of the visual impacts. I would say that even in forward thinking towns like Truckee, that are struggling to become more “pedestrian friendly”, people are often suspicious or judgmental of other people walking down the street!

The cornerstones of the better way of life my parents were building and carefully putting together for me must be disassembled now in order for us to slow climate change and survive as a society, and as a planet. Keeping up with the Jones’ needs to be flipped upside down. We must make fundamental changes in behavior and perception. When we as a culture begin to look more favorably on the citizen walking or taking public transportation to the store carrying their own reusable grocery bags, than we do at the solitary driver in a tricked out, gas guzzling Cadillac Escalade, we will be there.

Wild & Scenic Environmental Film Festival is More than just Movies!

beth ingalls — Mon, 07 Jan 2008 15:57:42 -0800

Wild & Scenic Film Fest in Nevada City inspires action
Films and workshops show people taking charge of their lives--and our planet’s future

Founded in 2003 by the South Yuba River Citizens League (SYRCL), the Wild and Scenic Environmental Film Festival is now the largest festival of its kind in the United States.

The event, which takes place January 11-13, 2008 features more than 125 films – ranging from 100 minutes to 1 minute long – as well as 70 speakers and 50 premieres. The movies are clustered in scenic venues all over the historic town of Nevada City, which will transform into a cinematic wonderland for the weekend, with special events, including art shows and receptions, free workshops, chats with the filmmakers, a wine stroll, and much more.

Please mark your calendars and plan to attend the W&SEFF this weekend. I'll be coming down from Truckee to particpate in the Clean Energy Panel for the Truckee Climate Action Network. Hope to see you there!

For more info go to: http://www.wildandscenicfilmfestival.org/