It’s well beyond cliché to say that Spring Break is about drunk, high and horny college students partying on sunny beaches. And every year we see MTV showing their beach parties, news media reporting on the latest accident, but now the latest trend is greening your spring break.
Some students are looking for the whole package – volunteering to help save the planet, while remaining eco-friendly. Others are looking for a few products and fixes to relieve their guilt from their week-long self-indulgent behavior. Here are a few examples of students going green, and tips to make your trip a little greener.
Many eco-spring break trips consist of volunteers clearing trails, planting trees, and cleaning parks for other eco-tourists. The Student Conservation Association is sending spring breakers to the Grand Canyon to camp and clean graffiti. The Cumberland Trail Conference and the El Yunque National Rain Forest are having students clear trails in Mississippi and Puerto Rico, respectively. And CALPIRG is having students clean the coast of California. While it seems incompatible for students do manual labor over spring break, it’s actually a perfect escape from the mind. Rather than concentrating on texts, numbers, theories and analysis, students can get outside in the fresh air, work their hands, body and mind in ways that haven’t been worked in months or years or ever, and bond with friends and strangers by tacking a challenging group project.
While much attention has been on the Tim Tebow, pro-life ad that aired during the Super Bowl, it was Audi’s “Green Police” ad that certainly confused and upset many environmentalists. The ad showed a police force arresting white suburban men for petty environmental infractions, like using incandescent light bulbs and trashing compostable items in a style that was a cross of “COPS” and “Reno 911!” It was both satisfying and insulting. I couldn’t help but cheer every time I saw a guy getting busted for something I’ve scolded my friends about. But the entire time, I felt fellow enviro-nuts were the victim of the joke. If I were to ask Grist’s David Robert’s opinion, he’d tell me I was wrong on both counts:
“The ad only makes sense if it’s aimed at people who acknowledge the moral authority of the green police—people who may find those obligations tiresome and constraining on occasion, who only fitfully meet them, who may be annoyed by sticklers and naggers, but who recognize that living more sustainably is in fact the moral thing to do. This basically describes every guy I know. Read More »
Rent-a-Ruminant and The Goat Patrol are advertising brush removal as an eco-friendly alternative over traditional landscaping options. Though the idea perhaps sounds a bit too absurd to be true, this is no joke. It turns out goats are actually better at removing brush in hard to reach, dangerous areas. They’re better climbers, they have better balance, they’ll pretty much eat anything, and they leave natural fertilizer.
“Tammy” started Rent-a-Ruminant in 2004. Based out of Seattle, the company has provided services for universities, construction projects, public utilities, and park districts. The Goat Patrol, based out of North Carolina, was founded by Alix Bowman. Despite the seriousness of their cause, it’s clear the business owners have a sense of humor.
Tammy gives himself the comically dramatic title of “Chief Goat Wrangler,” and Bowman has an entire section of the website introducing the public to Mr. Pickles, Buster, and Magnus – just three of her day labors.
An excerpt:
Magnus von Magnusson, Magnus to his friends, is a two year old pygmy. He loves being part of the herd and fits in well with the other goats. We don't know what happened to Magnus before he wound up at APS, but we can tell it impacted his trust of people. We are giving him plenty of time and space to grow comfortable. We fully expect Magnus to become as confident with people as he is with the other goats.
Most of us aren't yet parents as Emily Bazelon is. Yet her questioning of how her kids perceive their Prius in this great article poses some great queries. "Do they think we're doing our small bit to save the Earth," she asks, "or are they imbibing a look-at-me smugness?
I have to credit this post to Treehugger, which yesterday reported that Ontario has banned incandescent light bulbs, which are not energy efficient. Which led them to post about an elegant way to keep those now-illegal Edison-style bulbs out of landfills and also to solve the problem that most fluorescent lights can't be dimmed. Oil conversions!
I for one have been completely baffled as to what interior designers are going to do as incandescents become illegal or discouraged. What will light paintings in galleries? How will dark clubs stay dingy?
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