Blog Action Day

Well, today is blog action day. This means that thousands of people will be blogging for millions of readers about the same topic: the environment.

I'm a little bit intimidated by this topic: what could I possibly have to say that is new? As a writing teacher, I know that this is a ridiculous concern. I don't have anything new to say. Nobody has anything new to say. It is just that I write in my own voice to my own audience, and perhaps that will make a slight difference to one of us.

I was reading a blog this morning that suggested 50 ways to help improve the environment. As if to prove the last paragraph, there was very little new in this blog entry (turn off the lights, take shorter showers, walk instead of ride). But it occured to me that at least one of these ideas fits in with what we also know about taking care of ourselves--If we walk or bike short distances instead of driving and we take the stairs instead of the elevator (I don't think this was listed in the blog, but why not? It saves electricity!), we are improving our health as well as the planet's. Silly, I know. But I wonder how many things that are good for us are also good for our planet?

Eating fresh food that is grown locally and is in season is good for our bodies, no? It also saves fossil fuels and promotes small farms. Susan recently read Barbara Kingsolver's latest book, Animal, Vegetable, Miracle: A Year of Food Life, and became quite interested in the concept of living locally. We tried to do some shopping of local growers, but the farmer's markets we attended were less than satisfactory. I ended up settling on Chico's Fruit Market, which is not all local, but it's easier to find local stuff there. Of course, it isn't close, so I got lazy and stopped going. Maybe today will help motivate me.