lizwuerker’s Recent Comments

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  glad to see this

  I actually commented about this on salon.com (see princesita) and am writing a blog entry about it now.  It is nice to see it here.  I didn't have a "green wedding."  But I am not sure that a standard wedding uses all that much extra carbon.  We invited the people that we needed to invite, had it at the visitor center of a local park, and had it catered by a local Mexican restaurant.  It was modest.  We aren't rich.  But it was a fun party, and important to us and our families.  We registered for items which I anticipate that we will use.  Our families are good people, they don't need us to preach to them.  

  The notion of a green wedding is itself so consumerist.  The idea that you can call a destination wedding green because you bought carbon offsets is mind boggling.  
   On Green weddings are no better than white ones posted 2 years, 6 months ago 11 Responses

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  by the way

  There is more to conservation than the issues that people usually write about in Vanity Fair.  Friends of mine, Maya Negev and Gonen Sagy, wrote a master's thesis about environmental education and awareness in Israel, looking at different ethnic groups.  It would be interesting to see that in the US.  

  Also I have noticed a lot of activities that involve a high level of consumption being labeled "green" like green weddings.  By deciding that a $30,000 destination wedding can be labeled green, you have already priced out almost everyone.On Where are low-income and minority greens in the media? posted 2 years, 6 months ago 21 Responses

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  agree with John Bailo

  Unfortunately, the poor aren't the problem.  The problem is the rich.  Those "green" elites looking out with white faces from the pages of Vanity Fair are the ones who need to change, not, most likely, the poor, or the people of color in the US.  Earthtrends will let you see the energy usage of rich versus poor countries if you need further convincing.  (http://earthtrends.wri.org/searchable_db/index.php?action ...)
  If you can't afford a hummer, you won't use as much gas.  If you share a studio apartment, you won't use as much electricity as a two house family.  If you fly coach, you are nothing in comparison to the person with a private jet.  
  It isn't a problem for there to be a kind of elitism with this kind of green journalism as long as it explicitly mentions that choosing to consume less will be better for the environment.  But I also don't know how good a job a magazine like Vanity Fair, that needs to increase consumption of luxury goods or cease to exist, will ever be a beacon of green journalism.
  I also think it is important for conservationists to think critically on these class issues, to notice if a suggested environmental improvement or tax will hit rich and poor differently.  All these proposed consumption taxes are regressive, and may not even make Madonna bat a fake eyelash, but represent a real added struggle for someone working at Walmart.
  On Where are low-income and minority greens in the media? posted 2 years, 6 months ago 21 Responses

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  interesting

  When I was living in the US, I generally didn't have a lot of leeway to decide not to drive.  There are some places which you simply cannot reach without a car.  
  Even though I consider the environment very important, I found not having a car for the last two years I was living in DC very frustrating.  It was frustrating to not be able to go to some places (like stores where things were cheap) or know that it would take me 4 times as long to get there.  I was living 30 minutes by car from my Mom, but getting to her house to visit on the weekend took 2.5 hours, involving a 20 min walk to the metro, a 20 min wait, switching trains, taking a bus, another bus, and walking for a mile at the end.  
  Right now I am living in Israel.  One thing I've noticed here is that public transportation really doesn't carry a class stigma.  Everyone rides the bus.  People also make an economic calculation about what makes more sense--driving or bus.  In our small town, everyone also hitchhikes, or gives rides.  To be fair, there is a major public transport issue here, there are no buses or trains during shabbat, from Friday afternoon/night to Saturday night, leaving people who don't observe the sabbath (like me a nonJew) in the lurch re. transport, or with no alternative but driving.  
  But it will be hard to go back to the US, particularly if we end up in suburbia.  I hate even thinking about commuting as a driver.  But I don't expect to have a lot of choice.  If we live in the suburbs, most likely I will have to drive every day.  If we can manage to live in a city, I hope to avoid that.  On Do gas prices affect behavior or not? posted 2 years, 6 months ago 18 Responses