Environmental Optimism

Hi Everyone,

Snowing again here in Western Massachusetts - cutting into my plans for getting the camper ready to go on our trip.  I'm going to bundle up, go out into the shop, and build a set of shelves for the closet in the camper.  

If you're like me, some days you suffer from Environmental Depression.

Environmental Depression:  Noun (emotion).  Feeling that the environment is going to hell in a hand basket, and there's nothing you can do to save it.

Luckily, I have a career working with and mentoring students who go out and get jobs helping the environment in a thousand small ways, which together make a big impact.  I'm always excited to hear what my alumni from the Environmental Science Department at Westfield State University are up to, and I'm proud of the positive impact that they have on the environment and the communities they live in.

Also, I support environmental organizations that do good things for the environment.  Some of my favorites are The Nature Conservancy, the Natural Resources Defense Council, and the Environmental Defense Fund.  I was reading Solutions this morning, the quarterly newsletter of the  Environmental Defense Fund.  You can read it yourself by clicking here.

This newsletter always gives me a positive feeling.  I see states like California stepping up and being responsible for their impact on climate change, at a time when it looks like the federal government is not.  I see citizens being concerned for the environment, at a time when the director of the EPA is not.   Even huge corporations are showing strong progress.  According to this issue of Solutions, Walmart has sustainability goals for 2025 that include: using 50% renewable energy, zero waste to landfills, and zero new deforestation for key commodities including beef.  Solutions also reports that "Smithfield Foods, the world's number one pork producer, announced it will cut green-house gas emissions by 25% by 2025."  These are some really positive things, and there's a lot more in the newsletter.

So, if you're suffering from Environmental Depression on a snowy Sunday, check out the Solutions Newsletter.  It's Prozac for the Environmentally Depressed :-)