Eco Tips Illustrated Part II: Green Up Your Life in Five Easy Steps

Sometimes, it’s hard to figure out what to do in various situations in order to be ‘green’. With the help of these simple illustrations, you can learn to live a greener life and avoid the mistakes and pitfalls that can happen to the uneducated. This random selection of 5 green illustrated tips will show you how to properly interpret ‘go green’ advice. Check out Part I as well, which features such tips as ‘Get Smart with Gasoline’ and ‘Don’t Eat Animals’.

Illustrations by Stephanie Rogers

Eco Tips Illustrated: Green Up Your Life in Five Easy Steps

Sometimes, it’s hard to figure out what to do in various situations in order to be ‘green’. With the help of these simple illustrations, you can learn to live a greener life and avoid the mistakes and pitfalls that can happen to the uneducated. This random selection of 5 green illustrated tips will show you how to properly interpret ‘go green’ advice.

Illustrations by Stephanie Rogers

Finally, Something the Righties and Lefties All Agree On: McCain Needs to Stop this Environment Crap

It’s not often that liberals and conservatives strongly agree on a subject, even if they have wildly differing reasons for doing so. But after John McCain debuted a line of eco-friendly merchandise on his official website, things heated up all over the blogosphere. McCain’s got people on both sides of the political fence all riled up right now, and it will be interesting to see what it does to his campaign.

When the presumptive Republican presidential nominee started making claims about what he would do as President to help the environment, many of us liberals weren’t pleased. To anyone who wonders why we’d be anything less than thrilled about the fact that the man on the other side of the ring is professing his supposed commitment to the environment, Energy Smart sums up the general sentiment:

There are some things that fall beyond satire.

Who do they think they’re kidding? Rebranding McCain as Mr. Environment? Rebranding the Republican Party as the Eco-Friendly choice? The McCain campaign must have a real disdain for the intellect of the American voting public.

While John McCain at least has a foot in reality, as he recognizes that Global Warming is real (unlike the majority of the Republican Party, which continues to reject reality), his “solutions” remained half-baked, half-measures.

Now that McCain has introduced a line of eco-friendly gear on his website, he’s being hit even harder with criticism. After his adviser Kevin Hassett wrote an op-ed opposing the designation of polar bears as endangered because of what it would mean for oil drilling in Alaska, Gristmill wonders,

If McCain’s advisers are already pushing for Bush-administration-style policies on issues like the polar bear, how credible are his claims this week that he’s not Bush when it comes to the environment? All the eco-swag in the world can’t make up for policies that continue to prioritize industry interests over the planet.

Another reason why Democrats and other liberals aren’t happy about McCain’s pandering is the fact that his record shows that he’s all talk and no action on environment. The Democratic Party spells it out here.

Commenters on blogs like the New York Times’ ‘The Caucus’ point out the hypocrisy:

“When he comes out with “green” flip flops I might be able to stop laughing long enough to forget his voting record on the environment! NOT! – Posted by JanK”

“WOW! Now I sure want to vote for John McCain! He is so eco-friendly making cotton bags to shops with while riding around in his wifes private jet!!!! — Posted by Shawn”

And then, there’s the conservative reaction.

I usually stay away from conservative media for a reason: reading just a few lines of their bullshit makes me start to feel like a homicidal maniac. I literally feel my blood pressure rising. I start to get a crazy look in my eye. It’s not good. But as the posts started streaming in from right-wing blogs about the McCain campaign’s sudden focus on the environment, I couldn’t ignore them.

Conservatives are pissed. Most of them weren’t crazy about McCain to begin with, but this whole environmentalism thing has their panties in a wad like never before. The Business and Media Institute quotes Rush Limbaugh:

“The troubling thing here, Senator McCain, is I’m mapping out plans here to try to persuade Republicans to eventually cross over to vote for you and this is not making it any easier,” conservative radio talk show host Rush Limbaugh said on his May 12 show. “At some point Republicans are going to have to decide whether to cross the aisle and vote for McCain. Clearly, he’s rolling the dice in thinking that the ‘green’ community and the independents and the yutes out there will buy into this global warming business and think he’s different than the average conservative Republican and that will stand him in good stead.”

Heidi Harris, a radio talk show host in Las Vegas, isn’t happy about it either. She rails incredulously, with her Midwestern Mom hair quivering as she speaks, about how the U.S. might as well not even try to cap their emissions since businesses will just send their factories off to China. Let’s not even go there, because that’s a whole different topic. The point is, she wants you all to know how absolutely disgusted she is as a conservative that John McCain is focused on climate change. Watch the video on the Business and Media Institute website and you’ll see what I mean.

Andy Aplikowski of True North needed to knock a few back to deal with the news that McCain is selling ‘eco-friendly merchandise’ on his official website.

Cease and desist on all this Global Warming BS that warms the heart of Al Gore. If we can just stop the Republican officer holders and politicians from speaking in support of it we could easily cut half the so-called human caused global warming gases being emitted from the steaming piles of rhetoric they spew daily in the hopes of pandering for votes based on junk science funded by anti-American billionaires who loathe everything the Republican party is supposed to stand for.

And finally, I leave you with a quote that made me spit my coffee all over my laptop screen. Thank you, Andy Aplikowski, for this unintentional bit of much-needed humor on this dreary day:

Sticking your finger in the eye of conservatives is never a good idea if you are the Republican candidate for President, but waging an all out war on capitalism and promoting the junk science designed to end the American way of life [emphasis mine] is a colossal electoral failure waiting to happen.

Priceless.

Photo credit: Flickr user soggydan

Al Gore may be Smuggled Back into White House in Someone’s Luggage

8 years later, and many of us have spent this entire time daydreaming ‘what ifs’ about Al Gore’s stolen presidency. It seems that the current presidential candidates are very aware of this, and they’re running with it: everyone’s eager to get Al Gore in on the action.

Democratic White House hopefuls Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama speak often about green jobs, emissions cuts and renewable energy. But they have more than global warming on their minds when they talk of environmental policy.

The long-term goal may be saving the planet, but the short-term one is winning the backing of former Vice President Al Gore.

So the dueling candidates praise Gore during campaign stops, offer up the prospect of roles for him in future administrations, and - most of all - they stay in touch.

Ok, I have another confession: in 2000, I was one of those Floridians who voted for Nader. You know, the ones who inadvertently helped hand the presidency to Bush on a silver platter. Sigh, the days of being an idealistic college student. Now, I’m almost wishing someone would stage a coup and sneak Al back into the White House, whatever it takes.

Link [MSNBC]

Photo: Wikimedia Commons & Flickr user abbynormy