What I've Read: Earth

One of the benefits of being mauled financially by the IRS is it gives you tons of opportunities to do free things, like read books. And I'm on a tear this last month. My most recent conquest, the planet Earth. Well, at least, Earth as explained by the staff of The Daily Show.

If you're familiar with The Daily Show, you can imagine and almost anticipate a lot of the jokes and where the narrative thread goes in this book. It's intended as a reference guide for aliens who arrive on Earth after the human race is extinct, save for some traces of human DNA in Sweden and New Mexico.

The book surmises everything that has happened in most of human history but from a 10,000 foot level. It cracks wise about culture, religion, politics, society, the sexes, the continents and the ecosystem. Some things are just touched on briefly while others have a bit more bite. If I was surprised by anything, it's the occasional curse word that's thrown in. I'm so used to them being bleeped out on TV that to read the words and imagine them being said by the personalities is kinda strange.

The book is also a lot shorter and much faster read than I imagined, so plowing through it in a week should pose little problem to the common person, and makes me wonder whether reading the America book also written by the TDS staff is worth getting. This means it's got to be an even quicker read for you normal folk, since I have the reading and retention capacity of a garden gnome. As a bonus, the book also made HuffPo's list of 9 Books to Read for Earth Day 2011. So that was a pleasant bonus to discover last Friday as I finished it on the train ride to work.

Earth Day 2011

I've become a steady follower of 350.org, and when they absorbed local 1Sky into their network, I was sad to see a voice get absorbed into a larger body but excited nonetheless for 1Sky to get some much-deserved love from the climate community. Anywho ... last weekend was PowerShift conference here in DC, and while I was unable to attend, a lot of the content was put online, including this awesome speech by Bill McKibben.

Earth Day 2011

It's Earth Day, which means your favorite eco-preferred person (that would be me) is going to share some links and videos on things we can do to help protect this mortal coil we call home. First up, a cool animated short about water. Oh, and it's narrated by Kristen Bell, who's hot. So that helps.



And I gave my $20. You should, too.

Happy Earth Day Everyone

Nothing long or poetic here. Just a note saying that it's Earth Day and that is not being lost on me. I try and fill this space with useful tips and projects that I am doing (and forcing my mom to do) to make a difference. Even the small stuff makes a difference, because it's all cumulative. Both in action and in mind. Let's keep doing the good work and trying to change the way we approach living.