Can Your Friends Make You Green?

This post is part of October’s APLS Blog Carnival. Check out what others have to say about October’s topic of proselytizing green at Greenhab on October 19 or join the conversation yourself!

This month’s topic immediately made me think about a headline I saw recently that read “Are Your Friends Making You Fat?” The article, which discusses how two social scientists, Nicholas Christakis and James Fowler, used data collected as part of the Framingham Heart Study to measure the impact people had on others in their life, included this quote:

By analyzing the Framingham data, Christakis and Fowler say, they have for the first time found some solid basis for a potentially powerful theory in epidemiology: that good behaviors — like quitting smoking or staying slender or being happy — pass from friend to friend almost as if they were contagious viruses. The Framingham participants, the data suggested, influenced one another’s health just by socializing. And the same was true of bad behaviors — clusters of friends appeared to “infect” each other with obesity, unhappiness and smoking. Staying healthy isn’t just a matter of your genes and your diet, it seems. Good health is also a product, in part, of your sheer proximity to other healthy people.

Friends also help people go green, I wondered?

When we first started making changes to green our life, we often felt alone. That feeling of isolation was, in and of itself, a barrier. On Tuesday mornings, it was tempting to sleep in a bit and let the recycling truck pass us by since we were then the only family on our block who would drag a recycling bin to the curb. I could feel the influence of our neighbors’ actions even though they hadn’t said a word.

On the flip side, a number of the changes we have made were spurred by everyday interactions with others. A helpful parent stopped me in the school parking lot to let me know one of our tires was a bit flat; as a result we started regular air pressure checks. We saw a lady at the grocery store using pretty reusable produce bags and asked her about them; now we have eliminated that source of plastic into our home.

And I can see times when we have had an impact on others as well. A dinner party turned into a discussion about our CSA after folks saw information posted on our refrigerator, with one of the families then joining the CSA themselves. A birthday party shifted to a conversation about reuse after a mom commented on our sand/water table and I told her we bought it for $5 at Goodwill. And, thankfully, we are no longer the only family on our block recycling!

I want to influence others positively so will continue making green choices and looking for others who can teach me how to live a greener life. I believe strongly that actions speak louder than words so am more likely to proselytize the green life through my behavior but have seen again and again behaviors leading to conversations. And I am always up for a chat about greening families!

As I was wrapping this up I came across an article on the need for sociologists to study conversations around climate change on Nature.com. It is an interesting read so check it out!

New Rules Proposed on CO2 Emissions and Fuel Efficiency

Yesterday the EPA and the Department of Transportation’s National Highway Traffic Safety Administration proposed regulations that would provide a national threshold for carbon dioxide emissions from vehicles and would require an increase in fuel efficiency for passenger cars, light-duty trucks, and medium-duty passenger vehicles sold in the United States by almost 40%. Read more

How We’re Doing on Our Green Goals for 2009

With July already well underway, I realized it’s time to review our goals for 2009. I wrote about the annual goals we set earlier and since then we have added a few more. Here’s how we are doing so far.

Mission Accomplished!
•    Expand our garden beyond containers. We now have a small garden going in our backyard. After doing some research, we decided to stick mostly with herbs this first year while we build up the soil. Even with our record breaking drought, the garden is doing well so far. (Fingers crossed!) Thanks to Heather at Simple-Green-Frugal for answering my newbie questions about gardening in Texas! Read more

Is Your City Energy Efficient?

Today an article in USA Today caught my eye. The article includes a top ten list of U.S. cities ranked by their annual energy cost savings in commercial buildings.

The list looks like this:

1. Los Angeles

2. San Francisco

3. Houston

4. Washington, D.C.

5. Dallas/Forth Worth

6. Chicago

7. Denver

8. Minneapolis/St.Paul

9. Atlanta

10. Seattle

The energy efficient buildings in these 10 cities alone are saving a total of $420 million in annual energy costs!

I have to admit that commercial buildings are not the first nor the tenth thing I think of when considering green issues. Clearly many people do, thus the impressive savings, which just goes to show that there are many ways to make a real difference.

To find ways to save yourself some money by making your home more energy efficient, check out the Home Energy Saver or Make Your Home Energy Efficient.

9. Atlanta	$16.4
10. Seattle	$16.3

New Energy Efficiency Standards Set

Yesterday President Obama signed a memorandum that ordered the U.S. Department of Energy to create new, more energy efficient standards for a variety of household appliances. The list includes commonly used items such as dishwashers, refrigerators, lamps, and ovens. The memorandum addresses a series of deadlines first set by the Energy Policy and Conservation Act of 1975 that have been missed by previous administrations. Read more

Ways to Lessen the Impact of Rising Heating Prices

Experts are predicting that energy prices this year will be even higher than last year. Today’s USA Today discusses the expected increases in heating oil, natural gas, and electricity. With the electricity costs expected to jump 9.4%, natural gas 23.8%, and heating oil a whopping 36.3%, some suggestions to make homes more energy efficient seemed in order. Read more