alskuefhaih
asoiefh

Friday, March 27, 2009

It's not so hard being GREEN

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My University is a flagship institution in the Earth Hour event, scheduled tomorrow (subject of my last post) - Saturday (always the last Saturday of March) - at 8:30pm local time worldwide. Earth Hour has been linked to the upcoming 2009 United Nations Climate Change Conference in Copenhagen this December. Regardless of whether you agree that human activity has been one of the main players in climate change, prioritizing and cultivating a respectful attitude toward our gorgeous planet and the natural kingdom can't be bad, can it? And to anyone who scoffs at being green as trendy . . . Huh? Isn't this the kind of trend we want? Trends can become habits that after a while we don't even think about. Cool!

Today at noon Inge and I shut down our computers and lights and walked with about 40 others from Spartan Stadium to Beaumont Tower as part of the DIM DOWN "be green" walk, to bring attention to tomorrow's event and to climate change.


Ashley, Yvette and Lauren planned today's walk.





Inge and I were surprised at the turnout. On a campus of 40,000 students and almost as many employees, we hoped for more.

Another GREEN event: Tonight the MSU Spartans men's basketball team plays Kansas in the "Sweet Sixteen" (16 teams left of 64, plus a couple of wildcard teams) round of the National Collegiate Athletic Association's (NCAA) championship tournament. Hope I can stay awake - it's on TV late. As long as Tom Izzo has been coach, every player who has played four years on the team has gone to the Final Four (this year right here in Detroit 8 days from now), the final showdown of the last four teams standing. This is the one and only sports team I care about. Give me college sports any day over pro!

Ok, sorry to all of you who couldn't care less! :D


36 comments:

The Bug said...

I've got Kansas winning that game on my bracket - but what the hey, my bracket's busted anyway - I'll pull for Michigan!

♥ Kathy said...

That's really neat. I unintentionally participated lol I wasn't home and all my stuff was off. Yay! Next time I'll know to do it on purpose!

Tiffany said...

Don't you just love being GREEN!!!!!!!!! Its the way to be! Those pictures are great. Its for such a great cause...Mother Earth!

So how are you doing, Ruth? I have been seriously slacking in the comment department! How is your daughters wedding coming along? Oh Gosh I hope it was you that told me their daughter was getting married hahaha I hope all is well!

word verification: promo - I never had an actual word or abbreviation before. It feels pretty nice!

Ruth said...

Bug, thank you for the bracket sacrifice, and for pulling for Michigan State!

I'm getting sleepy . . .

Ruth said...

Anet, tonight we watch TV and say rah rah rah. Tomorrow night we turn off the TV and play pioneer games. What a weekend!

Ruth said...

♥ Kathy, that counts! Maybe it's even better because you were just living that way. :)

Ruth said...

Tiffany, I've missed you! Has it been so long that you can't be sure my daughter is getting married?? Ha! Yes, it's me, our sweet Lesley is busy planning her wedding.

I've noticed that comment word verifications have been more like real words lately.

Glad to see you. Take care.

Tiffany said...

Hahahaha I've missed you too! I used to comment all the time! I have so much catching up to do.

Glad to hear that Lesley is getting things together for the wedding. Its taking place at the farm, right?

Have a happy weekend!!!

ps - word verification just went back down a couple notches: scinges...maybe its another language?

Daniel Chérouvrier said...

Green is good for our eyes. Old finnish saying.
Vihrea tekee silmille hyvää.
And for many things too.

Susan said...

It's too bad that you didn't have a bigger turnout, but at least you can feel good about doing your part. Maybe it will grow every year.

Did they win? I haven't checked yet. Yay, Green & White!

Anonymous said...

Thank you for your post and thoughts in it.
Thank you Deslilas about this Finnish saying! It has got nowadays so many meanings more and in many ways it is now more and more important.

Ruth, I have put together my two old Blogger blogs to Wordpress and I publish something now and then also there. I think, you may be interested in my today`s post, if you have time!
Nice weekend to you with Monopol or what was that game :)

Ruth said...

No worries, Tiffany, our daily lives take us in so many directions. I too have not been to see you in a while, and I don't know if you have found a job, so I need to come by for a visit.

I hope you have a terrific weekend too!

Ruth said...

Oh dear, Daniel, I tried an online translator of your saying, but it kept three of the words as Finnish. :|

My eyes are green (-ish, they are really hazel, but mostly green), does that count? So they are good for themselves? It's not working, my eyes are getting worse. :|

Leena too could translate . . .

Ruth said...

Susie, YES YES YES THEY WON! Rah Rah Rah! It was painful to watch. We were down 13 at one point in the first half. I was ready to throw in the towel, believing it would be a blow-out. Good thing our fellows didn't throw it in, wow! So now we are among the ELITE EIGHT this weekend! Thanks for cheering on the best team. :D

Ruth said...

Please, dear Leena, can you tell me the meaning of the saying in English? I tried an online translator which resulted in more Finnish.

Thank you for telling me about your spinning wheel post, such an elegant craft. I need to learn to spin with the wheel upstairs that came over the Atlantic sometime in the 19th century. Lesley wants to grow sheep and harvest the wool. One day she'll probably have a home full of crafts, but in her busy NY life and small apartment it isn't feasible now. I think she was born in the wrong century.

The game is Monopoly, and I detest the game! But I would play Scrabble, or Settlers of Catan if the children were here. :)

Give Melli a big kiss from Auntie Ruth.

cathyswatercolors said...

Hi Ruth, I watched the State game with my sons. Go state!

Oh and go green too!

Ruth said...

Oh my, Cathy, now Louisville! :| I guess like Izzo, as long as they play their hearts out, I'll be "satisfied." They're so young some of 'em! I mean Lucas is a sophomore! He is amazing.

Loring Wirbel said...

Great idea from the MSU staff! Haven't seen a lot of corporate weekday actions to support Earth Hour. It wouldn't have worked Friday in Colorado Springs, as no one made it to work through the snow, but that led to a green-out of its own, I suppose!

delphine said...

It's so good to be green--so necessary for our tiny off-off-spring! I wonder what this planet is really going to be like in 100 years from now, maybe my new great grand-daughter who has just entered this world will still be alive? I reead the other day that they have discovered a new ' oldest' person , she is 130 yrs old and still has all her faculties!How about that!

Tiffany said...

Thanks for dropping in on my page, Ruth! Unfortunately, I haven't found a job yet, but wouldn't you know that I have had some offers now that I'm in school. I am studying medical billing. its pretty good so far.

Gone2theDawgs said...

I try to be very green in everything I do. I am so happy that more and more people are thinking about the health of our planet. Maybe we can save her after all.......

GailO said...

I will be thinking of you tonight at 8:30 when our lights are out!

Yea for MSU! I checked the score before I went to bed last night and they were a couple points behind...what an exciting game that must have been to watch!...I'm not really into it but it is fun if your team is involved...

Ruth said...

Loring, we call that being GREEN & WHITE.

:D

Ruth said...

Delphine, really?? Holy cow! I don't know if I want to live that long, I hope she feels great and has lots of loved ones.

Your precious great granddaughter, I am imagining a healthy, happy planet and no more wars.

Ruth said...

Oh! Tiffany, I was going to try that a long time ago, then something else came along. It's great because you can work from home! Good luck!

Ruth said...

Hi, Tammy, welcome back! I missed you.

That's good, you have quite an operation there with all your gorgeous animals, and it's important to conserve. Growing up with my dad we had to turn out the lights, save water and conserve in other ways or we got into trouble. I'm glad for that now, as it became a habit.

Ruth said...

Oliag, adopting our team is being GREEN (& WHITE), so thank you! We pulled it out, unbelievably. We play Louisville today at 2, and I hope for a battle.

Did you know the UN participated in Earth Hour for the first time this year? And the Empire State building also dimmed down. I would love to see that.

Ann, Chen Jie Xue 陈洁雪 said...

We in NZ was the first country to turn off our lights last night. Seems we saved 3% of our electricity.

We had a dinner party by candle light.

We also have a green party in parliament.

Ruth said...

I'm glad to hear it, Ann. This is a symbolic effort to get us to focus on what needs to be done, to reflect on our energy use. It really worked for us last night. Eating by candlelight is wonderful any time. We had already eaten, but we sat and talked, and enjoyed it!

I wish our green party could win an election, but our two party system is pretty locked. I think more and more people will listen to the green party in the days ahead, and like they do with Ralph Nader, we'll learn from them.

The Bug said...

Well, there goes my bracket totally - Michigan is beating Louisville rather handily. I had Louisville winning it all! That's what I get for being nice & pulling for them :) Actually - I think it's great that they're winning!

Ruth said...

The Bug, I was stunned, stunned I tell you! And now, I don't see how the remaining teams have the defensive fortitude to beat MSU. I hope I'm right!

Thanks for the support. :D

SE'LAH... said...

My household consciously participated in "Earth Hour" and it was WONDERFUL.

Ruth said...

SE'LAH, it did feel good to slow down and sit in candlelight.

Ginnie Hart said...

I keep forgetting to write you to say CONGRATULATIONS on your Final Four run thus far! I will be rooting for you!!! And I'm having many memories of that year in Paris when we actually got up in the middle of the night to LISTEN to the game on the computer.

Ruth said...

Boots, tonight's the big final game! Can't believe we got this far . . .

Ruth said...

And yes, that is a great memory in Paris!