Althouse: "This ridiculous perverted marketing has cheapened the concept of what is really green."

April 22, 2010

"This ridiculous perverted marketing has cheapened the concept of what is really green."

"It is tragic."

It's hard being a greenie. You love the earth and you hate the market, and then the love for the earth is marketed. Oh! The contradictions!

91 comments:

Sloanasaurus said...: Many of the things environmentalists stood for have been solved. Cleaner air. Cleaner water, etc....
You could still be a capitalist and an environmentalist.

Most of the legitimate environmentalists are gone. Now the socialists have replaced them and masquerade as environmentalists - pushing fraudulent theories such as global warming. Today's environmentalists are "watermelons." …. Green on the outside, red on the inside.; 4/22/10, 9:02 AM
MadisonMan said...: I do find it very eye-rolling when companies push something as being "green". For example, the Fringe Benefits Management Company that UW uses says it will email you updates, rather than mailing them, because this is a "green" alternative.

Really, they're just doing this to cut corners and save money. I'm sorry, I just don't believe FBMC is interested one bit in being green.

Same with my kids' orthodontist. They no longer mail me receipts. I can go to some website somewhere -- meaning I have to recall some obscure given password and user id -- download the receipt myself and print it at home. They say this is "Green". Bull. They're trying to save themselves money and toner.; 4/22/10, 9:02 AM
SteveR said...: Start with the knowledge that the leading environmentalists fly around in private jets and have carbon footprints the size of small towns in flyover country, and its downhill from there. And don't get me started on the severe lack of good science behind most of this.; 4/22/10, 9:06 AM
Paddy O said...: I think a lot of the advertising is ridiculous, but at the same time thinking about corporations and priorities over the centuries it is astounding to me that we live in an era in which companies think it is in their benefit to present themselves this way.

A sign there really is a raised consciousness and a new way of being human in a postmodern society. Sure, they're trying to exploit this for greedy ends, but that this is what is exploited, and what people respond to is probably one of the nicer signs of human civilization these days.

There's a lot going wrong in this world, but if we're increasingly the kind of people to whom companies must show charitable giving and environmental consciousness that's a good sign.

What a change from 100 years ago.; 4/22/10, 9:08 AM
MadisonMan said...: Please don't conflate AGW with environmentalism. I understand that there's a huge segment of the population that does that -- as in, you can't be a steward of the environment unless you're gung-ho against AGW (whatever that means) -- but it bugs me no end.

Environmentalism -- that is, cutting down on pollution of air and water, or working to reduce America's penchant to throw a lot of things away -- lost a huge amount of momentum when it was tied to AGW.; 4/22/10, 9:10 AM
MadisonMan said...: (that was directed at SteveR...Curse you Paddy for posting before me!!! :) ); 4/22/10, 9:11 AM
Dust Bunny Queen said...: Hey. You know what is really green?

The weeds growing in my driveway. If it ever stops snowing, sleeting and raining, I'm going to spray the entire area with a double dose of Round Up.

Take that greenies.; 4/22/10, 9:14 AM
Anonymous said...: This is also Lenin's birthday.; 4/22/10, 9:19 AM
Dust Bunny Queen said...: There's a lot going wrong in this world, but if we're increasingly the kind of people to whom companies must show charitable giving and environmental consciousness that's a good sign.

It's a good sign if they actually mean it instead of mouthing platitudes to appease the AGW and environmental wackos.

Otherwise it is just corporate hypocrisy.

And just so you all don't think I'm anti environment....I make my own compost, compost tea and use other organic treatments on my vegetables and flower gardens.; 4/22/10, 9:19 AM
MadisonMan said...: I'm going to spray the entire area with a double dose of Round Up.

We use vinegar. Cheaper.; 4/22/10, 9:25 AM
mesquito said...: Rattlesnake venom is All-Natural.; 4/22/10, 9:28 AM
mesquito said...: "We use vinegar. Cheaper."

Details, please.; 4/22/10, 9:29 AM
garage mahal said...: The weeds growing in my driveway. If it ever stops snowing, sleeting and raining, I'm going to spray the entire area with a double dose of Round Up.

So you would potentially poison your own family to get back at greenies that wouldn't even be effected by the Round-Up?; 4/22/10, 9:39 AM
Lynne said...: "We use vinegar. Cheaper."

Details, please.

Yes, details, please! Our lot was basically abandoned for a number of years before we bought the house and I'm still constantly uprooting vines, weeds, etc. I like Roundup because it does seem to prevent regrowth. Will Vinegar do that as well?
And, Dust Bunny Queen- I garden and I've considered composting but I keep chickening out. How bad is the smell? We share a sideyard with one neighbor and I don't want to be rude.
I also save fireplace ash to spread on the garden. Any opinion about this as a soil additive?; 4/22/10, 9:43 AM
kjbe said...: Bull. They're trying to save themselves money and toner.

Well, so what? It is still greener, isn’t it? It doesn’t have to be some kind of purity test, does it?

(yes, and thanks for the vinegar tip); 4/22/10, 9:46 AM
Paddy O said...: "Otherwise it is just corporate hypocrisy."

Of course, but the direction this hypocrisy points, and that they think they need to be hypocrites in this way says a lot about the broader society we live in.

In other words, these sorts of things say a lot more about us as a people than about them as companies. How they try to pander to us is very enlightening.

Oh, and sorry MadMan. I think you're exactly right, by the way. AGW is not equivalent to environmentalism. I can be fully supportive of not spewing nasty stuff into the air or having rivers filled with junk, without in any way supporting bogus carbon emissions trading. I think Al Gore is a tremendous fraud and yet I'll support recycling and productive environmental polices.; 4/22/10, 9:47 AM
mesquito said...: Lynne, my compost (all vegetable, no meat) smells fine, but it does host about a zillion maggots, which presumably become flies at some point. Ash, I've found, is pretty worthless, unless your aim is to resemble a powdered donut after you mow. It might adjust ph somehow, but that is way beyond my competence.; 4/22/10, 9:49 AM
MadisonMan said...: Vinegar is an acid. It kills plants. Buy white vinegar, pour it on plant.

I don't know if it kills the root or not, but it sure fries the greenery.; 4/22/10, 9:51 AM
Dust Bunny Queen said...: We use vinegar. Cheaper.

Doesn't work on the driveway. The puncture vines and star thistle won't die. I do use vinegar in my vegetable area and between roses and flowers.

LINKY

So you would potentially poison your own family to get back at greenies that wouldn't even be effected by the Round-Up?

Aside from the fact that garage has no sense of humor......Yes. My driveway and parking area is dirt/gravel and about 400 feet (a football field and half in length.)

We are in no danger, but thank you for your concern.; 4/22/10, 9:52 AM
I'm Full of Soup said...: Who'd of thunk it can be expensive to be a zealot.; 4/22/10, 9:54 AM
Dust Bunny Queen said...: my compost (all vegetable, no meat) smells fine, but it does host about a zillion maggots, which presumably become flies at some point.

@lynn & mesquito

It shouldn't smell(much)if you keep it cooking. The pile should be hot enough to discourage maggots too. I use just vegetable matter and make sure it is chopped up really small so it will compost quicker and evenly.

Isn't this better than discussing politics :-) Politics and politicians....similar in many ways to composting but more constructive.; 4/22/10, 10:00 AM
Palladian said...: Saffy: It's a sticker with a green tree on it.
Edina: Yes.
Saffy: What does that mean?
Edina: Kind to trees, sweetie.; 4/22/10, 10:05 AM
garage mahal said...: I have some San Marzano tomato seedlings I'm trying for the first time that I'm dying to get in my garden.; 4/22/10, 10:14 AM
Freeman Hunt said...: I think that "green" has become synonymous with "poor quality" for some consumers. "Green household cleaner" = "less effective household cleaner." "Green toy" = "overpriced toy made of cheap wood." "Green pest control" = "bugs." Etc.

Perhaps that's unfair, but there it is.; 4/22/10, 10:25 AM
SteveR said...: I don't conflate AGW with environmentalism in real terms but the idea of "green" and Greenhouses gases, etc. fits into one category of political and cultural emphasis. For some its simply about being able to do things to feel like you're doing something good. This is often naive. For others it's about gaining control, market or influence. This is often not as well intentioned as it appears.

The basis for regulatory actions to protect the environment and to reduce the impact of man on the climate should be based on sound science. The EPA wants to regulate greenhouse gas emissions forchristsake, in that sense there is no difference.; 4/22/10, 10:27 AM
sonicfrog said...: "Green toy" = "overpriced toy made of cheap wood."

Nope. Can't make toys with wood. That kills trees!; 4/22/10, 10:29 AM
prairie wind said...: Earth Day is the perfect day to remember Norman Borlaug. Can't think of anyone who has done so much good for people by using the earth wisely.; 4/22/10, 10:33 AM
bagoh20 said...: Love God, not the church.; 4/22/10, 10:37 AM
bagoh20 said...: Green toy = mud puddle, it's old school, really.

I often look back fondly at my wonderful childhood of playing in the woods, streams, quarries, etc. and I wonder if today's kids will look back fondly at the endless hours spent staring at various digital screens in the basement.; 4/22/10, 10:41 AM
mesquito said...: George Carlin saves The Planet.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eScDfYzMEEw; 4/22/10, 10:46 AM
Unknown said...: It's marketing. They know Enviro-nuts buy stuff, too, so they throw in a couple of platitudes and cut back a little on the chloromethylbromide or something and make a big deal of it.

Sloanasaurus said...

...

Most of the legitimate environmentalists are gone. Now the socialists have replaced them and masquerade as environmentalists - pushing fraudulent theories such as global warming. Today's environmentalists are "watermelons." …. Green on the outside, red on the inside.

The founder of Greenpeace quit a couple of years ago because the commies were taking over the organization.; 4/22/10, 10:55 AM
Anonymous said...: MadisonMan: They say this is "Green". Bull. They're trying to save themselves money and toner.

That might get close to being trenchant, if the two goals were mutually exclusive. But they aren't. And since the law of supply and demand isn't optional, it always wins over the anti-market variant of "green."; 4/22/10, 11:09 AM
Kensington said...: I avoid buying overtly green products based on the assumptions that they will be (a) overpriced and (b) poor quality (as per Freeman Hunt's comment above).

Also, the marketing of such things always seems unbearably smug, and I don't want to encourage it.

Yet I'd consider composting, just because it sounds mildly interesting. I just wouldn't pretend I was making the world a better place by doing so.; 4/22/10, 11:26 AM
HKatz said...: Reminds me of going to the bookstore and seeing the table in the front section just loaded with books on the green, earth-saving lifestyle. And not all of those books are made out of recycled materials!

Yes, it's Lenin's bday today. It's also Robert Oppenheimer's, and Immanuel Kant's, and Aaron Spelling's... let's have fun trying to find a connection between all those folks. Be creative :); 4/22/10, 11:27 AM
Brian said...: I e-mailed coworkers on tips to be green today (sarc on). One tip:

- Use a clothesline to dry clothes. If they get rained on, just wear the wrinkled mildewed clothes to work, and impress your coworkers with your dedication! After all, your clothes are now a microclimate!; 4/22/10, 11:42 AM
Brian said...: Also, the marketing of such things always seems unbearably smug, and I don't want to encourage it.

It does seem that there's a market opportunity there. I know I've used spray-on mosquito repellant that had no DEET in it, was supposedly safer for the environment (mostly safer for kids), and it didn't work very well.; 4/22/10, 11:52 AM
Brian said...: @HKatz:
Aaron Spelling had a prolific career as a T.V. series producer with many hits, and few bombs.

Oppenheimer on the other hand...; 4/22/10, 11:55 AM
MadisonMan said...: Use a clothesline to dry clothes. If they get rained on,

There are these things called Weather Forecasts that allow you to decide whether or not to dry outside (I have clothes on the line right now!); 4/22/10, 11:56 AM
Ned said...: Global warming = Green = hoax = obama = Dems = Stupid...not to be taken seriously; 4/22/10, 11:58 AM
TMink said...: Marketing is perverse in and of itself, no? It is manipulation.

Trey; 4/22/10, 11:59 AM
TMink said...: Garage, they look great. I have never grown sauce tomatoes, but I have heard of that type. I hope your garden is bountiful and delicious.

Trey; 4/22/10, 12:02 PM
Anonymous said...: "The first Earth Day 'teach-in' was celebrated on April 22, 1970, to protest the Vietnam War, pollution, and littering -- and to commemorate what would have been the 100th birthday of one of history's most notorious villains."

Meaning Lenin. Quote from Kathy Shaidle's column.; 4/22/10, 12:05 PM
AlphaLiberal said...: Althouse, you say some idiotic things but this stereotyping blather is truly dumb:

"You love the earth and you hate the market, "

Liar. "Cap and trade" is a market-based approach to capping carbon pollution. See, that's the "trade" part.

It's based on other policies proposed by environmentalists that use the market.

You are dumb.; 4/22/10, 12:09 PM
Lem Vibe Bandit said...: Today's Earth Day was commemorated by Obama and Biden by flying to NYC on separate jets.; 4/22/10, 12:13 PM
Larry J said...: In celebration of Earth Day, my coworkers and I are going to eat some cooked, dead animals.

If the weather were better, I'd go flying in my private plane fueled by leaded gasoline.; 4/22/10, 12:13 PM
Dust Bunny Queen said...: I don't mind being "green", when it is MY choice.

I recycle (glass plastics paper cans), try not to pollute, keep my purchasing of pre packaged foods to a bare minimum, use a set-back thermostat to reduce ultilty usages, run the dishwasher at night, use a hand crochet market bag for those small trips to the local store so I don't end up with more plastic or paper bags. Our home was built to have passive solar heat contribution and zone heating to not waste energy on rooms that we are not using. And so on and so on.

What I resent is the shoving of the "green" agenda down my throat. They attempt to put a guilt trip on us for everything we do. The entire "green" agenda is about controlling our lives and not so much about environmentalism.

@garage

Nice looking tomatoes!! *jealous*

Unfortunately my growing season is very short so I probably couldn't grow those. We can't even dream of planting those outside (without a cold frame or greenhouse frame over the planting beds) until the early part of May and even then the tomatoes have to be very well grown because the end of the season is usually mid to late September.; 4/22/10, 12:15 PM
garage mahal said...: DBQ
My tomato seedlings are safe in a greenhouse, inside. I don't know how the San Marzanos will do when I plant them outside either, whether they will thrive in Wisc climate, but anxious as hell to see. Interesting article here on them. I bought the seeds of ebay from a grower in TN.; 4/22/10, 12:26 PM
Brian said...: Liar. "Cap and trade" is a market-based approach to capping carbon pollution. See, that's the "trade" part.

Okay, it's market-based in the sense that there's a trade of carbon credits. It's not market-based in the sense that you're not letting the free market figure out how to minimize carbon consumption vis-a-vis a carbon tax. Instead, you create a system where you can game it with political favoritism. After all, carbon credits are doled out by the regulators, who in turn are authorized by congress to do this. Anyone think that the Big Coal states are going to get their carbon credits on the cheap?

An across the board carbon tax is easier to measure.; 4/22/10, 12:29 PM
prairie wind said...: Gore is the environmentalist; Bush is the greedy capitalist. Right?

There's just no end.; 4/22/10, 12:31 PM
Anonymous said...: I support Obama and Biden flying in separate jets--look what happened in Poland. Isn't Pelosi next in line after Biden?; 4/22/10, 12:36 PM
Original Mike said...: "There are these things called Weather Forecasts that allow you to decide whether or not to dry outside"

Yeah, but we all know Weather Forecasts are akin to haruspicy.; 4/22/10, 12:48 PM
jaed said...: Environmentalism -- that is, cutting down on pollution of air and water, or working to reduce America's penchant to throw a lot of things away -- lost a huge amount of momentum when it was tied to AGW.

More that it lost momentum once air and water got much cleaner, and there were curbside recycling programs everywhere (including for things that don't make environmental sense to recycle, such as paper). Political movements always lose momentum when they achieve the superficial goals that got mass support.

Hence, the AGW craze. "The world is coming to an end, and it's your fault for eating meat, driving a car, buying vegetables that came from farther than ten miles away, using electricity, and generally presuming to live like more than the peasant you are!" It's perfect. Guilt trips over everything.; 4/22/10, 1:03 PM
DADvocate said...: I'm glad that many of those environmental doomsday predictions from 1970, including a coming Ice Age, didnt' come to past.

Remind yourself of how often scientists are wrong.; 4/22/10, 1:04 PM
Bruce Hayden said...: Liar. "Cap and trade" is a market-based approach to capping carbon pollution. See, that's the "trade" part.

It's based on other policies proposed by environmentalists that use the market.

Not really. It creates a market to allocate some resources. But that is as close as it comes to capitalism. As noted by others here, more than really allocate resources though, it is primarily a means to protect legacy industries and make those on the inside rich. Part of the problem is that the credits are allocated on a political basis, and that has a lot of ramifications. First, lobbyists and friends of Congress and the Administration are the ones getting paid for the initial credits. And the companies acquiring them that way do so because it is cheaper to buy Congressmen than pay for the credits on an open market. Add to that, that legacy industries are the ones that can afford to do this, and not the emerging, supposedly more green ones.

Besides, cap and trade was designed (poorly) to address what is becoming ever more evidently a non-problem. It was only by scaring the American people about Manhattan being underwater in a couple of years, that those, like AlGore, set to make billions of this scam, were able to gin up enough panic to give it a chance at being enacted.

And, one of the reasons that bribe and tax (aka cap and trade) is being pushed again, is that it is evident that the science is rapidly disintegrating that once supported it, and the Democratic majorities in Congress that would pass it are also likely to disappear come November.; 4/22/10, 1:10 PM
DADvocate said...: Garage - I have seedlings of Mortgage Lifter tomatoes and Big Rainbow tomatoes, both heirlooms. I'm hoping for a bumper crop and be able to sell a few. Mortgage Lifter variety was developed by a guy who cross pollinated plants in his backyard and then sold the tomatoes to pay off his mortgage.

If nothing else, homegrown tomatoes are the best.; 4/22/10, 1:10 PM
Bruce Hayden said...: An across the board carbon tax is easier to measure.

If the goal is to reduce carbon emissions, then, yes, a carbon tax is the way to go. That is far more capitalist than the tax and bribe (aka cap and trade) that is designed primarily it appears to enrich politicians, lobbyists, and intermediaries (such as AlGore aka ManBearPig).

But I will submit that it is still based on a false premise, that it is advantageous to reduce our carbon emissions, and that doing so is worth the cost.; 4/22/10, 1:16 PM
Original Mike said...: "Hence, the AGW craze."

I think your exactly right, Jaed. I'm not referring to the scientists who are arguing pro and con. But I see no other explanation for the large numbers of people who are certain of the reality of AGW. People who couldn't convert Fahrenheit to Celcius if their life depended upon it. Where do they get their certainty from?; 4/22/10, 1:16 PM
Unknown said...: AlphaLiberal said...

...

Liar. "Cap and trade" is a market-based approach to capping carbon pollution. See, that's the "trade" part.

Cap & trade is a scam to take over the energy industry and to justify massive tax increases that would raise the price of gasoline to $8 a gallon.

Given all the other scams to take over health care, insurance, finance, and housing, the government would control about a third of the US economy. National Socialism, anyone?

And, yes, The Zero is on record in favor of $8 a gallon gas.; 4/22/10, 1:18 PM
Nora said...: Geee, does anybody still doubt that companies jump on the "green" bandwagon for profit reasons and nothing else?

As a mechanical engineer I worked on several pilots for alternative energy projects starting back in the 80s, and if there was a lesson to learn, it's that no company will promote anything of the kind if this is not commercially viable, and that NGOs are usually no experts on anything. They will promote anything that might bring them more donation, i.e. they are basically no different from corporations.; 4/22/10, 1:21 PM
garage mahal said...: DADvocate
ha, great story. Never grew those, but I grew some gorgeous brandywine heirlooms last year that were the finest tasting flesh tomato I've ever tried. Big bastards though, one pounders - I staked the hell out of it and it still collapsed on me.; 4/22/10, 1:22 PM
Fen said...: Meh. It was all bullshit to begin with.; 4/22/10, 1:40 PM
Fen said...: And no Alpha, I dont want to buy any of your worthless carbon credits. I hope you're neck-deep in them.; 4/22/10, 1:42 PM
MadisonMan said...: I like Green Zebras, tomato-wise. The CSA I'm in will throw a couple our way, and one year I saved the seeds, and grew them the next year.

They make a perfectly awful-looking chartreuse sauce, but it tastes great.

Didn't do too well last year. Too cold. Here's to a hot summer of bountiful tomato harvests!; 4/22/10, 1:43 PM
Original Mike said...: Didn't do too well last year. Too cold. Here's to a hot summer of bountiful tomato harvests!

{dismay} Last summer was glorious. Hope we have another just like it.; 4/22/10, 1:52 PM
garage mahal said...: Here's to a hot summer of bountiful tomato harvests!

And a bad year for japanese beetles. I'm seriously thinking of getting a few chickens. I can legally have up to 5. No roosters of course. Anyone know if chickens will eat these blasted things?; 4/22/10, 2:28 PM
Synova said...: Well, that's sort of what they get for selling morality, isn't it?

I remember Earth Day when I was a kid, and Arbor Day... and granted, I was a kid, but I don't recall those things being political. Who can possibly oppose fighting pollution or planting trees? It all seemed very positive.

Now we're scolded 24/7 by the eco version of the church lady. I go into a store and am told "Think!"

Think!

Because anyone not on the bandwagon or who doesn't buy a recycled coffee cup doesn't "Think!"

The question is really... who changed the tone? The "green" merchandisers or the eco-movement itself?; 4/22/10, 2:31 PM
Original Mike said...: Ya know, the japanese beetles were way down at my place last year. Wonder if it was the cool weather.; 4/22/10, 2:39 PM
Synova said...: Oh! Tomatoes! I get my seeds online from Tomato Bob. :-) His web site is worth the pictures and descriptions.

The only tomato that I've got that is a repeat is Green Zebra.

New that I'm trying are Red Zebra, Estonian Yellow Cherry, Noir De Crimee, and a free sample Prairie Fire, whatever that is.

The Noir one replaces Black Krim this year, just to check it out.

Tomatoes tend to be hit and miss here because the high desert gets too cold at night and full sun is too much, but I'm hoping.; 4/22/10, 2:42 PM
Dust Bunny Queen said...: No such thing as Japanese Beetles in my area.....yet thankfully.

I grew Yellow Brandywines along with some Early Girl Tomatoes and some Romas that really put out. Really good in a quick salad of fresh cucumbers, cubed yellow and red tomatoes, chopped shallots, fresh basil in a light vinegarette. NOM NOM.

Fava beans did great and I'm doubling my crop this year.

I would have chickens except then I would REALLY have to fight the foxes, coyotes and mountain lions. I'll just get my eggs from the neighbor.

@Synova.....I'm with you. I'm tired of being scolded about being insufficiently "green", nagged by the government, advertisers. The tone is nasty now instead of just being informative.; 4/22/10, 2:55 PM
Synova said...: A quick google suggests both that chickens will eat and won't eat Japanese beetles.

It might be worth considering that chickens will absolutely eat your garden plants.

Hm... found some claims that ducks will eat the beetles, and they might be less destructive to plants than chickens. Also, something about geraniums repelling the beetles.; 4/22/10, 3:00 PM
Synova said...: One of my cats got locked out on the deck with my flat of seedings and chewed the tops off the first row of pepper plants.

I don't know if he was just more comfortable chewing at that end or if cats don't like tomatoes but I can't replace the tomatoes on short notice, but the pepper variety is something I can pick plants up at the grocery store.

Stupid cat.; 4/22/10, 3:05 PM
MadisonMan said...: Anyone know if chickens will eat these blasted things?

My neighbors' chickens will gorge themselves on them. Downside: The chickens don't go after the beetles but will happily eat them, and it makes a very satisfying crunching noise, if you feed them. So you still have to pick them off your grapes, roses, hollyhocks, butterfly bush, peach, etc. etc. etc.; 4/22/10, 3:06 PM
MadisonMan said...: Synova, my cat did that too. I had a nice row of pepper plant seedlings on a table, and the damnable feline came along and plucked them all out one by one. Grrrr.

Chickens will destroy young plants but once the plants get big, it's not bad. So you end up having to protect the plants from chickens for about a month or two. (So I infer from observing my neighbor's garden and chickens).; 4/22/10, 3:12 PM
Agatha June said...: Hey Synova,

I'm out here in the East Mountains and was wondering if you did anything special for your tomatoes. Do you use shade at all? I'd really like to grow a mess of Cherokee Purple but Green Zebra sounds good too.

Also a worm bin makes a great alternative to a compost pile. No smell and very little maintenance.; 4/22/10, 3:21 PM
Matt said...: Synova
I live in one of the most liberal areas in the US and no one scolds people for not being green. But they encourage us to recycle. And some markets give discounts for bringing your own bag for groceries. But there's no scolding that I see.

Sure, earth day and eco awareness is political. What isn't?

The biggest concern is that the whole Earth Day thing has become so trendy and such a marketable thing that it loses meaning or effectiveness. It's just another day to make a profit. That's Capitalism. That's America.; 4/22/10, 3:28 PM
Synova said...: Wow, hi Agatha.

My tomatoes get a little bit of shade in the early morning and afternoon. Other people I've talked to claim they can't grow them at all because of sun-burn or else look at me like I'm insane to think that tomatoes are difficult. I think that the issue is micro-climates. The people half a block away have a lilac that blooms a week before mine every year while mine gets the buds frozen off two years out of three. The same seems to be with the tomatoes. If there are a couple of warm nights at the right time they do great.; 4/22/10, 3:28 PM
Dust Bunny Queen said...: @ Synova and Agatha

Wow. Small world. I'm on the edge of the high desert area of north eastern Calif. Cold nights and hot hot days in the summer.

I put pvc hoops the length of my planting beds....like this. I draped it with plastic early in the season to protect against the frosty and cold nights...Later I put deer netting over the hoops and it did dual purpose. Kept the deer from eating up the plants and provided some light shade. It worked really well.; 4/22/10, 3:33 PM
Synova said...: Matt, I gave an example of what feels like scolding to me.

And if you have a Starbucks in your liberal neighborhood, and you know you do, you will be scolded to Think!

Not everything feels like scolding, I got a free reusable bag at the international market the other day and that felt sweet rather than scolding.; 4/22/10, 3:35 PM
Synova said...: When I was a kid there were no flowers in the ditches because of herbicide spraying, no raptors in the sky, cars and trucks billowed black smoke and there was a whole lot of trash on the streets even in our low-population farm community.

Now the flowers bloom in drifts, there are bald eagles and osprey nesting around the lakes, only a rare car has visible exhaust, and the roads are dotted with "Roadside clean up in memory of..." signs. Recycling is available everywhere even if it's not picked up sorted at your house.

People have gardens and chickens and compost piles and do what they can to reduce the amount of trash they have to deal with. They have double paned windows (or triple in cold climates) and efficient heaters and extra insulation in the walls and turn their heat down at night. People plant trees.

Earth Day and Arbor Day haven't lost their effectiveness because of commercialization. They've lost their effectiveness because of success.

And when someone like Bush has an energy efficient model home people get MAD at him for it. How dare he!

Because success is bad? Because mainstreaming a cultural change is bad? Because it makes the crusaders less special when everyone is doing it?

What?; 4/22/10, 3:49 PM
Lynne said...: Re: Japanese Beetles
Gotta share this, because I've tried it and it truly works.
Garage, et. al.- go online and get you some Milky Spore. It's a perfectly natural spore that kills Japanese beetles at the grub stage, before they kill your stuff.
You have to apply it twice a year, but you'll see results the next spring after your first fall application.
It's non-toxic to people and pets, too, and not hard to apply.
It gradually reduces the population of adult beetles until there aren't any.
Try it! I can recommend it!; 4/22/10, 5:57 PM
Lynne said...: And for those growing Romas (we always do) learn to make Bruschetta- the ultimate quick gourmet summer dinner.
NOM!
I grow an herb garden so I have fresh basil to put in it.
Nice to know we all have homegrown tomatoes in common, regardless of political viewpoint.
And for those that have a cold frame or greenhouse- sigh!- I'm envious. Our lot is teeny-tiny and we squeeze in 5 or 6 tomato plants each year, with a few bell peppers, lots of basil(I make pesto) and some herbs.
I long to do zucchini, beans, potatoes- but there just isn't any room.; 4/22/10, 6:07 PM
TosaGuy said...: Have an ant hill? Sprinkle it with hominy grits or other stuff that swells big time in an ant's stomach.; 4/22/10, 6:19 PM
Bruce Hayden said...: The good thing about Earth Day is that it is only once a year, and is almost over until next year.

You really can't make this sort of thing up: Obama and Biden to Celebrate Earth Day by Tying Up New York Air Traffic.; 4/22/10, 6:31 PM
Methadras said...: AlphaLiberal said...

Althouse, you say some idiotic things but this stereotyping blather is truly dumb:

"You love the earth and you hate the market, "

Liar. "Cap and trade" is a market-based approach to capping carbon pollution. See, that's the "trade" part.

It's based on other policies proposed by environmentalists that use the market.

You are dumb.

Are you truly this stupid? I didn't think you could actually get any dumber and then I read this infantile scribbling of what you think cap and trade is. Considering that the current bills are modeled in large part after the Danish system, maybe you should go take a look at the scandal that has ensued from that system.

http://www.cphpost.dk/news/national/88-national/47643-denmark-rife-with-co2-fraud.html

There are many more examples. Seriously, you are at this point a pathological liar. You've been proven, by me and others to be so. You lie and don't even know your lying. You promote lies as a function of your bankrupt ideology and call it truth. When will you ever learn?; 4/22/10, 8:29 PM
Methadras said...: TosaGuy said...

Have an ant hill? Sprinkle it with hominy grits or other stuff that swells big time in an ant's stomach.

I'm actually preferential to using a 60/40 sugar-Boric acid mix.; 4/22/10, 8:30 PM
Anonymous said...: I beg magazines and retailers and TV: please stop saying green.; 4/22/10, 10:23 PM
Opus One Media said...: I can just imagine this breakfast table talk:

Ann: dear, look at this neat new toy on the FAO site.
Meade: I would never sell that crap.
Ann: But Meade, honey, they look so cudly.
Meade: Give me good wooden toys. Something with substance that will last...not this cheap shit.Probably made in China anyway.
Ann: Oh Meade...get in the spirt..
Meade, picking up grapefruit and with a look of pure hatred....
Ann, backing away,....don't do that again dear...please...i'll write something bad about them on my blog...you'll see...it will be mean and nasty...just please no more grapefruit.....; 4/23/10, 4:33 AM
Synova said...: "I can just imagine this breakfast table talk:"

Really? You can?

What a sad sad life of the mind you live in.; 4/23/10, 7:52 AM
Opus One Media said...: Synova said...
"I can just imagine this breakfast table talk: Really? You can?"

Nahhh. Was just seeing who would rise to the bait. and....; 4/23/10, 8:18 AM
Synova said...: Oh, I see...

But while I "rose to the bait" the bait still smells and the smell is still on you.

Was it worth it?; 4/23/10, 11:11 AM
Opus One Media said...: not a jimmy cagney fan Synova?; 4/23/10, 6:39 PM