7gen Bloc

Today is International Ecological Debt Day. That is, today marks the day of the year when the world's annual demands for earth's natural resources outstrips the planet's annual ability to sustainably provide them and our annual impacts on the biosphere exceed the annual ability of the planet to absorb them. From this point in the year onward, according to data assembled by the Global Footprint Network, we're living on "natural credit" and borrowing against our future by using more than the earth can produce each year and leaving behind more than it can take back.

It recent came to our attention that Good Human blog had begun a post called Method vs. Seventh Generation - let the battle begin, and while I am appreciative of the opening to good deep dialogue it did raise questions.

So a bunch of folks here took off yesterday for the Natural Products Expo East in Baltimore. It’s a humongous trade show where people who make natural products show said products to the retailers and others who buy them. Think of it as a big giant schmooze-fest in a room roughly size of the Astrodome that’s filled with display booth after display booth of each manufacturer’s goodies.

Random objects of actionable reflection are careening in large number across my perennially cluttered plane of existence this fine morning. All you have to do is reach out with a net and see what you catch. Here’s a few I just reeled in:

Wandering around the blogosphere, one thing becomes clear fairly quickly: There aren’t a whole lot of active blogs out there in the digital ether working to create a movement of change or sustainability or whatever you want to call the one thing that we really need to get moving on. There are a lot of good blogs covering eco-issues and plenty of progressive political blogs, but these are mostly focused on specific subject areas and most often they’re more like a combination newsreel and soapbox than they are about trying to get town meeting going to make a broad range of things happen.

For those following the twisted saga of our local International Paper Company plant’s intention to burn tires and sewage sludge in its boiler to save a few bucks on their monthly fuel bill, here’s an update from downwind of the Big Ugly: Plant officials have announced their intention to conduct their initial test burn sometime in early November. They have to give New York State authorities 30 days notice, and that notice is expected any day now.