Tuesday, April 22, 2008

earth day in many photos, few words


UPDATE (4/24): I forgot to give credit for the gas station installation. Please visit the
International Fiber Collaborative to learn more!




I was gone for a little over a week. This is what our flowers looked like before I left. When I came back, Spring had settled in Syracuse, because our yard and garden looked like this:







Flowers were not the only new thing to have cropped up while I was gone. Yesterday, Daiku took me to see this new project in our neighborhood:



It's an abandoned gas station, reclaimed with all of these intricate and beautiful patches, as a way of drawing attention to our energy consumption. We stood around for a long time admiring the work that went into each individual panel:









To celebrate Earth Day, we have decided to finally sign up for 100% wind energy for our house. The process was fast and easy, and based on our electricity usage, our monthly bill shouldn't go up more than $10-12 a month. If the prospect of that small increase inspires us to use less electricity, so much the better.

The majority of Americans have the option of converting all or part of their energy usage to wind, hydroelectric, solar, or other more environmentally friendly options. Look into the possibilities in your area. Happy Earth Day!


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20 comments:

Anonymous said...

Beautiful photos! We're on green power too, it's mostly windpower around here, but we don't get to choose what source we want. As long as it's green I'm ok with it!
Last time we got our electricity bill we had only payed about 4 dollar extra over three months for green power so that's cheap and awesome!

Unknown said...

I need to look into that wind thing. well, we have a lot of wind here at home, if you catch my drift [which I hope you don't...]. but not the right kind.
oy.

Avery Yale Kamila said...

That reclaimed gas station is amazing! What a really cool idea. I miss Syracuse!!

LizNoVeggieGirl said...

Bazu, your photographs are truly worth 1000 words, and more - wonderful!! Happy belated Earth Day :0)

Vegan_Noodle said...

So glad that spring has finally arrived in Syracuse!
And that patchwork is amazing! So colorful... we had a vacant gas station by our place for a long time. THey are finally doing something with it now, my guess is another gas station :-(
That's awesome about the 100% wind power! I should look into that here in Houston....

Rural Vegan said...

That gas station project is so amazing. So much talent and hard work there!

Anonymous said...

Wow, that gas station project is seriously incredible. I can't stop staring at those pictures!

Lori- the Pleasantly Plump Vegan said...

those flowers are gorgeous!

urban vegan said...

Great post, Bazu....The gas station installation is so inspiring. Nice to see art getting political again.

And good on ya' for the wind energy!

Animal-Friendly said...

The patches on that gas station are beautiful- what a great thing to see on Earth Day

aTxVegn said...

Love the gas station! Your flowers are beautiful.

Wheeler's Frozen Dessert said...

Pretty pictures! Happy Spring :)

Wheeler's Frozen Dessert said...

Pretty pictures! Happy Spring :)

village mama said...

yeah to you celebrating earth day as a way of life!

Catherine Weber said...

Happy Earth Day, and hooray for green power! I signed up for windsource through my power company a couple of years ago, and it has minimally increased my bill, too. (And, my bill keeps going DOWN! Woo!)

Melisser; the Urban Housewife said...

Oh wow, I'll have to look in to our wind power options! The flowers look so lovely! I'm sitting here eating more popcorn, hehehe.

Anonymous said...

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Vinicius

Anonymous said...

absolutely love the photos!

Carrie™ said...

I just love those gas pumps! That is such a cool idea. I especially like the last photo. No matter what "they" say, WE KNOW that's the truth. Flowers are springing up all over here too. I'm so excited!

Liz Ranger (Bubble Tea for Dinner) said...

Holy wow! that reclaimed gas station is incredible!