TED and Japanese Energy Hungry Toilet

First, let me mention in passing that I just discovered a REAALLY cool website which posts videos of famous people giving sometimes incredible presentations on just about anything interesting. Here is one that I liked about food:




Next up is this pretty weird article about Japanese toilets. Apparently there is a growing phenomenon of Japanese people buying toilets that have some crazy features. Here is an excerpt:

Japanese toilets can warm and wash one's bottom, whisk away odors with built-in fans and play water noises that drown out potty sounds. They play relaxation music, too. "Ave Maria" is a favorite.

High-end toilets can also sense when someone enters or leaves the bathroom, raising or lowering their lids accordingly. Many models have a "learning mode," which allows them to memorize the lavatory schedules of household members.

Thats pretty legit Washington Post reporting right there. All joking aside, there was a reason this article was in the "Green" section of the Post. Japan is notorious for energy conservation (hence origin of Kyoto agreement) so its a bit ironic that the growing fad is for something that consumes an enormous amount of energy just to make the bathroom experience more pleasant.

Oh the humanity.

Is it worth it?

I have to admit that I'm not the best at being sustainable, but I sure do try.

For example, right now I'm sitting in an air conditioned airport waiting for my flight to Atlanta to start boarding. Eventually I'll be going to California, which is about 2,700 miles away. Double that because I need to come back (unfortunately). So after punching in a couple numbers into TerraPass, I can calculate that this trip is going to produce at least 2,200lbs of CO2. WOW. That's equivalent to all the lights in my apartment running for 3 months straight, 24 hours a day.

BUT I walked and used the bus to get to the airport in the first place. AND I use energy efficient lights!

So do I still consider my efforts worthwhile?

Thats a tough question to answer, but the short end of the stick is yes. Living in America presents you with opportunities that are naturally going to make you make decisions that are more harmful for the environment. It's a combination of cheap energy and plentiful fuel-intensive activities.

If my ticket cost $2000 due to a higher environmental tax, I wouldn't have been able to afford the trip. But it doesn't, so I take advantage of the convenience.

I consider my efforts worthwhile because the small decisions towards sustainability can have more significant outcomes (atleast I'd like to think). Sure an airplane pollutes a ton, but choosing to eat locally empowers a healthier lifestyle for you and the environment for generations. Turning off the lights and the A/C for a few hours changes a behavioral mindset that says we always need everything "ON" to be happy. Riding a bike is like killing a lot of birds with one stone: exercise, sunshine, no gas and therefore no dependence on foreign oil. Although if you ride a bike in Gainesville, people will attempt to run you over.

The most important reason--of why this is all worth it--is that we are mindful. Just THINKING is saying that you care for future generations. Just being mindful of the hundreds of millions who live in extreme poverty is saying that you care that your lifestyle will not produce another burden for them to bear. For me, that is a starting point.

Facebook Stalking to a Green Lifestyle

It's 4pm in the afternoon and you just got home from school. Time to get on to Facebook and see what your friends have been posting on each others' walls about that awkward party the night before. While viewing the latest debauchery, you find something intriguing. You notice that one of your best friends creates a group entitled "We go big or go home." You join because maybe at the party you witnessed some hilarious collegiate insanities. Maybe you join just because your best friend invited you and you thought it was something sweet to have in your repertoire of group listings. Or perhaps you're quiet by nature, and maybe by joining you can project yourself to be someone with a slight edge to their character. More appealing to others you think. Lets say in a week you get a group e-mail from "We go big or go home" advertising a ridiculous theme party. Do you think that you are more likely to put yourself out there (meaning, you go crazy) at this new party due in some part to your newfound group association? You have to live up to it right? ...

Now consider this finding: Harvard medical sociologist Nicholas Christakis and UCSD political scientist James Fowler found by scavenging a social network of nearly 12,000 people in a Boston suburb that 67% of smokers who had a spouse who recently quit smoking, also quit smoking. If a friend quit, the chances of quitting increased by 36%.

What in the hell do these two random pieces of information have to do about sustainability? Simple. Social networks can change human behavior. While the green movement has seen little movement within social networks, there are various campaigns being waged to quickly form a social network of activism. But I believe popular networks are largely untapped. Is it possible that maybe one day we will be stalking friends' profiles to see how much they recycled the day before, or how much energy they saved by turning off the lights. Will we ever receive the same juicy feedback that may enable us to quit drinking our morning Starbucks out of those ubiquitous white cups and substitute a cheap reusable coffee mug instead? What will it take for conservation to be the new hit item of the Mini-Feed?