Standing on a busy street corner holding a clipboard against her chest, beaming her smile and extending pamphlets to each passerby. Her eyes caught my attention; her pupils were like emerald marbles, with a perfectly circular abyss in the middle. The pamphlet promoted the Save the Earth Initiative; I don’t tend to talk to these kind of people, but she was too pretty. I asked her what it was about. Noticing I was smitten, she began her rehearsed long pitch, targeted specifically for the horny male that is willing to endure a five minute long sales pitch.
“Well, the Save the Earth Initiative has two overlapping goals. The first goal is to get people to reduce their carbon footprint. We are living beyond our means, every luxury we confuse for a necessity is slowly leading to our own demise. We are going to drown our grandchildren in the ocean so we can buy things we don’t need, and barely enjoy. For passing fads. For momentary pleasures. If you sign up for this initiative you will receive a monthly newsletter that outlines specific and progressive steps that can be taken to live a more sustainable and earth-friendly life. It starts off with little things: taking cold showers in the summer time, turning down the thermostat in the winter time, unplugging appliances when they are not being used, remembering to turn off lights. The initiative is a long-term plan, and we understand people need to take their time adjusting to new behaviors and routines. As the months pass, we will continue to lead you down the slow path towards a carbon-free lifestyle. Walking, buying a bike, going to bed and waking up earlier to use less electricity, starting a garden, taking shorter showers, flushing the toilet less, never using air conditioning. The newsletter also has great tips on reusing water during cooking and cleaning. Another thing I love about the newsletter is the map it has on the back of every issue showing you where the food from different grocery stores and restaurants actually comes from. That way you can pick the ones that have locally grown organic foods! The best thing is that these are all small steps anyone can take.
But anyway, enough about the first goal. The second goal has to do with another thing that plagues our earth, which is poverty. Those participating in the initiative agree to donate 50% of the savings made from the steps they take in adhering to the first goal. Those donations are used to invest in small projects in developing countries around the world. One of the great avoidable health hazards in the developing world is smoke inhalation from indoor cooking fires; one of the projects the Save the Earth Initiative funds is a gas stove project, which donates small portable gas stoves to those most in need. Save the Earth also has several water projects around the world, building water treatment plants to make drinkable running water a universal right. Along with the water projects, we also focus on providing electricity to these same families. Children who work all the day are unable to attend night classes because there is no electricity in their town; families who want to start a grocery store cannot do so because they don’t have refrigeration; the telephone lines don’t reach their villages, and they have no way to charge their cell phones to call in case of emergencies; they cannot plug in a fan during the hottest days in the tropics. Electricity is essential in raising their living standard. The last project we work on is in improving road conditions, so that the villages can be reached by emergency vehicles, and goods providers. It is sickening to think, that in the twenty-first century people are still dying preventable deaths because it took their family and friends too long to carry them to a hospital.
It’s really a great initiative. I’ve been doing it for three years! I’m lowering my carbon footprint while at the same time helping to alleviate poverty. It’s win-win! Next year they are going to fly me out to Haiti to see personally one of the projects I have donated to!”
“Wouldn’t it be simpler to just switch places with someone from Haiti? Have the Haitian family move to your house, and you move to theirs?” I asked.
She laughed, a short, genuine giggle. She handed me the clipboard and I put down my e-mail, mailing address, and credit card information. The whole time I kept waiting for the appropriate moment to ask her for her number. I never found it. I handed her back the clipboard, thanked her, and rushed home to cancel my inscription.
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