Sunday, January 28, 2007

Environmental Steps

I'm not a fanatic environmental activist, but I don't doubt that there is a global warming. At this point, it's probably safe to say most people agree that our society's progress has created impacted our environment.

So, what to do? There are many things we could do, but I wanted to post two things I just read in the news that might not be so obvious. The first has to do with where we live -- our homes. More specifically, the size of our homes. The article chronicled how so many houses are incorporating environmentally friendly features, such as solar panels, glasses to soak in more light, etc. While all these features are great, the biggest hazard we impose upon the environment is basically the size of our house. Bigger the house, more energy it takes up. And bigger the house, more land we take away from other animals. A few years back, when I was visiting Korea, I remember being surprised by how regular apartments/condos in Korea was much smaller than in America. Yet, despite the smaller size, you had all your basics -- space to sleep, eat, gathering space for family. I look at my own apartment, and I realize there are a lot of empty spaces to just walk around...just so I can call my own? It does seem rather wasteful.

The second thing may be a little more obvious. We have all heard it -- drive less. I heard in the news today that there is a national push for everyone to use public transportation at least once a week. The hope is that will reduce our energy consumption by 20%. So, if you drive to work (as most Americans do), the goal is that we take public transportation once a week. For me, I am walking to work now, and besides helping to reduce energy consumption, I love the stress-free commute! =)

Just some things to think about.

Hiking at Iron Mountain (Poway/San Diego County)

Yesterday, I went on a hike with an online social group I found, Meetup.com. It's amazing how internet can bring people to meet in real life, not just online. =) Anyway, the hike was my first Meetup.com event I attended, and I met a few folks (some new to San Diego, like me). Of course, I also enjoyed the view of the Iron Mountain as well. Here are some pictures... but I don't think it does justice to the panoramic view you get from the peak. Isn't that always the case?





Cars at Malibu

So my dad, my sister, and I went on a hike at Malibu earlier this month. When we got there, we were pretty much the only ones. But by the time we came back from our like hike, there were kzillion folks who had come for picnic/organization, who knows? The cool thing was they all had pretty unique (probably way expensive) cars and so I took a few pictures. Here they are.