Earth Day in the City

“I have a smaller carbon footprint than you.” If children of eco-savvy parents aren’t throwing that phrase into the mix of “My dad can beat up your dad!” elementary school insults, they’ll start soon. Since Al Gore started showing his slides on the climate crisis, America’s become more cognizant of its emissions and publicized ways they can be offset and reduced. Playful carbon competitions are sure to ensue.

Or I could start the trend. Call me a little schoolboy, but I have a smaller carbon footprint than you. It’s because I live in the greenest city in America, AKA New York. This densely packed urban community consumes “gasoline at a rate that the country as a whole hasn’t matched since the mid-1920’s” and, if granted statehood, would rank 51st in per-capita energy use (we’ll just forget about the city’s waste management woes for the time being).

But, living in the eco-friendliest metropolis doesn’t necessarily make someone the greenest, and if there’s one annoying thing about environmentalism, it’s that you can always do more.

Aside from drinking from the tap, here are a couple tips on this Earth Day for hardcore urbanites who feel like they’re walking in the environmental equivalents of Kenny George kicks and want to step into something more sustainable.

Ryan is Hungry – Apartment Composting 101

Vermin + composting = something expectedly gross sounding, but if done right, vermicomposting yields great fertilizer for those trees you just planted. No backyard for a huge compost pile? No problem. If done right, a plastic bin full of refuse and refuse-eating worms isn’t supposed to make your apartment smell like the sum of its parts. Ryan is Hungry’s Ryanne Hodson and Freshtopia’s Barb Finn show you how it’s done.

###Sprig – Vegan Moby

When not licensing entire albums for television commercials of international corporations who most likely engage in questionable environmental activities, Moby is making the world a better place by not eating meat or dairy. It’s the most inconvenient of truths, but he’s right – going vegan might be the best thing you can do for Mother Nature.

I’m soft-core. For now, I’m sticking to old fashioned recycling and trying to eat local animal products.

Anyway, isn’t part of being eco-conscious figuring out ways to incorporate green things into your normal lifestyle? In that vein, I might make a weekend project out of building a green roof. It’s getting sunny in New York and laying out on top of my apt. on a bed of grass would beat that black tar.