January 1, 2012

10 Green New Year’s Resolutions for 2012

Will you ride your bike to work more often in 2012?<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/vonderauvisuals/6551034999/sizes/z/in/photostream/" target="_blank">vonderauvisuals</a>/Flickr

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Happy 2012! Now that the champagne toasts are made and the ball dropped, it’s time to start thinking ahead: What’s your green resolution for this year? We asked you to submit yours, from big (solar panels on the house!) to small (not driving to the supermarket that’s embarrassingly close to home). Here are 10 of our favorites:

 

 

 

  1. “Going red meat free. I am not quite ready to take the next step into full-on vegetarianism just yet, but this is a big start. The beef industry, while very important to my state (Kansas) is a lead producer of waste, greenhouse gases, and more. Plus, the stuff they put IN beef these days is really not good for the human body. As a cancer survivor at 32, I’d really like to avoid having to go through it again.” —Christina A.
     
  2. “Ride bicycle or walk to work more often (commute is 4.2 miles).” —Daniel B.
     
  3. “Last year, my chickens ate my garden, so we will be building a chicken coop instead of letting them free, although they did a great job: I did not see one grasshopper or earwig all summer.” —Melissa S.

  4. “Convince husband to try Meatless Mondays.” —Miranda S.
     
  5. “Buying paper books hurts the environment and my wallet. This year, I’m going to hit my local library. I can even borrow e-books from it.” —Elizabeth R.
     
  6. “Buying everything except food and TP second-hand.” —Wendy W.

  7. “I want to reduce the amount of food I waste by buying smaller quantities and finding creative ways to use ingredients I already have on hand.” —Ilana G.

  8. “Hook up the rain barrel that has been in my garage since I moved a year ago.” —Tasia M.
     
  9. “Saving money early in the year so I can do u-pick berries and such over the summer and freeze massive quantities for use in the winter. “ —Megan H.
     
  10. “Moving to a town with a high walkability score & shared commuting options for work! My car will be happily neglected.” —Abby A.

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WHO DOESN’T LOVE A POSITIVE STORY—OR TWO?

“Great journalism really does make a difference in this world: it can even save kids.”

That’s what a civil rights lawyer wrote to Julia Lurie, the day after her major investigation into a psychiatric hospital chain that uses foster children as “cash cows” published, letting her know he was using her findings that same day in a hearing to keep a child out of one of the facilities we investigated.

That’s awesome. As is the fact that Julia, who spent a full year reporting this challenging story, promptly heard from a Senate committee that will use her work in their own investigation of Universal Health Services. There’s no doubt her revelations will continue to have a big impact in the months and years to come.

Like another story about Mother Jones’ real-world impact.

This one, a multiyear investigation, published in 2021, exposed conditions in sugar work camps in the Dominican Republic owned by Central Romana—the conglomerate behind brands like C&H and Domino, whose product ends up in our Hershey bars and other sweets. A year ago, the Biden administration banned sugar imports from Central Romana. And just recently, we learned of a previously undisclosed investigation from the Department of Homeland Security, looking into working conditions at Central Romana. How big of a deal is this?

“This could be the first time a corporation would be held criminally liable for forced labor in their own supply chains,” according to a retired special agent we talked to.

Wow.

And it is only because Mother Jones is funded primarily by donations from readers that we can mount ambitious, yearlong—or more—investigations like these two stories that are making waves.

About that: It’s unfathomably hard in the news business right now, and we came up about $28,000 short during our recent fall fundraising campaign. We simply have to make that up soon to avoid falling further behind than can be made up for, or needing to somehow trim $1 million from our budget, like happened last year.

If you can, please support the reporting you get from Mother Jones—that exists to make a difference, not a profit—with a donation of any amount today. We need more donations than normal to come in from this specific blurb to help close our funding gap before it gets any bigger.

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