boo hiss carbon

who thought those three little words could mean so much?

i am jumping headfirst into eco funness up here. last night i met with a group in rutland that coordinates and sponsors a ton of events bringing awareness to sustainability and the environment. there's going to be a big event on october 24 = the international day of climate action (check out www.350.org). the day is about making people aware of the impact they are having on the climate due to their carbon contributions... and a lot of business are sponsoring events around the number "350" (for 350 parts per million of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere). the yoga studio is doing 350 minutes of yoga, a church is doing 350 minutes of prayer.. and no, you do not need to be there the whole time for either of those. my students and i are going to make big CO2 molecules out of junk/trash and put them on display downtown. very exciting.....

so we're talking about all the different events we're doing and how we're going to coordinate/organize them.. and can i say how awesome it is to sit next to a 90-year-old church-going lady who keeps mumbling about how much she hates walmart. talk eventually turns to getting a big banner put up downtown that says something like "sustainable rutland: ways to reduce your carbon footprint." and then i pipe in with "OR..... boo hiss carbon." mind you, i have only met one of these people at the table one time before. an older woman looks at me and says "what did you say?" i mumble "boo hiss carbon," and she looks at the head lady and says "oh, that's good. write that down." i start laughing so hard that i have to pull my scarf over my face to hide my blushing and quickly reddening face. the older woman than comments on how creative i am, and i tell her that if "boo hiss carbon" makes it onto a banner i will have to remove myself from the group. cus that's outrageous. a huge banner with BOO HISS CARBON may be hanging in downtown rutland. and she kept saying it and pointing at me and smiling this big "oh that's good" smile for the remaining 45 minutes of the meeting. boo hiss indeed.