If the human race does not take immediate environmental action, it will not survive past the year 2000. This was the grim prediction made by the scientists and government officials at Project Survival, the first in a series of “teach-ins” held on college campuses, sponsored by 12 Northwestern departments and NSBE. Three months before the very first Earth Day, the best environmental minds convened in Tech Auditorium to discuss what they already knew would be the heavy burden of future generations: taking care of the planet.

Students sat in the aisles all through the night to hear about the imminent dangers posed by pollution, radioactive fallout and the depletion of the earth’s natural resources. Northwestern distinguished itself as a leader among college campuses in what Illinois Attorney General William Scott called “one of the greatest crusades to hit the college campuses.”

That was 1970: pre-oil crises, pre-Priuses and pre-An Inconvenient Truth.

Northwestern no longer leads the pack when it comes to sustainability. “We’re not lagging, but we’re not leading. And I think Northwestern likes to lead,” says Assistant to the Vice President of Student Affairs Burgwell Howard, who is also a leader of SWaG.

The bright side: gains can be made quickly. Environmentalist energy buzzes on campus, making excellent progress in academics, research and facilities management, and through the work of student groups. But until these entities intersect and coordinate, Northwestern will continue to lose ground to greener schools.

Activity in the dark

Northwestern is like your mom pretending to be the tooth fairy: leaving green and getting no credit. Though earth-minded action occurs all over campus, it is seldom well-publicized.

All new buildings and major renovations at Northwestern are now being built according to LEED standards, and recycling has made significant improvements in a very short amount of time. The Evanston campus saw a 10 percent jump in the recycling rate from 2005 to 2008. “Basically, we’re seeing the recycling diversion rate [the percentage of the total trash that gets recycled] increasing, and that’s the goal,” says Julie Cahillane, manager of refuse and recycling for facilities management and another head of SWaG.

“We’re close to peer institutions with similar programs,” Cahillane says, but composting would make a big difference. Composting diverts organic matter (like food scraps) from landfills and turns it into a useful material. The stuff is almost magical: it can suppress plant diseases and pests, facilitate reforestation, capture and destroy industrial volatile organic chemicals and even make crops more productive.

One challenge with making energy-saving changes is measuring their effectiveness. Consultants are currently working on detailed energy audits of all the buildings on both the Evanston and Chicago campuses and identifying energy conservation projects to undertake over the next few years. According to Ronald Naylor, director of facilities management, funding for at least $10 million of energy conservation projects are already in place, with facilities management expecting to find more projects to fund after the audit. Norris will be one of the first buildings to be renovated, with a rehaul of the heating, air conditioning, ventilation and lighting systems this summer.

Many of the initiatives on campus originated from student ideas or are executed by student groups. The new trios of outdoor recycling bins were pushed through by SEED and implemented in only one academic quarter. SEED is also working on establishing a loan fund for sustainability projects, modeled off a similar initiative at Harvard. Engineers for a Sustainable World is seeking a use for waste vegetable oil on campus. Green House was started by a student movement, and Green Cup becomes more successful every year.

Greening is also reaching the classroom. During fall quarter, Climate Change and Local Action was offered through the political science department. The class looked at municipal and university climate action plans and the students produced a report released in January. The report made recommendations on transport, energy efficiency, renewable energy and food.

The Program in Environmental Policy and Culture, a Weinberg minor now in its fourth year, is making rapid progress improving and expanding course offerings and student involvement. ter. SEED is also working on establishing a loan fund for sustainability projects, modeled off a similar initiative at Harvard. Engineers for a Sustainable World is seeking a use for waste vegetable oil on campus. Green House was started by a student movement, and Green Cup becomes more successful every year.

Greening is also reaching the classroom. During fall quarter, Climate Change and Local Action was offered through the political science department. The class looked at municipal and university climate action plans and the students produced a report released in January. The report made recommendations on transport, energy efficiency, renewable energy and food.

The Program in Environmental Policy and Culture, a Weinberg minor now in its fourth year, is making rapid progress improving and expanding course offerings and student involvement. According to program director and political science senior lecturer Yael Wolinsky, enrollment in social sciences and humanities courses in environmentalism have almost doubled over the last three years.

“Students are much more interested in environmental issues,” Wolinsky says. “The program has expanded quite a bit and it is a reflection of student demand and growing general interest.” Starting next fall, a one quarter program on environmentalism in China will be offered in Shanghai and Hong Kong.

But Wolinsky would still like to see more, including offering environmental policy as a major and a requiring all students to take a class in environmental education and sustainability. “It is really important that students receive proper environmental education,” she says. “The university has an important role in educating students in an educational and social role in leadership in these areas. From this perspective, it is almost a mission.”

With our powers combined

The individual entities involved with environmentalism and sustainability at Northwestern are a bit like Captain Planet’s Planeteers. Earth, Wind, Water, Fire and Heart are each powerful on their own, but until they join their rings together and form Captain Planet, they are not fulfilling their potential for action.

“I think that there are a lot of small pockets of people who are doing a lot and are really passionate and involved,” says Weinberg sophomore Jackie Beard, one of the co-founders of the Green House. “But it’s difficult for those people to be connected. A lot of the time they are fighting the same battles with different groups of people.” SWaG acts as a platform for discussions between different groups on campus, but it is not enough. Northwestern needs a sustainability coordinator.

New York University’s sustainability task force is headed by project coordinator Jeremy Friedman. The task force is a university sanctioned advisory body that makes and helps implement annual recommendations.

Many involved in sustainability at Northwestern agree that hiring someone like Friedman is necessary now. SWaG is not enough, as its members cannot devote their full attention to a task that needs a 40 hour-a-week commitment.

But can the university afford an additional office and budget for that person? Naylor says no. Though it could be something to consider later on, he says, right now his office would like to make more capital investments in energy conservation and find ways to save money given the current financial situation. Howard and Friedman disagree. Costs can be met by the savings netted from energy saving improvements.

Howard estimates that $100,000 would be enough to cover a staff person’s salary and benefits, plus a graduate assistant or some student employees. While that is a lot of money, it would be a good move with the savings hiring someone would bring.

In April, the Sustainability Working Group organized Mount Trashmore to demonstrate how wasteful campus can be. Photo: Cassi Saari / North by Northwestern

“Establishing a new position…would be a challenge,” Howard says. “What a sustainability coordinator can… [accomplish is help] people understand the return on investment. The savings that you get from the decisions you make contribute towards the expense of this position.”

Stacking up

Admissions may boast to prospective students about our student to faculty ratio, retention rates and graduation rates, but there are other measurements they should consider. Twenty-three percent of prospective students and their parents reported that information about a school’s commitment to the environment would “strongly” or “very much” impact application and enrollment decisions according to a survey administered by The Princeton Review.

On a green scale of 60 – 99, The Princeton Review gives Northwestern a 60. Harvard earns a 99 and NYU follows closely with a 96. A 60 seems pretty harsh, especially to many Northwestern students who would call home crying with such a low grade.

The Sustainable Endowments Institute, which gives schools letter grades with their College Sustainability Report Card, awarded Northwestern a C+. Though Northwestern received an A in investment priorities and solid B’s in transportation, student involvement, green building and food and recycling, the school scored C’s in administration and climate change and energy as well as D’s in endowment transparency and shareholder engagement. We’re a school of notorious overachievers: If we find a C+ in Introduction to Fiction embarrassing, we should be shamed into action by a C+ in sustainability.

Harvard, often held up as the shining example of sustainability, achieved an A-. NYU, where Friedman works, climbed to a B- this year from a C just two years ago. Northwestern might convince prospective students that we’re the Ivy of the Midwest with our academics, but we can hardly compete when it comes to environmental ratings.

“No one likes a C+. I would love to see us move up a full letter grade for next year if possible,” Howard says.

Sustainability efforts and culture at other universities are accelerating quickly. Arizona State University has a School of Sustainability that offers trans-disciplinary degree programs and a required course for all incoming freshmen includes sustainability education. Starting this spring at the University of New Hampshire, up to 85 percent of the campus’s energy will come via methane gas from a nearby landfill. The university expects payback of the approximately $49 million the project costs within ten years. At College of the Atlantic, all electricity comes from renewable hydropower.

When institutions invest time, money and intellectual efforts towards preserving the planet, everybody wins. The Wildcats led the push back in January of 1970 and can do so again – the commitment and resources are already in place.

Get in touch with your inner wine-o. Photo by bonimo on Flickr, licensed under the Creative Commons.

Sure, it’s not a frat party without a keg and a baseball game begs for a cool beer-in-hand, but sometimes a bottle of wine is just the touch your get-together needs. And no, that doesn’t mean switching things up with a game of slap the Franzia bag.

Worldwide wine consumption may be on the decline, but the U.S. is experiencing just the opposite. A Mintel report attributes American wine drinking growth to the industry’s efforts to make it less “intimidating.” As a generation, we’re more open to trying new wines and don’t have the same preconceptions our parents did. Still, says the report, less than 25 percent of 21 to 24-year-olds drink wine.

Are we missing out? Robert D. Richards, a certified specialist of wine through the Society of Wine Educators, says, “wine is a food. There’s nothing better than pairing up a great wine with a great meal.” So next time you have a special date, cook a fancy meal or imbibe with friends, trade in that six-pack for a nice sauvignon blanc. You might find yourself pleasantly surprised.

But isn’t good wine out of my price range?
Richards says no. “Price is not an indicator of the quality of wine,” he says. “You can find many very good quality wines that are inexpensive, and you can pay a lot of money for stuff that isn’t very good.”

One trick to finding a well-priced, high quality bottle: use wine magazine ratings (try Wine Spectator or Wine Enthusiast Magazine). Whole Foods uses “shelf talkers” that tell you the ratings. Seek out a high rating and a low price, and you’re good to go. And remember, it’s all about what you like. “If you like it, then it’s a good wine,” says Richards.

Aren’t there complicated rules about what kind of wines to pair with certain foods?
Not anymore. True, the wisdom once was that whites go well with fish and other light dishes, and reds pair better with heavier meals like beef dishes. But, “there are lots of great whites that work well with meat, and reds that work well with fish,” says master mixologist Livio Lauro, from Southern Wine and Spirits. “So typically the new rule of thumb is enjoy whatever wine you like with the food you’re eating. Whatever you feel is good is the new rule.”

Want a safe bet? Master Sommelier and director of wine education for Southern Wine and Spirits of Illinois, Serafin Alvarado, has recommendations for wines that go well with everything. Like white? Try a sauvignon blanc, reisling or pinot grigio. A fan of reds? Try a pinot noir or Chianti.

What am I tasting for when the waiter pours a taste? And why do people swirl and sniff their glasses?
When a waiter offers you a taste, they don’t want to know if you like it or not. You are tasting it to make sure there aren’t flaws, it doesn’t taste like cork and it doesn’t smell bad. As for the sniffing? It’s not just to make you look silly. Swirling the wine aerates it and brings out the flavors and aromas. “The aroma of wine or the flavor of wine is really achieved through the nose,” says Richards. “That’s why you smell first; so when you taste, it you’re really smelling and tasting at the same time.”

Is it true red wine is good for you?
Yes, in moderation. According to The National Cancer Institute, red wine may inhibit the development of certain cancers. Thank the antioxidant resveratrol, a polyphenol that has been shown to inhibit cancer cells and reduce inflammation. The Mayo Clinic reports that the alcohol in red wine, along with antioxidants, may be — in moderate amounts — good for your heart, though studies on heart health benefits are mixed. Want to live forever? The New York Times reported last year that red wine may slow aging. But if you over-imbibe, defined as more than four drinks in one sitting for men and three drinks in one sitting for women, you negate the health benefits you may have otherwise received.

When do I drink?
Dillo Day presents the perfect opportunity to try out your newfound appreciation for wine. This year, spice things up with a wine and cheese party. No doubt your friends will be impressed, and you can brag that you kept it classy on Dillo Day… at least for 45 minutes.

Sometimes when I travel, I lie. Not to the security people, because that would be illegal, but to the people in the waiting area by the gate or sitting next to me on the plane. A typical conversation could go as follows:

Unsuspecting, sort of cute, friendly gate mate: So, are you going to New York on business?

Me: Yeah, it is.

At this point in the conversation I would take out a magazine, (The New Yorker or Harper’s… carefully hiding the Glamour I bought at the newsstand) and start to read. Unsuspecting Cute Gate Mate would think, “What a smart, cool woman. I hope I’m seated in her row.”

In real life, I lose everything and can never actually see the surface of my own desk. But in Airport World, suspended between the chaos of where I’m coming from and the craziness of where I’m going to, a pulled-together-has-her-life-under-control-always-brushes-her-hair-before-leaving-the-house self surfaces. I smile at the security officers who check my drivers license every 10 feet and laugh every time they comment how I look 14 years old in my photo. My boarding pass is ready to flash and my ID is not buried in the bottom of my purse. I remember not to wear shoes that take forever to lace and my socks are clean. My liquids are in less-than-three-ounce containers and are in a plastic zip-top bag, and it’s easily accessible in my neatly packed carry-on. The security guards love me because I follow the rules perfectly. I own those security checkpoints.

Most of the time, I’m flying between New York and Chicago. I go back and forth between home and school, bouncing between two separate spheres, each with its own set of anxieties, demands and personas. Like a basketball being bounced across a gym floor, I hit each of my lives with a thud, make some noise and then get up again and move. The airport represents the peak of that parabolic journey, a place I can hang for a moment after the journey up before heading back down to either reality.

After security, I like to find my gate and then a really good cup of coffee (these are hard to find). Airport food is always overpriced but I usually treat myself to something sweet and cake-y to go with my soy cappuccino. And that’s it. Coffee, check. Scone, check. Mission accomplished. In between home and school I allow myself to just sit with my coffee and do nothing else, or read trashy magazines or look out the window and listen to Joni Mitchell while watching the planes take off and get smaller and smaller. No voice in my head urges me to be productive.

I like to stand beneath the boards of arrivals and departures and see where all the people are going. Nobody here is static and their motion signifies purpose. I’ll remember nostalgically when I was on the flights I envy today. London to Rome, Barcelona to Florence, Amsterdam to London. I knew all the airport codes in Western Europe and instead of shuttling between home and school I traveled for exploration and adventure. I didn’t have to lie in the airport to make myself more interesting. Other times I think about which of the trips I’ll someday take, who I’ll take them with, how old I’ll be, who I’ll be.

Old places can seem new again if you’re traveling to them instead of from them. Even home holds new promise once you’ve been away for a while. It’s like when you don’t see your family for a while and you miss them so much because without their faces constantly in yours you’ve forgotten how you always fight. This idea works for places too. When I haven’t been home for a while I forget how boring suburbia is, how there’s never anybody around, how a trip to Target becomes the highlight of a day.

And new places! Without even a trace of bad memory to haze over, new places hold incredible potential of fulfilling that perfect Lonely Planet experience. I can picture myself strolling down the Champs-Élysées and being mistaken for a Parisian or meeting cute surfers on the beach in Malibu. In these pictures it never rains, my feet don’t hurt from walking all day and sand doesn’t get in my bathing suit. It’s perfect and before I arrive I can still wholeheartedly believe that the destination will live up to my ideals and sometimes believing this is the best part of a trip.

I like to make lists in the airport, of all the things I want to do or see or accomplish or photograph, and I like believing that I’ll have all of these crossed off by the time I board my return flight. I furiously mark up guidebooks and study maps so I can be the perfect traveler. I make schedules. I have conversations with myself in my head in Spanish so I don’t embarrass myself upon landing and ask where to find sopa (soup) instead of jabón (soap) in the farmacia. I try and memorize the phrases in the Italian phrasebooks so I don’t look like a stupid American. Perhaps it’s a delusion, but it’s one I enjoy.

Hassles at security, long waits, greasy food and frequent delays have taken the pleasure out of air travel for most people. Once upon a time people dressed up to fly. They wore suits and hats and ties instead of pajama pants and slip on shoes that take eight seconds less to remove at security. Now, when people say they love to travel, they usually mean the activities that commence once the plane has landed and they’ve gotten themselves out of that godforsaken fluorescent nightmare of an airport. Not me. I eagerly anticipate the hours between check in and take off, when I can be alone and surrounded by people, drink my coffee, and bathe in the belief that good things are on the other side of my flight. Optimism comes more easily in that strangely bright and artificial crossroads of humanity.

The event featured Eddie Einbinder, author of How to Have Fun and Not Die, who spoke to about 25 people in Norris on Tuesday. Einbinder’s speech, part of NU’s NORML-SSDP’s Drug Week, raised important questions about how we talk about drugs, and how and why people get drug related information the way they do.

Ritalin can lead to psychotic episodes, cardiovascular complications, and severe psychological addiction. Photo by PburghStever on Flickr, licensed under the Creative Commons.

“Don’t come away with a false sense of security, but a stronger sense of insecurity,” Einbinder said. “Every decision one makes regarding drugs is dangerous. This is why we need to be educated.”

That makes sense: teaching kids about the drugs they are going to take anyway can only lead to good things — fewer deaths, overdoses and addictions. But the specifics of his advice on what drugs are okay to take, what cocktails might kill you, when to make yourself puke and how to do drugs … these I don’t feel comfortable reporting.

Because Einbinder is not a chemist, biologist or an MD. He simply does not have the credentials to make him an expert. And while he claims that everything in the book is “double and triple checked” with doctors, none of these supposed MDs will attach their names to what he’s published. The book has no source list.

Perhaps this is the essence of the problem. Einbinder has to use anonymous sources because nobody wants to give advice to kids on how to take illegal drugs safely because, well, they’re illegal. And often dangerous.

But what about legal drugs, like Oxycontin, Adderall and Ritalin? Shouldn’t somebody be telling kids what will happen when they crush and snort their ADHD medicine? Prescription drug use is second in America only to marijuana. The National Survey on Drug Use and Health reports that more than 20.3 percent of people older than 12 have used a psychotherapeutic for non-medical purposes at some point in their life.

Ignoring the problem is obviously not working. Somebody has to teach kids how to avoid death by drugs because frankly, just telling them not to do it is going to be as effective as preventing pregnancy with abstinence only sex education.

For tackling this task, I applaud Einbinder. But I’ll revoke my cheers for the parts of his talk that felt like the cool kids in high school irresponsibly laughing off the potential consequences of their actions. For a man who appears to take the dangers of drugs seriously, Einbinder was irritatingly irreverent when discussing the possibility of pot being laced with PCP, and the resulting feeling that one must “embrace potential death.”

And relaying advice on how to take heroin (a drug that can lead to respiratory failure, heart infection and liver disease in addition to addiction and increased risk of HIV contraction) “safely” — that I won’t do. Call me a prude if you must, but your kidneys will thank me.

Hour 10: Your Memory
Leave Reading Week studying until after DM. A German study found that sleep deprivation negatively affects students’ ability to commit information to memory. Students who weren’t allowed to sleep for 10 hours after they memorized vocabulary lists were able to recall 15 percent less information 48 hours after studying even though they were allowed to go home and sleep the day and night before testing.

Hour 13: Your Heart
And you thought the only beat you had to worry about was the one banging from the speakers. A Turkish study found that by 8:00 the morning after a sleepless night, healthy young adults were more prone to arrhythmias or irregular heartbeats. Just look to last year’s DM dancers for proof.

Hour 30: Your Body’s Ability to Self-Rule
And by self-control, we don’t mean your sudden inability to stop yourself from assaulting your ex dancing a few feet away. A Finnish study found that 60 hours without sleep caused a decreased heart rate and lower body temperature, indicating a change in your heart’s self-regulation and your body’s overall thermoregulation.

Bartlett, on the first day of his journey traveling through Vermont. Photo provided by Bartlett.

Nate Bartlett was tired. He’d been biking all day up the long hills that led towards Vermont. Twice that day he had needed to repair tires that seemed to conspire against him and go flat almost instantaneously. Through eastern New York, he faced incline after incline. At the end of the day, Nate was not back at home in a warm bed: He was in a riverside tent, and he had 14 more days of cycling to go.

Cars. Buses. Trains. Planes. Most freshmen arrive at Northwestern using a combination of these transportation methods.

But for Nate Bartlett? Bicycles. The McCormick freshman biked 1,100 miles from his home in Leyden, Mass. to Northwestern to start his college career. The 19-year-old and his father, Sam Bartlett, planned a trip from Massachusetts to Chicago, through New York on routes and roads that followed the Erie Canal, to Niagara Falls, across Ontario and through Michigan, eventually heading to Evanston in time for Bartlett to start Project Wildcat. Bartlett and his father intended to cycle about 10 100-mile days, leaving space in the 15-day trip for rest and weather problems.

“When I was in high school, I would bike about 14 miles to school, so I asked my dad if he would ride to Northwestern with me,” said Bartlett. His father’s first reaction? “That’s a long way to ride!”

“But I also realized it was an opportunity that I couldn’t pass up, to spend two weeks with Nate doing something we both love,” said Nate’s father, Sam.

Bartlett, who has been riding since age two, commonly cycled with his father; biking is a central part of their family life. Bartlett had done longer rides before — like 200 miles over two days — and saw the trip to school as a challenge for which he was prepared.

“I regularly rode with other riders who were better than me and older than me. I figured if I got good enough, I could do it,” he said.

But this was a trip unlike any he had ever made before. Besides the daily exertion of constant pedaling, the Bartlett men had days when everything seemed to be working against them. Weather. Cars. Flats. The hardest part of the trip for Sam? “The seventh flat tire in one day,” he said. “It seemed Nate’s tire was blowing out for no reason. We were out of spares and realized our patch kit wasn’t working.”

He kept a blog and a Facebook page for the trip and kept statistics on daily accomplishments and sights (including roadkill and bunny tallies). “Everyone I talked to wanted to hear about it,” he said. “In 2007, I met someone biking cross-country and writing about it on his blog. Things like statistics evolved as we went, an interesting way to do a little trivia about each day. It was cool to see people were reading it.”

Sam Bartlett, bicycling along Lake Erie. Photo provided by Bartlett.

Fellow students in the incoming freshman class followed his trip, as did members of the cycling club.
Just as inspiring was Bartlett’s ability to stay upbeat even when things were tough. Biking through Niagara Falls had its frustrations, including tricky signs: instead of using a stop sign when a bike path intersected with the road, Canada used yield signs.

“But when we got to the other side of the Rainbow Bridge, the customs officer was a cyclist and he gave us advice on a route,” said Bartlett.

Assistance from strangers was common; in one instance, someone offered to find them a place to stay the night. “In the biking community, people are always interested to see where people are going,” Bartlett said. “They relate to you directly.”

Before Bartlett even got to campus, he encountered the dangers of Sheridan Road. Traveling through Illinois proved scary due to ruthless drivers who on one occasion almost cut him off, making Bartlett nearly hit the car.

Bartlett described arriving at Northwestern: “It was raining. I had my backpack in my trailer and it was wet. I was cold. But I saw some people and they were like, ‘Oh, you’re that kid that biked here, that’s so cool.’ And I went in and started meeting people.”

He especially enjoyed participating in the cycling club while the academic year was still new, before the realities of being a student hit him. Still, he did a ride every other week until the cold settled in and he stopped riding outside. “Racing season starts in March,” he said. “I don’t know much about the races at all, but I’m looking forward to it.”

In the meantime, Bartlett will begin training indoors. As for getting around campus, he has not yet joined the ranks of Northwestern students pedaling up and down Sheridan Road and Campus Drive. That will soon change. “I don’t ride my bike up to Tech because [my bike is] pretty expensive,” he said. “But I built a bike with snow tires for this quarter.”

Inspired By Nate? Become a Biking Buff.

Plan a route. Look to the Adventure Cycling Association to help you plan a trip. They have 38,000 miles of routes mapped. According to Winona Sorensen, the association’s media director, all the routes have been researched and created for the pedaling crowd, which means quiet or scenic roads, low traffic and a good shoulder. “Mapping your own ride is a great way to go,” Sorensen said. “But we really research and plan routes that are specifically for cyclists.”

Ride baby, ride. Getting off the couch and into the saddle is the most important thing you can do to prepare for a ride, said triathlon coach Elliot Bassett, a tour specialist at Adventure Cycling. To prepare for a long, one-day trip, Bassett recommends starting to ride three to five times a week. Start with 30 minutes and build up to two hours of steady riding. Mix it up with spin classes if the stationary bike gets too boring. Once the weather warms and you can get out on the road, Bassett advises heading down to the lakefront once a week and taking increasingly longer rides. “When you come out of winter, start at two hours and do shorter rides through the week,” he said. “Progressively build that ride up to six or seven hours with longer mileage. If your goal is to ride 100 miles, build it up slowly, add a half hour or an hour every week.” And remember to enjoy it. Bring snacks, remember to stop and rest, and take in the scenery.

Get conditioned. The most important exercise to prepare you for cycling is, well, cycling. But Khashayar Sarrafi, a master personal trainer at SPAC, recommends also keeping fit with the rowing machine (“one of the best cardio workouts”), the elliptical on high resistance, or jumping rope (“you’ll get the result of a half hour on the treadmill in five minutes.”) He also suggests strength training with the following moves that work multiple muscle groups at once:

1. Stand on a Bosu (ball side up), with one foot on top and the other foot on the floor. Hold a medicine ball about five inches away from your body, with your knees slightly bent. Squat and jump over the Bosu from one side to the other. Extend your arms with the medicine ball while you jump. Then jump again, returning both your arms and legs to the starting position. Repeat.
2. Flip a Bosu over so the half ball is on the floor. Stand on the flat side (balancing will be tricky!) with your feet shoulder-width apart and knees slightly bent. Make sure to keep your back straight. Hold a kettle ball in front of your thighs. Do a squat, and as you rise back to starting position, lift your arms overhead using a swinging motion. When you return to squat again, bring your arms back down. Repeat.
3. Position the Bosu again so the half ball is on the floor. Balance on the flat side, holding a medicine ball. Squat down and bring the ball to one of your toes. As you rise, extend the medicine ball to the opposite side overhead. Repeat. Switch sides.

Stay safe. Don’t forget your helmet (duh!), but also remember safety glasses (sunglasses are fine), a whistle, and a flashlight and reflective vest if you’re riding at dawn or dusk. On longer rides, bring along a small first aid kit and some maintenance tools, and don’t forget to stay hydrated and warm.

This might lack some of the pizazz of a real tree, but it’s much better for the environment. Photo by Screwtape on Flickr, licensed under the Creative Commons.

Parents warring over the last hot toy of the season on Wal-Mart’s shelves, families maxing out credit cards to fill the space under the tree with shiny new things, the search for the perfect New Year’s Eve dress – the holidays bring out the worst in our consumer addiction. What was once a time focused on family and friends, love and joy has become an exhausting exercise in consumption. Yet according to a survey referenced by the Center for a New American Dream, more than 25 percent of Americans wish the holidays were less materialistic, and almost 90 percent think the holidays should be more about caring for others and less about gift-giving. Returning to the true holiday spirit and moving away from the culture of excess will not only help the planet, but will also make your holidays less stressful and more pleasurable.

Inspired to be earth-friendly this December? Heed the following eco-advice.

1. Swap traditional holiday lights for energy-saving ones. Planning on decorating your digs with lights this year? The Sierra Club advises switching to Energy Star approved LED ones, which they say can save up to $50 on energy bills (and who couldn’t use that cash right now?).

2. Send “tree free” holiday cards. Co-Op America suggests e-cards to avoid contributing to that stadium of paper, or searching their National Green Pages (a directory of screened and approved green businesses) for cards made of treeless resources like hemp.

3. Consider your tree’s mommy. Your Christmas tree came from Mother Earth, so minimize the harm caused to her by putting it in your living room: make sure to recycle it.

4. Get artsy with your gift wrap. Standard gift wrap: boring and wasteful. Summon your creativity and wrap gifts with recycled or unconventional materials. My favorite is magazine pages; glossy color ads from old issues of Vogue make unique gift-wrap I always get compliments on. The Center for a New American Dream recommends newspaper comics, decorated paper bags, maps, thrift store fabrics or fabric remnants, scarves or the artwork from your old wall calendar. Remember to reuse gift bags, boxes, and ribbon, and save gift-wrap you receive this year to use again.

5. Gift green. There’s no need to completely eliminate gift-giving from your holiday rituals. But thinking about the planet when choosing presents can minimize your impact, and can also be a way to subtly teach your circle about environmentalism. Give a gift to the planet by slipping your pals pre-written postcards to your congressperson requesting action on your environmental issue of choice, or make a donation to an environmental cause on their behalf. Need stocking stuffers? The Little Book of Living Green is tiny, inexpensive, and printed on recycled paper with soy ink.

10:00 – Morning bathroom routine

This probably wouldn’t happen if you just recycled your plastic bags. Photo by Topsy at Waygood on Flickr, licensed under Creative Commons

Among leaky faucets, disposable paper products and cleansers with harsh chemicals, the bathroom is a minefield of environmentally problematic situations. And while I hesitate to tell you to start using a family cloth, there are many barely noticeable changes you can make without the ick factor. Five quick, easy switches:

1) Blow dry your hair less often. Try alternating air-dry with heat-dry days, and when you must blast your locks, wait until they’re 80 percent dry before plugging in.

2) Stop being cheap and buy a real razor. Disposables add to landfills and are usually pretty crappy anyway.

3) Don’t dump all your regular products and run out and buy earth friendly ones, but the next time you need to replace your shampoo, conditioner, soap, etc, look for an eco-friendly, natural option. Who wants all those chemicals on his or her skin anyway?

4) Recycle containers. Seems obvious, but if your recycling bin is in your kitchen, you may not think of it when your shampoo bottle hits empty.

5) Of course, conserve as much water as you can. According to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, letting your faucet run for five minutes uses as much energy as a 60-watt light bulb over 14 hours.

11:00 – Go to class

According to the California Integrated Waste Management Board, in addition to having a smaller impact on forest resources, producing recycled paper means less air and water pollution, less water and energy consumption and less solid waste. Despite this, recycled paper makes up less than 10 percent of the printing and writing market. Buy notebooks made with recycled paper, use both sides of each page, and when the quarter is over and you’ve only used half, use the other half for a class next quarter. Find pencils made from recycled newspaper, Post-its made of recycled content, friendlier printer paper and more at thegreenoffice.com.

4:00 – Errands in town

It’s easy to remember to bring your own bags to the supermarket – you get a nice reminder every time you’re at the checkout line and the reusable Whole Foods bags stare you in the face. If you already BYOB (bring your own bags), high five. If you don’t, get started. But don’t forget the countless other places that give you some dead tree or petrochemicals with your purchase. Keep some lightweight, nylon totes with you (Baggu makes chic ones in a rainbow of colors) and say “No thanks” when the cashier reaches for the plastic. And when you can’t avoid taking home a plastic bag, make sure you recycle it.

7:00 – Do your laundry

Harsh, toxic chemicals that contaminate groundwater along with monstrous consumption of water and energy can make laundry an ecological disaster. Take the Sierra Club’s online quiz to find out how green (or not) your laundry routine is. While I won’t advise skipping laundry day altogether, waiting until you have enough for a full load will make a difference, as will using a drying rack or clothesline instead of the dryer when possible. Don’t use hot water – unless you have intense stains, cold is the way to go. Look for eco-friendly detergents: Ecover and Seventh Generation are two that aren’t too hard to find.

10:00 – Party time

According to The Green Guide by National Geographic, beer production involves herbicides, insecticides and fungicides, and vineyards are associated with pesticides and soil destruction. When it’s time to get your drink on, think organic and think local. Local bars don’t always stock organic beer, but you can pre-game with Wolaver’s, and Goose Island is a Chicago beer handily available at Whole Foods. There are also many organic wine options available. Plus, don’t be embarrassed if you’re drinking from a box – do it proudly. Boxed wine is better for the planet. Don’t let your green mind stop there. Found a cute hook-up at Hundo? Make him or her swoon at your earth-friendliness with an Eco-Sexy Kit.

Obama’s New Energy for America plan sounds like just the arrangement this country needs to start the groveling process and begin making amends with the Earth for all the wrongs we’ve done to her. Appealing to the money-crunched American public with promises to help those “facing pain at the pump” and to create five million new jobs with an investment of $150 billion, the Obama-Biden plan combines economic incentives with real environmental strategies. If they meet their goals, there will be a million more plug-in hybrids on the road by 2015. The plan includes having 10 percent of the nation’s electricity come from renewable sources by 2012, and 25 percent by 2025. They aspire to reduce greenhouse gas emissions 80 percent by 2050, through a cap and trade program based on reinvestment. Pollution credits will be sold on auction, and the money raised will fund habitat protection and clean energy projects. These efforts, the team hopes, will make the United States a leader in the battle against climate change instead of the lame-o who hasn’t ratified the Kyoto Protocol.

Denying the problem only makes it harder to solve. Photo by Joshua Davis on Flickr, licensed under Creative Commons.

Sounds awesome, right? Yes… and no. Clearly defined plans for environmental change: good. Pledging the dollars to realize those goals: even better. But as much as Obama deserves the victory dances tree huggers performed Tuesday night, the political battle is nowhere near over. The arctic is melting faster than anyone ever expected. The planet is warming and the oceans are rising — quickly. What’s worse, changes like these set into motion feedback loops that accelerate future changes. None of this progresses in a linear fashion — the curves are exponential, and they’re steep. According to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, many of them will be irreversible by 2012. Goal dates of 2025 and 2050 are not going to cut it. The timetable is too restrained: The changes need to be drastic and quick. It’s time to stop debating which hybrid is the cutest and start politically organizing. We can drive a little less, recycle a little more, stop using Styrofoam cups — whatever — then pat ourselves on the back and call it an eco-friendly day. But how many of us are actually willing to drastically alter the organization of our society, coordinate politically and make deep and real change?

Winning the election was the first step of what needs to be a fast and furious march. Here are three ways to get involved and be a part of the action.

1. Join We.

The We Campaign (a project of Al Gore’s Alliance for Climate Protection) believes America can switch 100 percent of its electricity to clean energy sources in the next 10 years. Sign up, and while you’re there take a look at the “take action” section.

2. Send an invite to the next president.

The United Nations is having a climate meeting in Poland this December. Tell Obama that you want him to commit the country to mandatory greenhouse gas reductions and to helping developing countries reduce theirs. Click the link to find out how to invite him to the meeting.

3. Say no to coal.

And tell Congress to do the same. Join the Union of Concerned Scientists and send a letter urging opposition to building new coal-fired power plants unless they have the technology to capture the carbon dioxide these plants produce and store it underground, where it won’t contribute to global warming. (The technology still needs testing, so the letter-writing campaign advocates limited testing.) Follow the link to send the UCS’s pre-written letter or customize your own.

Opportunities abound in Chicago to get your hands dirty and volunteer. Mayor Daley has committed to making Chicago the world’s greenest city. Conserve Chicago Together lists tons of ways you can help. Join the Chicago Conservation Corps and they’ll help you help our small patch of the planet.