earth day

11 THINGS: EARTH DAY

Thursday, April 20, 2006

1. Plant a tree: Attend the Friends of the Urban Forest Earth Day Bayview/DPW tree planting from 9 a.m.-noon Saturday. Visit www.fuf.net or call Maria at (415) 561-6890, Ext. 110 for details.

2. Go vegan: Learn more via the S.F. Vegetarian Society at www.sfvs.org. At the very least, consider permanently boycotting the fast-food industry after reading Eric Schlosser's "Fast Food Nation."

3. Don't shop for a day: Better yet, visit John Perry's anti-consumerism group "The Compact" that only shops from thrift stores, Craigslist and freecycle.org, etc. sfcompact.blogspot.com or groups.yahoo.com/group/thecompact.

4. Clean up your street: Step 1: Pick up trash. Step 2: Throw it in trash can. Do it yourself or volunteer with the city at www.sfcleancity.com.

5. Get out of your car: Take BART or Muni, bike or skateboard, walk or run, dressed or nude ... just get out of your car already! At the very least, give the finger to a Hummer driver or embrace car sharing at www.citycarshare.org or www.zipcar.com.

6. See the Walmart movie: Become horrified ... never shop at Walmart again ... visit www.walmartmovie.com to learn more.

7. Recycle, recycle, recycle: Tokyo has two garbage islands already. S.F. Bay doesn't need its own. Paper or plastic? Tell 'em neither and put your goods in your own bag. www.sfenvironment.com.

8. Reading this list online?: Computers can be recycled too. Visit the Silicon Valley Toxics Coalition at www.svtc.org.

9. Control the population Prevent unwanted pregnancy. Learn more about birth control at www.plannedparenthood.com. Learn more about sex at www.sfsi.org. Not willing to do either? Consider sterilization.

10. Regift: To relatives you really don't like. (Regifting with others is bad karma.) Learn more at www.regift.net (but don't tell them I sent you).

11. Go to the supermarket and free the lobsters: A good friend suggested this one ... I still have no idea what the hell he means.

Tim Sullivan, tsullivan@sfchronicle.com

http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2006/04/20/NSG8II8SQ71.DTL

This article appeared on page H - 3 of the San Francisco Chronicle