Those houses look beautiful! Why conver em?

J

Almost sounds as if you are jealous.

As much as I love TH, I feel it sometimes goes too far in its intransigence. This is one of these occurences.

This is a one shot thing, it's not as if he's gonna do it every day, or month, or year.
It's paper, it's not as if it was plastic
I'm not mellow but this makes me go "awww" rather than "ewww"

In a world where you've got to choose your battles, this ain't it.

To quote Tony Montana, "First you get the money, then you get the power, then you get the women." Humans are like any living creature, from bacterium to blue whale, in that the prime directive is to live and reproduce. Women are lucky in that they need merely to be attractive physically, kind, and moderately interesting to attract mates. Men on the other hand must earn as much monetary wealth as possible relative to other males on female's radars. Relative wealth requires increased profitability over others, and usually the environment loses in attempts to cut costs to increase profits. Displaying wealth requires flaunting unsustainable items, such as Hummers, mansions, and diamonds, while eating unsustainable and/or rare foods like steaks and bluefin tuna.

Yet, most men are lazy and would like nothing better than to wear the same pants until they fall off. We work and buy stuff mainly to attract mates.

Of course, these are generalizations and there are exceptions, but I bet it applies to 90% of humans, which is enough. You've got to admit, the materialism of women and the p****whippedness of men is to blame for most of societies' ills, from war to pollution.

Happy Valentine's Day!

I don't mind this, only if he saves all the paper and wraps his Christmas gifts with it.

This is cute. The paper is recycleble and a one time deal. It has very little impact compared to the amounts of paper wasted by big time companies and schools.

I'm with redPepper on this one

Time to reign some editorial control over mista LLoyd. He's a brilliant guy but has been pushing it way to far lately... this is a one time indulgence, it's no big deal. You guys are gonna start scaring people off with these posts!

Oh come off it, it's so "high school" to rant on and on about "hating valentines day"....

We should go kick this guy's a**!! Not because he's wrapping his house, but because he's rasing the bar too high for the rest of us. Have to make sure my wife doesn't see this. I'm with everyone else on this one. Going to critical extremes like this just pushes people away.

If you want a "green" valentine this year, just do what I do. I've given my wife the same valentine's card for the past 7 years. She puts it in the recycling bin and I secretly pull it back out and save it for next year. I do the same with anniversary, mother's day and birthday and she has yet to notice. I'm just a hopeless romantic I guess.

At first i thought the house was being fumigated...

The source of gloabal warming might be all the hot air coming from Lloyd Alter. TreeHugger should cut down on his counter-productive emmissions.

well, i'm with you lloyd - i think it's certainly excessive/wasteful. it's not just 'some paper that can be recycled' - it's the fossil fuels used in making, transporting and installing the paper on the house (you don't think he did it himself by ladder, do you?!) and the fossil fuels used in the helicopter ride.
but worse than all that is the precedent for excessive overconsumption that this act sets.

I'm with CTP....why'd he have to wrap it, I'm sure with a little effort he could have thought an equally romantic but more sustainable way to present this "gift".... and fly over it in a helicopter!? That was a necessary use of fuel (....rolls eyes)

RedPepper, you are right on target! It's shameful how men destroy the planet (and each other) to impress women. You'd think we'd be above that by now, but we behave just like any other animal... except that the stakes are higher since we have the technological power to destroy the environment.

Popsicle, dismissing something as "so highschool" doesn't make it so. VD has always, and will always suck. Here's my rant on it:

http://weblog.timoregan.com/2007/02/i-hate-valentines-day.html

and here's another great rant from the perspective of a mother of young children and the depression they feel on VD:

http://markira.blogspot.com/2007/02/my-i-hate-valentines-day-post.html

wow. first of all, im pretty sure giving someone a friggin house for valentines day is a grand enough gesture on its own. i dont think it needed to be wrapped in a whole bunch of paper (was it at least recycled paper? im doubting it) and then a helicopter flight? pffft, youve now crossed the realm from romantic into ridiculous...i mean this is tv drama level of cheese, its like watching dynasty. which would be understandable were it not for the fact that this is in a community that is advertising itself as "ecofriendly".

as to all the postings yelping about men being weak little playthings of women's greed, perhaps you men are seeking out less than desirable mates? if you were interested in attracting women who share your green values then you wouldnt be chasing the sort of women impressed by "Hummers, mansions, and diamonds, while eating unsustainable and/or rare foods like steaks and bluefin tuna. "

i kno there are plenty of women out there who have no interest in any of those things, myself, my close female friends, the intelligent articulate women who post on here.

perhaps the actual cause of messes like the one Lloyd posted about is men trying to date above themselves in the looks department...expecting to live in sitcom land where every out of shape shlub can marry a woman who looks like a supermodel. afterall, if youre courting women based on the size of your wallet, as opposed to shared interests and common goals and dreams, youre going to have to keep shelling out money, if thats all she sees in you. and if youre the kind of man who can say something like "You've got to admit, the materialism of women and the p****whippedness of men is to blame for most of societies' ills, from war to pollution. " without tongue firmly planted in cheek, i should hope you have a very very very large wallet.

my boyfriend and i have bought each other nothing today, and made no extravagant plans, we express our love everyday, and we realize you cant express love through possessions. we might go buy a rubbertree plant tho, as a gift to our lungs, freshly quit smoking, and desiring nicer indoor air quality.

i enjoy Lloyd's posts. hes the most critical poster on treehugger, and i rather enjoy his cynical mistrust, as all the rest of the posters run around patting the backs of various corporations for making babysteps in the right direction, Lloyd points out that we are in fact surrounded by heartless polluting a-holes.

Im with CTP and Daniel Quinn. It is excessive and is probably not only a one time thing. If this guy is capable of doing this he is capable of doing something else similar. It does set a precedent, and it is not acceptable practice.

My 2 cents

The problem with legitimating this as a "one time thing" is that there are a million other people simultaneously each doing their own "one time thing" too in their own wasteful way.

Romantic gestures are a wonderful thing of course. But surely one doesn't have to be tied to consumption?

I applaud Treehugger for raising this question. Too frequently I find their notion of "responsible consumerism" is little more than eco-chic marketing and as if "consumerism" is something that can be done responsibly. It can't. People simply have to start consuming less, not merely consuming "different kinds" plastered with the logo of pseudo-ethicality.

You can call me and Lloyd Alter "radicals" for as long as you need to until you understand that our lives and economies have to change on a structural level, not just through mere window-dressing and band-aid green consumerism.

Lloyd, you need to get laid.

HA! It is amazing what you can find on the internet. I was searching for a Cisco 350 AP pcb, and somehow found this. It is amazing what people can find to argue about!!! Good luck guys!