Responsibility to a greater whole.
This is a really wonderful, heartfelt post about sharing and taking an active part in one’s community. Particularly thought provoking is the recollection of “required community time” in high school, the feeling that it was akin to a prison sentence…and then how it came to impact the rest of her life. Worth reading.
PS, the book Blessed Unrest is a highly recommended read, especially right now. Thanks Larisa!
Tireless, awesome, determined, visionary, gift to the whole world–Wangari Maathai is leaving us way too soon.
A beautiful article in The Guardian by Joseph Kabiru pays loving tribute to Maathai who passed away this weekend at 71. She could see the impact of rural communities on the overall ecosystem of East Africa and began her work in 1977.
She lived to see the devastation caused by unsustainable farming practices be addressed and changed; she received wide recognition including the Nobel Peace Prize for her tireless efforts and vision; she lives on as an inspiration to so many.
Amidst the silly, short term, wildly selfish me-first bottom line nonsense that fills the “news” and defines much of our conversation, the work of one woman who could see a path to sanity stands as a benchmark of our times. May her spirit live on and keep an eye on things for just a little longer.
Mike and Jason of Urban Build Inc.
We are in the final phase of a garage conversion which has gone unbelievably well and quick. The biggest chore in fact was clearing out, recycling, using, giving away 10 years of stuff from the garage so it could transition to its new self.
We sort of had the insulation and demo lined up and were looking for drywallers when I had a moment of clarity. It went like this: couple months back we had a repair which required a full day of my presence at home. I arranged it, canceling meetings and such, basically a day of work lost but it had to be done. So here I am, waiting…waiting. Finally the guy calls and says he’s coming from North Seattle, is stuck in non-moving traffic on 5 and won’t make it that day. The whole day? Yeah, whole day. Too late to pick the shambles of my schedule up and too late to find a new company to work with.
So when I started to get bids for the drywall on this project, I recalled that and revised my craigslist search to <drywall west seattle>. I found a few names, one with a website I could refer to , Urban Build Inc–local guys, they live near Alki, so I gave them a call. They came by that afternoon…and after talking with them, I decided to ask how they would do the whole job, not just the drywall. Cut to the chase, their bid was fair, clear and made sense, so we gave it a shot.
Here is a list of the many reasons I’ll use Mike and Jason of Urban Build again:
construction in process Urban Build
Posted in environment, local environment, pollution, community, seattle
Tagged traffic, West Seattle, Urban Build Inc, West Seattle Blog, remodel, construction, contractors, electrician, drywall, insulation, garage remodel, Seattle remodel, keep it local, komo tv, king tv, bathroom remodel, studio remodel, house remodel, west seattle remodel
I just finished reading Better Off by Eric Brende who, a decade ago as part of a graduate project, went from MIT to OTG (off-the-grid) for 18 months with his wife, and amidst it all, new baby.
The book is based on his journals from that 18 month period and has a ton of really interesting anecdotes and observations. Bottom line: he really never came back to the machine-and-technology world. He didn’t stay in the zero-watt Mennonite community he joined for the project, but he and his family learned they quite liked a life with very little technology and have over the years built a lifestyle that suits them really well.
The end of the book has an epilogue that is markedly different in tone from the rest of the book in that it takes a sober look at his conclusions–no folksy tales about how and who and why and when in the country. A very stripped down appraisal of the True Cost of how we live–and the True Cost is high, make no mistake.
Interestingly, he gives a nod to the internet he uses at the library and how it allows him to reach a larger audience for trades, barters and such.
It’s worth the read.
New article on the practice of hydrofracking, or fracturing the earth’s crust in order to extract energy resources. share this with everyone who has experienced an earthquake lately.
http://www.3quarksdaily.com/3quarksdaily/2011/06/try-not-to-wreck-the-place-on-your-way-out.html
Surely we are the worst guests the Planet has ever invited for dinner.
Posted in culture
Tagged Climate Change, earth's crust, Energy, fracking, hydrofracking, overpopulation
“Narcissists don’t seem to care whether they are perceived as good people; they’d rather be admired than liked.”
article in Huffington Post by Scott Barry: Do Narcissists Know They are Narcissists?
We tell ourselves stories, and sometimes we can see with frightening clarity the impact of those stories on our behavior.
A recent essay in 3 Quarks Daily by Nick Werle (Competing to Live: On Planet Earth and Being in Nature) takes a careful but wide ranging look at the many stories we tell ourselves about Nature. He looks at David Attenborough’s Planet Earth series and the focus on the delicate balance in nature…and its requirements. He looks at Darwin’s story in The Origin and sees similar threads regarding competition and the urge to survive. They both have a keen interest in understanding the mechanism of competition.
“In the rain forest, which we have seen has both high productivity and unceasing conflict, ‘competition for resources ensures that no one species dominates the jungle.’”
David Attenborough, Planet Earth
At the end he raises the obvious question of how we humans, the closest relative to the marauding gangs of chimpanzees that are depicted wrecking havoc in the jungle, care or alternately don’t seem to care about our place in the balance of nature. Deregulationism has at its core a willful faith that the market will balance out all transgressions, that it is a marvelous–nay, Magic–self-regulating machine that is well within the bounds of Nature itself. It is a faith that ignores the obvious issue of interconnectedness. Witness the global concern over Japan’s under-regulated, under-managed, growth focused nuclear program in the last month. Earthquakes and tsunamis are natural disasters; nuclear meltdowns as a result of deregulation are not, and no market forces can adjust the damage done.
As we have seen with increasing regularity, our wave of deregulation–from bubble to bust, from drilling and chemicals to “clean-ups,” implosions, and overpopulation, we are not living in balance with the planet we call home.
We have managed to upset the balance of so many systems that it seems to me we are now living well outside of nature. Plastic may well be the iconic metaphor for all we have become. The story we tell ourselves, and what we are actually doing, are not concordant, even as they could be. Attenborough makes an argument that yes, we are part of Nature, and our particular playing field is uniquely human, but is nonetheless part of the large balance we would do well to have an interest in. The point Attendborough makes is more subtle than those put forth by deregulationists:
It positions humanity not as an alien force superimposed on an independently existing natural world but as a part of the same precariously balance system. The argument is so affective because it refuses to plead. Instead it suggests that we reconsider the boundaries we draw between systems we hope to keep in balance.
Instead of defining the jungle as the wild and unthinkable state of nature, this naturalist approach seeks to fuse man’s understanding of himself with the complexities of Nature in order to ensure that Planet Earth never becomes a stunning monument to irrecoverable beauty.
Posted in community, connections, consumerism, culture, global climate change, global immune system, overpopulation, pollution, population growth, story, Storytelling, wildlife
Tagged Ayn Rand, community, Darwin, David Attenborough, deregulation, environmental degradation, environmental impact, Free Market, Milton Friedman free market, Nuclear meltdown, plastic, plastic bags, Sierra Club
It’s a little thing, but it has now taken on a gigantic irritation quotient in my brain: PCC uses this funky, straight-to-the-landfill plastic netting on many of the vegetables, such as brussel sprouts above, green beans and the like.
Why this bugs me: the netting is completely non-reusable, and face it: my relationship with PCC is a values-based thing. I don’t go there because they have the best price. I go there because their values are supposed to be somewhat in line with my own. And my values are like this: I re-use & recycle to the degree possible. That means: as much as possible.
These little green mesh bags? Not so much. Can’t re-use, can’t recycle…in fact, they’re a total waste, not to mention that if I want a lot (and I do, I eat a LOT of vegetables), I have to buy sometimes two or three of these plastic mesh packages.
So when I asked Kevin, the veg manager at my local PCC why PCC has suddenly started using them, his answer so completely underwhelmed that I just walked away: because ”it’s easier to stock with the mesh bags, and there’s less mess to clean up.” No. Really.
So, I went straight away to Metropolitan Market, it has a pretty wonderful veg and fruit section, and guess what! Their sprouts and green beans? Free as birds, no plastic mesh wrap. And guess what else! None on the floor. No mess. So I bought some of the green beans, and if this pattern continues, I may be heading over to Met Market for all my shopping. I do like it better in many ways.
I work hard to avoid putting more stuff in the land fill. I prefer to partner with organizations that are sensitive to the issues as well. As I said, it’s a small thing…but those small things tend to have outsize power over time.
So, I’ve written before about my trials and tribulations with heel pain and such. I’ve written about the question of shoes, no shoes–Chi Running and the fantastic you’ve-got-to-read-this book Born to Run. I tried barefoot running and was amazed to feel the difference, it really grabbed my attention–but basically barefoot running is out of the question where I live. It just didn’t seem a reasonable idea.
I have been struggling with heel lifts prescribed by a podiatrist, stretches, running shorter, running on soft ground…all kinds of things, with pretty underwhelming results. I was And then a friend dropped by a month ago or so wearing what looked like old fashion tennis shoes. Low heel, minimal support or construction–very simple. I asked him about it and he said he loved them–wore them for traveling because they’re light and could run in them as well.
not the prettiest shoe, but simple, easy, lightweight, low impact
The simplicity of this shoe got me to thinking. And thinking about the premise of Born to Run–that our over-architected shoes are damaging our feet and making running a lot harder than it really is. So, I researched the retro shoes that are coming back on the market and gave one pair a shot. I ordered Asics Tigers and when I got them, I was dubious.
There was practically nothing to them–they were flimsy, lightweight, they almost felt too cheap–how could I run in these? So I didn’t. I just lived in them for a few days, and I have to say: my feet were happier than they’ve been in a long time. So it was time to take them on the road…
I did short runs at first, and found that even though I felt a little vulnerable in them, I enjoyed my runs more. I stayed with short runs for a couple of weeks–low hills, mostly flat, easy stuff. And then last week, for some reason, I decided it was time to test these puppies out–I was feeling good in them. My feet felt strong, balance was good, I felt light on my feet. So I did one of my more ambitious routes, one I rarely do anymore but I like. I ran for 45 minutes, doing hills and trails, and felt like I could have gone further. A few days later, I ran for an hour and the next day, my feet, though tired, did not feel damaged. In fact, considering the work out, I think they felt pretty good.
In the meantime, I heard McDougall on NPR talking about Born to Run. At one point the interviewer asks: so really, what’s the secret. Are shoes (or no shoes) that important? Yes, he says, it’s not magic. We really were born to run. Our feet are amazing. Our feet adjust to our needs, our over-architechted shoes are doing serious damage. (check out his blog here)
I’ve never run an hour like this; I actually felt like I could have put in another chunk of time. But the more I thought about it, the more it sort of made sense: I grew up wearing flip-flops. I never wore these over-architected tennis shoes until I was in my 50′s. I don’t have structural problems, my stride and strike are both neutral. I have duck feet–meaning thin heel, big toe box–that do better when I’m striking on the ball rather than the heel…so, if the shoe is made to strike the heel, it’s going to hurt, right? Right.
Well, the experiment continues…All I can say is that I’m amazed. Running has taken on a whole new dimension for me. Oh, and I forgot to mention–I wore my regular Adidas shoes the other day and could barely finish 20 minutes. I had shooting pains in my heels and felt like I was running with big boxes on my feet–it was insane. So, I’ll post again in a month and update with news. Later gators.
Posted in culture
Tagged Born to Run, older runner, running, running past 50, trail running
This guy gets it. Watch Bag It and join the rest of us as we learn to say NO to that plastic bag.
Mary Crowley is rounding up willing volunteers and their boats to tackle the problem of the presumed Texas-sized garbage patch in the pacific. She has a plan, and wild amounts of fortitude and vision to tackle this growing island of plastic and trash…and she even wants to recycle the plastic once it’s brought onshore.
We’ve all seen and participated in trash clean-ups–in parks, along roadsides, at the beach. It has now fallen to us to figure out how to do this in the open ocean…it’s our garbage, and our problem. Mary Crowley is a hero and a visionary and if I had a boat, I’d probably sign up to join her. For my part, I’ll continue to pick trash up and bring it back to shore when I’m out on my board.
Spread the word about Mary Crowley’s Project Kaisei
“The big challenge for us is to get the word out that we do have the technology to figure out how to solve” this problem, she says.
Some 60 to 80 percent of the plastic in oceans is not released by ships but originates onshore before being swept out to sea via coastal waterways.
Kaisei means “Ocean Planet” which of course, we of the Blue Planet are.
Another site, Container Recycling Institute, tracks the number o, linked to from the Kaisei site tracks how many plastic bottles are going straight into landfills. If this doesn’t alarm you, I want some of what you’re ingesting.
One last thing, the Kaisei project set out two ships last year. Each ship sampled waters in the Pacific within 3,500 miles of each other and the samples are being analyzed now, but what was immediately evident to the researchers was the growing layer of small bits of plastic on the surface of the ocean–everywhere. Thousands of miles offshore, for as far as you could see. Imagine.
And now imagine yourself as part of the ocean ecosystem, a whale, dolphin, tuna, starfish, coral bed, kestrel, herring…that relies on a chain of being that is now consuming tiny bits of plastic as though it were food, tiny minute bits of plastic. Plastic working its way right up into the Great Chain of Being.
Posted in culture
Tagged alternative fuel, culture of consumption, dead birds, dead fish, dead turtles, dead zone, fossil fuels, Gulf Coast, oil, petroleum
I’ve been humming the tune of This Sweet Old World today, floating between grief and disbelief over the BP Spill. This isn’t a scree about that mess, I don’t know what can really be said. BP should promise flat out that it will do anything and everything possible to make this right, simply, clearly, no hedging.
This sweet old world….
S’anyway…
Yesterday I had a minor medical treatment that involved a small incision and some stitches. No big. But I was somewhat dumbfounded when over the course of 25 minutes I saw the assistant put on, remove and toss in the garbage no less than six pairs of latex gloves.
No, really. Six pairs. Right in the plastic bag that held the growing mound of waste that would be collected up and thrown somewhere. The ocean probably.
I mentioned my surprise to the assistant and he, without the slightest thought, said, “well, we have to use a new set of gloves each time we open a canister because the germs can spread so easily.”
Ok. Picture this: my little treatment happening at that moment, hundreds and hundreds of times yesterday all around the world…cuz yeah, it wasn’t very exotic. And then imagine more complex treatments, and full out surgeries. Imagine the amount of plastic bags full of latex and plastic wrappers emanating from those hospitals all around the world.
six pairs of latex gloves in 25 minutes
So I’ve been thinking about this. Rolling it around in my head, along with the beached whales this summer and their stomachs full of plastic, and the ease of plastic, and the mindlessness of plastic and then a talk by Bill McKibben gave on NPR the other day and his new book, Eaarth, which argues for the end of growth.
How did I get there? Because it is the magic thinking of an expanding universe of humanity that is at the root of most of our problems today…as McKibben says, we are now “too big to succeed.”
Consider: the growing universe of germs is due to an ever increasing population that is ever increasing its number of cure-all antibiotics that the invisible microbial world mutates to conquer again and again and again.
Consider: the more people we have, the more resources we use, in an obviously limited world.
Consider: the dwindling resources requires us to take ever more extreme actions to supply the ever increasing population of humans demanding ever more of everything, while believing there is no cause-and-effect–magic!.
There is a report today about the impact slowing down– reducing driving speeds– would have in a systemic way...proof positive that a small thing can make a big difference. We could do this, but as a nation, the idea of slowing down is insulting, not to mention unenforced, and basically any questioning of our power to do what we want, when we want, and at the speed we want, is generally viewed as unpatriotic. Our magic thinking has gone round the bend.
There are things we could do. You and I both know there are things we could do differently, for the sake of this sweet old world.
From Beck, a friend who imagined WWJDINAZ (what would J do in AZ)
Officer: Name?
Jesus: Jesus
Officer: Last name?
Jesus: Christ
Officer: What are you doing here?
Jesus: Well, I’m a carpenter and fisherman, but mostly I just talk about love and peace. Oh and sometimes heal the sick.
Officer: Are you licensed in any of those trades?
Jesus: No, sir
Officer: U.S. Citizen? Where were you born?
Jesus: The Mideast, Bethlehem
Officer: Pennsylvania?
Jesus: Uh, no sir
Officer: OK so you weren’t born in the US, do you have your passport or birth certificate on you?
Jesus: No Sir, I’ve never had either one.
Officer: OK wise guy, let’s just start over. What is your father’s name?
Jesus: Oh, God….
Posted in culture
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