yay!

on the beach in big sur. a little happy moment. a happy memory. and fun new reality!

Rainbow Goddess

oh, goodness. all my talk about my inner goddess lately has made me laugh. but, now i at least know the color of that inner goddess. i am, the Rainbow goddess...."The RAINBOW Goddess represents all aspects of the color spectrum.Those who are Rainbowed have the deepest significance to people throughout all the phases of their life. They have more influence on those around them then one can possibly imagine. They often help others by strengthening, soothing and inspiring them. "

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A High Price for Healthy Food

oh, things liek this really get me! i agree that whole foods and healthfood stores seem expensive. this article deatils the cost of eating, calorie-per-calorie "health food" such as veggies and fruit, in place of twinkies or ppizza. sure, you get way more calories in twinkies. also you get more chemicals and artificial colors and polysaturated fats and other things our bodies don't love. i understand that poorer households have a less healthy diet and buy more of this "un-healthful" food. but how do we address this? how do we make people realize that buying beans and lentils and whole grains in bulk is actually very chep? and very healthy? how can we make healthy food a prioirty for all people, rather than percieved as a luxury for the welathy?

A High Price for Healthy Food - Well - Tara Parker-Pope - Health - New York Times Blog

an improptu trip!

So, i just decided to go to San Francisco. My good friend D lives there and for the past year has been inviting me out for a visit. I’ve always been too busy on the weekends when there were cheap tickets...but finally this weekend I was just like hell with it, I am going anyway! (Especially since he is moving in a few weeks and this was my last chance to visit.) So I did. I bought a $180 ticket Thursday night and left work early on Friday, drove through a snow storm en route to Salt Lake City, flew out of Salt Lake that night and after a short and very comfortable flight on Jet Blue (here is where I just want to say that I really enjoyed my flight with Jet Blue, there was so much leg room and they have great snacks and great music) arrived in San Francisco in time for dinner. Daniel met me at the airport and the second I saw him I got SO nervous…like, what am I doing here with this guy-friend-whom-I-kinda-have-a-secret-crush-on?! Ok, let's be honest...I have felt that we connected since we met oh that long time ago at Rally 2006. But when I walked out of security he hugged me and picked me up off the floor and spun me around in this big warm hug and we both just laughed and laughed all at the same time. Then we drove into town and went to a total hippie-cute-love-fest-raw-food restaurant. Which was surprisingly delicious. Then we walked around and got ice-cream from a locally owned, local dairy ice-cream parlor.

We were up early in the morning Saturday for a day of exploring the city. San Francisco is so FUN…those of you who’ve been I guess already know that, but it was my first time and it was great! We walked around a lot and did some shopping and café-ing and laughing and serious talking and more laughing and hand holding and visited Golden Gate Park and walked along the trail that runs along the bay. As we were walking along the trail, we walked out on a rock outcropping to look over the ocean, and there was a huge walking labyrinth someone had made with stones. We just started walking through it and after about 10 minutes of silence and not even looking at each other we got to the middle where there was a little offering type rock and we had just picked some flowers and added them to the small pile of flowers and coins. While we were standing there, in a very comfortable hug, D said "Ilana, I want to be with you when I move to Santa Fe."...yes, he did. And I was like "well, that would be wonderful, I’d like that." And we kissed and we both just started smiling and the sun, quite literally, came out from behind a cloud. And we walked out of the labyrinth and watched the sunset on the ocean and went out for Thai food and then met up with his friends at the yacht club to listen to some fun little music. There were all kinds of freaky-hippie-hipster types at the music thing, but they were all so friendly and lovely…it was great.

Then it was another early morning Sunday and we picked up a rental car (which after 15 mniute we realized smelled horribly like puke…but we were already out of the city so there was no turnign back) so we could drive down the coast to Big Sur where he had to look at a protected property for work (D works at a land trust and does most of their monitoring work). It was GORGEOUS. We stopped at a few beaches and had lunch along the way and explored the tide pools and sang along with Van Morrison and ate fresh oranges and dark chocolate and talked about our families and what we wanted in life and our plans for traveling. And we hiked a little on this gorgeous protected property (the one he had to visit for work) at sunset when the clouds were rolling in and the darkness settled around us when we reached the top of this little meadow overlooking the mountains to the east and the ocean to the west. After the visit to the property, we then checked into a totally beautiful hotel that the land trust staff (and guests, ahem, me) get to stay at when monitoring the easement. It was SO perfect…our room was gorgeous (we were in the Tree House) and had the world’s most comfortable bed and were up in the redwoods but with a view of the ocean. And then went to bed and fell fast asleep until 12:30 am…when we had to wake up to drive 10 miles down the coast. We had a 1am reservation at hot springs at a retreat center that only opens the hot springs to the public from 1-3am. There were these gorgeous outdoor tubs, literally on the edge of the cliff about 50 feet above the ocean.

And yesterday morning we woke up early to a soft sunrise and took a leisurely morning breakfast in the all glass restaurant over the ocean and then D had to meet with the ranch manager for work stuff and i took a hike in the redwoods and along the cliff edge. And then we drove back along the coast, having excellent, soul exposing, heart opening conversations and stopping at a couple beaches to run in the edge of the waves and laugh. And he dropped me off at the airport and that was that. Or that was the beginning I should say of something so much bigger. We were both so happy, so happy. And all weekend we talked, not just about fun things, but about serious things and our own pasts and things that bother us and our fears and our hopes and desires and our student loans and deep loves and our spiritualities and families and our jobs and career goals and desires for kids and real love and really just opened up about anything. It was so, so nice…I can’t even describe it. And really, this weekend, was so great, it almost seemed unreal. D kept pinching me and saying, “Hey, Ilana, this is real! You are here! There is the ocean!” wow.

It almost felt funny to be having such a wonderful…and slightly romantic time…with this good friend, especially since it’s just been a couple months since Greg and I broke up. But Greg and I have nothing to do with D and I and I realized it’s ok for me to move on…then I was like “hey, this is my life, this is awesome, I need to accept all this wonderfulness and just go with it!” I am falling for a dear, sweet, deep, funny, intelligent, witty, intense, good looking man!

a different kind of holiday please

so, wow, we went from thanksgiving straight into Christmas....and it's not even december yet. actually, let's admit it, the christmas decorations were in the store practically the day after halloween. does it get earlier every year? whatever, unless you are 12 or younger, you are likely tired of christmas before it even arrives. and why woudl you want to be tired for christmas. you're supposed to be spednign time with family and making nice dinners together and helping out at some local organization and trying to work for a better world and making the world a better beautiful place....at least that's what i think jesus would have wanted, isn't that his whole sotry really...trying to make the world a better place?

and is that accomplished by going out and spending lots of money and time and getting stressed about shopping for people whom are doing the same for you? and then we all go home at the end of the day and are not happy because we are stressed and don't feel like we spend enough time together and so sometimes we aren't even nice to those same people we just went shopping for.

instead, imagine waking up with same special people, spending the day together on some outdoor adventure, volunteering, or just hanging out at home working on projects. then eat dinner together and paly a family game. wow...all of a sudden that sounds a lot more appealing right...and less stressful. i had a wonderful time over thanksgiving with my family. one part i won't forget is i was trying to make a bunch of beads and my parents and brother sat down and helped me for an hour, it was so nice just sitting there, working on a project and chatting.

now, my family is fairly traditional when it comes to christmas. both sides of the family still love buying christmas presents and in our big family of 6 the presents come exploding out from under the tree. some of those things i wouldn't want to control....i will not call my grandparents and wax on environmentally and sustainably for a good long time so that they stop buying us stuff. i think that would be, well, rude. they honestly love doing it and think it's fun and i can only be thankful for what i might recieve. with my immediate family it may be a little differnet. we all appreciate our time together and hvae often times made homemade gifts. by speakign gently and explaining what i really want at christmas time (love, time together and eachother) i think my family will understand.

it's a difficult path to manuever as none of us want to insult others or make them think we don't appreciate all they do. that said, if we want to make christmas more about what it really is (a celebration of the birth of a wonderful example of love and selflessness) we can approach the discussion with the same love that we want to impart to the holiday.

and here's what bill mckibben has to say about that.

Are you brave enough to say no to a high-stress holiday? By Bill McKibben

thank full

i missed thanksgivng yesterday. i thought about posting but we were up to our elbows in tofurkey-cranberrysauce-pumpkin-pie-making-craziness. we always say that we actually have no interst in traditional thanksgiving day food...none of us really like it. but johnny wanted to have it traditional. and can you blame him? ...he spent all week in school learning about thanksgiving and what it means, and here we wanted to serve him lasgana. geez, it is so great havigng a little person in the house. his enthusiasm and energy keep us all cheerful and excited about life. i am thankful for simply being here. my family is amazing and the more time i spend with them, the more i love them. i have wonderful friends who do wonderful things with their lives. i have so many people to love, and the more i meet the more love i feel surrounded with. i live in a beautiful part of the world, and try to appreciate it every chance i get. even with the gray of winter approaching, i love the sandstone walls and big open skies that fill with amazing stars every night. i'm thankful that i can appreciate that beauty and that i have met people that feel the same way. i am thankful for the clarity that has come to me over the year about my relationships, dreams, and goals in life and that has helped guide decisions both big and small. i am thankful for people's understanding and love. i am happy with my career and the satisfying beneficial work we do and all that make it happen. i am enjoying the creative energy that has been flowing through lately and for the spirituality that has begun to blossom. i am thankful for my new friend that is helping me see even a deeper level of beauty in the world and for the envelope of seaglass. i am grateful for so many people and places and ideas that have made my life as it is.

Message From the Hopi Leaders

(a friend sent me this message, beautiful and true. i'm looking forward to my life, my path, the river with whom ever may be by my side.)

You have been telling the people that this is the Eleventh Hour.
Now you must go back and tell the people that this is the Hour.
And there are things to be considered.
Where are you living?
What are you doing?
What are your relationships?
Are you in right relation?
Where is your water?
Know your garden.
It is time to speak your Truth
Create your community.
Be good to each other.
And do not look outside yourself for the leader.
This could be a good time!
There is a river flowing now very fast.
It is so great and swift that there are those who will be afraid.
They will try to hold onto the shore.
They will feel they are being torn apart and they will suffer greatly
Know the river has its destination.
The elders say we must let go of the shore,
push off into the middle of the river,
Keep our eyes open and our heads above the water.
See who is in there with you and celebrate
At this time in history, we are to take nothing personally.
Least of all, ourselves.
For the moment that we do,
our spiritual growth and journey come to a halt.
The time of the lone wolf is over.
Gather yourselves!
Banish the word struggle
from your attitude and your vocabulary
All that we do now must be done
in a sacred manner and in celebration.
We are the ones we've been waiting for.

renewing in the desert

Over the past few weeks Greg and I have been doing some serious soulsearching, wrenching heart opening, and simple honest communcation.And after all was said and done we decided that, though we couldliekly have a simple and beautiful relationship, at this pointneither of us was ready to take any leap of faith to be nearer tothe other. And so, we parted ways, with a great deal of sadness anddeep emotional turmoil. There were no harsh words or fights, asimple letting go, which is a lot harder than one might imagine.So, last week was pretty much filled with sadness and crying in theshower and on my way to work and in my pillow at night.

And, this weekend I headed out with a friend for the high canyon country. What a wonder filled weekend. I felt like we were little kids exploring this big huge world and every little thing we found was an object of beauty; every little flower, or twisted juniper trunk, or shard of pottery, or shooting star, or golden cottonwood leaf, or anasazi house, or fern growing out of the rock. The deep hike down into the canyons, and the ruins, and the swim in cold dark pool, and the scramble up steep sandstone walls, and the nap in the warm sunlight of mid afternoon, and the shouting of echoes across the canyons beneath shooting stars, and the running around the canyon rim in fairy wings, and the being under the open sky all night as the stars fell and Pleiades journeyed across the sky and Venus and the moon rose in tandem and shined down on our beating hearts. I felt that we shared and connected with this beautiful world.

I was pulled into the beauty of nature that I find, continuously throughout life, renewing and refreshing and reminding me there is a much greater goodness, the spirit of oneness out there. I really needed it. Life is truly a wonderful gift and is really what we make of it. I am overflowing with a desire to fill my life with beauty in thoughts and actions. I am so glad to be here, now.

words that make me happy

flowered dress, camp fires, sister and brother, sweaters, twinkle, harvest, joy, chocolate, daisy chains, full moon, firefly, barefeet, complete, ocean, pico de gallo, periwinkle, laugh lines, kitten, powder day, beach, contentment, children, topo maps, bouquet, courduroy, golden, fjords, omm, raspebrries, shadow, independence, shooting star, honesty, friends, butternut bisque, travel, peace, sprouting, sunshine, pops and mops, twirling, fields, crystal clear, yarn, van, love, strawberries, rainbow, sewing, twilight, laughing, creamy soup, together.

children as enviro warriors

I was getting ready for work the other work when my 9 year old brother bounced into my room. Slapping his hand down on my bureau he proclaimed “YOU are the cause of global warming.” That to me, was one of the worst things he could say. “What am I doing” I asked. “You drive your car to work every day of the week,” he said “you need to not do that.” I admit it, I do. I live 20 minutes drive from work, with my parents and no public transportation available. I sat with him and described the situation and how living at home is also saving resources, and how my car is very fuel efficient, and how I will try to not drive as much on the weekends to help out. He smiled and left and hasn’t mentioned it since. But I wonder what’s going through his head…does he think I’m still a slacker? Does he think I don’t care about his generation who will inherit the earth?

Then, today I read an article about this very thing. Kids out there as the new generation of environmental warriors. I thought this was such an endearing and telling article. All about children and their interest in environmental activities. There are two sides represented, the parents that really took their kids advice to heart and acted in a manner that would make their kids proud. Then there were the parents that complained that their kids were too extreme and pesky essentially and those concerned that their kids shouldn’t be concerned about such big issues. I realize that not every family can afford a new prius or solar panels on their homes...but we can make small everyday changes that are both economical and environmental.

This piece was excellent. It gave me hope. Here is a whole generation of children that have the passion and the persistence and the drive to change the world. They are undaunted by politics, not overburdened with defeats, nor do they realize when to stop pushing...that's fantastic. These kids have the most interest of anyone here in the future of our planet, and they, whether consciously or not, are realizing it, and taking it into their own tiny, soft and yet extremely capable hands. Go kids go!

And, I hope my brother is scheming about how to make the world a better place. I’ll try my best baby brother.

Inconvenient Youths - WSJ.com

farming up

hmmm. this is an intersting concept to me. my younger sister sent it to me. the idea is, that as world populations grow, we are going to need more and more food. in fact we will need a space the size of brazil in 2050 solely to produce food. i feel a strong affinity with those big, rolling, farms in iowa, those extensive orange groves in florida, the blueberry parcels in michigan, and those gorgeous and ultra productive fields of vegetables in california. there is somethign so beautiful and real about taking the soil and water and sun that occur naturally and combining them to produce food. yet, we haev industrialized most of this beyond these natural processes...so the idea of vertical farming doesn't seem as farm removed, technically. the idea is to farm in a building, floors and floors of palnts growing, both hydroponically and aeroponically. there are concerns over the energy used to operate a vertical farm. however, it seems to me that if you have a big surface area there will be lots of room for solar, and the roof could definitely be used for wind capturing. interesting...yet, does this mean my great grandchildren may not know the sensation of driving across iowa, all that food laid out in front of you, growing in golden rows, wave after wave in the sunset?

Could vertical farming be the future? - Innovation - MSNBC.com

Recycle or Repent!

a friend sent me this article. what a great idea! a catholic priest will be sitting in a cofessional at a festival. what is he doing there? hearing people's eco-sins and giving them equally appropriate penance. finally a funny and hopeful story involving the catholic church. i love it!

Roman Catholic Church To Offer Green Confession Booth GroovyGreen.com - Start Today :: Save Tomorrow

Dinner Plate to Climate Change

Finally! an article which just says it how it is. eating meat does in fact contribute to climate change. and pollution of rivers. and deforestation of the rainforest. and spread of disease. oh, wait, the article doesn't talk about those. in fact nothing in the news talks about anything other than climate change. it's become synonymous with environmental anythings. but i digress. i agree actually, almost 100% with this article. that said, as i have mentioned before, diet is a very personal thing. and i wouldn't tell a friend that i think they should become vegetarian. but, i will call all meat eaters out here, now. hello!!? are you just turning a blind eye? i know i've always been a vegetarian and so maybe i don't understand the annoyance of giving something up. i try to drive less. and make my showers shorter. and eat organic and local. and reuse things. i make changes in my personal life too. why can't others take this on? why would it be so hard to start giving up meat? especially beef. i don't know if anyone i know actually reads this...but i hope lots of people read the article. and most of all, become conscientious enough to make a change.

Trying to Connect the Dinner Plate to Climate Change - New York Times

fresh raw tomatoes

this year we're growing 34 varieties of heirloom tomatoes. and garden looks super lush and vibrant, yet the tomatoes just aren't there. well, in as great numbers as regular, more hybridized varities. there are some benefits to hybrids..like great size and abundance. that said, it's more fun searching for tomatoes when they are striped and purple and green and orange and pear-pepper-cherry-or-sausage shaped. much more fun! here's the fruit of last night's Great Tomato Hunt.

imaginary hikes in ireland

Ah, back at work. After a 3-day weekend spent backpackign in the Weimenuche. The sun shone brightly every morning, and disappeared mysteriously behind a veil of clouds and mist and straight down-no-nonsense rain after a few hours every day. We might as well have been in Ireland with the undulating green hills and rocky out-croppings and damp weather and abundant water. But when the clouds parted just enough we could see the jagged and shiny wet peaks around us and we were reminded that we were very much in the heart of my favorite mountains. And I fell in love as I do every time I visit the MFMs (My Favorrite Mountains). I love their cragginess and expanse and clear lakes and basins of wildflowers and softness of the rolling green fields in contrast with the sharp stern mountains. The wildflowers were, amazing. It was as if someone had taken multi colored paint and poured it down from the top of the mountains and the paint had settles in the basins and the valley floors in amazing patterns of pinks and golds, magentas and blues, lavenders and mauves and red, greens and whites and saffrons. The unreplicable (I think I just made up that word) manifestation of some greater good, some greater being, some greater beauty, draped on the hills. And in the evenings the rain would stop and sleep was peaceful and quiet.

And the company was lovely. My friend took tea breaks and moved quickly, and didn’t complain sincerely about the rain, and made delicious meals, and laughed, and we experimented making cheese toast on a camp stove, and we talked about our childhoods and dreams and traveling and relationships and meditation and tax credits and goals and love and herbs and families and all things wonderful.

What, as usual, a beautiful weekend! pictures to be added soon!

i want to be a river gypsy

So, wow, after 6 days and 6 nights of being on the river…phew, it's a lot of work being back here in the world of land conservation. A- lot. I'm tuckered out already. It was a sweet 6 days of not having an idea as to the time of day, floating down the river, stopping to eat when we felt like it, finding a good campsite, setting up camp, sitting in the occasional rainstorm, eating dinner with my feet in the sand, swimming naked in the river in the early morning, sleeping under the stars, laughing at crude jokes, learning to paddle and steer a canoe, learning to row a raft efficiently, swimming some more, wearing the same bikini and long sleeved shirt and hat for 6 days, eating lots of Pringles, having an excellent mud bath-spa treatment, changing into my sarong for dinner each night, swimming in clear pools in a side anyon, reading, making drip sand castles, and just enjoying life as it came and went. I felt like a river gypsy. These river people like to call themselves river rats, but I much prefer the phrase river gypsy, sounds elusive and transient and mystical and fun. It was fun!

I was very sad to come back last night. We had a late dinner in Moab and there was something so comfortable about being crammed into a big diesel truck pulling a ginormous trailer with 2 rafts and 2 canoes, couple sleeping in the backseat and B, J
and me listening to songs and chatting as we drove across the midnight dark desert. And I was very sad about comming back home. But, when I got my cell phone working I had a message my boss' wife had her baby this weekend! Yay, I am so excited, and everyone in the office has been over to see her…now I'm just waiting to hear back so I too can pop over for a visit. Finally a baby around these parts!

(hmm, my last post seemed to sit there for quite awhile)

why i love summer

1. it's warm and so i am not cold

2. best friends from school come out for visits

3. backpacking trips are amazing, i went backpacking this weekend
with girlfriends from grad school this past weekend. we went outside of
aspen and it was perfectly beautiful. gorgeous weather, the
wildflowers were perfect. the pictures in this post are from then.

4. happy music is very appropriate for summer and it puts me in a
good mood

5. free riverfront concert series at the state park. saw dirty
dozen brass band playing last week...outdoors with teh red sandstone
cliffs and the colorado river in teh background.

6. speaking of rivers...it's warm enough for rat trips and this
afternoon i head off on a 5 day rafting trip on the San Juan river
in far southeastern utah. 5 days of no showers, too much heat, camping,
no cars/technology, good company and hopefully lots of swimming. i
packed two t-shirts and 1 skirt and 1 pair of shorts and two
bikinis..i hope that's sufficient. i will be dirty and stinky and
am kind of looking forward to it.

7. cherries, apricots, plums and peaches. all fresh, all local.

8. the days are long.

9. two of my favorite baby girls were born...happy birthday sonya
and penny!

10. the possibilities are endless in summer.

little video

here's an intersting and artsy video with a definite enviornmental point. sorry, i just can't tell you what it's about, you'll have to watch it for yourself!

here it is:

Vivacious Vegan

in the afternoons i start to get kind of hungry here at work. and i just think of food. and every once in a while i start perusing various vegetarian-food related blogs. and i really enjoy reading this one. first of all, because it is colorful and happy (incentive to change my own blog), and Crystal's pictures of food look so wonderful. though i have been vegetarian all my life... over the past couple years i've been thinking of going vegan.... and the photos and descriptions of the various vivacious vegan foods make it seem quite appealing. mmmm. i'm going home to have some of the homemade mocha vegan icecream i have in the freezer. it may not be "real" food but it's a start!

Finally: the banning of plastic bags

so it turns out (and i know this is almost old news) but san fran has made some of the steps forward in banning plastic bags. excellent. it will mainly affect grocery stores and pharmacies...and not necessarily all the other little stores, but it's definitely a start in the right direction. the larger stores will be allowed to only use compostable bags or bags made from recycled paper. not bad, not bad. and if you are thinking (like i often do when i hear about san fran) "well, lucky them, living in that perfect little liberal eviro-city"...do not despair, apparently Melbourne, Australia and Hong Kong are implementing similar plans.

i wonder how long until this dusty town will follow suit? at least our friendly health food store had a great deal going on in june. if you bought $30 or more you recieved a reuseable shopping bag. and then, everytime you bring in and reuse the bag, they donate 5 cents to the local shelter. that's a nice incentive!

S.F. FIRST CITY TO BAN PLASTIC SHOPPING BAGS / Supermarkets and chain pharmacies will have to use recyclable or compostable sacks

food, class, and what can you do about it?

this is not the first time i've referred to an arcticle by tom philpott. yet, this is a very fitting article because today is the first farmer's market of the year here in town. here is another by him from grist. tom speaks about the slow food movement and touches on sustainable agriculture, affordable alternatives to industrial-over-processed food, and those people that may have the opportunity to affect change and yet...may not take that opportunity.

i usually enjoy tom's writing and i woudl love to sit down with him and talk, yet this piece ended rather unsatisfactorily for me. i want to see solutions, and ideas, and resolutions, and suggestions, and the answeres to these questions. how do we make some of the principles of this "slow food" movement and the organic movement and the local movement part of most people's everyday lives? (hey, look, even the slow food movement is it's own little empire!)

how do we provide better food for the masses, at the same time providing the same qulatiy, and allowing farmers an adequate wage, and making the better food availble to more classes of people, and more local. you might ask, well, when will pigs fly. but if i were to be going back to school or getting a phd right now i would love to study the process of making better organic more natural food available to the masses. (despite the fact that it is all intimately tied to economics and subsidies and large corprations and governmental control....all subjects which are rather less intersting/arousing/tangible ... and yet all have very real effects on what we eat everyday and even our personal health...and thus the costs of health care.)

i'd love to delve more into these issues. i am becoming increasingly intersted in food and where it comes from and health benefits and availability and cost and what we can do about it. i'm off to the farmer's market.

Ruminations on food, class, and Carlo Petrini By Tom Philpott 07 Jun 2007

bigger gas prices and smaller cars

i grew up pretty much every summer of my life on a small farm in rural quebec. and we spent parts of a few and one solid winter up there....never again. it was so cold. so snowy. so dark. a great expereince as kids, and i don't have unhappy memories of the winter, but i think my parents probably felt a little more sheltered. the gravel roads were snowpacked and icy most of the winter, that was when we coudl reach the road. our 1/4 miles driveway was snowed over for most of the winter. but when we did manage to get out, the grocercy store was hoppping on friday nights, people were socializing at the local french fry cantine and life continued as usual. people were bopping all around the roads in their tiny, and i mean tiny, cars. everyone there drove (for for the most part, still drives) small cars. i think it was mainly a function of economy; there wasn't/isn't a lot of money in that area, or in most of quebec and so people just bought smaller, cheaper vehicles. and, though i never thought of it at the time, much more fuel efficient vehicles.

now, gas prices are sky rocketing here in the US. i filled my little tercel up with $3.23 per gallon gas yesterday. it definitely makes me think twice before driving into town for something that could wait until tomorrow. but, i felt slightly better when my dad came home yesterday. he'd been in quebec for a few weeks and gas there is $4.74 per gallon...though they sell it by litres so it seems cheaper. so, we shouldn't complain.

not that i mind paying more...i think gas should be less subsidized and cost more, reflecting the actual cost of fuel, and hopefully people will act accordingly...use less fuel, buy smaller cars. (though, i do regret the oil companies just lining their pockets...continuously!) WHY do people think they need some fancy, gas guzzling, 4wd, vehicle to survive here (here as in all over the US). the only time we use 4wd in colorado is on the rocky roads in the mountains where you need high clearance and it's either 4wd, or off you go over a cliff. which brings me back to quebec... people drive fine in these tiny cars, over snow and gravel and ice. and use way less gas on average than we do. so, what's the deal? why are americans so caught up in this mind set that we need a big vehicle to survive out there?

and stretch hummers? ...don't even get me going...

vegan blog site

mmm. so, i'm not vegan, just vegetarian. but i thought this was a fun little blog with a random assortment of vegan treat recipes. Shmooed Food. and while we're at it, here's another site that has vegan ice cream recipes. Vegan Icecream Paradise. mmm. here's to a nice rainy weekend with lots of time to experiment with cooking up new, good-for-you-good-for-the-earth food. yum yum.

more on that 100 mile diet thing...

i think i wrote about the idea of the 100 mile diet earlier. somewhere around thatnksgiving..an apprpriate time to be writing about food i suppose. but now may be even a better time. it is SPRING. we shoudl be planting our gardens, and thinking about what we want to can/freeze/dry/and other wise preserve for the comming winter. think of the fall and winter and next spring and what we'll want to be eating. and how can we grow some/a lot of that starting now. now is a great time to be planning and begining a more local, if not all local, diet.

in the middle of november it's a little more difficult to find local foods to make your thanksgiving meal, so start planning now. greg and i decided to have a local meal for thanksgiving. we (i pushed it really) decided this in mid november. and can i just say that the meal was, well, not too great. we had pinto beans with a tomato base flavored with herbs and onion. and we had some collard and mustard greens. and and apple pie, sweetened with local honey. ...and we made an exception for salt. so i guess it wasn't awful, but darn, it sure would have been better had we started planning in spring.

so this year, i'm starting my planning now. i am organizing seed packets. getting my parents involved. and thinking of what foods will lend themselves to being nicely preserved. mmm, i can't wait!

and here's a little article about Alisa Smith and James MacKinnon whom essentially started this 100 mile diet new way of life. apparently they've put out a new book. might be an intersting read. and i also just finished omnivore's dilema...what i learned the most from that: every meal we eat is a political statement. every single one. a simple act that can have so many implications, on our taste buds, our health, the economy, the enviornemnt, the local food movement, immigration policies, oil exploration...diet really connects it all together.

Alisa Smith and James MacKinnon chew the fat on their 100-mile diet By Kate Sheppard Grist Main Dish 24 Apr 2007

my thoughts go out to them

my heart is saddened. my thoughts and prayers go out to all those affected by the tragic events at virginia tech. i cannot understand what causes people to do such harmful things. i hope people affected feel the love the world sends them as they try to begin to heal.

on small changes

my wednesday afternoon-evenings are usually spent out on the trail, mountain biking with my dad and a couple of his buddies. most of them are in the housing/development/construction/painting/etc business. they are all nice guys, and hard workers and have great families and like to talk about their bikes and harleys and grandkids and babecues and sports. last wednesday, on the way back from a gorgeous ride, my dad's friend asked me when i was going to upgrade my dilapidated tercel to a prius. "well, we're getting a prius next" he said. "if it's just a little thing we can do, well, then i guess that's a good thing. i'm not worried about saving money on gas, but if can help out with our health then that'd be good. like taking the cardboard downtown to be recycled or something." in typical guy-dad type fashion, that was all he had to say about it. not more, not less, but just enough. it's amazing how, while trying not to judge people, we usually do. and chances are, we're wrong. and that can be very refreshing and hopeful!

Worldmapper: The world as you've never seen it before

...or another byline might be "the world as you might not want to see it."

this website has essentially compiled lots of facts about countries around the world and projected those facts into map form. wow, some of these are amazing. it's one thing to know that we as americans are welathier, fatter, more educated, and generally more comfortable than lots of other countries in the world. yes, disgustingly, that's how it is. and, when you see these facts displayed visually in a worldmapper format, it becomes quite clear just how fortunate (maybe?) people in certain countries are.

the two maps i haev displayed here highlight a pretty weird and convoluted fact. us has the largest military budget. in fact we look like a swollen tick after it's wobbled off from a huge meal on some poor animals neck. we also have the smallest number of casualties since 1945. strange... where does all that money go? do we have to spend all that money? why are so many people dying in other countries and yet we have tons of military power? does this make you feel a little bad?

war deaths

military spending

Worldmapper: The world as you've never seen it before

AlterNet: EnviroHealth: You Call Yourself a Progressive -- But You Still Eat Meat?

well, well. i am a vegetarian. i have been my whole life and you know what? i never really thought about the general/environmental/social implications of being a vegetarian until i went to college. all of a sudden, at my liberal arts college, it was the buzz word, the hip thing, the only option if you wanted to be "cool"...and cooler yet: vegan!

i grew up in a family of vegetarians and we were vegetarians for personal and spiritual reasons. i saw cruelty to animals as the number one reason to being a veggie. and then, at 18 in a brand new college, in a brand new state i was introduced to the concept of vegetarianism being environmental and progressive and saving the rainforests. interesting. and i actually began to find it easier to tell people i was veggie for those reasons rather than spiritual reasons. eating and diet are such personal things, and yet spirituality having an influence on one's diet was even more personal, too much of myself could be exposed. and so i was on the enviro-veggie wagon.

after a few years of that...well, i realized that diet is very personal. food is a tradition and many times one of the few traditions that families observe today. and though i am fairly certain that a vegetarian (and even more so, vegan) diet is better for the planet overall...it is a very hard point to sell. it's like trying to convert someone to a different religion or make them wear a different style. it's a huge life change and sacrifice for many people...and a burden. the argument should be made from a factual stance. and equally from a spiritual-emotional stance. telling someone they are not progressive because they eat meat is (i believe true) not going to convince them to give up meat. it raises defenses and does nothing to win over omnivores.

i enjoyed this article, but what i found even more interesting were the comments. a lot were very defensive and a lot were rude and a lot were compassionate... and i think it teaches that, we, as a culture, are very dependent on food to give us a place and a common ground. eating and food choices are very personal, no matter how right or wrong another person may claim them to be. and also, after reading the article, i think people need to remember we have free speech... just because somebody writes something doesn't mean you need to take so near to your own heart. we need to respect the opinions of others and let them speak as they see fit.

that all said... i would encourage close friends and relative of mine to go veggie for health and spiritual and environmental reasons. i care about those people and i want them to lead healthy happy lives...though i would never lose a friendship or try to cause arguments based around our differences in diet.

AlterNet: EnviroHealth: You Call Yourself a Progressive -- But You Still Eat Meat?

why did i change?!

so, if you actually are so bored that you read this page...you may notice that today i changed the colors. why did i do this you might ask? well, because i read that darker pages use less energy than white pages to display. but i couldn't go totally black...so i hope the off-black works. and it was just kind of fun changing it.

unusual sights

sometimes i wish i had a video camera with me continuously so that i could capture so many little moments. it'd make a great little film. especially for the new generations out there whose attention spans are... short? unfortunately, i don't own a video camera. and if i had it all the time i would be continuously looking for moments and they probably wouldn't happen and if they did, by the time i got the camera turned on, they'd be over.

my moment the other day was just a little hopefully-glimmering moment. i was walking back from lunch, along the dusty side streets of main. and i passed a sad little dentist office, it's big picture glass waiting room windows facing the windy and dusty street. of course i glanced in. and there was a teenaged girl, with braces, and goth jewelry sitting in the sun pouring in the window. and she was holding up a brochure titled, in big green letters "The Effects of Climate Change" and underneath "What you can do". it was a hopefully moment. here was a girl that might or might not be interested in any environmental problems, and while waiting for a (likely painful) appointment with the dentist...maybe, just maybe, she'll have read something that she'll take to heart and put into action.

visual impact

here's an intersting exhibit called "running the numbers":http://www.chrisjordan.com/current_set2.php?id=7

the artist, chris jordan, takes photographs and puts them together torepresent things like "1.14 million brown paper supermarket bags, thenumber used in the US every hour" . so it's little factoids but in a visual form...which from the pictures on his site...definitely has abigger impact than the fact alone.

Von Lintel (www.vonlintel.com), in NYC, will exhibit the "Running theNumbers" series this year from June 14 through the end of July

shown here:

"Paper Bags", 2007Digital C print, 72x96"Depicts 1.14 million brown paper supermarket bags, the number used in the US every hour. (actual top, zoomed-in bottom)

Think Small...building-wise

here's an intersting article from the ny times on building small. and why not? really, the more room it seems people have, the more people fill that space and then feel burdened by the stuff they have. and the more space there is, the more expensive to heat and cool and clean it. the bigger the home, the more materials go into it and the bigger footprint it has on the ground. i definitely think that there is a limit to how small a home can get. during high school my family lived in a two bedroom-1 bath house. it was a little cramped. my two sisters and i were in one room and my parents, and baby brother, when he came along my junior year, were in the other room. needless to say, we felt the smallness. but it doesn't mean we weren't happy. we lived on 500 acres, and some of my best memories from that time are cross-country skiing in the moonlight with my sisters, having bonfires with my friends, walking over the adobe hills with my boyfriend, swimming in the canals, and watching the lambs (not ours) run around the property in the spring. there is something about living in a small space that really forces you to interact with the outdoors and life around you. which is a good thing. this article makes that clear, but unfortunatley it speaks mainly of super-small houses which people are actually using as second homes...not a permanent residences. i look forward to hearing more about this movement and people who are making the move to live in small homes..full-time. (houses pictured: top left: a 750 squarefoot, 2 bed, full bath, nice kitchen, and bottom right: very small, 1, not quite seperate bedroom, exterior bath..both from wee houses)

Think Small - New York Times

Cancer: How Dangerous Are Our Cosmetics?

ok, so i know i've written about this before. bad things in our body products. but to me it is such a simple thing to fix in our daily lives, that why shouldn't we make a change. read this article from newsweek. about carcinogenic ingredients in BABY shampoos and bubble bath...and how common the ingredients are in lots of other products.
Cancer: How Dangerous Are Our Cosmetics? - Newsweek: Tip Sheet Environment - MSNBC.com
and, of course, for more information on your specific products, use the environmental working group's site: www.ewg.org . it is chock full of info and explains the problems with certain bad ingredients, and you can even create a shopping list by using the search engine. it's such a simple change in daily lives that can effect the REST of our lives.

NEW:7 wonders of the world!

hmmm... i had, for some reason, alwsy thought there were 7 world wonders that were the "new" ones...but apparently these had never been decided upon. and now, we, the people on this planet, have a chance to vote for the new 7 wonders of the world. that's a cun concept. i'm not sure how the whole process worked, but the site currently has 21 amazing sites to choose from. so, log on and cast your vote!

n7w: Vote

a week away

mmm, i'm just returning from a wonderful week away, in belize, with my boyfriend. the ocean was crystal clear, the forest lush, the rivers wide, the caves deep, the mayan ruins amazing, the fan corals colorful, the nurse sharks adorable, the sun warm, the rain loud, the sand white, the people friendly, the orange groves extensive, the buses cheap, the love warm. no decisions were made regarding the future, in fact we didn't speak of it..we lived in every moment. and that was wonderful. every moment. and then we said goodbye in the bustling and shiny dallas airport. and now i am back, to offer you an orange starfish. here's to love and travels and starfish.

Animalia

i know, i've been gone for a while. but now i am back with a suggestion. Animalia, by barbara helen berger, is a beautiful book about kindness to animlas. my mom read it to me as a child and i have read and re-read it growing up. i recently bought my own copy and was taken back to those early memories. the illustrations are beautiful and the stories are simple and yet meaningful at the same time.


Barbara Helen Berger, Children's Books Section

places i love..or would love given the chance

thrown for a loop

when i am talking with freinds, or people at work, or my family i feel generally encouraged by the state of things in the world. it's by no means becoming utopic: people are starving, hiv/aids is becoming a pandemic, global warming is off and running, houses are being built left & right, species are dying. but overall, i often feel that there is a general swelling of conciousness. people on a large scale seem to becoming more and more aware of the issues and are becoming more willing to help create change. and i like to think people are becoming more informed. but then, things come out of nowhere and hit me upside the head, and make me pause for a moment (or make me think about it for over a week) ...and make me think "now, what really, is the world comming to. did i just hear right?"

here is an example from my personal life. the setting: me, talking with a good friend, who considers herself informed and works in the media, and her friend from europe.

me: or we could walk there, though it's a bit long.
her: let's just drive, it's so cold out.
me (sarcastically): yeah, so much for global warming.
her: that's just a theory.
me, european: *silence.*
european: yeah, the americans won't even join kyoto.
me: please don't hold that agaisnt us personally. it's the govt and who they are representing...like energy companies.
her: what's kyoto?
me, european: *second silence.*
european: an international agreement to lower emissions.
her: hmm, nope, never heard of it.
me: *more embarassed/livid silence.*

ok, so we did go ahead and explain it a little further to her. but, it just through me for a loop. how can i expect a huge sell of change for the better when even my own freinds, who consider themselves informed haven't heard and are skeptical of issues that are very well covered and documented. how can i bring more knowledge to the table. here's a great site on grist that provides all kinds of information reagarding climate change. and how to discuss the issues: http://gristmill.grist.org/skeptics

a little greenwashing never hurt anyone...even EXXON

so, finally, exxon has cut ties with the competitive enetrprise institute. they were previously funding campaigns to to make people questions global warming and making claims that global warming and carbon dioxide were not an issue. now it seems, since the dems have control of the house and senate, Big Oil has decided to start changing itself a little. we all prefer to do our own greenwashing as opposed to being forced to scrub up in a major way by congress. i don't have full faith that exxon is actually going to make a huge change, hey there's still a little oil left. why should they actually encourage people to keep them from using up every last drop. however, maybe they hvae seen the glaringly bright light at the end of the short tunnel, or have counted the last few drops of liquid gold that are in their pipes, and realize that there has got to be more money to be made elsewhere. why not fund research in to alternative fuel, which will eventually become the fuel of the present? and make a few bucks....

Exxon cuts ties to warming skeptics - Environment - MSNBC.com