Happy Earth Day!
National Global Warming Bill – Petition
Please Sign NOW–TODAY!!
California Rep. Henry Waxman and Massachusetts Rep. Markey have crafted a bill called the “American Clean Energy and Security Act of 2009. ” This bill has the support of an incredible list of Heavy Hitters in the environmental movement (see this partial list)!! A petition is being circulated to let Congress know that we want them to pass this bill.
Sign the Petition. Please. Sign the Petition Here.
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 This Earth Day, take action to save your planet by calling YOUR member of Congress at 202-224-3121 and asking them to support the Markey-Waxman climate bill!
The Markey-Waxman climate bill is a reasonable measure that moves the US toward a green energy future and new economy based on renewable energy. It will go a long way toward pollution reduction requirements that help SAVE OUR PLANET! Earth Day Network looks forward to working with Chairmen Markey and Waxman on strengthening the bill even further – but we need your help and support first! Call 202-224-3121 and ensure a cleaner, greener future for us all! Sincerely, |
While individual actions like bike riding instead of driving, recycling and using recycled materials, eating less, and living creatively on the earth DO add up and DO make a difference, it is minute compared to getting the government to change laws and policies and getting companies to change their business practices which support living resiliently and sustainably on the earth.
It does add up: drops in a bucket will eventually fill the bucket. For example, it takes 6 gallons of water to produce a head of lettuce, but it takes over 1,000 to produce a cheeseburger with lettuce, because the feed for the cows is so inefficient to grow, plus the emissions for the tractors is very high, according to GREENandSAVE, a leading “green” resource for anyone who wants to save money and the environment, as well as create a healthier home and overall lifestyle. They’re offering a FREE download of their Eco Family Guide, a 12 page guide with tips for kids and parents – http://tinyurl.com/harogreen1
A British study claims that staying slim can help the planet. Lean populations, such as that in Vietnam, the researchers say, consume 20% less food and produce less greenhouse gas emissions than populations in which 40% of people are obese (close to the U.S. figure). The researchers also say that slimmer people are more likely to avoid using cars because their bodies are healthier, and that transport-related emissions are lower because it takes less energy to transport slim people. This makes me wonder: What kind of diet is best for getting and staying slim and saving the planet? (Smoothies using local fruits and not imported bananas?) How can we best encourage Americans to eat figure- and earth-friendly? Is there a consistent correlation between slim populations and healthier environments? Here is a link to the press release on the study: http://tinyurl.com/cfbvh7
Another recent study advocates that a return to a 1970s lifestyle would also address climate change; that study also mentions Americans increased obesity.
Moms Rising wrote to point out that: children ages 6-11 are four times more likely to be obese than children were a generation ago. That’s according to a Robert Wood Johnson Foundation Statement Regarding Release of Estimates of Obesity Prevalence Among U.S. Children and Teens, http://www.rwjf.org/childhoodobesity/product.jsp?id=31611, Beyond Health Care – New Directions to a Healthier America, Robert Wood Johnson Commission to Build a Healthier America, p. 7. http://www.commissiononhealth.org/Report.aspx?Publication=64498
Today, nearly one-third of all children are overweight or obese, placing them at heightened risk for heart disease, type 2 diabetes and many other serious diseases. Tell Congress to strengthen the Child and Adult Care Food Program (CACFP) so that more children in child care settings can benefit from nutritious meals and snacks.
http://momsrisingaction.org/t/1546/campaign.jsp?campaign_KEY=27119
Tell Congress to act now to provide nutritious food to our most vulnerable children and prevent lifelong health problems due to poor childhood nutrition. Please take a minute to forward this message on to friends and family so we can build pressure on Congress to take action now to protect the nutrition and health of children.
And the health of the planet!
Changing your diet and your life does help. Adding your voice to others clamoring for change, and participating in actions which encourage business to change, is the BIGGEST thing you can do for the Earth today and every day.
Al Gore writes,
In order to solve the climate crisis, we can’t just change light bulbs — we need to change laws. Read more…
Making May Day Prom Ride Posters at Lettre Sauvage
For the May Day Prom Ride & Bike Prom on the Promenade, I wanted a special poster to plaster the town with, so I contacted Fiona Spring at Lettre Sauvage to see if she would help me in her Santa Paula studio.
And she answered yes! I packed up the small boy, some snacks, some text, and we off we went.
To get
started, we wandered the studio, exploring possible papers, ink colors, fonts, and graphics.
No, she didn’t have any bicycles around. Or prom queens we could ink up. Or…hmmn, what about this wonderful spiraling, wheeling graphic that her husband Cameron made and Fiona had turned into a plate to make into cards and journals?
Perfect! The center reminds me of dahlias, then bicycle spokes reeling and wheeling out toward the world! And that’s what we’re trying to do with these rid
es–keep the world a green and healthy place for flowers and other living beings while we bike our way around! We ran that in fuschia, of course, and I cranked the machine while Fiona kept me in ink and set type.
Setting the type was a challenge–finding all the right letter in the right sizes. We loved the 50’s flourishy May Day (that’s a W for the M in May! Isn’t it fun? but we didn’t have a big P for Prom until Fiona realized we could take a large wooden lower case “d” and turn it upside down! Voila!
We ran the text in turquiose over the fuschia; back at home, I laid out the rest of the text, printed it, and copied it onto the letterpress broadsides.
Join the “Prom Ride to the Promenade” May Day Prom May 1 2009 any time from 5-9pm in your prom dress & dance with us at our portable prom! All Prom Ride Times Approximate; follow ArtPredator on twitter for updates! Read more…
Paul Jenkin, Environmental Director, for Surfrider Foundation, Ventura County Chapter sent me an email today letting me know that the Ventura City Council will be making a decision on the Embassy Suites hotel proposal tonight; he encourages people to come out to speak against the proposal which you can read about here: http://venturaecosystem.blogspot.com/2009/03/coastal-development-at-c-st.html
The Surfrider Foundation concludes that the project should undergo further environmental review based on the information below.
Tonight is an opportunity to tell elected representatives that you are concerned about the impact of coastal development and climate change to our coast.
City Council meets at 6pm – this is Item 5 and will likely not be heard until after 7:00 pm http://www.cityofventura.net/publicmeetings/councilagendas
Here’s Paul’s letter to the Council. You can use it to help frame your own thoughts about the proposal. You can email your words to Council “ventura council”<council@ci.ventura.ca.us> (you don’t have to be a resident or local–let them know that people beyond the city limits care about what goes down (and up!) on the coastline.
Or even better, come to the meeting and speak your mind! (They have wifi so bring your laptop!) Read more…
Digging by Seamus Heaney
Between my finger and my thumb
The squat pen rests; as snug as a gun.
Under my window a clean rasping sound
When the spade sinks into gravelly ground:
My father, digging. I look down
Till his straining rump among the flowerbeds
Bends low, comes up twenty years away
Stooping in rhythm through potato drills
Where he was digging.
The coarse boot nestled on the lug, the shaft
Against the inside knee was levered firmly.
He rooted out tall tops, buried the bright edge deep
To scatter new potatoes that we picked
Loving their cool hardness in our hands.
By God, the old man could handle a spade,
Just like his old man.
My grandfather could cut more turf in a day
Than any other man on Toner’s bog.
Once I carried him milk in a bottle
Corked sloppily with paper. He straightened up
To drink it, then fell to right away
Nicking and slicing neatly, heaving sods
Over his shoulder, digging down and down
For the good turf. Digging.
The cold smell of potato mold, the squelch and slap
Of soggy peat, the curt cuts of an edge
Through living roots awaken in my head.
But I’ve no spade to follow men like them.
Between my finger and my thumb
The squat pen rests.
I’ll dig with it.
by Seamus Heaney (1939-)
– from Death of a Naturalist (1966)
Here him read this poem with images from his life:
Tim Rutten of the LA Times writes about how:
The poetry, and wisdom, of Seamus Heaney, The Irish Nobel laureate may be on to something with his notion that the arts can help people through troubled economic times.
In a recent interview, Heaney said he was often asked what the value of poetry was during times of economic recession. The answer, he explained, is that it is at just such moments of crisis that people realize that they do not live by economics alone.
“If poetry and the arts do anything, they can fortify your inner life, your inwardness,” Heaney said.
Poetry: We Must Be Cowboys Dodging Speeding Tickets
My small boy map gazes adventure
his fingers criss cross the country
on a large illustrated puzzle
of America on the floor.
“These sharks and alligators
and no crab pinchers
next to Shamu has to go
under the house
instead of the ocean
because of this homer whale.
The flag has to go upside
down down
down.
This is where we went
yesterday
where the dot is.”
He is three and some change:
we visited the dot in Florida
when he was 18 months.
“Tomorrow we have to go see
the mouse eating cheeses in this planet
where I’m pointing to tomorrow.
We have to go slow. We have to go
under very quiet to see
the dolphins and baby beluga.
We can see cowboys
driving along on back roads
without getting a speeding ticket.”
He sings it as a song,
the cowboys on the back roads
dodging speeding tickets.
“I need to go
that way
please.”
He is 5 now, and together
we must be cowboys
traveling the map on back roads
dodging speeding tickets.
c. Gwendolyn Alley aka Art Predator April 20, 2009
For more poetry, ride the train!
Last Monday, a group pf poets, peace activists and myself presented poems by Guantanamo detainees. What next? Below is an update on recent developments as well as ways YOU can help close the book on torture.
INDICT BUSH says: Bush Six Likely to Be Indicted
 Publicizing the indictment movement requires placing newspaper ads, organizing national call-in days to pressure Congressional representatives, intensive media work, teach-ins and educational forums. Please consider taking a moment right now to make a donation to this new movement for the indictment of Bush. |
“Spanish prosecutors have decided to press forward with a criminal investigation targeting former U.S. Attorney General Alberto Gonzales and five top associates over their role in the torture of five Spanish citizens held at Guantánamo,” according to Scott Horton, law professor and writer for Harper’s Magazine and The American Lawyer.
“We are expecting a decision this week,” the Spanish prosecutor’s office told the Associated Press on April 14.
In an extraordinary conclusion to a report by the International Committee of the Red Cross that was just released, the Red Cross recommended that:
“the US authorities investigate all allegations of ill-treatment and take steps to punish the perpetrators, where appropriate, and to prevent such abuses from happening again.”
The Red Cross report outlines the capture and interrogation and torture of “high value” detainees at CIA “black sites.'” The report evidences criminal conduct carried out by the Bush Administration.
Coming from the Red Cross, this presents a major obstacle to those who would seek to block prosecution or suggest that the conduct carried out by Bush officials and the CIA could be considered lawful by any means.
This report presents direct evidence of the brutality and illegality of the Bush/Cheney Administration’s torture regime. Read more…
Earth Day/Earth Month: Good Days to Celebrate Love & Life!
I am writing from Room 16 of the historic Cliff House Inn located on the water in Mussels Shoals, just a few miles south of the famous Rincon surf site where the Big Monkey and I celebrated Earth Day Read more…
“Because scarcity is a myth constructed to keep us at the mercy of the economy!” LA Free Market April 19, 2009
Earth Day Network emailed me with a reminder on where, why and how to get involved in Earth Day in your community, no matter where you live! Want to know more about what to do to help save the earth? Below you’ll find links for a free e-Book and info on a book for Green Teens! So here we go–Earth Day 2009!
Earth Day Eco Festival
Sponsored by the Ventura Charter School
Saturday, April 18th
11am to 7pm
Promenade Park – Ventura
(Next to the Ventura Fair Grounds)
Come visit VCCool’s booth at this year’s Eco-Fest Earth Day festival. Join our new Ventura Bicyclists Union and get an original bike-art TShirt, get personally involved with Public Transit, learn about the Green Urban Design pod, and more! There will also be many other booths, workshops, music, food, kids events all day! More Info. At 3:00 VCCool will be part of the Green Panel: VCCool, Kids vs. Global Warming, Ventura City Council member, CAUSE, and Ventura Surfrider Foundation. The Ventura Botanical Garden is also offering a local garden tour.
Earth Day Green Home and Garden Tour and Expo
Sponsored by the Midtown Ventura Community Council
Sunday, April 19th
11am – 4pm
1290 E. Thompson Blvd., Ventura
The VCCoolers will also have a booth at the Green Home and Garden Tour and Expo. This Earth Day event also includes the California Native Plants sale, and self-guided tours of Mid-Town’s greenest homes and gardens. (Tours $10)
LA’s Really Really Free Market and Picnic
“Because scarcity is a myth constructed to keep us at the mercy of the economy!”
No money. No Barter. No trade. Everything is Free.
If you like freecycle, you’ll LOVE this!
LA’s Really Really Free Market and Picnic
When: Saturday April 18th, 2009
Where: 1-5PM @ Mac Arthur Park (Corner of 7th and Parkview)
Please bring usable items, food, skills and talents to give for the sake of giving.
Vegan Potluck + Free lunch provided by Food not Bombs
Public Transit: Red Line: Exit Westlake Mac Arthur Park or Wilshire Bus #18 or 720 Rapid
Earth Day is next Wednesday April 22nd! Get involved in your community!
Locally, Ventura College is having an Earth Day and Campus clean-up April 22; check back for more details.
Here are some ways you can get involved:
- Volunteer and participate in events in your city! Join Planet Green, Earth Day Network, non-profit organizations and city parks across the U.S. this weekend, April 17-19. Click here to sign up!
- Send an Earth Day E-Card, and check out the Earth Day Take-Home Kit.
- GenGreenLife has launched a Facebook application called Every Day is Earth Day. Every day leading up to April 22nd, the app will suggest a way that you can decrease your environmental impact. The goal is to offset at least 100,000 lbs of CO2 which equals an estimated 20,000 Facebook users! Grab the application here.
Be part of the solution!
Just in time for Earth Day, Grist.org is giving away free downloads of their environmentally focused book, “Wake Up and Smell the Planet: The Nonpompous, Nonpreachy Grist Guide to Greening Your Day!” This is a great call to action to not just be eco-conscious one day each year, but to be earth-friendly every day! Get the ebook here.
Do you have a Green Teen or do you want to cultivate one? Read more…
Springsteen’s fans: the nicest people
You meet the nicest people at a Bruce Springsteen show. Really. It could be Bruce, his music, his philosophy. It could just be that the music makes you feel good and smile more and be friendly. Maybe it’s a shared bond, the communal experience, like being in church with an incredible choir. I’m sure there’s plenty of blog posts out there on the subject so I’m not going to belabor the point.
Last night we hung out with some really cool people. Sitting next to us Read more…
“We’re here with a mighty purpose in mind! We’re gonna rock the house! But we’re not only going to rock the house, we’re going to build a house. We’re going to take fear and build a house of love; we’re going to take sadness and build a house of joy; we’re going to take doubt and build a house of faith; we’re going to take despair and build a house of hope.” Bruce Springsteen April 15, 2009
“Gonna build a house, got all the tunes we need to build a stage, gonna build a house out of music!” Bruce Springsteen, April 16, 2009
Tonight, after the Bruce Springsteen Working on a Dream show at the LA Sports Arena, we hung out by the exit waiting for Bruce and the band to come out, sign autographs, and talk.
And I am happy to report, that finally, after 22 years of trying, tonight The Big Monkey finally got Bruce Springsteen to sign an enlarged photograph of them together which was taken here at the Sports Arena in 1987.
But I’m jumping ahead of myself! Let me tell you about the show first. It was great of course, and Mike Ness of Social Distortion showed up and they wailed on the guitars showing no mercy whatsoever (more about that–and that photo is from a previous gig–we’ll see later if I find any or if mine came out!) and then the Big Monkey got his picture signed! (Yes it’s a really big BIG deal! He is beside himself with joy!)
Tonight was the one year anniversary of Danny Federici’s death, the organ player who had been friends with and played with Bruce the longest. They went to high school together and started playing together in the late 60s. According to WIkipedia, Federici died on April 17, 2008 in New York having suffered for three years with melanoma.[7][8] Springsteen’s newest album, Working on a Dream, is dedicated to him. There’s a tribute to Danny on Sunday at the Troubadour in LA with Rage Against the Machine’s Tom Morello who dropped by and played last night. Danny’s son, Jason, who plays accordion will be there as well as other guests.
It seemed like those memories were weighing heavy on Bruce and the band tonight, but possibly inspiring them also Read more…
art predator 