modern life vs. human nature

Vancouver Mayoral candidate Gregor Robertson attended a soirée of sorts at local photographer/environmental advocate Jaime Kowal’s studio. The Happy Planet founder was in good company to explain how he is going to stop Vancouver from becoming a half vacant resort for hollywood types and trust fund tourists.

The biggest idea seemed to be making Vancouver the “greenest” city in the world. After all, I moved here because it is green and …well..the rain pretty much ensures that it stays green for 6-8 months of the year. But that is not all that is required to make this humble town a shining example of something besides tight fitting yoga pants. The way he is going to keep it green is by removing all the cars..literally..giant SUVs first please! I think he is going to start in North Vancouver first..I mean..he should really. But seriously, it was a Global Earth Hour and other cities around the world did their little bit to turn off lights for an hour and our lovely city did nothing at all to show any leadership in this area.

He also fielded questions about how to mitigate the disasterous effects of the rich, real estate craved, expansionist-minded section of the population that would like to turn the city into their personal money making playground of capitalism, ripe with big box retailers, monster-sized stadiums and drive thru mono-culture that seems to effect most North American cities. To that effect this crowd was hungry for more detail.

The atmosphere was positive and friendly and Gregor came off as a nice guy with good intentions. One guest even compared him to Clark Kent ie. Superman in disguise. It was likely a pleasant beginning to what will be become a hard fought and critical election for Vancouver as it moves into the Olympics and beyond.

If you want to help Gregor Robertson become mayor or you want to know more go to www.gregor08.ca for more information.

Riot aftermath in Tibet.

Photo courtesy of the NY Times

Hey China, Quit being like America!

Tibet has no oil and they don’t like making widescreen tvs either. Haven’t you got enough people to worry about?(One billion..give or take a few Nike factories hidden somewhere near the border making Air Jordans)

I like the way our Canadian government has decided to opt out of any criticism “for the sake of the athletes) Ha! Good one. I think it might be for the sake of all business interests involved. We do so much trade with this communist country (I know this because I can see all the ships sitting in the bay here in Vancouver waiting to unload) that saying something to hurt the ruling communist party would 1) hurt business interests here and therefore our god “the Economy” 2) potentially make my next ipod cost a few bucks more! Damn. I really need a new ipod too..or wait..iphone..oh, and that new super skinny Mac laptop too….hhmm…maybe I should just shut up and get back to work so I can pay for the new version of MS Word as my pirated version just got shut down by a new security update..oh, oh..%$#!*_)><”:>……

Ok, good to go again now that I have www.openoffice.org It’s a free office package so I no longer have to deal with Bill’s cronies.

So what was I saying..Oh, right I can’t wait to see which athlete gets on the podium and rips open his Roots jacket to reveal a “Free Tibet” t-shirt. Now, that would be a truly Canadian thing to do!

Go team!

I was intrigued by the recent release of the Tom Cruise Church of Scientology video on Youtube and while I was watching I found a few videos related to a group called Anonymous who are supposedly in a war against Scientology.

Aside from Tom Cruise, what really interested me was two things 1) this internet based group is seemingly worldwide and has effectively created real world protests like on February 2, 2008, where 150 people gathered outside of a Church of Scientology center in Orlando, Florida to protest the organization’s practices. Small protests were also held in Santa Barbara, California,^[31] and Manchester, England and 2) it is unstructured, non-hierarchical and has no members. On February 10, 2008, about 7,000 people protested in more than 93 cities worldwide.

As a far as protesting goes this could be one of the most important moments in the history of protesting! This is especially important because of the vicious nature with which Scientology attacks its critics. The Church has been known to follow, pursue and harass outspoken opponents. As Anonymous has no real members, no club house and no leadership it becomes impossible for the Church of Scientology to target. This leaves people free to voice their opinion without fear of serious retribution. How convenient is that? Very.

This is a powerful example of using the internet as a force to change the world around us. It is an example of how ideas can become real when given a podium and a worldwide audience. It is how everyday people can join together to do something that corporations, governments and lawmakers won’t do for us. It is democracy and freedom in action and it is inspiring! Let’s hear it for the geeks!

Anonymous will hold its third protest against Scientology on April 12, 2008.^[38][39] Named “Operation Reconnect”, it will aim to increase awareness of the Church of Scientology’s disconnection policy.^[40]

Personally, I have nothing against the Church of Scientology and I find the Tom Cruise video a little weird but still reminiscent of most preachy, religious types that we see and hear everyday but that’s not the point. Others do find the religion disturbing and they want to speak out about it without being unfairly targeted. So I say let them do it. You most likely won’t see me there. Or will you?

As I was scouring through websites today and taking a break from designing my new clothing line made from recycled materials I came upon a new eco-friendly vodka called 360 courtesy of a website called Inhabitat. This vodka claims to be the world’s first eco-friendly vodka. The article goes on to explain that the claim is not true. Veev and Purus are also “eco-friendly” vodkas and they’re not new. You may think eco-friendly vodka sounds a bit contrived and with good reason. Vodka is “hard alcohol”. This product is expensive “hard alcohol”. It’s combining “hard drinking”, and environmentalism together in one pitch. That’s like making boxing gloves out of hemp or guns out of recycled metal. Promoting vodka based on the fact that it is eco-friendly seems strange. I have a feeling people will see right through this as a bad marketing idea thrown upon us by shallow marketers looking to take advantage of what they see as the next big trend. I am imagining this scenario….a drunk guy in a bar bragging to some girl he wants to pick up about his new “bimmer” and buying $18 vodka cranberry’s for her… then telling her it’s eco-friendly vodka… so she thinks he’s a “nice” guy….hhhmm….

A friend of mine who works for a major clothing retailer sent me this shot from China. She is there working with factories and fabric makers to create more sustainable clothing and business processes. (I think.) As per my request she sent me this lovely sunny day picture. Disgusting. Here’s the kicker…most people in China don’t have cars but they will soon. There are four times the amount of people in China than in North America and we(North Americans) spew out the most amount of pollution from our cars. The good part is that all we have to do is stop driving gas fueled cars. That is also the bad news. More electric cars would help. It seems to me that the easiest way to afford an electric car would be to make them cheap or to get kickbacks from the government to buy one(after all they would save huge amounts of money on healthcare if we have less pollution) The problem wiith that scenario in Canada is that our current prime minister is from Alberta, which just happens to be the biggest polluter because they make all their money from oil production. It doesn’t take a genius to see why Stephen Harper hasn’t done anything really progressive in this area. It also doesn’t take a genius to see how to help save the environment and ourselves from pollution. Fire Stephen Harper. By the way, I don’t think Stephen Harper is doing such a bad job, I mean, compared to George Bush he seems like a pretty good guy. In the end , he isn’t going to do what’s needed because his home town and his cash all come from oil. Maybe the next prime minister should be a hydro electric executive?

The engine on my Biodeisel SUV died the other day.  Not because of any major engine failure, it died because a little tube from the coolant fell off and I kept driving it. I kept driving  it because the BCAA guy who was going to tow it told me it was  fine.  Unfortunate for me,  his advice led to the meltdown of the engine.  Lucky for me that I found an acquaintance who said he could have his diesel mechanic fix it for me for a good price. Then his mechanic caught the flu.  Then he had a heart attack.  I rented a car and it got a flat tire.  I borrowed a friend’s car and left the lights on so it wouldn’t start. This time the BCAA guy that came to boost the car suggested that I must have bad car karma. He was right. I generally do not treat my vehicles very well.   As a pampered, spoiled consumer I have been used to driving a leased Xterra that had all of the “bells and whistles” and a great return clause. I didn’t take care of it because I didn’t own it.  Now I drive(and own) this 1991 SUV and it is more of a utility vehicle than a “convenience” vehicle. I have to do things like change the hubs when I want to put it in 4×4.(This requires getting out of the car…something I didn’t realize until I starting spinning out on a snow covered highway), remove the sunroof by hand and use a key to open the doors.  In a recent tantrum after leaving my lights on(my xterra warned me if the lights were on) and finding the battery dead I kicked my SUV and put a sizable dent in it.  My SUV has had it’s revenge. I have realized I had come to expect some of the modern conveniences of an affluent society and that not having them has sometimes turned me into a whining, complaining spoiled consumer.  Lesson learned.

My SUV before I kicked it…

photo courtesy of aimsorganic

You may think that a little thing like a t-shirt doesn’t make a difference in the whole scheme of “saving the earth” or stopping global warming or promoting sustainability but I am a true believer in the idea that every little bit counts. As such, I have decided to buy only organic cotton t-shirts based mostly on two little gems of information that I have stumbled upon:

1)Conventional cotton farming uses synthetic fertilizers and pesticides that deplete the soil thus requiring an average of 744 gallons of water to produce enough cotton for one t-shirt. (ie. 9 years of drinking water for the average human)

2)Pesticides and fertilizers used in conventional cotton farming enter the food chain because beef and diary cows are fed cotton straw cottonseed meal and waste from cotton gins. These are all considered by-products so cotton is not regulated as a food crop. The majority of the cotton plant ends up in the human supply. 60% of the harvested cotton is seed, which is pressed into oils that are used in everything from cookies to canned tuna. The side effects of eating food contaminated with pesticides and fertilizers are cancer, birth defects, endocrine disruption and nervous system disorders.

Quite simply, the more organic cotton we purchase the less likely we are to waste water or get some form of horrible disease! That is good enough for me..well besides the fact that organic cotton seems to feel softer without all those pesticides..ewww!

If you need to know where to find organic cotton tees or other organic cotton clothing(believe me you won’t look like a dirty hippy) just look around most retailers are carrying organic tees now and judging by the latest fashion trade show in Las Vegas there are a ton of cool, fresh designs on organic tees.

You can also find organic tees at places like Mountain Equipment Co-op(good company even though they may lack some style) the gap(not so good), H&M(they seem to be trying..) But hey, I don’t want to confuse the message here…so as long as we are buying an organic tee we are helping. Go shop.

So I was doing some research on brands that make organic or sustainable product and found quite a similarity between the Adbusters Unswoosher boot and the new “Ripper” boot from Timberland. Both boots are more “eco” friendly than most boots on the marketplace but the big difference is that the Adbuster boot is made from 100% hemp and 100% recycled tires. Plus, Adbusters is a non-profit magazine hell bent on tearing apart the sick part of our consumer culture. From what I can see Timberland is just another company trying to jump on the “organic” trend. Also, the Timberland boot is only 30% recycled materials…not very much…and can we really trust what they say anyway. They are essentially a public company responsible to their shareholders.

Now I actually own a pair of the Unswoosher boots so I am a little upset that Timberland would steal the essential components of design for their boot from me and all the other people that support a look that suggests an anti-capitalist leaning..ha..just kidding…the look should have nothing to do with the politics but wtf? Timberland..go steal from someone else!

Photos courtesy of news.yahoo.com

Watching the results of the recent race for the democratic nomination in the US made me realize something about the way we think. It is also something that applies across the board when we are trying to persuade someone about any topic. Small doses of negativity works to get your point across. I don’t necessarily think it is sad comment on human affairs as much as it is an understanding of human thinking. George W. Bush used negativity to win the nomination for the Republican party when he was running against the current nominee John McCain. He then used it for the last eight years to scare the hell out of the american public and to silence his critics. It is only his massive display of incompetence that has really gotten him in trouble in the last few years as you can only hide stupid for so long. McCain won this time because there was no one as vicious and negative as Bush in the running.

On the Democratic side Hillary just did an effective job of scaring enough people with a negative ad into keeping her in the running. Some of you might say I am simplifying the issue but the focus of the ad was the leadership capability and lack of experience that are seen to be Obama’s weak points.

This makes me consider that a small dose of negativity can work whether you are trying to convince someone to think about the environmental impact of their current actions or even getting them to buy something that may be more expensive but better for their health and the planet’s health. Without beating them over the head or “guilting” them into a decision they may later resent you for you can just kindly throw into an otherwise positive conversation a little dash of negative so your point might have a better chance of sticking.

Good luck with that. You’ll need it.

Yes, I recently sold my Xterra and bought a japanese import right hand drive diesel 4X4. It is called an Isuzu MU(stands for Mysterious Utility…ha!) The first reason I did this was because I realized that my greatest contribution to pollution was through my car emissions. I now can use bio-diesel fuel and very effectively reduce my contribution to global warming.(biodiesel gives off about 10% of the pollutants of gasoline)

I also liked the idea of using biodeisel instead of buying an electric car because if my biodeisel source runs out(which it won’t because Husky now carries it in BC) I can still fall back on regular diesel(still less polluting than gasoline!) Plus, this truck cost less than 10K and there is nothing comparable in electric. Did I mention that it also looks awesome and tough!

Now you don’t have to import a car from Japan(even though I bought it from a dealer with no extra hassle) and you don’t have to get a right hand drive(not good for drive thrus which I despise anyway) but I wanted a 4X4 like my Xterra because I want to drive to the mountains to go snowboarding. In fact, there are a lot of older diesel Mercedes around that run quite well on biodiesel.

Oh, and you don’t have to do anything to your engine except changing a few hoses(the bio wears rubber hoses faster than regular gas but that’s only a few bucks) and when it gets cold you should mix with regular diesel. (50/50 is advised)

It’s quite simple. I know nothing about cars or engines and everyone I have talked to has been quite helpful.