tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-28595678761354398962024-03-12T04:56:38.158-04:00Minimizing EntropyThoughts on what you can do about ecological degradation and sustainability.DMAKhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10430943593190838423noreply@blogger.comBlogger448125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2859567876135439896.post-84614649414871455312015-10-29T08:19:00.004-04:002015-10-29T08:19:40.487-04:00Some recent press in my new hometownIt's been a while since I've been to the blog myself, because even though I think a lot about trash, recycling, and materialism; and even though I am still deeply influenced by the project, I haven't been living completely the way I did in Ann Arbor. Well, all of that changed pretty much overnight because a piece of mine--<i><a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/posteverything/wp/2015/10/29/all-my-trash-for-a-year-fit-into-two-plastic-bags-heres-how-i-did-it/?postshare=4501446115610871">All my trash for a year fit into two plastic bags. Here’s how I did it.</a></i>-- describing my experiences just got published in the <i>Washington Post</i>, which has given me a whole lot of food for thought. I can do more to live up to what I was doing in Ann Arbor. Or, perhaps, I start a new project to minimize entropy.<br />
<br />
Thoughts? Ideas? DMAKhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10430943593190838423noreply@blogger.com8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2859567876135439896.post-55441150555550424582014-03-30T23:12:00.001-04:002014-03-30T23:12:24.321-04:00Four years on, reflections from a new home<span style="font-family: inherit;">On three previous occasions I have used this anniversary day to reflect on what I can do with my privilege and the tremendous resources I am surrounded by; to lessen my burden on the world; to continue a dialogue about the larger impacts of our individual choices, and the structural challenges we face in reshaping this culture of destruction, violence, and injustice into one aligned with peace, equality, and harmony; to make this dialogue actionable. Today is the fourth time I reflect on a small journey that began in my Ann Arbor kitchen, this time from a new home, Washington, DC.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: inherit;">As grey skies poured rain on my bus ride home from a weekend New York City today, I read a recent essay by Gretchen Legler in Orion, </span><span style="font-family: inherit;"><i><a href="http://www.orionmagazine.org/index.php/articles/article/7968">The Happiness Index: Putting people before profit in Bhutan</a>. </i>The essay describes Bhutan's alternative social, economic, and environmental metric, <i>Gross National Happiness</i>, in the context of the country's and people's struggles </span>"negotiating the wilderness of modernization without losing its soul," a soul that has so far been filled with organic food and resided in lush, untouched environmental beauty, a soul being challenged by the opening of its borders and the cautious welcoming of what we call "modernization." <br />
<br />
Sadly for Legler, she found in Bhutan a new found obsession with the modern world in which "traditions and nature are taking a backseat to convenience." For example, traditional, handcrafted bamboo food containers call <i>bangchung</i> replaced by "plastic insulated containers made in China, exported to Thailand, flown to India, and trucked over the southern borders." <br />
<br />
After a three-day hike to to the holy lake Dragipangtsho, or "in the lap of the mountain," Legler and her group drink tea around a fire on the lake shore. She reflects:<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
When we finally arrive at the holy lake, it is nearly night...But even with the fire and tea, this is a fierce place. Magnifying this eerie scene is that we are camped in what feels like a garbage dump, surrounded by piles of plastic litchi juice containers, candy and gum wrappers, packaging from dried noodle soups, clear plastic Bhutanese gin and vodka bottles, worn out trousers, a blue rubber boot. </blockquote>
I stare outside the bus window along I-95, and see a congruent scene rushing by my eyes at seventy miles per hour: junk of all kinds littering the shore of the highway, the shore of forested lands. While many have benefited from a paradigm of environmental destruction, modern society's most boundless production is pollution, waste, and trash, refuse strewn across landscapes, leeching unwanted chemicals into our soil and water, ending up in living bodies, cancerous.<br />
<br />
"I begin to pick up trash and toss it into the fire," Legler writes. "Karma stops me in alarm: "No! You must not burn trash beside a holy lake! It will offend and anger the local deities."...[W]hile burning garbage beside a holy lake is taboo, <i>leaving </i>garbage as of yet seems to carry no spiritual repercussions. The incongruity of it hangs over us all."<br />
<br />
I do not live trash or recycling free anymore, but I live a changed life because of this journey, because of where I live. Climate change resilience, low-cost air pollution sensors to fight for environmental justice, the politics of the Environmental Protection Agency, protests against the Keystone XL pipeline, anti-drone summits...my new home, this nation's capital, has provided new outlets for socioecological engagement, and alternative concepts and paradigms to think about, act on, build. I am fortunate to be here, and I am looking forward to what is next. DMAKhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10430943593190838423noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2859567876135439896.post-69928158655976551872014-03-26T00:08:00.001-04:002014-03-26T00:08:22.335-04:00How can we forget? Exxon Valdez and the Kirby Barge<div class="gmail_default" style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: "times new roman", serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;">"The struggle of man against power is the struggle of memory against forgetting," wrote Milan Kundera. </span></div>
<div class="gmail_default" style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: "times new roman", serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"></span><br /></div>
<div class="gmail_default" style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: "times new roman", serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;">Many people remain blind to or unaware of the power that must be challenged if we are going to revolutionize our economic and political systems to align their interests with justice and ecological integrity. This is due partly because of a massive disinformation campaign by corporate and political elites, and partly because everything we do--heating our homes or transporting ourselves to work--is inextricably bound to these power structures that feed us toxic and dirty energy. If this energy is in everything, we do not have a choice. If we do not have a choice, we can slowly become blind to alternatives. </span></div>
<div class="gmail_default" style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: "times new roman", serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"></span><br /></div>
<div class="gmail_default" style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: "times new roman", serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;">It is sadly fitting that on the 25th anniversary of the Exxon Valdez oil spill in Prince William Sound in Alaska, we are dealing with another ship-caused oil spill, this time in Houston and Galveston after a barge owned by Kirby Inland Marine Co. leaked bunker fuel into the Gulf of Mexico. While the size of the spill is sixty times smaller than Exxon Valdez spill (11 million gallons from the Valdez vs 170,000 gallons from the barge), the spill could not have come at a worse time for the birds that are migrating to and from the area. (</span><a href="http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/local/breaking/chi-bp-whiting-crude-oil-lake-michigan-spill-20140325,0,3069441.story" style="color: #1155cc;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">News just in</span></a><span style="font-family: inherit;">: We are also dealing with another oil spill in Lake Michigan. The culprit, BP.)</span></div>
<div class="gmail_default" style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: "times new roman", serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"></span><br /></div>
<div class="gmail_default" style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: "times new roman", serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;">Just when we thought that we learned lessons from<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></span><a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2013/12/09/booming/lessons-from-the-exxon-valdez-oil-spill.html?action=click&module=Search&region=searchResults%230&version=&url=http%3A%2F%2Fquery.nytimes.com%2Fsearch%2Fsitesearch%2F%23%2Fexxon%2520valdez%2F&_r=0&gwt=regi#0&version=&url=http://query.nytimes.com/search/sitesearch/" style="color: #1155cc;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Exxon Valdez</span></a><span style="font-family: inherit;">, that the </span><a href="http://minimizingentropy.blogspot.com/search/label/BP"><span style="font-family: inherit;">BP</span></a><span style="font-family: inherit;"> Deepwater Horizon spill was fading into distant memory, just when politicians (and some scientists, and, maybe even the President) delusionally support of the Keystone XL pipeline by saying that its ecological effects are minimal or could be mitigated, we are presented with not one, but two oil spills. Perhaps this is a good thing. Perhaps </span></div>
<div class="gmail_default" style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: "times new roman", serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"></span><br /></div>
<div class="gmail_default" style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: "times new roman", serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;">We need to use these events to keep ourselves and the masses from forgetting, from losing focus on the struggles that lie in every next step. We need to use these events to (re)orient ourselves to strategically challenge and fight the culprits of socioecological havoc and injustice of all kinds. </span></div>
<div class="gmail_default" style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: "times new roman", serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"></span><br /></div>
<div class="gmail_default" style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: "times new roman", serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;">We cannot forget that challenging big oil means confronting hegemonic power. We must use these events, as Naomi Klein<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span></span><a href="http://vimeo.com/album/2648454/video/81953509" style="color: #1155cc;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">says</span></a><span style="font-family: inherit;">, to make the increasingly popular calls for fundamental and systemic reform powerful. </span></div>
DMAKhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10430943593190838423noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2859567876135439896.post-28276243787964340762014-03-05T00:12:00.001-05:002014-03-05T00:18:47.980-05:00The Keystone XL pipeline: Environment be damned<div class="gmail_default" style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;">There is a <i><b>ton </b></i>of literature and information available about the ecological impacts of tar sands. These impacts stem from the entire spectrum of the tar sands process--from mining the sand, to extracting the unrefined bitumen oil, transporting the diluted bitumen (or "dilbit"), and refining the dilbit to be burned.</span></span></div>
<div class="gmail_default" style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div class="gmail_default" style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;">First and foremost, a vast expanse of tar sands, the source of the oil that the northern leg of the Keystone XL will be shipping, lies in <a href="http://www.naturecanada.ca/parks_borealforest.asp">one of the largest</a> intact forest and wetland ecosystems in the world--the Canadian Boreal Forests. Currently, trees need to systematically cut down to gain access to the tar sands that lie beneath the ground. There is a significant amount of greenhouse gas emission that occurs <a href="http://www.sciencemag.org/content/319/5867/1235.abstract">from deforestation</a>. (It does not really matter what the deforestation is for, greenhouse gases will be released.) Of the <a href="http://www.oilsands.alberta.ca/reclamation.html">767 sq. km</a> of forest that has been destroyed over the past few <i>decades</i>, <i>only </i>104 hectares has been "certified restored," i.e. only <i>0.13%</i> of the land has been somehow restored to its "original" state, if that is possible. If the average age of black spruce is <a href="http://www.na.fs.fed.us/pubs/silvics_manual/Volume_1/picea/mariana.htm">200 years</a>, and the average age of lodgepole pine is <a href="http://www.fs.fed.us/database/feis/plants/tree/pinconl/all.html">150-200 years</a>, and if it is likely that this is the average age of the trees cut down, how long will it take to <i>actually </i>restore the land the condition it was once in?</span></span><br />
<br /></div>
<div class="gmail_default" style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: 'times new roman',serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;">
</div>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiNCSVqVJU6afkiErRpdrYsfZkIgJ0p1QhojI7V0s_8vHOAasdr4ixrRH8dMyJa4-07nFnVOd8m-yFsL-S5nuYb3qz-jh2qLgmknwT0lnInMRZ_EZ39nE0PASMl4SwMJ7nxVgpvWNzzZvqK/s1600/boreal-beforeafter.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiNCSVqVJU6afkiErRpdrYsfZkIgJ0p1QhojI7V0s_8vHOAasdr4ixrRH8dMyJa4-07nFnVOd8m-yFsL-S5nuYb3qz-jh2qLgmknwT0lnInMRZ_EZ39nE0PASMl4SwMJ7nxVgpvWNzzZvqK/s1600/boreal-beforeafter.jpg" height="261" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Boreal forest against a Suncor surface mine. <br />
<i>The Apocalyptic Landscapes of Alberta's Oil Sands</i>, <a href="http://www.wired.com/wiredscience/2011/11/oil-sand-landscapes/#slide-434981">from </a>wired.com</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhEmByRAJpdzVkkEnSHkXw4TRP9L43B19bEvcK2LTDrMrJ2OhVLAX-sXcc9MCs40JZ8VQGz-vAZCXDyp1lepBQRcJBiehZsb8WKcZc5AowmK1ZSgKyY47h1bLZBYPPT30VN4cPBsro76s0m/s1600/mining-660x441.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhEmByRAJpdzVkkEnSHkXw4TRP9L43B19bEvcK2LTDrMrJ2OhVLAX-sXcc9MCs40JZ8VQGz-vAZCXDyp1lepBQRcJBiehZsb8WKcZc5AowmK1ZSgKyY47h1bLZBYPPT30VN4cPBsro76s0m/s1600/mining-660x441.jpg" height="266" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The yellow spots are the largest trucks in the world. <br />
<i>The Apocalyptic Landscapes of Alberta's Oil Sands</i>, <a href="http://www.wired.com/wiredscience/2011/11/oil-sand-landscapes/#slide-434981">from </a>wired.com</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
<div class="gmail_default" style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;">Secondly, one the trees are cut, the land below must be industrially excavated and large quantities of water used to extract the bitumen from the sands. <a href="http://www.neb.gc.ca/clf-nsi/rnrgynfmtn/nrgyrprt/lsnd/pprtntsndchllngs20152006/qapprtntsndchllngs20152006-eng.html">According to</a> the Canada National Energy Board, it takes between 2.5-4 barrels of water to extract one barrel of unrefined synthetic crude oil. This water is significantly contaminated and the water that isn't recycled is stored in tailing ponds<a href="http://briarpatchmagazine.com/articles/view/we-can-no-longer-be-sacrificed"> that leak</a> into local water supply. The Athabasca River is connected to the Peace-Athabasca Delta, one of the <a href="http://e360.yale.edu/feature/canadas_great_inland_delta_precarious_future_looms/2709/">world's largest</a> freshwater deltas. Estimates say that by 2020, around <a href="http://briarpatchmagazine.com/articles/view/we-can-no-longer-be-sacrificed">1 billion cubic meters</a> (the volume of 400,000 Olympic-sized swimming pools, or the entire area of around 11 Manhattan islands submerged to a depth of one meter) of toxic water will be stored in tailing ponds by Suncor and Syncrude alone. </span></span></div>
<div class="gmail_default" style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: 'times new roman',serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;">
</div>
<div class="gmail_default" style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: 'times new roman',serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;">
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg0TeSuoJ5M5-qym8fRrNVJQ1x1ssONH1hPPCxZnTX8665BgCPhcpIs5LRNu41IQ3XYcRzoZZlpHBHWoKtsvhqxxOCPARRzcHB26F-8GqZkUkiVlUsgxpvpfg4YDqRs9yS-vlSod5nzrPBK/s1600/tarsands.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg0TeSuoJ5M5-qym8fRrNVJQ1x1ssONH1hPPCxZnTX8665BgCPhcpIs5LRNu41IQ3XYcRzoZZlpHBHWoKtsvhqxxOCPARRzcHB26F-8GqZkUkiVlUsgxpvpfg4YDqRs9yS-vlSod5nzrPBK/s1600/tarsands.jpg" height="266" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">A Suncor facility and tailing ponds alongside the Athabasca River.<br />
<i>The Apocalyptic Landscapes of Alberta's Oil Sands</i>, <a href="http://www.wired.com/wiredscience/2011/11/oil-sand-landscapes/#slide-434981">from </a>wired.com</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhFssB6wWVlcVPsBRivS2qqPtzvHdwxFGWn18YBbu-BuD1NVaXreAKU-61patP1iRrKUMdbu-ej5eLg22zFZybuvzZaTNubK9Ud3kJ9wcyKqx-5e-jHqqDRG1uqVVJDRJ911XN9yJnz6Fz4/s1600/tarsands_extent.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhFssB6wWVlcVPsBRivS2qqPtzvHdwxFGWn18YBbu-BuD1NVaXreAKU-61patP1iRrKUMdbu-ej5eLg22zFZybuvzZaTNubK9Ud3kJ9wcyKqx-5e-jHqqDRG1uqVVJDRJ911XN9yJnz6Fz4/s1600/tarsands_extent.jpg" height="300" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Tailing ponds along side the Athabasca River, seen on the top left.<br />
<i>The Apocalyptic Landscapes of Alberta's Oil Sands</i>, <a href="http://www.wired.com/wiredscience/2011/11/oil-sand-landscapes/#slide-434981">from </a>wired.com</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div class="gmail_default" style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: 'times new roman',serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;">
</div>
<div class="gmail_default" style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;">
<br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;">What is the potential for contamination and leakage of this water, let alone the fact that this water is essentially permanently toxic? Fish in Lake Athabasca, near Fort McMurray (an oil boom town), have unusual red spots on them, likely from the pollutants.</span></span><br />
</div>
</div>
<div class="gmail_default" style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: 'times new roman',serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></div>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhq_MstVicERxNpHKSqukLB5RqxdKYvbvDVkzJJ2jigW_SjIitlgzGf_9p8rEyASlKmNjJXzd5sYOPgtIhV1TcCc-4uWOHZG6-O3E8wsWMEbyYhS7RDsZEnZdFagppFtsEAJzfpyR3Q9Aai/s1600/athabasca+fish.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhq_MstVicERxNpHKSqukLB5RqxdKYvbvDVkzJJ2jigW_SjIitlgzGf_9p8rEyASlKmNjJXzd5sYOPgtIhV1TcCc-4uWOHZG6-O3E8wsWMEbyYhS7RDsZEnZdFagppFtsEAJzfpyR3Q9Aai/s1600/athabasca+fish.jpg" height="302" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">"Ronnie Campbell hauls whitefish from Lake Athabasca, downriver from Fort McMurray, to use as feed for his sled dogs. Locals say their catches are often covered in unusual red spots, and many no longer eat lake fish. While the cause of the spots is unclear, some believe toxic chemicals, such as those released during bitumen production, are leaching into Alberta's rivers and lakes." <a href="http://ngm.nationalgeographic.com/2009/03/canadian-oil-sands/essick-photography">Peter Essick, National Geographic Magazine, 2009</a></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div class="gmail_default" style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: 'times new roman',serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;">
<span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="gmail_default" style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;">Thirdly, the bitumen is viscous and dense. To transport it, it must first be <a href="http://www.fas.org/sgp/crs/misc/R42611.pdf">diluted with diluents</a>--other petroleum products--and then pumped at high temperatures and pressures. Dilbit is much <a href="http://www.ai-ees.ca/media/8571/2012-environmentalmanagement-jenny_been-mitigation_roadmap_project.pdf">more corrosive</a> than other kinds of crude oil, and the likelihood of pipe leaks and eruptions thus increases. When the leak occurs in water, the diluents separate from the heavier bitumen, and the bitumen sinks to the bottom of the water body. This is exactly what happened in June 2010, just weeks after the Deepwater Horizon explosion occurred, when an Enbridge-owned pipe <a href="http://www.epa.gov/enbridgespill/">erupted and spilled</a> more than a million gallons of dilbit into the Kalamazoo River. The technology to adeuqately deal with such a spill does not exist. Four years and a billion dollars later, 40 miles of the Kalamazoo river still remain contaminated. What might happen if the Keystone XL leaked (<a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/08/29/keystone-pipeline-infographic_n_941069.html?ir=Canada">and its southern leg Keystone 1 has already</a>...twelve times in its first year...more than any other first-year pipeline in the US) or burst over the<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ogallala_Aquifer"> Ogallala Aquifer</a>, so important for agriculture and drinking water?</span></span></div>
<div class="gmail_default" style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div class="gmail_default" style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;">Fourthly, the processing of dilbit creates petroleum coke, or petcoke--a solid byproduct with a high suplur content. Burning it is illegal in the US because it emits significant amounts of smog-forming sulphur dioxide pollution. Currently, mounds of petcoke line the banks of the <a href="http://www.freep.com/article/20140211/NEWS01/302110034/Petcoke-moved-from-Detroit-River-storage">Detroit River</a> and Calumet River and contaminate the air of Detroit and <a href="http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/local/ct-met-petcoke-20131018,0,3084871,full.story">Chicago</a>, or better yet, are shipped to poor places to exacerbate the air there. "You can't have a picnic outside because you are going to get a mouthful of black dust. It's so bad we have to power-wash the house every week to wash it off," <a href="http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/local/ct-met-petcoke-20131018,0,3084871,full.story">says </a>Lilly Martin of Mackinaw Avenue in Chicago. The petcoke is this sent to countries even less concerned about environmental issues and public health to be burned.</span></span></div>
<div class="gmail_default" style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div class="gmail_default" style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;">Next, more about the environmental impacts of the pipeline, specifically on public health and the economics of greenhouse gas emissions.</span></span></div>
DMAKhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10430943593190838423noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2859567876135439896.post-26048390564114836562014-03-02T17:33:00.001-05:002014-03-02T17:46:05.778-05:00The Keystone XL pipeline: Youth protestsFour days after I moved to Washington, DC, on 28 August, 2014,I was fortunate enough to find my way into the 50th anniversary celebrations of the March on Washington. While the event was no protest, the goal was clear--direct political messaging, in this case about the confluences of racial and economic injustice. That day provided my first taste of attending more politically charged events in this city. Fast forward through a heated <a href="http://www.codepink4peace.org/article.php?id=6457">anti-drone summit by CODEPINK</a> and a peace vigil in solidarity against the Keystone XL pipeline to today, when several hundred youth activists marched from the Red Square at Georgetown University to The White House to engage in <a href="http://xldissent.org/">civil disobedience dissent</a> action to send a simple, concise, and extremely political message to President Barack Obama--say <b><i>no </i></b>to the construction of the northern leg of the Keystone XL pipeline.<br />
<br />
Saying no to the pipeline sets the stage for a course correction on President Obama's "all of the above" energy policy, which is basically this: we can combat the social and ecological dimensions of climate change while still expanding offshore oil drilling, promoting <a href="http://minimizingentropy.blogspot.com/search/label/fracking">fracking</a>, continuing mountaintop removal, and becoming even bigger trade partners with Canada by importing their ecologically devastating oil. How such an energy policy can reduce America's dependence on fossil fuels and lighten this culture's burden on the world I do not know, but at the very least saying no to the pipeline is a serious symbolic commitment that activists can gather around to wean this country and the world of toxic and climate change-inducing fossil fuel energy.<br />
<br />
Today, I am energized by the spirit of young climate change activists who came in buses and cars from all across the country and who zip-tied themselves to The White House fence and got arrested, with the intention of showing President Obama that the youth cares deeply about the causes and effects of climate change--physical, economic, social, political, ecological. I thus revive this blog from its hibernation by focusing my next several posts on the Keystone XL pipeline, both to educate myself and to provide you with information about the spectrum of issues that tar sands and the Keystone XL pipeline affects.<br />
<br />
My next posts will focus on:<br />
<ul>
<li>the science and engineering behind tar sands extraction, processing, and transport</li>
<li>a brief foray into the social implications of tar sands</li>
<li>the ecological impacts of tar sands, now and possible</li>
<li>arrest, direct action, and the legal issues surrounding arrest for civil disobedience and dissent </li>
<li>the climate change movement's relation to other social movements</li>
<li>the State Department's environmental impact statement </li>
</ul>
Responses to this culture's addiction to oil cannot look at alternatives that continue to bolster the political, economic, and technological paradigm that has us locked in to degrading our Earth to the benefit of a few. Tar sands represent the very worst things about the risks our government and corporations are willing to take to keep themselves in power. Just take a look at a very real and ongoing tar sands disaster on the Kalamazoo River--<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kalamazoo_River_oil_spill">here</a>, <a href="http://michiganradio.org/term/kalamazoo-river-oil-spill">here</a>, <a href="http://www.freep.com/article/20130623/NEWS06/306230059/Kalamazoo-River-oil-spill">here </a>and <a href="http://www.epa.gov/enbridgespill/">here</a>--in my state of Michigan. More than three years and close to a billion dollars in clean-up efforts later, who knows when the nightmare will end. <br />
<br />
For now, I leave you with photos I took today during the dissent.<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEixzDXnGsCfYyEw6LMI_nDY7eCTyo11F3qKWZU6-TIv4FWAkRZoQYU6zKGYjXWpc9tkObTLtrNPHGCSvYYTyRsm_LsdlQ_rhU752pvAAssDhXEwPgLINf3skQRPvVERruza4S_YZiEr1Qut/s1600/DSC_2531.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEixzDXnGsCfYyEw6LMI_nDY7eCTyo11F3qKWZU6-TIv4FWAkRZoQYU6zKGYjXWpc9tkObTLtrNPHGCSvYYTyRsm_LsdlQ_rhU752pvAAssDhXEwPgLINf3skQRPvVERruza4S_YZiEr1Qut/s1600/DSC_2531.JPG" height="267" width="400" /></a></div>
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjOBX2tedjOpXTGX8QJZSvzKWNpQck7lI9GHy5PCcgfrFDG43ieRKejQyXKATT7Tux556sGGr4G3qzlqcjFtp8FNLHdGIGKMcaJHwxrIHxlCRxxM02IbxSmagjEsaZ0c2K5xBnt0sHgA4Kt/s1600/DSC_2532.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjOBX2tedjOpXTGX8QJZSvzKWNpQck7lI9GHy5PCcgfrFDG43ieRKejQyXKATT7Tux556sGGr4G3qzlqcjFtp8FNLHdGIGKMcaJHwxrIHxlCRxxM02IbxSmagjEsaZ0c2K5xBnt0sHgA4Kt/s1600/DSC_2532.JPG" height="267" width="400" /></a></div>
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgbRN10mLNu8gE9Q2GWf43jyOzJL5IFzRhPjOLKF-LBb0HWZPNd-pRaKRAK9aoD6TG12olSbeEyezyAmlzjTBH_nETeah3DnXUPdQdHRnIE6SDg0dsNPbqVgHp8kUdP7Mi2pa-m6I0Xw8uJ/s1600/DSC_2535.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgbRN10mLNu8gE9Q2GWf43jyOzJL5IFzRhPjOLKF-LBb0HWZPNd-pRaKRAK9aoD6TG12olSbeEyezyAmlzjTBH_nETeah3DnXUPdQdHRnIE6SDg0dsNPbqVgHp8kUdP7Mi2pa-m6I0Xw8uJ/s1600/DSC_2535.JPG" height="267" width="400" /></a></div>
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj8Pib953IBs4EuppCYsCzmC4BkTBI7FSfD_XG_f4m523KDGLRAGhEOtF5h6Qu6XE0HtjBhq09ZgjXI9qBqqwyjjYQ85cktuJH_rPCCJd1Cd48BmJ7ncgxjxkH5onbBkk2PqdtLlnoW_OPI/s1600/DSC_2536.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj8Pib953IBs4EuppCYsCzmC4BkTBI7FSfD_XG_f4m523KDGLRAGhEOtF5h6Qu6XE0HtjBhq09ZgjXI9qBqqwyjjYQ85cktuJH_rPCCJd1Cd48BmJ7ncgxjxkH5onbBkk2PqdtLlnoW_OPI/s1600/DSC_2536.JPG" height="267" width="400" /></a></div>
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh73Xhl8ul3SlBni0t7PDNrXreWjsDfSN0JhVjGnbwo1FN9sB0yBR4tFT_ZTvLm6bBpjULkZxLqIwCLB7Lj0djUey4abXhE2jbXrjDH9BJ6KkPVZBsEj6UwFhsn7h-L4pEZnC-K4nhyphenhyphenx-9W/s1600/DSC_2561.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh73Xhl8ul3SlBni0t7PDNrXreWjsDfSN0JhVjGnbwo1FN9sB0yBR4tFT_ZTvLm6bBpjULkZxLqIwCLB7Lj0djUey4abXhE2jbXrjDH9BJ6KkPVZBsEj6UwFhsn7h-L4pEZnC-K4nhyphenhyphenx-9W/s1600/DSC_2561.JPG" height="267" width="400" /></a></div>
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiGErvoaDEquEKO9_E9dXqJoHPyDaFmKYTdcpgiNLqYaml5prFypAExx5Xa4EPtZs_1JZBj3yADJV2Z3UoT3qx5uJDwGd2fMXvt95wVrGJRK3NGwwUOHXO8CchigVZWvjIPhIddBrTCl7wv/s1600/DSC_2557.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiGErvoaDEquEKO9_E9dXqJoHPyDaFmKYTdcpgiNLqYaml5prFypAExx5Xa4EPtZs_1JZBj3yADJV2Z3UoT3qx5uJDwGd2fMXvt95wVrGJRK3NGwwUOHXO8CchigVZWvjIPhIddBrTCl7wv/s1600/DSC_2557.JPG" height="400" width="267" /></a></div>
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhEBbU7TQSbphkQsmiiXlQ0r5fwNnM_ZotCc8xDL-96MLrZkIpFsl0y5bh9AkDzU8kGcgTyeI7yaRjN9B7Za0-sgZgtnH-Vs6Z9-InVVrBVEovcXdYdt-1U5cG1QA9eNXpgO9nbTX-4jYbl/s1600/DSC_2553.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhEBbU7TQSbphkQsmiiXlQ0r5fwNnM_ZotCc8xDL-96MLrZkIpFsl0y5bh9AkDzU8kGcgTyeI7yaRjN9B7Za0-sgZgtnH-Vs6Z9-InVVrBVEovcXdYdt-1U5cG1QA9eNXpgO9nbTX-4jYbl/s1600/DSC_2553.JPG" height="267" width="400" /></a></div>
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgcFUA9GNYoXr_PNn9h95P4bFnzi9uasWN9OU4uwKnqNQO6OZyIybWe_LCFnAv1ze-c_PFW7i5RVRLfJDRADe4deLwGkscQJph8BWi1-YC0YEQbrFALi9lVBq3UmY3tx5okUN4f96W3Hgk_/s1600/DSC_2546.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgcFUA9GNYoXr_PNn9h95P4bFnzi9uasWN9OU4uwKnqNQO6OZyIybWe_LCFnAv1ze-c_PFW7i5RVRLfJDRADe4deLwGkscQJph8BWi1-YC0YEQbrFALi9lVBq3UmY3tx5okUN4f96W3Hgk_/s1600/DSC_2546.JPG" height="267" width="400" /></a></div>
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj_G8KLIGio4yutprxtI1k_-U7PUp29amJaNYdF2jDL5N0uBXN0cEo_lc9rL4oHnlPijLSHuFjT5ErZzGqAkM7eunBHW1nqMlItr1BxPuizd9cVgSo9MTlqFJxMsO1cOFc1YwtCtyVCrauO/s1600/DSC_2573.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj_G8KLIGio4yutprxtI1k_-U7PUp29amJaNYdF2jDL5N0uBXN0cEo_lc9rL4oHnlPijLSHuFjT5ErZzGqAkM7eunBHW1nqMlItr1BxPuizd9cVgSo9MTlqFJxMsO1cOFc1YwtCtyVCrauO/s1600/DSC_2573.JPG" height="267" width="400" /></a></div>
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj8TGQfuRvVLmHcHNpPd_hccvk-Ot0BzOGq64xPFfaaBFKh6pn8Kdk8RfWEgea7A6R5Yj3EZW7-2hHNpUqgzSFhwSPtL3cfJ4qYT4z8oN8goqA0Z7VZ2Q4xA30zx1DIKl_FwjxQlSZ522Uj/s1600/DSC_2625.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj8TGQfuRvVLmHcHNpPd_hccvk-Ot0BzOGq64xPFfaaBFKh6pn8Kdk8RfWEgea7A6R5Yj3EZW7-2hHNpUqgzSFhwSPtL3cfJ4qYT4z8oN8goqA0Z7VZ2Q4xA30zx1DIKl_FwjxQlSZ522Uj/s1600/DSC_2625.JPG" height="267" width="400" /></a></div>
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjiU93En6MXpcrRz7OxpidoK6YhP0Sl3sEX86Cj7gMEryGL6Qs60rSccZgHGuBwvCRYdJitxMcZkc8XMwK4hOS31nuVDq2hvyqr-Moa8TXBCSizARaCq1VFTz5sKGKJ7atTfhAD1a81_EBk/s1600/DSC_2650.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjiU93En6MXpcrRz7OxpidoK6YhP0Sl3sEX86Cj7gMEryGL6Qs60rSccZgHGuBwvCRYdJitxMcZkc8XMwK4hOS31nuVDq2hvyqr-Moa8TXBCSizARaCq1VFTz5sKGKJ7atTfhAD1a81_EBk/s1600/DSC_2650.JPG" height="267" width="400" /></a></div>
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiXSoPJ-nnRrQWTE0M5hSUpiziCAbxEDXFy_5vRDVAZiv6JKm87lGyo5X03CGA4k3OF1EYaTQvXSTv1Ek_O7S11WnaL72HinN3tuLcYj4eYGNnVOOprnwodawlhOJroAv42j7fpR5uNQf4X/s1600/DSC_2673.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiXSoPJ-nnRrQWTE0M5hSUpiziCAbxEDXFy_5vRDVAZiv6JKm87lGyo5X03CGA4k3OF1EYaTQvXSTv1Ek_O7S11WnaL72HinN3tuLcYj4eYGNnVOOprnwodawlhOJroAv42j7fpR5uNQf4X/s1600/DSC_2673.JPG" height="267" width="400" /></a></div>
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg9AWsx8T8NhKqKh0eaLvSTRx_qmW2gijhDUx1Mb5LBbe4CGiqh349exOqdJ-BHYxngpOWCqwv7FbJ-VsV4szVkfBnEmd4uanxxBLgACx01w2-8FxtK29nJkwwKVxpMoky-pHbTNbOKCp2f/s1600/DSC_2696.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg9AWsx8T8NhKqKh0eaLvSTRx_qmW2gijhDUx1Mb5LBbe4CGiqh349exOqdJ-BHYxngpOWCqwv7FbJ-VsV4szVkfBnEmd4uanxxBLgACx01w2-8FxtK29nJkwwKVxpMoky-pHbTNbOKCp2f/s1600/DSC_2696.JPG" height="267" width="400" /></a></div>
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiGE4p84tlOpNBLOIg28hnm5AI63PJXWP82EM1eyqGH7exG-73FQhTubzD7FEN4ezHQzihLrobJWQagfxhRGNg9dVYyef7YjrlXV5bgrqje3iuWZ2qX2hIXypaxRASrd3C14R07OkvB8OhC/s1600/DSC_2692.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiGE4p84tlOpNBLOIg28hnm5AI63PJXWP82EM1eyqGH7exG-73FQhTubzD7FEN4ezHQzihLrobJWQagfxhRGNg9dVYyef7YjrlXV5bgrqje3iuWZ2qX2hIXypaxRASrd3C14R07OkvB8OhC/s1600/DSC_2692.JPG" height="267" width="400" /></a></div>
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj1kxcFi7O2qYPa6j_pQrJmAzeoFGPbpEgi3pDk0y4xxhte8DYo6QXX6V6H-wTeuGKQGXZFD8QQCr3pcAyx5edX8rHueJWCxgInIqD6ZbMPK1bndQZWIOeulY-xqutMd20VgXqkQRLahfU5/s1600/DSC_2685.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj1kxcFi7O2qYPa6j_pQrJmAzeoFGPbpEgi3pDk0y4xxhte8DYo6QXX6V6H-wTeuGKQGXZFD8QQCr3pcAyx5edX8rHueJWCxgInIqD6ZbMPK1bndQZWIOeulY-xqutMd20VgXqkQRLahfU5/s1600/DSC_2685.JPG" height="214" width="320" /></a></div>
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEieEp2Fct0S2pNZaDiw-DLxd88rj9nEOJ-w-tDBM1AUdnyCKyIrT3p_P0IfnWMkWgA0az1beDCQ9tfgioUfNPBkfgiql6bXTHeaV2UxQddTASXnYxy8J2aeHy1Um80mLiAFjYmCJJB018dL/s1600/DSC_2676.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEieEp2Fct0S2pNZaDiw-DLxd88rj9nEOJ-w-tDBM1AUdnyCKyIrT3p_P0IfnWMkWgA0az1beDCQ9tfgioUfNPBkfgiql6bXTHeaV2UxQddTASXnYxy8J2aeHy1Um80mLiAFjYmCJJB018dL/s1600/DSC_2676.JPG" height="267" width="400" /></a></div>
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
</div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
</div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
</div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
</div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjrujjJXEUNMkVtpb72RWyaKRjLc3saUwhMaBp6G3xoY-5x0UxNCL5oNtMWUVuoAH05C1g2hNkvFDtvaAZSH4CZ5Mz0jMCd0voujRO0fZS8J3FhYB_bwE3BU0EKkOHC4hnRqX9goMsmqcxo/s1600/DSC_2710.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjrujjJXEUNMkVtpb72RWyaKRjLc3saUwhMaBp6G3xoY-5x0UxNCL5oNtMWUVuoAH05C1g2hNkvFDtvaAZSH4CZ5Mz0jMCd0voujRO0fZS8J3FhYB_bwE3BU0EKkOHC4hnRqX9goMsmqcxo/s1600/DSC_2710.JPG" height="267" width="400" /></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjGjXBzapsiGJwQwG0UUnlUtdfcg9eYF_cNVxd9T2XmYk6VNyKkIOB2sRhEX_dOyV9pC-Nv8oh9XbiNRmKK9cvXVwwQD84gHy0Joy3BRJMYVKslD-dD9LtI2DFCbK1nxbTHyAdAScEQ6l74/s1600/DSC_2724.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjGjXBzapsiGJwQwG0UUnlUtdfcg9eYF_cNVxd9T2XmYk6VNyKkIOB2sRhEX_dOyV9pC-Nv8oh9XbiNRmKK9cvXVwwQD84gHy0Joy3BRJMYVKslD-dD9LtI2DFCbK1nxbTHyAdAScEQ6l74/s1600/DSC_2724.JPG" height="267" style="cursor: move;" width="400" /></a></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjD2dv5SiP81UY42-RxvYpFNFJ2FJQHc5k7eWDsRzzIKs5i445twmfcoWyXkkEG6utvyaYqG-y9c4m7xQn8vBxastbLR58DXdST916GdD7mr2a4gPfHycwdxqUJOZypDqgUkVEpiZBRFUVm/s1600/DSC_2731.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjD2dv5SiP81UY42-RxvYpFNFJ2FJQHc5k7eWDsRzzIKs5i445twmfcoWyXkkEG6utvyaYqG-y9c4m7xQn8vBxastbLR58DXdST916GdD7mr2a4gPfHycwdxqUJOZypDqgUkVEpiZBRFUVm/s1600/DSC_2731.JPG" height="267" width="400" /></a></div>
<br />
<span id="goog_486202246"></span><span id="goog_486202247"></span><br />DMAKhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10430943593190838423noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2859567876135439896.post-57191646288032690942013-06-18T14:39:00.000-04:002013-06-18T14:43:10.906-04:00With knowledge comes responsibilityWhat is the point of learning about the world if we live for ourselves?
What the is point of research and of <a href="http://minimizingentropy.blogspot.com/search/label/knowledge">generating knowledge</a> if we do not
take what we learn to heart? <br />
<br />
Scientists and engineers occupy a unique and powerful position in
this culture, and they always have. While kooks and quacks no doubt
exist, scientists and engineers do important work in chemistry,
atmospheric sciences, biology, physics, ecology, building and
designing. But if you're a scientist or engineer reading this, it is
likely that you have been educated to (or at least told to) just doing the science and
engineering, and leaving the decisionmaking that stems from it to
others--policymakers, lawyers, businessmen, and politicians, many of
whom do not have the best interests of people and nature at heart.
Scientists and engineers thus leave it to others, others who many not
fully understand the implications of this knowledge, to decide what
should be done about what we know, so scientists and engineers do not
lose their "objectivity," so they do not cross the supposedly strict
boundaries between scientific, reductionist research and the murky world
of "values."<br />
<br />
But in this glacier-melting, toxic
tresspassing, obesity-inducing, mass-species-extinction, large corporate
culture, scientists and engineers can no longer sit on the sidelines of
decisionmaking. Traditional means of scientific communication have
led, for example, to politicians undermining and denying climate science
(although in <a href="http://www.thisamericanlife.org/radio-archives/episode/495/hot-in-my-backyard">this</a> episode of <i>This American Life</i>,
it becomes clear that many politicians fully accept climate science,
but just do not admit it). Instead, given the incredible diversity of
thought, skill, and knowledge they possess, scientists and engineers
must take full <a href="http://minimizingentropy.blogspot.com/search/label/responsibility">responsibility </a>for
what they know and do, and that is to become front and center the faces
of the radical social, political and economic change needed to align
this culture and its laws with ecological holism and peace.<br />
<br />
Fortunately, there are a handful of such brave men and women out there
already, and <a href="http://steingraber.com/">Sandra Steingraber</a> heads the list of courageous scientist activists.
A poet, essayist, author, environmentalist and ecologist, Steingraber has written extensively (in <a href="http://www.orionmagazine.org/index.php/mag/contributor/50/"><i>Orion</i></a> magazine, among other places) about the links between industrial chemicals released into the environment and human health impacts, specifically cancer. Recently, she has been intimately involved with the opposition to the extremely destructive practice of <a href="http://minimizingentropy.blogspot.com/search/label/fracking">fracking</a>, for which she was jailed. In a conversation with Dick Gordon on <i>The Story</i>, Steingraber says,<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
In the absence of a powerful human rights movement behind the science, I don't think we can move this forward. The world's most powerful industries are standing in our way. And so I think science needs to be coupled with a kind of activism, similar to what we saw with [the] Civil Rights [Movement], similar to what we saw with the Abolitionist Movement. And so, I feel inspired in the work that I do not just by the power of the data, whether it's on climate change, or on the growing evidence that we have linking childhood asthma to crummy air, [but also by how] Martin Luther King Jr. did what he did, and how my dad, at age eighteen, had to go off and fight global fascism even though at the time it looked like an overwhelming task...People under very desperate circumstances rose and said, "This is wrong." </blockquote>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
I carry around this German name, Steingraber, and my dad [was] also German...and what I learned from my dad was to not be a "good German." If you see something is wrong because you have evidence, whether it is the kind of evidence that the French partisans had or whether it is evidence like I have as a biologist, we have a <i>moral </i>obligation to make sure that that evidence [leads to change]. You don't just say, "Here's the evidence," and that's your job, you're done. But if nobody is coming to take the evidence and turn it into change, then you have to do that yourself. It becomes your own responsibility. </blockquote>
I hope to continue to develop these thoughts on the blog over the days and weeks to come; they formed an important part of my dissertation, and continue to be something I write about more academically. I hope to translate more of that writing here. I am sure many of you have thoughts on this very important issue, and I welcome them in the form of comments and even guest blog posts. Until then, I encourage you to listen to Gordon's full conversation with Steingraber, which I have posted below. You can also find the conversation on <i>The Story</i>'s website, <a href="http://www.thestory.org/stories/land-my-land-632013">here</a>.
<br />
<br />
Part 1 of Gordon's conversation with Steingraber.<br />
<embed flashvars="audioUrl=https://sites.google.com/site/darshanaudiofiles/audio/gordon_steingraber_part1.mp3?attredirects=0&d=1" height="27" pluginspage="http://www.macromedia.com/go/getflashplayer" quality="best" src="http://www.google.com/reader/ui/3523697345-audio-player.swf" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" width="400" wmode="transparent"></embed>
<br />
Part 2 of Gordon's conversation with Steingraber.<br />
<embed flashvars="audioUrl=https://sites.google.com/site/darshanaudiofiles/audio/gordon_steingraber_part2.mp3?attredirects=0&d=1" height="27" pluginspage="http://www.macromedia.com/go/getflashplayer" quality="best" src="http://www.google.com/reader/ui/3523697345-audio-player.swf" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" width="400" wmode="transparent"></embed>DMAKhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10430943593190838423noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2859567876135439896.post-30742761086854984312013-06-05T14:52:00.001-04:002013-06-05T14:52:49.943-04:00Guest blog #29: Minimalist parenting by Crystal Thrall, part 2I left off yesterday writing about elimination communication and breastfeeding and baby-led weaning. Today, I finish off writing a little bit about co-sleeping and babywearing.<br />
<br />
<strong><em>Co-sleeping</em></strong><br />
I am going to take away all the fun of preparing for the arrival of a baby by suggesting that a nursery is simply not practical. The nursery: an entire room and furniture to fill it suited to the first year of a baby's life. Sure, that crib probably converts to a toddler bed, but I really think that even a crib is unnecessary. Why not skip the tiny mattress entirely and buy your child a proper mattress she can use throughout childhood? For that matter, why bother with a nursery at all? Why not make a fun room suited to your child's interests, when they become apparent, as she ages? Yes, I am implying that you share your bed with your child during the infant, and probably the toddler stage of her life. To make co-sleeping practical for us, we bought another mattress to increase our effective bed size, and we put our bed on the floor. I can hear you quietly thinking, "How do you ever have sex when you share a bed with your child?" That's a fair point to which I respond: it is possible to be intimate with your partner without having your bed available. <br />
<br />
<strong><em>Babywearing</em></strong><br />
I was given many things by very well-intentioned friends and family that would help me put my baby down: an infant seat (a.k.a a Bumbo); colorful play mats with exciting toys that could stimulate many of my baby's senses; a swing and a bouncy seat--both of which played soothing music or simulated noises from the womb; and a stroller. I happily and gratefully accepted these gifts and hand-me-downs thinking it would be nice to put my baby down every now and then to have free hands. Little did I know not all babies willingly accept any distance from a warm body. Call them what you want: high-needs, fussy, colicky...I was/am the proud mother of one of these babies! It wasn't long before I realized each of these items was practically useless to me, and I thought I would never be able to put my baby down without having to listen to her scream. I knew that baby carriers existed, but the options overwhelmed me and I couldn't decide on one. <br />
<br />
One glorious day, a friend of mine introduced me to a local babywearing group. I was honestly quite intimidated by the vast library of carriers and the babywearing proficiency demonstrated by these wonderful moms and dads...but mostly moms. Nevertheless, I knew this was the solution that would work for my husband and I. My carrier collection started with a simple ring sling crafted by my mother. I quickly learned how easy it was to just pop my daughter in and out of the sling and carry her hands free anytime, anywhere. Finally, I was liberated from my stroller! The burden of my baby gear load decreased significantly, and I would no longer be forced to awkwardly maneuver a stroller around any store. I didn't realize how much I loathed the stroller concept until I acquired my ring sling. You can see a picture of me and a passed out organic baby in <a href="http://minimizingentropy.blogspot.com/2013/06/guest-blog-29-minimalist-parenting-by.html">yesterday's</a> post. Here is one of my husband, Brian, with baby Rae awake.<br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjkkvEYbYzPVeIUoUPlNBaCWxnlNPelGOso3v7JVt-nq-MvCqxPgp9SeHPlbytuybdrGTzqDGrLhEhmJvaMqEkE5pEuvXN_fXIk6QAsiiD9Icihvkn4l6EE4t2RHGIoUXPF1WYiYtgpxa_J/s1600/DSC_8917.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjkkvEYbYzPVeIUoUPlNBaCWxnlNPelGOso3v7JVt-nq-MvCqxPgp9SeHPlbytuybdrGTzqDGrLhEhmJvaMqEkE5pEuvXN_fXIk6QAsiiD9Icihvkn4l6EE4t2RHGIoUXPF1WYiYtgpxa_J/s400/DSC_8917.JPG" width="266" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Brian, organic baby, and a ring sling on Main Street in Ann Arbor</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
Now that I could leave the house with a happy baby, my next babywearing goal was to free my hands for domestic duties. I had to learn how to wear my daughter on my back, and for this I would need a wrap which is essentially just a very long piece of fabric. Even more overwhelming than choosing a specific type of carrier was selecting a wrap! There are various sizes, colors, fabric blends, and brands, and in the end I learned many people choose their first wrap based on the color. After buying a wrap and learning how to back-carry, I could resume many of my pre-baby activities while providing entertainment for my baby. My daughter especially enjoyed watching me sweep the floors as I wore her on my back. She still does, but she would prefer to sweep the floors herself (especially after she's involved in a mishap...not really, but maybe some day!). <br />
<br />
That leads me to the semi-babywearing-related topic of toys. In the first year, a child needs few, if any, toys. At this age, babies can be entertained by things you already have in your home, or better yet, outside. What's even more entertaining than things is mom and dad and the activities they do. <br />
<br />
<strong><em>Final thoughts</em></strong><br />
I must confess that I have simply summarized the concept of "attachment parenting" from a different perspective. Attachment parenting is what works for our family. Coincidentally, this parenting style achieves another goal of ours--minimizing our impact on the environment. <br />
<br />
While putting together this post, my husband said that I should discuss his perspective throughout this process. Here goes: Initially, he was opposed to co-sleeping, babywearing, and elimination communication. He reluctantly followed my lead, but became more accepting as we progressed into a routine. When he observed how happily our daughter would eliminate on a potty, he was no longer an EC skeptic. He also appreciates doing less laundry and going out with less baggage. When he started wearing our daughter, he appreciated the increased closeness and interaction he didn't get with the stroller. And he quickly learned that co-sleeping gave him the ability to sleep more during the night. Eventually, his entire view on what parenting should look like changed, and he will not do it any other way now. (Now, on to conquering the world!)<br />
<br />
Attachment parenting is probably not the only environmentally friendly parenting style, but this is what works for us. Ultimately, you have to do what is best for you and your family. I am quite satisfied with how relatively little clutter there is in my postpartum home and how my daughter doesn't require much baggage when we go out. If minimizing the baby gear in your life is your goal, then you might want to consider wearing, breastfeeding, pottying, and/or sleeping with your baby!<br />
<br />
<strong><em>Resources</em></strong> <br />
There's a ton of used baby things out there! And always remember, <a href="http://www.craigslist.org/about/sites/">craigslist</a> is your friend!<br />
<br />
<em>Elimination communication</em><br />
The Diaper-Free Baby: The Natural Toilet Training Alternative by Christine Gross-Loh<br />
EC Simplified: Infant Potty Training Made Easy by Andrea Olson<br />
Andrea Olson's EC website: godiaperfree.com<br />
kellymom.com<br />
<br />
<em>Breastfeeding and Baby-led Weaning</em><br />
<a href="http://www.ilca.org/i4a/pages/index.cfm?pageid=3337">Lactation consultant directory</a> <br />
The Womanly Art of Breastfeeding by Diane Wiessinger, Diana West, and Teresa Pitman<br />
So That's What They're For!: The Definitive Breastfeeding Guide by Janet Tamaro<br />
<a href="http://www.babyledweaning.com/">Baby-led Weaning</a>: Helping Your Baby To Love Good Food by Gill Rapley<br />
kellymom.com<br />
<br />
<em>Babywearing</em><br />
Find a babywearing chapter near you <a href="http://babywearinginternational.org/">here</a><br />
Babywearing <a href="http://closeathandbaby.wordpress.com/category/ann-arbor-babywearers-meetings/page/7/">blog</a> from my local Babywearing chapter<br />
<br />
There are also plenty of instructional youtube videos available!DMAKhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10430943593190838423noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2859567876135439896.post-26425464784326237532013-06-04T15:55:00.000-04:002013-06-04T15:57:00.992-04:00Guest blog #29: Minimalist parenting by Crystal Thrall, part 1<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">Crystal Thrall, <a href="http://minimizingentropy.blogspot.com/2011/03/guest-blog-16-crystal-thrall-and-her.html">queen of the Diva Cup</a>, is back, and this time, she writes about her new baby girl, and her efforts to minimize the ecological impacts of infancy. </span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"><br />
</span></span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: 12.0pt;">My
parenting journey began unconventionally by planning a home birth, but I
followed the mainstream idea of what babies need: diapers, a crib, a stroller,
a car seat, and so forth. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>As someone who
lives a relatively minimalist life, I was troubled by the thought of adding all of
this child-related baggage to my clutter-free home.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Over time, I realized that most baby gear is wasteful,
unnecessary clutter, especially in the first year.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I know, you probably think I am nuts.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>"How can you live without a stroller?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">" </span>"There is no way I am going to carry my baby
everywhere!"<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>"And diapers?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Come on, babies certainly need those!"<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>"What about entertainment?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>My baby will get bored!"<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I admit that these ideas did not come
naturally to me; however, I learned from other parents with similar
interests.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>All parenting philosophies
aside, if your main goal is to minimize your environmental impact, the
following topics might interest you: elimination communication; breastfeeding
and baby-lead weaning; co-sleeping; and babywearing. Today, I write about the first two.</span></span></span></span></div>
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">
</span></span>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></span></span></div>
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><b><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-size: 12.0pt;">Elimination
Communication</span></i></b></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: 12.0pt;">The
guiding principle behind <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">elimination
communication</i> (EC) (also known as <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">natural
infant hygiene, infant potty training, </i>or<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"> gentle potty training</i>) is that people are born with the instinct
to not soil themselves.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Babies
communicate the need to eliminate just as they communicate other basic needs,
and as parents it is our job to understand when that need should be met.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>By exclusively diapering a child, the child learns
that caregivers will not meet this particular need and that the appropriate
place to eliminate is in his pants.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Imagine how confusing it must be after two or three years of eliminating
in your pants to learn that you are actually supposed to use a toilet!<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I won't go into the details about how to
establish this sort of relationship with your baby, there are plenty of
references out there that do a much better job than I ever could.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> But</span> I will share my personal
experience.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: 12.0pt;">While
I was pregnant, I thought I was doing my environmental due diligence by
committing to cloth diapers.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Knowing
that I would save landfills from a large volume of solid waste while protecting
my baby's bottom from diaper rash made the additional laundry burden worth it.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>For five months, we happily cloth-diapered
our child until a friend and fellow new parent introduced us to the concept of <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">elimination communication.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></i>From the day her son was born, she
started putting him on the potty.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I
admit that I was skeptical at first, but after reading <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><a href="http://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=2&cad=rja&ved=0CDkQFjAB&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.amazon.com%2FDiaper-Free-Baby-Natural-Training-Alternative%2Fdp%2F0061229709&ei=6kOuUYu2MsjR0wHbgoGACA&usg=AFQjCNGRlWoeCTcAulprjddEMSaDtARI3A&sig2=gBEWrC1PdEUErM-02_y2cg&bvm=bv.47244034,d.dmQ">Diaper Free Baby</a>, </i>I knew that I had to at least try introducing my
infant to the potty.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It wasn't long
before my daughter refused to poop in her pants, and what an exciting accomplishment
that was for us.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>At this point, I was
completely sold.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Now our daughter is 16
months old, and while she still has accidents, she doesn't wear diapers during
the day and spends most of her time dry.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>She directly communicates her elimination needs with either a hand signal
or words.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Our experience has completely
changed my perspective and opinion on diapers, and we are fully committed to
respond to any future child's elimination needs in this way from birth.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: 12.0pt;">Some
people would say that <span style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">"elimination
communication"</span> sounds wonderful, but isn't practical for a child with two
working parents.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The beauty of EC is that it can be accomplished part time and with
zero stress.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Anything that ends up in a
potty results in fewer diaper changes, and therefore less waste, so why not try
it?!</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><b><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;"><span style="font-size: 12.0pt;">Breastfeeding
and Baby-led Weaning</span></i></b></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: 12.0pt;">Breastfeeding
is a sensitive and controversial topic for many women.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Personally, I never questioned whether or not
I wanted to breastfeed.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And while my
breastfeeding relationship was easily established with my baby, I have met
numerous women who have struggled for weeks, even months to exclusively
breastfeed their babies.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I have also
known women who, despite their best efforts, were unable to maintain breastfeeding
for physical or psychological reasons beyond their control.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Breastfeeding is certainly not something
women can take for granted, but even if it takes blood, sweat, tears, and a lot
of time, the benefits to both mom and baby are well worth it.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: 12.0pt;">Well
that's great, but my main point is to minimize "stuff consumption."<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Obviously, if a baby receives his meals
exclusively from mom, infant formula and the waste associated with it is
completely unnecessary.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>If mom stays at home,
the need to bottle-feed is also unnecessary.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>However, many moms work in which case bottles and breast pump supplies
are probably necessary.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In the end
breastfeeding can still lead to waste, but less so than formula-feeding.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: 12.0pt;">Breastfeeding
is probably the obvious environmentally-friendly choice to many people, but
what about the weaning process?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>When I
was pregnant, I had every intention making my own pureed baby food.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It could be organic, I could make my own
concoctions suited to my baby's tastes, I would save money, AND I would
contribute less waste by not buying packaged baby food!<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>This sounded like a great plan until I learned
about baby-led weaning (BLW) which makes it even easier to avoid packaged baby
food.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It's quite simple: let your child
feed himself.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>This means that the child
eats finger foods rather than purees.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>For us this means our child generally eats what we prepare for ourselves.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Honestly, BLW probably lengthens the path to
weaning, so you have to be willing to commit to an extended breastfeeding
relationship with your child.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>As a mom
who has been breastfeeding for 16 months, I know that it isn't always
easy.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>However, I didn't go into
parenting thinking it would be easy, and I know she won't be breastfeeding
forever.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">Come back tomorrow to read part 2 of Crystal's guest blog! </span></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></div>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjMrac8s75S8M6kFw2r0B3hGwgTVwmYQpl5zvAq2DRN_NM5dAFvgIHUQPnDt8FfEO6g0sFPfg02R_gZEtTzPwa-DBDJ1GH_UOC0yw9whrjeiHYBEFg2WdzgugqvyD8Na_v5nWtf3c5ynp3u/s1600/DSC_2130.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjMrac8s75S8M6kFw2r0B3hGwgTVwmYQpl5zvAq2DRN_NM5dAFvgIHUQPnDt8FfEO6g0sFPfg02R_gZEtTzPwa-DBDJ1GH_UOC0yw9whrjeiHYBEFg2WdzgugqvyD8Na_v5nWtf3c5ynp3u/s400/DSC_2130.JPG" width="266" /></a></span></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Crystal, a nuclear engineer, and her organic baby.</span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEizdiqD2UC9uqEcQ143vBX7DOg_RSdE0EVZ85xNFdaRwlzG1MOOAOGhb7PJpU9eaA9FtZ6s47XTFNBvi9uhQ5uFnblUNp0B7C8POuq3Kz-qubnpY7nnxk0OO4e3y2-Xuy2HkxhJWY5qJGr1/s1600/DSC_8509.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEizdiqD2UC9uqEcQ143vBX7DOg_RSdE0EVZ85xNFdaRwlzG1MOOAOGhb7PJpU9eaA9FtZ6s47XTFNBvi9uhQ5uFnblUNp0B7C8POuq3Kz-qubnpY7nnxk0OO4e3y2-Xuy2HkxhJWY5qJGr1/s400/DSC_8509.JPG" width="266" /></a></span></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Brian, Crystal's husband, also a nuclear engineer, with his organic baby.</span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div class="MsoNormal">
</div>
</span></span>DMAKhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10430943593190838423noreply@blogger.com22tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2859567876135439896.post-75656976920927938652013-05-29T21:34:00.000-04:002013-05-29T21:40:17.802-04:00"Sustainability is illegal."I find <a href="http://minimizingentropy.blogspot.com/search/label/law">law</a> fascinating, and I would love to write about it more. But for this blog post, I would rather you spend your time listening to Thomas Linzey, Esq., co-founder and executive director of the <a href="http://celdf.org/index.php">Community Environmental Defense Legal Fund,</a> which intends and works on "Building sustainable communities by assisting people to assert their right to local self-government and the rights of nature." In the audio clip below taken from the fantastic radio show <em><a href="http://radioproject.org/">Making Contact</a></em>, Linzey talks about ways to morph the current regulatory and property rights framework of environmental law to one that affords nature rights and better protects the rights of citizens in the face of ever-growing corporatization and pollution. As it stands however, according to Linzey, "Sustainability is illegal. The hammer comes down on you when you attempt to actually to prohibit something in the interest of building sustainability in [a] community."
<embed flashvars="audioUrl=https://sites.google.com/site/darshanaudiofiles/audio/thomas%20linzey.mp3?attredirects=0&d=1" height="27" pluginspage="http://www.macromedia.com/go/getflashplayer" quality="best" src="http://www.google.com/reader/ui/3523697345-audio-player.swf" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" width="400" wmode="transparent"></embed>
DMAKhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10430943593190838423noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2859567876135439896.post-73794153547489649412013-05-28T14:05:00.000-04:002013-05-28T14:12:11.888-04:00Guest blog #28: Scott Wagnon's thoughts on population<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">(My last post generated a lot of activity on Facebook. I also received an email from my labmate Scott Wagnon, whose detailed response to the post is below as a guest blog post.)</span> </span></div>
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"> </span></div>
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;">I feel as if Darshan downplayed the role population plays on environmental issues. Where<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span><b>I wholeheartedly disagree with the unnamed professor </b>(and I know Darshan does, too) is that race is a factor in the interconnection between the environment and population. Environmental impact is something that is caused and felt by all age, race, gender and socioeconomic demographics. I know and recognize that certain slices of the demographic pie contribute and/or are impacted more significantly than other slices, as Darshan mentioned in his post. </span></div>
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"> </span></div>
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;">From any perspective, it is just and right to advocate on behalf of people whose rights have been impacted, whose voice cannot reach a broad audience, or whose voice may not have the same impact as ourselves as wealthy, "educated" people. But the simple fact remains that we--all of humanity--<em>cannot</em> have tens of billions of people consuming a few resources, as much as we--all of humanity-- <em>cannot</em> have <em>a few people</em> consuming tens of billions of resources. Population control via family planning through various birth control options, abstinence, and education (see Darshan's </span><a href="http://minimizingentropy.blogspot.com/2011/10/entitlement-of-having-children.html"><span style="font-family: inherit;">post</span></a><span style="font-family: inherit;"> on the "entitlement" of having children, and the short discussion generated); increases in </span><a href="http://minimizingentropy.blogspot.com/search/label/efficiency"><span style="font-family: inherit;">efficiency</span></a><span style="font-family: inherit;">; and </span><a href="http://minimizingentropy.blogspot.com/2011/01/guest-blog-11-dr-jack-edelsteins.html"><span style="font-family: inherit;">reduced consumption</span></a><span style="font-family: inherit;"> of resources are three equally important ways to reduce the impact of the choices we make. </span></div>
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"> </span></div>
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;">Those of us, such as Darshan and myself and likely you, who have been empowered with the means to make and enact such choices, should especially look at every aspect. As Darshan pointed out in his post, wealthy, "educated" people--us--often consume the most. (On a side note, I use "educated" because I wonder how smart we really are based on certain decisions that we make as a society... having to look no further than our collective treatment of the environment.) If we--the large consumers, including myself :/--choose not to have large families, use less resources, and use resources more efficiently, we're fostering a culture where the environment is valued not as a commodity, but as something for all of humanity to enjoy. We live in a finite world, so barring our expansion beyond this beautiful planet, all of humanity must always remain mindful that Earth can only sustain a finite population at even the smallest necessary levels of resource consumption. We are all effectively one family altering our </span><a href="http://minimizingentropy.blogspot.com/2013/04/the-overview-effect.html"><span style="font-family: inherit;">common home</span></a><span style="font-family: inherit;">, for better or worse, through the choices we make. I hope we all continue to make better choices.</span></div>
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"> </span></div>
<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;">~Scott Wagnon</span></div>
DMAKhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10430943593190838423noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2859567876135439896.post-24229658482476657722013-05-24T20:25:00.002-04:002013-05-24T23:50:36.058-04:00Thoughts on the population issueI just returned from a trip to the US National Combustion meeting in Utah, which was perhaps my last hurrah in combustion for the foreseeable future. Here is the beginning of a conversation I had with a professor who shall not be named at the Sunday evening reception:<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
My advisor: This is my student, Darshan. He just graduated a little while ago.</blockquote>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
Unnamed professor: What are you doing now?</blockquote>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
Darshan: Traveling, and then headed to the US Environmental Protection Agency in August.</blockquote>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
Unnamed Professor: What are you going to do there?</blockquote>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
Darshan: I will be working on issues of environmental justice and sustainability both within and outside of the EPA.</blockquote>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
Unnamed Professor: To be blunt, the issue about environmental justice is just about a bunch of black people having too many children and choosing to live in polluted places. </blockquote>
Perhaps one of the most insightful thoughts I have heard about the population issue in a long time comes from a 2008 conversation that Jeff Goodell had with James Gustave Speth, published in <em><a href="http://orionmagazine.org/">Orion</a></em> Magazine and <em>Change Everything Now</em>.<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
Goodell: ...And you can say--as you do--that we consume too much, and that our economic system has become a slave to the idea of an ever-expanding GDP. But you could also just say, "Look, there are too many people on the planet--"</blockquote>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
Speth: Well, I think a lot of people believe that. I actually have a law, Speth's Law, and it is that the richer you are, the more you think that population is the world's problem. But the scale of the impact is really derived from the phenomenal amount of economic growth in rich countries, not from the phenomenal population growth. </blockquote>
Several facts bolster Speth's claim. In case of climate change, for example, the majority (~60%) of <a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2011/apr/21/countries-responsible-climate-change">historical emissions</a> of greenhouse gases has occurred in just the handful of industrialized countries in the US, Russia, Germany, UK, Japan, France, and Canada. Sticking with climate change (an issue laden with <a href="http://minimizingentropy.blogspot.com/search/label/environmental%20justice">environmental justice</a> issues), <a href="http://www.pnas.org/content/suppl/2011/04/20/1006388108.DCSupplemental">much</a> of the greenhouse gas emissions in industrializing nations such as China are caused due to emission from the <a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2011/apr/25/carbon-cuts-developed-countries-cancelled">production</a> of objects for industrialized countries. Even though the populations of China and India are increasing, the slowly increasing population of the US and the decreasing populations of Western Europe still have much greater ecological impacts. (I suggest taking a look at <a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/news/datablog/interactive/2012/mar/29/carbon-map-infographic-world">this</a> [and <a href="http://www.wri.org/tools/cait/?page=cumul&mode=view&sort=val-desc&pHints=shut&url=form&start=1850&limit=0">this</a>!] incredibly cool interactive graphical tool to visualize how the poorest are most vulnerable to the impacts of climate change, and how blaming population increases in industrializing countries is misleading.)<br />
<br />
Enough about climate change broadly. Let's get into the specifics of population. I will not deny that the world and many nations face massive challenges of population. But blaming population growth occurring <em>today</em> for <em>past</em> ecological degradation that has caused injustice today is to deny culpability, to shrug off any responsibility for our actions. There is no way to buy most electronics or textiles or food that has been manufactured or produced without degrading impacts. Our electricity comes from coal and fossil fuels, which require mountaintop removal and tailing ponds and people to cut down forests. By buying what we do, by using energy and electricity the way we do, we link ourselves to socioecological injustices of pollution and degradation elsewhere. Environmental injustice is about people being socioeconomically or politically forced into living in degraded places, most times to serve the wants of the rich and powerful. It is built into and a necessity of our economic and policy structures. The population growth occurring all over the world only serves to expose these injustices. <br />
<br />
As you expect (and while I am sure he had to work hard to be where he is), the unnamed professor is not a poor person. He is a rich and now privileged person living in an industrialized country. I am, too. All in all, the per capita emissions of greenhouse gases in industrialized countries, the demands of heavy metals and plastics and chemicals, are still several times higher than those in industrializing countries. Therefore, individual action to reduce ecological impacts on the part of people living in industrialized countries is the equivalent of several people in industrializing countries doing so. Population is part of the issue, but individuals are, too. DMAKhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10430943593190838423noreply@blogger.com11tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2859567876135439896.post-75413321933931823392013-05-13T01:12:00.001-04:002013-05-15T13:43:30.269-04:00The jagged edges of the Keeling Curve<a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2013/05/11/science/earth/carbon-dioxide-level-passes-long-feared-milestone.html?pagewanted=all&_r=0">This time it made the headlines. </a> Something as <a href="http://keelingcurve.ucsd.edu/what-does-400-ppm-look-like/">vague and intangible</a> as an invisible, odorless gas is encapsulated in a concrete number. 400 parts per million, a level of carbon dioxide not seen for the past three to five million years. <br />
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
The number is in fact not intangible. It is very real, real because sea levels are rising millimeter by millimeter, submerging island nations such as the Maldives and heavily populated coastlines. The number is real because the summer of 2012 was the hottest summer on record in the United States. The number is real because of the acidification of oceans and coral bleaching; because of drier forests fueling larger fires; because of the ever-shrinking amount of polar ice; because entire villages in Alaska <a href="http://www.orionmagazine.org/index.php/articles/article/5928/">are needing to be moved</a> because of thawing land, to the tune of $380,000 per person. </div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
In spite of all of this very real evidence of the effects of climate change, nothing new is being said that can wash away the line that have been drawn in the sand that divides the "believers" from the "skeptics". (If you don't "believe" in climate science, perhaps you might question your beliefs in most any science that you rely on in your daily life.) Perhaps it is time for a new story about climate change, a new story that connects old facts. Perhaps our sole focus on the emission of greenhouse gases as a technological deficiency is distracting us from the real issues; framing climate change as a “carbon” problem is “possibly the greatest and most dangerous <a href="http://minimizingentropy.blogspot.com/search/label/reductionism">reductionism </a>of all time: a 150 year history of complex geologic, political, economic, and military security issues all reduced to one element.” [1] <br />
<br />
As a postdoctoral researcher, I wonder if Charles Keeling thought about the symbolism of his scientific endeavors in the thin air of Mauna Loa Observatory in Hawai'i. The jagged edges of the Keeling Curve are symbolic of the sharp divides and fractures in our politics, and under our feet in the <a href="http://minimizingentropy.blogspot.com/search/label/fracking">fracked </a>Marcellus Shale. The jagged edges show how cruelly we continue to cut and lacerate this earth, just as is being done in the forests of Canada to access tar sands. The curve is symbolic because not only does it show that carbon dioxide levels are rising, but that also our hubris is, too--the hubris of thinking that we may be able to engineer ourselves out of this problem.<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgCohjlM6PY_uF9-A4F33gAi_c7DKq5P3KHpyrdPpUAiQqASY3bwqu1hPRTgH7p6wvK3MztPh75vHq0Xeb60xOUQlyBp6V22-AIdcFrGIexgVy08GyLOgowH0n2k3VuSzf9MXw8gxDsoFaS/s1600/mlo_full_record.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="227" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgCohjlM6PY_uF9-A4F33gAi_c7DKq5P3KHpyrdPpUAiQqASY3bwqu1hPRTgH7p6wvK3MztPh75vHq0Xeb60xOUQlyBp6V22-AIdcFrGIexgVy08GyLOgowH0n2k3VuSzf9MXw8gxDsoFaS/s400/mlo_full_record.png" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">From <a href="http://keelingcurve.ucsd.edu/">The Scripps Institution of Oceanography</a></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
</div>
<div>
<span style="font-size: x-small;">[1] Thomas Princen, “Leave It in the Ground: The Politics and Ethics of Fossil Fuels and Global Disruption” prepared for the International Studies Association International Conference, Montréal, March 16-19, 2011; to appear in State of the World 2013. </span></div>
DMAKhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10430943593190838423noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2859567876135439896.post-86862124814841374832013-04-26T17:49:00.001-04:002013-04-26T17:49:24.259-04:00Let it goBarry Schwartz, in his book <i>Paradox of Choice</i>, talks about the confluence of <a href="http://minimizingentropy.blogspot.com/search/label/freedom">freedom </a>and <a href="http://minimizingentropy.blogspot.com/search/label/choice">choice</a>. He says (and you can see this in his TED talk, which I have added below) that one of the central ideologies of Western industrial society is that freedom is inherently good (well, it depends on what kind, right?), and that today this freedom is manifest in expanding choice for individuals. Our supermarkets host hundreds of kinds of cookies and salad dressings (even though <a href="http://www.fao.org/docrep/007/y5609e/y5609e02.htm">crop diversity</a> has been on the decline), and electronics stores have every single combination of processor speed and physical memory and screen type you can hope for. Yet, as Schwartz claims, increased choice doesn't lead to satisfaction or happiness. Rather, we are crippled with regret or anticipated regret that we could have made another or better choice because we expect too much from our choices, and in the end we blame ourselves for our lack of satisfaction.<br />
<br />
To be more specific, though, Schwartz's talk is broadly about how <i>material </i>choice relates to our happiness or satisfaction, and to extend Schwartz's thoughts, regret and anticipated regret and self-blame can make us continually buy things with the expectation and hope that we will feel better about ourselves. This ties us into the bind of continually buying material products that are decidedly not socioecologically benign; the new phones we buy are still made of heavy metals and rubber and plastic by people who are treated poorly. <br />
<br />
This is not to say that we should live non-material lives; cutting ourselves completely from this culture will do very little to change it. We live in a material world and I hope that all of us want to do something about its socioecological destructiveness. Finding that balance, that is, being able to participate in this culture while advocating for and acting toward change requires participation and engagement, not isolation.<br />
<br />
Making a choice and being satisfied and/or happy with it requires <i>letting go</i> of the perceived benefits or costs of your choice. Letting go is about making choices and not being affected by comparisons of what we have to what others do, and not being affected by imagining our lives had we made another choice. Rather, we must stand by the choices we make to free our minds towards the positive, the constructive, rather than remorse, regret, and self-blame. Letting it go opens up space to recentre and redouble our efforts on
what must be done about social injustice and ecological degradation rather than tethering ourselves to choices that cause injustice and degradation. A phone is a phone, and if my phone can't look up Wikipedia, big deal.<br />
<br />
<iframe src="http://embed.ted.com/talks/barry_schwartz_on_the_paradox_of_choice.html" width="560" height="315" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" webkitAllowFullScreen mozallowfullscreen allowFullScreen></iframe>
DMAKhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10430943593190838423noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2859567876135439896.post-12341672721130120582013-04-22T17:52:00.000-04:002013-04-22T17:55:02.750-04:00The Overview EffectOur capacity to switch back and forth between <a href="http://minimizingentropy.blogspot.com/search/label/scales">scales</a> of <a href="http://minimizingentropy.blogspot.com/search/label/time">time</a> and place--to understand the global, to acutely observe the local; to learn from the past and act compassionately for the future--is what seems to be in short supply with coming to terms with burgeoning and intricate problems such as climate change and sustainability. We constantly narrow our focus when the problems at hand are large, and we blame structures when it comes to changing what goes on in our households. And so, on this Earth Day, I wanted to share a video with you (which I found posted on my friend's Facebook page a few weeks ago) that helps us make connections of scale, that helps inspire wonder in our minds and activism from the heart. On this Earth day, <em>Overview</em> inspires the aerospace engineer in me, and, more importantly, provides all of us with boundless meaning to the word and the notion of our home, Earth.<br />
<br />
<div style="text-align: center;">
<iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="431" mozallowfullscreen="" src="http://player.vimeo.com/video/55073825?title=0&byline=0&portrait=0&badge=0&color=ffdb00" webkitallowfullscreen="" width="575"></iframe><br /></div>
DMAKhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10430943593190838423noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2859567876135439896.post-60795716068130785832013-04-06T14:07:00.002-04:002013-04-06T14:08:27.802-04:00Traveling at home: Annie Clark and her cafe<!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
<o:OfficeDocumentSettings>
<o:AllowPNG/>
</o:OfficeDocumentSettings>
</xml><![endif]--><br />
<!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
<w:WordDocument>
<w:View>Normal</w:View>
<w:Zoom>0</w:Zoom>
<w:TrackMoves/>
<w:TrackFormatting/>
<w:PunctuationKerning/>
<w:ValidateAgainstSchemas/>
<w:SaveIfXMLInvalid>false</w:SaveIfXMLInvalid>
<w:IgnoreMixedContent>false</w:IgnoreMixedContent>
<w:AlwaysShowPlaceholderText>false</w:AlwaysShowPlaceholderText>
<w:DoNotPromoteQF/>
<w:LidThemeOther>EN-US</w:LidThemeOther>
<w:LidThemeAsian>X-NONE</w:LidThemeAsian>
<w:LidThemeComplexScript>X-NONE</w:LidThemeComplexScript>
<w:Compatibility>
<w:BreakWrappedTables/>
<w:SnapToGridInCell/>
<w:WrapTextWithPunct/>
<w:UseAsianBreakRules/>
<w:DontGrowAutofit/>
<w:SplitPgBreakAndParaMark/>
<w:EnableOpenTypeKerning/>
<w:DontFlipMirrorIndents/>
<w:OverrideTableStyleHps/>
</w:Compatibility>
<m:mathPr>
<m:mathFont m:val="Cambria Math"/>
<m:brkBin m:val="before"/>
<m:brkBinSub m:val="--"/>
<m:smallFrac m:val="off"/>
<m:dispDef/>
<m:lMargin m:val="0"/>
<m:rMargin m:val="0"/>
<m:defJc m:val="centerGroup"/>
<m:wrapIndent m:val="1440"/>
<m:intLim m:val="subSup"/>
<m:naryLim m:val="undOvr"/>
</m:mathPr></w:WordDocument>
</xml><![endif]--><!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
<w:LatentStyles DefLockedState="false" DefUnhideWhenUsed="true"
DefSemiHidden="true" DefQFormat="false" DefPriority="99"
LatentStyleCount="267">
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="0" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" QFormat="true" Name="Normal"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="9" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" QFormat="true" Name="heading 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="9" QFormat="true" Name="heading 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="9" QFormat="true" Name="heading 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="9" QFormat="true" Name="heading 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="9" QFormat="true" Name="heading 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="9" QFormat="true" Name="heading 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="9" QFormat="true" Name="heading 7"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="9" QFormat="true" Name="heading 8"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="9" QFormat="true" Name="heading 9"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="39" Name="toc 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="39" Name="toc 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="39" Name="toc 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="39" Name="toc 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="39" Name="toc 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="39" Name="toc 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="39" Name="toc 7"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="39" Name="toc 8"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="39" Name="toc 9"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="35" QFormat="true" Name="caption"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="10" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" QFormat="true" Name="Title"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="1" Name="Default Paragraph Font"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="11" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" QFormat="true" Name="Subtitle"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="22" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" QFormat="true" Name="Strong"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="20" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" QFormat="true" Name="Emphasis"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="59" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Table Grid"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Placeholder Text"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="1" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" QFormat="true" Name="No Spacing"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="60" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light Shading"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="61" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light List"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="62" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light Grid"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="63" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Shading 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="64" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Shading 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="65" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium List 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="66" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium List 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="67" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="68" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="69" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="70" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Dark List"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="71" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful Shading"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="72" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful List"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="73" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful Grid"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="60" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light Shading Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="61" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light List Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="62" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light Grid Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="63" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Shading 1 Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="64" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Shading 2 Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="65" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium List 1 Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Revision"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="34" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" QFormat="true" Name="List Paragraph"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="29" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" QFormat="true" Name="Quote"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="30" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" QFormat="true" Name="Intense Quote"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="66" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium List 2 Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="67" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 1 Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="68" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 2 Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="69" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 3 Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="70" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Dark List Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="71" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful Shading Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="72" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful List Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="73" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful Grid Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="60" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light Shading Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="61" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light List Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="62" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light Grid Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="63" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Shading 1 Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="64" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Shading 2 Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="65" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium List 1 Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="66" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium List 2 Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="67" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 1 Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="68" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 2 Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="69" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 3 Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="70" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Dark List Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="71" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful Shading Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="72" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful List Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="73" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful Grid Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="60" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light Shading Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="61" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light List Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="62" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light Grid Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="63" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Shading 1 Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="64" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Shading 2 Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="65" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium List 1 Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="66" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium List 2 Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="67" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 1 Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="68" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 2 Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="69" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 3 Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="70" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Dark List Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="71" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful Shading Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="72" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful List Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="73" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful Grid Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="60" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light Shading Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="61" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light List Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="62" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light Grid Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="63" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Shading 1 Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="64" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Shading 2 Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="65" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium List 1 Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="66" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium List 2 Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="67" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 1 Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="68" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 2 Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="69" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 3 Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="70" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Dark List Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="71" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful Shading Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="72" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful List Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="73" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful Grid Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="60" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light Shading Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="61" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light List Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="62" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light Grid Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="63" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Shading 1 Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="64" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Shading 2 Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="65" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium List 1 Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="66" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium List 2 Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="67" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 1 Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="68" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 2 Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="69" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 3 Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="70" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Dark List Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="71" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful Shading Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="72" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful List Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="73" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful Grid Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="60" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light Shading Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="61" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light List Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="62" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light Grid Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="63" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Shading 1 Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="64" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Shading 2 Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="65" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium List 1 Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="66" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium List 2 Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="67" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 1 Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="68" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 2 Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="69" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 3 Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="70" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Dark List Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="71" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful Shading Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="72" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful List Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="73" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful Grid Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="19" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" QFormat="true" Name="Subtle Emphasis"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="21" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" QFormat="true" Name="Intense Emphasis"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="31" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" QFormat="true" Name="Subtle Reference"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="32" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" QFormat="true" Name="Intense Reference"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="33" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" QFormat="true" Name="Book Title"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="37" Name="Bibliography"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="39" QFormat="true" Name="TOC Heading"/>
</w:LatentStyles>
</xml><![endif]--><!--[if gte mso 10]>
<style>
/* Style Definitions */
table.MsoNormalTable
{mso-style-name:"Table Normal";
mso-tstyle-rowband-size:0;
mso-tstyle-colband-size:0;
mso-style-noshow:yes;
mso-style-priority:99;
mso-style-parent:"";
mso-padding-alt:0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt;
mso-para-margin-top:0in;
mso-para-margin-right:0in;
mso-para-margin-bottom:10.0pt;
mso-para-margin-left:0in;
line-height:115%;
mso-pagination:widow-orphan;
font-size:11.0pt;
font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";
mso-ascii-font-family:Calibri;
mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin;
mso-hansi-font-family:Calibri;
mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin;}
</style>
<![endif]-->
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
Since it has been so long since I have written a traveling
at home piece, here are some <a href="http://minimizingentropy.blogspot.com/2011/03/traveling-at-home-initial-thoughts-and.html">older thoughts</a> on why I do it. </div>
<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<div class="MsoNormal">
I feel like the notion of traveling at home falls squarely in line with
attempts at reducing trash. When we appreciate what we have, and
where we are, we may start looking for beauty, pleasure and
wonderment here and now. We don't have to pine to travel to some far
out corner of the world, although that would be nice sometimes. We
don't have to pine for something from somewhere else, although that
would be nice, too. This may seem like some sort of "localism," and
maybe it is, but I think it is more. I have not read much about localism but what I hope it means is more than just a patronising of
businesses and groups that are close to you. I hope it means that there
is a satisfaction with place with a full understanding of what needs to
be done environmentally, and consequently socially, to lessen our
burden on this planet...I would like to find out what it is that people appreciate about the
places they are in, and when and why they decide to call it home </div>
</blockquote>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
Café Mooset recently reopened in Bloomsburg right next to
Art Space, and right across from the Bloomsburg Theatre Ensemble.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I have been going there religiously when in
Bloomsburg, for the quietness of the space, the art on the walls, and the
company of Annie Clark, owner and chef.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>My
interview was cut short by customers, and so it didn’t come to its tonic, but
here is a part of her life and her thoughts on home.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgNPhdVT139mepls2tfVtJvPcz8FnBYcDU55jkQKRcVC5gBJ2LLurBpOGPgQqU9Xz77jwdDpwPJgxx2s-Uoi7WrIucmHAVdXHMzeBRULOheVbez2JwhGs2qi4pEyVNRX-xbRIeMjKJpCFqp/s1600/DSC_6096.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="214" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgNPhdVT139mepls2tfVtJvPcz8FnBYcDU55jkQKRcVC5gBJ2LLurBpOGPgQqU9Xz77jwdDpwPJgxx2s-Uoi7WrIucmHAVdXHMzeBRULOheVbez2JwhGs2qi4pEyVNRX-xbRIeMjKJpCFqp/s320/DSC_6096.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Cafe Mooset</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhhawT-O0mf3UWfObbVnxYX-9IXlMSYCm6g0CI3mnZtyul7J6jmgDa1tYqxcZ5sBJ3GrU_k0xQhw4seIARmDjTpxsk6uC6rtN9Pmzp8lZ1vh_j9sGmBM7recPD01l16VJLWKtVYoSK4u8i8/s1600/DSC_6095.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="214" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhhawT-O0mf3UWfObbVnxYX-9IXlMSYCm6g0CI3mnZtyul7J6jmgDa1tYqxcZ5sBJ3GrU_k0xQhw4seIARmDjTpxsk6uC6rtN9Pmzp8lZ1vh_j9sGmBM7recPD01l16VJLWKtVYoSK4u8i8/s320/DSC_6095.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Art always</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjnltW4uK9JCRmA8LuFTNQH7qpOh7L-Slw5Ob_1Nt3HiOdZ7RgquvzaLRTnD8Y2_wJa884YWycTp1PwZxfe6XnK8XNoulVrua2u5yElga41TIyeTAvn9WJ-BSSxjq7KgwWxNRI_l_JvJ6GP/s1600/DSC_6099.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="214" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjnltW4uK9JCRmA8LuFTNQH7qpOh7L-Slw5Ob_1Nt3HiOdZ7RgquvzaLRTnD8Y2_wJa884YWycTp1PwZxfe6XnK8XNoulVrua2u5yElga41TIyeTAvn9WJ-BSSxjq7KgwWxNRI_l_JvJ6GP/s320/DSC_6099.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Annie</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></div>
<i><b>Where do you live, and where do you call home?</b></i>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
I live about three miles east of Sunbury on Sawmill road, on
the side of a mountain overlooking a beautiful east-west valley.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I live on the dark side of the mountain.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But, I grew up in the northern part of
Pennsylvania, close to the New York border, in Silver Lake.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Silver Lake is nine miles north of Montrose,
and I still call Silver Lake home.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We
used to move twice a year from our home in Silver Lake, though, because it
wasn’t weatherized for winter.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>So, we
moved twice a year.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In that way, home
had to be wherever I was, just like for a military family.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Fortunately, we moved in the same area, and
so I maintained relations with the same kids in the same school. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<i><b>How has home changed over time?</b></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
It has been developed.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>It was once rural, and actually remote, given its proximity to a city
and a town.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I just drove there the other
day, and where there were once trees are now houses dotted all around.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>There used to be a lot of farmland, too, but
the houses used to be clustered in small areas.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>The other kids in school used to live five or ten miles away, and so when
I wanted to see them, we had to plan the visits.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Nothing was walking distance.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The cottages in my area were populated in the
summer, and then no one would be around.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>I loved it.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<i><b>What did you at home?</b></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Well, my brother was a <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">boy</i></b>.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>I was closest to the sons from the next farm, and we would always go to
the water together.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I used to do a lot
of stuff on their farm, and as I got older, a horse got involved.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>My father was not a farmer, but a French
teacher.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>After teaching, he spent the
rest of his life in Binghamton, working on flight simulators.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<i><b>How has the environment at home changed over time?</b></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
During the late fifties and early sixties, there was a
drought in the area.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>You couldn’t make
it farming, and so everyone got other jobs, or they would try to farm during
the day, and then have a 3-11 pm night shift job.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The farmers of the smaller farms that were
less productive started selling parcels of their land to give way for more
houses.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I still remember the dwindling
size of the grass and hay bales. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><i>Then
again, everything goes back to the way it was when you stop doing what you
do.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></i></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
There was a rule about the number of cottages that could be
along the lake, and there was never supposed to be two rows of them along the
lake.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Because it was a mountain lake,
all the runoff ended up in the lake, and it began to suffer from
pollution.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>They fixed it all though, but
I am not sure how.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></div>
DMAKhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10430943593190838423noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2859567876135439896.post-58729538536283269412013-03-30T20:05:00.001-04:002013-03-30T20:05:45.378-04:00Three years, and traveling (at home, too)While preparing yesterday's post, I remembered how much I loved <a href="http://minimizingentropy.blogspot.com/search/label/traveling%20at%20home">traveling at home</a>, and so, I decided to talk to Annie, part-owner and manager of Cafe Mooset in downtown Bloomsburg, PA, where my parents live. When she asked me how long I have been writing on this blog, I looked to the bottom right of my computer screen (for some reason left open), and I realised that that day, the 29th of March, 2013, was the three year anniversary of when I started living trash-free, although, as I will write about below, the past few months have been anything but that. (I have recently been saying that I <i>used to</i> live trash-free, because saying otherwise would be like saying I am a vegetarian when I eat non-vegetarian food, even occasionally.) Regardless, the 29th of March still holds weight for me. <br />
<br />
When reading my blog posts from the <a href="http://minimizingentropy.blogspot.com/2011/03/one-year.html">one year</a> and <a href="http://minimizingentropy.blogspot.com/2012/03/two-years.html">two year</a> anniversaries, I see pictures of the trash and recyclables I was (partly) responsible of introducing into the world. The pictures also make me think about all the choices I made that aren't captured in those pieces of paper, plastic, or metal. I have no record of that for most of this year, mainly because I no longer live in Ann Arbor, and living trash-free is essentially impossible when you are on the road. Since I finished my dissertation in late August, I have been traveling--first, a road trip across the country, primarily out to the western states; then out to the east coast; then back to India. <br />
<br />
I cannot say that I have gained any new insights into individual
activism and social change over the past year, apart from this: I <i>cannot </i>stress
how important it is to be diligent about and attentive towards anything
and everything we do. When it comes to trash, for example, I have found
at times myself being lax when on the road, knowing that even if I
could have saved a small fork or paper bag from being used and
immediately <a href="http://discardstudies.wordpress.com/">discarded</a>, I found myself biting my tongue or not speaking up.<br />
<br />
It is quite timely for me to be traveling at home given the amount of traveling I have been doing recently. I consider it a privilege to be able to travel. (I do not take travel lightly.) I have found this country, in particular, to be stunningly gorgeous. Then again, the garden is everywhere, <a href="http://minimizingentropy.blogspot.com/2013/03/why-isnt-green-world-enough-for-us.html">as Barron Wormser writes</a>. I have continued to wonder, though, what it takes to appreciate home, and to have that sense of directed attention towards it as you do when traveling some place new. This is an ongoing project and lesson, and ties into what I am thinking for the year ahead.<br />
<br />
Year four will hopefully be influenced by another project that is in the works right now--one which I wrote about a year ago--that I am tentatively calling <a href="http://minimizingentropy.blogspot.com/2012/02/preserving-spectra.html"><i>Dissolved</i></a>, which is focused on what divides people and opinion, and how we can focus on the things that unite us rather than the things that divide us. Mohammad, my labmate, and I are working on this survey-based project, and I really, really want to get the ball rolling on this.<br />
<br />
I would love to have more contributors to this blog, and I thank people for continuing to read it.DMAKhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10430943593190838423noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2859567876135439896.post-11751282374077564582013-03-29T15:04:00.001-04:002013-03-29T15:05:11.677-04:00"Why isn't the green world enough for us?"<span style="font-size: x-small;">(There is nothing I can add to the poetry of this short essay, <i>The Garden Remains </i>by Baron Wormser in the current issue of <a href="http://orionmagazine.org/"><i>Orion</i></a>, but I have trimmed it for this post. I feel as if he has condensed most of my blog posts into a few short paragraphs, and so, I've provided links to those posts. The essay decorates my last two posts.)</span><br />
<br />
..."There is no shortage of answers--the specter of mortality, sheer restlessness, cupidity and anxiety. To reside in the pagan world of celebrating the harvest god is to acknowledge the difficult truth that life is cyclical rather than linear (<a href="http://minimizingentropy.blogspot.com/2010/09/broken-cycles.html">1</a>, <a href="http://minimizingentropy.blogspot.com/2011/11/leaving-negative-cycles-and-entering.html">2</a>, <a href="http://minimizingentropy.blogspot.com/2011/10/traveling-at-home-dave-trombley.html">3</a>). It is to give primacy to what is in front of us rather than what is behind the scenes. And it is to lay to rest a degree of our inherent <a href="http://minimizingentropy.blogspot.com/2011/12/overcoming-uncertainty.html">uncertainty</a> about this world. The seasons come and go; so do we. That is that. The excitable news of the <a href="http://minimizingentropy.blogspot.com/search/label/progress">linear </a>world is so much palaver.<br />
<br />
"I tend to think that once human beings entertained notions of the infinite, it was all over. Such a scale had nothing to do with the human race and, in its imaginative potential, everything to do with the human race: it dealt with overwhelming, impossible questions like, Why are we here? and Where are we going? Overwhelming questions tend to call for overwhelming answers. The garden answers those questions, too, but in a very different manner, a much milder one. The garden tells us that we are here as part of all that lives and dies and that where we go is at once plain--back to the earth--and mysterious. We can celebrate both ends.<br />
<br />
"Alas, the human race never has been very good at appreciation (<a href="http://minimizingentropy.blogspot.com/2012/02/how-appreciation-is-activist.html">1</a>, <a href="http://minimizingentropy.blogspot.com/2011/06/intentionality-and-appreciation.html">2</a>, <a href="http://minimizingentropy.blogspot.com/2010/12/on-appreciation.html">3</a>, <a href="http://minimizingentropy.blogspot.com/2011/05/2day-further-thoughts-on-appreciation.html">4</a>, <a href="http://minimizingentropy.blogspot.com/2011/01/we-have-everything-we-need.html">5</a>). We're active and forgetful creatures who tend to be glib. To build a culture of appreciation for the finite and reside there may be the largest task facing the human race. It certainly won't be accomplished by being busier and creating more labyrinths of money. Weeding and hoeing are much more important. So is cooking. So is any imaginative endeavor that makes us feel at home on earth.<br />
<br />
"When the song "Woodstock" proclaimed that "we've got to get ourselves back to the garden," it wasn't as hippie-foolish as it might have seemed. The backers of the blind certainty that perpetually afflicts human affairs and demands blood sacrifices in the name of ideologies, nation-states, and ethnic hatreds might ponder the peace that resides in that line. We may have left something very crucial behind; yet the good news is that anyone can see the garden any day on earth. It's called <span style="color: #274e13;"><i>grass </i></span>or <i><span style="color: #783f04;">tr</span><span style="background-color: lime;">ee</span> </i>or <i><span style="color: red;">frui</span><span style="background-color: #bf9000;">t</span> </i>or <i><span style="color: #351c75;">fl</span><span style="background-color: #783f04;"><span style="background-color: yellow;"></span>ow</span><span style="color: #351c75;">er</span></i>.<br />
<br />
"Maybe the gift of the green world is more than we can bear. Maybe that is the legend of the garden. Maybe the shame and guilt that go with our exile are more real than any of us can bear. We blew it and continue to blow it. Do we have to? I don't think so, but the image of two stricken, cowering people is what it is. In one unforgettable sense that is the human race.<br />
<br />
"Today is beautiful, one of those I-can-feel-everything-growing days. I will go outside and affix pea tendrils to the fence. The tendrils know what to do, but I can help them. I can stand there and linger for long, fulfilling moments and simply take in. It seems the best of all worlds."<br />
<br />
~Baron Wormser<br />
<i>The Garden Remains</i><br />
<i>Orion, March-April 2013 </i>DMAKhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10430943593190838423noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2859567876135439896.post-71819716504782882772013-03-12T19:53:00.001-04:002013-03-12T19:54:28.559-04:00More on care and affectionIn talking about places worth caring for, Kunstler is basically asking the question, "What do we care about?"<br />
<br />
While some people call him a doomer and someone that does not have the
"expertise" of an oil economist, there is stil a tremendous amount of sense
in what James Howard Kunstler says in his TED talk from 2004 (see previous post). In making places worth caring about, we inherently forgo individual and community actions that degrade place; the built environment guides choices that cherish and nourish place instead. This spirit of place can thus be incredibly empowering.<br />
<br />
Care necessarily makes abstract concepts of urban planning and of daily choice more real, tangible, and concrete. Care is not about numbers and statistics (although, I guess, care can be informed by them). Rather than listening to news of ecological doom and gloom here and far away, building (not only materially) and living in places worth caring about actually empowers us to use an emotion so rarely put into action in our daily lives. Today, many of us live in places where we do not know our neighbours or the local ecology, we work in places without sunshine and stare at screens. The massive changes needed in all spheres of our civic and daily life grow from caring.<br />
<br />
This care ties in intimately with the <i>affection </i>that Wendell Berry talks about so wonderfully in the <a href="http://www.neh.gov/about/awards/jefferson-lecture/wendell-e-berry-lecture">2012 Jefferson Lecture in the Humanities</a> (the highest honor the federal government confers for distinguished intellectual achievement in the humanities) he delivered: <br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
Obviously there is some risk in making affection the pivot of an argument about economy. The charge will be made that affection is an emotion, merely “subjective,” and therefore that all affections are more or less equal: people may have affection for their children and their automobiles, their neighbors and their weapons. But the risk, I think, is only that affection is personal. If it is not personal, it is nothing; we don’t, at least, have to worry about governmental or corporate affection. And one of the endeavors of human cultures, from the beginning, has been to qualify and direct the influence of emotion. The word “affection” and the terms of value that cluster around it—love, care, sympathy, mercy, forbearance, respect, reverence—have histories and meanings that raise the issue of worth. We should, as our culture has warned us over and over again, give our affection to things that are true, just, and beautiful. When we give affection to things that are destructive, we are wrong. A large machine in a large, toxic, eroded cornfield is not, properly speaking, an object or a sign of affection.</blockquote>
(Take the time to read the whole lecture. It is worth absolutely every moment of your time.)<br />
<br />
Places worth caring for are absolutely everywhere, and right outside our doorsteps (and inside, too). They don't need to be a thousand square miles big or Glacier National Park.DMAKhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10430943593190838423noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2859567876135439896.post-80075572876286113292013-03-07T10:36:00.000-05:002013-03-09T10:59:22.817-05:00Places worth caring about<!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
<o:OfficeDocumentSettings>
<o:AllowPNG/>
</o:OfficeDocumentSettings>
</xml><![endif]--><br />
<!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
<w:WordDocument>
<w:View>Normal</w:View>
<w:Zoom>0</w:Zoom>
<w:TrackMoves/>
<w:TrackFormatting/>
<w:PunctuationKerning/>
<w:ValidateAgainstSchemas/>
<w:SaveIfXMLInvalid>false</w:SaveIfXMLInvalid>
<w:IgnoreMixedContent>false</w:IgnoreMixedContent>
<w:AlwaysShowPlaceholderText>false</w:AlwaysShowPlaceholderText>
<w:DoNotPromoteQF/>
<w:LidThemeOther>EN-US</w:LidThemeOther>
<w:LidThemeAsian>X-NONE</w:LidThemeAsian>
<w:LidThemeComplexScript>X-NONE</w:LidThemeComplexScript>
<w:Compatibility>
<w:BreakWrappedTables/>
<w:SnapToGridInCell/>
<w:WrapTextWithPunct/>
<w:UseAsianBreakRules/>
<w:DontGrowAutofit/>
<w:SplitPgBreakAndParaMark/>
<w:EnableOpenTypeKerning/>
<w:DontFlipMirrorIndents/>
<w:OverrideTableStyleHps/>
</w:Compatibility>
<m:mathPr>
<m:mathFont m:val="Cambria Math"/>
<m:brkBin m:val="before"/>
<m:brkBinSub m:val="--"/>
<m:smallFrac m:val="off"/>
<m:dispDef/>
<m:lMargin m:val="0"/>
<m:rMargin m:val="0"/>
<m:defJc m:val="centerGroup"/>
<m:wrapIndent m:val="1440"/>
<m:intLim m:val="subSup"/>
<m:naryLim m:val="undOvr"/>
</m:mathPr></w:WordDocument>
</xml><![endif]--><!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
<w:LatentStyles DefLockedState="false" DefUnhideWhenUsed="true"
DefSemiHidden="true" DefQFormat="false" DefPriority="99"
LatentStyleCount="267">
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="0" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" QFormat="true" Name="Normal"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="9" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" QFormat="true" Name="heading 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="9" QFormat="true" Name="heading 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="9" QFormat="true" Name="heading 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="9" QFormat="true" Name="heading 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="9" QFormat="true" Name="heading 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="9" QFormat="true" Name="heading 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="9" QFormat="true" Name="heading 7"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="9" QFormat="true" Name="heading 8"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="9" QFormat="true" Name="heading 9"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="39" Name="toc 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="39" Name="toc 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="39" Name="toc 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="39" Name="toc 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="39" Name="toc 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="39" Name="toc 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="39" Name="toc 7"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="39" Name="toc 8"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="39" Name="toc 9"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="35" QFormat="true" Name="caption"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="10" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" QFormat="true" Name="Title"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="1" Name="Default Paragraph Font"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="11" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" QFormat="true" Name="Subtitle"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="22" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" QFormat="true" Name="Strong"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="20" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" QFormat="true" Name="Emphasis"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="59" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Table Grid"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Placeholder Text"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="1" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" QFormat="true" Name="No Spacing"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="60" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light Shading"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="61" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light List"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="62" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light Grid"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="63" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Shading 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="64" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Shading 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="65" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium List 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="66" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium List 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="67" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="68" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="69" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="70" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Dark List"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="71" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful Shading"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="72" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful List"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="73" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful Grid"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="60" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light Shading Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="61" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light List Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="62" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light Grid Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="63" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Shading 1 Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="64" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Shading 2 Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="65" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium List 1 Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Revision"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="34" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" QFormat="true" Name="List Paragraph"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="29" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" QFormat="true" Name="Quote"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="30" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" QFormat="true" Name="Intense Quote"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="66" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium List 2 Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="67" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 1 Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="68" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 2 Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="69" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 3 Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="70" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Dark List Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="71" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful Shading Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="72" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful List Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="73" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful Grid Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="60" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light Shading Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="61" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light List Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="62" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light Grid Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="63" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Shading 1 Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="64" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Shading 2 Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="65" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium List 1 Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="66" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium List 2 Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="67" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 1 Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="68" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 2 Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="69" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 3 Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="70" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Dark List Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="71" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful Shading Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="72" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful List Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="73" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful Grid Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="60" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light Shading Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="61" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light List Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="62" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light Grid Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="63" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Shading 1 Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="64" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Shading 2 Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="65" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium List 1 Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="66" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium List 2 Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="67" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 1 Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="68" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 2 Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="69" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 3 Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="70" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Dark List Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="71" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful Shading Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="72" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful List Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="73" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful Grid Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="60" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light Shading Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="61" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light List Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="62" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light Grid Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="63" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Shading 1 Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="64" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Shading 2 Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="65" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium List 1 Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="66" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium List 2 Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="67" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 1 Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="68" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 2 Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="69" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 3 Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="70" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Dark List Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="71" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful Shading Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="72" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful List Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="73" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful Grid Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="60" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light Shading Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="61" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light List Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="62" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light Grid Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="63" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Shading 1 Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="64" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Shading 2 Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="65" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium List 1 Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="66" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium List 2 Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="67" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 1 Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="68" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 2 Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="69" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 3 Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="70" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Dark List Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="71" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful Shading Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="72" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful List Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="73" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful Grid Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="60" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light Shading Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="61" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light List Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="62" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Light Grid Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="63" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Shading 1 Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="64" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Shading 2 Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="65" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium List 1 Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="66" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium List 2 Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="67" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 1 Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="68" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 2 Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="69" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Medium Grid 3 Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="70" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Dark List Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="71" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful Shading Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="72" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful List Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="73" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" Name="Colorful Grid Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="19" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" QFormat="true" Name="Subtle Emphasis"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="21" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" QFormat="true" Name="Intense Emphasis"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="31" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" QFormat="true" Name="Subtle Reference"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="32" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" QFormat="true" Name="Intense Reference"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="33" SemiHidden="false"
UnhideWhenUsed="false" QFormat="true" Name="Book Title"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="37" Name="Bibliography"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="39" QFormat="true" Name="TOC Heading"/>
</w:LatentStyles>
</xml><![endif]--><!--[if gte mso 10]>
<style>
/* Style Definitions */
table.MsoNormalTable
{mso-style-name:"Table Normal";
mso-tstyle-rowband-size:0;
mso-tstyle-colband-size:0;
mso-style-noshow:yes;
mso-style-priority:99;
mso-style-parent:"";
mso-padding-alt:0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt;
mso-para-margin-top:0in;
mso-para-margin-right:0in;
mso-para-margin-bottom:10.0pt;
mso-para-margin-left:0in;
line-height:115%;
mso-pagination:widow-orphan;
font-size:11.0pt;
font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";
mso-ascii-font-family:Calibri;
mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin;
mso-hansi-font-family:Calibri;
mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin;}
</style>
<![endif]-->
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
I recently returned from a trip home to India.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>These homecomings have been occurring every
two to two-and-a-half years, and each time I have been back home over the last nine
years, I have traveled to a new part of the country.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I have in time been to Darjeeling and West
Bengal, Gangtok and Sikkim, the Golden Triangle (Delhi, Jaipur, and Agra), Goa, and
now, Kerala, known more recently due to tourism advertising as “God’s Own
Country.”</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Kerala is truly magnificent.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Lying slender on the western coast of Southern India, it is shaped kind
of like Chile.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The coasts are chock full
of gorgeous beaches, and the hillside and mountains, just a few kilometers in,
are the site of tea plantations that supply 20% of India’s tea production.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But perhaps the most beautiful parts of
Kerala, I think, are the backwaters that hug the shoreline.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>This is where coconut trees droop over marshy
lands and freshwater making its way to the sea.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Here are some examples of what I am talking about.<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjjJmhRChd6Rz6CGO-VQiwfl628y1owBgAvX6s7roQUnIGH_SPqIJR7o3xvgcNWWOEXHV5yrSUxlYvdbbYF8juTnV_DRDvEbK9IJ5gfItQQlRNMYOG_kvy2wOOgvy_Ak5yoLce2jeW_mDLs/s1600/DSC_5075.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="267" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjjJmhRChd6Rz6CGO-VQiwfl628y1owBgAvX6s7roQUnIGH_SPqIJR7o3xvgcNWWOEXHV5yrSUxlYvdbbYF8juTnV_DRDvEbK9IJ5gfItQQlRNMYOG_kvy2wOOgvy_Ak5yoLce2jeW_mDLs/s400/DSC_5075.JPG" width="400" /></a></div>
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgnOQQ0X4i4c0yXDnUCnYN3nYtlTE9t2tyzvTTRubf0HwmkRW2rEEQP7eWhcCB4EjL9UgMyTdzT3U3esPLloVyjSmET44J4cWjUzwAHtsSBJJpLjMgGZ7UUWiSBcRBXjyzoYGoQt3MpeQiq/s1600/DSC_5091.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="267" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgnOQQ0X4i4c0yXDnUCnYN3nYtlTE9t2tyzvTTRubf0HwmkRW2rEEQP7eWhcCB4EjL9UgMyTdzT3U3esPLloVyjSmET44J4cWjUzwAHtsSBJJpLjMgGZ7UUWiSBcRBXjyzoYGoQt3MpeQiq/s400/DSC_5091.JPG" width="400" /></a></div>
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiVEFi8hjZBtsD72PVANFTlb3uCpshuDNg2G_gA751DExlft3u8hHsOgO8BY0l5zfzDSNdYjV-KrAXL-ynEfMX21C-mU7HbnfIJb679_EApJJ1wwuUYfa8xKgeoroo3OtbL0DYqfF38f6CE/s1600/DSC_5086.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiVEFi8hjZBtsD72PVANFTlb3uCpshuDNg2G_gA751DExlft3u8hHsOgO8BY0l5zfzDSNdYjV-KrAXL-ynEfMX21C-mU7HbnfIJb679_EApJJ1wwuUYfa8xKgeoroo3OtbL0DYqfF38f6CE/s400/DSC_5086.JPG" width="400" /></a></div>
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgvy0wG0yOQB_ZsRm40XI-bFbro9DxZm9DLkEc6Y3xS6sJjjG-TzPS9cajFAex99lnr2GAN-qZpR311CkNHR10LW1VTciN3wuFTP4hVpkgfOkgn6LlVYar035y23EzZGdCmYLoaoHH62374/s1600/DSC_5144.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="267" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgvy0wG0yOQB_ZsRm40XI-bFbro9DxZm9DLkEc6Y3xS6sJjjG-TzPS9cajFAex99lnr2GAN-qZpR311CkNHR10LW1VTciN3wuFTP4hVpkgfOkgn6LlVYar035y23EzZGdCmYLoaoHH62374/s400/DSC_5144.JPG" width="400" /></a></div>
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjOfG4HSL5mNnXaShZeMDUY9aLGOz-AWViRyIHBbA38C7O-u8XEEtWFRxKEqGcgc1IE_qBIn_aP-uF6Zii0koJr82vTRWAQZAsCb35WIk6RDN7kVZwcN58uz7IoUAWYXbkCRoM5I0JZk8ea/s1600/DSC_5261.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="267" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjOfG4HSL5mNnXaShZeMDUY9aLGOz-AWViRyIHBbA38C7O-u8XEEtWFRxKEqGcgc1IE_qBIn_aP-uF6Zii0koJr82vTRWAQZAsCb35WIk6RDN7kVZwcN58uz7IoUAWYXbkCRoM5I0JZk8ea/s400/DSC_5261.JPG" width="400" /></a></div>
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjaQ4LaVd9YahG5ZJi90WqczUWdzpiCwDXvCceesU_LlMLfTRU8MZhnP5iSorUyJBMW3I3qzx7ThMOkp6JxrB638txi7R_HLFyjX8-BqCWCaKNMtEEIQxkdbFjZXjVQyULfC7l0eWJHJbB2/s1600/DSC_5326.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="267" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjaQ4LaVd9YahG5ZJi90WqczUWdzpiCwDXvCceesU_LlMLfTRU8MZhnP5iSorUyJBMW3I3qzx7ThMOkp6JxrB638txi7R_HLFyjX8-BqCWCaKNMtEEIQxkdbFjZXjVQyULfC7l0eWJHJbB2/s400/DSC_5326.JPG" width="400" /></a></div>
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
But as I, and others more productively and prolifically,
have written about, there is something that has invaded waters both in Kerala,
the Susquehanna River in Pennsylvania, and the Pacific Ocean—trash, and in
particular, plastic.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Plastic was
abundant in the backwaters, and these are only larger fragments that I found at
the surface.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjV1_npoNB7F-fEEbmkGpA065Tj3ls7N2mKixNnRsdZS3umwZ8LV4HMsEiSv8PwAP5Irhn4GWpkmxsQvd1ruoZTLNdfGnwXJn44p9J7U-Dy26grLgI1187fgkoPjq2eL_dzMvvCQ3GJvhqT/s1600/DSC_5162.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjV1_npoNB7F-fEEbmkGpA065Tj3ls7N2mKixNnRsdZS3umwZ8LV4HMsEiSv8PwAP5Irhn4GWpkmxsQvd1ruoZTLNdfGnwXJn44p9J7U-Dy26grLgI1187fgkoPjq2eL_dzMvvCQ3GJvhqT/s320/DSC_5162.JPG" width="320" /></a></div>
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiq-c2YJLzLl8_q24DsHoByuTn2mFJ-GFoBENwAyR8OW91aWdn1NKiAV_uvFuFygIVaF15jgaS3MNp1Y8_gmBaUktPDIpME37DLyooJCJPZtCEmwBCVvf6-uWYyRiKKQPsBE3Jwg8u1dem0/s1600/DSC_5163.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="214" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiq-c2YJLzLl8_q24DsHoByuTn2mFJ-GFoBENwAyR8OW91aWdn1NKiAV_uvFuFygIVaF15jgaS3MNp1Y8_gmBaUktPDIpME37DLyooJCJPZtCEmwBCVvf6-uWYyRiKKQPsBE3Jwg8u1dem0/s320/DSC_5163.JPG" width="320" /></a></div>
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg8sC1RoAEGyXBAF2KA5FmLgkWt7lwHnANm5yZpWBXpp2s9XnLfmd1OJl-SPGndwjcWPH4xisBPy4QJ2lateuZAyNd6L8G_e20ZSea-qL_W0PXWGTxjJtSFgvrlktKMHseFYgDO0rhzGOl9/s1600/DSC_5165.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="214" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg8sC1RoAEGyXBAF2KA5FmLgkWt7lwHnANm5yZpWBXpp2s9XnLfmd1OJl-SPGndwjcWPH4xisBPy4QJ2lateuZAyNd6L8G_e20ZSea-qL_W0PXWGTxjJtSFgvrlktKMHseFYgDO0rhzGOl9/s320/DSC_5165.JPG" width="320" /></a></div>
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhXDMZiYNUfkZRqEHaXHAmTAGIShtaSrQvNfQ0QENLmlR1LxagexmiL4MRMgAuf39Oh4PNPIlkep7JvEhG6EaYPuUHQiS2rVA43r2Z0nT__YweYqvNWQ0p49z5Czx-Lq_wnjQ33BA8npFov/s1600/DSC_5174.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="214" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhXDMZiYNUfkZRqEHaXHAmTAGIShtaSrQvNfQ0QENLmlR1LxagexmiL4MRMgAuf39Oh4PNPIlkep7JvEhG6EaYPuUHQiS2rVA43r2Z0nT__YweYqvNWQ0p49z5Czx-Lq_wnjQ33BA8npFov/s320/DSC_5174.JPG" width="320" /></a></div>
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjTiRRsA_6M3nCk2iBA6MhYkkTiBYKG4SNj8DoXX9lhDoOA__tAdH3GElHXxpug2YQRTm3T5owv_qXhrjhrKXK6FkwfqQ4Es4M9p1Z21tyW40YdM49i1pNkFw2jljLLaT9DOVP0aKKG2Ccq/s1600/DSC_5175.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="214" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjTiRRsA_6M3nCk2iBA6MhYkkTiBYKG4SNj8DoXX9lhDoOA__tAdH3GElHXxpug2YQRTm3T5owv_qXhrjhrKXK6FkwfqQ4Es4M9p1Z21tyW40YdM49i1pNkFw2jljLLaT9DOVP0aKKG2Ccq/s320/DSC_5175.JPG" width="320" /></a></div>
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg4ExPprP2efhfRZZOTMLWopj1n6nhseV6G6CTIehcDe-d_abZAEdCf45MA9OCc5FB_JNrAyisn2GTpcvKNZOda585qbimP4CEKwaKvtRaTkYUURP4y5-DmNrJGyHJ5zpddSU2FZENiLAAc/s1600/DSC_5176.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="214" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg4ExPprP2efhfRZZOTMLWopj1n6nhseV6G6CTIehcDe-d_abZAEdCf45MA9OCc5FB_JNrAyisn2GTpcvKNZOda585qbimP4CEKwaKvtRaTkYUURP4y5-DmNrJGyHJ5zpddSU2FZENiLAAc/s320/DSC_5176.JPG" width="320" /></a></div>
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
There has been a supposed campaign for a “plastic-free
Kerala.” What this means is very unclear.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Does it mean no plastic at all?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Plastic bags were rare there, but account for just a fraction of all the
plastic used and thrown.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>What about
bottles, like this one?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Here is my dad
posing by a "Plastic-Free Zone" sign, with plastic calmly worshipping the
posts.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> In the backwaters, </span>I actually saw a man clean some
sort of plastic off of the propeller of his boat <i>by nonchalantly throwing the plastic back
into the water</i>.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgBGM5vyob-PfcZpG0j1l_S3CAWEA-BIJo7t4-1EAfW41ukCcO5c23mdLQCSaisp2OnfJQ6fnvko29YuWSEPtU5D_J48zWjKurEOcWdsDVBsJe_mXZVcKekfQbLGNSQGafJ6qpuylDeD4FF/s1600/DSC_5589.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgBGM5vyob-PfcZpG0j1l_S3CAWEA-BIJo7t4-1EAfW41ukCcO5c23mdLQCSaisp2OnfJQ6fnvko29YuWSEPtU5D_J48zWjKurEOcWdsDVBsJe_mXZVcKekfQbLGNSQGafJ6qpuylDeD4FF/s320/DSC_5589.JPG" width="214" /></a></div>
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
In his TED talk from 2004, James Howard Kunstler, a wonderfully
foul-mouthed urban planner and critic of suburban sprawl, spoke about places worth caring about.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He talks about how form and design of places
influences people’s behaviour in these places, and how "public spaces should be inspired centers of civic life and the physical manifestation of the common good."<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>He contrasts public spaces and buildings and homes in America with the tight
courtyards you find more commonly in Europe.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Indeed, places worth caring about make us want to protect them, to nurture
them, and to make changes to them only so intentionally.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> And I think his sentiments translate directly to man and caring for the spaces that nature has created. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" mozallowfullscreen="" scrolling="no" src="http://embed.ted.com/talks/james_howard_kunstler_dissects_suburbia.html" webkitallowfullscreen="" width="560"></iframe>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<a href="http://minimizingentropy.blogspot.com/2010/08/trash-in-india.html">As I wrote about</a> when I returned from India
two-and-a-half years ago, does cleanliness mean anything to a country
desensitized to public trash heaps?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Indeed, are these places worth caring for?<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And if we do care, does that care result in us just hiding away trash as we do in the West, or asking deeper questions such as "Why trash?" or, as Kunstler makes us ask, "Where we are going?"<br />
<br />
More on places worth caring for next time.</div>
DMAKhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10430943593190838423noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2859567876135439896.post-15320085113059438732013-01-09T08:55:00.002-05:002013-01-09T08:55:55.839-05:00Back homeI can't say that I am sorry I haven't posted in a while, but I haven't really sat down to write in weeks. There are tons of things that I have been thinking about, particularly the direction of this blog. I welcome your suggestions on issues and topics to explore. But for now, I am going to take the time to think on my way back home, to India. I am not sure I will be able to post anything from there; the blog will be back and up in the end of February, though. Until then, I wish you a happy new year.<br />
<br />
Peace.DMAKhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10430943593190838423noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2859567876135439896.post-22397544863759667562012-12-12T17:19:00.000-05:002012-12-12T17:19:26.190-05:00"Do something local and do something real."The fundamental question that this blog has primarily dealt with is this: <i>Given </i>the structural forces that are causing ecological degradation, social injustice, and unsustainability, what can we do, <i>as individuals</i>, to combat these issues?<br />
<br />
It is abundantly clear that the problems that I just listed are large, systemic, structural, cultural. We rely in large infrastructures such as roadways for our food. Our banks take our money and invest it unsavory ways without telling us. Advertisements and "beauty" magazines try to make us feel worthless unless we take part in the latest fads. The federal government doesn't deal with climate change even if it is in its best interests. So, of course we need change at the highest levels. Of course we need policy changes. Of course we need <i>cultural </i>change. But what does this change look like? Is the fear of change, of a new culture, in large measure what is holding back change? Or perhaps is change not coming quickly enough because the problems are so large and daunting that we sit back in submission?<br />
<br />
I write about this because I got some flak from my last post, which said that we must be personally responsible with our choices, without mentioning that problems are structural. But the fact that the problems are structural is the founding premise of this entire blog, and I have written about the issues of <a href="http://minimizingentropy.blogspot.com/search/label/capitalism">capitalism</a>, <a href="http://minimizingentropy.blogspot.com/search/label/government-industry-university%20complex">large government</a>, <a href="http://minimizingentropy.blogspot.com/search/label/corporations">corporatism</a>, <a href="http://minimizingentropy.blogspot.com/search/label/education">education</a>, and so on.<br />
<br />
Our actions do not exist in isolation. As I have pointed out time and again, if we live in societies and collectives, and what we do as individuals challenges social norms, then actions that challenge the norms are both starkly exposed and starkly expose the norms. This, for some, may seem like some kop-out way of legitimizing and overstating the impact of individual change. Some might go so far as to say personal change is far easier than achieving structural and cultural change. In some ways, it is. It is because you don't necessarily have to deal with anyone else, a libertarian's dream. But in some ways, it is not. It is not because personal change challenges oneself to truly imagine and live in the world one wants to live in. On another hand, <a href="http://minimizingentropy.blogspot.com/2010/07/guest-blog-2-dr-forbes-and-levels-of.html">Melissa</a>, in one of the very first guest blogs, wrote that if you want to achieve structural change, pressure must be put on "choice architects" who have the power to change systems.<br />
<br />
But, as Mike Wolf writes in his essay <i>In Anticipation of the Next Leap of Faith </i>in <i>Deep Routes</i>,<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
There is a video clip on YouTube of Bill Moyers interviewing Grace Lee Boggs. In response to the question, "What is to be done?" her answer is simple. "Do something local and do something real." When I examine my life and the people who I admire, whose work is inspiring, also when I examine the most rewarding work I have been a part of, it all follows this simple directive. It is self-conscious of its place and its relationships, and it puts something on the line, takes risks. It is not fixed in the conceptual, the virtual, as a mere amusement...There is no traction and no consequence if the work doesn't make itself vulnerable.</blockquote>
<br />
Vulnerability is something I'll address soon. Until then, here is that video clip to inspire us to be the architects of our choices.
<br />
<iframe width="420" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/DzeezIsTZ_o" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>DMAKhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10430943593190838423noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2859567876135439896.post-67917775858670554412012-12-05T18:05:00.001-05:002012-12-05T18:05:39.447-05:00"Why would you want to do jury duty?!"<br />
My sister was selected for jury duty a few weeks ago. The case, it turns out, was going to be a massive one--one about companies withholding information on the risks of asbestos exposure. Due to some improper questioning by a prosecuting attorney, my sister and a few other people, who were close to being the final jury members, were dismissed. But the jury selection process itself lasted a couple weeks, and could have lasted potentially longer, followed by six weeks of testimony. But that is besides the point. My sister was going to be given a massive responsibility. She could have been part of deciding whether there was corporate misinformation and whether workers deserved massive amounts of compensation for their mesothelioma. And all anybody asked her was, "<b><i>Why</i> </b>would you want to do <i><b>jury </b></i>duty?!"<br />
<br />
We tend to think that we have a right to almost everything, and that if something goes wrong, it is someone, somewhere who is not doing their job. All that we, as individuals, are responsible for are our lives, our paychecks, our homes. We want the right to vote, but not the responsibility that comes with voting. We want clean water to flow from our faucets, but not the responsibility to make sure that our water is not polluted. We want free access to information, but not the responsibility of action that comes from knowing. <br />
<br />
Our family watched <i>Twelve Angry Men </i>the other night, a tremendous movie from 1957, and what is depicted in that movie rings true to my sister's experience with the reactions she faced. Jury duty is an inconvenience because "I'm going to miss the baseball game!" When it comes to a fair trial, being selected for jury duty is something that is an inconvenience. How could anyone even suggest that jury duty is inconvenient? As flawed as the legal and justice system is, isn't it our responsibility to make sure that we are ready to serve to make sure that people aren't wrongly convicted? Now, people can have very important reasons why they would not want to do jury duty, especially if a day's labor is essential to feed your family. But these are not the people that expressed their surprise that my sister was not lying to get out of jury duty. No. It was the well-off...and not just one person...several people. Indeed, a quick search online will elucidate you on the thousand ways to get yourself out of jury duty. <br />
<br />
We live in a world in which responsibility is so <a href="http://minimizingentropy.blogspot.com/2011/07/some-more-thoughts-on-responsibility.html">distributed </a>that it is difficult to point fingers or make certain claims. Is a particular chemical in his water that caused his cancer? Is China causing climate change? Not sure. I mean, they are contributing heavily now, but what about all the decades and centuries of ecological degradation and greenhouse gas emissions caused by the America and the West? Hmmm. <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/12/03/doha-climate-conference-china_n_2231164.html">Let's avoid responsibility for that</a>. <br />
<br />
Responsibility ties in intimately to our daily choices, whether we agree to it or not. Thinking that small things don't matter is, in essence, a shirking of personal responsibility. What if we <i>were</i> responsible for our daily choices? Not in the sense that one shouldn't do anything "illegal" so as to not get thrown into prison. But I mean really <i>responsible </i>for every choice. Is it responsible towards the Earth to want to be highly materialistic? Is it responsible to my neighborhood to not get to know my neighbors? Is it responsible of someone who is well off to lie just to get off of jury duty? When we are all responsible, we have much to gain. When we want our rights and act irresponsibly, we have much to lose. <br />
DMAKhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10430943593190838423noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2859567876135439896.post-59148602806958667092012-11-18T21:24:00.001-05:002012-11-18T21:24:29.929-05:00Thoughts on ecology, reductionism and capitalismI have spent the last few days with my parents and submitting applications for different after-school positions. No, I'm never going to have a job...I hope. I haven't sat down to write recently, and I'm not sure why. But, I have been reading. <i><a href="http://www.midwestradicalculturecorridor.net/?p=176">Deep Routes: The Midwest In All Directions</a></i> is a book I picked up recently, one that my friend, <a href="http://www.carbonfarm.us/">Sarah Lewison</a>--an artist, activist, and professor at Southern Illinois University--has contributed to, along with other community organisers, academics, and artists from the Midwest. The book is about radical activism based in the Midwest, and a key theme of the book is territoriality and connection with place. Connection with place is something deeply lacking in a world in which we constantly seek upward mobility. While "settling down" is something I don't agree with, I wonder how our constant mobility obscures our ability to see connections between the our daily choices and their multidimensional outcomes. Indeed, what is the <i>ecology </i>of choice? <div>
<br /></div>
<div>
<a href="http://minimizingentropy.blogspot.com/search/label/reductionism">Reductionism</a> is the foundation of current expertise, education, and capitalism. Reductionist thinking gives us only thinly cut slices of complex pie. In a globalized world, we know very little about the roots of the products we buy, or the roots of the food we eat. Instead, we are made to think of dollars and cents, and when we valuate using the great reductionism of money, <a href="http://minimizingentropy.blogspot.com/2011/08/money-skewing-value.html">we tend to undervalue</a>. Writes Claire Pentecost in <i>Deep Routes</i>,</div>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
Capitalism is deracinating: it must separate anything of value from its roots in order to convert it into a sign that can be efficiently circulated and exchanged. It reduces both needs and desires to a system in which the fungible and often proprietary signs of value trump the organic ecology of values. In this deracinated circular flow, the universal equivalent--the sign that makes all commodities exchangeable--is money. Whatever we need and love may have inherent value, but under capitalism, anything and everything is reducible to a monetary sign of value. This is efficiently paralleled by informationalism, a paradigm of knowledge in which value is reduced to an isolated register that can be exchanged as pure sign. In these ways capitalism and its companion informationalism are constitutionally deterritorializing. </blockquote>
<div>
Ecological thinking is a powerful antidote to reductionism, even when not applied to the "environmental" reduction; it allows us to see connections and understand the roots of the choices available to us socially, politically, and economically, whether at the voting booth or in the aisles of supermarkets. Our capacity to think ecologically fully appreciates and takes advantage of our vision, foresight, and creativity. Yet we are stuck by constantly narrowing and reducing the scope of our questions and investigations into the failures of capitalism and public policy in public health and the environment. Pentecost continues by writing,</div>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
...our food paradigm reduces the value of a food to those elements that can be easily read as quantifiable information. We are trained to think of nutrition in terms of a handful of vitamins and minerals. So we grow acres of corn, which are deemed to be all the same in quality, process them to extract their exchange value as oils, starches, sugars, and materials that can be used industrially for glues and plastics, reconstitute some of those ingredients by adding certain readily identifiable vitamins and minerals--and voila! It serves a food. But it ignores the complex nuances of human digestion, and does so tragically in the light of the misery and disease propagated by the "American diet."</blockquote>
Indeed,<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
How can we pour millions of pounds of toxic chemicals into our environment and not think that we will be poisoning ourselves, as well as all that makes our existence possible and palatable? </blockquote>
DMAKhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10430943593190838423noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2859567876135439896.post-78225530036051105942012-11-07T11:33:00.001-05:002012-11-07T11:33:36.926-05:00Guest blog #27: Adrianna Bojrab's thoughts on little city nudges<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="color: #262626;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Nestled in the heart of a culturally rich and active local
community, the University of Michigan’s goals seem to mirror the objectives of local
Ann Arbor. Ann Arbor is a
buzzing hub of innovation; start-up entrepreneurial enterprises, and cutting
edge technology and research firms seem to make up the nucleus of the local economy. As such endeavors prove costly, efficiency seems to be a priority
amongst local people, a primacy that is reflected in their business
approaches. Efficiency can be achieved
on a variety levels: capital allocation, minimal time and energy expenditure
and strategic business structures that minimize costs and boost profits. Such efficiency standards can be met with
numerous approaches; however, Ann Arbor companies seem to set the standard by
equating efficiency with green sustainability, and considering local options
and mindful environmental practices to reach the bar. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="color: #262626;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">While residing in Ann Arbor for four years, I noticed incentives
for reducing waste around the city. Many
food businesses receive base ingredients from local farmers, and donate
leftovers to the homeless population.
Local farmers' markets are highly publicized and well frequented by
students and locals alike. Clothing and
product drives reallocate excess, and a noticeable shift towards biodegradable
materials for disposable products has become widespread in University and local
business food and product packaging. A new wave of businesses promoting
increased accessibility to public transportation has emerged. Through the means of more expansive bus
routes and initiatives to provide larger capacity cabs, Ann Arbor is moving
more people and burning less fuel simultaneously. Within the community, there is a strong biking population and more recently, an emerging skateboard culture. Governmental regulations have rejected proposals
for increasing parking accessibility, and this has proved to deter individuals
from driving--a positive for fuel conservation.
Additionally, the physical layout of Ann Arbor makes walking or
alternative transportation an easy, viable and reasonable option, along with
the construction of new dormitories, co-ops and apartment buildings on Central
Campus; people are being brought closer to their destinations. Ann Arbor makes it easy to be environmentally
conscious by providing the means to promote desired actions. </span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="color: #262626;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Recently, I have moved to a neighborhood just north of downtown
Chicago, Illinois. My fascination with
urban living and sustainability was redefined.
Generally speaking, subways and buses are the predominate mode of
transportation for many city dwellers.
As a graduate student, I have the option to purchase an unlimited public
transportation card for six months. My commute to school on the subway has opened my eyes
to the amount of fuel, finances, energy and time allotment that is being saved
per person. Calculate $2.50 per one-way ticket, the price of a car, gas,
parking and time in the context of city, and number is likely astounding. Chicago
utilizes public transportation in a way unlike most other big cities, by
utilizing both above ground and underground subway transport. By doubling the expansive public transportation
network, Chicago transports more people and employs more individuals to service
and maintain the tracks and trains. Read:
Public transportation is quick, efficient, expansive...and arguably
entertaining. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="color: #262626;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Additionally, the state of Illinois encourages and provides a
number of incentives for renewables and efficiency efforts--a mixture of grants, shorter permit
process timelines and tax cuts. These
opportunities are available for commercial, industrial, residential, educational
and institutional interests, and help to further the employment and adoption of
new technology and environmentally beneficial practices. Some of these practices involve: green
building designs, geothermal heat pumps, solar space and water heaters,
photovoltaics, hydroelectricity, LED lighting, renewable fuels and biomass. The implementation and employment of new
technology through state and federal incentives encourages a healthier
environment and provides a financially feasible way to reduce operation costs and conserve valuable resources, materials
and energy. <i>Such information for your
own city is available through DSIRE, an online database funded by the U.S.
Department of Energy’s Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy</i>.<o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="color: #262626;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">On a smaller scale, I have noticed a number of changes within my
two short months of residence: public restrooms are beginning to remove paper
towel dispensers and replace them with strong air current dryers. Inner city
farmers markets are extending their hours of operation to weekdays,
specifically lunch hours, providing an alternative for the working world’s
lunch break and grocery run. Recycling
containers are found on every corner and clothing dispensaries for the needy
are numerous. Water bottle fillers that
provide a “number of bottles saved” to users are engineered into many of the
public water fountains, becoming a city norm. By providing such numbers for
users, individuals are tangibly made to feel as though they are furthering change, thus encouraging usage. A number of restaurants provide
cloth napkins, regardless of their level of formality. Chicago provides easy ways for people to
minimize waste and reuse or reallocate resources. Small incentives and practices add up, and
the collective result could be major. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="color: #262626;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">We are the generation that will turn the tables. We will change and revitalize the American
culture by using innovative ways to introduce and implement sustainable and efficient
business regimes into our communities. Our health,
safety, and happiness derive from our atmosphere. If we focus on sustainability, and intentionally
challenge ourselves to reuse materials in innovative ways, we will revitalize our
communities. Look at your lifestyle, identify the source
of waste, start small scale and take an active role within your community to
further new practices and become a catalyst for reform. </span><span style="font-family: 'Lucida Grande'; font-size: 11pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="color: #262626;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="color: #262626;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">~Adrianna</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="color: #262626;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="color: #262626;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><i>For more of Adrianna's thoughts on this blog, click <a href="http://minimizingentropy.blogspot.com/2011/11/guest-blog-23-adrianna-bojrab-on.html">here</a>, <a href="http://minimizingentropy.blogspot.com/2010/12/guest-blog-7-adrianna-bojrab-unplugged.html">here</a>, and <a href="http://minimizingentropy.blogspot.com/2010/12/guest-blog-9-adriannas-back-with-ideas.html">here</a>.</i></span></span></div>
DMAKhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10430943593190838423noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2859567876135439896.post-9454886803550125782012-11-04T12:04:00.001-05:002012-11-04T12:05:14.507-05:00Wait a while<span style="font-family: inherit;">One question that I am asked frequently is something along the lines of, "Well, what if you want to buy something?" or "What if you need to buy something?" My answer to these questions, which seems a little Buddhist, is that I just wait a while: "I wait a week, and I think about whether I still need to buy it. If I still feel that I want to buy something, I wait another week."</span><br />
<div>
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></div>
<div>
<span style="font-family: inherit;">Time is one <a href="http://www.radiolab.org/2007/may/29/">metaphysical </a>concept that has been at the forefront of everything I have written over the past few years, whether in the shape of </span><a href="http://minimizingentropy.blogspot.com/2010/10/time-capsule.html" style="background-color: white; color: #7c93a1; font-family: inherit; line-height: 18px; text-decoration: none;">legacy</a><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: inherit; line-height: 18px;">, </span><a href="http://minimizingentropy.blogspot.com/2010/09/doing-things-just-because-we-can.html" style="background-color: white; color: #7c93a1; font-family: inherit; line-height: 18px; text-decoration: none;">compulsiveness</a><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: inherit; line-height: 18px;">, </span><a href="http://minimizingentropy.blogspot.com/2010/05/un-self-sufficiency-and-convenience.html" style="background-color: white; color: #7c93a1; font-family: inherit; line-height: 18px; text-decoration: none;">convenience</a><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: inherit; line-height: 18px;">, </span><a href="http://minimizingentropy.blogspot.com/2011/04/instantaneous-trash.html" style="background-color: white; color: #7c93a1; font-family: inherit; line-height: 18px; text-decoration: none;">instantaneousness</a><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: inherit; line-height: 18px;">, longevity, </span><a href="http://minimizingentropy.blogspot.com/2011/03/reflections-on-year-time-and.html" style="background-color: white; color: #7c93a1; font-family: inherit; line-height: 18px; text-decoration: none;">seasons</a><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: inherit; line-height: 18px;">, and </span><a href="http://minimizingentropy.blogspot.com/2010/09/broken-cycles.html" style="background-color: white; color: #7c93a1; font-family: inherit; line-height: 18px; text-decoration: none;">cycles</a><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: inherit; line-height: 18px;">, or </span>contradictions. And it is a form of time again that is at play with materialism and purchasing, too.<br />
<div>
<span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; line-height: 18px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div>
<span style="color: #222222; font-family: inherit;"><span style="line-height: 18px;">Our <a href="http://minimizingentropy.blogspot.com/2012/02/slowing-down-fast-lives.html">fast-paced lives</a> and the ever-quickening pace of technology make it very difficult to wrap our minds around how ecological degradation itself is quickening because of our choices. The steps we take in our daily lives are taken faster and faster. We used to saunter, now we are constantly out of breath. If we need to relax to bring our minds at ease, why not also relax before we impulsively acquire?</span></span></div>
<div>
<span style="color: #222222; font-family: inherit;"><span style="line-height: 18px;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div>
<span style="color: #222222; line-height: 18px;">Waiting is not an exercise in austerity or abstinence, but rather an investigation of need and want.</span><span style="color: #222222; line-height: 18px;"> Waiting opens up the mental space to more fully evaluate the impacts of choices on our wallets, on this culture, on our Earth. It also gives us more time to understand and appreciate what we have already. Waiting to get something automatically makes you appreciate it more than if you bought it on a whim. How do you know the importance of something if you don't really understand what it is like being without something? And if you have been without something until now, have you fully appreciated your life without it? Thinking about these questions and acting on the answers </span><span style="color: #222222; line-height: 18px;">is a form of slowing down our fast lives. It is a form of cultural criticism and self-reflection that has very real and tangible consequences. </span></div>
<div>
<span style="color: #222222; line-height: 18px;"><br /></span></div>
<div>
I admit to buying two new things in the last year--two pairs of football/soccer shoes, one for turf, and one for outdoor use--and I bought them after about a year of waiting to buy them. Of course, it is unreasonable to ask people to stop buying. But it is wholly reasonable to ask them to wait, and to see what happens.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
<span style="color: #222222; font-size: xx-small;"><span style="line-height: 18px;">See what <a href="http://minimizingentropy.blogspot.com/2011/02/guest-blog-13-jason-lai-and-joy-of.html">Jason has to say</a> about waiting.</span></span></div>
<div>
<br /></div>
</div>
<div>
<span style="color: #222222; font-family: inherit;"><span style="line-height: 18px;"><br /></span></span></div>
<div>
<br /></div>
DMAKhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10430943593190838423noreply@blogger.com1