I attended my field’s annual Policy Symposium this past week in D.C., which focused on addressing child care related issues on local, state, and national levels. As such, we hit Capital Hill on Thursday to meet with our representatives–or at least their fresh-faced staffers–to help them realize the importance of quality child care in the lives of healthy families, and healthy economies.

Our main priority was to push for re-authorization of the Child Care and Development Block Grant, which helps subsidize the high cost of child care for working families. Since this has not yet happened, most states across the country are experiencing high waiting lists for child care subsidy services, including my own, where the parents of over 35,000 children are waiting for assistance. In the meantime, families either lose/quit their jobs because they cannot afford to pay for care out of pocket ($4,000-$10,000 a year) and then draw on already limited local resources, make potentially risky care choices, or simply leave their young children (0-5 yrs) home alone while they go out to earn a living. None of these scenarious, obviously, are good for communities, good for families, or good for children. However, as long as child care subsidy, and other “welfare” programs are framed in the political discourse as “handouts” it’s not going to change a thing in Washington and in your neighborhood.

Our keynote speaker, author and Berkeley linguistics professor James Lakoff, had something to say about this last point. He argued that most political debates are essentially moral battles between a strict father and a nurturant mother, as explained more in detail here:

Lakoff divides people into two ideal types: the strict father and the nurturant parent. The first believes the world is a nasty, dangerous place and that humans are fundamentally corrupt. He protects his family by asserting absolute authority over them; the father’s command is never questioned. Children are taught to be moral, self-sufficient adults through a combination of reward and punishment (often corporal). Once the child reaches adulthood, the father no longer plays much of a role in his life.

The nurturant parent is also deeply concerned with protecting his children and raising them to be upstanding adults. The difference lies in his view of human nature. Nurturers believe children respond best when parents explain their actions and encourage kids to ask questions. Nurturant parents place their highest priority on values like empathy and compassion. Whereas the strict father favors a tough-love approach to child-rearing, the nurturer cultivates deep emotional bonds. Nurturers believe children respond best not to the threat of punishment but to inner motivation and the desire to emulate their parents.

To make the leap from child-rearing to politics, Lakoff posited that people think of the nation as a family and the government as a parent. The way they view government typically follows from their views on child-rearing. So, for example, conservatives believe that single women who get pregnant should be punished by having to bring their child to term; a society that fails to punish women for promiscuous behavior is a society that encourages it. (The idea that abortion is murder becomes a kind of after-the-fact rationalization.) The death penalty is not only acceptable but moral for the same reason: People who commit murder must themselves be punished. Not to take a life in response would only encourage more murders. Conservatives also oppose most social programs because, like strict fathers, they believe able-bodied adults should fend for themselves. Giving them unearned benefits only undermines this ethic.

So you can see how Lakoff’s theory fits into our purpose at the Symposium, especially in my case, arguing for these “unearned benefits” with three North Carolina Republicans, a party known for a “strict father” approach to public policy. Our charge from Lakoff was then to reframe our issue to reflect the ideals of those “Founding Fathers” everyone keeps talking about, specifically their role in forming early States as Commonwealths, for the common good (separate discussion on that point later). Because most people are actually “bi-conceptuals”, a popular Lakoffism, appealing to the nurturant sides of Republican legislators is actually easier than one would think, it’s a all a matter of framing.

Anyway, take from that what you will. I thought it was an interesting speech, especially coming from a guy getting a lot of airtime with Democrats, for better or worse.

This hasn’t made headlines in most places, but seems to effect most of the country. It’s one of those tell-tale signs that we are about to enter into an inevitable recession, despite Bush’s vain attempts to make everything seem rosy in our country. One of the areas slated for sale is right down the street in the Great Smokys Nat’l Park.

The Bush administration on Friday detailed its proposal to sell more than 300,000 acres of national forests and other public land to help pay for rural schools in 41 states.
The land sales, ranging from less than an acre to more than 1,000 acres, could total more than $1 billion and would be the largest sale of forest land in decades.
Western lawmakers immediately objected, saying the short-term gains would be offset by the permanent loss of public lands. Congress would have to approve the sales, and has rejected similar proposals in recent years.
Forest Service officials say the sales are needed to raise $800 million over the next five years to pay for schools and roads in rural counties hurt by logging cutbacks on federal land. The Bureau of Land Management has said it also plans to sell federal lands to raise an estimated $250 million over five years.
Dave Alberswerth, a public lands expert with the The Wilderness Society environmental group called the plan a billion-dollar boondoggle to privatize treasured public lands to pay for “tax cuts to the rich.”

“This is not going to be politically acceptable to most people,” Alberswerth said.

link and

How’s that for land management!

As a kid growing up, I always thought the idea of managinig wildlife was a good idea. Now I really understand what the “management” in “Wildlife Management” really means. In this blog entry, we’ll specifically look at Idaho Fish & Game Wolf Management.
According to Idaho Fish & Game’s website:

The Idaho Department of Fish and Game has proposed asking the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service for permission to reduce the wolf population by up to 43 wolves or about 75 percent in the Lolo elk management zone of the Clearwater Region. Fish and Game biologists say wolf predation is a significant contributor to the decline of elk numbers in the Lolo zone and may be preventing population recovery. The proposal is made under the revised 10(j) rule of the Endangered Species Act, which took effect in February 2005, and allows removal of wolves having an unacceptable effect on elk and deer populations.

Now let’s look at the word “management”, from dictionary.com:

man·age
v. man·aged, man·ag·ing, man·ag·es
v. tr.

1. To direct or control the use of; handle: manage a complex machine tool.
2.
1. To exert control over: “Managing the news… is the oldest game in town” (James Reston). “A major crisis to be managed loomed on the horizon” (Time).
2. To make submissive to one’s authority, discipline, or persuasion.
3. To direct the affairs or interests of: manage a company; an agency that manages performers. See Synonyms at conduct.
4. To succeed in accomplishing or achieving, especially with difficulty; contrive or arrange: managed to get a promotion.

v. intr.

1. To direct or conduct business affairs.
2. To continue to get along; carry on: learning how to manage on my own.

Okay, so it looks like the word deals with exerting control, and carrying out business. But wait, the Idaho Fish & Game are concerned about the livelihood of the Elk right? Take a moment and go to their website if you want, and you’ll see that they are really concerned about the Elk population.

here’s a chart they provide to show how bad wolves are for the Elk:

and here’s another that shows how well off the wolves have it:

Hey, wait a minute, does that chart say “Removal objective”? You see, by “removal objective”, they really mean “killing objective”. It’s true, because that’s what they’re planning on doing. They clearly state that that’s what they’re going to do so I had to wonder why they feel the need to candy-coat it using a cute bar graph. Oh, could it be that maybe they’re not the animal lover’s you’d think that a Fish & Wildlife agency would be?

A little while ago I started to look to see how the dwindling Elk population was doing in Idaho, and I found this:

If you love elk hunting then we have the hunting trip for you! There is no better area for elk hunting than the Bitterroot Mountains of Idaho and Clearwater National Park.

Keep in mind, this is the same Clearwater that the IF&G are considering killing wolves over in order to keep the Elk population at a decent level. Then I realized, it’s not called Idaho Fish and Wildlife (although there is a non-profit organization with that name, it is not related to the State agency), it is the Idaho Fish & GAME. And animals are only “game” when they’re hunted, which is really only a game for one of the parties involved.

Now, hunting only really bothers me when people use the unfair traps and high-tech rifles. What really irks me here is state santioned mass killing of animals that are indigenous to this country. And while the IF&G claim that its to protect the Elk, they’re really only protecting the Elk so that they can make money off of killing those same Elk. It’s game management in its truest form: managing animals as if they were a business, a commodity one had the right to excert control over.

In Boise Idaho, at a hearing concerning IF&G’s wolf-killing proposal, Nate Helm, executive director for Sportsmen for Fish and Wildlife, said the following:

Wolves, like all animals, should be managed. No one gets a free ride.

What? Is this guy for real? Did he really mean all animals, which would include humans? And since when do we consider animals living in the wild recieving a “free ride”? Do I hear the first hint at charging wild animals for rent?

Here’s more about Elk from an Elk hunting site:

At the turn of the century, commercial game hunters, hired riflemen and subsistence hunters had killed off most of the elk in the west. In1910, the U.S. Forest Service estimated that fewer than 1,000 elk remained in Colorado. The winters of 1897, 1909, 1911 and 1917, all coinciding with the loss of their traditional wintering grounds to cattle ranching, were also very tough on them.

So, who is actually to blame for dwindling populations of either Elk or Wolves…could it be…humans?

Just to add a new twist to the whole Google/Yahoo/China thingy…On Valentine’s Day, the US Secretary of State established a “task force” to protect “internet freedom.”

God bless America! And God bless the Internet! And God bless those who are going to protect the right to free speech in some areas and not in others and so on and so forth….

Love,

Johnny Palmetto

Anybody else find this credit at the end of a PRI show a little odd?

The world is brought to you with the help of the pharmaceutical company Merck.

Here’s a great map of the world colored in relative civil and political liberties.

And here is an article by Fareed Zakaria that I read in Newsweek this morning:

George W. Bush is not a man for second thoughts, but even he might have had some recently. Ever since 9/11, Bush has made the promotion of democracy in the Middle East the center-piece of his foreign policy, and doggedly pushed the issue. Over the last few months, however, this approach has borne strange fruit, culminating in Hamas’s victory in Gaza and the West Bank. Before that, we have watched it strengthen Hizbullah in Lebanon, which (like Hamas) is often described in the West as a terrorist organization. In Iraq, the policy has brought into office conservative religious parties with their own private militias. In Egypt, it has bolstered the Muslim Brotherhood, one of the oldest fundamentalist organizations in the Arab world, from which Al Qaeda descends. “Democracies replace resentment with hope, respect the rights of their citizens and their neighbors, and join the fight against terror,” Bush said last week in his State of the Union address. But is this true of the people coming to power in the Arab world today?

also, mad statistics

So you’ve probably heard about the newest round of McDonald’s lawsuits, which charge Ronald & Co. with misleading the public as to what may or may not be in those delicious Freedom Fries. Turns out, wheat and dairy:

The parents of a 5-year-old girl with an intolerance to gluten sued McDonald’s Corp. Friday after the restaurant chain earlier this week acknowledged that its french fries contain the wheat protein.

The chain’s french fries were the girl’s favorite food for the past three years, said the family’s attorney, Brian W. Smith of West Palm Beach.

“The family had checked and double-checked to make sure this product was safe for their child,” said Smith, who represents Mark and Theresa Chimiak of Jupiter. “They were assured by McDonald’s Web site and local restaurant managers that the product was gluten-free.”

Now, after the corporate website has been changed, Mickey-D’s once again begins to fight the same type of PR fight that eliminated styrofoam burger wrappers, added salads to their McMenu, and did away with Super-Sizes. Anybody want to bet on the probability of “allergen-free” or “vegan” options advertised at the counter? If so, they’ll likely still be chock-full of chemicals, so what’s the point? By the way, if you haven’t read Fast Food Nation yet, do yourself a favor. At $4 online, you can’t afford not to buy it.

Mind Control may be weirder than you think:

Half of the world’s human population is infected with Toxoplasma. Parasites in the body - and the brain. Remember that. Toxoplasma gondii is a common parasite found in the guts of cats; it sheds eggs that are picked up by rats and other animals that are eaten by cats. Toxoplasma forms cysts in the bodies of the intermediate rat hosts, including the brain. Since cats don’t want to eat dead, decaying prey, Toxoplasma takes the evolutionarily sound course of being a “good” parasite, leaving the rats perfectly healthy. Or are they?

Oxford scientists discovered that the minds of the infected rats have been subtly altered. In a series of experiments, they demonstrated that healthy rats will prudently avoid areas that have been doused with cat urine. In fact, when scientists test anti-anxiety drugs on rats, they use a whiff of cat urine to induce neurochemical panic. However, it turns out that Toxoplasma-ridden rats show no such reaction. In fact, some of the infected rats actually seek out the cat urine-marked areas again and again. The parasite alters the mind (and thus the behavior) of the rat for its own benefit.

If the parasite can alter rat behavior, does it have any effect on humans? Dr. E. Fuller Torrey (Associate Director for Laboratory Research at the Stanley Medical Research Institute) noticed links between Toxoplasma and schizophrenia in human beings, approximately three billion of whom are infected with T. gondii

read more

And there’s more news on weather altering science:

If you have ever seen a mysterious ball of lightning chasing a cow or flying through your window during a thunderstorm, take comfort from the fact that you have witnessed a very rare phenomenon. Indeed, ball lightning — a slow-moving ball of light that is occasionally seen at ground level during storms — has puzzled scientists for centuries. Now, however, researchers in Israel have built a system that can create lightning balls in the lab. The work may not only help us to understand ball lightning but could even lead to practical applications that make use of these artificial balls (Phys. Rev. Lett. 96 045002).

read more

Someday the U.S. military could drive a trailer to a spot just beyond insurgent fighting and, within minutes, reconfigure part of the atmosphere, blocking an enemy’s ability to receive satellite signals, even as U.S. troops are able to see into the area with radar.

read more

And see what Wired said about my favorite radio show, Coast to Coast:

An estimated 4.5 million listeners tune in to Coast to Coast each night, reportedly making the show No. 1 in its time slot in cities from Los Angeles to Albuquerque (where it gets a whopping 22 percent of the audience) to San Diego (where it attracts more listeners than the next two most popular stations combined).

One might assume mainstream scientists would steer clear of the show’s guest list of astrologers and psychics. In fact, many gainfully employed scientists and doctors make regular appearances.

Read More

So what’s the real story? Why didn’t we learn about this sooner? Why didn’t Cheney have a permit?

No, this is the real story…

Or just play the Dick Cheney Quail Hunt Game…

I sometimes hop the fence and see what other corners of the blogosphere are up to. Today I happened upon Blogs for Bush, an “online community and group blog covering the presidency of George W. Bush and organizing bloggers who support the President.” I read through several posts that offered essentially the other side of the same condescending “If you idiots could only wrap your little heads around this idea called reality, you’d finally see that we are right, and you are wrong” left/right coin. But that’s another story.

What caught my eye was the ad you see up top there, for Conservative Match, one of the growing number of online dating services targeting a specific demographic that desperately wants to get it on, get married, or just plain get out of the house. Being the curious guy that I am, I started to wonder what other clever entrepeneurs were out there, cashing in on this coupling craze. As it turns out, plenty:

singledogowners.com
“You don’t even need to own a dog to join, just love them.”

actforlove.org
“activist? leftist? take action, get action!”

adammeeteve.com
“Christian singles, christian dating, meet your personal Adam or Eve!”

bikerkiss.com
“Our members include riders of Harley-Davidson, Yamaha, Honda, Ducati, Kawasaki, Suzuki, Gold Wing, BMW, Triumph, BSA, Indian Motorcycles, Choppers as well as all other motorcycles.”

chocolatesingles.com
“Haven’t found your soulmate yet? Try a new flavor.”

dharmadate.net
“DharmaDate is not about meeting the most people. You can do that on Match.com or Yahoo Personals. We’re about meeting people with a genuine interest in Buddhism.”

Diving Singles Club
“The Diving Singles Club is a dynamic group of men and women centered in the Silicon Valley area of California who are single (unmarried) and who love to SCUBA dive.”

Bodybuilders-dating.com
“Here the possibility to date single people interested in fitness and bodybuilding.”

golfmates.com
“Golfmates is the world’s premier online dating service designed specifically for the golfing community. Let us help you find the perfect Golfmate.”

gothicmatch.com
“Join GothicMatch to find someone to share your interests, your problems, your music and your spirit or even the perfect darkchylde to bring back to your lair.”

Being in a long term-turned-marriage relationship, I can’t say much about the effectiveness or philosophy of these types of things. One the one hand, it seems they’d cut out all the BS of trying to figure out if you have anything in common. On the other, sometimes it’s worth branching out a bit. What do you all think?

We’re #1 … in a Google search for: “OaD, The Once a Day Blog”

and some metafunniness

[post has been censored]

Busy with errands and the kids, Louise needed more room in her vehicle.
Louise says, “Thank God for my forklift. In my Suburban, I had to take multiple trips to get the groceries and drive the kids to soccer practice. Now, I just stack the groceries over the base of the fork, and pile the kids on top. Wow, that thing can carry a lot! And it’s so easy to load. But most importantly, the kids love riding on it, and that’s what counts.”

link

Today, I thought I’d talk about our “addiction to oil“, and what a ridiculous reality check the Bush administration thought they were giving the American people, like it was some new idea. Since President Carter, every US president has commented at some point that we need to rid our dependence on foreign oil. So why is Bush’s take on our situation so publicized? Perhaps it’s because it was one of the only strong points of his speech.
BUSH: Keeping America competitive requires affordable energy. And here we have a serious problem: America is addicted to oil, which is often imported from unstable parts of the world.

BUSH:

The best way to break this addiction is through technology. Since 2001, we have spent nearly $10 billion to develop cleaner, cheaper and more reliable alternative energy sources. And we are on the threshold of incredible advances.
So tonight I announce the Advanced Energy Initiative — a 22 percent increase in clean-energy research at the Department of Energy to push for breakthroughs in two vital areas. To change how we power our homes and offices, we will invest more in zero-emission coal-fired plants; revolutionary solar and wind technologies; and clean, safe nuclear energy.

(APPLAUSE)

BUSH: We must also change how we power our automobiles. We will increase our research in better batteries for hybrid and electric cars and in pollution-free cars that run on hydrogen. We will also fund additional research in cutting-edge methods of producing ethanol, not just from corn but from wood chips and stalks or switch grass. Our goal is to make this new kind of ethanol practical and competitive within six years.

(APPLAUSE)

BUSH: Breakthroughs on this and other new technologies will help us reach another great goal: to replace more than 75 percent of our oil imports from the Middle East by 2025. By applying the talent and technology of America, this country can dramatically improve our environment, move beyond a petroleum- based economy and make our dependence on Middle Eastern oil a thing of the past.

Ugh, I can actually hear him talking in my head! When Capt. Obvious stated what his plan was to rid our dependence on foreign oil, there was an instant outcry from the Saudis. The Administration has spent the last few days assuring the Royal family that he “didn’t mean it.”

What I’m getting at, is that we can’t sit and wait for our government to introduce new energy-saving strategies and incentives. Oil is just too profitable right now, and the companies are even admitting it. If you want to make a difference, instead of waiting for the tax credit, do it now. As far as fuel goes, Biodiesel isn’t the final answer but it is slowly bringing awareness to the public of their options. Besides lowering particulate emissions, purchasing biodiesel/biofuel is currently helping local economies as it is not yet made on a national scale.
I believe we are the generation of change. It is up to us to make the difference that our world is pleading for right now. I honestly believe that if other countries saw a peaceful revolution kindling among America’s energetic and unbelievably creative youth, any support they expressed would catalyze a positive change in our country.
This brings me to my next topic: Buying Local, Eating Local, but that will have to wait until next week

You may remember that when ONCE A DAY began, my goal was to focus specifically on Article 19 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. To that end, I must say I’ve been thinking a lot about the Danish cartoon controversy.

Some believe that free speech is, in fact, a part of Article 19 which states that all humans have the right to communicate freely. This controversy raises the question–where does that right end? Obviously the Jesus pic is here for a reason. When I Google imaged “funny Jesus” I saw a few pics that offended me (and I’m quite sure would offend a lot of folks–but would they cause violence?)

I honestly don’t have any answers yet. In fact, I really haven’t heard a great argument one way or the other thus far. What are the limits of free speech? Are there limits? If we regulate speech for one group but not another, is that descrimination? Selective Free Speech?

And what of the cumulative effect of racism and “Western” foreign policy? Most muslims in the rest of the world already assume that “The West” hates them (and by “The West” I mean soldiers, instiutions, corporations, and the average Joe). This adds more fuel to that fire (and give a lot of radicals something to talk about). I could be wrong about this but let’s consider these facts:

1) Iraq
2) Afghanistan
3) Israel

Let’s say you’re stuck in a camp in Lebanon, or in a slum in Pakistan, what would you think? Who would you blame for your situation? I could go on. I have lots of questions. Got any answers? Got any questions? The responses of most media pundits have been quick ones. This is definitely not a situation that calls for swift responses–there’s a deep, deep rift here. Bush’s proposed budget? That’s easy. It’s crap. This on the other hand…Everyone needs to slow down…

Your Pal,

Johnny

Our boy Jimmy slips this one in at the funeral of Coretta Scott King:

“It was difficult for them personally with the civil liberties of both husband and wife violated, and they became the targets of secret government wiretapping and other surveillance,” he said.

Other eulogists were less subtle:

Bush sat watching the long service before an audience of 10,000, including politicians, civil rights leaders and entertainers at the New Birth Missionary Baptist Church in Lithonia, and a national cable television audience.

Lowery, former head of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference, which King helped found in 1957, gave a playful reading of a poem in eulogy of King.

“She extended Martin’s message against poverty, racism and war / She deplored the terror inflicted by our smart bombs on missions way afar,” he said.

“We know now there were no weapons of mass destruction over there / But Coretta knew and we knew that there are weapons of misdirection right down here / Millions without health insurance. Poverty abounds. For war billions more but no more for the poor.”

The mourners gave a standing ovation. Bush’s reaction could not be seen on the television coverage, but after Lowery finished speaking, the president shook his hand and laughed.

And for those who are already deriding such remarks as inappropriately politicizing an otherwise solemn occasion: well, consider who is being remembered, and what they stood for.

6 Feb 2056 - Now that all the fossil fuels are definitely gone for good, get used to seeing more of these, our clean and cheap energy future!

Fortunately, our Chairman at Sky WindPower, Australian Professor Bryan Roberts has long been aware of the wind facts and material improvement trends, and convinced that, by application of an appropriate technology, this high altitude wind energy can be captured. He set out to prove that long ago, and has demonstrated that Flying Electric Generator(FEG) technology is practical and should work at high altitudes. This is the “Flying Windmills” technology you may have read about first in the Canadian “National Post”, and since then in major newspapers overseas and many U.S. publications other than newspapers.

[via]

In the land of Superman, Super Tuesday, Super Wal-Mart, and Super-Sized meals, Americans will be enjoying the annual ritual of the National Football League’s Super Bowl in less than six hours from the time of this posting. And boy will we be enjoying it.

Here are the facts: 11.2 million pounds of potato chips; 8.2 million pounds of tortilla chips; 4.3 million pounds of pretzels; 3.8 million pounds of popcorn, and 2.5 million pounds of nuts.

That adds up to 30 million pounds of snacks that Americans will wolf down Super Bowl Sunday, according to research by the Calorie Control Council and the Snack Food Association.

That means the average armchair quarterback will consume 1,200 calories and 50 grams of fat just from snacking — not counting any meals.

Now, I have personally participated in the gluttony of Super Sunday for more years than I care to remember, eating more chips, wings, and lil smokies than is recommended, even for a growing boy like myself. But as my interest in corporate-sponsored sport has waned, so too has my ability to tune out that age-old mother’s admonishment: Children are starving in [insert current favorite third world country here]. Ironically, that phrase is usually used to persuade children to eat more food on their plate, not to “waste” any. Well, if children cleaning their plates are being sensitive to their third world counterparts (not to mention the kids on the other side of town), then these people deserve the Nobel.

The International Federation of Competitive Eating, Inc. supervises and regulates eating contests in their various forms throughout the world. The IFOCE helps to ensure that the sport remains safe, while also seeking to achieve objectives consistent with the public interest — namely, creating an environment in which fans may enjoy the display of competitive eating skill.

The IFOCE coordinates members and affiliates in the United States, Japan, England, Germany, Canada, Ireland, Thailand and the Ukraine, helping to promote the sport in local, national and international media. The IFOCE establishes liaison with all individual competitive eating venues and sponsors and helps to organize a wide variety of competitive eating events.

On a planet where a child dies every 5 seconds from starvation, turning excess eating into a sport seems a bit, well, wasteful. I don’t think even Mother would approve of that, no matter how much money you give to charity.

All this is to say nothing of our growing obesity epidemic. Maybe we should work on that first before we start exporting Lil’ Smokies to Africa. In the meantime, see how you do during this year’s game. Think to yourself, maybe I don’t need that extra french-fry-wrapped chili dog. And don’t forget to root for the Steelers. You’ll be in very good company.

I have been making a conscious effort for the past several months to live by my convictions. As an idealist, it’s easy to come up with a vision of how things are supposed to be and how they aren’t, but it can become much more challenging to actually break through the mold our culture is forming us all to conform with, and begin acting in a way that might lead to a more sustainable world. At this point, it might be a lost cause, as climatologists have just announced that we have reached the point of no return, as our atmosphere has reached a state of irrepaiable change.

Thirty years ago, the scientist James Lovelock worked out that the Earth possessed a planetary-scale control system which kept the environment fit for life. He called it Gaia, and the theory has become widely accepted. Now, he believes mankind’s abuse of the environment is making that mechanism work against us. His astonishing conclusion - that climate change is already insoluble, and life on Earth will never be the same again.

My idealism also might be interpreted as a way to make me feel better about myself, perhaps validating my existence and enabling me to scorn others for their wasteful ways. The way I see it, if I wish to see a difference in my lifetime I have to make choices that not only effect me, but those around me and the generations to come. I feel that we are living on a cusp where people have to make a conscious decision to think about every purchase they make and every intention they have if they want the generations to come to live on the same green, breathable planet most of us take for granted today. This conviction is even printed on my toilet paper.

With that theme in mind, I intend on writing about different principles that I find important in my next few entrees. One issue I have been trying to search is a list of good, green companies that span the spectrum of products and services for the consumer. There doesn’t seem to be a legitimate list compiling these. The one I found was instantly discredited because Exxon was included.

What I did find is a slightly more pessimestic list of the 14 Worst Corporate Evildoers of 2005.
That’s a start, right?

When I was 5 years old I devised the idea of Eugenics to deal with the hungry and poor of Ethiopia. Luckily my mom told me that idea was horrible (hey, I was a kid, what did I know). In high school, I came up with an idea of government that my friend told me already existed: Communism. Now I’m older and I have better ideas, but they always seem to have already been done or invented. Here’s two of my original ideas that turns our are already being done. One new, one old:

Floating Island:

Since there are no parcels in the ocean, one could theoretically live on a boat. And if that boat had soil to grow food, one would never have to buy food. Combine this with the idea that many people throughout the world pay good money to visit beaches on tropical islands, and you come to the conclusion that Living on a floating island is the best idea in the world. I imagined that you’d have to grow it out of some type of moss, like how bogs are formed, then slowly add soil, beach grasses and then eventually to fruit trees. Swing up a hammock, bring a couple of squirrels aboard to continue the meat supply, and voila, permanent vacation. Or you could do it this way:

this man, Reishee Sowa of Puerto Aventuras, Mexico, apparently grew tired of trying to live self-sufficiently on dry land, and did what any of us would have done. He built his own island out of used pop bottles. 250,000 of them, plus some construction leftovers and bags of leaves, make up “his island,” though he’s quick to point out that it’s technically not an island by traditional standards.

read more . . . and more

Or this one:

The Floating Islands of Uros are made from the Totora reed. These reeds are stacked one on top of the other until there is a platform. People live on these island as they float around hunting for fish, birds and more Totora reeds. Well at least that is the way it used to be. Today people still live on these islands, but tourism is the main source of livelihood. Even though the islands are very touristy, I still recommend a visit to them.

read more . . . and more

Geodesic Tree House:

Looking up on my friend’s property one day, I noticed that the trees in his yard soared upwards to about 5 or 6 times taller than his house. “All that wasted space,” I thought. “Wouldn’t it be better if we lived in the trees?” Then I realized that columns we use to build our houses are made out of dead trees cut into teeny weeny pieces. Think of how useful an alive tree would be as a column. Then I thought that using geodesics to build in trees would free you from the 90 degree constraints of modern building: geodesics would fully utilize the 3D arena of tree dwelling. As I designed and crafted a couple versions of my idea, I found these:

Mitchell Joachim, part of the MIT Media Lab’s Smart Cities Group, along with ecological engineer Lara Greden and architect Javier Arbona, propose a home that is actually an ecosystem.
The Fab Tree Hab goes beyond sustainable housing and so-called green design — building with materials that have a low impact on the environment and human health.

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So that’s it. I’m not telling any more people any of my ideas until I actually get to finish one.