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 4 Jul 2005 @ 07:59, by silviamar. Ideas, Creativity
This is a poem I wrote during a Tai Chi retreat in the mountains, inspired by the beautiful landscape in front of my eyes and feeling the energy flowing through me. As English is not my mother tongue, there may be some mistakes (sorry!).
FLOWING
Air flows inside;
willful torrent exhaling
breath of restrained emotion;
hurricane that the sand stirrs
revealing lost illusions.
Waves flow inside;
lonely the energy
embraces the tree trunk;
chords of hope blossom
amidst the murmur of lyre.
Joy flows inside,
for those with eyes to see
and heart to love,
for those who seek the truth,
for those who give a hand.
Nature flows inside,
helping us to grow
between her green arms,
making us feel secure
with our feet on her land.
And poetry flows,
inside the soul the path,
where we depict our own journey.
Between Heaven, Earth and us
life is flowing...
Silvia Martinez More >
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3 Jul 2005 @ 19:17, by raypows. Shared Purpose
Long Day's Journey Into Night
An interview with Long Emergency author James Howard Kunstler The end of cheap oil will lead to the collapse of modern agriculture, crumbling infrastructure, radical economic contraction, and -- after an extended period of political upheaval and violence -- the rebirth of a local, agrarian way of life. So says James Howard Kunstler in his controversial new book, The Long Emergency. He sat down with Grist's Amanda Griscom Little for a chat, after which she went to Costco and bought 200 pounds of canned food and a rifle. new in Main Dish: Long Day's Journey Into Night An interview with Doomsaying author James Howard Kunstler By Amanda Griscom Little 25 May 2005
"Check all of your assumptions at the door," James Howard Kunstler advises reporters before he commences an interview. "Don't assume that anything you think about the way we live today is going to be the same 10, five, even three years from now."
The author of the new book The Long Emergency: Surviving the Converging Catastrophes of the 21st Century, recently excerpted in Rolling Stone, Kunstler is an emphatic petro-pessimist who argues that civilization is about to enter a sustained period of economic, social, and environmental decrepitude triggered by the end of the cheap-oil era. He summarily rejects the possibility that renewable energy could forestall disaster, and predicts that spiking fossil-fuel prices will precipitate the collapse of the airline industry, the electricity grid, highway infrastructure, agribusiness, big-box retail stores, and suburbia itself. The majority of Americans, he says, will likely suffer bouts of violent upheaval and be forced to return to agrarian, small-town lifestyles. Understandably, his prognostications have raised some eyebrows.
A former journalist and sometime novelist, Kunstler in 1993 published The Geography of Nowhere, a much-praised jeremiad about the car-dependent suburbanization of America. Grist's Amanda Griscom Little sat down with him over lunch in New York City to get a first-hand account of his latest dark vision for the nation's future.
Tell us about the evolution of The Long Emergency. Where did these mind-boggling ideas originate?
The Long Emergency, by James Howard Kunstler, Atlantic Monthly Press, 307
pgs., 2005.
I really got into this when I was a newspaper reporter 30 years ago in Albany covering the OPEC oil embargo. I was living in the middle of it -- going through the gas lines and interviewing the people who were ticked off, motoring around a suburban metroplex where all the accessories of contemporary life were new. My office at the Hearst newspaper building was at the termination of a brand-new, heroic eight-lane boulevard of commerce with malls on either side and suburban sprawl in every direction. You couldn't fail to notice that this was a catastrophe -- a living arrangement that really had no future.
I've since been investigating suburban sprawl through works like The Geography of Nowhere. The Long Emergency is the logical sequel -- addressing the question of what will happen to this way of life when we get in trouble with energy.
Elaborate on how sprawl is inextricably connected to oil concerns.
Ever since the end of World War II, we've embarked on this project to build ourselves a drive-in utopia -- an economy based on suburban land development, eight-lane freeways lined with fry pits and hamburger shacks and a national big-box chain retail system. It has flourished because of two things: extraordinarily cheap energy and reliable supplies of it, and relative world peace. That has enabled big-box stores to develop 12,000-mile manufacturing and supply chains with the cheap labor overseas. Wal-Mart can move 4,000 TV sets from China to Wilkinsburg, Penn., and keep this tremendous stream of products going around the country with truckers who operate their warehouses on wheels. The system works only because it's cheap to transport stuff.
You also point out that the mainstream American diet is essentially predicated on "eating oil."
Yeah, industrial agriculture is another extremely problematical thing.
We've now consolidated all of our food production into a very small fraction of the population and our agribusinesses rely on pouring oil byproducts -- pesticides, fertilizers, herbicides -- on the soil. We've got this cheese-doodle and Pepsi-Cola form of agriculture where large companies like Archer Daniels Midland and ConAgra are producing huge amounts of corn and byproducts like corn syrup to create junk food. It's generally understood that most of the food we eat travels [about] 1,500 miles. So we've got all these 1,500-mile Caesar salads winging or wheeling around America to get to our dinner plates. That won't be able to continue when the cheap-oil era ends.
Click to READ More >
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  30 Jun 2005 @ 23:55, by magical_melody. Poverty
LIVE8 - THE BIGGEST SPIRITUAL EVENT EVER - JOIN IN WITH MEDITATION, PRAYER AND HEALING
This Saturday's Live8 Concert will be the biggest spiritual event that humanity has ever experienced.
This is an extravagant claim, but two things are for certain. First, never before in the history of humanity have so many people been involved in a single shared experience. Second, the core of the experience is both celebratory and moral - 'spiritual' by any other name.
To watch the flash video More >
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29 Jun 2005 @ 20:51, by raypows. Environment, Ecology
Biodiesel Takes It's Place at the Pump in Portland, Oregon
Portland Tribune [link]).
Biodiesel takes its place at the pump Interest in auto fuel, and its availability, increase in Portland
By JEANIE SENIOR
Jun 28, 2005
Portlander Mark Forster made the switch to biodiesel two fill-ups ago, when he drove his diesel-powered Volkswagen Jetta to SeQuential Biofuels' public pumps in Northwest Portland.
It was a decision based on environmental considerations, Forster said, but it coincidentally met a challenge extended by his employer, KPFF Consulting Engineers, urging workers to find ways to make their commute environmentally friendly.
Forster said his car "seems to run exactly the same" when fueled by biodiesel an alternative fuel made from vegetable oil or other fats but with an exhaust smell that's "more pleasant" than when it runs on diesel. He paid $3.10 a gallon for 100 percent biodiesel, about 50 cents a gallon more than the present cost of petroleum diesel bought at a station that's not particularly close to where he lives.
"But I figured it's worth it," Forster said.
With crude oil prices soaring and environmental concerns growing, demand for biodiesel "is growing very fast," said Tyson Keever, a partner in SeQuential. A driver must have a diesel car to use it, however.
It costs less to buy a blend of either 5 percent or 20 percent biodiesel, mixed with petroleum diesel fuel. Even a small percentage of biodiesel will lower polluting emissions, Keever said.
And it's possible that prices could go down a bit in Portland after a joint venture, which includes SeQuential, opens the state's first big biodiesel manufacturing facility in Portland late this fall. The multimillion-dollar project has the potential to produce about 4 million gallons of vegetable oil-based fuel in a year.
"That sounds like a lot, but we use 2 million gallons of diesel in the state in a day. We've got a long way to go," Keever said. The new partnership involves SeQuential Biofuels LLC of Oregon, Pacific Biodiesel of Hawaii and several private investors including country singer and biodiesel advocate Willie Nelson.
Presently, the biodiesel SeQuential sells is shipped by rail tank car from the Midwest.
The plant will get its raw material from a number of sources, including about 50,000 gallons of cooking oil a year from Salem-based potato chip maker Kettle Foods. That will have to be augmented by other oil, ideally made from crops grown in Oregon, Keever said. "This has a tremendous potential for giving a boost to our region's agricultural economy," he said. Kettle Foods is among several Oregon companies that use biodiesel fuel in their company vehicles.
Soybeans, canola, rapeseed and mustard seeds all can be used to make oil for biodiesel, he said.
Nationally, although biodiesel is sold in all 50 states, it represents only a tiny share of the fuel used in diesel engines. About 55 billion to 60 billion gallons of diesel fuel are used annually in the United States, but the total sales of biodiesel last year was only about 25 million gallons, according to Amber Thurlo Pearson of the National Biodiesel Board.
Some users, like Forster, are attracted to biodiesel because it's less polluting than diesel; others like the idea that it's produced domestically. Brian Jamison, one of the co-founders of Portland's Go-Biodiesel Cooperative and the owner of two diesel engine cars, said the switch to biodiesel meant "freedom."
"It's hard to describe just how great it feels" to fuel a car with biodiesel, he said.
The co-op, with about 80 members, will start producing biodiesel on a much smaller scale than SeQuential later this year, using what Jamison calls a "beautiful home-built biodiesel processor" located in the Johnson Creek area of Southeast Portland.
Its capacity is about 100 gallons a day, "but it would be very easy for us to expand our production," he said.
The co-op's biodiesel, which members initially will be able to buy for $2.25 a gallon, a price including state road taxes, will be made from used deep fryer oil, donated by area restaurants.
"You would look at some of the oil and say, 'There's no way you can make biodiesel from that,' " Jamison said. But what emerges is clean biodiesel and a layer of glycerin, which is used to make bar soap.
Members of the co-op might be considered biodiesel evangelists: They've been speaking at schools, universities, corporations and state agencies to promote the use of biodiesel. Jamison said some people in the group already have been making their own biodiesel, and most of them drive cars fueled by biodiesel. Others have converted their diesel cars to run on SVO, the popular name for straight vegetable oil that hasn't gone through the chemical conversion used in making biodiesel. It does have to be filtered, however, and to burn SVO, a conversion kit that can cost about $2,000 has to be installed in a
car. It includes a separate fuel tank and a heater for the oil, which can get viscous in cool weather. Biodiesel is sold in the Portland area at SeQuential's pump at 11330 N.W. St. Helens Road, and at card-lock stations at 4505 S.E. 17th Ave. and 3537 N.W. St. Helens Road. Star Oilco sells biodiesel at a station at 232 N.E. Middlefield Road. More >
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 28 Jun 2005 @ 12:53, by scotty. Ideas, Creativity
To Marry Oneself !! What a strange concept !!
When I first started to read this articel I thought hmmm what a bizzare idea - then I thought hmmm most people might think that to love oneself is arrogant and selfish.. on the other side of the coin however to demean oneself lower one's status in one's own eyes is ok !
Then thinking about it I feel that lack of self respect and self worth is one of the saddest aspects of life on this planet..... most of the ills of the world are caused (or at least it seems to me to be) through low self esteem... reading the whole thing I thought yeah why not marry myself ! Who deserves my loving more than I do !LOL !!
I hope taht you find the following interesting and who knows it might even strike a cord with some of you !! More >
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 25 Jun 2005 @ 11:03, by jazzolog. Globalization
A monk asked, "What is the most important principle of Zen?"
Chao-Chou answered, "Excuse me, but I have to pee. Just imagine, even such a trivial thing as that I have to do in person."
---Zen mondo
Jesus said, "Not everyone who says to me, 'Lord, Lord,' will enter the kingdom of heaven."
---Matthew 7:21
If you want to make the cart go, do you hit the horse or the cart?
---Zen saying
"City on the Hill (COTH) is a fantastic opportunity for high school students ages 15 through 18 to participate in leadership training and learn the governmental process. It will be held July 18-23,2005, on the campus of LANCASTER BIBLE COLLEGE [link] (new location this year!).
"For six action-packed days, you will learn the legislative process by becoming state legislators. You'll carry actual legislation, learn public speaking skills, and be equipped to debate today's critical issues.
"You will meet legislators. lobbyists, lawyers, educators, and others whose stories and examples will both challenge you and awaken your imagination to the many career opportunities awaiting you.
"The bottom line is this: You'll have a lot of fun. You'll love the people you meet. You won't be the same."
[link]
As a schoolchild in the 1940s, I was taught there was something special and exceptional about the founding and development of the United States of America. That something had a religious quality. The Pilgrims and other groups that emigrated here were Christian, prayerful people. The Indians welcomed us---although there was some confusion later. It was our destiny to stretch from sea to shining sea. And usually when our soldiers went somewhere else, it was because the people there invited us to come. And we were welcomed there too...and we liberated them. We saved them. And then we taught them how to live. I'm here to tell you not much has changed in the presentation here of that history in the past 60 years, because I've spent most the time working in schools. Americans get very nervous if you question this image, and censure anyone who dares to offer other views. Author and historian Howard Zinn did so recently in a lecture at MIT. Watch out for the lightning! More >
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25 Jun 2005 @ 05:24, by vaxen. Legal, Justice
Eye Witness Testimony Is Conclusive That North Tower Collapsed From Controlled Demolition
By Greg Szymanski – The Arctic Beacon June 24, 2005
What happened to William Rodriguez the morning of 9/11 is a miracle. What happened to his story after-the-fact is a tragedy.
But with miracles and tragedies comes truth. And truth is exactly what Rodriguez brings to the whole mystery surrounding 9/11.
Declared a hero for saving numerous lives at Ground Zero, he was the janitor on duty the morning of 9/11 who heard and felt explosions rock the basement sub-levels of the north tower just seconds before the jetliner struck the top floors.
He not only claims he felt explosions coming from below the first sub-level while working in the basement, he says the walls were cracking around him and he pulled a man to safety by the name of Felipe David, who was severely burned from the basement explosions.
All these events occurred only seconds before and during the jetliner strike above. And through it all, he now asks a simple question everybody should be asking? How could a jetliner hit 90 floors above and burn a man’s arms and face to a crisp in the basement below within seconds of impact?
Rodriguez claims this was impossible and clearly demonstrates a controlled demolition brought down the WTC, saying "Let’s see them (the government) try to wiggle out of this one."
Well, they haven’t wiggled out of it because the government continues to act like Rodriguez doesn’t exist, basically ignoring his statements and the fact he rescued a man burnt and bleeding from the basement explosions.
His eye witness account, ignored by the media and the government, points the finger squarely on an official cover-up at the highest levels since the government contends the WTC fell only from burning jet fuel. And after listening to Rodriguez, it’s easy to see why the Bush administration wants him kept quiet.
Bush wants him quiet because Rodriguez’s account is ‘proof positive’ the WTC was brought down by a controlled demolition, not burning jet fuel. And Bush knows if he’s caught lying about this or caught in a cover-up, it’s just a matter of time before the whole house of cards comes tumbling down.
In fact, Rodriguez’s story is so damaging – so damning – it literally blows the lid off the government story, literally exposing the whole 9/11 investigation as a sham and a cover-up of the worst kind.
And it appears the cover-up also extends to the media.
NBC news knew about his story several years ago, even spending a full day at his house taping his comments. But when push came to shove, his story was never aired. Why?
His eyewitness account, backed up by at least 14 people at the scene with him, isn’t speculation or conjecture. It isn’t a story that takes a network out on a journalistic limb. It’s a story that can be backed up, a story that can be verified with hospital records and testimony from many others.
It’s a story about 14 people who felt and heard the same explosion and even saw Rodriguez, moments after the airplane hit, take David to safety, after he was burnt so bad from the basement explosion flesh was hanging from his face and both arms
So why didn’t NBC or any other major news outlets cover the story? They didn’t run it because it shot the government story to hell and back. They didn’t run it because "the powers at be" wouldn’t allow it.
Since 9/11, Rodriguez has stuck to his guns, never wavering from what he said from day one. Left homeless at times, warned to keep quiet and subtly harassed, he nevertheless has continued trying to tell get his message out in the face of a country not willing to listen.
Here is his story: More >
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 22 Jun 2005 @ 10:49, by rcarratu. Spirituality
I was going to write a little essay on the Oil problem, but, you know, I suddenly realized it was irrelevant. Sure, it will cause all kinds of hassle and probably a lot of death and destruction, and maybe as the level of living drops in 3rd world countries they will swarm up to the places they believe have all the resources, like the USA, and destroy everything in their march path, and the militaries in their way will pull out all their worse weapons to kill them en mass, and yet that won't stop them and eventually humans will be as rare as dodos.
But never less, all of that is still irrelevant. They are all symptoms, not the cause.
Because if it is not the oil, or the global warming, or radioactive pollution, or world wide war, it will be something for sure. And the only solution has nothing to do with any of the threats. The only solution is a change in what is called 'common sense'. A sense which is common. It's almost as rare as dodos, I think, and frankly, what most people call 'common sense' is merely their particular blinders keeping them from paying attention to anything but what they were taught to notice.
But the world is not made up of our 'common sense'. The world is common, but we don't really make any sense out of it. If it was really what we sensed, physically sensed, which is common, and not what we filter our senses with, then we would, en mass, change the world quite quickly. But we are, as a species, very habitual. We have these blinders called 'practicality' and 'rationality' and other variable sense filters which obscure almost everything that would really work.
It's not about thinking outside the box... It's about not seeing the box at all, and going with what we do see... which is undivided and undifferentiated.
I see that there is no separation between Humanity and Nature. I see no separation between people. I see that we are totally interdependent, relying on each other, no matter what we think. I see that we do better when we take care of each other than when we don't. I see that the hassle is in our minds, not in Nature.
We live in Paradise. The only thing wrong with this place, this world, is what people have in their minds. It is said we use only 10% of our brains... but I say we use only 10% of the interdependence which keeps us all alive and flourishing. It is the loss of that 90% of potential interdependence that is destroying the environment, killing people for resources, causing horror upon horror, both personally in people's lives and socially, in the world en mass. That is the cause of the terminal illness.
That common sense, that perception, of interdependence is what is relevant. Only that. More >
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 22 Jun 2005 @ 08:16, by skookum. Ideas, Creativity
pic freeware from 2002
Dream of the Waning Moon
Sleep the dream of the waning moon
Waxing high to a shepherd’s tune More >
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22 Jun 2005 @ 06:13, by astrid. Ideas, Creativity
This, my Poem, I dedicate tonight to be my Prayer to Mother Earth.
Anybody who feels my words resonate with their Heart is welcome to use this as their prayer anytime, maybe when walking out in the Nature, enjoying Her Beauty and Bounty -or when trying to make sense of the senseless rushrush in our big cities, Hu-mans running amock, oblivious of all but the 'importance' of chasing the clock in their (in my opinion) erroneously directed 'need' to worship the False God; the Fiat Money. More >
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