Marie Sansone

Links for 2012-01-06 [del.icio.us]

Sat, 07 Jan 2012 00:00:00 PST

Nature and Healing

noreply@blogger.com (Marie Sansone) — Wed, 04 Jan 2012 12:23:27 PST

A guest post on Project Kilimangaro, from participant Venita Ray.

Mt. Kilimangaro

In September 2011, I was part of a group of 13 dynamic women who traveled to Tanzania, Africa, to climb Mt. Kilimanjaro. The inspiration for the climb was Becky Pope, a two-time survivor of ovarian cancer. Since September is ovarian cancer month, Becky hoped that the climb would bring awareness to ovarian cancer and inspire others to continue climbing the mountains in their own lives. Before joining Project Kilimanjaro, I could not spell "Kilimanjaro". I had no idea where Kilimanjaro was located or what I had gotten myself into. And I definitely did not know how much Project Kilimanjaro would change my life.

As I was about to learn, at 19,336 feet, Mt. Kilimanjaro is the highest peak on the African continent and a Tanzania national park.

I was one of the Super Seven core group of women selected by Shana Ross to participate in the climb. Shana Ross is a fitness trainer in Houston, Texas, and owner of the Shana Ross Fitness studio. Shana knew about some of our personal struggles with health issues because we had all trained with her at the fitness studio. Our small group of women had survived cancer, rheumatoid arthritis, menopause, substance abuse, HIV, and obesity. Our common bond was that we had all used health and fitness to transform our lives. For almost six months, we trained together and prepared for the climb. To find out about more about these incredible women, visit the official official Project Kilimangaro website.

Following our arrival in Tanzania, we spent six days hiking, camping out with tents and sleeping bags, trying to breathe in high altitudes, and getting along without a bath or bathroom facilities. I was totally out of my element. I think my daughter said it best when she said, “mother, you are not the outdoorsy type.” However, I am sort of a fitness nut and yogi. I agreed to climb to challenge myself physically and to inspire others to never give up. I wanted to show others how I had used health and fitness to reclaim the power in my life after finding out in 2003 that I had HIV.

Since the climb, I have blogged about a number of insights and lessons I gained from the climb on my website, Venita's Kilimanjaro Project. Here is an excerpt from my blog of some of my experiences on Kilimanjaro.

We all felt pretty charged up on the first day of the climb at about 6,400 feet. I started off hiking with the ladies who gravitated to the front of our 17-member group. It should have been a pretty easy climb through the rain forest. But by the time we made it to camp about four hours later, I was feeling a little short of breath. Before setting out on day 2, I knew that I would need to hike at a slower pace.

Day 2 started at 9,020 feet and was the most difficult day of the climb for me. The climb was steeper and very rocky. I began to experience nausea from the altitude, had difficulty breathing, and hurt my chest and knee. Before climbing Kilimanjaro I considered myself physically fit. I loved the training and looked forward to the challenge of the climb. I could not believe I was having a hard time, and it was only the second day. And to make matters worse, everyone could see that I was having a hard time. By the time I went to my tent for the night, I could not put any weight on my right knee. I was afraid that I would not be able to continue. I rubbed my knee down with Arnica rub and wrapped it with an ace bandage. I went to sleep praying that it would be better in the morning. The next morning I was able to continue in spite of the pain.

For the rest of the climb, I had to let go of the image of myself as this fit person and just focus on taking a step and taking a breath. I was determined not to quit. The damage to my ego was worse that the pain to my body. I was nauseous all the time and could not take a deep breath because of the pain in my chest. I would later learn that I had a torn pectoral muscle and a sciatica injury. I did not talk much on the climb, and I did not take many pictures. I did not have the energy. I refused to share how I was feeling with the rest of the group. I tried to be gentle with myself and just accept that I was having a hard time.

By the time we reached Kibo, the final camp before summit on day 4, I knew I was out of gas. Kibo is situated 15,500 feet above sea level. I wanted to tell everyone that I was unable to go on, but I could not say the words. The same stubbornness and determination that kept me going would not let me give up now. I went to my tent and prayed. I finally decided that I was going to try to summit. I was still feeling nauseous, unable to eat and in pain. I put on my summit clothes and laid there until it was time to go. When it was time to go, I joined the most "poley poley" (Swahili for slowly slowly) group and started climbing. My right leg and glutes burned every time I took a step. And I was freezing. I climbed until my legs refused to go any further. I finally had to admit I could not continue and had to be taken down.

I insisted on walking down on my own but kept falling. Finally Freddie, my guide, took control and half carried me down. I cried for some time after reaching my tent, angry at my body for failing me. For months, I had visualized myself at the summit, arm-in-arm with the other ladies. I felt that the entire climb had been a failure.

It would be several days before I would realize that I had in fact reached the summit. I had reached MY summit. It was just not Kili's summit. I had given 150%. I had endured three and a half days of pain and altitude sickness, and had not given up. Even though I still hurt physically, I realized that the greatest bruise had been to my ego. I needed to be proud of myself and recognize that the whole trip and process to Kilimanjaro had not been a failure. My summit was still my summit. I was very happy for all of my Kili Dadas (Swahili for "sisters") for reaching their summits. My lesson was to let go of my ego and focus on what I had accomplished. I had come a long way. I learned later that I climbed to about 16,500 feet. Today, I am damn proud of that!

Venita on the mountain.

The process and actual climb to Kilimanjaro represented so many "firsts" for me. Public disclosure of being HIV+, first time in a tent, first time in a sleeping bag, first time hiking up any mountain, first time in Africa, and first time my passport has been stamped for international travel! All of these firsts occurred for me at age 53. It just goes to show it's never too late for new experiences and to truly live life! All in all, Project Kilimanjaro was one of the greatest experiences of my life.

Killing Frost 2011: A #BAD11 Post

noreply@blogger.com (Marie Sansone) — Wed, 04 Jan 2012 12:24:48 PST

The killing frost has not yet arrived in Central New York, but it soon will, likely by next week, pretty much bringing an end to this year's adventures in the vegetable garden. Already the tomato plants and pumpkin vine have succumbed to a light kiss of frost, while the zucchini and snake gourd plants remain indecisive in their response. The eggplant and tomatillo plants seemingly deny the inevitable, continuing to set a prodigious quantity of fruit.

This year brought mixed results in my garden. Heavy snows collapsed our old greenhouse, so I spent quite a bit of time dismantling and salvaging the metal. I cleared more overgrown areas, digging up the fennel forest, but overhanging tree limbs shaded out some of my most fertile ground. Come spring, the scrub trees will have to be cut.

Animals came to visit, most vexing, a deer that in June ate up half the tomato plants and a good bit of lettuce. I researched remedies on the Internet and tried most of them, but I think that the one that did the most good (apart from closing the fence gate) was hanging little bundles of deodorant soap from the tomato support frames. It did give an appearance of voodoo, however.

Bird activity, crows, I imagine, also led to daily teeth-gnashing. The birds pulled up four successive plantings of corn. Not one seedling was left standing; all plucked up and cast down with complete disregard for my sincere and persistent efforts. The birds also took out half the eggplant and pepper seedlings, all of the brussel sprout seedlings, and one each of every other type of plant. Since it was too late to reseed the brussel sprouts, I went over to the farmer's market and brought 12 seedlings, fully expecting the birds to yank up most of them. However, the birds let them be, and now I have bushels of brussel sprouts awaiting harvest. I like brussel sprouts, but the quantity to be gathered is a bit extreme.

My scarecrow, entirely ineffective.

I was happy to see a toad hanging out around the garden; I haven't seen toads in our backyard in over 30 years. The rabbits, however, I chased away. Or maybe it was the neighborhood cat that kept them away. Having wiped out the mice and mole population last year, she keeps up with her patrols, but with no apparent success.

A new addition to the garden this year and very interesting, I must say, were the five tomatillo plants. I sprinkled the seeds on the ground in late May, and up came pencil-like stalks with a few leaves on top. They stayed that way for the longest time. Then in late summer, after a rainy spell, the plants exploded, growing over five feet tall and spreading around as much, producing the lovely green lanterns that house the developing fruits. According to the seed package, these were supposed to be purple plants with purple fruits, but they stayed bright green. There must be hundreds of the fruits.

I also tried growing Black Krim tomatoes, and I think I'll put them in again next year. The skin is a kind of brownish-reddish-green, and the fruit could be mistaken for rotten meat if you don't look closely enough, but they are very tasty. A hearty, good-eating tomato, but prone to splitting. The seed package displayed an average-size, round tomato, but my plants produced some odd-shaped fruits that easily weighed more than a pound a piece.

I had a good crop of cucumbers, tons of pole and bush beans (both stringless varieties, tender and delicate in taste), lots of herbs, peppers of all varieties, a good batch of eggplants (including the fairy tale variety that I probably wont bother with again), lots of radishes, and not so many carrots and beets (which I ascribe to the overhanging trees that are going to be going away).

Mid-summer, hanging out in the shade.

But most fun of all was the giant pumpkin. After every conceivable setback, the pumpkin plant came through with a 450-pound beauty. Despite a late start due to unseasonably cold, wet spring weather; a 3-week-long mid-summer drought; a split main vine; and an attack by the dreaded SVB (squash vine borer) insects, the pumpkin just grew and grew. While giant pumpkins notoriously require quantities of fertilizer and pesticides, this guy got his food from a nearby rotting wood pile, minimal sprayings to treat the SVB, and a bucket of water every other day during the drought. He just wanted to thrive.

Which brings me to my #BAD11 question, doesn't everyone want to thrive? And if so, why aren't we paying more attention to the production and security of the food supply?

If the magnitude of the problems surrounding agriculture, food safety, and nutrition seems overwhelming and an individual's ability to influence them remote, then one place to begin is in the garden, whether in the backyard, front yard, or in a few containers on the patio or even indoors. Working the soil, following the weather, delivering water, observing plants grow, watching the fruits mature (and sometimes disappear or fail), and tasting the goodness of fresh produce, cannot help but lead to a greater understanding of the problems and joys of producing food, better decisions, better health, and wholesomeness.

To that end, we would do well to teach gardening in schools of every type, establish and support community gardens, and attach gardens to residential, educational, and institutional facilities. This would be a small, but effective step in restoring a healthy relationship with food.

Links for 2011-11-19 [del.icio.us]

Sun, 20 Nov 2011 00:00:00 PST

Links for 2011-11-15 [del.icio.us]

Wed, 16 Nov 2011 00:00:00 PST

Chesapeake Bay Foundation

Recycling Cars for Charity: A guest post from Giveacar, UK scrap car donation provider

noreply@blogger.com (Marie Sansone) — Fri, 11 Mar 2011 19:32:28 PST

By Daniel Frank, Marketing Executive, Giveacar, Ltd.

Cars are well known as villains of the environmental story, with their gas-guzzling ways, high carbon emissions, and ubiquitous presence. Even when they stop running, they continue to pollute with a variety of toxic liquids and mercury switches, all while rotting on your drive or in your yard. Okay, that is somewhat hyperbolic, but it's also true. So what do you do when you want to trade up to a better, greener car, or when your old car stops running.

Well, for the ecologically-minded, there are two obvious options: you can either try to sell your old car to someone else or you can sell it to be scrapped and recycled.

However, there is also a third option that maybe isn't quite so obvious. You can give your car to charity. Now, how to go about that varies depending on where you are. If you're from the States, then there are a huge range of charitable organizations that are willing to accept your donated car and you may even qualify for a tax break. However, these organizations usually require working cars.

Scrapping your car in an environmentally-friendly manner can also be difficult. Illegal scrap yards will take your car, strip out those bits which can be sold, and leave the rest to rot, leaching heavy metals and other toxins into the soil and water. Further, some cars that are unable to run safely are cleaned up and put back on the road, posing a risk to both the driver and others who use the roads, drivers, pedestrians, cyclists, and others.

And so, it is always important to find a reliable junkyard that will recycle and dispose of your car in a safe and environmentally-responsible manner. This means that they will drain the car of toxic liquids such as antifreeze and brake fluid, and remove the battery, mercury switches, and other hazardous substances. After doing that, they will remove the parts that can be recycled, such as catalytic converters and tires. Only when the car is stripped down to its framework, will it be crushed and the steel sold to smelters to be recycled and used in industry.

Outside of the States, illegal car disposal is starting to become less common, in part, thanks to a small British company called "Giveacar." Founded last January by Tom Chance, graduate of Nottingham University, Giveacar collects donated cars and then either scraps them or sells them at auction, giving the proceeds to a charity of the donor's choice.

In doing so, Giveacar is following the lead of charities such as the Rescue Mission, which by recycling gently-used clothing, furniture, and other consumer items not only benefits those in need, but also the environment.

For more information or, in the UK, to donate a car, visit http://www.giveacar.co.uk/.

Further reading:

"Recycle your car, don't scrap it," by Eifion Rees, published in the Ecologist (Dec. 7, 2010).

US Environmental Protection Agency resource conservation web page, Automotive Parts.

Automotive Recyclers Association, an international trade association dedicated to the efficient reuse of auto parts and the safe disposal of junk motor vehicles.

Students' Green Blogs Survey

noreply@blogger.com (Marie Sansone) — Mon, 21 Feb 2011 19:04:44 PST

Friends . . . students at the Florida International University School of Journalism and Mass Communication are seeking participants for research on social media, bloggers, and blog readers. Their green blogs survey, which does not require you to submit any identifying information, takes about ten minutes to complete, and can be accessed through the following Survey Monkey link: https://www.surveymonkey.com/s/fiu_vachira. Your participation would be greatly appreciated.

Golden Rules

noreply@blogger.com (Marie Sansone) — Sat, 19 Feb 2011 20:00:01 PST

During this winter of seemingly endless gray days, near-continuous snow, and giant icicles, I've turned my attention to the daunting task of cleaning out our junk drawers.

Among the truly mind-boggling amount of the stuff (much of which ended up in the recycle bin), I came across a clipping from an October 1994 church bulletin that someone must have passed along to my mother.

The article, titled "My Ten Commandments" by Elodie Armstrong (aged 90), indicates that Mrs. Armstrong, "a special lady, full of fun, spirituality and faith," had written her ten commandments in her 50s, after receiving a diagnosis of multiple sclerosis.

I've always found that when in doubt, the Golden Rule relayed by Jesus Christ, do unto others as you would have them do unto you, resolves most problems. However, Mrs. Armstrong's ten commandments are pretty good too.

Curious to find out more about Mrs. Armstrong, I googled her name and found that a good number of churches, writers, and bloggers have posted her ten commandments at various times over the years, all giving her age as 90-years-old and indicating that she had written her ten commandments 40 years earlier. Digging a bit further, I came across a "Dear Ann Landers" letter from Marge Wisner, Mrs. Armstrong's daughter, dated September 2, 1988, indicating that Mrs. Armstrong was about to turn 90.

That being the case, Mrs. Armstrong would have been born in 1898, penning her 10 commandments during the late 1940s, over 60 years ago. In the tradition of passing along folk wisdom, here they are:

Thou shalt not worry, for worry is the most unproductive of all human activities.
Thou shalt not be fearful, for most of the things we fear never come to pass.
Thou shalt not cross bridges before you get to them, for no one yet has succeeded in accomplishing this.
Thou shalt face each problem as it comes. You can handle only one at a time anyway.
Thou shalt not take problems to bed with you for they make very poor bedfellows.
Thou shalt not borrow other people's problems. They can take better care of them than you can.
Thou shalt not try to relive yesterday for good or ill -- it is gone. Concentrate on what is happening in your life today.
Thou shalt count thy blessings, never overlooking the small ones, for a lot of small blessings add up to a big one.
Thou shalt be a good listener; for only when you listen do you hear ideas different from your own. It's very hard to learn something new when you're talking.
Thou shalt not become bogged down by frustration, for 90 percent of it is rooted in self-pity and it will only interfere with positive action.

Personally, I'm fond of number 10, although please tell me it that positive action doesn't mean go out and shovel more snow.

Radio Interview: Stories of the Road

noreply@blogger.com (Marie Sansone) — Sun, 06 Feb 2011 12:01:53 PST

Click here to access the podcast.

Links for 2011-01-23 [del.icio.us]

Mon, 24 Jan 2011 00:00:00 PST

New Mexico Wilderness Alliance

Links for 2011-01-11 [del.icio.us]

Wed, 12 Jan 2011 00:00:00 PST

Links for 2011-01-05 [del.icio.us]

Thu, 06 Jan 2011 00:00:00 PST

Links for 2011-01-04 [del.icio.us]

Wed, 05 Jan 2011 00:00:00 PST

Oregon Wild

Killing Frost

noreply@blogger.com (Marie Sansone) — Sun, 02 Jan 2011 19:28:38 PST

Recapping My 2010 Adventures in the Vegetable Garden

When I penned Real Food last July, there was some question as to whether my gardening efforts would pay off, at least in terms of actually producing food. I'm happy to report that there were some successes as well as some failures, documented entirely haphazardly in my photo album, Garden Shots (Real Food: Summer in the Garden).

The killing frost came late to Central New York, but not late enough for the brussel sprouts and broccoli. These rugged plants grew large and withstood numerous frosts and freeze warnings, but in end, there just wasn't enough time to produce anything more than a few button-sized brussel sprouts and a head of broccoli the size of a silver dollar. The cauliflower situation was dicey as well.

Brussel sprouts, too little, too late

Pretty much everything I grew tasted far better than what you can buy from a grocery store, or even from the farmer's market. The beets were truly outstanding. Next year, I'm going to put in at least 100 beet plants.

first beets

The tomatoes were good; before the frost came, I picked a bowl of green tomatoes and let them ripen indoors. I had fresh tomatoes from the garden through late December. The corn was out-of-this-world delicious, but after a long, heavy rainstorm, my very tall plants toppled over and I lost half of the crop. I had good luck with the bell peppers, and the plants were pretty. Not as pretty as the okra flowers, though. Next year, I'm going to plant okra just to look at the pretty pale yellow blossoms (well, okay, and for the okra, too). I'm also going to plant other types of peppers as well, Italian sweet frying peppers and maybe some other kinds.

okra flower

I picked a lot of eggplants, but they were sort of tasteless. However, I heard a good tip on the CNY Central News farmer's market report that the Sicilian and Italian eggplant varieties are far tastier than all other types of eggplants. Good to know; next year, I won't bother with regular eggplants.

After sowing the tiny little cauliflower seeds, nothing came up. I kept a close eye on the bare ground. After waiting several weeks, three little pinprick-size plants appeared. The seedlings stayed that way for a long time; it must have been weeks. Then the they grew to be really tiny plants, really-really tiny, not more than one inch high. Since it didn't look like anything was going to happen in the cauliflower row, I transplanted a giant pumpkin plant seedling there. It took a while, but the pumpkin plant began to grow, eventually producing a 20-foot vine with great big leaves and a giant reddish pumpkin. But by then, the cauliflower plants began to grow and, as it turns out, cauliflower plants are really big plants, really-really big plants. It was almost like an outdoor version of the Little Shop of Horrors.

I was able to steer the pumpkin vine around the cauliflower plants. I don't think the pumpkin minded; however, one of the cauliflower plants turned out not to be a cauliflower at all. It produced a light green vegetable that was sort of shaped like a cauliflower, but the florets more closely resembled broccoli crowns. Not the most aesthetically-appealing plant, but with its' mild taste, it would have made a nice pureed soup. I did manage to harvest one head of cauliflower, and it looked just like the kind you buy in the grocery store. It probably would have tasted that way too or maybe even better, except that when I boiled it up, three white-colored worms came out, one of which was full-grown.

Once the pears started to ripen in early summer, two enormous ravens moved right in. Their unusually raucous caws drew my attention, and I observed them flying back and forth from both of the pear trees to one of the fir trees. It turned out they were stealing the pears, consuming them by the dozens. You would think these master thieves might exhibit more stealth; perhaps with their loud calls, they were warning the rest of their crew away. But I have to say this for these particular birds, who were with me for several weeks: they were very tidy and clean, leaving behind only scooped out pear skins for litter and always in the very same picnic spot.

The ripening of the pears was the event that drew other critters to the garden. Once I managed to get the pole beans started and climbing their teepee supports (multiple plantings had been chewed to the nubs by voracious insects), they grew robustly. It looked like there was going to be a good crop, but right about that time, all the leaves from the first four or five feet of the vines would disappear overnight. At first I thought the insects had returned, but then I found the telltale hoof print of a deer. One morning, I spotted the small animal bounding away, no doubt having just finished off his pole bean breakfast. I guess I was lucky that he didn't eat too many of the other plants. By the end of the season, I managed to salvage about three or four pounds of pole beans, but the last ones were woody and tasteless. The bush bean plants, on the other hand, produced tender beans into early autumn. I think I must have harvested around 30 or 40 pounds.

The fennel forest grew exuberantly all summer, attracting all kinds of benign insects, including many pretty butterflies, as well as an array of song birds. It was a little biodiversity hotspot, right in the middle of the garden.

one of a zillion ladybugs hunting prey on the fennel plants

Other insects were damaging, however. The Japanese beetle population was unusually large this spring. Still, it didn't seem like they were doing all that much harm; however, as I learned later, they spread plant diseases, particularly to vines. With the benefit of hindsight, I now believe that the primary reason that my cucumber and hubbard-squash plants wilted had more to do with a plant disease than the heat wave. Later, when the summer turned rainy, I had a lot of trouble with mildew, which took a heavy toll on the cuccuzzi caravazzi. Even so, I did get to pick three gourds, two of which kind of got away from me and grew to be a bit too large (i.e., five feet long) for optimal cooking purposes; one hubbard-squash; and numerous cucumbers. The problem with growing your own cucumbers is that their texture and taste is so far superior to anything that you can purchase, it pretty much makes you want to swear off store-brought cucumbers forever.

The neighborhood tiger cat carried out a regular patrol all year, up until the record Central New York December snowfalls. In her determined way, she owns the yard. After methodically wiping out the mole population, she turned her attention to the field mice, arranging their lifeless bodies in places where I would be sure to find them. The one deposited in an empty garden tool box, stored behind closed doors, was a particularly shocking piece of work. I wonder if she can be persuaded to turn her attention next year to chasing away the deer and ravens.

For the Love of Animals, Living Joyously

noreply@blogger.com (Marie Sansone) — Thu, 09 Dec 2010 14:36:15 PST

Animal Camp: Lessons in Love and Hope from Rescued Farm Animals

Kathy Stevens
189 pages
September 2010
hardcover: $24.95
Skyhorse Publishing

Animal Camp is Kathy Stevens' second book, after Where the Blind Horse Sings, relaying stories and meditations on the pigs, sheep, goats, horses, chickens, and other farm animals; humans and dogs; and handful of wild animals that populate the Catskill Animal Sanctuary (CAS), located in Saugerties, New York.

Stevens, a former high school teacher, is one of the founders and director of CAS, having purchased a Hudson Valley farm that was in ruins and transforming it into a 100-acre haven for abused horses and farm animals. CAS, which opened in 2003, has since come to the aid of nearly 2,000 animals. It also conducts public awareness and educational activities relating to animal welfare and vegetarian and vegan diets.

CAS provides a refuge for animals that have run out of options, the victims of cruelty and ignorance, abandonment, hoarding, the practices of mass production used in industrial agriculture, and even the recession, as owners facing foreclosure and economic hardships can no longer provide their animals with proper care. The sanctuary offers these animals a place of healing, aiming to help each animal, no matter how debilitated or damaged, to thrive.

Following a brief introduction to CAS, Animal Camp is divided into two parts, with the first part describing the summer Stevens moved to her partner's house, bringing along not only her trusty dog, Murphy, a principal character in the book, but also a young steer, horse, and pig, all of whom had been ostracized by their fellow CAS resident animals. Away from their tormenters, each develops the self-confidence that will assure their continued well-being upon return to the sanctuary, albeit with some backsliding.

The second part of the book is a compilation of essays written upon Stevens return to CAS, tales of particular animals, winter hardships, broiling summer days, loving farewells to animals that must be euthanized, the dedicated staff and volunteers, and sanctuary visitors, and contains a passionate argument for vegetarian and vegan diets.

The book is illustrated with a series of color photographs of the sanctuary, its resident animals, and staff.

Animal Camp is a joyous book, grounded in a joyous life, abundant in empathy, concern, compassion, love, and humor, juxtaposed against animal cruelty and the dark side of industrialized agriculture with its crowding, genetic modifications (frankenfood), downer animals, and environmental degradation ( odors, production of methane and other greenhouse gases, heavy use of pesticides and fertilizers, food borne illnesses, habitat destruction, and loss of biodiversity).

Around our house, my Dad could often be heard to say, "Gli animali solo mancano le parole"; an Italian expression that means (that as compared to humans), animals only lack words. So, I was not surprised to read in Animal Camp that along with the chicken, Paulie, barn peacemaker, "There have been other chickens, too, birds so full of quirky personality and a desire to communicate that one swears they really have vocabulary if only we could understand it." As described by Stevens, animals "display love, tenderness, joy, curiosity, impatience, anger, jealousy, grief, and a host of other emotions generally considered the exclusive domain of humans. The greatest among the animals display things like compassion and courage."

Stevens and CAS promote vegetarian and vegan diets as a means that individuals can take to bring about a direct and immediate end to at least some animal suffering and the other adverse consequences of large-scale agriculture. As Stevens observes, it is very difficult to consume animals that one has befriended.

Regardless of one's views on vegetarian and vegan diets (and Stevens identifies many of the reasons people have for including fish, meat, and dairy products in their diets), the sustainability of our food supply is something that should concern all of us. Getting to know a handful of the animals once raised as a food source or for other human purposes can help us to think more clearly about the consequences of our choices.

Recycling for Couch Potatoes

noreply@blogger.com (Marie Sansone) — Mon, 15 Nov 2010 05:42:50 PST

A Green Solution for Recycling Furniture
A guest post by Caroline Smith*

Part 2 of two posts to celebrate America Recycles Day, November 15

At the trash transfer station, furniture and other discarded items.
Photograph by Marie Sansone (2010)

If you are like many people today, affording new furniture is probably well beyond your budget. You want your home to feel inviting and be aesthetically pleasing, but your couch is simply an eyesore. While comfortable to sit on and relax, its visual appeal is dreadfully lacking. When new furniture is not an option, what are you to do with that old, faded, worn out hand-me-down or yard sale bargain-find sitting in your living room? An excellent and green solution to a problem such as this is an affordable item aptly called a slipcover.

Now, slipcovers are not something old-fashioned that only your grandparents would use to cover their couch. There are many advantages of using modern slipcovers to reinvent tired, boring furniture. Here are some good reasons to use them in your home:

Add pizzazz to your home – with various designs, colors, textures, and materials, slipcovers can complement any style.
Match existing furniture – slipcovers can be used to tie together mismatched furniture and bring uniformity to a room.
New décor, less expense – slipcovers make redecorating easy and inexpensive. If your new paint and window treatments do not match your couch, use a slipcover rather than buying new furniture.
Set the mood – a warm and inviting sofa slipcover can completely change the feel of a room with a dark, drab couch. Some slipcover designs can also make the room feel more spacious!
Extend furniture life – slipcovers help to protect furniture from daily wear and tear. Using them may extend the life of your furniture, thereby helping you to save money.

The Green Alternative

Using slipcovers not only offers you and your home the aforementioned advantages, but slipcovers are also environmentally friendly. Slipcovers are a green alternative to new furniture and are considered environmentally friendly because:

They allow you to recycle and reuse old furniture, which keeps this furniture out of the landfills.
They help reduce the environmental costs of production and delivery of new furniture and disposal of unwanted furniture.

You can reduce your carbon footprint simply by using a slipcover rather than purchasing new furniture. This makes being green and environmentally-friendly both effortless and affordable. The planet, its future generations, and your wallet will be grateful for your decision to use a slipcover.

If you are in the market to redecorate or update the look of your home, using slipcovers to bring life to a tattered couch or other types of ragged furniture is a green choice. Not only will they save you the expense of buying new furniture, but they are also great for the environment. There are many advantages to using slipcovers, for your budget and the environment alike. Using slipcovers can extend the useful life of old furniture, contribute to the ambiance and atmosphere of the home, and keep furniture from unnecessarily ending up in our landfills.

*Caroline Smith is a professional writer, environmentalist, and interior designer passionate for green living.

Recycling for Bicyclists

noreply@blogger.com (Marie Sansone) — Tue, 09 Nov 2010 19:48:47 PST

Part 1 of two posts to celebrate America Recycles Day, November 15

Bicycling and recycling go together like ... rims and spokes, saddles and derrieres, water bottles and cages, and other such stuff.

Bicyclists can support recycling (and save money) by purchasing used and recycled equipment and items, and by selling, donating, reusing, or recycling their own gear. In addition, some enterprising bicyclists are now offering solid waste and recycling collection services by bicycle. Here are some of the more common methods for recycling bike-related gear:

Bikes, Parts, and Tools
One of the most widely-known recycling practices is to donate used but serviceable bikes, parts, and tools to organizations that repair and tune up the bikes and then donate them to programs serving disadvantaged youth, community programs, or developing countries. In some cases, these organizations are affiliated with local government entities, including solid waste and recycling programs. You can find many of these organizations through a quick Internet search, or by contacting your local recycling agency. The International Bicycle Fund publishes a list of organizations requesting recycled bikes, as well as a list of organizations shipping recycled bikes on its website.

To support recycling efforts, you can purchase used bikes and gear, sometimes from bike shops, but also through thrift shops, and by perusing bulletin boards and print and online classified ads for garage sales, auctions, and the like. You can also give away used bikes and gear, or acquire them for free, through The Freecycle Network.

For bikes and components that are too far gone for any further riding use, you may be able to take the bike to company dealing in scrap metal.

Bicycle Architecture, Sculpture, Furniture, Arts and Crafts
Some people incorporate bikes or components into salvage architecture, furniture, or arts and crafts projects. For example, wheels have been incorporated into fishing nets, chandeliers, and pot racks. DIY projects are a possibility, and some businesses solicit used parts to incorporate into their products.

Photographs of a bicycle dome, tree house, hut, energy tower, and trusses can be viewed on the Nomadhome website.

Examples of very beautiful furniture can be found on Bike Furniture Design's website. This company accepts used bike components, such as chrome-steel rims, chrome-steel handle bars, deep-section aluminum and carbon rims, higher quality frames, and inner tubes for recycling. Instructions are found on its website.

Oregon-based Resource Revival recycles used bike parts into items for sale, such as bottle openers, clocks, bowls, jewelry, and photo frames. They also accept bike chains from bike shops for recycling.

Bicycle Inter-Community Action and Salvage promotes the use of recycled bike parts into artwork, jewelry, bike parking racks, and trash containers.

Inner Tubes and Tires
Inner tubes offer many possibilities. Various articles and videos posted online provide information on a variety of DIY projects, from creating rubber bands, padding for tree supports, to fashion handbags. Check out, for example, the many comments posted on the "How Can I Recycle This?" website, under "How can I reuse or recycle bike inner tubes?"

Dave Fielder offers numerous suggestions in his article, Reuse and Recycle: Possibilities for Your Old Tubes and Tires, posted on About.com.

In addition, some bike shops may accept inner tubes or tires for recycling. If not, you may be able to take or mail your used tires for a small fee to a tire recycling facility. For Earth Day 2010, Liberty Tire Recycling and Performance Bicycle sponsored "Bike-Tube Blow-Out" collection drives, collecting old inner tubes to be recycled into mulch for playgrounds and athletic fields, railroad ties, weightlifting plates, and other products.

Bike Water Bottles
Many local recycling programs are now accepting a wider spectrum of plastics for recycling. Check the recycling mark (plastic identification code) on your bottle to determine whether your local program or other recycling facility can accept the bottle for recycling.

Solvents and Hazardous Waste
Individuals can take used solvents and hazardous wastes to their local household hazardous waste collection center or events.

Bike Helmets
Used bike helmets are generally not recyclable, although creative individuals may find some way to turn them into baskets or other crafts projects.

Bicycle Clothing
Gently-used clothing and shoes can be sold or donated. Clothing that is pretty well worn out can still be put to good use in braided rugs or as rags.

Bike Books
Used books can be sold or donated through numerous outlets. Some local recycling programs may accept books for recycling.

Bicycling Knowledge
Knowledge of bicycle maintenance and repair and safety can be put to good use by teaching a class, or by serving on a volunteer bike patrol.

Other tips?
Please comment ....

The TEDx Great Pacific Garbage Patch Conference: November 6 Live-Streaming Video

noreply@blogger.com (Marie Sansone) — Tue, 02 Nov 2010 20:09:18 PDT

Watch the TEDx Great Pacific Garbage Patch Conference here, live-streaming on Saturday, November 6, 2010, from 8:30 a.m. to 6:00 p.m., Pacific Time:

Watch live streaming video from tedxgp2 at livestream.com

Water: Some Prescriptions for Improving Water Resources Planning and Management

noreply@blogger.com (Marie Sansone) — Fri, 15 Oct 2010 07:31:20 PDT

A Blog Action Day post.

1. Water resources planning and management should evolve to reflect an integrated approach to land and water management. The sharp legal distinction traditionally drawn between water quantity (water rights) and water quality no longer serves a valid purpose. Similarly, planning and management of groundwater resources should be integrated with surface water programs, and drinking water regulation should be integrated with water quality regulation.

2. Decisions relating to water resources should, among other things, take into account considerations relating to ecosystem services, human health, the food supply, energy, and security, including climate change and spills and releases.A watershed approach should be used, with attention to transboundary implications. Green infrastructure should be used to the extent practicable.

3. Improvements in the collection, management, analysis, and dissemination of scientific data are always needed. Agencies and organizations involved in data collection should undertake continuous efforts to improve their programs and to collaborate and share data.

4. To promote resource conservation and economic efficiencies, water pricing should reflect the true cost of supplying water, taking into account the likely need or desire to subsidize the production and delivery of water for basic human needs (drinking, cooking, hygiene).

5. Land use planners, landscape architects, the lawn and garden sector, highway departments, and others involved in designing, managing, and maintaining grounds should encourage the use of xeriscaping, native species, and integrated pest management, as well as the minimization of lawns and other plantings that require watering and intensive care.

6. Water-related education programs at all levels (elementary school through college and graduate school) should be strengthened.

7. Corporate and governmental policies and management should be grounded in a firm commitment to environmental stewardship, including the conservation and improvement of water resources, wetlands, and aquatic habitat.

8. There should be an increased emphasis on the implementation of policies and regulations that promote water resources conservation and the protection and improvement of water quality, with better training, compliance assurance, and enforcement efforts. Regulators should undertake to bridge the cultural and communications divide that exists between them and the regulated community. The best environmental policies are of limited value if regulators lack the ability or will to implement them, and if the regulated community expends significant efforts in resisting them.

9. The beauty and spiritual value of water should always be taken into account whenever water resources decisions are made, and public lands (regardless of their designation as parks, forests, grasslands, wilderness areas, wildlife refuges, or for other purposes) should be assured an adequate supply and quality of water to maintain and improve their ecological integrity.

Glory Days: A Compendium of Historical Cycling Literature Available as Free eBooks

noreply@blogger.com (Marie Sansone) — Thu, 07 Oct 2010 13:52:22 PDT

Madge Lessing (1898)

(Photograph courtesy of Library of Congress,

Prints and Photographs Division)

Thanks to the Hathi Trust Digital Library, Internet Archive, Project Gutenberg, Open Library, and Google Books, many cycling classics (and not-so classics) from the late 1800s can be downloaded or read online for free. They range the gamut from poetry to novels, travel journals to engineering works, and practical instruction and training manuals to commercial advertisements, and include knitting instructions for cycling socks. Many are beautifully illustrated, while some contain photographs, cartoons, and maps. In some cases, the authors elected to use pseudonyms, including the mysterious "Junior Partner":

Photograph from

Following the Tow-Path and through the Adirondacks Awheel (1898)

Among the eBooks are accounts of bicycle trips in the United States, Europe, the Middle East, Asia, and Australia, including Thomas Stevens' Around the World on a Bicycle, published in 1887. Stevens was the first person to cycle across America, traveling in 1884 from San Francisco to Boston. He completed some 3,700 miles on his penny-farthing, taking wagon roads, railroad ways, canal towpaths, and public roads. He went on to pedal around the globe, completing his journey in 1887, having wheeled approximately 13,800 miles.

Here is a compilation of the ebooks that are currently available:

Adelpha, Cycling for the Old and Young (1870) (University of Alberta Libraries, digitizing sponsor), 55 pages.

Thomas Gaskell Allen, Jr. and William Lewis Sachtleben, Across Asia on a Bicycle: The Journey of Two American Students from Constantinople to Peking (The Century Co. 1894) (MSN, digitizing sponsor), 260 pages.

Lyman Hotchkiss Bagg, Ten Thousand Miles on a Bicycle (Karl Kron 1887) (digitizing sponsor, Google), 900 pages.

John Kendrick Bangs, The Bicyclers and Three Other Farces (Harper and Brothers Publishers 1896) (Project Gutenberg ebook), 176 pages.

Jean Bertot, Guides du Cycliste en France: de Paris à Toulouse et aux Pyrénees (Boudet 1895) (Boston Public Library, digitizing sponsor), 352 pages.

Jean Bertot, La France en Bicyclette: de Paris à Grenoble et à Marseille (Librairies - Imprimeries Reunies 1894) (Boston Public Library, digitizing sponsor), 432 pages.

Francis Birtles, Lonely Lands: Through the Heart of Australia (N.S.W. Bookstall Co. 1909) (MSN, digitizing sponsor), 278 pages.

F.W. Bockett, Some Literary Landmarks for Pilgrims on Wheels (J.M. Dent and Co. and J.B. Lippincott Co. 1901) (digitizing sponsor, Google), 299 pages.

Fanny Bullock Workman and William Hunter Workman, Sketches Awheel in Modern Iberia (G.P. Putnam's Sons 1897) (Google, digitizing sponsor), 280 pages.

Viscount Bury, K.C.M.G., and G. Lacy Hillier, Cycling (The Badminton Library of Sports and PasTimes) (Longmans, Green, and Co. 1887) (Google, digitizing sponsor), 559 pages.

Harry Castlemon, The Steel Horse, or The Rambles of a Bicycle (Henry T. Coates and Co. 1888) (MSN, digitizing sponsor), 440 pages.

Alfred Dupont Chandler, A Bicycle Tour in England and Wales (A. Williams and Co. 1881) (Google, digitizing sponsor), 213 pages.

George Chinn, The Wheelman's Hand-Book of Essex County, Massachusetts: containing sketches of the cities and towns of the county, with mention of their objects of interest, hotels, cycling clubs, league officials, road routes, etc. Also sketch of the League of Essex County Wheelmen, and a Chapter on Wheel Literature (Citizen Steam Press 1886) (3rd ed.) (Sloan Foundation, digitizing sponsor), 88 pages.

Foster S. Conant, Wheel Songs: Poems of Bicycling (White, Stokes and Allen 1884) (digitizing sponsor, Google), 95 pages.

F.X.J. Dorian, La Bicyclette (Extrait de La Revue Médicale 1898) (University of Alberta Libraries, digitizing sponsor), 24 pages.

Herbert Osbaldeston Duncan, L'entrainement a l'usage des Velocipédistes, Coureurs et Touristes et des Amateurs des Sports Athletiques (R. Dalvy 1890) (Boston Public Library, digitizing sponsor), 256 pages.

F.A. Elwell, Cycling in Europe: An Illustrated Handbook of Information for the Use of Touring Cyclists (The League of American Wheelmen 1899) (Sloan Foundation, digitizing sponsor), 80 pages.

Allan Eric and the "Junior Partner," Following the Tow-Path and through the Adirondacks Awheel (N.E.R.G. Publishing Co. 1898) (MSN, digitizing sponsor), 152 pages.

C.L. Freeston, Cycling in the Alps, with Some Notes on the Chief Passes (Grant Richards 1900) (drawings by A.R. Quinton) (Google, digitizing sponsor), 281 pages.

Charles G. Harper, Cycle Rides Round London (Chapman and Hall Ltd. 1902) (MSN, digitizing sponsor 1902), 312 pages.

Mary Barnard Horne, The Dark Town Bicycle Club Scandal: A Colored Sketch in One Act for Lady Minstrels (W.H. Baker 1897) (Google, digitizing sponsor), 21 pages:.

Charles Howard, The Roads of England and Wales: an Itinerary for Cyclists, Tourists, and Travellers, Containing an Original Description of the Contour and Surface with Mileage of the Main (Direct and Principal Cross) Roads in England and Wales, and Part of Scotland (Mason and Payne 1884) (Tufts University, digitizing sponsor), 468 pages.

Jerome K. Jerome, Three Men on Wheels (Dodd, Mead and Company 1900) (MSN, digitizing sponsor), 350 pages.

Lyra Bicyclica: Sixty Poets on the Wheel, (Joseph G. Dalton, ed.) (E.C. Hodges and Co. 1885) (Google, digitizing sponsor), 181 pages.

Arthur H. MacOwen, Rhymes of the Road and River (E. Stanley Hart and Co. 1885) (MSN, digitizing sponsor), 174 pages.

Phil May, et al., Mr. Punch Awheel (J.A. Hammerton, ed.) (Punch Library of Humor) (The Educational Book Co. 1910) (204 pages) (MSN, digitizing sponsor), 204 pages.

H. Darwin McIlrath, Around the World on Wheels: The Travels and Adventures in Foreign Lands of Mr. and Mrs. H. Darwin McIlrath (The Inter Ocean Publishing Co. 1898) (University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign, digitizing sponsor), 146 pages.

Minimum, "A Flying Dutchman," a novel published in The Wheelman (1883) (Google, digitizing sponsor):

Claude C. Murphy, Around the United States by Bicycle (Press of Raynor and Taylor 1906) (Sloan Foundation, digitizing sponsor), 450 pages.

Victor Neesen, Dr. Neesen's Book on Wheeling (New American Book Company 1899) (Google, digitizing sponsor), 141 pages.

Brig. Gen. Albert Ordway, Cycle-Infantry Drill Regulations (Pope Manufacturing Co. 1892) (Google, digitizing sponsor), 90 pages.

George Frederic Pardon, Gymnastics and Bicycling (Dean and Son) (MSN, digitizing sponsor), 78 pages.

F.F. Peard, A Summer's Cycling Reminiscence: The Story of a Three Month's Bicycling Tour Through Europe and an Account of Some Impressions Received (Press of Cycling 1891) (University of Alberta Archives, digitizing sponsor), 146 pages.

Joseph Pennell and Elizabeth Robins Pennell, A Canterbury Pilgrimage (Charles Scribner's Sons 1885) (digitizing sponsor, Google), 89 pages.

Joseph Pennell and Elizabeth Robins Pennell, Our Sentimental Journey [through France and Italy] (T. Fisher Unwin 1893) (digitizing sponsor, Google), 263 pages.

Joseph Pennell and Elizabeth Robins Pennell, Over the Alps on a Bicycle (T. Fisher Unwin 1898) (Google, digitizing sponsor), 122 pages.

Joseph Pennell and Elizabeth Robins Pennell, Two Pilgrims' Progress from Fair Florence to the Eternal City of Rome: Delivered under the Similitude of a Ride wherein Is Discovered, the Manner of their Setting Out, their Dangerous Journey, and Safe Arrival at the Desired City. And Behold They Wrought a Work on the Wheels (Roberts Bros. 1886) (Google, digitizing sponsor), 234 pages.

Luther H. Porter, Cycling for Health and Pleasure: An Indispensable Guide to the Successful Use of the Wheel (Dodd, Mead and Company 1896) (Google, digitizing sponsor), 213 pages.

Charles E. Pratt, The American Bicycler: A Manual for the Observer, the Learner, and the Expert (Houghton, Osgood, and Company 1879) (Google, digitizing sponsor), 236 pages.

W.N. Robertson, Cycling! (Stratford, F.Pratt and Co. 1894) (University of Alberta Libraries, digitizing sponsor), 372 pages.

H.P. Ryder, Cycling and Shooting Knickerbocker Stockings: How to Knit Them with Plain and Fancy Turnover Tops (MacMillan and Co. Ltd. 1896) (Boston Public Library, digitizing sponsor), 50 pages.

Robert P. Scott, Cycling Art, Energy, and Locomotion: A Series of Remarks on the Development of Bicycles, Tricycles, and Man-Motor Carriages (J.B. Lippincott Company 1889) (Google, digitizing sponsor), 305 pages.

Archibald Sharp, Bicycles and Tricycles: An Elementary Treatise on their Design and Construction, with Examples and Tables (Longmans, Green, and Co. 1896) (Google Books, full view), 536 pages.

Charles F.A. Simonin, A Pedaller Abroad, Being an Illustrated Narrative of the Adventures and Experiences of a Cycling Twain During a 1,000 Kilométre Ride in and around Switzerland (J. Causton 1897) (MSN, digitizing sponsor), 222 pages.

Spalding's Athletic Library, Spalding's Official Cycling Guide for 1896, Containing Portraits of All the Leading American Riders, Valuable Instructions to Cyclists by Fred Titus and Others, and the Complete List of "Best on Record" (American Sports Publishing Company) (Sloan Foundation, digitizing sponsor), 104 pages.

Charles Spencer, The Bicycle Road Book (Griffith and Farran 1880) (Google Books), 188 pages.

Gordon Stables, Health Upon Wheels; or, Cycling as a Means of Maintaining the Health and Conducing to Longevity (Iliffe and Sons 1889) (Boston Public Library, digitizing sponsor), 148 pages.

Clarence Stetson, Why Not Cycle Abroad Yourself? What a Bicycle Trip in Europe Costs, How to Take It, How to Enjoy It, with a Narrative of Personal Tours, Illustrations and Maps (F. and E. Greenbaum 1898) (Sloan Foundation, digitizing sponsor), 234 pages.

Thomas Stevens, Around the World on a Bicycle: from San Francisco to Tehran (Sampson Low, Marston, Searle, and Rivington 1887) (MSN, digitizing sponsor), 610 pages.

Frank Richard Stockton, A Bicycle of Cathay: A Novel (Harper and Brothers Publishing 1900) (Google, digitizing sponsor), 313 pages.

The Cyclists' Road Guide of Canada, with Map (Fred Bryers, ed.) (W.H. Miln 1894) (University of Alberta Libraries, digitizing sponsor), 123 pages.

The Modern Bicycle and its Accessories: A Complete Reference Book for Rider, Dealer, and Maker (The Commercial Advertiser Association 1898) (Google, digitizing sponsor), 171 pages.

Reuben Gold Thwaites, Our Cycling Tour in England, from Canterbury to Dartmouth Forest, and Back by Way of Bath, Oxford and the Thames Valley (A.C. McClurg 1892) (Google, digitizing sponsor), 351 pages.

David Glasgow Velox, Velocipedes: Bicycles and Tricycles: How to Make and How to Use Them (George Routledge and Sons 1869) (Google, limited preview).

Maria E. Ward, The Common Sense of Bicycling: Bicycling for Ladies: With Hints as to the Art of Wheeling -- Advice to Beginners -- Dress -- Care of the Bicycle -- Mechanics -- Training -- Exercise, Etc., Etc. (Brentano's 1896) (Google, digitizing sponsor), 286 pages.

Alexander James Wallis-Tayler, Modern Cycles: A Practical Handbook on Their Construction and Repair (Crosby, Lockwood and Son 1897) (Google, digitizing sponsor), 411 pages.

John S. Webber, Jr., In and Around Cape Ann: A Handbook of Gloucester, Mass., and its Immediate Vicinity: for the Wheelman Tourist and the Summer Visitor (Cape Ann Advertiser 1885) (Sloan Foundation, digitizing sponsor), two volumes, 146 pages each.

H.G. Wells, The Wheels of Chance: A Bicycling Idyll (The MacMillan Company 1897) (Google, digitizing sponsor), 347 pages.

Frances Elizabeth Willard, A Wheel within a Wheel: How I Learned to Ride the Bicycle, with Some Reflections by the Way (F.H. Revell Co. 1895) (MSN, digitizing sponsor), 106 pages.

Arthur A. Zimmerman and Frank Bowden, Points for Cyclists with Training (F.W.S. Clarke 1894) (Boston Public Library, digitizing sponsor), 144 pages.

Enjoy!

Sustainability: A guest post by Cathryn Johnson

noreply@blogger.com (Marie Sansone) — Sat, 04 Sep 2010 18:32:22 PDT

Drawing courtesy of Green Clipart

Great Thinkers:

Sustainability Is Not an Option, but a Necessity

Guy Dauncey, author, speaker, and specialist in developing a positive vision of a sustainable future and translating that vision into action, defines sustainability as:

a condition of existence which enables the present generation of humans and other species to enjoy social well-being, a vibrant economy, and a healthy environment, and to experience fulfillment, beauty, and joy, without compromising the ability of future generations of humans and other species to enjoy the same.

Many of us realize that sustainability is not a luxury or an option, but instead, a necessity. If we do not reach a level of sustainability soon, we are further endangering not only plants and animals, but also ourselves. Unless we act now, John W. Young's statement, "If you want to see an endangered species, get up and look in the mirror," will be true, albeit for somewhat different "very big earth events" than he probably intended. Mr. Young, formerly a Navy test pilot and astronaut on the Gemini, Apollo, and Space Shuttle missions, is one of the few people to have walked on the moon and observed from deep space the beautiful blue planet.

Many concerned citizens are campaigning for the cause of sustainability. However, as with all campaigns, there are ups and downs, wins and losses. And with the struggles, supporters grow weary. They begin to question whether or not their efforts are worth it, when all of their urging, persuading, and proselytizing seem to fall on deaf ears. It is at times like these that we need inspiration. We need someone to come alongside us, and to remind us of what we are fighting for and why we are fighting for it.

Today, in an effort to reignite the fire that burns deep within all ecologically responsible individuals, I have compiled ten quotes from great thinkers throughout history to inspire, motivate, and challenge us to fight for our children, our world, and our future:

From Marshall McLuhan (1911 - 1980), the Canadian educator, philosopher, and scholar whose work is considered a cornerstone of media theory, and who is associated with the "global village" concept:

There are no passengers on spaceship earth. We are all crew.

From Ted Turner (1938 - present), the American media mogul and philanthropist who is best known as founder of the Cable News Network, CNN, the first dedicated 24-hour cable news channel, and whose foundations, among other things, seek to improve air and water quality, protect our climate through the development of sustainable energy sources, safeguard environmental health, maintain wildlife habitat protection, and curb population growth, as well as restore endangered species on Turner properties:

We must go through a natural revolution if we are to survive on earth. We need to change people's perceptions. If there's no environment, there's no human race. We are in a state of global denial.

From Theodore Roosevelt (1858 - 1919), the 26th President of the United States, famous for his energetic personality, range of interests and achievements, love of nature and the outdoors, and leadership of the Progressive Movement. Among his many accomplishments, President Roosevelt's efforts led to the passage of the Antiquities Act of 1906, which, among other things, authorizes the President to declare historic landmarks, prehistoric and historic structures, and other objects of historic or scientific interest on federal lands as national monuments; the setting aside of over 230 million acres of federal lands between 1901 and 1909 for conservation purposes; the protection of national treasures such as Devil's Tower, the Petrified Forest, and the Grand Canyon; and the establishment of the US Fish and Wildlife Service. On December 3, 1907, in his Seventh Annual Message to Congress, President Roosevelt stated:

To waste, to destroy our natural resources, to skin and exhaust the land instead of using it so as to increase its usefulness, will result in undermining in the days of our children the very prosperity which we ought by right to hand down to them amplified and developed.

From Mikhail Gorbachev (1931 - present), the last General Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union, the last head of state of the Soviet Union (from 1988 to its collapse in 1991), and the founder of Green Cross International, an environmental organization dedicated to preventing and resolving conflicts arising from environmental degradation, assisting people affected by the environmental consequences of wars and conflict, and the promotion of legal, ethical, and behavioral norms needed to build a sustainable global community:

We need a new environmental consciousness on a global basis. To do this, we need to educate people.

From Leif Johansson (1951 - present), a Swedish businessman who is the president and chief executive officer of Volvo Group Global, one of the world's largest suppliers of commercial vehicles:

We are seeing the birth of a new perspective of the world, where ecology and economics are two sides of the same coin.

From E.F. Schumacher (1911 - 1977), an internationally influential economist and acclaimed author of Small Is Beautiful: Economics as if People Mattered (Blond and Briggs 1973):

We still have to learn how to live peacefully, not only with our fellow men but also with nature and, above all, with those Higher Powers which have made nature and have made us; for assuredly, we have not come about by accident and certainly have not made ourselves.

From Jacques Martin Barzun (1907 - present), French-born American historian of ideas and culture:

If civilization has risen from the Stone Age, it can rise again from the Wastepaper Age.

From Terri Swearingen, a registered nurse from Ohio, who was awarded the Goldman Environmental Prize in 1997 for organizing protests against the Waste Technologies Industries toxic waste incinerator in the Appalachian town of East Liverpool, Ohio. The incinerator, one of the largest in the world, is located on the banks of the Ohio River, in close proximity to homes and an elementary school. Ms. Swearingen's efforts spurred the US Environmental Protection Agency to issue federal guidelines restricting the siting of hazardous waste management facilities:

We are living on this planet as if we had another one to go to.

From Sir Jonathon Porritt (1950 - present), an English writer, broadcaster, commentator on sustainable development, and advisor to many environmental organizations; former chairman of the UK Green Party; former director of Friends of the Earth in Britain:

The future will be green, or not at all. This truth lies at the heart of humankind's most pressing challenge: to learn to live in harmony with the Earth on a genuinely sustainable basis.

And lastly, a Chinese proverb:

If we do not change our direction, we are likely to end up where we are headed.

May these great thinkers inspire you to undertake and continue your efforts to promote and achieve a sustainable future.

*Cathryn Johnson is a self-proclaimed greenist and a content writer for Online MBA, who provides advice on education, online MBA program rankings, and living a healthy life.

Stories of the Road: Radio Interview

noreply@blogger.com (Marie Sansone) — Sun, 06 Feb 2011 10:50:53 PST

Click here to access the podcast.

Real Food

noreply@blogger.com (Marie Sansone) — Sat, 01 Jan 2011 19:47:41 PST

Drama, Mystery, and Other Happenings in the Vegetable Garden

Over at the RV site, their hosts had a campfire going. There were plenty of cold beers, pretzels, potato chips, hot dogs, hamburgers, pork and beans, and coleslaw. They even had extra lawn chairs. After dinner, they all sat around the campfire. For a while, it looked like there might not be any dessert, but then someone got up and went over to another RV and came back with graham crackers, chocolate bars, and marshmallows.

“You’re lucky, you can carry real food,” Kara said.

Stories of the Road, p. 311.

There is something to be said about growing fruits, vegetables, and herbs in your backyard (or front or side yards, as the case may be). First and foremost, assuming your plants grow and produce, you will get to eat Real Food.

real tomatoes

My father always had a vegetable garden, a big garden. It grew and changed every year. He was always adding different types of plants and fruit trees. He expanded his greenhouse. He experimented with cross-breeding. He waged war with the various critters that came to eat his plants. Towards the end of his life, he was planting 300 tomato plants each year and just about every other type of fruit and vegetable that would grow in central New York. He was always in his garden, from sun-up to sundown. The last two years were not so productive. Area gardens were stricken with blight, and a series of strokes led to him abandoning his passion.

So it was with some trepidation that I dug up most of my father’s garden this spring and decided to change things around a little. I was always mystified as to why my father would spend so much time in the garden. What about gardening could possibly be so all-consuming?

As I was about to find out, there is nothing compares to the drama that takes place in a vegetable garden on a daily basis. It’s practically a regular soap opera.

There is, for example, the matter of the serial killing of the moles. When I dug up the garden back in April, I encountered a few mole tunnels and some grubs. I dispatched the grubs in a rusty old coffee can and, voila, the mole tunnels disappeared. However, one morning, I discovered a mole next to the compost pile, savagely torn open and left for dead. Probably an owl or another predatory bird, I figured, and buried the mole. Several days later, I found another dead mole, this one, a fat and otherwise apparently healthy specimen with sleek fur, its body neatly arranged in the identical location as the previous victim. Then there was the third victim, another clean kill, deposited in the same general vicinity. Who or what is killing the moles? Sometime later, a gray tabby cat sauntered up the yard, cast a knowing glance my way, and exited via the driveway.

And who would have thought, back when I planted the eggplant seedlings, that they would undertake the practice of yoga? Every morning, they stand tall, arranging all their big scalloped leaves upright and facing forward in a salutation to the sun. For weeks now, they have been dropping their flowers. The rigors of yoga were perhaps too much, but just this week, they have begun to produce beautiful eggplants.

eggplant posture

It took forever for my seeds to sprout. When thin green lines of seedlings appeared where I had sowed carrot seeds, I was elated. Three weeks later, when the frilly carrot tops finally showed up, I realized that I had been duped by grass seedlings.

As soon as the pea, bush bean, and pole bean seeds sprouted, the poor little seedlings were gnawed down to bare nubs by insects. It was infuriating. I replanted and replanted and replanted. Although I had vowed not to use pesticides, in desperation, I would have drown the remaining nubs in deadly chemicals, but then the weather improved and the insects stopped devouring the tender shoots and leaves. Two hundred pole bean seeds later, I now have a dozen plants sending their tendrils outward every which way but up. Training unruly plants to climb their supports is not unlike trying to convince unruly school children to remain in their seats.

Oh, the cauliflower seedlings! Unhappy in their home and line of work, they refuse to thrive.

doesn't want to grow up

Who sliced one of my bell pepper plants in half, just as it was beginning to produce? At first, I suspected that it might have been a casualty of strong winds, but then again, I wasn’t so sure. A bird may have committed the dastardly deed and absconded with the top half of the plant. I hung an inflatable owl nearby, but only succeeded in scaring the neighbors. The sad little stalk of a pepper plant, I left in place, and now, six weeks later, it is flourishing and beginning to produce little green peppers.

Mr. Owl: doesn't fool anyone, except the humans

the comeback kid pepper plant

I am growing a veritable forest of fennel plants, not because I planned to, but because by the time I got around to digging them up, their tap roots had already reached China. Besides, the forest is beautiful.

the insects like it too

I was so happy to see the potato plant volunteers, all bright and shiny and growing in neat rows, only to read in the newspaper gardening column that they are to be yanked up and discarded at once, lest they spread dreaded blight throughout the garden and into nearby yards. If I was growing potatoes, they would have been red ones.

With the heat wave that we have been having here in the Northeast, most of my plants wilt a little each day and then perk up again in the evening. But the cucumber and Hubbard squash plants carry on in histrionic fashion, going into full wilt. It’s a real nail-biter each night as to whether they’ll recover. It looks like the big squash plant won’t make it. The cucumber plants are much better at faking death.

the big squash plant, just before it expired

And, oh, I have the best earthworms! Most of them are regular acrobats, leaping, somersaulting, and pirouetting whenever I scratch the soil, especially around the compost pile, in the area where the moles meet their demise. But did you know, there are obese earthworms? Gluttony is not restricted to the human species.

Sometimes I wonder what will happen if my garden does not produce Real Food. Probably I’ll have resort to other kinds of real food: cold beers, pretzels, potato chips, hot dogs, hamburgers, pork and beans, coleslaw, and 'smores.

Visit my garden on Picasa, in Garden Shots.

Five Ways to Green Your College

noreply@blogger.com (Marie Sansone) — Mon, 05 Jul 2010 14:20:46 PDT

A guest blog post by Louise Baker.

The job might seem impossible -- one person making a difference on a college campus of thousands. But great things often start with one person or one idea. And while many college campuses may offer the opportunity for excess and vice, they also often present the chance for combined efforts and activities geared towards common goals. If you are interested in focusing your efforts towards making a difference at your school, here are five ways to get your college to go green.

Fraternities and Sororities

Greek organizations present a huge opportunity for organizing green events and making their presence known when it comes to getting a college to go green. Most of these organizations do more than just throw parties, often being heavily involved in philanthropic work and organizing or participating in community and campus events. Fraternities and sororities can be wonderful resources for putting some muscle behind your green efforts and helping to spread the word regarding ideas and events.

Fliers (but use recycled paper and don't litter)

Even with the prominence of the Internet, social media, email, cell phones, and texting, good old-fashioned fliers can still be a great way to spread the word and get your college campus to go green. Whether you're handing them out on the street corner or pinning them to local bulletin boards on campus or outside classrooms, fliers can be great eye-catchers and reach a mass audience regarding your green plans of action. From students to professors and other passers-by, a flier (which can be recycled after the fact) can act as a call to action or provide information to others about upcoming events related to environmentally-friendly practices or activities. Fliers can also be a cost-effective method to spread the word for cash-strapped students.

Class Projects

Turning your school work into green projects can be a great way to promote awareness to students, professors, and the broader community alike. Whether it's a research project, business plan, or presentation, there are plenty of ways to focus your class projects around environmentally-friendly practices that could help your school and surrounding community. During your work, you may find that professors can be a great resource and provide guidance and background for your ideas and help add structure to any projects with respect to which you may be unsure of how to proceed.

Do Your Bit

While it might not seem like much, doing your part and leading by example can turn more than a few heads. Something like recycling, whether it's your soda cans and water bottles, paper from note taking, or batteries, cell phones, and electronic equipment; turning off the lights and electronic equipment when finished and at the end of the day; or passing used textbooks on to friends or reselling them -- or whatever it might be -- can be catching. Even if your efforts just begin in your own dorm room or apartment, your example might persuade your roommates to join the cause, and they may, in turn, influence others, and on down the line. It doesn't always take a huge rally or green event to make an impact upon the college masses.

Louise Baker is a freelance writer and environmental activist. She writes about online schools for Zen College Life and most recently ranked the top 10 marketing schools.

Grand Canyon Prayer

noreply@blogger.com (Marie Sansone) — Mon, 05 Jul 2010 04:38:45 PDT

Due to a family emergency, I've been unable to devote attention to my blog, and so I return to a poem initially scribbled in the Flagstaff, Arizona, airport, after a Colorado River raft trip.

NPS Image

GRAND CANYON PRAYER

My memories of the Grand Canyon are a prayer
Of beauty, awe, and wildness
Of a river running vaguely dank, insinuating fish,
     as though recalling passage to the sea;

Of waterfalls thundering out of redrock
Or perhaps spilling in slender ribbons or even a trickle;
And always their light
Arcing through the drops, streaming silvery,
     and entering into green pools
Then churning and sliding down chutes
To roil in confined beds
Or fan out along a gravel floor;

Of fog and tawny crags
And steel blue skies so sharp
     they carve the canyon with an acuteness
     that flouts the slow steady work of the other elements;

Of beaches that would be tropical if but for an instant
     in a time and place that remembers the sea;
Time as deep and impenetrable as the journey
     to the stars and the Milky Way itself
That wistful dusting of the black night sky
Contained by even darker canyon walls
     that have lost all textural vocabulary, retaining only their form;

Everything has been here always
From the sea in all its forms and memories
     Rock remembering when it was life
     Rock remembering when it was motion
     Rock remembering when it was sand and
        sand remembering when it was rock
     Rock remembering when it fractured itself against time
     Rock remembering the passage of the ancestors
     Rock remembering when it was melting and pouring, steaming,
        pushing,
        then tumbling, thrown up against the sky,
        or folded down and around
Becoming heavy and hard
     to catch the glint of the sun and hold its heat
Or pockets of water
Or a crook of soil for a tree;

And always the river
Daylight suffuses its breeze
And there is a hint of coffee and morning song
The clatter of bighorn, a solitary deer
The river tosses up flecks of white water
Beckoning “Come play with me”
Later it will become insistent, roar even,
And there will be a heat that will draw breath from the lungs
Or perhaps an icy slap, foreboding shade, and a shivering dampness
But in the first light, the river is as gentle as a friend;

Raven surveys the beach with flinty eyes and a thieving heart
Shy pink snake, lonely condor
The dart of lizards, a chorus of frogs
Tadpoles and smaller yet fly larvae
Looking like so many small plants in the flow of a creek;

Maidenhair fern and cardinal monkey-flower
     display a wanton delicacy
The sensible cactus know better
They stand firmly rooted and armed;

Water jade, golden red, chocolate, and turquoise and milky
Flowing, pooling, and occasionally turning around on itself
Or streaming along the underside of an oar
     to slip back into the river in droplets of light
Butterflies traverse the river to frequent their flowered haunts
Electric dragonflies hover, conducting an investigation
Clouds come and go, covetous of the river
Would that they could flow, boil, thunder,
     and become the river itself;

And in this collective memory of rock and wind
Light and rain, life and danger and stillness,
Six small boats play
And their play is a prayer
For all things beautiful and wild and enduring.

© 2003 Marie Sansone

Making a Difference on Campus and in the Broader Community: A guest blog post from GreenGW

noreply@blogger.com (Marie Sansone) — Tue, 16 Mar 2010 18:21:10 PDT

By Josh Thompson
Director of Communications
GreenGW
The George Washington University
Washington, D.C.

Student organizations remain pivotally important to the environmental movement, as they always have been. Environmental groups on college campuses are especially influential: they show the importance of environmentalism and green living to the new generation about to enter the workforce.

In the entire history of the environmental movement, a generation has never had so much to fight for as our generation does today. For seemingly the first time, our world is faced with a problem that is not simply regional, as most pollution problems were in the past, but rather a global phenomenon which, if left unsolved, could threaten an unprecedented amount of people and places.

This problem, of course, is global climate change: the increasing of CO2 and other greenhouse gasses in the Earth’s atmosphere, which trap heat and infrared radiation from the sun causing the global temperature to rise. Although some influential organizations and people dispute this, the vast majority of scientists accept climate change as fact and point to current events as evidence of its existence. The Antarctic ice shelves are melting at a record rate, and gigantic glaciers across the world are completely disappearing. The obvious cause is our energy structure: the near complete reliance of countries -- especially the United States, China, and the developing world -- on fossil fuels as a source of energy, whether for electricity or to power vehicles. With such a seemingly insurmountable global problem before today’s youth, what can fairly small, scattered student groups do to fight back? A lot.

Student environmental groups’ grassroots nature is truly an asset. Their messages are not altered by any sort of donations or political agenda; rather, passion and true concern drives them to fight the wrongs in the world. Groups in the United States and especially students at any of the eight universities in the District of Columbia have a great amount of access both to their representatives and larger environmental organizations, with which they can partner and whom they can influence.

GreenGW is one such student organization, which truly does utilize its location at The George Washington University, only a few blocks from the White House and a short Metro ride or walk from the U.S. Capitol and congressional offices. Our prime location in D.C., on the campus of a large national university, allows GreenGW’s events and message to reach a truly global audience.

GreenGW’s message of sustainability and responsible living is aimed at the on-campus community, local D.C. residents, and the country as a whole. We work on campus with various university departments to make the campus more energy efficient. GreenGW is currently involved in giving students compact fluorescent light bulbs to reduce energy usage in their dorms, stirring student interest in and obtaining student signatures for a petition demanding more green roofs on campus, evaluating and rating the sustainability efforts of various university offices and departments, helping students understand how the university’s recycling program works and increasing student recycling, and holding several events aimed at raising awareness of climate change.

We have also reached out to the local community by participating in a “green fair” at a local elementary school, helping children start to grasp concepts of environmentalism and understanding why it’s good to recycle and be energy efficient, as well as pairing with other local sustainability groups to increase awareness and energy efficiency in the District.

Finally, through our involvement in Powershift ( a national gathering of over 10,000 young environmentalists in Washington, D.C. every few years, which has a series of conferences about climate change and other topics and culminates in a rally and lobbying on Capitol Hill) and days on which our members write letters to their representatives or we lobby as an organization and with sustainability groups from other D.C. universities, GreenGW is able to help influence people with national power without losing our grassroots identity.

Although just a group of college students, GreenGW truly has been able to make a difference on campus and in the community. We hope that we can be an example of just how much influence a grassroots organization can have when it has a group of driven members focused on an important goal. We particularly hope that other college students, especially those in Washington, D.C., in major cities across the world, and in other strategic locations will continue their own efforts so that we can all work together towards our goal of increasing our nation’s sustainability efforts and climate change awareness as much as we’ve been able to influence our campus and community.

For more information or to get involved, please visit the GreenGW website.

November's Hard Times: Tragedy and Resilience on the Mormon Pioneer Trail

noreply@blogger.com (Marie Sansone) — Sun, 29 Nov 2009 14:58:53 PST

For this month's reading, I've selected a passage from Stories of the Road relating to hardship and heroism on the Mormon Pioneer Trail during the early winter storms of 1856. Click here to access the podcast.

Although relatively unknown in 1976 (when Stories of the Road takes place) outside the Mormon community, a new visitor's center at Devil's Gate, a 2006 PBS documentary film, and recent books have made the Sweetwater Rescue familiar to many Americans. To my knowledge, the material found in Stories of the Road is unique in that it takes the pioneers where they are found -- stranded on the trail without adequate shelter, equipment, clothing, or food --without much in the way of analysis, let alone judgment or blame, as to how they got into their predicament. It is also unusual in that it is not presented as an exercise in logistics, attempting to account for the various movements of the five companies of emigrants and their various sets of rescurers and advance teams caught up in the plains blizzard and bitter cold.

To read the original Willie Company journal and other first hand accounts, visit Brigham Young University's website, The Travels of the Willie Handcart Company.

A Snippet of a Ghost Story: A reading from my novel, Stories of the Road

noreply@blogger.com (Marie Sansone) — Sun, 29 Nov 2009 14:59:44 PST

A reading from Stories of the Road, of a section from one of the novel's two intertwined ghost stories: Access the podcast by clicking here.

Climate Change: Up Against Our Limits

noreply@blogger.com (Marie Sansone) — Sun, 29 Nov 2009 15:00:19 PST

A 2009 Blog Action Day Post.

We don't do limits very well; don't much recognize them, much less care for them. We like to make up stories to confirm our fervent desires that limits not exist. Some of these stories are mentioned in my novel, Stories of the Road:

Story: The great northern forests stretch endlessly onward.

Result: Barren stumplands, soils washed away, streams and lakes choked on sediments and organic debris.

Michigan Stumplands, following destructive 19th century logging practices.

Photograph made available by the Michigan Historical Center Library and Muskegon Public Museum, courtesy of the Center for Michigan History Studies.

Story: Countless buffalo herds, said to be high as hundreds of million (but more likely 30 million), roam the plains.

Result: By the early 1900s, around 1,000 bison remained, mostly in zoos and ranches and a handful of protected places. Of the original Yellowstone herd, by 1902, only 23 animals survived.

A gathering of bison bones, destined for processing into fertilizer and industrial materials;

1885 photograph by Buell, courtesy of the US National Park Service.

Extermination of the Buffalo, an 1889 Map.

Image by J. Schmidt, courtesy of the US National Park Service.

Story: Passenger pigeons, which once blackened the sky like a living torrent, will always be so numerous that there is no need to restrict market hunting. Besides, the conservationists do not care about the poor, who rely upon the birds as a source of inexpensive poultry.

Result: In 1900, a young boy in Ohio shot the last confirmed wild bird. The last bird in captivity died a lonely death in 1914.

Passenger Pigeon, extinct.

Photograph by Luther Goldman, courtesy of the US Fish & Wildlife Service.

Story: Rain follows the plow.

Result: The 1930s Dust Bowl.

Black Roller dust cloud moving across the plains during the Dust Bowl.

Photograph courtesy of the USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service.

A farm out on the Great Plains, during the Dust Bowl.

Photograph courtesy of the USDA Natural Resource Conservation Service.

Another story, still accepted in some circles these days, is the denial of human-caused climate change. Even now, an organization has created a television commercial proclaiming that more carbon dioxide, one of the greenhouse gases responsible for global warming, is actually beneficial, helping to stimulate plant growth. Still others point to the costs and difficulties of reducing global-warming emissions, and the impacts upon those dependent upon fossil fuel industry for their livelihood.

To address the past excesses identified above, we have belatedly undertaken reforestation, wildlife restoration, and erosion control with varying degrees of success, and have accepted human-caused extinctions. But the impacts of climate change are unlike any that we've experienced in scope and magnitude, affecting the entire planet and its interconnected physical and biological systems, most likely irreversibly. We can no longer afford the luxury of believing that there are no natural limits. Instead, our very survival depends upon recognizing and honoring our limits.

What's Wrong with this Picture? Some Musings on the Legal Profession

noreply@blogger.com (Marie Sansone) — Sun, 29 Nov 2009 15:01:07 PST

When my copy of the Spring 2009 Stanford Law School alumni magazine arrived earlier this year, I found the cover photograph so disturbing that I couldn’t bring myself to read the accompanying article, “Weathering the Storm: The Future of the Legal Profession.” Is this how the legal profession sees itself, huddling under a big umbrella, afraid of looking out, unable to see or be seen?

Lawyers have always prospered in bad economies or so common knowledge goes, handling bankruptcies, business reorganizations, litigation, and divorces spurred by financial misery. But this time, lawyers are not faring so well, with law firms quietly (or at least more quietly than other businesses) filing for bankruptcy, cutting salaries, laying off members, and delaying recruitment. Many graduating law students cannot find work in their chosen profession.

But what’s up with the picture? In the 1979 movie, “. . . And Justice for All,” a caring Baltimore criminal defense lawyer explains to his grandfather’s retirement home friend that to his grandfather, “being a lawyer was the finest thing you could be.” Surely those kinds of lawyers would not be hiding under big umbrellas, waiting for everything to become the same as it was before the recession.

There are many things that will never be the same. A great amount of wealth has been lost and dreams squashed, all in the midst of unsustainable demands on our natural environment, the accelerating loss of biodiversity, climate change, the urgent need to confront our energy and resources consumption, global interdependence, and rapid developments in communications technology that challenge basic notions of privacy and security and operate to accelerate change and reaction, whether reasoned or not.

Large numbers of people have lost their homes, with the numbers of shantytowns and tent cities in America growing and becoming permanent fixtures on the landscape. A charity that typically provides medical care in developing countries has refocused its efforts on the United States, and reports finding numbers of individuals struggling with the kinds of medical conditions and lack of basic health care typically found in third world countries. Many go to bed hungry each night, while others self-medicate with food, with rates of morbid obesity skyrocketing. In our Nation’s Capital, the HIV/AIDS rate exceeds that found West Africa, and many people endure chronic debilitating diseases, addictions, domestic violence, and mental health problems.

This is no time for the legal profession, or any others for that matter, to be hunkered down, hiding, in denial, not seeing. The legal profession has always been at its finest when counseling individuals and organizations, finding creative solutions to existing and anticipated problems, resolving disputes, and promoting basic fairness. These needs exist now more than ever, so if the legal profession finds itself without demand for its services, then perhaps it's time for the profession to evaluate whether the methods it uses and the services it provides truly meet the needs of its clients and the public. I hope that the next picture that I see will show lawyers at work solving problems, reaching out and lending a hand.

The Invisible Bicyclists: 2008 Death and Injury Rates Up 2.2% and 21% Respectively

noreply@blogger.com (Marie Sansone) — Sun, 29 Nov 2009 15:02:18 PST

On the morning of July 8, 2008, Alice Swanson, a 22-year-old bicyclist, was proceeding west on R Street, NW, on her Huffy FreeSpirit 10-speed, en route to work, when she was struck and killed by a District of Columbia garbage truck making a right turn.

The following day, the Washington Area Bicyclists Association arranged a ceremony at the Dupont Circle accident site, installing an all-white ghost bike as a memorial to Ms. Swanson and a visible reminder of the dangers of cycling through the congested area. Family, friends, fellow cyclists, and supporters brought flowers in remembrance, and there the ghost bike remained for over a year.

According to the Ghost Bike Project, it is believed that the first ghost bike was installed in 2003, in St. Louis, Missouri. Since then, over 90 ghost bikes have been installed worldwide. Community members embraced the Dupont Circle ghost bike, leaving fresh flowers and newspapers in the front basket.

Meanwhile, the District Government painted some warning stripes on the road and allowed the accident investigation to languish. The truck driver stated that he did not see Ms. Swanson. A police report suggests that Ms. Swanson was riding “too fast,” highly unlikely given that she was wearing flipflops for bicycling shoes.

On August 31, 2009, the DC Department of Public Works, under direction from the Mayor’s Office, removed Ms. Swanson’s ghost bike, depositing it with a nearby restaurant which had nothing whatsoever to do with the accident, the ghost bike, nor any request for its removal. District personnel had telephoned WABA in advance of the ghost bike’s removal, but then did not honor WABA’s request for additional time to notify the family. The District claims that it had received complaints from local businesses that the ghost bike presented an eyesore. None of the local businesses have stepped forward to publicly acknowledge their concerns; the two businesses closest to the memorial site indicated that they did not object to its presence.

And so, the removal of the Dupont Circle ghost bike once again rendered a bicyclist invisible. Over one year has passed, but the accident report has yet to be released. Needed safety measures have yet to be taken.

On September 5, the District Department of Transportation installed a new “Yield to Bikes” sign at Connecticut and R Streets; however, the sign is not posted at the beginning of the right turn lane, where it is needed. On September 10, DC activist Legba Carrefour placed 22 ghost bikes around Dupont Circle, one for each year of Ms. Swanson’s life, as a form of protest art. The city has since removed these bikes, which unknown persons had gathered into piles, obstructing pedestrian walkways.

All too often motor vehicle drivers do not “see” bicyclists. Perhaps the driver is distracted, intoxicated, or negligent; perhaps the bicyclist is riding in the vehicle's blind spot or otherwise obscured. Perhaps the bicyclist is somehow "at fault." The bicyclist, for whatever reason, is invisible to the driver, struck, and injured, possibly fatally.

The National Transportation Safety Board reports that in 2008, the injury rates for all motor vehicle accidents in the United States fell, with the exception of the rates for “pedalcyclists” injured by motor vehicles. For pedalcyclists, the number injured increased a whopping 21% from the previous year (43,000 injured in 2007; 52,000 injured in 2008; an additional 9,000 cyclists injured).

NTSB also reports that the death rates for all motor vehicle accidents fell, with the exception of the rates for motorcyclists (5,174 killed in 2007; 5,290 killed in 2008; a 2.2% increase); and pedalcyclists (701 killed in 2007; 716 killed in 2008; a 2.1% increase).

Clearly motor vehicle drivers and bicyclists need to exercise greater caution when negotiating streets and highways. BicycleSafe.com, for example, provides diagrams and advice for negotiating intersections; intersections where bicyclists are all too often invisible.

A Blog Award!

noreply@blogger.com (Marie Sansone) — Sun, 29 Nov 2009 15:03:03 PST

Many thanks to Nicole from Books and Bards: Where Readers and Writers Mingle for presenting me with my very first blog award:

As relayed by Nicole, the rules of the Kreativ Blogger Award are that upon receiving the Award, you are to nominate seven things that you love, followed by seven other blogs that you love. So, unfortunately, I can't list Nicole's blog, despite its great compilation of literary musings and images.

Seven things I love:

1. Rivers and boating on them, especially where there's whitewater involved and a waterfall or waterslide for splashing around in.

2. Snowy winters, just enough for good skiing.

3. Almost all cats, except for ill-tempered ones; some dogs; and most horses.

4. My bikes, even if I still haven't gotten around to tuning them up this year.

5. All my great friends out West, and the times we spent hiking in the mountains. Too bad we were almost zapped by lightening on Mt. Silverheels or we would have made it to the top.

6. Pipestone National Monument, Minnesota.

7. Hovenweep National Monument, straddling the Colorado-Utah border.

Seven blogs I love:

1. Recessionista Genie's The Magic Nutshell, offering support and real practical advice during these economically troubled times.

2. Olivia Smith's Airs, Waters, Places: The Seventeenth-Century Environment, lest we forget that before the contemporary environmental movement, there was an environment and people thought and wrote and felt deeply about it.

3. Fuzzy Lizzie's The Vintage Traveler, with beautiful photographs, drawings, and descriptions of vintage recreational and sports clothing that conjure up memories of good times outdoors before Gortex, fleece, or polypropylene.

4. Andon Zebal's Restoring the Americas, chronicling a journey through North, Central, and South America, with time spent volunteering at permaculture farms, sustainably managed forests, and ecological restoration projects.

5. The exceptional Water for the Ages, by Abigail from Oregon's Willamette Valley, focusing on international water issues. If you have a propensity to consume or use water, you probably need to spend some time reading this blog.

6. Rambling Rob's The Coastal Zone: Life by the Sea, "writing nonprofitably" only in the monetary sense about the Isle of Wight's natural history.

7. Up in Alaska: Jill's Subarctic Journal on writing, cycling, and outdoor adventure, which tends to confirm something that I've always believed: that Juneau, Alaska, is the most beautiful place on the planet, at least when it's sunny out, which happens about three or four days each year.