Where is the News Coverage

I have searched and have not been able to find major news sources covering the tar sands sit-ins at the White House that lead to the arrests of 1,252 people.  It's an impressive list, including top climate scientists, Texas and Nebraska landowners, First Nations leaders, Dr. James Hansen, Bill McKibben, Gus Speth, Daryl Hannah, Josh Fox and Naomi Klein.

Dr. James Hansen is arrested protesting

 the TransCanada KeystoneXL pipeline 

in front of the White House, August 29, 2011 (Photo by Ben Powless)

Reports on the protest and sit-in from the main-stream media are completely absent.  One might expect the arrests of 1,252 in front of the White House, including so many notables might have garnered some attention.  I haven't found any.  Although, the Washington Post was the first mainstream article to pop up regarding the tar sands and the white house.  

Then there is the Forbes article.

Where is the coverage regarding this outcry and these arrests?

Religious leaders protest the pipeline as U.S. Park Police arrest United Church of Christ minister Rev. Mari Castellanos, August 29, 2011. (Photo by Justice and Witness Ministries)

Special thanks the Evironment News Service all of the photos came from this article.

Join us for MedMob Sunday on the Pedestrian Bridge

Jefe Greenheart has another wonderful short video.
Click here to see it.

When you are done, join us for the latest MedMob on the Lamar Pedestrian Bridge tomorrow at noon!

How Will You Create the Universe?

An amazing animation that poses an important question:

How Will You Create The Universe? : Encyclopedia Pictura from Strange Beast on Vimeo.

Be the change you want to see. 

BE Love

New Vantage Point

I meant to post this last week when it was cold, but I have been too busy pedaling about in the beautiful weather.

This was a painful shot, taken

from a vantage I had not considered only seconds before.

Yes...I classified it as street art...I thought it was funny.

Convert Plastic into Gasoline, Diesel and Kerosene

Yup...It's real.

I think I might let the news outlets know; they seem to have missed this.

I'd love to know what you think!

Quick Study Break

My eyes are crossing from all of the reading and studying I have been doing. This is the first week of the new semester and I am already overloaded. Here's a shot from my study break I took in an attempt to keep what I have left of my sanity.

Do You Buy Bottled Water?

A few things to think about...


"The Story of Bottled Water" was released on March 22, 2010 (World Water Day) employs the Story of Stuff style to tell the story of manufactured demand.

A quick CNN video from last year:

Are my geek undies showing?

I found myself applauding at the end of this and was transported to my childhood as I never missed any of the 13 episodes of Cosmos. This mash-up is amazing and gave me special geek-tingles. Carl Sagan and Stephen Hawking in "A Glorious Dawn":

What kind of a geek would I be if I didn't include the lyrics?:

[Sagan]
If you wish to make an apple pie from scratch
You must first invent the universe

Space is filled with a network of wormholes
You might emerge somewhere else in space
Some when-else in time

The sky calls to us
If we do not destroy ourselves
We will one day venture to the stars

A still more glorious dawn awaits
Not a sunrise, but a galaxy rise
A morning filled with 400 billion suns
The rising of the milky way

The Cosmos is full beyond measure of elegant truths
Of exquisite interrelationships
Of the awesome machinery of nature

I believe our future depends powerfully
On how well we understand this cosmos
In which we float like a mote of dust
In the morning sky

But the brain does much more than just recollect
It inter-compares, it synthesizes, it analyzes
it generates abstractions

The simplest thought like the concept of the number one
Has an elaborate logical underpinning
The brain has it's own language
For testing the structure and consistency of the world

[Hawking]
For thousands of years
People have wondered about the universe
Did it stretch out forever
Or was there a limit

From the big bang to black holes
From dark matter to a possible big crunch
Our image of the universe today
Is full of strange sounding ideas

[Sagan}
How lucky we are to live in this time
The first moment in human history
When we are in fact visiting other worlds

The surface of the earth is the shore of the cosmic ocean
Recently we've waded a little way out
And the water seems inviting

My New Champion!

Here's to Dave Carroll!

May other creatives take from Dave's lead. I wonder how much his videos are going to cost United Airlines. A whole lot more than $3500.00, I would imagine...looks like this one is going viral.

Pope Calls for "World Political Authority"!

Anyone else just have a shiver run down their spine?

Photograph by: Vincenzo Pinto, AFP/Getty Images

"VATICAN CITY - Pope Benedict on Tuesday called for a "world political authority" to manage the global economy and for more government regulation of national economies to pull the world out of the current crisis and avoid a repeat."

Read the entire article by Philip Pullella of Reuters here.

Earth Bags with The-Shire

We got out of bed early this morning after going to bed very early this morning.  Why would we do such a thing?  So we could help to build an addition with earth bags, of course.  Nick Moser and Sandor Stockfleth of The-Shire.org shared their experience and insights.

One really cool thing about this is that even a lovely, pregnant, young lady was able to help because we were not using any toxic materials and most parts of the process do not include  heavy lifting.

It was a great way to spend a Saturday and I encourage everyone out there to volunteer to help do some sustainable building in your community.

House Fire on Guadalupe Street

After having a bite to eat and watching several police officers interrogate some adolescent skateboarders, I smelled burning sulfur, then what smelled like an electrical fire, then what smelled like brakes. We ran down the street, following the smoke and came across this sight:

Much Love & No Shopping

Just a friendly reminder that tomorrow is Buy Nothing Day.

Want to give something special this year?  Give presence, not presents.

Much love & No Shopping!!!

fascism Christmas Sales bargain hope thanksgiving holiday shopping republican democrat economy buy buy buy

The Corpus Clock and Chronophage

The following is a video of the Corpus Clock, a machine invented and designed by Dr. John Taylor for Corpus Christi College Cambridge for their new library building. It was unveiled on the 19th of September by Stephen Hawking.

(Photo - press association via AP images) 

This is an amazing video. Watch as Dr. Taylor walks us through it's workings.   The artistry, engineering and design are all quite astounding. 

He calls his version of Harrison's escapement a Chronophage (time-eater) as the grasshopper literally eats time.

Moose The Eco-Artist

Moose is a "reverse graffitti artist" who creates art by cleaning. Art and environmentalism combine in a beautiful way as he creates a mural in San Francisco's Broadway Tunnel.

For more information about the project, click here.

Documentary shot by Doug Pray.

Blogroll - Pixies and Politics

Amber is an eco-minded entrepreneur with many lovely offerings. You can check out her yummy herbed honeys and hand-crafted gifts here or read her blog here.

Help free this lovely soul from the drudgery of the 9 to 5 and support her efforts to support herself and create a better world.




Politics after 50 is a fun read. Lisa also sent me the best internet radio station I have heard. It's called FIP, out of Paris. To check it out, click here.

Earth Hour 2008 Tonight!!!

Tonight: March 29, 2008 at 8 p.m:

Per the Earth Hour website:

"Join millions of people around the world in making a statement about climate change by turning off your lights for Earth Hour, an event created by the World Wildlife Fund.

Earth Hour was created by WWF in Sydney, Australia in 2007, and in one year has grown from an event in one city to a global movement. In 2008, millions of people, businesses, governments and civic organizations in nearly 200 cities around the globe will turn out for Earth Hour. More than 100 cities across North America will participate, including the US flagships–Atlanta, Austin, Chicago, Phoenix and San Francisco and Ottawa, Montreal, Toronto and Vancouver."

I encourage everyone around the world to turn off your lights for an hour starting at 8 p.m. (your time)

Do something small and be part of something big.

15 Kilovolts From Water and 4 cans!!!

I really enjoy Walter Lewin's physics lectures and demonstrations, there should be more teachers like him. Here he is creating a battery out of 4 cans and trickling water. He is able create around 15 kV (kilovolt). I had to see this one to believe it. Pretty cool stuff.

You can see some of his lectures on electromagnetism here and find more free science lectures here.

Lion Hugs Woman

Ok...I had to search out something a little lighter. The following video is of an African lion hugging and loving on a Colombian woman who rescued it about 6 years ago.



Of course, they probably aren't thinking about the pending trade deal with Colombia. Yes...I know...can't seem to let that stuff go.

When Colombian President Alvaro Uribe made his visit to Peru on December 11th, President Alan Garcia pledged to assist his ally in his quest for free trade:

"I want to say to everyone, Peruvians and especially to Colombians: This treaty of free trade that Peru has signed with the U.S. will not be complete until Colombia has signed the free trade treaty with the United States."

19 chief executives sent a letter on Dec. 11 sponsored by the Emergency Committee for American Trade, representing CEOs from Microsoft, Citibank, McGraw-Hill, GM, Oracle, Intel, Coca-Cola, 3M, Procter & Gamble, Target, Wal-Mart and Exxon Mobil. The letter urged Congress to extend the U.S.-Peru trade pact to Colombia.

That must have been some thorn in it's paw!

Sydney, The Cappuccino Coast

In August, the shoreline north of Sydney became known as the Cappuccino Coast.

Powerful currents in the Pacific churned the impurities in the ocean into a foam that quickly coated a 30 mile strip of the Sydney coastline. The picture is from Yamba in New South Wales.

See more pictures and read more about it here.
Thanks to KK for sending this one in.