ecoyear

This is Boulder today:

I couldn't find much to eat...

...except, wait, I think I see a few berries...

 Well, anyways, I have figured out I don't like winter that much, but I don't give up at the first sign of a couple of feet of snow!!

What this type of day is good for, of course, is catching up on your internet offerings. I spent time looking at youtube videos of the Bioneers 2009 conference I missed.

Well, what a group of positive thinkers!! How exciting is that! People who can see the trouble I see, yet continue to work for change with some do-able ideas.

I still need to listen to Woody Tasch. Investing in new ways will start nudging this transatlantic liner in the right direction.

Kenny Ausubel is worth listening to. I would say he is a little too optimistic, but given how I'm feeling these days, perhaps that's not saying much.

Jim Garrison strikes the right note, in my mind. His depth of feeling for our precarious situation comes through clearly: he is actually moved to tears. Yet, he's still at it, with some stunning developments, such as Amazonian governors agreeing to decrease clearcutting in the Amazon by 80% by 2020.

Jason McLennan discusses more stringent criteria for "green" building. I haven't spent much time looking at this, as remodeling continues to be infinitely less stressful on the environment than new building (even on sites with a previous building, as he advocates). Nevertheless, he makes good points, and much of what he describes could be incorporated into remodels.

Annie Leonard is the most lovable, outrageously effective advocate for some pretty simple principles: why trash the planet, and each other, if we're not even going to have any fun doing it? Well said, well thought out. Way to go!

Jerome Ringo is focused on jobs, and on the disparate way in which the crises upon us are affecting the poor. I would have liked for him to recognize that there won't be full employment again, and certainly not without further trashing the planet, unless "the poor" can be involved in low-tech, must-have parts of the economy.

And Michael Pollan, who of course talks about the food system, makes three straightforward recommendations:

1. We must change farm policy (incentives)

2. We must change the marketplace and focus on local foodsheds

3. We must change the food culture, which means learn to cook, and teach kids properly about food - no tater tots in school cafeterias and 10 minutes allocated to lunch.

Most importantly, and I think this bears repeating if you're already an activist: what we are doing is not enough of a movement for President Obama to make significant changes, even if he were on our side (which he might be, now that he has got (presumably) a taste of homegrown tomatoes).

They can't hear us just yet in Washington. We need to get much, much, LOUDER!

Not that we didn't make a start: have you seen the 350 video of the actions on International Day of Climate Action?