02008-11-12 | Uncategorized
Many stores started playing Christmas music on November 1st. We think that is much too early, but maybe it is not too early to suggest that music makes a wonderful Holiday gift. You can buy gift certificates for our ListeningLounge, or you can purchase CDs including Winter Rose, the most subtle of Holiday albums (3 Christmas songs, 3 classical pieces + 7 original compositions) from our store.
The Santa Fe Sessions is a great introduction to my music and includes Luna Negra XL studio recordings of “Snakecharmer”, “Barcelona Nights, “Heart Still/Beating” and more. You can order the CD only here.
Gift is a funny word for somebody who speaks German and English…
Gift in English means present or talent
Gift in German means poison
Both are pronounced the same way.
Then there is Mist, which means a light fog in English and manure in German…
02008-11-12 | Uncategorized
New York Mayor Proposes Charge on Plastic Bags
Recently New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg proposed that NYC begin charging shoppers 6 cents for each plastic bag issued at the register. The policy is the latest attempt by the city to go green and reduce its environmental footprint, and it comes several months after Ireland introduced a similar tax that cut the use of plastic bags by 94%.
(Via Inhabitat)
Big City – 6 Cents Is 6 Cents, but Time? That’s Something – NYTimes.com
My husband and I weren’t particularly green at the time, which was seven years ago. Nor was anyone else in that rural part of France, as far as we could tell. What they were was frugal. “Everyone has porcupines in their pockets,” a neighbor there once told me — in other words, it really hurt to reach for their wallets. That mattered when it came to plastic bags, because you had to pay for them at the store.
Shoppers should have to pay for plastic bags and I think each bag should cost more than 6 cents. Maybe 20-30 cents with 14-24 cents going to a charity. A person at Whole Foods replied to my inquiry that their policy might change and that they will charge for bags rather than giving refunds for people who bring their own bags. Good.
02008-11-12 | Quotes
Contrary to the way that the bodhisattva path is often understood, Buddhist social engagement is not about deferring our own happness to help others who are less fortunate because they happen to be suffering. That just reinforces a self-defeating (and self-exahusting) dualism between us and them. Rather, we join together to improve the situation for all of us. As a Native American put it: “if you have come here to help me, you are wasting your time. But if you have come because your liberation is tied up with mine, then let us work together.”
– David Loy
From the Upaya newsletter.
02008-11-12 | Environment
100,000 Cars Running on Windpower in 2013
Denmark has long been a world-leader in wind energy and now the country will act as a laboratory for the development of infrastructure for electric cars, using wind power to charge the new vehicles.
The main reason is that in five years Denmark will have wind turbine capacity enough for 1 million homes. This goal will be reached when the world’s largest offshore wind turbine farm opens in 2012, between Anholt and Djursland.
(Via Copenhagenize.com – The Copenhagen Bike Culture Blog)
Do you know why Denmark is a leader in renewable energy? Because when Ronald Reagan tore down the solar panels Jimmy Carter had installed on the White House, he also removed tax incentives to renewable energy companies, who had to sell their technology to… companies from Japan and Denmark. Check this out:
“It is one of our fastest-growing export areas,” said Hedegaard. It is one reason that unemployment in Denmark today is 1.6 percent. In 1973, said Hedegaard, “we got 99 percent of our energy from the Middle East. Today it is zero.”
02008-11-12 | Bicycle
Nice ad from a Bike Shop in Portland. See more of their ads here.
Bicycle Design at Core 77
Active Transportation For America Report : TreeHugger
Walking and biking could save anywhere from $10 to $65 billion annually by decreasing U.S. Financial aid towards health care (people would become healthier with exercise), exhaust emissions in the air, and oil and fuel consumption/dependency.
Currently two-thirds of every errand made in the U.S. under one mile are made with a four-wheel vehicle. One reason for this remains that many neighborhoods lack the proper infrastructure to make such trips safely and conveniently. Reducing these numbers could save 2.4 billion gallons of fuel, and between 21 and 45 million tons of CO2 a year.
A single bicycler riding 5 miles to and from work four days a week, can save on average 100 gallons of gasoline, 2,000 lbs of CO2 emissions, and reduce their carbon footprint on this earth by as much as 5 percent.
While current funding represents 79 percent allocated to roads and highways, 20 percent to public transportation, and only 1 percent to bicycling and walking, RTC recommends funding roads by only 37 percent, public transportation by 41 percent, and finally bicycle and walking paths by 22 percent.
With the current projection of our children’s health, they should be expecting about a 5 year decrease in life expectancy, increased risk of cholesterol problems, fatty liver disease, diabetes, asthma, and higher medical costs per year. All these can significantly be reduced with the introduction of exercise, via biking or walking.
