Green Rhetoric

The Peach Kings sing Brighter Than Sunshine

2010-06-21T02:50:00.000-07:00

The Peach Kings sing Brighter Than Sunshine

how to identify greenwashers

2010-01-14T01:48:00.000-08:00

www.findanyfloor.com/article/TheSixSinsofGreenwashingbyTerraChoice.xhtml

if it sounds too good to be true, look for these to be sure...

Green Rhet Returns

2009-08-27T12:50:00.000-07:00

I'm teaching a second edition of the Green course in the Rhetoric Department at UC Berkeley this term, and I'll be teaching a third edition of the course at SFAI in the City this Spring. Each class is different of course, both because each community is different and because the news, issues, concerns that find their way to the forefront of Green discourses also change (while also many things, sometimes agonizingly many things, remain very much the same). Still, check out and follow their blog here and by all means jump into the conversation as you please, offer up sage advice, raise hell, and so on.

yo

2009-08-26T23:50:00.000-07:00

small farmers see promise in obama's plans

2009-08-20T14:31:00.001-07:00

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=112035045

a step in the right direction

White House Victory Garden!

2009-03-16T19:25:00.001-07:00

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/03/20/dining/20garden.html?th&emc=th

water/energy catchment

2009-03-12T09:05:00.000-07:00

i thought this might interest some. a lot going on in such a short bit, and a lot that's interesting. i loved reading it, but i wonder if he does anything but preach to the choir. with such a quick mention of giving up taco bell, such a quick run through of why and how it connects to the water system, i'm not sure anyone eating a taco would give it a second thought. or for that matter, be reading this article. but what's the point of thinking like that?
a few other points:

"The bad news is, we are far behind where we should be. The good news is, it's not too late. Check that: it very well might be. But who wants to think like that?" love it.

and that we're not overpopulated. it's not that our agriculture is too taxing of resources to feed us, but rather to feed the food we eat. eat lower on the food chain and you can still have babies without guilt!

in all, i just like how he mentions many little bits of bigger environmental ideas/philosophies/quandries (many of which were a unit in our class!) and ties it all together in a neat package with a good message. harness some of that rain.
on that note, anyone know of anyone looking to build a water catchment/greywater system? all the "workshops" (which to me seem like someone paying for their system with the attendees "class fees") are so expensive. i'd love to help build one though.

obama's food politics

2008-11-10T21:13:00.000-08:00

[h/t shane]

I thought this might be an encouraging read during such bleak times.

From our friends at the ethicurean:

So what might we expect from an Obama administration when it comes to food policy? Maybe quite a bit. In his plan for rural America, he lays out a number of policy positions that are a departure from the status quo. Obama:

* Supports subsidies as a safety net, but calls for a $250,000 payment limitation and closing of loopholes, so that the program supports family farmers, not corporate agribusiness.
* Supports regulation of CAFOs (factory livestock operations).
* Wants to enforce anti-trust laws that so that smaller farmers can compete against large-scale meatpackers.
* Wants to cap the size of agricultural businesses that can receive government funds for environmental cleanup so that taxpayers don’t subsidize cleanup for large, polluting corporations.
* Supports Country of Origin Labeling (COOL) for meat, a critical issue as we learn how widespread melamine contamination of animal feed is in countries like China.
* Wants to increase support for organic agriculture and local food systems by helping farmers with organic certification/compliance costs.
* Wants to provide incentives to encourage and support new farmers, land conservation, renewable energy on the farm, and microenterprise for farmers and other rural Americans.
* Calls for greater food safety surveillance and communications.
* Plans to encourage local foods in schools.
* Supports providing farmers with incentives that will prevent agricultural runoff.

for the rest of the article...

I am just happy to know that our President-elect possesses the word organic in his vocabulary!

vandana shiva in berkeley in september!

2008-08-13T13:45:00.000-07:00

Dr. Vandana Shiva, world-renowned Indian scientist, environmentalist, and agricultural activist will be in Berkeley on Sept 2nd. Hope some of you can make it.

Tara

=======================
International Forum on Globalization, KPFA Radio 94.1 FM, and Navdanya
International Present:

An Evening of Functional Wisdom with Vandana Shiva

Introduced by Jerry Mander, Director, International Forum on Globalization (IFG)

& Debi Barker, Director, Navdanya International – US Office

September 2, Tuesday, 7:30 PM

First Congregational Church of Berkeley

2345 Channing Way at Dana

Berkeley, CA

Tickets: $12 advance, $15 door, at supporting bookstores

Or on line: www.brownpapertickets.com/event/40634

Or: www.kpfa.org/events

Information: 415.561.7650 or www.ifg.org

Dr. Vandana Shiva, world-renowned Indian scientist, environmentalist,
and agricultural activist was designated by Time magazine a "Hero for
the Planet." Winner of the alternative Nobel Peace Prize (the Right
Livelihood Award) and named by AsiaWeek as one of the top five most
important people in Asia, Dr. Shiva is the author of numerous books
including Biopiracy: The Plunder of Nature and Knowledge and Stolen
Harvest: The Hijacking of the Global Food Supply. In addition, she has
published over three hundred papers in leading journals, and is a
founding board member of the International Forum on Globalization and
the founder of Navdanya International, a science and policy research
center based in India.

While daily news reports of increasing worldwide food riots
demonstrate the failure of the current global industrial food system,
Dr. Vandana Shiva will offer wise and innovative solutions for the
grim global realities of climate change and horrific food shortages.

"Shiva has devoted her life to fighting for the rights of ordinary
people in India. Her fierce intellect and her disarmingly friendly,
accessible manner have made her a valuable advocate for people all
over the developing world." —Ms. Magazine

This is not Green, Just Rhetoric

2008-07-31T07:56:00.000-07:00

What better outlet than the Rhet dept to offer this link: http://mysite.verizon.net/restvv19/rpa2008program/index.html

Radical Philosophy Conference at SFSU, Nov 6-9

Chances are I didn't read the program very closely and Dale is on one of these panels already :)

Site full of amazing references

2008-07-04T22:37:00.000-07:00

Can you tell I am going through my saved Permaculture emails, and pulling out gems to share?

Here is another one -

http://ecovillagedesignsouthwest.org/resources/

Best wishes, Iris*

PS. I am almost done!

Biomimicry Site

2008-07-04T11:26:00.000-07:00

Recommended by a woman who went to a design conference and the woman speaker associated with this site was the star.

http://www.biomimicryinstitute.org/

Enjoy! *Iris

Online book on local SF wild foods

2008-07-02T18:49:00.001-07:00

Can look through the whole book for free in preveiw mode!

http://books.google.com/books?id=ZVSd-ZAnB1gC

Book about the world food system & making it democratic

2008-07-02T18:33:00.000-07:00

This looks like an interesting read - thought I'd pass it on -

RAJ PATEL's book STUFFED AND STARVED: The Hidden Battle for the
World Food System.

"One of the most dazzling books I have read in a very long time. The
product of a brilliant mind and a gift to a world hungering for
justice."

—Naomi Klein, author of No Logo and The Shock Doctrine.

Half the world is malnourished, the other half obese—both symptoms
of the corporate food monopoly. To show how a few powerful
distributors control the health of the entire world, Raj Patel
conducts a global investigation. What he uncovers is shocking—the
real reasons for famine in Asia and Africa, an epidemic of farmer
suicides, and the false choices and conveniences in supermarkets. Yet
he also finds hope—in international resistance movements working to
create a more democratic, sustainable, and joyful food system. From
seed to store to plate, STUFFED AND STARVED explains the steps to
regain control of the global food economy, stop the exploitation of
farmers and consumers, and rebalance global sustenance.

Raj Patel, former policy analyst for Food First, a leading food think
tank, is a visiting scholar at the UC Berkeley Center for African
Studies. He has written for the Los Angeles Times and the Guardian,
and though he has worked for the World Bank, WTO, and the UN, he's
also been tear-gassed on four continents protesting them.

Glen Canyon Dam

2008-06-12T00:36:00.000-07:00

I don't know why it took me so long to do this, but I looked up the Glen Canyon Dam on Wikipedia. The canyon is spectacular. There's a huge (7,000-by-3,000-pixel) picture of the bend leading to the dam hosted on Wikipedia, and it looks exactly like I imagined: a mind-bendingly-majestic parting of ancient rock with an anemic, putrid-looking trickle of sludge seeping past the colossal (but, compared to the rock surrounding it, unimpressive) concrete face of the dam, surrounded by a vast expanse of sparsely-featured land covered by all these stupid-looking telephone wires.

Here 's the Wikipedia entry on the dam itself; I thought it was pretty interesting. I wonder when the Colorado will flow through there again...

Veggie Sausage

2008-06-10T13:01:00.000-07:00

It's not soy. It's a combination of barley and potato. And it is quite delicious. The meat-eaters at the party were able to tell quickly that it was not "real" sausage, but didn't complain about it. Usually that denotes politeness, but I actually think they enjoyed it. I used "Field Roast" available at Rainbow Grocery or Valencia Whole Foods. I cut it into bitesized morsels, marinaded it overnight in a cuban style marinade, i.e., lots of cumin. It was a mixture of fresh lemon, lime and orange juice with olive oil, paprika, oregano, cumin and salt and pepper. I added organic small tomatoes, mushrooms, squash, bell peppers (red, green, yellow), and onion to the marinade. In hindsight I think I should have added a little jalapeño or some smokey habanero. The red pepper was off the hinges... it was so good--tart and fleshy.

For dessert I chopped up a heap of organic cherries and strawberries and marinaded them in a mixture of balsamic vinegar, lime and sugar with orange zest. Let that sit for about a half hour and then added vanilla ice cream to individual servings. Holy sheise, it was good.

I'm working on clearing space in my backyard to start growing some stuff of my own (greens, tomatoes, etc.), but I'm going to need some help. I wonder if any of you gorgeous experienced farm-folk could help me out in planning the garden and giving me some tips on organic cultivation. I've got loads of time now that I'm done with school. Any help will be immensely appreciated.

-Ru

Agendae

2008-05-28T19:29:00.000-07:00

1) read this: monkey bio-robot. we're moving towards Cylon-hood. Haraway says we're already cyborgs. Moravec says sentient robots superior to us will be our children; that even squid should be transformed into robots because they've earned their spot in the evolutionary lineage. what does this mean for sequoias and the pacific?

2) June 7, 2008. I'm having an afternoon of delicious cocktails, veggie sausage skewers and organic summer fruit compote (yum) at my home to celebrate successful completion of 4 years of books, writing, shit-talking, etc.

please join me and other friends. there may or may not be a few stray trannies, so be prepared. email me for deets:

costa rica carbon neutrality

2008-05-19T10:49:00.000-07:00

hi folks,
i'm in the thick of finals so i don't think i'll go, but i though i'd pass this along. it's tonight, monday!
TODAY: Costa Rican Minister of Environment on Carbon Neutrality

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Roberto Dobles
"Costa Rica: The Carbon Neutrality Challenge"

Costa Rica has declared that it will go carbon neutral by 2021. To meet
that challenge, energy officials from the Central American nation have
gone on a fact-finding tour of the United States, seeking out best
practices that can be incorporated at home. The Center for Latin American
Studies together with the National Resources Defense Council have helped
coordinate the delegation’s visit to Berkeley, focusing on global
strategies for carbon neutrality, methods for reducing dependence on
fossil fuels and the building of partnerships for future collaborations.
Minister Dobles will discuss his country’s efforts to mitigate carbon
emissions during this special presentation.

Roberto Dobles is the Costa Rican Minister of the Environment and Energy.

Co-sponsored by the National Resources Defense Council.

Monday, May 19, 5:00 pm
Room 554, Barrows Hall
More information:
http://www.clas.berkeley.edu:7001/Events/index.html#dobles

Critical Theory Magazine of sorts?

2008-05-14T22:54:00.000-07:00

I'm looking for a grad gift, and thinking of buying a subscription to some cool magazine for a friend interested in the Frankfurt school, critical theory, environmentalism, avant garde, post-everythingism yadda yadda... you know they type because you probably are that type -- and I mean that in the most complimentary of ways :). Any ideas? Quickly, before Friday!

Thanks, and I'd be up for a post-finals beer (after the 23rd).

Lauren
Laurenj.powell@gmail.com

End of Term Bar Festivities?

2008-05-01T21:52:00.000-07:00

Dale suggested that perhaps we all get together to celebrate the end of the term soon. I would like to throw out some dates: Friday the 9th, Sunday the 11th, Tuesday the 13th or Wednesday the 14th. Perhaps Jupiter Bar or the Graduate? Let me know.

Vandana Shiva comes to town, April 28th

2008-04-23T15:07:00.000-07:00

VANDANA SHIVA
APRIL 28, 2008
8 PM
CITY ARTS AND LECTURES
HERBST THEATRE
SAN FRANCISCO, CA
Vandana Shiva
In conversation with Carol Tang
Hosted by the California Academy of Science.
MONDAY, APRIL 28, 2008 | HERBST THEATRE, 8PM
Before becoming an international environmental activist, Vandana Shiva was one of India's most reputed physicists, with a master's degree in the philosophy of science and a Ph.D. in particle physics. Since the 1980s, Shiva has championed the anti-globalization movement and is one of the leaders of the International Forum on Globalization. Her research and resultant advocacy explores the applicability of traditional Vedic knowledge and ecology to alleviate poverty in developing countries.

She is the founder and director of the Research Foundation for Science, Technology, and Ecology, an organization whose research has validated the ecological value of traditional farming and whose efforts have been instrumental in fighting destructive building projects in India. Shiva has also been active in repositioning women in the debate on development, for which she received the Right Livelihood Award, also known as the "Alternative Nobel Peace Prize." Shiva has authored over 300 papers in leading scientific and technical journals and books include Biopiracy, Stolen Harvest, Monocultures of the Mind, and Water Wars. Her many awards include the Global 500 Award of the United Nations Environment Program and the U.N.'s Earth Day International Award for her commitment to the preservation of the planet.

Tickets-$19-can be ordered at:
www.cityarts.net/program.science.html
www.cityboxoffice.com
Or by calling the City Box Office at: 415.392.4400

2008-04-23T00:20:00.000-07:00

food rationing?

the apocalyse nears! get out and plant your garden! buy a machete! can some zucchini for goodness sake

but really.
two reactions to this crisis stick out: the man at cosco who buys an extra bag of rice in case a neighbor needs one.
and the anonymous who buys 10 50 lb bags to "hoard." i'm sure if they're going for $500 he might sell one. and really could that be possible. while i don't think the apocalypse nears and i do think we have the resources at home to provide for ourselves if we put energy into supporting local ag, i do also realize that food could get really expensive really fast. food and gas are unfortunatly inextricable and to add to that we have people hoarding rice. and exports being suspended. and once hoarding begins, where does it end? hopefully more of us will hoard for eachother. we'll remember our neighbors. we'll have more dinner parties. it's really fascinating that this article plays both sides of this spectrum, demonizing the hoarder a bit, but also causing that little bit of alarm that could prompt hoarding.

plant a garden. not only will you have some extra food, but you'll feel better about the encroaching doom. it's really the most tangible miracle to put seeds in bare ground and in a few days see little baby plants coming up. and they grow every day. a little patch of sanity and effusive joy.

Pure Blue & White Marble - We are the World.... ...ahem

2008-04-19T23:45:00.000-07:00

Dale has mentioned how humanity took a big leap when we saw the whole earth all of a sudden from space. This image of the vulnerable, pure, blue and white marble is often what we think of still today. Think again - and take a peek at this - all four images are worth scrolling through. What are the implications? http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/RTGAM.20080415.wearthdebris0415/PhotoGallery01?slot=2

*Iris

Ecosexuals

2008-04-17T23:00:00.000-07:00

"I believe it is time for queers to come out of the woods and speak for ourselves."
Greta Gaard.

Or GO INTO THE WOODS, GRETA!

I recently went camping for my friend's birthday up in Big Basin. It was Ecofabulous! Here are some fotos: http://www.forsterdavid.org/bday/qpix.htm. These were just too good not to share. haha!

Also, check this site out. Careful where you open it, it's a bit pornificent.

Love,
Ruben

Event: The Future of Energy from Mother Jones

2008-04-16T21:23:00.001-07:00

A Special Report on The Future of Energy from Mother Jones

When: Tuesday, April 22, 2008, 6:30 pm -- 8:00 pm

Where: North Gate Library, Hearst at Euclid Avenue, Berkeley

Join us for a discussion on Mother Jones Magazine's current issue on the energy crisis. Meet with the editors and authors of this special report. We will also hear from them on the magazine's current direction and how to connect with the people involved.

For more information on this event, including possible ticketing details, please visit:

http://journalism.berkeley.edu/events/details.php?ID=519

Fall 08 Classes

2008-04-09T19:25:00.000-07:00

For those who are not graduating, Carolyn Merchant (author of Ecology and Radical Ecology, aka the Envrionmental Critical Theorist at UCB) is teaching undergrad in the fall: ESPM 161, Course Title: Environmental Philosophy and Ethics, CCN: 29418. I've heard it is good. Haven't heard anything about the next class, but ENERGY AND RESOURCES GROUP 170, Course Title: Environmental Classics, CCN: 27430 is also being offered.

Hope all is well.

Lauren

re: Mike Davis

2008-04-04T15:35:00.000-07:00

Hello all.

The SFMOMA people just informed me that the Mike Davis lecture scheduled for next week has been canceled. Bummer!

So if anyone (read: Ruben) was planning on going... the art will still be on the walls, but there will be no lecture in the hall(s).

I'm sorry... The rhyme couldn't be helped.

An Evening of Short Films

2008-03-27T15:48:00.000-07:00

One I'm particularly excited about, The Humanure Cycle. Here's a blurb about humanure by the author of The Humanure Handbook:

"In the United States, humans take flush toilets for granted. You take your dump into a large bowl of drinking water, then flush it. End of story. That's the civilized thing to do. But where does the flushed material go? What would happen if everyone in the world crapped in their drinking water supplies? Why doesn't any other land mammal defecate deliberately in water? Why do we? These all seem like questions any reasonably curious person would ask once in a while. What if the toilet won't flush? Then what? How long can you hold it? People actually crap in ziplock bags and put them in the trash during power outages. Really."

I wonder if he produced the film.

Here is the website to the film screening event this Saturday at 8:30pm in S.F. Oh, and there'll be delicious homemade beer and wine.

Love,
Ruben

2008-03-26T22:15:00.000-07:00

"The Environment is everything that disappears when you close your eyes."
Another remaking of environmentalism. With a different spin than Deep Ecology. Interesting. check out their humanifesto and felt making video.

Mike Davis at SFMOMA April 10

2008-03-19T11:07:00.000-07:00

Hello (former) classmates!

Mike Davis is coming to town! Check out the following:
Phyllis Wattis Lecture: Mike Davis
Thursday, April 10, 6:30 p.m.
Phyllis Wattis Theater
Founded in 1995 through the generosity of Phyllis Wattis, this lecture series brings innovative thinkers to SFMOMA. Historian, activist, and urban theorist.
Davis is the author of City of Quartz: Excavating the Future in Los Angeles (1990), the groundbreaking study of that city’s loaded social reality set against its imagined and often hyberbolic promises. A MacArthur fellow whose political activism dates back to the 1960s, Davis is the author of The Ecology of Fear: Los Angeles and the Imagination of Disaster, The Monster at Our Door: The Global Threat of Avian Flu, Planet of Slums, and most recently, Buda’s Wagon: A Brief History of the Car Bomb. Tonight he joins us for an intelligent discussion of public politics and social activism.
$10 general; $7 SFMOMA members, students, and seniors.

Sorry I haven't been engaged in our online community. I will try, but for now hope all are well and fine and dandy!

Agri-Architecture and Permaculture Group

2008-03-17T11:15:00.000-07:00

Check out this cool green hybrid of architecture-agriculture - http://www.ats.org/agro.

Got it from the Permaculture Yahoo group, one of my most valued sources of inspiring and useful information - http://groups.yahoo.com/group/permaculture-sf/

Have a great day! - Iris

Nature in the City

2008-03-16T10:01:00.000-07:00

Hi all!

What is the "gardening De-Cal"?

Here is a site I have just found and really love - Nature in the City. It is full of resources for learning about the ecologies in SF and getting involved in numerous ways. It is also a great resource for links to all sorts of organizations focusing energies on the nature of our area. As I use this contested word, here is their definition of nature, which I think is a good one - http://natureinthecity.org/definitions.php. *Iris

tap tap

2008-03-14T20:11:00.001-07:00

Is this thing on?

Blobjects

2008-03-03T11:45:00.001-08:00

Some Random Images via Google

An aesthetic theory

2008-03-03T10:52:00.000-08:00

Efforts to be Green or do Green or vote Green are green with envy of the Openness of the world if they do nothing with the (perceptive, affective, and active) weirdness thrown up by their efforts. Weirdness like when we form a protest march, how does it look from the eyes of a bird? that gull's over there? when your New Balance splashed in the city sidewalk puddle on the way to your internship with the water restoration group, what hung suspended there in the balance?

Not only is our human/nonhuman relationship insisting on a change (death, death, death), it is also producing whole new varieties of light, new laughters, new tragedies. Like the confluence of Greenpeace with peaceful green garden light. Or manatee Priuses. Or that slight crack I noticed in the familiarity of my bay view.

If we go along with the insisted change, we should go along as well with the new varieties of light, new laughters, new tragedies. If we don't, then we trip up our new Green movement, if imperceptibly to us now. So that we proceed but not so hilariously unveiled as we might.

[cross-posted from my blog that tries out some of this theory, Sponterneous]

Green Rhet Growing Pains

2008-03-03T09:28:00.001-08:00

I'm still inviting new folks to the blog and I'm pleased to find people still posting here. I haven't disinvited anybody, but I am going to go through all the posts and comments and clean up nonparticipants a bit over spring break to open up space for more invitations. What I'm wondering is, why don't we open the blog to a more radical re-invention of itself? Let me know which links on the blogroll seem to you all most useful and which seem to you most glaringly absent. Also, any recommendations as to other changes that might make the blog more useful for our interpretive community here? Format changes, functionalities added, and so on... Discuss in comments, perhaps.

Food and the spectre of Malthus

2008-02-29T01:39:00.000-08:00

An analysis of the factors and implications of the current rise of global food prices, which according to the FT, "have now risen by more than 75 per cent since their lows of 2000, jumping more than 20 per cent in 2007 alone."

Link

The title is misleading; one -including the author, despite the title- would likely disagree that global food shortages are solely a result of overpopulation, but rather the way the land is used. The piece does point to 2 key factors: disease and drought disrupting agriculture, and most interestingly, bio- and agro- energy sources.

"Perhaps the most important drivers of price gains over the past year are developments in world energy markets. High oil prices have encouraged a policy focus on biofuels, including lashings of generous financial support. Production has responded quickly to these incentives: the World Bank reports that the US has used 20 per cent of its maize production for biofuels and the European Union 68 per cent of its vegetable oil production. This change in usage has boosted prices, reduced the supply of these crops available for food and encouraged the substitution of other agricultural land from food to biofuel production."

I'm actually researching/working on this issue right now and definitely welcome any comments, recommended reading, et al.

Awesome Cartoons

2008-02-23T12:45:00.000-08:00

http://www.markfiore.com/animal_comment_0

I saw a video of Mark Fiore on Dale's "Amor Mundi" on FISA, which was quite hilarious and on point. I advise that if you enjoy this cartoon that you go to Fiore's website http://www.markfiore.com/ and look at his other ones.

paul hawken to speak in berkeley

2008-02-21T09:29:00.000-08:00

Who: Paul Hawken in conversation with Kevin Danaher

What: The Green Movement: Hope for the Future of the Earth

When: Thursday, February 28, 2008, 7:30 pm

Where: First Congregational Church, 2345 Channing Way (at Dana), Berkeley

Paul Hawken is an environmentalist, entrepreneur, journalist, and author.
Starting at age 20, he dedicated his life to sustainability and changing
the relationship between business and the environment. His practice has
included starting and running ecological businesses, writing and teaching
about the impact of commerce on living systems, and consulting with
governments and corporations on economic development, industrial ecology,
and environmental policy. He is the author of many articles and books,
including his latest book, Blessed Unrest: How the Largest Movement in the
World Came Into Being and Why No One Saw it Coming.

Praise for Blessed Unrest:
“Exciting, compelling…it will inspire millions to take action.” – Jane
Goodall, UN Ambassador for Peace

“A manifesto of hope for the 21st century...” – Terry Tempest Williams,
author of the Open Space of Democracy.

“Powerful” – Bill McKibben, author of Deep Economy and The End of Nature

Kevin Danaher's analytical expertise, sense of humor and blunt eloquence
make him an exceptionally dynamic speaker. Kevin Danaher is a co-founder
of Global Exchange (1988), founder and Executive Co-Producer of the Green
Festivals (2001), and Executive Director of the Global Citizen Center
(2004). Most recently, he is co-author of Building the Green Economy:
Success Stories From the Grassroots.

“(Kevin Danaher is) the Paul Revere of globalization's woes." – The New
York Times

Tickets: $10 advance, $13 door. Students with ID: $5 (at door only).
Available at Cody’s Books and independent bookstores and
atwww.globalexchange.org/hawkendanaher
Telephone ticket order: 415.255.7296 X253

Michael Pollan on Democracy Now!

2008-02-14T23:01:00.000-08:00

Amy Goodman interviews Berkeley Professor Michael Pollan (author of "The Omnivore's Dilemma") on food. Good stuff.

http://www.democracynow.org/2008/2/13/in_defense_of_food_author_journalist

organic gardening de cal!

2008-02-02T15:45:00.000-08:00

the course meeting is wednesday february sixth at seven p.m.
mulford hall room 159
come meet teachers and get ccn's
below is a list of teaching partners, their section times, and email addresses, if you are interested in getting into a particular class, do email the teachers before the meeting on wednesday.
the class is one unit, and does not begin until the fifth week of classes, we meet up once a week for two hours in the berkeley student garden on walnut and virginia.
I hope to see you on wednesday night!

rachel, jackie, & shauna
monday 1-3
rachelcbarge at gmail.com

danny & stephanie
tuesday 12-2
santos.dannysantos at gmail.com

eric & alex
tuesday 2-4
ericinge at berkeley.edu

lev & lane
wednesday 11-1
lschlaffer at berkeley.edu

lulu & laura
wednesday 1-3
lulu at berkeley.edu

annie & monika
friday 10-12
annielou12 at gmail.com

mali & victor
friday 12-2
msquared at berkeley.edu

anya & courtney
friday 2-4
kamena at berkeley.edu

Presidential Candidates on Hunger & Food Security

2008-01-31T01:51:00.000-08:00

Voter Education Guide by fellows of the Congressional Hunger Center.

Q's on:
1. Role of Federal Gov't in alleviating hunger
2. Universal access to breakfast for public school children
3. Food stamp eligibility for legal immigrants
4. Food security policy
5. Access to food (rural, urban, individual, community)

Supposed to be non-partisan, but only a handful of candidates responded to the survey: Biden, Clinton, Cox, Edwards, Obama, Richardson.

urban gardening???

2008-01-28T09:49:00.001-08:00

i'm trying to find out about the urban gardening decal...does anybody have any info?

Green Internet?

2008-01-22T09:29:00.000-08:00

As today is the first day of class, I'm sure all of you are checking our wonderful class blog...

Any suggestions on socially responsible/green/non-evil telecommunications corporation internet service in Oakland? Are smaller service providers generally slower?

Green Myths and CSR

2008-01-20T19:18:00.000-08:00

Here you’ll find an interesting article that “shatters green myths” by revealing how traditionally understood green-producing activities may be more harmful than helpful. They use abstract comparisons that are along the lines of Steven Levitt and “Freakonomics,” saying that walking to the grocery store actually produces more carbon emissions than driving there. Now that carbon emissions are so distinctly measurable, we’ll probably be seeing a lot of comparisons like this in the future, especially from university studies and corporate lobbyists.

Speaking of big business, there is an excellent article in this week’s Economist about corporate social responsibility. Regardless of whether or not you want to stick it to the man, it’s always valuable to understand both sides of any argument, and this article will help clarify corporate incentives and reservations about do-gooding, especially in terms of going “green.” I study politics at UCLA (I’m doing a year at Trinity in Ireland for the time being), and I can tell you that the most important thing I’ve learned from my studies is the idea of balance. Nothing is black or white, all forms of decision-making involve tradeoffs, and those tradeoffs are worth different values between different groups of people. It’s a long seven-part article, but it’s worth it to learn about how corporate social responsibility has evolved over the last decade, how philanthropic projects can be used for risk management, the dichotomy between shareholder and consumer influence, and how this all affects the main goal of big business: profits.

The History Channel's "Life After People"

2008-01-20T01:34:00.000-08:00

on monday at 9:00 pm (pacific) on the history channel, there'll be a special called "life after people". the question it intends to answer or discuss is, 'what would happen to planet earth if the human race were to suddenly disappear forever?'. from commercials and other promotional things it looks like one of those shows that uses scientists and graphic artists to present an image of some possibility we couldn't actually observe, like with crazy old fossils and stuff.

AVAILABLE IN HIGH DEFINITION!!!1

The Birth of the OpeN (re)Source Movement

2008-01-17T19:13:00.000-08:00

OpeN (re)Source...as in Open Natural Resources.

IBM Corp., Nokia, Sony and Pitney Bower have put 31 inventions in an Eco-Patent Commons. "The participating firms have decided that the societal benefits of having every wiling manufacturer adopt these cleaner processes outweighs any potential advantage they might gain by keeping the idea close to the vest."

The Eco-Patent Commons will be headed by the independent, non-profit World Business Council for Sustainable Development (that's a frighteningly freighted title...you'd think that with such good intentions they'd temper their rhetoric away from such corporate-suit speak ('world business' and 'development' don't sit so well with many), though no doubt that's the audience they're shilling.)

I'd add some more commentary, but really, the only response I have is HOLY FUCK! I didn't see this coming in a million years. If you look at my freeculture post, it hypes a book on intellectual property commons, so you know I think this is the direction we ought to be headed. To borrow a phrase, it's you-know-what-tastic.

2008-01-14T07:45:00.000-08:00

Two noteworthy pieces of news:

China will now be putting restrictions on the use of commercial plastic bags. A good first step, but in a country that contains 16 of the 20 most polluted cities in the world, they have a long way to go.

America's favorite hoopster Michael Jordan will be releasing the 23rd edition of Air Jordan shoes, which is Nike's first-ever shoe constructed using environmentally friendly materials "wherever possible." Not bad, Mike.

New Cheap Car From India

2008-01-12T09:56:00.000-08:00

Only $2500, the Tata Nano is the cheapest car in the world. Tata plans to ship car to other third world nations in Asia and Latin America. Emissions likely to be exponentially produced in India.

2008-01-10T02:52:00.000-08:00

Remember how Sao Paolo banned advertisements.

VISUALIZE.

Ecosocialist Vids

2008-01-04T17:58:00.000-08:00

Interesting Ecosocialist Video Resources Available here. Discuss.

Year End Year In Green

2008-01-04T17:57:00.000-08:00

Nobody Grinds and Refines the Year's Green Better than Grist, of course.

Climate Progress nutshells the denialist nutters, nuts and bolts, and hard nuts to crack of Global Warming in 2007.

Chris Mooney lists the scariest storms, meteorologically and politically speaking, of 2007.

ZDNet Provides a List of Glimpses of the Future Fluff Pieces They Will Bore Us With in 2008 Under the Heading of "Green Tech."

WorldChanging's Best Ofs are Much More Like It If Green Tech's Your Thing.

Creative Commons

2007-12-30T23:47:00.001-08:00

We touched on intellectual property law and the patenting of life forms this semester past. Lawrence Lessig, one of the brains behind Creative Commons intellectual property protections, wrote a book that, in the tradition of practicing what one preaches, is available, under creative commons licensing, online. Here's the link to it. It's also available for $15 at most bookstores (personally, I like living trees and free books, so I prefer to read it online.) As anyone familiar with Radiohead probably knows (or anyone familiar with the writer's strike, or anyone who doesn't like that a CD costs more than arthroscopic surgery, or........), Big Media and the suits who run it (or as I like to call them, creativity leeches riding their money machines) are losing power to (hopefully) the artist and end consumer. Dale's a fan of P2P (indeed, he forsees the achievement of a more fully realized democratic society through it.) If knowledge is power, the fostering of creative collaboration promises much.

Let's Hope It's A Good One...

2007-12-24T22:35:00.001-08:00

Fasinating

2007-12-19T12:44:00.000-08:00

A fascinating analysis of how many times the major presidential candidates have been asked about global warming, as reported by Open Left.

The highlight:

Between the Sunday shows and debates, these five reporters have interviewed the candidates 126 times in 2007. They have asked the candidates 2,275 questions. In that time, the words "global warming" and "climate change" have only been mentioned in 3 questions. Three. All year. Even if you include global warming related questions such as fuel efficiency and oil subsidies, it is only 24. There have nearly been more presidential candidates this year then questions about global warming.

Is it wrong

2007-12-18T14:46:00.001-08:00

that instead of going out into the beautiful world today I just want to stay home and knit?

Open the Gates

2007-12-12T22:29:00.000-08:00

Lovely time yesterday. We shall surely make a tradition of celebration.

Dale, could you tell us how to invite our one guest. I have an interested friend.

Laura, what was the link to the green museums?

Thanks for a great semester

2007-12-12T13:52:00.000-08:00

This was the best class I have had at Berkeley so far. I just wanted to say thanks to everyone for a great semester. Hope everyone has a wonderful break from school and a great new year. I also found this article that I though was interesting and alarming, just follow the link. Enjoy Dave Mac Vittie

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20071212/ap_on_sc/arctic_melt

Animal Rites

2007-12-12T08:04:00.000-08:00

Here's the link to the vegetarianism piece I was talking about last night. Comments, criticisms welcome.

There Will Come Soft Rains

2007-12-10T21:54:00.000-08:00

Soviet animation studio Uzbekfilm's 1984 adaptation of Ray Bradbury's 1950 short story "There Will Come Soft Rains", itself inspired by Sara Teasdale's 1920 poem of the same name...

hosted on YouTube.

It's a pretty chilling take on Bradbury's short story. Ten minutes long.

Tuesday

2007-12-09T17:14:00.000-08:00

I'm still coming onto campus for a meeting Tuesday afternoon. I'll be in my office till about 4pm, and those who are still interested can meet me then and there and we can go from there and have our informal celebratory moment if you like. Just let me know what the thinking is.

How Will You Ride the Slide?

2007-12-08T00:56:00.001-08:00

2007-12-06T23:34:00.000-08:00

Guyana offers Britain rainforest size of England
The offer that Guyana's president presented to Britain during the UN climate conference on Bali was almost irresistible: a rainforest the size of England.

Only Slightly Related

2007-12-04T10:26:00.000-08:00

This is yesterday's (December 3, 2007) Jon Carroll column from the San Francisco Chroncile. Only mildly related to class, but something I thought begged to be shared. The original website can be found here.
--------------
This is such a wonderful story. It should serve as an example to us all, and as a shining light to the young. Yes, you can do something positive for society, while still breaking the law and cheesing everybody off! It's win-win.
In Paris, in the '80s and '90s, there was a group of students who liked throwing parties in the tunnels underneath Paris. These tunnels were technically closed to the public, but kids will be kids. So these students grew up and they forgot all about - wait, no, they didn't! They remembered! They kept the faith.
They formed an organization called UX. It is, according to the Guardian, a newspaper in England that guards things, a group of about 150 people broken up into various cells with specialized functions. Some of them restore crypts and public monuments, others throw parties and poetry readings in unauthorized locations, others enjoy breaking into buildings.
Do they do bad things when they break into buildings? No, they do good things.
You may have heard of UX. Remember in 2004, when police discovered a fully functioning movie theater, with attached bar and restaurant, underneath the Seine? It was illegal, but its illegality did not spark a lot of wrath and public condemnation. Most people said, "That's pretty cool," although they said it in French.
Enter the Untergunther, a branch of the UX dedicated to restoring France's cultural landmarks. One such landmark is the Pantheon, a temple-like building - it began life as a church - that is the burial place for famous French people, including Voltaire, Victor Hugo, Marie Curie and Louis Braille. It's also the place where Foucault set up his famous pendulum that proved that the Earth was spinning, which came as a relief to people who had been wrestling with the whole day-night thing.
Inside the Pantheon was a 150-year-old clock, the Wagner clock, an elaborate affair about 6 feet in diameter with lots of fabulous gears. The clock had been allowed to sit and rust since the 1960s. One of the members of Untergunther was Jean-Baptiste Viot, a clockmaker. In September 2005, Viot and a few other people allowed themselves to be locked inside the Pantheon. They discovered a useful side door. Viot made a key - clockmakers are very good locksmiths - and the group came and went as it chose.
In an upstairs room, they set up an entire workshop. (Sneaking in the boards for the chairs and tables used to furnish the workshop was among the more challenging tasks.) They hooked up to the building's electrical system, and also found an Internet connection. It was, in short, the world's coolest playhouse.
But did they play? Well, maybe a little. But mostly they went to work restoring the old clock. (For some very cool pictures, see www.urban-resources.net/untergunther.html.) When they were done, they debated whether to tell the Pantheon official about their prank/good deed.
"We decided to tell them in the end so that they would know to wind the clock up so it would still work," said Lazar Klausmann, the official spokesman for UX. (That's when you know your organization has staying power - when it needs an official spokesperson.) "The Pantheon's administrator thought it was a hoax at first, but when we showed him the clock, and then took him up to our workshop, he had to take a deep breath and sit down."
One reason for his shock and awe may have been the sudden realization that he would probably be fired. People are not supposed to able to move freely into and out of public monuments - although they do, quite regularly. Even I have done it; I illicitly climbed a noted Bay Area monument a very long time ago with people whose names I shall never utter.
The reason for the ease and quantity of benign break-ins is simple: motivation. The trespassers really want to trespass and will use all their stealth and daring, while the security people just want a better job or at least a cup of coffee.
The administrator was in fact fired, and the people in charge of the building took the unauthorized clock repairers to court, which is how the whole story came out. But, good news, they were cleared of all charges on the basis of, come on, these are the good guys. Or something - my grasp of French law is not extensive.
Understand, kids, don't try this at home. Try it at a public monument.
Said Klausmann: "We would like to be able to replace the state in the areas it is incompetent, but our means are limited and we can only do a fraction of what needs to be done. There's so much to do in Paris that we won't manage in our lifetime."

a fable for finals

2007-12-03T19:42:00.000-08:00

this is one of my favorite fables by arthur hoppe.
I hope everyone is churning out brilliant quotes and definitions.

The Run-Away Machine

Once upon a time the people at Wonderfuland worshiped Efficiency. And over the years they labored to build a huge and ingenious Efficiency Machine.

It was the greatest machine the world had ever seen. And the most efficient, too.

Whereas it used to take a Wonderfulander an hour to wash the dishes, a day to hew a path or a week to build a wagon, The Efficiency Machine would turn out far superior products in one-eighteenth of the time.

From its spouts there poured a veritable treasure trove of disposable paper plates, concrete, automobiles, television sets, aspirin tablets and Ping-Pong balls.

The people were terribly, terribly proud of their Efficiency Machine. “It gives us whatever we want,” they said, “along with the leisure time to enjoy life.”

At least that's what they said at first.

But as the years passed, The Efficiency Machine grew bigger. The bigger it was, the more goods it could produce. And, as this was its only aim, it grew bigger. And bigger. And BIGGER.

By now it was spewing forth more disposable plates than the people could dispose of, more concrete than there were mountain meadows to pave and more automobiles than there were parking places.

“Well,” said the people frowning, “at least it gives us more time to enjoy life.”

But, of course, by now The Efficiency Machine had befouled the streams (it didn't drink), polluted the air (it didn't breath), and scraped away all the wildflowers (for it neither saw nor smelled).

The people began to grumble. “Why don't those in control of our wonderful Efficiency Machine do something?” the demanded. But nobody, it turned out, was in control.

You see, the Wonderfulanders, who used to work for themselves, now all worked for the Machine. And while each was nominally in control of his small or large part, none was in control of the whole.

So the people began to realize that what they had on their hands was a mindless, run-away machine.

The Conservatives demanded that it be slowed down. But there were no brakes. The Liberals demanded it be fixed. But there were no adequate tools. The Radicals demanded it be blown up. But the Machine had efficient defenses to take care of the likes of them.

One wise man, Charles Reich, pointed out that the Machine produced only what the people wanted. So, if people would only want less, it would produce less.

Unfortunately, while it proved easy to convince the man with two cars that he didn't want three, it was hard to persuade the man with none that he didn't want one.

“After all,” each man said, “what does one more car or paper plate or Ping-Pong ball matter?”

Then it was too late. The Machine, to be more efficient, produced a Thinking Machine, which the scientists understood. It, in turn, produced a better Thinking Machine, which a few scientists
understood. And it, in turn, produced an even better Thinking Machine, which no one understood.

And these machines, being dedicated solely to Efficiency like all machines, produced at last a Totally Efficient World.

In it, there was no grass nor trees, no grief nor joy, no tears nor laughter –and, of course, no human beings. For, as any machine will tell you, they're the most inefficient things of all.

Moral: Efficiency is a great help in getting you where you're going –if you know where you're going.

Doonesbury

2007-12-03T16:13:00.001-08:00

In light of the piece we read a few weeks ago about bottled water... Just a little humor to lighten up this otherwise work-filled week.

The Market Chooses Guns over Green

2007-11-30T10:25:00.000-08:00

Naomi Klein writes about the amazing idea some people have regarding a self-adjusting free market that will conscientiously seek out solutions to our environmental problems, because it is obvious that the market economy will always work in the people's best interests. Regulations aren't necessary, no way. Regulation is for pussies.

She writes that as more disasters occur (inundation, hurricanes, etc.) and lands are lost, people displaced, there will be an influx of immigration; and the market, instead of investing in solutions to curb the disasters, is investing in border security, weapons, and biometric ID cards. Lovely way to react to disasters. Not only are we perpetuating the disasters with our consumerism and pollution, now we refuse to aid those we've displaced.

job posting for Breakthrough

2007-11-28T00:10:00.000-08:00

(Nordhaus & Shellenberger's online venture)

Staff Writer/Editor

Posted Nov 10

Breakthrough Institute, Oakland, CA

New Hire :: Breakthrough Staff Writer/Editor

Breakthrough Institute is hiring a Staff Writer/Editor to write stories, conduct interviews, solicit and edit stories from innovative thinkers for the Breakthrough web site and other publications. The Staff Writer/Editor will work from Breakthrough's Oakland, California office. Applicants must be fast, scrupulous and excellent writers, researchers and editors. Journalism background helpful but not required. Recent college graduates and bloggers are strongly encouraged to apply. We are seeking a very smart, creative, and unique writer/editor with a strong point of view who relishes challenging conventional wisdom on both left and right. Salary is competitive and position will be filled by mid-December 2007.

[i found this while job-searching. you might/not find the qualities listed above funny in light of our discussion.]

wild fermentation!

2007-11-27T14:35:00.001-08:00

okay, so if i've managed to convince any of yall (and those of us who already knew) that preserving your own vegetables would save the world, here's the event for you. even better than canning with vinegar or sugar is fermentation! why do you think we have wine--to preserve the fruit. put those little wonderful bacteria to work on some cabbage and you've got deliciousness.

fermentation!!
> Spread the word!

> Sandor Katz, author of "Wild Fermentation" and "The Revolution will
> not be Microwaved" is coming to Berkeley! Come see this lively food
> activist
> in action and bring your friends!
>
> when: Thursday, November 29th at 6:30pm sharp
> where: UC Berkeley's Morgan Lounge (part of Morgan Hall, College of
> Natural Resources) http://www.berkeley.edu/map/maps/AB23.html
> price: FREE!
> what to bring: We'll have a table set up in the back with fermented
> foods on display in their many stages, starter cultures to giveaway,
> and tastings. Please bring your own utensils, cups, and containers-
> and your experiments, brews, and bubbles to show and tell, and taste!
> Please email lindsay.meisel@gmail.com if you'd like to contribute.
> questions: karmin510@gmail.com
> more info: www.agrariana.org

"Are We Backing the Right Fix for Global Warming?"

2007-11-27T14:31:00.000-08:00

an article investigating the uc/bp deal and the potential benefits of biofuels research as well as the reasons why many think this is the wrong way to go.

i can't remember how to make it a link:
http://www.sanfranmag.com/home/view_story/1838/

FINAL

2007-11-22T09:37:00.000-08:00

You will be handing in your final exam to me at the beginning of our last scheduled class meeting together.

PART I

Here, in alphabetical order, are seventy-one Green Keywords that have figured centrally in various ways in a number of the texts we have read and discussed over the course of this term.

1. "Abrasion,"
2. "Agroforestry,"
3. "Backstory,"
4. "Biodiversity,"
5. "Biomimicry,"
6. "Biopiracy,"
7. "Bioregional"
8. "Biosphere,"
9. "Capital,"
10. "Climate Change,"
11. "Commodification,"
12. "Commons,"
13. "Companion Planting,"
14. "Consensus Science,"
15. "Cradle-to-Cradle,"
16. "Culture Industry,"
17. "Deep Ecology,"
18. "Democracy,"
19. "Denial,"
20. "Depletion,"
21. "Ecofeminism,"
22. "Ecology,"
23. "Economy,"
24. "Ecosocialism,"
25. "Ecosystem,"
26. "Ecotage,"
27. "Endangered Species,"
28. "Energy Descent,"
29. "Environmentalism,"
30. "Externality,"
31. "Field Worker,"
32. "Footprint,"
33. "Greenhouse Gas,"
34. "Greenwashing,"
35. "Guerilla Gardening,"
36. "Heirloom Produce,"
37. "Industrial Agriculture,"
38. "Integrated Pest Management,"
39. "Leapfrogging,"
40. "Limit,"
41. "Luddite,"
42. "Malthusian,"
43. "Monoculture,"
44. "Native,"
45. "Natural Capitalism,"
46. "Natural Capital,"
47. "Naturalist,"
48. "Nature,"
49. "Objectification,"
50. "Offsets,"
51. "Organic,"
52. "Recycling/Downcycling,"
53. "Permaculture,"
54. "Pollution,"
55. "Polyculture,"
56. "Post-Scarcity,"
57. "Precautionary Principle,"
58. "Primitivism,"
59. "Profit,"
60. "Renewable,"
61. "Seed Saving/Seed Sharing,"
62. "Service/End Use,"
63. "Sustainability,"
64. "Technical Metabolism,"
65. "Toxicity,"
66. "Triple Bottom Line,"
67. "Use Value/Exchange Value,"
68. "Vegetarianism,"
69. "Viridian,"
70. "Waste,"
71. "Wilderness"

Choose fifty Keywords from this list. Organize your chosen Keywords into three separate, conceptually connected, sets. You can use any criteria that seems useful to you to organize these sets. The only rule is that no resulting set can contain fewer than six Keywords.

Each set should have a title or heading that indicates the criteria governing inclusion to that set. Once you have organized your three sets in this way, briefly define each one of the Keywords you have included in each set in your own words. Ideally, your definitions should be as clear and as concise as possible. These definitions should be a matter of a sentence or two rather than a paragraph or two. They are definitions, not essays or explanations. It should be clear from your definitions why each of the Keywords in each of the three sets are conceptually connected to each other, but it is also crucial that no terms within a set are to be treated as synonymous, and that your definitions distinguish Keywords from one another (even if the resulting distinctions are sometimes matters of nuance).

Once you have defined all these Keywords, provide a short quotation (feel free to edit and prune to keep your chosen citations properly pithy) from one of the texts we have read this term to accompany your definition. The quotation you choose can be a definition you found helpful in crafting your own definition, it can be an example or illustration you found especially clarifying, it can a matter of contextualization, framing, or history that you found illuminating, it can even be something you disagreed with so strongly it helped you understand better what you really think yourself.

Obviously, there are endless ways of organizing these sets, defining their Keywords, distinguishing them from one another, and connecting them up to the texts we have read. What matters for this first part of the exam is that you follow the rules of the exercise, not that you arrive at some single "right answer" you may think I have in mind.

PART II:

Write a short essay (5pp.), in which you show that the conception(s) of "nature" -- understood as intelligibility, as sublimity, as home, as resource, as object, as wilderness, as custom, or what have you -- assumed or expressed in the argument of one or two (at most two) of the texts we have read together this term yields unexpected insights or problems for that text, or provides the basis for an unexpected commonality or continuity between two texts texts you are comparing in your reading. (How do you know the problem or insight you are calling attention to in your reading is sufficiently strong to warrant consideration as "unexpected" in the sense I mean? That's easy: It must simply be a strong enough claim that you can imagine an intelligent opposition to it.)

Second Option: Some of you may want to use the short essay as an occasion to explore the The Monkey Wrench Gang a little further. I am open to that aspiration, but you must let me know in advance that you want to pursue this option, and provide me with the thesis you mean to substantiate with your close reading no less than one week before the final is due.

CheatNeutral

2007-11-20T17:07:00.000-08:00

[More here.]

Running the Numbers: An American Self-Portrait

2007-11-20T02:05:00.000-08:00

chris jordan

"Each image portrays a specific quantity of something: fifteen million sheets of office paper (five minutes of paper use); 106,000 aluminum cans (thirty seconds of can consumption) and so on...of 3.6 million SUV sales in one year...or 426,000 cell phones retired every day...My only caveat about this series is that the prints must be seen in person to be experienced the way they are intended. As with any large artwork, their scale carries a vital part of their substance which is lost in these little web images."

Organic Express?

2007-11-19T15:04:00.000-08:00

Have any of you used the Organic Express home delivery service? It seems like it's a little more money than other CSA type things. I like that you have more choice over what you get with them and that it comes to your house.

Anybody?

reverse graffiti, clean or mossy

2007-11-17T14:34:00.000-08:00

cool: manipulating visual public space via scrubbing/cleaning or mossing = graffiti

In Leeds, UK:
" The Leeds City Council decided to lead their attack with an hilariously nonsensical position:

“Leeds residents want to live in clean and attractive neighborhoods, and expect their streets to be free of graffiti and illegal advertising. We also view this kind of rogue advertising as environmental damage and will take strong action against any advertisers carrying out such campaigns without the relevant permission.”

("advertisers"= Smirnoff commissioned Moose to promote a clean company image)

Whereas in Sao Paolo, Brazil:
"Brazilian Alexandre Orion, turned one of Sao Paolo’s transport tunnels into a stunning mural last summer. The mural, comprised of a series of skulls, very succinctly reminds drivers of the impact their emissions are having on the planet."

"The authorities were certainly miffed but could find nothing to charge him with. They had no other recourse but to clean the tunnel — but only the parts Alexandre had already cleaned. The artist merely continued his campaign on the other side of traffic. The utterly flummoxed city officials then decided to take drastic action. Not only did they clean the entire tunnel but also every other tunnel in Sao Paulo."

2007-11-16T18:36:00.000-08:00

STONED APE

I don't know if conceptual language would adhere to the requirements of allele transmission. Culture (whatever that means--language in part) probably doesn't. Regardless, provocative.

2007-11-16T02:23:00.000-08:00

note to self: don't keep two blogs running on the same server.
still, awkward funny makes the best stories.

Domestic Water Wars

2007-11-15T18:25:00.000-08:00

http://video.msn.com/video.aspx?mkt=en-us&vid=bc2e9998-cfba-474c-9ed6-46fca1c12808

The answer is prayer-according to Governor.

http://www.iht.com/bin/printfriendly.php?id=8352880

sandor katz to campus, fermentation

2007-11-15T16:54:00.001-08:00

a la curtis white/peak oil/ luddites/ go preserve some vegetables (that's from me)

FERMENTED FOODS EVENTS (Sandor Katz talk and Skillshare #2)

Sandor Katz, author of "Wild Fermentation" and "The Revolution will
not be Microwaved" is coming to Berkeley!

when: Thursday, November 29th at 6:30pm sharp
where: UC Berkeley's Morgan Lounge (part of Morgan Hall, College of
Natural Resources) http://www.berkeley.edu/map/maps/AB23.html
price: FREE!
what to bring: We'll have a table set up in the back with fermented
foods on display in their many stages, starter cultures to giveaway,
and tastings. Please bring your own utensils, cups, and containers-
and your experiments, brews, and bubbles to show and tell, and taste!
Please email lindsay.meisel@gmail.com if you'd like to contribute.
questions: karmin510@gmail.com **we need help with this event**
website: www.agrariana.org
-------------------------------------------------------------
Fermented Foods Skillshare #2

Never fermented anything before and not sure what 'fermented foods'
means? Come to the skillshare and we'll show you the basics and
introduce you to some well cultured experts who know the details and
complex variations. For beginners and experts. Our first skillshare
was wildly successful so please come to our second one and bring your friends!

where: Berkeley Co-housing Community - 2220 Sacramento at Allston Way
when: Sunday November 18th, 11am sharp - 1pm
what: Sourdough breads, Russian Kvass, Kefir and more... with an intro talk on
phytic acid, soy, and the importance of soaking your grains and beans.
price: $5 donation for supplies
to bring: Your own utensils, cups, and containers- and your experiments,
brews, and bubbles to show and tell, giveaway, and taste!
questions: karmin510@gmail.com

public health ongoing series, agriculture!!

2007-11-15T16:51:00.000-08:00

11/15 2 pm – 4 pm
2319 Tolman Hall, UC Berkeley
"Ethics and Public Health in an Age of Terrorism: Agriculture"
Ben Sun, Thomas Sidebottom
U.S. Food and Drug Administration
http://www.idready.org/documents/TentativeAgenda.pdf
http://www.idready.org/

What Do You All Think of This?

2007-11-14T19:20:00.000-08:00

CO2Stats

GET TRAINED & CERTIFIED TO VOLUNTEER ON BEACH CLEAN-UP

2007-11-14T15:50:00.000-08:00

[h/t Iris Clearwater]

If you are interested in helping with the San Francisco Bay Oil Spill cleanup efforts, below are some upcoming training sessions provided by the EPA. Please forward this to any friends who could possibly help -- even for just one afternoon.

GET TRAINED & CERTIFIED TO VOLUNTEER ON BEACH CLEAN-UP:

The Department of Fish & Game and Environmental Protection Agency [EPA] are providing training for volunteers:

Wednesday, November 14, 6:00-10:00pm
Saturday, November 17, 8:00am-Noon
Saturday, November 17, 1:00pm-5:00pm

Location:

County Fair Building, Hall of Flowers, Golden Gate Park [inside the Lincoln Way and 9th Avenue entrance to GG Park] San Francisco

The Environmental Protection Agency [EPA] will provide training to certify volunteers for participation in San Francisco and Bay Area beach cleanups. The training will include instruction and safety guidelines necessary for successful cleanup of beach-related hazardous waste operations. The certification training will allow volunteers to take part in organized beach cleanups for the duration of the recovery effort. Volunteers who participate in beach cleanups must be able to lift five pounds and be comfortable working on their feet for extended periods.

BEACH CLEAN-UP

The public is still urged to avoid oil impacted areas and wildlife that are affected, as untrained people can cause further damage to the environment and stress on the wildlife. The public is also reminded that allowing your dogs to run on impacted beaches will create even greater stress for injured wildlife by forcing birds back into the cold water. Concerned citizens should call 415-701-2311 to report any sightings of oiled wildlife.

WILDLIFE RESCUE

The rescue of oiled wildlife requires significant training to avoid further injury to birds, other animals or volunteers themselves. The state wildlife rehabilitation center in Cordelia has limited opportunity for volunteers [in Cordelia only] for tasks such as cage cleaning, and other general support of rehabilitation processes. Volunteers must be at least 18 years of age and in good health, and are required to participate in training. Information regarding these opportunities can be found at http://www.owcn.org or by calling 800-228-4544.

Approaching oiled animals will often result in driving them back to contaminated water where they are exposed to greater risk and out of reach of rescuers. You CAN help affected wildlife by immediately calling 877-823-6926.

Zoe...

2007-11-13T11:22:00.000-08:00

Sorry to post this to the group, but I don't know how else to contact individuals. Zoe, I know you are doing eco sabotage. Will you be covering Green Anarchy? Email me: laurenj.powell@gmail.com

Itelligence and Counter-Terrorism Lecture Today

2007-11-13T10:51:00.000-08:00

This isn't exactly environmental, but perhaps we could relate it to 'ecotage'. Sounds interesting regardless, and now that class is cancelled, you probably don't have ANYTHING to do but go to this anyway.

Today, November 13 @ 4pm
Location: Toll Room, Alumni House (not far from Dwinelle across from Haas Pavillion)

Topic: A veteran member of Israel's counter-terrorism establishment, Ram Sidi has observed firsthand the structure, recruiting and training techniques of terrorist organizations. Mr. Sidi offers a rare perspective on the motivations and goals of terrorists, and will discuss the psychological
aspects of interrogation and intelligence gathering, as well as the ethical dilemmas posed by both.

Sicko

2007-11-13T09:03:00.001-08:00

Hey, everybody. I've got some kind of bug and I'm going to spend the evening in lovely recuperative slumber rather than class. I'll be back Thursday, probably not with bells on, but I'll be there. Obviously, the community should feel free to gather informally to discuss the texts if you like, otherwise see you in two days.

PS: Kaila, the pie was delicious. Eric blows you a kiss as well for his slice.

wonderful resource

2007-11-12T22:52:00.000-08:00

ludd.net

check out the halfway library, ="http://ludd.net/books/">"dangerous books", and retorts
especially interested in if anyone has read this (i included the comments that are attached to the book's citation):

James Brook, Iain Boal ed., Resisting the Virtual Life: The Culture and Politics of Information. San Francisco: City Lights, 1995 Add Review
Devastatingly critiques the role technology plays in our lives. A collection of essays relentlessly declawing the almost universally unquestioned assumptions that computerization benefits society and workers in particular, that quality of life has been perpetually improving, and that our humanity is furthered by computer-mediated experience, among others. --tr Edit
Iain Boal's introduction provides an insightful discussion of contemporary luddism, and a refreshing viewpoint on the history of the Luddites themselves. --gw Edit

doomsday posting

2007-11-12T20:35:00.000-08:00

for the past 3 years this has been my go-to depressing article. it is the guardian's summary of the pentagon report on climate change. I am sure most of you have seen this before, but this was my first introduction into the reality of fresh water scarcity.

link to pdf of bottled water: pure drink or pure hype

2007-11-12T20:16:00.000-08:00

i couldn't get the link to work from the syllabus but i found this pdf

London's Burning(s)

2007-11-12T08:47:00.000-08:00

To conclude the fire/water portion of my elemental posting suite:

London Olympic Flame to Be Carbon Neutral

Now, in an effort to ensure London's 2012 Olympics are remembered as the "greenest" ever, organisers are exploring ways of developing a more carbon neutral flame which will be kept alight in a cauldron in the main stadium for the month of Olympic and Paralympic competition.

A spokeswoman for London 2012 said: " We want London 2012 to be a truly sustainable Games. Using a low-carbon fuel to light the Olympic flame and keep it burning throughout the Games is one of the many things we are looking at right now to deliver a 'green games'.

If they're as progressive as their logo might have us believe, I wouldn't be surprised if they opted for LEDs.

And in a related story:

Huge Pall of Smoke Over London

A massive plume of black smoke is still spreading over London from a large fire on the site for the 2012 Olympics.

Police say the smoke - coming from a disused warehouse - may contain asbestos. People with respiratory conditions have been advised to stay indoors.

Fiji Water, resisting from the `interstices'

2007-11-11T08:30:00.001-08:00

A post in two parts:

I.

For Fiji Water, a Big List of Green Goals

[...]

“Bottled water is a business that is fundamentally, inherently and inalterably unconscionable,” said Michael J. Brune, executive director of the Rainforest Action Network. “No side deals to protect forests or combat global warming can offset that reality.”

Mr. Prickett, however, insists that is an unrealistic view.

“Maybe it would be morally preferable to carry a bottle I filled at the tap, but bottled water is a consumer reality,” he said. “So rather than operate in a moralistic framework, we’ll use the economy as it exists to make a difference.”

II.

Slavoj Zizek in the London Review of Books:
Resistance Is Surrender

One of the clearest lessons of the last few decades is that capitalism is indestructible. Marx compared it to a vampire, and one of the salient points of comparison now appears to be that vampires always rise up again after being stabbed to death. Even Mao’s attempt, in the Cultural Revolution, to wipe out the traces of capitalism, ended up in its triumphant return.

Today’s Left reacts in a wide variety of ways to the hegemony of global capitalism and its political supplement, liberal democracy. It might, for example, accept the hegemony, but continue to fight for reform within its rules (this is Third Way social democracy).

Or, it accepts that the hegemony is here to stay, but should nonetheless be resisted from its ‘interstices’.

Or, it accepts the futility of all struggle, since the hegemony is so all-encompassing that nothing can really be done except wait for an outburst of ‘divine violence’ – a revolutionary version of Heidegger’s ‘only God can save us.’ [That's a misquote: in the 1966 Der Spiegel interview to which he's referring, Heidegger actually says `Nur *ein* Gott kann uns noch retten' -- `only *a* god can save us.']

Or, it recognises the temporary futility of the struggle. In today’s triumph of global capitalism, the argument goes, true resistance is not possible, so all we can do till the revolutionary spirit of the global working class is renewed is defend what remains of the welfare state, confronting those in power with demands we know they cannot fulfil, and otherwise withdraw into cultural studies, where one can quietly pursue the work of criticism.

Or, it emphasises the fact that the problem is a more fundamental one, that global capitalism is ultimately an effect of the underlying principles of technology or ‘instrumental reason’.

Or, it posits that one can undermine global capitalism and state power, not by directly attacking them, but by refocusing the field of struggle on everyday practices, where one can ‘build a new world’; in this way, the foundations of the power of capital and the state will be gradually undermined, and, at some point, the state will collapse (the exemplar of this approach is the Zapatista movement).

Or, it takes the ‘postmodern’ route, shifting the accent from anti-capitalist struggle to the multiple forms of politico-ideological struggle for hegemony, emphasising the importance of discursive re-articulation.

Or, it wagers that one can repeat at the postmodern level the classical Marxist gesture of enacting the ‘determinate negation’ of capitalism: with today’s rise of ‘cognitive work’, the contradiction between social production and capitalist relations has become starker than ever, rendering possible for the first time ‘absolute democracy’ (this would be Hardt and Negri’s position).

[...]

[T]he truly subversive thing is not to insist on ‘infinite’ demands we know those in power cannot fulfil. Since they know that we know it, such an ‘infinitely demanding’ attitude presents no problem for those in power: ‘So wonderful that, with your critical demands, you remind us what kind of world we would all like to live in. Unfortunately, we live in the real world, where we have to make do with what is possible.’ The thing to do is, on the contrary, to bombard those in power with strategically well-selected, precise, finite demands, which can’t be met with the same excuse.

[More here.]

climate change job

2007-11-10T12:47:00.000-08:00

an opportunity for a UCB grad student or undergrad to get paid...
------

Climate Action Intern for the Chancellor's Advisory Committee on
Sustainability

The Ecology Center is seeking a UC Berkeley graduate student, or highly
skilled UC Berkeley undergraduate to help integrate our educational
activities with the City of Berkeley and UC Climate Action Plans.
Specifically, the intern will help us produce:

* Educational Content for our Carbon Offset Website
* Fact sheets and Educational Materials
* A Low Carbon Diet Blog
* Materials for Use in the Low Carbon Diet Effort
* Documentation and Framing of Ecology Center Carbon Reduction Services
* Draft Climate Action Education Plan
* Organize events and classes
* Draft Language for Future Fundraising Efforts

The Ecology Center has been working to help local residents,
governments, agencies, organizations, and businesses reduce their
environmental impacts for nearly 40 years. We are now finding that we
must reorient and reorganize our educational efforts so that they are
framed with a focus on climate change. This internship will help us
integrate our existing programs with other carbon-reduction projects
such as the Low Carbon Diet, the City of Berkeley’s Measure G efforts,
and the UC Climate Action Plan. We offer many programs and services that
help residents to reduce their environmental impacts (from Berkeley’s
curbside recycling pickup to the farmers’ markets and more), as well as
offer classes and events in our Environmental Resource Center and at the
EcoHouse, our demonstration site. We are currently developing a Local
Carbon Offset website. We have much to offer the community and this
internship will help us provide more effective environmental service.

The Intern must possess both analytical and people skills and will help
us review the service base, our classes and events, materials and other
resources. The intern will work on ways to integrate the language,
framing, and concrete programmatic connections to best serve the
community. Must be able to perform research, writing, content
development for our website, organize and participate in events, and
prepare the organization for fundraising efforts to continue this work
upon their departure. Experience working in a collaborative community
setting is a plus.

Terms: Internship will span the Fall 2007 and Spring 2008 semester; 10
to 20 hours per week for a total of approximately 350 hours, and will
pay $10 -$15 per hour depending on experience.

To Apply:

Please send resume and cover letter to Beck Cowles, Ecology Center:
_beck@ecologycenter.org_

Position open until filled.

biofuels and indonesia

2007-11-09T15:14:00.000-08:00

some startling statistics and scary futures
http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2007/nov/08/climatechange.biofuels

The Business of Death

2007-11-08T17:38:00.000-08:00

Via GOOD Magazine:

URL for the alternate Permaculture Text for Today

2007-11-08T06:12:00.000-08:00

nice copy,
if can't access pdf.

I forgot all about linking to this, do check it out when you can. See you all tonight!

Dow Chemical & UC Berkeley

2007-11-04T10:12:00.000-08:00

http://www.dailycal.org/sharticle.php?id=26681

green collar saturday

2007-11-03T11:47:00.000-07:00

http://events.stepitup2007.org/november/events/show/2546?id=2546

November 3, Green City Gallery
1950 Shattuck Ave. (at Berkeley Way, 1 block N of BART)

12:00 -2:00 Step It Up! Banner-making workshop with Earth Team
12:00 - 1:00 Climate Challenge Solutions: A Mural Painting Workshop
1:00 - 2:00 From Streets to Seeds: An Urban Ecology Workshop for Kids and Parents
12:00 - 2:00 Community Gardening: Bamboo Planting - DIG CooperativeBuilding Solar Ovens - DIG Cooperative
2:00-3:00 Kat Steele giving Climate Project Presentation (Al Gore's presentation from An Inconvenient Truth)
3:00 - 5:30 Toward a Local Green Economy: Your Leaders Speak
3:00 Introduction, and Mayor Tom Bates and California Assembly Member Loni Hancock
3:30 Kevin Danaher, Green Festival, "Building the Green Economy"
4:00 Ian Kim, Ella Baker Center for Human Rights, "Green Pathways Out of Poverty"
4:30 - 5:30 Timothy Burroughs - Berkeley Climate Action Coordinator,Beck Cowles - Information Program Manager at the Ecology Center, Berkeley City Council Members Kriss Worthington and Donna Spring
5:30 - 6:00 Green City Gallery Update with Babak Tondre,Kirsten Beneke, Abraham Kneisley, Kat Steele
6:00 - 9:00 Salon with food, drinks, music, art and good conversation

looking for...

2007-11-02T22:17:00.000-07:00

that chart/graphic of how big corporations own all the little "organic" companies. can any one help?

David Sandalow Talk on Campus

2007-11-01T14:48:00.000-07:00

A class I am in will be hosting the following:

David Sandalow, former Assistant Secretary of State for Oceans and International Environmental and Scientific Affairs (phew!) in the Clinton administration and general advocate for our dear planet, will be speaking on campus this coming Tuesday, November 6, at 11:00am. The currently scheduled location is 390 Hearst Mining, but may have to be moved due to capacity limits. There will be signs posted on the door directing people to the new location.

He latest book is Freedom From Oil: How the Next President Can End the United States' Oil Addiction. You can read the grist review here.

His lectures/discussions come highly recommended, so it should be an interesting hour and a half.

Monsanto's Magic

2007-11-01T02:24:00.000-07:00

Thought I'd share a Vandana Shiva inspired sculpture with all of you. It was my first social commentary piece, inspired by her book, The Stolen Harvest. The title is that of this post. Apologies for the less than pro photo. I was just beginning to document my work.

Read This, Too

2007-10-31T15:37:00.000-07:00

Those of you who see this link in time, I'd be interested to hear what we might make of this piece by the incomparable Vandana Shiva.