NRDC Action Fund: Mobilizing America for a Sustainable Future

Recently I came across this video advocating for comprehensive climate and energy legislation that is currently before the Senate. This bill is called “The Clean Energy Jobs and American Power Act” and I think this is a slam-dunk no-brainer. Why not combine the two most pressing needs in America today: jobs and a “clean-energy” economy?

Check out the video below to be introduced to what the NRDC Action Fund is up to:

If you think this political action is worth advocating for, the website NRDC Action Fund at “This is Our Moment” will provide you an opportunity to email your state senator and encourage them to take action now. If you saw the “State of the Union” address from President Barack Obama, than you are aware that job creation will be his focus for the upcoming year.

Help the US government know that we don’t want just jobs for the sake of jobs, but a whole new industry of jobs and financial resources directed towards helping the United States become a world leader in clean/alternative energy industry.

Included in my appeal to the Hawaii State Senator, I included the following special note:

“I also want to share just one point of personal, heartfelt awareness. It simply would be smart to combine the two most pressing needs of the present moment: jobs and environmental sustainability. For many decades we have been taught in school about America’s manufacturing and innovation prowess, especially since WWII.

However, as I’ve become a young man, I watched as those jobs have moved overseas and America increasingly lose her world stature and respect because she has been unwilling to stand for something other than military-industrial/oil interests. Let’s make a stand now and show that America is ready and willing to be a world leader — not only to benefit the masses outside our borders by innovation, leadership, and utilization of our amazing ability to get products out to the world — but also by generating, nurturing and keeping the jobs that will save the environment of our planet here at home.

We can do this and I trust you will see beyond any immediate lobbying efforts that want to maintain the status quo, and instead, take into account the generations beyond this moment that will benefit from a powerful step forward through energy and climate legislation. Get the money out to businesses, research institutions, schools, and individuals who not only want to succeed in the “business model,” but who also recognize their contribution is not only to their bottom line, but to the world itself.”
Please take action now. Whether or not you agree with the direction Obama has taken the United States. Whether or not you agree that a “change” has come to Washington [D.C.]. Whether or not you like current Health Care legislation (for the record, I’m quite disappointed). All that doesn’t matter now. This is all about America’s future and frankly the future of the world’s natural environment. Let’s at least get the money government spends to “help the economy create jobs” focused in the “right” direction.

Please take a stand: Consider whether this stands for your interests and would be worth spending a few moments emailing and advocating for.

Our government (and Obama) needs to hear from us.

William Faulkner Believes in Us; Perhaps I Can Too

This quote was taken from William Faulkner’s acceptance speech for the Nobel Prize in Literature in December 1950:

“I decline to accept the end of man. It is easy enough to say that man is immortal simply because he will endure: that when the last ding-dong of doom has clanged and faded from the last worthless rock hanging tideless in the last red and dying evening, that even then there will still be one more sound: that of his puny inexhaustible voice, still talking. I refuse to accept this. I believe that man will not merely endure: he will prevail. He is immortal, not because he alone among creatures has an inexhaustible voice, but because he has a soul, a spirit capable of compassion and sacrifice and endurance. The poet’s, the writer’s, duty is to write about these things. It is his privilege to help man endure by lifting his heart, by reminding him of the courage and honor and hope and pride and compassion and pity and sacrifice which have been the glory of his past. The poet’s voice need not merely be the record of man, it can be one of the props, the pillars to help him endure and prevail.”

Start supporting your local Community Bank. Move Your Money Compaign

Check out this video to learn more about how to move your money safely out of the big banks — that aren’t lending your tax dollars, paying big bonuses to their executives, and have a stranglehold on your credit and mortgages.

Get educated and switch today.

The Obama Organic Family Garden: Swimming in Sludge?

Below are my comments in response to this article: Read: The Obama Organic Family Garden: Swimming in Sludge? at HuffingtonPost

I don’t believe “sludge” is all bad…and frankly, needs to be dealt with, not avoided simply because its human feces.

Here on Maui we have a very interesting composting company, EKO Compost, that mixes biosolids from local wastewater treatment plants, with the amazing amount of green waste produced on the island. During the composting process, the mulched green waste is cooked with the “sludge” at high temperature for weeks on end to produce tremendously high quality, safe (the compost is tested daily throughout production), and amazingly fertile compost. In a show of true sustainability, from the biosolids and green waste (that all would either end up in the landfill or ocean), we get awesome compost that is reused to plant gardens and landscapes all over the island.

Obviously, biosolids need to be made safe for human use, but we need to start thinking beyond the easy conclusion that because its toxic, we should just avoid having to deal with it. Our biosolids and other forms of waste (from green, to food, to garbage of all kinds, to metals, electronics, more) all need to be brought into the equation to meet the earth’s need for human sustainability. Perhaps EKO-Compost’s example is one that can be brought to other parts of the US and world!

Here is my response to a question posed in the comment section:

HeevenSteven I’m a fan of this user permalink

How much lead do vegetables absorb from the soil?? That would be useful to know. Do some vegetables absorb more than others? Are there any that don’t absorb it?

Great question. Most “root” vegetables (i.e. potato, onion, garlic, taro, beet) are going to be the main absorbers of heavy metals and other toxins (in addition to nutrients). Fruit-bearing vegetables are going to be less effective at moving metals from the soil up into the fruit, of course depending on a toxin’s mobility and the type of fruit/nut produced. Peanut trees for example are particularly adept at moving toxins out of the soil and are often planted in order to “clean-up’ soils. Keep that in mind the next time you order Jiffy.

Alternative Health is Getting Mainstream Attention

Recently several articles have come out beginning to point out and draw attention to the benefits of alternative medicine. As the Obama Administration begins to tentatively approach the topic of reforming our healthcare system, keep on eye on these discussions as they will become more heated and vocal.

Personally I believe any healthcare reform MUST include advocacy and inclusion of alternative, complementary, herbal, “asian-healing”, and other forms of health treatment that fall under the general heading of “alternative.” This medical approach to healing must include the human, touch, emotional, mind-body, and patient history for treatments to become relevant, effective, and ultimately worthwhile. I trust we’re moving slowly in that direction.

Here are several articles that I’ve reviewed recently that I think are worth checking out:

The horrors of modern medicine, insurance, and costs of doing business:
Health System from Hell, by Kate Michelman.

Fantastic article by Deepak Chopra giving an overview of the situation:
Mainstream Medicine & the Oprah Factor, on Intent.com.

Recent Associated Press article on Alternative Medicine and its impact on hospitals:
Alternative Medicine Goes Mainstream.

Here are some other links that will bring you some awareness of other education centers, non-profits, and more doing work in this arena:

University of Minnesota, Center for Spirituality & Healing: One of a kind, educational center working with its medical and nursing programs to better understand the interplay of healing and spirituality!

Guaranteed Healthcare.org: Grass-roots organization advocating universal healthcare coverage.

North Hawaii Community Hospital: Hospital utilizing complementary and holistic healing approaches.