get a kleen kanteen

what a year it's been..

the following was part of an email from my GSI
the class: International Rural Development: Agriculture, Industry, Development and the Rise of Social Movements (ESPM 165)
professor: eric holt-giménez, executive director of food first

Hey 165ers!

The semester is coming to an end and the workload is almost insane. But we all are realizing how high yielding (non GR!) this course harvest has been, huh? Then it is also time to celebrate!

We thought that it would be great to end our last day of class with a potluck! After all we’ve been talking about the importance of access to good healthy food and how wonderful it is to share this moment with others. So, let’s do it! What we don’t have in funding we might replace with creativity. Leonor will be bringing some nice treats from Food First and you are all invited to bring whatever you want: food, non alcoholic beverages, musical instruments, smiles and life histories. Let’s make it happen! Horizontal decision making process, decentralized power and celebration with food!

ooh i love berkeley.

Power Shift 2007

borders of diversity

Tommorrow is the big Borders of Diversity Student Conference. It's an annual event sponsored by PCC's English and Languages Departments, where students take lead and speak. Every hour there's a different panel of students who present papers, films, or speeches on behalf of an overarching theme, this year it's "Decolonizing the Mind: Liberating Language and Culture to Create a Just Society."

My English course on environmental ethics was chosen to be the first panel and possibly more exciting, (at least for me) I was chosen to be on the panel! I decided to forgo my paper on land ethics and global warming (both pressing issues of which got me chosen to be a panelist) and instead am going to be bold and try something different, presenting the connections between animals and women in advertisements and the subsequent harmful consequences, much of which was inspired by Carol Adams' The Sexual Politics of Meat.

The keynote speaker of the event is noted author, activist and UC Irvine Professor, Ngugi Wa Thiong’O. His political commentary in his 1977 play Ngaahika Ndeenda (I Will Marry When I Want) provoked the government of Kenya to order his arrest. While in prison, he wrote the first modern novel in his native language of G?k?y?, Caitaani m?tharaba-In? (Devil on the Cross), on toilet paper. He was released a year later and continues to write and lecture. read more.

What daring brilliance.

say goodbye to the "paper or plastic" dilemna

hooray!

San Francisco bans plastic grocery bags

BY LISA LEFF, Associated Press

Article Last Updated: 03/27/2007 09:34:37 PM PDT

SAN FRANCISCO - After weeks of intense lobbying from environmentalists and a supermarket trade group, city lawmakers approved a ban Tuesday on plastic grocery bags, a first for a U.S. city.

The law adopted on a 10-1 vote requires large markets and drugstores to give customers only the choice of bags made of paper that can be recycled, plastic that breaks down easily enough to be made into compost or reusable cloth.

San Francisco supervisors and supporters said that by banning the petroleum-based sacks blamed for littering streets and choking marine life, the measure would go a long way toward helping the city earn its green stripes.

"Hopefully, other cities and states will follow suit," said Supervisor Ross Mirkarimi, who crafted the ban after trying to get a 15-cent per bag tax passed in 2005.

The 50 grocery stores that would be most affected by the legislation argued that the ban was not reasonable because plastic bags made of corn byproducts are a relatively new, expensive and untested product.

Some said they might offer only paper bags at checkout.

"I think what grocers will do now that this has passed is they will review all their options and decide what they think works best for them economically," said David Heylen, a spokesman for the California Grocers Association.

Mayor Gavin Newsom supported the measure and is expected to sign it into law. The switch is scheduled to take effect in six months for grocery stores and in one year for pharmacies.

Craig Noble, a spokesman for the Natural Resources Defense Council, said it would be disappointing if grocers rejected the biodegradable plastic bag option since more trees would have to be cut down if paper bag use increases.

The new breed of bags "offers consumers a way out of a false choice, a way out of the paper or plastic dilemma," Noble said.

What's shocking is that the plastic/paper bag ban is frequent all throughout the world, mainly Europe. At supermarkets and pharmacies, locals bring their own canvas or recycled bags. It's typically the the American tourist who pays the €0.20 for a grocery bag which later gets tossed in the trash or on the street.

Hopefully, San Fran's precedence will influence cities throughout the U.S. will to pick up the pace and go green!

fired up!

I'm taking an English course focused on environment and ethics, and although I've only been in class for two days, I feel rejuvenated and re-inspired. The class is mind-blowing. Last week we watched Al Gore's An Inconvenient Truth. That's not so much of the big news, but I will say that I felt really empowered by the film. I saw it when it first came out and missed a lot because it put me to sleep (and I call myself an environmentalist). It was late at night and I couldn't stand just watching Al Gore talk plus, I have this problem where I tend to fall asleep during films. ask my friends; it tends to happen a lot at the theatres. But anyhow, watching the film for the second time made so much more sense. Surprisingly, I stayed awake the whole time! Having spent a huge portion of a semester learning about climate change definitely connected me to the film and helped digest the information. A lot of people say Gore simplifies global warming and its atrocities, so perhaps I'm just slow.

Then today in class we discussed the film, the environment, society, government, and so much and on so many different levels. I love class discussions, and every time a student makes a comment, I'm fidgeting in my seat anxious to respond in whole-hearted support or mad frustration. We talked for a good hour. There was both criticisms and praises for the film, talks on our relationship to nature, government conspiracies, the like. It was interesting because there were students who talked about appreciating nature having mentioned that they like the wilderness and camping. Funny thing is I think the environment goes beyond just a pretty view of the mountains and dirt. Sometimes I think our rhetoric about the environment is so detached, like how we classify global warming as an "environmental issue." How about it's an issue about life? Think about it.

Our environment is all that surrounds us. We interact with it every day, every second. For most it defines our way of life. Of course living in America, especially southern California, we have the luxury of one season all year long. If it gets cold we can turn on the heater, take hot baths, let water run for however long we want, oblivious to the impacts. I remember living in Baja, Mexico during the summer. All I had to clean myself with was a hose and the Gulf coast. There wasn't a "trashman" to pick up my waste every week. I had to separate my waste carefully, and relied on everyone else in the research group to do the same. It was a team effort. If not, we bore the brunt of it.

I think if more people saw our environment in this light, we'd be more respectful of it. Maybe next time we'd take the effort to throw our chip bag or cigarette bud in the trash can (or not smoke at all for the sake of the air we breathe). If we care about the state in which we live in we, as individuals, should take personal responsibility for our beliefs and actions. It drives me nuts when people think that one person can't make a difference. Did it ever occur to any one that that's a billion persons? Talk about a whole lot of potential in power and change!

for the polar bear's sake!

Today the Bush administration declared polar bears to be an endangered species. This is both good and bad. Our government has finally recognized that not only is global warming real but a huge threat to our environment. It's unfortunate it's taken so long for action that the big and fuzzy mammals we've come to love and iconize are on the verge of extinction. To read more, Washington Post's Juliet Eilperin does a fantastic job covering the ground-breaking news here.