Green Sexy

Saving the Wildlife Preserve at Gorongosa, Mozambique?

The Gorongosa Wildlife Preserve stretches for 1,500 miles across Mozambique's expanse of lakes, plains and rain forests.  In the 1960's, Gorongosa had 500 lions, 2,000 elephants, 14,000 Cape buffalo and 3,000 hippos.  Sadly, due to years of war, poaching and poverty, all of those animals have either fled or were killed. 

Enter Greg Carr, the Harvard grad who invented voicemail with a partner back in the 1980's.  He profited to the tune of $200 million, and ever since he made his fortune, he's been giving back through his charitable foundation, the Carr Foundation.  When asked why he chose to throw his money and his efforts behind the Gorongosa Wildlife Preserve, Carr said: "Gorongosa was, most people consider, the most popular national park in all of Africa and the most density of animals, the most beauty, the most diversity of ecosystems. So, you have one of the most beautiful places in the world and you also have perhaps the worst poverty of anywhere in the world, side by side."  Carr wanted to do something about this, and do something he has.  Thus far Carr has made a difference in a village named Vinho, in which he has built a school and a medical clinic, and has set up 200 villagers with jobs related to the protection and operation of Gorongosa Park.  Through his foundation, Carr plans to build 25 more medical clinics and 100 schools.  Carr understands that in order for the park to succeed, the people must also have a chance to be successful and healthy.

Gorongosa currently has crocodiles in abundance and exotic birds, but has few impala, and a herd of elephants and a pride of lions.  Carr knows that tourists want to see big game and their predators, and he has striven to meet this demand.  Last year Carr had trucked in wildebeest from one part of Africa and plans to import hyena from another part.   He also has plans to add more hippos as well, but regrets that he cannot import zebras from Zimbabwe since the political situation there is in such disarray at the moment.  Now, Carr isn't just slapping together a hodge-podge of animals that he saw in a production of The Lion King or some Animal Planet show---he has assembled a team of scientists to make sure that he gets the mix just right and so he can understand these animals better.   Carr expects that by injecting more animals into the park, the country of Mozambique will prosper from the tourist, the hotels to house them, the jobs that will be created in these industries, and the electricity, schools, hospitals, etc. that all of this will necessitate. 

Carr is a true visionary who understands that developing a country's natural resources is one of the best ways to help a country get back on its feet.  Of his work, Carr said, "Coming to Africa, spending time here, learning from their culture, which is rich and beautiful, is a blessing." 

For a clearer picture, check out the CBS 60 Minutes interview below (just exercise some patience sitting through an annoying 30 second ad).

Ansel Adams: An Artist & Conservationist

We all know Ansel Adams as a gifted photographer who is best known for his stunning black and white photographs of Yosemite National Park.  What you may not know is that Ansel Adams was also an ardent environmentalist and conservationist whose involvement in the Sierra Club furthered the success of that organization and of its environmental initiatives nationwide.   In 1919 at the age of 17, Ansel started off as custodian of the Sierra Club's headquarters in Yosemite National Park.  In 1928 he became Sierra Club's official trip photographer.  In 1930 Ansel became the assistant manager of Sierra Club's annual outing.  His artistic career was furthered when "his first photographs and writings were published in the Sierra Club Bulletin.  In 1934, Adams was elected as a member of the Board of Directors of the Sierra Club, a role he maintained for 37 years."  A volume of Ansel's photographs of the King's River region was instrumental in influencing the Interior Secretary and President Franklin Roosevelt to create Kings Canyon Park in 1940.  "In 1968 Adams was awarded the Conservation Service Award, the Interior Department's highest civilian honor" and "In 1980 Adams received the Presidential Medal of Freedom, for 'his efforts to preserve this country's wild and scenic areas, both on film and on earth.' "  So thanks to Ansel Adams, we can appreciate the beauty of nature in the pictures he took and in the parks he was instrumental in helping to create.      

Here's a beautiful excerpt from a letter Ansel wrote to a friend, as revealed on Ansel Adams American Experience on PBS: 

"A strange thing happened to me today. I saw a big thundercloud move down over Half Dome, and it was so big and clear and brilliant that it made me see many things that were drifting around inside of me; things that relate to those who are loved and those who are real friends. For the first time I know what love is; what friends are; and what art should be. Love is a seeking for a way of life; the way that cannot be followed alone; the resonance of all spiritual and physical things...Friendship is another form of love -- more passive perhaps, but full of the transmitting and acceptances of things like thunderclouds and grass and the clean granite of reality. Art is both love and friendship and understanding: the desire to give. It is not charity, which is the giving of things. It is more than kindness, which is the giving of self. It is both the taking and giving of beauty, the turning out to the light of the inner folds of the awareness of the spirit. It is a recreation on another plane of the realities of the world; the tragic and wonderful realities of earth and men, and of all the interrelations of these."

Plastic Wars: A Man's Struggle to Reduce Plastic Waste at Work

Yesterday at lunch my coworker used not one, but two plastic forks to eat her lunch with---a lunch, may  I add, that came in one of those prepackaged Lean Cuisine meals with the plastic tray.  I really had to suppress the urge to leap across the table to snatch the forks from her hand and replace them with a metal one.  Needless to say, she did not wash the plastic forks, nor did she wash out the recyclable plastic tray and take it home with her to recycle.  No---she chucked them in the garbage.  Ah, but I did have my revenge---I took the basket of plastic forks and spoons and I hid them deep in the cabinet---HA HA HA HA HA!!!

Guess what---today at lunch there was another basket full of plastic silverware!  It felt like that South Park episode when the boys destroyed the "Wall-Mart" one day, and the next day it was there again, as if nothing had changed.  As usual, my coworker used a plastic fork with her lunch, and promptly threw it away when she was done.  Here's what I did today:  I waited until everyone left and I picked her plastic fork from the garbage, washed it, and put it back in the basket. 

Am I one of those "Environmental Wackos" that Rush Limbaugh rails against?  I sure hope so.  I don't think it's too "wacko" to do everything in your power to reduce plastic waste.  It sickens me to think of the amount of plastic waste created in our cafeteria.  I remember using metal silverware in lunch as a kid---why can't students today be entrusted with metal silverware?  Why can't the adults I work with use metal silverware in our faculty room?  Oh, yeah---we live in a "convenience society".  Why, it's too difficult to take 10 seconds out of your day to wash your silverware and put it in the drying rack, right?!?   

Well, what a comfort it is that every time we throw out our plastic silverware, we can rest assured that we are adding yet another nonbiodegradable product to the environment.  Thumbs up... and #@*!!!  

Whale Wars

Animal Planet will air a program entitled Whale Wars this fall.  Whale Wars is about Sea Shepherd Conservation Society's members' efforts to interfere with Japanese whaling expeditions.  In one episode, members toss rancid butter onto the deck of a Japanese whaling vessel to make the decks slippery and to spoil the whale meat and two even boarded the vessel, creating an international incident.  The Sea Shepherd Conservation Society's actions are not always condoned by other conservation organizations; The International Whaling Commission, a society that protects whales, has been critical of Sea Shepherd's dangerous actions. 

The show is one-sided---there's no attempt made to get the Japanese side of the story, but how can one possibly justify whaling in the modern world?  What, are we trying to get oil from their blubber to light our lamps at night?  It is true that there are many fish in the sea, so concentrate on catching fish, not whales, which are highly-intelligent mammals!  Do I condone Sea Shepherd's radical tactics that they employ in the defense of whales?  If their actions help bring an end to whaling, then yes. 

If you're still wrestling with the "Well, what about people's livelihoods?" argument to whaling, then watch this video from my previous post "Japanese Whaling---Killing a Mother and Calf" and then tell me what you think! 

Earthship- Stylish and Sustainable Living

What in the world is an Earthship?  Well, according to creator and architect Michael Reynolds, an Earthship could be defined as a passive solar home made of natural and recycled materials that utilizes renewable energy and integrated water systems to make the Earthship an off-grid home with little to no utility bills.   A community of Earthships presently exist in the deserts of Taos, New Mexico in a development dubbed "The Greater World Community".  There are also Earthships in every state in the United States and a few in Europe.  The homes are powered largely by solar and wind technologies that is stored in batteries and is used to power appliances and other electronic devices.  Water is obtained from rainfall or snowfall and is filtered and used for drinking, bathing, watering indoor gardens, and flushing toilets.  The Earthship is heated via its own dense walls, which absorb and radiate heat from the sun, and from its positioning, arranged in such a way that its glass wall faces direct sunlight.  Some Earthships are built partially underground and benefit from the Earth's stable temperature.

An  Earthship's walls utilize recycled tires that are packed with dirt (which gives the walls great strength, insulation, and are largely fireproof) and recycled bottles (which let in light and heat) and aluminum cans.  Concrete, adobe and sandbags can also be utilized as building materials.  Reynold's structures have a low environmental impact and help to reduce waste and put recycled materials to good use!   Reynolds refers to the building of an Earthship as "biotecture", and no matter where you live on this planet, he says he can build you an Earthship specifically designed to function with your environment.

So, are you going to be the first person on your block to have an Earthship?

To Flush or Not to Flush?

We all do things differently in public than we do behind closed doors.  When in a public bathroom or in someone's house, I flush regardless of what "number" it was.  But, when at home, I'm not ashamed to say that I don't flush every time.  It's a simple equation:  if it's yellow, I let it mellow; if it's brown, I flush it down.  Oh, now---don't turn your nose up at this notion.  It's all in the interest of water conservation.  It's kind of like turning the faucet off when you brush your teeth...only different.  In any case, there are a few "refresher" flushes in a given day, so things don't get odoriferous. 

Alright---confession time (especially for you lurkers out there):  Do you flush every time or do you "put the handle on hold"?