America’s “Greenest CEO” continues to inspire with the release of his new book, Confessions of a Radical Industrialist.

Ray Anderson is more than just the founder of Interface, the worlds largest manufacturer of modular carpeting, he is also a pioneer and hero of corporate sustainability.

For years, Anderson’s company had manufactured carpets using a toxic, petroleum-based process, releasing immense amounts of air and water pollution and creating tons of waste. It wasn’t until 1994, after reading the book, The Ecology of Commerce, that Anderson had an epiphany – “I read it, and it was a spear in the chest, an eye-opening , earth-shaking, life-changing experience.”

Soon after, Anderson became know for his advanced and progressive stand on industrial ecology and sustainability.  Anderson’s company cut greenhouse gas emissions by 82 percent, eight of ten Interface plants have achieved the 100 percent renewable energy mark, and the company uses 100 percent recycled yarn for carpets. While implementing these green initiatives, the company increased sales by 66 percent, doubled earnings, and raised profit margin.

Ray Anderson has been named one of MSNBC Top 15 Green Business Leaders in 2007, one of Time Magazine’s Heroes of the Environment and he’s been featured in two groundbreaking documentaries – The Corporation and The 11th Hour.

Don’t forget to grab a copy of his new book!

The term of the day for undocumented superpowered humans, robots, demigods, vampires, extraterrestrials, parallel beings, werewolves, and intelligenced animals.

Anything that wears a costume or farts lasers and fights crime but doesn’t call Prometheus (or another country’s agency equivalent) to do it is an illegal post-human combatant. Other terms include vigilante, maverick, phonebooth, knit cape, Non-Doc, loosie, neighborhood watch, and garage band.

In 1980, Reagan pushed a plan to document every post-human born in the United States (this was not retroactive, affecting every post-human citizen– that came with the Patriot Act). It took two years to implement– all the while thousands of potential lawsuits prepared to slam the legal system.

And they did, raging through state supreme courts, eventually heading to the Supreme Court in 1985 (this case pitted the post-human advocacy firm Brittain & Morose in its most notorious case). The court took at year to side with Reagan, and the documentation went into full effect in 1987.

In 2001, after several garage bands prevented the successful rescue of American Airlines Flight 11 and United Airlines Flight 175 prompted Bush to enact the “illegal post-human combatant” clause of the Patriot Act, enabling sworn law enforcement officials to arrest any post-human using their abilities in “conspicuous or malicious ways.”*

LIST OF KNOWN ILLEGAL POST-HUMAN COMBATANT SQUADS

• The 11th Hour (NYC)
• Courage Now! (Global)
• The Early Halloween (Philadelphia, PA)
• The Gun Club (Dallas, TX)
• The Inevitable (Chicago, IL)
• The Nephilim (Atlanta, GA)
• Priority One (Los Angeles, CA)
• Rising Tide (Seattle, WA)
• Los Supertécnicos (San Antonio, TX)
• The Upgrade (Arcadia, CA)
• Las Vangardistas (Miami, FL)

"So what if I only fight crime in Terre Haute? Still crime, ain't it?"

"Look, it's not really that hard. I'm the psychic consequence of a thousand years of avarice and hate. I'm what eventually mounts up when you buy and sell people, when you go to war for money. Therefore, I'm British. Now, if you don't mind, I've an era to boil."

She’s about five foot eight, mid-thirties, platinum blond. Eyes as blue as babies who never get the first breath. Wears a RAF leather jacket. Smokes stubby, cheap English cigarettes that smell like they haven’t quite survived the Great War. Word is Jodie Foster is going to play her in the upcoming flick.

And she’s going to destroy the planet.

She claims to be the ultimate zeitgeist, where the pulsating hate mounting since Christ walked the earth has collected. She claims to be the “Ghost of New Millenium” and she hates us.

Debuting at precisely midnight on January 1, 2000, (Coordinated Universal Time) atop Tower 42 in London, Jane Millennium struck the tower precisely as an arc of lightning speared the structure. An explosion cascaded through its segments, toppling the structure onto the toasting masses. The disaster killed one thousand people and wounded up eight thousand more.

Millennium killed the Beadle and the Dawn Treader of Britain’s House of Might with her initial strike and the Dawn Treader survived WWII.

Not finished there, Millenium appeared in every time zone as it hit the new year, sowing havoc and destruction. From London to Berlin to Prague to Athens to Istanbul to Khartoum to St. Petersburg to Tabriz to Tblisi to Kabul to Karachi to Khulna to Jakarta. A dotted map of over 100,000 dead.

A consensus of international heroes, organized by the Hierarchy, finally intercepted Jane Millenium in Kuala Lumpur. Protonik led the charge of post-humans from The Phenomenauts, The Front, L’Horizon, Превосходство, Gottkraft, The Advanced Security Patrol, the People’s Citizen Protectorate, the Matadors, the Inevitable, and the 11th Hour. Prometheus Director Andrea Thorne even contacted the international post-human youth organization Courage Now! for support (a tactic later decried by the UN Security Council).

The breadth of Jane Millenium’s powers is frightening. She appears to wield platinum-colored plasma, as well as possessing amazing durability, psychokinesis, electrical mastery, atmospheric control, teleportation, flight, superstrength, and intangibility– all to an unprecedented degree.

And the most troubling matter about the showdown in Kuala Lumpur was that Millenium’s threat was not neutralized. She grabbed Johnny Brimstone’s katana before it split her skull, looked him directly in the eye, whispered, “You pissants aren’t worth this,” and was gone with a stroke of lightning.

3 CDs

Beberapa bulan lalu ketika maen ke tanah Parahyangan, saya menyempatkan diri untuk mampir di Gramedia Bandung. Di belakang gedung tempat jualan buku-buku & stationary, ada ruangan khusus untuk buku-buku dan CDs yang diskon. Iseng killing time, saya maen ke sana dan melihat-lihat.

Waduh ngiler deh saya dibuatnya. Banyak banget CDs bagus ori dan murah. Catat, kalau selama ini ga pernah beli CD asli hahaha… Tapi, saya harus tahan pengeluaran. Jadinya cuman beli 3 CDs aja: 2 CDs produksi BBC dan 1 lagi produksi WB.

Sejak lama… ketika Algore menyarankan untuk menonton The 11th Hour, baru ketemu kemaren itu di Bandung. Langsung saya samber tuh CD. Kemudian dua CDs lainnya adalah film tentang salah satu letusan gunung terdahsyat yang menyebabkan gelombang tsunami di Jawa Barat Banten. Udah tau kan ya Krakatoa meletus tahun 1883 yang memakan korban 36.000 jiwa. Jadi inget sama mentemen yang trip ke Krakatoa euy, jadi pengen. Juga, jadi inget pas tsunami Aceh. Masya Allaah.

Satu CD lainnya adalah tentang bom atom. Hiroshima, kota padat penduduk, yang merupakan salah satu pangkalan militer Jepang kala PD2 diluluhlantakan dengan bom atom atas perintah presiden US paling gelo: Harry S. Truman. Bom atom yang ilmunya ditemukan oleh Einstein, Yahudi cerdas Jerman ini dijatuhkan di kota Hiroshima yang padat penduduk dan Nagasaki kota industri. Di Hiroshima, korban yang meninggal pada 6 Agustus 1945 itu mencapai 100.000 orang. Lalu si setan Truman itu bilang bahwa dengan dijatuhkannya Bom itu berarti akan mengurangi korban (di pihak US) yang lebih besar lagi akibat perang. Tapi ehm… saya belum menemukan sumber bahwa US meminta maaf atas kejahatan perang yang paling edan itu ke Jepang atau dunia internasional. Minta maaf ga sih? Dan ga tau deh apakah si Truman itu diberi gelar penjahat perang paling top di sepanjang sejarah kemanusiaan atau ngga.

Ya udah segitu aja deh sharingnya. 3 CDs itu ga rusak, tapi yang rusak adalah isi filmnya yang menceritakan kerusakan lingkungan yang diakibatkan oleh bencana alam sendiri dan ulah manusia. Yang pengen nonton 3 filem itu, beli aja CD nya ya… hehehe… Ga boleh minjem. Boleh lah kalau deket mah sekalian kopdar. Yuk mari!

Two videos about environmental problems produced by Tree Media Group and narrated by famous actor Leonardo DiCaprio.

Tree Media Group teamed up with Leonardo DiCaprio to create short video “Water Planet“  about the life giving necessity of fresh water, the ecological threats to it’s continued supply and ways we can turn the tide.

The second video “Global Warming” highlights the ways that our addiction to fossil fuels is threatening our very existence and points to ways we can all be a part of the solution.

Water Planet

Global Warming

Leonardo also created, produced and narrated 2007 documentary film “The 11th Hour“. With contributions from over 50 politicians, scientists, and environmental activists, including former Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev, physicist Stephen Hawking, Nobel Prize winner Wangari Maathai, and journalist Paul Hawken, the film documents the grave problems facing the planet’s life systems. Global warming, deforestation, mass species extinction, and depletion of the oceans’ habitats are all addressed.

The 11th Hour Trailer

Tonight is Macon’s Midnight Rider – the famous trolley pub crawl! Two trolleys will take you on a tour of some of the best of Macon’s downtown establishments for food, drinks and entertainment, beginning at 10 pm. Venues on the tour are:

The Shamrock
CJ’s Sports Bar and Grill
Envy
The Power Station
The Rookery
The Hummingbird
Cox Capitol Theatre

After the trolley drops you off, there will be approximately a 30- to 45-minute wait before abnother trolley returns to take you to the next location. Trolleys begin their routes at 10 pm on the corner of Cherry Street and Martin Luther King, Jr. Blvd, and at The Shamrock in Payne City. The trolleys will stop running at 2:30 am, when Zingo Designated Drivers will be available to get you and your car safely home!

There is no cost to take the Midnight Rider, and Zingo Designated Drivers will take you home for a flat $20 fee.

For more information, call (478) 722-9909.

Macon’s Midnight Rider is sponsored by Zingo Designated Drivers, The 11th Hour, and NewTown Macon.

Després de l’ enorme interpretació com a adult covard a Revolutionary Road, Leonardo Di Caprio té l’agenda ben atapeïda.

En postproducció ja es troba Shutter Island (novel·la de Dennis Lehane, autor també de Mystic River o Gone Baby gone), la que serà la seva quarta col·laboració amb Martin Scorsese. Di Caprio interpretarà a un marine que ha de trobar a una suposada assassina que s’ha escapat de l’hospital psiquiàtric on la tenien retinguda. L’acompanyaran Michelle Williams, Mark Ruffalo, Ben Kingsley, Emily Mortimer i Max Von Sydow.

A Freeedom within the heart, de Mark Mahon (també en producció) interpetarà al Gran Rei d’Irlanda, Brian Boru, qui va lluitar contra l’ ocupació vikinga fins el final dels seus dies. Amb aquest projecte, Di Caprio s’endinsa en el cinema històric; creuarem els dits amb el que serà el resultat final de la pel·li. Comentar que Vinnie Jones participa en el projecte.

El tema es posa més interessant amb The rise of Theodore Roosevelt, dirigida també per Martin Scorsese. Aquest projecte, encara sense dates, és un biopic on Di Caprio interpretarà 26è president dels EUA i narra el seu camí fins arribar a la Casa Blanca. És l’adaptació de la biografia d’Edmund Morris, amb la que va guanyar el Pulitzer, i es centra en la infància i educació de Roosevelt, els sues viatges per Europa i Àfrica, la creació dels Rough Riders a la guerra contra l’imperi espanyol i el breu periode com a vice-president.

Al 2010 també s’espera la col·laboració de Di Caprio amb Christopher Nolan: Inception. El director de The Dark Knight deixarà els ratpenats per un temps i dirigirà una pel·li de ciència-ficció escrita per ell i el seu germà. Només sabem que la pel·li tracta s0bre la ment i que Michael Caine tindrà un petit paper.

De moment, recordem The 11th hour,  documental on Di Caprio narrava la situació de la humanitat i del món:

I fell asleep at 3am this morning, but not before i was treated to TV that can change your entire thought process and contribute to changing your life. I love to be moved by television, i like to cry and i like to laugh, i like to have the little hairs on the back of my neck stand up and lastnight all three happened. Timothy Spall started it off in “The Street” the story of him being a bloody idiot and his wife thinking she is going to die because she has found a lump on her breast. My mother had breast cancer while she was pregnant with me, so anything around that really upsets me. I cant for one minute imagine what my parents went through mixing feelings of having cancer with the birth of their first child. With me being 6ft 6 and 22 stone im sure the fact my mother had a cesarean was a blessing to her.

Next up was Leonardo Di Caprio’s “The 11th Hour” If you haven’t seen it then its worth a watch. A near on 2 hour docu-film that throws line after line at you of how we should be changing to sustain our existence on Earth. We dont have to save the Earth, that will always be here, we have to save ourselves or we wont be on it much longer. Earth has all the time in the world doesn’t it…? It was a film that made you think, time and time again. For example if we had to put a monetary value on what the Earth does for us for free, it would amount to 35 trillion dollars per year, compare that to the fact that the worlds economy is only worth 17 combined it makes you wonder what the hell we are doing. For every one truck load of produce (something that is made) there are 17 trucks of waste. 99.9999% of EVERYTHING that had ever lived on this planet is extinct, and it usually takes the top of the food chain. Its all being ruined by greed, but then again what isn’t? Everything is geared around growth but our host is unable too. Something has to give….

Then there came Dispatches, about the financial crash. We all know about that so I’m not even going to talk about it. £720k a year pension for failing….

Unreported World was about the coal fields in Jakari, India. Where thousands of families have been pushed out of their farming livelihood and through having no money are forced to live on huge burning fields of coal. Living in complete filth and on the brink of starvation. Working all day steeling coal to carry it on their backs up to 4 miles to market for the equivalent of £1, which will feed the family once per day… The coal combusts because it oxidises with the air and this makes it so hot that eventually it sets on fire, creating and pushing sulphuric gases into the air, people are living among this as i write. I cant remember British coal setting on fire for no reason, but then again i suppose its cheaper from India, isn’t it always…..

In this world you are either a person or property, in some places you are both. We have to change to give things other than human beings rights, if we don’t then we will disappear. Material belongings are destroying us, things are the thieves of time. On the documentary it finished off with a quote from David Suzuki a Geneticist “When i began to look back and say, “what is the fundamental bottom line for us as social creatures?” I couldn’t believe it because it sounds so hippy dippy….but it was love. Love is the force that makes us fully human.”

Sorry for flying well off the point of me running a marathon, but i still hope you enjoyed reading……

Everything is still all geared up to the 13th May…

Toodlepip

At the core of the Leonardo DiCaprio-produced doc The 11th Hour is the principle that global warming/climate change, damage to the air and oceans, and other ecological problems are not the problems but rather the symptoms of a larger cultural problem. Punctuated by greed, selfishness, and ignorance, we humans have a tendency to ignore and reject the messages our planet sends. We tend to squabble about details or hide behind denial when real change and real answers are required.

The 11th Hour, directed by Leila Conners Petersen and Nadia Conners, is akin to all documentaries regarding environmental issues in that it faces the innate uphill climb of a sceptical society. The comparisons to Al Gore’s An Inconvenient Truth are obvious, but there are differences in the overall message of this film. For starters, The 11th Hour is much more compelling, concise, and urgent in contrast to Gore’s picture.

The collection of experts and scientists amassed for The 11th Hour is deeply impressive. Professor Stephen Hawking, David Suzuki, Interface Inc. chairman Ray Anderson, Mikhail Gorbachev, Thom Hartmann, Wangari Maathai, William McDonough, and others all factor heavily in the conclusions reached in the documentary. It is awe-inspiring to listen to Hawking describe the planet he loves so much and how its decline plays out.

The presentation is clear and the experts make sense without pandering to the audience. There is no condescension and no guilt-mongering here, just cold and difficult facts. The planet will not just up and die; we won’t kill it. Throughout the course of life on earth, over 99% of all species have become extinct. Amazingly, life goes on and more life is created. While human beings are at the top of the food chain for now, we may not stay there if we continue to render our environment unliveable. But as a bold voice expresses towards the end of the film, the lakes, trees, rivers, and land on Earth will replenish without us.

The 11th Hour succeeds because it presents us with the idea of global warming as a symptom. This is not a movie about global warming; it is a movie about the human condition and how our very existence, as it is now, leads to these various symptoms. Our consumption, our consumerism, and other aspects of our humanity are seemingly incompatible with our environment. We cannot simply dump our waste into the air, water, or ground and not expect some sort of reaction from our living planet. It’s just not logical.

The film presses the notion that the Industrial Revolution offered us the idea of consumption on a massive scale and told lies about the endlessness of natural resources. We know now that we don’t have an infinite amount of natural resources and we know now that we must adapt to the planet rather than forcing the planet to adapt to us. While Al Gore’s Truth makes much out of rising graphs and Power Point, The 11th Hour goes a step further and presents these ideas in tangible form.

It would be easy to discard The 11th Hour as a blathering collection of talking heads, especially if one considers the message redundant. But the philosophy here is anything but redundant. It is unpopular, bold, and audacious. The risk is our very extinction, not the planet’s, and the notion of changing our ways to adapt to a tide that threatens to bowl us over can be a tough pill to take. It is the truth, however, and we must acknowledge it as a species and act.

8.7/10

Trailer:

De ceva timp e mare tam tam cu actiunea Earth Hour care isi propune ca pentru o singura ora sa ne descotorosim de toate beneficiile tehnologiei,practic de electricitate si sa contribuim astfel la imbuntatirea mediului,la salvarea planetei.(mai multe detalii aici)

Acum ca am mai citit din nou ultimul rand,mi-am dat seama ca treaba asta cu “Salvati Planeta” e cam la fel cu “Te Iubesc”.Easy to say,hard to prove it.Termeni atat de extra-folositi ca si-au pierdut si din calitatea mesajului.Dar totusi sa ne uitam putin in jurul nostru si sa intelegem sensul pentru ca raspunsul exista cu siguranta.

Ce nu ai inteles scumpa?

Off,ai searchuit tu ceva pe Gugal despre Earth Hour si din greseala ai ajuns aici.Ca parca ai auzit cate ceva pe la melteanu care te plimba,cum ca ceva anume,nuş’ ce… se suprapune cu meciul Romaniei cu Serbia si farul de pe stadion si nu-i a buna.Si te-ai gandit sa afli despre ce e vorba.

O sa ti-o zic mai simplu.Nu-i asa ca e frustrant ca intr-o zi sa iti porti paltonasul din animaluţ si sa constati ca iti est mult prea cald iar a doua zi cand te-ai hotarat sa iti pui gecuta scurta de firma,sa constati ca iti ingheata fundu?

Pai ce e de facut,fata?

Renuntati la orice sursa de energie electrica,sau macar stingeti becurile pentro o ORA azi,28 martie,incepand cu ora 20.30. Earth Hour 2009.

Hai,hai sa va vad

Ps:un documentar destul de bun pe tema asta.Ceasul al 11 lea (The 11th Hour).

Filmavond bij Jong EVA: “the 11th hour”

Gratis toegang met gratis veggie hapjes en drank.

The 11th Hour is een klimaat documentaire van en met Leonardo Di Caprio, die op een verfrissende manier handelt

over de opwarming van de Aarde en klimaatverandering, maar ook over ruimere duurzaamheidsonderwerpen. De documentaire beschrijft het laatste moment waarop nog verandering mogelijk is en de weg die de mensheid tot nu toe heeft afgelegd wordt bekeken. Hoe leven wij en wat voor invloed heeft dat op ons ecosysteem? Wat kunnen we nog doen om dit te veranderen? Verschillende vooraanstaande wetenschappers, politici en andere experts bespreken de problemen en bieden mogelijke oplossingen.

Praktisch:

Wanneer: woensdag 25 maart, 19u30

Waar: Vegetarisch Infocentrum, Sint-Pietersnieuwstraat 130 (schuin tegenover de Vooruit)

Contact: jongeva@vegetarisme.be

“This is the way that people are educated about issues nowadays. This is the main avenue for learning in today’s world.” I would just hope that enough people go to see them, so the studios will be encouraged to make more films like that in the future and that there is an audience for them and they are profitable.” Leonardo DiCaprio

“Our world faces a true planetary emergency. I know the phrase sounds shrill, and I know it’s a challenge to the moral imagination.” Al Gore

“It’s not just global warming, it’s not just a loss of biodiversity, it’s not just the pollution of our oceans and the clearing of our rainforests and all these complicated systems, The [11th Hour] movie talks about the world economy, it talks about politics, it talks about personal transformation and environmental consciousness that we need to have in this generation to implement a lot of these changes that need to occur.” Leonardo DiCaprio

Right, so I am piecing together some things; Al Gore, Leonardo DiCaprio and the Four Noble Truths.  This synthesis has produced what I am calling the Four Noble Films.

Now the Four Noble Truths are central to Buddhist thought, starting with “Life is suffering” and ending with the “Noble Eightfold Path.” But of course they aren’t just a way to resolve suffering and achieve a mystical state of being; it is a pattern that can be used to resolve any problem. Physicians use a similar pattern to diagnose an illness and prescribe a cure for it.

The first step is to assess the problem or illness. In my Four Noble Films I have the first as Al Gore’s An Inconvenient Truth. Here he’s saying “we have a problem, it’s called the Climate Crisis.”

The second step is to see where the problem comes from, the cause. Where does the problem of the Climate Crisis come from? Leonardo DiCaprio’s The 11^th Hour takes Al Gore’s film a bit further by saying “It’s the way we think, we need to change the way we think.” The Climate Crisis is just a symptom, and I think what was said in The 11^th Hour hit the nail on the head.

The third and fourth step`s I haven’t come across yet and it’s be appreciated if anyone has seem them and can tell me LOL.  Well, the third step is an affirmative “we can resolve the problem.” And if there’s a film, it would show various examples of how individuals and groups of people can and have changed. The fourth step would show us how to resolve the climate change by resolving the cause. Now this doesn’t have to be a Climate Crisis based Noble Eightfold Path, there are plenty of other ways to do this, ways that can work through every level of human society.

To summarise the Four Noble Films;

First: An Inconveniant Truth; we have a problem, and it’s the Climate Crisis. We need to do something about it!

Second: The 11^th Hour; we can change the way we live, how much energy we use, but these change the effects, not the cause. The cause is the way we think. We’re greedy, energy addicted materialists. This simply doesn’t work anymore. We need to change our mentality.

Third: Unknown; There are ways to changing thinking on individual and group levels.

Fourth: Unknown; One way is… Well, I’m working with Ecopsychology, Druidry and a Gaian worldview, and they work for me. What about you?

Anyway, I’d thoroughly recommend The 11^th Hour. I was impressed by it. Even more impressed than Al Gore’s Inconvenient Truth.  I’m looking out for the next films, but not worrying if they don’t appear. In fact DON’T worry if they don’t appear; our need to resolve the climate crisis does not depend on films, and if it did we might well be doomed. No, the real answer lies with us and how we respond to it. As inspirational as the films are they are not the answer, that inspiration has to channel itself through each one of us and into the world to be of any use. Their “nobility” is not who made them or what they’re saying but the effect they can produce in us to resolve this situation.

Captain Api swung the short open fibre boat in a familiar curve around the Western end of Vorovoro. And as he did so channels of late afternoon sun-light re-gathered and cast their rainbow prism on the beach. The foot of the colourful arc tracked as we skimmed parallel to the land before coming to a brief rest as we turned again directly toward the shore. And there at its foot, I saw what lay at the end of the rainbow: A line of seven island girls dressed in sulu’s and coconut palmed skirts welcoming us with a Fijian meke (dance) as we skidded onto the sand. The rainbow ran into the rain-soaked bush, the boys stood up to greet us from where they played and the girls scampered for the umbrella trees. I was home.

I had escaped the English snow storms only to dive into the depths of a tropical ‘rainy season’ which tends to include: an afternoon heavy shower or two, the occasional strong wind, an explosion of growth in the gardens and a significant increase in the bug population (the downside of island living).

Vorovoro was quieter than when I was last here in September, but nonetheless vibrant. Pupu now runs a regular popular coconut accessories workshop, Leavi (aka Crimestopper – Vorovoro’s local law enforcer with guitar and smile as his deterrents) takes tribe members on food forages into the lush undergrowth behind the villages, Save continues to teach meke and language classes to enthusiastic participants, Moya is leading a happy mini-tribe as February chief, the damn project has made great progress under team Fiji and we’re hoping with good weather next week to get near to completion (I have to say I’ve actually enjoyed lugging the sacks of gravel up the hill path first thing in the morning), and there is a welcome increase in tribal engagement in the kitchen where Va and Francis lead a Fijian fusion style menu with support of Amy, Chelly and the gang. And of course there are there are the projects…

University of the South Pacific Ethno bio-diversity study begins

As I am sure you will read on Ben Katz’s blog – our sustainability manager was able to recently persuade a team of five students and lecturers to visit Vorovoro to begin a study of local knowledge of Vorovoro’s reefs. The goal is that after this initial research more students will return to extend the study, building up detailed knowledge of the islands marine environments so that both the knowledge and the reefs can be preserved for future generations. At sevusevu on tuesday (Tui Mali’s weekly visit to Vorovoro) the USP team presented their two day findings to chief, team, tribe members, and the Prisons Commissioner for the South of Fiji (as Tui Mali’s guest). Teddy Fong, the team leader from USP, spoke of ‘islands as arks’, of how we can see the whole cycle of life on and around an island – and how they provide a rare opportunity to see global ecosystems on a micro scale. When we first looked to come to Vorovoro, I remember thinking something not disimilar although not as scientifically put – that on Vorovoro, we can see so easily the full cycle of life and its biodiversity, and that is why it is the ideal place to educate, inspire and make connections. We will post the full report of their survey online when it is complete and I hope that the partnership will grow from here.

Piggy Honeymoon

Piggy is the only survivor of last year’s lovo season, and has consequently been filled to the brim with tribal left-overs. A well rounded sow if ever you saw. In preparation for the busier dry season on Vorovoro, Tui Mali had offered to accommodate piggy at home for a brief honeymoon period with his own pig livestock before returning her pregnant. Lifting a disgruntled piggy out of her pen was both noisy and back-straining for the four men involved. But once outside she trotted along on the end of a rope in an, almost, direct line to the boat. Another heave and she was aboard, ready for her journey to her honeymoon destination, the chief’s house. After a brief swim in the mangroves, Api lured her up onto the main road and there she took the short walk to her new home. I don’t think I will easily forget the sight of Api, Leavi and the pig happily strolling down the Malau road like it something you always do in the late afternoon. Piggy is now safely ensconsed in the chiefly pen and we will pick her up when given the call.

The 11th Hour: a holistic sustainability workshop

After a full meke class on Thursday morning (with Crimestopper even introducing a new head wiggling style), Ben Katz lead a discussion on tribe members attitudes and involvement with sustainable living. Interestingly all those present had been involved through their work at home in some way: Jodie as a sales rep for a recycling company, Louis from Holland knows a lot about liquid nitrogen and even sells CO2, Paula from Italy sells bikini’s (thus saving on extra clothing…), Becky had been involved in Environmental & Energy Law, Moya ran the eco-car fleet for Estee Lauder, Sophie had produced Radio Campaigns on green issues, and our very own Katz had run a sustainable landscaping business.

From Hybrids to Shampoos to Greenwashing to defining sustainability, Re-designing Design itself and becoming re-connected with our environment, we covered a lot of ground. The third compost loo is being re-decorated by the tribe with eco facts for what you can do easily at home. Later in the afternoon, as the showers began, we settled down in the Great Bure with scones and sugared tea to watch The 11th hour, the most compelling environmental documentary I’ve seen – following the insights of the world’s most eminent scientists into the state of planet today and what must be done to prevent catastrophe. The closing comments of the film are made by an indigenous indian chief who speaks very plainly that no matter what, the earth will survive, the question is whether we want to survive with it.

A community in mourning

News came early in the week that Mosese’s (one of our boat captains) younger brother had tragically passed away at the age of 31. Peni was a fit young man, who met his lovely wife whilst visiting Vorovoro one afternoon last year, and since begun a new life in Nakawaga village. No one seems to know why he dropped down so suddenly last week – all the villagers can say is that his wife had been saying that Peni had told her in the days before his death that he “would soon be going to a far off place.” Marau left early in the week to start helping the village prepare for the significant funeral. I travelled with the family on Friday morning and arrived to a village full of people quietly preparing for a heavy day. The two hour service was followed by the short pilgrimage to the village grave site on the hill, and there in the midday heat, 150 gathered – wailing, singing hymns and shoveling thick heavy mud into Peni’s final resting place. I don’t think I’ve ever been part of something like that – where you can feel the communal shift in emotion for a man who passed too soon to one of quiet acceptance for all except the immediate family, as the flowers were placed on his mud and rock make-shift grave.

Pictured: Pupu Epeli selling is coconut jewelry

Life – and death – on these beautiful islands, a story we’re fortunate to be part of.

Leonardo DiCaprio is a celebrity that uses his celebrity status sparingly but very effectively for green causes. He is personally committed to living a greener lifestyle, uses his wealth to give to green charities, and uses his professional skills to make movies that educate the public about the environment.

Many people reading this probably already would have put him on the list of green celebrities but I hope you learn a little bit more about why I put him on my list and why he qualifies.

One of the most public, recent and recognizable achievements is the documentary The 11th Hour. He serves as the narrartor and producer of the thought provoking documentary that features experts, religious leaders, politicians and other people explaining why we need to work to fix the environment and offers real solutions on how to do it (some of which Obama has mentioned in recent speeches). To read my full review of The 11th Hour click here.

He also runs the Leonardo DiCaprio Foundation which was established in 1998 (before it was the in thing to do) that gives money to environmental organizations that fostered awareness of environmental issues. Some of the organizations he has given money to are: National Resource Defense Council, International Fund for Animal Welfare, TreePeople, and the California Community Foundation. According to the foundations 2007 990 form he gave money to 22 organizations including the ones listed above and Global Green USA ($75,000), Oceana, Bioneers, and Amazon Watch ($20,000 each).

He has also made films that are available to watch on his website titled: Global Warming and Water Planet. Click here to go to his website, there is no direct link to videos.

Leonardo DiCaprio also Executive Produced Greensburg for the Discovery channel. It is a 13 part documentary/show the explores Greensburg, Kansas’ efforts to rebuild their town after a devastating tornado on May 4, 2007 that destroyed 95% of the town. From the shows website:

In an extraordinary 13-part series co-produced by acclaimed actor and environmental activist Leonardo DiCaprio and award-winning producer Craig Piligian, viewers will meet the people of this amazing town, seeing the daily struggle of a community as it fights its way back from the edge of extinction and learning how the lives and livelihood of Greensburg’s citizens will be changed by this massive reconstruction effort.

Struggles abound as the city government strives to build the greenest buildings in the entire country, and citizens endeavor to remain patient as they live in FEMA town trailers, the temporary residences for many citizens, and prepare to rebuild their homes using green technologies.

Still, the spirit of the citizens of Greensburg are what make the journey most inspirational, as they are ordinary, everyday people of great character who choose to face adversity head on and create a better life for themselves and their children. The dependable-yet-futurist city planner, the “good old boy” mayor, and a bright high school senior all share a deep connection to the city, both past and future.

Greensburg’s story is both poignant and universal. The imagination and innovation demonstrated in Greensburg inspires and enlightens audiences, showing that when individuals, companies and communities respect and harness nature, the results are a dramatic improvement in our social, economic and environmental living conditions.

The rebuilding of Greensburg presents a historic opportunity. One rural town on the plains of Kansas vividly demonstrates that sustainable, eco-friendly building is an imperative path to the future.

Paparazzi photograph him often riding his bike around NYC (here is one from TMZ). I believe he also still drives a hybrid vehicle and is looking at (or purchased) and apartment in lower New York in an environmentally designed apartment building.

Choice quotes from speeches by Leonardo DiCaprio

While our Congress and the President have failed to act to stop these rollbacks, individuals are starting to act. Tens of thousands of people have chosen to drive a hybrid vehicle in the last 2 years, including myself, in order ro conserve energy, reduce their gas bills, and fight global warming. We have sent a message to car manufacturers in Detroit that these types of vehicles are not only central to our survival, but that we can create jobs from clean, green technologies.  (At Case Western University in Cleveland, Ohio 2004-10-19) 

We must break this cycle now – and we must make it a clean break. And the good news is we’ve never had better solutions. I drove here today in my hybrid vehicle that gets 50 miles to the gallon and has less than half of the pollution of a normal car. (On Global Warming at NRDC Press Conference February 7, 2003)

Is he perfect no… I am sure he flys alot, there are pictures of him on yachts and he currently selling a huge house that probably is not the most environmentally friendly but he certainly professionally and personally has made a commitment to helping the environment.

the 13th doll after the break…

the 13th doll…

no, it’s not that type of doll! get your mind out of the gutter! freakin’ pervs…

actually, “the 13th doll” is the subtitle to the fanmade game “7th guest: the 13th doll.”

if you don’t know what the game “the 7th guest” is then, clearly, you didn’t have pubic hair in the early to mid-90s. maybe you did have pubic hair but just had absolutely no interest in games at that point in your wonderful life. or maybe you forgot (about the game, not whether or not you had pubic hair).

regardless…

back when cd-roms were becoming all the rage in pc gaming, one of the first games to truly utilize the huge (yes, huge for back then) amount of space a cd could contain was a game called “the 7th guest.” it was essentially a bunch of mini-puzzles with a plot wrapper that involved an evil toymaker with supernatural powers killing his guests. it was all the siht-rage with geeks back then, right up there with “myst” which i won’t even bother writing about.

well, “the 7th guest” went on to sell bajillions of copies & everyone professed that full-motion video (which was a huge part of the storytelling in “the 7th guest”) was going to be all the rage in a decade & how we were so fortunate to see the first few signs of a wonderful optimistic future that was going to be filled with nothing but rainbows & trolls dancing happily through the forest.

yah. ok.

here’s where the the train gets derailed & everyone dies in the pile-up. the company that made “the 7th guest,” trilobyte, took their sweet time to develop a sequel (“the 11th hour”), chewed through essentially all of their money to make it & then the sequel pretty much tanked because it was essentially “the 7th guest” with new graphics & by then full-motion video had gone the way of the 8-track & lapels that hang down to your elbows. there was some controversy at some point as to whether there was going to be nudity or not & one scene in the finished game looks like it was edited over to cover up the sinful nipples but we’ll never know for sure because no one involved can apparently remember the details too well.

well, after “the 11th hour,” trilobyte tried to keep solvent & even began preliminary work on a sequel to “the 11th hour” but the ship had sailed & the company went belly up. one of the people kept trying for years to revive the sequel as a new sequel about an evil museum but supposedly gave up a few years ago when investors wouldn’t bite on what would essentially be “the 7th guest” with new graphics (aka “the 11th hour”).

so, therefore, “the 13th doll” is about as close as anyone will ever come to a bona fide continuation of the “7th guest” franchise.

i had been following this game for a year or two but then lost interest & was even going to write about this game (maybe i did – this where alheimzers’ rears it’s ugly head) as vaporware because, let’s face it – most games don’t take 5 years to make but apparently this one can see the light at the end of the tunnel.

on october 31st, 2009, the people making the fangame will be releasing the game. i, personally, want to congratulate these fine folks for actually accomplishing their goal because most fangames go *poof* into the wind once the designers realize they’ve bitten off far more then they can chew *cough*space quest 7*cough*.

anyway, i just wanted to write about that.

Genre : Point & Click

Editeur / Développeur : Avalon Interactive / Trilobyte

Sortie : 1995

Supports :

Versions : –

Sauvegardes : Ordinateur

Nombre de Joueurs : 1

Prix Payé : 10 €

Mon Avis : Pas encore joué.