I don't have nearly the number of photos that I wanted to get out of this trip. Saturday was pretty sunny and hot (near a hundred degrees, an there are no shade trees at the test site), so I spent a good deal of time at the "big tent" keeping cool and listening to various conversations and taking part in a few.

On Sunday, I participated in the sunrise ceremony and then the traditional Mother's Day women-only sweat lodge. Near the end of the sweat lodge, I started to feel one of my mirgraine headaches coming on -- I get them every so often, and it usually starts as a neckache and then turns into a migraine. I get so debilitated by them that I was out for the rest of the trip. I guess the long hours driving, sleeping on the hard and rock-strewn ground and then sitting in a cramped sweatlodge took it's toll on my neck. I didn't have any opportunities after that for photos or to take part of the "crossing the line" action on Sunday afternoon.

But, I'm jumping ahead of myself . . .

This was a reunion gathering of anti-nuke activists. Corbin Harney, the Western Shoshone spiritual leader who has been at the forefront of the native anti-nuke movement, is now in his late 80s. He was recently diagnosed with cancer and has been very ill up until recently. This gathering was organized to honor Corbin and to bring together activists that have worked against the nuke "establishment" over the many years.

My husband first got involved in the anti-nuke movement back east 20 years ago -- in 1987. At some point (I think it was 1989) he came out to the Test Site. He worked with Shundahai Network (the organization envisioned and founded by Corbin Harney) for many years.

We arrived late morning Saturday at Peace Camp, across the highway from the Nevada Test Site's gate. The wind was blowing pretty steadily, making the job of setting up tents a little more difficult than usual. After we had settled we headed up to the kitchen tent for some miso soup and then the big tent, where we paid for our permits that allowed us to be on Western Shoshone land.

As mentioned above, I hung out in the "big tent" -- an army style tent -- for a good portion of the afternoon. I wrote a little, listened to conversations, checked out all the wonderful raffle prizes. I had several people that have known Reinard for years approach me to talk about my husband and how happy and excited they were for him and his "new family" (we've been married for over 3 years now, and our daughter was born 3 1/2 years ago). They talked about how much they cared about him. I came away from the trip with the feeling that he is well loved and respected amongst his fellow activists.

The photos below were taken during "dinner circle" : some portions of the food are brought out and blessed, usually by Corbin or another native elder. Then announcements are made, and people are invited to share feelings or stories. Then the food is served in a large food tent, with the elders being served first.

The second photo shows Corbin in his wheelchair. He has changed quite a bit since I last saw him, when he stayed a night at our home back in January of 2005. He had been much more robust then. He seemed to have shrunk, and it was kind of a shock to see him looking so weak.Dinner circle - peace camp

Corbin Harney

One of my favorite months -- April -- is finally here. I decided last year that I needed more than just a day to reflect on the Earth and all her inhabitants and what I can do to leave this planet better than I found it, so I spent all of last April as Earth Month, and I'm doing the same this year. I will be focusing much more on making improvements to my eco-lifestyle. I even plan on having a contest or giveaway sometime this month to celebrate.

There are a few events focusing on environmental issues this month:

April 10 - Nuclear Utah: Lessons from the Past, Thoughts on the Future, 7:00 p.m. University of Utah's Union Theatre. A panel discussion representing four different perspectives on nuclear issues in Utah

April 14 - StepItUp Climate Action Day. Global warming awareness events around the nation. Ten events in Utah, with three events in Salt Lake City with a different focus at each: Liberty Park, 12-2 p.m., focus on sun salutations.; Sugarhouse Park at pavillion nearest the pond (12-4 p.m.), focus: Spring Run-off celebration; City/County Building at Washington Square, 3 - 7 p.m., focus on political action. (note: the times listed conflict with other times I've seen for the StepitUP events, which might be due to the different events not wanting to conflict with the others. I'll try to keep this updated as I get more info). For the other Utah StepItUp events (Ogden, Park City, Provo, Smithfield and Springdale), please go here.

April 22 - Earth Jam, all day. Festival in Liberty Park celebrating Earth Day.

VegFest, which has been held the past few years on Earth Day won't be happening this year.

I'll be hositing Carnival of the Green #65 on this blog next Monday. This will be my third time hosting -- and I love it! I hosted Carnival of the Green #6 and Carnival of the Green #33

Carnival of the Green is a weekly traveling blog carnival that features the best of the Green blogosphere: Sustainability, Fair Trade, Environmentally conscious living . . .

To find out how to participate in the Carnival of the Green, see the Carnival of the Green page at TreeHugger

[This is the first in a series of posts I'll be writing this week that highlight Sundance 2007 screenings of interest to greenies, activists, political junkies, and progressives]

The Sundance Film Festival starts in less than a week. If you live in or near Utah, the Sundance Film Festival is an event not to be missed.

For those of us in Salt Lake City, we can avoid the hassle of driving and parking in Park City (not to mention annoying star gazers) by attending screenings downtown. Almost every film at the festival screens at least once in SLC.

I prefer to go the wait list route for tickets. I have yet to be turned away from a screening using this method, and this year it's a cheaper option than buying tickets ahead of time.

Here's the scoop on what to see if you are an earth-lover.

Everything's Cool

"In their signature upbeat comedic style, Daniel Gold and Judith Helfand weave an entertaining, character-driven, behind-the-scenes tale about the mother of all problems: global warming.

Against a distinctly American backdrop of denial, deception, and delay, a group of global-warming messengers/prophets fervently searches for the right language and strategy to propel a reluctant, disaster-fatigued citizenry and its elected officials into action. Among this cast of characters are a Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist who repeatedly tries to retire but can't, the Weather Channel's first climatologist with a "global-warming beat" who must pack her Ph.D. into 30-second sound bites, two "bad boys" who aim a radical critique at the environmental movement, and a public servant who blows the lid off the White House's manipulation of key climate-change research.

Intercut throughout this strikingly shot journey are the trials and tribulations of a snow groomer turned biodiesel entrepreneur working on a solution, and the story of an Inuit Alaskan community that must decide whether to stay and risk getting washed into the sea or move their entire village. Hurricane Katrina blitzes the Gulf, U.S. consciousness on climate makes a seismic shift, and America finally "gets" global warming. Or do we? The way we're acting, one would think everything's cool.— Caroline Libresco"

Salt Lake City Screening: January 22 (Mon) 6:00 at Broadway Center Cinemas, 111 East Broadway (300 S.)

Other Screenings:

Friday, Jan 19 9:15 PM Holiday Village Cinema III
Saturday , Jan 20 8:30 AM Holiday Village Cinema II
Sunday, Jan 21 12:00 PM Screening Room, Sundance Village
Thursday, Jan 25 2:30 PM Prospector Square Theatre
Friday , Jan 26 2:30 PM Holiday Village Cinema II

Manufactured Landscapes

"From its stunning eight-minute opening shot to the remarkable documentation of China's Three Gorges Dam, Manufactured Landscapes is an impressive experience. That's partly due to the size and space of the landscapes, but mostly because of the beauty of the images--their composition and color, a sharp contrast to the film's content: this is a luscious world of destruction.

Ultimately Landscapes is the portrait of one man's voyage as it follows celebrated still photographer Edward Burtynsky on a tour of Asia. Burtynsky takes large-format stills of industrial landscapes: factory workers lined up to infinity, giant ships eviscerated, massive recycling dumps, expansive strip mines. His goal is to portray humanity's relationship to nature as we pursue progress. His images are striking and picturesque, leaving viewers on their own to comprehend the negative global ramifications.

Director Jennifer Baichwal makes insightful choices. The film perfectly balances the images of Burtynsky with those of talented cinematographer/creative consultant Peter Mettler. Burtynsky provides the vision and philosophy, and the filmmakers examine the specific details. And when Burtynsky speaks, he neither celebrates nor condemns but simply explores who we are in relation to our planet. We extract things from the environment to survive, and that is damaging the world.— Mike Plante"

Salt Lake City Screening: January 20 (Sat) 12:30 p.m. [wait list time 10:30 a.m.] Rose Wagner Performing Arts Center, 138 W. Broadway (300 S.)

Other Screenings:

Friday , Jan 19 12:15 PM Holiday Village Cinema III
Saturday, Jan 20 11:30PM Holiday Village Cinema II
Sunday, Jan 21 11:30AM Holiday Village Cinema II

The Unforseen

"The American Dream of owning a house with a white picket fence goes head to head with environmental sustainability in Laura Dunn's lyrical and beautifully crafted documentary The Unforeseen.

Dunn tracks the career of Gary Bradley, a west Texan farm boy who went to Austin and became one of the largest real estate developers in the state. In the '80s, Bradley had plans to transform miles of pristine hill country into large-scale subdivisions. But the development jeopardized Barton Springs, a watering hole treasured by locals, and served as a lightning rod for mobilizing environmental activism that flourished under Governor Ann Richards. When George W. Bush took the state's executive reins, however, development patterns changed, and the water quality at Barton Springs, as well as the surrounding landscape of Austin, was irreversibly transformed.

The Unforeseen is a meditation on the destruction of the natural world and the American Dream as it falls victim to the cannibalizing forces of unchecked development. It is an intricate tale of personal hopes, victories, and failures, and debates over land, economics, property rights, and the public good. In a time when development and property values have skyrocketed in nearly every major city, Dunn makes a plea for our development-oriented society to consider restructuring the relationship between our values and the environment that sustains us.— Shari Frilot"

Salt Lake City Screening: January 21 (Sun) noon [wait list time 10:00] Broadway Center Cinemas, 111 East Broadway (300 S.)

Other Screenings:

Friday, Jan 19 2:30 PM Library Center Theatre
Friday, Jan 19 9:00 PM Screening Room, Sundance Village
Monday, Jan 22 9:00 AM Egyptian Theatre, Park City
Thursday, Jan 25 8:30 PM Library Center Theatre

Wonders Are Many

"Is there beauty in annihilation? This is one question driving filmmaker Jon Else's (The Day After Trinity) latest documentary. Extending his fascination with the now-60-year history of nuclear power, Else's new film achieves something remarkable: it is art about artists contemplating the science of destruction.

With infinite precision and formidable intelligence, Wonders Are Many unfolds as theatre director Peter Sellars and composer John Adams collaborate on Doctor Atomic, their fifth, and in many ways most complex, collaboration. The opera's subject is the 48 hours leading up to the first atomic-bomb test detonation in 1945. The film seamlessly combines footage of the making of the opera, candid interviews, and vivid archival material (much of it recently declassified) with journals and writings by J. Robert Oppenheimer and other members of the team that created the first atomic bomb. Though it largely concerns historical events, the film is startling in its immediacy.

Art, as Sellars says in the film, is in part about discovering something new in what we already know. In documenting the act of creativity, both artistic and scientific, Wonders Are Many draws parallels between science and art, truth and beauty, and succeeds in finding wonder in the heart of darkness itself.— Cara Mertes"

Salt Lake City Screening: January 21 (Sun) 12:30 p.m. [wait list time 10:30] Rose Wagner Performing Arts Center, 138 W. Broadway (300 S.)

Other Screenings:

Friday, Jan 19 2:30 PM Holiday Village Cinema II
Saturday, Jan 20 8:30 AM Prospector Square Theatre
Wednesday, Jan 24 5:30 PM Library Center Theatre

Low and Behold

"What our eyes behold has more to do with what we want to see, rather than what is actually there in front of us. Zack Godshall's emotional first feature, Low and Behold, tells the tale of a young man who comes to post-Katrina Louisiana and gets a new set of eyes after being forced to deal with the mass destruction that surrounds him.

Turner Stull arrives in New Orleans to take a job with his uncle at Bridge Catastrophe Service, an opportunistic company that has set up shop to process insurance claims on hurricane-damaged homes. Turner's no-nonsense attitude collides head-on with the brewing anger and frustration of his loquacious and salty southern clientele. One day, he meets Nixon, a family man who asks for his help in finding his daughter's lost dog. Turner heartlessly turns his back on Nixon, but the two men are destined to become emotional catalysts in each other's lives.

Shot in a largely destroyed section of New Orleans and interweaving slices of local survivors' testimony, Low and Behold is a powerfully evocative film that puts a complex, human face on the enormity of this national tragedy. You may leave the theatre with new eyes of your own.— Shari Frilot"

Salt Lake City Screening: January 27 (Sat) 6:45 p.m. [wait list time 4:45 p.m.] Broadway Center Cinemas, 111 East Broadway (300 S.)

Other Screenings:

Sunday, Jan 21 Prospector Square Theatre
Thursday, Jan 25 5:30 PM Library Center Theatre
Sunday, Jan 28 Holiday Village Cinema IV

Documentary Spotlight (Doc shorts)

"In these true stories, the personal is always political, and art, self, and nature exist in delicate balance. A boy captures his childhood on tape where do-it-yourself videography and eccentricity intersect. Man battles nature in a glorious spectacle. Nature battles man, leaving man with faith in a higher power. The powers that be hold the future of two women in pursuit of civil rights. And through self-portraits, a woman makes personal art while acknowledging a world outside does indeed exist."

Salt Lake City Screening: January 20 (Sat) 12:45 p.m. [wait list 10:45 a.m.]Broadway Center Cinemas, 111 East Broadway (300 S.)

Other Screenings:

Friday, Jan 19 8:30 PM Library Center Theatre
Sunday, Jan 21 8:30 PM Prospector Square Theatre
Tuesday, Jan 23 8:30 PM Holiday Village Cinema II
Saturday, Jan 27 4:00 PM Holiday Village Cinema IV

Other Sundance Events for Greenies:

How "Movies That Matter" Can Matter (Panels at Prospector -- Ticket Required -- Jan. 22 (Mon) 2:30 pm)

'If "movies that matter" really matter, what does it take for them to be change agents in our society? How do you get important issues like genocide, climate change, and the war out of the theatre and into national focus? Can an environment be created that encourages activism and connects film to the tools of change (lawmakers, grass-roots efforts, and popular culture)? Documentary filmmakers Sean Fine (War/Dance), Judith Helfand (Everything's Cool), and Rory Kennedy (Ghosts of Abu Ghraib) and journalist and author Eric Schlosser, Gayle Smith from the Center from American Progress, Brian Steidle, the subject of The Devil Came on Horseback, and Diane Weyermann of Participant Productions join moderator Helene Cooper from the New York Times for a thought-provoking look at the juncture between film and social change. Copresented by the Center for American Progress."

The above reviews, along with more info on the Festival can be found here.

Attended the oil-free congress rally this evening. A couple of other cheerleaders showed up and we did a few cheers. Deanna of Dee's 'Dotes has photos here and here.  thecause was also there (he organized the event) and also took pictures. He will hopefully be posting some of them on his journal. We saw Pete Ashdown driving his RV along 7th East during the rally and we waved at and cheered him.
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My friend mwalton writes about her experiences and lessons learned as an election judge in yesterday's primary election here.
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Writing a lot of posts on green and environmental issues has gotten me some emails for promoting "green" articles or products lately. One such solicitation was asking me to post about some type of new diesel fuel (not biodiesel) that was supposed to be greener. I checked out the linked website, but still had questions. I emailed back with my questions and received no response, so I never posted about it. 

Another solicitation has offered me a book to preview at no cost to me in the hopes that I would post about it. I should be receiving the book shortly and I'm willing to review it here when I do.

I got an email asking me to link to this article which talks about using the internet to further build the green movement in a bigger way than individual actions can. I thought the article was interesting and thought provoking enough that I'm fine with linking to it. 

I received a virtual press pass to preview Time Magazine's current issue which features Teddy Roosevelt on the cover. The email reads " the man whose quest for conservation and the preservation of the environment and its wildlife left a lasting legacy on the United States including the development of National Parks and monuments as we know them today..  

Special attention is paid to President Roosevelt's naturalist background, including stories about his death-defying exploration of the Amazon rain forest, his dedication to preserving natural parks across across the country, and his love for nature. " 

While it's true that Teddy Roosevelt does have some good green acts to his credit (such as curbing the  "monopolistic corporations" and the development of our national parks) he's not exactly a hero to a peace activist like me. War, after all, is horrible on the environment as is our lust for global domination. He was quoted as saying in 1897 "I should welcome almost any war, for I think this country needs one." There followed some horrible wars during his administration. U.S. --soldiers in the Phillipines during that era were ordered to "Burn all and kill all" and 600,000 Filipinos died. 

From Time Magazine: 

"He was the first President to urge wholeheartedly that the U.S. accept its role as a global power. God knows, he accepted it. He looked at the U.S. the way we now understand the universe, as a thing that began expanding the moment it was born. (It tells you something that he never got over the habit of casting covetous glances toward Canada.) But not until just before he reached the presidency had the nation finally burst through its continental confines. In 1898 the Spanish-American War and its aftermath had placed under U.S. supervision a whole collection of territories and dependencies: Cuba, Puerto Rico, Guam and the Philippines. Suddenly, to Roosevelt's utter delight, the U.S. was acting on a world stage, across two oceans. As Assistant Secretary of the Navy under McKinley--a job that should have been nearly meaningless but that he turned into a power center--he had urged on the war. As a Rough Rider, he had fought in it. As President, he would make Americans understand that their new global prominence was a long-term proposition." 
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I decided to sign up for a free MySpace account as another communication tool. Yes, I know that MySpace is owned by Rupert Murdoch the evil media king. Yes, the ads kind of suck. It's just something I'm trying out. This page on LJ will remain my main blog, but I may occasionally repost some articles on MySpace. If it doesn't work out, I'll drop it eventually. If you want to check it out or if you have MySpace and want to friend me, my page is here and my MySpace blog is here.

Thanks to Treehugger for the link: Pollution in People. "We're walking, talking toxic waste dumps" folks.

It's true --  the government that brought you the war to dispose of the mirage-like WMDs of Saddam Hussein wants you to swallow some more "assurances".

What has our government done to earn our trust? This goes beyond Bad Boy Bush. The US government has a long history of lying to the citizens of this country about war and its war toys. They've also shown a willingness to gamble with the lives of US citizens in order to experiment with those toys.

While the "Divine Strake " test is touted as a conventional weapons test, there's growing concern that this is a nuclear rehearsal.
From Znet:

J. Preston Truman, director of the group Downwinders, which represents individuals sickened by radioactive fallout from Cold War-era nuclear tests, scoffs at the Pentagon's suggestion that it is not a nuclear simulation, arguing no military plane could drop a 700-ton conventional bomb. (emphasis mine)

"It's for one thing and one thing only," he said. "It just says they're still pursuing these stupid, insane weapons."

The nuclear tie-in to Divine Strake test was rooted out by Kristensen and Andrew Lichterman, a nuclear weapons opponent and blogger.

"It's not a step toward nuclear testing. It is nuclear testing. It's just nuclear testing the way it's done today," since actual nuclear tests are banned by treaties, Kristensen said.

They also want us to believe that no radioactive dust  from the over 900 (above and below ground) nuke tests over several years of nuclear testing on the Nevada Test Site will be kicked up by the expected 10,000 foot mushroom cloud, and that the dust that is picked up will quickly disperse. I'm not a scientist, or even sure if the dust from this cloud will follow the same patterns, but it's interesting and frightening to see the patterns of nuclear fallout from previous tests:



While we seem to have a lot of experts creating weapons, we have few contemplating the psychological effects of this development on other countries, and so I found this bit in The Free Press interesting:

The Divine Strake controversy comes at a crucial juncture, with the Bush administration threatening not only war but nuclear war with Iran, and in doing so inevitably inflicting the arms race on the Third World, as developing nations come to see, in the words of Dr. Kurt Gottfried, chairman of the Union of Concerned Scientists, that "the only way for a country to deter nuclear attack is to acquire its own nuclear arsenal."

Humanity's future remains hostage to the nuclear demon. But as the downwinders know, the place to stop it is not in Iran. It's here in the U.S., where the demon was unleashed.

Once again, the US seems to be determined to create more potential enemies. I wonder if we'll ever learn.

In addition to all of the above, the presence of the Nevada Test Site on Western Shoshone Lands is environmental racism. The UN's CERD recently found the US in violation of Western Shoshone land rights.
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Action Ideas:

Attend the protest and encampment at the Nevada Test Site May 27-29. More info here.

In Salt Lake City, join us for a solidarity vigil with those in NV protesting against Divine Strake  on May 28 from 5 to 7 pm at the Federal Building. More info here.

Join in today's BLOGSWARM and post about Divine Strake.

 

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Other bloggers BLOGSWARMING against Divine Strake today (to be updated throughout the day):

Grist magazine has an interview with Walmart CEO H. Lee Scott about some of the environmental goals that Walmart is setting. Frankly, I'm going to have to see a lot of independent evidence that Walmart is following through on this. My husband and I recently checked out the film "Walmart: The High Cost of Low Price" from the library. There's nothing like seeing this guy spout copious amounts of B.S. on film to make me think that this may just be a publicity stunt to improve Walmart's image. I've been wrong before, so I'll be keeping an eye out for these alleged improvements and hope they happen.

Maybe when (and if) they tackle the green stuff, they'll work on the worker and human rights issues . . .

ADDITIONAL: This from a post on the Carnival of the Green I hosted back in December from The Green Life: 

"As Conrad MacKerron from www.asyousow.org commented, It should be of great concern when publications start handing out awards just because a company has promised to do something. Plenty of companies have made similar promises and never followed through. As many environmentalists warned when Wal-Mart originally made these promises, we should wait and see if, after getting all the PR mileage they could get out of it, Wal-Mart still makes these changes."

Carnival of the Green makes its stop this week at Greenthinkers. The most compelling post at this week's carnival is called "post peak eats" at the blog Powering Down which examines the major food production problems that we are likely to face as the oil supply gets smaller and more expensive. Looks like now would be a good time to focus on locally produced food and make it a priority.

Carnival of the Green #20 has pitched it's tents over at Greener Magazine. My favorite entry is from Triple Pundit, who asks, "Why is Popluation Growth Always Considered Good?"
One of the comments to the post really hits the nail on the head:

"There's no consistent way to "grow the GNP" each year without more people. But when's the last time you heard someone question the need for growing the GNP? They think it's an immutable law.

Going to a Sundance film is a little like gambling with good odds. I've seen a few stinkers, but most have been really good. In Salt Lake City, it's also interesting to see which screenings the filmmakers (and possibly some cast and crew) will end up attending (they always have shown up at the Park City screenings I have attended). I'd say you have a 75% chance of seeing something great, and if you go to a film screening in Salt Lake, probably a 75% chance of getting a question and anwer period, or some other kind of interaction, with the film's director.

Continuing on with Sundance Film Festival films for political junkies, activists, progressives and more.

Sundance Sunday in Salt Lake City (Jan. 22) Film Tags ~ environment, political divide, GLBT issues, electoral politics, social justice, women's issues, immigration ~

Clear Cut: The Story of Philomath, Oregon {Spectrum} Rose Wagner Performing Arts Center (138 W. 300 S.) 12:30 pm (my recom. wait list time 11:00)
From the film guide: " . . .As the fading lumber industry gave way to new hig-tech industries, Philomath found itself in flux, with old and new ways of life dividing residents. As one of the descendants in charge of the Clemens Foundation, Steve Lowther was determined to change what he felt was a "politically correct" (read "antilogging") curriculum and lack of morals among students. He pressed the school board to stop the liberal bias that was allegedly overrunning the school's administration. What unfurled was a drag-out fight - under intense national media scrutiny - involving the future of the foundation, with the students caught in the middle." - Lisa Viola

Shorts Program II {Shorts Program} Broadway Theatre (300 S. just east of State Street) 3:00 pm (my recom. wait list time 1:15 - 1:30)  Shorts Programs are some of my favorites at Sundance.
From the film guide: " From around the world, these documentaries captivate us with insightful glimpses into arenas where people can realize their inner strength. Women from a South African township illuminate their plight with courage, beauty, and hope. All-American men share their fears of both living and dying. A transgendered son learns how to connect to the land around him through a generous and loving father, and an 80-something-year-old councilwoman tells us and everyone around her hoe the world of voting should work in America." - Roberta Monroe and Mike Plante
Film shorts titles: Mind Over Matter; No Umbrella --Election Day in the City; Range; Rape for Who I Am; Undressing My Mother.

Thin {Documentary} Broadway Theatre (300 S. just east of State Street) 3:45 pm (my recom. wait list time 2:00 - 2:15}
From the film guide: "Eating disorders have reached epidemic levels in America -- yet only recently have they been recognized as serious mental illnesses. One in seven people with anorexia nervosa will die, making htis the deadliest of all psychiatric diagnoses. With Thin, Lauren Greenfield, a photographer acclaimed for illuminating women's and society's attitudes toward the female body, gains unprecedented access to a Florida residential treatment center to observe four anorexic women, aged 15 to 30, struggling to recover over a six-month period . . ." - Caroline Libresco

Wild Tigers I Have Known {Frontier} Broadway Theatre (300 S. just east of State Street) 4:30 pm (my recom. wait list time 2:45 - 3:00}
From the film guide: "Logan, soft spoken, lonely, and 13 years old, is a boy with a cruch. unlike his equally lonely friend Joey,  who obsesses over the seual exploits of the slightly older postpubescent boys, Logan is fixated ont he boys themselves, particularly Rodeo Walker. Rodeo is the only one of the group of cool kids who shows any friendliness towar Logan, meaning he doesn't go out of his way to make Logan's life miserable. As Logan and Rodeo strike up a mismatched friendship, the kind that only works on walks deep into the forest when no one else is around, Logan's infatuation with Rodeo inspires him to create a new persona named Leah. Leah and Rodeo grow close through whispered late-night phone calls, and when Leah agrees to meet Rodeo face to face, it is Logan who must finally prove that he can ask for what he so achingly wants." - Matt Anderson

Crossing Arizona {Documentary} Broadway Theatre (300 S. just east of State Street) 6:00 pm (my recom. wait list time 4:15 - 4:30)
From the film guide:"Tension along the Mexican/American border is one of the most rapidly escalating issues int he country today. Joseph Mathew's intimate and invaluably comprehensive documentary, Crossing Arizona, offers a balanced and up-to-the-minute look at the current crisis as it is developin at its hottest point -- the Arizona/Sonor border.
Heightened security along the Texas and California borders funnels and estimated 4,500 undocumented migrants every day through the deadliest landscape in the country -- Arizona's Sonora desert. The journey can take four days on foot, and the death toll is rapidly mounting. Crossers who survive oftern tap the resources of citizens and property owners in the area, triggering a range of impassioned responses and conflicted feelings about human rights, culture, class, and national security." - Shari Frilot

Thank You for Smoking {Premiers}, Tower Theatre (900 S. just west of 900 E.) 9:00 pm (my recom. wait list time 7:15 - 7:30, but this is a premier, so earlier the better)
From the film guide: " . . .Thank You for Smoking is nearly perfect in three ways:
First-- premise. Nick Naylor, fast-thinking master of media manipulation, is tapped to turn the tide of animosity away from the tabacco industry. Nick can talk his way in or out of anything, but this time he pulls out the big gun -- Hollywood.
Second-- pace. Reitman's script is crisp and tight. Every joke and sight gag lands a punch. This hard-hitting satire takes us right to the edge but never over. Setups take place in real-world situations just close enough to scare us into laughter.
Third-- casting. The whole ensemble, led by Aaron Ekhart with his smug good looks, could not be better. Maria Bello's liquor lobbiest (jk-lobbyist?) and David Koechner's gun advocate complete the mod squad of merhants-of-death who meet each week to brag about the spin they have unleashed."- John Cooper

Shorts Program V {Shorts Program}, Broadway Theatre (300 S. just east of State Street) 10:30 pm (my recom. wait list time 8:45 - 9:15)
From the film guide: "Whether about victims, perpetrators, or systems, these short films are sure to provoke furies of discussion and questions. Oh, and a film about how karaoke cand save the world if we let it." - Mike Plante and Roberta Munroe
Film titles: Aruba; Before Dawn; The Beginning of the End; Exoticore; Flesh; Hold-Up; La Muerta Es Pequena; One Sung Hero.

Stole this from  scalarparty:

Sweden to kick fossil-fuel habit by 2020

Way to go Sweden! How I wish the U.S. were as wise and forward thinking . . .

UPDATE: the comments to this post discuss the use of nuclear energy in Sweden

Carnival of the Green #8 is visiting Suhitanantula's blog this week.

My favorite post from this week's carnival comes from The Small Town Project blog. The post talks about developers forced to pay for smog. As someone who hates the sprawl that is the Wasatch Front and who is interested in good urban planning, I found the post very interesting.
 

I've always disliked arguments from the right-wing that efforts to protect the environment are ruinous to our economy. I've always found it a very short-sighted argument -- it may influence profits this year and the next, but the environmental destruction would eventually take a much larger toll on our economy and likely in peoples' lives and health as well.

It seems that enviromental protection can have a beneficial economic impact in the short term as well as the long term. I got this from Seventh Generation's Non-Toxic Times:

"every dollar invested in stemming land degradation and halting desertification through projects that conserve soil, generates more than three dollars in benefits for those living in fragile ecosystems.

Money spent on clean water and public sanitation provides an even more spectacular return. Every dollar spent on projects in this area results in a rate of return of as much as $14 in economic benefits via things like reduced health care costs, increased productivity, and better school attendance.

Money earmarked for habitat conservation is also very well spent when compared to the costs that result from deforestation, mining, and other damaging activities. For example, a study of Caribbean coral reefs found that the sustainable harvesting of coral fish could be worth some $300 million per year while reef-based tourism generates $2 billion per year. Furthermore, intact coral reefs provide shoreline protection that’s valued at $2.2 billion annually. In Indonesia, poison and blast fishing generate between $15,000 and $33,000 per year per square kilometer of coral reef, but these activities cost the local community between $40,000 and $750,000 per year per square kilometer in revenue lost due to the resulting reef damage. According to the report, every dollar spent to protect coral reefs will generate an economic return of as much as five dollars."

 

My "Green Shopping and Gifting Resource Page" has been updated -- you can find it here. I will be doing another post on "gifts that give on many levels" soon -- and this new one will have a local/Salt Lake City/Utah focus to it.

The first Carnival of the Green is today, hosted this week by City Hippy. Looks like a lot of great stuff to read for those interested in protecting our environment, sustainability, and Fair Trade.

I will be hosting the Carnival on December 12, and I'll be posting links to each carnival host each week.

 

 

Every so often (and getting more frequent), I have to write letters and emails to save organic standards. Sadly, it's time to do this again. Here's the latest attack on our right to organic food and something you can do about it.

Having to go through this effort every few years to fight the corporate food producing giants' attack on my food options is getting extremely annoying. But until we stop electing politicians from the two corporate parties (with a few exceptions), we will likely face many attempted "sneak attacks" like this one in our legislation.

From Organic Consumers Association

"Now, large corporations, such as Kraft, Wal-Mart, & Dean Foods--aided and abetted by the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) and members of the Organic Trade Association, are moving to lower organic standards by allowing Bush appointees in the USDA National Organic Program to approve a broad list of synthetic ingredients and processing aids that would be allowed in organic production. Even worse these proposed regulatory changes will reduce future public discussion and input and take away the National Organic Standards Board’s (NOSB) traditional lead jurisdiction in setting standards. What this means, in blunt terms. is that USDA bureaucrats and industry lobbyists, not consumers, will have near total control over what can go into organic foods and products."

Thanks to Tim Willard for emailing me about this:

Edit: Many of the above hosting slots are now filled or outdated, but the posting info is still the same . . . ps: this carnival is related to Green as in the environment, ecology, fair trade etc.

Heard of the "Buy Blue" campaign and wished there was one for Greens (not all are owned by GP Greens) ? I ganked this off of Green Commons :

Green-Owned Businesses

 

I didn't own a car until I was 28. It's not that I was trying to decrease air pollution -- I had a fear of driving that took me quite a while to overcome.

It was inconvenient at times, but I loved all the time I had for reflection while I walked -- it was kind of like a moving meditation. I also kept my legs toned and in pretty good shape. About two months after I got my car I gained 30 pounds (not sure if it was all from driving, or if a recent breakup from a boyfriend helped) and I was living life in the fast and busy lane. Suddenly I had a lot of errands that I just had to do, and almost all of them needed the car.

The car I bought at 28 I still own. It was an used, older car then, and now it's 7 years older. It's out of order more and more frequently it seems. My car is now family car for 4, rather than just a single-mom-of-one-child car. It's also our ONLY family car.

Last week we were unable to start the car, and we didn't feel that we had the funds to get it fixed right away, so we spent a week car-less.

My husband usually walks and takes public transport to work, so nothing much changed there. I had to re-learn how to get the basics done without a car, like grocery shopping and other various errands.

This experience reminded me of the extra mental work involved to survive in a car-centered community without a car. I could walk to a grocery store about a mile from my home, but I had to be very selective over which groceries I bought, since I'd be carrying them all home that same mile in late summer heat, for example.

I'm giving a lot of thought to arranging my life as if I don't have a car. A big priority when I go back to work this winter will be location, as will the daycare I choose for my soon-to-be two year old. I have a fantasy of being able to stroller Terra to daycare and then walk to work. My older daughter is now at an age where she can get herself to and from school.

This past week I got a lot of great exercise and a lot of respect for all those who choose to be car-less to help our planet out. Even though the car is now working, I'm still trying to use my car-less mentality and creativity to see which trips I really can take on foot.

I love that what's good for the planet is also what's good for me.

A couple of interesting reads on car-less living:

Living without a car

CARLESS AND CAREFREE