Black to Nature: Adventures of an Urban Raw Foodist

Sol Power Network Episode II (Shoh Wu Chih)

2011-03-01T13:17:00.002-05:00

Changing Venues

2009-08-24T13:42:00.001-04:00

Yes, I still exist. I will now be blogging anything dealing with right eating, raw foodism, plant-centric diets, etc over at The Sol Power Network. I am basically collapsing all of my blogs into one. So instead of just getting a fraction of me you can get the whole number.

Sun of Man son of god cooking short

2009-06-18T09:21:00.000-04:00

Zen Chop

2009-04-17T11:23:00.010-04:00

Yes. I've been moving across every square inch of this planet. Yesterday I got to get my focus on by just chopping some wood.

Another reason to drink 100% fruit juice...

2009-03-13T12:16:00.003-04:00

From some of my peoples:

One more reason to drink 100% juice , http://news. yahoo. com/s/ap/20090313/ap_on_re_us/windshield_fluid_sickness . Windshield wiper fluid is mistaken for Kool-Aid. Children should not be fed any type of juice that is made with sugar, high fructose corn syrup, and artificial dyes. People have become so used to feeding kids juices with artificial dyes they really have no idea what the hell juice looks like. The Standard American Diet (SAD) makes it so people dont even think anymore and feed children anything.

For more information about Holistic Parenting buy the book, "Holistic Parenting from the Pan-Afrikan Perspective" at www. afrikanparenting. com .

Take the land, take the food

2009-03-09T13:27:00.000-04:00

Food, ethnicity and land...forever connected.

Justice and couscous

What people consume in a week worldwide.

2009-03-06T13:52:00.000-05:00

Mexico: The Casales family of Cuernavaca

Riding off of my manifestation from yesterday...many of us have no world perspective. Hunger is not just defined by the lack of quantity of food..the lack of quality of food is up in there also. So many of us think that we're not starving ourselves yet we are eating empty calories and our bodies aren't receiving the proper nutrients. This is the root of the health epidemic in places like the United States who though 'enlightened' seem to be hit with an over abundance of health issues.

Photographer Joao Batista has done a fascinating series of photos titled "The People and the Food They Consume in a Week.” He took snaps of families in countries around the world (including the U.S., Egypt, Poland, Chad, Mongolia, Greenland, Bhutan, and France) posing in their homes with the food they consume in a typical week. You can get a peek at it at the Meallennium blog. A Facebook login is needed for the full set.

Check it out.

One Bowl

2009-03-05T14:08:00.000-05:00

Raw at the Root (of civilization)

2009-02-23T12:46:00.000-05:00

Never thought there would be the day when I would verse on the regular with Gods and Earths about being a raw foodist yet I definitely got my raw food clique that I Build with when at the root (Mecca aka Harlem). I got the normal usual versing with my little brother Khalik Allah about how eating that raw chocolate can get you HYGH! (No lie). Also spoke with him and Original Author Allah about the project that they are working on.

Then I got to meet in the flesh Queen Jael Devine whom you may know as Ravyn from Rawthentic life.
Good to meet and confirm internet celebrities in the flesh. And on another note...we might just be having a Original Indigenous Raw feast up here in CT in the upcoming months so stay tuned!

When they start talking about the FDA

2009-02-16T10:50:00.001-05:00

..sit them down to watch these commercials

Big business is not synonymous with someone who will tell you the truth about anything. Remember that and check things for yourself and trust not THEIR studies.

Like that son....

2009-02-10T15:13:00.000-05:00

FBI raids Peanut Butter Salmonella plant

Filter your air

2009-02-10T10:23:00.001-05:00

I jacked this from Lifehacker

Three Plants that Give You Better Indoor Air

By Kevin Purdy, 8:05 AM on Mon Feb 9 2009, 30,864 views

Kamal Meattle used three just three indoor plant species to increase oxygen, filter air, and boost general health at a a New Delhi business park. You can use them, too, in any indoor environment.

Meattle's presentation at the TED 2009 conference details a large-scale success, using thousands of plants for hundreds of workers. In any living or working space, though, the three plants—Areca palm, Mother-in-law's Tongue, and a "Money Plant"—can be used to convert carbon dioxide into oxygen, remove organic compounds, and generally filter and freshen the ambient air. A single person looks to need a minimum of 11 total plants, and certain climates with less sunlight could require a bit of hydroponic growing, but Meattle swears by the health, productivity, and atmosphere benefits. Check out the detailed slides from his TED talk:

How to Grow Your Own Fresh Air - TED 2009 Talk

View more presentations from jaymeattle. (tags: plants greenhouse)

1 year anniversary for self and Catch a Healthy Habit

2009-02-09T12:08:00.001-05:00

In 2007 I went to Denver and had a raw food fiesta. I had chocolate pudding made with cacao and avocado. I had spaghetti made out o zucchini and 'meatballs' made out of nut meat. I had 'heard' the term 'raw foodist' thrown around yet I had images of just munching on an apple and stuff. My time in Denver changed that. It took a while yet later that year I fully switched over into a raw foodist life style. In fact it is going on about a year now. Ironically Catch a Healthy Habit, the raw food cafe in West Haven had its 1 year anniversary yesterday.

Now, it wasn't easy at first because I was/am in the process of learning. So in order to make sure I was getting a variety in my meals I had to constantly be on the ball learning new recipes. What eased this whole transition into this lifestyle was Catch a Healthy Habit. It is my version of raw 'fast food'. I can roll through and get some raw goodness to touch the tummy and it will be good. I'm a question asker also so I've learned alot during its one year in existence here near me.

As I prepare to move I think how easy that it has been for me yet I am happy in that I definitely did not waste my time there. I learned while I was around. If you roll through southern C-Truth definitely check it out.

What is Iraqi Order 81

2009-02-06T13:58:00.000-05:00

As an add on to yesterdays Build (and if you haven't added on in the comments please do so) what is Iraqi Order 81 and what does it have to do with YOU.

Suicide Seeds...Let's Build.

2009-02-05T11:00:00.000-05:00

Peace,
Let's Build on this. I only have linked part I yet please watch all 8 portions and let's build on this via the comment section here. Add on.

The World According to Montsaro

Peace

Random shots

2009-02-03T10:10:00.000-05:00

Random shots.

Black women in the U.S. appear to be shrinking -- chicagotribune.com

Native Americans and Diabetes - American Diabetes Association

Unexplained Mysteries :: Males are becoming more female

Be the manifestation of what you talk about

2009-02-02T10:42:00.000-05:00

The mental physical connection is talked about all of the time yet often it falls into some campy type of new agey (translation...we took your ancient traditions, claimed them, and now we're going to sell them back to you) dissertation.

Everything is real though.

That is why my greatest proof for a plantcentric diet has been my physical body. For me I didn't read veganism 101. I just removed dairy from my diet and the immediate benefits of that experiment showed me that I wasn't living at the optimum level that my body could pump out. As I rocked different things I was actually in a state of becoming where I realized that there is an opposite to 'being sick' and that is being at an optimum level which is way above average. And for many that can't comprehend because they think that their 'average' is their body's optimum. Constantly physically feeling good, constantly having people take at least 7 years off of my age when they guess it, beign able to compete with the best out there..yes..this Ra food right(eous) food is muy bien.

It's a journey though. It is definitely healing on another level.

Yet understand that it is a journey. For many they are healing wounds and scars they may not have even noticed. You will find yourself in the valley of the shadow of death where 'artificial' is safe and familiar and 'natural' is scarey and 'dangerous'. You will comfront that part of yourself that you many not want to deal with.

That is why I found the blog of the Earth Serenity to be needed. It is about working to balance where you want to go with where you are.

Within/Without

We got superfoods also....

2009-01-30T11:00:00.001-05:00

So as an Original raw foodist I have studied (and continue to study many) as I perfect this eating path (especially as it pertains to us topical melanin types). In my journey along this path I have come upon the works of David Wolfe who is basically one of THE raw food 'gurus' out there right now. Having my Supreme Mathematic's filter on always allows me to take the best pat. Being a white raw foodist doesn't absolve you of white privilege. Let me just put that out there. The happy go lucky hippie-esque (damn hippies get a bum rap here all of the time) white liberal stuff doesn't phase me and make me want to run through strawberry fields with ya. Yet if white people choose to use raw foodism as the 'sword above their head' in order to work to manifest civilization so be it.

Yet always remember where this started ie..with Original People. Though I was turned onto David Wolfe first one of the elders in the raw foodist community is an Original Man, Dr. Aris Latham of SunFired Foods. When I get to go to NYC and eat his food it is on! Also, it appears that David Wolfe has some controversy over his first book. It appears that chunks of it were plagiarized from an Original Man from Iran named Arshavir Ter Hovannessian. We know that models of how to eat to live come from Original cultures. So it is no surprise.

This brings me to one of my personal gripes with the raw food 'movement' as it is popularly manifested in a capitalist society. Seeing that I am moving more to the locavore these things have been popping up in my head. Why is it that all of the latest 'superfoods' come from like either the Far East or South America? Under the guise of offering these superfoods to people abroad are white people once again just 'stealing resources'? Why aren't there any Original industries that are benefiting off of this surge in 'superfoods'? Also the 'tone' makes it appear as though that there agree no 'superfoods' anywhere else on the planet. Sounds like someone is writing people out of history again.

In one of my previous blogs I wrote about the lost crops of africa. There is a series of books online where you can find about a whole bunch of vegetation that you ain't ever heard of. Recently I came upon a post by a brother who spoke about the same lack of african superfoods in the current raw food landscape and he referenced those books. Check out his article, those books, and see if you can cop some of those veggies and fruits around your way at an ethnic market.

Green technology exhibit highlights African-American innovators

2009-01-29T13:46:00.003-05:00

Original People in the Green Movement? Say it ain't so. Well you can say it yet then go over and check this out.

The Daily Raw Cafe

2009-01-28T11:00:00.000-05:00

Stop by the Daily Raw Cafe. Love when I catch another Original person rawing it up. Plus I get to jack more recipes.

That lemon

2009-01-27T11:24:00.001-05:00

Those who recognize the God (recognize!) know that I keep it simple. Scan back on my article on shampoo and brushing those teeth. So in keeping with that ethic I jacked this article (I forgot from where) on lemons, that all purpose fruit. I always got mad lemons up in the piece. And trust...its SO functional. Let the article below speak for itself. And start cleaning out your medicine and cleaning cabinets.

Lemons - The Versatile Fruit

Lemons - a fruit with a wonderful fragrance, great in food and beverages, but also very handy for multiple purposes around the home!

Lemons have been cultivated by humans for over a thousand years. The fruit in mentioned in tenth century Arabic literature, but was probably first grown in Assam, India. Lemons are high in vitamin C, have an anti-bacterial effect and are thought to posess antioxidant and anti-carcinogenic properties. The juice consists of about 5% acid, which also makes them useful for a variety of household purposes.

Selecting and Storing Lemons

The best lemons are those that have smooth, oily skins and are heavy for their size. They should be bright yellow with no green tinges. Lemons will keep for up to a week at room temperature, two to three weeks refrigerated. Lemon zest (peel) can be frozen for months.

Juicing Lemons

To get the most juice from a lemon, it should be allowed to reach room temperature prior to juicing. Using your palm to roll the lemon on a hard surface can also help improve juice yields. If you only need a little juice, some people pierce the end with a fork, squeeze the amount needed, cover the holes with tape and then store in the fridge.

There's so much more to lemons than just using them in cooking and making lemonade! Here's a selection of handy tips. Remember to test in inconspicuous areas first.

Ant Deterrent

Pouring lemon juice around areas that ants frequent is said to repel them.

Air Freshener

An equal amount of lemon juice and water added to an atomizer will create a wonderful synthetic chemical-free green air freshener for your home.

All purpose cleaner

Again, an equal amount of lemon juice and water added to a spray bottle is an effective kitchen and bathroom cleaner and can also be used on walls (spot test first). A small amount of lemon juice can also be added to vinegar based cleaning solutions to help neutralize the smell of the vinegar.

Microwave

Heat a bowl of water and lemon slices in your microwave for 30 seconds to a minute; then wipe out the oven. Stains will be easier to remove and old food odors neutralized.

Refrigerator

Half a lemon stored in your fridge will help control and eliminate unpleasant smells.

Chrome/copper/brass

Rub a lemon juice and baking soda paste onto chrome or copper, rinse and then wipe/buff with a soft cloth or paper towel.

Toilet

Mix 1/2 cup borax and a cup of lemon juice for a powerful toilet cleaner that will leave it smelling extra clean!

Lime Scale

Use a half lemon to clean the lime scale off a sink or taps/faucets; rinse well.

Laundry

For bleaching purposes, add 1/2 cup of lemon juice to the rinse cycle and hang clothes outside to dry. A teaspoon of lemon juice thrown into your wash can also help your clothes to smell fresher.

Dishes

A teaspoon of lemon juice added to your dishwashing detergent can help boost grease cutting power

Drains

Hot lemon juice and baking soda is a good drain cleaner that is safe to use in septic systems. If you have a garbage disposal unit, throw in some lemon peel from time to time while it's working in order to keep it smelling fresh.

Chopping boards

Rub lemon juice into your wooden chopping board, leave overnight and then rinse. Wood chopping boards appear to have anti-bacterial properties anyway, but the lemon will help kill off any remaining nasties and neutralize odors.

Glass and Mirrors

4 tablespoons of lemon juice mixed with half a gallon of water makes an effective window cleaner

Degreaser

Straight lemon juice can be used as a general degreaser

Furniture

2 parts olive oil or cooking oil mixed with 1 part lemon juice makes for an excellent furniture polish!

Hair

To lighten hair, dampen it with lemon juice and sit out in the sun for an hour. This does work, I tried it myself.
Hey, it was the 80's!

I've read that the juice of a lemon mixed with one cup warm water makes for a great hair conditioner. It should be allowed to stay in your hair for a few minutes then washed off. Exercise caution if you have a sensitive scalp.

Cuts, Stings and Itches

A small amount of lemon juice pour onto minor wounds can help stop bleeding and disinfect the injury (it will sting a bit). Lemon juice applied to itches, poison ivy rashes and wasp stings is said to relieve discomfort.

Mouthwash

A 50/50 mixture of lemon juice and water makes for an effective mouthwash.

Hands

The smell of fish can linger on your hands, even after scrubbing with soap - rubbing your hands with lemon juice will neutralize the smell and leave your hands smelling wonderful.

Isn't it incredible how we have so many environmentally harsh cleaning chemicals in our homes when nature already offers most of what we need! Have some helpful hints for using lemons in and around the home?

Clean out your own house first

2009-01-26T10:16:00.000-05:00

So I'm doing my usual scan of the web and I come across this article:

When will Latinos give up cockfighting in the U.S.?

And again it AMAZES me that 'peta-punk types' feed into something like this and still don't see the inherent racism in it. So let me get this right...you don't want to hurt the cocks yet its okay to pen up the hens in some cages where they can't move, fatten them up with hormones, and eat their asses? WTF?! I'm sorry, I must have missed the animal hierarchy memo. Why don't y'all go and close down every chicken farm then come back to the FEW Latinos having cockfights. Oh yet NO...cause that wouldn't be racist.

I hate that damn term animal abuse. No, I ain't for starving dogs, beating cats, etc..yet since that term exists in a legal sense raising animals to be slaughtered should be 'animal abuse'. Oh wait..you treat it 'good' then you eat it so it's 'okay'. Dumbass.

It's the same thing how like they want to make it 'wrong' for practitioners of Santeria to sacrifice animals and make it 'savage' yet they allow Jewish people to slaughter their goats on their holy days. Also dammit..the farmers are just a slaughtering away.

Or how they criminalize a drug due to its connection with certain ethnic groups.

The Mexican Connection

In the early 1900s, the western states developed significant tensions regarding the influx of Mexican-Americans. The revolution in Mexico in 1910 spilled over the border, with General Pershing's army clashing with bandit Pancho Villa. Later in that decade, bad feelings developed between the small farmer and the large farms that used cheaper Mexican labor. Then, the depression came and increased tensions, as jobs and welfare resources became scarce.

One of the "differences" seized upon during this time was the fact that many Mexicans smoked marijuana and had brought the plant with them, and it was through this that California apparently passed the first state marijuana law, outlawing "preparations of hemp, or loco weed."

However, one of the first state laws outlawing marijuana may have been influenced, not just by Mexicans using the drug, but, oddly enough, because of Mormons using it. Mormons who traveled to Mexico in 1910 came back to Salt Lake City with marijuana. The church's reaction to this may have contributed to the state's marijuana law. (Note: the source for this speculation is from articles by Charles Whitebread, Professor of Law at USC Law School in a paper for the Virginia Law Review, and a speech to the California Judges Association (sourced below). Mormon blogger Ardis Parshall disputes this.)

Other states quickly followed suit with marijuana prohibition laws, including Wyoming (1915), Texas (1919), Iowa (1923), Nevada (1923), Oregon (1923), Washington (1923), Arkansas (1923), and Nebraska (1927). These laws tended to be specifically targeted against the Mexican-American population.

When Montana outlawed marijuana in 1927, the Butte Montana Standard reported a legislator's comment: "When some beet field peon takes a few traces of this stuff... he thinks he has just been elected president of Mexico, so he starts out to execute all his political enemies." In Texas, a senator said on the floor of the Senate: "All Mexicans are crazy, and this stuff [marijuana] is what makes them crazy."

Jazz and Assassins

In the eastern states, the "problem" was attributed to a combination of Latin Americans and black jazz musicians. Marijuana and jazz traveled from New Orleans to Chicago, and then to Harlem, where marijuana became an indispensable part of the music scene, even entering the language of the black hits of the time (Louis Armstrong's "Muggles", Cab Calloway's "That Funny Reefer Man", Fats Waller's "Viper's Drag").

Again, racism was part of the charge against marijuana, as newspapers in 1934 editorialized: "Marihuana influences Negroes to look at white people in the eye, step on white men's shadows and look at a white woman twice."

Two other fear-tactic rumors started to spread: one, that Mexicans, Blacks and other foreigners were snaring white children with marijuana; and two, the story of the "assassins." Early stories of Marco Polo had told of "hasheesh-eaters" or hashashin, from which derived the term "assassin." In the original stories, these professional killers were given large doses of hashish and brought to the ruler's garden (to give them a glimpse of the paradise that awaited them upon successful completion of their mission). Then, after the effects of the drug disappeared, the assassin would fulfill his ruler's wishes with cool, calculating loyalty.

By the 1930s, the story had changed. Dr. A. E. Fossier wrote in the 1931 New Orleans Medical and Surgical Journal: "Under the influence of hashish those fanatics would madly rush at their enemies, and ruthlessly massacre every one within their grasp." Within a very short time, marijuana started being linked to violent behavior.

Jacked the above from here.

So yeah, even a child can see....

Check every white farmer who raises cows, pigs or chickens first..then go after the Latino cock fighters and the Michael Vicks.

Natural Babies

2009-01-23T09:34:00.001-05:00

As we keep it au-natural let me introduce to a realm where wearing your baby and cloth diapers rule supreme. Check out "Where there's a will there's a way" the blogspot of Chi-Chi the Original wombman dropping how to raise your child like nature wanted ya to.

Chee-sus

2009-01-22T11:01:00.003-05:00

One of the first things that I got rid of was cheese. That's because I saw the immediate benefits. I had less respitory issues (like colds and the flu) and my asthma basically just evaporated. Now I won't lie..it was addictive. Yet as I grew in terms of my skills at food preparation I realized that all it did was cover bland food.

See, Europe didn't utilize alot of spices in their foods cause they weren't aware of what was around them. That's why they did spice trading with the East on the Silk Road and raided portions of Africa for salt. So the only thing that they really had to 'flavor' the food was cheese (which is countries whose population is lactose intollerant isn't a staple..meaning warmer climates where milk spoils). Think about all of the foods that you eat that have cheese on them..now take that cheese away..ain't that fresh is it. When you really learn how to spice and season food you will see that cheese ain't really needed like that. Also I bet you that all of those stomach aches will be going the way of the dinosaur.

As a historical note the enzymes to transform milk to cheese are found in the stomach/intestines. So it was probably discovered by somebody (some nasty ass) opening up a dead beast's stomach and eating what was left in the stomach.

So with the above being said I leave you with this just in on the pike....

Cheese is nastier than thought.

and

Maggot cheese.

We don't make this stuff up folks. We just report.

Green-opia

2009-01-21T09:34:00.000-05:00

You know I love sci-fi, futuristic type of shiz. Check out some beautiful designs for green architecture and a type of 'green utopia' at web urbanist.

T or A?

2009-01-20T09:22:00.000-05:00

Mountains or Hills? Tits or Ass? Some got one or the other. Some got both. Some ain't got none. Yet today folks we're going to talk about breasts.

My alike wrote an article in his blog entitled The Earth: Vegetarianism, Breastfeeding, and Original Women's Health

Very informative so peep it.

Also I came across this blog post listed below at another site dedicated to breastfeeding, http://www.mothering.com/jenniferjames/. Beautiful site. Check it out.

Black Mother Breastfeeding, 1937 2008-11-23

This photograph is striking. It shows an African-American mother breastfeeding in 1937 in Greenville, MS. What once was normal in the black community has now shifted to abnormal. We all know breastfeeding rates among black women is the lowest in the country, but it wasn’t always this way. Something happened and I don’t think the shift to bottle-feeding can only be attributed to more mothers working outside of the home, although I’m sure working had a lot to do with it, just not everything. Attitudes changed and now breastfeeding isn’t the first form of infant-feeding with black mothers.

As a black mother I didn’t even consider bottle-feeding, but I’m rare given the numbers. I hope one day I can pinpoint what happened between the early 20th century and today that caused so many black mothers to balk at breastfeeding.

Location: Greenville, MS, US
Date taken: 1937
Photographer: Alfred Eisenstaedt
Time Life Magazine

Microbloggin: Woowee

2009-01-19T08:38:00.000-05:00

Woooweeee....breathing in peppermint essential oils opens up those sinuses.

Food Pyramids

2009-01-18T13:29:00.001-05:00

There are not just phenotypical differences between people. There are genotypical differences between people. Many authors have pointed out, especially in the black and brown communities, that people grow in tandem with the food in their areas. So it is natural for the flora in people's bodies to be attuned with their native veggies and fruit stuff. Food IS political also. That is why I mentioned about the 7 warriors. What were your natural foods before colonialism and slavery? Adding them back into your diet is as much a revolutionary statement as changing your name and learning your indigenous history.

While scanning through the net I came upon food pyramids that are ethnic-specific. They are acknowledging that the indigenous foods and needs of people are relevant to their nutrition development.

Yet the gem in my travels is that I finally found a damn Raw Food Pyramid. I've had a Vegan one on tap for a minute yet this raw one..bangin'. Good eatin' y'all

Parsnips

2009-01-16T10:33:00.000-05:00

Never was really hip to parsnips. Even though I'm up here in the Northeast New England area. Ever since I built with the Earth Faatma on the fact that some fruits and veggies are grafted from the original the same way a certain 'being' is I looked more into foundation fruits and veggies. As I moved into a comfortable locavore status parsnips popped up on the map.

Parsnip is related to the carrot and is more foundational in that the carrot that most people eat nowadays has been grafted from the original (the original wild carrots (which you can still find) are white or purple).

The parsnip is richer in vitamins and minerals than its close relative the carrot. It is particularly rich in potassium with 600 mg per 100 g. The parsnip is also a good source of dietary fiber. 100 g of parsnip contains 55 calories (230 kJ) energy.

In terms of raw preparation they are a root vegetable so those who know the science realize that many root veggies can be turned into a rice like substitute. You can grate it, mix it with some garlic and olive oil and you're good. You can also use apple cider vinegar instead of olive oil. This is just to soften it up a little.

You can also use it as a base in raw soups. Blend it with some water until it 'heats up' and then add some additional ingredients.

It's a versatile root and worthy to be added to the cannon of food stuffs.

Around the way

2009-01-14T19:59:00.000-05:00

So yeah, as I complete the transformation into a nomadic locavore it has been an interesting journey (and continues to be). In tune with how I memorize 120 I have been storing facts and information that are appropriate to mentally carry as that I 'came to the wilderness of North America by myself." That's everything from learning about the bioregions, community based economics, sustainable agriculture, to permaculture, to eco-communalism.

One of the greatest things that has sprouted out of the growth has been eating in season and locally. It's on the next level now. So while I have been converting a high percentage of my diet to raw foods I have also been converting a high percentage to locally grown fare.

So to be down first off you should be familar with what's in season in your region. (That's cause knowledge is the foundation.). From there you can go to some farmer's markets or even some places to pick your own.

So while walking in the hood

2009-01-13T11:12:00.000-05:00

Got the meet the illustrious PurpleZoe of the Ultraviolet Underground. While I oftentimes mention people who inspired me to pick up a pen in the blogsphere I cannot neglect those whom inspire me to keep writing and to continue to step my game up. She is definitely one of those people.

Got to verse with her at an Oasis in the hood, FruttiKrem and had a beautiful apple, carrot, beet juice. It was relaxing to be in the hood, hearing spanish being spoken, fresh juice and good company while planning the Green worldwide takeover. Stop by her spot on the web and if you in that neck of the hood in CT stop by FruttiKrem.

Sometimes I get that sugar craving..

2009-01-11T15:51:00.000-05:00

...then I realize I don't eat that yellow cake.

If you get it from the corner it aint' Chinese Food

2009-01-09T13:38:00.000-05:00

Finally, somebody summarized the myths that non-Chinese Americans have about Chinese food. Most of what White Americans consider “Chinese food” is mostly eaten by white people, and would be more accurately described as “American food” (and perhaps even “white people food”).

Now this doesn't has anything to do with raw foodism yet it is so damn funky! Jennifer 8 BRINGS IT! Don't just watch the video and read the article. Read the dialogue in the comment section. I ain't saying nothing more.

White American Culture is General Tso’s Chicken and Chop Suey

Off the coast of Somalia

2009-01-07T12:08:00.000-05:00

In 1991, the government of Somalia - in the Horn of Africa - collapsed. Its nine million people have been teetering on starvation ever since - and many of the ugliest forces in the Western world have seen this as a great opportunity to steal the country’s food supply and dump our nuclear waste in their seas.

I haven't been following the pirate issue in the Atlantic off of the coast of Somalia yet when I read this article (where the above was clipped from) I immediately reflected on the words of one of my righteous sisters.."If western countries are labeling a country and its leader as a dictatorship and terrorist than they must be doing SOMETHING right." Little did I know how true her words would ring.

Let there be no mistake...wherever you find poor people you will find the waste of rich people and the theft of the land resources of the poor people. This is environmental racism in the purest form.

What makes me 'sick' at times is the hippie-esque response to many things like this. For instance they will get on a dingy and go against Japanese boats for hunting whales yet ain't none of these 'hippie-esque activist' over in Somalia protecting their waters. Isn't there something just WRONG about you going against a country that you bombed the crap out of? I mean..ain't there something that you do to atone for the posioning that white america is doing to Native reservations, inner cities, and South America? It is impossible to talk about environmentalism without talking about racism. If you don't than you are just living a lie.

I jacked the below from playerhater.com

Two Sides to a Story: Are We Being Lied to About the Pirate Ships

By Johann Hari
Source: London Independent

Who imagined that in 2009, the world’s governments would be declaring a new War on Pirates? As you read this, the British Royal Navy - backed by the ships of more than two dozen nations, from the US to China - is sailing into Somalian waters to take on men we still picture as parrot-on-the-shoulder pantomime villains. They will soon be fighting Somalian ships and even chasing the pirates onto land, into one of the most broken countries on earth. But behind the arrr-me-hearties oddness of this tale, there is an untold scandal. The people our governments are labeling as “one of the great menace of our times” have an extraordinary story to tell — and some justice on their side.

Pirates have never been quite who we think they are. In the “golden age of piracy” - from 1650 to 1730 - the idea of the pirate as the senseless, savage thief that lingers today was created by the British government in a great propaganda-heave. Many ordinary people believed it was false: pirates were often rescued from the gallows by supportive crowds. Why? What did they see that we can’t? In his book Villains of All nations, the historian Marcus Rediker pores through the evidence to find out. If you became a merchant or navy sailor then - plucked from the docks of London’s East End, young and hungry - you ended up in a floating wooden Hell. You worked all hours on a cramped, half-starved ship, and if you slacked off for a second, the all-powerful captain would whip you with the Cat O’ Nine Tails. If you slacked consistently, you could be thrown overboard. And at the end of months or years of this, you were often cheated of your wages.

Pirates were the first people to rebel against this world. They mutinied against their tyrannical captains - and created a different way of working on the seas. Once they had a ship, the pirates elected their captains, and made all their decisions collectively. They shared their bounty out in what Rediker calls “one of the most egalitarian plans for the disposition of resources to be found anywhere in the eighteenth century.” They even took in escaped African slaves and lived with them as equals. The pirates showed “quite clearly - and subversively - that ships did not have to be run in the brutal and oppressive ways of the merchant service and the Royal navy.” This is why they were popular, despite being unproductive thieves.

The words of one pirate from that lost age - a young British man called William Scott - should echo into this new age of piracy. Just before he was hanged in Charleston, South Carolina, he said: “What I did was to keep me from perishing. I was forced to go a-pirating to live.” In 1991, the government of Somalia - in the Horn of Africa - collapsed. Its nine million people have been teetering on starvation ever since - and many of the ugliest forces in the Western world have seen this as a great opportunity to steal the country’s food supply and dump our nuclear waste in their seas.

Yes: nuclear waste. As soon as the government was gone, mysterious European ships started appearing off the coast of Somalia, dumping vast barrels into the ocean. The coastal population began to sicken. At first they suffered strange rashes, nausea and malformed babies. Then, after the 2005 tsunami, hundreds of the dumped and leaking barrels washed up on shore. People began to suffer from radiation sickness, and more than 300 died. Ahmedou Ould-Abdallah, the UN envoy to Somalia, tells me: “Somebody is dumping nuclear material here. There is also lead, and heavy metals such as cadmium and mercury - you name it.” Much of it can be traced back to European hospitals and factories, who seem to be passing it on to the Italian mafia to “dispose” of cheaply. When I asked Ould-Abdallah what European governments were doing about it, he said with a sigh: “Nothing. There has been no clean-up, no compensation, and no prevention.”

At the same time, other European ships have been looting Somalia’s seas of their greatest resource: seafood. We have destroyed our own fish-stocks by over-exploitation - and now we have moved on to theirs. More than $300m worth of tuna, shrimp, lobster and other sea-life is being stolen every year by vast trawlers illegally sailing into Somalia’s unprotected seas. The local fishermen have suddenly lost their livelihoods, and they are starving. Mohammed Hussein, a fisherman in the town of Marka 100km south of Mogadishu, told Reuters: “If nothing is done, there soon won’t be much fish left in our coastal waters.”

This is the context in which the men we are calling “pirates” have emerged. Everyone agrees they were ordinary Somalian fishermen who at first took speedboats to try to dissuade the dumpers and trawlers, or at least wage a ‘tax’ on them. They call themselves the Volunteer Coastguard of Somalia - and it’s not hard to see why. In a surreal telephone interview, one of the pirate leaders, Sugule Ali, said their motive was “to stop illegal fishing and dumping in our waters… We don’t consider ourselves sea bandits. We consider sea bandits [to be] those who illegally fish and dump in our seas and dump waste in our seas and carry weapons in our seas.” William Scott would understand those words.

No, this doesn’t make hostage-taking justifiable, and yes, some are clearly just gangsters - especially those who have held up World Food Programme supplies. But the “pirates” have the overwhelming support of the local population for a reason. The independent Somalian news-site WardherNews conducted the best research we have into what ordinary Somalis are thinking - and it found 70 percent “strongly supported the piracy as a form of national defence of the country’s territorial waters.” During the revolutionary war in America, George Washington and America’s founding fathers paid pirates to protect America’s territorial waters, because they had no navy or coastguard of their own. Most Americans supported them. Is this so different?

Did we expect starving Somalians to stand passively on their beaches, paddling in our nuclear waste, and watch us snatch their fish to eat in restaurants in London and Paris and Rome? We didn’t act on those crimes - but when some of the fishermen responded by disrupting the transit-corridor for 20 percent of the world’s oil supply, we begin to shriek about “evil.” If we really want to deal with piracy, we need to stop its root cause - our crimes - before we send in the gun-boats to root out Somalia’s criminals.

The story of the 2009 war on piracy was best summarised by another pirate, who lived and died in the fourth century BC. He was captured and brought to Alexander the Great, who demanded to know “what he meant by keeping possession of the sea.” The pirate smiled, and responded: “What you mean by seizing the whole earth; but because I do it with a petty ship, I am called a robber, while you, who do it with a great fleet, are called emperor.” Once again, our great imperial fleets sail in today - but who is the robber?

Johann Hari is a writer for the Independent newspaper. To read more of his articles, click here. or here.

POSTSCRIPT: Some commenters seem bemused by the fact that both toxic dumping and the theft of fish are happening in the same place - wouldn’t this make the fish contaminated? In fact, Somalia’s coastline is vast, stretching to 3300km. Imagine how easy it would be - without any coastguard or army - to steal fish from Florida and dump nuclear waste on California, and you get the idea. These events are happening in different places - but with the same horrible effect: death for the locals, and stirred-up piracy. There’s no contradiction.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/johann-hari/you-are-being-lied-to-abo_b_155147.htm

Chana Masala

2009-01-06T13:08:00.000-05:00

Shhhh....it's okay to sweat the God. I knew I already had the bomb Chana Masala recipe when I was just rocking the vegan science yet now....feast your eyes on the RAW Chana Masala masterpiece. I jacked the recipe from here and added some C'BS flair to it (sorry..you can't get that). I'm still tweaking it a bit yet once it has passed my Desi friend's validation it's official.

Saving babies

2009-01-05T11:34:00.000-05:00

At one point the Earths of New Heaven had a program where they went to hospitals to hold crack babies. See, crack babies crave stimulation and touch. It was a beautiful thing. It touches me close because I have a god-daughter who is the result of that dark era of the 80's.

Infant mortality is a worldwide issues. You can see this just by glancing at this 2007 world report.

Infant Mortality and Life Expectancy for Selected Countries, 2007

Country	Infant mortal- ity¹	Life expec- tancy²
Albania	20.0	77.6
Angola	184.4	37.6
Australia	4.6	80.6
Austria	4.5	79.2
Bangladesh	59.1	62.8
Brazil	27.6	72.2
Canada	4.6	80.3
Chile	8.4	77.0
China	22.1	72.9
Costa Rica	9.5	77.2
Cyprus	6.9	78.0
Czech Republic	3.9	76.4
Denmark	4.5	78.0
Ecuador	22.1	76.6
Egypt	30.1	71.6
Finland	3.5	78.7
France	4.2	79.9
Germany	4.1	79.0
Greece	5.3	79.4
Guatemala	29.8	69.7
Hungary	8.2	72.9
India	34.6	68.6
Iran	38.1	70.6
Ireland	5.2	77.9
Israel	6.8	79.6
Italy	5.7	79.9

Country	Infant mortal- ity¹	Life expec- tancy²
Japan	3.2	81.4
Kenya	57.4	55.3
Korea, South	6.1	77.2
Mexico	19.6	75.6
Mozambique	109.9	40.9
New Zealand	5.7	79.0
Nigeria	95.5	47.4
Norway	3.6	79.7
Pakistan	68.5	63.8
Panama	16.0	75.2
Peru	30.0	70.1
Poland	7.1	75.2
Portugal	4.9	77.9
Russia	11.1	65.9
Slovakia	7.1	75.0
South Africa	59.4	42.5
Spain	4.3	79.8
Sri Lanka	19.5	74.8
Sweden	2.8	80.6
Switzerland	4.3	80.6
Syria	27.7	70.6
United Kingdom	5.0	78.7
United States	6.4	78.0
Venezuela	20.9	74.8
Zimbabwe	51.1	39.5

1. Infant deaths per 1,000 live births.

2. Life expectancy at birth, in years, both sexes.

Source: U.S. Census Bureau, International Database.

Yet is what is often ignored is that the United States has the second worse newborn death rate in the modern world. What this means is that while there are other countries that have poor resources the United States is mired in the inequity of the distribution of its resources.

Let me explain that again..some countries may be poor financially yet the United States is poor morally.

With all of that being said I love to see green tech and DIY tech being explored. When green tech is married with improving the lives of people then I really get excited. Tech isn't just for 'toys' and weapons.

Incubator Made from Recycled Car Parts Could Prevent Millions of Newborn Deaths

Raw Food Diet..the sign of the times.

2009-01-02T05:00:00.000-05:00

Some of my Urban Go Green Peeps. Fuzen Squared

Achieving Livable Communities and Environmental Justice

2009-01-01T11:33:00.000-05:00

Cuba got those Greens

2008-12-31T12:31:00.000-05:00

Some answers are the simplest. With the looming specter of an 'economic collapse' always on the horizon people start to think about the essentials with more clarity; food, clothing and shelter. How can one secure those three things for their family in uncertain times. Well, for me, it is always about taking it back to basics. Once you start to do that you begin to realize that you should've never departed from basics.

For me that has been my garden. I have a small garden outside and a hydroponic garden. I've been able to grow some nice green leafy things and other treats that has definitely lightened my economic food bill. Now the real question is, why isn't EVERYONE doing this?

Several reasons pop to the mental. Some just don't know how, some don't think they have the time, yet the prevailing reason that I see is that we just have this disconnect from what we eat and where it comes from. That is really troubling because that means we can get fed the wrong food and not even question if it is wrong food.

"..they want us to think that we are all different"

Another thing going down is that many in power have demonized other countries and peoples that we don't even look to see how they are getting things done. Think about it. Cuba has been ostracized on many levels from the world stage. How does an island survive in such a state? They've been living under an 'economic crisis' forever. Maybe we should check them out.

Cuba Relies on Urban Gardens to Feed Hungry Populace

by Eliza Barclay, Nomad on 12.17.08

Planet Ark/Reuters has a nice piece out of Havana about how urban gardens are filling a key void in food production after three hurricanes wiped out 30 percent of the country's farm crops. In Cuba, urban gardens have proliferated in vacant lots, alongside parking lots, in the suburbs and on city rooftops, taking up some 35,000 hectares (86,000 acres). Most gardens sell their produce directly to the community and, because the economic embargo restricts agricultural input imports, grow their crops organically.

"Urban agriculture is going to play a key role in guaranteeing the feeding of the people much more quickly than the traditional farms," Richard Haep, Cuba coordinator for German aid group Welthungerhilfe, which has supported urban garden projects since 1994, told Planet Ark.

Some 15 percent of the world's food is grown in urban areas, according to the US Department of Agriculture. That number is expected to risk as food prices rise, urban populations grow and environmental concerns compound.

One cooperative garden in Havana called Alamar produces more than 240 tons of vegetables annually on its 11 hectares (27 acres) of land. : Via Planet Ark/Reuters

Photo credit: Enrique De La Osa/ Files

More on Cuba:

Cuba Does Its Part in Billion Tree Campaign
Cuba's Organic Revolution
How We Will Eat Come the Revolution: The Cuba Diet
Cuba's Environment Threatened as Embargo's End Looms
Economic Crisis Kept Cubans Healthier and Biking

Jacked the above from Treehuger.com

Oil Drum recycling

2008-12-30T12:08:00.000-05:00

One way which I always contributed to recycling was in hitting up the Salvation Army, Goodwill, etc and getting my hands on those old records. Nothing is more satisfying to me than finding an old groove that I know ain't nobody thought about blending into a mix. During one of my several excursions I picked up alot of West Indian records from like that boom in pop culture in the 50's and 60's. While reviewing some of those records the other day it occurred to me another major way that Original people regenerate stuff when the colonial powers, known nowadays as big corporations, dump their feces on them. I am talking about none other than the steel drum band.

The steel pan evolved out of earlier musical practices of Trinidad. Drumming was used as a form of communication among the enslaved Africans and was subsequently outlawed by the British colonial government in 1883.[1] African slaves also performed during Mardi Gras celebrations, joining the French that had brought the tradition to the island.[2] The two most important influences were the drumming traditions of both Africa and India. The instrument's invention was therefore a specific cultural response to the conditions present on the islands of Trinidad and Tobago.

The first instruments developed in the evolution of steelpan were Tamboo-Bamboos, tunable sticks made of bamboo wood. These were hit onto the ground and with other sticks in order to produce sound.[3] Tamboo-Bamboo bands also included percussion of a (gin) bottle and spoon. By the mid-1930s bits of metal percussion was being used in the tamboo bamboo bands, the first probably being either the automobile brake hub "iron" or the biscuit drum "boom". The former replaced the gin bottle-and-spoon, and the latter the "bass" bamboo that was pounded on the ground. By the late 1930s there occasional all-steel bands were seen at Carnival and by 1940 it had become the preferred Carnival accompaniment of young underprivileged men. The 55-gallon oil drum was used to make lead steelpans from around 1947. The Trinidad All Steel Percussion Orchestra (TASPO), formed to attend the Festival of Britain in 1951, was the first steelband whose instruments were all made from oil drums. Members of TASPO included Ellie Mannette and Winston "Spree" Simon.

Jacked from the full wiki article Steel Drum

What is interesting is that in the article it is not mentioned at all where these drums were coming from. You KNOW people weren't going to the 'steel drum' store to buy oil barrels. What was happening is that the big oil corporations would just dump barrel upon barrel on the islands. Now it doesn't take a genius to realize that an island is a small, enclosed environment and that such pollution would have an immediate effect.

If your immediate lineage is from the country then you may also know another way which Original people in the United States have recycled (yet again, no credit). Go to a real down home BBQ and you might see that oil drum grill. This is just another innovation in recycling that doesn't get alot of shine.

Yet let me not be blase about the comparison between oil corporations and colonialism. Be aware of what Shell, Firestone and ChevronTexaco and other 'colonial powers' are doing in places like Indigenous (Latin) America and the part of Asia known as Africa.

They dump in the in the hood

2008-12-29T12:00:00.000-05:00

In this blog I often mention how environmental issues are presented as a 'white granola hippiesque let's save the whales' type of thing. One of the things that I will that you take away from this blog is that the current state of the environment as we know it in the United States is a direct result of the impact of European colonialism. With that being said Original people are often at ground zero in terms of environmental disasters. Not into saving the planet..cool..how about making sure that your children have clean water, air, and food to eat. How about making sure that your soil isn't infested with toxins and heavy metals. Listen THEY (yeah I'm going to rock the amorphous "they") bank on it that you are ignorant. They bank on it that you won't organize together. They get rich off of your labor ad never cared about your welfare from day one. I guarantee you that if you find the impoverished section of your hood where Original (so called people of color) live you will find at leas one major environmental disaster. The question though is what are you going to do about it.

And Justice For All

An environmental expert talks about the challenges of helping disadvantaged communities deal with pollution and climate change at a local level.
By Daniel Stone

The way people are affected by the environment is often presented on a global scale—tides rising or forests dying as a result of climate change. But the way human beings have a direct impact on the planet is often more visible on a local level. Communities closer to industrial areas may be affected by higher than average asthma rates, for instance, and towns with poor water treatment or slow clean-up from disasters may show a disproportionate number of children with developmental problems.

A report released today by two environmental organizations, the Blacksmith Institute and Green Cross Switzerland, found that localized pollution is the leading contributing factor to disability and disease in communities across the world. Even in the United States, air pollution and contaminated water sources result in death, persistent illness and neurological impairment for millions of people. And children, researchers found, are usually disproportionately affected.

Activists for environmental justice claim that the people most affected usually lack the time or resources to fight against factors that will affect their health. But the problem, says Julie Sze, director of the Environmental Justice Project at the University of California, Davis, is rarely politically motivated, at least not explicitly. It's more an issue of business-focused zoning and lax regulatory control. It can also be a symptom of the larger inequality in America, which often falls along race and class lines. Sze spoke to NEWSWEEK's Daniel Stone about the extent of environmental injustice and what can be done. Excerpts:

NEWSWEEK: What's the scope of this type of environmental injustice? How large is the problem?
Julie Sze: Globalization has really allowed injustice to really go global. The term really describes all different types of problems. Some people use it to describe climate change and how that affects people disproportionately in the third world. It's not [a single] issue but more an analytic frame that describes environmental injustice, so you can apply it to lots of different topics.

Problems like ground-water contamination and lack of clean air are found more in developing countries and more disadvantaged communities. How big is the problem in the U.S.?
You see it more and more in the U.S. There's a huge body of research that looks at the kind of global contaminants that you're talking about—groundwater contamination, toxic expulsion from refineries, whatever—in the U.S. It's definitely [happening] in the U.S., because there's inequality in the U.S.

What causes that? Is it local governments that are corrupt? Or officials who are out of touch with the people their decisions affect?
It's hard to generalize. A lot of it is different in different regions. For example, in the Southeast, you have large communities of African-Americans who live around the oil refineries down there. It can also be a factor of employment discrimination. If you look at [the effect of] nuclear mining on uranium[-rich] communities, that's very different, it's an entirely different problem. It's very hard to say what causes it. It's often historical and plays in with different factors, things like race, class, both class and race, zoning laws and, of course, [who has] interests in political decisions.

New Orleans post-Hurricane Katrina comes to mind as affected by environmental factors and lack of appropriate policy. Are there other communities with similar issues?
I've looked at New York. A lot of it there is industrial pollution. Black and Latino child-asthma rates are almost eight times the national average. That plays into the zoning history that concentrated all these industrial developers in the same place. Asthma is just one case. I've looked at the San Diego and Tijuana area, where people are affected by trade between [the two cities] because zoning around the border can often be more lax.

Is it possible to chart who's to blame in each instance?
A lot of it has to do with very general things. In New York, again, it's an issue of zoning. It's not targeted. Decision-makers made decisions to make Manhattan less industrialized and that pushed a lot of industrialization—which usually pollutes the most—into the outer parts of the city. So how do you implicate that? It's just the law and regulations, but it's never politically calculated [to target people].

Is the problem compounded by the fact that these communities lack the resources and time to assemble?
Absolutely. It's all about resources and access to decision making. One of the slogans behind environmental justice is giving people "a place at the table." There are lots of elements to environmental justice: access to decision makers, access to legal resources and many others. It's not surprising that middle- and lower-class communities mobilize differently.

Is there a solution?
On some levels, people are very aggressive in trying to deal with this, both with regulatory framework and through legislation. California, for example, has over 20 laws that deal with environmental justice. So I wouldn't say it's a lost cause. I wouldn't want anyone to think that there's no way we can deal with any of this.

The term "environmental injustice" implies morality — that those who aren't affected have a responsibility to act and speak up for those who are. Is there a national, even global responsibility here?
Yes, I think part of the responsibility is understanding that different groups experience their world according to circumstances that are different. Even if you're not affected, you're still connected to that person.

So how can unaffected communities play a more vocal role in protecting affected communities?
In Europe, and I think this is really interesting, they have a very different fundamental approach to dealing with this. It's called the precautionary principle, which California is now also using. It basically says that instead of proving that something causes harm, you have to prove that it doesn't cause harm. That affects how things get produced and how people think about development. That's a really concrete example of how we can do better, and where we'll end up, in comparison to the Europe, if we don't.

Jacked this from newsweek.com

Are you kidding me??!!

2008-12-26T16:03:00.000-05:00

U.S. votes against "right to food" in UN General Assembly

by Daisy Cutter

Sat Dec 20, 2008 at 06:47:21 PM PST

UN General Assembly press release:

Draft resolution XX on the right to food, approved on 24 November by a recorded vote of 180 in favour to 1 against (United States), with no abstentions, would have the Assembly reaffirm that hunger constitutes an outrage and a violation of human dignity, requiring the adoption of urgent measures at the national, regional and international level, for its elimination.

Full vote below.

Daisy Cutter's diary :: ::

Vote on Right to Food

The draft resolution on the right to food (document A/63/430/Add.2) was adopted by a recorded vote of 184 in favour to 1 against, with no abstentions, as follows:

In favour: Afghanistan, Albania, Algeria, Andorra, Angola, Antigua and Barbuda, Argentina, Armenia, Australia, Austria, Azerbaijan, Bahamas, Bahrain, Bangladesh, Barbados, Belarus, Belgium, Belize, Benin, Bhutan, Bolivia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Botswana, Brazil, Brunei Darussalam, Bulgaria, Burkina Faso, Burundi, Cambodia, Cameroon, Canada, Central African Republic, Chad, Chile, China, Colombia, Comoros, Congo, Costa Rica, Côte d’Ivoire, Croatia, Cuba, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Democratic People’s Republic of Korea, Denmark, Djibouti, Dominica, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, Egypt, El Salvador, Eritrea, Estonia, Ethiopia, Fiji, Finland, France, Gabon, Gambia, Georgia, Germany, Ghana, Greece, Grenada, Guatemala, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Guyana, Haiti, Honduras, Hungary, Iceland, India, Indonesia, Iran, Iraq, Ireland, Israel, Italy, Jamaica, Japan, Jordan, Kazakhstan, Kenya, Kuwait, Kyrgyzstan, Lao People’s Democratic Republic, Latvia, Lebanon, Lesotho, Liberia, Libya, Liechtenstein, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Madagascar, Malawi, Malaysia, Maldives, Mali, Malta, Marshall Islands, Mauritania, Mauritius, Mexico, Micronesia (Federated States of), Monaco, Mongolia, Montenegro, Morocco, Mozambique, Myanmar, Namibia, Nauru, Nepal, Netherlands, New Zealand, Nicaragua, Niger, Nigeria, Norway, Oman, Pakistan, Palau, Panama, Paraguay, Peru, Philippines, Poland, Portugal, Qatar, Republic of Korea, Republic of Moldova, Romania, Russian Federation, Rwanda, Saint Kitts and Nevis, Saint Lucia, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Samoa, San Marino, Sao Tome and Principe, Saudi Arabia, Senegal, Serbia, Sierra Leone, Singapore, Slovakia, Slovenia, Solomon Islands, Somalia, South Africa, Spain, Sri Lanka, Sudan, Suriname, Swaziland, Sweden, Switzerland, Syria, Tajikistan, Thailand, The former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, Timor-Leste, Togo, Tonga, Trinidad and Tobago, Tunisia, Turkey, Turkmenistan, Tuvalu, Ukraine, United Arab Emirates, United Kingdom, United Republic of Tanzania, Uruguay, Uzbekistan, Vanuatu, Venezuela, Viet Nam, Yemen, Zambia, Zimbabwe.

Against: United States.

Abstain: None.

Absent: Cape Verde, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Equatorial Guinea, Kiribati, Papua New Guinea, Seychelles, Uganda.

"Why do they hate us?" we ask.

The real question we should be asking is: "Why do we hate them?"

Remember that the U.S. ruling class helped to cause the world food crisis. The U.S.' policy of promoting "free trade" and neoliberal reform through the IMF/World Bank is quite literally promoting starvation. Just look at what we did to Haiti. This vote seems to be a new low, as far as I can tell. Calling the "right to food" a human right in a toothless diplomatic resultion costs nothing and requires no further action. I'm not sure if this vote was motivated by free market fundamentalism or pure sadism.

Jacked this from www.dailykos.com

Black to Nature Dictionary update II

2008-12-24T11:42:00.000-05:00

So check it. There are words out there that I use that people may not be familiar with. I am also creating new words cause I do stuff like that. I thought that I'd start my own online dictionary (blacketh to natureth stylings...you 'no won test the rocket launcher). So I'll be droppng Black (Law's) to Nature Dictionary and updates every so often. So I'll repost the last version and just keep adding words.

Biopiracy

Cocacolonization

Disneyfication

Eco-Imperialism

Ecological-Imperialism

McWords

Necrovore

Walmarting

Snow Storm Economics

2008-12-23T11:58:00.000-05:00

For my family shoveling snow has always been a family affair. It's been that way ever since that blizzard back in '77. My siblings and myself had mini-shovels and we all went at it. Only later did I figure out that is was part of my family's ethic of 'do for self' and 'economic planning'. In the past one reason that families were large was due to the fact that in the agricultural age the larger the family, the greater land you could cultivate, the larger the harvest ie...more dough. Even in this modern model all of us shoveling kept dough in the family (no matter how small an amount). As I grew older it became only my father, my brother and myself doing it still manifesting the same above principles while at the same time starting our first degree in manhood training.

As we move through eras I noticed that there were less boys combing the street after snowfall looking to shovel people's walks. It has been kinda disheartening in that there is always this talk about economic regression and lack of jobs. And we know that the streets ain't pumping with drugs like in the 80's so alot of the inner city youth ain't hustling like that anymore. That is why I was so glad when I saw three young brothers approach my house after this latest snow storm.

Now those that knowledge me realize I hardly ever rest being active at all crazy times of the night and day. When the last snowstorm came I got stuck various places in the car and my sidewalk looked like the antarctic. I was really defeated. I live on a hill plus the drive way is encased in two walls and gathers more snow than anywhere else on the street.

They approached on the humble and asked for an amount that was WAY too little for the task. I told them don't disrespect me like that..hahha. They did an excellent job AND I contracted them for any future snow storm. Now what does the above have to do with "Black t Nature"?

*Keep it in the Hood
Employ your own. This is the start of keeping money in the neighborhood. This is one of the most effective crime deterrents (employing our own).

*Eco-conscious
Snow blowers cost gas and thus are another drain on environmental resources

*Get Familiar
Nowadays many people don't even knowledge who their neighbors are. As a youth all the elders in the neighborhood knew me and my parents. We need to follow up and do the same. How else do we expect a community to arise?

*Give accolades
Tell people they did a good job when they do good. I mean we have 1001 ways to downgrade each other yet how many times do you tell people that you appreciate the work they've done?

*Every moment is a teaching moment
Did I mention when they saw the universal flag their eyes peaked? Also had them in the house for some vegan hot chocolate Aztec style with the hot chili. It's ALWAYS about the science of everything in life.

Flicks from the blizzard of '78

Concourses to Radiant Health's winter Solistice Issue

2008-12-22T11:46:00.000-05:00

First off, I slacked. I admit it. I was supposed to add on to the winter solstice issue of Concourses to Radiant Health and I didn't. What I must say though is that my queen sis Cy is dropping it there so get your baskets out. Absorb every morsel.

Concourses to Radiant Health's Winter Solstice Issue

Burger King..somebody snatch that crown

2008-12-19T13:09:00.000-05:00

Back in the meat eating days of my youth I liked Burger King over McDonalds. I mean I liked the food at Mickey D's better yet Burger King always had the round the way girls working there who I could kick it to while I was waiting for 'fries to go with that shake'. Also, when I was way smaller they had fresher characters that were like right out of H.R. Pufnstuff.

Earlier in the Burger King franchise history, there was a Burger King Kingdom (a la "McDonaldLand"). It was populated with a number of interesting characters (phased out in the 1980s) that included the Burger King, of course; Sir Shakes-A-Lot (who wore a milkshake container for a hat and constantly craved milkshakes to drink); The Burger Thing (a living hamburger mounted in a picture frame who liked to sing); The Wizard of Fries (a robot with a head filled with French fries); and The Duke Of Doubt (a villainous guy who doubted the Burger King's magical abilities - "That's impossible to do!"). Once, seeing that the Burger King could create food from thin air, the Duke of Doubt asks "Make me a shake." The King happily obliges by turning the Duke into a giant milkshake. The ad campaign slogan was "Magic makes it special when your with Burger King."

With the advent of movies like 'Super Size Me' and the other of billion reports coming through on obesity in the United States one thing is clear....fast food is one of the major archdaemons of the S.tandard A.merican D.iet.

Yet beyond that there is the spector of fast food corporations being involved with environmental racism issues worldwide (like killing of the rain forest in South America to make more land for more cattle). Also, they act in fashions that are very similar to the past colonial powers..well..because they are the damn spawn of colonial powers.

One of the current things on the chopping block is the Whopper Virgins ad campaign. In a few words its just about exploiting people and wasting money. Fast food is the new colonial Bible. Teaching people how to eat the wrong foods just keeps popping up doesn't it.

And if I show up smelling like meat you already know that I've sold my soul to the devil.

Dumpster Diving

2008-12-18T11:50:00.000-05:00

When white hipsters do it they call it freeganism. Don't get me wrong I rock with aspects of it like Food Not Bombs or Freecycle. What I have issue with though is that it makes it seems as though 'rescuing goods from trash' is the 'next new white thing'. Reality is people on the outskirts of society have long been salvaging that 'trash of opulence and gluttony'. Many look at recycling, downcyling, or upcycling as a current enviromentalist response to industrialization. The reality is that there has always been a segment of society that has taken this weight on their shoulders whether by choice or necessity.

People have been dumpster diving forever. There has always been the junk man, waste picker, or karung guni.

If YOU don't recycle that is one of the direct ways that you are posioning the planet and contributing to environmental racism. Forget the corporations and other 'big guys' that are destroying the environment. Start the journey with the look into your own nasty ass.

There is a river that runs through New Haven. It runs straight by the garbage dump. All of that mercury, sewage, etc leaking right back into the environment. Where is this dump and river located? Right in the Hill section of New Haven which is one of the central so called Latino (because lets be real..what the kcuf does Latin have to do with Boriken {so called Puerto Rico..back to the original name y'all}, Quisqueya {Hati/Dominican Republic}, Mexico-Tenochtitl {Mexico} and so on) sections of the city. And yes, it is located on the other side of the tracks.

Also, guess what, the poor people of that neighborhood fish in that river. Which of course is going to feed mercury and other toxins into their bodies. Which in turn is going to destroy the health of the community. Which in turn is a direct result of where they are forced to live in the city due to economic opportunities. That garbage dump needs to be more efficient AND needs to be located away from human habitation.

So the next time you see that 'bum' digging through the garbage that man is a freegan. He is off the grid in ways that 'revolutionaries' only 'dream' about. Look into ways that you can recycle anything from soda bottles to batteries. I'll drop some here and there as I come across them.

O.G.s (Original Greens)

2008-12-17T11:34:00.000-05:00

So yeah. You know that I am about exposing the fact that Original People (so called people of color) are all up in this Green thing because um...WE'VE ALWAYS BEEN HERE WHO YOU THINK ORIGINATED THIS!!!

Anyway. Here is another O.G. blog.

Green L.A. girl

Starbucks be droughtin'

2008-12-16T11:36:00.000-05:00

Because my man at Afrofuturistic Foundation always drops it so ill.

STARBUCKS was blasted by environmental experts last night after The Sun discovered it pours millions of litres of precious water down the drain at its coffee shops.

The giant coffee chain has a policy of keeping a tap running non-stop at all its 10,000 outlets worldwide, wasting 23.
4 MILLION litres a day.

That would provide enough daily water for the entire two million-strong population of drought-hit Namibia in Africa or fill an Olympic pool every 83 minutes.

Every Starbucks branch has a cold tap behind the counter providing water for a sink called a “dipper well”, used for washing spoons and utensils.

Staff are banned from turning the water off under bizarre health and safety rules — bosses claim a constant flow stops germs breeding in the taps.

Starbucks has built up a massive chain, popular with coffee drinkers from Hollywood stars to builders, and proudly boasts of its work for the environment.

But water companies accused the firm of HARMING the environment by frittering away a vital natural resource.

Claim

And the claim that running taps are needed for hygiene reasons was dismissed by experts as “nonsense”.

Starbucks has 698 branches in Britain, each open for 13 hours a day.

ASSHOLES - and/or Mother Earth Murderers!

“I could not believe it but when we contacted head office, they confirmed that the taps were left on and the water was not recycled.

“It is an absolutely astonishing waste of water, especially for a company which prides itself on its green credentials.
”

Our undercover team checked Starbucks outlets across the UK and around the world and found some baffled staff did not use the running tap and did not even know what it was for.

At Starbucks in Covent Garden, London, a worker shrugged and said: “We’ve got to keep it like that. I don’t know why.
”

In Bristol a tap was seen running full on for 15 minutes.

Similar scenes were witnessed in Derby, Nottingham, Manchester, Birmingham and Bath.

On 52nd Street New York, a tap was running the whole time our investigators were there and nothing was cleaned under it.

It was the same in Los Angeles and in Sydney, Australia.

Australia is in the grip of a seven-year drought which is the worst for a century.

Staff at one of the 50 Starbucks in Beijing, China, threatened to call cops as we photographed a running tap.

In Vienna, Austria, Starbucks staff confirmed the tap was always left running.

In Cluj, Romania — also hit by a drought — a Starbucks worker said of the tap: “We don’t know what it is. Nobody ever uses it.
”

A spokesman for UK Water, which represents water companies, was horrified by our findings.

He said: “It is wasteful and unnecessary. There is absolutely no need to keep taps running.
”

Peter Robinson, of environmental charity Waste Watch, said: “Leaving taps running all day is a shocking waste of precious water. And to claim you are doing it for health and safety reasons is bonkers.

“Tap water comes from rivers and groundwater and wasting it can cause great harm to the environment and wildlife. Big companies should set an example.
”

Jacob Tompkins, of independent water efficiency agency Water Wise, said: “If they are doing all their basic cleaning procedures, I fail to see why they would need to do this.

“There are a lot of other ways to stop a build-up of bacteria.

“The chance of a build-up in the spout is extremely remote. And if there is one they’re not cleaning the tap properly.
”

Ian Barker, head of water resources at the Environment Agency, added: “We are already taking too much water from the environment and are seeing reduced river flows.
”

6 points

2008-12-15T12:03:00.000-05:00

Peace (yeah I say it all of the time..get familiar). I don't usually do these type of things yet my sis Cy hit me up with this thing so I'll indulge.

That's also why you've been TAGGED(!) which means you are supposed to post 6 things about yourself that people may not know, post the 6th foto from the 6th album on your pc and tag 6 more people.

1) Before I started rocking a plant-centric diet I had experienced a range of 'exotic' meats including, yet not limited to, deer, raccoon, snake, lion, ostrich, etc

2) When younger we use to play hide and go seek in an abandoned gun factory in the hood

3) My Old Earth's side of the family is known for twins (she being one herself). I know of 5 sets.

4) I've killed a black adder with a broomstick on farm slithering from a creek.

5) I've hunted with a bow and arrow

6) When I was eleven there was a robber trying to get out of our back window when we got home from church. When my father and another man went to chase him I ran to chase him to. What was I thinking.

6th pic in 6th album. Circa '79/'80. Old Dad in pic with my Old Earth (R.I.P.) holding down a feast in the home.

I gave a pound to buddha

2008-12-09T12:04:00.000-05:00

For as the lightning cometh out of the east, and shineth even unto the west; so shall also the coming of the Son of man be.
St. Matthew 24:27

It started with me just knocking dairy out of my diet then the God was breathing better. Now I find myself rocking organic Ra(sun neter/ntr get with it)food that has been fired by the sun.

I remember first experimenting with fasting learning how to discern between a need and a want. It is about merging needs and wants or being aware that one is choosing a need or want.

As transform myself and the environment around me a few have been assisting in my preparations and I gotta give a big up to them. Especially Cy who hit me with great insight how to rock a minimalist ra food style and violet who tutored me in making kombocha. As I do the bounce to the west I'll let y'all see how its done. Already i've been experiencing ra soups and its ill (meaning SO good).

Alot of my work at the moment is invested in my migration and Asiatic Light micropress which is jumping off lovely (twitter.com/asiaticlight to keep in the loop).

And on the fly I had some ill Buddha's hand citron on a salad the the other day. Oh you need a handkerchief? I see you sweatin' me.

Stay (in) tune for more.

Winter Sun (of Man)

2008-12-08T14:46:00.001-05:00

I Know I said a month yet so many of y'all have been caaaalllling me. So I'm going to set this one back in motion. The Journal of Allah's Five Percent will be coming back in fruition soon. Meanwhile walk with me as I make this westward migration hitting a few cities on my way Westward, zen minimalist Ra foodist style.

BTW my alike Sha-King and family came through New Heaven to check the God out. We Built over ill Ra food at Catch a Healthy Habit in West Haven.

And his son, Justice dropped jewels.

Asiatic Light Publishing and Promotion (Twitter)

2008-11-29T14:29:00.000-05:00

Peace. Just a check in. Keep up with my new endeavor by following me on twitter at twitter.com/asiaticlight. I'll build more on it when I return to the blogsphere yet until then you can keep in tune with the project there which is Asiatic Light publishing and promotion micropress. The first Green web 2.0 publishing house geared towards Original People.

Peace

2008-11-13T02:11:00.001-05:00

Peace. I'll be on sabbatical for about 2 months. Those that know how to reach me get at me if you need me. The Blackman is God. The Blackwoman is the Earth. The babies are the greatest.

Raw Mami relocation

2008-11-12T18:33:00.000-05:00

So I wondered where my sis the rawmami went to on the blogsphere. Turns out that she turned up reincarnated. Check out her new spot at Ravynn's Rawthentic Life. Show some love.

Green Search Engine

2008-11-12T10:29:00.000-05:00

I jacked this from the ecogeek blog.

Web 3.0 is still a new concept, but a new search engine called Truevert wants ecogeeks to be the first to benefit from it.

Truevert, as an example of Web 3.0, utilizes smart browsing, where the search engine learns the meaning of words through context to improve searches. Truevert has learned words in a green context so that all searches are done from an environmental point of view. If you're searching for the word "solar," the engine knows you mean solar energy, not just anything having to do with the sun.

Other green search engines exist, but Truevert is different because it's not just scouring green websites; it's using the learned context to search all of the web, allowing for more thorough results.

For those of us who are constantly looking for green information, this could be a real asset and time saver.

via Treehugger

Catching up with my review of Urbangogreen

2008-11-11T12:38:00.000-05:00

Ultraviolet Poem -

Environmental Conservation -

Substainable Bronx -

So..harvest...feast..

2008-11-10T12:20:00.000-05:00

So if you know me you know that ever since I was 16 I fasted on Thanksgiving (Oh L yeah I'll have a crazy reflective post on the the origins of that day when it rolls around). [Back to the the Story]-{no BLACK to the story}.

I usually have a pre or post Thanksgiving harvest feast to commemorate Fall/Autumn/Harvest. (still haven't figured out if its going to be pre or post this year). I am also contemplating having the gathering in Mecca (Harlem) or Medina (Brooklyn)so my NYC folk shout out the God.

I have the menu drawn up and the recipes. It'll be a communal preparation. I got the recipes from my man rawfoodfrank. This is the first year I'm doing an all raw feast so be down,you know you want to be.

Cream of Parsnip Soup
Candied Pecans
Pomegranate Vinaigrette
Spicy Sweet Potatoes
Sprouted Wild Grass Stuffing
Walnut and Sage Gravy
Goji-cranberry sauce
Green Beans with Mustard-Almond Aioli
Perfect Pear Tart
Carob Fudge

So....

2008-11-06T02:37:00.000-05:00

I like to take pictures of food. Some of these are dishes I made. Some are dishes I ate. It was all good though. I like the way light plays off of food showing that alot of those fruit and veggies are just bundles of encapsulated solar energy. And it tastes gud.

Environmental Justice

2008-11-04T07:56:00.000-05:00

Power Vote

2008-11-03T16:38:00.000-05:00

Day of the Dead..Park of the Living

2008-11-03T10:18:00.000-05:00

So yesterday was Los Dia de los Muertos. My alike Sha-King has an interesting 5% perspective over at his blog on the day. I got my eat on a little bit yesterday with the ill raw skull cookies that my Mexica co-worker rocked out.

When I was driving the other day while at my refugee job I noticed the huge amounts of land set aside for cemeteries. I mean..huge amounts of land. It got me thinking that there aren't even parks in hood. Yet we have these acres of land set aside for dead folk.

In terms of Los Dia de los Muertos what to me is fresh is that those who celebrate it reclaim the cemetery as a public gathering place. I mean, having gatherings, food, celebration in the cemetery. It is now a FUNCTIONAL piece of land.

It started me thinking about the impact that burial has on the environment and the pumping of chemicals (embalming fluid), non decomposing caskets, etc into the Earth. So my mental went toward looking into Natural Burial. Basically there are ways to be environmentally sound when burying and have a functional landscape. Also for the entrepreneurs out there...it is a growing GREEN business so you can get in on the ground floor. Check out some of these links

The Green Burial Council

Earth Artist

Memorial Ecosystems

And yes..I still have some more urbangogreen footage to show you so stay tuned.

So did I mention that autumn is when I think about my Old Earth

2008-11-02T10:19:00.000-05:00

I use to love autumn. I live in New England where people come from all over to see that transition. I use to know a girl whose name was autumn who was beautiful. She was from NYC going to Yale and I taught her how to drive yet I wasn't swift enough to realize that she should've been mine's and when I was ready the leaves on her tree had fallen and her hear was winter to me. Autumn is when green bleeds into orange red chakras that hum. I use to love autumn before my Old Earth returned to the essence and we lowered her physical shell into the gound on a rainy October afternoon. Before it even reaches my conscious the change in the season starts screeching against my subconscious. It seems that negative things tend to accumulate around me during autumn. My oldest brother and oldest sister returned to their essence around that time. I broke up with my ex in fall and lost my son for a moment in autumn. And one who I care for deeply I lost her in summer before fall. I still have unresolved issues from my Old Earth's return. The greatest gift that my father and mother gave me was showing me how a relationship works. It's funny that many times you work to express this to others yet due to their own experience they refuse to belive that it can exist. Through that mileage they raised us with a beautiful care that I can never thank them for. I have a heavy heart sometimes because my Old Earth didn't see me give this to my son. My father washed my Old Earth's full body in baths and showers when she couldn't do that herself. I never saw them run from each other. They only ran toward each other. Sometimes I think that loving my son is the one right thing that I've done in this life. October causes me to be an emotional wreck in so many ways and sometimes even a damn sitcom will cause me to well up. This is the first year though that I am bringing the sun (of man) into the fall. So much has gotten done. So much is getting done. And people reveal theirselves as who they are in your life via actions vs words. I wish she could see it as it unfolds.

Her name is Doris Hill Massie.

2008-11-01T13:49:00.000-04:00

For some reason I've been having difficulty uploading all of my video from the urbangogreen function. Stay tune. I'll get it right. Meanwhile check out some flicks I took of the fall in New England, and pt I of a video of a park near my rest.

AutumnI - me

So my grandfather made moonshine

2008-10-30T15:46:00.000-04:00

Yes, you heard it right. Down in Kentucky. It's funny cause my father, who is a minister, still can rattle off the recipes and blueprints to draw up the machines and stuff. He drops stories on me how my grandfather use to bury b ottles of it in various places in the forest and you had to remember the combination of trees to know where it was at.

This leads me to my own quirk. I hate drinking out of plastic. And I always saw a big contradiction with health heads drinking that 'spring water' out of plastic bottles (I just resolved that with myself..ain't doing that anymore). In addition to my fresh crafted bowl I have a few mason jars that I drink out of. Cause I love glass. The mason jars also reminds me of my family history from moonshine to my Old Earth making preserves before the winter time. I like that sh*t. Yeah I took the flicks.

Juice

2008-10-29T04:02:00.000-04:00

juice -

Ihsan

2008-10-28T14:09:00.000-04:00

Well I rocked out at the expo also. We got treated to the sol-ful singing of Ishan is the national spokes-singer for Urbangogreen. You can hear her signature song for the movement called Go Green Get Green.

I had the pleasure of having her interviewed at the event and she dropped a little about what she is doing and how she is rocking it. Check out her page at myspace.com/ihsanmusic

Ishan -

Ihsan Live 2003-2005

UrbanGoGreen Weekend Expo

2008-10-27T05:57:00.000-04:00

Peace. If ya didn't know I attended the UrbanGoGreen expo this past Saturday in Mecca/Harlem. It was off the vegan meat substitute meat rack! Met alot of good people and linked up with alot of people. If you want to find out more about the urbangogreen movment check out their myspace page. I did alot of picture taking and video interviews so I'll be sharing those with you all of this week while I drop some other tidbits on you.

Taking it back to the basics in the motherland...f*ck GMO seeds

Intro into UrbanGoGreen

UrbanGoGreen intro -

The Absolute Truth Vegan Series

2008-10-23T23:41:00.000-04:00

How I get down

2008-10-22T21:29:00.000-04:00

The end result of hanging with my friend Dayna Poon at a new Korean spot in town. An ill salad, nice smooth miso soup, juicy orange, and you can't see the empty bowl of raw Bibilbob on the side.

Green Crude

2008-10-22T10:14:00.000-04:00

Green oil? You know I be thinking on the small scale. Are they telling me that I may be able to make this mixture myself?

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

June 04, 2008

Company Produces "Green" Crude Oil and Gasoline from Algae

Sapphire Energy announced on May 28 that it has produced "green" gasoline from a synthetic crude oil made from algae. The algae yield a crude oil replacement that is literally green, and according to the company, the "green crude" meets fuel quality standards and is completely compatible with the existing petroleum infrastructure, from refinement through distribution to retail suppliers. Gasoline produced from the green crude achieved a 91 octane rating while meeting fuel quality standards. Sapphire Energy considers the achievement to be at the forefront of an entirely new industrial category, called "green crude production."

"It's hard not to get excited about algae's potential," says Paul Dickerson, chief operating officer of DOE's Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy. "Its basic requirements are few: carbon dioxide, sun, and water. Algae can flourish in non-arable land or in dirty water, and when it does flourish, its potential oil yield per acre is unmatched by any other terrestrial feedstock." See the Sapphire Energy press release and its companion Web site, Green Crude Production.

In fact, the hard part about algae production is growing the algae in a controlled way and harvesting it efficiently. Most companies pursuing algae as a source of biofuels are pumping nutrient-laden water through plastic tubes (called "bioreactors") that are exposed to sunlight. On May 22, Green Star Products, Inc. announced its development of a micronutrient formula to increase the growth rate of algae. According to the company, its new formula can increase the daily growth rate by 34% and can double the amount of algae produced in one growth cycle. See the Green Star Products press release.

Jacked this from http://apps1.eere.energy.gov/news/news_detail.cfm/news_id=11801

By the people for the people

2008-10-20T16:34:00.000-04:00

What you know about the People's Grocery?

Urban Go Green

2008-10-17T10:02:00.000-04:00

I missed the joint on the 10th/11th yet I'm going to be there on the 25th. My NYC folk who wanna roll.

Also check out their site Urban Go Green

Hoard Seeds

2008-10-16T13:55:00.000-04:00

My sis FaaTma had a tag line about hording seeds. It made me reflect on being prepared at all times. Alot of western montheistic traditions are rooted in a linear view of history with a specific 'beginning' and a specific 'end'. Thus they are hooked on the 'end times' (yeah...don't sleep on Palin and the religious right and what they will do to bring ABOUT the end time...okay...end political commentary).

Thus you have alot of people nowadays (Christian, Muslim, etc) thinking that the current economic crisis, war in the middle east, etc are all 'signs'. The wise amongst us know that these things have always happened and happen with frequency. I mean what about the great depression, WW I/WW II, the maafa, etc....don't you think all of that was viewed as 'the end of the world'. Anyway what I am getting at is that there are always 'disasters' happening and you need to be prepared at all times.

Hording seeds.

My parents are both farm folk so they always knew the science of surplus from pickling, canning, burying stuff below the frost line, etc. When Hurricane Gloria hit CT when I was young I saw all of this being made manifest as our whole city was without electricity for a week, water was scarce, and food lines were disrupted. We had ample food because my parents always had surplus in the house. It was that lesson that reminded me I needed to always be prepared.

In light of the above here is a blueprint for a 72 Hour Emergency Kit. This is just a skeleton. In the future I will offer you some green options such as a green first aid kit and general green skills you can use in survival.

72 Hour Kits
The objective of the Family 72-Hour Emergency Preparedness Kit is to have, previously assembled and placed in one location, all of those essential items you and your family will need during a 72-hour time period following an emergency. When an emergency occurs you will probably not have the luxury of going around the house gathering up needed items, especially if you have to evacuate your home on short notice.

Take time now to gather whatever your family needs to survive for three days(72 Hours) based upon the assumption that those items are the only possessions you will have. Store these kits in a closet near the front door or some other easily accessible place where they can be quickly and easily grabbed on the way out the door.

Pack all items in plastic Zip-loc type bags to keep them dry and air tight. This will prevent a liquid item from spilling and ruining other items in your kit and keep rain and other forms of moisture away from the items stored.

Keep a list of the dates when certain items need to be reviewed, especially foods, outgrown clothing and medications so that they may be properly rotated.

Emergency supplies are readily available at preparedness and military surplus stores. Fear may well be responsible for more deaths than exposure, hunger and injury combined. Realizing you have fears and that these are normal emotions in unfamiliar situation, you will be aware of them and better able to cope with them as they appear. Fears can be expected in any outdoor problem situation. Fear of the unknown and fear of your ability to cope with the situation will be foremost, along with a fear of being alone, darkness, suffering, or death. Fear is usually based on lack of self-confidence and lack of adequate preparation and experience. Knowledge and experience(practice sessions), will help to instill confidence and help to control fear.

Container
The container you choose for your kit must be waterproof, have some type of carrying handle, and must be able to be carried easily by family plastic bucket, duffel bag, trunk or footlocker, plastic garbage cans.

Water
Advised amounts of water for a kit vary. The Utah County Sheriff's office recommends a minimum of two quarts per day for each adult. However, a person can survive quite well on less, and the load of carrying six quarts of water with a pack is great. Outdoor survival course veterans agree that a two-liter bottle should be adequate. Water purification tablets or crystals need to be a part of each kit. Refer to Emergency Water Supply for treatment methods and information on portable water filters.

Food
You should include in your kit a three-day supply of non-perishable food. The food items should be compact and lightweight, in sealed packages. MRE's (Meals Ready to Eat) are a good choice because they require little or no preparation. Freeze-dried foods are lightweight but require extra water in your kit. Canned goods are heavy with extra refuse. Plan nutritionally balanced meals, keeping in mind that this is a survival kit. Include vitamins or other supplements, if desired.

Possible foods for a kit might include:
· MRE's · snack crackers · hard candy · dried fruits · instant oatmeal · powdered milk · jerky · bouillon cubes · raisins/nuts · instant rice/potatoes · dried soups · gum · granola bars · instant pudding · powdered drink mixes

Also include a mess kit or other compact equipment for cooking and eating. A can opener may also be useful.

Shelter
The objective of shelter is to provide emergency housing. It is extremely important to be physically protected from nature's weather elements. There are many types of shelter that can be easily included in your 72-hour kit. You may want to consider family tent, backpacker's tent, tube tent, rain poncho, garbage bags, nylon rope or cord, duct tape, space blanket and space sleeping bag.

Bedding
· Bedding should be warm, lightweight, comfortable, waterproof and compact. · Sleeping bag (2 1/2 pound hollow-fill) · Insulation. Under your sleeping bag you will need some insulation to protect you from the cold ground. Though foam pads are generally thought of as an item of comfort, their true importance is in insulating you from the ground. The best types are "closed cell" foam pads about 3/8 of an inch in thickness. They are very light weight and easily attached to the backpack for carrying. You may also use a poncho, plastic ground cloth, newspapers, leaves, or pine boughs, for insulation but they are not nearly as effective as the closed cell foam pads.

· Blankets can be used to make a bed roll but generally they are not as comfortable nor as warm as a sleeping bag. Wool blankets are the best since they retain their warming ability even when wet. However, blankets are very heavy and bulky.

· Space blanket or bag. As explained in the previous section space blankets and space bags (aluminum coated mylar) are very efficient at retaining body heat and are a must for every 72-hour kit. Even when used by themselves, without the added benefit of a sleeping bag they will keep you warm during the night. In cold winter weather they may not be entirely comfortable but they will probably keep you warm enough to keep you alive. Being plastic, however, they are impervious to moisture. This is good for keeping out rain but they also retain sweat and condensation from your breath. you may find that periodically during the night you will have to air them out in order to sleep comfortably. They can also be used during the day to protect from rain, sun and to retain body warmth.

Clothing
Include in your kit one change of clothing and footwear, preferable work clothing. Anticipate severe weather conditions. If you have a growing family remember to update clothing sizes and needs at least once a year. Try to avoid wearing cotton clothing. Tight cotton clothing holds water next to the skin. Wet inner clothing causes freezing. Cotton clothing "wicks" (draws water up the very small individual fibers), thus retaining water and spreading it over the entire body, causing loss of body heat at an ever greater rate. Wool clothing is best. Wool is a natural thermostatic insulator that keeps you warm in the winter and cool in the summer. Wool is naturally durable and can withstand rugged and tough wear. Wool also repels water and has the unique property of keeping the body warm even if it does get wet. Wool dries from the inside out and does not "wick." Include two pairs of wool socks- one pair for wearing and one for keeping your feet warm while sleeping.

Fuel
Every family member should have fire starting materials and know how to start a fire. Several of these items should be assembled into a kit and labeled as "fire starting kit." Teach all family members how to use them and let them practice building fires with all methods until they feel totally confident with their ability to do so. Even little children aged five or six can be safely instructed in correct fire building techniques under proper supervision. Then if an emergency arises, they will not panic or feel overwhelmed or frightened at the prospect of building a fire for their warmth and protection.

Some different sources are:
· Matches. Carry at least two dozen wooden kitchen matches that have been either dipped in wax or nail polish to make them waterproof or carry them in a waterproof container.
· Metal match. Waterproof, fireproof, durable, and non-toxic. Will light thousands of fires. Available at sporting goods stores.
· Butane lighters, such as Bic cigarette lighters, are excellent ways to light a fire.
· Magnesium fire starters are good for starting fires with wet or damp wood. Shave magnesium shavings off of a magnesium block with a pocket knife and then strike a spark from a flint starter with a pocket knife. Magnesium burns exceptionally hot and will ignite almost any combustible material. Works even when wet and can be purchased at most sporting goods stores.
· Small magnifying glass. Use to concentrate sunlight onto paper, shredded bark or other tinder.
· Flint and steel A spark from flint and steel (such as an empty cigarette lighter or flint and steel striking bar), when directed at dry paper (especially toilet tissue), shredded bark, dry grass or other tinder, if persisted in patiently will work very well to start a fire. This is the most reliable "non-match" method of starting a fire.
· Commercial fire starter kits. These come in a variety of styles and fuels.
· Steel wool. Fine steel wool (used for scrubbing pots and pans- but not Brillo pads or other types that have soap already impregnated into them) can be used for tinder. Hold two "D" flashlight cells together in one hand (or one 9-volt transistor radio battery) while touching one end of a clump of steel wool to the positive end of the battery and the other end of the steel wool to the negative end of the battery. The current causes the steel wool fibers to incandesce and then produce a flame. It burns very hot and fairly fast so have lots of other tinder to burn once the steel wool ignites.
· Candles can be used for warmth, light, and starting fires. To start a fire simply cut a piece of candle about 1/2 inch in length and place it on top of the tinder. When lit the wax witl run over the tinder making it act as a wick and ignite. You can also place small twigs and other easily burnable materials directly into the fame to build a fire.
· Car Battery. If you are near your car you can easily put sparks into tinder by attaching any wires to the battery posts and scraping the ends together in the tinder.
· Sterno fuel and stoves make an excellent cooking fuel when backpacking or in emergencies. Sterno can be lit with a match or by a spark from flint and steel. Slivers of gelled sterno can be cut from the can and placed on top of tinder and lit with flint and steel or with a match. It burns hot enough to ignite even damp tinder.
· Cotton balls and gauze from the first aid kit make excellent tinder and can be ignited with sparks or with matches.
· Fuel tablets such as tri-oxane and gelled fuels store well and ignite quickly and easily. Some can be fairly expensive, however.
· Butane and propane stoves. These are made especially for backpackers. The fuel is cheaper than sterno, it burns hotter and it heats better in windy situations than other fuels. Propane, however is more difficult to light as outside temperatures near zero.

First Aid Kit
Update your first aid skills. Keep your first aid kit well supplied. Suggested first-aid supplies for 72-hour kit:
· first aid book · waterproof container · assortment of band-aids · gauze pads · butterfly bandages · cotton balls · small roll of gauze · adhesive tape · cotton swabs (Q-Tips) · safety pins · Pepto-bismol tablets · antacid tablets (good for bee sting) · cold pack · consecrated oil · hydrogen peroxide · alcohol (disinfectants) · smelling salts · medicine dropper tweezers · alcohol wipes · Benadryl capsules · aspirin (promotes healing of burns) · Tylenol (chewable for children) · collapsible scissors · thermometer · crushable heat pack · special prescriptions or equipment · small tube or packets antiseptic cream · ointment · small spool thread/two needles

Miscellaneous
Some other miscellaneous items that may be very helpful are: · light stick · small flashlight · extra batteries · pocket handwarmer · compact fishing kit · compass · pocketknife · 50 ft. nylon cord · plastic poncho · garbage bag · paper or cards · pen, pencil · fine wire · extra plastic bags · small scriptures · favorite songs · small game, toy, etc. · spare glasses · money (small bills and change) · field glasses · toothbrush/toothpaste · metal mirror · comb · razor · pre-moistened wipes · toilet paper · feminine products · sunscreen · soap · lip balm with sunscreen · bandana (may be used for hat, washcloth, mask, sling, tourniquet) · tube soap, bar soap, waterless soap · identification/medical permission card · special blanket or such for little people · portable radio with extra batteries

Family Information Record
In addition to emergency survival supplies you should also collect vital family information. Record and keep it in at least two safe places-a fire resistant "get-away" box that you can take with you if you have to leave the home, and a safe-deposit box at your bank or credit union.

The following items would be useful for you to record and keep in these two locations:
· Genealogy records · Full name and social security numbers of all family members · Listing of vehicles, boats etc. with identification and license numbers · Listing of all charge account card numbers and expiration dates, bank account numbers (both checking and saving), insurance policy numbers, securities, deeds, and loan numbers showing the company name, address and telephone numbers.

· Name, address, and telephone number for each of the following:
Ø employer Ø schools Ø fire/paramedics Ø family contacts Ø utility company Ø police Ø doctor Ø hospital Ø attorney Ø civil defense · Location of important documents Ø insurance policies Ø deeds Ø securities Ø licenses Ø loans Ø will Ø safe-deposit box key Ø vehicle titles (pink slips) Ø birth/death certificates Ø social security I.D. cards Ø citizenship papers Ø letter of instruction Ø tax returns (last 5 years)

Infants
When assembling items for your 72-hour kit be sure to include all necessary items for infants. It would be a good idea to include a separate back pack or other container that holds nothing but infant supplies (which can be surprisingly voluminous). This kit should be kept with the kits of other family members so that it will not be forgotten in a moment of haste. As the baby begins to grow, replace clothing and diapers with the next larger size.

Car Mini-Survival Kit
Your car is frequently your home away from home. most of us spend many hours in our cars each month. Anything from a jammed-up freeway to a major disaster could force you to rely on your car for short-term shelter and survival. It is a wise practice to keep simple provision for emergencies in your car. A self-made cold-weather car kit, as described in some preparedness stores, is also good to keep in the car.

At-Work Survival Kit
Many persons stand a 40 percent chance of being at work when an earthquake or other emergency strikes. A mini-survival kit kept at your place of work could make the hours until you are able to get home more comfortable and safer. This kit could be a duplicate of the car mini-survival kit.

Jacked from http://www.oism.org/ddp/72hour.pdf

chocolate

2008-10-14T18:55:00.000-04:00

So I was thirsty the other night and just threw together some items for this drink. Almond Milk, cacao nibs, 1/2 vanilla bean and a shot of maca. Yeah.

A Jericho Spot

2008-10-14T10:25:00.000-04:00

Jericho Spots I -

Columbus Day

2008-10-13T19:12:00.001-04:00

Columbus Day. How can he possibly tie in some Green Gangsta-sim Black to Nature stuff on this day? Well first off check out how I got down today over at The Journal of Allah's Five Percent.

In terms of today I have one word that ties in Black to Nature with Columbus, Ecological Imperialism.

From wiki land:

Ecological imperialism is the idea that the introduction of plants, animals, and diseases by Europeans to settler colonies was an underlying factor in the success of the European colonization of the New World, Australia, New Zealand and India.

For example, the conquest of Spaniard Hernan Cortes over the Aztecs was aided foremost by the introduction of European disease into the Aztec population. Many more natives died from exposure to new diseases than died from the guns and superior weaponry of the conquistadors.

So basically with all of the talk of how 'advanced' European society was and how that was the reason they overtook lands occupied by Original People Ecological Imperialism postulates that a major factor was because they were spreading mad diseases and ecological disorder. This is another highlight of how Original People were living in harmony with their environments (even in the midst of their own technologies) while Europeans were destroying habitats (look back at my post on the Gold Rush).

In New Zealand, Tuberculosis was brought to New Zealand by Captain Cook. It and other diseases heavily infected the indigenous Maori population. Pigs, and cattle were introduced during the early 1800s where land was adapted to suit herding. Grass seed was introduced into the biota specially breed to improve the quality of Sheep. Other ecological changes resulted by way of British resource developments such as whaling and forestry which spun out from the economic system forcing Maori to adapt or face significant changes at a disadvantage. Foresty led to an increase in labour and commerce but also housing and thus the development of Pakeha (Maori term for European) settlements that would only grow larger.

The issue of Ecological Imperialism is unique in that it is a continuous lineage that extends into today. It is the policies of the original Ecological Imperialism that enables Environmental Racism to persist today.

This theory has been promoted and put forth by Alfred Crosby and Jared Diamond. The following is from the wiki insert on Alfred Crosby's book, Ecological Imperialism.

Why were Europeans and their plants and animals able to prevail over an environment that had long been established? Rather than give credence to claims of innate European superiority and the like, Crosby and Diamond explain this phenomenon as being a product of biological and ecological processes. According to them, one of the major contributors to European domination was disease, which is a natural byproduct of human interaction with animals. Consequently, when Europeans shifted from being hunter/gatherers to being farmers who settled in large, stationary communities and domesticated small animals, they exposed themselves to conditions that birthed diseases that would later assist them in conquering the Neo-Europes. Some such carriers of diseases were the mice, rats, roaches, houseflies, and worms that were able to accumulate in these urban settings.[1]

Because Europeans were living in an environment where they were in close contact with domestic animals and the germs that accompany them, the same germs that many of the devastating diseases of humans have sprung, they were constantly being subjected to disease.[1] And though millions of lives were lost when diseases ravaged Europe during the Middle Ages, a natural consequence of these frequent epidemics was a population that built up a resistance to these diseases. With each and every epidemic there would be some individuals who were biologically more capable of resisting the virus. According to Diamond, “These people were more likely to survive and have children. In the process, they’d pass on their genetic resistance [to their offspring].”[3] After undergoing this process for a number of centuries, the entire population eventually acquired at least some minor immunological defense against diseases such as smallpox.

However, because the majority of the native populations to the Neo-Europes were still participating in hunting/gathering and did not interact with animals in the same manner as Europeans, they were never exposed to such diseases. Therefore, “When the isolation of the New World was broken . . . the American Indian met for the first time his most hideous enemy: not the white man nor his black servant, but the invisible killers which those men brought in their blood and breath.”[4] Because the Europeans arrived in the Neo-Europes with diseases that were absolutely new to those locations, they had an enormous advantage over the indigenous peoples and the consequences were overwhelming. Furthermore, as Warwick Anderson has argued, “the ‘persisting impact of colonial development policies’ and the ‘lasting effects of agricultural change and human resettlement’ offered a particularly conducive environment for a biological approach to infectious disease.”[5] For these reasons disease was able to spread like wildfire and undoubtedly must have claimed a large number of lives.

I mean, lets remember, RATS came with the Europeans to the New World. Do we even have to speak on the disease spreading vector that they represent? Or that rat infestation nowadays is centered around poor Original People?

What does this all mean nowadays? The policies of corporations (read established white institutions) are the same as Ecological Imperialism. They are not concerned with the environmental justice of original people which is why we must be on our A game.

I know its late yet if you're in the area

2008-10-11T12:37:00.000-04:00

Get Green News

2008-10-10T18:34:00.000-04:00

October 3, 2008 8:00 AM PDT

Tracking 'green' news as it grows, with Twitter

Posted by Elsa Wenzel

People use Twitter to warn of natural dangers including earthquakes and hurricanes. Other environmentally related uses for the micro-blogging tool include measuring energy use at home and rigging up plants to "tell" Twitter when they're thirsty.

For a green-news junkie overwhelmed by dozens or even hundreds of RSS feeds, Twitter can be an entertaining and mobile filter. Writers at blogs and traditional publications increasingly use it to broadcast 140-character alerts of stories and observations, which can provide an early and more casual take on their blog posts and formal articles.

Plus, you can interact with the authors via replies and direct messages that can be more immediate than an e-mail or comment on a full-length story.

Here are some of the "green" feeds we keep up with on Twitter. Some simply provide instant links to freshly published stories, while others mix in commentary and personality. Check out who they're following to find even more feeds.

To start, find CNET's Green Tech posts here.
Think of the never-dull Grist as The Onion for green news, only with more truth than truthiness.
Preston Koerner of Jetson Green focuses on green building, and compiled this exhaustive list of green Twitter feeds.
The EcoGeek team tracks green tech.
Green Options is a network of a variety green-themed blogs.
GreenBiz.com is a hub for green business news.

Inhabitat's bloggers share a fine eye for ecologically appropriate design.
Sustainablog from Jeff McIntire-Strasburg is one of the longest-running green blogs.
The Greenwash Brigade from American Public Media's Public Insight Network investigates sketchy-sounding green corporate claims.
Green Wombat is the work of Fortune writer Todd Woody.
DotEarth comes from Andy Revkin of The New York Times.
TheOilDrum covers energy and "peak oil" issues.
Global Warming and ScienceNews mention related stories around the Web every week or so.
Ecorazzi: Think Us Weekly meets An Inconvenient Truth, launched by Michael Destries.
Worldchanging's writers keep up with cutting-edge trends in sustainability.

Green lifestyle pointers and DIY tips come in more than a few flavors:

Siel, aka GreenLAGirl, writes the Emerald City blog for the Los Angeles Times and still keeps up her original blog of her tips and adventures around town.
Surveys show that people become more concerned about greening their lives when they become parents. Eco Child's Play speaks to them.
Beth Terry's well-researched Fake Plastic Fish blog chronicles her quest to reduce her use of plastic.
Green Map guides, in hundreds of cities, chart local green resources.
Pointers for crafts enthusiasts come via Craft and Make magazines and Crafting a Greener World.
The Green Guide from National Geographic offers household-greening tips. So do LighterFootstep and GreenTweet. Earth911 is a go-to guide for recycling and much more.

Micro-bloggers from green nonprofit groups and businesses share their inside perspective:

AIDG "tweets" often from Haiti, where the Boston nonprofit helps communities with renewable energy and more. The abbreviation stands for a mouthful: Appropriate Infrastructure Design Group.
Enviroblog from the Environmental Working Group details toxic ingredients in everyday products.
NRDCSwitchboard comes from the Natural Resources Defense Council, which prints the excellent On Earth magazine. The National Wildlife Federation and Sierra Magazine use Twitter, too. Greenpeace activists are ever-active.
The World Resources Institute think tank is based in Washington, D.C.
Can you build a green home for $100,000? Philadelphia developer Chad Ludeman takes up the challenge with the 100kHouse.
Max Gladwell, whose blog blends social media with green living, describes on Treehugger how to add your "tweets" to a GreenStream channel to make them easier to find.
Strategist and GreenBiz founder Joel Makower just began using Twitter in September.
Social entrepreneur and GreenSkeptic Scott Edward Anderson challenges conventional assumptions about green tech.
CleanTech.org says it's "where entrepreneurs and investors meet to commercialize clean technologies.
CleanTech is updated by Denis DuBois, an expert on marketing for sustainable energy.
Marc Alt, a sustainability consultant, also develops environmental conferences.
Sopogy is among the solar start-ups with a Twitter presence.
The Greensearch search engine donates part of ad profits to environmental groups.
The GreenCollarGuy, from Green Collar Media, and GreenJobs specialize in sustainable employment.

I jacked the above from http://news.cnet.com/8301-17939_109-10056853-2.html?part=rss&subj=news&tag=2547-1_3-0-5

Black to Nature Dictionary update I

2008-10-10T12:17:00.000-04:00

So check it. There are words out there that I use that people may not be familiar with. I am also creating new words cause I do stuff like that. I thought that I'd start my own online dictionary (blacketh to natureth stylings...you 'no won test the rocket launcher). So I'll be droppng Black (Law's) to Nature Dictionary and updates every so often. So I'll repost the last version and just keep adding words.

Cocacolonization

Disneyfication

Eco-Imperialism

Ecological-Imperialism

McWords

Walmarting

Say it with me....

2008-10-09T11:59:00.001-04:00

C'BS takes funky fresh pics of food.

Squash Blossoms

2008-10-08T14:31:00.000-04:00

I live in New England so we got the squash game down on lock. Look at your Thanks(for nothing) giving propaganda flicks. The Nations in the north east were saving pilgrims with a bounty of various squashes (from pumpkin to butternut squash to zucchini).

Now I rolled down to my farmer market here in New Haven City Seed and sought out my darker skinned brothers, the local Mexica farmers. They blessed me with some squash blossom. What? You don't know about them? They usually serve them up stuffed with cheese and deep fried yet I always just enjoy them raw with some salt. And if you want to up the ante I found this ill recipe for raw Squash Blossom Burritos that I'm hitting up this week.

Squash-Blossom Burritos

(click on image to enlarge)

Ever wonder what to do with your beautiful flowering squash blossoms? Stuff them!!! Enjoy some squash blossom burritos!

Ingredients

Preparation

To watch my youtube video on this recipe, go to: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EGx8BHgUgyM

Ingredients:

1 blossom per burrito

1/4 cup sprouted lentils (or no-fry beans, search other’s recipes for ideas)

1 tablespoon guacamole, here’s the one I used in it, shown in my Catcus Chips n Dip recipe: http://www.goneraw.com/recipes/5255-~~Catcus-Chips-n-Dip~~

dash of chili powder or mexican spices

pink sea salt, fresh ground black pepper

fresh cilantro for stuffing or garnishing

Preparation: Add ingredients into a big flowered blossom (guacamole first, then your beans and cilantro) – top with salt and seasonings, and roll into a burrito! You may want to make a couple of these because they are dainty : ) I pair mine with catcus chips and dip – link shown above. If you want to get fancy with this then you can browse recipes for nut/seed-cheddar cheese and/or sour cream!

Ps. Sorry but I had to use a still from my youtube video because I didn’t take pictures. The burrito is not rolled in the picture for this recipe, it’s still pretty though : )

Other ideas for squash blossoms: Add color to your raw soup, salad or sandwich! Use young blossoms to make pesto tortellinis or mac-cheddar-cheese jalepeno poppers!

I got this recipe over at Gone Raw

Micro Blogging: Tech Recycle

2008-10-07T19:05:00.000-04:00

Get your recycle on. Get dough for that electronic stuff that you don't use anymore.

Gazelle.com

Sun Salute

2008-10-07T13:17:00.001-04:00

I read an interview with Jeru the Damaja once regarding morning. He said that missing sunrise was tantamount to heresy as you are missing the actual creation of a new day. I can roll with that. When you get up in tune with the sun you set your internal clock right. Digestion and mental elevation be going smoothly. You crap right, you sleep good, and headaches are nothing but a myth to you because you don't experience them.

I ain't no muslim, christian or any other religious person so I can't get with prostration. The only time I like to get down like that on the ground is if I am B-boying, playing Capoeira or pulling out some esoteric position out of the Kama Sutra. There is one more reason though by which I get down on the ground though. That is in the morning when I do my Sun Salute.

Sun Salutation is a series of short yoga movements that one does in morning. At first one might be under the illusion that its a pagan form of Hindu sun worship. I am not denying that some may have taken it that way in the past. Shoot, alot of the forms of praying may actually have root in asanas (that's yoga positions) that only later became identified with petitioning an astral being in a religious context. The science of it though is that the sun is also a means of monitoring time; internally and externally. When dawn comes that lets me know that it is time for me to do that series of movements for the matinence of upkeep of my physical and mental landscape.

I do have to let you know that doing yoga is something that we men do. Sitting around with your boys (you really still call them boys?) crushing your internal organs slouching while playing Playstation 24/7 isn't masculine bruh. Making the highlight of your week every week the neighborhood watering hole ain't a measurement of your testoterone level man.

There are a billion and one benefits of the daily routine. All I can do though is let you know what it does for me. It massages my inner organs and makes sure that my blood flow is right on point while activating several glands. I have never had high blood pressure (the doctors are still suprised because at 36 years old a Black man in America is 'supposed' to have some hyper tension going on). I never had internal heart, liver, kidney, stomach or intestinal pain. My energy level is consistently good. I sleep and dream well. Also my gonads are golden right now with style and stamina. Again let me reiterate. Most impotence problems are caused by lack of blood flow so if you can get that right then you woman won't be complaining (or going somewhere else...no...why did he say that). A sol controller makes sure that he is in sol control of his body and is a sol provider of his body's needs. Many of us are masters of breaking down our body through various forms of mental (depression, anxiety, guilt) and physical (drugs, alcohol) abuse or toxins. Yet for some reason we don't seek to become masters of healing our body.

Now in order to do the sun salutation you don't need to get all headband and leg warmered out. That same little corner that you do sit ups, push ups, and crunches in set aside for this also. Get yourself a little rug or mat to separate the space from the rest. Now you are all set up. Do your thing. Oh wait. You need instructions. Well instead of me writing a whole separate section on instructions let me point you to some sites that are up to par. Below you will find two sites. The first site will outline the positions and also instruct you on the proper breathing that needs to go along with each posture (breathing is KEY). The second site is a flash animation that will give you that visual perspective that you need. Now go and get your body right.

http://yogapose.org/sun_salutation_yoga_poses.html

http://proliberty.com/pranayoga/SuryaNamaskar.applet.html

Originally printed at originalthoughtmag.com

Bridging the Black/Brown divide through food

2008-10-06T10:33:00.000-04:00

New Black-owned grocery store offers a fresh market

by Jakina Hill

After watching a television news special on the availability– or lack thereof–of fresh foods, especially fruits and vegetables, in some of the city’s minority communities, a Black entrepreneur was moved to take action.

Karriem Beyah knew it was time for him to fulfill his lifelong dream of owning his own grocery store.

Beyah, a native Chicagoan, bought the space that is now Farmers Best Market, 1424 W. 47th St., in June. The store is purposely located between a Black neighborhood and a Hispanic one, with Chinatown and Bridgeport nearby, Beyah told the Defender. He chose this location because of the multicultural area.

“I would see these businesses flourishing in other communities and wonder why it wasn’t in African American communities. I said when I got the opportunity I will do it myself, and it stopped being a question,” Beyah said.

The store has been open since July 1 but will have its grand opening October 1.

Beyah credits working in his godfather’s grocery store as a child for his passion for the grocery business. He went on to spend 19 years in corporate America, working for Dean Foods, before starting his own distribution company.

Beyah said statistics show that African Americans don’t shop where Hispanics shop, so his goal was to break the barrier and create a place where everyone could come together and feel comfortable.

Though he is trying to lessen the scarcity of fresh food markets in minority neighborhoods, Beyah said he is aware that African Americans don’t buy as much fresh food as they do frozen food. He said he keeps that in mind when working to make sure Farmers Best Market caters to everyone.

Chatham Foods was the city’s only Black-owned grocery store. But that ended when the store was sold earlier this year to a buyer who was not Black.

Now Farmers Best Market becomes the city’s lone Black-owned grocery store.

The weeklong grand opening celebration will feature a number of multi-ethnic activities, including performances by an African dance troupe and a live Mariachi band, and live broadcasts at the store, located in the Back of the Yards community, by local radio stations.

http://www.chicagodefender.com/article-1981-new-black-owned-grocery-store-offers-a-fresh-market.html

Step back and let Original Peoples handle it

2008-10-03T12:05:00.000-04:00

By thenooneproject at 2008-09-16

THE NOONE PROJECT PRESENTS:
The 1st Annual Indigenous Eco-Solutions Conference 2008

" ARE YOU READY TO BUILD"
www. thenooneproject. org

PLACE: THE NATIONAL BLACK THEATER, HARLEM NYC
TIME: OCT 1ST - 4TH 6PM - 11PM

Peace Kindred!

Listen to Reason! Come join us at THE NATIONAL BLACK THEATER for our 1st Annual Indigenous Eco-Solutions Conference 2008. This is a platform for Indigenous/Moorish Peoples to prove to ourselves first & show the world we are ready to lead by presenting our best & brightest.

The 1st IES Conference is a major networking opportunity for Indigenous Peoples to make strategic alliances with Organizations, Nations, & other Indigenous peoples from around the world. It is our fiduciary obligation to Nature to be the Trustees/Stewards for the Planet Earth, therefore Indigenous People cannot afford to miss this major boom in the soon to be largest industry & market known as the "Eco-Green Revolution".

We are on the cusp of another industrial revolution, where Humanity will forever change. Survival of Armageddon/2012 Pole Shift is paramount, and moving in this direction is the most productive thing we as Indigenous Peoples can do at this time. We must move to break our dependency, and reliance on an artificial system, and get back to Nature.

When "get back to Nature" is stated, it is said with the intent of rebuilding our highly technology cities & societies of times immemorial i.e. Kemet, Atlantis, Timbuktu, Lemuria, MarraKush etc. This "eco-green revolution" isn't new this is how we always lived, so now it is time to get back to it.

We can solve all of our problems by concentrating our thoughts & efforts in building a Sovereign Independent Eco-City State.
Let it be remembered always and let it be known!

* 2012 Pole Shift Panel.

* Presenters, & Guest Speaker Representatives from the UN, African

* Union Reps & Organization American of States Reps, Various Indigenous

* Groups (Australian Aboriginals), & Eco Green Companies.

* ALF Presentation: 9 Step Implementation of The Commercial Liberation Program.

* Freeing One's Self from the Bondage of Corporate America

* Accessing your Unlimited Credit as an Aboriginal Indigenous Man/Woman & not as an Artificial Juristic Corporate Person

* Remedies in Law for Indigenous Peoples i.e. foreclosure, tax, criminal etc.

* Intercontinental Aboriginal Union(tm) Presentation.

* Intercontinental Indigenous Private Banking System & Network

* 55 Multinational Aboriginal Corporations/Entities/Unincorporated Associations

* Career Opportunities Guaranteed Job Placement in 3-6 Months.

* Unveiling of the I.A.U.
headquarters & Timbuctoo Eco-City(tm) in Brazil [Monolithic Domes]

* Construction of Indigenous/Moorish Eco-Village on 250 Acres of Pristine Land in Cleveland New York

* Independent Sovereign Eco-City States of The Future

* Solution for the UN world population report.

* Renewable Energy Cities to transmit Energy to other Cities.

1 Day Reservation Pass $10
2 Day Reservation Pass $20
3 Day Reservation Pass $30
4 Day Reservation Pass $40

Reserve your spot today @ www. thenooneproject. org

ph: 866.694.
9988
fax: 215.220.
3158....

The Inca Berry

2008-10-03T10:12:00.000-04:00

So one of my new favorite treats is the so called Inca berry which I love to eat mixed with some cacao nibs. When sundried it has a taste like a tart raisin.

Now the damn berry shouldn't be called an Inca berry. In fact I don't call it that. That's the current marketing scheme. It is most popularly known as a 'Cape Gooseberry' because it was introduced to the Cape of Good Hope in Africa and then brought to Australia. Yet it is originally from South America. And yes the Incas did rock it yet that's like calling water melon 'Black melon' because Blacks eat it. Why don't we just call it what the Incas or Aztecs called it? Ain't that simple?

In the indigenous Peruvian/Incan language of Quechua it is called Aguaymanto. In the indigenous Aztec/Mexica language of Nahuatl it is called Capuli. So let's continue to take things back to the root. Yet damn..its good AND good for you.

Scientific studies of the cape gooseberry show its constituents, possibly polyphenols and/or carotenoids, demonstrate anti-inflammatory and antioxidant properties.[1][2][3]

In folk medicine, Physalis peruviana has been used as a medicinal herb for cancer, malaria, asthma, hepatitis, dermatitis and rheumatism.[citation needed] None of these diseases, however, is confirmed in scientific studies as treatable by the cape gooseberry.(i have to say fcuk western science on this...ask the damn people...western science can't even call the damn berry by its right name)

Will Allen: Feeding the Multitude

2008-10-01T13:28:00.000-04:00

An Urban Farmer Is Rewarded for His Dream
By BARBARA MINER
Published: September 25, 2008

WILL ALLEN already had the makings of an agricultural dream packed into two scruffy acres in one of Milwaukee’s most economically distressed neighborhoods.

His Growing Power organization has six greenhouses and eight hoophouses for greens, herbs and vegetables; pens for goats, ducks and turkeys; a chicken coop and beehives; and a system for raising tilapia and perch. There’s an advanced composting operation — a virtual worm farm — and a lab that is working on ways to turn food waste into fertilizer and methane gas for energy.

With a staff of about three dozen full-time workers and 2,000 residents pitching in as volunteers, his operation raises about $500,000 worth of affordable produce, meat and fish for one of what he calls the “food deserts” of American cities, where the only access to food is corner grocery stories filled with beer, cigarettes and processed foods.

Now, with a $500,000 “genius grant” that the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation awarded him last week, Mr. Allen is dreaming bigger.

"I’d like to see Growing Power transform itself into a five-story vertical building being totally off the grid with renewable energy, where people can come and learn, so they can go back to their communities around the world and grow healthy food,” Mr. Allen, 59, said in an interview at the farm.

For Mr. Allen, only the second working farmer to win the award, according to the foundation, his efforts are not meant simply to keep people well fed. He sees Growing Power as a way to organize people whose voices are rarely heard and to fight racism.

“I am a farmer first, and I love to grow food for people,” Mr. Allen said. “But it’s also about growing power.”

For 16 years, through sales, and proceeds from grants, he has extended Growing Power’s operations in Milwaukee and Chicago, spreading the gospel of urban farming around the world and training fellow agricultural dreamers.

An imposing 6 feet 7 inches tall, Mr. Allen, who grew up on a farm outside Washington, D.C., played professional basketball for a time after college, mostly in Europe. In 1993, he left a job with Procter & Gamble and bought a roadside farm in Milwaukee’s economically depressed north side — the last remaining registered farm in the city — and got local teenagers involved.

Now, along with its main farm in Milwaukee, Growing Power, a nonprofit group, has a 40-acre farm in a nearby town, and gardens throughout the city. The group also has operations in Chicago, including a garden at the Cabrini-Green housing project and urban farms in Grant and Jackson Parks.

In addition to retail sales at the Milwaukee headquarters, Growing Power sells to food co-ops, other retail stores and about 30 restaurants in the Milwaukee and Chicago areas.

The Growing Powers headquarters looks like a farm stand in need of a paint job and feels like a 1960s community center. Young and old mill about, shopping and waiting for a tour or a training session or a conference.

There is constant activity, with projects at various stages of completion. Mud-encrusted boots share space with pick-axes and pots of salad greens.

“It’s a crazy place,” Mr. Allen said.

As with any top-notch farmer, Mr. Allen takes special care with his soil. Using millions of pounds of food waste, his farm produces endless compost piles, which are then enriched by thousands of pounds of worms, essential to producing what he calls the highest quality fertilizer in the world.

“There are worms in every pot of soil and every tray of vegetables in this greenhouse,” Mr. Allen said.

His food, free of chemicals, tastes better, Mr. Allen said. “And that’s what the really good chefs understand.”

Paul Kahan, the chef and managing partner of the award-winning Chicago restaurants Blackbird and Avec, is one of the chefs who has been working with Mr. Allen’s organization.

“They are wonderful people and do some interesting things that fit in with what we are trying to do,” Mr. Kahan said. “We buy regular produce, such as tomatoes, but they do some things in particular that we really love: pea tendrils, baby beet greens, nasturtiums, baby mustard greens.”

Mr. Allen said he learned it all from his parents. “We’re having to go back to when people shared things and started taking care of each other,” he said. “That’s the only way we will survive.”

“What better way,” he mused, “than to do it with food?”

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/10/01/dining/01genius.html?_r=1&ei=5070&emc=eta1&oref=slogin

Micro blogging: Check 'em out

2008-09-30T18:31:00.000-04:00

The Purple Yamster dropping Far East wholistic ear cleaning practices.

My homeslice Cy dropping the Equinox/Fall issue of Concourses to Radiant Health.

June Roca

2008-09-30T10:26:00.000-04:00

I give a green thumbs up to June Roca over at Raw Food and Oneness as All Life. Another Original woman dropping it. Her videos are ill because they give up alot of secrets on raw preparations for food (I may have found the elusive way to prepare raw tortillas here) plus she always is introducing some 'exotic' food that indigenous people have known about always (cause 'exotic' just means that the west ain't know about it). Check her out.

So..um High Fructose Corn Syrup

2008-09-29T10:11:00.000-04:00

My home girl Phylis hipped me to the new propaganda commercials out there on television. I was like..are you serious. Reminded me of those old cigarette commercials that use to be broadcasted in the 50's.

So before my book signing we stopped by Catch a Healthy Habit, a raw cafe in West Haven and we decided to put our spin on things.

Drop chickpeas

2008-09-25T12:35:00.000-04:00

A couple of shorts of me in the kitchen kicking hummus-listics

Hummus I - me

hummus II -

How it looks at the end

Black to Nature Dictionary

2008-09-24T14:21:00.000-04:00

So check it. There are words out there that I use that people may not be familiar with. I am also creating new words cause I do stuff like that. I thought that I'd start my own online dictionary (blacketh to natureth stylings...you 'no won test the rocket launcher). So I'll be droppng Black (Law's) to Nature Dictionary and updates every so often. So I'll repost the last version and just keep adding words. Here's the beginning

Cocacolonization

Disneyfication

McWords

Walmarting

So...

2008-09-22T16:20:00.001-04:00

Pretty much I'm blissed out right now on Shou Wu Chih and Kombucha. You don't even know.

7 Warriors

2008-09-22T12:42:00.000-04:00

The traditional Mexica diet is rooted in 7 plant foods. This article below (and some ill fresh links, take the time to read on them) dropsit. It once again affirms that indigenous cultures have within them the elements to generate a plant-centric diet. You don't have to go to a Dead concert. Originally from Mexicauprising.org

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Our ancestors were able to create the most efficient diet in the world. The Europeans have labeled our 3 most important crops: "The Dietary Triad" which is comprised of corn, beans and squash. The vitamins and minerals contained in these three crops is adequate to sustain the human body and requires only the addition of vitamin c to create a perfect balance in the body. It is due to the diffusion of these main crops that the worlds population has exploded. The "Dietary Triad" is a tremendous feat which has been unmatched by any in the world. Unlike the Europeans and other peoples, our ancestors had no need to domesticate animals as we had enough with our crops. This is the reason our people had almost no diseases when the Europeans invaded and this is why the Europeans had hundreds of diseases which spread quickly amongst our healthy population and decimated the entire continent of Anahuak. Animals are filthy and harbor many diseases which over the years, mutated and attacked the people of the "Old World". It is not to say that we did not domesticate animals because we did; but not for the sole pupose of consumption. In the entire continent of Anahuak, only two animals were ever domesticated: the dog and the turkey. We domesticated the dog and turkey as pets although some people ate them as a delicassy. It is important to realize that the dog and turkey were by no means necessary in our diet.

The "Dietary Triad" was and still is the most important part of our diet as many foods which were eaten by our ancestors are still eaten today (tortillas, pozole, atole, mole, gum which was used to clean the teeth, tamales etc.. etc..) The reason why a lot of Mexicans are overweight and unhealthy today is because we now also eat the animal meat brought by the Spaniards. Whats the problem with this? Well, we get the adequate amount of protein our body needs when we eat beans. If you add beef or chicken, you will be putting too much protein into your body and you will therefore gain weight. Never underestimate the value of your diet! You should always try to stick to our native foods as they are the most effecient in the world.

The three main crops are supplemented with four others which all together we call the Chikome Yaomeh (the 7 warriors). These crops are supplements to the three main crops and they provide the remaining nutrients and amino acids our bodies need.

Corn
Beans
Squash
Chile (Vitamin C)
Cactus
Maguey
Amaranth (Amaranto in Spanish is a seed which we used to make a flour like substance. When the Spaniards invaded, they oulawed its use and today it is mostly found in Mexican candy. The leaves of the plant were also used in soups.)

The road back to the indigenous way of living is a long one and each step is equally important as the next; we should strive to maintain a balance in spirit, mind and body.

Diet, Nutrition, and Population Dynamics in the Basin of Mexico
Amaranth Making a Comeback
Cultivated Plants and Cultural Diffusion in Nuclear America
Identity of Archaeologocical Amaranths From the Valley of Tehuacan
Aztec-Period Agricultural Terraces: Evidence For Household-Level Agricultural Intensification
Growth of Agriculture in Mexico
Amaranth: Their History and Classification
Prehistoric Raised-Field Agriculture in the Maya Lowlands
Landscapes of Cultivation in Mesoamerica on the Eve of the Conquest
Mexica Agriculture and Mexica Cosmology
Aztec Patterns and Spanish Legacy (Nutrition Past, Nutrition Today)
Coca Cola is Killing You
The Health Benefits of Native Foods

Micro blogging: Original Youth creates solar cell innovation

2008-09-18T22:08:00.000-04:00

Get the full story . And by the way, he's 12 years old.

Floating Cities

2008-09-18T14:38:00.000-04:00

With old hurricane Ike and shadows of Katrina still haunting New Orleans it may be time to really think outside of the box or rather as indigenous people world wide did. One of the things that Europeans mess up with when they colonize other countries is that they seek to just bring their whole 'life style' to the new land. They have no concept of the eco-system. This leads to things like pilgrims starving and stuff. One of these elements that they bring is their architecture. The problem with that is that many times it isn't suited to the environment of the new land. Thus, as you move across the united states we are highly backwards in that we haven't made an overall jump in functional architecture. Forget the hippie-porkshit..homes in the southwest should've BEEN solar powered. Homes in the SE/NE should've BEEN recycling rainwater as grey water. Circular homes, different building materials, etc. We're still stuck on Europe. How about figuring out why floating villages in the South Pacific survived a HURRICANE vs those land locked. How the heck did the Native Nations survive winters WITHOUT oil. All of these things should be examined and flung into our future.

Many communities on the Pacific Rim have already solved ways to deal with hurricanes and onland flooding from floating cities to houses that are built on strong stilts or that RISE with flood waters.

With all of the above being said building a wall against the ocean in the Southern States ain't doing it so we need to get ill with it. Check out some of these ideas.

With fears of artic melting and flooding taking place on more frequent basis some people are thinking into the future. Floating houses have been around for a while but just recently has there been a lot of development in foundation technology that will float whole city blocks. You can only image the possibilities.

The Dutch are gearing up for climate change with amphibious floating houses. If rivers rise above their banks, the houses simply rise upwards as well. Such innovation could be good news for hurricane and flood-stunned America. But are water lovers prepared to live on swimming family arks?

Looking out from the terrace, heaven and earth merge into a grey blur. Heavy rain pours so incessantly that one would expect Anne van der Molen to be getting just a little nervous.

Model of a "swimming city." Could this be an answer for New Orleans, too?

"Tomorrow does not look any better, according to the weather forecast," she says, calmly sipping her coffee. She does so in spite of the fact that her house stands directly on the Maas dyke - on the side facing the river, to be exact. Yet the nurse, sitting on her garden chair under the awning, feels as cozy and safe as if she were "snowed in up in a mountain hut, with a log fire glowing and the pantry full." The Maas can go on rising as much as it likes, for all she cares. Her house can swim. As the water level climbs, the floating house itself can move up five meters, if necessary. "The elements don't bother me," she says.

There are 37 houses strung along this branch of the Maas like a row of beads. At first glance, they seem quite unremarkable. Two storeys high, semicircular metal roofs and yellow, green or blue facades - hardly any clues let on that these are The Netherlands' first amphibious houses. The cellar, in this case, is not built into the earth. Instead, it is on a platform - and is much more than a mere storage room. The hollow foundation of each house works in the same way as the hull of a ship, buoying the structure up above water. To prevent the swimming houses from floating away, they slide up two broad steel posts - and as the water level sinks, so they sink back down again.

Anne van der Molen doesn't worry when the rainy season hits. Her floating house can swim.

"The columns have been driven deep into solid ground," explains Dick van Gooswilligen from the Dura Vermeer construction company. "They are even strong enough to withstand currents you would find on the open seas." Gooswilligen is currently busy guiding dozens of journalists from the United States through the watertight settlement in the Maasbommel district, close to Nijmegen. "As global warming causes the sea level to rise, this is the solution," he explains into a microphone. "Housing of this type is the future for the delta regions of the world, the ones which face the greatest danger."

Soundbites like these are just what Americans want to hear these days. Hurricane Katrina and her lesser cousin Hurricane Rita have sparked interest in the low lying Netherlands. Hordes of hydraulic engineers from Louisiana or Texas are making the pilgrimage to the North Sea coastline to look at the fortifications. The inland river dykes are also considered exemplary models.

The Netherlands Sinks a little Lower Every Year

German catastrophe management teams are just as curious. Climate patterns today suggest that torrential rainfall is something we can expect plenty more of in the future. This year's floods in the Alps or those along the River Elbe three years ago could well be warning signs of what awaits us. Climatologists predict that precipitation in The Netherlands could increase as much as 25 percent. At the same time, because of the small kingdom's dense population, there is increasing pressure to build in areas prone to flooding. Already, though, the country defies the laws of physics simply by existing: More than a quarter of its land lies below sea level. And, year by year, the land is sinking a little bit lower. The Dutch protect themselves from going under through a network of canals and pumps. It is not only the sea which threatens the mighty barrage on the coast. On the other side lies the Rhine River, which branches out and forms a wide-reaching delta with the Maas. To prevent such huge swaths of land from flooding in summer and winter storms, the Dutch are designating more and more land along their rivers as flood zones. Within the next few decades, the area will compose close to 500,000 hectares -- or about twice the size of the German state of Saarland.

This will only be possible if people, industry and agriculture can be successfully relocated to safe territory - which is hard to imagine, given the resistance mounted by some of those affected. Officials have, therefore, decided to demonstrate first of all that it is possible to live in the so-called flood zones. In early October, 15 test areas were announced. A stringent ban on construction in these areas has now been lifted - provided buildings constructed are amphibious floating houses and nothing else. This means that, in a worst case scenario, excess water from flooded rivers can still be diverted this way.

"You cannot fight water, you have to learn how to live with it", states Sybilla Dekker, the minister in charge. Her department has arranged a competition for engineers, urban planners and architects to design living accommodation, greenhouses, parking lots and factories which would float and could grow into "waterproof" towns.

One of the leading architects in this relatively new discipline of maritime architecture is Koen Olthuis. His aptly named Waterstudio.nl office has already designed a number of contemporary houseboats with a parking deck for the car and lower deck storage for a motorboat. Now, his team is even coming up with plans for office buildings a hundred meters in height that "swim." The key to making this idea a reality is a patented technique whereby the foundation of the construction can be transformed into a float. A foam core is encased in concrete, with steel cables securing it against the pull of potential currents. Individual pontoons, whether for residential blocks or chicken coops, can be joined to one another like Lego blocks. As a result, a maritime settlement is born.

"This construction model is built to last at least one hundred years," Olthuis says. If anything should happen to the foundation, there is no need to call in the construction company. Instead, the whole thing can be taken to the dockyard.

Family "arks" of the future

The architect from Rijswijk hopes to tap into a worldwide trend. Increasing numbers of people are gravitating towards the water, out of necessity, for financial gain or, in some cases, quite simply for the wonderful view. "Thanks to watertight buildings, this impulse need not be fateful," he says. His bobbing buildings have not only found favor in the Polder lands, he has also prepared concepts for Dubai.

The first town based on this model, numbering 12,000 floating houses, might conceivably be built close to Amsterdam's Schiphol airport. The Netherlands are particularly low in this area. When planes come in for a landing here, one can see countless rectangular islets amid a picturesque, watery landscape. Canals weave their way like veins through the swaying reeds of green land which invariably opens out into ponds or lakes. By the year 2010, amphibious floating houses like those in Maasbommel may well form the first residential area here - or perhaps greenhouses will dominate the landscape, like the one opened earlier this month by the minister of agriculture in The Hague.

Costs

At this stage, such model floating houses cost more than conventional housing. The amphibious buildings in Maasbommel cost approximately â‚¬250,000 to â‚¬300,000 for a 120 square meter home. This is due in part to the flexible nature of the construction which also plays a role in creating feed lines for gas, electricity, drinking water and drainage. Like the foundation, they, too, have to be able to adapt to the changes in height of the premises.

But, when the floating construction model goes more mainstream, the price of a one family "ark" should drop dramatically. "At the end of the day, we will save on a lot of the costs conventional building methods incur doing things like securing foundations in soft ground. We won't have to contend with that," Olthuis points out. It remains an utter mystery to him why water-proofed construction is not yet common practice.

He can only watch and shake his head as his television broadcasts fresh pictures of floods in one part of the world or another. "Those people, breaking their backs piling sandbags on their doorsteps, I feel really sorry for them."

Make sure you also check out Floating Wind Farms and Floating Bikes

I jacked this from here

Watch a Classic

2008-09-17T12:50:00.000-04:00

Gold Digging

2008-09-15T11:02:00.000-04:00

My great grandfather on my Old Earth's (to the uninitiated that's my mom) side is Navajo. I remember always wondering where my mother learned her silver and turquoise jewelry making skills. When we traveled to Arizona she took us to a reservation to meet some of our extended family. I remember that it wasn't like out of television or the history books. Firewater use was rampant. I grew despondent. We are supposed to preserve the best part of the planet for ourselves and here were a people whose pure part was turned poor.

It is important to realize that anywhere that European colonialism, slavery, and imperialism traveled that the destruction of the environment of Indigenous people soon followed. We call this Eco-Imperialism. Biblically this was condoned. During the Israelites taking of Canaan they were 'instructed' to not just 'take the land' they were supposed to 'kill all of the dogs, burn the plant life down to the ground, etc'. Now see how this translates into 'Manifest Destiny' and ultimately the raping of the planet for resources by the post-industrial European Nations. Let's just examine one point in time...the Gold Rush.

You've seen the old flicks and reels. During the middle 1800's the rumor that there was gold “out there in 'dem hill” (the West) was the main driving force of the Westward migration especially after the Civil War. It is easy to conceive of the displacement of the Indigenous People from their land and the killing of Indigenous People yet what is often overlooked or not even thought about is the destruction to the land that came in the wake of the Gold Rush. Remember this was happening at the end of the Industrial Revolution where specific technologies were being developed and abused that aimed at raping the earth (and yeah...the rape analogy SHOULD be on front street).

Mercury Poisoning
Now Mercury (not the damn planet...the liquid metal) was used to extract gold from the mines.

A swirling torrent of murky brown waters burst through the dams and levees in the Sierra Nevada foothills flooding the Sacramento and San Joaquin rivers in the first weekend of 1997, forcing over 100,000 people to evacuate their homes.
The following Tuesday a United States Geological Survey (USGS) employee took a boat into the Sacramento River at Freeport, a small town downstream from Sacramento, rinsed out a Teflon container three times and then filled it with local water.

The results were startling. On a typical dry season day, previous samples had shown that an average of seven ounces of mercury were washed into the river at Freeport, but on that day the samples indicated that over 70 pounds of mercury, some 160 times greater than the dry season average, had been washed into the river down into the San Francisco Bay Area.

The spread of mercury is one of the least understood and most toxic legacies of the Gold Rush. One gram of mercury poured into eighty million liters of water would be cause for concern under federal human health standards for drinking water, enough to contaminate a typical mid-western lake. Used to dissolve gold out of the ore, mercury is a deadly toxin that affects the kidney, the brain and the nervous system.

Hydraulic Mining
They developed means of sending high powered streams of water into the side of mountains and rivers to expose tiny flakes of gold. This devastated the environment.

At stake was the practice of "hydraulic mining" - a process by which enormous jets of water were blasted under high pressure at mountain sides and river banks to pulverize them in the search of a few flakes of gold - causing vast quantities of sediment to bury houses, orchards and wheat fields downstream. In 1880 alone some 40,000 acres of farmland and orchards were destroyed while another 270,000 were severely damaged. All told some 12 billion tones of earth were blasted out of the hills and washed into local rivers.

Within a few years the impact was felt downstream. "Out of the streaming Sierra Nevada came a gigantic mud flow. The tailings dumped into the mountain canyons in the fifties had made their first invasion of the flatlands, and an anguished cry came from the valley as brown waters swept over unprotected farms and towns," wrote Kelley.
The mining debris that resulted from this "hydraulicking" choked the once clear mountain streams. The Sacramento River swelled into a turbid sea some 50 miles wide. All told hydraulicking dumped soil of a volume equal to eight times the volume of earth dug to create the Panama Canal.
Acid Rivers

Tucked away in the Klamath Mountains in California's far north, a 70-story pile of crushed rock leaks garish orange-and-green water into a tributary of the headwaters of the Sacramento River, nine miles north of Redding in Shasta county. The water here has been measured at "-3" that is 10,000 times more acidic than battery acid. This is Iron Mountain, a 4,400-acre site, which produces a quarter of all toxic zinc and copper released each year into United States waters from all sources, including all factories and cities. It is expected to leak for 3,000 years.

Like thousands of other abandoned mines in the West, the waste rock dumped around the site has a high sulfur content. Normally hidden deep under ground, this ore waste leaks sulfuric acid when it is exposed to air, bacteria and water. The acid dissolves other metals from arsenic to zinc, all of which are toxic to fish and human beings, and discharges it into local water sources. Today these sites have become "perpetual pollution machines" that are physically impossible to completely clean up with any technology.

New Gold Rush

Today the land and the waters that are sacred to Native communities continue to be threatened. In the 1960s Newmont Gold of Colorado developed cyanide leach technology, in partnership with the United States Bureau of Mines, in the Nevada deserts a few hours from the California border. This technology allows the industry to extract gold flakes that are too small to be spotted by the naked eye and has triggered a new Gold Rush that has spread across the planet to crush entire mountains in the effort to squeeze the last drop of gold out of the land.

What the L can I do?
Solution orientated media baby. That's what Original Thought is all about so here are some things that you can do.

*The Past is the Present
Be aware of the pattern that manifested in the past. When Europeans go into any country they mess it up. It's the simple. They destroy the people and environment. In stealing (yes I said stealing) a country's resources they will eventually destroy the environment. Keep your eyes on Iraq. Even if the United States didn't go there because of oil (yeah right) they are definitely working to take control of that oil and I BET you that HOW they are doing it is going to cause even more destruction to the environment.

*Environmental Racism deserves Environmental Justice
Get edumacated. Learn about the above and see where you can link up with Environmental Justice groups in your area.

*Communication
Talk to the survivors of said disasters. See what they have to say about their situation. Trust me, when you talk to them you will start to see some of the cracks exposing environmental racism in your own hood. In the end the rich are stealing from the poor because the 'poor' are rich in resources (then those muthajumpas have the nerve to sell stuff back to the poor). We are one people Original People. Let's act like it.

*Check out this ill site
Gold, Greed and Genocide (by the way its where all of the quotes are from) which is dropping this from the Indigenous perspective. Then watch the ill video at Culture of Rage

I gets chubby

2008-09-12T12:29:00.000-04:00

Yes. Get your laugh on with the below video yet take away this one fact. Though it may seem just to focus on obesity I have to point out that just cause you're 'slim' don't mean you're healthy either. I know a whole bunch of slim folks who be afflicted with dietary inflicted diseases and maladies. What is KEY about this video is that the diet of obese folks that is mocked in this video is the EXACT SAME DIET that I find amongst my peers who are just eating the wrong foods. Due to several factors they just don't get obese yet they are still damaging thta body.