Posted by Dave on April 16, 2010
The Harris Tweed Shop
The textile and clothing industry, like every industry, has been facing the green facts. Cotton, the big fiber on the block, is taking its hits. Being half granola and half redneck myself I can feel both sides of the issue. My father and grandfather supported themselves with cotton, yet I like to strut around in nothing but hemp. Good enough.
But as it turns out, cotton makes wonderfully soft and affordable clothing while using relatively high levels of chemicals, resources from the soil and lots of water (during growth and processing). But, if we know all this about cotton, why do we still wear so much of it, and more importantly, why do we keep so much more of it hanging in our closets and tucked into our dressers? Most of us keep buying clothes as if we intend to throw away a brand new green suit once it gets its first bit of pheasant blood on it. Sheesh.
Once again, we can learn something here from our Redneck brothers (I’m not so sure about sisters). Rednecks are particular about their clothing. It has to be functional and affordable. And now, I’m not making light. These are two very serious considerations in clothing that I am not so sure civil folk understand. For a redneck shopper these two dueling forces create a dilemma kin with taming the jackalope. WAIT! There is more to read… read on »
Posted by Dave on July 1, 2009
There are urban farmers, guerilla gardeners and tree-strip ripping going on like crazy all over the U.S. (or at least mention of it on the blogosphere). But is all of this edible green mayhem really helping us become more sustainable?
How many gardens out there end up being weed factories full of overripe and splitting produce, sipping on wasted water and allowing moisture to evaporate away into the ether? In other words, are most of us into gardening more in spirit than in actuality? And if so, do the spiritual benefits of readjusting our Chi with a spade in our hand really worth the waste of time, energy, soil nutrients and water?
Let’s look at some plus and minuses. WAIT! There is more to read… read on »
Posted by Dave on June 22, 2009
I can see the headline now: California disintigrates into oblivion after massive calamity of natural disasters. L.A. Lakers to blame.
You know you are thinking it. Will God judge all of California because of the haughty arrogance of Kobe Bryant? Should he? Well, in my opinion, yes. Through watching the Lakers banish all on-comers this year it has become apparent to me that they have filled up the totality of evils to be ecologically smitten by an earth loving God. It is too much for Nature to bear up.
A sustainable planet simply cannot continue on with the L.A. Lakers in their current incarnation. They are draining the rest of the planet of necessary natural resources such as the will to live. There is nothing more vital right now to the survival of mankind as we know it than the will to act. How, I ask you. How? How can mankind have the will to act immediately and decisively after watching a single L.A. Laker/ Kobe Bryant play-off victory? (Much less a gaggle of them.) And in the midst of a global recession at that?
What did we elect President Obama for if it was not to intervene in such travesties? After his much talk about reforming the college football bowl debacle I had hope that he would understand the significance of sustainable sports in the U.S. He does not, and he will not. Now I fear it is too late. We can only ask that God allow us to not make the same mistake again.
Posted by Dave on June 11, 2009
Sustainable building is an albatross for a world stranded in the sea of global warming. So many of our resources are tied up in the construction, maintenance and operation of dwellings. And all too often these dwellings have been seen as our combative ways to keep the outside world at bay. Nature, a pox on thee!
The good news is that there are more and more people out there bringing the inside world into closer harmony with the outside world. Ooam. Ooam. No, I don’t mean by focusing your chi or by feng shui or anything hocus pocus. I simply mean it is time to start making homes out of our surroundings instead of trying to separate our homes from our surroundings. It is so much more considerate and less huffy. WAIT! There is more to read… read on »
Posted by Dave on June 5, 2009
Can we get there? Within the last 15 minutes of ABC’s show, Earth 2100, a positive picture of our potential future was painted. (How is that for alliteration?) The interviewed experts posed that it would be possible to perform the heavy lifting of global clean-up by 2050, with only the peripheries to remain after that. Really?
Now, many bloggers and commentators have spoken out that the first 100 minutes of the show were simply too devastatingly depressing. I don’t know. I thought the bulk of the show was pretty entertaining. Instead, it was the end that brought me crashing down into middle of the afternoon, bathrobe shuffling, bacon eating depression. If the bright, hopeful version of our future requires us to bond together globally in loving harmony in order to completely revolutionize our cultures, values and worldviews… I think I just peed a little.
WAIT! There is more to read… read on »
Posted by Dave on June 4, 2009
I by chance stumbled upon the last half of ABC’s show Earth 2100 a couple nights ago. Now understand, I just returned from a trip to Texas, the land of my birth. And Texas, with the exception of Austin, is not the land of environmental sensitivity. And so my frame of mind was stemming from what some other bloggers on the topic of Earth 2100 have been referring to as “the lowest common denominator.” Imagine my reverse culture shock when I found myself watching an acid trip induced, enviro-documentary/graphic novel about the end of humanity on prime time television.
Break out the shisha and tea. I need to relax. Now for the last couple of days most of the reviews on the show have been critical, but personally I think everyone needs to take a few puffs from the hookah. After you feel a little light headed you should keep reading. WAIT! There is more to read… read on »
Posted by Dave on May 20, 2009
Farmers have had a rough row to hoe for a while now, and unfortunately the economic downturn is not helping them. Another 90,000 farmers are expected to sell the farm during the next decade at a time when we need to be producing more food than ever. Many are promoting new genetically altered and engineered crops and larger industrialized farm conglomerates as the answer to step up the world’s food supplies. Pardon my lack of French, but this seems like a dumbass solution to me. Past attempts to step up industrialized farming without appropriate wisdom and sense has lead to such smash hits as “Welcome to the Dust Bowl.” WAIT! There is more to read… read on »
Posted by Dave on May 19, 2009
So what makes hemp just so wonderful on the one hand and feared on the other? The magic number for hemp is its percentage of cellulose, which is as high as 77%. This makes it the number one producer of biomass on earth. Wood from most trees registers around 60% cellulose and obviously takes much longer to mature. Hemp can grow from germination to maturity in 3 to 4 months and produces around 5 tons of dry fiber stalk and 10 tons of biomass per acre. The last smoking gun is that hemp can be grown over vast portions of the earth’s land surfaces. It can grow anywhere from China’s temperate forested mountains to Mexico’s arid deserts to Canada’s cool farmland. (It grows best in warm, humid areas with over 25 inches of rain but only requires a bare minimum of 10 inches and a temperate climate.) WAIT! There is more to read… read on »
Posted by Dave on May 9, 2009
Well… not exactly, but I will be quite a ways from any sort of civilized mode of communication beyond smoke signals and a sharp poke in the eye. Not to fear, I feel it time to finally bring up the little matter of the wonder plant, hemp, when I return.
For now I leave you to ponder the ultimate sustainability in clothing… the loincloth. But wait. It gets even better. A loincloth made from hemp. You heard it here first.
Posted by Dave on May 7, 2009
I keep wondering when the “lease revolution” is going to take hold for the individual consumer? But alas, the stigma of “leasing is for the least” seems to be clinging to our culture like stank on the unshaved armpits of a female U of M (Montana) graduate.
Part of this could be due to the fact that the only two real players in the consumer leasing business are Rent-a-Center and Aaron’s. And RAC seems to be doing more payday loans and high price rentals that anything. I’m still a little foggy about what Aaron’s actually does. Both stores are mysterious via website.
WAIT! There is more to read… read on »
