Doc Review: Tapped (2009)

The documentary Tapped will make you never want to drink a plastic bottle of water again. You think, a bottle of water is pure, clean and safe, when in reality, that water is barely tested for safety and the plastic bottle it comes in poses its own hazards. Truth is that municipal water supplies are often safer than bottled water (municipal supplies are tested many times A DAY. Bottled water asks the company to voluntarily test for safety, and is only 1 person at the FDA oversees billions of bottles of produced water).

Eighty million bottles of water are consumed in America every day….30 million of those end up in landfills (all of them can and should be recycled).Currently (STILL) only 11 states have deposit laws. It remains true that those states recycle more than all other states (in fact Michigan the state with the 10 cent deposit has a  97% return rate). Why aren't bottle deposit laws mandatory in every state? This is another case of allowing companies to not take responsibility for their products. Think the oil crisis is just $4 a gallon for gas? It takes  714 million gallons of oil to make just the BOTTLES we drink from every year. (that's enough to power 100,000 cars).

From extracting and manufacturing; to safety after ingestion; to the waste and health hazards of disposal, this documentary proves that every step of bottled water is an unnecessary excess.

If everyone grabbed a bucket...

 I’ve been reading a book about World War II lately (“December 1941: 31 Days that Changed America and Saved the World by Craig Shirley) and it’s interesting to compare the 1940s mentality of disaster with today’s. In the 40s, Americans were told to ration items (gas, sugar, steel, panty hose…) in order to support the war effort. They were told to participate in black out drills so the enemy couldn’t discern targets (like, what? The Johnson’s lawn jockey? But I digress…). They were told to carpool, plant victory gardens, to ‘use it up, make it do or do without’. They raced to get to recruitment centers and were upset when they were deemed unfit for service because they were too old or too married. These were the hardships of the 40s, but the thing is, Americans did them all. And willingly. Its an interesting comparison to today, where we have all these luxuries that we take for granted and no one asks us to cut back or go without (Could you imagine George W. Bush asking Americans to cut back on sugar after 9/11? LOLOLOLROFLROFLROFL…sorry, I lost the plot there for a minute…I’m back). I just wonder how many Americans will take a moment this week and say ‘no latte for me today, I’m making a donation to the Red Cross instead.’ If everyone grabbed a bucket, the water would be gone from the flood zone. (pick any flood zone you want, it doesn’t have to be the one Sandy caused, because there will be another flood next year. In Iowa, in Nashville, in New Orleans, in Manila…somewhere.) And I can guarantee you that pick 2 flood victims and the one with the more simplified life is coping a lot better than the one who can’t charge their iPhone to play Angry Birds or order take out or watch Netflix.

Doc Review: Vanishing of the Bees (2009)

Most people don’t connect the flying furry insect to its pivotal role in food production. No bees, no honey, no beeswax, but no fruits and vegetables. “Vanishing of the Bees” (2009) is an in depth look at the phenomena of Colony Collapse Disorder (CCD), a baffling condition that has been affecting bees worldwide for decades. Beekeepers have been noticing that their bee stocks have been literally disappearing without a trace: from a hive of thousands, they find only a few scattered corpses and even fewer remaining living bees. Two important points: first, scientists actually have discredited the notion that cell phones cause CCD (a notion that the media still seems to believe is true). Secondly, and most importantly, scientists now suspect (but cannot definitively prove) that systemic pesticides are a more likely cause of CCD. Have you heard of systemic pesticides?…Because in all my travels of environmental issues, this is the first instance where I learned of them… Unlike the “traditional” pesticides that are sprayed or otherwise applied directly to the grown plant (think crop dusters), systemic pesticides are applied to the seed and thus the plant repels pests from the inside out. The pesticide becomes part of the plant. With cutesy names like “Gaucho” and “Poncho” (manufactured by Bayer) these pesticides, while regulated by the EPA, are not tested by the EPA, which only requires the manufacturer to prove safety on their own. Currently there are no long-term studies on what the cumulative effects of these systemic pesticides.

Let that sink in. Most likely, every single day we are ingesting food that has been grown through these pesticides, with no warning labels or legal responsibility of the manufacturer to disclose what has been applied. Even if systemic pesticides do not cause instant death or symptoms, why do we blindly accept that there are no long term effects? If bee deaths continue, what will the future hold for food production?

The History of Falling Trees

2012 note: thought I lost this old post but finally found it on Myspace. What follows is the story of how global warming LITERALLY hit me on the head and tried to kill me. Every so often I like to read it to remind myself how thankful I am to be alive.

Current mood:bouncy (2012 Note: oh Myspace, you're so cute.)
So I figure this is as good a place as any to post the story of how I got hit by a tree and lived to tell the tale. Picture this...Estes Park, 2005...

Just sittin' around the river, having a chat. That's me in the middle ironically chatting with the young girl next to me, who had just graduated from college and was worried because she had no health insurance. I was (once again, literally) telling her that she needed something—just basic 'hit by a bus' insurance—so that if something catastrophic happened, her parents wouldn't lose their home saving her life. Irony's funny like that.

AUGUST 26th, 2005 (the first email out to my friends and family after the accident)
Hi everyone,
sorry for the mass email, but wanted to let you know what's going on. As many of you know I was in colorado this week for a conference on living simply. Ironically, as a group of us were outside sitting by a river relaxing and talking, a strong wind picked up and blew over a dead 40 ft pine tree, whose path i was sitting in. (the EMT told me they have a name for these trees: "Widowmakers") After a trip to the Estes Park emergency room i came away with a varied selection of injuries: a scalp laceration (but no head or neck injury thank god) fixed with staples, an avulsion on my hand (if you don't know what that is, it;s for the best.) fixed with stitches, several broken fingers on my dominant hand splinted, and a puncture wound in my leg the size of a gunshot wound left open just to make sure there isn't still a piece of pine tree in there. All in all, my spirits are really good, I'm able to laugh about it because it truly is incredulous, I'm more shocked that this true "freak of nature" actually happened and grateful that my injuries were not more severe. Now my biggest problem is how to get me and my manual transmission automobile back to LA...
- Casey

Immediately after a tree falls in the woods.

AUGUST 27th-29th
Spent a few days in a Motel 6 down by the Denver Airport, watching the levees break in New Orleans. Hard to feel sorry for yourself when an entire city is in ruins.

AUGUST 30th
Annemarie flies to Denver to help me drive back to LA. Thank god for friends like that. Despite my skittishness of letting someone else drive, we make it to Vegas in less than a day to pick up Adventure Kitty, and then back to LA by midday.

Annemarie takes a picture of me in Vail, and I pretend to be the laughing monkey.

AUGUST 31st
No rest for the wicked, back to work on Don Cornelius' Lady of Soul Awards immediately. If I can survive this show, under these conditions, I'm pretty sure I can do absolutely anything.

SEPT
Sept passes pretty uneventfully, my leg holes and my palm start to close up, I become less concerned that there's still a piece of tree in there. I continue to believe that my finger is just a bone chip and keep it immobilized.

OCT 5th
Finally think it's time to see a doctor about my finger. My primary doc takes one look at it and says "See an orthopedic surgeon NOW." Ut oh. First ortho surgeon takes X-Rays and says, "Hmmm, I'm going to refer you to a specialist." Second surgeon, (to be forever known from now on as "Doc Cranky Pants") says, "Surgery, NOW." So, apparantly I waited 5 weeks too long to see him. Apparantly it is not just a bone chip, but a volar plate fracture & dislocation. (That's essentially a broken bone in your knuckle and one of the worst possible ways to break a finger) Surgery is scheduled.

OCT 19th
Surgery day. While they did not actually have to cut my finger open, they did insert 2 two inch stainless steel pins into my finger to keep it in place. There are what appear to be 2 baby blue thumb tacks sticking out. I am introduced to the wonders of vicodin.

OCT 21st-ONGOING
Physical therapy. Two, sometimes 3 times a week. Pick the handful of rice out of one bowl, put it in the other. Scrunch the paper. Somedays therapy is akin to torture. Others not so bad.

OCT 31st
Halloween: I wanted to do something to encorporate the thumbtacks sticking out of my finger, so I eventually came up with "Lil Miss Staples Catalogue" (see my pic right there) The idea was basically one of those old time sponsored beauty queens (like Marilyn Monroe was something like Miss Calif Artichoke Queen) but this time I would be sponsored by an office supply company, hence, Lil Miss Staples Catalogue...The dress was made by sewing While You Were Out Message squares to an old pillow case, the crown was binder clips in varying sizes clipped to a headband, the scepter was highlighters topped with a rubber band ball (not pictured), the earrings were mini Sharpies. Painted my fingernails with white-out and called it a day!

Halloween, 2005

NOV-DEC
More therapy. and then some more therapy.

JAN
After spending months trying to get a lawyer to listen to my case, I finally gave up and called the Y as a last ditch effort. Shock of all shocks, they forwarded me immediately to the safety director, who forwarded me to the insurance company. After only 2 conversations with my new best friend Mike Eberst, they agreed to pay out up to $10,000
of my medical bills. Here's hoping we stay under that limit.

MAR '06
My knuckle finally bends to 90º after A LOT stretching. A mini party breaks out in therapy room.

APR '06
So it's been 8 months since the tree fell and broke my finger and I still feel like I'm no where near being done with therapy. Had a visit to Doc Cranky Pants yesterday and he was equally unimpressed as to my progress as well. His suggestion, more surgery that may or may not work, will hurt more than the first one, and will probably blow through the remainder of the amount the YMCA's insurance company is giving me. Not to mention that now that this summer show is starting up (2012 note: that show was AGT!), I wouldn't have time to do it anyway. So I made a pact with myself, kick my therapy into high gear. I admit I've been babying the finger for a few months now, but now I know that I can't get away with that anymore. I've spent the last 8 months working around the fact that I can't (or probably will never) be able to make a fist again and I believe it is only because of my adaptable and simplified nature that I have been able to do so. So now I'm on the campaign to wear my splint 5 or 6 hours a day instead of just 1.

Me turning over a new leaf to wear my hand splint more often, and David Hasselhoff signing that splint, days after he acquired his own hand splint in a less climate-related accident.

And a few more pix that tell the story:

Tree from another angle.

base of the tree.

Close up of the base of the tree, where you can really see the damage pine beetles have caused

only one slightly gross pic, I promise. If you have to get hit on the head with a tree in a ravine, it helps to have a wilderness survival guide amongst your companions. EMTs weren't too happy they moved me, but I still feel confident my group made the right decision. I'm also really glad someone took pictures for me.

Ow! Pointy!

 I was seated on the rock in the foreground. Everyone around me managed to dive out of the way, but when I heard the crack, I literally thought: "that's not going to hit me, I'm the star of my own movie." Look, no one ever said I suffered from low self-esteem. I'm blaming the high altitude.

So it took me a while to figure out what I wanted to write about The Cove, the now Oscar-nominated documentary about dolphin slaughter in Taiji, Japan. When first released last August, it didn't make much of a splash (no pun intended), in that it stayed mainly in the art houses and the reviews I read didn't even inspire me to drop the ten bucks to seek it out. But now, hopefully since its release on DVD and the press it will receive from award season, more people will give it a chance. I expected another activist/eco-documentary, but what I didn't expect was how affected I would be by the story. Called “Ocean's Eleven-meets-Flipper”, it follows a team of marine biologists, adrenaline junkies, high-tech filmmakers and animal activists on a journey to expose the horrific slaughter of 23,000 dolphins each year in a small inlet in Japan. The true reason for why this community feels the need to exterminate so many dolphins so brutally is not really made clear (is it because their culture depends on dolphin meat for food? Because the fishing industry fears that dolphins eat too many fish? Is it that protecting dolphins under International Whaling Commission guidelines would call more attention to Japan's whaling industry? And if any of these are actually the reason, why are they treating the cove as such a dirty little secret?)
The cast, with their movie-star good looks and top-of-the-line equipment (courtesy of Industrial Light and Magic, George Lucas' company that most notably created all those Star Wars movies and creatures) lead a covert operation to capture on video what hides behind the stone walls of the cove and expose to the world the truth about the slaughter. The music was beautifully done, the narrative so suspenseful it gave the plight of these animals even more urgency. I would have liked to seen more interviews with Taiji locals, surely more than just the 2 councilmen featured (and the angry fishermen who threaten the filmmakers' and cover their cameras) had some insight into why their community was a part of this practice. There is some highly graphic footage contained in the movie, but by the time you reach this part of the story, you are so drawn in by the suspense of learning the secret of the cove that can't look away. And hopefully, the world won't turn away until the slaughter stops.

Learn more about the movie
Take action
 Buy the DVD at amazon.com

Simple Pleasures: The National Parks

Yes, it’s true, I’m a big old National Parks dork. I read all of Nevada Barr’s Ranger Anna Pidgeon mystery novels. I’ve got the handy-dandy little passport book that I can have stamped at every park I visit. I’m kinda proud of this fact, which probably makes me an even bigger dork. So imagine my glee for the premiere of Ken Burns’ 6 part documentary series: The National Parks: America’s Best Idea on PBS this week (all episodes are also available online as well). Oh how excited a NPS dork like myself is. Say what you want about Burns’ style (that it never changes, that he only seems to interview old white male writers for their opinions, that he’s a narcissist for having his name attached to the title of all his documentaries), he does spin a damn good narrative. And there’s something about his technique of taking photographs that are well over a century old and making them more beautiful than anything the most current and most expensive equipment could take.

A bummer of a day yesterday: the world’s worst gardeners, as my apartment handyman quotes his wife: “They mow, blow and go,” in our case, they mow over sprinkler heads, blow what they’ve trimmed around and then go before picking it up… all in under ten minutes, start to finish. The ultimate landscaping abuse came as I awoke to find my beloved lavender bush severed in two—why on earth they would cut the green fertile top off, leaving the branches below that are clearly past their prime. I’m disheartened by the incident because I raised that lavender from small plant—in 6 years, it’s grown to 10 times its original size, more importantly, I transplanted it to outside my bedroom window where not only did its size create a barrier between errant sprinklings from the sprinklers (when of course that sprinkler head was functioning) but created shade from the sun, a screen from anyone who might want to look in my window and best of all peaceful fragrant relaxing lavender scent. It’s too soon to tell whether it is all going to grow back but if anyone can tell me how to say: “Trim this again and I’ll have you fired” in Spanish, that’d be a help.

It seems we have sped right past spring here in LA and are now deep in the throes of summer. (How’s this for weather yoyos, last week I was trying to relight my heater’s pilot light because I was so cold, this week it’s 99º.) But the sun is good for something—first round of crops are starting to spring up: this year’s mini-garden includes lettuce, tomatoes, basil, peppers, strawberries and snap peas. First strawberry of the year consumed: 100 times tastier than anything bought at the grocery.

Service Saturday

Today’s service project through Tree People was planting 30 shade trees in a local neighborhood (I have finally learned my lesson that I can no longer participate in any mountain-based projects or face the repercussions of full-body poison ivy again…) and while I was a little fussy about the fact that we were planting trees in one of the most well-off neighborhoods in the valley, (with an impressive most-likely Earth Day related turn out of volunteers) it was explained that anyone can have this type of event organized, it just requires a little community coordination. (Interesting note, met a girl who grew up one town over from where I grew up and went to the same college as I did, both on the east coast…small world) I was also skeptical of the over-eager event leader’s claim that it is a scientific fact that when you give a tree a name it has a better chance of growing healthier, something I was not about to buy into at 9am on a Saturday morning. But scientific proof pending, I did notice how quickly the local residents got into naming the trees near their properties. A man who had to be about 85 or 90 came out in his wheelchair and watched us work and promptly named his nearby tree “Gloria”. Another family named the 3 on their curb “Kelly”, “Ralph” and “Ginger” after dogs that had passed on. And another resident christened “Dwayne”, after Dwayne Allman, of course. I know I’ll be driving by in the future, especially to check up on Gloria, because that hole was a real bitch to dig.

No More Plastic Bottles...evuh!

So I've had it. I'm usually pretty good about not buying bottled water, but when I travel it seems to be all one can do. After many trips where my system adversely reacted to the change in minerals in local water, I thought sticking to the bottled stuff was the way to go. But after going through airport security at Burbank Airport, I needed to quench my thirst. None of the news stands carry water any longer, so I was stuck with going to a cafe for my water selection. I picked a small (16.9 oz) bottle of Crystal Geyser and was told "That'll be $2.72."

*GASP* I was floored. Too floored to even storm out shouting, "That's highway robbery," dramatically, with a flourish of my cape. So I handed over my money and drank that bottle of water (at 16 cents an ounce), in 2 minutes flat (it was a 1.5 mile walk from home to the airport) and resolved never again. I headed to the restroom and promptly filled my aluminum bottle and the empty Crystal Geyser bottle with tap water. And you know what? It tasted just fine. I didn't grow gills on the plane.

Spending the week on location in New York, I put my new tap water only theory to the test, where, it didn't matter so much because New York City has one of the most highly rated municipal water supplies in the country. Of course, I was lucky enough to have someone running to the spigot for me every hour to refill my bottle, so first chance I got, I picked up a new SIGG 1 liter bottle... which is almost as light as a plastic bottle, is washable, reusable and a fashion statement and conversation starter. The $25 price tag is small potatoes, especially when I can recoup that cost in less than 10 bottles of airport water.

Weeding the Mountain

So this month’s day of service I spent out with the friends of Tree People literally weeding the forest. I was skeptical at first but figured there has to be a logical reason why we would be pulling up perfectly healthy green plants—in an area so prone to wildfires, why would we want to get rid of something that is not brown and crispy?? The answer lies in the target of our attack: mustard greens and yellow thistles are both invasive plants to our region that are so toxic to the soil that their presence can kill native flora and even some animals. In an area in danger of drought conditions, these nasty weeds also “steal” water from the ground, so they had to go. Tree People insists on leaving the nutrients from the uprooted weeds in situ, so that the nitrogen from their leaves can do some good for native plants. (I’m trying to remain Zen about the fact that I have contracted a poison ivy-like rash all over my arms and legs during the weed pulling extravaganza…)

Farmers Markets, Food Waste and Getting the Garden Growin'

For a while now, I've been planning on finally 'walking the walk' and getting myself to a farmer's market in the area. Of course, all the procrastinating was unnecessary since there is one right in my town, not 2 miles from my house. Every Saturday morning (rain or shine!) local vendors set out their pop up tents and display their horticultural wares. Some are organic, some merely boast they are pesticide-free, but all are merchants that are hands on participants in their products' creation. (Take that Ralph's produce department!) Okay, so I have some work to do to learn more about where my food comes from, but the farmer's market is the right step in the right direction. After perusing for a bit, I settled on a basket of strawberries (lots of fresh smoothies this week), a basket of grape tomatoes (good in Mexican dishes), and a couple organic pears (which I don't know why I don't eat more of, they are one of my favorite fruits). My fear with the quantities they sell is that I will end up tossing most of what I buy because I'm just one person that doesn't eat it fast enough before it goes south. (The tomatoes are the only thing left, but they're starting to get pretty squishy) So I'm trying to plan out meals before I select a particular produce for some variety. (Strawberry smoothies are great, but 3 days in a row seems to be the maximum amount of time I can stand them). I pride myself on not needing a garbage disposal, mostly because I am very conscious of how much food I waste, and whatever food that starts that detour south before I can eat it goes directly to the worm bin. With any luck this year's garden will start to take root shortly: Pea plants and sunflowers have started to sprout, a few other seedlings have begun germinating (oh why don't I label them better!) and once the worm castings are spread out on the new plants, mystery plants will also start cropping up as well. It is the most wonderful time of year. :)

For a farmers' market near you: click here for the searchable site.

Doc Review: FLOW: For Love of Water

FLOW is a riveting documentary that covers all aspects of the global water crisis—from chemical pollution that is causing fish and frogs to spontaneously change sexes, to the corporate take over of water supplies, to large scale dams redirecting the natural flow of rivers for greed of the rich, to lack of access to clean and safe drinking water in the world’s poorest communities (where contaminated water kills more people than war or AIDS). “Water=money=power” is evidenced by the fact that only 3 major corporations (Suez, Vivendi and Thames Water) control not only the global water supply, but also created and control the World Water Council, an organization that has taken upon itself to be voice of authority on global water supply. We as Americans rarely think about where our water comes from and where it goes to, but in less than 10 years many American aquifers are in serious danger of being completely drained. Could you imagine having to wait in line for hours with a bucket for the mere possibility of clean water? It may be a reality if drastic changes are not made to our consumption habits. Another staggering statistic: Nestle owns SEVENTY percent of the bottled water brands (such names as Poland Spring, Ozarka, Deerfield Park, and Arrowhead) and supplies these brands by setting up in local communities, extracting the water from the ground and then selling back to consumers. I hope this documentary widens the discussion of who really owns water and how we all need to change our habits to keep it clean and plentiful.
Sign the petition for “the right for water”.

A Day of Service: A Simplist's Contribution

So I headed out last Saturday morning for my few hours of volunteering—I had opted for a joint venture between WeChangeLA and Tree People helping prune fruit trees that would be donated to non-profits such as schools or churches to distribute amongst their members. A little trepidation as I roused myself from sleep this morning (as there is anytime you try something new, alone) but a short bike ride to the park where the event was held and I was ready to get to work. We all seemed daunted by the large number of trees waiting for us in the compound, (it looked like a challenge out of The Amazing Race...)but the 15 or so volunteers that showed up made quick work of it (so much so that while we were budgeted for 4 hours of work, we finished it in 2). It turned out to be a wonderful idea, reacquainting me with Tree People (which I had been a member of many years ago but let it lapse after moving away), plus introducing me to the newly formed We Change LA (so new they don’t even have their own website, oh the humanity!) While this 2 hours of pruning might not change the world, it showed me that this kind of service—something so simple and not very time-consuming, can fit into even a very hectic schedule.

Spring has surely sprung here in L.A.—sprung forward to summer actually, as this weekend temps were in the mid-80's already. Air quality is still what I can only imagine as 95% pollen but hopefully my body will adjust soon and put an end to this 2 week-long allergy attack. Managed to get out for a good quick 2 hour hike in the hills this morning—so unusual to see the hills so green. I know that won't last much longer with more 85º days. Crops are coming up, well something's coming up. At first I believed it the seeds I planted—basil, pansies, cucumbers, lemon balm—but the seedlings all seem to look suspiciously the same in every pot (the hazards of making your own compost, invariably what you thought was dead last year is back after a winter hibernation in the worm bin.) And finally, we have what seems to be some sort of lover's serenade outside—each evening at around 11:30pm, a bird shows up and begins his call and answer—so loud and clear you'd think it was in the room with you. What is most unique is that this bird changes his call over and over, repeating each call only about 5 times before moving onto a completely new call. Ornithologists, assist!

Book Review: "This Moment on Earth"

Just finished John & Tereza Kerry's latest book "This Moment on Earth" and was pleasantly surprised. When researching global warming and other environmental crises, it gets kind of depressing after reading the umpteenth statistic on melting glaciers or rising sea levels or dying polar bears. It's enough to just throw your hands up and say, "what's the point?" The Kerry's book instead is very accessible, filled with productive examples of people who are making a change in their communities. The gloomy statistics are there, but they don't beat the reader over the head with them. I'm also thankful for them introducing me to this great quote based on an African adage: "The best time to plant a tree is 20 years ago. The second best time to plant a tree is today." That one sentiment sums up the tone of the book perfectly. :)

The Magic of Nature

So each year I plant some tomato seeds and get a little crop of scraggly plants that provide my meager existence with some produce. This year I didn't do any planting on my own, but let nature do its thing by just letting what ever came up out of the ground take root; survival of the fittest, the heartiest (or is it hardiest? can never remember) plant wins. So imagine my surprise when a few weeks back I notice, these are not cherry tomatoes which I've planted for the last 2-3 years but Roma tomatoes which I planted back in another apartment, in another part of town, at least 3 years ago. (and very unsuccessfully at that, I got maybe 2 or 3 tomatoes off the plant and they weren't very good at that) Where did they come from? These seem very hearty (or hardy again); there's about 20 or 30 of them on the vine right now. Seem to be taking their time ripening though!