I stumbled upon this post from 'No Impact Man' Colin Beaven in response to the NASA report and it has become a topic for conversation over at Holstee for the past week. Regardless of the political stance on the issue, I think these questions get to the heart of the matter: 

Why were we born? What is really important in life? Are we living in line with that? Or are we distracted from the point of our existence? Is there a way to get people to wake up and ask these crucial questions?

Is there a way to get governments to do so? Because if we are wrecking the place in fulfillment of our human purpose, then so be it. But if we are wrecking the place while sleepwalking our way from birth to death? Living unconsciously and wrecking the place in that process? That seems like such a terrible tragedy. How can we wake up? -Colin Beaven

It basically gets down to something that we want to be the common thread through everything we do at Holstee and the lifestyles we live day-to-day. We want to live consciously, being aware of how each and every decision we make affects the world and those around us and doing something about it. It calls for waking up and realizing our ability to decide to leave the world better or worse than we found it.

Wendell Berry is quoted saying, "We have lived our lives by the assumption that what was good for us would be good for the world. We have been wrong. We must change our lives so that it will be possible to live by the contrary assumption, that what is good for the world will be good for us. And that requires that we make the effort to know the world and learn what is good for it." 

Indeed. 

See the full article from NASA here. Visit 350.org to find ways to act.

If there is one documentary you make sure to see before the year is over, let 180° South be it. The film follows Jeff Johnson as he embarks on the adventure of retracing the 1968 journey of Yvon Chouinard and Doug Tompkins to Patagonia in the aim of climbing Corcovado. Nothing short of beautiful with its amazing shots of some of the most breathtaking places on earth, 180° South is a celebration of the natural world around us and the call to protect it. There is one point near the end where the legendary Yvon Chouinard says that one of the most important things is to lead an examined life, and I love the way that this truth is captured on screen through the journey and wisdom shared. The soundtrack is great, too. 

Mark your calendars! The fine folks at 350.org are mobilizing the community again. This time, it is a day set aside for celebrating action on moving beyond fossil fuels. On September 24, 2011, there will be events going on throughout the world to demand solutions and stand on the truth that, as a community of people gathered together for a united cause, we can and will make a difference for the environment. So grab your bike, your Razor scooter, or your roller blades and find an event going on near you (or you can even start your own :).

The goal is to get moving beyond fossil fuels—both symbolically by pouring into the streets in the thousands on foot, bicycle and other means of sustainable movement, and politically by bringing powerful demands to our leaders that day to move beyond fossil fuels to a 350ppm world. -350.org

A month ago Mikey wrote this honest and heartfelt post on the Yellowstone River oil spill of this past July. It made me think: what would it take to stop more oil spills like this from happening in the future? What would that type of action required to stop the catastrophic damage to our environment look like?

It looks like this: hundreds of people of almost every demographic gathered in front of the White House risking arrest (over 1,000 have already been arrested to date) to carry a petition of over 600,000 names to President Obama. In one of the largest acts of environmental civil disobedience to take place, protesters have gathered for the past two-weeks to push President Obama to oppose the Tar Sands Oil Keystone XL Pipeline.

This proposed pipeline would transport tar sands oil from Canada 1,700 miles across the United States to be refined in Texas, risking many more large oil spills and severely threatening habitats, farms, livelihoods, and drinking water.  Emitting three times the amount of Carbon into the air than traditional oil, tar sands oil is one of the most dirty and carbon-intensive fuels out there. In a time when more and more people are realizing the need for cleaner energy alternatives and more responsible actions for the environment, the reality of this pipeline would be devestating to the progress being made on this front.

To learn more about the Keystone XL Pipeline and stay up-to-date on the action taking place, check out the Tar Sands Action website. The amazing work that they are doing to organize this movement and hold our government accountable is unmatched. We send major props & much love to the inspirational activists who have risked arrest to stand firm for our communities, our environment, and our planet as we stand in solidarity with them.

Photo by Josh Lopez.

CLIF Bar is challenging us to rethink the commute. Did you know that in the United States, an estimated 40% of urban travel is under two miles? 90% of those trips are taken by car (yikes!). In an effort to engage the community in the fight against climate change, the CLIF Bar 2-Mile Challenge was created as a call to replace as many car trips as possible with a bicycle. We love it!

To further celebrate and encourage bicycle lifestyles, CLIF Bar has partnered with GOOD to offer a contest to benefit organizations championing the bicycle movement. Three winners will be chosen to win up to $5,000 for a bicycle nonprofit of his or her choice (plus, a year's supply of CLIF Bars!). In order to win, submit a photograph along with your best bike story here by September 5th.

Check out the CLIF Bar 2-Mile Challenge and learn more about the power of rethinking the commute!

Nothing compares to the simple pleasure of a bike ride. -JFK

Have you noticed all of the plastic stoppers and aluminum screw-top closures creeping into the wine aisle? These artificial stoppers use materials that consume fossil fuels and take much more energy to produce than the corks they are replacing. Unlike sythentic counterparts, cork is an all-natural sustainable product and we need it back in those wine bottles, please.

100% Cork is demanding just that. They are pioneering efforts to raise awareness for cork and demand wineries and retailers to stop using artificial stoppers. The benefits of cork are widespread: it is a biodegradable and renewable resource that is sustainably harvested without cutting down a single tree. The use of cork preserves the livelihoods of the farmers who harvest the forests, and the cork trees themselves promote biodiversity in their habitat.

So, next time you are in the wine aisle, bypass the artificial stoppers for the real deal and drink a toast to the Earth. It is a simple step that makes a significant impact. :)

Cork Trees are gently harvested to generate regrowth.

Plastic Stoppers are manufactured to generate landfills.  - 100% Cork

Check out 100% Cork to sign the petition to wineries and learn more.

I recently starting getting one GOOD artcile a day and as much as I enjoy the content they report on and style of the writers, the news of yet another oil spill, this time in Montana on the pristine Yellowstone River (the longest freeflowing in the lower 48), is super disheartening and makes me wonder.

Did you know there's about 20,000 oil spills a year in the United States and that roughly 300 never make it to the public eye because they are so severe that the Environmental Protection Agency doesn't allow press to cover them and private contractors are hired to clean them up... I sure didn't.   

This spill dumped over 42,000 gallons of crude oil into the river as it was being pumped from Canada to the US. 

They even found a bald eagle- our brave mascot- drenched in sludge. 

It makes me wonder why we live in a time when power and greed are preferred over health and the well-being of a planet and its people. It makes me wonder what life is going to be like for my children on planet Earth. It makes me wonder what anthropologists will think when they discover that we were one of the most wasteful and destructive of all civilizations thus far. It makes me wonder if this fight for a more conscious lifestyle and greater social awareness will ever end.

It makes me wonder how much more I can tolerate before I lose steam or control. 

Article originally found at GOOD here. 

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