When a gift is more than a gift
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| The bumper sticker. |
We all get happy when it’s obvious that someone has put a lot of thought into their gift for us. The GreenTech Geek gets doubly — make that triply — happy when it’s clear that the gift-giver has not only though about me in selecting my gift, but also about the larger world in which we live.
So you can imagine my giddiness when I opened the following presents on Christmas morning two days ago:
- Purple ‘Peace’ Bumper Sticker — My nieces in Eugene, Oregon — home to all things good for the Earth — have a tradition of sending me bumper stickers for Christmas, always containing messages intended to keep me connected to wholesome liberal thought processes so easily chipped away at lollygagging in it’s-all-about-the-sun San Diego. This year’s offering: a bold purple ‘Peace’ sticker from an interesting place called Peacemonger.org that sells all number accessories laden with messages reminding humanity of its better nature.
This gift served an additional awesome purpose: reminding me of the a little music video I put together a few years ago called The Bumper Stickers Did It. It’s about the power of the bumper stickers of Eugene, Oregon to lift my spirits during a difficult time in American history, when a Presidential election was stolen, Bush ruled the land, and unjust war was raging.
Click here to have a look — and check out a couple more amazing gifts I got — at my latest weekly GreenTech column over at the popular San Diego-based blog, Tea With Lemon.
Plastic Redux
A reader of this column was aghast at my December 5 post (Trash Art) about the giant swirl of plastic garbage floating in the Pacific Ocean. So she called my attention to an impossibly happy Japanese inventor, Akinori Ito, who’s come up with a fascinating way to turn plastic trash into usable oil. So it seems Japanese innovation can bring us more than freaky robots and imperishable automobiles The United Nations University has taken notice and produced a short video about the guy, his invention, and his crusade to spread the simple technology to countries most impacted by plastic trash.
Click here to see the rest of this post in my new GreenTech column at the popular San Diego-based blog, Tea With Lemon.
Songs to Save Us
Well-written and memorably performed songs have the power to change us, motivate us, and perhaps even cause us to think about things in the world in a brand new way. In the 1700s and 1800s, slaves in the United States used music to preserve their heritage and get through treacherous times. In the 1960s, folk singers used songs to voice frustrations of the anti-war and civil rights generations.
These days, some artists have taken on an even broader subject with their music — saving the Earth itself.
Here is a collection of four very special songs with strong views about how we think about the Earth, what we have done to the Earth, what some are doing to save the Earth, and the unthinkable future that awaits us if we let things get out of control.
VIDEO – Oscar Paradise: ‘Da Da Dam’
First up is ‘Da Da Dam’ by Paradise Oscar, a young singer from Finland who was his country’s entry in last spring’s Eurovision Song Contest (sort of an American Idol for the entire European continent). Oscar spins a musical fairy tale that cleverly pokes fun at those who deny our Earth is in danger. My favorite verse from this song:
I’m going out in the world to save our planet
And I ain’t comin back until she’s saved
I’ll walk my way to see the King and parliament
If they don’t help I’ll do it by myself
Next is ‘Earth Song’ by the legendary Michael Jackson. You can see the video and my other choices here:
GreenTech Geek: Songs to Save Us
Trash Art
Lidia the Seal
Do you like Lidia? Learn all about her, and the incredible series of environmental artworks she is part of, in my new GreenTech Geek post — titled Trash Art — at the popular San Diego-based blog, Tea with Lemon:
