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.

GreenTech Geek: When a gift is more than a gift

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. 


Have a look — and check out a couple more amazing gifts I got — after the jump … 

The candle.

• Prosperity Candle — Mom gave me this gift, for the second year in a row, and it is equally powerful and moving the second time around. It’s a lovely-smelling, soy-based candle with a card certifying it was handmade by Tila, a refugee woman from Bhutan.  

From the card: “Hand-poured by recently resettled refugees from Burma and Bhutan who are living in Springfield, Massachusetts, it offers women who have fled from their homes in regions of conflict an opportunity to earn an income and help support the wellbeing of their families. Prosperity Candle partners with local refugee programs to bring you the Vessel of Light — a testament to the transformational power of enterprise and the healing gift of light.   

How many of your presents this year can lay stake to such lofty claims?  

Tila from Bhutan. She made my candle.

As if that isn’t enough, another card with the candle informs you that it’s “made with 100% soy wax from soybeans grown on U.S. farms. This high-quality wax is natural, non-toxic, biodegradable, and certified Kosher, with natural, clean-burning wicks.”

Another cool thing about the candle is you can “meet” the actual woman who made it — and even send her a message — by looking her up at www.prosperitycandle.com. This is a picture of Tila and a little bit about her from the site: 

Tila has a shyness about her and a beautiful demeanor.  She speaks very little English and admits that she is a little lazy about learning it. Her husband and two young children moved to the United States from a refugee camp in Nepal, where she had lived since she was eight years old, having escaped her village in Bhutan during a time when an ethnic conflict erupted between the indigenous people and those of Nepali ethnic background.  She likes the United States, she admits, though the winter is difficult.

The hat.

• The Hat — And then there is the hat. Wild and crazy, warm and cozy, hand-made and happenin’. Made by my sister Krista in Eugene, Oregon (what’d I say about Eugene, Oregon?) during something they have up there called “Buy Nothing Friday.” It takes place on Black Friday, as the rest of the country is getting maced in the face by rabid shoppers at Wal-Mart. A community’s brave attempt to slap American consumerist madness in the face and get people back to the quaint notion of actually making their Christmas presents. For that reason — and because it covers by shaved head and exposed ears perfectly — this is now my favorite hat.

(On a side not, and to round out the holiday theme of this post.) Somebody connected with Tea With Lemon (I believe) and known in his comments to me as N.H.F. has expressed an inordinate interest in seeing references in my posts to Perv — an occasionally recurring Tea With Lemon character who also happens to be my scooter buddy. Well, Perv and I outdid ourselves this holiday season, showing up on our scooters in places where scooters really have no business being. Here you go N.H.F.!

Perv on his shiny new scooter trying to out-shine the shine on Rudolph’s nose — on the Sqooterheads Holiday Lights Scooter Ride in the College Area, December 23, 2011.

Perv (right) and me (left) on our scooters in the 48th Annual North Park Toyland Parade on  December 3, 2011.

Until next week …

GreenTech Geek: Plastic Redux … and a Holiday Treat

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:

It turns out Akinori is not the first to find a deceptively simple way to recycle available resources into usable oil. 

After the jump, find out what just may have been his inspiration …

Another GreenTech reader proposed that Akinori’s invention may have have been inspired by technology created in the late 1970’s by the Argon company. The reader offered this video as evidence:

 

In the spirit of the holiday season, I leave you with this gem, snatched from the Facebook wall of an old  friend:

May you and yours have a pleasant and peaceful holiday.

Until next Monday …

GreenTech Geek: 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.

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 after the jump.

Michael Jackson’s ‘Earth Song’ was released overseas (but never in the U.S.) after Michael’s star had faded under the weight of child molestation accusations. By then, many had tuned out the King of Pop and therefore never got to experience this song’s frightening message about humankind’s wanton destruction of the natural environment. In the song, Michael seems to challenge God Himself for creating such a careless species. In fact, the whole song is a series of blunt questions to God, like:

Did you ever stop to notice
All the children dead from war?
Did you ever stop to notice
This crying Earth, this weeping shore?

Michael’s passion and anger are so strong in the song’s final passages that it’s hard to make out his lyrics clearly, but they are worth reading: http://www.azlyrics.com/lyrics/michaeljackson/earthsong.html

Joan Baez, a veteran protest singer who rose to national fame in the 1960s, is still going strong. Her song, ‘Warriors of the Sun,’ is a powerful ode to those who fight to protect the environment for the benefit of future generations. I’ve never found a good video of the song, (so here are the lyrics), but if you pick up a copy of Joan’s album, ‘Speaking of Dreams,’ you can hear it on that. My favorite verse:

We’re killing everything on dry land
Why don’t we just let the fishes be?
Some of us are Greenpeace Warriors of the Sea

Finally, leave it to Roger Waters and Pink Floyd to paint a hellacious picture of what could become of our world if, as the song puts it, “the rusty wire that holds the cork that keeps the anger in, gives way …”

‘Two Suns in the Sunset’ remains, for me, one of the most nightmarish songs ever written, capturing all the horror experienced by those of us who came of age during the Cold War, with a nuclear Sword of Damocles hanging over our heads.

Until next Monday …

Do you have a favorite song about protecting the environment or saving the Earth? I invite you to share it (lyrics, video, MP3, whatever) with your fellow Tea with Lemon readers. Let us know by using the comments feature of this post. Along with the songs above, your selection might just help save us after all.

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:

GreenTech Geek: Trash Art

GreenTech Geek: Trash Art

Lidia the Seal

Think about an unpleasant subject for a moment:  the tremendous amount of trash, pollution and toxins that human activity is responsible for pouring into the waterways, lakes, bays and oceans of our world. It’s enough to ruin your day.

When I want to feel most awful about it, I find something to watch about the Great Pacific Garbage Patch. Estimated to be twice the size of Texas, it’s a swirling mass of mostly plastic refuse that makes up the largest garbage dump in the world — floating in the northern Pacific Ocean. Something like this:

Thanks to the inspirational work of Pacific Northwest artist Angela Haseltine Pozzi, San Diegans have a chance to learn about the crucial issue of ocean pollution in a somewhat less disgusting way. Well, let’s say the end results of her work are less disgusting. Pozzi collects plastic ocean waste — lots of it — and fashions it into larger-than-life sea creatures representing species threatened by the very thing they are made of: the  garbage we put into the oceans. That would be things like plastic water bottles, syringes, tampons, plastic bags, valve stem caps, condoms, expired credit cards, dental floss cases, pill bottles, and so much more.   

I came across Pozzi’s work at the San Diego Port Pavilion on Broadway Pier a couple of weeks ago after a scooter ride there with my friend Perv (known to some long-time Tea with Lemon readers) to catch some of the America’s Cup action on San Diego Bay.

See the first work of Pozzi’s that caught my attention after the jump. 

Tula the Sea Turtle

Yours truly under the Giant Jellyfish

It was Tula the Sea Turtle. All green and lumpy and huge and … made of trash. Captivated by Tula, I at first didn’t notice what was hovering above me: a giant jellyfish made of plastic water bottles, plastic bags and rope discarded in the ocean.

Impressive works, even without considering the profound environmental messages ingrained in their very DNA. As I got to know these odd creatures, an energetic, curly-haired woman approached me. I know women like this, I thought. Strong, resilient, creative, changing the world for the better. The Pacific Northwest molds such women. I know, because my wonder-sister Krista lives in Eugene, Oregon as a triumphant single mother, among all the other amazing women up there.

This woman, it turned out, was the artist herself. Pozzi delighted in observing my reactions to her creatures, and she delighted equally in sharing the meaning behind her works with me. I didn’t have a notepad to jot everything down, but luckily I found a statement on her web site very similar to what she told me:

“I came to the ocean to heal, but like many people I walked with blinders on, bypassing the garbage, wanting only to see the ocean’s beauty. When I finally stopped and really saw the debris on the beach, my heart and mind opened to the problem. I researched the effects of plastic in the ocean and the tragedy of animals suffering. I decided to take action … artistic action. The problem of plastic pollution in the ocean is massive, so the artwork had to be massive in order to get the message across. This was the birth of ‘Washed Ashore: plastics, sea life and art.'”

Just before we parted, Pozzi said “You gotta see Henry the Giant Fish!” He was a short walk away, over by the USS Nimitz aircraft carrier. Perv and I had to get on our way, so we didn’t get a chance to see Henry. But here he is at the artist’s web site: Henry the Giant Fish. Pozzi had other gawkers to tend to, but not before I was able to snap a picture of her in front of her beloved Tula. 

Artist Angela Haseltine Pozzi with Tula the Sea Turtle

Recognize him?

Peruse the artist’s web site and you’ll see great photos of all her works and the techniques used to create them. You’ll also get to know this enigmatic artist better. One of my favorite works by Pozzi is Lidia the Seal, who leads this week’s GreenTech Geek column.

Until next Monday …

Washed Ashore ended its run on San Diego’s Embarcadero in November, but you can still catch it down at the Chula Vista Nature Center, starting December 8, 2011 through July, 2012. To view and learn more about the exhibit from the comfort of your armchair, visit the artist’s web site at www.washedashore.org.