Greenspiration News: Post-Petro blues

Sat Oct 23 00:09:31 EDT 2010

Greenspiration News

P.S. Pass this onto a friend! -a

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NYC to pay $1M to arrested Critical Mass cyclists

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20101019/ap_on_re_us/us_critical_mass
http://www.chicagobreakingnews.com/2010/10/nyc-to-pay-1-million-to-critical-mass-bicyclists.html  

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Benchmarking Active Transportation in Canadian Cities compared the performance of active transportation in Toronto against other cities in Canada, the United States and Europe using key indicators as benchmarks. Among the study’s findings:

Cities with more kilometres of bicycle facilities have a higher active transportation mode share
In cities with high mode shares, the percentage of cyclists and pedestrians injured and killed is lower than in cities with low mode shares, thus confirming the “safety in numbers” theory
The cities with the lowest active transportation mode shares also have the highest private automobile shares
Cities in jurisdictions with low gas taxes tend to have low active transportation levels and higher private automobile mode shares
http://torontocat.ca/main/sites/all/files/TCAT_AT%20Benchmarking%20Report.pdf
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Don't Eat These Beans if you're Thinking of having Children

If you’re still eating genetically modified (GM) soybeans and you plan on having kids, a Brazilian study may make you think again about what you put in your mouth.  http://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2010/10/05/dont-eat-these-beans-if-youre-thinking-of-having-children.aspx  
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Ecuador, UN Create Trust to Protect Oil-Rich Reserve
The Ecuadorian government and the United Nations Development Program signed an agreement on Tuesday to move forward with a proposal that the international community pay Quito to forgo oil drilling in a sensitive area of the Amazon.

http://www.laht.com/article.asp?ArticleId=361759&CategoryId=14089 
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Support in withdrawal of psych drugs

Support is vitally important in the process of withdrawal. Often one of the best places for information and support is online as there are rarely people in our lives who truly understand what we are undertaking. It’s important to have people supporting you at home too and ultimately better if you can manage that. The best case scenario is to have both, along with professionals that also support you. 

In preparing to withdraw diet and  nutrition is very important. A good multi-vitamin, minerals, magnesium, vitamin C and fish oil is a good place to start. Other supplements may be helpful as well and often finding what you need is a research project–if one is lucky they may find a good alternative health care provider, but that is often hard to find.

Withdrawal info here. and Nutrition info here – this is just to start thinking…individual needs vary and my diet too has varied over the course of this journey.

Some online support groups are listed here:

Alt Therapies for Bipolar
Alternative to Meds (Safe Harbor)
BenzoWithdrawal.com
BenzoBuddies.org
BenzozIsland
Med Free or Working on It
Paxil Progress (SSRI withdrawal forum)
Recovery Road
http://bipolarblast.wordpress.com/support-in-wd/ 

Note: Never quit a psych drug cold turkey!
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Vanishing of the Bees

Incredible 7 min. video
http://www.vanishingbees.com/trailer/
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PEDESTRIAN DESIGN. Green Communities' Canada Walks free 90-minute webinar presents strategies to reduce injury risk through the design of the built environment, with a focus on pedestrian design. 28 October … Canada Walks is in the news regarding iwalk, school travel planning and Active and Safe Routes to School.

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Climate change to cause extreme world drought
The United States and many other heavily populated countries could face extreme drought in the next 30 years unless greenhouse gas emissions are reduced, a new study finds. http://content.usatoday.com/communities/greenhouse/post/2010/10/us-climate-change-drought/1  
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Stop "flying Cadillacs" before they cost us all a bundle

The federal government is rushing forward with a plan to buy 65 F-35 stealth fighter jets for $16 billion or more, for battles Canada is highly unlikely to ever fight. We suggest that if you don't want to spend $500 for every family member on this dangerous junk, it may be time to organize a bakesale.  http://www.straightgoods.ca/2010/ViewArticle.cfm?Ref=892

F-35 stealth fighters are for 'shock and awe' warfare, not Canada's needs

We have the time available to us to take our time. Let's use it to change the way we think about our aircraft. We don't need them for bombing missions, and there is in reality no Russian bomber threat. Sixteen billion dollars is a lot of money, and we can't afford to make a mistake as big as this. Since there is no contract yet for the F-35s, only stated intentions, let's engage Canadians and get the right tool for our legitimate defensive needs. http://rabble.ca/news/2010/10/f-35-stealth-fighters-are-shock-and-awe-warfare-not-canadas-needs
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Post-petro blues

Albertans could be on the hook for oilsands cleanup bill.

http://www.straightgoods.ca/2010/ViewArticle.cfm?Ref=883
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Cyclean: The Bike-Powered Washing Machine

Get in shape and get your clothes clean at the same time with the Cyclean washing machine!
http://greenopolis.com/goblog/green-groove/cyclean-bike-powered-washing-machine
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Clean car rules would eliminate European market for tar sands oil

Today, Greenpeace released a report in Europe showing how tougher EU fuel efficiency regulations would eliminate the need for Europe to import oil from the Alberta tar sands, the Arctic or deep water oil fields. This would mean consumers could keep more money in their pockets, and tar sands oil could stay in the ground.

http://www.greenpeace.org/canada/en/recent/Clean-car-rules-would-eliminate-European-market-for-tar-sands-oil/?sms_ss=facebook&at_xt=4cbf153a634772c1%2C0
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Turning Asphalt Into Edible Education

It was the garden’s ability to apparently change the way the children related to food that won her over.

http://cityroom.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/10/19/turning-asphalt-into-edible-education/ 
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From Crude Awakening to Climate Camp, direct action needs a new story

The climate protest movement can regain momentum by showing it's worth getting out on the streets for the environment
Read the article and watch the 6 min. video of a great action here: http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/cif-green/2010/oct/19/climate-camp-crude-awakening
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Transport Futures 2010: Road Pricing & Smart Growth Forum
December 2, 2010 - Metropolitan Hotel, Toronto

Transportation planning and land use planning are two sides of the same coin. That’s why at the 4th Transport Futures Forum, you’ll learn how road pricing can influence urban form, especially as it relates to development patterns, consumer real estate preferences, costs and travel destinations. Cutting-edge research, interactive presentations, panels and group discussions will explore whether comprehensive road pricing policies can help Ontario meet density targets, accelerate transit-oriented development, convert brownfields and protect green space. Don’t miss this opportunity to discuss tolls and smart growth with leading international and national experts.

Register by November 12th to take advantage of our Early Bird Rates. 
Visit www.transportfutures.ca for full program details!!
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The Optimism of Uncertainty
by Howard Zinn

In this awful world where the efforts of caring people often pale in comparison to what is done by those who have power, how do I manage to stay involved and seemingly happy? I am totally confident not that the world will get better, but that we should not give up the game before all the cards have been played. The metaphor is deliberate; life is a gamble. Not to play is to foreclose any chance of winning.

To play, to act, is to create at least a possibility of changing the world...

Consider the remarkable transformation, in just a few decades, in people's consciousness of racism, in the bold presence of women demanding their
rightful place, in a growing public awareness that gays are not curiosities but sensate human beings, in the long-term growing skepticism about military intervention despite brief surges of military madness. It is that long-term change that I think we must see if we are not to lose hope. Pessimism becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy; it reproduces itself by crippling our willingness to act. Revolutionary change does not come as one cataclysmic moment (beware of such moments!) but as an endless succession of surprises, moving zigzag toward a more decent society.

We don't have to engage in grand, heroic actions to participate in the process of change. Small acts, when multiplied by millions of people, can
transform the world. Even when we don't "win," there is fun and fulfillment in the fact that we have been involved, with other good people, in something worthwhile. We need hope. An optimist isn't necessarily a blithe, slightly sappy whistler in the dark of our time. To be hopeful in bad times is not just foolishly romantic. It is based on the fact that human history is a history not only of cruelty, but also of compassion, sacrifice, courage, kindness. What we choose to emphasize in this complex history will determine our lives. If we see only the worst, it destroys our capacity to do something. If we remember those times and places-and there are so many-where people have behaved magnificently, this gives us the energy to act, and at least the possibility of sending this spinning top of a world in a different direction. And if we do act, in however small a way, we don't have to wait for some grand utopian future. The future is an infinite succession of presents, and to live now as we think human beings should live, in defiance of all that is bad around us, is itself a marvelous victory.

http://www.commondreams.org/views04/1108-21.htm
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