Trying to follow

I reposted about this topic in December, but I wanted to highlight the podcast, which I think is worth a listen. A while ago I chatted with my friend Nate about simple living and some discussion we had had on our blogs and others comments. It was quite interesting.

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For the original post, On Simple Living and living “a dollar above” the poverty line

I was going to write a post on this, but I decided I’d rather post some links and quotes and hopefully generate some discussion on the topic. Here’s the quick summary. I want to be a environmental steward of my resources and I want to be a fair consumer of the earth’s resources. There’s all kinds of talk about global warming these days and choosing more sustainable and energy efficient lifestyle choices. There’s also criticism arising about those things. I want to hit two areas briefly. Global Warming and then more specifically, choice of vehicle.

First, global warming. Al Gore has brought to the forefront of conversation the issue of Global Warming through his movie an inconvenient truth.

The critics have returned not only with a critique that just says global warming is a scam, but with a whole response video that explains why the hype about global warming can actually be bad for society and the developing world. They also point out who stands to gain in the global warming frenzy. Definitely some interesting things I haven’t thought of before. The Great Global Warming Swindle:

Are you green? How
many flights have you taken in the last year? Feeling guilty about all
those unnecessary car journeys? Well, maybe there’s no need to feel bad.

Wikipedia notes:

• Author and economist James Shikwati says in the programme that environmentalists campaign against Africa using its fossil fuels:
  “there’s somebody keen to kill the African dream. And the African dream
  is to develop.” He describes renewable power as “luxurious
  experimentation” that might work for rich countries but will never work
  for Africa: “I don’t see how a solar panel is going to power a steel
  industry…We are being told, ‘Don’t touch your resources. Don’t touch
  your Oil. Don’t touch your Coal. That is suicide.’”
• An example is given in the film of a Kenyan health clinic which is
  powered by solar panels which do not provide enough electricity for
  both the medical refrigerator and the lights at the same time. The
  programme describes the idea of restricting the world’s poorest people
  to alternative energy sources as “the most morally repugnant aspect of
  the Global Warming campaign.”

Second, vehicles. I’d still like to see the day very soon when the wife and I can do without a car, but until then I’m still trying to make the best environmental choices I can when it comes to those vehicles. In light of that we’ve considered buying a used hybrid sometime down the road when we have to purchase a new vehicle. It seemed to be the wisest financial decision. Yet, there has also been some criticism of the hype about fuel efficient cars.

There’s a study done by a research outfit called CNW Marketing Research which attempts to determine the total energy used by a vehicle from mining the metals to final disposal. Interestingly the Hummer H2 comes out ahead of a number of more fuel efficient vehicles including the Honda Civic and the Toyota Prius. (Let it be said that the Focus and the Scion XP come out far ahead of the Hummer). There’s an interesting discussion of the results here and an audio interview with the researcher here. -a podcast

Going Private has an interesting take on hybrids:

Hybrids are such a horrible mess because they mix all the elements required to destroy the market forces.  Subsidies, state and federal.  Green investing.  Substantial research and development to avoid spending money on gasoline, which the market has actually left quite cheap, at the expense of a more expensive product.  (Hint: use cheap resources until they are not cheap anymore).

And more negative new about hybrids:

In reality, as put forward by auto-writer Richard Burr in the Weekly
Standard, hybrids don’t deliver anywhere close to the gas mileage that
the agency attributes to them. According to Spinella, hybrid sales
every month this year have reduced compared to the same time last year.
Reason being; people prefer to buy non-hybrid with the same mileage or
somewhere near that due to the lower price. Spinella’s customer
satisfaction surveys also reveal 62 percent of hybrid owners are
dissatisfied with the fuel-economy performance. Hybrids also have a
disastrous pollution and energy consumption record in Japan and other
Asian countries where these cars are manufactured.

And there’s this bit too:

The problem with Dalmia’s Op-ed, and many other irresponsible misrepresentations of the very ambitious CNW report: “Dust to Dust”, are that today’s costs, aren’t necessarily tomorrow’s costs, and Spinello himself admits
that hybrids will probably be more “dust to dust” energy efficient than
their non-hybrid counterparts in a relatively short time, as short as a
few years, as the technology is simplified and the manufacturing
process is streamlined. (Check out that podcast for a good overview of
the report’s conclusions.) New technology is always more costly early
in it’s development.

I just want to know the truth. I want to be fuel efficient, environmentally sound, a good steward, and I’ll drive a scion, a hybrid, or even a hummer if it’s the best decision for the world. But all this back and forth, biases and more leaves a person frustrated and confused. What’s the truth?  Anyone have some thoughts on the matter?

I’m planning on continuing the Hip Hop series, but I wanted to take a time to have some practical application of Lesson #1 and encourage you to hear some songs that I think highlight people’s struggles. Below there is about 30 minutes worth of music videos featuring 6 different songs that I thought would be worth including in this discussion. If your not interested in listening and watching the videos feel free to skip to the bottom and just read through some of the lyrics. However, if you’d like to watch the videos I’ve created a textbox below the video so that hopefully you can read along as the songs go and make sure you catch any lyrics that were unclear.

Here is the playlist:

1. The Prayer- by DMX
   The first video is a prayer from the beginning of one of DMX’s Albums. He always prays at the beginning of his albums, and though many may find the rest of his album inappropriate, I thought this was an appropriate beginning to this collection.
2. Runaway Love by Ludacris
   This is a really new song, so you might have heard it on the radio, but it’s definitly a touching song that many probably connect with.
3. Cleanin’ Out My Closet by Eminem
   EXPLICIT LYRICS definitly a song of struggle, with some harsh words and thoughts, but I think it fits with the topic.
4. What It’s Like by Everlast
   I’d heard this song before but never really listened to the words. I know it’s not a Hip Hop song but I thought it was worth including.
5. Dear Mama by Tupac
   Get a glimpse into the struggles of the life of 2pac.

2. Song: Runaway love
Artist: Ludacris ft. Mary.j blidge

[Hook - Mary J. Blige]
Runaway love
Runaway love
Runaway love
Runaway love
Runaway love
Runaway love
Runaway love
Runaway love

[Verse 1]
Now little lisa is only 9 years old
Shes tryin to figure out why the world is so cold
Why shes all all alone and they never met her family
Mamas always gone and she never met her daddy
Part of her is missin and nobody will listenin
Mama is on drugs gettin high up in the kitchen
Bringin home men at different hours of the night
Startin with laughs–usually endin in a fight
Sneak into her room while her mamas knocked out
Tryin to have his way and little lisa says ‘ouch’
She tries to resist but then all he does is beat her
Tries to tell her mom but her mama don’t believe her
Lisa is stuck up in the world on her own
Forced to think that hell is a place called home
Nothin else to do but some get some clothes and pack
She says shes bout to run away and never come back.

[Hook]
Runaway love
Runaway love
Runaway love
Runaway love
Runaway love
Runaway love
Runaway love
Runaway love

[Verse 2]
Little nicole is only 10 years old
Shes steady tryin to figure why the world is so cold
Why shes not pretty and nobody seems to like her
Alcoholic step dad always wanna strike her

Yells and abuses, leaves her with some bruises
Teachers ask questions she makin up excuses
Bleedin on the inside, cryin on the out
Its only one girl really knows what she about
Her name is lil stacy and they become friends
Promise that they always be tight til the end
Until one day lil stacy gets shot
A drive by bullet went stray up on her block
Now nicole stuck up in the world on her own
Forced to think that hell is a place called home
Nothin else to do but some get some clothes and pack
She says shes bout to run away and never come back.

[Hook]
Runaway love
Runaway love
Runaway love
Runaway love
Runaway love
Runaway love
Runaway love
Runaway love

[Verse 3]
Little erica is eleven years old
Shes steady tryin to figure why the world is so cold
So she pops x to get rid of all the pain
Cause shes havin sex with a boy whos sixteen
Emotions run deep and she thinks shes in love
So theres no protection hes usin no glove
Never thinkin bout the consequences of her actions
Livin for today and not tomorrows satisfaction
The days go by and her belly gets big
The father bails out he aint ready for a kid
Knowin her mama will blow it all outta proportion
Plus she lives poor so no money for abortion
Erica is stuck up in the world on her own
Forced to think that hell is a place called home
Nothin else to do but get her clothes and pack
She say shes about to run away and never come back.

[Hook]
Runaway love [repeats til end]
Click below to read the rest of the lyrics Read the rest of this entry »

I finally went to the bike shop today to hear the inevitable, “What have you done to your bike!” line concerning my lack of maintenance to my major mode of transportation. I lamented over the $200 tune-up and part replacement estimate, realizing I’d paid just $210 for the bike used one year ago. I thought over the maintenance I could do myself, and felt guilty about the fact that I’ve said I would do it for months now. It’s probably the same with our car if I think about it, but I don’t use the car enough to really care.

So, a bike, like a car, cost money to maintain, and yet I’m so reluctant to maintain it. I’m constantly playing a numbers game as to whether one choice or another saves more money. It’s total economics and I forget to take into consideration the external benefits of biking to work: better for the environment, exercise, quiet time for myself to and from work, guaranteed hour outdoors a day. It’s really a wonderful thing to do and I’m still so hesitant when it comes to making sure I take care of my bike. The truth is, I just don’t like spending money on anything really. I usually think to myself, if it’s not broken, why fix it? Which is what I was thinking as my tire blew out leaving the bike shop after getting the estimate. Needless to say I’ve schedule a tune-up for next week.

Speaking of externals. The baby is coming soon, which means at least for a little while, my daily bike commute will be coming to a close. I plan on doing a lot more walking around once she’s hear, but for a while biking will be out (at least till she can hold up her head). But I do have another use for biking, something I’ve been interested in for a while. I don’t know when or if I can find one, but I’d really like one of these Bike powered Washing machines. Wouldn’t it be great? We are going to be using cloth diapers and this would be a great way to continue on the environmentally friendly path. Not sure I could hack something together, but the Cyclean guy said he’s putting together some instructions (another guy gave some instructions too). Bonus points if anyone wants to give us this as a baby shower gift.