The Most Beautiful Green Home Building Construction Project Ever?

The Most Beautiful Green Home Building Construction Project Ever?

Top Five Regrets of The Dying

Top Five Regrets of The Dying

Technologies for the city of tomorrow

Technologies for the city of tomorrow

Boycott Banks, Disconnect From The System

If you are unhappy with big financial institutions then withdraw your money and close your bank accounts. Invest your money locally, use local currency, barter and trade. Invest your money in local enterprises and businesses. Do not do business with large financial institutions, especially ones with tentacles in foreign lands, who invest in businesses that harm humans and the Earth. Keep it small and local. Human labor was the first capital. Invest it wisely.

Forget schools disconnect from their conditioning and indoctrination. Our educational institutions only protect and perpetuate a flawed and unhealthy system. Educate yourself and others start study groups, share information, teach and be taught. Bring back dialogues, neigborhood conversation Salons. Be like the ancient Greeks, seek the Truth By the People, For the People, Of the People. All the rest is crap and control mechanisms. Free your mind, reclaim your life.

Hog waste producing electricity and carbon offsets

Hog waste producing electricity and carbon offsets

Living off the Grid: Not Just for the Amish Anymore

Living off the Grid: Not Just for the Amish Anymore

It Is All Pretend

This is one of my favorite film quotes. It speaks of the illusion and dream we call America. It is all part of the ongoing human narrative.

"We choose the right to be who we are. We know the difference between the reality of freedom and the illusion of freedom. There is a way to live with the earth and a way not to live with the earth. We choose the way of earth. It's about power,"

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0105585/quotes?qt=qt1108493

Community As A School

With recent state and local school budget cuts, I once again question the separation of our educational institutions from the community which they serve.

Libraries, community centers, schools all stand alone in the community, not being connected to the communities in which they are located. Each drawing upon the same limited resources.

Young people need to learn and see how what they learn is relevant and useful in the communities in which they live.

In many cultures learning took place by participating in the daily activities of the village. Young boys were go out hunting and fishing with their fathers, grandfathers, uncles, cousins and other members of their village. There were no formal schools that required specialized experts, locations or resources. People who had something to teach would pass the information to younger generations.

The information was also useful in the survival of the people. It was designed to prepare you for providing for basic human needs, i.e. food, clothing and shelter. People were taught to provide for themselves, families and villages. Today much of the knowledge that is given to students only fosters a dependence on institutions and experts.

I believe that we should return to this model of learning and education. The community acting as the school and members of the community as teachers. It also creates a connection beteen the students and the community in which they live.

Permaculture is . . . thinking in reverse

Watch until the end of the video.

Let Workers Hire Best Workers For The Job

Being one of the long term unemployed I am in support of right-to-work laws that are being debated in several states. I feel that forcing me or any other worker to join a union for a job is a violation of my American rights and freedoms. Employers should be able to hire the best workers for the job. Where is the incentive in a system that pays the worst worker the same as the best worker? If America hopes to compete in the "global market", companies should not be forced to pay top dollar for less than top employees just because they carry a union card.

It is even more important in our schools, where our children need the best teachers. The unions no longer concern themselves with the quality of their members, but more with the number of "due paying members". Once again we are rewarding incompetence and greed like we saw on Wall Street. Can our Nation afford to sacrifice our children’s future for the sake of Union greed and corruption? Asking union workers to make sacrifices during these difficult financial times is like asking the Wall Street executives to give back their bonuses. Hire and pay workers based on performance, not on union membership. The other option is lay-offs and higher taxes.

Is Closed Union Shops Unconstitutional and Un-American? ?

Watching Wisconsin State Workers and Teachers protesting the state prohibiting collective bargaining rights bill, I started thinking about the American worker. I would think that each worker has his own rights that are actually being violated by Union shops and requirements to join the Union to work in a company. Joining a union could be an option, but not a requirement. An employer has to do what is best for the company, by hiring the best possible worker for the job at the lowest possible price. It is a matter of business.

Having been unemployed for some time, I need a job. I would not want be turned down for a job I qualified for because I refuse to join a union. If I am the best qualified, most experienced and skilled person for the job I should be the one hired, not because I carry a union card. That is bad for the company and America. If America hopes to compete in the "global market", companies should not be forced to pay top dollar for less than top employees just because they carry a union card.

It is even more important in our schools, where our children need the best teachers. The unions no longer concern themselves with the quality of their members, but more with the number of "due paying members". Once again we are rewarding incompetence and greed like we saw on Wall Street. Can our Nation afford to sacrifice our children’s future for the sake of Union greed and corruption? Asking union workers to make sacrifices during these difficult financial times is like asking the Wall Street executives to give back their bonuses. Hire and pay workers based on performance, not on union membership. The other option is lay-offs and higher taxes.

I believe our economy has changed. It is no longer a labor force where people racks up experience and credentials to put them to use for someone else's profits. Each worker needs see themselves as a company and brand of their own. There needs to be a more direct connection between the individual worker and the services he provides.

Back in the 19th, a time of great expansion and growth in America, there were no unions. Workers represented themselves, offering their skills, labor, and time. Often they bartered their time and labor for food and shelter.

An Experiment in Back Yard Sustainability

Having received my first seed catalog of the season, it started me thinking about gardening and healthy gardening. Scott McGuire offers some great food for thought on growing your own sustainable garden. I believe people should grow a large portion of the food they consume. It offers people control over their diets and food supplies. I also like his philosophy on the garden. He also offers an interesting perspective on growing food on rental properties and temporary residence. He offers another alternative to the concept of permaculture focusing on sustainable agriculture where ever you find yourself.

This brings to mind how First Nations people once lived. It seems the long term development of land, land management and the whole concept of land ownership comes from a European concept. The Natives saw the land as something that was lent to us by our children, not to be possessed by only one or few individuals keeping all others out.

I believed everyone should experiment in growing their own food in their own habitat. I like his thoughts on seeds.

Erik Assadourian visits Madrid, March 15-16, 2010

This video is an excellent summary of transforming culture from a consumer based culture to one that is sustainable.

Sustainable living is a way of life and world view point.

Listening To The People Will Tone Down The Rhetoric

After last week's tragedy in Arizona there was much talk about how we, as a Nation, need to turn down the "heated rhetoric." I believe the heated rhetoric is the result of people feeling our government is not listening to the people. The people speak yet the government does what it pleases. This creates much of the anger and frustration which is expressed in the "heated rhetoric"

I am surprised there has not been more violence other than on case of one unbalanced individual. People are disgusted with their elected officials not listening to them and forcing on them what the politicians think Americans should have.

The President spent time and taxpayer money hard selling his flawed and unconstitutional joke of a health care bill, thinking that that would get Democrats elected last November. Instead it lost them elections. People were so disgusted that they were willing to elect Republicans back into office. If the president spent some of his time creating jobs, then the Democrat losses would not have been as great.

Our governments need to start paying attention and listening to the people's will, and not the party's political agendas.

Even now I have to ask what is the President and Congress doing to create jobs for all the unemployed people? A message to our elected officials, "Start listening to the people!" or pay the consequences. We will tone down the rhetoric when the government starts to listen.

New Year, What's New?

Here it is day two of the New Year of 2011. Actually looking at my time measurement device it is actually day three. I am already feeling that I am falling behind in my life. The clock is ticking. It is hard for me to celebrate a holiday that is based on an arbitrary date on a calendar system that is not based on anything in our natural world much less our reality. It has as much meaning to me as the idea of "first day of the rest of your life." I like to measure time by my accomplishments and works created or natural processes; the growth of plants, the erosion of rocks and soil. The development of a fetus in a mother's womb, the growth of hair, the the fading pain of love lost.

Time should be viewed as works completed. An example be books written, music composed, painted finished. Maybe this what was meant by God created the heavens and earth in seven days. A "day" might be a particular work finished;skies,stars, planets, waters, animals, men. For an artist a "new year begins" with each new idea and vision. With each white canvass, with each blank sheet, with each stored unedited video

Days and years, worlds and realities, hopes and dreams are always beginning, continuing and ending for an artist. New Year begins within the mind and heart of the creator artist.