Sunday, November 21, 2010

My Love Of Documentaries, Pt. 1

I've got a new found love for documentaries, especially environmental themed ones. I've long ago watched, loved and bought Inconvenient Truth. I was dramatically moved by that movie, and credit it with starting my interest and desire in environmentalism. I've watched Food, Inc. with disgust, and became emotionally angered over Gasland. This weekend I watched three great documentaries: Fuel, No Impact Man, and Flow.

FUEL is a story of how Big Oil is hindering any effort for Biodiesel and alternative fuels to takeover the world. There are many alternative fuel sources that are fully capable of supporting our automotive dependency but they are being crushed by Big Oil.

Interesting facts: Henry Ford intended for his cars to run on Ethanol when he first developed them. Standard Oil company felt threatened by this and paid for the creation of the laws that led to prohibition of alcohol and alcohol based products. For this out of the loop, Ethanol is basically corn alcohol, so no alcohol = no ethanol = we have to buy oil based fuel. Prohibition was not a moral based decision, but a corporate based decision.
The Diesel engine was created to run on vegetable based "Bio Diesel" not oil based diesel fuel. The German man who invented the diesel engine knew that a sustainable plant based fuel was the way to go. He invented this engine over 100 years ago!

"No Impact Man", is a documentary of a writer in New York that decided as an experiment to live for one year and create as little impact on the environment as possible. The process was complicated due to his reluctant wife and they're young child. They started with the simple things like giving up restaurants and public transportation, and by the end of the year had turned of their electricity and were only buying fresh foods and avoiding anything with packaging.  I was very impressed by the lengths that one would truly have to go to be this minimal, but also somewhat jealous.

FLOW is basically a condemnation of the privatization of water throughout the world. Many people around the world don't have access to safe drinking water, yet when water is brought to their front door, it's offered at a price they cannot afford. Even the drinking water in America is often barely fit to drink, whether it is from the tap or from a corporate bottler. It's been proven time and time again that most bottled waters are no better than, or are often the same as, municipal tap water, yet are priced higher than gas. Really when you consider the pollution from bottles, the cost, the fact that corporate bottlers will drain an areas water supply to feed their bottom line, and the fact that it is no healthier than tap water, there really aren't any reasons to ever drink bottled water.

My wife tells me that I watch too many documentaries, and that I take it all in too deeply, but I can't shut my eyes to the bullshit in the world now that they are open.

Friday, November 12, 2010

Bonanza Peak Snow Hike

I had Veteran's Day off from work yesterday. Decided to go on a little hike to enjoy my day. Wound up climbing Bonanza Peak in the Spring Mountains of NV. The summit is 10,397' elevation, not too bad but definitely a work out! There was 2" of fresh snow at the trailhead, and around 6" at the higher elevations. Temps were 27 degrees at the base and 18 degrees at the peak. I was the only one on the mountain all day and made fresh track in the new snow.
I celebrated reaching the summit, signed the log book, ate a clif bar and headed home.

A great day to be alive!

Thursday, November 11, 2010

So this is day one of my Blog

I'm constantly filled with ideas, thoughts, etc. about things I want to do with my life. I felt that I needed a place to organize/ share my thoughts and was advised to start a blog so.......... here goes. I'm going to make this a place for sharing my adventures and travels, to navigate thru my feelings about the environment and the world I live in, ideas to make the/ my world a better place, ramble on about places I want to go, and discuss music and any other subject of any importance.

Stick with me if you like, this is all part of my journey thru life