A couple listservs and the Bicycle and Pedestrian Advisory Committee (BPAC) of Durham are publicizing this coming week is National Bike to Work Week.
Monday, 12 May through Friday, 16 May, get your fanny on a bike to get where you have to go. More info is at www.bikewalkdurham.org. Also know that you can stop at Mad Hatter’s on Friday the 16th from 7 am - 9 am and get free food, coffee and prizes for cyclists! REI will be there too handing out water bottles and 15% off coupons as well as giving free bike inspections!
Do any of you bike to work? My Grandma just brought me my AutoBike last week (I have a chronic phobia of changing gears), which I have never ridden despite having it for nine years. I guess Marc and I will put some brakes and new tires on it and see how that goes. But I will not be biking from Raleigh to Durham, I can say that now.
I am going “there” to let you know how I feel about all this talk from Hillary Clinton and John McCain about a gas tax holiday. I think it’s ridiculous. Yep. I went there.
We are within 24 hours of voting in the primary elections, and for the first time in ages, NC has an opinion that the entire nation actually cares to hear. When’s the last time that happened, eh?
What I think much of the US fails to know about NC is that we are an incredibly complex little state. A state that is much bigger than people give us credit for, with a tremendous population boom that has no end in sight.
On top of our tremendously growing population, we are a diverse people, mixed heavily of all different nationalities, backgrounds, religions and socio-economic standings.
We have farmers fighting for their due credit, respect and compensation. We have growing energy concerns and a couple major nuclear plants. We have the hub of technology and education that is the Triangle and the hub of finance that is the Charlotte Metropolitan area. We have a dying furniture and textile industry, leaving many babyboomers without job stability or adequate retirement. We have tremendous transportation issues, from whether and how to create efficient mass transit, to making roads safer for bicyclers, to severe droughts and infrastructure issues for such growth, to housing and building and bridge concerns, to reducing emissions and commute times for our residents.
And those are just tidbits of all that NC is but has yet to be fully recognized for.
After hearing a variety of arguments in many directions, I do not see how having a gas tax holiday (if they could even get congress and the President to back it) is helping working-class Americans, as so many NC residents are. Don’t bother thinking I am also “out of touch” or “elitist”. I myself am from two working-class American families that have worked far too hard to have earned as little as they do.
I found this clip on 2sides2ron that really highlights why I think that supply and demand are all the evidence we need to see that a gas tax holiday is a short-term relief for a large-scale problem… and in reality, the bandage will only make the problem worse.
So get out there tomorrow and VOTE, no matter whether you agree with me or not… or don’t complain. Don’t complain about immigration. Don’t complain about our factories closing down and getting shipped overseas. And don’t complain about how much you are paying at the pump.
So, as I mentioned previously (April 19th), Marc and I attended the Raleigh Planet Earth Celebration for Earth Day after I got home from Herbfest.
I also previously mentioned that Herbfest was actually awesome while Raleigh’s huge hoopla was… well, less than awesome. And that’s being nice. Unless you are under the age of 12. Or you happen to have children under the age of 12. Then, and only then, you may have found Raleigh’s event worth going to.
I nearly decided to scrap the video from the Raleigh event, but I might as well share my highlights from the event. See for yourself and let me know if I’m overreacting.
Regardless, I think from here on out, I’ll go to Durham’s Earth Day Celebration. It was only supposed to be from 12 - 6 pm, and I hear that they were having to FORCE people to leave at 7 pm! Raleigh, on the otherhand, promised Rockstar fun for everyone from 11 - 7, and by 530, it was nothing but sloppy seconds.
As a seasoned manager once said, it’s better to under-promise and over-deliver than to promise the world and disappoint. Take note of that, Raleigh. I *won’t* be giving you a second shot next year, no matter whether my fave band is supposed to play or not (since you have them play at 4 pm!).
Planning a wedding can be difficult, but if you want to be a bit more eco-friendly and have a “green” wedding, your headache in finetuning the details may just be starting.
The Green Life has a whole slew of tips for your big day… Some suggestions are reasonable, and some are a bit too… er… “granola” for me.
Cheers to choosing locally grown, organic flowers for your day, and everyone can find beautiful vintage jewelry for the day, but I’m not down with lab-created diamonds (though that’s better than conflict diamonds, no doubt), and I think wooden wedding rings are a complete joke (aren’t the rings symbolizing “forever”?).
Hemp wedding dresses or borrowing a friend’s dress is lousy (sorry, just not my thing), and in all honestly, not many guests are going to understand (or bother) to Read the rest of this entry »
WholeFoods on Wade Avenue in Raleigh is my favorite WholeFoods, and unfortunately, I’ll not be able to attend this, but for Earth Day, WholeFoods (Raleigh) is having a ROCKSTAR Fashion Show with Celebrity Judge (drumroll!) ~ our own (NBC 17) Tica Lema!!
Get there, get pictures, and you can guestblog it here if you want!
It’s a little anti-climatic though in the sense that, like Valentine’s Day or 9-11, it’s a little bogus to have it shoved in our faces and for each of us to feel super (romantic/patriotic/) eco-minded if it’s only going to be for the one day.
For that reason, I say in lower-case “happy Earth day”. And to further sound like a hippy, let’s toast to a “Happy Earth Day!!” some time next week… and sometime in June… and just because, sometime in September… you know?
Apologies… this is the cynic in me talking.
OK. I’m smiling again… now, let’s have that toast and then you can remind me that more and more people celebrate the Earth year-round, and the movement/evolution is only getting sweeter and bigger all the time.
Cheers!
Did anyone see that AMAZING freak weather on Sunday night??? Here’s a pic, and I’ll post more tomorrow, along with some video. Check in to see it ~ TRUST me. It was so beautiful and bizarre:
Crazy crazy crazy cool… and a complete fluke Marc and I saw it at all. Stay tuned.
From Durham to Raleigh to Pittsboro to Chapel Hill to Clayton to Wake Forest, the entire Triangle is getting down and getting dirty to celebrate Mother Earth this Saturday (April 19th). Here are some of the Rockstar events going on THIS weekend, as well as which ones you are apt to see me! Read the rest of this entry »
After having quite a debate in a recent post (see comments) about the importance of third-party testing of products, we can all conclude that companies must be accountable for their products and actions.
Green Daily (a while back) shared The Six Sins of Greenwashing… and in my opinion, it works two ways. The comments section is pretty alive with one poster on a more than self-righteous ground, feeling that if you don’t move into use only a bus, stop buying anything at all and make your own food, cleaner and clothing, then you can’t make a difference. She says some relevant stuff but then follows it by saying that only a select few actually care about the environment.
That, to me, is greenwashing ~ the type that SCARES off people from making any difference in altering things along the way in their everyday lives; the type that teaches people that no matter what they do, they are irrelevant in the big picture ~ unless they foresake everything they know, as they have known it.
I, inspired by those that lead in this movement of social and environmental responsibility, believe that positive encouragement leads to great change. On the flip, gloom and doom motivates very few.
Keep away from those who try to belittle your ambitions. Small people always do that, but the really great make you believe that you too can become great.
The sin she (the aforementioned commenter) commits is as bad as driving a 1985 Suburban and throwing your cigarette butts and Mickey D wrappers out of your window ~ she implies ‘You are not good enough and your difference Read the rest of this entry »
Have you been to A Southern Season in Chapel Hill (shameful, for I have not despite three years of hearing raves about how amazing it is)? Monday, A Southern Season is giving 5% of their total sales for the day to the Triangle Land Conservancy.
Here’s the scoop:
CHAPEL HILL - A Southern Season and the Triangle Land Conservancy are combining efforts on Monday, March 17, 2008 for a day-long fundraiser in which 5% of all retail sales in the store will go directly to the partner organization.
Allie gives a tip for TODAY in case you’re scrounging for a great gift idea… my add-on tip? Tell your doll you want to wait until this weekend to celebrate it right… after all, no matter what your super-last minute gift is, if it’s insincerely thrown together, it will STINK of funk equivalent to dog pooh on your shoe… and you’ll need to be ready for that smell when you’re in the doghouse for being so thoughtless.
A couple listservs and the Bicycle and Pedestrian Advisory Committee (BPAC) of Durham are publicizing this coming week is National Bike to Work Week. 
