President Obama!

President Obama

More ... including the video of this acceptance speech.

I can say without exaggeration, that I have never been more proud to be a citizen of the United States of America. Here is some video of more proud and jubilant Seattlites on the corner of Pike and Broadway.


My one personal observation from this historical event was that as I woke this morning, I heard two (black) kids on the street corner waiting for their school bus yelling, "Barack Obama! Barack Obama!"

It was just one of the many reports from around the world today that minorities sensed a new sense of pride and opportunity in this country and the world.

Progress ...

Tomorrow

It has been a long and terrible time since tomorrow mattered as much as it does today.

* * *

Tomorrow is a place of definitions, where change may come and be welcome even in the smallest degree. Tomorrow will see millions upon millions from every national nook and cranny pour forth in celebration of their own lone and lonesome voices.

* * *

What they call change is nothing more than choice. Tomorrow is another choosing, perhaps the greatest of our lives. Something will happen, and afterward, we will know.
Tomorrow has come at last.

An Article and a Video

First, I have enjoyed the recent trend against bottled water (at least here in Seattle it has especially become the green target). I have never been a fan, and really tried to limit my own consumption except in instances when the convenience just outweighed all other factors. Anyway, this article highlights the real lack of common sense in buying this stuff.

Desalinated seawater from Hawaii, meanwhile, is being sold as "concentrated water" — at $33.50 for a two-ounce bottle. Like any concentrated beverage, it is supposed to be diluted before drinking, except that in this case, that means adding water to ... water.

Also, I have been on the producer of Iraq For Sale's spam list since buying the movie. Most of his subject matter I find a little too partisan and one-sided, but his latest project has been much more interesting and you can see the latest and best interview here. (30-ish minutes long). And in the producer's words:

You are not a progressive until you have seen this interview with Tom Hayden and Naomi Klein.

Not sure that I go that far, but its good.

It's the Environment Stupid

The obvious environmental impacts of plastic have long motivated me to reduce my plastic consumption. Jen's studies in Naturopathic Medicine, especially Environmental Medicine, have caused a great reduction in the plastics around our house. And this excellent article gives me even more motivation to NOT buy that next whatever that has more plastic in it. After all,

Aren’t disposable razors and foam packing peanuts a poor consolation prize for the destruction of the world’s oceans, not to mention our own bodies and the health of future generations? “If ‘more is better’ and that’s the only mantra we have, we’re doomed,” Moore says, summing it up.

So as,

awareness of just how hard we’ve bitch-slapped the planet is skyrocketing.

Remember to do something this Fall!

I want change!

Four Years Later - Mission Accomplished?

$4 Corn

This ARTICLE on the current rise in the price of Corn (to $4/bushel), which I stumbled upon in my local coffee shop, is well worth the read. I found it particularly interesting as it brings together many of my interests - the environment, agriculture, farming, domestic food production, alternative energies, government subsidies, food security/safety, and the corporate intersection of all of this.

For a tease of the article:

Four-dollar corn. The price probably doesn't mean much to many Fortune readers, certainly not the city slickers who wouldn't know a combine from a planter. But in farm country, $4 corn is more than a big deal. It's a phenomenon. "It's the center of conversation in the center of the country," says Elizabeth Hund, head of agricultural lending for U.S. Bancorp.

In the span of just eight months, the price of the U.S.'s most important crop - our biggest agricultural export as well as the staple feed for our livestock - has doubled from $2, about where it had been stuck since the late 1990s, to $4 a bushel. The cause is soaring demand from ethanol plants, which bought 2.2 billion bushels last year, 34% more than in 2005. Previous price spikes were short-lived and usually caused by drought, but the futures market thinks this rally has legs.

May 2008 corn recently traded at $4.20 a bushel, while December 2010 futures were at $3.74. This means farmers can lock in terrific prices not just for the 2007 crop but for the three after that as well.

Problem is, what's good for farmers - and even better for the companies selling them tractors, seeds, and fertilizer - has started to roil other parts of the economy. The feed costs of cattlemen and hog farmers have skyrocketed. Ethanol producers have seen their profits slashed. Food companies are being squeezed and are starting to pass along higher costs to consumers. (This isn't just a U.S. problem: Mexico is in an uproar over soaring tortilla costs.)

I know people have been quick to point out that this is the hidden evil of alternative fuels, but I don't see it quite that way. This goes to the whole Free Market argument ... when the true cost of farming is realized, the cost of subsidized livestock feed and exported crops will be balanced out my local economies demanding the most efficient use for the resource. Read on to realize just how complicated this issue may become.

Take a moment

Take a moment & READ THIS. Then take another moment.

peace