unplug

unplug magazine asks you to unplug from your current modes of thought and look at life in a new way, whether this means unplugging from our toxic consumer culture, mainstream society, the tv, or a limiting mindset. author megan prusynski explores life's alternatives and discusses activism, progressive thinking, and moving towards a "green" & sustainable life.

Thursday, May 08, 2008

Legalize It!

It's been a busy spring for me (hence my absence) and that means that while I wanted to write a nice "green" post for Earth Day, I was just too busy. So, I hope everyone did something nice for the planet Earth Day weekend. I was at Moscow Hempfest - amidst late April snow flurries - educating people about the misunderstood hemp plant and handing out PETA stickers all while selling my homemade hemp soap and jewelry. And although there are a million things I want to write about, I'm going to focus on one issue that's been important to me for some time: HEMP!

Hempfest 2008 Logo with Hemp FactsCannabis sativa (aka hemp) is a plant that humankind has a long history with over 10,000 years. It is only recently that this plant has been demonized and its use criminalized by US drug policy. Cannabis was widely prescribed for many ailments and hemp grown domestically and used for many products, namely rope and canvas, in the US prior to 1937. In 1937, caving into pressure from lobbying groups that felt that hemp threatened their products (ahem, DuPont) and a media fueled by racism, the Marijuana Tax Stamp Act was enacted, effectively making cannabis and hemp illegal. What was once a lucrative, sustainable cash crop became an illicit substance, and a drastic eradication program began.

The penalties have grown harsher (gee, thanks Nixon, Reagan and Bush) and prison sentences today for cannabis-related "crimes" are now often longer than those for rape and murder. Prisons are overpopulated due to the drug war's insistence on arresting non-violent drug offenders and throwing them in jail instead of helping them overcome addiction. Marijuana is listed as a Schedule I drug, alongside heroin and other drugs that have "no medical value." This is despite the fact that science has shown otherwise. Many states have passed legislation allowing doctors to recommend cannabis to their patients. It has been proven helpful for many ailments such as cancer, glaucoma, severe pain, menstrual cramps, nausea, and many more. In fact, in 1988, DEA Judge Francis Young stated that "...marijuana is one of the safest therapeutically active substances known to man." He recommended it be removed from the list of Schedule I drugs and rescheduled, which it was not. In the "land of the free," we're not even free to decide what we can put into our own bodies.

Hemp gets lumped in with marijuana (they're both cannabis sativa, but different strains), which is unfortunate, because hemp can't get you high, but it can certainly be used for a million other things. Hemp seeds are highly nutritious, providing all the essential fatty acids humans need. Pretty much all parts of the plant are useful for something, whether it's paper that's stronger and can be recycled more often than tree paper, strong and soft fabric, various plastics, building materials, paints/varnishes, rope, or bio-fuel. Since it has so many uses, is naturally pest and disease resistant, and easy to grow, it could help solve a lot of environmental problems and provide more sustainable alternatives for many products. This sustainable crop could honestly help save the world, and that is why the powers that be fear it so much and want it to remain illegal. The pharmaceutical, paper, lumber, cotton, agriculture, and petroleum industries all feel threatened by this versatile plant, even though industrial hemp could be a boon to our economy and especially to small farmers. Like most things in politics, it all comes down to money.

So, what can we do to end the war on cannabis and re-legalize this useful plant? First of all, as a society we need a massive hemp re-education. Through the years the lies about cannabis have been drilled into our brains, spreading reefer madness and creating hostility towards a plant that has never killed anyone in thousands of years of use. It starts with educating yourself and sharing your knowledge with family and friends. Hemp advocacy can be as fun as attending a Hempfest or as important as starting a local petition to make marijuana use arrests the lowest police priority in your city. Do some research and you're bound to find many resources, organizations, and activists to get you going.

There is currently a federal bill before Congress to re-legalize the cultivation of industrial hemp. This bill, the "Industrial Hemp Farming Act", H.R. 1009, has been introduced by Ron Paul (R-TX) and co-sponsored by a handful of other representatives. Ron Paul has also recently introduced the “Medical Marijuana Patient Protection Act”, H.R. 5842, which would bar the Federal Government from intervening in doctor/patient relationships that violate no state law. For more information on hemp advocacy and legislation, see VoteHemp.com.

And in my local news, Mendocino county, California, is soon to vote on Measure B, which plans to repeal Measure G, protecting medical marijuana users and allowing law enforcement to focus on real criminals. Measure B is intended to reduce the amount of large-scale commercial cannabis production in a county with some of the most lenient cannabis laws in the nation. However, it will remove protections that Measure G provides medical patients (which was voted into law by a large majority of the public) and be a huge step backwards in hemp legalization. I find it silly that those supporting Measure B think that changing the law is going to affect commercial growers who obviously don't care about the law in the first place - they're already breaking it, so why would changing the law even affect them? So, if you're a Mendo local, please VOTE NO ON MEASURE B on June 3, 2008, and keep Mendocino County a leader in the fight for legalization!

In the words of Peter Tosh, quite simply, LEGALIZE IT!

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Monday, March 24, 2008

Tibet Needs Our Support

I have been following the recent events in Tibet, growing increasingly worried as China cracks down on what began as peaceful protests started by monks to commemorate the anniversary of China's takeover of Tibet (and the Dalai Lama's subsequent exile) in 1959. I have posted on Tibet and the Dalai Lama before, and it's an issue dear to my heart. The protests in Tibet have turned into violent riots, with the Chinese using their full might against Tibetans who want their freedom.

With the coming 2008 Summer Olympics, the communist Chinese government wants to silence the Tibetan uprising in their usual fashion - with brutality, brainwashing, and violence. China has long been involved in human rights violations and cultural genocide in Tibet, and now the people of Tibet are crying out for their voices to be heard. They need the world to know what is going on there, but China is trying to silence them. Foreigners and journalists have been kicked out of Tibet, so eyewitness reports are hard to come by. The Dalai Lama continues to urge non-violence on both sides, even threatening to resign as leader of Tibet in exile if violence continues. His position is one of compromise with China, autonomy for Tibet but not complete independence. And yet China accuses him of "masterminding" this violent uprising.

How can we help? The most important thing we can do is learn about the situation in Tibet and urge China to negotiate with the Dalai Lama and Tibet instead of silencing them with violence. What follows is a list of articles for more information, organizations you can support to help Tibet and Tibetans, and petitions to the Chinese government.



So, stay informed, get involved, and help the voice of Tibetans be heard. I am hoping for the best possible outcome and an end to the violence. China is hardly deserving of the Olympic Games if they fail to uphold basic human rights, so time is certainly of the essence.

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Tuesday, March 11, 2008

"Eco-friendly" Cars are Coming

VW hybrid dieselI've been watching the posts on gas2.0, a Green Options blog about the bio-fuel revolution, and I suddenly have the desire to get new wheels. Some companies, like ZAP and Hybrids Plus are working on converting hybrids to plug-in hybrids for gas mileage up to 120 miles per gallon. The ability to plug hybrids in is even closer to all-electric vehicles, which are also on the horizon. And volkswagen has just announced that it will be releasing a diesel-electric hybrid, which I'm very excited about, as I dream of volksvegan II. It gets nearly 70 mpg and it's about time someone took an efficient diesel engine and combined it with hybrid technology to make the best of both biofuels and hybrids.

But after looking at all these shiny "greener" cars, and their price tags, I can't help but feel like maybe car lust really isn't all that green, no matter what kind of cars we're talking about. The American Dream is heavily based on car culture, and many families have more cars than drivers in their households. I'm all about having more sustainable choices, and like to use them whenever possible, but along with new choices comes the dilemma of what to do with old cars that these new ones replace. Planned obsolescence has long been marketing gimmick used by the auto industry, making old models seem outdated just by rolling out the new ones. This leads to cars, and countless other products, being put to waste long before their useful lives are truly over. It also leads to cheaper products that aren't built to last as long as they should, and "replaceable" or "disposable" products that in previous generations were used for decades or longer. In reality, nothing is ever truly disposable. There is no such thing as "out of sight, out of mind" on this small planet. We can't escape our waste.

We rely on cars more than we realize, and I don't just mean to get around. The way our communities are planned and structured is based on roads and the cars that travel on them. Suburban sprawl is very much a car-centric problem. It's rare to be able to work, go to school, live, and eat all within a few blocks. Cities are compartmentalized into zones for industry, business, retail, and living. This is not how things used to be, it's evolved along with the automobile.

Unfortunately, living without a car can be difficult if not damn near impossible for many people. This is why I'm glad that there are more sustainable cars being developed. However, I think all too often car ownership is seen as a right, not a privilege, and one that is often abused. Reducing our fossil fuel usage and its disastrous effects is an important part of combatting climate change. But just switching to different cars is not going to solve the problem. We need to re-think our relationship with cars, our public transportation system, even the way our communities are designed. And we need to get over our obsession with shiny hunks of metal with wheels that guzzle petrochemicals and spew pollution.

Here are some ways we can start re-thinking our relationship with our cars and reduce our use of fossil fuels:



There are lots of little steps you can take to reduce your fossil fuel usage. After you've reduced the use of your car, you can consider upgrading to a greener model when it's time. Don't get rid of the car you have (unless it's a Hummer, then by all means, replace that evil thing and start reversing your karma) unless it is absolutely time to replace it, or unless you have more cars then you need. Make every effort to repair and maintain your car to keep it on the road longer. New cars take a lot of new materials and pollution to make, so buy used whenever possible. Consider getting a diesel (the engines are more efficient) so that you can run bio-diesel in, or a hybrid. Sadly, the dreamy diesel-electric hybrids are still a few years away, so we'll have to keep dreaming (and saving) for those.

These suggestions are based on the premise that reducing should come before re-using and recycling. If we reduce our demand for fossil fuels by using our cars less (and by using fewer cars), that will have a greater impact than simply changing the type of car we drive. Question yourself every time you reach for your keys: could I walk instead? Do I really need to make this trip now or could I combine it with another? Could I carpool? Do I even need to own my own car when I could share one? There are countless ways to reduce pollution and gas usage, all it takes is a little ingenuity and the courage to change the way we think and live. A small step in the right direction is certainly better than stubbornly doing nothing. Change is good!

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Thursday, February 28, 2008

Starting a Green Business

I've always wanted to work for myself, and now I'm actually getting there. Of course, my business will be as green as possible. As I've come to find out, the process itself is a bit intimidating. But one of the things that is helping me keep on top of business planning is a series I just started writing on Green Options about starting a green design firm.

So, check out my first post about my dreams, and check in regularly where all my posts are archived if you're interested in starting a green business yourself or just want to see how the process is going!


Monday, February 11, 2008

Community Gardening and Local Food

It's been a while since I've posted, a lot has changed in the last month or so. I moved to the beautiful Mendocino Coast in Northern California and we're just settling in. So far I've been really impressed with the level of green consciousness here. There are quite a few organic and vegetarian restaurants, we actually get paid to recycle bottles (and we don't have to sort the recycling for curb-side pickup), and I've gotten involved with a great local non-profit group called Noyo Food Forest. My partner is taking a class on organic gardening from them, I am hoping to help them with some graphic design work, and they're starting a community garden near us that we are going to be a part of. We are really excited to be a part of the organization and get some organic veggies planted in the community garden. This area is certainly inspiring!

Being involved with Noyo Food Forest has been a great experience so far. They are an organization that began a learning garden next to the local high school where they teach classes on organic gardening, grow organic food for the high school cafeteria, and sell organic produce at farmer's markets in the summer. Their goal is to turn unused, empty fields in the area into thriving organic gardens that bring the community together.

Yesterday I volunteered with a group from Noyo to prepare a vacant lot for the community garden, where we hope to have a small plot of organic veggies and herbs. We cleared the land, shoveled poop (not a glamorous job but a big part of organic gardening and it really wasn't that bad), and started sheet composting over the garden site. The spot is beautiful and gets plenty of sun, and the workday went well. I met new people involved with the organization and learned a lot about organic gardening and what it takes to start a community garden.

Noyo Food Forest got me very excited about organic gardening and eating locally. Community gardens are a wonderful thing. Not only do they allow people to grow their own food (especially people who can't a garden at home), they're a great way to meet new people, get outside to commune with nature, and reduce your carbon footprint. Since eating locally helps reduce fuel needed for food transportation, it's a win-win situation. Many towns have community gardens and/or CSA (Community Supported Agriculture) programs, so even if you can't garden in your backyard, there are still lots of options for getting locally-grown organic food. CSAs are a great way to support local farmers. They usually entail subscribing to the program, and local farmers will provide a box of seasonal produce each week during the season.

In a world where even our food choices are political and every choice we make has enormous consequences, it makes sense to simplify our eating habits. Going back to agriculture's roots by gardening at home or in a community garden, buying locally-grown produce, and eating organic are all ways to simplify your food consumption all while reducing pollution and emissions. Green living has never tasted so good!

If you've ever had a garden, you know that not only is gardening a great stress-reliever and a way to connect with your natural environment, but garden-fresh produce tastes simply amazing. In your own garden (or a community garden that you're involved in), you know what is put into the soil and the plants. You have more control over what you grow, so you can grow organically to be sure there aren't any nasty chemicals getting into your body. There are so many benefits to being involved in a community garden or having your own. Stay tuned for more updates on our involvement with Noyo Food Forest and our forays into organic gardening. I hope that community gardens continue to increase in popularity and spark a true food revolution!

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Sunday, December 23, 2007

The Importance of Gratitude

In my travels this summer, I visited many delicious restaurants and sampled all kinds of yummy vegetarian grub. But my favorite restaurant experience was Cafe Gratitude in Berkeley. This cafe serves mostly raw, vegan, organic food prepared with love. I first heard of it when my friend Crystal traveled to the Bay Area for a summer and got a job there. When she got back, I could tell she was a changed person. And she brought with her the recipes for some of the most amazing live food desserts I've ever tasted. I had to check this place out.

We visited Cafe Gratitude with our friend Jake when we were visiting the Bay Area. It is a unique restaurant in that it is based more on attitudes and beliefs than food itself. According to their site:

Cafe Gratitude is our expression of a world of plenty. Our food and people are a celebration of our aliveness. We select the finest organic ingredients to honor the earth and ourselves, as we are one and the same. We support local farmers, sustainable agriculture and environmentally friendly products. Our food is prepared with love. We invite you to step inside and enjoy being someone that chooses: loving your life, adoring yourself, accepting the world, being generous and grateful every day, and experiencing being provided for. Have fun and enjoy being nourished.


The restaurant is based on a board game called The Abounding River that the owners invented to teach others about their view of "being abundance." This view is based on the concept that you create your own reality and that your perception of the world shapes it. The game encourages people to think differently about what they have and what they want - to adopt a view that we live in a world of abundance, not scarcity. Most important to this viewpoint is gratitude (hence the name of the cafe). Giving thanks and being grateful for what you already have is key to getting what you want in life.

Not only is the food at the cafe extremely delicious and interesting, the entire experience puts a smile on your face. All items on the menu are affirmations such as "I am Beautiful," "I am Rejuvenated," or "I am Abundant." When you place your order, you say these affirmations out loud, sending positive energy into the universe. The atmosphere is welcoming and warm, the food is nourishing and healthful, and the philosophy behind the restaurant is a unique perspective that is very much needed in today's world.

During the busy Holiday season, I find this message of abundance and gratitude especially poignant. With all the stress, wanting what we don't have, overspending, and consumerism, it's refreshing to take a step back from it all and count your blessings. There are so many things in life to be grateful for, and it's important to take time to acknowledge the wonderful things you already have before complaining or wishing for things that you don't. There will always be someone with less (and someone with more) but the only way to break the cycle of desire that leads to unhappiness is to be truly content with where you're at.

I'd like to take this opportunity to share some of the things I am grateful for this holiday season: time with family, the sound of my lover's voice on the phone, old friends I haven't seen forever, the warmth of my pets when they cuddle on my bed, the big fat snowflakes falling as I walk, an over-abundance of my favorite Christmas goodies, all-weather tires that keep me safe, the many wonderful memories I have of our travels this year, the fact that we were able to find a new place to live in a little over a week, the excitement of change, getting my old job back with ease, the understanding and patience of others, free time, hot organic vegetable soup on a cold day, warm clothes, the new snowboard I have yet to ride, new books I'm excited to read, and people who read my blogs!

May you find much to be thankful for this holiday season.

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Wednesday, November 28, 2007

Tough Times Ahead: Surviving Peak Oil

Our current way of life is completely dependent on cheap oil. Despite knowing that it is a finite resource, we continue to use it in large quantities for just about every aspect of our lives, especially in America. Petroleum does not just fuel our cars, it fuels our entire agricultural system (fertilizers and pesticides are made with oil and natural gas, not to mention the fuel needed to harvest and ship food around the world) and is our main source of energy. It is even a major ingredient in many of the products we use every day - such as plastics, pharmaceuticals, beauty products, and cleaning supplies. It's not money that makes the world go round, it's oil.

Our petroleum addiction comes at a high cost: not only in the increasing costs of finding and extracting oil, but in the long term environmental effects of its use as well as the political and social harm that comes from fighting over a dwindling resource. Even though we may not run out of oil completely for hundreds of years, it is becoming more and more difficult and expensive to find and produce. If you've been to a gas station lately, you've obviously noticed the rising cost of oil. It's certainly not getting any cheaper. But what happens when oil is more expensive to produce than it is worth on the market?

That's where peak oil comes in. Simply put, peak oil is the point at which, on a global scale, we extract the most oil from the earth that we ever have or ever will. It represents a halfway point in the earth's oil supply, not an end. The problem is that the second half of the oil that we have not yet extracted is more difficult to get to and more expensive as well. According to wikipedia:

Peak oil is the point or timeframe at which the maximum global petroleum production rate is reached, after which the rate of production enters its terminal decline. If global consumption is not mitigated before the peak, the availability of oil will drop and prices will rise, perhaps dramatically. M. King Hubbert first used the theory in 1956 to accurately predict that United States oil production would peak between 1965 and 1970. His model, now called Hubbert peak theory, has since been used to predict the peak petroleum production of many other countries, and has also proved useful in other limited-resource production-domains. According to the Hubbert model, the production rate of a limited resource will follow a roughly symmetrical bell-shaped curve based on the limits of exploitability and market pressures.

Since our current lifestyles are so dependent on oil, a decline in its availability (and a rise in the cost of getting the last half of it) will have dramatic effects on society. America got a glimpse of peak oil in the early 1970s during the oil crisis, when there were long lines at the gas pump and President Carter began urging Americans to curb their energy usage. But when that crisis blew over, it seemed as if Americans forgot it ever happened. Instead SUVs surged in popularity and oil and energy use rose even more. It's as if we're ignoring our impending doom, and doing nothing to prepare for the drastic changes that peak oil will bring.

Of course, society does not have to be doomed by peak oil, which many scientists say is coming soon, if it's not already here. Some major changes will need to be made, most notably in the way we think and the way we live. But we can survive if we focus on alternatives for our energy, transportation, and agricultural needs. One group dedicating their time and resources to finding a solution to peak oil and climate change is The Community Solution. This organization advocates "culture change, conservation and curtailment" to survive this crisis. The Community Solution states:

Through reductions in resource consumption, dramatic conservation and curtailment of energy use coupled with an increase in local community living we can survive peak oil and create a sustainable world in its wake.

And they offer an example of a society that has had to face severe shortages in oil and lived to tell about it: Cuba. In 1991, the Soviet Union fell, and since the US placed a trade embargo on Cuba, a Soviet ally, their supply of petroleum was abruptly halted. Energy shortages and famine spread, but luckily Cubans have since figured out a way to get by on less energy and less petroleum. They returned to organic farming, creating small-scale local farms all over the island and in every empty plot of land in urban areas. They turned to bikes and public transit for transportation and alternative and more sustainable forms of energy production. Food production, education, and industry became much more localized. Cuban communities began to thrive, taking care of each other and supporting themselves. What happened in Cuba offers a glimpse of what a post-peak oil society might look like, if we learn to consume less, help each other, and return to more traditional and ecological ways of farming and living.

You can watch The Community Solution's documentary "How to Survive Peak Oil: The Cuba Model" as a six part series on YouTube. It shouldn't be surprising to anyone that reducing our energy consumption and finding alternatives to our petroleum addiction lead to a more sustainable way of life. This is what Cuba has done, and although their journey is still evolving, the rest of the world may soon be adjusting to peak oil's effects.

Let's hope that we can learn to live as sustainable, efficient, localized communities as the peak oil crisis approaches. The days of cheap oil will soon be over, but that doesn't mean that society will end. I believe we will learn from the "oil age" that we can't rely on finite resources or short-term solutions. If we're going to be in it for the long haul, we're going to have to work together, with each other and with the earth. We will have to learn to work with nature and not against it, and this learning process begins with a new way of thinking and seeing the world. Let's start now!

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