NASA reported back in 2007 that global warming would bring more violent storms and tornadoes. Last night parts of Brooklyn, Queens and Staten Island experienced what sure as heck seemed to be a tornado. This sort of violent weather seems to becoming more common. This summer’s wildfires in Moscow and severe flooding in Pakistan are part of a pattern of weird weather that won’t go away.

Global Weirding is a term that Thomas Friedman coined because that is what actually happens as global temperatures rise and the climate changes. The weather gets weird. The hots get hotter, the wets wetter, the dries drier and the most violent storms more numerous.

We just lived through the hottest 6 months on record in the history of the planet. Pakistan hit 129 degrees this summer. Hello? Is anyone paying attention?

For me this whole global weirding situation is like Groundhog Day.  I remember many years ago trying to convince school administrators that childhood obesity and declining children’s health would be front page news.  They wanted to keep their heads in the sand and continue to believe that the school food environment didn’t matter. Boy were they wrong. As a result of dragging their tails, the problem is bigger than ever and even harder to fix.

Wacky weather is the same thing all over again. Climate change is a conversation that is even more uncomfortable than childhood obesity. It requires all of us to make major changes in how we live. It is complicated further with the reality of peak oil and economic instability, it can be really hard to sleep at night once you start doing your homework on these issues.

This must be my lot in life, to be ahead of the curve working to wake people up. After advocating for better school food for 15 years, there is now a groundswell of school food advocacy coming from a new wave of young mommies. I do what I can to help guide them so they don’t hit the same obstacles I did along the way.  While school food and declining children’s health still  occupy a big part of my time and attention, I’m drawn to this bigger, scarier and even more vital triple threat: climate change/ peak oil/ economic insecurity.

I’m doing what I can by working with the Transition movement. This group  represents one of the most promising ways of engaging people and communities to take the far-reaching actions that are required to mitigate the effects of peak oil, climate change and the economic crisis. Their relocalization efforts are designed to result in a life that is more fulfilling, more socially connected and more equitable than the one we have today.

Tomorrow night, I’m bringing my family to hear Bill McKibben speak at the Cathedral of St.John the Divine in NYC, part of an event by Green Faith, an interfaith environmental group.  I hope my youngest daughter will bring back some wisdom and share it with her classmates.

I hope someday to be able to break through this Groundhog Day like trance. Before its too late.

Today, I’m going to take a break from writing about the really good things going on here in the garden at camp to take a quick and grim reality check. The wound in the Gulf of Mexico continues to bleed oil at an astonishing rate. If you scroll down on my blog on the lower right side, you can see the live camera of the underground oil gusher. A grim reminder of the fact that its time to face our serious addiction to fossil fuels.

I saw Steve Forbert perform his new version of the Oil Song at the Clearwater Festival before I left for camp. The song was originally written back in the days of the Exxon Valdez. So far the gusher in the gulf has put 82 million gallons of oil into the ocean, the equivalent of more than 8 Exxon Valezes.

Please take a few minutes to watch this little music video and think about how much we depend on fossil fuels. Consider what YOU can do to change that. Drive less. Walk more. Eat less packaged processed food from far away, grow more food in your own backyard.

This iconic image of oil blasting out on the floor of the ocean says it all.

Its hard to call what is happening right now in the Gulf of Mexico an “oil spill”. Its more like an endless underwater oil geyser that is bringing major damage to  plants, animals, our economy and our way of life.  Its uncomfortable to watch or think about.  We can get really angry with politicians, our government agencies,  and greedy corporations, but I’m not sure that any of that anger will make things any better.  We have to look in the mirror. The reason a corporation would be digging deep under the ocean to get oil, is because we use so darn much of it on a daily basis. The easy oil has already used up.

We use lots and lots of oil and not just in driving our cars and heating our homes. Consider all the products we use that are made from petroleum. The table below lists just a few of over 6000 items that require oil.

If you’re feeling overwhelmed and wondering what you can do, I have an answer for you. Get involved in the Transition Movement. Find a group near you or start one on your own, there are lots of resources on the Transition US website that will help you on your journey.  The sooner we decrease our dependence on fossil fuels, the sooner our lives will get better.

Happy Earth Day

Now that the oil spill continues to dump thousands of barrels into the Gulf of Mexico with no end in sight, more people are starting to think about all the oil we use.  I’ve been thinking about it longer than most because I’ve been learning about peak oil over the last few years: what it means to our food system and our daily way of life.

While many of my nutritional and dietetic colleagues are focused on calorie counts, I’ve been focusing my energy on a different type of calorie count: one that involves the burning of fossil fuels. We have an oil dependent food chain.

Michael Pollan boils it all down to just 15 minutes. Get comfy and watch this. I especially like his oil stunt with the burger. Enjoy!

Being a mother can be a thankless job. Speaking from personal experience, it can be really really annoying when your kids don’t heed your wise words. Instead, they do stupid things with out planning ahead or considering the consequences. Oftentimes, its mom who comes to the rescue when things get screwed up. This situation has happened twice in the past 24 hours here at the Rubin Rodeo, I won’t bore you with the details.

These days I get the feeling that Mother Earth is feeling the same way. Her kids have been thoughtless, shortsighted and self-centered.  As a result, we’ve got a messy massive oil spill, melting ice caps and shifting weather patterns. For some people, myself included, this is serving as a wake up call.

Lately, I’ve been revisiting the concept of  the Gaia Theory, the idea that the Earth is a living system. Right now we are out of balance with Mother Earth. We take and take and take what we want without consideration of the consequences. Native Americans consider seven generations whenever making a decision. The idea is: whatever you do today will impact things far into the future. Chopping down a tree today will mean depleted resources years from now.

Happy Mother’s Day.

On this day and every day, don’t forget about Mother Earth. Take time to go outside, plant your feet on the ground- not on pavement or sidewalk. Take a deep breath in, and give thanks to this mother that supports us with every breath we take.

What is so friggin’ happy about it?

OK, I hate to sound like Debbie Downer here, especially after yesterday’s blog post about Gratitude, but we’ve got to have a serious talk about Earth Day. I’m sick and tired of all the “eco-friendly” blah blah blah and the corporate greenwashing that lulls most Americans into a complacent stupor. Sadly Earth Day has become another Hallmark Holiday with people wishing me a happy Earth Day like its Easter or Valentines day. ENOUGH of the hype, let’s talk about what really matters.

Earth day was originally created in 1970 as a nationwide  teach-in to challenge corporate and government leaders about environmental issues.  Today, thanks to collective environmental apathy, our continued existence on this planet is more questionable than ever. We’ve thoughtlessly depleted resources like fossil fuels and water to name two. This is the only planet we can live on, there is no “Plan B”.  If each one of us doesn’t wake up and take some solid action, we are screwed.

I’ve known this information most of my life. My dad read a book entitled “Limits to Growth” in the 1970′s. As a tween, I rolled my eyes as he rambled on about future economic, political and environmental instability as we waited in the gas lines to fill up our car.  My dad is no longer with me, he passed on in 1999, he’d be saying “I told you so” if he was here today.

So what can YOU do to have a “happy Earth Day”? Please don’t buy another “eco-tote” or green cosmetics.  Read a book instead. From your local independent bookseller or from the library if you like.  Here’s two that will help you to understand what my dad knew back in the ’70s and will help inspire you to move forward in creating a better world for all of us.

One of my favorite authors, Bill McKibben, explains that we are already living on a different planet.  He eloquently opens our eyes to the kinds of change we’ll need to make in order for our civilization to endure. The endorsement below says it all:

“Read it, please. Straight through to the end. Whatever else you were planning to do next, nothing could be more important.” —Barbara Kingsolver

I stumbled upon The Transition Handbook  a few years back. As they say, when the student is ready, the teacher appears.  This handbook is a goldmine of inspiration to get you started.

There is a growing Transition Movement worldwide and in the US, check it out online, connect with those nearby or start a group yourself.  I’m part of Transition Westchester.

Speaking of gratitude, I am very grateful for Bill McKibben, The Transition Movement and Transition Westchester. As I said yesterday, what you think about grows. Stop thinking about useless eco-friendly stuff and start thinking about real solutions: Transition is  the one that I’m focusing on.

Happy Earth Day.

When life hands you lemons, there is often an opportunity to make lemonade. Last week, one of my daughters cleaned her room by overloading our wash machine with all the clothes that had been festering on her floor. This overload of laundry caused my 10+ year old wash machine to up and die.

The repair man confirmed the death of my washer and then launched into an informative lecture about why we want to invest in a front loading machine this time around. While a front loader can cost more money than a top loader, front-loading washing machines use:
40 to 60% less water
30 to 50% less energy
50 to 70% less detergent
than top-loaders! These machines spin your clothes super fast, they end up spending less time in the dryer. My repair guy said depending on the cost of water and electricity, you could recover the extra cost of a front loading wash machine in less than a year.

Considering I live in a town with the most expensive water in the entire country (no kidding), I was sold.  As an added bonus, we found out that making the switch qualified for a ”Cash for clunkers” rebate along with a NY Great Appliance Swap Out. These two rebates brought the price down to close to a top loader. Not bad.

Next on my wish list to go along with my nifty new wash machine: a high tech outdoor clothes dryer!  This is at the top of my birthday wish list.  I’ve been a big fan of Project Laundry List for quite some time now.  I can’t wait to post a photo of my laundry line on their map.  If we’re every going to cut back on greenhouse gases and prepare for a life with less fossil fuels, these are the types of changes we’re all going to have to embrace.

A friend recommended The Last Hours of Ancient Sunlight to me recently. Its one of those books filled with the bad news that makes many look away: we are running out of cheap fossil fuel, clean water and other scary stuff. The author Thom Hartmann, who has written many books on ADHD, makes an argument that TV is a part of the problem. TV works as an addictive drug that keeps so many people anesthetized.

What a tough book to read during the massive snowstorm that has hit our part of the country. We’ve been without power for 2+ days and have loads and loads of trees snapped and hanging on wires. I’m 200+ pages into this deep and thoughtful read and I’m finally coming to  what is supposed to be the hopeful part. I’m also hopeful that Con Edison will restore our power while I read these last 100 pages.

I’ll complete this review after I finish Part III: What we can do about it. If you want to take a deep and sometimes dark look at the problems we’re facing, this is the read for you.

I’m not talking about the kind of cheap oil that goes into Girl Scout Cookies and other forms of industrialized junk food. Its the oil that comes out of the ground that I’m thinking about! Created tens of thousands of years ago from prehistoric animals, not cottonseeds or soybeans.

After spending the day meeting with Transition Westchester and talking about creating a positive response to crazy scary things  like peak oil, climate change and economic instability, I spent the evening at home watching There Will be Blood.

Oil was first discovered in western Pennsylvania in the mid 1850′s. Once found, oil was pretty easy to get. Dig a hole, watch the stuff fly on out! Oil was easy, cheap and plentiful. For many decades, our country was basically the “Saudi Arabia” of oil. It fueled our economic expansion.  The US reached “peak oil” back in 1970 as was predicted by  Dr. M. King Hubbert a geophysicist back in 1956. After our domestic oil production peaked, we started to import oil from other countries. Now, decades later, it looks like oil production world wide may be at its peak. This peak moment has real economic and every day impact for all of us.

Let me be clear on one thing, we’re not talking about running completely out of oil, that is still many years away. Transition groups like the one now forming in Westchester is considering what life will be like when fossil fuels become significantly more expensive. We’ll be re-thinking what we eat, what we do for fun, how we’ll live. Right now, our food, our livelihoods and our fun are directly a result of cheap oil. How will that change when gas hits $50 or $100 a gallon? It could happen as we deplete the world’s remaining oil. At $100 a gallon, there is no question that 99% of us would have to make some serious changes. Food from far away would become super-expensive. Local food will be more than just a “foodie” trend, it will become a necessary way of life.

“Dig the well before you are thirsty” Chinese Proverb

The time is now to re-think what we eat and how we live in the face of more expensive energy sources. There is no better time than right now to get involved in a community garden or to transform your lawn into an edible garden. Check out this great site on how to become a hyperlocavore and get your hands dirty!

Addictions of any kind can result in catastrophe when the supply falls short or the costs rise beyond reach before curing the addiction. Like it or not, we live the way we do thanks to cheap fossil fuels, and like it or not, we are addicted to them.  That will be changing in the years to come.  This  90 minute documentary on the planet’s dwindling oil resources will shake you up.  Compelling, intelligent, and highly entertaining, the film visits with the world’s top experts and comes to a startling, but logical conclusion – our industrial society, built on cheap and readily available oil, must be completely re-imagined and overhauled.

Brought to you by Transition Westchester

Saturday January 16th, 2010 7pm at the Unitarian Universalist Fellowship of Northern Westchester, 236 South Bedford Road, Mount Kisco, NY 10549.
Sunday January 17th, 2010 7pm at the Community Unitarian Church at White Plains, 468 Rosedale Ave. White Plains, NY 10605.