Good Morning sunshines!
It's quite beautiful over here in Oakland today. The sun was out from behind the clouds and fog before 10am, which was a pleasant surprise. Sometimes it takes until mid-after to shine through.
Drinks: I'm a little quiter this morning because I discovered a new whiskey last night. Four Roses. Ever since C and I and H and I spent several long hours at the Whiskey Bar in Amsterdam, I've been a little more curious about the drink.
Climate Change: I stumbled upon this Grist article that I found really interesting. It breaks down the winning components of the NRA in beating back gun control laws and how climate activists need to rewrite their rule book to look more like the NRA's. It's a quick read and well worth it.
New Orleans: I'm in the process of trying to find a place to stay while I'm in New Orleans. It's a bit more difficult than I first thought, especially since I don't really know anyone that lives in the city. But I think I found a place in the Bayou St. John neighborhood. I have to finalize a couple more things but this could be the place! I also got a subletter for my room, which makes it actually economical for me to take this little side trip. Which is good because I spent all my money driving across the country last week!
Also, I'm going to be writing a series of articles on the work that I will be doing while I'm there. Hopefully they will be interesting. More interesting than these blogs have been lately.
GreenTech: I thought this was an interesting article. I'm still in discussions with my family about offshore drilling ban and the future of the industry is southern Louisiana. No it has not been a civilized discussion, but thanks for asking.
One of the things that I keep repeating is that current technology is going to beat those in gulf that don't think outside oil and gas extraction into the ground one day. Better more efficient technology built around sustainability and environmental protection is here and gaining power and building infrastructure. Denying that the families in the gulf that completely depend on offshore drilling will be impacted by this one day is silly at best and self-destructive at worst.
Here is an article about 5 new start ups in greentech.
Working from home: It's getting old! Even though I work from about three places a day, cafe's, the couch, or the library, sometimes it's just nice to be around people that do the same type of work as you do. Oh well . . at least I can sit in my garden and drink fresh watermelon juice and those at an office can't say that.
Ciao
Renee Claire
Friday, August 27, 2010
Monday, August 16, 2010
Fort Hays Kansas and Michelle Obama
Late Saturday night my father and I started driving from Washington DC to Oakland, CA. We are now resting in Fort Hays, Kansas. Kansas on a whole has been pretty lovely, but I think driving through Illinois has been my favorite so far. Really beautiful.
I also got word today that I will be volunteering for the Gulf Restoration Network for 3 weeks in late September, early October in New Orleans. I'm very excited to finally feel not useless about the oil spill. If you know of a place that may be free or extremely cheap for me rest my nappy head in New Orleans, please let me know.
Anyways, I will not be writing a whole post today, but I thought I would share with you a post I did for Momsrising late Thursday afternoon before I hopped on a plane from Amsterdam to DC.
Enjoy!
I’m starting to feel like a broken record, but I guess that’s what happens when you really care about something. Children are a vulnerable population. They eat more food, breathe more air, and drink more liquids per pound than adults. They are also more curious exploring the world around them in more tactile ways than the rest of us. This all means that children are more susceptible to the impacts of toxic chemicals. While all of this is happening in our own communities, our nation lacks important laws to prevent children from going to school on, near, or inside sources of pollution.
The Center for Health, Environment, and Justice (CHEJ) has been calling for action and standing up for children’s health for 30 years. Today, CHEJ is asking concerned parents (and non-parents alike) to sign on to a letter to Mrs. Michelle Obama. The First Lady’s Lets Move campaign is getting children away from the TV by encouraging them to get active by playing sports, gardening, and eating healthy food in order to combat children obesity. Really good stuff. CHEJ thinks this campaign could be even better by expressing the need to eliminate toxic chemicals and sources of pollution from where children play, learn, and grow.
Join CHEJ and ask Mrs. Obama to strengthen the Let’s Move campaign to acknowledge that in some places in the US the air outside is so polluted that sometimes getting active can trigger asthma and expose children to nasty chemicals.
As CHEJ’s letter to the First Lady states, “new schools and playgrounds are still being built on or near toxic contaminated land across the country, although there is an effort by the EPA to establish a policy that provides guidance for school districts on safe school siting issues. Unfortunately, these are just guidelines and are intended only for schools, not playgrounds and other areas where children commonly are active. Siting schools on or near sources of environmental contamination as well as a lack of comprehensive remediation of already contaminated schools will only broaden the scope of childhood health concerns such as obesity.”
Toxic chemicals released from things like incinerators, coal fire power plants, and pesticide spraying can cause reproductive and developmental disorders at an important point in life, ultimately impacting the health and economy of the entire community. But by reducing the amount of toxic chemicals our children are exposed to in the first place, we are providing our children with a better quality of life and our community with a greater chance of success.
Please help CHEJ and ask Mrs. Obama to strengthen the Lets Move campaign.
For a toxic free future,
Renee Claire
I also got word today that I will be volunteering for the Gulf Restoration Network for 3 weeks in late September, early October in New Orleans. I'm very excited to finally feel not useless about the oil spill. If you know of a place that may be free or extremely cheap for me rest my nappy head in New Orleans, please let me know.
Anyways, I will not be writing a whole post today, but I thought I would share with you a post I did for Momsrising late Thursday afternoon before I hopped on a plane from Amsterdam to DC.
Enjoy!
I’m starting to feel like a broken record, but I guess that’s what happens when you really care about something. Children are a vulnerable population. They eat more food, breathe more air, and drink more liquids per pound than adults. They are also more curious exploring the world around them in more tactile ways than the rest of us. This all means that children are more susceptible to the impacts of toxic chemicals. While all of this is happening in our own communities, our nation lacks important laws to prevent children from going to school on, near, or inside sources of pollution.
The Center for Health, Environment, and Justice (CHEJ) has been calling for action and standing up for children’s health for 30 years. Today, CHEJ is asking concerned parents (and non-parents alike) to sign on to a letter to Mrs. Michelle Obama. The First Lady’s Lets Move campaign is getting children away from the TV by encouraging them to get active by playing sports, gardening, and eating healthy food in order to combat children obesity. Really good stuff. CHEJ thinks this campaign could be even better by expressing the need to eliminate toxic chemicals and sources of pollution from where children play, learn, and grow.
Join CHEJ and ask Mrs. Obama to strengthen the Let’s Move campaign to acknowledge that in some places in the US the air outside is so polluted that sometimes getting active can trigger asthma and expose children to nasty chemicals.
As CHEJ’s letter to the First Lady states, “new schools and playgrounds are still being built on or near toxic contaminated land across the country, although there is an effort by the EPA to establish a policy that provides guidance for school districts on safe school siting issues. Unfortunately, these are just guidelines and are intended only for schools, not playgrounds and other areas where children commonly are active. Siting schools on or near sources of environmental contamination as well as a lack of comprehensive remediation of already contaminated schools will only broaden the scope of childhood health concerns such as obesity.”
Toxic chemicals released from things like incinerators, coal fire power plants, and pesticide spraying can cause reproductive and developmental disorders at an important point in life, ultimately impacting the health and economy of the entire community. But by reducing the amount of toxic chemicals our children are exposed to in the first place, we are providing our children with a better quality of life and our community with a greater chance of success.
Please help CHEJ and ask Mrs. Obama to strengthen the Lets Move campaign.
For a toxic free future,
Renee Claire
Thursday, August 12, 2010
Het Best!
Yesterday, a group of us loud North Americans sat at lunch and recounted every detail our little brains could think of about the Jetblue "I've had it. I'm done." flight attendant. It's officially one of my all time favorite moments in this world.
If you haven't read everything you can read about it, check out the The Colbert Report's tribute.
Jetblue finally after three days of silence, came out with a statement. Basically, they said meh, we're so funny.
I wonder how Richard Branson would react to this happening one of Virgin's planes. I think Richard Branson because I'm currently reading his book "Business Striped Bare". It's excellent. Definitely one of the best business books I've read in a long time, maybe ever. He's pretty great, both in his approach to business, attention to details, having fun, and learning from your mistakes, and his sense of humor.
I was reading this book the other day at my favorite cafe on that street near the canal with the bikes. The one that H and I get terribly lost trying to find every single time we want to drink wit wine and cappuccinos with Cointreau all day long. This man who I had been listening on in of his conversation with two women at the table next to mine saw me reading Branson's book and offered a couple other entrepreneurial book suggestions. I was listening to him because (1) he sounded like an arrogant asshole and (2) he was interesting. Well, now I can't remember what those books were, but you are well aware of my constant reading of business books and magazines, so maybe I'll stumble across it regardless.
I'm on my way back to the states tomorrow afternoon. It's been an odd trip here. Lots of . . . well, lots of personal growth experienced actually. I had this incredible zen moment the other night, where many outstanding questions about my life and the people in it just clicked. I'm an odd bird, not sure if you have noticed and sometimes it sucks, but there isn't much I can about it all now, so I might as well enjoy the ride.
I'm on the hunt for new adventures, so if you have any ideas, pass them along. But the next couple months should be pretty intense. My dad and I are driving cross country starting on Saturday evening. I'm on a mission to visit Wyoming and all the rest of the states on I-80 I've never been to before! Then I might hop over to Louisiana for some volunteering with a small organization working on gulf coast restoration for a couple weeks and I'm planning a 350 event with a local Oakland organization. At least I'm going to try to convince them to do an event in Oakland. So those are two good adventures for the Fall I'm looking forward to.
If you don't know what I'm talking about, then check this out. It's pretty easy to get involved. Just gather a bunch of your friends on October 10, 2010, take a picture, and try to do something to help your community mitigate the impacts of climate change. Since most of you that read this blog are from Florida or Louisiana, there's no excuse in not getting involved.
Alright, I'm off.
Ciao,
Renee Claire
If you haven't read everything you can read about it, check out the The Colbert Report's tribute.
Jetblue finally after three days of silence, came out with a statement. Basically, they said meh, we're so funny.
I wonder how Richard Branson would react to this happening one of Virgin's planes. I think Richard Branson because I'm currently reading his book "Business Striped Bare". It's excellent. Definitely one of the best business books I've read in a long time, maybe ever. He's pretty great, both in his approach to business, attention to details, having fun, and learning from your mistakes, and his sense of humor.
I was reading this book the other day at my favorite cafe on that street near the canal with the bikes. The one that H and I get terribly lost trying to find every single time we want to drink wit wine and cappuccinos with Cointreau all day long. This man who I had been listening on in of his conversation with two women at the table next to mine saw me reading Branson's book and offered a couple other entrepreneurial book suggestions. I was listening to him because (1) he sounded like an arrogant asshole and (2) he was interesting. Well, now I can't remember what those books were, but you are well aware of my constant reading of business books and magazines, so maybe I'll stumble across it regardless.
I'm on my way back to the states tomorrow afternoon. It's been an odd trip here. Lots of . . . well, lots of personal growth experienced actually. I had this incredible zen moment the other night, where many outstanding questions about my life and the people in it just clicked. I'm an odd bird, not sure if you have noticed and sometimes it sucks, but there isn't much I can about it all now, so I might as well enjoy the ride.
I'm on the hunt for new adventures, so if you have any ideas, pass them along. But the next couple months should be pretty intense. My dad and I are driving cross country starting on Saturday evening. I'm on a mission to visit Wyoming and all the rest of the states on I-80 I've never been to before! Then I might hop over to Louisiana for some volunteering with a small organization working on gulf coast restoration for a couple weeks and I'm planning a 350 event with a local Oakland organization. At least I'm going to try to convince them to do an event in Oakland. So those are two good adventures for the Fall I'm looking forward to.
If you don't know what I'm talking about, then check this out. It's pretty easy to get involved. Just gather a bunch of your friends on October 10, 2010, take a picture, and try to do something to help your community mitigate the impacts of climate change. Since most of you that read this blog are from Florida or Louisiana, there's no excuse in not getting involved.
Alright, I'm off.
Ciao,
Renee Claire
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