Running the Numbers: An American Self-Portrait

Check out this interesting set of works from Chris Jorgan. What a way to capture our consumption visually, and beautifully!

Here's info from the Global Footprint Network:
If a picture is worth a thousand words, Artist Chris Jorgan's photos
speak volumes. In Jordan's own words, the photographs portray
"contemporary American culture through the austere lens of statistics."

Many of the images portray a specific quantity of something Americans
consume: 8 million toothpicks, representing the number of trees
harvested in the US every month to make the paper for mail order
catalogs; 106,000 aluminum cans, reflecting "thirty seconds of can
consumption," according to Jordan. The image above, for example, is a
portion of Jordan's image of 426,000 cell phones, which he says is
"equal to the number of cell phones retired in the US every day."

This series will be exhibited at the Paul Kopeikin Gallery in Los
Angeles, opening Sep 8. More info at www.paulkopeikingallery.com.

Carbon Offsets - Effective or Not?

On today's front page of the Washington Post is an article titled Cost of Saving the Climate Meets Real-World Hurdles, about carbon offsets and their actual effect. It says that because it is an unregulated market, not all produce the results that people pay for, so industry standards might be put in place. And while one guy quoted says he feels it's okay to keep his gas-guzzling vehicle since he paid for offsets, the Sierra Club advises remaking your life to become eco-friendly before spending money on offsets.

Join us this Saturday!

Who: You
What: Potluck Picnic
Where: Franklin Park
When: Saturday, Aug 11 12:30pm
How: Bring food to share, bike, hop, or skip (or even drive) over

Join us at the Tour de Farms potluck in Boston on Saturday, August 11th. While the riders finish up their 15 or 25 mile segments, we will be listening to our speaker Jim Buckle, the Farm Manager at Allandale Farm, Boston's oldest commercial farm, at about 12:30pm. Limited parking is available in the lot opposite the golf course, by the entrance to the Franklin Park Zoo. We will meet up on the fields in Franklin Park for our potluck picnic.

Please bring a potluck item to share, preferably showcasing local food, and some extra for our hungry riders. Visit your CSA, local farmer's market, or garden that week to harvest something yummy. Please bring a small index card to list the recipe or ingredients so that folks know what's in your dish (for food allergies or vegans). Also, please bring a picnic blanket, as there are no picnic tables available. The event runs rain or shine (within reason).

Farm Aid's Tour de Farms ride will showcase innovative urban farms and food projects that are strengthening Boston's local and sustainable food system. The 15 and 25-mile rides will go through the neighborhoods of Roxbury, Dorchester, Jamaica Plain, Brookline, Mattapan, Milton and the beautiful Blue Hills Reservation. The Tour de Farms is a free event and all are welcome. The ride will start and finish at Boston's Franklin Park, beginning at 9:00am and concluding by 1:00pm. Pre-registration for the ride is required. For more information about the Tour de Farm and to pre-register, contact Mark Smith at Farm Aid, 617-354-2922, or via email to mark@farmaid.org.

This event is our usual Potluck format. Please bring a food item or $10 in lieu of food.

DIRECTIONS: To get to the zoo, just use www.googlemaps.com and enter Franklin Park Zoo, Boston MA. Once you get to the zoo, pass the first entrance on Columbia Road. Columbia becomes Jewish War Veterans Dr. Pass a golf course and take the next right, Pierpoint Rd. We will be set up about 100 yards down Pierpoint on the left. We'll have a picnic beneath two large trees. Unload there. (If you drive to baseball fields, you've gone too far.) After unloading, drive past the baseball fields and park there.

Any questions, please email cindy@consciousconsuming.org.

The 4-Hour Workweek

Has anyone read this book yet? It sounds right up our alley: freeing up your time to do things you want to do and how to afford doing it. It sounds like author Tim Ferriss focuses a lot on what you can do at work to free up your time and how to save money in the rest of your life. But, who couldn't use tips like that?

Read reviews for this book here and here.

Myabodo.com

I love this climate change site that's recently come to my attention. It's from the UK and is an interactive way to look at how your living choices (bikes or SUV? line dry or tumble dry clothes?) makes an impact on the Earth's climate. There are also tons of links to more information in case you're curious about other choices you have to affect climate change.

But mostly, it's lots of fun to play around with all the different options and cute pictures. Be prepared to spend multiple hours on this site!

Myabodo.com