In 2009, the Park Slope Food Coop stopped selling the 1/2 gallon size Soymilk. I was like, WTF? I still decided to drink it, even though it may have killed me. In fact, I did many other things that may have killed me. But since the Coop’s decision to stop selling this stuff, I’ve seriously cut down on my Silk ways since discovering just how bad the Silk Brand is. And I thought other people should know too.

The Food Coop’s reasons were simple – or as simple as the Food Coop can be (I copied the text below directly from the Coop’s blog [link])

1. In January 2009, Silk – whose soy products were formerly 100% organic — reformulated their product line by converting almost all their products to conventional soybeans. They did this quietly, without telling retailers or changing the UPC code numbers on the products. Many retailers, including the Coop, didn’t find out about the change until consumers noticed and complained. The non-organic soymilks are labeled “Natural.” When we questioned Silk representatives about the change, we were told “there is a shortage of organic soybeans in North America.” However, it has been argued that Dean Foods (which owns Silk) “helped create these shortages by opting for cheaper organic imports instead of supporting domestic farmers with sustainable prices.1” (For the full report, please read the Cornucopia Institute’s Soy Report & Scorecard)

2. Silk does not guarantee that all of their soybeans are free from GMO contamination. Organic Valley’s organic soybeans are ‘Identity Preserved‘ – meaning each batch is tested to ensure there is no GMO contamination.

3. Silk is unwilling to share their sourcing information with consumers. Dean Foods “refused to transparently participate in the [Cornucopia Institute’s] study—depriving their customers of an independently verified review of their practices.” This stands in contrast to many other prominent soy food brands around the country that are fully transparent In their sourcing and production practices.

4. Silk brand is owned by Dean Foods - an agribusiness giant that owns over 50 milk labels around the country including Horizon Organic, a brand that heavily depends on factory farms each milking thousands of cows. Organic Valley is owned by CROPP Cooperative, a cooperative of organic family farmers. The Coop supports other cooperatives, wherever possible, and we try also to avoid companies that source from factory farms.

So – dear readers – do you do anything that might someday kill you? Have you been able to kick your Silk Soymilk habit? I’d love to know how you’re able to resist the smooth silky soymilk that goes oh so well with frozen strawberries and peanut butter sandwiches. I’m still struggling.

RELATED LINKS

• Download the report by the Cornucopia Institute
• Read the Coop’s statement
• Read this Village Voice Article about how Veggie Burger can kill you

This video is a timelapse/animation comprised of 118 individual photos. Its subject is Olafur Eliasson’s Waterfalls, and was shot during City of Water Day, organized by the Waterfront Alliance.

photo by : Jaki Levy

Legions of Kayakers from around the NYC area (including Yonkers) descended (or ascended) towards Governors Island, celebrating New York City’s rivers and waterways.

The event also featured teams of videographers, who joined the kayakers. I joined a total of 8 videographers who arrived at 8 separate locations throughout the New York area. We all documented the kayaks leaving their individual destinations, and all converged at Governor’s Island at mid-day.

The video collective was organized by Solarmitra and Habitats :
solarmitra.com/

If you or a friend would like to go Kayaking for FREE, visit my starting location in Red Hook, the Red Hook Boaters or the New York City Downtown Boathouse

Direct from the GreenPeace Site:
http://www.greenpeace.org/international/news/naked-glacier-tunick-08182007

The photographer, Spencer Tunick, went down to Switzerland to take pictures of naked people on glaciers.

The statement:

If global warming continues at its current rate, most glaciers in Switzerland will completely disappear by 2080, leaving nothing but valleys and slopes strewn with rock debris. Over the last 150 years, alpine glaciers have reduced in size by approximately one third of their surface and half of their mass, and this melting is accelerating. The Aletsch Glacier retreated 115 meters (377 feet) in a single year from 2005 to 2006

The pictures are simply incredible.

Make a change!
You can sign up for the Greenpeace Seven Steps campaign and start easy: with simple ways to improve your energy efficiency. If you are a student, you can set up a Solar Generation group on your university campus. Vote for candidates that are willing to take on the coal and oil
industry. Stand in front of a bulldozer to stop the build of a new
coal-fired plant. Change the way you use energy.  Install solar panels. 

Or you can come up with your own audacious means to raise the alarm.

You may not need to get naked, but you do need to roll up your sleeves.

Download wallpaper – click on your prefered size to download (unless you are offended by nudity) – image will open in new window.
1440 x 900 wallpaper

Date: Saturday, February 10th
Time: 10:30am – 4:00pm
Location: Brooklyn Botanic Garden (900 Washington Avenue, Prospect Park)
Cost: Free before noon ($5 After)

supposedly, this is an amazing event:

Brooklyn Botanic Garden uses its magnificent collection of Asian plants as inspiration for a gorgeous celebration of the Lunar New Year, featuring music, dance, art and more. Qi Shu Fang Peking Opera will stun visitors with their martial arts and acrobatics infused-performance; Nori Company will thrill with a traditional Korean drum-and-dance procession; and tours are offered in Mandarin or English to learn about BBG’s stunning Asian plant collection. Plus, at a traditional Lunar New Year flower market, visitors can purchase fragrant cut flowers that are culturally significant in China, Korea, and Vietnam and luxuriate in the beauty of peach blossoms, citrus trees, orchids, flowering quince, and many more.

from FREENYC.NET

This Saturday, learn about wind turbines. Habana Labs hosts.

In the first two Habana Labs workshops, participants designed, built, and tested different kinds of vertical-axis wind turbines. The third workshop in the series will examine how kinetic energy from the wind, harnessed by such turbines, is turned into electricity. Participants will use small motors as generators and build simple circuits that manage and store the electricity they convert. No prior electronics knowledge is required!

Imagine if the United States Goverment were as visionary. The United States has as much if not more ability and resources to make this happen. Why are we not moving towards this sustainable future?

We must begin imaging a future free of fossil fuels. While it may cause many economical problems, this is not an excuse to avoid the problem. We are currently experiencing one of the warmest winters in the history of the world. While being warm is nice, we cannot let the comforts of today compromise the possibility of tomorrow.

The United States and its citizens must follow suit.

Read the FULL ARTICLE

Can renting a computer be an alternative to buying one ?

http://cyrusfarivar.com/blog/?p=1200

Apple & Orange (the companies, not the fruit) are combining to let people rent computers.

http://cyrusfarivar.com/blog/?p=1200

“So here’s the deal: Apple France and French ISP Orange are hooking up to provide French consumers with a rented MacBook and 1 Mbps DSL for €60 ($79.50) a month. That works out to about €2 a day. (You can upgrade to 8 Mbps DSL for an additional €5 per month.)

The catch is that you have to sign up for three years, but that includes three years of Apple Care.

Louis-Pierre Wenes, executive director of France Telecom’s domestic operations compared this deal to getting a €150 rebate on the price of a MacBook (€1099) plus an additional two years of AppleCare (€319) — in that €35 that pays for the computer x 36 months = €1260. However, M. Wenes didn’t explain what happens at the end of the three-year deal. (There also appears to be a rent-to-buy option, but it’s unclear how that works out.)”

I imagine after the term is done, Apple gets the computers, recycles them, clears the data and gives you a new upgraded one with all your data.

Yeah. Right. Though, this could be a good eco-friendly business model…

if it’s made in china, then it should go back – right? apparently, the EPA believes this. our trash (computers, radios, tv’s, and lots of techno trash) is being exported to Asia.

where else can it go? what else can we do with it? an organization in NYC, Per Scholas offers one solution – if it works, donate it. they take CRT monitors, which are one of the main landfill culprits.

LINKS:
video from hugg.com
background info from greenpeace

so i began looking at a junk shelf in ITP.
there was a big pile of stuff – some useful, some not.
I began thinking to myself, “How can people find what they’re looking for and avoid all the junk and mess?”

Most of the things were piled on top of each other and hard to get to.
There were also many cases that were interfering or getting in the way.

Once I moved things, I began seeing that the plastic parts, cases, and enclosures were only “useless” because they were in the way of what I was looking for – motors and electronic.
I put the plastic cases on a different level of the shelf and I believe that these cases will now be seen as useful.

I also began thinking about how to categorize miscellany.
Perhaps I could categorize things on the level of usability (or destruction) – like a Health-o-meter

Here’s a basic inventory:
VCR, phones, printer, copier, DVD player, Speakers, fan, motors, wires, small parts, phone jacks, remote conrols, sensors, Intel Anypoint, answering machine, motherboards, speakers, misc.

Here’s a categorical inventory:
Wires – stripped v. Not Stripped
Hacked v. Not hacked
Soft Goods v. Hard Materials
Moving Parts (motors, gears, fans, wheels)
Electrical parts (capacitors, resistors, stripped wire)
Sensors (IR, foot switch)
Plastic Cases – ripped apart v. intact