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Re-Thinking Suburbia- Time for a Retrofit

Seamus Ford — Wed, 30 Jun 2010 15:08:36 +0000

Ellen Dunham-Jones speaks at a Ted Conference on re-thinking suburbia in a post fosil fuel world. This is a facinating and optimistic look into a possible future. While some would argue that the suburban model of development is a dead end and a future wasteland, Dunham proposes a possible future an urban lifestyle in the burbs.

Click here to view the embedded video.

Chicago’s Motto Threatened by Budget Woes

Seamus Ford — Thu, 11 Mar 2010 19:31:21 +0000

Urbis in Horto is the motto for Chicago and in Latin it means City in a Garden. Over the last several years Chicago has gained a reputation as a green city. It is a motto that has been earned and is deserved. The city has undergone a real green transformation in the last several decades. However, from the deep tunnel project to the recycling bins that have appeared in certain wards to the fish hotel on the main branch of the Chicago River; all are the result of the city’s tax largess.

One program that I care about has fallen victim to the budget axe and it leaves me wondering what can be done to fill the void. Read More

Walgreens– Help us end Single Use Plastic

Seamus Ford — Mon, 08 Jun 2009 20:57:22 +0000

Since when does an apple need a wrapper? This picture illustrates just how disconnected from nature we have become. As you walk into a walgreens here in Chicago you are greeted with this display stand. Discounted Twinkies and fruit shrouded in plastic. I couldn’t leave the store without saying something so, I asked a manager what the email address was for customer feedback at Walgreens. He looked a little suspicious of me because I had my camera phone in hand. I assured him that I would not mention his name or the specific location of the store and then asked him why would Walgreens sell fruit wrapped in plastic. He said because there was a concern about keeping the fruit safe.

I then asked him how does a banana get dirty when you don’t eat the peel and that most people would wash an apple before eating it. He paused for a moment, clearly not having previously considered the absurdity of the packaging in front of us. He then said, "I think you are right."

Most people I have met want to do the right thing and when they don’t it is more often because they have given no thought to what the right thing is in that situation. When it comes to plastic, we have not done enough thinking. NOT AT ALL!! We continue to take a soon to be diminishing resource and continue to waste it on disposable uses.

As walgreens to do it’s part to stop this absurdity. If you are reading this post, I request that to copy the url of this page, create a humorous caption for this picture and then go to Walgreens corporate feedback page and let them know what you think.

Walgreens has the power to change just like you and me.

Earth Day: Getting Your Garden On

Seamus Ford — Wed, 22 Apr 2009 12:26:52 +0000

Last year, I got curious about the our food supply and where food comes from. For the first time in our adult lives, my wife and took up gardening. The video footage below was shot over the course of last summer. .

On Earthday 2009, I am looking back at last summer and what we had do say about our motivations for doing this. Our motivations remain unchanged and infact we are even more passionate about local food and have dedicated ourselves to learning more about it. We are out to inspire the people we know to do the same. One day my neighbor Tony popped his head over the fence while I was out back working and said "Hey Man! I see you’re gettin your garden on. Thats cool." It made me think, that is what the experience is like. Gardening is like getting a groove on with the earth.

We invite you to "Get your Garden On"

Three Questions That Need Your Answers

Seamus Ford — Sun, 09 Nov 2008 23:06:14 +0000

In the days following this historic election, we must now begin looking to the tasks ahead. The work to be done requires all of us. We are entering a new era that will require that we all take greater responsibility for one another and the way life goes. Inside of that challenge, we need to begin asking ourselves different questions. My friend Tyler Lewke sent out an email this week that is very much worth sharing.

What did you do, specifically, today?.

That’s it. I didn’t ask about work. I didn’t assume you were doing nothing. I simply asked what you did.

It’s a significant question because, when you look back at your day you can see with hindsight exactly how you spent your time. Was it worthy? Time is so sacred since it’s future is unknown— so, the way you spent your day, did it honor the sacredness that time really is? And, did it better you? Did you do everything possible with your time?

Then the next day I asked:

What, specifically, didn’t you do?

Answering this one is important. Every single one of us, upon reflection, probably didn’t love how you had to answer the first question. It points out, even if just to yourself, what your doing with your time. How you’re making an impact in your personal world, in your business, in our business, on the planet. However, answering this question honestly- it creates a list for you- it helps you focus in and re-align your intentions to do better, to get it done, to focus, to clean stuff up, to be a better steward on earth.

The last question was:

What, specifically, are you going to CHANGE?

The mother of all questions. Change is hard. And, when we look at our personal lives today, we each want to change something. I don’t’ know anyone who doesn’t. I have a huge ass list. When we look at the world, our economy, our nation, our core values—we know we need to change. Love more, give more, work more, play more, pray more, more more, more. We all know its time to amp it up.

Here’s the deal as I see it:

Asking the hard questions like what we did and didn’t do, it sucks. It’s hard. And, we can do hard. By asking and answering, it creates the road map for change.

I’m asking you again– Determine various contexts to ask these same questions. Ask them about your relationships. Ask them about your family. Ask them about your service work on our planet. Ask them about your business.

I did it and was moved by how in alignment and out of alignment various aspects of my life are.

It’s time to Change; we simply must do it— in every aspect of our lives. Some areas of our lives are in a death spiral.

Our business is in a death spiral. Will we pull out? Will we turn it around in time? And, Are we doing everything we can do to make this possible? Will we do everything we can do to make this possible? That’s the ultimate question and at the end of the journey, I don’t want to be on the wrong side of that question.

I’m gonna do everything possible to either pull up in time or hit the ground at a thousand miles an hour, trying till the last second, doing everything possible, turning over every stone, making every last call, working every last hour, trying every single idea, learning every single lesson.

How about you?

To change, maybe we don’t need to feel bad anymore about what we’ve done in the past. What if we could just start over today and be different? Act different, work different, play different, live different? What if the baggage of the past was simply removed?

I think we can, I think it is.

I read this the other day and love, love, loved it:

Finish each day and be done with it. You have done what you could. Some blunders and absurdities no doubt crept in; forget them as soon as you can. Tomorrow is a new day; begin it well and serenely and with too high a spirit to be cumbered with your old nonsense. ~Ralph Waldo Emerson

Start now.

VOTE!!!!!!!

Seamus Ford — Tue, 04 Nov 2008 12:26:09 +0000

With the Future of your planet and economy in mind. Vote and make sure that everyone you know votes today!

Today, November 4th, is Election Day! Remember to vote—not just for Barack Obama, but for Congressional, state, and local candidates as well.

Where and when do I vote?

Find your polling place, voting times, and other important information by checking out these sites and the hotline below. These resources are good, but not perfect. To be doubly sure, you can also contact your local elections office.

Obama’s VoteForChange site: voteforchange.com
League of Women Voters’ site: vote411.org/pollfinder.php
Obama’s voter hotline: 877-US4-OBAMA (877-874-6226)

What should I do before I go?

After you’ve entered your address on either Vote For Change or Vote411, read the voting instructions and special rules for your state.
Voting ID laws vary from state to state, but if you have ID, bring it.
Check out all the voting myths and misinformation to look out for: http://truth.voteforchange.com/

What if something goes wrong?

Not on the voter list? Make sure you’re at the right polling place, then demand a provisional ballot.
If you’re voting on an electronic machine with a paper record, verify that the record is accurate.
Need legal help? Call 1-866-OUR-VOTE.
If you encounter a problem, try to videotape the situation and submit it to VideoTheVote.org

Want to do more?

Text all of your friends: “Vote Obama today! Pass it on!”
Make calls from home for Obama.

Now, everybody go vote!!!

A Little Yellow Tomato and Where Food Comes From

Seamus Ford — Sun, 05 Oct 2008 04:20:38 +0000

I started a garden for the first time in my adult life this past summer. I found it to be more fun and fullfilling than I ever expected. I was amazed at what I was able to grow in the space between my house and my neighbors. Here are a few thoughts about the experience.

Click here to view the embedded video.

A lot of us think about food. We are concerned about it’s quality and purity and the effect it will have on our bodies, but we do not give much thought to how it gets to us. We want it and for the most part it is there. It is is plentiful and until recently very inexpensive. Now however, the time has come for us to think more deeply about food and in particular how we produce it and distribute it. As we begin to run out of easily extractable high quality oil, we are going to see a need for food production to become more local. We all need to get more interested in food and more in touch with how to produce it. While it is work and requires that we learn more, it is much more fun than we might think.

John McCain’s awful environmental record

gadfly — Sun, 21 Sep 2008 19:04:42 +0000

Joseph Romm’s post at Salon today, pretty much sums it up as “John McCain’s Hot Air“.The Sales & Marketing folks that have bombarded the US with McCain = Maverick pitch have only helped themselves rake in cash. The rest of us are left holding the bag – and believe me we don’t know what’s in that bag. However, for starters we can reasonably tell that pollution, environmental rape, run-off and helping the oil companies screw us over royally for the next two generations are well placed in that bag.Pour yourself a strong coffee and head over to Salon for this piece. If you are like me, you will be disheartened by McCain’s performance. Hopefully, like me – you will reach out to someone and make sure that they know – and remember this when they vote.- gadflyThis is post from the author of the National Gadfly

Environmental Liberation Theology

Seamus Ford — Sat, 20 Sep 2008 03:51:52 +0000

I may be coining a phrase when I say this, but Environmental Liberation Theology is an idea whose time has come. You may be familiar with the liberation theology of the 1960′s and 70′s in Latin America; a movement within the Catholic Church especially with the Jesuits. The central tenant being both the Old and New Testaments obligate Christians to a preferential concern for the physical and spiritual welfare of the poor is an essential element of the Gospel. It is movement that that led priests and theologians into politics in order to fight for the rights of the poor.As someone who has been educated in the Jesuit tradition, I must admit that I have always felt the call to serve the poor.

Even though I came of age in the “Greed is Good” decade of the 1980′s I always felt a personal calling to serve the poor. As Jesus said, “What so ever you do to the least of my brothers that you do unto me.” I have never met someone who didn’t at least want to do the right thing. When challenged with the humanity of a homeless person or victim of a disaster, or war human compassion is never in short supply. The only thing is that compassion is generally only expressed when the need is immediate or the issue is top of mind. Case in point, 3 years later the Gulf Coast of the United States is yet to see much of the relief promised in the wake of Katrina. The reason for this is that it is yesterday’s news.

What Environmental Liberation Theology concerns itself with is tomorrow’s news. The looming environmental disaster that we are creating is tomorrow’s headline and that makes it even more removed from human compassion than the effects of a three year old hurricane. Most people do not think very far into the future. We are habituated by the pace of our lives and our global market economy to think in increments of weeks instead of years of decades. (The most basic answer to “How did we get into such a serious financial crisis?”)
Living only for today is no longer morally acceptable in a world that is fast running out of resources. (Keep in mind that Modern Industrial Society has only been around about 100 years and cannot continue in it’s current form for even much more).We have to make the people of the future just as real as those in the present. We need to foment a crisis for ourselves and society.DO THIS AS AN EXERCISE:Take a moment and imagine the faces of your children or grandchildren. Just picture them in your head. Now imagine their faces as adults in their 30′s and 40′s. What is their world like, where climate change has left whole cities without adequate water? What do they do for a job in an economy that didn’t switch to renewable energy in time. What do they eat in environment of heavy metals, plastic waste and massive plant and animal extinctions?

What so ever you do to the least of my planet, that you do unto me.

That is what I am calling Environmental Liberation Theology.

Don’t wait!!

Energy Independence and the Domestic Drilling Con Job

Seamus Ford — Sun, 07 Sep 2008 15:47:12 +0000

During John Mcain’s recent acceptance speech, there were periodic interruptions where the crowd could be heard chanting “Drill Baby Drill!”. The implication during the convention was that we are are addicted to foreign oil and if the damn environmentalists had not controlled congress in the 1970s and passed all kinds of restrictive legislation we might not be in the situation we are in.

A recent drop in the price of oil concurring with the lifting of the ban on off shore drilling by President Bush might seem to indicate that off shore drilling might help bring down the price of gas in North America. If there is a connection, it is dubious at best. When people are chanting “Drill Baby Drill”, what they are actually referring to is exploration not tapping immediately available oil.

The fact is that we been at plateau in global oil production of about 85.5 million barrels perday since 2005. Most energy analysts and experts in the field say that the remaining oil in North America will be increasingly difficult to get at. A case in point is the Alberta Tar Sands project that after more than a decade of development still requires more energy to produce than it provides.

This upcoming US election is perhaps the most important in the history of the world. Already history making for the age, gender and ancestry of the people involved, it is the one where the choices that are made will have permanent consequences. That is not being dramatic. The long term future of the US economy and it’s dynamic ability to create jobs and prosperity is not guaranteed. The United States not only behind in the development of a post oil infrastructure, it is out of shape and unmotivated.

The world needs the United States to participate in the leadership of the coming Green Economy. It needs our still dynamic, innovative outside the box thinking to address the global challenge of keeping all of our economies going while we are making this transition to life after oil.

Maybe the bigger legacy of the environmental legislation of the 1970′s is not that it protects our natural treasures, but that it will bring about the true potential of the US economy to create prosperity and quality of life for each of us.