Douglas Subbiondo - Nature Works - San Francisco, California - Personal Vegan Chef - Landscaper

Recent

wood chips and a dream -- food, not lawns -- and natives on the way

you will be seeing more of this project. an ordinary lawn in central new jersey -- garden variety.

this can happen anywhere.

Posted 3/24/2008 link |

toward a shared vision

or, 'Where from here?'

the following is courtesy of The Earth Charter Initiative
(www.earthcharter.org/):

PRINCIPLES (by which to move forward)

I. RESPECT AND CARE FOR THE COMMUNITY OF LIFE

1. Respect Earth and life in all its diversity.
a. Recognize that all beings are interdependent and every form of life has value regardless of its worth to human beings.
b. Affirm faith in the inherent dignity of all human beings and in the intellectual, artistic, ethical, and spiritual potential of humanity.

2. Care for the community of life with understanding, compassion, and love.
a. Accept that with the right to own, manage, and use natural resources comes the duty to prevent environmental harm and to protect the rights of people.
b. Affirm that with increased freedom, knowledge, and power comes increased responsibility to promote the common good.

3. Build democratic societies that are just, participatory, sustainable, and peaceful.
a. Ensure that communities at all levels guarantee human rights and fundamental freedoms and provide everyone an opportunity to realize his or her full potential.
b. Promote social and economic justice, enabling all to achieve a secure and meaningful livelihood that is ecologically responsible.

4. Secure Earth's bounty and beauty for present and future generations.
a. Recognize that the freedom of action of each generation is qualified by the needs of future generations.
b. Transmit to future generations values, traditions, and institutions that support the long-term flourishing of Earth's human and ecological communities.

In order to fulfill these four broad commitments, it is necessary to:

II. ECOLOGICAL INTEGRITY

5. Protect and restore the integrity of Earth's ecological systems, with special concern for biological diversity and the natural processes that sustain life.

6. Prevent harm as the best method of environmental protection and, when knowledge is limited, apply a precautionary approach.

7. Adopt patterns of production, consumption, and reproduction that safeguard Earth's regenerative capacities, human rights, and community well-being.

8. Advance the study of ecological sustainability and promote the open exchange and wide application of the knowledge acquired.

III. SOCIAL AND ECONOMIC JUSTICE

9. Eradicate poverty as an ethical, social, and environmental imperative.

10. Ensure that economic activities and institutions at all levels promote human development in an equitable and sustainable manner.

11. Affirm gender equality and equity as prerequisites to sustainable development and ensure universal access to education, health care, and economic opportunity.

12. Uphold the right of all, without discrimination, to a natural and social environment supportive of human dignity, bodily health, and spiritual well-being, with special attention to the rights of indigenous peoples and minorities.

IV. DEMOCRACY, NONVIOLENCE, AND PEACE

13. Strengthen democratic institutions at all levels, and provide transparency and accountability in governance, inclusive participation in decision making, and access to justice.

14. Integrate into formal education and life-long learning the knowledge, values, and skills needed for a sustainable way of life.

15. Treat all living beings with respect and consideration.

16. Promote a culture of tolerance, nonviolence, and peace.

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'... if only we had some idea about what it would like...'

namasté

shanti shanti peace peace

Posted 3/19/2008 link |

majora carter - Green the Ghetto

a woman from the South Bronx brings down the house

Posted 3/11/2008 link |

smoothie in a minute

three ingredients:

rice milk
peanut butter
carob molasses

(the last is a product of the eastern Mediterranean -- the concentrate of carob seed pods and water -- available at Lebanese/Syrian/Middle Eastern importers)

now and again, i think the best smoothies have just three ingredients. to keep them as fine, the number of ingredients seems to double.

namasté

Posted 3/07/2008 link |

showing tender faces

'The Six Grandfathers have placed in this world many things -- all of which should be happy. Every little thing is sent for something -- and in that thing there should be happiness, and the power to make happy. Like the grasses showing tender faces to each other, thus we should do -- for this was the wish of the Grandfathers of the World.'

- Black Elk of the Oglala Sioux

Posted 3/06/2008 link |

much maligned

This is Tobacco -- specifically, Nicotiana rustica. 'Indian tobacco'. 'Mapacho'. So is this -- Nicotiana tabacum. 'Cigarette' tobacco. These are plants. Spirits of Earth.

(a few more words on Tobacco -- by request)

Tobacco -- to borrow words sequenced by Walt Whitman composed for an alternate purpose -- relies upon itself, invites no one, promises nothing, sits in calmness and light, is positive and composed, and knows no discouragement.

In close family relation to Indian tobacco, is a far milder sibling named Nicotiana tabacum -- a plant, on whose back personal and corporate fortunes have been raised and multiplied -- a plant, on whose back also has been laid centuries of blame and contempt. If the following offends, please forgive my effort to raise the weight and infamy off the body of this plant that never asked to be grown in great monocultures, or adulterated with chemical additives, and rolled with fiberglass and glue. Neither has this plant encouraged the commercial, global, marketed manipulation of human patterns and desire that inspires its misuse, nor has it asked to be treated with the paucity of respect with which it has been widely greeted (despite, many may say, strong and clear signals to the contrary).

I will state, as authoritatively as modern medical science suggests I may, that the smoking of cigarettes kills. Their abuse has killed. And it will continue to kill. To personalize this admonition, I will state also that I lost my grandfather, William, to lung cancer.

Nevertheless, they remain plants. They are magnificent species among the myriad families of Creation, and within the plant family, Solanaceae. Their singular, wondrous characters have been identified -- and verified -- independently, across cultures, lands, and time. This is no secret. And as a result, multitudes steer themselves well clear of the individuals -- and sometimes the whole family. Yet, in front of our personal decisions, legislative goals, international trafficking, cultural beliefs, fears, love, and respect, grow these plants -- as they have grown always -- before us.

namasté

you are fine

Posted 3/03/2008 link |