“Small rooms or dwellings set the mind in the right path, large ones cause it to go astray.” -Leonardo da Vinci
Sep
2
2
The problem with Gross National Product as a measurement of . . .
Kennedy in 1964.
Too much and for too long, we seem to have surrendered personal excellence and community value in the mere accumulation of material things. Our Gross National Product, now, is over eight hundred billion dollars a year, but that GNP — if we judge the United States of America by that — that GNP counts air pollution and cigarette advertising and ambulances to clear our highways of carnage. It counts special locks for our doors and the jails for the people who break them. It counts the destruction of the redwoods and the loss of our natural wonder in chaotic sprawl. It counts napalm and it counts nuclear warheads, and armored cars for the police to fight riots in our cities. It counts Whitman’s rifle and Speck’s knife, and the television programs which glorify violence in order to sell toys to our children.
Yet the Gross National Product does not allow for the health of our children, the quality of their education, or the joy of their play. It does not include the beauty of our poetry or the strength of our marriages, the intelligence of our public debate or the integrity of our public officials. It measures neither our wit nor our courage, neither our wisdom nor our learning, neither our compassion nor our devotion to our country; it measures everything, in short, except that which makes life worthwhile. And it can tell us everything about America except why we are proud that we are Americans.
These are the words of Robert F. Kennedy, spoken in 1968 shortly before his assassination.
Aug
31
31
Affluenza, do you have it?
Too many of us do:
affluenza, n. a painful, contagious, socially transmitted condition of overload, debt, anxiety and waste resulting from the dogged pursuit of more. (de Graaf [1])
affluenza, n. 1. The bloated, sluggish and unfulfilled feeling that results from efforts to keep up with the Joneses. 2. An epidemic of stress, overwork, waste and indebtedness caused by the pursuit of the American Dream. . . .
Source: Wikipedia
Aug
30
30
Wendell Berry: Grow your own food and STAND FOR LESS
“A person who undertakes to grow a garden at home, by practices that will preserve rather than exploit the economy of the soil, has his mind precisely against what is wrong with us. What I am saying is that if we apply our minds directly and competently to the needs of the earth, then we will have begun to make fundamental and necessary changes in our minds. We will begin to understand and to change our wasteful economy, which markets not just the produce of the earth, but also the earth’s ability to produce.” -Wendell Berry
Aug
26
26
Edward Abbey speaks
“The longest journey begins with a single step, not with a turn of the ignition key.” -Edward Abbey
Jul
12
12
Running the Numbers: An American Portrait, by artist Chris Jordan
Our STAND FOR LESS artist of the summer is Chris Jordan. Jordan creates innovative art highlighting the waste involved with mass consumption. He describes his work as depicting the “problem of unconscious collective behavior.” We know a little bit about this at STAND FOR LESS and we applaud Chris for his creativity and passion.
Consider his work Light Bulbs, part of the “Running the Numbers” series. It incorporates 320,000 light bulbs, “equal to the number of kilowatt hours of electricity wasted in the United States every minute from inefficient residential electricity usage.” The images on his website allow you to zoom in to see the elements behind his work. Light Bulbs literally incorporates 320,000 bulbs within the image.
Another image from “Running the Numbers” is Cans Seurat which utilizes 106,000 aluminum cans (American use that many every thirty seconds) to create a copy of neo-impressionist artist’s George Seurat’s A Sunday Afternoon on the Island of La Grande Jatte.
Visit Chris Jordan’s site, and when you do, be sure to interact with the images (by clicking on them) to see how he composed them.
Very well done Chris!
Source: Running the Numbers: An American Portrait by Chris Jordan
Jun
14
14
Josh Tickell, transforming our views on fuel
This post originally appeared on our site on June 23, 2009. We are republishing it because Tickell’s film “Fuel” will be released June 22, 2010 on DVD. This is a timely movie given the situation in the Gulf of Mexico and our continued dependence on petroleum.
Josh Tickell and Rebecca Harrell taking a STAND FOR LESS.
We met Josh Tickell at Street Smart San Diego where he was a featured speaker. Tickell is an author, filmmaker, and champion of alternative fuels. He wrote the book Biodiesel America. He also wrote and directed the Sundance award-winning film titled “Fuel.”
We encourage you to read his book and watch his film. He is an elegant writer and speaker. His research is thorough and he masterfully explains technical issues in an engaging way that the average person can understand. If you missed him at Street Smart San Diego you can get a quick introduction to Tickell by watching this short video:
A few days after we met him, Tickell was named a United Nations Goodwill Ambassador for his work promoting alternative fuel sources.
Visit The Fuel Film website for more information.
Apr
13
13
The Real Story of Water, a new video from Surfrider
Our friends at Surfrider have done it again. This is an excellent mini-film:
The Cycle of Insanity: The Real Story of Water from Surfrider Foundation on Vimeo.
Jan
18
18
Recommended reading: The Wilderness Warrior: Theodore Roosevelt and the Crusade for America
A young Theodore Roosevelt photographed in 1885. Roosevelt was a wilderness warrior, saving wild places for future generations. He also is one of history's great people.
Theodore Roosevelt was a great man whose actions altered the landscape of the United States. A new book on Roosevelt by historian Douglas Brinkley explores Roosevelt’s career from the perspective of his interactions with and choices regarding the natural world.
STAND FOR LESS recommends Brinkley’s book, The Wilderness Warrior: Theodore Roosevelt and the Crusade for America.
The most obvious reason to study history is to learn from our mistakes so we can make better choices today and have a better life tomorrow. There are different theories when it comes to studying our collective past. One of these is the “great man” theory of history. The name predates our times—we now recognize that women have been pulling their weight too over the centuries.
The great man theory emphasizes influential individuals. These are the heroes and villains of history that changed the destinies of others. There are examples of many great individuals whose personalities, gifts and flaws altered the world. Critics of this view of history point out that it’s overly simplistic and that it fails to explain the complexities of the past. All the same, there have been great men and women who have had a substantial impact during their day and beyond. Without question Theodore Roosevelt is one such individual.
Brinkley’s new book is an outstanding and engaging analysis of Roosevelt. It’s been just over one hundred years since Roosevelt was president and we’re all better for the seven and a half years he spent in the White House.
Brinkley begins the book by reviewing Roosevelt’s childhood and his obsession with the natural world. As a boy and then a young man, T.R. was an adventurer with a purpose. He wanted to understand nature, its flora and fauna and endless diversity.
Early in his presidency Roosevelt had a problem. Exotic feathers were wildly popular fashion items in women’s hats. Millions of birds were being killed each year to satisfy the demand for feathers. Roosevelt was appalled by this situation but was initially unsure what he could do about it. Since the Civil War, Americans were massacring wildlife “for profit and sport” (Brinkley) at dizzying rates.
These slaughters upset Roosevelt. Passenger pigeons were in their final phases of dying out during his presidency. The buffalo barely survived the 19th century. Now rare and exotic birds faced extinction in the name of fashion. To stop it Roosevelt took a novel approach. He created the first national wildlife refuge to protect birds in Florida simply by declaring it so.
Roosevelt’s declaration held and by the end of his presidency he created fifty-one similar bird reservations. These were the beginning of the large federal wildlife refuge system that today covers more than 95 million acres. For Roosevelt this was just a start. His policies protected more land than any president that preceded him and set the stage for those who followed.
If you are interested in the natural world you will enjoy The Wilderness Warrior and you will enjoy learning more about America’s colorful and important 26th president. Roosevelt left office in March of 1909. He is undeniably one of history’s greats.