But ending “the tyranny of the 1%” is more about decisions we make every day versus donating or supporting a protest (which is taking donations by major credit cards?!?!).  Lifestyle choices like living in a smaller home, eating local and vegetarian, and conserving energy by buying second hand and trading items with friends all give the middle finger to Wall Street, Exxon, Shell, BP, ConAgra, Unilever, etc. etc.

Breaking it down:

Live in… Read Full Article on Celsias

Freezing for Furry Friends

Ladies and Gentleman, the following is an account of my weirdest volunteer activity as TheGoodMuse- yet.

I had never volunteered with PETA (People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals), but then I got this email, which said something like…

Come take a shower in the middle of the LA Convention Center to promote water conservation by eating less meat.

Sold. You had me at public nudity.

In all seriousness, I’m a vegetarian. I have been since I was a teen.  It’s one of the best decisions I ever made for my health.  I also think it’s important for everyone to eat less meat (or no meat/fish) for the environment’s sake. Meat production pollutes more than all the vehicles on the road combined and our lust for fish is stripping the ocean bare. To say the least – I was game to support this cause.

And… the PETA shower campaign is mad genius.  People taking a shower in public wrapped in a curtain printed with the factoid: 1 lb. of meat = 6 months of showers. It stops traffic – it literally has stopped traffic on Hollywood and Highland in Los Angeles. As soon as I climbed into the shower, in a little white bikini that no one could see, foot traffic in front of the PETA booth stopped and the other volunteers were able to distribute info.  It was a riot, and I would do this activity again but…

That being said lets break down the problems.

Shower with a friend!

I was on a raised platform and the bar to the top of the shower was about five and a half feet off the ground.  I was told you couldn’t see over it.

You couldn’t see over it unless you were a male who was… oh… let’s say… about six feet tall, slightly perverted, not at all slick, shameless, and you stepped right up to the shower to ask me (with a head tilt and eyes down) why I had become a vegetarian. Lots of men meet all of these requirements.

Sir, I know what your doing. Not cool.

Also not appreciated… The guys who held their cameras aloft, arm fully extended up, to get the full shot.

I’m in a bikini you desperate, sad…

I would have preferred to do this volunteer activity with a male friend in the shower as well.  They could have acted as a bull sh*& shield.  Someone who could give creepy men scary looks.  I tried, but I’ve been told my “I will kick your ass” look is easily misinterpreted and not at all scary.

PETA should also make sure that there is a volunteer on hand big enough, and forceful enough, to bounce perverts.  I can’t believe this is needed, but I felt it was.

Now lets talk temp. The first 30 minutes I was fine, I knew the water was cold but it was like being a little kid at the ocean – too much fun to care about hypothermia. After 30 minutes – goose bumps. By the end of the hour I’m pretty sure the US Geological Survey was registering my body tremors. Oh it was sooooo cold. Ohhhh! I had to take a 45 minute hot shower at home to even begin to thaw. Maybe I get cold too easy.  I know volunteers have done this campaign in the snow. But I feel that both a volunteer’s health and safety should be the first priority of any organization.  They are volunteers. They are not being compensated in any other way besides happy feelings. Protect happy feelings.

All that being said I would recommend this volunteer experience to anyone of like mind.  It’s one of those once in a lifetime deals you definitely want to tell your grandkids about. You will walk away with killer stories. And I also highly recommend becoming a vegetarian. If not for the environment, or the animals, then do it for your health.

Moore’s Law, originally written to explain the advancement of computing hardware, predicts that the efficiency of technology in relation to price will double about every two years. If solar tech continues it’s current pattern it will cross $0.12 per kilowatt hour, the current average retail price of electricity, in 2020. In 2030 solar electricity will likely cost… Read Full Article

Kiva, the king of micro lending websites, recently launched Kiva Green Loans. Green Loans allows Kiva lenders to find businesses and individuals transitioning to cleaner and more sustainable energy sources. The energy saving theme includes recycling, re-purposing used materials, minimizing pollution, and reducing energy expenditures.

Kiva.org’s mission, to alleviate poverty by allowing lenders across the world to make microloans for as little as $25, has already facilitated $200,000,000 in loans. Kiva Green hopes to alleviate “Energy Poverty.” As Premal Shah, President of Kiva.org explains…Read Full Article Here

The month preceding the closure saw 4 million car dependant residents go into full on orange terror alert mode – buying emergency groceries, flights from Long Beach to Burbank Airports (40 miles apart), and preparing to hole up in their homes for the entire weekend, maybe with boarded up windows, just in case looters showed up.

Meanwhile, city officials… Read Full Article on Celsias

Philippe was back in LA, thanks to the Artists and Athletes Alliance , to talk about his recent sojourn to the Arctic with CNN, and report on the…Read Full Article on Celsias

What is radiation poisoning/sickness exactly? How much radiation does a person have to be exposed to to get ill? What are the symptoms? What are the treatments? Why was a nuclear power plant built in a freakin tsunami zone!?!?!?!?! (This last question is off topic and will not be discussed here – it just pisses me off.)

Radiation poisoning or sickness is a huge topic to cover so I’m going to break this down to basic elements. First, let’s define radiation .

Radiation is how energy moves through a medium or space. Light waves are non-ionizing radiation, but nuclear particles are… Full Article on Celsias

Almost 1 year after the BP oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico officials in New Orleans are baffled by the appearance of another massive oil slick, possibly 100-miles wide, spotted in the Gulf over the weekend. Though the oil sheen is close to the site of the Deepwater Horizon disaster authorities have no idea where it came from. Word from on high (meaning no one is sighting a source) is that the Deepwater Horizon well is not leaking. Reports so far have been, as one news outlet stated, “sketchy and contradictory.”

Hypotheses of the origin of this mysterious slick include yet another spill (but absolutely not the Deepwater Horizon) or the reemergence of thousands of gallons of dispersant mixed with oil that dropped below the surface during BP’s “cleanup effort.” The local Coast Guard released a statement with another theory:

“At this point, the dark substance is believed to be caused by a tremendous amount of sediment being carried down the Mississippi River due to high water, possibly further agitated by dredging operations,” the Coast Guard release said.

A spokesman for the Army Corps of Engineers, however, said none of the three dredges operating near the mouth of the Mississippi River has reported any oil in the material they’re removing from the river bottom to keep the channel deep enough for ocean-going ships.

Wherever the oil is coming from it is currently washing up along a 30 mile stretch of coast in the form of tar balls and “…these orange, nasty waves [with] black oil mixed with it,” according to Grand Isle resident Betty Doud. Grand Isle has put down almost 20,000 feet of boom to try and stop the oil from invading the delicate marshlands they fought to save last summer.

The oil is sure to be a welcome sight to the droves of spring breakers expected to descend on the Gulf beaches in the next few weeks.

UPDATE: Source of Mysterious Oil Spill Discovered

Anglo-Suisse Offshore Partners has issued a statement today taking responsibility for the 100-mile oil slick that appeared off the coast of Louisiana over the weekend.  Their statement, I imagine, went something like this,

“Oops our bad. We thought we plugged the well.  We could have sworn it only leaked 5 gallons. We are totally shocked and surprised that that slick is ours. Don’t worry that well is now completely sealed.  Do we still have to pay for cleanup? I mean, come on there is already oil in that water.  Is a little more really going to be a problem?”*

*A statement composed entirely by Raegan Payne based on the word surprised in Anglo-Suisse’s statement

Many doubt that the plaintiffs, including indigenous groups who’s fishing and hunting ground was severely contaminated, will be able to collect any of the reward. Chevron has pledged to…Read Full Article on Celsias

Both Allen and Ulmer are concerned that the tiny town of Barrow, the closest to the proposed drilling sites as well as current rigs, is not…Read Full Article on Celsias.

“Atlantic and Southern bluefin tuna are both listed as endangered by IUCN, with populations of the former reduced 80% since the 1970s. At current fishing rates, which far exceed the official quotas due to rampant illegal fishing, Atlantic bluefin…Read Full Article on Celsias