a. fish

World Environment Day is Next Week!!

I guess is should be World Environment Week, but it's WED2005. A United Nations conference on the environment, attended by leaders from all over the world!!

Somebody blog about WED2005!! I would, but I have to go to work.

Start here: Cities: The Path to a Sustainable Future.

How to repent the recycling sins

In the semester of life, we can commit recycling sins, waste water, even have a gas guzzling car in our past. We can have all those demerits and still pass our environmentalist course. Here's how: find some way to enjoy nature. No guilt required.
Suggestions:

• Go on a camping trip. No equipment?
• Go for a hike. Too time consuming?
• Go for a walk around your city. With noo iPod or walkman. Walk. Stop underneath a tree. Listen. Then walk on. Repeat.

Extra credit for writing down anything we notice.

Trees trees everywhere

Over the past few months, trees have been replanted in the median strips up and down Van Ness street. I'm sorry there is no "before" picture to show the contrast, because they freshen the appearance considerably. Today we saw some trees in the Potrero area with Friends of the Urban Forest labels tying their trunks to stake supports.

Trees, according to fuf, 1) cut down on traffic noise, 2) trap dust particles on their leaf surfaces, 3) offer wind protection, and of course 4) remove carbon dioxide from the atmosphere. My friend and I noticed that without removing litter, the trees made certain streets appear cleaner.

Fuf will plant a tree in any public area where at least 30 trees are requested. Fuf also offers guidelines for planting your own tree, including permission applications to submit to the department of public works, and step-by-step instructions for cutting a hole in your cement sidewalk.

Drive by thought dump

Stuff on the mind:

• urban environmentalism: sneak green into nooks and crannies wherever possible; peaceful coexistance of industry (need better word?) and nature; to earn a "C" as an environmentalist you must simply enjoy nature and express (writing, art) why you enjoyed it; triangulating environmentalism - can backpacking fight youth crime?
• journalists vs. journalers: shocking there's no bar exam or series seven license for journalists; news orgs with more fact checkers per writer should advertise that fact; hand a pad and pen to someone in underrepresented district (bayview?) or demographic (who?) and put more editors on that beat; if keeping a private journal is journaling, doesn't that mean blogging is journaling, not journalism?; is fiction a subset of journalism, or of journaling?
• school, my writing class: three sessions to go and I've had a good time, but my writing has not improved at all - illusion or sad accuracy? the study-more-upfront curve vs. the cram-for-final-exam curve, crisped at three weeks to go, can barely pick up book or get excited for class; Billy Collins poem on students beating the meaning out of a poem with old brooms;  what a good teacher is (hint: he or she is not perfect, but it some way excellent, ok that's one version there are many); a B is satisfying when...first class ever where I gave it my all, attended every class (wow) did not approach it with dread.
• W: first 100days. (365 x 4) - 100 = 1360 remain of accidental-boy-king's reign. Not outrageous anymore. Just tiring; find humor in this, surely it's in there somewhere & you're just tired;
  
• how to travel, how to camp, plan a trip: need to write this if not yet written, else read it; weekend in May; pick one.