Two Technology Items

As you may know, on May 18th, I attended the Personal Democracy Forum ,an amazing conference which looked at the use of technology in politics and activism and analyzed the way it has effected democracy in the 21st Century. Thanks to my crazy schedule, I'm just now getting a chance to follow-up on some of the interesting websites and services that I learned about at the conference.

First, for those of you following the 2008 Presidential election already, the Personal Democracy Forum gang has launched a site called TechPresident.com, which follows the candidates' use of technology in their campaigns. Even more important, there is a six-point Presidential platform called Who will be America's first TechPresident? If you believe that Internet neutrality and WiFi access are important to our country's future, check it out and sign the online petition.

Second, I am starting to adopt Web 2.0 standards for 3r Blogging. Now, if you want to talk about my posts, yell at me or just say hi, you can Skype me at threer3r, text me via AIM at threerliving or email me.  I have also added a button at the bottom of every post that allows readers to Digg my posts and I recently subscribed my RSS feed through Feedburner.

Soon, I will be so connected that I will turn into a Borg . Oh well, at least I'll be a green Borg.

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Rachel Ray'd Yet Again!

So, yesterday (Memorial Day) we were mentioned on the Rachel Ray Show for our Mad Mats Recycled Plastic Rugs . This is the third time Rachel Ray has touched us with her "magic" and this time, sales absolutely exploded on our website! Thanks Rachel!

The question is, how will we fulfill and ship all of the orders with Jake in tow? Looks like it will be a busy, "interesting" day.

Just for history's sake, here is my blog post on the time were in Rachel Ray Magazine (March 2006) and on Rachel Ray's show for Christmas .

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Thoughts on Two New York City Council Bills

 As i've noted before, I have a lot of experience working with and against the New York City Council on environmental issues. Highlights from the past include working with them to pass the groundbreaking Lead Paint Law and a bill to require a percentage of new taxi medallions to be set aside for clean-air vehicles. The lowlights? There are so many to consider. Perhaps it was the city's failure to pass a sustainable wood bill/policy, preventing the use of rainforest timber on city-owned properties (New York City's government is one of the largest purchasers of rainforest woods in the world ). Or maybe it was the lost fight against the new Yankee Stadium (this from a dedicated Yankees fan).

Anyway, it was this past experience that made a couple of articles about environmental bills before the City Council catch my eye yesterday. The first was introduced by the City Council's Environmental Committee Chair, Jim Gennaro, an environmental expert, politician, and a good guy (a rare combination). According to the New York Sun Council Member Gennaro has proposed a bill to require the city to reduce its emissions by 25% by 2015 and 30% by 2020. The bill would also require the city to inventory private sources of pollution but would effect only pollution from city-owned sources. This is essentially a local solution to the global climate change problem.

While this bill sounds great, on the surface, there are a couple of problems that I would like to point out. First, it must be said that the bill succeeds in bringing the city's pollution problem to light during a time when climate change is taking center stage, thanks to Al Gore's efforts. The City Council deserves credit for that and I hope it leads to a more serious effort to reduce pollution from both public and privates sources in the city. But, as Council Member Gennaro knows, a bill that effects only public sources of pollution in just one city in the United States has little chance of making a dent in the larger global warming problem. Yes, it provides environmental leadership, but we need that sort of leadership in Washington, not New York City.

The other bill is only partially environmentally related. During a Health Committee hearing on the city's obesity problem on Wednesday, the committee chair, Joel Rivera, proposed that the city pass new zoning regulations to keep fast food restaurants from locating near schools and in neighborhoods with serious obesity problems. A similar type of law was passed in the 1990's to zone adult entertainment businesses away from schools and churches. That groundbreaking law helped to close (or least hide) the porn industry in Times Square and is credited with with the area's renaissance.

As we all know, fast food establishments are significant polluters, from their location in suburban-style, drive-only locations, to the millions of tons of paper and plastic waste they generate, to the huge amount of greenhouse gasses they emit from thier cows (methane) and truck distribution systems. I am no fan of McDonalds and I haven't had a bite from there in at least five years, but this proposal makes no sense. First, let's not forget what really happened to the porn industry in New York. Yes, some businesses in Times Square closed. Others, however, found loopholes in the law and figured out how to hide their true purpose. Others located in neighborhoods where the zoning rules allow them, causing a bunching effect in largely poor neighborhoods.

Also, while it is true that the city has an obesity problem that is quickly becoming a problem for our children (up to 50% of children and adults are now over weight), zoning fast food restaurants away from fat people will not help them to lose weight. Only good health education, exercise and self-control can do that. Instead of passing this sort of zoning restriction, the city should consider more funding for health education, gym classes and parks. That is the proper role for the city during this growing obesity crisis.

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Wal-Mart and Organics: A Neo-Green Dilemma

My sister-in-law sent Samantha and me an article from CNN Money yesterday, announcing Wal-Mart's entry into the world of organic food and clothing.

Let that announcement settle in for a second: Wal-Mart is starting to go Organic! Wow!

This is either one of the worst announcements ever in terms of its potential impact on the environment, or in the long run, it may be the best.

On the negative side, Wal-Mart's big-box, suburban-style development has wrecked a lot of natural land, added traffic to local roads, increased pollution and damaged local water tables/bodies. In addition, think of all the pollution generated by the massive amount of "stuff" that Wal-Mart buys and moves from factories around the world to its 7,000 store locations. Add to these impacts all of the negative claims made about the store's treatment of its workers , and this whole thing looks a bit scary.

Now, think about the potentially positive impacts of this announcement. Wal-Mart's massive size and efficient distribution system has the potential to lower the price of organic products, across the board, This is good news for those of us trying to live a greener lifestyle. It's also good news for the poor to middle-class consumers around the world who will soon be exposed to healthier food and greener products at Wal-Mart, at a reasonable price. Their sudden exposure to these products and their increased demand for them could change the way we shop, forever. Add to this Wal-Mart's October 2005 announcement that they will significantly increase fuel efficiency of their truck fleet over the next decade; reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 20% over the next seven years; reduce energy use by 30% and cut solid waste generated by its U.S. stores by 25% in three years, and it's easy to see a silver lining.

So, check out the article here and ask yourself the same questions I'm struggling with. Wal-Mart is going Organic, but at what cost? It's a Neo-Green dilemma.

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In The Future, You'll Wear Cassette Tapes

I have to admit it, even though I own an Ipod and use it religiously, I still enjoy pulling out my old records and cassette tapes and turning up the volume. Even better, I enjoy traveling to the city's used record shops and picking up new (old) records and cassette tapes. Ah, the warmth of analog, I just can't get enough.

Brooklyn artist (and 3r Living friend) Alyce Santoro has a completely different vision for old cassette tapes. When she looks at a collection of dusty old Bon Jovi gems, she sees the raw material for a new batch of Sonic Fabric . What's Sonic Fabric? Invented in 2001 as a byproduct of one of her art projects, Sonic Fabric is an amazing, shiny cloth made from recycled cassette tape which can be turned into anything from messenger bags to dresses. As an added bonus, after a little experimentation, Alyce discovered that she could take a modified Walkman and "play" the fabric (it sort of makes a "wooshing" sound). Try that with your favorite organic cotton jeans! (Here's a hint, it won't work.)

Anyway, I could go on and on about how Alyce has combined artistic vision and creative recycling to create beautiful pieces of functional art, but the best thing to do is to show you some photos and this amazing Japanese Television video featuring Alyce, Sonic Fabric and 3r Living . It's probably a pretty informative piece if you speak Japanese, but if you don't speak the language, you'll still get the idea.

Sonic Fabric Tell-Tail Thangka (Tibetan Prayer Flag) available here and here .

Sonic Fabric FishFlag - These flags are made from sonic fabric prerecorded with the custom sound collage made for Jon Fishman's (of Phish) Sonic Rhythm Dress.

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E.T. Got Trashed

As i've mentioned before, i'm a bit of a video game nut , although I rarely have time to play the games I want. So, anyway, yesterday I was poking around on YouTube when I came upon a music video by the band Wintergreen. The video tells the story of the legendary, ill-fated E.T. Video Game, which was developed for the Atari 2600 in 1982. As you can imagine, there was some major hype surrounding the game, following the movie's incredible success. Unfortunately, Warner Communications rushed the project through to get it out by Christmas and the final result (see the picture to the right) was awful. In fact, it was so bad that nearly 5 million game-owners "phoned home" and sent the cartridges back to Atari.

So, what does this have to do with the environment? Well, guess where those 5 million cartridges ended up? In a landfill in the New Mexico desert. This video takes this obscure story of corporate greed and pollution and turns it into entertainment. It's actually kind of fun to watch. Check it out here.

At the end of the video, the boys from Wintergreen dig up some copies of the video game. I'm not sure that this part is real, though. I checked out a web site that claims that Atari crushed the cartridges and sealed them in cement.

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