Great news from The Atlantic-

White House Agrees to Talk About Solar Panels on the Roof

Environmentalist Bill McKibben has been campaigning for the last few weeks to get solar panels put back on the roof of the White House.

…

From a press release this morning:

McKibben has been in back and forth negotiations with the White House for the last 48 hours to push for them to accept the panel and show they have a plan to get solar back on the White House roof — a California solar company, Sungevity, has already offered to install a new set for free. As of Thursday morning the Administration has offered to meet with McKibben and his team and says they are discussing the proposal to put solar back on the White House roof.

Folks like McKibben, A Siegel, and others have been tireless advocates for clean energy. It is nice to know that we may (finally) be making a difference & scoring an important victory with regards to this issue.

“We keep hearing, ‘We’ll see’ and ‘It’s complicated,’” McKibben said. “Compared with the other things Obama has to do, it seems relatively easy.

You can’t filibuster the roof.”

(Click the pic) ============>

350.org has done so much great work to get people active on climate issues. Will you take a moment to support their latest efforts?

Put Solar on the White House. That is a great symbolic gesture to get the ball rolling.

This achievement will be an important symbol to the world that the United States is committed to realizing the environmental and economic benefits of clean energy.

Sign the petition to pressure President Obama to replace the solar panels removed by Reagan 3 decades ago.

Get involved with the campaign to make our solar voices louder & brighter!

Solar on the White House on Facebook

Put Solar On It

We thought our leaders should have a chance to get personally involved too, which is why we’re today launching a special campaign aimed just at them.

Each one has a roof over their heads–in India at the Rashtrapati Bhavan; in Mexico they call it Los Pinos, and in Washington it’s the White House.

Those roofs need solar panels–and we hope they’ll go up on October 10, just as around the world people are taking practical action in their own communities. It’s remarkably easy to send a message to your leader–just click here for instructions:

Sign the petition to tell World Leaders to Put Solar On their nation’s prominent government buildings.

But that’s not all.

We have just over 2 months before 10/10/10 when there will be global action to raise awareness about the urgency of climate change.
Ideas For Your 10/10 Work Party

#2 Go Solar
Working on a solar project is a great way to demonstrate the clean energy future right in your community. Whether its installing a solar panel on a local school, building a solar cooker for your community, or putting a solar hot water heater on your house–it is a great way to work with the planet, not against it.

Get involved today to find or organize an event in your area.

Another new aspect of this movement:

The Solar Bill of Rights

Sign their petition which has received over 20,000 sigs in its first 2 weeks:

Speak Up Now and Sign the Solar Bill of Rights

Join the Movement to Bring Solar Energy to the American People

In the midst of some of the worst energy disasters in America’s history—the Gulf oil spill, the coal ash sludge in Tennessee and the West Virginia coal mine explosion—lawmakers in Washington haven’t listened to the American people.

Sign the Solar Bill of Rights today and this fall SEIA will march to the U.S. Capitol and deliver your name, and thousands of others, to key Congressional leaders and the Obama Administration, urging them to enact policies to expand the use of solar energy in the United States.

Learn more details about the Solar Bill of Rights and the policies needed to deploy more solar in the U.S.

In case you missed it in yesterday’s NY Times:

U.N. Chief Appeals for Aid in Pakistan

ISLAMABAD, Pakistan (AP) — U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said Sunday the flooding in Pakistan was the worst disaster he had ever seen, and urged foreign donors to speed up assistance to the up to 20 million people affected.

Help Pakistan

Visit this group

Photo:(REUTERS/Akhtar Soomro)

Pakistan floods: 3.5 million children at risk from deadly diseases, says UN

Shortage of clean water raises health fears as fresh protests erupt over slow delivery of aid

The UN said today that 3.5 million children in Pakistan are at risk from deadly waterborne diseases, as fresh protests erupted over the slow delivery of aid in the flood-ravaged country.

Youths affected by floods walk outside the ruins of their home which was washed away by heavy floods in Charsadda, northwest Pakistan, Monday, Aug. 9, 2010. (AP Photo/B.K. Bangash)

There is a local group to which donations will likely have a large and lasting impact-

Healing Development Foundation
http://www.hdf.com
(800) 705 1310

What they do:

With your help HDF transforms lives of poor communities through community mobilization training, education , micro-loans , health clinics , and physical infrastructure creation. Your generous support enables HDF to help people help themselves.

From their page about the flooding:

HDF is committed to work towards relief and reconstruction efforts in flood affected HDF program areas including Mardan and Tandoo Muhammad Khan. HDF already has the existing infrastructure and a team of trained employees and volunteers in place. Currently there is need for basic necessities like tents, blankets, cooking sets, utility containers, soap and bedding as well as, basic healthcare.

HDF staff has extensive training in disease prevention, providing clean water and sewage disposal, as well as, establishing temporary schooling facilities, so that affected families may have the semblance of a normal life. We have the knowhow, and after the 2005 earthquake we have the expertise. But we can not do this alone. We need your support in this time of need.

More details and videos at their site of theirYouTube channel.

+
+
+

There are other groups that deserve support as well.

Here are a few I support and recommend:

Doctors without Borders (MSF) :

DONATE

The Red Cross:

DONATE

OXFAM:

With an estimated 6 million people in need of humanitarian assistance, I am concerned that so far the international community hasn’t responded with the speed or on the scale warranted by a disaster of this magnitude.

DONATE

+
+
+

NOTE:
These are but a handful of photos culled mostly from a compliation onthis site.

(Warning: These are Mind-boggling photos)

Their collection includes lots of other powerful Getty images and more like this.

Previous photos at the same site HERE.

My previous diaries about the floods HERE, HERE, and HERE.
An earlier glimpse into my 2 months visiting many of these same areas (in 2004) HERE.

With just a few holes left to play, I let go of a drive on a 330-foot drive that landed softly in the center of the chains. A hole in one at the world championships. It was an especially cool ace because my dad, who had never seen me play before, was actually in the gallery watching me play that day.

To illustrate for those not familiar with disc golf, this essentially would be like standing in a football endzone, and throwing a (frisbee) disc that hits a basketball on the opposite goal post. And even though the event didn’t result in a world title, I had to wait under one year for that dream to come true.

You can see more photos and disc golf expository here:
Fitness Monday: Disc Golf

And if you are REALLY SOOOOOooo busy that you can’t take 4 minutes to watch the whole thing, then start at the 3-minute mark and watch to the end from there.

This item encompasses everything our project stands for:
The best way to save the planet is to keep laughing!

It was a last-second decision to even play, due to a very sketchy flier that had no directions, phone number, or website listed. It didn’t even have the city or date printed on it!

In the end, I ended up winning the open pro division, even though an amateur posted a lower score (lucky for me he sandbagged it!).

So now in addition to Lake Tahoe champ (2007) and Seattle champ (2002?), I guess I can now claim to have another locale’s trophy in my pro cache, albeit another very minor one.

Today I’m actually heading to a much grander disc golf operation, a 45-hole private course in SE Reno. If you never hear from me again, come look for my vulture-ravaged corpse on the course.

With that said, now more than ever, the DHF ethos is proving to have been right all along. Organic foods, once a fringe boutique food item, can be found at Walmart. Going green, once popular only amongst frogs, is now cooler than ever amongst image-conscious people and corporations alike. Climate change, once just a theory known as the greenhouse effect, is now a scientific fact backed by 98% of the world’s scientists, and 100% or the population of non-stupid people worldwide.

The final hurdle of our eleventy-bazillion mile barefoot hippie high hurdle marathon in the little fact that even the most granola-filled and hippified amongst us still burn oil. Lots of oil.

The good news is that the solution is simple and has served mankind just fine for millennia: WALKING

Here is a little soundtrack for this piece:

Okay. So can you dig that crazy beat?
Good.

You have made it this far, so that means you are at least curious about what this crazy dirty hippie is going on about. That’s a good start.

I realize that much of our world has become autocratic and auto-centric. I’m as guilty as any of us in enjoying the liberty and ego-stroking power that the internal combustion engine provided. For years in my (earlier) youth I would average well over 12,000 miles per year behind the wheel. It’s amazing my DFH membership was never revoked in that time.

However, seeing the errors of our ways and atoning for past indiscretions is one of the great things about being humans.

We can learn from our mistakes.

The tricky part is actually changing those behaviors and growing in sometimes uncomfortable ways. Doing the right thing is seldom easy, ya ever notice that?

But it feels so good!

.

.

+++
Exhibit A:
+++

There are certain places you just cannot reach by fossil power.

Some of you might have caught my rescued diary about the crown jewel of our national parks system. It’s a lovely place. Showing up and driving up the middle of the Valley might work for septuagenarians and otherwise differently-abled folk, but you miss out on so much of the best of what life has to offer when relying on 20th century methods.

Sure John Muir lived in that century too, but he was both visionary and anachronistic. We had a good thing going in those old timey ways before the miracle of 4 wheels took over. It is not too late to rediscover the virtues of getting back to basics and hoofing it.

.

.

+++

Exhibit B:

+++

The phrase Stop and smell the roses is easier to implement when it doesn’t entail slamming on the brakes, pulling over, and finding a parking spot.

My pootie, as you can see, has it all figured out.

You stay on your own -two- four -feet- paws, and you get to soak up all the beauty that life has to offer. The false axiom More is Better that drives our driving addiction is easily proven wrong.

Take the internets. If more is necessarily better, than why are YouTube comments a cesspool of idiocy previously unknown to mankind?

Less is more. When on foot or paws, we really get all of the joys of life in such greater detail- the sights, the smells, the sounds. Heck, you don’t even need an 8-track player anymore to hear all your favorite records in the car! You can use new-fangled items like a Sony Walkman! Or even a CD player! What will they think of next?!?

You will be amazed what you see when it’s not whizzing by as 25+ MPH.

.

.

+++

Exhibit C:

+++

You will be amazed how much healthier you become.

Every 3rd marketing pitch these days is about weight loss and fitness. Ok, at least in January that is true. But between beer commercials, you see an endless procession of gimmicky ads for the latest, best way to lose wight and look great.

Did you know that walking is the single best exercise known to man?

You can maximize the fat-burning goodness of bipedal locomotion by including hills and/or mountains into your regimen. Hiking is the best way to shed those excess calories without the inevitable knee/back/etc. injuries so common amongst runners. Hiking also provides your best chances to catch local flora and fauna in action.

But you can start small. Walking in your local neighborhood just a few minutes every day is a great start. You might actually even start to get to know your neighbors in ways other than waving as you drive by.

.

.

+++

Exhibit D:

+++

Your woozles will thank you.

Too few of us have time for anything anymore. Admit it: Your TiVo has been maxed out on shows you want to watch for years.

Guess what? You’ll never have time for everything.

That’s why making walking a priority is so important. Sure, a mega fast workout in the gym might feel like a more efficient way to get that quick jolt of sweat-burning endorphins. AND you get to erase a show off your TiVo afterward.

BUT, you are sacrificing some of the best parts of what working out historically entailed. Namely, getting outside.

If you are not a gym rat, walking doesn’t need to be for those purposes anyway. Not in the least. In fact, I began the diary pointing out that walking can (and should) be used as a substitute for driving at every possible turn.

Think about it. Instead of driving to the Quickie Mart to pick up microwave meals for the kids, and then working out on the stairmaster, you could have simply gone for a walk to the store and carried home the groceries in the same amount of time.

And don’t think that I don’t walk the walk.

I love it when the cashier at the store asks the obligatory final checkout question….

Clerk:
Would you like help out to your car?

Me:
I’m carrying this stuff on foot all the way home

The size of my loads often gets me some rather incredulous stares; I live for that shit.

+++

Exhibit Last:

+++

I walk like madman.
I am also routinely mistaken for someone who is in great shape.

The truth is that I spend waaaay too much damn time glued to my computer and do not work out nearly as much as I would like. However, the mere fact that I will walk a mile or more to pick up basic things from various stores and other businesses makes me fitter than your typical mouse potato.

The funny thing is that I do not do it for the health factor at all. I’m all about the other aspect of footprints, namely the carbon ones. If any distance can be walked (and even some that others would say could not), I’m walkin’ it. I spent far too many of the healthiest years of my life plopped behind a steering wheel. It is now up to me to balance the scales to a degree and get in touch with my primordial roots.

It boggles the mind to a degree that not 150 years ago there was no option to walking; either you walked, or your horse walked with you on top. How quickly we have lost our bearings about what it means to travel 50 miles. In the past that would entail kissing the family goodbye and telling them you’ll be back in a few days. Now people take such massive distances for granted at greater and greater costs to themselves and the planet at large.

If you want to do something to help those cute yet suffering critters covered in goo you-know-where, and help yourself in countless ways at the same time, make a point of walking instead of turning that key just a couple times this week. Maybe you’ll find you like it as much as I do.

The 2nd national park in the U.S. remains one of the nation’s greatest legacies over 100 years later. People from across the globe seek things that cannot be found elsewhere on Earth; few leave disappointed.

Let children walk with nature, let them see the beautiful blendings and communions of death and life, their joyous inseparable unity, as taught in woods and meadows, plains and mountains and streams of our blessed star, and they will learn that death is stingless indeed, and as beautiful as life, and that the grave has no victory, for it never fights. All is divine harmony.

Below I will share a few more photos, quotes, and bits of advice for anyone hoping to visit in the near future.

Yosemite Park is a place of rest, a refuge from the roar and dust and weary, nervous, wasting work of the lowlands, in which one gains the advantages of both solitude and society. Nowhere will you find more company of a soothing peace-be- still kind. Your animal fellow-beings, so seldom regarded in civilization, and every rock-brow and mountain, stream, and lake, and every plant soon come to be regarded as brothers; even one learns to like the storms and clouds and tireless winds. This one noble park is big enough and rich enough for a whole life of study and aesthetic enjoyment. It is good for everybody, no matter how benumbed with care, encrusted with a mail of business habits like a tree with bark. None can escape its charms. Its natural beauty cleans and warms like a fire, and you will be willing to stay forever in one place like a tree.

This has been a cold, wet year in the Sierra. As a result, the snowpack is deep, and the waterfalls are gushing at record volume.

The late & heavy snows have kept the road to Tuolumne Meadows closed, so access to many popular trailheads is limited to those with backcountry capabilities for another couple weeks, at least. Even the Half Dome summit remains closed as June dawns.

Fortunately there are a few lovely trails originating within the Valley for those wanting more than a drive by photo op and a T-shirt.

My two days were sublimely entertaining even though I was limited to just two day hikes.

1. Yosemite Point/ Upper Yosemite Fall trail
2. Mist Trail to John Muir Trail

Your results may vary.

The battle we have fought, and are still fighting for the forests is a part of the eternal conflict between right and wrong, and we cannot expect to see the end of it. …

So we must count on watching and striving for these trees, and should always be glad to find anything so surely good and noble to strive for.

• Yosemite Point/ Upper Yosemite Fall trail

This is a steep and sometimes slippery trail that winds up the side of El Capitan. The skinny on the journey is that it will take around 6 hours roundtrip to the top of Yosemite Point (the little rock at the top right by the blue sky in this photo).

If you are a fast & confident hiker, the descent can take as little as 90 minutes or less, but be prepared for lots of wet steps that might be tricky and dangerous.

The crowds are generally heaving, so be prepared for lots of backups and the need for patience. We were lucky to get a late start that day. Earlier there was snow atop the trail, and some people were told the viewpoint was “closed”. By the time we got there, the sun had broken through and the views were accented by puffy clouds. Also, the trip down the mountain was eerily quiet. By 8PM (with over 90 mins of light left in the day) there was nobody else on the trail.

• Tip #1: Bring plenty of snacks; you will need energy for your trip downhill.

• Tip #2: Bring at least 2 liters of water per person. In the summertime, you may even wish you had more.

Protip: A water purifier is also good to bring. If you carry one, you can bring just enough water to get yourself to the top of the falls (maybe 1 liter/person). Then, you can refill and reach the valley overlook at Yose Point. If you still need more water, the creek is still there for you on the way back down.

• Tip #3: A walking stick or poles will give you lots of extra support and confidence on the descent.

Another glorious Sierra day in which one seems to be dissolved and absorbed and sent pulsing onward we know not where. Life seems neither long nor short, and we take no more heed to save time or make haste than do the trees and stars. This is true freedom, a good practical sort of immortality.

• Mist Trail (Vernal/Nevada Fall) to Little Yosemite Valley to John Muir Trail

• Tip #1: It is highly recommended to Ascend using the Mist Trail and DEscend using the John Muir Trail. The slippery steep aspect that is inevitable at Yosemite Fall trail can be mitigated here.

• Tip #2: Do NOT ever use the switchback “shortcuts” on the trail! It damages fragile and delicate land that takes lots of work to repair.

• Tip #3: It is entirely unnecessary to cloak yourself in a giant garbage bag/raincoat like oh so many overly cautious tourists. The spray could hardly have been greater than it was last week, and naught but a light glistening of moisture resulted. Put the camera in a plastic bag and you are good. Then laugh at all the Hefty hikers with their visqueen uniforms and be Glad you are not one of them.

Note:
The same advice mentioned above about water & hiking poles applies here.

Amazing how those rocks’ geology naturally formed those retaining walls and switchbacks, isn’t it?

Wouldn’t it be great to see such investment in our nation’s heritage during this time of economic hardship?

See this diary, which makes a better case than I would have:

Bring back the CCC
by draghnfly

Harley Jolley, Joined the CCC in 1937: Each man would send home twenty-five dollars each month and keep five for myself. Now the dollar had enormous precious impact in the 1930s. So twenty-five dollars sent home, multiplied across the nation by thousands, that’s a lot of economic improvement nationwide.

And then not only were the boys there employed, remember they had support people — foremen, superintendents, engineers, all this. So here are skilled people employed as well. Then supplying the camp food, all the things it takes to run a camp for a week, that went to the local economy also. So it was a major impact on all the economies wherever the camps went. And they went everywhere.

And the CCC and WPA projects still contribute to the economy 70-some years later. How many of our states could have the same recreation and tourism industries without the foundation of the CCC projects? I will venture to guess none.

I was overwhelmed by the beauty and quality of the John Muir Trail. So much work went into designing and maintaining this unique treasure. I could not help but wonder why we are not seeing more efforts to enhance, protect, beautify, and make more accessible our nation’s most delicate and lovely places during this period when so many Americans are in need of work.

I hope you get a chance to take advantage of your National Parks soon, and that you support their preservation and improvement if such a proposal were to be introduced by a visionary FDR-esque politician in the days ahead.

All quotes by John Muir.

All photo, video by the diarist.