The Thought Kitchen is our effort at collective inquiry and its power to affect change. Have you ever noticed how the party is always in the kitchen? There are more walls to lean on and people are energized by the proximity to food and drink. Well, welcome to our kitchen, where we hope to tap into everything we love about that feeling—community, vivacious exchange, food for thought.
A few months ago, our good friend Ian Momsen told us that he was planning a six-month bicycle tour across the US. After a fleeting moment of envy, we knew that exciting adventures and challenges were ahead for this fellow Portlander. Ian’s objective for this trip is to connect people with places across the country through his photography and writing while leaving the smallest carbon footprint he can. Hitting the road with only a few key items—his bicycle, trailer, tent, computer, camera and solar panels (to charge his electronics)—the trip began.
Now, a month and half in and covering over 2,000 miles, Ian’s journey is taking him much further than he had ever imagined. Keeping a daily blog filled with rich descriptions and colorful images of the road, he’s able to bring us along on his amazing ride.
There’s this band called MGMT (pronounced Management) and most of their music sounds like a debaucherous 3AM party soundtrack, but I was listening to their song “Kids” the other day and I heard these lyrics:
“Control yourself,
Take only what you need from it.
A family of trees falling,
To be haunted.
…
The water is warm,
But it’s sending me shivers…
…
Decisions are made and not bought
But I thought this wouldn’t hurt a lot
I guess not…”
My interpretation is that these guys are talking about sustainability, global warming and considering the consequences of our actions, so that there will be something left for the “kids” in the future. I could be wrong. Whatever the meaning is, it’s a pretty good jam for a Friday.
Wend, one of our favorite outdoor magazines, went digital this month, meaning that you can flip through a virtual copy of the previous month’s issue online. Check out a free version here.
Based out of Portland, Wend is expanding its reach by allowing anybody with an internet connection a chance to dig their first-person adventure stories, environmental reporting and amazing photography. Not only will this allow for richer content in the future (think video journalism and podcasts), but it also has the potential to lower the amount of paper and energy used in circulation. Aside from experiencing “Wend 2.0″ and doing less recycling, subscribers to the digital version also save around ten bucks a year.
For the next year, Wend will offer the previous month’s issue online for free. After that, it will only be available by subscription.
Oh Canada – My Home and Native Land – Announces the Largest Land Withdrawal for Protection Ever in Canada
A few years ago I had the good fortune of paddling the Mountain River located in the Mackenzie River Valley in the Northwest Territories. That adventure inspired a trip that is currently in planning. I depart on June 27th for a two-week paddling trip on the Snake River in the Yukon. Those trips and others like them, combined with the fact that I’m Canadian, have engendered a life-long interest in wilderness preservation.
That’s why I read with interest the Canadian government’s announcement about the creation of a new national park. It’s called Naats’ihch’oh, which in the Dene language refers to Mount Wilson, a major landmark in the area and means “pointed like a porcupine quill.” The plan is to convert 25.5 million acres of northern boreal forest into a new national park and wildlife protection areas. For those who are counting, that’s about 11.5 times the size of Yellowstone Park.
The boreal forest comprises a band of trees about 1600 miles wide that spans across much of Canada – just below the arctic tundra – and continues in northern Scotland, Scandinavia and Russia. Large numbers of migratory birds and waterfowl make their summer home in the boreal. It’s also an important habitat for grizzly bears, dall sheep and woodland caribou and its trees are believed to play an important role in offsetting the rise of greenhouse gas emissions. It’s also excellent news, given the accelerating industrial activities such as the Mackenzie Gas project (including a proposed pipeline down the Mackenzie Valley) and unprecedented uranium exploration east of Great Slave Lake.
I killed a bird on the way home from the beach. There was no way of avoiding it. It crossed in front of my car quickly, emerging from the snowy bushes on the left shoulder and flying madly toward the other side of the road. I didn’t have time to react—to do so anyway would have put my family’s life in danger on the icy mountain pass.
I heard the small thud and looked in my rearview to see feathers flying and a black dot in the lane behind us.
I felt bad.
When I told my wife what had happened, it spawned a conversation about the cost of doing the things we love. We talked about the gas used to get to the ocean and my petroleum-laced wetsuit and toxic surfboard. Was the negative impact I had on the environment worth the positive impact the environment had on my life through surfing? Read on »
I’m at that stupid age where all your friends decide to get married at once. You know how it is: where you get to pretend that you LOOOVE pink silk bridesmaid dresses (I do love it, Rebekah!) and that you are excited to celebrate unity and togetherness ad nauseum by flying around the country for frantic three-day visits. Being the nerd I am, I’m not actually concerned about retaining my mental sanity in the midst of the summer of love. Honestly, I’m concerned about my carbon emissions.
Seriously. I bought this plane ticket a few days ago and was offered the option of, for $5.99, purchasing a one trip “TerraPass.” Apparently, with my four trips this year, I am using 129 gallons of fuel, and producing 2,527 lbs of CO2! TerraPass offered me the option of paying to offset these appalling numbers and using that money to fund wind farms, landfill gas capture, and the like. These seemed like worthy causes so I paid my carbon dues for the flight, but I still felt sheepish and slightly evil about flying in the first place. Read on »
Last year I wrote a post about a lecture I attended by Carlo Petrini who is the Founder and President of Slow Food International. It was quite a remarkable evening.
In the current issue of Metropolis Bruce Sterling, one of the more provocative and prescient thinkers of our time, has written a biting critique of the Slow Food movement in which he says, they’ve “…become a global movement to combat globalism,” and argues that it’s a movement that serves the elite.
An equally strong and entertaining rebuttal immediately appeared on the Slow Food USA blog written by Chef Michael Friese.
The Australian Broadcasting Corporation’s Clarke and Dawe comedy duo appear weekly on a show called “A Current Affair.” Here they engage in an hysterically funny sketch pertaining to a 1991 oil spill off the coast of Western Australia when a tanker named Kirki lost its bow. Think corporate spin at its finest. Exxon could have used these guys when the Valdez went down.
In this video a high school science teacher takes a Pascal’s Wager approach to climate change. The protagonist artfully applies 17th century French Philosophy and rational thinking to an otherwise mixed scientific/emotional decision analysis. It’s a fun, philosophical, “monologue-debate” on the world’s hottest topic. Check it out.
Two weeks ago, under an unseasonably hot February sun, I sat outside a Portland café and and listened to Trip Jennings, Kyle Dickman and Andy Maser eagerly describe their latest endeavor, The Epicocity Project. Three young guys with infectious enthusiasm for kayaking, they’ve set out on a 4-stage adventure to paddle rivers in biodiversity hotspots around the globe. Their first stage in Papua New Guinea won Trip “Adventure of the Year” honors from the National Geographic Society; no small achievement for a group whose oldest member clocks in at the ripe old age of 25.
Today, we received a dispatch from the team, which is now halfway around the globe. Trip, Andy and Travis are just beginning the second leg of their journey: This month, they’re attempting to make the first descent of the Upper Salween River in China, which passes through one of the least explored areas on the planet. By paddling and filming what is now China’s longest undammed river, they hope to raise awareness of an ecologically rich region that is threatened by a 13-dam hydro-electric project.
In the months to come, we’ll be featuring some of the resulting footage from their travels on The Collective. Until then, you can follow their adventures on the Upper Salween at http://china.riversindemand.com/.
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Today, we received a dispatch from the team, which is now halfway around the globe. Trip, Andy and Travis are just beginning the second leg of their journey: This month, they’re attempting to make the first descent of the Upper Salween River in China, which passes through one of the least explored areas on the planet. By paddling and filming what is now China’s longest undammed river, they hope to raise awareness of an ecologically rich region that is threatened by a 13-dam hydro-electric project.