Although the truly hardcore set out Monday on a 260+ mile ride from Paris, there is still time for stragglers to make plans for the 2008 EUROPEAN CYCLE MESSENGER CHAMPIONSHIPS taking place this weekend in the Netherlands.

Hosted by the Technical University Eindhoven, the campus of which also doubles as a free campground for registered participants, the 2008 ECMC is a three-day gathering (four if you count Thursday's bike ride and Riverside party) stuffed with events for the bikecentric. And what better place for it - with more than 16 million people, the Netherlands has over 18 million bicycles. Although a semi-official event for bike messengers, the event is nothing if not laid back - while organizers were encouraging visitors to register before the 15th to save 10 Euros on the registration fee, the prodding was of a practical nature: They'd "rather you spend that cash on beer instead."

Along with the qualifying heats on Friday and Saturday and the main race on Sunday, the weekend has more than enough sporting events for non-messengers, including sprints, fixed-gear skids, and roller races sponsored by the trademark-infringing RollaPaluza. Oh, and there'll be plenty of parties, along with some "fundamentals" instructional programs.

Those attendees with Timbuk2 bags but no skills needn't fret; items on the non-competition program include a trip to the Designhuis Bicycle exhibition, a bike film show, and bike polo with the hilariously named FUCCIT (that's an acronym) crew.

Before you head for Eindhoven, be sure to download and print a spoke card, and afterward if you've yet to quench your bike thirst there's a post-event event, the Millportpoloco IV, "a weekend of courier mayhem brought to you by Westcoast Messengers Glasgow." Yeah, as in Scotland. And you thought the ride from Paris sounded tough!
[07.21.2008]


"The Summer's Greenest Festival" is how organizers are describing the ROTHBURY FESTIVAL, which takes place the weekend of July 4th at the "one-of-a-kind" Double JJ Ranch in Michigan. While promoting recycling and handing out canvas tote bags have become "green" operating standards in recent years within the culture of music and arts festival organizing, under an add-on "eco"-facade most large-scale summer events operate much as they did decades ago. Beyond setting up a few solar panels or maybe some displays on wind turbines, few events truly latch on to the mantle of being green, but this festival on the Eastern shores of Lake Michigan, with its tag-line of "a huge party with a purpose," claims to have cast itself from a different mold.

The party aspect or Rothbury's motto is attributable to the festival's host venue, a sort of down-home nature resort with on-site "trails, forests, fields, lakes, beach fronts, lodging, bars and eateries." The purpose of which they speak is in the July event's ground-up structure of "environmentally sustainable music and camping" aimed at combining the hula-hooping and bong-ripping of traditional warm weather gatherings with the progressive thinking and problem-solving that even energy conservatives know is long overdue for becoming part of the global consciousness.

Presented by Madison House and AEG Live, the musical lineup for Rothbury has a predictably "festival" styled air with the usual emphasis on noodly jam bands. But for every outdoor summer concert tour staple - Keller Williams, Medeski Martin & Wood, Yonder Mountain String Band, Dave Matthews Band, 311, Primus - there is a crop of respectable former indies gone major (The Black Keys, Modest Mouse), a batch of something else (Sage Francis, Crystal Method, Gogol Bordello, Snoop Dogg. Thievery Corporation) and a small but decent list of underground bands (Diplo, Flosstradamus, The Juan MacLean and Of Montreal). The lineup already numbers dozens of artists, and organizers plan to announce additional acts as well.

Music is the low-hanging fruit for summer entertainment, but the Rothbury Festival also offers an internal event it refers to as Think Tank. Modeled after corporate and political strategy groups, this communal-style brainstorming conference tackles daunting, large-scale subjects like the 2008 theme of Energy Independence. Bringing together experts and notables from various fields - researchers, writers, politicians, executives, youth leaders, academics, entertainers - the event will serve as a roundtable to "share ideas about how to lessen our ecological and carbon footprint" and develop solutions "geared toward corporations, individuals and government." Of the luminaries involved in the Think Tank are Dr. Stephen H. Schneider, an Environmental Studies academic at Stanford's Woods Institute for the Environment; Dr. Eban Goodstein, a Professor of Economics and director of the Global Warming initiative Focus the Nation; Winona LaDuke, a Native American writer and founding director of Native Harvest; and L. Hunter Lovins, the founder of Natural Capitalism Solutions.

Festival organizers have also partnered with Black Rock Solar and the RE:VOLVE clothing label to create the Solar Schools Program, which is committed to donating a minimum of $50,000 worth of solar power to Shelby High School in Shelby, Michigan.

Beyond the headline events of the music program and the Think Tank, the organizers of Rothbury also make promises of Circus and Theatre performances "integrated into the fabric" of the festival, and a number of distinct areas on the event grounds for those of differing tastes. Located "within a dome environment with a chill out bar and lounge area," the "Tripolee" is billed as "a 3-hour show featuring global DJ's, live musicians, performers, and visual projection artists" and heralded as "a fantastical interactive experience." There is also on-site lodging in the form of Good Life cabins, a series of Etown radio broadcasts recorded live at the festival, yoga, cabaret, and several different energy fairs.
[06.02.2008]


On May 15th Brooklyn-based lensman PETER BESTE, the documentary photographer noted for his image collections on the Houston rap scene and London's grime explosion, along with commercial works for record labels and trade magazines, will publish a series of images from his extensive portfolio of portraits from within the darker corners of Scandinavian music.

Aptly titled True Norwegian Black Metal, the volume will be published by Vice Books and is touted as "a photographic narrative that explores black metal from a truly visceral perspective." Beste has been involved in the metal scene for years, and after shooting several Norwegian acts for promotional photos and magazine spreads he began assembling collections of images which, taken out of their musical context, proved quite remarkable. The more Beste worked within the genre the more able he was to extensively document it and, having "earned the respect and trust of this impenetrable, suspicious and often elitist community," the larger his collection grew. After eight years the photographer had become a de facto authority on an unassumingly large musical subculture, a genre that had spawned a micro-economy worth millions of dollars and secured for itself an edgy, if somewhat frightening, mainstream reputation.

Realizing the unique nature of the images, which captured striking faces and looming poses from imposing, often ghoulish figures, Beste packaged collections in limited editions - there is a 2005 series of 3000 released in Japan, which was issued in "a large dictionary sized cardboard box which unfolds into an upside down cross" - and set off an ouroboros that would see heavy-metal magazines doing stories on his collection of images that were originally shot for heavy-metal magazines.

After the better part of a decade Beste's coverage of the "unique subculture in the context of Norway's magical landscape, mythological background, and strong sense of culture" was extensive and the American documentary photographer's perspective of the obscure niche began to circulate in underground media. His photos were featured in Arktip No.0038 and memorialized on a limited edition shirt print (a heavy metal rite of passage one would assume). Earlier this month, MTV's Headbangers Ball Blog posted a podcast interview with Beste.


Beste's image for Arktip No.0038

To put his work in context, Vice paints the backdrop of Beste's images not as the Myspace-driven multimediaplex of 2008, but the emergence of metal in Norway a decade ago: "In the early-mid 1990's, members of this extremist underground committed murder, burned down medieval wooden churches, and desecrated graveyards. What started as juvenile frenzy came to symbolize the start of a war against Christianity, a return to the worship of the ancient Norse gods, and the complete rejection of mainstream society."

Though it certainly sounds evil, Scandinavian hard rock isn't as scary as Vice's True Norwegian Black Metal marketing makes it out to be - "a subculture and musical genre that is often violent, misunderstood and shrouded in secrecy." It is certainly fascinating to look at however, and the music's practitioners (and fans) look foreboding in Beste's snapshots. The photographer also produced a five-part documentary short film for VBS.TV earlier this year on Gaahl, one of the scene's iconic staples, and his band Gorgorot. The multimedia is entertaining, but Beste's still images, which will be presented in a series of gallery showings beginning in May, are truly captivating.

To celebrate the launch of the Vice collection of Beste's Norwegian metal portraits, the Steven Kasher Gallery on West 23rd Street in New York will be mounting a selection of images from the 216 page photobook, with the show's opening night reception scheduled for May 9th, from 6-8pm. The show promises to be a collection of "intense and remarkable photographs of unparalleled artistic integrity." There are plans for London, Stockholm, Oslo, Berlin, and Los Angeles showings of Beste's work from True Norwegian Black Metal to follow.
[04.15.2008]


"Lost in Translation" is the subtitle of this weekend's interactive GRADUATE LEVEL GRAFFITI art installation in Texas. For one night only a group of Austin artists will play host to an exhibit/experiment created and attended by contemporaries from around the world.

Sponsored by the City of Austin through its Cultural Arts Division and supported by third parties like Cantanker art magazine and the design agency Dreamhaus Media, the show is part gallery exhibition, part activist party, and part new media experiment.

Funding for the event came in the form of grants from the Texas Commission on the Arts and the National Endowment for the Arts, but although the gathering will have traditional physical art on display it won't be an academic snooze fest. In fact, Graduate Level Graffiti should be notable not only for its gallery offerings but for its fairly lofty artistic goals as well. "During the event, artists, musicians, performers, and poets from around the world will perform and interact with audience members in an effort to recreate the drama of an essential human truth; our persistent attempt to communicate our experiences through art to each other."

The high aspirations of the installation are no doubt tied to the gravity of the situation that organizers hope to draw attention to. Concerned with "significant funding cuts for arts-related programming" on national and local levels, Graduate-Level Graffiti hopes to showcase the obvious value of art in the way that it engages mankind and at the same time secure funding for underserved artists and arts organizations. The show will donate 20-percent of all proceeds to charitable art groups, and for a green touch the show's ticketing agent and "official green business" partner, In Ticketing, will plant a tree in honor of each ticket sold.

At the event, which will take place at the Asian American Cultural Center in Austin this Sunday (April 13th) from 5pm to 9pm, a group of nearly two dozen artists, musicians, performers, and poets will descend upon the crowd for a multi-level interactive art installation. Participating artists hail from the local community as well from around the globe - video artist Alison Williams is from South Africa, "classical Indian dancer and font designer Jui Mhatre hails from India, collage artist Dariusz calls Poland home - and all will be presenting work focused on the theme of translation.

Beyond simply hosting an installation, "Lost In Translation" aims to document the experience of experiencing art. While organic and synthetic art, presented in audio, visual, and performance mediums, will be presented to the audience for their consideration, there will be a pan-interactive experience in the form of a forthcoming documentary film, which will be made at the installation as the audience views the pre-created work. "Each audience member will be required to participate in some way," explains an email from Sean Gaulager, the event's Marketing Director and participating artist. Because any notion of "art" must have a concept, Gaulager goes on to qualify that explanation by adding that participants "will receive personalized instructions on how to do so." As the audience goes about doing the tasks that they've been assigned, their actions will form a process to in turn be recorded by photographers and filmmakers. The result will be a sort of sandwiched performance - art, experience, document - that should thoroughly blur the boundaries between artist and audience.
[04.07.2008]


For a decade and a half the NEW YORK UNDERGROUND FILM FESTIVAL has been hosting an annual cinema event "created to showcase films that weren't being supported anywhere else" that, in the words of former festival director Ed Halter, evolved into "an anti-institutional institution." As always, the 2008 running will continue NYUFF's tradition of bringing a wide selection of documentaries, short films, features, and experimental work to the Anthology Film Archives in Manhattan.

The festival, which runs from Wednesday, April 2nd, until Tuesday, April 8th, will play host to a everything from the experimental 16mm short collage 4 Films in 5 Minutes to the hour long feature The Golden Age of Fish (which will be having its New York premiere) and the much-publicized documentary Heavy Metal in Baghdad, the latter of which focuses on the Iraqi band Acrassicauda, its members forced by the American-led war to flee their native country and live as refugees, first in Syria and now Turkey.

As for the minds behind the lenses, dozens of directors will be represented at the 15th and final NYUFF, from prolific experimental filmmaker James Fotopoulos to independent Serbian feature director Zelimir Zilnik to the group behind the live-action comedy/film project Found Footage Festival.

While the official closing night of the festival is Sunday, April 6th, there will be re-runs of selected films on April 7th and 8th. To boot, there will be a series of special events running throughout the festival, including "Tube Time," a battle of web-video connoisseurs -- that comes with the warning: "this competition is not for the faint of heart, seriously, shit is like American Gladiators. Definitely NSFW." -- and "NYUFF is Enough," a three-night retrospective of highlights from each of the festival's 15 years. And for those of you lamenting the end of NYUFF (more on that here), take solace in the fact that many of the festival's primary architects have moved on to form Migrating Forms, a new festival in the making that hopes to "addresses the present condition of film and video arts-filmmakers [who] are exploring new technologies while re-inventing and re-contextualizing traditional practices."
[03.24.2008]


NOISE POP - The 16th edition of the six-day Noise Pop Festival gets its ball rolling with an opening night party open exclusively to festival badge-holders and invited guests on February 26th at the Rickshaw Stop, the cozy Fell Street venue that SF Weekly likens to "being in Katie Holmes' vagina. The hipper, Pieces of April version, of course." On the bill for the enjoyment of the fully-dedicated badged patrons will be Mika Miko and Zion I's DJ Amp Live, as well as an open bar and sushi provided by Blowfish. To wrap things up nearly a week later the Noise Pop powers that be have lined up none other than the freshest slab of certified web-buzzed beef, She & Him. The closing show, at the Great American Music Hall on Sunday, March 2nd, will mark the "world premiere" of the duo which, incase you've been living under a rock, is the new musical project from Merge recording artist M. Ward and cinematic it-girl Zooey Deschanel.

So, what's happening on the intervening four days, you ask? Lots, way more than we can cram into this space. With the list of performers breaking into the triple digits, citing them all would be silly. Some of the higher profile musical players include A Place To Bury Strangers, British Sea Power, Cursive, Film School, Holy Fuck, the Magnetic Fields, the Mountain Goats, and the Walkmen.

Along with the staple music performances, the annual Noise Pop Film Festival will also be presenting screenings of independent films like Heckler; What We Do Is Secret; Wesley Willis' Joy Rides; Such Hawks, Such Hounds; You Weren't There: A History of Chicago Punk 1977-1984; and Nick's World of Synthesizers & Toy Punks. Each screening will be followed by Q&A sessions with the films' directors and producers, including Rodger Grossman, Jello Biafra, Christina Tillman and others.

Wednesday sees Party HARHAR Hardy co-sponsoring a night of comedy at 12 Galaxies with Comedians of Comedy veteran and writer/comedian Dragon Boy Suede headlining, supported by author Beth Lisick, host of the queer-centric K'vetch open mic Tara Jepsen, comedians Bucky Sinister, Kevin Munroe and Ali Wong, and tunes from Dr. Abacus The night will be emceed Anthony Bedard of comedy record label Talent Moat. Thursday night will bring a bit more of the funny into the fray with a live sketch comedy special from Human Giant, the three-man laugh crew from MTV who have also produced some chuckles for indie favorites like Tapes'n Tapes, Ted Leo, and Devendra Banhart. This event is co-presented by SF Sketchfest and goes down at Mezzanine on Jessie Street.

Also on the program for Thursday night is "Noise From Other Rooms," from the Rebel Reading Series, presented by the McSweeney's offshoot Wholphin, described as "a revealing evening of words and cultural ephemera."

Not to be skipped, the festival's visual arts program, this year entitled "Pop't Art" and sponsored by the art-savvy folks at Scion, will run with the heading "Sights of Sounds: Works of art from the music community" from its opening reception on Wednesday night (7-10pm) through March 25th at the Park Life Store on Clement Street. Following in the footsteps of last year's debut, the collection will featuring original works from musicians like Wesley Willis, Alissa Anderson of Vetiver, Terri Lowenthal and Simone Rubi of Rubies, photographers Alex Tehrani, Jim Jocoy, Peter Ellenby, and Andrew Paynter, as well as posters from Terrence Ryan's Tuffy alias, and a handful of illustrators for the exclusive online audiohouse Daytrotter. The visual arts display will be capped by a special "Wish Tree" installation by Yoko Ono.

Whew. Once you've caught your breath, hopeful Noise Poppers should cruise over to the festival's online store where all-inclusive badges can be had for $175, and those with hot cash burning holes in their pockets can also nab t-shirts, posters, and various other consumer unnecessities (yeah, we just made that up) from the festival, as well as goods from last fall's Noise Pop curated Treasure Island Festival.
[02.11.2008]


Richie Hawtin and the team at his German label MINUS Multimedia GmbH have teamed up to announce an "Environmental Awareness Initiative" aimed at minimizing the ecological impact of their products. Hawtin, in co-operation with Berlin-based Atmosfair, has been offsetting all of the carbon emissions from air travel associated with his touring, and his label is following suit as well by buying carbon credits to counter the pollution of flights made by Minus employees. The label's website at http://www.m-nus.com/ proudly displays the carbon offset to date, with 185.92 tons being being the total for 2007.

As Hawtin explains, "Carbon Offsetting is the concept of buying carbon credits against one's CO2 emissions to become carbon neutral. These carbon offsets are then used to contribute toward Atmosfair's various environmentally conscious worldwide projects that adhere to the internationally accepted Gold Standard certification rules."

As the vehicle for Hawtin's career, Minus has owned up to the environmental impact of manufacturing vinyl records and compact discs and begun packaging all 2007 Minus/Plus 8 vinyl and compact disc releases in either sustainable FSC-certified papers, biodegradable corn stock, and/or a combination of recycled papers, as well as issuing a new packaging design for compact discs that contains no plastics. For the release of it's EXPANSION | contraction compilation the label issued a limited edition, custom printed 1GB USB-card containing the physical release's 9 tracks in WAV and MP3 formats, along with two special bonus tracks: "The Eel" by Tractile and Ambivalent's "Lowlights."
[12.21.2007]


This weekend the 2007 running of the Live Arts and Philly Fringe Festival kicks off with a schedule of diverse and anticipated productions. The festival's opening weekend will treat eventgoers to performances of Flamingo/Winnebago, "a theatrical road trip through the American West making stops at New Mexican pueblos, the Wigwam Motel, Route 66, the Las Vegas Monorail, and Korean Karaoke" by Thaddeus Phillips and the Lucidity Suitcase Intercontinental; Gatz, "an office drama that unfolds around a complete reading of F. Scott Fitzgerald's The Great Gatsby" from New York's Elevator Repair Service; "a trio of mustachioed pizza chefs delivering an assortment of dildos... [and] a drunken bride-to-be twirling in a dress made of Twizzlers candy and inviting onlookers to autograph her bare bottom" called BATCH: An American Bachelor/ette Party Spectacle; the "radical spin on Sophocles' story of 'Antigone'" that "touches on themes of divine will, self-determination, ritual, and artifice" called An·'tis·a·lon; a Taste The Truth blind taste testing by Pravda Vodka, and a host of other events.

The festival runs until September 15th and features latenight cabaret every night, "sizzlin' and sleazin' you silly with the likes of Madi Distefano, Lee Etzold,Greg Giovanni, King Britt, Le Chat Lunatique, and Animus," as well as experimental performance art like Rammed Earth, a "manipulation of the walls and ceilings of the National Showroom" by NYC-based choreographer Tere O'Connor, Cynthia Hopkins and Gloria Deluxe's multimedia musical extravaganza Must Don't Whip 'Um, and No Dice, the Nature Theater of Oklahoma's transformation of the gutted interior of a former Rite Aid into "a melodramatic arena of orally-generated theater."

To order tickets, visit the Live Arts boxoffice, and to receive a copy of the festival guide in the mail, send an email to a href="mailto:janice@livearts-fringe.org">janice@livearts-fringe.org or call 215-413-9006 and dial extention 16. Additionally, Live Arts Festival and Philly Fringe a href="http://www.livearts-fringe.org/donate">memberships are available for $60, and include discounts on all festival tickets, Philadelphia restaurants, museums, and shops, and even free tickets for friends and invitations to special events.
[08.31.2007]


The geothermal island of Iceland is turning 63 this year, and to celebrate the occasion (what 63-year old doesn't like to get drunk?) the environmentally friendly Reyka Vodka and the tourism board at Iceland Naturally have teamed up on a sweet contest that will fly 1 lucky winner and 9 friends (that's 10 peeps in all - enter here) to Iceland for 3 days and 2 nights at the Blue Lagoon geothermal spa, as well as passes to the celebrated Iceland Airwaves Music Festival, which this year features Bloc Party, Of Montreal, !!!, Múm, and the newly confirmed Bonde de Role and Annuals and others over the weekend of from October 17th to the 21st.

This contest runs until August 31st and anyone who is at least 21 years of age is eligible to win this trip, which is valued at $10,000. If you do happen to win and have trouble coming up with a list of 9 friends, don't hesitate to drop LAS a line and we'll provide you with as many smart, semi-attractive, highly entertaining bodies that you might need.

Enter here.
[06.19.2007]


The 2007 running of the Portable Film Festival has sent out a call for entries. Material can be submitted for the festival until midnight (USA PST) on Friday, June 8th. As the organizers of the Australia-based festival put it, "whatever your nationality, age, skill level or background, the Portable Film Festival has a category to enter and an award to chase."

Centered on the short film format and using the evolving "web2.0" as its platform, the festival has dispensed with the stuffy, old-world idea of screening films in brick and mortar theaters; the venue is instead portable, video-capable electronic devices like iPods, tablet PCs, portable gaming consoles like the Sony PSP, and high-end mobile phones.

While anyone with a portable device (okay, or a plain old desktop computer) and a broadband connection can literally take the festival with them once it officially opens, the Portable Film Festival crew knows the value of a good old fashioned human get together. The five-person team (four guys and a girl) stages events in each of Australia's capital cities, including screenings (maybe they aren't so stuffy and old-world after all), parties, and their series of industry forums, the Portable Film Festival Symposium.

For 2007 the festival will be awarding more than $15,000 worth of prizes and awards to the best works in each of four categories:

.: Short Film
.: Music Video
.: Look At Me
.: First Hand Capture

For anyone interested in submitting a film for festival consideration, more information can be found here, along with detailed rules and guidelines for each of the four categories here. If you'd simply like to know when the festival opens and be kept up to speed on the latest developments, you can sign up for the event's newsletter here and cruise the website for other information.
[06.01.2007]


A call for entries for the 2007 Bicycle Film Festival has gone out, and the entry deadline has been extended to March 1st. More information on submitting a film to the festival can be found here, and for more information on the festival, listen in to an MP3 of a BBC interview with creator Brendt Barbur.

The traveling event, which takes place in cities around the globe, has also announced that the first dates for this year's circuit will take place in New York from May 16th to the 20th.

According to festival organizers, last year more than 35,000 people attended events in New York, Los Angeles, Minneapolis, Chicago, London, San Francisco, Sydney, Tokyo, and Milan.
[02.15.2007]


All unsigned DJs, emcees, producers and bands should head on over and register at bestmusiconcampus.com and get a chance to join the ranks of Definitive Jux (registration began Tuesday Nov. 28, ends Dec. 14).

It was only a matter of time before American Idol-esque projects hit cyberspace.

In mid-December, the powers that be behind the website will choose 25 promising entrants and from there the college audience will vote (begins Dec. 19, ends Jan. 19) and help determine the group or individual who'll win a deal with Def Jux, which includes a digital EP deal (okay, it's digital, but it's Def Jux - c'mon!), a video premiere on mtvU and mentoring from Mr. Lif. Lest any dropouts get the wrong idea, only unsigned hip hop solo artist or group with at least one member enrolled at an accredited college or university are eligible.
[12.05.2006]


Handmade Bicycles - With the ever-increasing spiral of fuel prices around the world the mainstream media coverage of alternative transportation has focused on the cutting-edge, big-business technologies like hybrid engines and hydrogen fuel cells. But there is also a growing movement in the direction of green personal mobility options, and where gadgets like the Segway highlight the fact that unconventional can sometimes mean impractical, a burgeoning group of bicycle artisans is stepping up to the plate with new takes on the traditional pedal-powered transport. Last month 86 of the premier frame builders from North America converged on San Jose, California for the North American Handmade Bicycle Show, turning the city by the bay into a two-wheeled mecca for those hoping make a move toward zero emissions without sacrificing their personal style.

With custom made bicycles, as with any high-end product, there is a focus on not only function but also form. Many of the bikes still hold the traditional double-triangle design form at their core, but as builders like Craig Calfee are taking even the most mundane elements in a new direction. Calfee's company, Calfee Design, has already made its mark as a producer of carbon fiber frames and the Santa Cruz builder put that experience to good use building the world's first sustainably-harvested frame, the aptly-named Bamboo Bike.

Standard bicycles, much like standard cars, are often not up to the task of moving us around along with the things we accumulate and use every day, and Massachusetts-based fabricator Mike Flanigan, known as "Ant Bike Mike," understands that problem. Flanigan's solution is the Frontaloadontome, a carryall delivery bike that fuses the mobility of a bicycle with the cargo simplicity of a cart. Flanigan's Alternative Needs Transportation specializes in delivery bikes but also delivers comfortable cruisers with antique chic like the Light Roadster.

From the eccentricities of imported Japanese bamboo tubing to the practicality of delivery bikes and the zip of bikes by boutique builders like Somerville, Massachusetts-based Independent Fabrications and Vanilla Cycles, run by Sacha White out of bike-centric Portland, Oregon, high-end bikes are breathing new life into a bicycle industry overrun with bulk retailers. Thanks to the convergence of international turmoil and peak oil with events like the North American Handmade Bicycle Show, the stagnation that reigned over the bike industry just a few years ago seems unlikely to return soon.
[05.08.2006]


Freecycle: Have you ever wondered what you should do with that old lawnmower, now that you have a new one? Is your basement, garage or attic full of stuff that works but isn't used anymore? Don't have time for a garage sale? Or maybe you're looking for a new dishwasher, laptop or pair of cowboy boots, but just don't have the time or money to buy one? Whatever you need or need to get rid of, this email-based waste reduction program is perfect and, best of all, it is completely free! With over 3,000 participating communities and a membership rapidly approaching 2 million, this revolutionary program is truly "changing the world one gift at a time."
[01.16.2006]


Emerging Green Builders: This grassroots organization of architects, planners, designers, builders and professionals is "intent on promoting the integration of future leaders into the green building movement." Through design contests focusing on environmental impact and efficiency, networking between industry and academic resources and organizational information for local EGB programs, this highly focused offshoot of the Green Builder's Coalition is working to blend the green of environment with the green of industry.
[07.24.2005]


People Powered Machines: Nearly every American, at some point, has had their snuggly Saturday morning hangover treatment disrupted by the obnoxious din of a lawnmower. Nothing ruins a perfectly serene moment quite the way the pocket Hercules of noise and air pollution that is a gas-powered lawnmower does. In fact, the detrimental effects of lawnmowers has been well documented; the United States' Environmental Protection Agency lists the emissions of key smog-forming particulates from a single lawnmower as equal to that of more than 40 modern passenger cars. To put it another way, running a Toro for an hour creates the same amount of air pollution as driving your Subaru 350 miles or so, roughly the distance from Chicago to Cleveland. Multiply that by the nearly 90 million small engines spread across just the United States and the problem is clear. The air, however, is not.

The solution? One of those old push mowers that Beaver Cleaver used to use, an efficient and quiet cylinder of rotating blades that is nothing but goodness. Not only does a human-powered mower eliminate the sheer tonnage of air pollution given off during backyard grooming sessions every summer, but it also tones the user's triceps, quadriceps and hamstrings. To top it all off, the cut from the mechanically simplistic push mower is cleaner than that of a gas mower - which breaks the blades of grass rather than cutting them - giving your grass a reason to stay green and infusing you with a healthy glow.
[05.02.2005]


Hybrid Cars: By now the novelty of a vehicle that doesn't slurp petroleum non-stop should have worn off. After all, the lines for the newest versions of hybrid cars - from the zippy Toyota Prius to the grandfatherly Honda Insight - far outreach those for Hummers. This all-inclusive website provides information on individual models as well as statistics on gas mileage, environmental impact and cutting edge technology.

With Honda's recent push into the market lead with gas/electric versions of its highly popular Civic and Accord models and other manufacturers following suit, the typically older, more educated, and more affluent hybrid driver will soon find plenty of company in line for a vehicle.

The success of the hybrid, fueled in part by perpetually increasing prices at the pump and an increased awareness in the public of environmental issues, has quickly spilled over from the compact import market into the SUV and light truck market. There will be more than 100,000 hybrids sold this year and with Lexus, Ford, Dodge and several makes of General Motors cars and trucks scheduled for launch within the next three years, more than two million fuel-efficient cars will be roaming the streets by 2008.
[03.29.2005]


Restoration Timber: Citing sources like old barns, abandoned schools, textile and paper mills, factories, warehouses and condemned homes, this California and New York-based company stockpiles exquisite, aged-to-perfection wood flooring, beams, siding, cabinetry and furniture for re-use.

Aside from fulfilling the credo "reduce, recycle, reuse" all around, reclaimed wood offers several advantages over newly harvested timber. For starters, it looks better. Over their lengthy lifetimes (most were made before the turn of the last century), wooden elements in houses, public and commercial buildings weather naturally, rich in grain and beautiful in color. Additionally, the trees of old-growth forests, which were used to manufacture early American wood products, were themselves hundreds of years old. The trees were allowed to grow and strengthen through the wonders of nature, providing far more stability than the more pliable, fast-growing trees used in today's commercial lumber mills.

While many of us lack the heart or muscle to cut down and mill a tree on our own, the lumbermen who felled America's old growth forests more than a century ago lacked neither. Don't let their toil and the work of nature go to waste.
[03.15.2005]


Sea Turtle Restoration Project: Through a strategy broad in scope and the work of professional conservationists and dedicated volunteers, this group is working to provide enduring protection for the world's endangered sea turtle populations.

The STRP addresses all of the contributing factors to sea turtle endangerment, working with local and international groups to not only outline protection plans but to also provide economic alternatives for communities whose livelihood depends on industries detrimental to sea turtles. The group also focuses heavily on education, with campaigns like their Turtles and Trade Program, which educates the public about the effects of international trade and economic globalization. STRP has furthered its educational reach with campaigns focused on mercury levels in seafood as well as the production of the documentary film Last Journey for the Leatherback?.
[03.01.2005]


Cedar Works: If you hate splinters, want to avoid dangerous, cancer-inducing chemicals and love to have fun outdoors, this environmentally sound wooden playground equipment manufacturer may be the perfect match for you.

What makes Cedar Works' swing and play sets so special? The company utilizes the light, soft, coarse grained wood of Thuja occidentalis, or Northern White Cedar as it is commonly known. Northern White Cedar is rot-resistant and, as a result, has commonly been used for fence posts and saunas. But it also provides excellent material for play sets that are sturdy and long-lasting and, thanks to the structure of the wood, is also as close to splinter-proof as you can get.

As an added bonus, CedarDesigner, the company's web-based design program, lets customers design their own playground sets custom-tailored to their needs. Utilizing precision cut materials, most Cedar Works sets can be assembled in the duration of a couple afternoon beers by even the challenged tool handler and, with a few in-the-field retrofits, can be used to yank a 350 small block engine in a pinch.
[02.22.2005]


Real Goods: Since their inception in the late 1970s, the sustainable-living home supplier and renewable energy pioneers at Real Goods have been proving the feasability of commercial success with eco-friendly products.

Founded in the hippie and artist mecca of Mendocino County, California, Real Goods put itself on the map by becoming the first supplier to the public of solar energy systems. The company's groundbreaking strides have continued ever since under the foresight of founder John Schaeffer, realizing a steady profit increase from a few thousand dollars to more than $20 million over only a twenty year span. Schaeffer continued pushing for new approaches to business, instituting a then relatively unheard of direct public stock offering to his customers in 1991.

Since going public, Real Goods has expanded its scope to include not only the sale of environmentally sound products - from solar panels and garden composters to greywater recycling systems and non-toxic household cleaners - but also the dissimenation of sustainable living techniques and information through its own Institute For Solar Living.
[02.02.2005]


Ecological Footprint: We live in one of the most massively inefficient societies in history. The average ecological footprint for Americans is 24 - that's the number of acres required to sustain a person's lifestyle. Even as a vegetarian bicyclists who recycles incessantly, conserves resources and consumes hyper-consciously, in America your footprint is 14 acres. There is a finite amount of biologically useful land worldwide, and right now it equates to less than 5 acres per person. We are consuming ourselves to death.

Why should you be worried? Excessive energy and resource consumption in the United States has led to massive deforestation and pollution. The planet on which we live is a wholly functioning organism: once certain elements are destroyed or contaminated, there are micro-reactions that extend into the greater ecosystem. Once natural resources in the United States are threatened or eliminated, the consumptive eye turns toward the rest of the world. American corporations and consumers are the number one force behind behind the rapid expansion of deforestation, pollution and ecological destruction in the Western Hemisphere. To preserve American forests, we decimate timber areas in Canada and South America.
[08.16.2004]


Return of the Wolf: A "trophic cascade" is the term that biologists use to explain the domino effect that individual variables often have on the larger picture of an ecosystem. The term has traditionally been used in well-documented cases of change in aquatic ecosystems, where food chains are generally more distinguishable and the influence of variable components is more clearly documented The reintroduction of the gray wolf to Yellowstone Park in the mid 1990s has sparked a tropic cascade of its own, however, and the implications have biologists howling.

After higher-level predators were removed from the natural environment of the American west (wolves were on the brink of extinction by 1880) by wholesale slaughter there was a noticeable shift in the balance of previously healthy ecosystems. Without the checks-and-balances that nature had previously provided, other animals such as elk and deer began decimating the populations of other flora and fauna, completely indirectly. Unchecked, these large herbivores threw the delicate environment off balance by over grazing, their expanding numbers ravaging both meadows and forested areas. Native species of plants, from the picturesque aspen, willow and cottonwood trees to the delicate grasses and flowers such as Indian Paintbrush, were either trampled or grazed down to bare earth.

The loss of the wolves and other predators set off a chain reaction that continues to devastate the immediate and greater biosphere. Without the diversity of plant life to support the various components, the ecosystem began to break down. Just one element of the broader picture, saplings were destroyed, allowing invasive trees to populate forested areas, which in turn drove smaller mammals such as beaver out. Without the contribution of the beaver dams to the health of the river systems, water quality changed and erosion increased, driving off many species of predatory birds and fish which lead, in turn, to the decimation of many more plant species.

Although the balance of the greater Yellowstone ecosystem has been seriously compromised, the decade since the reintroduction of the gray wolf has resulted in a noticeable return to normalcy. Thanks to the canine hunters, elk populations have returned to more traditional grazing and calving grounds, many dwindling tree species have been given a chance to recover, and the dominos have begun to replace themselves. The reintroduction of the gray wolf to Yellowstone has provided a key example of the interdependency of both small and large scale ecosystems and a crucial document to the importance of conservation.
[07.05.2004]


Wild Aid: Direct Action and Direct Results: While substantial scientific data clearly states the direness of many animal and plant species' population numbers, the illegal wildlife trade - estimated to be worth $6 billion a year - continues unchecked in large portions of Asia, Africa and South America. While weak or un-enforceable legislation often pacifies the public, traffickers in the pelts of exotic bears, cats and even trees push many organisms near extinction. Only the illegal trades in drugs and arms are thought to be more profitable than the illegal wildlife trade.

Wild Aid provides direct protection for wildlife in danger through innovative solutions to conservation threats that are credible, efficient, cost-effective, and deliver direct and measurable results. The organization, founded only a few years ago through collaboration between amateur and professional conservationists from a variety of fields, is headquartered in San Francisco with offices in Vladivostok, Phnom Penh, Bangkok, London, Washington, D.C., and New York City. The efficiency of multiple locations is only part of what goes into achieving Wild Aid's five goals: to decimate the illegal wildlife trade in our lifetimes , to bring wildlife conservation to the top of the international agenda , to effectively and affordably protect wilderness areas, to ensure that endangered species populations rebound, and to enable people and wildlife to survive together.

The group's frontline programs address the entire trade cycle, from poaching to smuggling to consumption, rather than carrying out additional research to simply reproduced established results. Wild Aid reduces poaching by protecting parks and helping local communities find economic alternatives to poaching. The organization retrains former poachers, rebels and military men, fighting the illegal trade through specialized wildlife police units, lowering demand for wildlife products by raising awareness and changing consumer behavior.
[06.01.2004]


Stop Waste: Bring Back Hemp: Before the Marijuana Tax Act of 1937, which pushed hemp out of the marketplace and made it that much easier to ban outright, hemp products (industrial/fiber, food, and medicines) were standard fare in the United States. After WWII the Dupont chemical company (who wanted to secure market space for their new product, nylon), Samuel Hearst and major timber companies (who wanted to promote tree-based paper) and other emerging business tycoons joined up with the U.S. government to push the cannabis plant into the underground. Not surprisingly, the director of the Federal Bureau of Narcotics (Harry Angslinger), was related to a man named Andrew Mellon, who was both a banker for Dupont and Secretary of the Treasury for the US government. Surprise!

Why should you be worried? Regardless of your stance on marijuana (which comes from a cannabis cousin but is not the same as hemp), the whole plant can be used commercially. Easily renewable and requiring far fewer resources than wood pulp or even soy, virtually the entire plant can be converted into useful products. Back in February of 1938, Popular Mechanics magazine called hemp the billion dollar crop with 25000 uses. Hemp provides a exceptionally nutritional seed and seed oil (both edible and industrial uses), as well as a variety of versatile fibers. The cannabis plant has proved vital to the survival of industry and economy during times of hardship in the past, and virtually every environmental study from the past few decades has forecasted dire agricultural/social conditions in the future.
(Also check out www.hempreport.com, www.cannabis.com/ and www.abouthemp.com.
[04.20.2004]


NRDC Mercury Report: In their March newsletter the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC) reported on yet another environmental atrocity put forward by the Bush administration. According to the report, Bush's newest proposal allows commercial industries to increase the levels of mercury output by nearly 700%, a complete reversal from a Clinton administration plan to reduce mercury emissions by 90% before 2007. The main source of mercury is the nation's 1100+ coal-fired power plants whose emissions, through a process similar to acid rain, pollute our water sources. 

Why should you be worried? Seventeen states already restrict fishing because of mercury contamination in every lake or stream within their borders, and the FDA recently issued strict warnings to pregnant women and nursing mothers against eating more than two servings of fish per week because of high levels of mercury in fish. Mercury contamination is known to cause mental retardation, learning disabilities and attention disorders.
[04.05.2004]