On the road with
The Buried Life boys
July 2007 | On Our Radar
Have Cause, Will Travel
On July 7th, Live Earth — one of the biggest concert events to hit the planet — will bring Al Gore’s climate-crisis message to millions of music-lovers, with 24 hours of live performances simulcasting from New York, London, Johannesburg, Rio, Shanghai, Tokyo, Sydney, Hamburg and Istanbul. While Live Earth may be the biggest and baddest of them all, it’s certainly not the summer’s only party with a purpose. Check out these nifty message-driven tours coming soon to a venue near you:
THE EAT WELL GUIDED TOUR OF AMERICA This summer, Sustainable Table, The Meatrix and the Eat Well Guide are celebrating sustainable foods by visiting farms, farmer’s markets and restaurants that serve local fare. The tour kicks off August 2nd in Hollywood, then travels up the coast and across the states (in a veggie bus of course). See if they’re visiting your town or follow along on their blog at SustainableTable.org/roadtrip.
30 DAYS OF PEACE Launching on the anniversary of September 11th and running 30 days (ending on the birthday of Daniel Pearl — the journalist who was kidnapped and killed while investigating Al Qaeda), the 30 Days of Peace initiative unites peace organizations around the world, with events and online media. There’s also a Gandhi music tour and a 30-day non-stop prayer vigil. CultureOfPeace.org.
SUSTAINABLE LIVING ROADSHOW With off the grid eco-festivals, eco-fashion shows, community action projects, alternative medicine workshops and educational seminars on topics ranging from solar energy to biofuel, this pack of travel bugs cruises the nation in CleanFuel Caravans to inspire communities to “live in more direct sustainable harmony with the earth.” For their 2007 tour route visit SustainableLivingRoadshow.org.
THE BURIED LIFE What’s on your list of things you want to do before you die? Skydiving? Getting a tattoo? Falling in love? This summer, four young Canadians are roadtripping across America, determined to cross 100 goals off their lists, while documenting their journey on film. The best part: they’re challenging everyone they meet along the way to do the same. Chart their success and offer support at TheBuriedLife.com.
—Jenny Rough
Adventures in Wonderlund
Think fairy-tale lands only exist in a child’s imagination? After a trip up the coast to Santa Barbara’s Bjorklund Ranch, you might reconsider your disbelief in magic. Nestled on 10 acres of rolling green foothills, Rob and Roxanne Bjorklund’s quirky, rustic homestead is a welcome respite from the grit and chaos of city life. Here, on the property their family’s resided on for generations, the Bjorklunds have crafted a peaceful sanctuary that respects and reveres the natural world.
Accommodations consist of a Swedish summer cabin and two spacious yurts. What exactly is a yurt, you ask? It’s essentially a round tent-like structure, built over a wooden lattice. Think of it as ultra-luxurious camping, with running water, comfy hand-hewn furniture and none of the creepy crawlies that come with sleeping on the ground.
The 700-square-foot Big Yurt features a full kitchen, claw foot bathtub, deck-side tiki bar and... a trapeze. (Yes, you read that correctly.) The smaller Lalu Yurt offers a full kitchen, a gorgeous Mediterranean-themed bathhouse and astounding views from its wrap-around deck. The cozy and quiet Swedish summer cabin (listed as the “Peachtree House” on their website) boasts an outdoor shower and picturesque views of the fruit orchard. In keeping with the Bjorklund’s earth-friendly philosophy, much of the accoutrements — like the decks, flooring and bathhouses — are lovingly fashioned from recycled and reclaimed materials found out in the wilds of the Santa Barbara foothills and beyond.
Take a dip in the hot tub and indulge in an in-room massage after a day of swimming and hiking trails enchanted with hidden art installations. If getting your hands dirty sounds like a good time, join in Rob’s onsite sawmill school (he makes beautiful furniture and flooring from reclaimed wood) or hop in the back of his truck for a “safari” down to the creek.
However you choose to spend your time at Bjorklund Ranch, it’s sure to be a magical experience.
Bjorklund Ranch. 1900 N. San Marcos Rd., Santa Barbara, CA 93111. 805.705.1154. bjorklundranch.com
—Jessica Ridenour
Be A Force of Nature
Children are natural collectors, and playing cards are as old as civilization. That’s the basic idea behind Xeko, an eco-trading card game that launched on Earth Day 2006 (xeko.com).
Xeko features rare, collectable cards in the vein of Pokemon. But in this game, the gorgeous cards are printed with soy ink on 100 percent post consumer recycled paper — and the determining factor for card rarity is based on the animal’s endangered status. One of the scarcest cards, the hairy-eared dwarf lemur, is so imperiled that scientists once considered it extinct. In game play, cards link together to create an ecosystem. Each animal has different properties that children can put to use in “turf wars.” Xeko rewards strategy: it’s possible to lose every turf war and still win the game.
Xeko creator Amy Tucker hopes that lessons learned while having fun, will create positive change for years to come: “I like to believe the next E.O. Wilson is playing Xeko. I hope that our next great thought leaders are playing this game.” — Paul Constant
Don’t just get mad… get active
Has too much cubicle time made you forget what trees and sky look like? We shouldn’t have to tell you that the warm glow of a computer screen is no substitute for good, old-fashioned natural sunlight. This month, in the thick of summer, give “Get Active” a whole new meaning… by actually getting active and getting back to nature with these outdoor volunteer opportunities. Heck, you might even get a little exercise and a hearty dose of vitamin D while you’re at it. Just don’t forget the SPF.
lacorps.org The SEA Lab in Redondo Beach is seeking volunteers who don’t mind getting their hands dirty transplanting, watering, collecting seeds and doing beach clean-ups.
treemusketeers.org Kids and young adults are invited to be leaders of environmental and social change by planting, documenting and caring for trees in the South Bay.
ballonafriends.org Help restore the Ballona Wetlands the fourth Saturday of every month by removing iceplant and other invasive, non-native plants and replacing them with native species.
healthebay.org Heal the Bay offers a wide variety of volunteer opportunities, ranging from beach clean-ups and emergency response to office work, street teams, community outreach and more. — Jessica Ridenour
Worth Repeating
“Listening to a familiar song that you like activates the same parts of the brain as eating chocolate, having sex or taking opiates. There really is a sex, drugs and rock-and-roll part of the brain.”
— Author Daniel J. Levitin explaining the universal appeal of Beatles songs (WashingtonPost.com, 6/1).
“Casey died for a country that cares more about who will be the next American Idol than how many people will be killed in the next few months while Democrats and Republicans play politics with human lives.”
— Beleaguered peace activist Cindy Sheehan , whose son Casey was killed in Iraq, on why she is giving up anti-war activism (DailyKos.com, 5/28).
“One way to beat the system is: take care of yourself. But you don’t have to do a lot. If you just moved around a little bit, turned the TV off and ate a few things differently, you could avoid the nightmare that awaits so many people enter[ing] the healthcare system in this country. We’re behind Costa Rica in healthcare and just ahead of Slovenia. That should be an embarrassment to most Americans.”
— Director Michael Moore, whose new film Sicko exposes the corruption in the health care industry, in a live interview with Bill Maher (youtube.com, 5/30).
“The Spanish parliament is considering a bill to extend ‘fundamental moral and legal protections’ to apes. Once apes achieve these protections, American humans are going to want them too. I’m thinking food, shelter and medical-veterinary care.”
— Barbara Ehrenreich commenting on a chimpanzee’s court petition for human status. The animal sanctuary where “Haisl” lives is out of funds, and only humans can receive personal donations in Austria ( TheNation.com , 5/8/07).
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