Vino Green-o
This Earth Day, raise your glass to French rabbit — a vintage wine that comes in a high-tech container. Organic, biodynamic and sustainably harvested, French rabbit’s 100 percent recyclable, lightweight “Tetra-Prisma” package makes it the perfect choice for the grape drinking greenie on the go. The TetraPak (made from paperboard, aluminum foil and plastic) holds two more glasses of wine while toting lighter and in less space than your average wine bottle. And although we can’t confirm or deny the results of their number crunchers, the FR folks claim this newfangled system reduces packaging by 90 percent, cutting down on the environmental costs of shipping and distribution. To seal the deal, French rabbit has partnered with nonprofit American Forests, pledging to plant a tree for every four containers sold.
Grapes in French rabbit’s catalog — which includes pinot noir, chardonnay, merlot, cabernet sauvignon and their family reserve — are harvested in the Languedoc Roussillion region along France’s southern coast. Before tightening the cap, keep the wine fresh by raising the rabbit ears (found on either side of the TetraPak) and squeezing out any extra air. But just a tip: be careful trying this at home, especially after consuming a few glasses and with a brand new rug under your kitchen table. Oh la vache!
— Jenny Rough
V.I.B. (Very Important Bikers)
Five thousand people swarm the bustling farmer’s market in Santa Monica each Sunday. If anything compares to the hassle of securing a parking space in the Main Street/Ocean Park neighborhood during market hours, it’s the equally impossible hunt for a free bike rack spot, signpost or meter to lock a bike to. But leave it to the same market that went “zero waste” last year to successfully implement a “zero emissions” traffic solution: valet bike parking. The pilot program, parented by the city of Santa Monica and the LA County Bicycle Coalition, accommodated over two hundred bikers each Sunday last summer and is now a permanent fixture at the market. Big thanks to the city for reserving nine parking spaces from 8am to 1:30pm each Sunday, and to Coalition volunteers for peopling the program.
— Jolia Sidona Allen
Soul Train
Anyone can sit down with peace leaders on the Peace Train
Presidents and political candidates used to embark upon whistle-stop train tours to drum up support for their campaigns and political agendas. But in a year when the government seems — unbelievably — on the precipice of yet more military involvement in the Middle East, maybe it’s time for peace, not politics, to take to the tracks.
The Association for Global New Thought, a progressive think-tank based in Santa Barbara, CA, has partnered with the M.K. Gandhi Institute for Nonviolence and an inspiring group of cultural and spiritual leaders to create a literal whistle-stop train tour along the California coast.
Departing from LA’s Union Station on April 18th, the specially restored chartered railroad coaches will act as the meeting venue for discussions, teach-ins, music and guided meditations. Average Joes and Jills interested in the peace movement can sit next to peace leaders and shoot the breeze about making the world a better place. They’ll get to powwow with Arun Gandhi (the grandson of the peaceful crusader himself), Yolanda King (daughter of Martin Luther King, Jr.), Ela Gandhi, a former member of Parliament in South Africa, Paul F. Chavez of the National Farm Workers Service Center, Dolores Huerta of the AFL-CIO, Bernard LaFayette, Jr. from the Center for Nonviolence and Peace Studies, and Brother David Steindl-Rast, a Viennese religious philosopher who works for Buddhist-Christian dialogue. “A classroom on wheels is an exciting way to interact with people and teach them a philosophy based on love, compassion, respect and understanding,” says Dr. Arun Gandhi.
If it sounds a little insular, think again: anyone can register to come along. “The idea of having the living leaders of the nonviolent social change movement together in one place is cause enough for celebration and awe,” says Barbara Fields, who’s spent a year helping to orchestrate the Peace Train. “But now we’ve added to the equation the community of grassroots nonviolence activists who will take the movement into its future.” During the 350-mile train trip to San Jose, the convoy will stop at towns along the way to chat with community leaders. By the time the locomotive workshop and “beehive”-style teach-in returns to LA, participants will have taken part in discussions on interfaith healing, youth leadership, nonviolent policy change, the environment, family and schools — a complete foundation for building a culture of nonviolence.
“Gandhi used every means possible to approach his goal,” continues Arun Gandhi. “A ‘Peace Train’ seems an ideal way to attract people.”
To catch a ride or learn more, visit: agnt.org/peacetrain
— Lucinda Michele Knapp
Worth Repeating
“I do not support Roe versus Wade. It should be overturned.”
— Republican presidential candidate John McCain attempting to woo conservative voters at a Spartanburg, SC rally by speaking against a woman’s right to choose, 2/18 (AP).
“If you set the hurdle one inch above the ground you can’t fail to clear it.”
— David D. Doniger , director of climate policy for the Natural Resources Defense Council, mocking Pres. Bush’s inadequate goals for reducing CO2 emissions (New York Times, 3/3).
“As much as we appreciate alternative media, 20-somethings cannot depend solely on YouTube and Steven Colbert to activate our political involvement. Our cynicism may be well-founded, but we should not discount the pre-digital past and those who pounded the pavement before gel soles cushioned their steps.”
— Heather Scheiwe , 24, on the value of heroes (Minneapolis-St. Paul Star Tribune, 2/19).
“If the Walton family (Wal-Mart) or the heirs to the Mars fortune needed the news media to work better than it does now, believe me, it would work better. But the system is working just fine for them as is. The people it’s failing are the rest of us, and most of the rest of us, apparently, would rather sniff Anna Nicole Smith’s corpse or watch Britney Spears hump a fire hydrant than find out what our tax dollars are actually paying for.”
— Matt Taibbi on news media that barely mentions the impending havoc from Pres. Bush’s proposed permanent repeal of the Estate Tax, and a public that doesn’t seem to care (RollingStone.com, 2/20).
