A few simple steps...

Tired of problems without solutions? Do you want to help, but don't know what to do? Are you frustrated by everyone blaming problems on the government or corporations without proposing answers?

I want to try the opposite. I would like to propose some simple changes you can make in your life. Then I'll explain how these simple changes can improve you, your community, and your world. Changing the world is daunting and near impossible, but making small changes in our daily lives is quite manageable.

Do you want to fight the power, to stick it to the man? Do you hope to change politics and economics? Are you trying to rebel against corporations? Are you tired of being sick and sick of being tired? Do you want to really improve the world for your children? Starting, any or all of these, is simple. As simple as:

1. Buy local & organic...
2. Cook your food...
3. Find alternatives to driving...

The first step, buying local and organic food, probably means changing where you shop. For maximum effect, it means giving up the big-box retailers and switching to a smaller retailer or local market. Giving up the huge parking lot aught to be reason enough to change. Knowing your local grocers and farmers is fullfilling. It's a satisfying experience to feel like part of your community. And all the while you'll be avoiding industrial food. This means not giving your money to big corporations and not letting their chemicals make you sick. That in turn brings better health, both in the short and long terms. Obesity is far less an issue with real food as are problems from diabetes to depression and even cancer. Local & organic foods are good for the environment and reduce global warming and pollution. There's less oil used when you don't transport foods from around the world, and fewer chemicals get into our ground water, air, and into the food itself.

If you drink coffee then buying fair-trade organic coffee is the first place to start. Commercial coffee is one of the single most dangerous crops in the world. The pollution it causes, due to chemicals and treating, is staggering. Coffee is responsible for a lot of rainforest destruction and a lot of economic misery. The children of coffee farmers often die of malnutrition. Foreign corporations control how farmers farm, where planting just a few food crops, into the same precious soil, could save their families. Making different choices breaks the chain of corporate greed, hurts unjust governments, and improves the lives of farmers (and their children) around the world.

Cooking is a tradition most of us have lost. But thankfully not too long ago. There are probably still a few pots and pans hidden away in your kitchen. Learning to cook is easy and fun. It can bring families closer together, make meal times more social, and of course cooking all that wholesome locally grown organic food will make you healthier. What's the catch?

Sorry to say, for most of us, the catch to "cooking" means giving up fast food and canned drinks. This is harder for some than for others, but truly critical. Rainforest destruction, health issues with processed and frozen foods, corporate abuses, unfair marketing to children, constant cavities; all these can be avoided just by cooking your own food. And this will improve your happiness too. The preparation time, the family sharing, the connection it builds between you and your food, and the improved health that comes from eating real food; all these go into making you feel better and happier. And, the rebelious act of cooking your own food pulls control of your life out of the hands of others and gives it back to you. Cooking is so much more than changing food. It can change the world.

I grew up in a North American subburb where it felt like life didn't really begin until you could drive. Sure, as 15 year olds we would ride our bikes to the mall, but not as 17 year olds. As an adult, I recall leaving the office with coworkers to go for dinner, where 5 people got in 5 cars, drove across the road and parked. Clearly walking the short distance was preferable.

Your physical abilities are a "use it or loose it" proposition. Don't take little walks, and later you won't be able to. So start thinking of ways you can move your body. And start to bike, and use the bus. Chances are the buses in your locality go "downtown", to where the smaller (local) shops and business are. Take the bus to the farmers market and get to know the butcher, the baker, and the bus fare taker.

Use alternative transportation and you change the world. You change the need to import oil from war-torn regions far away. You change the controls that corporations and energy companies have over you. You pollute less, move your body more, spend some time outdoors and feel happier and healthier for these experiences. When you look at your daily routines, ask yourself which trips you could make better, but making them without the car.

Lower your stress, stop war, live longer, help children in poor countries, improve your heart and reduce your risk of cancer, reduce pollution to your drinking water and stop corporations from taking control of your life... the list goes on and on. There are lots and lots of problems in the world, and you can begin to fight many of them by making a few small changes at home. You benefit, I benefit, the whole world benefits when we all start working together.

So I invite you, I beg you, let's rebel. Let's start a new way of thinking and acting. Let us simply choose to eat better food, to cook what we eat, and to consider whether or not you need to drive. Once begun, these changes feedback on themselves. Feeling healthier makes you want better food and to move more. Eating better and moving more make you feel healthier. The cycle spreads outwards and helps others. And starting is as simple as: buy local and organic foods, cook them yourself, and find other ways to travel.

I Can Choose

Former British Prime Minister Tony Blair is now an ecology consultant. He is a partner in a venture capital project to use sea water to sequester carbon from power generation. As I watched his brief interview on TV, I thought "cool". He described how India and China were continuing to build new coal plants, and that Western coal-fired plants would continue to operate well into the future, thus carbon sequestering is vital technology and needs development.

In my opinion, carbon sequestering is a problematic idea. Ideally we would use non-fossil fuels for our energy needs. However, given that the continued burning of fossil fuels is a certainty, trapping carbon is required.

And then Tony said," You will never get people to stop driving their cars. You will never get consumers to stop consuming." At this, my heart sank.

A great world leader has just said "technology is the only answer" because "people can't change." At least that's how I heard it. And I really must voice my opinion to the contrary. I think we must start talking now, about how to change ourselves and our society, so that our future is about both new energy technologies and new energy attitudes.

Take, for example, bicycles and public transit as alternatives to cars. In North America I was a gas-guzzling lead-footed car guy. In Holland I love my bicycles! And I'm not the only one. Here, most of my expat friends walk or tram or ride, but don't drive.

Check out this incredible video. It is the morning rush hour in downtown Utrecht, Netherlands.



Isn't that beautiful? At that intersection 30,000 riders go past every day. That's 30,000 trips without a car! Bikes and buses have lanes and roads reserved just for them. And to quote the video's source, cycling in the Netherlands is THIRTY times safer than in the U.S.A.

Is this a technology issue? Is bicycle technology in North America just not up to par? Is it a resource issue? Is Canada lacking in bike lanes because of a lack of space? Of course not.

I think now is the time we must choose. We can choose to change. We can choose new attitudes and new ways. Or we can choose to depend on dinosaurs; and ultimately follow in their path.

I hope all the best for Tony and his technology. I really do. But I really believe he's wrong about what people are capable of. At least, I hope he is.

How to start a car with a dead battery

We've all been there. You arrive to your car, turn the key, and hear nothing. Perhaps a clicking sound if you're lucky. Either way, your car battery is dead and this is wholly bad for what ever plans you had to drive some where.

Last night, as we were leaving the pool, two young guys had just this problem. I thought they had it handled, pushing the car apparently to get it started. But moments later they were opening the hood and staring blankly at the engine.

So I walked over and offered "help getting it started" to which they said "we don't have cables". I asked if the car had a manual or automatic transmission and they said automatic. Yep, they were DOA and going no where fast.

But wait, I looked inside the car and pointed out to the owner that it was actually a manual transmission. He looked at me like I was an engine... blankly. I asked why we don't just use the five guys still there and push it started? More blank. Finally his friend caught on, asked if I knew how to do that, then handed me the keys and opened the driver's door for me.

On the second attempt the engine sputtered. On the third try it coughed, sputtered, wheezed then slowly woke up and came to life. Problem solved.

The confusion over the type of transmission I take as a Dutch-English language thing. But not only did the car owner not know how to start his car, no one else did either. My students were shocked and asked me how I learned "so much about cars". LOL! This ignorance must end.

So, for your future use, I present the steps to starting a car without a battery.

1. You'll need one car with a manual transmission, one driver, and two strong people.
2. You'll also need a straight, short (50 yards) space to push the car through. Any parking lot or side street will do.
3. Have the driver sit in the car with the key turned to "run", the gearbox in first gear, and the clutch pushed in.
4. Have the human battery substitutes push the car forward to a jogging pace.
5. The driver should yell for the pushers to stand clear and then drop the clutch while giving a small bit of throttle. As soon as the engine catches, put the clutch back in and give it the gas. It's started and will begin charging the battery immediately.

There are variations on the technique. If you can only push the car backwards, put the gearbox in reverse rather than first. If you have a hill, this can be done as a solo project. Pushing the dead car with a running one isn't recommended. Leave this for drunken rednecks.

If your battery was dead and started by cables or push starting, take it for a 30 minute drive to charge the battery back up. Idling for 30 minutes does not do the same thing.

Sadly, automatic transmissions, manu-matics and other variations don't work. But hopefully the next time you or a friend has a dead battery, you'll be able to help by using the push start technique.