The Oath, Mercedes Veggie Car, The Train & 350 Day Almost Had a Party

Greetings!

In last month’s email I talked about the oath of non-violence (http://itakethevow.com/home) and debated between keeping my Honda mini-van and buying a veggie oil car. Regarding the oath of non-violence, I promised I would let you know this month whether I took it (see below). Some of you wrote back and said that you signed up online - That was cool to hear! Regarding my car, I happened to find the most amazing used Mercedes Benz for sale in Jamaica Plain which is only about 30 minutes from my home in Somerville, MA. Now I was thinking that I would need to buy a used Mercedes and then convert the engine to run on veggie oil. This one (for auction on eBay for $5,000) was already converted so I must admit I got excited. And apparently there is a place called Allston Grease Monkeys in Allston, MA where they convert engines AND sell filtered veggie oil (how great is that?)! Long story short, I wanted to see the car before I bid on it, drive it and see what it felt like. So I contacted the woman selling it and we set up a time. The day I was supposed to go, she took it for a drive around the block and the steering got stuck so she called to say not to come and that she would get it fixed first and then call me back. So, I was a little bummed, but I’m still hopeful. In the meantime, I’m looking into other used Mercedes Benzs that can be converted on eBay. I think I’m ready to take this plunge! ;)

Originally I was going to sell my Honda mini-van in order to pay for the Mercedes Benz. Now, however, I think I’m going to hold on to my Honda through the Winter (because apparently veggie cars have a little trouble in the cold, although they still run on diesel fuel so I don’t see why they wouldn’t just run fine on the diesel. Anyone know?). I’m going to use my Honda to cart around me and my friends (Natalia Zukerman, Meg Hutchinson and Antje Duvekot) for a Holiday Tour we are doing called “Winterbloom: Holiday Traditions Rearranged” where we sing some holiday music (and hopefully you’ll sing along!), our own songs and even some new originals we wrote just for the tour. We even made a record: http://www.marketmonkeys.com/winterbloom/order.html - isn’t that crazy? We made it in two days at WERS here in Boston. It was so much fun and I’m actually proud of how it turned out. And now we are heading out on a 15-day club tour in the Midwest and New England with stops at some really cool radio shows like NPR’s “Mountainstage” and WFUV.

So, back to the oath...I’ve known about the oath of non-violence for at least 6 months now, but I wasn’t able to take the oath. I would read what it meant (and I realize that it is completely up to each individual’s interpretation) but for me, I felt like if I was still regularly polluting the environment through my travels and not as aware as I could be about where my food came from and the effects it had on the environment, in a way I was still committing violence against the environment. So, while I could agree to not be directly violent against people (not shoot them, hit them, call them really bad mean names), indirectly my actions could still cause harm (as in pollution leading to people having asthma or cancer or whatever comes from that). SO, I’m inserting a smiley face here ☺ in case this sounds too heavy. Here’s another one ☺ I don’t intend for it to sound heavy, I’m just explaining the background of how I became more fired up about taking some action. THEN, I saw the new movie “The Age of Stupid” (http://www.ageofstupid.net) this is an amazing film that shows people all over the world and the actions they have taken to help the environment and the actions others have taken (unknowingly and knowingly) to harm the environment. I was particularly struck by the story about Shell Oil and a country in Africa where they had made a home and promised to build hospitals and learning centers to be fair to the peoples’ whose oil they were taking out of their country (actually paying the government, but the government didn’t let any of the money go to the people who actually lived on top of the oil). At one point, there was a dispute about ownership of some land between Shell Oil and the indigenous people who lived on the land so the government just came in and killed everyone. Now, the movie makes clear that Shell itself did not do this but it also explains that it's possible that they may not have done enough to prevent this type of behavior (I’m just repeating what I saw in the movie, please don't hurt me big oil company!). So, anyway, see the movie for yourself and decide. In a nutshell, whatever exactly went down, I am tired of putting gasoline in my car.

Taking the train from Boston to Seattle: So here’s the other thing I learned in this movie. Thank God this is a blog and not in my email right? Apparently, the earth can only sustain 1 ton of carbon emissions per year from each person on the planet in order to sustain life (I hope I have this right). A one way flight from London to New York emits 3.5 tons of carbon (per person or per flight? - this I need to find out!) so you get the point, right? I know I'm polluting way more than my share of what the earth can sustain. Luckily, not everyone in the world flies yet, although airline companies are working toward making this happen. Now, I’m not sure how soon there will be electric planes, but I'm imagining it won't be happening in the next few months so... I've decided to take the train from Boston to Seattle for my February west coast tour. Stay tuned for more on this! Should I get a sleeper car?

Here are some more informative websites:

http://notstupid.org/cut-emissions (this guy is awesome, he breaks it down!)

http://www.1010global.org/

I almost had a party: Some of you may know that Oct 24th was 350 day. People had parties all over the world (you can see pictures here: http://www.350.org/) to spread the word about capping emissions. so i was going to have a party too. frank and i tried to order the environmental thriller, the "age of stupid" and have friends over to watch that movie, but it wasn't available in the US yet. so, he ordered "who killed the electric car" online, but it didn't come in time for the party, so i didn't have a party at all. what did i do for 350 day? i'll tell you: i celebrated 350 day by forcing myself to not buy a $100 desk made in china at target, but instead purchasing a desk for $125 made in somerville, ma (where i live) from wood in vermont. i have to be honest. i resisted doing this at first because i wasn't sure where to find the locally made desk. ALSO it was raining and i was very crabby, but in the end, once i bought the locally made desk, i felt very happy and i know it won't fall apart. yay! i'm picking it up today!

sorry i went from regular writing to all lower case. not sure why...

it just happened ;)

have a great week!

anne