Helping the Homeless in San Diego

Helping the Homeless in San Diego

Helping the homeless in San Diego, 1stSaturdays.org, is an organization based in the San Diego area. Comprised of a group of friends, and friends of friends, they get together on the 1st Saturday of every month. Together they distribute clothes, supplies, personal items, and food and drinks to the homeless in San Diego. The group is not associated or affiliated with any groups or organizations. Just friends and neighbors helping friends and neighbors!

Isn't that the way it's suppose to be?



According to 1stSaturdays.org the 1st goal of the organization is to help the homeless community in San Diego. The 2nd goal is to add positive energy and love into the world and into our lives at the same time. So give a shout if you have something that can help out another.

You can check them out here:
http://www.1stsaturdays.org/

“A beautiful bowl of glory”: Rancho Gordo’s Steve Sando on beans, trade, and the tortilla project

(via The Ethicurian)

Steve Sando (right) with Félix Martinez Gomez and his family, near Cuicatlan, Oaxaca. They grow chilhuacle chiles, essential to so many Oaxacan dishes but rare now thanks to several years of disturbed weather patterns.

International trade can wreak havoc on small farmers and the global food culture: impoverishing peasants, destroying old ways of cooking, and reducing biodiversity. Now and then, however, international trade can have the opposite effect, building up farmers instead of rolling over them, preserving heritage foods instead of flooding the fields with a few varieties from big agribusiness.

Rancho Gordo's Xoxoc Project (pronounced 'sho-shoc,' a word derived from the prickly pear cactus called xoconostle) is one of these rare positive stories about how trade can help small farmers and food artisans. (Grist writer Tom Philpott has some excellent pieces, such as this one, about the negative effects of trade on Mexican farmers and Mexican society.)

Gabriel Cortés Garcia and Yunuén Carrillo Quiroz, founders of Xoxoc

The collaboration with the already established Xoxoc company started when Steve Sando, the founder and owner of the Rancho Gordo New World Specialty Food company, was on one of his frequent trips to Mexico. Always looking for interesting heirloom beans to plant in California and sell to his devoted customers (who include me), one of his contacts told him that he should meet with the Xoxoc collaborative. Sando’s contact was right: Xoxoc led him to interesting beans like Zarco, from Quanajuato, and Ayocote Morado, from Hildago. But he realized that his plan to bring beans back as seed for planting in California wasn’t the best approach — importing beans directly from the Mexican farmers would be better. That way, the farmers could get a good price for their crop and continue to plant heirloom varieties, and his company would get a reliable supply of the beans in the near term. As the project matured, Rancho Gordo added new products to the Xoxoc Project line, including omega-3 rich chia seeds, a Mexican oregano that he calls “oregano indio.” (Although it is probably not related to European oregano, as I explained in a post for Mental Masala.)

The most recent initiative from Rancho Gordo is the tortilla project. Rancho Gordo buys dried heirloom corn from the bean farmers involved in the Xoxoc project, imports it, then has the La Palma tortillaria in San Francisco’s Mission District make fresh tortillas to sell at the Ferry Plaza Farmers Market and the Rancho Gordo store in Napa. I've tried them several times and they are delicious -- full of corn flavor, lacking that unappetizing chemical aroma emitted by so many commercial brands. And it feels good to be supporting small farmers and heirloom corn varieties.

I first met Steve a few years ago during the infamous Carlo Petrini dust-up in San Francisco (covered by Bonnie at the Ethicurean) and I run into him here and there in the Bay Area at farmers markets, the Eat Real Festival in Oakland, and at his store in Napa. I wanted to learn more about the Xoxoc Project, so I asked Steve some questions via email.

Where do your Mexican farmer-partners live, and what's the terrain like there?

They live in an ex-hacienda in the state of Hidalgo. The closest town is called Chapantongo, not too far from Ixmiquilpan. The land has been ruined by hundreds of years of cattle grazing, and the only thing that seems to grow now are the cactus paddles and their fruit. The locals have a long tradition of making things out of the fruit. Xoxoc took it a step further and made a commercial venture.

The xoconostle look like prickly pears (or tunas) but the seeds are all in the center instead of throughout and the 'meat' is very sour; you wouldn't eat it raw. But it's an essential ingredient in dishes like mole de olla [a spicy meat stew] and certain salsas.

. . . Read more . . .

Carless Los Angeles

A dreamy, photoshopped Los Angeles devoid of cars -- a beautiful and impossible fantasy:

Running on Empty from Ross Ching on Vimeo.

New "Artificial Leaf": Next Step In a New Energy Source

One of the most exciting new sources of energy that scientists are developing is based on nature's own process of photosynthesis. All plants store energy by using the sun's rays to change certain molecules into other forms. This is (very loosely speaking) like splitting water into hydrogen and oxygen: when oxygen and hydrogen are put back together, they release energy. The problem is, most methods of splitting water are expensive and slow.

But Scientists all over the place have been working on catalysts that can split water using sunlight for a while now, but until recently, they've all been using expensive elements like platinum. Now, MIT claims that they've created a paper-thing solar cell that uses a cheap catalyst to split water. The genius of this setup is:

• It is cheap and efficient
• The catalyst is stable and lasts far longer than earlier attempts
• It can be used in any type of water, and would produce clean drinking water once the hydrogen and oxygen are put back together

In other words, this kind of energy source could be used anywhere in the world, by anybody. Any time I've read about it, the topic of using it in third-world scenarios always comes up, but it can also be scaled up for wider use.

The team haven't released their findings in a peer-reviewed journal yet, so the full story is still unknown. And there's still one major problem: no-one has yet built a safe, cheap hydrogen fuel cell to make use of all that hydrogen. But it's still an exciting step forwards!

If you want to get more pumped about what this technology could do for the world, check out this video featuring Dan Nocera, one of the lead researchers on this project at MIT.

Bill Gates on the Future of Energy

TED Talks always give you something to think about, but today we wanted to share this one featuring Bill Gates discussing his work on new energy sources.

"And so, we need energy miracles. Now, when I use the term miracle, I don't mean something that's impossible. The microprocessor is a miracle. The personal computer is a miracle. The internet and its services are a miracle. So, the people here have participated in the creation of many miracles. Usually, we don't have a deadline, where you have to get the miracle by a certain date. Usually, you just kind of stand by, and some come along, some don't. This is a case where we actually have to drive full speed and get a miracle in a pretty tight timeline."

We at Baja Trek tend to feel that the most urgent problem is to reduce energy usage rather than find new energy sources, but realistically, we'll need to do both. So it was exciting when he spoke about the work being done to use the dangerous and, at the moment, useless waste materials put out by nuclear power plants to create even more power. The machine that would accomplish this is called a traveling-wave reactor, and it sounds pretty swell.

We're particularly excited about this idea after having watched Into Eternity, a fascinating, sad, bizarre, Kubrick-esque documentary about a Finnish project to bury spent nuclear waste miles below ground and keep it there for the 100,000 years it takes for such materials to become non-radioactive. Watch the trailer below!

Government by the People!

Most of the time, we try not to get too political, but you'll have to bear with this exception cause it's something we really care about!

Baja adventurer and burro near end of journey

Baja adventurer and burro near end of journey

Reposted from the San Diego Union - Tribune

By Ed Zieralski, UNION-TRIBUNE

Friday, March 4, 2011 at 5:23 p.m.

Publish Post

Burro explorer

- Graham Mackintosh

El Cajon's Mike Youghusband, his burro, Don-Kay, and stray dog, Solo, take a break during their long trek of the Baja Peninsula. Photo by Graham Mackintosh.

El Cajon’s Mike Younghusband is nearing the end of his incredible walk of the Baja Peninsula with his burro named Don-Kay.

Younghusband, 61 and a former El Cajon police officer, has walked over 1,000 miles and has less than 50 miles remaining to reach Cabo San Lucas, his final destination. He left Hernan Ibanez Bracamontes’ Rancho Ojai in Tecate on Oct. 1 with Don-Kay, a 4-year-old burro he purchased from Bracamontes, and his two pet dogs, Rusty and Max. But the road proved to be too dangerous for his pets and he sent them home with legendary Baja traveler Graham Mackintosh.

“I can hardly believe I passed the 1,000-mile mark,” Younghusband said in a recent e-mail prior to reaching Todos Santos. “I’m still healthy and excited to get there.”

Younghusband plans to check in at the police station in Cabo to document his arrival in Cabo San Lucas. Mackintosh said he hopes to join his friend at Cabo. Mackintosh said some of Younghusband’s family members are going to take a cruise to Cabo San Lucas and plan to be there when the adventurer arrives in mid-March.

Part-way through his trip, Younghusband picked up a stray dog he called Solo, a female dog who has stayed with him and Don-Kay through some tough going.

“I have a lot of stories that will blow you away and can’t wait to share them,” he said. “They had a parade for me when I got to Lopez Mateos, talk about humbling.”

Mackintosh has stayed in touch with Younghusband throughout his journey. He has visited him on a couple of occasions when he was in Baja doing lectures or delivering books that chronicled his own adventures on the Peninsula and its islands. Mackintosh followed his progress from Younghusband’s daily reports via his SPOT device. Also, the members of BajaNomad.com have been instrumental in Younghusband’s safe journey to this point. At one stage members of the Website’s forum page helped rescue Younghusband, Don-Kay and Solo from death’s door when they ran out of water. At other times, BajaNomad members met up with Younghusband and shared food and drink with him.

Mackintosh isn’t surprised his friend stuck out his hike to the end.

“I was pretty convinced it was do or die for him,” Mackintosh said. “He spent a lot of time and money and made a big commitment to this. He met so many great people on Bajanomad.com., many wonderful people who helped him and continue to help him.”

http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/2011/mar/04/baja-adventurer-and-burro-near-end-their-journey/

Mexico Moves Towards New Energy Sources

Although Mexico has been one of the top three exporters of oil to the United States for some time, its output peaked a few years back and oil production in this country has been in a steady decline since then. Fortunately, this situation seems to have kick-started programs to investigate new sources of energy. Check out this post from the cleantechies.com blog, Top Ten Highlights of Cleantech in Mexico. Number 10 sounded like a particularly promising one:

10) Solar Mexico. Solar Mexico is a private initiative that works with the Mexican Foundation for Rural Development and is sustained through private donations from Mexico, the United States, and others. The mission is to supply renewable sources of energy to poor, rural families and improve their quality of life in ways that are socially and environmentally beneficial, this includes items such as solar ovens, battery-less flashlights, and solar water distillers.

Radio Green Earth

We here at Gus HQ are in love with podcasts, espcially awesome public broadcasting shows like Radiolab or This American Life. I'm not sure I'll ever be able to survive another long trip without them. That's why we were excited when our recent trekker Robert turned us on to this NPR show: Radio Green Earth. Here's how they describe themselves:

Radio Green Earth is a weekly radio program produced for Public Radio focusing on the environment. You hear the latest environmental news and from the experts on subjects like alternative energy, green buildings, energy efficiency, endangered species, protecting the environment, the Everglades restoration, water conservation, and much more. We inform you about the technologies, products, and practices you can employ to become greener in every area of your organization, business, and your life.

It's always so satisfying to hear about productive ways to lead greener lives, rather than just to hear about problems without solutions. You can catch the show every Saturday at 5 pm on WXEL 90.7 FM, NPR’s West Palm Beach affiliate, or download their podcasts for free from iTunes (iTunes link). Let us know if you hear anything you like!

Internet as a Human Right

If you're reading this, you probably have a feel for how powerful the internet can be. Besides all the pictures of cats and naked people, it can directly improve people's lives: children can use it to learn; small businesses can use it to grow; individuals and groups can use it to make connections with other people; even revolutions can use it as a rallying point and a call to action.

However, the internet remains today the realm of the privileged. There have been many philanthropic projects that have tried to get computer and internet access out to those who don't have it, but handing someone a computer is much easier than ensuring they have the infrastructure to make full use of it.

That's why we were excited to read that ahumanright.org is raising money to start buying some of the unused satellites that are already orbiting the earth, move them over areas without connectivity, and provide a free internet connection to the people below.

The group is working on other projects, too. You can read more about this particular one at buythissatellite.org.