Getting Over It

It may be that when we no longer know what to do, we have come to our real work;
and that when we no longer know which way to go, we have begun our real journey. The mind that is not baffled is not employed.
The impeded stream is the one that sings.

There may be many stories just like this one, but for Julie Amero, the American schoolteacher facing 40 years in prison for supposedly exposing her pupils to online pornography, it is a nightmare that is not yet over. Her claim is that she is the victim of unwarranted pop-up porn ads via some malware, and was unable to fix the problem before students saw the images. Anyone who has spent anytime at all on a computer knows how easy that can happen. Where is the schools IT manager in all of this? Not a good look, as they say.

And speaking of nightmares, if your name is David Bain, and you lived in Dunedin, NZ in the early 90's, then the last 13 years in prison came to an end last week. Arrested and jailed for allegedly killing all 5 members of his family, he has steadfastly claimed his innocence. A long and arduous campaign has gone all the way to the Privy Council in London, where Law Lords (what is a Law Lord?) quashed his conviction and he was subsequently released. He may still face another trial, but do you think he might just have paid his dues already? To lose your entire family and then spend over a decade in prison as the murderer if in fact you were not, would be a nightmare hard to top. More to come surely, in what some call "trials by ambush".

Not a good week for New Zealand all around really. First they are told they blew it in the trial of Mr Bain so many years ago, and then visiting European tourism students give the "clean green" image a bit of workover.

They claim the lack of recycling ("plastic bags everywhere!"), as well as lack of cycle paths and other car-alternative transport options do no favours to the visitor on an eco-conscious trip.
Outside the cities lie vast unspoilt regions of exceptional beauty, for sure, but apparently our carbon footprint per capita is not to be proud of. Ouch again.

However, the wildlife have got it together..

The New Zealand godwits head north every year, and their journey is now being tracked
by scientists, according to this BBC report.
Not one to rest much, the godwit is a small bird that makes its way all the way to Alaska every year, by way of China. Fattening themselves for the epic jaunt, they travel over 10,000km with only a short stop for food and water along the way.

That's alot of flappin'. Carbon neutral as well!

A new biography is out on the great thinker of the early 20th century, Rudoph Steiner. Along with founding the Waldorf schools and Biodynamic agricultural methods, he was fond of pouring his remaining coffee from his cup each day on the earth, so it could have the benefit as well. A very prolific writer and lecturer with some interesting ideas and supporters, anthroposophy was the name given to his mystical and holistic approach.

Attention (pop) culture vultures: The Simpsons has reached 400 episodes! Haven't seen a bad one yet, actually.

Another guy to steer way clear of: First, he promotes the invasion of a sovereign country and makes a mess of that whole neo-con imperialist post 9/11 hysteria, then slips out of government to take up a post at the World Bank.

There, he gets his girlfriend a hefty pay rise and cushy post, while heading up an anti-corruption task force to tell other governments how to act so they can get money from the Bank. Charming. I'd say Paul Wolfowitz has some explaining to do.

Michael Moore's new film Sicko, premiering in Cannes this week, should be another shaker for those who have something to hide. Like the U.S. government apparently, who have tried seizing the film before he could "sneak" it out of the country to the festival. You can't buy publicity like that.

However, all is not lost.
If you were a housewife circa 1954, you might have enjoyed some portable music in the kitchen as you went about your duties (or not). This shows just how far we have come for the audiophiles, if not in gender equality:Happy Cooking!

Misallocation of Attention

" It's not dark yet,
But it's getting there

-Bob Dylan

It had to happen. Just as the current backlash on religious fundamentalism has produce pundits from all corners of the atheistic spectrum; we now have internet entrepreneurs saying the offerings of the last couple of years ( commonly referred to by those in the tech world as "Web 2.0") have led to "digital narcissism" and are wrecking our culture.

Eh? It is what it is. The internet simply reflects that in a quicker, wider and more visual manner.

I have not yet read the book, but Andrew Keens The Cult of the Amateur, How Today's Internet is Killing our Culture and Assaulting our Economy, has received mixed reviews, with most claiming it to be a rant too far. MySpace and YouTube may have lots of students blogging on their frat parties or making silly attempts at directorial stardom, but it still is a creative outlet that has transformed the way we relate to each other. Some say to the worse. I think it is still too early to say. Stay tuned.

Bad News Weekend in Aotearoa: Two teenagers get run over at a party in Christchurch, a toddler gets shot dead in a drive by gang shooting, and a P Lab blows up, killing the drug baron-to-be. That's just last weekend. These are all things that make New Zealanders think hard about what kind of society we are living in now. It may be commonplace in other countries, but it puts a shudder up the collective spine of this one. Young people are such a source of energy. Losing them such a waste.

There is more to life than living,

There is more to death than dying.

The Icelandic Diva Bjork live (right) will send anyone into a spin with her eclectic and experimental mix of vocal and instrumental explosions, a recent live recording in New York is here courtesy of NPR.

And while you are using up some bandwidth, and only have time for one good interview all year, don't miss Bill Moyers chatting with Jon Stewart about what is (and isn't) journalism, what is (and isn't) happening in America, and generally looking at current events from a different perspective. From Moyers' new PBS show. Brilliant.

The Hippies were Right is an interesting article from SF Chronicle columnist Mark Morford. Since Green has become the new chic, then maybe the hippies were on to something all those years ago. I kind of enjoyed living in a teepee. My carbon footprint was more of a charcoal smudge, but it was living lightly!

Speaking of greenies, and hippies (not!), Prince Charles features in the Vanity Fair Green issue, in an article entitled A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Throne. Apparently he has received an Environmental Global Citizen Award that he jetted in to pick up earlier this year. For the Prince everyone likes to make fun of, and who has been "talking to plants" for awhile now; it is clear he was on to it in the early days, pushing organic farming and sustainable land management. Still hounded by the press in all his causes both personal and otherwise, the saavy Prince is finally seeing his message get through. A big hit in environmentally conscious California, that is for sure.

His Duchy Originals boasts 200 plus mostly organic products, generating over $2M for charity. His latest idea is Accounting for Sustainability, a method of "accounting for the green costs" in products, in order to let consumers make informed choices. This has been put forward before, by Paul Hawken in his groundbreaking book Natural Capitalism with Amory Lovins, but maybe its just a little sexier now.

If that doesn't get you going, then a new study out by Richard Davidson at the University of Wisconsin, states quite boldly that meditation is and excellent way of achieving prolonged states of concentration. This prevents the brain from "blinking", thereby losing attention at perhaps a crucial point. When things happen too fast, it is claimed, consciousness is supressed, and well, where are those damn car keys anyway? He calls attention a "flexible and trainable skill", which is groundbreaking stuff in the world of neuroscience.

Get those brain watchers and mystics together for a bit of a sit down, I say.

Michael Moore's new doco, called Sicko will no doubt take an unmerciful look at the Healthcare system in the U.S., where average annual health insurance premiums are more than what worker on the minimum wage makes in a whole year. wage. Any wonder there are 30+ million uninsured? Premieres at Cannes this month.

Gotta get down to the local Rocky Bay Hall for my weekly Qigong workout. The grapes are in, the olives as well, Winter green manure cover crops are sown, and pretty much had the last swim for the summer. (ouch!) Time for some inner work.

Time and Space

"Because the only people for me are the mad ones, the ones who are mad to live, mad to talk, mad to be saved, desirous of everything at the same time, the ones who never yawn or say a commonplace thing, but burn like fabulous roman candles exploding like spiders across the stars and in the middle you see the blue center light pop and everybody goes "AWWW!"

- Jack Kerouac
On the Road, 1957

No, it's not Australia in this little photo, with another case of the curious tourist; it is a poignant example of the dangers inherent in zookeepers jobs, for which I have a new and profound respect. Apparently due to the wonders of modern medicine, this vet has his arm back, and God only knows what has happened to the poor croc...

The veteran journalist Bill Moyers has a new podcast journal on PBS, freely downloaded on iTunes, and well worth the time to listen to his insight. His special called "Buying the War", a superb piece of investigative journalism on how the media rolled over early in the selling of a war without justification or strategy, has already has some pundits in Washington running for cover. It seems that Jon Stewart on his Daily Show is the only one that has the balls to ask real questions about what is going on in that country and its foreign "policy". And he doesn't even consider himself a journalist! Bill has a fascinating chat with this intelligent and witty comic. Don't miss.

Naomi Klein pulls no punches in her scathing analysis of the World Bank and it's head Paul Wolfowitz, another screw up from the Bush administration mired in yet another scandal that will hardly help the already shaky reputation as a credible aid organisation for developing countries. Yea right.

It doesn't take much digging to find out that the big 3 in development aid: WTO, World Bank and IMF are as Klein puts it playing their game of "one way strip poker" with World Trade.

You drop your barriers, and we will keep ours up, as the system goes. I guess the winners call that Fair Trade...

Tessa Mayes, of Spiked-online, after calling Vanity Fair one of the great icons of American journalism, rips into their latest Green issue, as a celebrity love-fest, complete with photo-shopped snaps of Leo and polar bears, and who is talking about what, rather than who is doing what.

Meanwhile...This guy has been quietly plugging away on the environmental issues that matter so much him, whilst becoming King of England does not seem really high on his priorties...

Charles, Prince of Wales has always been a fascinating figure to me, one of those highly intelligent, yet pampered and aristocratic individuals who seem to inherit everything, yet what do they do with it all? With the Prince it would seem, quite a lot. He would be the only figure in the entire British monarchy that would get any time at all from environmentalists, and he is treated like real royalty in the States, a position usually reserved for sport or entertainment celebrities. As the NYTimes reports, he has become a bit of a hero for the organic movement, and been at it awhile too.

One biography I read years ago had him asking a prominent spiritual teacher for initiation into a practice of yoga and meditation. He was politely refused as the story goes, with the explanation that his profile was just too great in this lifetime. Great story. Good guy. Who cares about the ears, or the personal issues (we all have them)! He actually has the resources to do something about changing our food production systems towards a more sustainable future and and walks the talk. Good for him. England doesn't need another King, but us food eaters and growers need a champion like him as a patron

On celebrity or whatever, I am sure Professor Stephen Hawking, the renowned physicist was definitely having a good time in zero gravity playtime the other day, his mind no doubt racing through all the theories he has written about for so many years, while the body floated effortlessly. Brilliant. On to space for the wheelchair bound cosmologist!


Rain is falling lightly on our faire island today, and with what I can see around the world, I don't think you would catch me complaining too much about having the gift of plentiful water here in New Zealand. The hillsides are greening, the water tanks filling, and the essential ingredient for life making its way through the soil, bringing with it a nourishing mix of mystery and science.

Happy Eating.

Living To Learn, Learning To Live

Rocky Bay, Waiheke Island
April 2007

The streets of my little community start to empty out after the last holiday of the Summer, which is Easter. Not that they were busy to begin with. The 100 or so homes that dot the coastline here on this part of the island are mostly holiday homes. The remainder of us call it home for the full year, with periodic breaks. The boats and children and walkers and joggers and dogs and kites and bikes and kayaks have been mostly put away. Back to the job in the city or wherever they all go.

Even Pa in the local Paradise Duck family is looking around and planning his annual "flyabout"... Now that the little ones have flown off on their own

Speaking of flying about, if you are a traveller, and would like to see what countries you have been to on a graphic scale, this site makes it easy to "plug and play" your travels and have them displayed on a world map. It then became apparent (to me anyway), how many places I haven't been. Yet.

Don't forget to think about your carbon footprint as you jet around however, and as this Alternet article points out, the process of offsetting your personal carbon emissions from flying or whatever by purchasing credits has some fairly flawed logic behind it. One person likened it to an athlete sitting at the side of the track eating ice cream and paying someone else to run the race. Paying for something does not necessarily change behaviour, it is just another tax. The wealthy will continue doing what they do, and the not wealthy will continue not doing what they haven't been doing. Does that sound like change?

Six years into the project to catalogue all living species on earth, Smithsonian scientists have topped the 1 million mark. What a great job! Never ending might be the appropriate sidebar here. 253,000 species of butterfly and moth, and 83 species of krill, the tiny shrimp that whale eat. Well done you science boffins!

Addicted to data? I used to think I had a problem, and well, maybe I do. But without the must have mobile interface of the day, the Blackberry, I feel relatively safe from the pushers of hyperconnectedness. Like all good pushers as this Time article says, the current digital variety do not really fulfill any existing needs, they create new ones, and then proceed to fill those, thank you very much. Can you stand to be unavailable? Especially if everyone else is? I definitely can, and make sure I am, as a matter of fact. I force myself to go out (at times hesitantly) without my cellphone at least once or twice a day. Ouch.

Try it, it is really liberating. As Wi-fi becomes more and more ubiquitous, and devices become cheaper and easier to use, the temptation will start to creep in. That is exactly what they want. Good luck. There is a whole world out there waiting to be explored. And it doesn't have a digital component. Yet.


The Guardian once again gives a good sense of perspective to the online world in this article. Businesses are scrambling to understand how to get the eyeballs (especially media saavy young ones, you know the ones that spend) on to their products and services. There are so many social networking sites now, the need a social network to connect them all.

Instant Tribe, but in a very distant way.

The so called social networking "sites" are so popular because they allow one to engage without really engaging. To pick and choose who to befriend and who not to, to share personal details online that never require any real personal interaction, and the ability to be turned off or on as desired. A sort of selective and impersonal way to fill the void that being alone often brings...

Don't get me wrong, Myspace, YouTube and others are so successful because they fulfill a need (albeit one that has been created) to connect and share with others the creativity and information that gives culture its momentum. It is definitely a Tipping Point. They are great resources, and though they may not at present be used for anything too liberating or world changing, the time will come.

As long as the massive corporations that control other sources of media, as they slowly worm their way into the internet do not inflict any type of filtering process or "codes of conduct" that inhibit the very open nature of the web as we see it now. It is all simply a reflection of what we as a collective consciousness are doing, like it or not.

Creative Ecology

"Not everything that can be counted counts,
and not everything that counts can be counted"

Albert Einstein

Easter in New Zealand brings with it a heady mix of seasonal transition. The anticipation of winter around the corner, the joy of autumn harvest, and the lingering pleasures of a fleeting summer. On the island we have a Jazz Festival, big Saturday Markets, and the water still warm enough still for a pleasant swim, which I had yesterday. We are full of visitors, mostly from the city, but more and more from around the world.

While Christians around the world celebrate the coming (and going) of their messiah, with all manner of activities, here it is mostly about having a holiday. The island's wine and olive oil industries are in full harvest mode. A good time of year.

As more and more of my friends, family and colleagues speak to me about their (ouch!) retirement plans, developers in the States don't really know what kind of planned communities the "boomers" want. They never could quite come to grips with that demographic, and still they try. Looks like according to this NY Times report, it is left up to "grassroots" efforts to plan out their own sense of community with like-minded individuals. Most succcessful ventures are accomplished by those who really care. And that is the thing about community, it brings the neighour back into neighbourhood. Sharing with others all these precious natural resources we are fast running out of seems only logical to me...It also helps to spend time around those that accept and support your lifestyle. Having spent some time in community when it was still called commune, it has appeal, particularly within the context of a local economy and food production. I am no Armageddon type, but I do believe A Hard Rain's is Gonna Fall before too long. The New Scientist Environment blog has some great entries, with lots of sites that show ways to leave a lighter load of carbon behind in this life. Everything from transport to packaging...Here's an example:

200 kgs per person per year of just packaging! It makes you think a little more about what your purchase, and how it can be taken home (those supermarket bags are the worst, and it is bold that San Francisco has now banned the plastic bags). Well done!

Staying in the Bay Area, a company called Meraki is doing great work in providing affordable easy wireless access to many who could not otherwise afford it. Share the love.

Speaking of which, there are some lovely short essays on NPR.org, in the This I Believe segment, which has one man's affirmation of his truth in articulate fashion. My Personal Leap of Faith, it is called, and well worth a read.

Not the greatest of times for the Cruise Line industry, apparently there is all kinds of shady goings on out at sea. And nobody knows whose laws to obey. It's all a bit of a shambles really, with people getting sick and running aground, as well as unbelievable stats: 66 assaults and 28 people missing (presumed dead) over the period 2002-2005. Some vacation!

Meanwhile, pre-teens and teens in the States are being subjected to between 12 and 20 food ads a day on the television alone, all extolling the virtues of, you guessed it, sweets and snack foods. Forget Big Tobacco this article says, it's Big Food that is killing us!

No matter what kind of person you are, getting the right information about your food is always important...

Culture Shifting

"People are crazy
Times are strange;
I used to care
But things have changed"

-Bob Dylan

Here are two powerful articles worth your time, both excerpts from books I have recently read. The first one here is by Michael Pollan, and it articulately sums up the food system in the USA: Fast, easy, cheap. He also explains how (and why) corn is slipped into nearly 25% of the items in your local supermarket, subsidized by the taxpayer to give out empty calories fast, easy and cheap. You get what you pay for...

For more, visit his website.

The other is by Bill McKibben, author of the new release Deep Economy, which is just about as brilliant a wake up call I have ever read. He challenges the prevailing wisdom on economic growth, and shows in example after example, how more does not necessarily equal happy. He is a strong advocate of local economies, and the power behind communities. His article here has very salient and timely points from the book.

Ever since Rodney King let out those simple words "Can't we all just get along people?" in the middle of Southern California riots so many years ago, I always think about it.

One either gets along, or not. Situations change, people change. Different people definitely do things differently.

If it is true that "we don't see the world as it is, we see the world as we are", then getting to know how others are, might be a good start to getting along.

The World Values Survey is one place to find out more about those who live in this world with you, their values, beliefs, and how they are. Neat map, too.


For instance, on the subject of drugs, there are many different ways people choose to intoxicate themselves, or relax however you view it. Not many of them would be good for you, but there are some that are clearly less harmful than others. Depending, of course upon usage. These latest British studies reported in the Guardian, are rightly putting spotlight back on the likes of alcohol and tobacco, so long having the free ride, because of their legal status. Dangerous is dangerous, and these experts are rating what is and what is less. Interesting stuff.

If you are old enough to remember Soupy Sales, then you will most likely want to click on this link to see a short clip of him that explains why he is laughing so hard...

Could it be an unrehearsed surprise (in the form a stripper), greeting him on the usual closing gag was just a bit too much? This guy was alright. Very early days of T.V. comedy

Whole Foods, that cathedral of "organic" foods in the States, gets a once over from a British journalist on the eve of its entry into the U.K. They are nice supermarkets, as supermarkets go, and they certainly have their legions of fans, but are they really doing all they can to source local, fresh food, or are they the green version of Wal Mart?Watch this space.

Bill Maher is a pretty funny guy, and he pushes his satire right to the edge sometimes. I do not watch his show, as it is not carried here in New Zealand, but what I do see, especially his New Rules segment are quite good. Here in this YouTube clip he decides he has had enough of having his patriotism challenged, and asks whether the current president is even a patriot.
Ouch.



Well, you know it had to come. Perfect for the Japanese, that love to talk and smoke, this Cigphone has everything you need right at your fingertips. A must have gadget, I will not have..

Reading Writing and Eating

" Eating is an agricultural act"

-Wendell Berry

I love writing.

I don't put pressure on myself to come up with ideas to write about, or set any deadlines to meet, which means I will probably languish in the realm of under paid and under published for an indeterminate amount of time.

But that is OK.

It is more the process (and challenge) of putting together the myriad of ideas and thoughts streaming through, seeing how they can be communicated articulately that is most enthralling to me. I takes me out of my self for awhile, and opens the window of concentration a bit more. It is good practice.

As Julia Cameron says bluntly in her encouraging Right to Write:

"Not writing creates self obsession. Self obsession blocks connection with others. Self obsession blocks connection with self."

For her, writing is a way of life, one that I have not yet really entered. Flirting as I do with it, the temptation is growing to make a more concerted effort to enter that world. She is a great example and lively inspiration in her books.

The Wikipedia entry for writer and 2001 Nobel Prize winner in literature V.S. Naipaul has the following quote from Joan Didion:

"The actual world has for Naipaul a radiance that diminishes all ideas of it. The pink haze of the bauxite dust on the first page of Guerrillas tells us what we need to know about the history and social organization of the unnamed island on which the action takes place, tells us in one image who runs the island and for whose profit the island is run and at what cost to the life of the island this profit has historically been obtained, but all of this implicit information pales in the presence of the physical fact, the dust itself... The world Naipaul sees is of course no void at all: it is a world dense with physical and social phenomena, brutally alive with the complications and contradictions of actual human endeavor... This world of Naipaul's is in fact charged with what can only be described as a romantic view of reality, an almost unbearable tension between the idea and the physical fact..."

Naipaul himself takes a more sweeping approach recently in a Guardian article about his roots and the lands whose histories he dissects:

"But writing was my vocation; I had never wished to be anything but a writer. My practice as a writer had deepened the fascination with people and narrative that I had always had, and increasingly now, in the larger world I had wanted to join, that fascination was turning into a wish to understand the currents of history that had created the fluidity of which I found myself a part. It was necessary for me as a writer to engage with the larger world. I didn't know how to set about it; there was no example I could follow."

Exactly. There rarely is any example to follow, and that is why I love writing. Yes, there are many published as well as unpublished wordsmiths out there, and I enjoy reading as many as I can. Reading gives me almost as much pleasure as creating through the written word. But the process of writing, - the transformation of personal direct experience and idea into language and narrative, the words that are chosen, the magical flow of subliminal energy out through the hands to what can be read and interpreted - that is a hard example to try and follow.

Any complete reader or writer would have had experience with the Grand Dame of publishing, the New Yorker, and now one can get all their back issues (over 4,000) on one convenient hard drive. Great. Call me old fashioned, but half the fun of those magazines is to flip the pages and see the cartoons amid the writing and hustle bustle of one of the greatest cities. I take the occasional article from them, but to read a screen for too long is not easy. Thats why those e-book readers won't take off. I don't know anybody that actually enjoys looking at a screen for very long periods.

Subject to both a book and a documentary, the Wild Parrots of San Francisco are getting a bit more protection from the city, to ensure their habitat stays intact and their fame grows. That is a good news story. It is the simple things that can bring so much joy.

Meanwhile, over in Australia (way over - West Australia in fact), this guy netted a cool $20,000 for riding a monster wave near the Margaret River. He would certainly be double-stoked - to be both alive, and to be a winner. Well done.

Whilst still in San Francisco (where else?) a new subculture of neo-nomads, who fancy themselves a bit like the Bedouin, like their coffee strong and their wireless free, and are doing business the way they want to in wired cafes around the city. It used to be the garage or dorm room was the success story for tecchies, now it looks like the place of choice for successful new start-ups will be some wired cafe in the back streets of the Mission District. Wait for it.

Remember this lady? The fired NASA astronaut Lisa Nowak, part of a love triangle of astronauts that went awry, tried to kidnap her rival and well, basically lost the plot.
The before and after pictures speak volumes about either the air up there, or why some people should definitely stay on the meds..

And you thought your job was stressful!

"It was written I should be loyal to the nightmare of my choice."

- Joseph Conrad
Heart of Darkness

Two Monks and a Turning Tide

Two monks were arguing about a flag.
One said: "The flag is moving."
The other said: "The wind is moving."
The Buddha happened to be passing by.
He told them: "Not the wind, not the flag; mind is moving."

Mind is moving. And does it cover some ground.

It has taken me a few days to re-connect all my bodies from the rigors of long haul flights and doing family large in the States, and except for its minor physical setbacks, the trip has left me mentally and intellectually invigorated.

It feels as though the tide is turning.

Sympathetic vibration is not a term I use frequently, but it seems to encapsulate much of the feeling I got recently in the States from those whom I spoke, from the places I visited, and what I read. It has been a long 6 years, and the momentum for change, the drivers for change seem in place and almost like an idling race car at the starting line, ready to roll.

In particular I refer to the inextricably linked lifestyle of excess fossil fuel consumption/global warming/ industrial food system that has been chugging along at a totally unsustainable rate for the last 60 years with disastrous consequences. George Bush's administration have in some ways ironically helped the catalyst for change by "throwing fuel on the fire", instead of looking for ways to dampen the flames. It is now a raging inferno, and many more can see it, including some in his own political party.

But as Al Gore states emphatically in his Oscar winning documentary "An Inconvenient Truth", it is "moral issue rather than a political one". That really got me thinking. I have a daughter, she will someday have children, and what is it that we will be leaving them in terms of a planet? What kind of biodiversity? What kind of atmosphere? What kind of society?

Although Gore has his fair share of critics (both about the message and the messenger) no one in my opinion has done more in terms of educating and raising awareness of the causes and solutions to the most pressing issue of our times than the man who won the popular vote for presidency in 2000. He may be leaving a larger carbon footprint at the moment, but his message for action is getting through, and that will reduce everyone else's (including his) in critical mass.

Partly because there is a new race on, and partly because of the Oscar success, he is everywhere in the media now. Rolling Stone explains why he should run again, and how he can win; The Guardian argues those who criticise him as hypocritical need to look at the bigger picture; and The New Yorker sums up his overall situation quite articulately as usual.

Back here in New Zealand, food miles are a big issue for our growers, and as I have often written, the food traveling around the globe is not going to last. Start getting used to eating what is in season. Time magazines cover story this week is calling local food the "new organic". Our Prime Minister is weighing in big time, positioning the country as a sustainable and efficient place in which to purchase produce, most of which is shipped by sea. Perhaps. But this is political posturing for the most part, in order to do something about a growing fear from our food exporters that they may be cut out of important markets in Europe etc. She may be correct that we do have more efficient production methods due to our favourable climate, but is missing the point really. Why are we exporting our kiwis and apples to Europe, and buying ones from Chili and California in our supermarkets? Our lifestyles and habits need to change on a personal and societal level, and the markets will respond.

To protect the markets by continuing to support unsustainable practices is the same thing the U.S. did after WWII with all the extra ammonia nitrate. As Michael Pollan explicitly talks about in his best seller The Omnivores Dilemma, a new industry was set up to utilise all the leftover chemicals from the war and it essentially replaced agriculture. , As efficient as it may have been in producing more food and reducing prices, we might as well have been sipping petroleum directly, for it has had about the same results economically and physically .

When I say the tide is turning, it comes from the heart of change in the U.S. the State of California, and from there, the Bay Area has always been a leader in social and cultural issues. Local Food Challenges such as the one Locavores have instigated have done much to raise the awareness of those in the outlying areas how they can eat in season, and where they can get the food they need any time of year. Both the SF Chronicle and the Pt Reyes Light, places I have just recently visited, have articles here and here supporting their efforts. Brilliant.

Whole Foods, the once proud and mighty chain of stores leading the organic movement in the States, is even coming under increasing fire from many sides as it tries to reconcile its growth with the original core values of supporting local farmers and providing quality organic food.

Again, Pollan from Omnivores Dilemma in describing Big Organic now in the States:

"For better or worse, these are not the kinds of farms a big company like Small Planet Foods or Whole Foods does business with today. It's simply more cost-efficient to buy from one thousand-acre farm than ten hundred-acre farms. That's not because those farms are any more productive, however. In fact, study after study has demonstrated that, measured in the amount of food produced per acre, small farms are actually more productive than big farms; it is the higher transaction costs involved...The industrial values of specialization, economies of scale, and mechanization wind up crowding out the ecological values such as diversity, complexity, and symbiosis".

And so it goes. Buyer beware.

Once Wal Mart decided to start selling "organic", one had the suspicion there would be a direct effort to manipulate the focus from local and quality to price and distribution as the main driver. Sure enough, that it what has happened, and in the world of food politics, one has to move quickly to counter such efforts. These local groups and blogs are doing a wonderful job of disseminating critical information.

Can you meet all your dietary requirements within a 100 mile (160km) radius?

Something to think about and plan as we start to enter a new paradigm around living on this earth in a way that will allow others to use it after us.

Hotel California

12 hours is a long time to sit in a 600 mph metal projectile at 35,000 ft. Actually, 12 hours is a long time to sit anywhere. The conditions are not natural in large commercial aircraft, and so even the lure of recent Oscar standouts such as Babel and The Departed could not keep me from sedation and boredom.

However, the Bay Area Rapid Transit is a well thought out enterprise. My daughter and I slipped effortlessly onto a waiting BART train from the airport and arrived in my sisters North Berkeley neighbourhood a bit over an hour after landing in San Francisco direct from Auckland. Not having traveled together for well over a decade, it was full of laughter and fun, and continued through the week as we were shuffled from one party to another around the region in the lead up to the big event - my sisters wedding. Immersed in the not uncommon realm of the lost immigrant son/brother from the New Zealand, I was then totally enthralled by a lovely diverse and eclectic group of nearly 100 friends and family gathered together on a damp coastal Marin winter weekend for the occasion my sister waited 55 years to plan.

And plan she did. As an artist and designer, everything from the invitations to the table setting quotes and accompanying rocks all had her individual touch of class and elegance. The groom-to- be here, after one of many late nights, naps through some last minute details he probably would not have wanted to know about anyway...

After the first venue burnt down unexpectedly a month before the date, there were some severe panic sessions, but eventually all was meant to be. The Olema Inn hosted the reception, and a beautiful home in the Nicasio Valley with some sort of shady link to Jerry Garcia catered the actual ceremony(Marin was home to much of the creative zeitgeist in the heydays of the late 60's and 70's Bay Area).

Everyone from SkyWalker (George Lucas) to PlanetWalker (John Francis) lives there, and many have done a great job in their own way of protecting the area from excess development. remaining as gorgeous and pristine as ever. Pt Reyes has always been a favourite area of Lyn and Ken's, so to have the weekend spread out over a number of different Inns and restaurants was very fitting in the end.

The night before the ceremony, after a lively 80th birthday dinner for my mother,we all went to the local Rancho Nicasio Valley Restaurant, a great local pub in the middle of nowhere, for some fantastic blues by the Lara Price Band. If you have never seen 60 yr old ranchers dancing with their wives next to couples spanning the entire spectrum of, well, everybody, then get on down there... I mean it is like, sooo California.

"West Marin" as it is known, has been on the vanguard of political and social change for many a decade, and the number of hybrid cars per capita must be the highest in the U.S. Just the day before, the Tour of California, the states version of the biggest sporting event on earth, came barreling through and had huge support. My mother was out with thousands of others in her home town just north to cheer them on.

Sebastopol is a small Sonoma County rural town-turned-vineyard-boomer-hippie mecca near Santa Rosa. It borders Marin county, and is north of San Francisco by about an hour. My own university days from the area bring back memories of the many rivers and rustic VW van trips through lush redwood forests to communes in the surrounding expansive countryside. I did manage to attend some classes however, and the beauty in Somoma, Medocino, and Humboldt counties is still as vibrant as ever. My mother is an active resident of the quite liberal artist community here. Although my perspective about this part of California is somewhat tainted by the surge in population after 20 years in the other end of the Pacific, nothing can take away the natural beauty and good intentions of many of the progressive residents.

I was in Sebastopol to get my mom down to the wedding, and get through the maintenance list on her house, which I enjoy. I was also to deliver a gift parcel to a local resident from a friend in Australia.

Naturally, the only place to find her on a Friday would be on the main street corner of town in the weekly peace protest. The opposite corner had some guy with a placard full of pictures of soldiers, and so the giant 4WD pickups honked at him and revved their engines at the Peace Girls. Apparently that is some kind of message of support or otherwise. There were "V" peace sign of 30 years ago as well, and it felt like I was in a bit of a time machine. I posed the question that it could be possible to both support the troops and bring them home, but that irony seemed lost on most.


No visit to the Sonoma area is complete without the Russian River and a local vineyard experience. My mother had a favourite one all planned out, one she had hoped to visit for some time.

Naturally, it had a sculpture walk and meditation hut, amongst beautiful grounds. Highly recommended, Paradise Ridge has the ultimate view over the valley, along with very elegant winery and function facilities.



A cabin on the Russian River had long been a dream for family in the Bay Area, and recently some of them got a little cottage near the town of Healdsburg. It was definitely winter when we stopped by for a visit, but the charm and character is always there, along with the majestic redwoods. It served as a superb day of rest in a hectic week, even though the water levels were quite high. Naturally, it had wireless broadband for us mobile bloggers... Way to go folks!

So, the bride and groom are in Baja warming up for the next stage of their lives, I am back in New Zealand on Waiheke and my lovely Karakia Coast, on the tractor and living as deliberate and purposeful as I am able. This particular Americana group of friends and family have gone their respective ways, and I will look forward to seeing them again soon. All is said and done that will be for the time being, and another chapter is opened..

Best wishes always to Lyn and Ken, and to all who made the occasion what it was - friends, family and whanau from near and far.

Rumi lent words of wisdom during the ceremony, as fitting for marriage as they are for all our own particular journeys through relationship:

The minute I heard my first love story
I started looking for you, not knowing how blind I was

Lovers don’t finally meet somewhere,
They’re in each other all along..

If You Leave Me, Can I Come Too?

If you are one of the many that have absolutely had it with holidays like Valentines Day, you are not alone. Songs for the Dumped, whilst not all that tactful, has found a place in our cultural repertoire at this time of year. My favourite is the title of this post. The list is not exhaustive, but NPR does a good job of making an offering for all those whom this holiday is just a bit smarmy and overdone.

There is certainly no dearth of events, festivals and activities for those in love or not, in New Zealand's all-too-short but spectacular summer. Long holiday weekends seem to be as common as the Vegemite that traditionally accompanies them. Not many seem to care or know much about the history or reasons behind them, but a day off is a day off...

Here on The Rock, we have had the Sculpture on the Gulf, The Waiheke Wine Festival, CultureFest, Little Day In, Outdoor Cinemas, Whakanewa Regional Park Opening, and Waitangi Day and Anniversary Day all in the last month. No one can accuse the planners of not taking advantage of this window they have to lure Auckland visitors out here.

In between that, I am going to squeeze in two weddings, try to grow some good grapes and olives, and be a host to the stream of visitors that are lured to the magnificence that is the Hauraki Gulf.

Sculpture on the Gulf is fast becoming a regular feature on the New Zealand artist trail, and the surroundings could not afford a better backdrop for some of the local talent to showcase their latest works.

I would normally take the walk along the Pohutakawa lined seashore anyway, and to have it so decorated with artworks is just another treat for visitor and resident alike. Air temp 23 deg C, water 20 deg C. The islands long history of catering for and supporting artists continues.

Elsewhere in New Zealand, one of my favourite musicians came to play in one of those outdoor vineyard concerts, and the promoters did not bother to find out enough about Eric Clapton to know he is a non-drinker, and promptly named a vintage of their local drop after him to mark the occasion. Oops.

I just happened to be making a trip up to the US next week, and of course in the only in America file comes this outstanding story of the crazed, in love astronaut driving 900 miles in diapers and weapons in the trunk to deal to her rival for the affection of another astronaut. Do they time these things for Valentines Day, or just write them to boggle the imagination?

Houston, she has problems..

Oh, and let's not forget about the 363 tonnes ($US12Billion) of cash sent to Baghdad shortly after that very well thought out invasion and occupation a few years back. Well, it seems there is precious little information as to where it might have gone, or what it was spent on. Unbelievable really.

Before I have my afternoon nap, I can rest assured I am doing something solid for my heart and my health, according to the latest research in this BBC article. That is the kind of news I like.

Remember Carl Sagan? Yeah me too. Don't worry, he isn't on tour. As it turns out, he passed away about 10 years ago, and his partner/collaborator is giving us another glimpse into his vast understanding of the cosmos and life's origins by publishing some of his most important lectures. In these heated times of God v Science 2.0, his articulate and non threatening belief in the vastness of the universe is a bit of relief. Well worth a read.

Dry Your Eyes

And it taught us more about living
Than we ever cared to know
But we came to find the secret
And we never let it go

And it was more than being holy
Oh it was less than being free
And if you can't recall the reason
Can you hear the people sing

Right through the lightning and the thunder
To the dark side of the moon
To that distant falling angel
That descended much too soon
And come dry your eyes

Come dry your eyes.

- Neil Diamond

The groom strode purposefully down the beach, head held high with pride and exhilaration. Behind him were best friends from around the globe, and waiting at the hand made alter (see above) were a small and curious group of family and friends. The feet were bare, the eyes became moist, and the sand soft. A light breeze blew along the seashore as he waited patiently for his destiny to appear.










Dad escorted the lovely young bride at the end of a procession which included a pied piper, and bridesmaids, all looking gloriously bedazzled by the occasion, as were many of the witnesses.

This was not an ordinary wedding, but the "union of free spirits", I was told.

And so it was.

The party went on well into the night at the local Boat Club in Russell, fancifully decked out by friends to cover the salt and stodge of the many yachties that pass through this famous portal of the Pacific. When I too,got married in a boathouse in Puget Sound in Washington State, this bride was not even born, and the groom was 9yrs old.

Like so many of these celebrations, it is a time of remembrance, of story, of appreciation, and of family. This story has the immigrant son wandering the globe and landing on an island in New Zealand where his life is changed completely by the people he meets, one of whom he soon marries. Everyone is happy in this moment. And with the tribal drumbeat of our complex relationships to each other, to the earth, and to larger humanity, so continues all of our stories.

Come Dry Your Eyes.